now form the basis of Afrocentrist curricularnin schools nationwide.rnFor example, according to the Essays,rnancient Egyptians were black, all thernachievements of the Egyptians are thereforernblack achievements, the black Egyptiansrnhad the technology to fly, andrnCleopatra was “a distinctly African woman,rndark in color. . . . If living today, shernwould probably be living in one ofrnthe Black communities of the UnitedrnStates.” This Cleopatra-‘n’-the-hoodrnidea helped convince Todd, who hasrndegrees in both Latin and Greek, thatrnthe public schools had thrown out allrnstandards in order to foster “self-esteem”rnand a militant attitude among minorities.rnTodd says that he was also concernedrnabout reports that the Milwaukeernschools were introducing children tornthe rites and customs of bizarre Africanrncults, such as genital mutilation and thernuse of cocaine for communion. If thernseparation of church and state keepsrnChristianity out of the schools, Todd reasoned,rnshouldn’t it keep drug use and femalerncircumcision out as well?rnPrompted by complaints from parentsrnat a half-dozen schools, Todd penned arnresolution condemning Afrocentrism asrn”racist pseudo-science” and calling onrnthe schools to jettison it. Not surprisingly,rnschool officials grew defensive.rn”We didn’t create a curriculum,” saidrnKen Holt, principal of the Malcolm XrnAcademy, in the Wisconsin State Journal.rn”We just researched and presented therntruth.” Josephine Mosely, principal ofrnthe Martin Luther King School, insistedrnthat “Teaching children about their culture,rnhistory, and heritage does make arndifference. . . . We do look at telling thernwhole truth about history and . . . tellingrnour children that thcv are the descendantsrnof queens and kings.” These werernthe most polite responses to Todd’s resolution.rnParents also told Todd that hernhad become “whitenized,” that becausernhe had registered his marriage at therncounty courthouse, he was a sellout tornthe white establishment.rnTodd’s resolution was defeated in earlyrnDecember by a 3-2 vote at a meetingrnof the School Reform Committee attendedrnby some 400 parents, students,rnand teachers. In addition to tauntingrnhim with catcalls, one of the attendeesrnhanded Todd a package of Oreo cookies.rnBut the Afrocentrists had not won.rnThe School Reform Committee’s decisionrnwas forwarded to the full SchoolrnBoard, which overturned it with a 7-2rnvote. As a result, outside auditors willrnscrutinize the curriculum and then makernrecommendations to the Board. Thisrndoes not mean, of course, that Afrocentrismrnis on the way out. While thernSchool Board as presently constituted isrnsympathetic to Todd’s position, it remainsrnto be seen how long an incensedrn”community” will allow Board membersrnto hold onto their seats. Some membersrnof the community may take action outsidernthe Eurocentric, parliamentaryrnchannels, as happened half an hour afterrnthe vote, when Todd’s house was setrnablaze by a Moloto’ cocktail.rnA group of black scholars is reportedlyrnworking on a book which will debunk thern”racist pseudo-science” of the Portlandrncurriculum. They may be missing thernpoint. It is easy enough to trash Afrocentrismrnon scholariy grounds, but historicalrnaccuracy was never the paramount concernrnof radical educators. As the case ofrnLeon Todd shows, revisionism and “selfesteem”rnhave eclipsed the old, quaintrnstandards.rn—Michael WashburnrnEPICYCLES:rn• Following the recent attack on thernConfederate Battle Flag in South Carolina,rnthe assault moved north, to the occupiedrnstate of Marxland. Two years ago,rnthe Sons of Confederate Veterans petitionedrnthe Maryland Motor Vehicle Associationrn(MVA) for special license platesrnfor its members. The MV agreed, andrnover the past two years, 78 such platesrn(out of a state total of 3.7 million) havernbeen issued. The MVA received its firstrncomplamt about the plates, which bear arnsmall logo of the battle flag and the legendrn”Sons Confederate Veterans,” in laternDecember. The “civil rights” apparatusrnprompth kicked into action, and non-rnMarylanders held a rally in Baltimore torndemand that the state recall the plates.rnThe state meekly complied, with thernhead of MV declaring, “We’re not involvedrnin polarizing people.” Southernrnpatriots may still sing the words of thernhopeful song—”She is not dead, norrndeaf, nor dumb; Huzza! She spurns thernNorthern scum! She breathes—shernburns! She’ll come! She’ll come! Maryland,rnmy Maryland!”—but it looks likernthey’ll have to wait a little longer.rn• Do you believe in magic? In a deliciousrnbit of irony, the McDonald’s franchisernin Fairbury, Illinois, has succumbedrnto competition from a family-ownedrnFairbury restaurant named—McDonald’s.rn’The local restaurant opened inrn1956, and since 1970 the McDonald’srnchain has threatened legal action if thernFairbury folks should ever overstep theirrnbounds (by, for instance, installingrna drive-through window). But whenrnRonald McDonald finally challengedrnthe Fairbury family head-on, by openingrna franchise in their backyard in 1992, thernlocal folks rallied around their neighbors,rnforcing the franchise, which apparentlyrnnever turned a profit, to close its doors.rnMeanwhile, the Danish SupremernCourt ruled against McDonald’s in itsrntwo-year battle against a sausage stand inrnwestern Denmark named McAllan’s.rnThe Court rejected the chain’s claimrnthat McAllan’s infringed upon its trademarkrnby using the “Mc” prefix, and orderedrnMcDonald’s to pay the sausagernstand’s court costs. In a bold fundraisingrnmove, Rockford Institute PresidentrnMcAllan Carlson has announced a newrnpublication, McChronicles: A Magazinernof Big Mac Culture. Headquarters willrnbe somewhere inside the Beltway.rnOBITER DICTA.rnChronicles is illustrated this month byrnIgor Kopelnitsky, a Brooklyn-based Russianrnartist who has contributed to thernNew York Times, the Daily News, and thernWashington Post. Mr. Kopelnitsky hasrndone periodic illustrations for Chroniclesrnsince coming to the United States mrn1990.rn* I- *rnNorth Carolina poet Ruth Moose hasrncontributed two new poems to this issue.rnThe author of two collections of shortrnstories and three collections of verse, asrnwell as numerous stories in the AtlanticrnMonthly, Moose is the recipient of threernPEN Syndicated Awards for short fictionrnand a North Carolina Literary Fellowship.rnShe teaches creative writing atrnthe University of North Carolina atrnChapel Hill.rn« * «rnChronicles is now sold at the followingrnstores in Houston: Barnes & NoblernSuperstore, 5000 Westheimer Blvd.;rnBarnes & Noble Superstore, 5303 FHrn1960 West; and Bookstore 2215 FI11960rnWest,rnMARCH 1997/7rnrnrn