Raised by her militant father to reject America's multicultural values, a 13-year-old child prodigy was just informed that she's not good enough for the first time in her life.
Autum Ashante was only 7 years old when she stood before her middle school audience to recite her poem comparing Christopher Columbus and Charles Darwin to "pirates and vampires" that "robbed Blacks of their identity." Moments before, she had recited the “Black Child’s Pledge” of the Black Panther Party.
“Black lands taken from your hands by vampires with no remorse. They took the gold, the wisdom and all the storytellers. They took the Black women, with the Black man weak. Made to watch as they changed the paradigm of our village... White nationalism is what put you in bondage: pirates and vampires like Columbus, Morgan and Darwin drank the blood of the sheep, trampled all over them with steel, tricks and deceit...”
Some white students walked out, and the NY Post reported that Autum was banned from reciting the poem at any public school.
Autumn’s father, Batin Ashante, a devout follower of the Minister Louis Farrakhan, explained that there had been violent clashes between Black and Latino students at Autum's middle school, and she wanted to give them something to think about "that would stop them from wanting to kill each other.”
Ashante abruptly pulled his daughter out of the public school system and home-schooled her for the next 6 years.
The child prodigy, once dubbed the "racist poet," landed in the headlines again when she was accepted to the mostly white University of Connecticut this year at the tender age of 13.
Little Autum made the rounds of the talk shows, speaking eloquently to reporters 3 times her age. The black blogosphere celebrated her achievements, calling the youngster a "genius" and comparing her to a young Einstein.
But like most child prodigies, Autum's story does not have a happy ending: the school that accepted her has now revoked her admission.
“Batin Ashante said his daughter, Autum, is ‘devastated’ after university officials called him [Saturday] to ‘rescind’ their offer of acceptance.” Batin said, “They said they now feel she’s not academically ready…That’s B.S.!” On June 16th, a University of Connecticut spokesperson by the name of Richard Veilleaux confirmed that Autum had indeed been accepted to the university. As for these latest developments, NYDailyNews.com reports that “Veilleux did not immediately return calls for comment.” Source
Ashante and his daughter still plan to move to Connecticut anyway. “I’m her dad and it just bothers me to see her go through this…I’m fed up. They have insulted us and the work that we’ve put in…I’m not sure I want her to be involved with an institution that treats her like that," he told the NY Daily News.
Not to be discouraged, Ashante says they will seek "other educational opportunities." It should be noted that there are no HBCU's in Connecticut.
