This is the third installment on the theme “Message for Black History Month – Never Give Up!”
Is this correct?
Yes. This is the third year in a row. The two previous articles are available at:
They provide a thorough summary of what has transpired up to this point.
What is the status now?
Following last year’s article I was able to obtain legal counsel, including the go-to authority in Costa Rica on constitutional law. Many lawyers throughout Costa Rica have studied law under this person.
What happened?
As part of the administrative process my legal counsel submitted our 17-page Extraordinary Remedy Appeal to the UCR Office of the Dean. After having the appeal for five months our case was moved from the Office of the Dean to the University Board of Directors.
Were you given an explanation as to why?
Only that it had been decided that a case such as ours needed to be handled by the University Board.
What happened then?
The University Board had our Appeal for five months.
During the total of ten months that your case was analyzed by the Office of the Dean, the Legal Office, and the Board of Directors, what did you do?
I continued to conduct my space education and outreach activities as I would normally do! I spoke about these activities in the two previous articles:
Among the space education and outreach activities I have currently conducted is a special broadcast of my Natural Physics Show, in which my colleague Bruce Callow was volunteering at that time in Warsaw, Poland, to aid the refugees from the Ukraine. Information was given out during the show on how people could make donations that would bypass bureaucratic red tape and go straight to the refugees. This is an ongoing effort.
The cover photograph of this article was taken during our Natural Physics Show broadcasting live at sunrise on the equinox in the Park of the Spheres located in Palmar Sur, Costa Rica. We were in the territory of the indigenous Borucas which is the only area in the world where the mysterious, enigmatic Mesoamerican Pre-Columbian stone spheres are found. As to their origin – no one knows who, when, why, and especially how! A guest on our show informed us that according to the Borucas the spheres were once used ages ago as a lunar calendar and could predict lunar eclipses! One of our show’s endeavors, then became to use physics and mathematics to help the Borucas regain this ancient knowledge that has been lost to them and that they want to get back. The women elders of the Borucacommunity have invited us to do a Natural Physics Show in their community!.
Here my wife Tirza and I are at the Finca 6 archaeological site with the two spheres that are still located in their original positions and are oriented east and west to mark the spot on the horizon where the sun rises on the spring equinox.
Thanks to Bruce I also was invited to attend a special time capsule ceremony held at the National Center for High Technology (CeNAT). Afterwards the organizers of the event requested that I be taken on a tour of their facilities to explore possible opportunities to collaborate!
The administrative process did not allow for me to have a meeting with the University Board. Instead, I was given the opportunity to write a personal letter addressed to the members of the Board. This was the next best thing to being able to meet with them face to face.
Following are my Letter with the time stamp upon receipt by the University Board of 17 August 2022, and the English translation of my Letter.
When and what was the resolution reached?
On 26 January 2023 we received the resolution rejecting our Extraordinary Remedy Appeal and Letter.
And now what?
I continue to raise allegations of discrimination due to race and/or nationality. Did you know that there was a period of time in Costa Rica’s history when Blacks from Limónon the Caribbean side of the country were not allowed to take the train up to San José? I did not, and I was shocked when informed of such. I have been told by Costa Ricans that if I had been Costa Rican I would have been admitted to the doctorate program.
From 2015 to now I have not been given the decency nor common courtesy by UCR to even respond to my continuous efforts to meet. I have been treated as if I am invisible, as if I do not exist. As a Black man growing up in the United States the lesson is repeatedly learned that racism hides under many cloaks. The way to combat racism in any form is by exposing it which I will do by any means necessary including through my Natural Physics Show.
It is understandable for an educational institution to want to provide the opportunity for higher education to students from that country. Is this to be attained by the exclusion of students not from that country?Racial, nationalistic, or any other form of discrimination has no place in any institution especially those whose duty it is to provide the opportunity for higher learning to everyone.
With the rejection of our Extraordinary Remedy Appeal and Letter we have exhausted the administrative process. It is not possible to go any higher than the Office of the Dean and the University Board.
With was has happened how would you summarize where you are now?
It is not the University of Costa Rica itself that is responsible for what has happened. It is the administration of the university. If the mentality of racial and/or nationalistic discrimination exists within the administration, then it needs to be exposed and rooted out. Such mentality is not good for the University of Costa Rica nor for Costa Rica, and has no place in either. My willingness to do this is not only for me, it is also for the University of Costa Rica and for Costa Rica.
When I applied for admission into the doctorate program in astrophysics with all the requirements for admission fulfilled, I trusted the University of Costa Rica to have my best interests at heart. Insteadmy education was dishonored and disrespected. When I refused to let that happen I was treated as if I was invisible. I refuse to be invisible.
The only way to accomplish this is to receive a fair and impartial evaluation for my case by any means necessary.
