Forum
Images Should Mirror Congregations
You know, Winston -Salem, I just can't for
the life of me understand how the black commu
nity toft ao much of what our forefathers forged
for us in this city oh ao many years ago ? yean
when blacks were openly treated very badly and
when there was no question as to where their
place was. But in spite of those times, blacks in
this city had a pride and a dignity about them
that transmuted the prejudice and the pressures.
As a result, they estab
lished businesses such
as restaurants, credit
cab companies,
a bus company, shoe
shops and bartxr shops.
They did it all with
very few resources.
gonna be mighty surprised when we realize that
the same missing piece is absent in our lives as
welL
Well, I would argue that most parents want
their children to be the very best that they can
be. They want to brag on how well their children
are doing, whether scholastically, financially or
otherwise. This is just a natural process because
parents see their children as not just extensions
GUEST COLUMNIST
By CARLTON A HOLLAND
And I suspect thai a lot
of what they were able to do was accomplished
doe to an abiding faith in God and with strong
control over their community schools and their
churches.
They were tartly-oriented and respectful of
each other. They helped each other in whatever
ways they could. And, oh yes, there were plenty
of homes even then with only one parent due to
various reasons, but they endured through good
times and bad in Winston-Salem's proud black
community.
But that was then, and this is now. So it
begs the question: Where do we go from here?
Howcan we turn around the lives of those black
youths who are slaughtering each other, clogging
the judicial system, wreaking havoc in the
schools, attacking their peers on the buses as
well as in and out of the classrooms. And let's
not forget the many teachers across this troubled
city who have been (and still are being) attacked
by these lawless and uncaring young people.
So we ask why? Why have these young
people all of a sudden become wild, uncaring,
undisciplined and disrespectful of their peers,
teachers, parents and any kind of authority? In
addition, they have lost (and 1 suspect without
their knowledge) respect for themselves.
As an example, not too long ago, most
young men would not swear if there were young
women present. Why? Well, I suspect that it was
because of the way in which the young women
conducted themselves. Contrast that with what
happens now,, when far too many of our young
women play "Can You Top This** when it comes
to using filthy lsnguage among themselves and
with the young men as well.
I believe that it can be safely suited that
something is definitely missing in their young
lives, and it is our responsibility as caring adults
to try and find what that something that is miss
ing happens to be. I'll just venture a small wager
that when we as adults find out just what that
missing something is in the children, we're
of themselves, but as the new and improved ver
sions. Good or bod, parents can chronicle the
events in their lives vrtiich took them from there
to here because they have the advantage of hind
sight ? hindsight which included memories of
stable neighborhoods, a Winston-Salem State
Teachers College which was proudly looked
upon by the black community as "ours," even by
plain, hard-working factory folks who had never
attended that school and had no plans to do so.
But the college was there for their children, as so
many of them would boatt.
_ In addition, there were the neighborhood
schools where all the authority figures were not
only black but darn good at what they did ?
where education and maintaining pride and dig
nity in their school and themselves was para
mount And then there was the powerful institu
tion of the black church, which is still controlled
by the community. Well, sort of, because we're
still building more and more churches with icons
and stained-glass windows showing images of
the majority (whites) ? where Sunday School
books, the Bibles and most of the literature
which goes into most black churches is still very
white.
So what's my point?
If we as a people don't love and respect our
selves enough to decorate and use every oppor
tunity to make our places of worship a mirrored
image of ourselves, then why should our trou
bled black youth feel that we as black adults are
anything more than hypocrites, when parents,
teachers, preachers, etc., attempt to teach and
preach to them about black pride, when we
haven't exercised black pride in the one last and
most powerful institution that we still control:
the church.
Finally, how can the black church continue
to attempt to provide leadership and role models
-for our black youth if they're unwilling or per
haps too ashamed to provide images and litera
ture in the churches which look more like the
congregation. After all, black is supposed to be
beautiful!
Job Training Can Boost Economy
' The U.S. economy is trying to beat power
fill global competitors with one hand tied behind
its back.
We're losing ground because years of
underinvestment and the tragic waste of human
resources are coming back to haunt us.
Alone among the world's top industrial
nations, we are the one with the falling bridges
and crumbling roads, the one with failing
schools, the one with huge numbers of people
$ho don't have the skills and the education to
be productive.
I know there is strong opposition to a train
ing tax and to federal subsidies, but they will be
necessary since emp^pyers, especially small
businesses, are reluctant to train workers in
skills thai make them attractive to competitors.
So a neutral, outside entity is necessary to
ensure that workers get the skills required by
today's economy.
Americans should also consider adopting
apprenticeship training systems such as those
that are common in so many European coun
tries. In Germany, 60 percent of all workers go
If you look at our'
rivals around the
world, you find that
Japan and Germany
are making those peo
ple investments. They
stress education and
skills. They have
TO BE EQUAL
John E. Jacob
child development pro
grams. They have world-class schools. They
have apprenticeship training and skills develop
ment programs. Their governments and the pri
vate sector work together to back those
effbrts.They act on the correct assumption that
the leaden of the new world economy will be
the countries that develop their people.
If we're going to compete successfully,
we'll have to act on that, too. Government,
industry and the not-for-profit voluntary sector
need 10 be pat of such an effort
Industry needs to do more to train its peo
ple. It now spends many billions on training.
Put if you put the numbers under a microscope,
you find that with the exception of the largest
and best corporations, very few companies do
any training at all, and most of the rest have two
kinds of training ? safety training mandated by
law and continuing management training for
executives.
That's beginning to change since the Total
Quality Movement has begun to take root But
it's not changing enough, and it's not changing
fast enough. That is why the Clinton administra
tion should follow through on its campaign
promises to revamp worker training programs.
through high quality apprenticeship programs,
and private-sector job training is strongly sup
ported by government. In Japan, employers
work closely with local schools to develop
needed skills, and small companies get subsidies
for on-the-job training.
I served on the Commission on the Skills of
(he American Workforce, which called for set
ting educational performance standards that
would qualify young people for skilled jobs and
establish a comprehensive system of technical
certification for a wide range of occupations.
There are signs that support for such a system is
growing, as employers and policy-makers real
ize the failing of a system in which high school
diplomas don't necessarily mean work- readi
ness, and non-college youth get few opportuni
ties to acquire advanced technical skills. Nor do
we help youngsters bridge the gap between
school and work.
The major initial workforce development
effort should target out-of-work, non-college
young people, equqjping them with the training
and skills to contribute to the economy and to
help take their place in what has to become a
world-class workforce.
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VOICES FROM THE COMMUNITY
President Clinton recently enacted a policy that could allow homosexuals to serve in the military. The Chronicle asked
city residents whether they thought gays should serve in the military. Here are their responses:
- Alexandra Thompson, 23
The Limited
"I think a person's personal
life is their own business. If
they want to serve in the .
military \ don't think it
should matter whether
they're bisexual or homo
sexual."
1
Tom Roper, 56
Hanes Internationa;
"As a retired military per
son, I would not recom
mend it The military is sup- .
. posed to be your strength. If
you're looking at a gay from
that standpoint, you couldn't
look at that as a strong
backbone."
'Wr
David Carter, 60
retired
"I don't really believe in the
gay rights thing because in
the Bible, Sodom and
Gomorrah were destroyed
because of this. As far as
gays in the military ... I just
don't think that they have
the strength."
Ken Jones, 25
Gaston Elementary
"Number one, I ihink it
would causc disharmony
among the troops in the mil
itary. Number two, I refuse
to stand for something that
God sLj.iis against."