Forum Rest in Peace "A seed, until it is released, is only the promise of a tree." ? Myles Munroe How can you "rest in peace" if you never release your potential? How can we, as a com munity, be satisfied until we use all the resources we have to realize our potential? How can we as an African-American people ? a nation within a nation ? afford to allow others tn determine our future? ? ? into an apple tree, which produces apples with seeds to grow more trees to produce more apples. We are like seeds. For every girl we lose, we lose a woman ... and every boy, a man. A nation within a nation is being lost without bear ing the fruit of its potential. We are willing pas sengers on a journey into the year 2000 where we will be nonparticipants. The promise of a great community is within our reach, if we only release the great ness we have within. The thought of what we can accom-Jfl GUEST COLUMNIST By NIGEL ALSTON plxsh takes on added significance as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the famous march on Washington and begin planning the second African-American Summit. Are we going to take control of our future or "rest in peace" and depend on others to save us? Potential is unused success . . . latent power what you can accomplish that you haven't yet accomplished. Potential is a seed of greatness waiting to be released. It needs watering, nurtur ing and attention ? concentration of power ? to fulfill its potential. In case you have been "resting in peace," know that the alarm is ringing and the wake-up call has been placed. If we don't get up now. we may not have another chance. It's time to consider the impact of the Hud son Institute report, "Work Force 2000: Work and Workers for the 21st Century." By the year 2000, the majority of new entrants into the work force will be women and minorities. Not only are the demographics changing, but we are becoming more service-oriented and driven by technology. Very few jobs will be created for those who cannot read, follow directions and use mathematics. How does this relate to our poten tial? We must prepare to be participants and remember the golden rule. He who has the gold, rules! And the "gold" is information and the knowledge to use it. We continue to bury our potential with black on black crime, an increase in teen preg nancy and hopelessness. Drugs and alcohol seemingly rule the day. Because we are preoccu pied with immediate gratification, we will be left out of tomorrow. Our potential to be full partici pants in society is diminishing daily. We cannot allow the tragedy of our potential to go unre leased. _ The second African-American Summit is our seed ? the promise of a tree. It is our oppor tunity to come together to develop our agenda, determine what our priorities are and go to work. As we prepare for the summit, we can be comforted by two previous successes ? legal struggles to end segregation and the Civil Rights Movement. Jeff P. Howard, Ph.D., a psycholo gist and president of the Efficacy Institute Inc., points out the commonality of these two move ments, whidil Wnkare applicable today as we develop our agenda: Clear, compelling objec tives, mobilization of a broad base of support, clear, operational appiuaclies and a belief in the capacity to achieve the desired results. According to Howard, there can be no real peace for us or pride in our status as beneficia ries of the previous movements unless we take control. As we watch so many young souls being destroyed before our eyes, "Who will take responsibility? If we do nothing, there will be no meaningful future for us. .u. . , vn.>. In every seed there is a forest, in every fish, a school, in every bird, a flock, in every cow, a herd, in every girl, a woman, in every boy, a man, and injsvery man, a nation. ? Myles Munroe. The seed is planted. If we take responsibility for it, we can all "Rest in Peace." ? ? Well, pick up the paper on any given day and read the police briefings and reports of vio lence that are robbing us of our potential. Wfc have more young black men entering prison than college. Two out of four black men age 17-24 are either in prison, on parole or probation. Fifty percent! And most without a high school educa tion. A major segment ,ot African Americans who could make up the majority of new entrants into the workforce by the year 2000 are, instead, in jail ? preparing to enter our new jail, underedu cated, miseducated or undeveloped. At a time when we should be positioning ourselves to release our potential, the seed is being buried. ' Consider an apple seed. Within it is poten tial, the promise of an apple tree. Until the seed is planted and released, that's all it will be ? a promise. When its potential is released, it grows Losing Our Youths to AIDS Is it possible that we could lose a generation of our young people in the black community to drugs, violence and AIDS? Yes, it is increas ingly possible. Research information indicates that violence is the largest cause of death among black males, and the-*percentage of blacks in prisons and youth ease. After a period of time, the infected person develops full-blown AIDS, becomes very sick and dies. This disease earlier was prevalent primarily among homosexuals and drug users, who used dirty needles. AIDS is now spreading rapidly in detention centers is astonishing. Available infor mation indicates that more recently, the number of persons testing HIV-positive j GUEST COLUMNIST By J. RAYMOND OLIVER JR. for the AIDS virus is*"^ growing rapidly. There are current indications nationally that women are becoming infected with the AIDS virus more often than men. Women testing HIV-positive may infect men but also may give birth to babies who will test positive. Between 1991 and 1992. the number of babies born in North Carolina testing positive for the virus increased 42 percent. In the city of Winston-Salem, when we compare the number of AIDS patients by area, j we find 33 percent live in zip code area 27105, ; and 29 percent live in zip code 27101, while ? only four percent live in area 27103. The remaining cases are spread out over other areas. If the present trends continue to increase, we could project that one out of five persons will die from violence, and one of five will die from AIDS in the at-risk neighborhoods. It is conceivable that drugs, violence and AIDS could wipe out one-third of the youth in the next 10 years, particularly those who are at risk. A worse case example can be found in Africa. Kenya has a population where 35 per cent of the people test HIV positive for the AIDS virus. This means that the people infected may not be living in 10 years. Consider also the short life span of the children born to the infected mothers. AIDS is caused by a virus which breaks down the body's immune system, thus rendering the body vulnerable to many germs and infec tions. The virus remains in the body for years. An infected person miy not be aware or show symptoms but is capable of spieading the /r 600P, v 7 sr-o;i.< tZDFKcNP, 3L" fOi 'RE uOfN 'r STRAIGHT TV 't\ ? ZQF "H'SONE 9RQ0rS. iVHcN T.^/S StH * FiHSJ OPCNFV t TjbiVtOFS r . AACkSi IF] HA I ' 1 RJ / J \ ;?FARATE.PORM.' AkL 'ZAH. TERJAS on GROUNDS JHA I HACKS iUOULV 3E MORS "COM tVRTAtfLE IN TH?M WHAT WOULD 1 HAVVBLW CAuW UJELL, ' 'iOT OVER mis. ITS ? UARRjAOe RELATEP. PEAN BROOKS, FOR YEARS MINOR ITIES ANPIMMEN HAVE FOUGHT Toee/Nowep in the canon i SO WHY MUST THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS BE 5JUPIEP APAKT FROM IT? REPRESENT THE MUCJh MLMB RACJAL, &i -GEM PER YOU'VE / STUPENT BANPEP TD PROTEST 7HEENP0F SEPARATISM. SIR, YOU'RE NOT 6ETTIN6 IT - A DEPARTMENT IS POUJCF. 9CPA RAU ETHNIC AMP WOMEN'S COPIES DEPARTMENT^ REPRE SENT POWER TOPtO PLEUJHCTVE HIS TORICALLY BEEN PtNIBP IV YOU'LL F/NP ALL 26 OF OUR Pe MANPS 0N7HAT PtSK' VOICES FROM THE COMMUNITY ?i ? mi MHinitv The ' . viimunity. This summer, there have been several clashes betu-.vf | . ;?n>! v-M.lent . ?>? ?'< Chroniclc asked city residents how they felt that i ;!, H-- -"it ????. . Here are there responses: Alzie Sherard. 39 housewife "T think the p