Forum
"Why Sit We Here Until We Die?
Woe to Them at Ease in Zion"
To the pastors, ministers, preachers, evan
gelists, prophets, teachers, Christians, and lay
people: Why sit we here until we die? Are we at
ease in Zion? Rome is burning and seemly we
are complacently sitting and watching.
My concern is for all people, all races.
However, my thrust is the black male, because
that's where there
seems to be the great
est problem, and the
black male is a part of
me.
When conversing
with a pastor a few
weeks ago, I spoke of
the need of a place for
the young people to
congregate to talk and fellowship in clean fun
instead of invading the parking lots of business
Sometimes I say things best through poetry
and I share this with you:
If There Is No Love
If there is-no"tove, there is no giving.
If there is no lovi, there is no forgiving. ?
If there is np lovt, there Is no sincerity.
GUEST COLUMNIST
By LaVERNE SAMUEL
If there is no love, there is no wisdom.
If there is no love, there is no understanding.
Too many black men are dying from violence.
Let's encourage our youths to love.
establishments and having to be run off the
premises.
This pastor stated that his concern was "the
attitude of the young people and their disregard
for human life." That point was well taken.
When we minister to the youth/young adults, we
should minister to the total person. As Christians
or lay persons, we need to stop so much "reli
gionlistic" ministering and starting ministering
holisticly.
What 1 see happening to the black male has
been on my heart for years. The solution to the
overall problem is love.
We must come together! Love does not
take a life; love does not take or want what
belongs to another; love does not self-destruct.
If there is no love, there is no compassion.
If there is no love, there is no joy.
If there is no love, there is no God!
There is no love, no God in all the killing,
the drug selling and use, the high crime that is
plaguing our country.
It's past time that we become concerned
witfvour world situation as a whole and the
black male in particular.
When it becomes more important to strive
for power ? any kind of way you can get it,
Including through violence and drugs ? some
thing is wrong with our "value-system." ~
* Too many black men are dying from vio
lence; Let's entourage our youths to love. ^ ~
For Many African Americans,
The Good Old Days Were Bad
JLike many Americans last spring, I had a
great time at my high school reunion ? the 40th
for the Class of '53 of Houston's Jack Yates
High School.
There's a natural human tendency to look
bit about the changes wrought by 40 years. It's
very easy to conclude
that the good old days
weren't that good. In
fact, they were pretty
bad. ?
If we look at some
of the key indicators
that tell us about how
African Americans
compare with other Americans, we can see that a
lot has changed for the better.
Poverty, for example, is something my
classmates thought of as a normal condition. In
1953, the vast majority of African Americans
was poor. Today, that's down to a third.
Back in 1953 the idea that an African Amer
ican could hope to sit in Congress, serve on the
Supreme Court or be Chief of Staff of the Armed
Forces was crazy. But in 1993, we take black
life expectancy for an African -American male
child is about 65, and for females, 74.
So I'm not nostalgic about the good old
days. I don't miss the segregation that kept me
^out of Playland Park. I don't miss the Jim Crow
laws that kept our parents out of thevoting
booths. I don't miss riding in the Colored section
TO BE EQUAL
By JOHN E. JACOB
in the back of the bus.
And as good as Jack Yates High School
was, and as much as I owe to that wonderful
school, I don't miss the segregated school system
That stacked us into an overcrowded, underfi
nanced, double-session school to study from
beat-up, old textbooks discarded by all-white
Lamar High School.
We got over because, despite those negative
statistics and a racist environment, we had
We got over because , despite those negative
statistics and a racist environment , we had
important strengths available to us that today* s
youngsters lack.
political participation and power for granted.
The same holds for private sector jobs.
Today we protest ? and rightly so ? at the
glass ceiling that keep so many of us locked into
middle management or into corporate vice presi
dencies with no shot at the CEO job.
But in 1953 that ceiling was a lot lower ?
We were lucky if they let us out of the basement,
much less into management.
In part, that's because we're better prepared
today. In 1953, my classmates were unusual in
earning a high school diploma ? most black
youngsters dropped out. In 1993, the African
American dropout rate is down to about 1 4 per
cent nationally.
And those of us who went on to college
after graduating were the exceptions ? very few
young, African Americans enrolled in college
* then. Today, a third of all African-American
high school graduates go on to attend college.
And if we're still nostalgic for the good old
days, let's consider life expectancy.
In 1953, an African-American male child
could look forward to a life expectancy of about
60 years; a female child, about 66 years. In 1993,
important strengths available to us that today's
youngsters lack.
Strong families, commitment to moral val
ues, the presence of successful role models in
our neighborhoods, and the availability of work
opportunities are just some of the daily facts of
our lives that are missing from many communi
ties today.
-?
The frightening demoralization of some of
our neighborhoods was apparent to me, as I
retraced my old route to school. It was always a
poor neighborhood with beat-up, old houses, but
today it's 40 years worse ? those houses
haven't been painted since I left.
So while there have been great changes for
the better, there's an urgent need to renew the
values and caring spirit that helped us to survive
a negative environment and can help today's
youngsters survive it, too.
And we can't forget that the real measure of
progress is not how far we've come but how far
we have to go to close the social and economic
gaps between African Americans and whites.
Doonesbury
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VOICES FROM THE COMMUNITY
Huey Bolger. 37
electrician
"Yes. because it's not a
drug. If you go out and get
everything else out of the
garden, it grows up too. I
did it for 10 years, and I
stopped only because of my
job. It is no more harmful
than liquor. They have ABC
stores."
Mellanie Mickle. 34
Cheasapeake Packing
"No. it's not good and
healthy for the body. It
makes t?e person real tired
and less alert, so it shouldn't
be legalized. We don't want
everybody in the world
walking around feeling
relaxed and drugged up."
Clinton Hampton, 30
student loan analyst
"I don't think it's
addictive. I smoke it. and I
don't do any other drugs.
It's good for people who
have glaucoma. I don't
think there are any harmful
effects. I've been smoking it
for 20 years, and I consider
myself stable."
Angela White, 16
Page High School
"It's already a problem
now. If it was legalized,
more problems would prob
ably occur. It kills brain
cells which you can't get
back. People are always
spaced out and don't know
what's going on."
Marijuana use among teen-agers increased almost 16 percent last year, according to a survey by the National Parents'
Resource Institute for Drug Education, a drug prevention group. The Chronicle asked city residents whether they
thought mari juana should be legalized. Here are their responses: