FORUM
36 pounds lighter and counting down
Nigel Alston
Motivational
| Moments
"Sometimes, when one person is
missing, the whole world seems
depopulated."
- Alphonse de Lamartine
"Where's your butt?" an unsus
pecting co-worker asked as I turned
around to identify the source of the
question.
"What did you say?" I asked,
confirming what I knew.
"Where's your butt?" she repeat"
ed, smiling, while standing beside
another co-worker, her accomplice.
"It's still there," I responded,
laughing. "With my shirt hanging
out it just looks like its gone."
That's because my stomach is
shrinking in size and my pants, suits
and shirts fit differently now.
ft has been a long time now since
a dentist/businessman friend chal
lenged me to take better care of my
health. "We need you around," he
told me after a speech one night. He
challenged me to take better care of
myself before it's too late.
You need people like him in
your life, ones who will look you in
the face and tell you the truth, like
my wife. She will let me go a few
months and then give me a not to
subtle hint: "Do you know you are
getting bigger and bigger?"
That's a question that usually
produces silence on my part.
Both of them were right and I
knew it. I also knew what to do
about it, but chose not to. The pain
of carrying extra weight (fat) was
not greater than eating good food.
So I kept on eating anything and
everything. One day, I walked up a
couple (lights of stairs after a fire
drill and realized 1 had developed
"done lap" disease.
I was huffing and puffing. I
couldn't catch my breath and com
plete a sentence at the same time.
Beads of sweat were rolling down
my head. That's when I thought
about how my stomach "done
lapped" over my waist line and how
my back was killing me. That was it!
A moment of truth. "I can't take this
anymore," 1 said. This is not fun; it's
pain!
The pain of carrying extra
(weight) around had now become
greater than eating more and more
food. I made that decision during
the holiday season, and created my
own accountability by making it
public. That has kept me focused
and disciplined, because people ask
me about my progress and comment
on the loss they see taking place.
That's what produced the com
ment about my butt. My co-workers
can see me get smaller day by day. I
have eaten more fruit, apples pri
marily, in the last 14 weeks than I
have in years. Vegetables even taste
better now and drinking more water
has led to a well worn path to the
bathroom, at home and work.
It's all because of Weight Watch
ers.
My coat hangs where it used to
hug me tightly and I'm stepping on
the cuffs of my pants. They hang a
little lower now that my waist is get
ting smaller and that's driving me
crazy. I need to visit a tailor or buy
some new clothes.
[ have been through all the sizes
I've accumulated over the years in
the closet, even tooling my Wife
recently. "You looked good yester
day," she told me, "Was that a new
coat?" Actually, it was a sports jack
et I've had for a couple of years. It
looks new. because I'm smaller.
Now it's a good fit.
I hate getting up early on Satur
day mornings to weigh in. I want to
sleep a little longer, but the thought
of "done lap" disease keeps me
going, another week, one day at a
time. Another granola bar. another
glass of water, another apple in the
morning, that special pineapple
dessert in the evening, and my Sun
day special Meta's baked chicken
with (Texas Pete) hot sauce, collard
greens, cabbage and the best muffin
in town.
The routine is working. I might
be able to conquer those steps now
that I'm 36 pounds lighter and
counting down.
Nigel Alston is a radio talk show
host, columnist and motivational
speaker. Visit his Web site at
www.nuitivutionalmoments.eom.
Ward's religious bigotry
Armstrong
Williams
Guest
Columnist
Charlie Ward, star point guard
for the New York Knicks and recent
recipient of the NBA's outstanding
community service award, was chas
tised by NBA commissioner David
Stern last week as an "intolerant
and divisive" zealot.
Stern was responding to inflam
matory remarks Ward made about
Jews in a recent New York Times
Magazine article. In the article.
Ward classified Jews as "stubborn."
and said that they had Christ's
"blood on their hands." He also
cryptically remarked that, "There
are Christians getting persecuted by
Jews every day."
Since our society tends not to
confuse its athletes for its historians,
let us not dwell on the fact that it was
Roman Gov. Pontius Pilate who
ordained the Crucifixion, or, for that
matter, that the events occurred
2,000 years ago. Likewise, since our
society tends not to mistake its ath
letes for its philosopher's, let us not
dwell on the fact that Christ died for
all of our sins, as opposed to the
indiscretions of any one group. Get
it? To blame Jews in this regard is to
miss the entire point. Or, as Ameri
can Jewish Congress Executive
Director Phil Baum put it:
"Ward.. .should stick to basketball,
and leave the theology to those who
know at least something about it."
Since our society does, however,
tend to mistake its athletes for its
role models, let us dwell for a
moment on the cultural implications
of Ward's remarks In the simplest
sense. Ward's comments represent
primitive tribalism. As part of the
dominant tribe Christians Ward
places a higher value on those who
worship as he does For those who
do not. Ward is comfortable distill
ing them into a few broad stereo
types (i.e., "stubborn") and. in
effect, marginalizing them as inferi
or "others"
This is natural: the dominant
tribe tends not to like the other
tribes very much for the simple rea
son that they represent competing
social customs.
Traditionally, the reaction of the
dominant tribe has been one of
defensiveness. In such a manner,
minorities have been regarded as
mentally inferior, females as unable
to rein in their emotions, etc. Over
time, these cultural stereotypes are
reinforced through social and cul
tural hierarchies, causing people
with pointy, white hoods to stomp
down our streets and people like
Charlie Ward to casually deride
Jews. That Ward's tribal instincts
slither out from behind a glowing
smile makes them no less dangerous
or offensive.
Abraham H. Foxman, national
director of the Anti-Defamation
League, put it succinctly: "We were
shocked to read the comments i.
N.Y. Knicks players...blaming the
death of Jesus on Jews and accusing
Jews of persecuting Christians. We
had thought these destructive his
toric myths, which have been a
source of anti-Semitism for cen
turies, were a thing of the past."
In his publiely issued apology.
Ward did vow to learn more about
Judaism. He also insisted that he
meant no offense by his remarks.
Having met with Ward in the past. I
know that his life is suffused with the
ideas of Christian charity and acts
of love. Therefore, I do not doubt
that he intended his apology as a sin
cere expression of regret. At the
same time, though, the latter state
ment is telling insofar as it indicates
that his religious higotry is so deeply
ingrained that he is not even aware
that it exists.
This point was also noted by
Foxman: "In his attempt to clarify
his comments, it is clear that Mr.
Ward just doesn't get it. Sadly, he
doesn't understand the impact of his
comments and that they constitute
anti-Semitism and religious big
otry."
Even more frightening is the fact
that, as a public figure. Ward's
remarks are worse than ignorant or
inexcusable they are influential.
H'H'H'. armstrong-Williams. com
Downey, drugs and dangerous double standards
Karl Ofari
Hutchinson
Guest
Columnist
Within hours after ill-fated actor
Robert Downey Jr. was busted on suspi
cion of drugs in Culver City. Calif
Robert E. Kelley, the producer of "Ally
McBeal," the TV series Downey stars in,
summarily fired him. This seemed the
signal that Downey's entertainment
industry pals had finally had it with his
misdeeds. But had they? A spokesperson
for 20th Century Fox hedged ifs bets
when he said that some of the "Ally"
footage in which Downey appears might
still be used. And there was no indication
that the new "Ally McBeal" disc, "For
Once in My Life," in which Downey does
a duet with "Ally" songstress Vonda
Shepard, would not be released as sched
uled.
The circle-the-wagons protective atti
tude of many in the entertainment indus
try toward Downey is hardly surprising.
Despite Downey's highly publicized
busts on drug and weapons possession
charges during the past five years,
Downey's stock in the entertainment
business soared. He was released on sev
eral occasions from L.A. jails to com
plete movie shoots, and a few weeks after
his major drug bust in Palm Springs last
November he bagged a Golden Globe
Award for best supporting actor on
"Ally."
There's nothing wrong with
Downey's entertainment industry
friends, and a star-struck public, pleading
for empathy for him and urging the
courts to spare him a long prison sen
tence, and give him the help that he des
perately needs. But there are thousands
of drug offenders that need the same
compassion and help as Downey. The
big difference is that these drug abusers
aren't high-profile, bankable screen com
modities. They are mostly poor blacks
and Latinos. The estimate is that nearly
one-fourth of the more than 1 million
blacks that pack America's prisons are
there for non-violent, drug-related
crimes. It costs an estimated $6 billion to
keep them there.
Putting them behind bars has had
staggering consequences. It has torn
apart families and communities. It has
been the single biggest reason for the
bloat in federal and state spending on
prison construction, maintenance and
the escalation in the number of prosecu
tors needed to handle the flood of drug
cases. It has effectively barred thousands
of blacks and Latinos from the polls in
more than a dozen states that ban ex
felons from voting. Many of them were
slapped with felonies for minor drug
crimes.
Also, few poor, black and Latino
drug offenders will be immediately
released by police, as Downey was, sent
to a detox center, and from there referred
to a drug treatment center. They won't
hear a prosecutor publicly concede, as
Downey's prosecutor did in the Palm
Springs case, that if convicted of a felony
drug offense which carries a sentence of
nearly five years in prison they could
serve their time in a court-approved year
long outpatient program.
The pampered treatment of celebri
ties such as Downey carries another
grave danger. It could fuel a public back
lash to the mounting efforts by many
drug reform advocates and public offi
cials to push Congress to eliminate the
gaping, racially-warped disparity in the
drug-sentencing laws. These laws man
date minimum sentences for petty drug
offenses for those tried in federal court.
Far more black and Latino drug offend
ers than whites are tried there. Former
President Clinton and Attorney General
Janet Reno twice gave halfhearted
approval to the U.S. Sentencing Com
mission's recommendation that the drug
sentencing laws be softened. Twice Con
gress refused to act.
President Bush and Attorney Gener
al John Ashcroft have made passing ref
erence to the need to re-examine the
effectiveness of the drug sentencing laws.
Downey's repeated busts could ren
der that a pipe dream. They could also
cripple efforts by drug reform advocates
to win wider public support for statewide
initiatives such as Proposition 36 passed
overwhelmingly by California voters last
November. The law mandates treatment,
not jail, for nonviolent, first-time drug
offenders. Drug warriors loathe these ini
tiatives. They claim that treatment, rather
than severe jail sentences, encourages
drug abusers to laugh at the courts and
the law and puts the public at greater
peril.
Many health professionals and law
enforcement officials admit that the
nations current drug policy that relies
exclusively on jails, and not treatment, is
in shambles. They also agree that making
more arrests, building more prisons,
passing even more draconian drug laws
are the wrong ways to repair the damage.
The right ways are to dump the manda
tory drug-sentencing laws, target high
level dealers for prosecution, end drug
profiling and random stops of black and
Latino motorists and spend billions on
counseling, treatment and prevention
programs, not jails.
A spokesperson for the California
Department of Corrections confirmed
that authorities are leaning toward plac
ing Downey in a residential treatment
facility. Said the spokesperson, "We
don't want to just lock them up."
By "them" he meant the well-to-do
and famous, such as Downey, not the
thousands of poor and unknown.
There's no such quitlm about locking
"them" up.
Earl Ofar't Hutchinson is the president
of the National Alliance for Positive
Action (Web site: www.natalliance.org)
and the author of "The Disappearance of
Black Leadership."
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