OPINION
Chronicle
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Ernest H. Pitt Pubiisher/Co-Founder
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ELAINE Pitt Business Manager
Michael A. Pitt Marketing
T. Kevin Walker Managing Editor
AMOcMtlon
Angelou's Olympic
Contribution
4 ngelou
Our very own Dr. Maya Angelou has added
another glorious accomplishment to her already
stellar resume. Angelou, a longtime Winston
Salem resident and a Wake Forest University
professor, was asked to pen a poem for the 2008
Olympics, which are going on as we type in
Beijing, China
Of course. Dr. Angelou is no novice w hen it
comes to writing poems for high profile events.
Her poem. "On the Pulse of Morning," which
she wrote and recited for Bill Clinton's 1993
Presidential Inauguration, is a classic. We think
this one will be too.
Amazement Awaits
By Maya Angelou
Sheer amazement awaits
Amazement luxuriant in promise
Abundant in wonder
Our beautiful children arrive at this Universal stadium
They have bathed in the waters of the world
And carry the soft silt of the Amazon, the Nile.
The Danube, the Rhine, the Yangtze and the Mississippi
In the palms of their right hands.
A wild tiger nestles in each armpit
And a meadowlark perches on each shoulder.
We. the world audience, stand, arms akimbo.
Longing for the passion of the animal
And the melody of the lark
The tigers passion attend the opening bells,
The birds sing of the amazement which awaits.
o
The miracle of joy that comes out of the gathering of our best,
bringing their best.
Displaying the splendor of their bodies and the radiance of their
agile minds to the cosmos.
Encouragement to those other youth caught in the maws
of poverty.
Crippled by the terror of ignorance.
They say Brothers and Sisters, Yes, try. Then try harder.
Lunge forward, press eagerly for release.
The amazement which awaits is for you.
We are here at the portal of the world we had wished for
At the lintel of the world we most need.
We are here roaring and singing.
We prove that we can not only make peace, we can bring
it with us.
With respect for the world and its people.
We can compete passionately without hatred.
With respect for the world and its people,
We can take pride in the achievement of strangers.
With respect for the world and its people,
We can share openly in the success of friends.
Here then is the Amazement
Against the odds of impending war
In the mouth of bloody greed
Human grace and human spirit can still conquer.
Ah ... We discover, we ourselves
Are the Amazement which awaits
We are ourselves Amazement.
President Hearn
We join the rest of the com
munity in mourning the passing
of Thomas Hearn. the man who
helped to put Wake Forest, and by
extension, Winston
Salem on the map.
The former presi
dent of the university
died this week after a
lengthy battle with brain
cancer. Hearn retired in
2005, soon after having
surgery to treat the can
cer. Contrary to popular
belief, he did not step
down at Wake because
of his illness; he had made plans
to retire way before that. Looking
hack at his more than two decades
at the 'school, there's no wonder
why he felt there was little else he
could achieve.
He was only 45 when he
arrived at the campus in the early
1980s to start his run as the
school's 12th president. During
his reign. Wake Forest flourished.
The school had really only been
known in local circles for its aca
demic vigor and flair. Largely
because of Hearn, the world
would learn that as well.
He increased the school's cof
fers, recruited academic super
Htarn
stars and made the controversial
decision to sever Wake's gover
nance by the Baptist State
Convention of North Carolina. As
a result, the school's aca
demic rigor has been
constantly attested to by
U.S. News &World
Report and student
enrollment rose through
the roof. And few
schools can boast that
they've hosted two pres
idential debates like
Wake has in 1988 and
2000.
Heam had his detractors, like
all successful leaders. Some stu
dents complained that he wasn't
warm and fuzzy; some faculty
members lobbied similar com
plaints. But Heam was Heam. and
Wake Forest and all of us should
be thankful for that.
A memorial service will be
held on Friday at 3 pm. in Wail
Chapel. In lieu of flowers, memo
rials can he made to the Wake
Forest University Brain Tumor
Center of Excellence, Office of
Development, Medical Center
Boulevard. Winston-Salem, NC
27157-1021.
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Bi-racial 4 Black' Leaders
George
Curry
Guest
Columnist
If you had a choice of
color
Which one would you choose
my brothers
If there was no day or night
Which would you prefer to be
>,? right.
- Curtis Mayfield,
"Choice of Colors"
While Barack Obama was
pondering whether to seek his
party's nomination for presi
dent, there was another devel
opment already taking place in
the Black community. More
than any time in memory,
there has been a growth in the
number of people of biracial
parentage assuming leadership
roles in largely Black cities
and organizations. They
include Washington, D.C.
Mayor Adrian Fenty, NAACP
President/CEO Benjamin
Jealous and Maryland
Lieutenant Governor Anthony
G. Brown.
As with so many things in
the African-American commu
nity, the issue of color is a
complicated one.
From the days slave mas
ters forced themselves on
Bla@k women, there have been
bi-racial children, some taking
on the color of their mother
and others looking as white as
any White man. Even today,
more than nearly 400 years
later, some Blacks can still
pass for White.
Complicating matters
within the community, howev
er, are the mixed signals
Blacks have historically sent
on color. In many social gath
erings, a premium was placed
on what was then called light
bright-and'damned-near
White. Some social clubs
required potential members to
Mayor Fenty
pass the paper bag test - if you
were darker than a paper bag,
you couldn't join.
But all of that changed -
or, at least was challenged -
during the Black Power
Movement of the late 1960s.
Black was in. White was out.
No more White dolls, no more
European beauty standards, no
more self-hate. We were
taught to love ourselves. Of
course, the Black Pride
Movement never took full
hold in our community - after
trying an Afro, James Brown
even went back to hi? scary
curl - but it represented a sig
nificant step in the right direc
tion.
Now some of us would rather
cuss and make a fuss
Than to bring about a little
trust
But we shall overcome our
beliefs someday
If you'll only listen to what I
have to say.
With remnants of the live
and-let live spirit of the 1960s
still in place, color isn't any
less complicated today.
Clarence Thomas, a dark
skinned man, is more hostile
to civil rights than any of the
White conservatives on the
U.S. Supreme Court. Yet,
Walter White - who, by all
appearances, looked White -
was an ardent civil rights
activist with the NAACP,
serving as executive secretary
from 1931-1955.
Derrick Bell, a law profes
sor at New York University,
Lieutenant Gov. Brown
reads nothing special into the
inceasing number of bi-racial
leaders.
"It shows that interracial
unions are on the rise," he
explained. "Obviously a num
ber of young Whites, male and
female, are looking beyond
race in choosing whom they
wish to marry."
Until the U.S. Supreme
Court struck down anti-misce
genation laws in 1967 (Loving
v. Virginia), interracial mar
riages were illegal in 16 states.
According to the Census
Bureau, the number of interra
cial marriages increased from
less than 1 percent in 1970 to
slightly more than 5 percent in
2000.
And not all products of
these unions accept others'
definition of them. Consider
this exchange between
Michelle Martin, host of
NPR's "Tell Me More," and
Ben Jealous. ?
MARTIN: One other
interesting thing about you is
that you are also biracial as is
Barack Obama, as is the lieu
tenant governor of Maryland,
as is the mayor of Washington.
JEALOUS: Can I, can I
make a small correction there?
MARTIN: Of course.
JEALOUS: I'm black,
you know the only thing that
we have, you know, the only
definition that's out there on
the books if you will, are state
laws, and my family is from
Virginia. When I was born . . .
the law said ... if you were at
least l/32nd of African
descent, you were black, end
Jealous
of story. White was an exclu
sive definition; black was
inclusive definition...
The real issue, says Luke
Harris, a professor at Vassar
College, is not what people
call Jealous - whose father is
White and mother is Black -
but how those in that group
relate to the Black conjmunity.
"Biracial folk have always
played significant leadership
roles in the Black community.
We need only think of
Frederick Douglass," Harris
said. "Whether their increased
participation in these roles
signals something good or bad
depends on the ways in which
they relate to the Black com
munity. Do they see them
selves as full-fledged mem
bers of our community? Do
they offer a politics that gen
uinely reflect the interests of
our community? These are the
sorts of questions that will
have to be asked."
/ said now people must prove
to the people
A better day is coming for
ypu and for me
With just a little bit more
education
And love for our nation
Would make a better society.
George E. Curry, former
editor-in-chief of Emerge
magazine and the NNPA News
Service, is a keynote speaker,
moderator, and media coach.
He can be reached through his
Web site,
www.georgecurry.com .
Juveniles don't belong in adult prisons
Marian
Wright
Edelman
Guest
Columnist
Jails and prisons are dan
gerous places for anybody,
but especially for children and
teens. Many of these institu
tions house vicious predators
who have been locked up for
brutal violent crimes. Yet on
any given day, approximately
9,500 juveniles under the age
of IS are locked up in adult
penal institutions. Children as
young as 15 can be prosecute^
as adults in many states with
out review by a judge or a
court hearing.
The Campaign for Youth
Justice report, "Jailing
Juveniles: The Dangers of
Incarcerating Youth in Adult
Jails in America," released in
November 2007, outlines the
challenges to keeping chil
dren safe in adult jails. It cat
alogs the numerous jurisdic
tions throughout the United
States where teens are placed
in great danger because of the
variety of flawed policies and
laws governing juvenile
incarceration. In 44 states and
Ihe District of Columbia,
juveniles as young as 14 can
be tried in the adult criminal
system. Forty states either
permit or mandate the jailing
of young people in adult facil
ities before trial.
The report argues that
children and teens should not
be held to the same standard
of accountability for their
actions as grown-ups, citing
research that shows the devel
opmental differences between
adolescents and adults. These
findings indicate that the pre
frontal cortex, which governs
the "executive functions" of
reasoning, advanced thinking
and impulse control, is one of
the last areas of the brain to
mature.
In numerous cases, there is
no public safety justification
for locking up these young
people in adult prisons.
Juveniles may be held in adult
jails for months or even years,
although most of them are not
charged with a violent crime,
and many will not be convict
ed of any crime. Nevertheless,
they languish behind bars
with dangerous criminals and
are at great risk of being raped
and beaten. Many are pushed
to attempt suicide.
As in the administration of
many laws in this country.
Black and Latino children and
teens end up in adult facilities
in numbers disproportionately
higher than their representa
tion in the general population.
Nationally, according to the
Campaign for Youth Justice
report, three out of four young
people admitted to adult
prison in 2002 were either
Black or Latino.
At issue is the Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency
Prevention Act of 1974
(JJDPA). When originally
enacted, it was designed to
prevent young people from
going to adult jails and pris
ons and to separate young
people from adults while
incarcerated. These protec
tions were called "Sight and
Sound Separation"? a young
person would be beyond the
sight and sound of the adult
inmates. Over time, however,
these provisions have been
eroded and do not apply to
young people being tried in
the adult criminal system.
Now judges in juvenile
courts are often excluded
from the decision to prosecute
children and teens as adults.
In many states, these deci
sions are made at the discre
tion of prosecutors, no matter
how minor the infraction
might be. The JJDPA does not
provide a level playing field
for Black and Latino youths
who are more likely than
White youths to end up in
adult prisons and jails.
We have an opportunity
and responsibility to do better
in our country. Placing juve
niles in adult jails and prisons
is an appalling injustice ? and
it doesn't work to reduce
crime. With the JJDPA set to
be reauthorized this year.
Congress must amend the Act
to ban the placement of_chil-- _
dren or teens in adult jails or
prisons no matter what court
hears their case. This is the
right and sensible thing to do.
For more information
about Marian Wright
Edelman and the Children's
Defense Fund, which she
established, C go to
www.childrensdefense .org .