FORUM
50 years of Black Progress
Ben
Chavis
Guest
Columnist
Has Black America
made significant progress
politically, socially and
economically over the past
50 years? litis is not only
an important question to
pose, it is equally important
to answer. And the answer
is a resounding yes.
In fact, 1965 to 2015
has been a remarkable peri
od in the history of Black
America. But make no mis
take about it: all of our
progress has come as a
direct result of a protracted
struggle for freedom, jus
tice and equality.
The universal right to
self-determination is a fun
damental human right rec
ognized by the United
Nations. We have too often
allowed non-Blacks to mis
define ounreality with dis
torted myths, negative
stereotypes and cynicism.
This year will mark the
largest Congressional
Black Caucus (CBC) with
46 members. In 1965, there
were only five African
Americans in the Congress.
We have come a long
way politically in the past
50 years at the federal, state
and local levels. In addition
to representation in the
House and Senate, we have
served as mayors of big
cities, as governors, as lieu
tenant governors, as speak
ers of state legislatures, as
county commission chairs,
as city council chairs, as
school board presidents and
as national party chairs.
Black participation in state
legislatures alone has
increased five-fold during
the past five decades.
Since the passage of the
1965 Voting Rights Act,
Black Power has moved
from becoming a chant to a
political reality. The late
Edward Brooke (R-Mass.)
blazed the way as the first
Black attorney general of a
state and later as the first
African-American popular
ly elected to the U.S.
Senate. Following suit as
governors were Doug
Wilder in Virginia and
Deval Patrick in
Massachusetts.
Jesse L. Jackson's 1984
and 1988 presidential cam
paigns paved the way for
Barack Obama's successful
campaign in 2008 to
become the first Black
elected president of the
United States of America.
On the heels of that suc
cess and Blacks voting at a
higher percentage than
Whites in 2012 for the first
time, have come efforts by
Republicans to suppress the
Black vote. This effort, car
ried out largely by
Republican-dominated
state legislatures, is under
way as America experi
ences a dramatic demo
graphic shift.
We are grateful that
Sister Jeri Green and others
at the U.S. Census Bureau
that have assembled the lat
est social and demographic
statistics for Black History
Month observance:
? i^s of July 1, 2012,
there are now 44.5 million
Black Americans, either
alone or in .combination
with one or more other
races, in the U.S., up 1 per
cent over 2011.
? New York is the state
with the largest Black
American population, with
3.7 million. The District of
Columbia has the highest
percentage of. Black
Americans at 51.6 percent,
followed by Mississippi at
38 percent. Texas has the
highest numeric increase in
Black Americans since
2011 (87,000). Cook
County, 111. (Chicago) had
the largest Black American
population of any county as
of 2012 at 1.3 million.
? The percentage of
Blacks 25 and older with a
high school diploma or
higher was 83.2 percent.
? The percentage of
African-Americans in that
same age group with a
bachelor's degree or higher
in 2012 was 18.7 percent.
? There were 3.7 million
Blacks enrolled in college
as of 2012, a 28 percent
increase over the 2.9 mil
lion in 2007.
? The annual median
family income of Black
households was $33321 in
2012, compared to the
national figure of $55,017.
? The poverty rate for
African-Americans was
27.2 percent in 2012, com
pared to 15 percent nation
ally.
? There were 9.8 million
family households in 2013
and among Black house
holds, 45.7 percent con
tained married couples.
? There was a record
17.8 million Black voter
turnout in 2012 , a 1.7 mil
lion voter increase of the
number of Black
Americans who voted in
2008.
? The record 66.2 per
cent of Black Americans
who voted in the 2012 pres
idential election was higher
than the 64.1 percent of
non-Hispanic Whites who
voted in 2012.
Yes, we have made
progress over the past half
century, but future progress
will not happen by osmosis.
Rather, it will happen when
we become wiser about
how we spend more than $1
trillion each year. We,will
also need to focus on
strengthening Black-owned
businesses and grow a new
generation of committed
young entrepreneurs.
To be blunt, Black
Americans cannot afford to
entertain any ideas of not
moving forward to make
more progress over the next
50 years. We have come too
far to turn back now.
Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.
is the President and CEO of
the National Newspaper
Publishers Association
(NNPA) and can be reached
for national advertisement
sales and partnership pro
posals at: .
dr.bchavis@nnpa.orfi; and
for lectures and other pro
fessional consultations at:
http://drbenjaminfchav
isjr.wix .com/drbfc.
Ron Rogers/The Chronicle
Stop playing Russian Roulette with our children
Henry J.
Pankey
Guest
Columnist
All children deserve a
successful school. It is edu
cation malpractice to keep
them in chronically low
performing institutions. It
takes mettle to challenge the
status quo. It also requires
leaders who are capable,
bold, competent, and coura
geous individuals with an
unconditional love for chil
dren.
We know how to edu
cate all children. There is a
critical need to overcome
denial, guilt, name calling
and assigning blame. Our
children are at risk. Children
of migrant workers sleep on
pallets in old bams or wood
sheds. Thousands of stu
dents living in urban projects
lay on floors each night
because their mamas are
afraid someone will blow
their child's brains out.
The late Carl T. Rowan,
a noted journalist, wrote in
"The Coming Race War in
America" about children
^putting caskets on layaway.
Like many of their peers,
they want to "go out in
style."
We talk to young people
about school, graduation,
futures and what they want
to do when they grow up. It's
incomprehensible for mid
dle-class America to con
template that many young
people do not think they will
live long enough to "grow
up."
It is also disheartening to
hear they no longer believe
adults entrusted with their
care will protect them from
harm's way. Former New
York Daily News reporter
Earl Caldwell's editorial and
research stated 10,000 Black
men are killed or wounded
each year. This does not
include those rightfully or
wrongfully put into prison.
America, we have a
problem of epic proportions.
The "real" curriculum of
children extends beyond the
schoolhouse. We are right to
mandate rigor, relevance and
relationships, but we cannot
afford to ignore the "authen
tic syllabus" of our children.
The tragedies of fatal
school shootings represent
shameless violence. Its grav
ity mirrors the trauma suf
fered by youth each day.
Due to naive security proce
dures, we have not secured
campuses or adequately pro
tected children.
The words of Thomas
Jefferson resound like a
deafening volcano: "I trem
ble for my country when I
consider God is just and his
justice will not sleep forev
er."
Dr. Martin Luther King's
message may explain the
motivation behind class
room disruptions: 'True
peace is not the absence of
tension, but the presence of
justice." When there is no
justice, there is no peace.
The perception of injustice
creates discipline problems
and chaos in our classrooms.
We are not powerless.
We can make our streets,
homes and schools safe.
Cowering to violent individ
uals is an unacceptable
option. Weapons are In the
hands of young people,
criminals or the mentally
unstable. Some students
take weapons to school out
of fear. However, children
do not make guns or profit
from them. Firearms repre
sent big business for gun
manufacturers.
The National Crime
Prevention Council reported
135 JOOO illegal guns are in
schools each year. The U. S.
Department of Education
Institute of Education
Science states 2 percent of
public schools use dally
metal detector checks or
other security procedures.
Politicians, educators,
parents and community
based organizations are con
cerned about the image and
intrusiveness of these poten
tially lifesaving instruments.
Students are worried about
getting killed!
The undeniable truth is
that fearful pupils do not do
well on state tests. Profanity,
pants rebelliously worn low
enough to show naked butts,
provocative clothing, sexu
security surveillance cam
eras risk the loss of their
careers.
The average superin
tendent is fired within three
years. Principals work under
ronment conducive to teach
ing and learning is shameful.
The inability or unwilling
ness to ensure safety repre
sents poor leadership and
professional child abuse.
"Whenfhaebnojus6ce,iiereisnopeace. Thepenxp
ion(finjusioeaeates(isdpBnepvbknts(md(haosin
*
our classrooms*"
HenryJPtmkey
ally explicit T-shirts, vulgar
language, unsightly graffiti,
gangs, suspensions, uncon
trollable behavior problems
beg for competent leader
ship.
Politicians are looking
for cover and damage con
trol. - Opinion polls and
Teflon image packages are
poor substitutes for pru
dence, courage, leadership
and safety precautions.
The African proverb
states, "When the hut is
burning, there is no time to
argue." For many, the hut
has been burning for a long
time. For whom the bell
tolls? It tolls for K-12 chil
dren in our schools.
Superintendents, princi
pals and educators coura
geous enough to mandate
tough love, character educa
tion, high-academic stan
dards, enforce discipline
codes, dress standards,
install metal detectors and
fragile contracts instead of
tenure. It takes about 10
angry parents to get rid of a
superintendent or principal.
The current system rewards
and promotes status quo
administrators. The goal of
many principals is to sur
vive.
It is often professional
suicide for change agents to
promote school reform as an
alternative to reform school
aka. the pipeline to prison.
Teachers are afraid of princi
pals, principals are afraid of
superintendents, superin
tendents are afraid of school
board members, and board
members are afraid of vot
ers. Violent, dysfunctional,
and disruptive students fear
no one. Fear and intimida
tion rule!
Nationally, school secu
rity is a tragedy waiting to
happen. It's a joke, but it is
not funny. The failure to cre
ate a safe and orderly envi
When people are afraid, they
make stupid decisions.
Racial profiling and stereo
types create additional prob
lems. Fear is not a well
developed safety plan.
Suspending every child with
a problem is not an effective
discipline plan or an effec
tive strategy to improve test
scores.
Many school safety
plans represent a prayer that
everyone will play nice.
Rarely are they distributed,
read, discussed or analyzed.
Some stakeholders are clue
less about its location or con
tent. The game of school
safety Russian Roulette is a
serious game that must stop!
You can call some high
schools and have your child
sent home. Teenagers have a
history of using friends to
impersonate parents.
Handwritten notes work,
too. An unidentified adult
can come on campus and
take a child away. This is
easier in high schools.
Almost anyone can walk
into a school, get a tempo
rary visitor's pass, walk
around, and "scope out" the
place.
If school personnel
requests identification, an
angry voice, or threats rarely
fail. Get loud! Threats to get
someone fired works like a
magic charm! All of this is
true, but it is wrong and
potentially fatal. Sincere
ignorance and conscientious
stupidity are dangerous char
acteristics of school person
nel.
Tragically, the epidemic
of disruptive behavior,
school violence, and shoot
ings temporarily enlighten
us. We erroneously believe
the problem is someone
else's school, neighborhood,
or only applies to the bad
crowd. "It is not my child
and will not happen in our
school."
Safety is a mandatory
responsibility that requires
consultation with school
safety experts, parents, stu
dents, educators, and law
enforcement officials. We
need gang experts, street
smarts, experience, common
sense and proven research
based solutions.
It helps to have a fearless
principal with a documented
history of success. A safe
and orderly school con
ducive to teaching and a
high level of student
achievement should repre
sent mandatory civil rights
for all children
It's time to stop playing
Russian Roulette with the
health, welfare, safety and
lives of our children.
Mr. Pankey is an
Assistant Principal at RB.
Glenn High School in
Kernersville. He also is
author of "Standing in the
Shadows of Greatness,"
"How to Turn Around Low
Performing Schools" and
"The Eagle Who Thought
He Was a Hip Hop Funkv
Chicken