5A
OPINIONS/ The Charlotte Post
March 7,1996
There’s more to Generation X than meets the eye
By Jeri Young
THE CHARLOTTE POST
I really didn’t realize that I
was a member of Generation
X. As a matter of fact, the
whole stigma of my generation
was lost on me.
Some of us are black, well-
educated and think about
much more
than our
hairstyles,
as do all of
my friends.
We volun
teer our
time to
numerous
organiza
tions and
want to help
others.
We are a
constant shock to many peo
ple, immdated by news of the
shallowness of the lost genera
tion. We know many of the
traditional jazz artists. I am a
huge fan of Miles Davis, Billie
Holiday and Cab Calloway. A
good fHend expressed shock. I
explained to him that I got
into jazz in college. I found it
relaxing as well as entertain
ing. I even own a few oldies
Young
myself. We also read and
think, in spite of what you
hear.
Part of the stigma of being
20-something is our portrayal
■ in the media. They call us
Generation X, which I take to
mean that we lack a true iden
tity. What we really are is a
diverse bimch of firsts.
The first to go to desegregat
ed schpols, grow up on wel
fare, and use computers in
elementary school. TTie first to
grow up in integrated neigh
borhoods. We are the first to
experience the promise of
America, whatever that is. A
lot of us are the college inte
gration group, the first to take
major universities to that
magical “10 percent people of
color mark.”
Doesn’t it stand to reason
that we might be just a little
confused? Unlike our parents,
many of us did not grow up
“backed” by the black commu
nity. There were no all-black
elementary schools to show us
positive role models and peo
ple did not openly discuss
racism. We are just now
beginning to realize that chil
dren need the security of a
positive neighborhood and old-
fashioned discipline. It does
take a village to raise a child.
Black people seem to have lost
their village.
Ours was a black community
in transition.
who have never been able to
unite us.
They are not aided in their
tasks by the media. For the
most part, yoimg black women
Martins, Malcolms or Marys.
We had Jesses, Louises and
various and sundry others
While I do not like to see
gold teeth and baggy jeans,
nor do I like being called a
bitch by rap artists, I am open
minded enough to judge on
content, not appearance. The
media has taken style and
confused it with substance.
Young black America’s anger
has been reduced by the
media to a lack of spirituahty,
intelligence and morals.
I know this is not true, but
for many older black folk, the
stereotype has become reality.
They have lost their Old cau
tion when dealing with the
media and police statistics.
They believe wholeheartedly
that our youth are “lost,” par
ticularly the black male. I
would be the first to
admit that there are
too many broth
ers in jail, on
drugs and in peril,
but there are also many
who have succeeded despite
the odds. Have you asked
yourself where they are?
Young blacks have long
expressed themselves differ
ently than the generation
before. Lots of what’s going on
is just kids feeling their oats.
The music reflects their confu
sion and frustration. For
every Dr. Dre, there is a
Speech or a Tracy Chapman.
For every gangbanger there is
a Kevin Johnson, a Kirk
Franklin or a Jaqueline
Woodson.
There are of course too many
lost young men and women,
searching for identity, using
drugs and killing. But haven’t
there always been? Instead of
focusing on the lost, hold up
the successful as role models.
Use your experiences to edu
cate youth instead of dene-
grating them. Figure out
where we went wrong. Do not
spend so much time looking at
the symptoms. Figure out the
problem. What makes one per
son want to succeed in an
neighborhood where most
don’t? Crime does not happen
randomly. There is always a
reason.
Volunteer a little of your
time to help youth keep on the
straight and narrow. Go out
and see for yourself instead of
believing everything you see
on television.
Several days ago, my “20
something” girlfriends and I
were having lunch. Guess
what we talked about?
Retirement plans. We are
Generation X.
JERI YOUNG is an admin
istrative assistant at The Post.
Stand for our children on June 1
Marian
Wright
Edelman
On June 1, parents and
grandparents, aunts and
uncles, teachers and preach
ers, and Americans of every
race, religion, income, age,
faith, and region who care
about children will come
together on the National Day
of Commitment to Children at
the Lincoln Memorial in
Washington, D.C., to mount a
massive moral witness and to
stand for children. We will
affirm our responsibility for
all children as families, as
communities, and as a nation
al community. Together, we
will commit ourselves to tak
ing positive personal and col
lective action to see that no
child is left behind. I urge you
to join us in Washington June
1, to:
• Stand together and speak
truth to power for children
with our presence, voices,
votes, and hearts.
• Stand for something more
than ourselves, more impor
tant than money, and more
lasting than things.
• Stand with those who can't
stand alone or for themselves:
the young, the weak, the dis
abled.
• Stand and be counted for
children in good times and
bad. We will draw a line in the
political sand that no office
holder of any party or ideology
will dare cross.
• Stand with parents who
struggle every day and who
need our help.
• Stand unwaveringly for
America's values of fairness
and equality, for compassion
and common sense and stand
against uncaring people and
policies.
• Stand tall against those
who seek to hurt and divide
and stand with those who
seek to unite and heal our
communities.
• Stand firmly against those
who practice genderhood and
racehood and classhood and
culturehood and stand with
those who practice brother
hood and sisterhood and
mutual respect.
• Stand up to those who
mouth family values, but who
do not support what families
need and who work against
crucial child protections.
The June 1 Stand for
Children will not be a parti
san or political day. It will be
a day of spiritual, family, and
community renewal and per
sonal commitment to children.
It will be a day for all
Americans to transcend our
differences and affirm what
unites us as people: A sense of
fairness; a loving desire to
raise moral, healthy, and edu
cated children and a belief
that in the richest and most
powerful nation on earth no
child should be left behind.
We will return home after
June 1 with a renewed sense
of unity in our mission for
children, a revitalized commit
ment to caring for children,
and a range of personal and
local action steps for 1996 and
beyond.
We are living at an incredi
ble moral moment in history.
Few human beings are blessed
to anticipate or experience the
beginning of a new century
and millennium. What you
and I stand for and do now as
parents and advocates - and
encourage our political leaders
to stand for and do in this last
national election year of the
century - will shape our
national fate and our chil
dren's futures in the next cen
tury and millennium. It is
time to call the moral question
about whether America truly
values and will stand up for
children, not just with words
but with work; not just with
promises but with leadership
and investment; not just with
a speech or photo opportimity,
but with a sustained positive
commitment to meet chil
dren's needs.
We will stand together for
children June 1 at the Lincoln
Memorial because we know
there is nothing more impor
tant than re-dedicating our
selves personally and as a
national community to our
children. We will stand
together because we know
therp is nothing government
can do that is more important
than provide resources to help
families help children.
Join us. Make history by
answering this call to stand
for children and for the
promise of America's Dream
for every child. For informa
tion on the June 1 National
Day of Commitment to
Children, please write to:
Stand for Children National
Day Headquarters, 1834
Connecticut Avenue, NW,
Washington, D.C. 20009, or
call (800) 233-1200 or (202)
234 0095.
S.C. native MARIAN
WRIGHT EDELMAN is presi
dent of the Children's Defense
Fund.
What is wrong with America?
Bernice P.
Jackson
It's been some African
American History Month of
1996. I'm not sure what has
horrified me more. The report
of the burning of 23 African
American churches in
Tennessee, Louisiana,
Mississippi and Alabama or
the statement by the Justice
Department official that we
can't assume that these are
crimes of racial hatred. The
disclosure that Pat
Buchanan's aide has ties to
the militia movement and
white supremacist groups or
the fact that Buchanan hasn't
been forced to fire him and his
support of his "friend" has
gone almost unquestioned.
Indeed, after his win in New
Hampshire, one must wonder
whether Buchanan hasn't
been rewarded for his extrem
ism.
What is wrong with a nation
which burns black churches?
Oh, one fire has been attrib
uted to a disturbed 10 year-
old, but that still leaves 22
fires which have burned black
churches to the ground.
Twenty-two fires where the
building has been destroyed,
but the spirit of the people
survives, along with their
determination to re-build.
The stories of the burning of
these houses of God recalls for
many of us the bombing of the
16th Street Baptist Church in
Birmingham, Ala. in 1963.
That wretched deed resulted
in the deaths of the four little
girls whose deaths rocked the
nation and made us face the
evil that was among us. And
while no one has died in these
fires, these fires are clearly
meant to terrorize African-
American people. For if their
churches are not safe, what
is?
Four of the fires have
occurred in one town, Boligee,
Ala., two on Dec. 22 and two
on Jan. 11. In Knoxville,
Tenn., Inner City Community
Church, where Green Bay
Packer Reggie White is associ
ate pastor, was burned on
Jan. 8. Indeed, it may only be
because of White's sports fame
that USA Today began its
investigation and there began
to be a recognition that some
thing bigger than isolated
church fires was going on.
What is wrong with a coun
try which burns houses of
God? And why hasn't there
been an outcry by churches
across this nation? An outcry
by government and political
leaders? An outcry by people of
good will and all faiths?
Then there is the case of
Larry Pratt, the co-chair of
Buchanan's campaign who is
now on a leave of absence.
Which means Larry Pratt can
come back any time he wants.
It amazes me sometimes how
short our collective memory
really is. It was less than a
year ago that the Oklahoma
City bombing occurred. It was
less than a year ago that little
children and federal workers
were killed, injured and shak
en. We decried the militia
movement then and reports of
the connections between the
militia movement and white
supremacist groups came to
light.
Yet, we as a nation seem
willing to accept Buchanan's
acceptance of a leave of
absence for Larry Pratt and
his continued "support" for his
friend. Even if Pratt was only
tangentially involved (and the
evidence seems to be other
wise) in rallies by these hate
groups, do we really believe
that he didn't know what they
were advocating as he stood
on the platform with them?
Do we really want a supporter
of militias and the Aryan
Brotherhood as a kitchen cabi
net advisor to a presidential
hopeful or a presidential nom
inee or a president?
Many of us who are African
Americans in this land of the
free and home of the brave are
forced once again to wonder
w'hen will it all end? When
will the hatred end? When
will we truly be at home in
this our native land? How
long, 0 Lord, how long?
Contributions to aid the
churches destroyed by. fire can
be sent to Greene County
Emergency Church Fund, Rt.
2, Box 94, Utah, AL 35462 or
Nelson B. Rivers, Southeast
Regional Office NAACP, 970
Martin Luther King Jr. Drive
SW, Suite 203, Atlanta, Ga.,
30314.
BERNICE P. JACKSON is
executive director of the
Commission for Racial Justice
in Cleveland.
Double standards cloud
race relations in America
By James Alsbrook
SPECIAL TO THE POST
Why do so many educated and intelligent white people discrimi
nate against black people by using double standards on racial
issues? Perhaps several anecdotes will help to answer this ques
tion:
1. When I was teaching at Ohio's Central State University, a
white drama professor suggested that a black female student
demonstrate her ability by giving a skit showing "a slice of black
life." He wanted something "powerful." The young woman later
went onstage at Robeson Hall, introduced her skit and spewed
forth a shocking cesspool of vulgarity and depravity, leaving her
racially mixed audience shocked and insulted.
2. In 1982, a black senior at Ohio University presented a one-
man show titled "An Evening of Black Drama" featuring "a col
lage of monologues" written by misguided black writers. These
monologues dwelled on dope, sex, drunkenness and other moral
and ethical deviations supposedly characterizing the black com
munity.
3. Several years later while I entertained an Ohio University
journalism class in my home, a white female honor student saw a
copy of "The Color Purple," the widely discussed novel by Alice
Walker. She read the first one or two pages and asked permis
sion to borrow the book, explaining that it would broaden he~
"knowledge of black people." Those pages present a poor.
Southern black girl who mentions sexual organs and intercourse
in vulgar terms and in slave dialect. This 20-year-old white
honor student certainly internalized negative images of black
people and considered me to be "a rare exception."
4. One or two years later, several black students performed a
collection of senior and graduate school "Chicago scenes" at the
Memorial Auditorimn on the OU campus. This "recital" depicted
whore houses, dope dealers, thieves, drunkards and a motley
array of other disreputable characters, aU using "jive" talk and
the vilest of profanity. When later I asked one of the performers
about the content of his shocking material,, his face became rigid
as he said, "This (expletive) smells but this (expletive) sells to the
white folks who have the say-so and the money. He and similar
others are "theatrical prostitutes."
5. In 1987 the Athens (Ohio) Messenger carried a two-column
eight-inch notice of auditions for "Livin' de Life," an "Uncle
Remus" take-off story supposedly written by one Ed Graczxy. I
went to get a copy of the script as if I were considering a role in
this degrading bit of slave-talking trash. After reading the script,
I talked with several persons on the faculty and in administra
tion. Soon, this monstrosity, scheduled for several presentations
before impressionable elementary school children, was properly
canceled.
6. Several years ago I learned from separate sources, including
white former students, that black men appear most frequently on
television as criminals because police in some cities notify televi
sion stations when and where drug raids will occcur in a black
neighborhood. If the raid is to be in a white neighborhood, the
television cameramen usually are not notified and consequently
very few drug raids in white neighborhoods appeared on televi
sion evening news.
7. Law-enforcement officers of the low Mark Fuhrman type
have been exposed in many police departments and have duped
the media by telling lies and mishandling so-called "evidence"
against black people. The new NAACP with Kwame Nfume
could do much to monitor the police and the media, curtail dam
aging racism and improve the social, political and cultural cli
mate for black people.
Most of the incidents listed above involve self-niggeration by
black people who send the wrong message to the world - the
message that blacks in fact are inferior.
The war against double standards and stereotypes can be
helped if black performers develop more self-pride and self-
respect. Also, old performances involving stereotypes should be
required to do what "Showboat," now on Broadway, is doing. It
honors black heroes nationwide in each advertisement it spon
sors.
JAMES ALSBROOK is professor emeritus at Ohio University in
Athens, Ohio.
Address letters to the editor to The Charlotte Post,
P O. Box 30144 Charlotte, N. C. 28230 or
fax 342-2160. E-mail - charpost@clt.mindspring.com