2A
NEWS/ The Charlotte Post
Thursday, October 2, 1997
Sport,
reality
collide
MELODYE MICERE STEWART
In the
spirit of
Ma’at
Sports culture, particularly
the almighty basketball, has
captured the imagination and
all too often, the intellect of
black youth. Even mature black
men, fighting the onset of
-arthritis and brittle bones,
make their way to the hoop,
slower than in younger days,
and even slower to admit it.
Young men, whose muscle
and energy oozes in sweaty t-
shirts supplied by well-devel
oped legs and arms, could use
that same brawn and energy to
develop entrepreneurial enter
prises versus a mean jump
shot. Brain power versus dunk
power.
Athletic shoes, necessary
equipment for swerves, curves,
jump shots and the run, siphon
off hand-earned dollars by the
; millions. The money-making
; media illusion is captured best
jby commercials featuring
Nike’s Air Jordan. Of course,
Michael himself has become a
modern day sales whore, sell
ing everything from sneakers
and clothes to advanced tech
nology, with cologne on the side
and a dime or two for charity.
Pitiful. An entire park in
Charlotte is devoted to the
sport: rows and rows of courts
and hoops and no shortage of
would-be, wanna-be, NBA
dreamers, giving their best
shot and energy to a pursuit
doubtful to earn a bottom line.
Energy better used studying,
reading, writing.
Don’t get me wrong - sports
has its place. However, our
youth, with encouragement
from parents, peers, schools,
television, corporate moguls
and jaded dreams, have elevat
ed the game beyond its place
and to the brain-drain detri
ment of our race. Sports will
never return to its proper place
as long as millions of dollars
are generated for team owners,
sneaker purveyors and an
eager black public, looking for
heroes who dubiously disclaim
role model status. The modern
day auction block is celebrated
in every sports arena as players
sell themselves to the highest
bidder. (And now we have the
WNBA...)
Meanwhile, if African
Americans would realize the
larger picture, we would under
stand that athletes and enter
tainers form the base of our
economic power and could
underwrite a path to black self-
sufficiency and well-being. But
(for the most part) African
American athletes, entertain
ers, professionals and just plain
everyday folk are asleep,
unconscious to 400 years of
American enslavement indoc
trination - the contemporary
version being individualism
and materialism - blinding us
to a potential nation-changing
reality. And how does this affect
the future potential of Black
America?
When’s the last time you
heard an African American
teenager brag about slam-
dunking an algebra test or a
biology quiz? When’s the last
time you heard a young boy
dreaming about an MBA, a far
more attainable and realistic
goal than the NBA? In my
youth workshops on goals,
when young men tell me their
“goal” is to play sports, I tell
them they need a “plan B”. The
likelihood of your average play
er making it big is close to
none.
When I see 16 year-old would-
be accountants, lawyers, teach
ers, computer programmers,
etc, whose only dream is to play
basketball in the NBA, I know
that far too many of them will
“Never Be Accomplished” in the
game of life.
Home ownership grows in U.S.
Continued from page 1A
working hard to pay off aU of our
bills,” Sherry Thomas said.
“That’s how we were able to get a
house. We wanted to make sure
we got out there and got our piece
of the rock. It’s a good investment
and we have a home for our son.”
Coldwell Banker real estate
agent Roland Hawkins, who
helped the Thomases find their
home, sees the trend first-hand.
About 60 percent of his customers
are Afncan American, but the
numbers are stfll too low.
Unlike the Thomases, too often,
“African Americans have not
envisioned themselves as home-
owners,” Hawkins said.
Upward mobility in the work
force and the existence of a vari
ety of government and private
financing options make home-
ownership a closer reality than
many blacks think, he said.
Housing researchers and politi
cians say the trend is a bright
spot in an encouraging assess
ment of the nation's housing
industry in a report released
Monday by Harvard University’s
Joint Center for Housing Studies.
“What many forecasters have
failed to recognize is the emer
gence of this important minority
home-buying market,” said
William Apgar, the center’s execu
tive director.
Housing Secretary Andrew
Cuomo called the findings “very
good news for America and great
news for American families.”
“But, as we continue to open the
doors of opportunity for more
Americans, we recognize that
barriers of discrimination remain
Minorities 30 percent of total
and they must be knocked down,”
he said.
Hawkins said some of the fac
tors which also keep blacks from
buying homes are that homeown-
ership is not aways a high priori
ty and issues such as poor credit
histories.
He said family incomes of
$50,000-$60,000 can find good
buys in the Charlotte market.
On the other end of the scale,
according to the Harvard report,
as government restructures wel
fare and housing assistance pro
grams, conditions are worsening
for low-income families.
Drawn by their search for bet
ter-quality schools and services,
city residents continue to migrate
to the suburbs, leaving behind
low-income renters who cannot
afford to buy a home, according to
the study, released Monday.
About 72 percent of suburban
families own their own homes,
while only 49 percent of city
homes are owned by the people
who Uve in them. Many of those
suburban families are African
American, like the Thomases,
who sought a newly-constructed
home after being unable to find
what they wanted in a previously-
owned house.
The study warns that cutbacks
in federal housing assistance
could prompt owners of subsi
dized housing - including housing
agencies - to sell their properties.
It also stresses the importance of
programs that help former wel
fare recipients who are now work
ing to pay rent.
“Millions of low-income house
holds rely on public assistance to
pay for their housing,” said
Josephine Louie, an analyst at
the Joint Center. “What we’ve dis
covered is that many landlords -
especially those owning a handful
of units - have limited capacity to
compensate for the loss of income
they would suffer by continuing to
rent these households.”
Overall, the housing economy is
far better than economic forecast
ers expected, with 3.4 million new
homeowners in the past three
years - pushing the national
homeownership rate to a near
peak level of 65.4 percent of
households.
“With sales of new and existing
homes still going strong, the
1990s is shaping up as one of the
best decades for housing on
record,” the study states.
A breakdown by race of home-
ownership growth shows that
Hispanics have made the greatest
gains between 1993 and 1996,
buying 460,000 new homes for a
total increase of 16 percent.
Blacks bought 350,000 new
homes for a gain of 7.5 percent,
while a demographic group
including Asians, American
Indians and Pacific Islanders
bought 182,000 for a growth of
11.8 percent.
By comparison, whites bought
2.4 million homes for a gain of 4.5
percent.
The Associated Press con
tributed to this report.
Women march organizers forge ahead
By Penni Roberts
THE PHILADEPHIA TRIBUNE
PHILADELPHIA - Although
The Million Woman March has
received unfavorable press
recently for being too vague and
unorganized, officials say things
are going as planned for the
scheduled rally on Oct. 25.
At a press conference recently
Asia Coney, a co-chair of the
March, announced that Winnie
Mandela and Julia Wright,
daughter of Harlem Renaissance
author Richard Wright, will be
participating in the event. But
Coney said organizers are not
focusing on celebrities to draw the
big gathering they anticipate.
“It doesn’t matter whether we
are national figures,” she said. “It
matters that we are together.”
As part of their mission state
ment, organizers said they want
ed to focus on issues that have
adversely affected the black com
munity.
“The Million Women March pro
vides us the opportunity to priori
tize the human and environmen
tal issues. It will collectively
enable us to develop an assertive
and aggressive movement to
ensure the participation and
impact of people of African
descent,” organizers noted in a
statement.
They also unveiled the platform
issues that some had contended
were non-existent.
Issues include:
• National support for
Congresswoman Maxine Waters,
in an effort to effectively bring
about a probe into the CIA’s par
ticipation and its relationship to
the influx of drugs into the
AiHcan American community.
• The development and comple
tion of black independent schools
with a 21st century focus from
pre-kindergarten through 12th
grade.
• The formation of progressive
mechanisms that will qualitative
ly address the development and
advancement of black women
upon leaving the penal system.
• The development of health
facilities that can offer preventive
and therapeutic treatment, and a
major emphasis on alternative
and traditional medicine.
• The formation of Rites of
Passage centers/academics which
provide continual programming
in addition to assigned enroll
ment periods.
• The further development of
black women, who are or who
wish to become professionals,
entrepreneurs and/or poKticians.
• The further development of
mechanisms that will assist black
women who are “in transitional”
experiences which will facilitate
them more effectively and pro
gressively.
• 'The examination of human
rights violations of Afiicans in the
Americas and their effects.
Coney said another primary
reason for holding the march was
to address the issues women are
facing in prison and other related
issues as well.
“There needs to be a mechanism
in place that will support them
(women in prison) and ensure
that they do not repeat the same
mistakes again,” Coney said,
adding that the declining housing
situation, as well as welfare
reform, has impacted negatively
on women. “If we don’t stand up
and say loudly that we have had
enough, nobody’s going to do it,”
she said.
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