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mmwm 4A EDITORIAL AND OPINION/ffijE Ctattone #o« Thursday, March 30, 2006 Cljarlotte The Voice of the Black Community 1531 Camden Road Charlotte, N.C. 28203 Gerald O. Johnson ceo/publisher Robert L. Johnson co-publisher/general manager Herbert L. editor in chief OPINION Helpliig bittliets get seines ugeOier If you believe what the New York Tlines said last Monday then you know that the state of black men in American is in a world "of hurt. If you beheve what black people have been saying for decades, then you already knew that. The publication ran an article titled “Plight Deepens for Black Men, Studies Warn” which showcased the results of studies performed by experts hum Princeton, Harvard, and Columbia Universities and other institutions. What did the article tell us? Here are some of the highlights: • In 2000, 65 percent ofblack male high school dropouts in their 20’s were jobless. By 2004, the share had grown to 72 percent, compared with 34 percent of white and 19 percent of Hispanic American media’s war of words As the U.S. begins Year 4 of its occupation of Iraq, the media cannot look at its behavior over the past three years and declare victo ry In fact, when it comes to teUir^ the truth, many journalists and commen tators have dropouts. Wh^ high school graduates were included, half of black men in their 20’s were jobless in 2004, up fiom 46 percent in 2000. ♦ In 1995, 16 percent ofblack men in their 20s who did not attend college were in jail or prison; by 2004, 21 percent were incarcerated- By their mid-30’s, 6 in 10 black men who had dropped out of school had spent time in prison. • In the inner cities, more than half of all black men do not fin ish high school- These statistics are really nothing new. In fact, they are, in one way or another, issues that black commentators, community leaders and intellectuals have been discussing for decades. Still, so compelling was this story apparently that it garnered cov^- age in another local newspaper last week, as well as discussions on several local and national radio programs, and was the most emailed story of the day last Monday So why the national focus now? Did the publication of the arti cle in such a reputable, nationally recognized newspap^ some how make the dire situation with black men more real-a little more tangible? Should we be expected to take the crisis serious ly now that more of our dirty laundry has been splashed all over the media? Was the purpose to shame black men into positive action or prompt tiie rest of America to do more than shake their heads and move on with daily fife? The article really didn't say why the researchers decided to conduct the study now. But here’s what we do know: black men need to get it together. Having said that, we know the unique and often difficult chal lenges that black men in America face every day and there var ious factors that contribute to those black men who fall within the above statistics. The article cited problems such as poor schooling, the breakdown of the family tmit, and modern-day discrimination as reasons. We also hve in a culture that glorifies gangster hfe and elevates rappers and athletes, in the absence of fathers, to role model status. Some commentators reach far ther back and point to the lingering effects of slavery Willie Lynch, Jim Crow, and the civil rights era as additional sources of the black man’s discoimect fium the mainstream. These are all legitimate reasons for the numbers above, but as I heard one commentator say at some point the “Oppressed need to stand up and stop being depressed.” The sense of hope lessness and feehng of a lack of alternatives tiiat particularly pervade inner city neighborhoods can be overcome. It has hap- p^ed before. As much as a sobering slap in the face that the article may have been for some, we know there are no simple solutions, and the remedy certainly is not in the New York Times, or any other paper for that matter. A lot of success comes fix)m the will of the individual to make better decisions and, if need be, take responsibility for their actions. That has been' proven. And a lot of that kind of guidance comes finm the home and community By most accounts, it’s haixler to teach how to be a responsible adult when you didn’t have that sample growing up. So begins the cycle-such as that of one young man into^dewed for the arti cle who, at 28 years old, had dropped out of school in the 10th gi’ade to sell drugs and already has four children by three moth ers. He claims he now wants to “get himself together” which is, albeit a lor^ time coming, a positive change. StiU, unfortunate ly his story is repeated too often throughout black communities nationwide. There are various education, training and fife skills programs in place to help ex-offenders and high school drop-outs, but to reverse trends such as there being more black men in jail than working on any given day we must start earfier. Last Simday my pastor talked about the joys of working as a big brother to an eight year-old through the Big Brother/Big Sister program. I know several other's who participate in this program and rave about its positive impact, for both the mentor and child. I realize that this program alone or any other* singular pr'ogram will not pr'ovide a compr'ehensive solution to this growing pr'oblem. But we have to start somewher'e ... before mol's black men end up nowher'e. ANGEIA UNDSAY is a Charlotte attorney. E-mail her at lindsay- lanOO@yahoox'otn. surrendered without putting up a fight. A compilation of the media’s greatest hits - or, biggest flops - has been assembled by the watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting and can be found online at www.fair.oi^. Prom the out set of the war, the public’s watchdogs have been serving as the Bush administration’s Fox News Channel Brit Hume is one of Bush’s lead ing cheerleaders “The majority of the American media who were in a position to comment upon the progress of the war in the early going, and even after that, we got it vsrong,” Hiune said in a speech in Richmond, Va. “They didn’t get it just a little wrong. They got it com pletely wrong.” [Richmond Times Dispatch April 25, 2004] Fellow conservative Charles Krauthammer, a columnist for the Washington Post, sounds a similar alarm. “The only people who think this wasn’t a victory are Upper Westside liberals, and a few people here in Washington.” [Inside Washington April 19, 2003] One of the newspapers read by Upper Westside liberals in New York was not to be out done by its Washington com petitor. Times reporter David Carr said: “Liberal writers for ideologically driven maga zines hke The Nation and less overtly political ones fike The New Yorker did not pre dict a defeat, but the terrible consequences many warned of have not happened. Now hberal commentators must address the victory at hand and confront an ascendant conservative ju^emaut that asserts United States might can set the world right.” [April 16 2003] Fox’s News Bill O’Reilly boasted, ‘Tt won’t take weeks. You know that, professor. Our military machine will crush Iraq in a matter of days and there’s no question that it wfll.” [Feb. 10, 2003] Another Fox commentator, Morton Kondracke, did not attempt to restrain his ^ee. ‘Well, the hot story' of the week is victory,” he said. “...The Tbmmy Franks-Don Rumsfeld battle plan, war plan, worked brilliantly, a three-week war with merci fully few American deaths or Iraqi civilian deaths..-There is a lot of work yet to do, but all the naysayers have been humiliated so far... The final word on this is hooray” [April 12, 2003] A Los Angdes Times head line that proclaimed, “Iraq is All but Won; Now What?” [April 10, 2003] CBS News reporter- Joie Chen declared, “Now that the combat phase of the war in Iraq is officially over, what begins is a debate throu^out the entire U.S. government over America’s unrivaled power and how best to use it.” [May 4, 2003] Along with cheering U.S. troops entering Iraq — maybe Rumsfeld confused U.S. jour nalists/commentators with Iraqi citizens he had predict ed would be wavir^ U.S. flags as they were being “lib erated” - they soimded like Bush minions on the issue of weapons of mass destruction. “Over the next couple of weeks when we find chemical weapons this guy was amass ing, the fact that this war was attacked by the left and so • the ri^t was so vindicated, I think, really means that the left is going to have to hang its head for three or four more years,” said Dick Morris on Fox News. [April 9, 2003) “Saddam could decide to take Baghdad with him,” Newsweek said March 17, 2003. “One Arab intelligence officer interviewed by Newsweek spoke of ‘the green mushroom’ over Baghdad... ” MSNBC reporter Bob Amot: “...More than any- thir^ else, real vindication for the administration. One, credible evidence of weapons of mass destruction. Two, you know what? There were a lot of terrorists here, really bad guys. I saw them.” [April 9, 2003] Syndicated columnist Cal Thomas set himself up for a future ridicule. “Speaking to the U.N. Security Coundl last week. Secretary of State Cohn Powell made so strong a case that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is in material breach of U.N. resolutions that only the duped, the dumb and the desperate could ignore it.” [Feb. 2, 2003] Okay Cal, which one are you? GEORGE E. CURRY is editor- in-chief ofthe NNPA News Service and BlackPressUSA.com. Web site: www.georgecurryjcom. Put first things first for collective future Before we are able to make the meaningfiil progress nec essary to bring about a change in the economic sta tus of our conummity we must educate ourselves in the areas of collectivism, mutual economic responsibility, and the advantages of supporting one another in our endeavors. Yes, we must continue to par ticipate in the poHtical arena, but with the imderstanding of what really controls poli tics. Bankers, coiporate cronies, and lobbyists rule the day in Washington. By the way, who is the lobbyist for black folks? We are in a war for our economic survival, and most of the time Among the Bush people, liars abound. We have the likes of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and '\Tce President Dick Cheney two guys who couldn’t care less about being dected or having a government job; they stand before the cameras, smv^y and arrogantly, and spew their lies with impunity - not to mention Scott McClellan, the president’s Press Secretary In many cases, we are buying their hes, while our children are going out of the world backwards, as the saying goes. Politics, yes; but first, economic empower ment, absolutely Economics does not have to be shrouded in confusing teiTQS nor be as complicated as many would have us beheve. For our purposes, economics must be lowered fiom the lofty heights of acad emia to the ‘’street talk” with which we are all familiar. It, too, must become a part of our vernacular, because at that level we can deal with our concerns, om complaints, and our problems with the only ammunition that is effective: Our Dollars. Durir^ the sit-ins of1960 in Greensboro and other cities, while we were seeking equal ity and the right to integrate -socially, we began to lose sight of .the economic advan tages we already had. The most important were our black-owned businesses, but they soon faded away As we explored our new found “ri^t” to buy the same prod ucts and services we had always bought, only now we coiild purchase them finm white folks, we forgot about ourselves. Another boycott was about to begin — that of our own jjusinesses. Let us never discredit the sacrifices made to secure our pubhc accommodation ri^ts; those were some of the most important and significant times in black history We should be grateful to those who made it possible for us to have the things we have today But now, here in the 21st centm'y with its “global economy” with all of oxir political and social progress, we are even more economical ly blind than we were just two generations ^o. Why is this true? One rea son is the political compla cence that sets in after we elect black people. Black elected officials do not neces sarily equate to black eco nomic prosperity Our Afiican-American politicians can only do so much, and sometimes that’s very little, to relieve the plight and blight of our communities. After we have helped them get into office, we cannot then sit back and wait to see what they are going to do ‘’for” us. We must continue to help them so they will be able to do somethmg “’with” us. Our politicians, at least the ones we help get elected, must be accountable to us, and that will only happen if we abide by the one rule that coimts in politics: The money rule. Yes, they want om votes, but have you noticed, during the run-up to an election, how much discussion there is about who has the most money in his or her coffers? Unless Afiican-Americans are willing to support our candidates with our dollars as well as oxir votes, we will have neither accountability nor influaice in the political araia. We, as a national commxmi- ty have a good understand ing of elections and political proceedings; but we are sore ly lacking in our execution of basic economic strategies for om local communities. Politics is quite important, but first we must support one another, demand reciprocity fiom those with whom we do business, and work together toward ownership of our com munities. CHir politics vriU fall in place when our economic initiatives succeed. Collective work was a very positive precept of our Afiican ancestors. Tbday in some cir cles, that principle has been promulgated as one reason for the dearth of Afiican- American entrepreneurs. Some saythat because we are a communal people, we are reluctant to seek the individ ual path of entrepreneurship. This may be partially true, but it does not have to pre vent us fi:om using that same spirit of commimality to sup port those of us who are entrepreneurs. Can you imagine how empowered we would be if we drew upon our basic natural inclination to be a real community? We would be well on our way to eco nomic, educational, and polit ical parity Right now, we don’t covmt. Can you imagine that? We spend $700 biUion, and we don’t count. Why? There’s no need for the majority to deal with us in any serious man ner, especially economically because we don’t act collec tively That’s not to say that we should aU think alike and act alike and never disagree. It simply means that we should consider om group first, and not be so willing to push one another aside for own individual advancement. JAMES CIUNCMAN is a pro fessor at the University of Cincinnati and former editor of the Cincinnati Herald newspaper and founder of the Greater Cincinnati African American Chamber of Commerce.
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March 30, 2006, edition 1
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