4The Daily Tar HeelWednesday, February 14, 1990
Dangerous obstacles threaten black men in
By ERIK ROGERS
Staff Writer
'. They say they "did overcome" in the
1960s.
1 But in the 1990s, black men are
facing a new challenge. Like dry bushes
in a brushfire, many black males are
rapidly disappearing from society. And
when the smoke clears a lot of them are
either in prison or the grave.
Prison has become a second home to
many black males. Ken Parker, man
ager of research at the N.C. Department
of Correction in Raleigh, said blacks
made up 55.7 percent of the prison
population in North Carolina, as of
September 1989. Of the blacks in N.C.
prisons, 66.7 percent were in for drug
misdemeanors.
The "N.C. Uniform Crime Report
for 1988" reported black males were
responsible for 226 of the 558 murders
committed in North Carolina. White
males formed the second highest group
of offenders at 166. Black males were
victims 192 times, while white males
were victims 175 times.
The statistics get even worse. The
book "N.C. Vital Statistics" reports
black males have the highest death rate
in the state. Black males between the
ages of five and 14 have a death rate 39
percent higher than the national aver
age, while black males between the
ages of 45 and 54 have a death rate 3 1
percent higher than the national aver
age. Capt. Ben Callahan of the Carrboro
Police Department said there was only
one homicide reported for the area last
year. In that incident, a black male was
the offender, and the victim was an
other black male. Chapel Hill Police
reported no homicides.
"One of the biggest reasons why the
black male is having so many problems
is because of drugs," said Susan Min-
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ter, a black employee with the UNC
Physical Plant. "It worries me a lot. I
know of some black males who do
drugs and ... well, I just know them, but
I'm not going to call any names." Minter
said the reason many black males get
involved in drugs is because the drug
racket is an easy way to make money.
"It's easy money for a person to
make, and they don't have to get dirty
doing it. I know of little 5-year-old
black boys w ho are 'cleaning the streets
by making a huge profit off of drugs.
Those kids will walk around with $ 1 00
shoes and gold from the top of their
head to the bottom of their feet. What
makes it so bad is that some of their
fathers are sending them in the streets
to do it. Let's face it the cocaine
business is killing the black male in
more ways than one."
Ella Sue Pettiford, another black
female employee with the UNC Physi
cal Plant, agreed there is a serious prob
lem with the black male and drugs.
"I know of one husband who has
sold his wife as a prostitute, so he could
have enough money for drugs."
Minter said there was "more than
w hat meets the eye" w hen it comes to
the black male and drugs.
"I realize the black man is dealing
the drugs, but the drugs are coming in
from other countries by way of ships
and planes," Minter said. "I don't know
of too many black men who are rich
enough to afford planes and ships, so
obviously there are some other people
of different races behind the scenes."
Chapel Hill Town Council member
Roosevelt Wilkerson said the black
males' problems stem from econom
ics. "The problem is some black men are
worried about having enough money,
and then that often leads to drugs."
There are some who feel that black
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males should look at themselves first
before they point F ngers at other people.
Michael Hostler, a black male living in
Chapel Hill, said the problem lay within
the black race itself.
"Black men don't want to help each
other out. There are some black guys on
my job who tell other black guys that
they are never going to make it in life.
They are always downing each other's
families. In fact, one guy told me that
my kid would never amount to any
thing. He is always discouraging me
instead of encouraging me."
And it does not stop there, Hostler
said.
"These same guys, who are sup
posed to be brothers of mine, make
degrading comments about their own
race. If" they see a black guy driving a
nice car, then they automatically as
sume the guy is pushing drugs. They
don't even stop to think about the fact
that the guy could have actually worked
hard on a real job to get the car."
Another negative thing that black
males have a tendency to do is discrimi
nate against each other. Hostler said.
'The black guys, especially the ones
on campus, don't treat you fairly if you
have darker skin than they do. They
will look at you like they are better than
you, and many times they won't even
speak to you. They need to remember
that they are just as black as I am, and
the bottom line is we are all brothers."
Even though the problems of black
men are steadily increasing, some
people do not sympathize with their
situation according to Minter.
"I think there are some whites who
are forming a conspiracy against us.
It's not all of the whites, but there
definitely are some who are out to get
us. I think there are some who are
simply setting us up. After all, they set
up Mayor Barry in Washington by
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getting a female to lead him on. I think
the only reason they did that is because
he is black, and they did not want him
to stay in office." Minter said she felt
many whites could not empathize with
blacks because whites may have a dif
ficult time understanding African cul
tures. "Why would a person want to be like
me if he does not even like, or for that
matter, understand my culture? I think
many whites don't like our culture, but
they are willing to tolerate it, since they
see a profit in it. That is the major
reason why you see so many whites
promoting rap music."
Pettiford disagreed. "I don't think
the whites are trying to get rid of the
black males, because the black men
work for the whites, so they are helping
the whites out. A lot of the black men
can only blame themselves for the troub
les that they have."
With a life-threatening situation
facing the black men, many wonder if
the problem can be lessened. Hostler
Pacific islands growing
From Associated Press reports
WASHINGTON Drug traffick
ers have turned U.S.-controlled Pacific
islands into thriving gateways to Amer
ica for heroin from Asia's Golden Tri
angle, with federal interdiction virtu
ally non-existent, according to an un
published government document and
interviews with officials.
Heroin, marijuana and other drugs
from Asia and southwest Pacific na
tions are even sent from the islands into
the United States "via the U.S. Postal
Service," says an internal report to
Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan.
In American Samoa, for example,
ices
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said providing black males with role
models might make things better.
"If we can get some respectable black
men to look at in society, then the
younger black guys can have some
body to look up to. That is why Jesse
Jackson is being so active politically.
He is showing society that the black
male is capable of making a contribu
tion." Wilkerson agreed that role models
would be important for the black males'
recovery.
"Role models are very important,
but we need for more of the role models
to come from places other than sports.
There is a tendency for the young black
male to make a professional athlete his
role model. Unfortunately, these kids
push the academics aside and only
concentrate on the athletics.Then, some
of those kids who felt sports were so
important in their lives are really let
down whenever they find out that they
do not have what it takes to make it on
the professional playing field."
commercial fishing boats bring in
marijuana and heroin from Australia
and other Pacific nations for mailing to
U.S. residents, the report says.
Shortages of enforcement money and
personnel get much of the blame for the
situation. There is just one Drug En
forcement Administration (DEA) agent
responsible for the four Pacific juris
dictions American Samoa, the North
ern Mariana Islands, Palau and Guam.
"There is a need for additional
agents," the report says simply. The
Interior report, obtained this week under
the Freedom of Information Act, iden
tified island jurisdictions as "major
the '90s
Hostler agreed with Wilkerson, so
ciety has not helped matters by stere
otyping. "People assume if you're black, thep
the only thing you're good for is play
ing sports. They feel if you don't play
sports, then you're no good. I am tired
of hearing that. That's why I told J.R.
Reid not to talk to me about basketball
but to talk to me about something else.
I wanted to hear about him as an indi
vidual and not just as a ball player."-
Hostler said education could play a
vital role in aiding the black male. He
said he can see the black male headed
for better things because the educa
tional system provides good opportu
nities for people to become successful.
But others see the problem for black
men getting worse. Z;
"It's not going to get any better for
black males because they will be forced
to push drugs in the future," Minter
said. 'They won't be given the real
chance to show what they're capable of
doing." I
drug hotbed
concerns with regard to drug traffick
ing." The U.S. Virgin Islands in the
Caribbean were cited along with the
Pacific area.
American Samoa, Guam and the
Virgin Islands are U.S. territories; the
Northern Marianas and Palau have
compacts of free association with the
United States that include Interior
Department assistance.
"Nobody knows how much but from
our perspective it's a serious problem,
said Larry Morgan, director of legisla
tive and public affairs for Interior's
territorial and international affairs
branch.
DEA officials concurred that the area
was ripe for smuggling
CAA
from page 1
Frye said that if elected she would
have Carolina Fever be more involved
in non-revenue sports events, as well as
for football and basketball, so that non
revenue sports teams could "feel the
same kind of support." She said that the
CAA was now using incentives to in
crease attendance at non-revenue games
and that people who attend women's
basketball games could win a trip. Frye
said she believed that if people went to
one game, they would enjoy it so much
that they would come again.
Candidates for DTH co-editors also
explained their platforms and discussed
increasing coverage of student achieve
ment and changing the editorial page.
The team of Jessica Lanning and
Kelly Thompson said their campaign
was one of change. "We want to make
the DTH accountable and accessible to
all organizations and students," Th
ompson said.
Their platform includes condensing
national and business areas, expanding
sports coverage, eliminating board
opinions and cieating the positions oft
ombudsman and forum editor.
Thompson said she and Lanning
hoped to move arts and features stories
to Omnibus. 'That way, we'll have
more room to do features on students
and events."
Lanning said board opinions should
be eliminated because they have lost
their effectiveness by running every
day. "Also, the addition of a forum
editor would increase communications
so issues could adequately be ad
dressed." The forum editor would look at let
ters on a daily basis and ask authorita-.
tive sources to write counterpoint re-,
sponses, Lanning said.
The team of Mary Jo Dunnington
and William Taggart said experience
had enabled them to know what it was
like to run a newspaper and to improve
the DTH by evaluating past mistakes.
"We're focusing on experience, but
this doesn't mean we don't see any
changes," Dunnington said. "We're
going to make an active effort to reach
out to different groups."
Dunnington and Taggart said they
would like to do more on students with
achivements outside of sports. "We
have features on student-athletes, but
rarely on students who do something
elsewhere," Dunnington said.
Taggart said there was no need to
add another editor to the DTH staffs
"The present (editorial page) editor isi
already doing basically the job a foruni
editor would do." I;
Gretchan Diffendal, the sole candi
date for RHA president, also discussed
her platform at the forum. Diffendal;
said she believed her background expe-;
rience and knowledge of what students,
want makes her the "only and best;
candidate" for the position.
Diffendal said that if elected she;
would like to see two accomplishments:
when she looked back at the end of her:
term better student knowledge of
RHA and what it can do to help stu-:
dents, and the end of apathy in resi
dence hall government. Diffendal said
that by starting with an enthusiastic
president, her excitement about events
could trigger a change for the better in:
residence hall government.
She said one of her main concerns
was security on campus. Diffendal said;
she believed that by incorporating SAFE,
Escort Service into RHA, the service's
problems with publicity and manpower;
shortage could be solved.
Diffendal also outlined her ideas for"
improving residence hall recycling and
energy conservation; minority partici-0
pation on the RHA Executive Board
and the Faculty Fellows program. '