FORUM I
_ ? ??
m"
f The real joys of Atlantic City \
' Nigel Alston 5
Motivational '
Moments
1
?
"The secret to a rich life is
I to have more beginnings than ,
endings."
- Dave Weinbaum j
I was 4 or 5 years old at the '
time.
I usually traveled with my
grandparents during the sum- j
mer, visiting relatives up ,
? North. This particular sum
mer included a trip to Atlantic 1
. City.
I remember the water. The
big blue Atlantic Ocean. I
i vividly remember running in
I the sand and leaving foot
? prints to be washed away by
| the waves and building sand
r castles.
My grandmother took me
;? out to the beach one morning
?? - just beyond the boardwalk.
; We had on our swim suits. Our
? towels were draped casually
I over our arms. And of course
there was plenty of sand - the
perfect combination for a day
at the beach.
I could only go far enough
in the water to get my legs wet,
but that was enough for me.
But my good time didn't
last long. I slipped in the wet
sand as the waves roared in
and out. My grandmother
1 panicked and pulled me out of
' ? the water.
She thought I was being
tucked into the sea.
She refused to let me be a
:asualty.
We laugh about that story
'rom time to time.
There were more casualties
:han laughter this time.
It looked like we lost the
Super Bowl as we boarded the
bus home from our annual
Memorial Day holiday trip to
\tlantic City.
The trip began on a posi
tive note. My wife and 1 had a
perfect strategy planned. Walk
the boardwalk, spend $25 to
$50 on the slot machines and
catch a few performances.
We had a limited budget. In
other words, we are petrified
about losing money.
We found the perfect seat
for people watching.
It is much cheaper than
pulling the arm on a slot
machine. And it's fun too.
People come in all shapes,
sizes and colors.
And they wear anything!
Pierced body parts and tattoos
are definitely in vogue.
We watched some interest
ing people ride bikes, walk,
jog and roller blade up and
down the six-mile stretch of
the boardwalk.
We saw the Rev. A1 Green
at his best - singing and testi
fying. Comedjan and actor
Eddie Griffin, of "Malcolm
and Eddie" fame, had us
laughing and crying at his
street humor.
One person in the group
had it figured out.
"You build a foundation !
first," he said, "and then move i
up"
(
Start small, quarters first.
He won so much the first i
night, he could hardly carry '<
them back to the hotel room.
His plan was working. He felt
rushed by his gambling part- i
ner later and moved up to the
dollar machine sooner than he
wanted to.
"I need one more day," he
said later.
He didn't have enough time
to implement his plan fully.
According to some, one
hotel is better than another.
Machines on one side <?f the
room pay off.
Others really "show you
the money" at night.
"I want to know a guaran
teed way to win," one person
said.
He has heard the advice
too.
If you play at night, you
win big money. Watch as a
person leaves a machine - he
or she has been feeding it
money - and then play it.
That seems to always work
for other people, not me.
And it all adds up to the
same thing. Luck.
How else can you explain
it? You load a machine with
nickels, dimes and quarters.
For the high rollers ? $1 and
$5 coins. Nothing".
Try walking away. Someone
steps up, puts in a coin or two
and wins. Bells and whistles
>ound off while you try to fig
ure it out.
Why didn't I put one more
coin in that machine?
Sometimes people stand on
either side of you and win
oodles of money.
All the while, you continue
to feed your machine with one
coin after another. You win a
couple of quarters here and
there, and then feed them back
into that one-armed bandit
and leave empty handed...
That's why there was not
much laughter on the return
trip home. A few people hit - a
senior citizen played all night
and won more than $800. The
organizer of the trip (he or his
wife always win) brought
home about $3,000.
The rest of us are searching
for answers.
But all is not lost.
The winning strategy is
being developed now for next
year.
But strategy just isn't
enough for me. I think I'll
stick to what works for me:
Watch people, enjoy the enter
tainment -and walk up and
clown the boardwalk.
Just maybe, if I'm feeling
really lucky, I'll stick my feet
in the sand.
Nigel A Is ton is an execu
tive with Integon Insurance
and can be reached at PO Box
722, Winston-Salem, N.C.
27102 or e-mailed at nal
ston23 7@aol. com
Debunking the black anti-police myth
Earl Ofari
Hutchinson
Guest *
Columnist
Many criminal justice
experts and community
activists said they were sur
prised at the recent Justice
Department survey that found
' that blacks in a dozen cities
1 generally applaud the police.
There are good reasons for
their surprise.
Following the Rodney
King beating and for a good
part of the O.J. Simpson trial,
?' much of the press relentlessly
played up the police/African
American conflict.
This planted the dangerous
myth that the police and black
"" communities are perpetually
at war.
But African Americans
have never been anti-police.
They are anti-racist and
against abusive officers. They
protest the actions of cops
such as New York police offi
cer Justin Volpe, who recently
f' pleaded guilty to the beating
f and torture of Haitian immi
* grant Abner Louima.
They denounce the con
* duct of officers who engage in
racial profiling of young
* black motorists.. They con
L demn those police officers
ij who apply street corner justice
ji in black communities and
officials who whitewash their .
actions through the code of
silence.
The handful of rogue cops
who disgracefully misuse their
authority make a mockery of
the laws they are sworn to
uphold. Most police officials
and beat officers are shamed
and embarrassed by their
repulsive conduct.
They realize that this only
deepens the misperception
among many African Ameri
cans that all cops are brutal.
There's another reason why
blacks have never been anti
police.
??
Despite the mounds of
news features and stories that
depict young blacks as thugs,
gangsters and a perpetual
menace to whites, most whites
aren't at risk from black crim
inals. Other blacks are.
Blacks are more likely to
be victims of violent crime or
to have friends or relatives
who have been crime victims
than whites. According to the
Justice Department survey,
blacks in many cities afe near
ly twice as likely tojbe victims
of violence than whites.
The leading cause of death ?
among young black males and
increasingly black females
under age 24 is still homicide.
In nearly all cases they will
be killed by other blacks, not
the police.
The call by many blacks for
more and better police service,;
increased moral crusades
against crime and violence,
greater personal and, family
responsibility, more gang
sweeps, injunctions, drug
arrests and evictions of law
breakers from public housing
reflect their fervent desire to
rid their neighborhoods of
drug dealers and violent crim
inals. This far outweighs any
supposed racial loyalties.
A defense attorney with
whom I am acquainted fqpnd
this out the hard way.
He told me that he would
do anything to get as many
blacks as possible on the jury
in a murder case involving his
black client. He reasoned that
they were more likely to vote
for acqdittal. He partly got his
wish when a predominantly
black jury was seated.
He did not get the other
half of his wish. The jury con
victed his client and recom
mended the death penalty
The biggest reason, howev
er, why many still cling to the
erroneous belief that African
Americans are anti-police is
that they think that most
blocks are poor, downtrodden
and therefore reflexively
resentful of established
authority.
This is another myth.
While the wealth and income
of blacks still pale in compar
ison to whites, the reality is
that more African Americans
than ever feel they are coming |
closer'to realizing the Ameri
can dream.
In a 1998 poll the Joint
Center for Political and Eco
nomic Studies, the nation's
leading black think tank,
found that for the first time
ever more blacks than whites
claimed they were better off
financially than the year
before.
This new found sense of
prosperity and comfort hardly
makes blacks prone to be cop- '
hating rebels, but rather con
servative law abiding citizens
every bit as anxious as whites
to safeguard their property
and hard earned valuables.
The sad thing is that the
false notion that African
Americans dislike the police
hardens the "us vs. them" atti
tude among many police offi
cers, perpetuates the danger
ctus cycle of fear, and distrust
about the police, and height
ens the risk of more destruc
tive confrontations between
the police and black commu
nities.
This is far too steep a price
to pay for perpetuating a
myth.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is
the author of " The Crisis in
Black and Black."
His e-mail address is
ehutchi344@aol. com
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