OPINION
The Chronicle
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ERNEST H. Pitt PublisherIC(>-Founder
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El.AINE PlTT Business Manager
FANNIE Henderson Advertising Manager
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Publishers Association
NAACP, Urban
League educate public
In recent years, the NAACP
anil the National Urban League
(NUL) have been returning to
their origins by placing a greater
emphasis on education, teachers,
administrators, students, parents
and governmental officials to
close the gap between black and
white achievement.
Spearheaded by NUL Presi
dent Hugh Price. Urban League
affiliates have been particularly
successful at organizing pro
grams that honor academic
achievement in the same manner
that high school athletic ban
quets honor gifted athletes. The
NAACP recently held its fifth
biennial Daisy Bates Education
Summit in Atlanta. Bales, a for
mer field director for the
NAACP in Arkansas, led the
'Little Rock Nine" past a mob to
successfully desegregate Central
High School in 1957.
NAACP President Kweisi
Mfuine announced at the Atlanta
conference that just as it has sued
major corporations that discrimi
- nate against African Americans,
; the organization will now file
'. ' complaints against states that
- refuse to help close the gap
; between black and white student
accomplishments.
? - "Twenty-eight governors
I have pledged to join the NAACP
' and our partners in the efforts to
reduce racial disparity and close
the achievement gap.' Mtume
said. "However, 22 states tailed
to respond by-the May 20, 2002,
deadline. The NAACP will file
Title VI complaints with the
Office of Civil Rights at the U.S.
Department of Education, and
the Civil Rights Division of the
U.S. Justice Department against
those states that did not submit
an equity in education plan.
Each state has been asked to
submit a plan that will help
reduce the racial disparity gap by
50 percent over the next five
years. The NAACP is looking at
five key areas: testing, gradua
tion rates, suspensions, place
ment in special education and the
lack of access to gifted and tal
ented programs.
States not complying by the
May 10 deadline are: Alabama.
Colorado. Florida. Hawaii.
Idaho. Kentucky. Louisiana.
Massachusetts. Michigan. Min
nesota. Montana. New Mexico.
Nevada. North Dakota. Ohio.
Oregon. Pennsylvania. Rhode
Island. South Dakota. Vermont,
Virginia and Wyoming.
John H. Jackson. NAAC P
national director of education,
says the first complaints will be
filed against Florida. Louisiana
and Ohio. In Florida, for exam:
pie. African Americans make up
25'percent of public school stu
dents. yet are 44 percent of those
suspended, 35 percent of those
expelled and 4X percent of stu
dents earning GF.Ds rather than
traditional diplomas. According
to the U.S. Department of Edu
cation's Office on Civil Rights.
on.ly 7 percent of blacks are
enrolled in advanced placement
mathematics and 6 percent in
advanced science.
1'he NAACP in its "Call For
X
Action in Education, has
announced a goal of reducing
racial disparity in the nation s
public schools by 50 percent
over the next five years.
Among the recommenda
tions made in the 42-page special
report are:
? Track and publicly report
on the disparate distribution of
school resources.
? Federal, state and local edu-'
cational agencies should aggres
sively recruit highly-qualified,
certified teachers for high-pover
ty schools and provide them with
multicultural teacher training,
professional development, men
tors and effective retention
incentives.
? Increase the number ot
early childhood programs avail
able to people of color and the
poor.
? Curb tracking programs
and redouble efforts to place stu
dents ot color in advanced place
ment programs and classes for
the gifted and talented.
? Reduce class size, especial
ly in urban schools.
? Narrow the digital divide
by at least 50 percent over the
next five years. |
? Declare a moratorium on
high-stakes testing of children
until all states can guarantee that
all students have an equal oppor
tunity to leant the tested curricu- j
lum.. ...
? Provide more detailed
information on racial and ethnic
academic achievement.
? Increase efforts to involve
more parents.
? Develop effective strategies
for intervening before a student
is labeled "mentally retarded" or
placed in special education class
es.
? Move away from overly
harsh "zero tolerance" policies
that disproportionately impact
students of color.
? Increase funds to histori
cally black colleges an.' uni er
sities and institutions .at serve
Native Americans and Hispan
ics.
? Encourage colleges to tar
get people of color for enroll
ment and retention, maintain
affirmative action programs,
increase need-based grants, and
increase the number of black
doctoral candidates.
At his news conference in
Atlanta. Mfume said. "The
NAACP reaffirms its commit
ment to continue the legacy of
Daisy Bates by working to
ensure that all students, regard
less of race, gender or ethnicity,
have equal access to quality edu
cation."
If George W. Bush really
wants to he known as the "edu
cation president." he should
quickly embrace the educational
strategies outlined by the
NAACP and the National Urban
League. That's the best way to
leave no child behind.
George E. Curry, editor-in
chief of the NNPA News Service
and HiuckPressUSA.com. is for
mer editor iff Emerge: Black
America's Newsmagazine.
jCorrection
In last week's issue, the Girl Scouts troop
that appeared on A1 with a story about the
Scouts' 90th anniversary was misidentified.
The troop is from United Metropolitan Baptist
Church. Yvette Hatcher, who was quoted in the
story, heads the troop at United Metropolitan.
I The only human donin^Bush would allow: |t
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Dan Blue is a
people's candidate
To the Editor:
Dan Blue is immensely
qualified to be our state's next
U.S. senator, and he is an indi
vidual of impeccable integrity.
His 22 years in the N.C. House,
including four years as speaker
of the House, and his leadership
of the National Conference of
State Legislatures far surpass
the nuts-and-bolts experience
of any other candidate. He is
truly a people's candidate.
Given this, why are there
any questions as to this Democ
ratic candidate for U.S. Senate?
After all, our Caucasian
brethren and sisters place such
great emphasis on qualifica
tions. Historically, the criteria
of qualifications were used to
hold back many potential
African-American leaders.
Why, then, when an African
American leads the pack in
qualifications, should he or she
not be supported by our Cau
casian brethren and sisters? The
answer is simpler than we
think: our great state has not yet
arrived, racially.
African-American voters in
North Carolina should not be
taken in by the sentiment
expressed by many, including
some misguided African-Amer
icans: "I would support him if I
thought he could win." The
strength of the African Ameri
can vote won the Democratic
Party primaries in 1990 and
1996, at^d its strength returned
the N.C. House to the hands of
Democrats in 1998. Further
more, registered Democrats far
outnumber registered Republi
cans in North Carolina. Of
course, Dan Blue can win.
Many have suggested that
his efforts to win bipartisan
support in his 1998 race for
House speaker indicates that he
is not a loyal Democrat. Sadly,
the naysayers include some
African Americans. Certainly,
we cannot be so naive to think
that Republicans alone kept
Jesse Helms in the U.S. Senate
for 30 years; we must recognize
that our own Democratic
brethren and sisters aided and
abetted.
(I remember that Gov.
James B Hunt Jr., who was per
ceived as our partner in pursuit
of equality, repositioned him
self mightily to gain support
among Democratic supporters
of Helms.)
So it is past time that our
blind loyalty to the Democratic
Party should cease. When
everyone else enters the voting
booth, they draw as many lines
as they deem appropriate. We
are expected to blindly follow
their instructions rather than
their examples.
To those who look like me.
African Americans, it is time
that we stopped settling for the
crumbs and start enjoying the
main entrees. This will be
accomplished only when we
exhibit a degree of political
maturity and political inde
pendence, and we insist on
political fairness. I submit to
you that we would be better off
without the crumbs, given past
experience.
Let us give Blue our united
support.
He has been there for all
North Carolinians for 22 years
with maturity, with independ
ence. and with fairness. Secre
tary (Elaine) Marshall has not
been. Cynthia Brown has not
been. Erskine Bowles and Eliz
abeth Dole have not been, and
will not be. Neither will any of
the other candidates in this race.
That revered institution, the
U.S. Senate, should reflect eth
nically and racially the popula
tion of these United States of
America. I do want to se^ some
one from North Carolina in the
U.S. Senate-who looks like me,
but more important, who will
join the progressive numbers in
that body who believe that
every individual is somebody. It
is a simple proposition. It ought
to be the proposition of the
entire" Democratic Party.
We must not miss this
opportunity. If we do. we will
wait a generation or longer for
another one to come.
The Rev. Hardy R. Walkins
What would Malcolm and Martin say ?
Val Atkinson
Jones
I Street
Malcolm X was assassinated
on Feb. 17, 1965, three years
before the assassination of the
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and
the ensuing '68 riots, and four
years before Neil Armstrong's
walk on the Moon.
Both Malcolm and Martin
missed the re-election of Richard
Milhous Nixon and his subse
quent resignation over the Water
gate burglary cover-up. Neither
was here to witness the end of
conscription or the end of the Viet
nam War. They didn't witness
Reagan's two terms, the surrender
Dr. King
of the former Soviet Union, the
' increase of drugs and unemploy
ment in the black community.
They didn't see the deteriora
tion of the inner city. They didn't
witness the devastation and accel
erated incarceration of (he Ameri
can black male. The Rodney
King beating by police and the
subsequent riot in South Central
Los Angeles, the O.J. trial, the
Million Man March and the selec
tion of George "Dubya" Bush as
president of the United States.:.all
were missed as well.
And on another page... neither
did they get a chance to see Bill
Cosby's rise to prominence,
Oprah, Michael Jackson. Michael
Jordan, Colin Powell or Tiger
Woods.
None of us knows how Mal
colm or Martin would have react
ed to any of the history-altering
events over the past 35 years.
Some of the events may have
found Malcolm and Martin at
odds with one another, while other
events may have found them join
ing forces to bring greater pres
sure to bear.
We will never know how they
would have reacted to the great
events, but my guess is that they
would be highly displeased at the
plight of black people. And I
think they would have questions
about today's black leadership. I
think they'd want to know what
happened to the Stokely
Carmichaels, the H. Rap Browns,
the fjn^y Newtons, the Eldridge
Cleavers and public officials such
as Adam Clayton Powell. Even if
they disagreed with the likes of
Huey and Eldridge, I think they
would have respected their forti
tude to speak truth (as they saw it)
to power.
Speaking truth to power as
Malcolm and Martin did is almost
"verboten" today. There are
exceptions (Julian Bond. Al
Sharpton and Louis Farrakhan).
but for the rest of our leadership
the truth is so watered down and
smothered by the time it gets to
the public, that it's hardly recog
nizable.
The reason for this editing of
the truth is based in economics.
You see. back in Malcolm and
Martin's day most black commu
nity activists and civil rights lead
Ml IIBI^K ^miI ? LMJ
Malcolm X
ers didn't work for IBM or the
federal government. They didn't
have high-paying positions at
Montgomery Ward or Sears. They
didn't have to worry about getting
fired because of their stances on
issues. Today that's not the case.
Even Jesse Jackson has to
temper and alter his truth when it
hits those businesses that are high
on his contribution list. We just
don't have leaders who're
employed by our churches and
civil rights oiganiialtvns that are
willing to go all the way and speak
truth to power. Maybe we need to
start employing our leaders in our
own communities so they won't
be afraid to speak truth to power.
Then all we'd have to do is remind
them who the power really is.
We could use a Malcolm or a
Martin right now. Our present
day leaders seem to be thinking
about paying their mortgages off
early, taking longer vacations or
maintaining their present posi
tions within the organizations.
They don't want the truth to get in
the way of their upward mobility
or preservation of their current
conditions. Speaking truth to
power is easy when you're not
dependent on the very pywer
you're speaking to for your very
survival. Malcolm and Martin had
other sources of income and there
fore didn't need to have their
speeches and papers preapproved
by funding sources outside of the
community.
Many of our leaders today just
don't have that luxury. Maybe this
will call for new job descriptions
when we start future searches for
community leaders and activists.
Maybe one of the qualifications
for community leadership is
financial independence from those
to whom we wish to speak the
truth.
Contact Val Atkinson at
JonesStrttt9 nc.rr.com