Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Oct. 14, 1993, edition 1 / Page 4
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®t)£ CFjarlotte ^ The Voice Of The Black Conuminity POflt Gerald O. Johnson Publisher Herbert L. White Managing Editor Robert L. Johnson Co-Publisher More than 1 million American teenage girls become pregnant in any year. This is the highest teen pregnancy rate in the Industrialized world. In the black com munity, a teen gets pregnant every 104 sec onds of every day. Dr. Joyceljm Elders, Sur geon General of the United States, recognizes the negative consequences of becoming a teen parent. A poor teenager with a baby, says Dr. Elders, "is captive to a slavery the 13th Amendment did not anticipate." The rise of adolescent pregnancy In the black communi ty is symptomatic of the loss of hope, lack of opportunities, and poor education that is all too familiar to many black youths. There is a proven relationship between pov erty, limited school and life options, and ear ly parenthood. Poor teens with below aver age basic skills are four to five times as likely as teens with average or better basic skills, who live above the poverty level, to become parents. Black children, who are more likely than their white peers to live tn poverty and less likely to graduate from high school, are at-risk of becoming parents too soon. In 1989, white youths, ages 18 and under ac counted for two out of three teen births. Black teens, however, accounted for more than half the births to girls younger than 15. According to a U.S. News & World Report analysis of a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Pregnant girls 16 and under are the most likely to drop out of school, then to deliver the sickest and small est babies. And nearly one in three gives birth to a second child within two years." We must turn around these frightening statistics and prevent too-early pregnancy and child bearing. This will require all of us to make a commitment to provide alternatives for our young people. We cannot continue to endan ger the futures of two generations, the young parent and the child, through Inattention or lack of commitment to our youths. Programs such as the National Training Center for Adolescent Sexuality and Family Life Education in New York and the Summer Training and Education Program (STEP) Public Private Ventures in Philadelphia are successful examples from which we can learn. Since 1985, the National Training Center has served more than 300 teens and 110 adults at three separate sites. Counsel ing, academic help, self-expression, employ ment experience and health services, as well as family life and sex education, are all part of the five-day-a-week program. The Nation Black Leadership's On The Right Track, At Last By John Cashln NATIONAL NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION al Center's director. Dr. Michael Carrera, says perseverance and long-term commit ment are keys to success when working with vulnerable teens. The Public/Private Ventures similarly hopes to decrease teen pregnancy rates and decrease school drop-out rates by improving school perfor mance and at tendance: re ducing summer learning loss; Improving reading and math skills; motivating responsible sexual behav ior; and fos tering posi tive career, academic and personal goals. The program provides job op portunities through the federal Summer Youth Employment and Training Program (SYETP) and tutoring services throughout the academic year to give teens the extra boost they need as they strive toward their goals. To prevent teen pregnancy and childbear ing, research suggests that we must provide teens with hope, information, opportunity and skills. We need to create a comprehen sive web of community supports with the family at the center that address six basic ar eas: education and strong basic skills; a range of non-academic opportunities for suc cess, Including job opportunities and com munity service; links to caring adults who provide positive role models, values, and sup ports: family life education and life plan ning; comprehensive adolescent health ser vices and a basic standard of living. For more information about adolescent pregnancy prevention programs, write or call; • The National Training Center for Adoles cent Sexuality and Family Life Education, 350 East 88th St., New York, N.Y. 10128, (202) 876-9716. • STEP Private/Public Venture, Communi cations Department, 399 Market St. Phila delphia, Pa. 19106, (215) 592-9099. MARIAN EDELMAN, a native of Bennets- ville, S.C., is president of the Children's De fense Fund. On the afternoon of Sept. 16, possibly the most significant event this decade in black history took place. It was labeled a "National Town Hall Meet ing" by its sponsors, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, and the panelists were Congressman Kweisl Mfume, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus: Benja min Chavis, executive director of the NAACP; Minister Louis Farrakhan, undisputed leader of the Nation of Islam and heir of Elijah Mu hammad: Rev. Jesse Jackson, former U.S. presidential candidate and head of the Rain bow Coalition and congresswoman Maxine Waters from Los Angeles, probably the most outspoken black female in America. There is no question that the distilled lead ership of Black America - political, econom ic, and social - was present at this Thursday afternoon national Town Hall Meeting. The topic was "Race in America, Part II: The Po litical Perspective." After well-chosen opening remarks, each panelist voiced their own perspective of what was wrong in America: Disunity! But then Ben Chavis fearlessly opened Pandora's Box, or at least he bit off a big chunk of formerly forbidden fruit. Rev. Chavis dared to address a subject that was on everyone's mind, but which no one else would mention: The exclu sion of Farrakhan from the 30th celebration of A. Philip Randolph's August 1963 March On Washington, and Farrakhan's withering response to this insult in The Final Call, a Muslim newspaper. The mention of Farrakhan's exclusion set off a chain reaction that led to five or six standing ovations from the non-Muslim au dience of 3,000 or more - many of whom are leaders of Black America. Jackson, who had pragmatically distanced himself from Far rakhan in the face of Jewish wrath, was no ticeably subdued. An alliance between the Nation of Islam Jackson Mfume I and the NAACP was revealed and pro claimed. All other speakers pledged to meet behind closed doors to iron out differences and emerge there with unity. Proclaimed Farrakhan: "When we have this meeting in closed ses sion, may we iron out whatever differences we may have and make a pledge to each other that we can say in public that we will never let somebody outside of our family determine what goes on Inside of our family. And, we will tell those who wish to exclude a member of the family from participat ing with the family to keep their mouth out of our fami ly business!" Strong words! But my good friend Bill Raspberry says that Jewish support is criti cal for the black political-civil rights estab lishment, and questions whether they "can bring Farrakhan into the camp without trig gering the defection of other critical allies." Whether we like it or not, Louis Farrakhan speaks for a substantial component of an or ganized Black America. And he has a disci plined organization of his own that only fools will ignore. He cannot be excluded by any sensible coalition-buUder, and Ben Cha vis, Kweisl Mfume, Jesse Jackson, Maxine Waters, Leon Higginbotham, Cornel West, Lanl Guinier, Mary Frances Berry, and the 3,000 town meeting attendees seem to be emi nently sensible people. JOHN CASHIN is an editorial writer for the National Newspaper Publishers Association who lives tn Huntsville, Ala. Farrakhan The Attraction Of Colin Powell By James Alsbrook SPECIAL TO THE POST Colin Powell, a black man, as president of the United States? Now that this charismatic and beloved former Chair man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has retired from the U.S. Armed Forces, various polls show that he, like Ei senhower, gained admira tion so widespread that he would be a formidable candi date for the office of U.S. President. He is only 56 years old and at least 14 to 16 "good" years remaining. Powell's political possibili ties have been reported ex tensively in recent Issues of various media, including the New York Times and U.S. News & World Report, and a very supportive book on him was published a few months ago. These whfte writers agree unanimously that Powell could be the first black president of the United States because people gener ally agree that he brought new respect for the U.S. mili tary forces after the humili ating defeat from Vietnam. Powell is the author of mil itary plans that were highly regarded and taught in mili tary schools. Powell's pub lished thinking on military tactics, strategies, and ma neuvers came to the atten tion of top defense officials in the Reagan administra tion. Admiring Powell's mil itary concepts and advanced thinking, they brought him to Washington in the Defense Department. Amid the pres sures and wranglings of the Cold War, Reagan swallowed his usual anti-black policies to get the best advice from the most talented source and on Nov. 5, 1987, named Powell as his National Security Ad visor. Bush named him Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Oct. 1, 1989. When war with Iraq was definite on Jan. 23, 1991, Powell on television told the world his plans for the Iraqi army: "First, we are going to cut it off. And then we are go ing to kill it." This bluntness shocked people, but Powell did exactly what he said. The war was short, vicious and decisive and American mili tary power was again rated topnotch. If Powell has presidential ambitions, is a Democrat and if Clinton makes no se rious blunders, Powell would have no shoo-in place on the 1996 Democratic presiden tial ticket. Clinton clearly intends to become a candi date again tn 1996 and Gore is securely fixed as his run ning mate. If Gore makes no major blunders, he would not step aside for Powell In 1996 because Gore wants to be President after Clinton has served two terms - in the year 2000. JAMES ALSBROOK is a syndicated columnist. Regardless of party, Colin Powell could be the first black U.S. president. Black Conventions Better Off Investing In Communities By William Reed NATIONAL NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION During the past summer, millions of African Ameri cans trudged off to their an nual conventions under the guise of getting together with their counterparts to solve the problems of blacks in America. In July, the NAACP took over the streets and major hotels of India napolis for their convention and the Urban League and Congressional Black Caucus brought tens of thousands to convene in Washington, D.C. this summer. The National Business League met at the famous Fairmont Hotel in New Orleans. Tang NIvrl, who writes for Emerge magazine, said that instead of solving black problems, "Negroes routinely get together to eat chicken, drink vodka, chase women, play cards and make plans to do it all again next year." For middle-income African Americans, who spend over $15 billion a year going to re unions, conventions and conferences, such events are ritual happenings. If you profess to be "anybody" in civil rights, the church hier archy or in a public position, you have to be on the scene and be seen. Historians record that the first National Negro Conven tion was held in 1830 when Rev. Richard Allen, who founded the African Metho dist Episcopal (AME) Church, brought some 40 Ne groes to discuss the estab lishment of a Negro colony in Canada. Since then the black convention has grown into a blllion-dollar busi ness. What used to be annual gatherings designed to be strategic against racism have now developed into the greatest entertainment spec tacle mankind could ever Imagine, and has become a major financial bonanza to owners of the nation's lead ing Hyatts and Hiltons. In addition to the bucks that whites are able to pocket from them, the black con vention is now little more than a chance for African Americans to get together to blow a lot of hot air about "black economic develop ment." They routinely spend eveiything.they have so they can sleep, eat and drink in the finest hotels. Nivri points out that Instead of be ing involved In black eco nomic development, they are more involved in interna tional development, "They profile in $1,200 Italian suits, high step in Ferragamo shoes, carry Louis Vuitton bags, parade in $800 leather skirts, acrid elevators with Anals Anais perfume, and wear long fur coats in hot weather." With the amount of money that black associations, fra ternities, sororities and civil rights groups spend annually in white hotels, they could buy, or build, their own lodg ing and meeting facilities. Two years ago, columnist Tony Brown suggested that major black groups not con vene one year and use the funds they would have paid out to attend the convention to build their own hotels. In the meantime, hundreds of meetings have been held by us, themes of "black econom ic development" have been spouted from podlums of Sheratons, Marriotts, and an occasional Four Seasons, but the number of black- owned hotels and commer cial corridors has not in creased. Will blacks ever start to use their conventions, or con vention monies, toward the betterment of The Race? Pity the unsuspecting and well- meaning black who comes to the convention with change on his/her mind. There seems to be very little room In the nation's finest inns for such change agents among us. The leadership of the groups that hold these conventions are held by cliques of people who want to do the same old thing In the same way, year in and year out. Instead of black im provement actions, the cur rent record of black conven tioneers trends more toward black efforts to Improve the bottom line of whites in the hospitality business. So, while the black Na tional Bankers Association meets in Nashville's Opry- land and the National Mi nority Supplier Develop ment Council holds its confab at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel in Or lando, let's hope that their getting together there will at least solve problems of some jobs for blacks. Let's hope that at least the people making the beds In the suites and pouring the drinks will be black. WILLIAM REED writes about urban affairs for the National Newspaper Pub lishers Association.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Oct. 14, 1993, edition 1
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