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4A EDITORIAL AND OPINION/ tTIje Cliarlotte 3^oSt Thursday, March 1, 2007 Wlit 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 White editor in chief OPINIONS Success against long odds What is black history? It could mean many different things to each one of us. To me it represents the accomplishments and struggles of our race. We owe the celebration of Black History Month to Carter G. Woodson. In 1926, he launched Negro History Week to bring national attention to the contributions of black people. The second week of February was chosen because it signified the birthdays of Frederick Douglas and Abraham Lincoln, two men who greatly impacted black American society. In 1976, the observance of Negro History Week became known as Black History Month. As a people, we can contribute our successes to those individuals who mapped out our future. As we look back at our history there are so many strategic efforts that were made to improve their liveli hood. Blacks in America knew they were given the shorthand, treated unjustly and robbed of their heritage. Fighting back for what they’ve lost, was the mindset for most. Obtaining equal rights and better education was achievable but unreachable. Segregation in education varied widely through out several states. Brown vs. Board of Education took place in 1954, and is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme court, which outlawed racial segregation of public education. Following this event brought new momentum to the Civil Rights Movement including the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Freedom Rides, and perhaps the high point of the movement was the March on Washington, which was led by another great historical leader. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And from his political, peacemaking activities led to another national holi day, Martin Luther King Day. African Americans have a rich history and have established significant declarations in the month of February such as the NAACP founded by W.E.B. EKibois. The 15th Amendment was passed granting blacks the right to vote. The first black U.S. senator took oath of office on February 25 and on February 5 I was bom, into this monumental month of history, still in the making. LaSONYA ROBINSON lives in Charlotte. The Willie Lyneh syndrome and us By dasher Shealey SPECIAL TO THE POST ‘ "Gentlemen, in my bag here, 1 have a foolproof method for controlling your black slaves... I have outlined a number of differences among the slave and 1 take these differences and make them bigger. 1 use fear, distrust, and envy for control purposes...The Black slave after receiving this indoctrination shall carry on and will become self-refueling and self-gener ating for hundreds of years, maybe thousands." The year is 2007, almost 300 years after the Willie Lynch let ter was written and the letter has now become a spirit that the African American race carries with them daily. Today African Americans struggle with issues of skin color, age generation gaps and hair, which are all differences that originate from the Willie Lynch letter. Skin color, generation gaps and hair bias techniques were used as racial oppression of the African American race and started in the United States during slavery. To justify racial slavery, slaveholders supported a white supremacist ideolo gy, which states that persons of African descent were inferi or to whites. Whiteness became identified with all that is civ ilized, honorable, and beautiful. Blackness in opposition was and still is identified with all that is poor, evil, and ugly. When slavery was abolished 165 years ago, so should these discriminating racial practices. However, they were not, therefore they still affecting the African American race, but the practices have actually worsened. Not only do these prac tices continue today, but more specifically they have become a negative mentality for the African American race. As a reflection of how the African American race, the com munity and society as a whole feel about the Willie Lynch let ter please send a response to grs_sep07(2)yahoo.com stating whether you agree or disagree with the information present ed above and why. GLASHER SHEALEY is a senior at West Charlotte High School As his senior exit project, he wrote this editorial to gauge read ers’ position on the topic. Skin color, generation gaps and hair bias techniques were used as racial oppression ot the Atrican American race and started in the United States dur ing slavery Connect with ^OSt Send letters to The Charlotte Post, P.O. Box XI44 Charlotte, NC 28230 or e-mail editorial@thecharlot- tepost.com, We edit for grammar, clarity and space. Include your name and daytime phone number. Letters and photos will not be returned by mail unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. (teANWHi^ m life mwm wmmw,.. Demolishing buildings, not memories snort visits, home, I did s ■ TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - In the past, when people uttered Thomas Wolfe’s famous line, "You can’t go home again," I always disagreed, ' arguing that you can - just don’t stay too long. Now, I am not sure about even short visits. On this trip home, I did something I’d never done since leaving in the mid- 1960s. I did n’t drive past the old Druid High School, my alma George __ McKenzie E. Curry court, my public hous ing project. I have a good reason for not visiting my old stomp ing grounds - they no longer exist. In the name of progress, they’ve been demolished. Years ago, they tore down 2715-15th Street, the shotgun house that housed my earliest memo ries. They destroyed Big Mama’s house, three doors to the west, where I was bom on February 23, 1947. Given the age of those old shacks, demolition may have been an improvement: a few of them are still stand ing. Instead of replacing houses in "The Bottom,” as it was called for good rea son, they razed the houses to make way for a new. arched highway on 15th Street. Sound familiar? But it was McKenzie Court that held my fondest mem ories. We lived in 5-D, 75-A and 52-B. Unlike in the North, there was no stigma attached to living in the housing project. After all, they were built with brick, unlike most of the housing on the Black side of town, and they resembled town houses more than the tow ering, crammed structures on Chicago’s State Street, for example. For a poor fam ily, it didn’t get any better than living in McKenzie Court. My Big Mama, Sylvia Harris, and Percy, one of her sons, lived in 23-A. I wouW eat twice on Simdays, once at home and once with Big Mama. I was the first grand son, so I’ll let others draw their own conclusions about our relationship. Let me put it this way: There was Mama and there was Big Mama. Of course, Big Mama was the equivalent of the Supreme Court. She was the only person who could reverse lower court rulings. When we first moved into 5-D when I was in elemen tary school. Mama could usually find me - at Miss Dot’s house because she was one of the few people who had a telephone and a TV set; we had neither. As I . grew older, I spent more time on the basketball court, talking to Mr. Robert L. Glynn, the manager of the projects: and visiting my friends. Back then, everyone knew every family in the projects and adults made sure we didn’t get too far out of line. Late last year, they leveled McKenzie Courts, again in the name of progress. They define progress as building new low-income units to replace the projects. It was done under a federal hous ing program called Hope VI. That’s a good name, for we can only hope that most of the displaced people get one of the new units. The final straw was the decision to demolish Druid High School. Unlike the “separate but equal" schools in the South, Druid really was equal in one respect. The same architec tural plans used to build Tuscaloosa High, the White school across tovm, were used to construct the block- long Druid High School. It was a great building, with two libraries, and even greater teachers and admin istrators. In the name of integration - and to destroy all symbols of the previous era - it was renamed Central High, but to former stu dents, it was and always will be Druid. Now, whatever you call it - Druid or Central - has been leveled and is to be replaced with a middle school. They’ve also demolished the old Tuscaloosa High, but have already replaced it with a gorgeous new struc ture and allowed it to remain a high school. On this trip home, I just can’t stomach driving by McKenzie Court or Druid High and not see those structures that meant so much to me growing up. When I went to visit a cou ple of family friends - Miss Dot and Miss Julia (even though both are married, in the South we still call every one "Miss”) - I took cir cuitous routes so that I could avoid seeing what they had done to my high school and housing project. I look around and notice that all of the old planta tions from the Civil War have been neatly preserved. Why couldn’t they rehab Druid High School and McKenzie Court? Are they any less important than monuments to a lost cause? I know that one day. I’ll have to go back to my old neigh borhood and see what they call progress. But for now, I prefer not to see the destruction and cherish the memories. GEORGE E. CURRY is edi tor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service and BlackPressUSA.com. To Cold shoulder to Black History Month Carter G. Woodson began Negro History Week in 1926, designating it to take place during the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. That second week in February eventually became the entire initiative, black conscious ness, and resolve to strengthen our people through history and educa tion. His effort to establish what is now an entire month of celebrations and remem brances of our people is laudable. But I have a bone to pick with Black History Month. In 1926, things were very different. Personal trans portation was scarce among black people; very few blacks even wanted to fly, and many could not afford the price of an airline ticket any way. Blacks pretty much stayed in the areas of the country where they lived, especially during Negro History Week in February. They celebrated in their homes, churches, and schools for the most part. Besides, as it is now in 2007, it was flat-out cold in February 1926, and you know how much black folks dislike cold weather. Today, we celebrate Black History Month across the country, and we often travel to different cities to partici pate in celebrations as well. In addition. Black people organize events during Black History Month and invite out-of-towners to speak and to participate in other ways. This is a real problem in east ern and northern cities, and even in some of the near western cities like Denver, Kansas City, and Oklahoma City. Why? Because it’s cold, and most of the time it snows in February. I recently read where Chicago had to cancel one of its events again this year because of the cold weather, and I am sure that happens in many other cities. Yes, this is personal with me because I love to drive to most places when I speak, and February driving is not my idea of a fun time. “So what?" you ask. Well, here is the plan. Let’s change Black History Month from February to June. The obvi ous reason is the weather but we could also fold in our Juneteenth celebrations with Black History Month activi ties and not have to worry about the cold, snow, and ice of February canceling our events or making it difficult for us to participate. Hey, we can pick up two more days in the process, too. It may appear that I am jok ing around, but I am dead serious brothers and sisters. 1 understand the deference to Carter G. Woodson, and his reason for assigning Black History Week in February, and I am grateful to him for doing so. But we do not have to continue to conduct our celebration of what he started in what prob ably is the coldest month of the year. We need to be trav eling and mingling with one another during the celebra tion of black history. We need to be visiting relatives and celebrating the fact they we are still on this earth; we need to see one another, be able to eat outside, play out side, and remember our ancestors when the leaves are on the trees, when the sun is shining, as we watch our children playing. February is just not the month for that. As my man, Gil Scott-Heron said in his “vibration” on the Ghetto Code, “There is something wrong with February.” I would venture to guess that our ancestors didn't like February too much either. There were no leaves on the trees for cover at night and very little visible black and brown soil for camouflage: instead, in some cases, they had only a backdrop of white snow and a trail of foot prints, which were not con ducive for escaping. They endured bitter cold, day and night, with few clothes to warm their bodies and thin blankets to warm their chil dren. No, 1 don’t imagine our ancestors liked February very much at all. This year during Black History Month, I was hon ored to be invited to speak at. Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University, Youngstown (Ohio) State University, and the Northeast Church of Christ in Oklahoma City, all known for unpredictable winter weather in February. I am sure many of you had places to go during Black History Month as well; I pray you were not stranded or delayed because of the mis erable weather we had dur ing the first three weeks of February. I don’t know about you, but I certainly enjoy traveling more in June than in February. Yes, this may be a little selfish, but 1 think it’s a rea sonable task for us to under take. We don’t have to ask anyone; the corporations and mass media will go along with whatever we say in this case; so don’t worry about your annual dona- 'tions. They will adjust their sales and their commercials to whatever month we decide we want to celebrate OUR black history. So before you get cold feet, just remember the real reason for our celebrating black history, and remember who owns it. Black history is definitely a “Black Thang," y’all. So, what do you think? Can we start a campaign right now, and change our month from February to June (or maybe you have a better month to suggest)? JAMES E. CUNGMAN, an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati, is former editor of the Cincinnati Herald newspaper and founder of the Greater Cincinnati African American Chamber of Commerce.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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March 1, 2007, edition 1
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