MRS. TURNER lO'NUfeMMdu'Mb pap l) tkn counselor at both Urastead ui Dorothea Dlx hoapttala; as public relations director at St. Augustine's College; admlnlstra , nographic materials as well as in i ! stilling the work ethic in their !! children at home and for other i youth. I American Mothers strives to n develop good parenting skills and to keep physically fit. BANQUET ! (Continued from page 1) Haven, Glenwood Towers and Car ; Hage House. The young participants 1 hre youth members of the Concerned ' Citizens for Education Equity and > youth from the Raleigh Housing 5 Authority’s Residential Councils, i | No one event can honor all the peo < J>le who have contributed to a cause, • Iso this is planned to be an annual af • Jair. If you know of someone whom 5 ‘you would like to see honored, please “"contact a member of the committee. !~The banquet committee members are } Dejuana Alana, Muriel Boyd, Andrew ’ Ellerbe, Joyce Fennell, Kay Fish, ; Rosa Gill, Sherrie Hartafield and ; Robert Smith. The sponsors of this af ; fair are the Concerned Citizens for ; Educational Equity and the Raleigh ; Parks and Recreation Department. 1 For additional information, call • Sherrie Hartsfield at 831-3895. QUESTION ! (Continued from page 1) their male counterparts. Black men are having a harder struggle, but most people don’t know that there are more black male babies being born - every day.” Black men and women must realize ticularly the kind of men she would enter a relationship with. According to a recent Issue of Essence magazine, to young black men compared with every 10 young white men will more likely die violent, often self-inflicted deaths. Homicide and suicide kill more 10-to 24-year-olds than any other means. Doris Silva, a 20-year-old Junior at ; Shaw University, has hoard the ; negative reports. Yet in her circle of > friends, she said she doesn't And that j there’s a shortage. She doesn’t know ; what to believe. “If you say something enough * times, everybody starts believing it,” ! she said of the media reports, ; Whether there’s a shortage or not, the facts are in, said Thomas Shepherd, head of the Sociology and Criminal Justice Department at St. Augustine's. A disproportionate that they must struggle together in this country, she said. One can’t make it without the other. Debra Nicholson, 24, a senior at Saint Augustine’s College, said, however, that there is a shortage bas ed on what she’s seen. “There are just less men,” she said. “Most of the men available are on drugs or selling drugs, on the street or doing something otherwise unproductive.” In church, on campus and at activities outside Raleigh and North Carolina, she said she doesn’t come in contact with many men, par finding men, he said. For example, women who seel higher education, sv ^as a master.': program, tend to be single, whid may exist because men with highei education tend to marry women wit! less education. There continues to be more men ii graduate school than women, ye black men have a hlghe: undergraduate dropout rate Uiai black women. In addition, the availability of blacl men depends on where women go b look for men. At the undergraduah level, they may, find few, at th< graduate level they may find man; and there are other levels in between Unlike their white counterparts black men are almost excluded fron upper management at many com pimies without a degree. White men on the other hand, who don’t go on t< higher education, depend on the “buddy” system and family anc friends in high places to get the up ward mobility to stay ahead of white women. Without a degree, black men typically turn to blue-collar jobs because they are excluded from the corporate ladder. In turn, black women, who often have better access to the corporate ladder, refuse to date blue-collar black men because the men aren’t glamorous or hold the status many black women are trying to attain. “I’m not sure there is a shortage,” Shepherd said. Dr. Theresa Edwards Hayes, a child, adolescent and adult psychologist, said it depends on how you look at it. “All black women want to know is, am I going to get one,” she said regarding the present condition of black men. Most black women don’t want to hear the statistics or studies regarding what’s happening. They only deal within their own world, she said. “Of course we have a lot of black men,” said Latanya Hopkins, a 22-year-old senior at St. Augustine’s. “But all of them are not productive. The media are trying to divide the black male and the black female. They make you think the black male is no good.” Black men, too, are hearing the message and are reacting to it, said Linda Hunter-Nash, a salesperson at a downtown jewelry store in Raleigh. "A lot of black men have been castrated so long they just don’t care. I think if the man is a ditch-digger and he’s good at it and decent, he’s good,” she said. “I do think there’s a shortage of good black men, but black women will have to decide what’s good.” The reaction in the black communi ty about the plight of black men may stem from ignorance, Shepherd said. A lot of people don’t have the skills to study what’s happening to black men and black people in this country are quick to believe the first thing that makes sense, he added. ission of the North Carolina Life Council to to Improve the of family life in North FAMILIES (Continued from page 1) Long-Term Care. Three years ago, she organized Home Economics Pacesetters. This group involves home economists in needed community activities and pro motes family-related legislation. Ms. Buckley has received many honors, including a distinguished service award from the National Association of Extension Home Economists and an Outstanding Extension Award from NCSU. David Russo, director of the department of human resources, ac cepted the award for SAS. Most noteworthy among the company’s programs are its on-site child care and on-site recreation and fitness pro grams. The award for Strengthening the Black Family was accepted by the group’s president, Edna Earle Blue. The organization was founded in 1M1 and incorporated in 1987. Its goal is to provide the support needed to put in place programs which will serve to strengthen the black family in Wake County. To reach that goal, annual conferences have been held since 1981 to inform and educate the public. For example, “Mobilizing Our Reaources in Pursuit of Excellence’’ was the theme for a recent con ference. Among the topics discussed were “Investing in Oud Youth,” “Ths Mack Youth's Agenda for Success," “Suicide in the Black Family,“ "Employment and Economic Development," "Diabetes "Promoting Pride, Per and “AIDS : Community." chess with a ban onset recoffnixinfl three outstandina Wake County families from each