Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 23 August 1997 — Page 2

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THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

SATURDAY, AUGUST 23,1997

New school year crucial for IPS

EDITORIALS

Think before speaking Individuals need to think before they speak. In many instances the words they have uttered are ignorant or hurtful. A perfect example of uttered ignorance came from Indiana Pacers guard Reggie Miller. It would seem that Reggie feels Sheryl Swoopes, a WNBA player who returned to the basketbarf court six-weeks after giving birth to her son Jordan Eric is not performing her motherly duties. According to Reggie, who is a commentator for Lifetime Television’s WNBA coverage, Sheryl should do the right thing and stay home with her baby.” Who’s business is it anyway? It is obvious Sheryl and her husband made the decision for her to return to the basketball court. More power to them. In the meantime, Reggie is trying to rationalize his barbaric. comments. When we were children the old saying was “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” That is certainly not true. Words can and do hurt. Tell an overweight person they have put on more weight. Tell an unattractive individual they are ugly. Tell an accomplished singer she can’t sing. Tell children they are stupid. And words spoken in anger and frustration can hurt more severely than any weapon. Wounds can heal but words are never forgotten. Words can be a boomerang as well. They can be turned against you. Remember Fuzzy Zoller, the golfer who made the deteriorate comments towards Tiger Woods? Those words came back to haunt him. Remember when presidential candidate Ross Perot referred to Blacks as “you people” during one of his campaign speeches. What about the ignorant individual who said women doctors should not intercede during a female boxing match, because they are too emotional. Or the male Kansas City columnist who agreed with Reggie implying something more ignorant than the Pacers comments. Be mindful of what you say. Once the words leave the lips that is it, there is no taking it back. Someone once said, “it’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” I think phase is a fitting for the recent slip of the tongue by Reggie and others as narrow-minded as he.

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School’s starting, so what can our African-American community expect in the coming 1997/98

School year?

The first key test for Indianapolis Public Schools comes the first week when we see if its new quasineighborhood school boundary

system works.

IPS is trying hard to communicate with parents. They’ve sent at least two mailings to every parent in IPS. The latest, an eye-catching multi-color brochure called “Board The IPS Bus.” It’s a great brochure, plainly written, easily the hippest and most easily understood written piece IPS has

ever published.

One reason for the massive communication effort is the fear of Dr. Zendejas and top administrators that as many as 1,000 students will show up at the wrong school Sept. 2. Within the IPS District, fully 25 percent of all households move EACH year, a good percentage of those moves are during summertime. Will Dr. Zendejas stay? That’s the $64,000 question. If the first days of school aren’t a fiasco, like Select Schools were four years ago, then I’ll give even money she stays. But, if IPS gets into a major crisis, and the board publicly second guesses its Superintendent, then I think Zendejas’ll pack it in. School overcrowding. I’m picking up rumblings that IPS could have major problems with school overcrowding. I’m told at least one middle school will be jammed packed, while other middle schools will have plenty of vacant space. Will this pattern be repeated in other elementary and middle schools? I remain troubled by IPS’ new 85/15 racial balance. If white flight accelerates, some IPS schools pro-

jected to be 15 percent white could become

nearly all-Black. School board elec-

tions are May five. Community anger over the disrespect shown and censure of board member Hazel Stewart continues to simmer. Sources say board

member Mike Rodman is politically finished should he run again. Hazel Stewart has privately told supporters she’s not running for reelection. I'm hearing rumblings of a possible resignation of a board member. Then there’s

board president Julie Scott.

Scott’s begun to take a positive posture communicating the board’s priorities to this community, something I’ve urged the board to do for months. However, there’s still a reservoir of anger by Blacks towards Scott’s vote in the Hazel Stewart imbroglio. Can Scott overcome that, put a positive face to our commu-

nity, and get re-elected?

Watch for an effort to draft Stewart to run for another term. But the real fight will be over Rodman’s seat, between Black candidates, and those from the Meridian-Kessler/Broad Ripple

crowd.

Does IPS have budget woes? Remember last year’s IPS budget fuss and school closings? Now teachers have raises and there’s even kindergarten. Will we have a repeat of last year’s fiscal train wreck? The role of alternative schools. This is the year that alternative schools (whatever they are) begin operating in earnest. Will they have an effect at motivating troublemaking students into productive young people?

Violence in the schools. Will the escalating killing fields of our neighborhoods show up in classrooms this school year? IPS and the townships have been relatively free of violent crimes inside school property. Can that be maintained? Black township enrollment will increase as white flight continues in IPS. This is a crucial year for Black enrollment in some Indianapolis township districts. The three southern townships (Perry, Decatur and Franklin) will continue to LOSE Black students continuing a trend since 1993. Wayne Township could be the third township district in court-ordered busing to have a majority of its Black students actually live in the township. If that happens, could Wayne, Warren and Lawrence Townships try to get out from under Judge Dillin’s ruling? Meanwhile, watch Pike Township. They grew by 476 Black students last year, by 732 the past two years. How much will they grow this year? It’s possible this school year. Pike will be the second largest school district for Blacks, after IPS. The number of white students in IPS has dropped 8,100 in the past decade, while the number of whites in the townships climbed 4,600 in the same period. This trend will continue. At the same time, watch for overall Black enrollment in the city/county to grow, as will overall enrollment. Heard in the Street The only local media airing positive back-to-school messages are the city’s Blackowned stations WAV-TV Channel 53, WGGR 106.7FM and WHHH/Hoosier 96. The three have launched a three week campaign, valued at $30,000, encouraging parents to exchange phone numbers with their children’s teachers and introduce themselves to their children’s school bus driver. The effort promotes the immunization phone number and that IPS parents who don’t know where their kids go to school should call 2262222! Why is Minister Louis Farrakhan coming to Indianapolis Labor Day? Previously Farrakhan, who was last here in 1991, came at the invitation of non-Muslim groups, never on his own initiative. What’s his angle and agenda and will his visit harm the fragile efforts to rebuild race relations in this community? The Federal Communications Commission finally took action against a local media outlet for inadequate recruitment and hiring of African-Americans and other minorities. The FCC fined WIBC( AM 1070) $10,000for deficiencies in their EEO policies, practices and procedures. Along with this stiff fine, for the next few years, the FCC’s requiring WIBC to supply detailed public reports on its recruitment, hiring and employment by race and sex. Speaking of hiring, when will WXIN, Channel 59 finally name a replacement for anchor Ginger Gadsen? Cheryl Adams has been doing a stellar job filling in for three months. The fall season begins in three weeks, when will Fox 59 make a decision? See ‘ya next week! Amos Brown’s opinions are not necessar- ' ily those of The Indianapolis Recorder. You can contact him at (317) 293-9600 or e-mail him at [email protected].'

Just

Tellin' it

By AMOS BROWN

Women of color with HIV/AIDS on the rise

Our grandmothers’ old saying that when white folks get a cold. Black folks get pneumonia took on new meaning with the release of a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report on HIV/ AIDS. The report showed we have entered a new era in the treatment and prevention of this disease, with the number of deaths dropping a dramatic 19 percent last year. But while deaths among whites decreased 28 percent, they dropped only 10 percent for Blacks and 16 percent for Hispanics. Thus, much of the progress seen in the treatment of AIDS has been experienced by white men. Indeed, it is women, who account for 20 percent of the AIDS population, and who are seeing fewer benefits from the progress made against this dreaded disease. Deaths of women decreased by just 7 percent, while deaths of men dropped 22 percent. Most infected women are women of color and most are poor and uneducated. Once again, Black women are in the category of the “least of these” Women with HIV/AIDS, it seems, are less likely to be properly diagnosed. The HIV Law Project in Manhattan had to bring suit in 1993 in order to get the CDC to expand its official list of

AIDS-related illnesses to include ailments that are particular to women and even now many doctors fail to recognize these conditions as signs of HIV infection. In addition, women have only been allowed to participate in AIDS clinical trials for four years and only account for 16 percent of the patients in such studies. But even when properly diagnosed, women are less likely to be placed on the new antiviral therapy which is largely responsible for the dramatic decrease in AIDS-related deaths. “Women, especially women of color, don’t have the time or money or the energy to be surfing the Internet to know what is the new and improved latest treatment,” said Dr. Janet Mitchell in a recent New York Times story, adding, “They tend overwhelmingly to be mothers. They don’t have that leisure to make AIDS the only focus in their life.” The result is that^AIDS is now

the leading cause of death for African American women ages 25-44. Black women are almost 15 times more likely to test positive for HIV than are white women. Nationwide, AIDS cases are now increasing most rapidly among women, particularly women of color. With at least 40,000 new infections of HIV/AIDS occurring nationally each year, HIV/AIDS will threaten the Black family’s very survival in the 21st century. Doctors are warning that as troubling as these statistics are, the gender/race gap will only increase

over the next few years as the full impact of the new drugs takes affect in the white male community. We must come to grips with the presence of HIV/AIDS in communities of color. We must demand that our communities receive medical and preventive services. We must offer treatment and support to women of color who are living and dying with this disease. We must open our hearts and our doors to our children who are orphaned by this disease. Our streets with HIV/AIDS cannot shoulder this burden alone. Nor should they.