Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 December 2002 — Page 8

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THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13,2002

EDITORIAL Trying to improve our community

JAMS Mter

Last week I served as a panelist during a Communications and Community Workshop, which was sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation in conI junction with the UniverI sity of California at Los

Angeles.

The conference gave local

community organizations the opportunity to meet with print and broadcast media representatives to discuss how the two can join together and structure productive

relationships with one another.

Representing print media was myself and Suzanne McBride, city editor of the Indianapolis Star, while Amos Brown and FOX 59 anchor, Cheryl Adams represented the

broadcast media.

During the workshop, local organizations had the opportunity to ask media representatives any questions that they had. Suzanne and I discussed the ins-and-outs of the newspaper business, the challenges we face covering local communities and the proper procedure one should follow when requesting materials to run in the paper. I think the workshop was wonderful, because it gave local organizations the opportunity a better understanding of what we need and go through and it also gave media representatives the chance to hear some constructive criticism as well as become familiar with individuals at various community organizations. With more workshops and conferences similar to this, I think the city overall

would benefit.

Being editor of the country’s fourth oldest surviving African-American newspaper is a tough job. It takes a lot. Oftentimes, my days just run together because I’m so busy. But, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I love informing the public, I love being a part of history, I love telling a story. Quite simply,

I love my job.

However, being editor of The Recorder has not gotten me to the point where I feel I don’t need criticism. I welcome it. Because as long as I’m hearing what the community is dissatisfied with, or what they would like to see more of in the paper - the more I hear that, gives me something else to strive

for and correct.

It doesn’t mean that I’ll make every individual happy, because Lord knows that’s impossible, but I do want to make the general public pleased. I feel as a voice and an advocate for the community, it’s the duty The Recorder to inform the community and have their best interest at heart. I say all of that to say this. Let me know what The Recorder can do to better serve you. Submit a Letter to the Editor to voice your individual concerns or comments. Let us know what a great job we’re doing or the areas that you feel we need to improve in. Let this invitation be something like a written workshop, a discussion board between you and us, so that we have a better, more productive understanding of one

another.

Send comments to shannonw(2) indvrecorder.com or call 317-

924-5143.

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Making the case te Heesiers about Africa's AIDS holocaust

“Emergency.” “Holocaust.’ “Crisis of confidence.” "The biggest challenge to the morality of

die age.”

Those are the words three entertainers used in Indianapolis last week to describe millions dead and dying because of the wildfire spread of AIDS on the African continent.

Just

Tellin'lt

By AMOS MOWN

met with Bono and his group, lawmakers aren’t the only ones No Black ministers, business or giving a frosty reception to Enercivil rights leaders were there, gize Indiana, the bold economic And oddly, just a smattering of development initiative unveiled white religious leaders attended last week by Gov. Frank with ho white business, political O’Bannon and Lt. Gov. Joe or civic leaders present. Keman; African-American leadDATA failed to reach out to ers are also highly skeptical. Indianapolis’ Black media. A major reason is that the Bono, Judd and Tucker held a O’Bannon/Keman administra-

During a 10-hour frenzy of telling the president to have the 30 minute private meeting with tion has never done a good job private meetings, media events courage and heart to do this, Indianapolis Star editors, but explaining how their economic and a standing room only pre- he’ll do it,” said Bono. failed to meet with the city’s development plans will help Afsentation at the Madame Besides getting the medicine Black media leadership. rican-American individuals, Walker Theater; Bono, the Irish to those in need, Bono believes The AIDS crisis in Africa has businesses and entrepreneurs. leadsingeroftheU2rockgroup; strongly that America and other the potential to harm America. In fairness, neither have Repubrenowned actress Ashley Judd western nations must cancel or Bono and his two companions Mean leaders explained to Afriand African-American come- forgive the debts owed by Afri- deeply believe one reason the can Americans the benefits of dian and actor Chris Tucker can nations. developingworldhatesAmerica GOP proposals to move Indiana came to Indianapolis to sensi- Bono, Judd andTucker aren’t so much is America’s refusal to into a high tech economy, tize Hoosiers to the AIDS crisis doingthisforPRbrowniepoints. be on the right side of the moral High tech is an amorphous in Africa. Sitting literally next to them in a issues of the day. concept to most African AmeriThe three front a new organi- private meeting, I came away Quoting a top government cans. Most Blacks don’t know zation, DATA (Debt-AIDS- convinced that the three pas- official,BonoandJuddsaid,"We anyone working in those cut-Trade-Africa). Indianapolis was sionately believe in this issue, know there are another 10 po- ting edge industries or who has the fourth stop in a seven-state The AIDS crisis, both in Africa tential Afghanistans in Africa,” a “high tech” job. swing through the heartland to and here in America, among meaning the conditions that Appearing on our WDNI/ educate and enlist the help of Black people, is severe enough spawned al-Qaeda and the Channel 65 program last week, Midwesterners in pressuringthe to merit drastic action and new Taliban exist today in Africa, if Lt. Gov. Keman was vague at Bush administration to action, solutions. America does nothing. how the 10-year, $1.2 billion In simple terms, 6,500 Black But while the three celebri- Our African-American com- Energize Indiana plan would Africans die each day because of ties are sincere, their organiza- munity has many problems we help Blacks; especially in getAIDS with another 9,500 con- tion DATA seems inept at un- must confront But despite the ting jobs today, not years in the tracting the disease daily. This derstanding how to mobilize crises we face here, we mustn’t future. AIDS pandemic could poten- support among African Ameri- turn a deaf ear or blind eye to The plan’s reliance on nearly tiallydestabilizetheAfricancon- cans. Other than Tucker and a the millions of our kin dying in $900millionintobaccosettletinent which would have pro- photographer, there were no our motherland Africa. ment dollars received hostile found national security conse- African Americans among the If this is the moral crisis of reactions from Black leaders, quences for the United States, scores in town with the DATA our age, DATA must build Rep. Charlie Brown, head of the The spread ofAIDS in Africa contingent. strong lines of communications House Health Committee is isn’t because of male-to-male There were less than 40 with African-American commu- openlyskeptical. I’m told House sexual activity. Instead, the ma- Blacks out of a crowd of1,000 at nities. And DATA’S celebrities Ways and Means Chair Rep. Bill joritywho’recontractingthedis- the Walker Theater public event must reach out, not just to the Crawford is equally skeptical, ease, in epidemic proportions, because DATA gave white heartland, but to their peers in suspicious and hostile towards are women and children. . groups the bulk of the tickets. I the entertainment industry. the plan. To Bono, Judd and Tucker, hear longtime AIDS activist Dr. Last week, instead of hearing African-American health the solution is simple. Get medi- Thomas Brown and the group Whitney Houstoa and Bobby agencies and health activists are cine to the millions who need it. Brothers United were the only Brown whine about their drug livid because the plan could gut "There are drugs costing 25 Black groups or individuals re- problems, we should have heard many health related programs centsthat can inhibit the spread ceiving tickets. them speak out, as Bono, Judd now in place. And Indiana’s of the HIV virus to women and Just seven African Ameri- and Tucker did here, about the Black newspapers and radio sta-

children,” Bono and Judd told cans, including Congresswoman AIDS Holocaust in Africa,

me. “America should provide Julia Carson, state Rep. Bill

them.” Crawford, Deputy Mayor What Tm hearing

“If there’s enough of a Carolyn Coleman and county in the streets

groundswell (from the people) health chief Dr. Virginia Caine ' Democratic and Republican

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ASK A DAMN ECONOMIST!

tions fear the plan will take thousands of dollars away from Black media at a time when advertising dollars are sluggish. Gov. O’Bannon and Lt. Gov. Kernan (and Republicans who support Indiana’s movement towards high tech) have lots of explaining to do before African Americans embrace Indiana’s movement towards a high tech

economy.

To us, Energize Indiana shows no promise of energizing our African-American community’s economy See ‘ya next week. Amos Brown’s opinions are not necessarily those of The Indianapolis Recorder. You can contact him at (317) 221-0915 or e-mail him at ACBROWN @ AOL.COM.

Did Scott Phelps get it right about Black students?

Scott Phelps, a science teacher at John Muir High School in Pasadena, Calif., must have known that the letter he sent to his fellow teachers a month ago would not stay private very long. In the letter, he lambasted Black students for chronic bad behavior. The rage and debate it ignited when it quickly roared out to the public continues to. reverberate through public and academic circles. After all, here was a white teacher who openly trampled racial and political correctness and bluntly said that Black students fail not because of poverty, racism, indifferent administrators, insensitive, and inexperienced teachers, or cash starved schools, but because of their own cultural deficiencies. Phelps was slammed as a racist, a bigot, and his letter ripped as hatefiil, and racially divisive. But is he right? In its latest report on school discipline, the U.S. Department of Education found that Blacks comprised nearly one out of three students kicked out of the nation’s public schools. They make up less than 20 percent of public school students. Though few white and Black teachers, and administrators would dare publicly brand Black students as educational malcontents, legions of them have long contended that they are more prone to pick fights, deal drugs, and pack guns and knives at schools than whites. While white students have gone on murderous rampages at some high schools, and are just as likely to use and deal

drugs on high school campuses as Blacks, their drop-out, suspension, graduation rates, and test scores, are far higher than those of Black students in schools where they sit side by side with each other. Yet while facts and the anecdotal experiences of many educators seem to back up Phelps, the dangling question is why so many think the worst about Black students, and why so many Black students behave the worst? The widely publicized savage murder of hapless and helpless victims by some young Black thugs on the streets of Chicago, and Milwaukee this year, and the escalating murder violence in big cities by mostly young Black males, stokes public fear that young Black males are eternal menaces to society. Many young Blacks further validate racial stereotypes by aping and exulting the thuggish bluster and behavior of gangster rappers who revel in the bad actor lifestyle and play hard on the us vs. them volcanic rage of many young Blacks. They reap a king’s ransom from exploiting the violent, outlaw image of

Black life. This further convinces many Americans that the thug lifestyle is the Black lifestyle. But reflexively finger pointing at the tumultuous and selfindulgent world of rap music to explain the self-destructive violence of some young Black males is much too simple. The internalized anger of many Black males from decades of victimization and alienation has been transformed into their seemingly eternal desperate search for self-identity pnd esteem. Their tough talk, swagger, and mannerisms are defense mechanisms they use to boost their esteem. They measure their status or boost their self-worth by demonstrating their proficiency in physical fights, or the sexual abuse of Blade women, and of course, by creating havoc in the classroom. An accidental bump, an insult, personal challenge, critidsm or rejection, that happens on the street, or in a school corridor is often taken by insecure Black males as an ego challenge or an affront to their manhuod. That perceived challenge often spirals into violence on campus. Many teachers and school administrators regard this as ingrown social incorrigibility that must be swiftly and severely punished. But this is only part of the picture. Teachers and school administrators in many urban school districts see endless exampiesofyoong Blacks that don’t fit the warped racial stereotypes.

These students do well in school, and don’t misbehave. Even Phelps admits that he’d walk the extra mile to help students that want and need help. Former students ofhis who have gone on to college and successful professional careers praise him for his efforts. The lust by many Black students for educational excellence is bolstered by a recent survey of student attitudes by the Minority Student Achievement Network, an educational advocacy group, that found that Black and Latino students were as motivated, studied as hard, and were as serious about graduating as whites. They succeed because many teachers are dedicated and determined that they attain excellence in their studies. They expect and demand that Black students perform up to the same level as white students, and they give them positive and continual direction and reinforcement. Yes, Phelps publicly said what many teachers and administrators have privately whispered for. years about Black students. For that, he deserves some credit But simply telling some of the truth is not enough. The overwhelming majority ofBlack students don’t act like thugs on campus. And for those that do exhibit bad behavior, there are reasons they do, and those reasons go way beyond their own cultural deficiencies. ExrlOfkri Hutchinson exa be rexched at thchutchinsonreport.com.