Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 3 January 2003 — Page 8

PAGE A8

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

FRIDAY, JANUARY 3,^003

EDITORIAL

The role of Blacks in 2003

m

By SHANNON

WILLIAMS

Editor

Oh. how timi' Hit s. In tlic nowspapiT business, time moves rather t|uiekly an\ way. hut it seems as if 2002 was

j;one in the blink ol an eye. The last year has been tilled with so many different aeeomplishments and letdowns on a loeal. national, anti international level. There are also some ehanges that need to be instituted within the African-Ameri-ean eomnumity for the next year. As far as Blacks are concerned, we have done fairly w ell, but there is still room for improvement and recognition. As an Af-rican-American community, we need to

become more united in 2()().'i. So often 1 see Blacks unnecessarily tear each otherdow n either on a professional level, a personal level, or socially. It s Ok to challenge an individual. hut w hen it gets to the point of irrelevance and immaturity, it needs to he stopped. Sometimes we can be

our ow n worst enemy.

Generally speaking, more Blacks need to motivate themselves and not always look fora handout or to someone else to solve their problems. If you're a frequent reader of my editorials you'll know that 1 have a major problem with people who can't - or shall I say won't, do for themselves. I’d definitely like for more Blacks to become self-starters and initiate positive change w ithin their ow n lives during

this new year.

I agree with Amos Brown's column this week as far as more Black officials and leaders need to “he more visible and effective in lighting for our community." Because some Blacks are in the eye of the public, does not mean that they shouldn't take on more of an advocacy role. They should use their notoriety or prestige to their advantage and become a backbone for the Black community. Another concern for 200.J is our public school system. It's in bad shape. I'm confident though, that it will improve. With President Bush's "No Child Left Bchind' campaign and the National Black Caucus of State Legislatures' plan, things can only get better. We have got to find a way to get qualified teachers t< > educate our urban youth. That's the main thing. It would begreatifthe teachers are actually qualified in the specific areas that they teach. We also need teachers to be more caring tow ards students. They need to be genuinely interesti a in the outcome of that child. It makes all the difference in the world. When I was in school. I could pretty much tell which teachers were just going through the motions and which ones actually expressed an interest in their students. There are still some harboring issues w ithin our community that need to be improved upon. Although the overall number of teen-age pregnancies has been reduced, there are more African-American teens pregnant than any other race. We've got to do a better job of stressing the importance of not only abstinence, but also safe sex to our teens. Our Black males in prison aren't doing much better either. They make up more Bo percent of the prison population. while they only represent '» percent of the U.S. population. Thai is a serious issue. 1 really don't know where to begin with a solution to this problem. Perhaps if more Black men do as I suggested and not look for theeasy way out. then this incessantly high percentage will decrease because most of our brothers are incarcerated for either selling drugs or committing crimes such as robbery

and murder.

We need to practice self-love. I’ve discovered that a man, or woman for that matter, can have grow n up in a stable environment, with both working parents in the home and all the love necessary to raise a productive child given to them, yet they choose to travel down the wrong road of life. So ultimately, the deciding factor is. of course in the hands of the individual. The thing that gets me. is when these young men. 'ages ls-2 ‘i get put in jail for the rest of their lives for a crime that wasn t even necessary. Its

so sad.

Ilopefullv in 200.J. our connuYinTiy can attempt to better themselves. We've progressed considerably within the last several decades, hut we must not get complacent and stop living to achieve more, we have to continue on. changing and advancing with time, II \oti ti likr In s/ia/e am comments or concern^ with me, limp me mi e-mnil at shmmmm (</ in<l\ reciinlrr.com.

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Examining some failures of leadership in our African-American community

In this first column of 2003, I focus on the inexcusable lack of visible, effective leadership in America's Kith Largest Afri-can-American community. A couple of times a week, I get calls from African Americans vv ho ve experienced racism first hand. They’ve had a problem with police; were fired or harassed on their jobs; fallen through the gaping holes in Indy's social safety net. These cries for help demand an active and effective Black leadership; something Indianapolis critically lacks as we enter 2003. Our community has more African-American elected officials than ever, with some wielding real power. Especially, new Sheriff Frank Anderson, Con- ' gressw oman Julia Carson and state Rep. Bill Crawford, who has his hands full with our state’s deficit crisis as head of the House Ways and Means Committee. But many more of our Black elected officials could be more visible and effective in fighting for our community. Their failure to do so. coupled by a complete breakdown in leadership by the Black church and key civil rights organizations has resulted in the rank-and-file of our Black community losing respect for and confidence in Black leadership; because that leadership isn't vv orkingon their behalf! Take the NAACP. Did you know there was an Indianapolis NAACP election last month? Virtually nobody did. In an election marked by a pathetically abysmal turnout, the current president won by one vote; but the longtime former president is protesting the results. If his protest is upheld, this former president wins by one vote. No matter w'ho wins, the Indianapolis NAACP branch is in

pathetic shape. Last year their office in the Walker Building closed. Phones don’t work. The visibility of America’s oldest civil rights organization in America’s 12th largest city is virtually nonexistent. With an African-American population of nearly a quarter million, with combined income approaching $4 billion dollars, 1 ndianapolis’NAACP should have a large and financially healthy branch. The rest of Indiana’s NAACP branches are more effective, have larger memberships and finances than the cash-poor, politically impotent Indianapolis branch. The Indianapolis NAACP’s ineffectiveness has statewide ramifications. Because of the Indy branch’s turmoil, the NAACP’s state convention hasn’t been here in years, meaning the NAACP’s work is virtually invisible in Indiana's political, economic and media capital, not to mention its largest Black community. The continuing leadership paralysis and inaction of our local NAACP branch is an AfricanAmerican community disgrace. Forty years ago, despite its innate conservatism, this Black community had church leaders who weren’t afraid to stand up and speak out against racism and injustice, by picketing, demonstrating and fighting for the equality of Black people. Today, that Black church activism is non-existent. With one exception, when was the last time an Indianapolis Black minister

publicly led challenges against police brutality, economic racism, and employment injustice? One strong Black institution has been the Indianapolis Urban League. But the league’s only president, Sam Jones, is retiring, raisingseriousquestions about the organization’s fiiture mission and direction. Will the Urban League board bring in someone as dedicated to eradicating and speaking out against racism as Sam Jones did for nearly 40 years? Or will the board choose a bland leader, afraid to tackle the problems our growing African-American community is experiencing in employment, the criminal justice system, housing and education? With an impotent NAACP and Black church unwilling to help our people, our community can’t afford the Urban League to become a shadow of the strong organization it was under Sam Jones’ leadership. What I’m hearing in the streets Unique among the 50 state Republican parties, Indiana’s firmly demanded that Sen. Trent Lott vacate his majority leader’s post in the wake of those infamous remarks at Sen. Strom Thurmond’s birthday party. Said Indiana GOP head Jim Kittle, “Segregationist policies are diametrically opposed to the very ideals upon which this great nation is founded and the ideals of the Republican Party”. Kittle’s strong words came in stark contrast to Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar’s silence. Even after a strong Indianapolis Star editorial urging him to speak out, Lugar remained mute during the Lott’s affair. When key Republican senators said that Lott had to go, Lugar remained silent. I guess Sen. Lugar has been too busy worrying about crises in Russia, North Korea and other trouble spots to pay attention to

American racism. Perhaps our senior senator has forgotten that African-American votes helped launch his political career - first on the IPS School Board, then as mayor of Indianapolis. As the embodiment of the Republican Party in Indiana, it should have been Lugar, not Kittle, who publicly condemned Lott’s words and actions. A year ago, Lugar insulted Blacks by not allowing Frank Anderson to be considered for reappointment as U.S. marshal. Now Lugar’s silence during the Lott affair insults

Blacks again.

Also, Kittle’s strong words against bigotry and racism needs to be transmitted to the Neanderthals on the City-County Council; particularly Kittle’s declaration that one of his goals is “to make the Indiana GOP more inclusive.” In this New Year 2003, the positive treatment of African Americans by Republicans mustn’t just occur in Washington, it must occur in the CityCounty Building downtown.

*****

The Star, which has hardly any African Americans in senior editorial positions, lost one recently when Assistant City Editor/Education Michael Dabney, hired last February from the Philadelphia Tribune, one of the county’s top Black newspapers, was transferred to the paper’s StarWest Bureau. Dabney, an experienced reporter and editor, will now cover news in two of America’s smallest counties. His transfer means the Star now employs no African Americans in any assistant managing editor or assistant city editor position. Gannett, the paper’s owner, publishes 20 newspapers in cities which are 10 percent or more Black. I’ll bet a $500 cash contribution to the UNCF that the Star has the worst record of AfricanAmerican employment in senior editor positions of those 20 Gannett newspapers. ' If our Black community had an effective NAACP, an activist Black clergy and doesn’t water down our Urban League, our Af-rican-American community could demand that the Star achieve a better record of Afri-can-American employment in senior positions. 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 [email protected].

GOP outreach: Where’s the beef?

(317) 924-5143 P.0. Box 18499, Indianapolis, IN 46218-0499 newsroom * indyrecorder.com

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By RON WALTERS Much has been made about the fact that Trent Lott had to be removed because his racist statement complicated the ability of the Republican Party — and George Bush — to conduct "outreach” to the Black community. It is being said that Bush was on the right track with his so-called faith-based initiative and the appointments of Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice to top foreign policy jiositions. But it strikes me as odd that some people actually believe they can use these things to attract Blacks into the party that has been ‘ regarded as racist — an impression only deejiened by Lott's remarks. P.iit they continue to this pallium. Bush rolled out his faithbased initiative in the form of an executive order at a Black church in Philadelphia, providing a stage for him to try and separate himselt from Lott In denouncing his statement. At the same time, he was sponsoring a law that has been widely considered discriminatory because it gives churches the right to prohibit certain individuals from utili/ing their services based if they are not ol the same faith. I

Then, Powell and Rice represent the fact that conservatism can also be multicultural, that is, they can pursue policies that are just as much against Black interests, but do it as part of a conservative coalition of whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and others. That coalition represents the ideology that has given Blacks so much hell in the past three decades. Therefore, it is the ideology that will be regarded as the more important base for any attempted “outreach” rather than the complexion of those doing it. But let’s get down to it. Any successful outreach to the Black community will be based on the same principle as outreach to the white or any other community — on addressing the interests of Blacks through the principles and policies pursued by the party. The question then is how much change will there be in the Republican leadership and its rank-and-file. This is a legitimate question because a group of senators, including Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and others, already have said that they will not alter their approach to race. Right after Trent Lott had his midnight conversion and endorsed affirmative action, seeming to put on the brakes, McConnell, who sponsored a hill eliminating affirmative

action in the!04th Congress, said that he “doesn’t believe Republicans are going to start endorsing preferences and quotas.” Furthermore, Orrin Hatch, who will be the new chair of Senate Judiciary Committee, also believes like Lott that the nomination of Judge William Pickering should be reintroduced by the White House. Pickering is a Mississippi judge whom Lott sponsored for the.5th Circuit and was defeated in the Democraticcontrollcd judiciary committee in March. Pickering had constantly scolded defendants before his bench for putting too much emphasis on racism and, in a recent cross-burning case involving an interracial couple, he voided the mandatory minimum sentence of one of the white KKK perpetrators. Sen. Bill Frist hits taken over the reins of the Republican Party in the Senate. In his first statement addressed to “healing” after the Senate leadership confirmed his position in a telephone conference call, Frist voiced no hint of how he would heal the racial breach caused by 'Uitt’s statement. The one issue that he mentioned of urgent concern to the Black community because of increasing unemployment was extending

unemployment benefits. So, we are left not knowing whether he will heed the counsel of the senior members of his party or strike out on a new course — a course oriented toward the interests of the majority of the Black community, not the Black right-wing fringe. Before his debacle, Trent Lott was gearing up to put in play George Bush’s agenda, filled with items such as renominating Pickering, beefing up the Homeland Security Department, facilitating Bush policies toward Iraq, sponsoring oilbased legislation to promote American “emergency independence” and other such proposals. If Frist simply follows this outline, and beefs up the moderate image side of Republican “outreach” as I think he will, rather than the real beef of policy outreach, he will continue the Republican slight-of-hand on the issue of outreach to Blacks that has been so common — and such a failure. Ron Walters is Distinguished Leadership Scholar, director of the African American leadership Institute and professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland-Collegc Park. His latest hook is “African American leadership," with Robert Smith.