Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 24 January 2003 — Page 6
PAGE A6
THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER
FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2003
1
EDITORIAL
Reality of possible war hits Recorder staff
m
By SHANNON WILLIAMS Editor
Last week. The Recorder family received shocking news that has left a tremendous impact on all of us. Staff writer Joshua Cohen reeeived a call from the United States government Friday afternoon. The call was to inform him that he had to leave for Kuwait that night in preparation for the possibility of
war.
Talk about shocking! Josh had to immediately leave and make as many last minute decisions that he could in the little time that he had before his departure. His life drastically changed as a result of one phone call. Imagine how Josh must have felt when he received that phone call. Just think - he was living the life that he wanted. He had his own apartment, own ear, a job that he loved and the freedom to do as he pleased. He was living the life of your typical twentysomething man - dating, hanging out with the fellas and being an avid sports fan. But because of that phone call life as he knew it would be
changed.
Unfortunately, I was out of the office that day. So I wasn’t there to see the look of pain and sadness in his eyes that my co-workers described to me. 1 wasn’t there to thank him face-to-face for all his hard work and dedication. 1 wasn’t even there to give him a hug goodbye and tell him that everything would be all right. Even if I was there,'I don’t know if I could have assured him that everything would actually be OK. This is a serious situation that our society is faced with. I don’t think that many people, particularly Blacks, are aware of just how real the possibility of war is. I don’t believe many of us are truly grasping that a war is almost certainly going to
take place.
Josh’s being called to duty has hit as close to home than I’ve ever experienced before - the same is true for many of The Recorder staffers. This is definitely a reality. fm happy to say that Josh did call me shortly before his departure, so although I was unable to talk in person with him, I was able to communicate the positive impact he made at The Recorder and assured him that his job will be waiting on him
when he returns.
He let me know that he was obviously upset about having to go, but he understood his duty and would do what he has to do to keep his commitment. That’s so like Josh - doing something to the best of his ability even if he doesn’t totally like it or agree with the’circumstance. Josh has such an infectious personality. The
entire newsroonj
has a great relation-
ship with one
another. In addition to getting down to business, we also
are able to joke
around with each
other and have a
little fun. So, until Josh returns, we ll definitely miss his
input. He will remain in our
hearts and prayers
while he’s away
serving our country.
Joshua Cohen
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INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER DIRECTORY
Urban racial integration and affirmative action: opposite directions
Let’s discuss two events occurring last week in America’s continuing debate on race; President George W. Bush’s decision on affirmative action in higher education and the release of research by the U niversity of Wisconsin/Milwaukee (UWM) showing that big cities like Milwaukee and Indianapolis are more racially integrated than previously believed. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel broke the racial integration story, calling Indianapolis the eighth most integrated major city in America. The UWM study confirms what this columnist/researcher has been saying for 20 years; that Indianapolis is a far more integrated city than urban sociologists and academics have assumed. While Indianapolis leaders seemed pleased with the new study, Milwaukee’s politicians, academicians and community leaders are bitterly divided over the results which said that city was the 10th most integrated. Statistically, Milwaukee’s African-American community is far different than Indianapolis’. Though there are 15,000 more Blacks in Milwaukee than Indianapolis, Indianapolis’ median Black household income is 25 percent higher ($30,446) than Milwaukee’s ($24,403). One-third of Milwaukee’s Blacks live below the poverty level versus one-fifth here. Black educational attainment is far lower in Milwaukee than Indianapolis and while Indianapolis’ Black unemployment is among the lowest (10.2 percent) Milwaukee’s is among the highest (16.6 percent). Overall income in Milwaukee’s Afri-can-American community is $710 million less than in our African-American community. So, how can there be integrated neighborhoods in a city where unemployment, poverty
and poor income is endemic among Blacks? For years sociologists and urban researchers have assumed that racial integration occurs when Blacks (usually middle and upper middle class) move from all-Black neighborhoods into majority-white neighborhoods. Many of Indy’s tonier neighborhoods are racially integrated. For example: Nora is 11 percent Black, Meridian-Kessler 32 percent, Butler-Tarkington 40 percent, even the Crooked Creek neighborhood’s 51 percent Black. But the LJWM researchers discovered that racial integration also occurs in working class and working poor neighborhoods; something Indianapolis has experienced for over 20 years. The best example of this urban phenomenon can be found on Indianapolis’ Near Eastside. That area has become a sociological laboratory where working poor Black, white and Hispanic families are co-existing. Blacks moved into neighborhoods along 10th, Michigan, New York and Washington streets nearly 20 years ago. The movement spread towards Brookside Park 10 years ago. Today, the Near Eastside is 23 percent Black, with some neighborhoods over 10 percent Hispanic. Urban sociologists and ivory tower academics would have you believe that integrated neighborhoods only exist in suburbs or outskirts of central cities; never i n poorer neighborhoods near the city’s heart. But it’s integration in
poorer neighborhoods that’s helped create a greater level of racial integration in America’s big cities. Indianapolis' Near Eastside is living testimony to what the UniverstfyofWisconsin/Milwaukee’s researchers discovered. It’s ironic that a university’s positive research on race came the same week of a major development in academic affirmative action. President Bush’s announcement, on Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthdate, that his administration would oppose the University of Michigan’s use of race in college admissions was bad political timing and a slap in the face to African Americans and other minorities. The use of “quotas” in college admission is a contentious subject. Before the civil rights era, prestigious colleges and universities, like the president’s alma mater Yale, used quotas to restrict African Americans, Jews and other minorities. The exclusion of minorities from the best schools was wrong then and it is wrong today. The president said colleges and universities should be “race neutral” when admitting students. However, Condoleezza Rice, Bush’s national security advisor and former Stanford University Provost, admitted that race can be a proper crieria for schools to use in the admissions process. Rice also admitted on Sunday’s “Meet the Press” that Stanford’s desire to “diversify their faculty” opened the door for her. Some Black conservatives have said that race shouldn’t be a factor in admitting students. Yet if those conservatives were honest with themselves, they’d admit that race was one reason they attended their prestigious alma maters in the first place. If being the child of an alumnus is a factor for admission to
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higher education, along with top grades, good SAT scores, outstanding extracurricular activities, economic circumstances, even athletic prowess; then race must also be an admissions factor. If geographic diversity is a factor in creating a diverse student body, so should race. President Bush’s decision on the Michigan case on Dr. King’s birthdate was bad public policy and horrendous symbolism. Republicans say they want to reach out to African Americans, but to publicly insult us during a highly symbolic time of the year, shows you that Republicans still haven’t learned from the Trent Lott debacle. What I’m hearing in the streets State Rep. Phil Hinkle is the latest Republican to go up against Mayor Bart Peterson’s expected re-election juggernaut. Hinkle announced his candidacy last Friday and Wednesday gave his first television interview to our new morning time “Amos Brown Show” (now seen at 8 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays only) on WDNI-TV/Channel 65. During the interview Hinkle surprised me when he said he advocates consolidating police and sheriff s services. “If elected, I will sit with the elected sheriff and work on consolidating law enforcement efforts,” Hinkle declared. “A mayor must be a leader. He must articulate a vision,” Hinkle said, pointing out a major difference between him and Mayor Peterson. Hinkle also decried a rising “divisiveness” in Indianapolis and pledged that his campaign would actively reach out to our African-American community. While the mayor’s race is developing, City-County Council elections are in full disarray. Last Friday’s unprecedented court hearing by all the Superior Court judges to decide how to redistrict council seats and hold elections should have been big news. It is in your Recorder, but not the Star which published a tepid 271-word story, buried on a back page. The city’s TV stations ignored the story too, except for WRTV/Channel 6’s Jack Rinehart. Our city/county faces a constitutional crisis, the May primary will probably be postponed, and that’s not deserving of major coverage in the Star and Channels 8, 13 and 59? I ndy may be the eighth most integrated city, but we’re 88th in quality news coverage from our local major media. See ‘ya next week. Amos Brown’sopinionsarenot necessarily those of The Indianapolis Recorder. You can contact him at (317) 221-0915 or email him at [email protected].
Renewing Black commitment in 2003
(317) 924-5143 P.0. Box 18499, Indianapolis, IN 46218-0499 newsroom^ indyrecorder.com
By REV. CHARLES WILLIAMS President Indiana Black Expo Inc. Consider these four points: Knowledge, perspective, principle and action. As we launch a new year, African Americans should make only one resolution collectively. That would be - to do better. Much better. A plethora of problems confront people of color in this country. It is virtually impossible to list the issues to which we find ourselves constantly addressing. And it seems as the challenges increase, the number of Black people willing to deal with them decreases. The conscience of the “baby boomer” once rocked the nation with unstoppable change. There was a level of commitment that would not endure compromise. We were once models of perseverance. Battle's weren’t celebrated because we k new the war had not been won. Most importantly, we knew who the enemy was. Today, an unprecedented level of apathy and ambiguity confuse and discourage those who remain on the battle-front.
Many Black people refuse to even acknowledge that struggle still exists. Some sadly mistake affluence with freedom. So the chorus has weakened when singing, “We shall overcome.” So with such a grim diagnosis, what then could we hope for in terms of a prognosis for Black America? The legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. doesn’t give us the option to quit. Those spineless individuals who opt to assimilate bring shame to their forefathers in that denouncement of their heritage. Black Americans need to assume a four-pronged posture. The first is that we must be regular commuters on the information highway. It’s no accident that the one thing prohibited most by the slave master was teaching their captives to read. Knowledge is power. The second thing is mastering the ability to do something effective and progressive with what we learn. We need to interpret information from the perspective of how it impacts people of color
and share it with each other. 'I’hird, the misdeeds of so many Fortune 500 companies in America over the past few years mirror the need for a return to basic ethics and principles. Resist temptation toagrccsoquickly to put a price on your own head.
Remember that the deal always requires that you throw in your soul. And finally, we can no longer settle for just knowing what’s right and wrong, analyzing it and believing something should he done about it. The only thing that will make any of this worthwhile is the subsequent work or action that results from the process. Lift others as you rise. Organize and participate in existing structures. Create new ones. Collaborate. Dare to revert to a time when we viewed each other as brothers and sisters - not just in lip service but from the heart. Don’t let another year go by sitting on the sidelines. Get in the game. Make a difference with just the children on your block, in your church, near your job, at the closest school or as far as your reach will allow. But do something. It’s time for us to measure success not by our gains hut rather by what we give back.