By B
young Black families are ·Striving To Finance The
clustered at the poor end of the Manhood 0fWhich We Boat"
spectrum. The last of wealth and lade of
. The earnings that those who faith,
Our youag families are the head young Black families bring Criminalintion is a aippling
cradle of next generation. home have been shrinking and sometimes fatal disease.·
But far too many of them are dramatically. It is not only the Black people are very afraid of
sinking fast, young � school dropouts who it. They make huge saaifices to
In 1973 roughly one-third of - are earnmg less - though they avoid it It put them in direct
I all young Black families (those art by far the worst off, Earnings conflict with the whites. Yet
headed by a person younger have been falling even among Black people are pulled down
than ) was poor. Today near- those heads of youag families by it morethan any other people
Iy half of such young 'Black for whom we cherish hi�h and are .the ones most devas
familie are poor. More and hopes: Our young Black high tated!
more of our young Black school graduates. . . Although we swear that we
families are headed by young. When someone � �ownmg, are inherently equal to the
women who are struggling to you throw o,:,t a lifeline. We whites, we can't believe that four
raise .chiIdren alone _ families must take action to rescue our out of fiYe of the Blacks in aime
that face a very high risk of young. Black families and their and prison are aim;nali:red per
poverty. children from poyerty and its sons who would have been sue-
While young families of all harsh costs. This a long and eessful had they been whites.
races are hurting, young Black complicated .effort, imvolving Being inherently equal means
families' incomes have been efforts to prevent teen pregnan- the same thing in regards to
dropping faster than those of cy as well as to provide the sup- criminalization as it does in
young white or Hispanic port families need to survive, . regardstosportsandentertain
families. Since 1973, the income such as child care and health
of the youngest families care. It also means making sure
(headed by a person younger enough jobs are available at
than 25) has dropped by r ugh- decent wages to give our young
Iy 19% among whites and people the confidence that they
Hispanics, but a horrifying 47% can successfully form and sup
among Blacks. In 1973, the port families.
median income for these We can take a first step
youngest Black families was toward that goal right now. The
Sl1,997� Today,· . $6,400. House of Representatives is
We know that $6,400 � not about to vote on a minimum
enough for one human being to wage bill that would put eam
live in decency, let alone a fami- ings adequate to support a fami
ly. And yet many of our young years of inflation in which the
BI ck families are trying to sur- value of the minimum wage -
vive today on far less than this which affects the wages of so
amount, And our tatisties tell many young workers - has
us that more of the children of steadily eroded, Call your Con
ly within the reach of many more gre person in Washington to
young Am ricans. The bill will tell him/her you support the
rai e the minimum wage to minimum wage biD! Call 202-
$4.55 an hour over the next three 224-3121 and ask for your repre-
years. It ould help make up for sentative by name.
Allife 'inelfor y ng
B ac families
M-.1aIIW EdeIm
Ptuident, Chi/dma's Defense
Fund-
I .
. _4
Racism:
New' Haven
I .
,
II Fro
By Beaj i F. Cba�l , Jr.
New Haven, Connecticut
prides itself a a cradle of
American liberalism and a city
committed to progress and
pluralism. Yet, in recent days
the local chapter of the Nation
al Association for the Advance
ment of Colored People
(NAACP) has accused the city
of unbridled racism. In par
ticular, Mayor Biagio DiLieto
has been singled out as a leading
force who has engendered the
new racist atmosphere that has
begun to polarize this once
h"berarcity.
Ironically, ODe of the main is
sues is the control of the educa
tional system in New Haven.
The Superintendent of Schools
ofNewHaven,JoImDo ,Jr.,is
a Africa Amer'ican who is
respected by the entire New
Haven community as wen as by
school administrators across
the nation. Superintendent Dow
has accused the MayPr of play
ing racist politics by refusing to
release designated funds to im-
prove New Haven's
predominantly African
American and Hispanic
schools. It appears that Mayor
Dilieto has put a priority on
I ecoaomic development only in
the p'edominandy white areas
of New Haven at the expense of
Fortunately, the majority of
the African American ministers
and other community leaders
from the African American and
Hispanic communities are
unifying in a new. coalition to
talk about changing City Hall
the school system. and to challenge the re-emer-
The NAACP, in a full-page gence of overt racism in New
ad printed in the New Haven Haven. Next year the citizens of
Register, charged .the Mayor New Haven will elect a new
with "abandoning the dream" mayor. It is our hope and prayer
and stated, "we shall denounce that whoever is elected will be
and oppose your injustice until prepared to serve all of the
yo have desisted from your un- . people of ew Haven without
fairness, or you have resigned, regard to racial prejudice and
or You have been replaced by a b iogo try.
just and capable leader." Of
course, the situation in New
Haven is not isolated from an
overall resurgence of racism
across the nation. Thus, even in
the city where Yale University is
located, one can find the in
stitutionalization of racismrear
ing its ugly head
. I
ment. Had we had the same op
portunities as the whites in the
world of business, we would
now be just as successful as the
whites - and just as free from
aiminaJizing hardships. Our in
fant mortality rate, crime rate
and our state of economic,
political and academic health
would be no worse than the
whites. That is the real meaning
of equality.
We have been beaten and
tricked so badly that we can't
believe in our. own potential All
of what the whites are, we would
now be had they not restricted
our human growth. .. kept us
from standing erect and stretch
ing out to the splendor of our
full potential
On the words of God, we
have every right - and the
spiritual obligatio - to believe
that we can revolutionize the ap
proach to crime prevention; and
Benfamln
Chevi
CML
. RIGHTS
in behalf of millions of Blacks
being criminalized, economical
ly, politically and socially crip
pled, their grieving loved ones
and our own image and growth,
we should welcome the birth of
"From Bars To Star" with our
vigorous support,
If V(e can't believe that we are
suffering such devastating los
ses as those discribed above, or
that we have the potential to
teach the whites a thing or two
about Black on Black crime
prevention; we have no real love
for our much praised
fore parents, do not believe that
we were created inherentl
equal to the whites, and have no
meaningful faith in the God e
worship.
Frank W. Burrell
Founder & Director
From Bars To Stars
Active Underdogs USA
tyle
his racist actions. It is a sad com
mentary when some minister
forget where their calling comes
from and where their account
ability is lodged
The good news is that there
is a growing youth movement in
New Haven comprised' of
African American, Hispanic
and white youth who want a bet
ter way of life and who to
be involved in the necessary so
cial change. We plan to further
investigate the evolving si ua
tion in New Haven, because
whether "down South" qr "up
South," raci m must be chal
lenged and it must be chal
lenged head-on.