A a National African
American Community need
to e respoasibility for
. - the rearing of our youth.
Par too many African-
rlean yo appear to be
on t eir own to . themsel-
. hi the process, . c val
like respect for adults or the
elders, and a lISe of .
nt to self, (;. com-
munity have eroded. T e
prOOle is that iD poorer • -
borhOOds pare in many . -
5taJllCeS· • � of
IlDillies.are often devastated by
the r strugIe to �. In
more amuen neighborhoods
wcnts are freqUCDl1y toq,.busy
doing t t • is required to
maintain • • to be ade- �
qu tely i in monitOring
the growth well being of
their ildre d other youth
in the neighborhood.
. Indeed with par Wad Its
in the African-American com
munity there been gr dual
deterior tion of the values that
helped us to urvi people
on these hostile American
bores. Coming 0 of the rural
south into urban communitie ,
bro t ·th a set of
v ue that uplifted the ex
tended family, pr ed caring
and ring for neighbors and
the community, aDd kind of
collective re pon ibility for
. child rearing.
- A· a B neral ru three rc
no motherl children and DO
f ther 55 children. Ew:ry ult
nd parent felt the respon-
. ..ly ob . . to 100
after the children aDd you
people in t e neighborhood.
9 re
ponsibir y f
.
T cher communicated with
parcn d parents communi
cated with each other.
There an inforIIIaI IYI:'
tem of ADULT/PARENT
NETWORKING belPe:d
to bring ome .mea ure of
bility to t¥ chiIdIyoutb rear
• ��e d ti .
If cbildIyouth got iDto trouble
seva'al blocks away from
the news of that e could
likely greet the offender when
y e ered their . The
A child murder cr· . of a
few years ago could DOl hJve
ppcDed in myoid neighbor
hood in the Hill District of Pi -
tsburab- In that neighborhood
everybody mew everybody .on
my block, aDd everyone lei a
responsibility to 100 after the
kids.
We need to recapture some
of the principles, values, and
mechanisms which helped us to
survive nd maintain as a
people in the past. ONE
PLACE TO START IS BY
CONSCIOUSLY
R�INSTITUTING THE
PRACTICE OF
PARENT/ADULT NET
WORKING.
1 have a middle on who is
quite out going. About 20 young
boys hi age are constantly com
ing over or are on the phone.
Occasionally a bunch 0( th m
get together to go to the mall,
the movies or a party. One day I
was reDecting on how many of
the parents of thc$e 20 or 50
young men we knew. We only
know the parents af 4 out of the
20 �ung men 0 frequent our
home and vice ver . And the
communication with the
we know' really
inadeq �. Our situation of in
adequa�e cquaintance . with
our so friends, and iaade-
I qu te co unic tiolll/net-
orking ith their p rent
points out the kind of flawed
communityyouthreariJ.a&
gements (or of them) that
ha� become far to prevalent in
our community.
As a matter internal policy
and priority African-American
churc e , civic associations,
�-rights organizatio com
munity b cd organizations,
and fr temal orders should be
pushing the concept of :
parent/adult networking as a
means of re-i uming the col
lective respon ibility of rearing
African-American
children/youth. Of course in the
final an Iysi the priority of
parent/adult networking must
be implemented' by groups of
individual famili agreeing to
come together to begin the
process.
In the of my own family
for examp e we -are moving to
do two things: •
VVe have a ked for the
names, addresse and
te phone numbers of all the
parents. of the young people
o frequent our home. We in
tend to be in touch wilh them to
things as rule for ocia ac
tivities, curfe tim conduct in
public, respect for adults and
elders and rul s on alcohol
. '
smoking and dru etc. can be
an effective counter to peer
group pressure by cStablishig a
collective set of d and don'ts.
Most of all parenting net
working may help to prevent
our youth from falling thro
the cr and turning to a
Lets get ck to doing � the -old
fashioned way". It "ked!
Ron Dtlllieb served (U the
Director 01 the NIIlioIIIIl Rain
bow CotIlitiO!lIllld tIS the Deputy
Campaign Mtmage, /0' the
Reverend Iess« Jackson's
Presidential Campaign '88. Ht'
has served tIS Ptuidenl of the
National BIllcJcAssembly and lIS
Chairperso /0 the National.
Blacle Indepenrlent Political
Party. Cun-ently, he selVu lIS
President 01 the Institute lor
Community OrgtlllUation tuad
Development in Youngtown,
Ohio. He may be contacted III
(216) 746-5747.
teacher th t all corporal"
p,lIn;shment m be delivered
in t e pre eace of nether
adult, and wiD be reported to
e 001 dministrator.
Parent ill t e community
ould be ab e to fmd out the
� tes which rporal punish
ent i being doled out ot
various groups wi� the stu
d�nt body. Inci d nts of corporal
yM ..... I.·
Something·verywroogwith
the y Blac tu�ent' are
treated i our p blic school sys
tem. According to data from the
federal Education
Department' ffice of Civil
Rilhts, Black hool dwdre
likely
De alsl=r=r:
because you can't win every
thing that needs to be won in
order for people to have decent
Ii
_ But 've DO reachedthe.
point t which anyone who's
making y kind of deal is, by
definition, complici with the
Powers That Be - who h ve al
ready ab ndoned the broad
.... � 01 our people to the
ram ofracial corruption, the
police brutality, the drug traf
ficking, the collap e of our
cd tiona) and health ystems,
the epidemic of homeless..
that are all part 0 ·lIOniDal"
life in America in the 80's.
That is wby the vacuum of
dership that· ucking the
life out of our people has to be
filled by the communities tbem
se ; they m become t e
dccisio makers who decide
public policy - not the
le and dealers 0 have
praYeD that they do DOt serve
the iDl� of the majority.
I believe we are seeing a new
political day dawning in
A erica, bringing with it a new
kind of politic, a new
democracy. Like the labor
community coalition that made
a Black insurgent, Harold
VVashington, the mayor of
(:hicago. The new politics is in
dependent. It i producing ne
leaders who e different from
the old kind beca they are
not dealmaker - they believe
in and are commited to putting
the needs of the community
first.
Because there can be no
compromise with democr cy.
Dr. Lenora FuUuai is the iuJ
tiqMJ cJuWpenon o/the New Al
liance party and a pmcticing
Social T1aenIpist in Harlem. She
CIlII be cont«ted lit the New Al
liance PtI1ty, 2032 Fifth A venue,
New Ycri; NY 10027 and at
(212) 996-4700.,
like-. p.nisbment hould ppear 0
. record or both the tea er
and the udent - iftvolYed, an
. information should be
of a teacher's evaluation.
Teacher should get help to
enable them to keep an orderly
classroom . out resorting to
force.
- Cu Down I
Su ion . Thefirst tep i to
clearly define the offen es
w4ich can lead to disci�
referr . Th 0 e ould
be publicized to e tudent
body. A copy of any disciplinary
referral ould be part of both
the teacher's and the student'
record. The files of those
teachers who &equeDtly e
ref err 0 d be ecked to
see if thee i a clear pattern in
the type of dent invohed -
fot cxamp e, young B
COBlJlDat�