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�