Opinion, Commentary, Editorials
Dece
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By 0 deed upon us and the
The holiday season is in- "celebration" is about to
n
r
•
eOI
eachers and profess
his e s aper and
ea
8y Keit O. llilton
We contend that the nature
and hi, tory of the African
American pre i one of ig­
nif ica ncc , not only to it
pre sent reader. but I 0 to
potenti I reader - namely
young people excited about
learning.
Equally important i the
role that teachers and profe -
sors play. therefore. plea. c
abo s h a r c thl� particular
column 'Ith (other) tc chcrs
and profcs rors.
This column i. centered
ar un d t v o a s u mp ti o ns ;
l)that many reader of thi
nc p per r e teachers
nd/or profe. or and 2)that
they/you arc. long range up­
porters nd believers of the
Pan African pres .
We are eonductin a very
imple urvey of presc 00),
elementary nd higb c 001
te ch r . and aloof college
profes or and instructors
ho read African American
ne papers.
HY 0 HOW often do
you read the Michigan
Citizen'! For cultural. bu i­
ne . education, sports, local
or national nc ,etc? How
long have you read it? Do you
also read new paper from or
about the Caribbean or
Africa? Do you ,get lc on
plan or ide as from
newspaper article. ?
AN ASIDE: "For example,
gro 10' up in R anokc, Vir­
ginia. from an early age I
was aware of the Roano
Tribun. ext I: remember
. seeing the fro-American out
of Richmond. Baltimore and
Washington.
Throughout my s tudi e
and pro e. sional career a
e duc tor and journ Ii t, I
regularly read many out-
tanding new paper around
the country to strengthen
idea. I
"In term of Caribbean
ew paper .. I regularly read
the Gleaner out of Jamaica .
a d the New York Catib
ews to capture a broader
picture of the region. About
Africa, I frequently read the
•
I
op
ac
reach fever pitch.
. What cannot be ignor d,
however, despite the
veritable orgy of merry
making, is the permanent
open season of oppression
and exploitation which
pi gue the masses of
African Americ ns.
. Though th most disad­
vantaged will also struggle
to enjoy the festivities of the
holiday sea on, there will be
no pause, no let up in the vi­
cious cycle of poverty,
raci m and neglect which is
destroying huge sectors of
the Black Nation.
It i one of the basic
tenets of the psychology of
the oppr ssed that the vic­
tims of oppression often
turn on each other instead
of turning to each other to
confront the victimizer.
A RECE T RTICLE in
the New York Times
(12/7 /90) reported that be­
twecn 1984 and 1988 the
homicide rate for Black men
. between the ages of 15-25
increased by two thirds
Citing a report compiled b
the Center for Disease Con­
trol in Atlanta authored by
Dr. Robert Froehlke, the ar-
Nigerian Punch and the
Nigerian State ·man. AI 0, to
stay abrea t of other African
issues, I also review the
African Time out of Los An­
gclc ."
Without going into great
detai I, would you encourage
young people to read thi and
similar newspapers'! It also
goe almo t without saying
that. many non-African
newspapers arc cqually 'valu­
able a teaching tools.
E AL 0 K OW that
many readers of Pan African
publications are not of
African de. cent (Black). For
tho e reader and teachers we
al 0 a k tb I you mention
your ethnicity and briefly
state your opinion of the im­
portance of cultural diver ity.
Finally, e would like to
bear from any prospective
teachers, and college eniors
a well. Wb , do you enjoy
reading the mos tin this
new paper? As mentioned,
lhi is a very imple and un­
scientific urvey.)n a few
8 T THE d vastating
dam ge being ne to the
Blac communit does not
end ith the s if-destruc­
tive ate of homi ide within
Blac communiti s.
THe life exp ctancy of
Afri an Ameri ns is ac­
t uall declining nd the g p
between the life xpectancy
of African Arne icans and
white Americans . s growing.
T�' s declining life expcc­
tanc ratc can ot be t­
trib ted olcl to the
fratr cide frcnz which is
week we will pr nt a!\ m ny
of your letters a po sible.
We hope to how at African
new papers are r ad and ap­
preciated around the nation.
Pleas end your brief com­
men t to: HILT : Hlca.ER
Due :f10 313 N. Garey
Ave, 1101, Po o na , CA
91761.
I
HIIJTON: R f.DUCA-
TION deJiglled dialoglle
with college Q d world
reader. EducQtio is ongo­
ing alld certainly ot limited
to class roo stlld Let' talk.
(714) 899-0650.
VANTAGE
POINT
sweeping com-
munities. I
The New Yor Times ar­
ticle also cited a study by
the International Journal of
Epidemiology which indi­
cated tha Afric n
Americans who comprise
from 12%-14% of the
popul tion "suffer 80 per­
cent of premature deaths
from disorders not norm lIy
fatal if tre ted early." These
premature deaths are large­
ly due to the lack of access
to health care services or
the lac of income to affor
quality medical service - in
othcr words societal
. ncgleet.
TH THE IS the
frightening reality of the
growing Black prison
popul tion. Accordingto
dat compiled by the 200
years of the Penitentiary
Project of the American
Friend Service Committee,
"The U.S. imprisons
higher proportion of people
of African descent .. than
does Apartheid South
Africa".
The highly publicized
M uer Report revealed
1 in 4 African American
men i now in prison or
under some form of correc­
tional supervision.
Between 1978 and 1987
the enrollment of Blac
males in colleges and
unive rs it ie sdeclined by
46,000. Bul from 1984 to
19 7 the Black male pri on
population increas d by
76,000.
I AM OT TRYI G to
spoil anyone's holiday
season. However, I am t­
tempting to hammer home
the point that there is an
URGENT need to be om­
ber about the fact th for
the BI ck poor in rural
America and the prawling
urban ghettos thee is a per-'
manent open season of op­
pre sion, exploitation and
neglect that all African -
Americas, as a m tter of
family busine s, must be
a are of in all sea on .
Our celebration mu t be
tempered by the re lity th t
the policies of neglect,
racis aDd genocide of the
U.S. government is shred-
CODtiDued 0 P e-13
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