ICHI A C.TIZ
nd e -
community living
demands a common language,
there were no elf-rigbteou
guardian of tand rd Engli h
abandoning the st ff of The
Beverly Hillbillies and Green
Acres.
Like In Living Color, these
,comedie were endeavoring to
e pre s les tandard reali ties
with an appropriate dialect, not
tr sh taDdard Engli h.
THE RICH, POW RFUL,·
and suburban member of society
don't posse a monopoly on wis­
dom, insight and truth. By how-
i ng urb n Blacks possessing
principle of difference bein the
hetto 1 n Ii eblood 0 he lthy p ople and
d yn mic n tion. .
At moment in Americ ' life
hen Bl c IDC rcer tion r te
e ceed O'ltt'l ric' mor tb n
four-fold nd n tien I urvey in­
dicate persi tantly neg tive im­
ge of Bl c r ttlin round in
hi te miedse t , Aj ye i tbe
late t ju tific tion for tuning u
out.
"profoundly We c nnot force oth r to
import nt." He i no our new. t receive. our tr n mi ion. Simp­
BI c le d , ppointed by white ly by receiving wh t it i th y
Americ to bow u our mi u e of choo e u to have communic ted
t nd rd nd other form of 0 - if in fact the n't shut u out
EngJi h will not erve u well. completely - tho e oppo ed to
eJ on M ndele, Je e J c - our ide or the expre ion of
on. nd Opr h Wi�frey are re- these ideas blame any and all
quired to bounce between failure of communication on our
tandard and other forms of unorthodox u e of EngJi h.
Engh h. Many urb n Bl cks In this w y they ope to effec­
bave few rea on to learn tand- lively keep us in the strait-jacket
rd Engli h, since they rarely of their choosing.
communicate with other peech Respon iti e communicator
communitie . seek to underst nd bow and why
t langu ge affects them and others
COMMUNICATION i tw in certain manners. It is a primary
way treet, containing an element requirement of a free people.
of re pon ibility. Howeve, Dialects are a response to stand­
responsibility for tbe thing com- ard English's failure to reflect
municated begin with a ommit- the reality of a particular group.
ment to avoid preading Those who find urban Black
fraudulent ideas. dialect offensive should seek to
An unyielding standard of improve the coarse reality from
English is su h a fraudulent idea; hich they sprang, not berate
one counterproductive and con- those who "call 'em as they see
temptuous to the democratic 'em."
p
The ultimate prize to be earned by In Living Color may priD fro the power of elf.e"pre 10D
and be of benefit to u all.
Black America demands a Sta e'ofOthe Rac
I • ,
By Ron Daulel
In the la' t decade we have wit­
ne sed/experienced a frightening
cMt��mi ��t lii
m sse of BI . rm 1\
Reaganomics with its clear
anti-Black emphasis and pro­
rich priorities shattered any il­
lusion of Black progress and
uried the notion th t racism was
de d in the United States.
As Malcolm X once put it, the
.masses of Black people are catch- .
ing more hell than ever before. A
few wi thin the African American
community have been elevated to
a level of acceptability, modest
privilege, wealth and contrained
"power".
For the vast majori ty of Black
people there 0 are no ill usions of
acceptability, privilege, wealth
or power.' There is only the stark
and painful reality of poverty,
hunger, bomelessne s, un­
employment, und�remployment,
drugs, disease, crime, viol ce,
fratricide - GENOCIDE.
THE CONDITION OF
Africans in the United States has
always been a state of perpetual
crisis. However, as a national
cornunity, African Americans
now face one of the greatest
crisi in our history.
By Marian Wright Edelman
An ambitious, enterpri ing
college aduate recently turned
n idea on paper into a ,reality.
VVendy l{opp founded Teach
for' America -a nonprofit or­
sanization 'tbat recruits and trains
brighf, energetic college graduates
for two years of teaching in the
country's neediest school dis­
tricts.
"Our vision," Kopp says, "is
that hundreds of our country's
outstanding graduates will dedi­
cate themselves to relieving the
persistent teacher shortage."
In exchange for their commit­
ment, tbey receive valuable
classroom experience. and stu­
dent loan payments are deferred.
Kopps recruiters sought col­
lege graduates from the top 100
. universities. Out of the 2600 ap­
plicants, 490 'were finally
selected as the program's
pioneers. The participants, or
"corps members," underwent
eight intensive weeks of training
at the Univer ity of Southern
California.
VANTAGE
POINT
capable of leading the Black Na­
tion out of this current crisis:
Throughout our history in
time of refl 'erl�;s�jvariWu�' ec
t . t' !J1 �l' ty
ome to ether to use '{'he'
strategies for our survival, ad­
vancement and development.
I am convinced that the depths
of the current crisis demand the
convening of a National State of
the Race Conference (SORC) to
begin to come to grips with the
devastating impact of racism,
poverty and militarism on the
Black community.
BUT THE CHARACTER of
°this conference must be different
from some of the recent con­
ferences that have been held or
the annual conventions which our
major civil rights organizations
hold as a matter of routine.
A State of the Race Con­
ference must be responsibility
for the Reconstruction of the
Black Community". A SORC
must bring to the forefront the
range of grassroots and com­
munity based movements and
models which are fighting to
• have a positive impact within our
communities with the masses of
conterenc
oppressed Black people on a day
to day basis.
From a SORC mu t surface
new 'B�ck leadership, Comm� ted
ltHn ' n
to the vision of Bl c m wer-
n t, .. �c.l.£;� e-!n�J]l i PtU�n and
huma liberation.
for Justice, The Peopl 's In­
stitute for Survival and Beyond
etc. to assist with the planning
u,and obit' atton or 'this-v�tal
hi nor 1'1 I 1 :')OJ S I
oAn.�weringo the Call
MANY WE,RE placed in the
Los Angeles and New York City
areas, while the rest were sent to
Louisiana, North Carolina, and
Georgia.
Among the chosen, 68 are
teachi ng ' science, and 38 are
teaching math subjects and areas
where teaching Shortages are
severe.
Attracting and committing
quality teachers to reverse the
trend is a challenge, especially
among Black graduates.
A recent report by the ERIC
Clearinghouse. on Teacher
Education and the American As­
sociation of Colleges for Educa­
tion, reveals a nearly 3 percent
drop in the number of Blacks
receiving bachelor degrees in
education.
According to the report, the y
are avoiding or leaving the
profes ion becau e of low
salaries, discipline problems, and
burnout. But a corp member
who is eager to change the nega­
tive image of the profe ion ays,
"I believe that we can attract a
The most crippling dimension
of thi crisis is the crisis of Black
leadership.
It is from among the few who
are the relatively .prosperous and
privileged tbat our most
prominent Black leadership is
derived. By and large these
prominent, mainstream tradition­
al leaders suffer from a paralysis
of vision and values and an un­
willingness to engage in
SERIOUS STRUGGLE with and
on behalf of the masses of Black
people.
Some Black leaders are well
meaning, but their entry into the
"system", disconnected from the
vision of Iibera tion and em­
powerment which guided our
struggle in the 60's and 70's has
rendered many o� these B'lack
leaders ine.ffeetive. They are in-
Marian
Wright
Eldelman
... the' e
premlnent,": .
,. "Ul',. ' ••••. .#, •• �v ..,<0,1 r""''''
m 1 W '0
tradltlone]: '.
leaders suffer
fr:om a paralysis
. of vision and
, values and an
unwillingness to
engage in
SERIOUS
STRUGGLE with
and on behalt'ot'"
the masses of
Black people.
• '1
CHILD
WATCH
vehicle to effect networking, in­
formation exchange and cross­
ferti I iza t io n be t wee n yarious
models of truggle and com­
munity b a ed leadership as a
me ans of trengthening the
capacity of African Americans to
fight our way out of this debilitat­
ing crisis.
The African American
Progress ive Action Network
(AAPAN), which includes
veteran ocial and political ac­
tivists like Damu Smith, Char­
shee McIntyre. Ron Walter J
Greg Akili, Bill Stnckland. Pres­
ton Wilcox, Paul Hill and Wayne
Thompson is busy at work for­
rnulating plans for this kind of
athering of rhe Black Nation.
i vely scheduled for
an urgent outreach to a range of
African American organization.
associations and institutions in­
cluding: The National Black
Uni ted Front, The Black United
Fund Movement, The National
Conference of Black Lawyers,
The National Organization of
Black Insitution (NOBI), The
Council 0 f Independent Black In­
stitutions (CIBI), The National
Association of Black Social
Workers, The Institute for Posi­
tive Education, Black Workers
_ -r-l ..... ,_�., (
STARTING AT be
grassroots and communi ty level,
African Americans must go on
the offensive to take respon­
sibility for the reconstruction of
the Black community. The Na­
tional State of the Race Con­
ference is calculated to be an
important catalyst and vehicle in
'that offensive.
The Crisis in Black America
demands seriou planning,
strategizing, networking and sus­
tained ·action. Brothers and
sisters from around the nation
must come together to enable the
SORC to contribute to that
process. OUI future may depend
on it.
Persons interested in upport­
ing or working on this project
should write: SORC, P.O. Box
5641, Youngstown, O�io 44504.
number of students =-inctuojng
African Americas like myself -
who realize that life i n't only
about making as much money as
you can."
. JAM GULLING, a Wil-
liam and Mary graduate, knows a
decent education presents better
opportunities for young people.
"I \Oant to use education- to
change thing," he ays. "I want
to show students that tbeir world
is not how it has to be. tI
Even though the succe s of
Teach for America s fir touting
cannot" be gauged for another
year. it already proves one impor­
tant thing: bundreds of college
graduate want to do their part to
improve our children' future.
November, 1991, Cleveland,
Ohio is the primary location
under cons id era tion for the
SORC as of this writing.
In the coming weeks and
months AAP � intends to make
Ron Daniel : serve� as Presi­
dent of the Institute' for Com­
munity Organization ,and
Development in Youngstown,
Ohio. He may be contacted at
(216) 746-5747.
('roductions
ro •• rved
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