1
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George u h·s
New World Order _
Floyd McKi
. .
,4"
by Benjamin F. Cbavls, Jr.
One of the greatest freedom
fighters of this century died on
-1 April 28, 1991. Floyd B. Mc­
� Kissick, Sr. had dedicated his
life to the "freedom movement"
in the United States' and
throughout the w #
portant for our ge toll and'
for future generation to remem­
ber the significance of the his­
toric and tirele s effort of
McKissick to challenge racial
and economic injustice.
The Honorable Floyd B. Mc­
Kis ick, Sr. wa the founder and
developer of Soul City, North
• . Carolina. McKissick, after a
long and distinguished career as
a civil rights lawyer and leader,
became a North Carolina Dis­
trict Court Judge.
, Fro m 1966 to 1968, Mc-
«'Kissick served as the National
• Director of the Congress of Ra­
: cial Equality. Judge McKi sick
was the first African American
to attend the University of North
• Carolina Law School. Me-
• Kissick attended and graduate
• from several universities includ-
• ing Morehouse College, North
� Carolina Central University
Law School and Shaw Univer­
sity Divirtity School.
Floyd McKissick throughout
• hid life emphasized the impor­
tance of the interrelationship be­
t �ween political empowerment
nd economic status. A man's
color, if it is black, is most fre­
quently used a a means of en­
forcing economic limitations. It
is used as visible tool of oppres-
.... slon."
: : THE WISDOM AND
::l>recision of McKissick'·s
,. nalysis needs to be revisited.
Today, too often African
American leadership fails to
connect poli tical activity with
the building of effective
economic institutions.
McKis ick's leader hip style not
only enga-ged communities in
direct action in challenging ra­
cial injustice, but also involved
provid i ng opportuni ties-for
communities to engage in
economic enterprise and finan­
cial infrastructure building.
During the late 1960' and
early 1970's McKi ick
launched the development of
Soul City in eastern North
Carolina. The Soul City project
ha been de cribed a "one of
the most momentou develop-
, ment plans ever attempted by an
· African American." After the
: ·ucces ful completion of the
: Soul City Regional Water Sys­
, tem, the completion of the other
: phase of thi "New Com­
o munity" project was almo t cer­
: t in unlil the ugly force of
· .aci m rai ed objections. In
, 1'1
'I 11
sick'
living legacy
particular, it wa Senator Je se
Helms who put numerous
ob tacles in the path of Soul
City's development.
Even after all of Senator
Helms' allegation about Soul
City proved to be false, the
po -that-be oc d Squl.
. ty entual c fn'ple on. . 0 ...
McKls lck 's credit and
vigilance, Soul City in 1991 still
has a future.
McKissick was 69 years old.
At his gravestone, monument in
the center of Soul City, one
could look around and see the
fruits of McKissick's labor. The
skillfully designed plan for the
development of Soul City is still
there in terms of ro dways,
water, re idential hou ing,
recreational facilities, and some
municipal buildings.
McKissick "fought the good
fight" and "kept the faith." Now
we must not let his sacrifices
B njlmln
Chlvl.
and years 'of work be in vain.
With the proper support and
commitment of person who
stand for justice and human em­
powerment, Soul City will be
fully developed.
Thank you, Brother Floyd,
for your courage, leader hip and
example. Long live the legacy
and memory of Floyd Mc­
Kissick!
, )oj
1m lne, i you re mother,
pi c you could drop in ith'
your children any time or cup
co e nd vi it ith other
mothe. here you could t-
tend cl to fini h your educ -
tion, hile your inf nt c red
for in the ne t room.
Su h pi ce m y ound too
ood to b re I. But they exi 1.
They en r lly re c lied "f mi­
ly upport cente "; orne re 10-
c ted in church bement or in
child care centers. Some re in
torefront . Some occupy n en­
tire hou e. U u lly center .
depend he vUy on donation
from individu 1 , churche ,
community group, and founda­
tion. Some al 0 get publ ic
money.
A different a they re in
mall way , the e center have
goal: to m ke ure parent
receive the help they need to
take ch rge of their own live
and rai e their children well.
Th t ' ex ctly what M .
Green received from the Waver­
ly Family Center in Baltimore.
M. Green-single, un­
employed, and pregn nt with
her third child-u ed to walk by
the center wi th her two toddler
on her way to the grocery tore.
One day a taff member a ked if
they'd like to come in. The
family began going to the center
four hour a day, four days a
week. "We were just staying in
the hou e 11 the time," Ms.
Green told a newspaper reporter,
"and I knew my kid needed to
get out."
AT THE CENTER, M.
Green found other young
mothers to talk to, free lunches
for her and the children, and a
lot of upport from the center'
counselor. She began taking
liter cy tutoJ;ina a cia se in
chiJd care al�tbe center while her
children played with' the other
children. Within a year, Ms.
Oreen had developed new
mothering skills, gotten her
GED, and began working as a
bus company aide. "Since I've
been coming to the center," said
'Ms. Green, "I've got more nerve
and courage to do things. At
home my kids listen more. They
participate in a lot of things at
the house now instead of just
running aroundand screaming."
Family support centers offer
mothers respect, companion­
ship, and encouragement in a
comfortable, family-like atmos­
phere. They provide specific
Parents, Will your. sons or
daughters be in Summer school?
This is a ummer school in­
formational column for parents
and guardians. Each year 'many
high school and college tudents
are 0 anxious to finish their
spring terms that they don't
think about the value of attend­
Ing summer school.
While orne tudents will be
u ing the- ummer break for
vacation· or working and aving
'money for the fall, a high per­
centage of students will be wise­
ly attending summer schools.
We highly encourage parents
and advi ors to discuss this op­
tion with students.
In fact thi writer speaks first
hand about the advantages of
going to summer school. I have
regularly attended ummer
school; from my "ancient" high
school days through doctoral
studies. Today most high school
and cotlege students attend sum­
mer school at least one summer
during their scholastic career .
And many of the e are excep­
tionally bright tudents.
Going to ummer chool u ed
to carry a negative tigma with
it; it wa thought that only those
who failed classes during the
regular year went. .
FIRST OF ALL, failing a
subject doe not constitute a
lack of abi Ii ty; rather it indi­
c te that ome adju tment are
needed in order to ucceed in a
particular area.
While mahy tudent attend
ummer chool to catch up,
make up or improve their cia
performance, more students are
using the summer period to ,get
ahead of the game.
On the high chool level, stu­
dents can take courses in a short
time span than they would nor­
mally have to wait to take in the
longer fall term.
Going to summer
school used to
carry a ·ne.gatlve
stigma with it; it
was thought that
. only those who
failed classes
during the regular
year went.
For ome, four weeks of in­
tensive Algebra or a language
beats having to sit through
months of the cour e during the
fall semester.
Some high school graduating
senior even use the summer as
a time to toke a few fre hmen
classes at the local community
college, wi th the intention of ap­
plying those credit to the
chool they will be attending in
the fall.
ALSO, THERE are some
very good community COllege
that bright high chool students
have cho en to attend because of
Keith O.
Hilton
any number of rea ons: loca­
tion, cost, vocational/technical
program , senior college prep
courses.
College students, likewise,
are using summer se sions to es­
tablish advanced tanding at
their respective colleges. In
fact, many college now have
special graduation cerernonie
during the summer.
A li ttle realized advantage
that could become more
pronounced later i the w y
pro pective employer look at
how a student uti izes his or her
summer periods.
Summer school rep e ents ac­
tivene and motivation in the
opinion of ome recruiter . The
point of all of this i that taking
full advantage of ummer offer­
ings, at the very lea t, keep tu­
dents on an. academic straight
cour e.
HILTON: HIGHER EDUCA­
TION is ongoing and certainly
not limited to classroom study.
Let's talk. (714) 899-0650.
help in uch are inf nt nd
child c re , nutrition, f mily
pi nnin, nd educ tion. nd
they lin milie ith other
re ourc in th ommunity.
The e pro r m under t nd
th t r i in young children i
tre ful nd th t ee ing help
nd inform tion i a i n of
trength not we ne .' "We
don't orry bout ere ting de-
pendency," y Ethel Seider- .
m n, director of C lifornia
progr m c lled P rent Service
Project. "People earch for in­
dependence. Thi program
give them wing ."
M ny family upport center
start very mall. Ten years go
in Wa hington, D.C., the Family
PI ce began in a bement with
two taff people, project of
the Church of the Saviour. It
aim wa to help mother in the
neighborhood get regular prena­
tal c re nd to help th m care for
their infants and toddlers.
In the beginning, the program
depended on a w hing machine
to attract mother to the center.
"If you want to ee pregnant
woman regularly," ay Director
Maria Elena Orrego, "give her a
place to do her laundry." Today
the Family Place offers a wide
variety of cia e. activi ties, and
ervice and has become a
neighborhood in ti tution. It
owns it four- tory Victorian
house and serve more than 450
rl n
rl ht
Eld 1m n
CHILD
ATCH
familie
o 0 TO ard-
ing thing bout f mily cente ,
ay M . Ortego, i the ay par-
ticipant ho have chieved
t bility in their own live reach
out to help othe . In 1990, ay
M . Orrego, not one of the 45
homele f milie th t c me to
the F mily PI ce h d to go to
city helter. With b c up up­
port from the center, Family
Place familie opened their
home to new homele s
familie .
If your neighborhood doe n't
have a family upport center,
think bout a king your church
or another group to help et one
tarted. For dvlce, contact the
Family Re ource Coalition at
200 South Michlg n Ave., Suite
1520, Chic go, IL 60604.
Mar�an Wright Edelma" is
president of the Children'.r
Defense Fund, a natio1fal voice
for children .:
Jesse 'Jackson-On
The Code Of Silence
By Reverend Je J ckson
NatioMI Rainbow Coalition
In our nation's capital, there is a dangerous abdication, a
code of ilence, embraced by admihistration and congre s-by
both Republican and Democrats-an agreement to keep IUent
,bout fundamontal.challenge faclng.lbll country. Hiltor cal­
ly, the lack of programmatic distincti between t two ies
protected �he w 11 of segregation and racial inequity. Today,
it leaves the American people without vision of alternativel.
Con ider the following:
ITEM: Health care in the United States is a national scan­
dal. The rising costs burde large corporations, bankrupt cities
and states, terrorize the elderly, squeeze working people, and
endanger the poor. Every other industrialized country except
South Africa offer a national health care plan to it citizens.
This year, Citizen Action-a nationwide citizen's group­
finally got a national health of both partie dismissed it out of
hand. They only offer more Bandaids for a hemorrhage that
requires surgery. A code of silence.
ITEM: The president puts forth a $1.45-trillion budget. A
Republican budget, it contains no new help for the unemployed,
no relief for cities in crisis, no break for working families
truggling with high taxes and few services, a pitt nee for
children born to poverty. .
Response? Last week, the Democrats announced their alter­
native. It transferred all of the $13 billion from one domestic
spending to another thirteen billion is' a lot of money, but at a
time of growing unemployment and desperation, the budget -
proposal difference between the parties is less than 1 percent.
Silence. I
ITEM: The large commercial banks of this country teeter
on the edge of bankruptcy. The potential co ts to taxpayers
could make the savings-and-loan rip-off look bu h league.
Last month, offlcials.of the Federal Depo it Insurance Corp.
asked to borrow $7 billion for the federal in urance fund, while
saying' they really don't need the money. This is a replay of the
S & L debacle. Congress and regulator discount the crl is,
while deregulating banks in the hope they can keep going until
after the ne t election. Then taxpayer will be ocked with a
bill made all the larger by the delay.
With the honorable exception of Rep. Henry Gonzalesof
Texa and a few courageous member of the House Banking
Committee-who are under unmerciful attack-neither party's
'Ie�dership want an open debate about what may be the biggest
financial crisis since the Great Depression. Silence. Now, as
the presidential season opens, Democratic hopefuls search for
a "Message" to run on. One offers a "new mainstream" of fi cal
austerity, without new direction. Another says the party has to
be kinder to the beleaguered wealthy, offering them yet another
tax break. Reagan-Bush apparentl y haven't done enough,
c espite producing the greatest inequity between the rich and
p 'or ince statistics have been kept. The Democratic Leader-
t :p Council will issue a clarion call to retreat in it upcoming
co ference, financed in part by a Repubttcan high roller.
. "his code of Hence must be hattered. Having one party
wtt, two name leave too many people out. No wonder- 0 few
bott. �r to vote. If there's no difference between the donkeys
and \ 'ie elephant , activi t will seek another horse to ride.
In ·he South, a similar conspiracy of silence once erved to
enforce egregation. Both partie agreed that schools should
be eparate, that voting hould be clo ed, that public serslce
hould be egregated. The code of ilence continued even
though the va t majority of working people-white and African
Americ n alike- uffered from the backwardne it produced.
Then a e m tre refu ed to move to the back of the bu . A
young minister, barely out of graduate chool, tood with her.
Young lawyer - ometime too poor to p y their ecretaries­
lood up in the courtroom. Young tuden demanded. to be
erved. Ro a Parks, Martin Luther King, Thurgood Marshall,
Fannie Lou Hamer-the honor roll is long. When the people
moved, the ilence wa hattered.
Now it i time for the people to move gain. America need
not become b ckwater, divided between the in ulated rich and
the vulnerable many. Our children need not suffer live Ie I
decent than our own.