1
er, t hi orient tion
convoc tion, he met Dr.
Benjamin y, one of the
gre te t educ tor of thi
century.
M ny year 1 ter when I
gr du ted from high chool, I
w nted to go to college. I al 0
had no idea what I wanted to
m jor in. I ju t wanted to go
to college.
I didn't even know what the
initial : A.A., B.A., M.A., etc.
meant until I took my New
Student Orientation cour e.
P RENTS HOULDN'T
worry too much at thi point if
your on or daughter are not
clear as they could be about
their academic pur uits. In
due time, the cloud will lift.
Unclear freshpersons may
ppear to be exception to the
rule, however, I don't think o.
In fact, today I still
encounter tudents
(fre hperson through senior )
who are not ure of orne of
the terminology that Is used to
"move them through" their
collegiate studies.
• And undergraduates are not
the only one. Just ask some
· graduate students about
: GRE's, Orals, Quais.
TOday, most colleges set
· aside a period called New
Student Orientation.
" During this period, students
and sometimes their parents
areintroduced to programs,
administrators, faculty,
facilities services.
IN SOME CASES,
incoming student are assigned
a book to read that will be
discussed wi th their advisor
and other students' in small
group settings.
It has been may experience
�a both a student and
" professional that many
'students of color don't
I> participate in orientations.
This is especially true at
predominantly white
(European American) colleges
and universities.
However, by not
participating, they
consequently miss an
opportunity to get a head start.
. More and more colleges are
now also correctly conducting
sessions on cultural aw rene .
For many students of color,
� this. introduction to college
and the process of "moving
through" their coltegiate
studies has been a negative
experience. And word of thi
non positive experience is
- passed down to each new etas •
Special orientations for
international students (many
whom are also of color) are
sometimes equally as
culturally. insensitive.'
ONE WAY TO eliminate
the element of being culturally
insensitive is to seek direct
input from international
educators or upperclassper on .
Some colleges have
implemented ojher
supplemental orientation
programs and retreats that
acknowledge the place of
• culture in college achievement.
Two objectives of these
program are to allow tudents
to network and unwind and
. also meet the "few"
professional of color on mo t
campuse .
Whatever form that your
college' orientation took or
take , we hope you participate
(d). Perhaps next year. you
will participate as an
orientation guide, advisor OT
peer counselor. Stay involved
and encourage other to al o.
By the way, A.A. stand for
A soclate of Arts, B.A. i
Bachelor or Arts and M.A. i
Master of Art.
Higher Education is
ongoing and certainly not
limited to classroom study.
Let's talk. (714)899-0650.
VIEWS
J
utoworker wi th more
years' experience who had not f
ready uffered ome Crippling eel
dent, uch th 10 of finger or
an eye.
The urban upri ing of 1967
pushed thousands of middle income
whites out of the city, fearful of their
lives and property. Large corpora
tions began panem of "milking"
their ind trie inside the city limi ,
reallocating their profits from local
consumers to new firms b d in the
all-white suburb or in the sunbelt.
American lived in the gre ter
Detroit-De rborn rea. Unfor
tunately, de pite m ny common
economic and political Inte ,n-
ions rather than harmony generally
char cterized th ret tio hip be
tween Bl c and Ara . African
Ameri were frequ nlly tile
and picious of Arab entrepreneurs
in their n ighborboods; Am fre
quently failed maintain dialOgue
with local Black leaders or have an
BLACK
a Barry Gordy'
fluential.
By the sixties, it was no longer
unusual to see African-Americans in
some positions of importance in th
chool system, government and in
smaller numbers, inside white busi
nesses.
But rigid ystem of racial part
heid and police violen� permeated .
the entire community. At the city's
northern boundary, Eight Mile Ro d
uch
R Ie models for inner city youth
Sitting here, between cases, I felt
the urge to kick some thought
around reg rding the needs of the
inner city youth.
Being a bachelor father, living
alone, I never realized. the needs of
our youth growing up in the inner
city. During the month of July 1989,
my on came to Highland Park, from
Youngstown, Ohio, to live with me.
I soon learned that any man could
make a baby, but not every man
90uld be a goo f ther and role
rn<>def.
With the crime and drug infe ted
inner city, a young boy growing up
today need the father figure. Kids, in
their own way cry out for discipline,
for someone to create ome order and
make some sense out of things.
Without the father, the kids are
left to thrash things out on th streets.
. Guidance and discipline arc ntial
and the lack of that leads to ch o. Gregory H. Yopp IS-years old and bls dad Hubert Yopp.
Inner city youth need guidance ,and
discipline and someone to serve as find a job. We were succe ful, we
role models. . . found employment for him with the
Kids on the streets these days ac- summer youth program. He started
cept violence as a nece sary evil. to earn money, purchase tho e things
You can't get by it (violence) if you that he wanted and still managed to
want to get money and the fast life. open a savings account. The
As role models, we (as fathers) must pie ure and fulfillment that I ex
put the allure of drugs, f ncy cars, perienced from this is just une
fast money and automatic weapons qualed.
tnto perspective. We must teach and . My son, thank God, is an honor
show alternative ways and means of student for the past two years as a
reaching a goal. high school student. He played 9th
and 10th grade basketball. I took
him to. every session of practice and
I never m ed a game. We play
recreation basketball three times a
week, we go to movies, dinner and
other outings together. I'm proud to Hurbert Yopp
say that during our recreation ses-
MY SON EXPRESSED an in
terest in earning money when he ex
perienced the peer pressure that is so
common among young inner city
kids. As a result of this interest, I
made numerous efforts to help him
sions, we compete with five other
fatherl on combinations.
My son is more than just my
child, he i my friend and running
buddy. When he visits his mother in
Youngstown, Ohio, he leave an
empty void in my life', that' how
much 1 miss and love him.
Parents, Fathers, Role Models, if
you don't feel that empty void in the
absence of your child, take a second
look at yourself and the role that you
are playing in your child/childrens
lives. Let's come together a fathers
and give that attentive ear or that
needed shoulder.
.. [)e;P,ite the fact",J
that two arms at u
and a \� ar� indeed
Oltskle, tnereS still �
question as .
{o Whether to
e�ribe the
'JJ:>tase as free-
� . .---..."
BY lUCKa.'ICH fo. THE ATlANTA CONSTITUTION
ha-ha, No, but sertoUSL.Y ...
Say, what t$ th�s ?
a .cout"".rro�tn Or' an
Q,&- pa,nt-in,?" ...
� tUhny ih�n� .
happened 0 ....... the
way to c.out-t
�O� ay , .{!Ol-'k5 ••.
... t �ot arre�ted!
Dr. Madhing Marabk is Profes
sor of Political Science and History,
Univer ity of Colorado, Boulder:
"Along the Color LiM" appears in
over two hundred publications inter
nationally.
SA OUfI'l eUM ...
CAM£:'RA5 IN "\--1� Cou�r. ..
FIVE MINUTES INTO hi
discovery of Tony' grandmother
as a weet, kindly person, Nate
thought nothing of her doorbell
ringing. Tony did, though. The
second he tepped into the
enclo ed front porch to answer
the door, Tony jumped up and
looked out the window. "It' the
police!" .Tony : whispered in
bocked disbelief.
Smith chuckled at hi frien
effort to be cute. "Not bad, my
man, not bad, but, you know, thi
is the '70' . What am I guil ty of,
not using the back door?" lnsi t
iog it w no joke, Tony invited
Black Code : Old tools
'of control move north
8y DANNY R. COOKS
Comspottd.",
Kalamazoo is a college town
with conservative charm, big
busine attitude, and turn-of-the
century racism.
In Kalamazoo attending col
lege in 1975 Nate Smith, a Benton
Harbor native, found himself
relaxing with mug'ofhctchoco
late, the wanton plendor of an
American Dream home tastefully
arrayed about him. Smith' in
tention had been to wait in the car
while a white cl mate checked
on his grandmother.
Tony' grandmother, how
ever. insisted he join them for hot
"chocolate.
Dismi ing his une y feeling
an irrational re ponse to how
. orderly the now fell on that id
of Drake Ro d, Smith threw cau
tion to the wind.'
Smith over to ee the pollee car
parked behind hi Buick.
When the grandmother
rejoined them moments later,
Tony and Smith were omber and
silent, mourning the death of their
generations innocence. Her, ex
planation that a concerned neigh
bor had ked the policeman to
stop by and check on her health
may have been real. However,
it's a reality disturbing to people .
who have trouble getting police to
respond in a timely manner to
life-threatening and emergency
situation .
Recently, Smith recalled that
ixteen-year-old incident when
he w pulled over by Kalamazoo
suburban pollee for allegedly
driving all over the ro d.
It w well after ten o'clock at
night and Smith w no where
near the re idence of BI cks.
... "SO," H aid to himself, it
ting behind the wheel, waiting for
the man in blue to run hi license
through the computer, "whether
I'm an invited gue t or a lost
traveler, I'm out of place, much
like Bl ck South African, when
I'mou ideofde ign tedare
areas determined by ou Idem."
Written and unwritten law for
the control and containment of
Blac in po t-reconstructlon
southern were called Black
Cod . One hundred ye later
the great t change appears to be
a migration of Black Codes to the
North.