EDITORIAL
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da ge
Th right wing nu in the tate legi laulre are propo ing what they
call crime fighting reforms. What i ing proposed will only get
police offi ers killed while al '0 uther eroding civil rights in the name
of drug wars.
Th Republican-legi lat rs n w have the numb rs they feel to push
throught th legi lature th ir conservative, anti-liberty agenda.
Th y want to give cops the right to push own doors and invade
hom with ut nn uncin "p lice."
The right winge say by ann uncing their entry intentions, the
police give criminal th ri zht t tll h away drugs and destroy other
evidence,
We ay, n t announ ing "p lice" gives cri inal the opportunity
to (lush awa. ()( d ps=-what would your reaction be to someone
pushing in ) our do r, e pecially if a,gun was handy?
Th lcgi lators arc being irresponsible. They need to kill the
p po al be ore orne police are killed.
Ed
cation' crisis is
statewide
It i little co lation to inner city paren , but all of Michigan's
kids are in tr . u lc; ours only m re
The . t tc reveal 0 th te t re f the Michigan Education
As e ment Pr gram ME P) by ra efor the first time.
Only 27.5 per ent f white tud n earned successful core on
the 1 th grade math. But tragically, African American tudents are
hardly even ( n the chart: only five percent did atisfactory work.
The tate Ie 1'1 tors arc required y la to see to it that the children
of Michigan arc edu aledo The te t ore how that lack of education
i n t re rvcd f r the inn r iucs, nly the worse lack i saved for the
cities. Everyone help.
Equitable and adequate education funding should be the top
priority. If the lawmakers want to duck the i ue, the public should
make it 0 un rnfortable that th y either deal with the lack of
education inMi higan, or they quit their job. Now.
EDUCATION
"1 trunk that if the children didn't
. cccs to (thi technol gy) they'll com
up sh rt f r the rest of their lives in
terrru f their ability to ompet "
.hultz aid.
continued from Page 1
II L Z
OTway todolhat,it'
Instructional material fl hnok ry I
, imperative I ir vtu Il.n� .
S"p.e EDUCATION, A9
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Nah.Splke-
We've deckjed not to.lneult; you with
this white racist symbol I
@ nm Jackson 199�
Of role model
and invi ible men
By NORMAN CLEMENT
I WRITE this article after years of
frustration witlt African American
Professional and Civil Rights
organizations on the complex issues
behird institutional racism in the work
environment
My experience i one shared by a
growing number of my professional
colleagues from the post Ci vil Rights
generation, the Black Baby Boomers,
This is the generation which saw the
movement as elementary school
children" who can vividly recall their
parents accounts on lynching terrors and
dreams deferred. This is the generation
wbose paren finally in possession. of
the new found freedoms of public
accommodation, voting rights, saw
hope for their children and passed on the
belief, education was everything the
key out of tbe ghetto.
'Now reaching middle age, many
Blac Baby Boomers who were
educated in the late ixties and seventi ,
have come to realize the d truth; moot
African American Professional and
Civil Ri Organizations responsible
for m g the difference in our lives by
trrea ing down barriers of
di crimination, are today ocial in '
function and I ck th capabilities
resolve to ta kle the 'complexities of
tionalized raci m in the' work
environment
the next generation of promising Black
youth into staying in scbool, and getting
their .educations to be our future
physicians, dentists and lawyers alike.
Which brings me to tlx question of
the Clarence Thomas myth of hard work
and self help as the eys to Black
advancement in America.
When former President George
Bush nominated Justice Thomas to,
succeed Thurgood Marshall on the
United States Supreme Court, he stated:
"DO NOT BE LURED BY SIRENS
AND URVEYORS OF WSERY
who profit from constantly regurgi tating
all that is wrong with Black America and
blaming problems on othe ... You
can make it, but first you must
endure. .. You can survive, but first you
must endure ... You can live, but first you
must endure ... You must endure
unfairness... You must endure the
hatred You must endure the
bigotry You must endure the
egrcgatiofi and the indignities. "
Their failure to addre
institutionalized racism in tfie working
environment ignores tbe harsh realities
placed upon those having sought higher
education. The African American must
always first be qualified while white
folks can show-up and people will
presume theyKnow what tbeir doing.
Whites in the working environment
will be encouraged to enjoy the rights of
being opinionated, ardent, inci ive,
intuitive, going for the glory.
On the other hand Blacks who even
dare express themselves are deemed
controversial, confrontational, militant,
bitchy, trouble makers, uppity and
arrogant.
How an education can uplift them out of
the ghetto, give them a nice home with
two em parked in � drive way arid
those all important white neighbors?
IR Y these same
organizations will frequentl y call upon
thi disenfranchised generation of
educated African Americans to sway
- REALLY, comes now the cryptic
right of passage to the American dream
whic bas alluded the Black Baby
Boomers. What must every white boy
endure to be president of General
Motors, Cllemica1 Bank, or even a coa h
of a Division 1 level college football
program?
Unfertunately a large numbers of our
African American Professional and
Civil Right Organizations are more
satisfied some of ore ing apart of
mM, GM, Hwnana and other large
whi institutions.
HA V ALL quietly born
to those of us who have sought
red for societal inequities, being
dishonorably discharged with not of
"failing to bring forth more po itive
values or indifference with others"
attached to their personnel records.
These brothers are invisible.
They remain out of work, out of
money, out in the streets serving both
a warning and a reminder. For, it d n't
take long for even the most sophisticated
Black Baby Boom rs to realize thatiheir
ability to make the next mortgage and
car payments are in direct relationship 10
how they remain silent while enduring
hatred, bigotry, isolation, segregation
and other indignities.
So what hould I and other Black '
Baby Boomers and, college educated
profe ional be telling the next
generation of promising Blae youth?
OR, SHOULD we Black Baby
Boomers prepare our next geoeration of
promising Black youth for the ambus�
in store ., �or them" in professional life?
That, education is just the first step"an<1
is no guarantee to a life of ease and inner
tranquility.
lfat, while ving acquired their
degrees and being anointed the title of
"role model" � work enviromnent is
still a place where African Americans
find themselves models without specific
roles. And, if they are so uafornmate to
nm afoul in tbeir work environment our
African American Professional and
Civil Rights Organizations are no where
to be found except to say, "YOU
KNOW HOW IT IS" or -vou-u, BE
ALRIGHT."
We as a people have all heard, hard
work, self-help, thinking positive,
individual responsibility, help from God
as solutions of overcoming � plight of
poverty, uremploymentam bigotry that
permeate all aspects of American
society. ,
Quite frankly, as long as we persist
in perpetuating tbese mytbs to another
generation of Black youth, then we will
be forever doomed to continue the
misery of our pass.
We can no longer hide the truth and
its time for us to tell our youth the cruel
facts on what it is to be both role mode
and invisible men at the same time.