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By James E. Alsbrook
HI VIEW ARE advocated
by thou nds of rrunisters daily.
His picture in most Bibles and
els whereisthatof white man.:
o quently He is a condition-
mg or that ociat correct-
and virtu w i h white
to
ion to
nd tribul -
ru h hour
y. On thiS
om hing a
hich v ry r
hing in te of my recoll -
tion of the tr dition of
p ntin in th African
n community .
friend of min and I rode,
crun up nd tanding on t
F train from Qu to Manhat-
n, were e rly atching
for to open up so that we
could it down. After on op
two ts did ind open up,
t before we could get to the
re nearly bru hed
ide by a little Bla boy ho
as bowling over people to get to
a et like a little fullback. Actu-
ally the little boy couldn't have
been more then five years old
and he really didn't mean any
harm. But his mother, a young
African American woman who
appeared to be in her mid-twen­
ties, didn't think this incident
was so innocent. She promptly
removed the little fellow from
th seat and gave him a rather
fire tongue lashing about the im­
politen of his behavior. She
admonished him to "n ver,
never let that happen again ...
you unde tand."
The littl boy was of COUI
shaken up by hi mother's chas-
r: ti m nt and a trickle to tears
roll d down from hi eye.
Within a m tter of minut ,
how r he was nestled in a
t next to his mom and h
was giving him a big hug and
talking warming to him. He was
all smiles, th momentary hurt
• &
cident my friend and I both made
eye contact with the mother and
smiled approvingly. My friend
and I began to talk about how
pleased we were to see a young
parent following the biblical ad­
monition to: "bring up a child in
the way he should go and when
he is old, he will no depart from
y
W ha urvived an op-
p eel people in thi h tile
land because of our spirituality
thi incident of
t normo crisi confronting
African Am rican youth in this
period.
A va t number of African
Am rican youth m to ha
lost t ir ay. One of the most
dist ing igns of the crisis of
BI youth . n alarming lack
of pect for If and othe ,
particularly Black adults and
elders.
These days it is commonplace
to hear young people cussing,
fussing and being rowdy/disre-
spectful in public pIa in the'
presence of adults and elders.
In may instan young pea-
_ ....... .,\oMo,ww.' this kind of behav ...
lor as ing unacceptable.
In my generation and pre­
vious generations the conduct of
some of our young people today
would have been unthinkable.
Indeed, wild and out of control
behavior was considered acting
"white."
TIllS LACK OF conscious-
and the value of family, commu­
nity and respect for self and oth-
ers. Parents and the "old folks"
in th community were revered
and respected for their experi­
ence and knowledge. And, the
ld 1 on .tpc� ·1Z'etlel1"8
ion to ne tip of
rearing the young in keeping
with African/Black values and
traditions.
Many of us recall that the
tough love of Black parenting
was not only tough, it was often
harsh and painful. But our par­
ents, whatever their faults may
have been, understood the diffi­
culties of surviving in a racist
nd ere determin d
ould no be d troyed
by this i ne ci y.
No matter ho poor and down
and out may have been, our'
parents anted us to have "char­
acter," to gro up to be decent
human beings ho could urvive
within our oommuniti inspite
of racism and exploitation Not
only parent, but churches,
school , community centers,
civic and social grou p ched
the same gospel.
MY SENSE IS that as more
and more African Americans
have gotten caught up in pursu-
ing th "American Dream" we
have drifted from the traditions
of Black parenting that were so
effective in carrying u over. For
those for whom the American
Dream has becom a nightmare,
those imprisoned in the inner
city gh tto , the very d structive
natur of grinding opp sion is
not only dehumanizing, it dis­
conn our people from the his­
tory, traditions and values so
crucial to our urvival and devel­
opment.
The cri we face as Africans
in America cannot be overcome
unless and until we reconnect
with our own traditions and val­
ues. Among other things this
mea paren: be par-
en told f . oned
way ..
, For a brief moment on a sub­
way in ew York I saw a glim­
mer of hope.
Ron Daruels rues as President {or
the Institute {or Community Organiza­
tion. and Development in Young town,
Ohio. He may be couaaed at (216) 746-
5747.
Readers Write
•
I n many places an address
tells a lot about a person. Having
a Beverly Hills address or a
Scarsdale address has been seen
by some as a way of showing
status and incom , for example.
Well, in East St. Louis, Illi­
nois, a Trendley A venue addre
might mean something quite dif­
ferent. It might mean you a
facing an early d th from can­
cer.
Tr ndley A venue is directly
behind the Lanson Chemical
Plant, where 6,000 gallons of
toxic was were dumped into
th ground following a fire a th
plant. In the past few y rs at
1 25 residents Of Trendley
Avenu have died from cancer
nd oth rs re living with t
dise Indeed, very few hom
on T ndley A nue hav no
be n ou h d by cancer. The
re iden , som of whom h
lived in their well-maintain
hom sin th 1at 1950's, a
und tandably v ry frigh ned
nd angry;
Th m t di urbing fact is
that Tr ndley A venue is only
on of 23 toxic waste it 1-
ready identified in East St.
Louis a city, of some 40,000 i­
den , 99 percent of whom are
African American.
•
ac
By Bernice Powell Jackson
waste sites not yet identified by
the Environmental Protection
A�ncy (EPA)," said Rev. Buck
Jones, Executive Director of Pro­
ject HOPE, which has worked in
Eas St. Lou' for the past 23
years.
East St. Louis in may ways
symbolize environmental ra­
cism at its wo . Located across
the Missi ippi River from St.
Louis, thi African American
city has an overwhelming num­
ber of problems to overcome.
The city itselfhas been almost
bankrupt for many years, 52
percent of th population is offi­
cially unemployed, and th only
revenue bases which th city has
are property ta and in m
from th n w casino gambling
boats which are docked th reo
There are an estimated 3,000
bandoned buildings in E t St.
Louis. Raw wage oft. n backs
up into on of the large public
housing d v lopments. Even
last month th high chool had
to cl wh n wage ba ed up
into th cat; eria's kitchen once
in. An h n th r a th
nvironm n problems.
Th giant chemical plants of
Monsanto, Big River Zinc and
other chemical and te incin­
eration plants loom m nacingly
only a few f yond th bor­
ders of E t t. Louis.
ER
VEB
many emissions from some of .
. the plants through the years
that they have had to install a
public warning system to inform
nearby residents when such ac­
cidents occur. Meanwhile, an
enormous metal hredding com­
pany shreds not only cars, caus­
ing explo ions when the
unremoved gasoline tanks 'rup­
tur , but also scrap metal nd
refrigerated box cars, probably
releasing toxic was into th
o
eight new on
PO ORED BY the Delta
Sigma Theta Sorority, hich has
raised funds from several como­
rations along with their m�m-
be ' donations, th hom will·
all be located on one st and
rv tangible proof that th
people of East S . Loui have no
n totally abandoned by th
r t of th world,
. ,