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B y D orothy I. H eight
As a child growing up in Rankin,
Pennsylvania, one of the first lessons I
learned was that “family” is not neces
sarily determined by blood. I would
ask my mother, "Is that my real aunt?”
She would always answer, “That’s
your aunt.”
T hat’s the way it was in African
American communities. If you cared
for one another, you were family. If
tragedy struck, the aunts, cousins,
grandparents, neighbors and friends
would provide.
That was how we got along in
those days. We looked after each
others’ children and took them in
We were a more caring community.
But as the social services estab
lishment cast a wider net, standards
and restrictions were established on
who could care for a child, when
parents could not. There were court
orders, home inspections, com pli
cated applications, age and income
requirements, investigations by so
cial workers. The informal system
gave way to a highly structured one.
And with the growth of a vast net
work of temporary housing for chil
dren in crisis, extended families were
discouraged - in some cases, barred -
- from playing their traditional roles.
I believe that we have a special
responsibility, especially in Novem
ber, when the nation celebrates Na
tional Adoption Awareness Month,
to correct some misconceptions that
have grown up around foster care
and adoption and to bring attention
to the children who are waiting for
families.
Although many people feel they're
not economically in a position to
take care of a child, adoption is nei
ther as costly nor as unwieldy a pro
cess as they suppose. Some em ploy
ers are providing adoption benefits.
i
I
The heads of more than 30 African
American organizations have joined
forces to promote and speed adop
tions; after attending a Black leader
ship “summit” in W ashington last
May, several took steps to support
the recruitment of black families and,
in some cases are setting up funds to
help lower income parents with the
payment of legal fees.
The number of children growing
up without families is appalling.
Today, more than 60,(XX) children
of color in foster care are ready and
waiting to be adopted; some have been
waiting for years. Yet there are caring
people in our communities who don’t
realize that they can qualify to receive
children.
According to the latest Census
figures, there are more Black chil
dren in foster care than there are
children from any other racial or
ethnic group. Black children make
up 47 percent of the foster care popu
lation, almost three times their share
(1 6 .5 percent)ofthegeneral popula
tion. They are five times less likely
than white children to be adopted
during their first 3.5 years in care.
And the longer they wait, the less
likely they are to ever have the per
manent family, the anchor, the source
of love and mentoring that every
child needs and deserves.
We must do better than this, if we
want to keep these children from
being shuffled from one temporary
“home” or juvenile facility to an
other, without any family connection
or moral compass.
I think it starts with the recogni
tion that these are our children - not
somebody else's children, not the
system ’schildren - and that we must
embrace them. We are their family,
and we must rekindle that spirit of
caring for one another.
P
e
c
t
V
e
s
Re-Segregation And
That "White Stuff"
( O h s e r u c r
Charles Washington
Publisher A Editor
s
A startling and quite deplorable
situation frequently was reported by
several teachers and leaders in the
northeast community in the past de
cade. A number of black students had
stayed away from the “white stuff’
(math and science) either because it
was not thought to be “relevant” or
else “grades would suffer.”
Before we engage in any analysis of
the ’current” situation, let me point out
that a quite different scenario existed
in the past’, and why. Those of my
situation and experience, unfortu
nately, have a great difficulty in ex
plaining the causative factors to the
education and social science profes
sionals from other cultures — or to
many ‘younger’ black professionals,
for that matter.
“ You’ve got to have been there,” as
the saying goes. If one is to be clear on
this issue, we need to avoid the seman
tic confusion that might arise from use
of the term, “re-segregation.” Any
fairly perceptive citizen would look
around at the majority’ of the nation's
churches, residential areas and schools
(excluding remaining inner-cities), and
the nation’s workforce (except the
highly visible public sector) - and im
mediately ask, “when did segregation
ever end?”
Actually, we are talking about a
‘mind’ thing here, not to lie confounded
with social interaction. For my often
startling, experience-based observa
tion is that the ’socially segregated
African American of the “South” pro
duced most of those great inventions
and science which blacks contributed
to the industrial revolution and medi
cine.
And the same technological genius
was exhibited by the second and third
generations after leaving the South for
the “North”. I confound many here in
the education establishment when I
write of our teenage science and math
clubs in the neighborhood; and a ' seg-
regated’ high school curriculum of
algebra, geometry, biology physics,
chemistry, languages - allcompulsory
in St. Louis, MO before World War
II. “Why not now”, I keep asking.
What those education and social
science professionals to whom I re
ferred earlier do not understand is that
from the time of slavery to World War
II - and past- huge numbers of blacks
worked as domestics in the homes of
southern white officials, professionals
and businessmen. They had Access to
the system.
These black ‘fathers’, mothers,
aunts, uncles and grand parents, not
only knew who ran the world, but how
it was run and what knowledge and
training was necessary to that end.
Consequently, these chauffeurs, but
lers, maids, cooks, gardeners and nan
nies ‘carried the message back to the
ghettoes, where it was well received.
All of that “white stuff”, that is.
With a driving commitment and
fervor they designed, built and oper
ated educational and social institu
tions that would equip and motivate
their children for that'G reat day in the
m orning... free at last, tree at last, free
at last! We helped build the world and
we ll help enjoy it.”
The general deterioration of the
nation’seducationsystem is not restricted
to any one race or culture. I noticed the
difference decades ago - in industry,
before I began teaching. Later, I’d ride
the bus and recruit young black high
school seniors for PSU, only to find that
many could barely read, write or count (
this last was in the 1970’s).
Portland, Oregon was not at all like
this when I arrived in 1945. The sys
tem was producing black engineers
like Benson High Schools Don Ruth
erford who designed all the engine
controls for Howard Hughe’s flying
boat, “The Spruce Goose.” Of course,
99% of Portland's early black popula
tion was from the “South”.
Signs of Hope
B y B ernice P oweix J ackson
I keep reminding myself of the
importance of finding good stories
amidst the bad - stories of people
working to eliminate racism-in their
lives and the life of theircommunity,
stories of opportunities for commu
nities to come together and tell the
truth about the past, to learn about
the rich histories of people of color in
this nation. Here are two such sto
ries.
Wilmington. NC
It was nearly 27 years ago that
Wilmington, NorthCarolinacome into
ournational consciousness, when black
high school students began to protest
the racism they saw in their school.
Organized by Rev. Ben Chavis, the
students boycotted the school andcame
toGregory Congregational Church for
a meeting. The reaction of some whites
in the community was immediate and
violent, beginning with threats from
the Kian and leading to drive-by
shootings into the church, where the
students remained. Before it was over
a white-owned grocery store was
burned, one police officer was
wounded and two people died.
And the case of the Wilmington
10, A m erica’s first internationally
acknowledged political prisoners'
case, was born. The Wilmington 10
included Rev. Chavis, eight high
schools students and one other adult,
who were tried and convicted ol con
spiracy to burn the grocery store and
of firing on emergency personnel.
All were sentenced to 23 or 24 years
in prison, based on circumstantial
evidence. It took nearly 10 years for
a federal appeals court to overturn
the convictions.
For years afterward relationships
between the black and white commu
nity were soured. So it is a sign of
hope to see a new relationship be
tween the Gregory Congregational
Church, and African American con
gregation and the predominantly
white Unitarian Universalist Fellow
ship. Led by their pastors. Rev.
Suzanne Graves of Gregory and Rev.
Lone Jensen of the Unitarian Church,
these congregations are holding joint
worship services and picnics and
beginning to reach across the diffi
cult and shared past.
Importantly, part of the reaching
out has included a recognition of
what happened in 1971 Indeed, when
the Unitarian members first visited
Gregory, they were shown the bullet
holes which are still in the walls from
that troubled time Their new rela
tionship is being built on the ac
knowledgment of their shared his
tory, but is looking toward a new
future.
Kansas City, MO
Eighteenth and Vine is a legend
ary address in the African American
Community. Anyone who has heard
it knows that it’s in KanasaCity and
it was the heart of that city’s African
American community in the early
years of this century. It was also the
heart of jazz for a number of years, as
well-knownjazzmusicians were nur
tured and performed there.
In recent years though, the 18th
and Vine district had declined, as the
African American community dis
persed. Businesses closed, the clubs
were no more and even housing had
suffered. All that has changed as the
city of Kansas City has sought to
rebuild that legendary community and
to re-develop it in a number of ways.
Just opened are the new Kansas
City Jazz Museum and the Negro
Leagues Baseball Museum, which
share a bright new building. Music
fills the air in the Jazz Museum, as
the stories of some of jazz’s greatest
performers are told. It includes inter
active exhibits, a sound library and a
mixing studio. It even includes a jazz
club, as well as the old signs from the
heyday of that street.
The new Negro Leagues Baseball
Museum covers the entire history of
the Negro Leagues from after the
Civil War through their end in the
1960’s. It tells the stories of the he
roes of that League, through photo
graphs, video and sports memora
bilia. It is the story not only of black
athletes, but of black entrepreneurs
who created the league.
Across the street from the new
museum is the re-furbished Gem
Theater. Originally a movie theater,
it quickly became a center of social
and cultural activity for the 18th and
Vine community. Great performers
such as Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie,
Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker
once stood on this stage and once
again this cultural and performing
arts center will be filled with musical
performances, theater productions
and multimedia events.
And, if you walk just around the
corner, you' II find the set of the movie
Kansas City, which starred Harry
Belafontc and many jazz greats and
told the story of the heyday of this
community. In addition, new restau
rants and businesses are scheduled to
open in this re-developed legendary
community.
There are signs of hope across this
nation We only have to look for
them
This W ay For B lack E m pow erm ent
Ending Racism In America
B y D r . L enora F dlani
Black people look at America
and we are very proud of our coun
try, even though it’s still the case
that we are less than fully included
- in political terms, economic
terms, social and cultural terms -
in much of mainstream American
life. We look at the most influential
and dominating of American in s t i
tutions - the Democratic Party -
that originally come into being as
an all-white party to preside over a
society that practiced slavery; we
see the other party — the Republi
can Party - that came into being as
an all-white party to preside over
the abolition of slavery. In neither
case were we -- or any other popu
lations of color — a part of the
founding of those parties, the shap
ing of their vision or their funda
m ental sensibility. We simply
weren’t there.
And though, over time. Black
America became associated with
first one and then the other major
party, hoping that first one, and
then the other, would unlock the
door to full participation in the life
of our country, this did not happen.
Sometime we made strides - as
we did in the period of Reconstruc
tion after the Civil War or in the
1960's in the civil rights movement.
But even the civil rights movement
had its limits, because American de
mocracy was itself so structurally
limiting, that there was only so far
we could go. Quotas, affirmative
action, majority Black and Hispanic
districts, and other such attempts to
improve the position of people of
color were not. as some people be
lieve, the success of the civil rights
movement. They were, in my opin
ion, an accommodation to its limits.
Unable to restructure the whole of
American politics to make it more
inclusive and participatory, largely
because we were politically attached
to the Democratic Party which had
absolutely no interest in a political
restructuring that would threaten
their institutional power, we instead
fought for little pieces of access to a
system that was controlled from the
top by the top.
Identity politics came to domi
nate. African Americans became a
part of special interest politics. Ironi
cally - and tragically -- race rela
tions worsened as a result. Black
Americans felt increasingly frustrated
and alone. Black politicians-m ainly
Democrats - who made their own
careers off of the perpetuation of
racism proliferated. They weren’t
interested in structural change ei
ther. Racial inequality keeps them in
business.
Much of white America felt frus
trated. too. America was not doing
well. Everybody took to blaming
everybody else. But the real problem
was not we, the people. It was Big
Government -- unresponsive, corrupt
and irresponsible Identity-based
politics -- which has shaped much of
Black participation — only made
matters worse.
My own involvement in third party
politics was based on wanting to cre
ate a way out of this bind for Black
America; a way out of being essen
tially held hostage to a two party
system that was not only hostile to us,
but hostile to the democratic partici
pation of all the American people
When Ross Perot announced his
independent candidacy for the presi
dency in 1992 and said it was time for
the American people to take back our
country, I was deeply inspired. And
I quickly and passionately accepted
the invitation
I am well aware of the fact that
I was not your most typical Perot
voter. The press tends to paint
in d e p e n d e n ts as angry, w hite
m ales who are politically co nser
vative. That stereotype doesn't fit
m any independent voters -- and it
certainly d o esn ’t fit me.
When Ross Perot arrived on the
scene, this meant that a new m o
ment and a new movement had ar
rived. That movement was the first
sign of the upsurge of all the Ameri
can people against special interest
politics and the corruption of our
political process and for a total
politics restructuring, that would
put we, the people, in control. As
that movement progressed and be
gan a process of consolidating it
self intoapolitical party, we finally
stood at the doorway of being able
to solve A merica’s race problem.
How? If Blacks and Hispanics and
Asians and Native Americans were
included in that party-building pro
cess, then we would be part of cre
ating the foundation, the vision, the
morality, and the culture of a major
political party for the first time ever
in the history of the United Statesof
America.