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St. Louis Provides Model for Developing Black Males
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By George E. Curry
NNPA Columnist
The three major Black Methodist denominations - American Methodist Episcopal (AME), African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AME Zion) and Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) - emerged from their joint Great Gathering conference in Columbia, S.C. last week with a plan to establish Saturday Academies in cities across the nation as a way of improving the plight of young African-American males.
A pilot project is scheduled to begin in the Washington, D.C.-area in May, with a Saturday Academy rotating between three churches in the major Methodist denominations. Organizers say the concept will be expanded later to 13 regions across the United States.
If Methodists are looking for a successful academy model, they should study the one developed 26 years ago in St. Louis, Mo. by St. Paul A.M. E. Church under Rev. C. Garnett Henning, now an AME bishop. It was the brainchild of Bishop Henning and my friend William J. Harrison, a local educator and member of the church.
The program, which is now a separate non-profit organization, describes itself as "a manhood, leadership and development group." The 9 a.m. to noon sessions are held each Saturday and targets Black males ages 6-17. It has grown from an initial class of 12 to 100. According to its Web site, all seniors participating in the program have graduated from high school and college.
Keith Turner, a member of the original class, graduated from high school in St. Louis and enrolled in Morehouse College in Atlanta, William Harrison's alma mater. Turner, the owner of TurnGroup Technologies in St. Louis, and two other program participants graduated cum laude from Morehouse.
"The program provided me with an opportunity to have experiences and meet people who were outside my family's normal or professional circle," Turner explained. "That type of exposure allowed me to be shaped by the successful people that we met that looked like us."
There is no charge for enrolling in the program, but the parents or guardians must attend an orientation session before a young man can join the group. And when he does join, there is no confusion about what is expected:
- Each young man is expected to attend the program all year;
- Proper decorum and discipline will be observed;
- Each young man is expected to graduate from high school;
- Each young man is expected to graduate from college;
-Young men are expected to volunteer for service in the home, church and community;
- Each young man is expected to accept responsibility in every aspect of his life;
- Each young man is expected to strive for leadership in organizations and groups in which he is a participant;
- Each young man is to earn whatever he expects to receive and beg for nothing;
- Each young man is to become a man with all of its positive connotations;
- Each young man is expected to average at least a 3.0 (a B) on a 4.0 scale;
- Each young man taking the SAT is expected to score at least 1,000 on a 1,600-point scale and at least 26 points on the ACT 36-point scale.
But if you want assistance in helping a boy move successfully into manhood, St. Paul Saturdays is the place to be.
"I was blessed to have two good, hard-working parents in my life," recalls Turner. "I was privileged to have a mentor like Dr. Harrison who believed that if young people were taught better, they would do better. He dedicated his life to the cultivation and development of young minds, all with the hope and expectation that by changing our lives, participants of St. Paul Saturdays would have a positive impact on our communities."
It is a lesson that another former participant, Jay Rhodes, learned well. He returned as a volunteer 15 years ago and is now co-director with Vince Pierce, who began volunteering when Rhodes returned. Other long-time volunteers include Turner (14 years), Byron Price (15 years), Henry Graham (15 years), Alan Green (10 years) and Don Henning (8 years).
No instructor receives a salary and all donations go directly to the program and helps finance college tours, trips to hotspots of the civil rights movement and other activities.
St. Paul Saturdays has made cleaning up Father Dickson Cemetery, a Black cemetery, a special project.
An examination of recent schedules reflect the range of group activities: Black History Saturday, Rites of Passage services, Academic Goal-Setting Saturday, Community Health Saturday, a tennis clinic, Entrepreneurial Saturday, Aviation Day (flying a plane with professional pilots) and computer literacy.
All participants are expected to excel.
Turner said, "This program helped instill within me that the only limitations that I have are the limitations that I place on myself."
George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and the NNPA News Service, is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach. He can be reached through his Web site, www.georgecurry.com You can also follow him at www.twitter.com/currygeorge.
READ MORE COLUMNS BY CURRY |
| To Court Blacks, Foes of Abortion Make Racial Case |
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By Shaila Dewan
© New York Times
February 26, 2010
ATLANTA - For years the largely white staff of Georgia Right to Life, the state's largest anti-abortion group, tried to tackle the disproportionately high number of black women who undergo abortions. But, staff members said, they found it difficult to make inroads with black audiences.
So in 2009, the group took money that it normally used for advertising a pregnancy hot line and hired a black woman, Catherine Davis, to be its minority outreach coordinator.
Ms. Davis traveled to black churches and colleges around the state, delivering the message that abortion is the primary tool in a decades-old conspiracy to kill off blacks.
The idea resonated, said Nancy Smith, the executive director.
"We were shocked when we spent less money and had more phone calls" to the hot line, Ms. Smith said.
This month, the group expanded its reach, making national news with 80 billboards around Atlanta that proclaim, "Black children are an endangered species," and a Web site, www.toomanyaborted.com.
Across the country, the anti-abortion movement, long viewed as almost exclusively white and Republican, is turning its attention to African-Americans and encouraging black abortion opponents across the country to become more active.
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| GOP's Trent Franks: Abortion worse than slavery for blacks |
By Mike Madden
Salon.com
February 26, 2010
Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., is a fairly passionate opponent of abortion rights (and by one measure, the most conservative member of the House). Still, even by his standards, the comments he made to blogger Mike Stark Friday were a little extreme.
Discussing civility and outrageous language, Franks wandered into a tangent in which he wound up declaring that "far more of the African American community is being devastated by the policies of today than were being devastated by the policies of slavery." Where, exactly, did he get that idea? Because, as he also explained, "half of all black children are aborted." (The Centers for Disease Control, which compiles abortion statistics, actually estimates that 33 percent of pregnancies end in abortion for black women.)
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Rep. Charles B. Rangel
By Wil Haygood
© Washington Post
March 8, 2010
NEW YORK -- Few will deny that the political landscape here in Harlem has yielded rich and galvanizing story lines. The arcs of those narratives have been taught and shared in classrooms across America.
Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and Charles B. Rangel became chairmen of powerful congressional committees. David N. Dinkins became the first black mayor of New York City, and David A. Paterson became the state's first black governor. Percy Sutton and Basil Paterson, David's father, became genuine power brokers, rolling between downtown and uptown with a sophisticated ease. The accomplishments gave Harlem a swagger and also a sweet pride.
Then came last week.
In what seemed like a double-barreled whammy of political shock and setback, Rangel stepped down as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee because of an ongoing ethics investigation and Paterson's reign took on a tick-tock, tick-tock echo as many -- supporters and foes alike -- called for his resignation because of allegations that he interceded on behalf of a staffer in a domestic abuse case and accepted free tickets to a baseball game.
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| It's time to make right the wrongs to black farmers |
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By Mary Sanchez
Atlanta Constitution
March 1, 2010
When all is said and done, and the record of the Obama administration is written, one major accomplishment will likely be attributed to the president's race.
The first black president seems determined to make the U.S. government finally settle the claims of an estimated 70,000 black farmers, people whose hopes were crushed by government racism.
Obama has championed a $1.25 billion settlement that would put these claims to rest.
Termed by some "the last plantation," the Department of Agriculture for decades systematically denied loans, crop subsidies and other aid to black farmers, at one point bringing them to near extinction.
In the 1920, blacks operated one of every seven U.S. farms. By 1992, the number had sunk to one in 100.
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Prisons: The New Jim Crow |
By Michelle Alexander
© The Nation
March 9, 2010
This article originally appeared on TomDispatch.
Ever since Barack Obama lifted his right hand and took his oath of office, pledging to serve the United States as its forty-fourth president, ordinary people and their leaders around the globe have been celebrating our nation's "triumph over race." Obama's election has been touted as the final nail in the coffin of Jim Crow, the bookend placed on the history of racial caste in America.
Obama's mere presence in the Oval Office is offered as proof that "the land of the free" has finally made good on its promise of equality. There's an implicit yet undeniable message embedded in his appearance on the world stage: this is what freedom looks like; this is what democracy can do for you. If you are poor, marginalized, or relegated to an inferior caste, there is hope for you. Trust us. Trust our rules, laws, customs, and wars. You, too, can get to the promised land.
Perhaps greater lies have been told in the past century, but they can be counted on one hand. Racial caste is alive and well in America.
Most people don't like it when I say this. It makes them angry. In the "era of colorblindness" there's a nearly fanatical desire to cling to the myth that we as a nation have "moved beyond" race. Here are a few facts that run counter to that triumphant racial narrative:
There are more African-Americans under correctional control today - in prison or jail, on probation or parole - than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began.
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Race and Romance: An Uneven Playing Field for Black Women
The marriage of Mildred and Richard Loving led to landmark Supreme Court decision legalizing interracial unions.
By Ian Ayres
© New York Times
March 3, 2010
John Mayer has recently been criticized for crude remarks he made in an interview, suggesting that he was not sexually attracted to African-American women. Tiger Woods's alleged actions suggest a similar preference (Bill Maher quipped "He doesn't need sex rehab; he needs diversity training").
A fascinating but depressing analysis of messaging at OkCupid.com suggests that discriminatory male preferences are a wider phenomenon.
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Dan Rather: 'Articulate' Obama Couldn't Even 'Sell Watermelons' |
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By Geoffrey Dickens
March 8, 2010
HDNet's Dan Rather stepped on one mine after another in the racial minefield that exists when talking about the nation's first black President as the former CBS anchor, on the syndicated Chris Matthews Show over the weekend, uttered the following take on the President's ability to get health care passed and how the GOP and independents would view it. [audio available here]
DAN RATHER: Part of the undertow in the coming election is going to be President Obama's leadership. And the Republicans will make a case and a lot of independents will buy this argument. "Listen he just hasn't been, look at the health care bill. It was his number one priority. It took him forever to get it through and he had to compromise it to death." And a version of, "Listen he's a nice person, he's very articulate" this is what's been used against him, "but he couldn't sell watermelons if it, you gave him the state troopers to flag down the traffic."
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| Award-Winning Journalist Ed Gordon Returns to BET |
NEW YORK - Award-winning broadcast journalist Ed Gordon will make his return to BET Networks' news division. Gordon, a well seasoned anchor, reporter, interviewer, radio host and Emmy Award-winning broadcaster will join the network for a variety of news programs and specials. Gordon's return bolsters the news division's roaster which includes correspondents Jeff Johnson, Andre Showell and April Woodard
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| Tavis Goes into Battle of Wits with Sharpton Unarmed |
By George E. Curry
NNPA Columnist
If Tavis Smiley were doing the commentary on the Tom Joyner Morning Show, he might begin by saying, "As Big Mama would say, he created a new behind in his opponent." But Tavis is not providing disinterested commentary on this feud, primarily because it was Rev. Al Sharpton who created a new butt in Tavis when the verbose talk show host tried to take on The Greater Debater.
It was a Tavis commentary on February 23 that ignited the fireworks between Sharpton and Smiley. He accused Black leaders - Al Sharpton, Ben Jealous, Marc Morial, Dorothy Height, Professor Charles Ogletree and Valerie Jarrett - of singing the song that President Obama does not need to focus on a Black agenda.
"I must have missed that choir rehearsal, J., because I don't know the words to this new hymn," Tavis proclaimed. "The president doesn't need a Black agenda, they sing. He's not the president of Black America, he's the president of all America and he need not focus specifically on the unique challenges Black America is facing, they sing."
Sharpton said not only was Tavis off key, he cited the wrong lyrics.
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| You can now follow me on.... |
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| Speaking Engagements |
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February 22, 2010
Dept. of Energy
Savannah River
Aiken, S.C.
March 1-2, 2010
The Great Gathering
Columbia, S.C.
April 14, 2010
National Action Network
New York, N.Y.
May 8, 2010
Knoxville College
Knoxville, Tenn.
June 10-12, 2010
Urban Financial Services Coalition
Kansas City, Mo.
July 18-23, 2010
XVIII International Conference on AIDS
Vienna, Austria
July 28, 2010
National Urban League Centennial Convention
Washington, D.C.
July 31-Aug.4, 2010
National Medical Association
Orlando, Fla.
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| Book George Curry for a Speech |
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Let Curry Spice Up Your Next Event
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| "The Bev Smith Show" |
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Listen to George Curry on "The Bev Smith Show" every other Friday, beginning at 7:12 p.m., EST
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Books by George E. Curry |
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The Best of Emerge Magazine
Edited by
George E. Curry
"This whopper of an anthology perfectly captures black life and culture...This retrospective volume is journalism at its best: probing, controversial and serious...Although Emerge was devoted unequivocally to African-Americans, Curry's vision and editorship of this book will instruct, provoke and sometimes entertain or inspire any reader."
- Publishers Weekly
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The Affirmative Action Debate
Edited by George E. Curry
"... Collects the leading voices on all sides of this crucial dialogue...the one book you need to understand and discuss the nation's sharpest political divide."
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Jake Gaither: America's Most Famous Black Coach
By George E. Curry
"Curry has some telling points to make on the unlooked for effects of court-ordered desegregation."
- The New York Times
"... an excellent example of sports writing."
- Library Journal
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