Dating the chairman's daughter

The Huntville Times ^ | October 24, 2003 | David Person

[where's_the_Outrage?]

NASHVILLE - Some of the black community's leaders and thinkers have black men on the brain. The topic came up over and over during this week's annual meeting of the Trotter Group, an organization of black columnists and commentators.

Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, put it this way during one of our luncheons: "African-American males are damn near an endangered species in terms of success."

Reynaldo Glover, chairman of the board at Fisk University and president of TLC-LC Inc. (formerly TLC-Beatrice International Holdings), also talked openly of his fears: "Who is my daughter going to marry?"

Glover spends a lot of time on Fisk's campus. He sees a lot of young black men. But he made it clear that what he sees troubles him.

Morial and Glover know what many of us also know: Many young black men are being swept up by street culture, and out of school and into jail.

The data back them up. According a recent report by the Justice Policy Institute, 52 percent of black males who dropped out of high school had prison records by their early 30s.

So if they dropped out between 16 and 18, they were probably either behind bars or well on the way within 10 years.

For white males who have dropped out, the report says only 13 percent of them have a record by their early 30s.

The harsh reality is that for some young brothers - and not just the ones who grew up in the projects or the ghettoes - pimps are more popular than professors. Rappers get more respect than readers. Credibility on the street - also known as "street cred" - has more value than being credible in the classroom.

"When those images become the cultural basis for people to make choices in their lives, then something is wrong," Glover said.

Indeed, something is very wrong. For many young blacks, television shows, movies, music videos and popular songs define what it means to be black. And in many of these we are portrayed as being part of society's dregs: pimps, prostitutes, drug addicts and dealers and criminals.

But it doesn't take much to see that most of us aren't that way, any more than most whites are like John Gotti, Ivan Boesky or Jeffrey Dahmer or Timothy McVeigh.

Morial certainly isn't. He earned a law degree and served his home state of Louisiana as a state senator before becoming the mayor of New Orleans.

Neither is Glover. He also is an attorney and practiced law successfully before taking over TLC-Beatrice, the company that made headlines while owned by the late African-American venture capitalist Reginald Lewis.

These black men are accomplished, smart and driven. There are many others like them, none of whom have done a day of time behind bars.

If only we could get some of the younger black men to see that life doesn't have to be a dead end, that myriad possibilities await them if they can see beyond the siren call of street life.

For some, street life is their earliest reality and an every day experience. Many are poor and desperate. They have seen drug deals and know real gang bangers.

They know what it's like to have a family member locked up behind bars or strung out on crack. They know how it looks and sounds when a person gets shot and killed.

For them, street life is more than just a music video, movie or cable TV show. It's real life, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

But Morial's life is just as real. So is Glover's life.

And the path to the lives they lead is very clear: Believe in yourself, take school seriously, study hard, go to college, dream big dreams.

Defy the call to be another statistic. And when the time comes, you'll be ready to date the chairman's daughter.

David Person's column runs every Friday on the commentary page. Voice mail: 532-4362; e-mail: davidpe@htimes.com.

[where's_the_Outrage?]

Person is fairly liberal, but he's writing conservative values here. Hope there's some positive impact.

[Tacis]

Geez, not a single "it's whitey's fault" comment.

But, at the same time, not a single mention of the power that TWO parents have in controlling the early life experiences of young males.

[Dark Wing]

FYI