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Posted on 10/04/2002 9:06:03 PM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
Gun-running is not a term most Huntsvillians would have associated with Oakwood College. A New York Daily News report about a federal investigation into the illegal sale of guns in New York by college students has changed that.
Students from three historically black institutions - Oakwood, Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta and Texas Southern University in Houston - have been implicated. At least one student from Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, a predominantly white institution, is also believed to have been in the illegal sale of guns.
Dedrick Blue, the newly appointed vice president for Student Services at Oakwood College, doesn't believe the college's image will be too tarnished by the actions of a few students.
''I think that Oakwood has had 100 years in this community with a solid reputation,'' he told me earlier this week.
As a proud Oakwood alumnus, I agree. But I also know that Oakwood and other historically black colleges and universities gradually have had portions of their campuses co-opted by the streets.
I've seen walls covered with graffiti - some of which was gang-oriented - and heard stories about exploitive and even criminal activity from credible sources. And we all have seen reports of shootings and violence that afflicts some black colleges.
Oakwood and the predecessors of Clark Atlanta - Clark College and Atlanta University - were founded before the turn of the last century to educate newly freed slaves. Others, like Texas Southern, were founded well into the 1900s when the dinosaurs known as segregation and Jim Crow still roamed our social landscape.
Black colleges were founded to provide hope for students who weren't allowed to go to predominantly white schools; students with varying degrees of academic ability and financial resources; students who needed to learn that they could be somebody no matter how bleak their backgrounds.
That hope is now under attack.
Blue reminded me that black colleges aren't the only institutions being impacted by the importation of the streets to the academy. Predominantly white schools also have to deal with crime and other by-products of urban life. But he conceded that the impact is different on a black college campus.
''We certainly have more to lose,'' Blue said.
I don't blame the colleges. They have been dragged into problems that stem from the homes and cities of some of their students - problems that have been disproportionately affecting the black community for years.
Families, churches, mosques, fraternal groups and other community institutions have been on the front lines, trying to fight the decline in cultural values that have been dragging us down. But in some cities, it's clear they've been fighting a losing battle.
Earlier this week, a group of about 16 children beat a grown man to death in Milwaukee. The man, Charlie Young Jr., is believed to have punched one of the kids for throwing an egg at him.
The others became so enraged that they chased him onto the porch of another man's home. The beating was so severe that Young's blood was splattered onto the porch's ceiling. Some of the attackers were as young as 10.
One woman in the neighborhood told an Associated Press reporter that crime is common there.
''I'm not going to say you get used to it, but you deal with it,'' she said. ''And you have to just move on.''
No, we don't. And we shouldn't. We need to stop right where we are and take inventory.
Our children can't be allowed to be so bereft of discipline that they become murderers. Adults should never be allowed to feel entitled to punch a child.
College students can't be left to believe that student loans or tuition money would be better spent building a criminal enterprise than earning a college diploma.
We who claim to believe in the unique mission of black colleges must recommit ourselves to being role models, advisors and supporters at these institutions. We must help dedicated administrators, faculty, staff and students safeguard these jewels from the ills of the streets.
Race, profession and alumni affiliation don't matter. We can't afford to just ''deal with it.'' We must do more than simply ''move on.''
David Person's column appears each Friday on the Commentary page. He can be reached via e-mail at davidpe@htimes.com or at 532-4362.
We must help dedicated administrators, faculty, staff and students safeguard these jewels from the ills of the streets.
I hope that we means teach and accept personal responsibility. Without that, this article means nothing.
This is the saddest part of the whole thing- little ratbags go to an institution established to promote education and self improvement, founded to help people that had been bought and sold as if they were animals...and defile that institution.
I am an ex-82d ABN. paratrooper who was INFURIATED when I read a creature wearing my patch raped and killed a 12 year old girl in Kosovo.
Same thing.
I would say the same goes for the professors that focus on victimology/multi-culti bull$hite as well-that's the crap that led to this.
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