The AC Phoenix: More than a Newspaper, a Community Institution -- Issue No. 2001, July 2013

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Page 4 July 2013 The AC Phoenix Melanie L. Campbell State of Equality and Justice in America: It’s Time to Step it Up, We Have Not Arrived! by Melanie L. Campbell Reflecting upon the past 50 years since the 1963 March on Washington we must pay homage to our civil rights leaders for their hard work, strength and endurance in the fight for equality and justice in America. Their unwavering commitment to The Movement made it possible for a Black man named Barack Hussein Obama to become President of the United States of America. As I look at the state of equality and justice today, we are at a very critical moment in time. Our elders have taken us this far. Some have transitioned on, others are continuing on the battle field for justice. Also, with all the progress over the past 50 years, some of us are under the misguided impression that we have arrived. I feel compelled to appeal to my generation and today’s young leaders to make sure they understand: There is no more time, we must take the torch or the fire will die. It’s time to step it up and get busy. The task before Black leaders today begins with making sure that those coming behind us understand that even though the Civil Rights Movement forced laws to change, it did not change the hearts and minds of all Americans. Some of those who want to retain their power and money are threatened by inclusion. Our young people must understand that a small group of people are continuously plotting to create new ways to exclude entire communities. In 2013, new school activists must make sure our young people understand that racism and inequality may not always manifest itself in a white sheet or barking dog but the dogs are still biting. Inequality comes in many packages. Back in the day people in power relied on slick tactics like Jim Crow Laws and Poll Taxes to hold us back. Today, it’s voter IDs and the “War on Drugs.” For example, a person with a non-violent drug conviction on their record is restricted in their ability to secure housing, financial aid for education, public assistance, jobs, and the right to vote. What does the fight for equality and justice look like in 2013 and beyond? In 2013 and beyond our fight is not just for access to education. We must make sure our schools are teaching critical thinking, promoting innovation, and preparing our youth for jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2009 American Community Survey reports that STEM workers earn more than other workers. Non-Hispanic Whites hold 72 percent of STEM jobs while only 6 percent of STEM jobs are held by Non-Hispanic Blacks. In 1963 March organizers called for “Dignified Jobs.” In 2013 “Dignified Jobs” must provide good jobs with a livable wage. We must also unite to support our unions and workers’ rights. Modern-day equality struggles include closing the digital divide. Access to high-speed broadband Internet will increase job and educational opportunities as well as democratic participation. Broadband access will also help to lower health care costs and make quality medical care more accessible to the Black community. Diversity strengthens our democracy. We must make sure employers don’t just talk about “diversity” and “women’s equality”, but also back up the talk through their hiring practices. From the federal government to Wall Street to the corner store, we want to see Black women represented in top positions. The elimination of racial disparities in our criminal justice system is paramount. The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Pew Charitable Trusts reports that the incarceration rate for Blacks is more than six times as high as the national average and over 60 percent of those incarcerated are racial and ethnic minorities. In 2013 and beyond we will continue to lead the fight to eliminate barriers to civic participation fighting against restrictive voter ID laws, felon disenfranchisement and any other tactics created to block Black people from voting. Finally, I must address our responsibility as a people to work harder to prepare our youth in this ongoing fight for justice and equality. We must encourage them to pursue STEM careers, teach them to be environmentally conscious, and help them understand the dire need to stop the violence in our neighborhoods. We must take the time to instill good moral values so they turn to each other and not on each other and our journey will not be in vain. As we celebrate 50 years of progress, let’s thank our elders for their great fight by stepping it up because we have not arrived. Melanie Campbell is president/CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and convener of the Black Women’s Roundtable. Trust in the Lord with all your heart Proverbs 3:5 The National Primitive Baptist Convention, USA Convenes in LA, California Elder Bernard C. Yates, President Hosted by the Western Region and local Primitive Baptist churches in the Los Angeles area, approximately 1500-2000 individuals comprising of national officers, auxiliaries, regional vice presidents, state presidents, moderators, pastors, elders, delegates, and laity of the National Primitive Baptist Convention, USA will convene its 106th Annual Session on August 18-23 at The Westin Bonaventure, 404 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, California. Elder Dr. Bernard C. Yates, Pastor of Zion Hope Primitive Baptist Church, Pensacola, Florida, is the General President and the 6th individual to lead this national organization from the State of Florida. For six days, this national body will assemble to: 1) conduct business on behalf of the body; 2) participate in Church School Training Sessions, Lectures, and Workshops; 3) hear the Word of the Lord from the clergies, share in joyous worship experiences, inspirational singing from the National Choir, and daily Bible Expositions; 4) promote evangelism and mission; and, 5) fellowship with each other. Live internet streaming of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday worship services can be viewed on www. faithvideoondemand.com. The theme for this year’s annual session is “Celebrating the Church: Worshipping, Working, Warring, and Winning” (John 4:23; Ephesians 4:11- 12; Ephesians 6:10-11; Psalms 126:5-6). At this year’s annual session, President Yates will challenge the organization to “occupy till He comes” meaning to be busy about the Master’s business until Christ returns. The focus for this year’s annual session is to return with passion to the following priorities: worship, work, warfare, and winning the world for Christ. About The National Primitive Baptist Covention, USA Inspired by a desire for unity and Christian fellowship among Primitive Baptists in the United States of America, this national organization was organized on July 17, 1907 as the Colored Primitive Baptists of America (now known as the National Primitive Baptist Convention, USA) by Dr. Clarence Frances Sams of Key West, Florida and Elder George S. Crawford of DeLand, Florida---after enlisting the support and cooperation of leading pastors and moderators of Florida, Alabama, and North Carolina. Today, the largest concentration of Primitive Baptists who are members of the National Primitive Baptist Convention, USA still remains in the State of Florida. What Black Parents Must Do This Summer By Dr. Jawanza [continued from page 1] I have a theory that I can go into your house and within 5 minutes tell you the type of student who lives there and predict their future. I believe that engineers, doctors, lawyers, accountants etc. need different items in their house than ballplayers, rappers, and criminals. I am very concerned when I visit a house that has more cd’s and downloads than books. My company African American Images has designed a special collection of books for boys. Research shows one of the major reasons boys dislike reading is because of the content. The set is titled Best Books for Boys. We also have one for girls, parents and teachers. Enjoy your summer. Let’s close the gap. I look forward to your child’s teacher asking your child what did you do for the summer? And your child answering we went to the library, museum, zoo, colleges and other great educational places. Author of “There is Nothing Wrong With Black Students, Changing School Culture For Black Males And Raising Black Boys”
Page 5 July 2013 The AC Phoenix Moving On Up Taking Yourself To The Next Level By Dr. Ernie Wade Dr. Ernie Wade Dear High School Student, Many of you are struggling to achieve a higher academic performance. It is not an easy task, but moving to a higher level of performance is possible. A prerequisite for high academic performance is a sincere and strong belief in self. It is important that you believe that you are worthy and have been blessed with a great mind. This belief is the foundation upon which you will build this strong sense of self. As a high school student you don’t usually spend a great deal of time on personal growth and development. Personal growth is a process that is related to self- improvement and the acquisition of skills. It is something that should certainly play a larger role in your life. The sooner you begin to look and examination of your feelings, thoughts and ideas about your academic standing and performance. It also entails an academic personal An Associate Consultant’s Newspaper Established in 1983 Rodney J. Sumler, Publisher Jerome Johnson, Managing Editor Dwight A. Jones, Editor Ann F. Sumler, Finance Director Advertising Constants Chenita Johnson, Gerald Green A Creative Mind, Graphic Design Ideas expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher or staff. (336) 635 4096 Fax (336) 635 4567 e-mail: acphoenix@bellsouth.net inventory; a close look at what you have academically, how much you have academically, and what you need to do to make it more attractive to colleges and universities. When you start this introspection, your journey toward academic change begins. You will find that as you begin the process, it will require personal change, and change starts on the inside. I like to tell students, “academic success is an inside job it starts in of you”. One of the elements of academic failure is never feeling good enough. When you lack confidence in yourself and your abilities, any small failure will set you back and allow you to lapse into inactivity. However, when you attack assignments with confidence in your ability, if failure occurs, you accept it, determine how and why it occurred, take corrective action and move forward. I have developed a set of principles that will help you in your introspective process. The list could be much longer, but I have narrowed it down to just ten. 1. Your Reason For Being Why are you here? Start the search to find out who you are and where you are going. Keep a personal growth and development journal. Develop a personal vision for your life in the best way you can imagine. Each day, take a few minutes to write down where you want to go in life. Where would you like to do? Where would you like to live? Get started, and you will find that as time goes by you will become better and more specific as you move along through your high school career. Make sure your expectations are yours and not those of your family, friends and others. 2. Now Is The Time You will be faced with multiple tasks in high school and will find the need to perform many tasks concurrently. The need to learn study and time management skills early is critically important. The number of tasks increases as you move forward in high school and increases even more as you move on to college. Often the hardest task is getting started. You must learn to initiate action. Don’t sit and dwell on how many, how hard or how long, get started. Don’t wait until later, tomorrow or next week, get started. Now is the very best time to get started. 3. You Are Bigger Than Your Fears You cannot allow your fears to get in the way of your progress. Too often I hear “I’m not good at math or I’m not good at science”. This thinking gets in the way of academic excellence. Instead of giving into your fears, fight through them, struggle through them, work through them, cry through You cannot allow your fears to get in the way of your progress. Too often I hear “I’m not good at math or I’m not good at science”. This thinking gets in the way of academic excellence. Instead of giving into your fears, fight through them, struggle through them, work through them, cry through 4. Learn From Your Mistakes Treat mistakes as preparation for your next move. Do not allow them to lull you into inactivity? Too often we wallow in the fact that something did not go as we had planned, and we spend far too much time examining and reexamining and the examining what we just reexamined. Don’t tread water in the misery of your mistake. We all make mistakes. Ask anyone who has achieved any measure of success about their mistakes and they will tell you they have had many. The key is to move beyond them, learn from them and use them as lessons for your next step. Remember, those who make no mistakes, are those who attempt nothing. 5. Position Positive Peers If you are to be a successful, high achieving high school student, it is absolutely imperative that you surround yourself with people who have similar goals, dreams, and aspirations. We all have friends who have goals that are different from ours. However they should at least have goals and aspirations. Understand that it becomes increasingly more difficult to move to your highest level of achievement in school if your closest friends and associates are students who don’t like school. Being a top student can be very difficult and time intensive. The pull between your academic demands and friends who find school boring, uninspiring, and a waste can become overwhelming. It can also be isolating. You must distance yourself from the” I can’t, we can’t, I don’t want to, why dowe have to crowd”. They will drain you and become the source of your demise. Select for yourself a “tuff times team” a group of friends and acquaintances who have achievement goals and aspirations similar to yours, and when you feel alone on that “you think you’re better than us because you get really good grades” island, turn to them for support. 6. Keep It Simple Straighten out the crooked parts of your life. Work to clean up the contradictions. If you want to become a better, higher achieving student but you don’t want to spend the time necessary to do so; clean up the contradiction. If you say you want to become an engineer but at the same time say you don’t like math; clean up the contradiction. 7. Show Me The Money Money is not everything, but knowing how to get it, use it, and keep it is important. You should learn how to handle and budget money while in high school but surely before you leave high school and head off to college. Upon arriving at college, you will be bombarded with offers of free credit cards and it is in your best interest to be a able to “just say no”. Many college students succumb to the “offers” of free credit cards and end up with tremendous credit card debt. Far too many people only know how to work for money, and not to have money work for them. Learning how to have both people and money working for you is one of the keys to financial success and freedom. 8. Take Care Of You You must be able to count on your body to support you through stressful times of your high school journey. It is imperative that you eat right, exercise and get the proper amount of sleep. Far too many high school students come to school and try to function without having eaten breakfast or having had sufficient sleep. That’s like trying to run a high powered vehicle with too little gas and without proper maintenance. If you take care of your body, your body will take care of you. 9. Let Go Of The Rope No matter how bad your situation has been. No matter what your academic performance has been, you can start over and improve your academic standing. However, you must start over with a new attitude, an attitude of success. You must start believing in your ability to be successful. No class can be too hard, no teacher too demanding. You must believe you have what it takes, to take what is presented to you. You cannot move to the next level academically carrying last years, last months, last weeks or yesterdays’, mistakes. You must move to realize your potential. Potential is that innate ability lying just below the surface of your previous performance. Take steps to realize your potential. [continued from page 6]
Page 1 and 2: In Our 30th Year Issue No. 2001 Jul
Page 3: Page 3 July 2013 The AC Phoenix Con
Page 7 and 8: Page 7 July 2013 The AC Phoenix
Page 11 and 12: Page 11 July 2013 The AC Phoenix St
Page 13 and 14: Page 13 July 2013 The AC Phoenix pu

The AC Phoenix: More than a Newspaper, a Community Institution -- Issue No. 2001, July 2013

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?