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www.DrMaxStamper.com www.MaximsNews.com Max Stamper, Ph.D., London School of Economics, is eager to explore your international public affairs and communication needs, and to discuss our services: DrMaxStamper@att.net or phone (+) 1 (201) 848-6162. __ To Be Equal, Guest Columnist Marc Morial Persistence
And Success
by Marc H. Morial (See
Bio)
President, National
Urban League,
www.nul.org It
would likely be impossible to find a more startling juxtaposition of
events than the four I have in mind that occurred during the past two
weeks. On
the one hand was the solemn, inspiring ceremony October 3 of the re-burial
twelve years after they were first discovered at a site in Lower Manhattan
of the skeletal remains of 400 African Americans who lived, some free,
some as slaves, in colonial New York. Contrasting
sharply with that example of human perseverance of long ago and of the
modern-day compassion which preserved their burial ground stand three
racially-charged comments made by individuals. The
first is the now-infamous racially-derogatory remarks commentator Rush
Limbaugh made about Donovan McNabb, the quarterback of the Philadelphia
Eagles pro football team and one of the best quarterbacks in the National
Football League. Limbaugh,
who in all his years in the media had never shown any expertise about any
sport, said on the ESPN pre-game show September 28 that McNabb was
overrated by the media because it wanted a black quarterback to do well in
the NFL. The
other two comments came from radio talk-show hosts in Boston, and
Rochester, New York. In
Boston, radio station WEEI suspended two white prominent talk show
hosts, John Dennis and Gerry Callahan, for two weeks because they likened
a three hundred pound-gorilla who had briefly escaped from the city zoo to
children in a well-established voluntary busing program which since the
1960s has bused black children from inner-city Boston to predominantly
white schools in its suburbs. In
Rochester, radio station WHAM fired a white talk show host, Bob
Lonsberry, after he twice referred to the city’s Mayor, William Johnson,
Jr., who is African-American and running for county executive, as an
orangutan. Johnson
is also a former, immensely well-regarded president of the National
Urban League’s affiliate there, the Rochester Urban League. Some
have already tried to dismiss the controversies one or all of these latter
three incidents have provoked. Mere words, they say, from those paid to push listeners’ “hot buttons.” Others
have glibly declared that Limbaugh’s comments were not offensive because
they merely show how consumed with the topic of race America is these
days. In
fact, however, these expressions of such primitive bigotry are shocking,
as revealing as the “poor choice of words” which put Senator Trent
Lott’s racial attitudes up for close scrutiny last winter—and they are
as revealing. They
underscore in dramatic fashion a central feature of the status and dynamic
of race in American society:
persistence. There is the persistence, on the negative side, of what one might call bedrock bigotry: The ignoring of the reality of Donovan McNabb’s stellar five-year pro career in a position—quarterback—that was once all but officially closed to black players in order to declare him “overrated.” And,
more viciously, there is the likening of black people, even children, to
animals. But, fortunately, there has also existed a persistent refusal to surrender to the forces of bigotry and persistent efforts to expand opportunity for all within America’s borders. That was the guiding spirit of the Urban League’s founding more than ninety years ago, and it still informs all of our work. But
by no means have we ever had an exclusive franchise on that quality.
Indeed,
there are millions upon millions of examples of the indomitable will
African Americans have used to find their way in this land since their
ancestors whose bones once again lie in their first resting place in New
York City. So,
too, the career of Rochester’s Bill Johnson, and the achievements of the
thousands of black schoolchildren, and, just as importantly, of their
parents in the Boston voluntary busing program exemplify the persistence
required to expand the boundaries of decency,
justice and opportunity.
It’s
one reason we intend to establish a commission to examine the status of
black males in American society—including the derogatory images they
endure as well as problems in employment and unemployment, education, and
their over-representation in the nation’s prisons. I
already know what one “plank” of that commission’s final report will
stress: That
success, for individuals, for African Americans,
and for America will not come without the persistence to carve out a
hard-earned place of respect and opportunity.
-- 30 --
The mission of the League
is to enable African Americans to secure economic self-reliance, parity,
power and civil rights. The National Urban
League, headquartered in New York City, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan,
community-based movement. The League has affiliates in more
than 100 cities, in 34 states, and the District of Columbia. Please consider making a
tax deductible donation to the National Urban League. A donation will help
children become well-educated and self-reliant; help adults attain good
jobs, homeownership, entrepreneurship, and wealth accumulation; and help
ensure civil rights by eradicating all barriers to equal participation in
America. The National Urban
League has received a 4-star rating (the highest rating possible) from
Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent evaluator of
charities. To view the National Urban League’s rating , click here. You may also read more
about the rating in the 2003
News section. To make a donation online
to the National Urban League or one of its affiliates, please visit
http://www.networkforgood.org.
Type in National Urban League in the keyword field and click on
Search. Please scroll through the list to select a specific affiliate or the National Urban League. Thank you for your consideration.
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