Page 4 - Florida Sentinel 4-28-17

Local Letter To The Editor
Reader Responds To ‘A Message Of Concern’
Stop Believing The Hype - A Message Of
Concern To The African American Community
Our community is under attack. We are barraged by media, educators, and other groups that continue to proj- ect on our community nega- tivity that ultimately becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Don't Believe the Hype! Our challenges are more about opportunity than abil- ity. I believe we should focus on developing reliable and qualified resources to sup- port the growth of our chil- dren.
It is easy to point out how many of our young Black people are incarcerated. It is easy to point out how drug use/selling and unnecessary killing is going on in the Black community. And it is truly easy to label us unedu- cated if you go by the grades that Black children are given in school.
Wali Shabazz, in a Letter to the Editor April 18, 2017, points out how our Black children show "disrespect" toward the teachers. It is pointed out how we as a peo- ple are uninterested in learn- ing, which is a departure from our heritage of educa- tion. Maybe Shabazz should take a closer look at today's education institution to un- derstand how our children may have learned these pur- ported behaviors. Our stu- dents turn their noses up at the stench of foul education and then you want to blame the student for having a good sense of smell.
Shabazz noted our com- munity's departure from positive education at the time of desegregation. That is the starting point of "poor education" in our commu- nity. After desegregation a lot of our children were shipped out to these white schools without understand- ing the repercussions.
Who asked what would happen to our children when white teachers who lacked a cultural understanding and came equipped with privi- leged attitudes were un- leashed on our children? Who asked where all the Black teachers went after de- segregation?
Today, nothing much has changed in these schools. Today, 80% of teachers and administrators are white. Today, school is primarily a two tier system or as some would call it, segregation in- side the school buildings. That is easy to accomplish when you figure that the overwhelming number of
students in the AP classes are white while the majority of African-American stu- dents occupy the lower classes.
The common thread in all of these deplorable condi- tions is that white people make the decisions to clas- sify the students, the crimes, and who goes to prison.
Today, the majority of the judges and police are white. Arbitrary decisions are made that can either send us on to a life of misery (in prison) or you are fortunate like the white 10th grade student that shot a Black 10th grade student, but there was not enough evidence to charge the white student. Never mind that the white mother of this killer buried the weapons. Never mind that the white killer admitted to killing the Black student. AND, never mind that there was evidence of drug selling by the white student. BUT NO CHARGES COULD BE FILED.
On our side of town a Black student shoots a gun in the air and gets time in jail. Why? White arbitrary deci- sions.
We rarely talk about why 90% of convicted people in America ultimately return to prison.
Once convicted you can- not vote; not allowed in pub- lic housing; not allowed to hold some professional li- cense and it is even difficult today to obtain minimum wage jobs. Those are just a few of about 60 things you cannot do to live a produc- tive life in America once con- victed of a crime. Yet, you wonder why so many return to prison? Once convicted of any crime you pay and you pay. Prison is the gift that keeps on giving to our peo- ple.
I challenge Shabazz to talk with some of our Black students about what hap- pens in their daily life at school. Ask about how they are treated. Ask how they feel when these white teach- ers make negative assump- tions about Black ability. And more importantly, talk to some of our Black teach- ers that are having success in these class rooms with our students. Talk to them. See what they are doing versus what most of our children see every day. Then, come talk to me about your con- cerns.
ALBERT FIELDS Afields24@gmail.com
Attorney Elected New President Of Tampa Chapter Of The Links, Inc.
Attorney A. Renee Lee
was elected the new presi- dent of the Tampa Chapter of The Links, Inc.
Attorney Lee served as Vice President, and Member- ship Chair for 4 years, and prior to that served as the chapter’s recording secretary. She succeeds Link Kay An- drews, who was termed out
after serving for 4 years as president.
Joining Link Renee as new officers are: Links Son- jia Little, V. P. Member- ship; Allison Wells Clebert, Treasurer; Tanece Miles, Asst. Treasurer; Yolanda Anthony, Finan- cial Secretary; Greta Ben- nett, Asst. Financial
ATTORNEY A. RENEE LEE ...Has been elected the chapter’s new president
Secretary; Bianca Taylor Heard, Recording Secre- tary; Chelsea Lee Oggero, Asst. Recording Secretary; Monique Stamps, Corre- sponding Secretary and Joselynne Forde, Nomi- nating Chair.
The new officers will serve for a term of 2 years which begins in May.
Atty. Lee thanked every- one for their confidence and says she ‘looks forward to serving.’
PAGE 4-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 2017