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TO BE EQUAL By Hugh B. Price
Doing the right thing
n Saturday, September 19,
school was in session in
Chicago’s spacious and aca
demically rigorous Whitney
M. Young Jr. High School, and
the lesson was clear and inspir
ing.
It was so because the more than
600 students, parents and family
friends who had gathered in the
auditorium of the school’s arts
building had pledged to follow a
simple but vital code of conduct:
Achievement matters.
And so, as a result, 313 second
ary school students from across
Chicago were honored for their
good grades and leadership in
school and for their good citizen-’
ship outsideit. Nine of the young
sters won scholarship awards for
their college education, while an
other 52 received smaller cash
awards, and 250- received a cer
tificate of distinction noting their
achievements. :
The occasion was the Youth
Celebration Day sponsored by the
Chicago Urban League. This was
the flagship event of our third
annual national “Doing the Right
Thing” event, in which 91 of our
115 affiliates across the country
staged salutes to those young
sters in their own communities
who are doing well -- and doing
good - in their schools and neigh
borhoods.
The National Urban League
began this national event in 1996
in order to add to our weight in
the effort to persuade more young
sters, particularly African Ameri
can and Hispanic American youth
in impoverished neighborhoods
that they, too, can achieve, and
that they will be honored for do
ing so.
We wanted to convince them,
in other words, that the Ameri
can Dream is for them, too.
Of course, we quickly found,
despite the too-common percep
tion, that youngstriverslike those
Urban League affiliates honored
in Chicago and Portland, Oregon,
and Austin, Texas, and dozens of
other communities, are really not
the “exception” among black
youths.
It’s just that, unfortunately,
much of American society had yet
to notice how numerous they are.
Through “Doing The Right
Thing Day” and our new national
educational effort, the Campaign
for African American Achieve
ment, we intend to fix that
misperception.
In this, thankfully, we have a
lot of help: not only the Congress
of National Black Churches, and
nearly twenty other national
black organizations which sup
port the Campaign, but alsomany
businesses, public agencies and
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civic groups which support “Do
ing The Right Thing Day” in their
local communities.
This broad, communal support
was much in evidence in Chicago,
where the regional office of State
Farm Insurance Companies (a
major sponsor of the national cam
paign) supplied scholarship
money and an enthusiastic corps
of volunteers. They were joined
by a small cross-section of the
Chicago business community.
From their participation in the
event Saturday, it was evident
theirs was no mere “paper” spon
sorship: they had some heartfelt
advice they wanted to share.
Thus, Cirilo A. McSween, presi
dent of the Chicago area Black
McDonald’s Operators Associa
tion, told the students, “You have
to train every day to be success
ful,” and then he listed some of
the “components of success: am
bition, adaptability, resourceful
ness, faith, patience, honesty,
confidence, initiative, intentness,
and” concluding the list with
words that drew murmurs of ap
proval from the audience, “the
ability to say no.”
Willie Brown, vice president of
operations from State Farm,
urged the honorees to follow “the
three D’s to success: desire, disci
pline, and dedication.”
For us Urban Leaguers, it was
wonderfully appropriate that
such a ceremony would take place
in a school named after Young,
executive director of the League
for adecade before histragicdeath
in 1971.
The high school itself would do
anyone proud: a twenty-year-old
“magnet” school that draws stu
dents from across Chicago, its
2,283-member student body is
nearly 50 percent black, 50 per
cent white, Asian- and Hispanic-
American -- and sends 97 percent
of its students directly on to four
year and two-year colleges.
James W. Compton, president
and CEO of the Chicago Urban
.League, saidin briefremarksthat
he hoped the students would look
upon the ceremony as one which
would “mark their lives.”
I fliaugh of some of the mean
ings of the word -- such as etch
into, or reinforce, or leave an im
print on, or celebrate -- and I see
that my colleague couldn’t have
chosen a more dramatic word.
We hope that these youngsters
(and their younger siblings and
cousins) did take note of all the
family members and other adults
who came to celebrate their
achievements. We hope that they
are more than ever persuaded to
follow the right path -the one
marked: Achievement matters.
Editorial
HOW DARE SOMEONE »
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CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL By Bernice Powell Jackson
Why we need affirmative action
he state of Washington is
facing a proposition on its
ballot in November which
would effectively end affir
mative action in that state, as did
Proposition 209 in California. The
debate on affirmative action has
proven to be an emotional one
which often is based on anecdotes
of individuals whobelieve they have
not received a fair chance to go to
school or for a job because of affir
mative action. Let’s try to take
away some of the emotion and just
look at some realities.
First, let’s look at one signifi
cant case study. It’s the US.
Supreme Court, the highest court
intheland. If there is one point of
deep chasm between perceptions of
fairness between people of color
and European Americans, it is
around criminal justice issues. So,
the need for the active participa
tion of people of color at the nation’s
highest court is imperative.
Yet thenumber of people of color
in the nation’s highest halls of
justice are astounding. In our
nation’s history only two Supreme
Court justices have been people of
color --both African American men.
A triumphant celebration of youth
aniel hasknown hard times.
Whilein high school, heand
hisfamily wereevicted from
their home and had to live
in a van for eight months. While
his mother worked, Daniel was
responsible for cleaning, cooking
meals, and caring for his six sib
lings. There were times when
Daniel had to miss school to care
for a sick child. Despite many
obstacles, Daniel “beat the odds.”
He completed 10 honors-level
classes; can speak English, Span
ish, French and some German; and
maintained a 3.8 grade point aver
age. Daniel, a recipient of the
Children’s Defense Fund’s (CDF)
“Beat the Odds” award, has set
high standardsfor himself. Today,
heisfulfilling his dream of going to
college and is working toward his
d.roo at the University of Penn
sylvania. '
Rhondee was a CDF “Beat the
Odds” recipient in 1992, While a
high school senior, Rhondee, in an
award-winningspeech entitied “Im
pact of Violence on the Family,”
described the murder ofher auntin
1983 and the effect this tragedy
had on her family. Overnight, the
size of her household increased
burden put tremendous strain on
her parents’ marriage and they
separated. As the oldest child,
Rhondee assumed a great deal of
There have been no African Ameri
can women, no Hispanic men or
women, no Native American men
or women, and no Asian American
or Pacific Island men or women
who have had the privelege of serv
ing on this court.
Even more astounding is the
record of the Supreme Court clerks,
those young lawyers who are hired
by the justices to do much of the
reviewingand writingof first drafts
of opinions for cases before the
Court. According to a recent USA
Today article, of the 800 Supreme
Court clerks hired since 1965, when
civil rights legislation was passed,
675 have been European American
men, and 80 have been European
American women. Only 18 have
been African American and 28 ei
ther Hispanic or Asian American.
Three has never been a Native
American.
A closer examination of the Su
preme Court’s hiring practices
shows that half of the African
American clerks were hired by one
man --Justice Thurgood Marshall,
the first African American to serve
on the Court and himself a signifi
cant actor in the civil rights move
ment. Justice Thomas, the only
responsibility, including preparing
meals and helping to care for the
younger children, whileat the same
time maintaining an A+ grade av
erage and remaining active in
school activities. Rhondee was a
National Merit Commended
Scholar, a member of the National
Honor Society, president of her
high school senior class, and vol
unteered in her community. When
recommending her for the award,
her school counselor said Rhondee
“attributes her accomplishments
to a single-minded devotion to the
pursuit of academic excellence, an
intense sense of optimism, and a
steadfast beliefin God.” Rhondee
graduated from Spelman in 1997.
She’ll enter medical school this fall
after a year abroad on a Watson
Fellowship in India and Kenya
studying the work, successes, and
problems of women scientists in
third world countries. She credits
“Beat the Odds” with showing her
that people cared about her and
about helping others.
“Beat the Odds” is a project ini
tiated by CDF and the Black Com
munity Crusade for Children
(BCCC) to focus on the positive
potential of our young people. Too
often we hear about young people
getting into trouble, dropping out
of school, becoming involved with
drugs, crime, or gangs, or becom
ing parents too soon. Too seldom
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other person of color to have served
as a Justice, has hired one African
American clerkamonghis33 clerks
in his seven years on the bench.
Currently, in this session of the
Court there isone Hispanicwoman
who is serving for Justice Steven
Breyer.
What does this mean for our
nation that both the Supreme Court
justices and these important be
hind-the-scenes-shapersofour jus
tice system are by and large white
men? It may mean that by only
choosing from a very limited pool
of candidates that they are not
getting the full breadth of experi
encesand insightswhich they might
as they consider our nation’s most
important cases. It means that
institutional racism has for gen
erations kept out women and people
of color and that the Supreme
Court, other than Justice
Marshall, has not examined how
to deal with it. It means that our
nation has not been well-served by
having for the most part only one
race and gender shape the judicial
decisions of our multiracial,
multicultural land.
Justice Thomas, having just ad
dressed the National Bar Associa
we hear of the many young people
who are “Beating the Odds” de
spite the daunting conditions in
which somanyofthemliveand the
tremendous obstaclesin the way of
even the smallest achievement.
“Beat the Odds” celebrations
have taken place in Los Angeles;
Bridgeport and New Haven, Con
necticut; Atlanta; East St. Louis;
Detroit; Minneapolis/St. Paul; Con
cord, New Hampshire; Charlotte,
North Carolina; Cincinnati; Mem
phis; Missouri City, Texas; New
York City; and Washington, D.C.
We work with local education ad
vocates, schools, and community
leaders to select and honor stu
dents who demonstrate academic
excellence and have the strength
and determination to “Beat the
Odds.” Theyare honored for their
personal achievements in their
struggles to improve their own
lives and the lives of others. Ata
special awards ceremony in their
city, CDF and BCCC celebrate the
remarkable lives of these young
people and their families, friends,
teachers, and counselors who
helped them tosucceed. Each stu
dentis presented with acash schol
arship and other gifts like a com
puter and a shopping spree. We
hope that soon every city will begin
celebrating youths’ successes and
will provide them scholarships to
BY WASSERMAN FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE
tion, the nation’s African Ameri
can legal association, hasexpressed
an interest in increasing the num
ber of people of color clerks on the
Supreme Court. But this is too
important an issue to just rely on
the interest of individual justices.
The Court needs the best and the
brightest to serve as clerks. But
the Court as a whole needs to
examine the system of recruiting
and hiring clerks so that the best
and the brightest are also reflec
tive of our great nation. It is
doubtful that this Court, which
has outlawed affirmative action
for others, would choose to use it
for itself. But by whatever means,
the Court and its employees must
be more reflective of our nation.
The NAACP and the Hispanic
National Bar Association plan a
protest outside the Supreme Court
on October 5, its opening day for
the fall session. We can’t unelect
Supreme Court justices, who serve
for life and are supposed to be
removed from public opinion, but
we must find a way to express our
concern and our outrage.
(Next week -- Why We Need Af
firmative Action: A New Study.
go on to college.
“Beat the Odds” celebrations
strike a chord with community
leaders and citizens who want to
help children who are struggling
and making it. We work with
corporations that donate prizes for
nomineesand the mediawhich does
feature pieces about these youths.
NBC 4 in Washington and Los An
geleshave been great supporters of
the program. Because it has been
so broadly embraced by the com
munitiesinvolved, “Beat the Odds”
has fostered successes beyond those
celebrated at theeventsthemselves
by serving as a catalyst for addi
tional community efforts on behalf
of these and other children.
If you’d like to know more about
this program or would like to orga
nize an event in your community, -
please contact Sharie Brown Wood
at CDF, 25 E Street, NW, Wash- ,
ington, D.C. 20001, 202-662-3529.
Show young people like Daniel and
Rhondee that people do care and
can help them “Beat the Odds.”
Marian Wright Edelman is presi
dent of the Children’s Defense
Fund and a working committee -
member of the Black Community
Crusade for Children (BCCC). In
1998, CDF celebrates 25 years of
advocacy, service, and leadership
to build a movement to Leave No
Child Behind.