Project 21: New Visions

A New Visions Commentary paper published August 1999 by The National Center for Public Policy Research, 501 Capitol Ct., N.E., Washington, DC 20002, 202/543-4110, Fax 202-543-5975, E-Mail [email protected], Web http://www.nationalcenter.org. Reprints permitted provided source is credited. A few years ago, I paid a visit to my grandfather. At first, he didn't recognize me. Alzheimer's Disease had robbed him of his memory. After a bit of gentle coaxing, he had a sudden but pitifully brief breakthrough. While he still couldn't recall my father - his first-born son - he did remember me as a baby. I reintroduced him to my husband ...
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A New Visions Commentary paper published August 1999 by The National Center for Public Policy Research, 501 Capitol Ct., N.E., Washington, DC 20002, 202/543-4110, Fax 202-543-5975, E-Mail [email protected], Web http://www.nationalcenter.org. Reprints permitted provided source is credited. Racism is alive and thriving in the halls of Capitol Hill - at least that's the contention of one lawmaker. Representative Earl Hilliard, a black Democrat from Alabama, says his Democratic colleagues are guilty of "outright racism" because they employ relatively few blacks on their personal staffs or their congressional committees. Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, agreed, saying, "the ...
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I haven't cried yet over the death of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr. I guess one reason is because I didn't know anything about him. I just found out that he was the only son of the late, great President John F. Kennedy. I am sad though. I'm sad because I didn't know him. I didn't know how he felt about the vision his dad had for this country. I also didn't know if he had the desire, the passion or the anointing to continue that vision. This was a vision birthed during one of the most intense periods of America, ...
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On June 17, Congress passed a bill allowing the Ten Commandments to be posted on walls of the nation's 85,000 public schools. After weeks of debate, it represents a feeble response to the abyss of school violence. I hoped for better from the Republican-led Congress. The emotional explosion of the Columbine massacre resulted in political fragments that the Clinton-led Left interpreted as an opportunity for more gun control. The Republicans were cornered into doing another one of those "somethings" that will do nothing to heal, or even honestly analyze, the "whys" of how we got here. What few conservatives and ...
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A New Visions Commentary paper published July 1999 by The National Center for Public Policy Research, 501 Capitol Ct., N.E., Washington, DC 20002, 202/543-4110, Fax 202-543-5975, E-Mail [email protected], Web http://www.nationalcenter.org. Reprints permitted provided source is credited. I was recently struck by an event that I hope represents the future of the Republican Party in particular and America in general. I had the pleasure of attending the kick-off dinner of Steve Forbes' presidential campaign. While impressed by the enthusiasm of the approximately 1,200 supporters at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, the type of people attending surprised me that much more. As ...
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A New Visions Commentary paper published July 1999 by The National Center for Public Policy Research, 501 Capitol Ct., N.E., Washington, DC 20002, 202/543-4110, Fax 202-543-5975, E-Mail [email protected], Web http://www.nationalcenter.org. Reprints permitted provided source is credited. Do you want a criminal living next door? Of course not. But if attorneys funded by the federal Legal Services Corporation (LSC) have their way, you may not be able to get rid of them. What's worse, your tax dollars are paying for LSC. And they claim they are working for your best interests. For example, Florida Rural Legal Services (FRLS), an LSC affiliate, ...
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A New Visions Commentary paper published June 1999 by The National Center for Public Policy Research, 501 Capitol Court, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002, 202/543-4110, Fax 202/543-5975, E-Mail [email protected], Web http://www.nationalcenter.org. Reprints permitted provided source is credited. School violence in Colorado, Georgia and elsewhere has left us with a cold-hearted message. The blame for students' murderous tirades falls squarely upon our shoulders. As adults, shouldn't we be delving into the moral cavity of these boys and the immoral framework that makes up the environment we call public school? First of all, the violence inflicted on our children by other children is ...
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Affirmative action doesn't work. Mentoring, on the other hand, is proving to be a smashing success. It truly helps minorities in schools and the workplace without creating the hard feeling bred by quotas. I recently had the pleasure of meeting Norman McLean, the highest-ranking college administrator in England. In 1992, Mr. McLean began a mentoring program at the University of East London to help black students create relationships in the professional community, make career decisions and gain valuable work experience. The program was so productive that it became the National Mentoring Consortium (NMC) in 1994, and has expanded to top-rate ...
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Education can change a life. Given its importance, why are so many black kids steering clear of it like the plague? We can't just blame the kids when teachers, schools, hardships, single-parent households and other things share responsibility. We've provided kids with plenty of ways not to get a good education. We've invented mental conditions like ADD and ADHD to allow them to avoid hard work and dedication, saying, "It's not your fault, you have a reason for not paying attention." In my day, however, it was called just plain DUMB. The problem is that we've gotten away from what ...
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A New Visions Commentary paper published June 1999 by The National Center for Public Policy Research, 501 Capitol Ct., N.E., Washington, DC 20002, 202/543-4110, Fax 202-543-5975, E-Mail [email protected],Web http://www.nationalcenter.org. Reprints permitted provided source is credited. I once spoke to approximately 57 young men at a youth detention center in Prattville, Alabama. The topic of discussion centered on fathers. Hardly any of these youngsters had a relationship with their own fathers. Some spoke of stepfathers. For most, their entire life experience had been spent under the influence of women, and this had totally consumed their spirit, mind and body. These young ...
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A New Visions Commentary paper published May 1999 by The National Center for Public Policy Research. Reprints permitted provided source is credited. It is easy to control the minds of a people. All one has to do is change history by lying about the past. This is exactly what has happened with the legacy of former Democratic U.S. Senator Al Gore, Sr. of Tennessee - the father of our current vice president - and his mythical "support" of civil rights. In a recent speech to the NAACP, Vice President Gore said his father lost his Senate seat because he supported ...
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A 1998 Vanderbilt University study found that 73% of white high school and college students have a computer in their home, yet only 33% of their black peers do. 28% of white Americans with household incomes of less than $40,000 annually have home computers, compared with 13% of African-Americans. 13% of white households with income under $40,000 use the Internet, compared to 8% of African-American households. And white lower-income households that do access the Internet do so more frequently: When whites and blacks from households making under $40,000 were asked if they'd visited the World Wide Web in the past ...
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I have often wondered why commencement speakers are usually someone rich and famous. It seems sad that the day of hearing parting words from a minister, elected official or other worthy speaker has almost disappeared. In the modern view, a graduation ceremony is not complete unless a "name" speaker is on the platform. The "politically correct" Hollywood crowd is anxious to tell you how you should face life. But they can't cross the street without their lawyers, accountants, psychics and bodyguards in tow. They do not revere a common man who sacrifices, encourages and often works several jobs so his ...
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A New Visions Commentary paper published April 1999 by The National Center for Public Policy Research, 501 Capitol Court, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002, 202/543-4110, Fax 202/543-5975, E-Mail [email protected], Web http://www.nationalcenter.org. Reprints permitted provided source is credited. I got a chuckle from a T-shirt I saw at a mall that read "you're not the boss of me." I've heard many children, including my own, use this line. What was funny to me, however, was that it was a 20-something woman wearing the shirt. I feel the shirt's message reflects where America is right now. Almost every issue becomes a shouting match ...
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When a federal court recently threw out the NCAA's academic standards for freshman college athletes because the standardized tests they were based on were thought to be culturally biased against blacks, it effectively set up yet another barrier for groups of our black youth entering the workforce. We have a responsibility to teach our youth the materials covered on college entrance exams. If our young men and women are not capable of doing well on standardized tests like the ACT and SAT, then WE as parents and WE as educators are the ones who have failed. It is not the ...
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Many years ago, when I was still a first grader, my father and I went for a walk. We strolled past a brand-new building made of shining white concrete and gleaming glass doors. My father had been quite interested in this building, and we often walked past it during its construction. Now it was completed. You could see into the reception area from the street. The walls were painted in soft pastel colors. The furniture seemed - to my six-year-old eyes, at least - to be quite elegant. The staff seemed to be entirely made up of cheerful-looking young white ...
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How many nightmarish scenes of youth violence must America witness before we realize that this is the harvest of a generation which has turned its back on God? We have banned prayer from the public schools and God from public life. What happened on April 20th at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado was not the result of political or economic problems, but spiritual breakdown. What is even more disturbing is that things are likely to get much worse unless Americans turn our hearts to God in spiritual and moral renewal. As part of that renewal, the hostility toward people ...
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Far too many Americans have it in their heads that racism makes a home on the right wing of our political spectrum. It is the political left, however, that has presided over the decline of our inner cities. It is people from left-wing circles of thought that equate poverty and minorities, oftentimes using the terms "black" and "poor" interchangeably. This mindset, of course, is the impetus behind "affirmative action" policies for minorities in general and blacks in particular. Leftists assume that all blacks need a hand, even if their last name is Cosby or Winfrey. It is also the left ...
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I don't know about you, but I've never known what to think about Black History Month. Whenever I think of it, my first thought is invariably: What comic decided to make Black History Month the shortest month of the year? Seriously, though, what does Black History Month really stand for? When I walk or drive down a street during Black History Month, I often see signs proclaiming "X Company Salutes Black History Month." What does this mean? Are they simply playing lip service to the idea of saluting black people? Are they using Black History Month to lure black customers? ...
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A New Visions Commentary paper published March 1999 by The National Center for Public Policy Research, 501 Capitol Ct NE, Washington, DC 20002, 202/543-4110, Fax 202-543-5975, E-Mail [email protected] Reprints permitted provided source is credited. If a group of strangers living far away asked you to give them a part of your paycheck every time you got paid, and in return offered to give you part of the money back after you retired, would you take the deal? Probably not. Yet that's what many black Americans do every time they get paid because this is what happens when they pay their ...
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