Positiveness not covered to the extent negativity is
I arose early one Sunday morning and turned the television on, and the first five incidents were young Black men, who allegedly had committed a crime. These negative incidents receive ongoing coverage regularly, and as result, we are portrayed in a very negative light. The tragedy is that many of the viewers believe that it represents all Blacks.
Untold millions of dollars are expended on drug rehabilitation programs and programs that will reduce the numbers of persons going back into the penal institutions. I recollect being invited to an affair in Mt. Lebanon and the guest speaker openly bragged about his history of drug dealing, drug using, pimping, robbing, stealing and other unsavory things. As negative as the story of his life was he portrayed himself as a victim of the system and this was his only way of responding, and these well-meaning women in attendance clapped.
Are there children, who have no family structure? Of course there are. And many of these situations are so deplorable that they survive at all borders on being a miracle. But too many fail to survive psychologically, which is why they often make the negative and destructive choices they do. However, throughout my lifetime I’ve witnessed friends and neighbors who had no father or mother, they did not turn to the streets, but instead became successful businesspersons, doctors, attorneys, educators, preachers and achieved other commendable positions.
A lifetime friend of my mind stands out, Bernard Jones; his mother raised him and his sister. Bernie graduated from college and one of the many accomplishments was that he founded the first Black foundation in America, Poise Foundation. Bernie’s lifetime accomplishments have been duplicated by millions of Americans, who came from one-parent families and some from no parent families. Often they were raised by aunts, uncles, grandparents and neighbors, who were more than neighborly.
I recall one evening I was visiting a friend of mine [Bob] and the phone rang, it was a student calling from Tuskegee University to state he had exhausted all of his money and was forced to drop out of college. Bob asked him how much money did he need and reluctantly the student answered. Bob said give him a half hour and he would call him back. During the next twenty minutes Bob made three phone calls and raised enough money that enabled the young man to finish college.
My two best men, Tom and Orland came from single parent homes, but both were outstanding sons, husbands, fathers and all around outstanding citizens, who were truly a credit to the race. If you multiply the positive incidents that I have written about, it will become apparent that the positive deserves more coverage than the negative.
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(Louis “Hop” Kendrick is a weekly contributor to the Forum page.)
