Black community cites parents, schools, homes

By Judy Gibbs Robinson

Published: November 5, 2006

Forum aims to find solutions, stresses self-help for problems

Parents need to show up at schools; schools need to teach black history, and everyone needs to buy a home, black leaders said Saturday at a meeting about the state of black Oklahoma.

Men need to assume responsibility; judges need to equalize sentences given to blacks and whites, and everyone needs to vote, they said.

Nearly 200 people attended the daylong session, the first of five to be held during the next year to identify problems in the black community and propose solutions.

The problems are many, according to community leaders who participated.

"Institutions are in shambles. There are accusations about the political process. There's war in the street. There's crime everywhere," said the Rev. A. Glenn Woodberry, pastor of Greater Mount Olive Baptist Church, 1020 NE 42, where the meeting was held.

GMO Urban Ministries organized the meeting to reconnect and revitalize the black community. Four more meetings are planned for the next year, leading to a legislative agenda for the 2008 Legislature.

The emphasis Saturday was on solutions and self-help.

"Why would you expect the very people who made you slaves to save you?" said Kevin McPherson, a University of Oklahoma black studies instructor.

Shake off mentality
Black Oklahomans have to shake off a mentality of poverty that accepts being consumers instead of producers, said D. Dean Riley of Eagle Ridge Institute.

"If we change that attitude, then we are going to have change and impact," Riley said.

Because of low home-ownership rates, black Oklahomans have an average net worth of $4,400, while white Oklahomans average $60,000, said Valerie Thompson, director of the local Urban League.

Much of northeast Oklahoma City, formerly the geographic heart of the black community, is no longer owned by blacks, said John Pettis of the Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency.

"Until we go back to owning this community, we can't determine its destination," Pettis said.

Panelists agreed education is one piece of the puzzle, then discussed problems that keep black children from succeeding at school.

"Black history not being taught, problem; lack of parental involvement, problem; students not respecting one another, killing off one another, shooting one another, shooting up the teachers, shooting up themselves," said Linda Steele Brown, interim superintendent of Oklahoma City Public Schools.

'Scared of a gun'
School safety concerns are at a critical level, she said.

"Educators are afraid of our children -- and it's not just Caucasian educators," Brown said. "We're all scared of a gun."

Parents have to regain control of their families, discipline their children and instill character and morals, said Wayne Reid of the Eastside Capitol Gateway Main Street program.

"For so long, we've allowed the community to raise our children, then we wake up one morning, and we don't know who that person is in the house," Reid said.

Youth have led in previous generations and can lead again, said Carlisha Williams, a University of Oklahoma student and Miss Black Oklahoma USA.

"Don't give up on our generation," Williams said. "I do still believe our urban youth have the fight in them. However, we're fighting the wrong people with the wrong weapons. Instead of using our hands, we need to be using our minds."

Related Topics: Special Interest Groups, Social Issues, African-American Issues, Self-Help, Racial Issues