Your Turn, and Other Thoughts

The rock-solid twin pillars that have supported Black advancement in America over the last 175-years have been the Black Press and the Black Church. The latter being the engine that drove the achievement, and the former being the vehicle that gave it voice, making the world aware of the setbacks, struggles and ultimate achievements. In the early days of the Republic, without the Black Press recording events for posterity, no one would have known if any African-Americans had been born or had died, gotten married or had children; and without the Black Church... no one would have cared.

While the Black Press has — to some degree — been subsumed by the majority press as a result of integration that began in the 60s, the Black Church has remained the cornerstone, the foundation, the rock that Black progress is built upon. I shudder to think where the Black race would be without this venerable institution.

Progressive Black congregations long ago realized the struggle for equality and full inclusion in the American Dream for African-Americans shifted from the obvious to the sublime; from a seat on the front of the bus 50 years ago in the South, to a job driving the bus 30 years ago in the North, to Blacks owning stock in the bus company today. We now fully comprehend that our enemy wasn’t just the racists that sought to block our progress, but the grinding poverty their racism engendered, sustained and perpetuated. Financial stability continues to be a great balm for the sting of racism — and poverty still relegates all who suffer its ill-effects to second-class citizenship... be they Black or White.

In response to that realization the Antioch Development Corporation (ADC), “a non-profit organization dedicated to using faith and works to improve the quality of life for individuals and families,” was created in 2002 by Antioch Baptist Church. Established in 1893, Antioch was the second African-American Baptist church founded in Cleveland, and under the leadership of current pastor Reverend Marvin A. McMickle, the 1500-strong congregation has continued its 115-year tradition of providing a wide variety of benevolent services to the community... while remaining steadfast in its commitment to spread the word of God.

While other, more conservative, Black congregations across the country — and many White churches as well — elected to stick their collective head in the sand and pretend that HIV/AIDS wasn’t ravaging communities both Black and White, Antioch, in 1999, partnered with Cleveland Clinic and established its Agape HIV/AIDS program, which provides testing, education and counseling to the community free of charge. To date the program has served over 6000 individuals. Additionally, the “Stopping AIDS is My Mission” (S.A.A.M.) program, established in 2003, has served over 3000 students in the Cleveland Municipal School District. This is the type of activism we need from the Black Church.

Under the able leadership of Minister Kelvin Berry, the ADC also operates the Genesis Program, which provides job readiness training, placement, and counseling services for individuals moving from public assistance to private financial independence. Boasting a success record any government agency would envy, 272 of the 450 individuals that have completed the program to date have been placed in permanent jobs. These are my kind of Christians — in addition to preaching the Bible, they also preach the Gospel of Economic Empowerment. Who was it that said, “The best thing you can do for poor people ... is to not be one of them”?

Realizing that the best way to help people is to prevent them from falling through the economic cracks in the first place, ADC most recently initiated the “Molding Minority Youth Through Faith and Mentoring” (M.Y.F.A.M.) program, which has impacted the lives of over 240 young people. The acronym M.Y.F.A.M. says it all: “My Family.”

The program is about creating a sense of family, something many underclass families are in short supply of. The congregation of Antioch Baptist Church not only understands the premise of creating a loving, all-encompassing and supportive family environment, they act on their beliefs. They do their part, and now you have the opportunity to do something too: It’s your turn to help.

On Friday, January 28, 2008, at the Allen Theater in Playhouse Square, the ADC will present “Three Mo’ Tenors” as its major fundraiser of the year. If you’ve never heard the magnificent voices of James Berger, Duane A. Moody, and Victor Robertson you could be in for a rare musical treat. Inspired by the success of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras, these three classically trained African-American virtuosos not only thrill audiences with their interpretations of the world-renown works of Verdi, Puccini, and Händel, they also seamlessly blend Broadway, gospel, blues, jazz and soul into their acclaimed repertoire. They’ve appeared on stages around the world and always (and I do mean always) receive standing ovations.

Do this: Find someone — anyone — who was in attendance the last time this trio appeared in Cleveland a number of years ago (at a sold-out performance, I might add) and ask their opinion. And then run ... don’t walk ... to the Playhouse Square Center box office and get your ducats before they are all snapped up. The $75 tickets include a V.I.P. reception. How can you beat a great, great evening of entertainment ... for such a worthy cause ...at such a bargain price? The answer is, you can’t. See you there.

We’re all in the Same Boat

Two senseless incidents of violence that occurred in two different suburbs should convince everyone in the Northeast Ohio — or at least within Cuyahoga County — that our fates (as well as our safety) are inexorably liked together. What affects one affects all.

Seven hoodlums (in all probability Black Cleveland residents) attacked a Shaker Heights man in Shaker Heights, threatening him with a gun and using a steel pipe to shatter his leg. Residents of this inner-ring suburb had their sense of security shattered by the horrific act as well.

The first response — and a very human one — is to catch the cowardly perpetrators who committed this heinous crime and to punish them severely. They should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law... and then some.

But we cannot make the mistake of thinking capture and punishment, placing more police on the border between Cleveland Shaker, or calling the perpetrators racially-loaded terms like “savages” or “animals” are going to solve the problem and restore a sense of security — none of these measures alone, or taken in tandem, will work. We simply cannot place a cop on every corner to insure our safety.

Nor will employing those same tactics prevent another shooting like the one that occurred at a tattoo party in a room at the Knight’s Inn Motel on Northfield Road in North Randall. Five people were shot when gunplay broke out among the mostly teenaged crowd of 30 people. What do we do next ... try to place a cop in every hotel room?

Inner-city spawned violence and crime are cancers on the body of the community, and like all cancers they will spread if left unchecked. Unless suburban residents intend to build walls around their cities and post armed guards at each entrance, and then ride in convoys of bullet-proof vehicles — similar to officials in the war-ravaged Middle East — when venturing out, then the best (and, indeed only) way to check the spread of the cancer is to help Frank Jackson, Eugene Sanders, and all of the other civic-minded people working to solve the problem of youth violence in Cleveland.

No one in their right mind can fault people — White or Black — from moving away from senseless violence and towards safety. People have to feel they can take an evening stroll and not put their lives in danger. But I can and do find fault with people who don’t try — from the safety and security of exurbia — to help solve the problem. That would be a good first step for the proponents of regionalism.

Programs and initiatives that will work if given a chance are out there, but they need support and funding. Find out what they are and join in before the cancer spreads and begins eating away at your community too. This really is everyone’s concern.

The Honorary Pass

In my lifetime, the first person I can recall having one was Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Ralph Bunche, followed by Senator Edward Brooke. Douglas Wilder, the former governor of Virginia has one, and so too did O. J. Simpson before he so brutally killed his wife and her friend — whereupon his was immediately revoked. Usually reserved for lighter-complexioned Blacks, Michael Jordan, as dark-skinned as he happens to be, has one, and LeBron Raymone James will most certainly be issued his at the end of this season... if he doesn’t already have it. Tiger Woods was probably the youngest person to ever receive one. Oprah, Bill Cosby and Colin Powell probably hold passes numbered one, two, and three, you pick the order in terms of who has pass number one.

What I’m alluding to is the “Honorary White Person Pass.” It’s not issued by any organization, but by a consensus of American media and culture. It’s the point where a Black person is no longer viewed and thought of by White people first and foremost in terms of their race ... they have actually transcended the color line due to extraordinary talent, intelligence and likeability — and usually a combination of all three. And the cool thing about it is, they didn’t have to give up their Blackness to receive the honorary pass to Whiteness.

In entertainment it’s called “crossover appeal.” Sam Cooke and Nat ”King” Cole virtually invented it. Black folks going to a B. B. King concert can hardly get a seat for all the White folks crowding us out of the front row. Will Smith, with his latest flick, is the new king of entertainment cross-over.

However, the most recent pass was issued to Barack Obama. Conventional wisdom in the Black community held that while many White folks would lie to pollsters and say they would consider voting for a Black man, most would, in the secrecy of the voting booth, opt to vote along racial lines. I have to admit I too bought into that theory: I’ve never been so glad to be so wrong. America finally grew up, and it did so in Iowa on January 3. We finally made real Martin Luther King’s “Dream” of an America where people “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Hooray. Not for Obama, not for Black people, but for us ... us Americans. Iowans voted for the ideals embodied in the man, not the man himself. They didn’t vote for a Black man... just a man.

No matter the outcome of the presidential election Barack Obama has done one great thing for the country: In virtually every presidential election in the last 20 years the percentage of eligible voters participating has diminished. This should be deeply troubling to all lovers of liberty and our Republic. No democracy can long sustain itself when fewer and fewer people engage in the voting process. But Obama has turned that tide. He is bringing new voters to the table — true, mostly his own voters, but new voters nonetheless. For that alone we are indebted to his candidacy.

The Whites in Cleveland who voted for Carl B. Stokes back in the 60’s did so in part due to hopes that he could extinguish the flames of unrest extant in the Black community; that he could “quite the natives.” While no one in Washington is going to say it out loud, there has to be a growing hope that a President Obama just might be our best shot at getting the ongoing, worldwide, Jihad called off. We are indeed living in interesting times.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com
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