Credo of the Black PressThe Black Press believes that America can best lead the world away from racialand natural antagonisms when it accords to every person, regardless of race,color or creed, full human rights. Hating no person, fearing no person in thefirm belief that all are hurt as long as anyone is held back.The Next ElectionMany of our readers may havethought that they were finished withelections after the ovictory? (sort of)the first week this month in munici-pal elections.That would be understandable. Af-ter all, the people whose races meantthe most to African-Americans"ourown District C, and the at-largeraces"were taken care of.The balance between those whogenerally favored our interests andthose who generally did not was amore equitable one, without our hav-ing to expend all that much effort.The remaining local race of inter-est to blacks to be decided in therunoff, that of Kieran Shanahan vs.Keith Karlsson in District A, waspretty much out of our territory.There just arenTt that many blackfolks in District A, not enough to getworked up about, and so the councilwill either be deadlocked or go to a5-4 moderate/progressive lead, de-pending on what District A decides.So the election was pretty muchover for the African-American com-munity.Not quite. There is another elec-tion that will potentially have greatinterest and consequence for theblack community besides the Nov. 4general election.That contest is the one for thepresidency of the North CarolinaConference of Branches of the Na-tional Association for the Advance-ment of Colored People.We hear the amusement out there.A lot of you are saying, oYeah, right.The NAACP has a lot to do with mein the 90s.?Well, actually, maybe so. Asidefrom the fact that a lot of the folkstalking like that are the same oneswho were ridiculing the idea of vot-ing in the October municipal elec-tions, there have been some validcomplaints about the way theNAACP has performed"or failed toperform"in recent years.And yes, the organization has hadits share of scandals and hard timesrecently, with resignations, spicyrevelations and allegations of misap-propriation.Current NAACP President oSkip?Alston got his job after State Presi-dent Kelly M. Alexander, Jr. was re-moved by the national board for cer-tain alleged improprieties, which hecontinues to deny.So there is a lot of baggage comingwith the NAACP, it is true.But consider this: The organiza-tion was responsible, probably morethan any other, for the eventual de-feat of Jim Crow in the South in theT40s, 50s and T60s.True, there were others, manyothers. But the NAACP was undeni-ably at the point"before MartinLuther King, before Malcolm X.There was a time when meremembership in the NAACP wasenough to get a person fired from ateaching position.And that wasnTt a back-door,smoke-filled room type of deal, it wasan out-in-the-open requirement,written into county regulationsacross the South.That more than anything tellswhat the NAACP meant to the op-ponents of black progress at thetime.There has been a move to makethe NAACP more relevant, to re-claim the might it once wielded.In this time when the rights andaspirations of African-Americans areunder attack from their enemies onall sides, we need a champion.In fact, we need all the championswe can get.ThatTs why this election, in whichfour distinct personalities are vyingto control this important state chap-ter of the NAACP, should be ofburning interest to black people.Read ThursdayTs CAROLINIANand get in tune with an electionwhose outcome could affect the waywe all live in the coming years.Sistas Took ChargeIn between railing about the stateof affairs for black folks in theUnited States and North Carolina,and issuing clarion calls to action forAfrican-Americans, we thought we. would take time out to pay a simpletribute.Last week, in Philadelphia, Pa.ohundreds of thousands? of women(to quote the so-often-used under-statement of the mainstream media)gathered for their own statement ofsolidarity.The Million Woman March on Sat-urday was, by all accounts, a blazingsuccess. The smoke is still clearing asestimates come in of exactly howmany women came. And the ques-tions will probably stay for sometime.But one thing was clear: the sis-ters were about business and aboutmaking their own statements to anAmerica that had grudgingly turnedits spotlight, albeit briefly, on them.For the most part, they wereblack. Some were angry; some wereexcited; some forgiving, some defi-ant.But all were proud, strong and vo-cal as they let the country and theworld know that there were somethings that they wanted to talk tothem about.Those who had suggested that thewomenTs side of the march would bea national version of a Saturday soi-ree, a chance to show off finery andsocialize with a day off from house-work, were probably surprised.They found that they didnTt knowwomen quite as well as they thoughtthey did.In fact, as speaker after speakereloquently laid out demands for jus-tice, respect, and fair play, they mayhave come to the conclusion thatthey didnTt really know women at all.Which was exactly the point. Theevent was a political, social, spiritualand emotional event-of-a-lifetime forthose who made the trek. TheydidnTt waste it.It established, for those who mayhave had any doubt and forgottenwomenTs power in so many move-ments of the past, that they were aforce to be respected and reckonedwith.How much of that unity and pur-pose will be transformed into actionon the local level will remain to beseen.But the sisters got our attention.é,Ht,o S4+t and ¢ /vi CMF , afWiHKKeep PressingToward YourDreamsBY TREY BANKHEAD ya iHave you ever wanted something so badly that you mightkill for it? Ever wanted something so badly you would die forit?People that ITve asked that question of usually give methis look that says oOkay, heTs crazy.? Still, there have beena few that actually considered the question for a few mo-ments, and gave me an answer. They tell me what theywould kill for, and what they would die for. But, strangelyenough, none of those people can tell me what theyTre LIV-ING for!The thing about it is this: What you're living for, whatyou would die for, and what you would kill for, are ALL THESAME THING.Let me put it this way: A few years ago, my wife askedme to write an obituary. What made the request strange wasthat she wanted me to write the notice of my OWN death!Eyeing her carefully, wondering if she had decided to trysome new violent form of divorce, I wrote the obituary, plac-ing within it all the goals that ITd wanted, acting as if theome? that had died had attained all those goals. After I fin-ished, she asked me if I was doing anything to attain thegoals my odead selfT had reached. The question really mademe think. If I died tomorrow, would I be satisfied with thelife I was leaving behind? Had I made any effort to do what |wanted to do with my life?The scary thing is, at that moment, I could not think of asingle thing that I had done to accomplish my goals! Some-how, I had kept putting everything off ountil thereTs enoughmoney? or ountil ITm ready.? If I had died, I would have diedwithout ever finding out what my potential was.Fine...no one knows exactly when or how they will die. Ican accept that. Frankly, I donTt WANT to know how orwhen I'll die. ItTs out of my hands. But I will definitely havesome say in how | am going to LIVE!Which brings me to the next part...choosing how ITm go-ing to live. For me, it was a difficult decision. I had to figureout what I wanted out of life. I took a good hard look at whatI was good at, and what I enjoyed doing. After that, I didsome research into what fields my interests would work bestin. Interestingly, the choices that came up were law enforce-ment (my dadTs former occupation), health and medicine (mymomTs occupation), being a lawyer (my mom-in-lawTs occupa-tion), teaching, and writing. I then made my choices afterlooking into each field. I dismissed law and law enforcementbecause, in either job, ITd never get to see my wife. I ignoredmedical for the same reason.That left writing and teaching. I took a job as an editorialassistant with a publisher to learn about the editorial side ofwriting, but that job bored me to death. I started writingpoetry and short stories again, which I had done back inhigh school and college. I left the publisher and startedthinking about teaching. (I am a firm believer in the ideathat God has a definite sense of humor...I remember swear-ing, back in college, that I would NEVER become ateacher...and thatTs just where I ended up.)I set up a plan of action. If I wanted to figure out whetherI wanted to teach, the best way to do that was to actuallyteach! I registered as a substitute teacher. Three monthslater, I was hooked! Now, over a year later, I love teaching!The other plan I set up was to improve my writing. Istarted submitting articles to papers to get feedback on mywriting style. I got rejected a lot, but my interest continued.That led to my having this column.So, what is it that you have always wanted to do? Are youdoing anything to get there, or are you just wasting time?Look at kids...when they're little, their job is to have fun,and having fun is their life. When you become an adult, itTsexpected that your job is your job, and THAT becomes yourlife. I can accept that, as much as I donTt like it. But, ITmIf You HaveAn Opinion. About Our Community...making sure MY LIFE is my job...ITm going to do what I love,and let that lead me to the life | want.So many people are unhappy with the lives they have,and they never realize that itTs their own fault that theyTreunhappy. Me? ITve chosen to be the captain of my own des-tiny. Using the skills ITve been given, ITll chart my own lifeTscourse, and accomplish those goals which will better me andother people.Life isnTt always about following directions, going from Ato B to C. But, as I found out, if you donTt have a plan on howyou intend to reach your goals, then those goals will alwaysbe of the type that you'll oget around to someday.? If youkeep thinking like that, that osomeday? will turn intoonever,? and you'll look back later and ask owhat if??SUCCESSBy Junious Ricardo StantonNNPA Feature ColumnoAnytime you see someone more successful than you are,they are doing something that you arenTt.? Malcolm XDo you ever look around and see others achieving theirgoals and attaining success while you are stuck on a dimeunable to do, be or have your heartTs desires? Perhaps it isbecause as Malcolm said, othey are doing something youaren't.? Perhaps they are working longer, harder andsmarter. Perhaps they have self-confidence and believe intheir goals and you donTt. Maybe you are not taking fulladvantage of all your assets.Sit down and take an assessment of your goals and aspi-rations and the things you have done to bring them intoreality. ItTs gut-check time, a time to be honest with yourself.By being honest I donTt mean being self-deprecating or put-ting yourself down. I mean examining what youTve done orhaven't done, how you did it and determining whether or notyou have it your best. Look at your actions or inactions andin hindsight determine if there was anything you could havedone better.Life is what you make it! ItTs like baking a cake or pie. Ifyou want the best results you have to put in the best ingredi-ents. What are the ingredients of success? Success is definedas the attainment of a worthy goal. Hopefully your goals areyour own and what you define them to be. To be truly happyyou must live your own life and be who you were created tobe! Goals can be as varied as the number of people on thisplanet. For a toddler, success may be tying his or her shoes.For a six-year-old it may be walking to school all by him orherself. For you it may mean opening your own business orweathering the storms, working things out and remaining ina fulfilling relationship.To be successful you first need a goal or an objective,something you want to accomplish. You have to envision it(see it clearly in your mindTs eye) and charge this vision withenthusiasm, optimism and commitment. It must be morethan an idle wish or a daydream. You must invest yourselfinto it!Next you must formulate a working plan. How are yougoing to accomplish what you desire to do? Who will youneed to assist you? What skills, training or resources willyou need? No one makes it alone. No one does anythingentirely for him or herself. We all benefit from the attain-ment of worthwhile goals. That being the case, we mustwork with others to accomplish our goals. We need supportas well as resistance to attain our objectives. Both supportand resistance are crucial to every endeavor, Support givesus the added push and encouragement we need. Resistanceand obstacles test our mettle, they force us to dig deepwithin ourselves and tap into our inner core of talent,strength and diversity. The life/success process demands weinteract with others and persevere to overcome adversity.Visions, dreams, enthusiasm, support and resistancemean nothing unless we are willing to commit to action. Ourrewards (outcome) are always directly proportionate to ouroutput (the energy, time and commitment we invest in our-selves and our goals). We all have 1,440 minutes in a day, nomore, no less. In that regard we are all equal. What weaccomplish is directly proportionate to how efficiently we useour time, energy and resources. How do you use your time?Do you waste valuable time procrastinating? Are you para-lyzed by fears which prevent you from doing the things youknow you need to do? Are you unwilling to ask for help oradvice? Do you make the same errors over and over againwithout learning the inherent lessons within each situation?Do you effectively leverage your resources? Do you get themost out of yourself and your assets? Do you know howblessed and wealthy you really are?