EditorialsCredo 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.Second Thoughts On AFeeding FrenzyWhen Minister Curtis Gatewoodwas head of the Durham Branch ofthe NAACP, he created quite a stirnationally and locally with his oBoy-cott Santa Claus? campaign.Words like oScrooge? andoGrinch? flowed freely, especially- from the mainstream press, in deal-ing with his proposal.It even (predictably) won the at-tention of conservative commenta-tors like Rush Limbaugh, who usedit to lambast black activism in gen-eral as mean-spirited, dour, andsomehow un-American.But it would be unfair to single outthose sources as the only area ofcriticism.This forum itself, as we recall,looked at the campaign with be-mused skepticism.While applauding its motives, wethought the good minister mighthave gone a bit too far in denyingchildren the joy that comes fromtearing into gifts on Christmasmorning.We may not have gone that far atthe time, but it seemed to us that thegifts, particularly because they areunmerited and unpaid-for, mimic thevery gift that the Christ Childbrought to the world, and perhapsteach them the meaning of gratitude,humility and grace.However, in driving through lastweekTs incredible circus afterThanksgiving, we are beginning tohave second thoughts, and to wonderif Min. Gatewood might not havebeen closer to the target than weoriginally gave him credit for.The cacophony of noises, both in-side and outside any place of retailbusiness, was deafening.People jostled. Tempers flared.Near-misses and _ accidentsabounded: There were skirmishesover the last pieces of seeminglytrivial merchandise.Everywhere one looked, therewere interminable lines"not just formerchandise but for ofast? food, gasand anything else people normallyneed on a day-to-day basis.The attitude displayed didnTt re-mind one particularly either of theChristian or Christmas spirit.It resembled nothing more than afeeding frenzy.It makes one stop and think. Whatexactly are we teaching our chil-dren?Many 1990s children, brought upwithout war or depression or any ofthe other things that previous gen-erations had to contend with, donTtlook upon Christmas as an unmeritedgift, but as a right to which they areundeniably entitled.That much was true to a certainextent in our childhood, but it hasbecome that much more so today.The wait for Christmas largessehas become not so much a hope andprayer as an expectation, a demand.And the quest to fulfill that de-mand has turned from a joyful outingto surprise those closest to us to agrim travail, fraught with fear of notliving up to their expectations.The Friday-after-Thanksgivingmelee is enough to make us wonderif maybe Santa Claus isnTt really do-ing us or our children any favors.Maybe he is something we hadbest learn to do without, after all.If not all at once, at least we cantry to start scaling back, beforethings spiral completely out of con-trol.We have seen a recent push to ex-pand the gift-giving portion ofKwanzaa. Already, we hear, oWhatare you giving your children forKwanzaa??That would be a mistake. With itsemphasis on ritual and simple, heart-felt gifts, Kwanzaa is one way out ofthe holiday trap we have caught our-selves in.After all, one Christmas feedingfrenzy is more than enough. ,A Symbol DiesThe news accounts were straight-forward. Coleman Young, dead at 79.Like so many aspects of his life,YoungTs death provides a milestonefor black folks to pause and reflect.Young was the first black mayor ofDetroit, and during his life was asymbol, whether he liked it or not,for many decades of American life.When he came to power, he wasthe epitome of black hope and pride.Not the first black mayor of a majorcity, but one of the first, and em-blematic of African-AmericansT new-found power and freedom.As his administration traveled on(some would say oground onT)through 20 years, it also became asymbol for what was to follow: urbandecay, white flight, mismanagementand disillusionment.All the issues that plagued cities inthe T90s, including charges of bureau-cratic arrogance, misplaced prioritiesand resegregation, found a symbol inYoung and his Detroit.Under his administration, whitesflocked to the suburbs, taking theirtax base with them. Schoolscrumbled, jobs dwindled, and roadsand other infrastructure began tocrumble.Crime soared, and even manyblacks joked that YoungTs Detroitwas a place that nobody would vol-untarily go.Whether and to what extentYoung was responsible for thesechanges, or simply oversaw themand took the fall, is immaterial.He and his administration becamesymbolic of them and a wide array ofother ills plaguing modern cities go-ing into the turn of the century.Widely criticized by both liberalsand conservatives alike, Young was,nevertheless, reelected by wide mar-gins as late as 1989.Then, worn down by criticism andcharges of personal corruption,Young became one of a series ofhigh-profile public.officials to give itup and retreat into retirement.This, too, the media and the nationtook as symbolic.On Coleman Young rested many ofthe hopes and expectations of hispeople, and later, their fears and em-barrassment.Coleman Young. Dead at 79.reduced to the public Ti 1996 heceurerSASS oy and a by-product of coal.A,trp Yse Lee; "A.bfT 4yp, TAT, M174 WPL, ,,PLEAGE, LITTLE SADDAM!BE REASONABLE! DON'T FORCEots TO LEAE YOU WITHies? Cdbal 4ForgottenHistory EndangersOur FutureBY TREY BANKHEADBY TREY & URSIE BANKHEADThe Buffalo Soldiers. The Tuskegee Airmen. TheoAmistad.? Hannibal. The NAACP. Some of us know who orwhat these people, events or organizations are. For others,however, they are just names that we may see from time totime, if we see them at all.Okay, if youTre not sure who or what I am talking about,look it up. The title here is oForgotten History?, not oHistoryLesson?. The reason I am bringing this topic up? The movieoAmistad? is about to be released in theaters everywhere,and how many of our children, and adults, have no clue as towhat it was? I have heard many young adults and teensspout off about being dumped on for being Black, and theycan cite many a time when they have been hurt by racism,which I agree is still alive and well. However, what happensto those stories of brave people who fought for freedom byvirtue of being Black? What I mean is, there have been somany points in history where being Blcak was a sign ofpride. We often forget that , and allow our children to forgetit. The groups and people mentioned above were the same asall of us. They had hopes, dreams, ups and downs. Theywere discriminated against for being what and who Godmade them. But they did better than survive. They lived!I look at myself and wondr how oforgetting? has hurt me.We're in a fast-paced world where people put things in aplanner. We often forget to plan for time to revisit ourselves.In each of our families, there have been strong men andwomen; otherwise, we wouldnTt have survived at all. NOtknowing either my family or cultural history has often givenme a sense of loss. How can I know ome?? if I have oforgotten?what has made me?My wife and I are considering having children someday.We are looking closely at environments that we feel would beconducive to raising a child, or children. We look at whatareas celebrate things like Juneteenth, whether Black his-tory is only something that occurs in February, are theresuccessful Blacks in the area, and how well do the people (ingeneral) seem to know their history? Are they caught in thatmentality of oITm Black so I canTt do...??When you forget history, you forget how to survive andthe strength that is inherent in all of us. You remember thatslavery happened, but forget that, at the turn of the centurythere was the Harlem Renaissance. Part of remembering,the good and the bad, is to learn. For parents, I wonder whathave their children learned from them? Do their childrenknow about the grandmother who worked two jobs and kepta roof over everyoneTs had? Or the grandfather who workedthe railroad, and the love the family had for him when hecame home? Do yur children understand the survival tech-niques that have been passed down in their genes?Okay, I know I have no children. But, as a child whoseparents had oforgotten? themselves and didnTt pass on theirhistory, I know the damage that can occur. I missed out onthe strengths I had. I didnTt know the sternghts that mygrandparents and great grandparents had until I spoke withother family members. I needed that connection to my for-gotten ancestors to be given the strength of my personalhistory. I want my children to know that not only is there aMichael Jordan, and that there was a Charles Drew and amutiny on the oAmistad,? but also that they have strengthsfrom within. The history is integral to us. The loss of it keepsus in a mental slavery.Question: What was the first thing slave traders andmasters did to their slaves?Answer: Took away their history and roots. Made themforget. When your children can see every Spike Lee movie,but not know tha the ShakespeareTs character Othello wasBlack, and that the oAmistad? happened, and that Granddadwas a loving man, then you are depriving them of their his-tory. You are preparing them for the slavery that has beenfough against for centuries (you didnTt think it began justbefore the Civil War did you?).Just think about it, The best gift your kids can get is theknowledge of themselves. The knowledge that they arestrong, and that they have roots. Just think about it. Forgot-ten Black history, forgotten self-history, is detrimental tooneTs self. You canTt move on until you have an idea of whereyou have been and what you CAN do.A TALE OF TWO FAMILIESBy Earl Ofari HutchinsonSpecial To The NNPAIf Jacqueline and Linden Thompson are perplexed overthe massive national media attention and public outpouringof support for Bobbi and Ken McCaughey, the parents of theIowa septuplets, it is understandable. In May, the Washing-ton, D.C. couple set the record for the longest sextuplet preg-nancy at 29 weeks and six days in the United States. Theyalso were the first: African-American couple to give birth tosextuplets. Yet unlike the McCaugheyTs media-dubbedomiracle birth,? the birth of their children stirred no interestin the media at first. There were no TV news features, spe-cial reports, or a story on them in any major newspaper. Ifnot for a brief news blurb on the Thompson births in theBlack weekly, Jet magazine, the event would have gone com-pletely unnoticed.ItTs not hard to figure out why. Unlike the McCaugheys,the Thompsons are a low-income, working-class African-American couple. They do not live in a small, tight-knit, mid-American Iowa community. They did not use a fertility drug.As a result, the Thompsons did not get the following treat-ment:¢Free advertising in major newspapers for their familyassistance fund.¢The donation of a 12-seat Chevrolet vaneThe offer by IowaTs governor to build a new, and largerhome.eA yearTs supply of groceries from a national supermar-ket chain.eA yearTs supply of baby care products.°A lifetime supply of diapers.¢*A phone call from President Clinton congratulatingthem on their oamazing adventure.?A special invitation to the White House.eA bid of $250,000 from a tabloid weekly to tell theirstory and¢ Countless offers from their friends, and neighbors toassist with the children.The ThompsonsT story only became the subject of mildpassing interest when the McCaughey septuplets made newsand a caller to the nationally syndicated oTom Joyner Morn-ing Show? complained about the lack of help the couple hadreceived.A Washington, D.C. community group, Sisters in Touch,has made the ThompsonsT plight an issue. The WashingtonPost did a back-pages story on them. But even then this wasnot enough to spark the kind of national offers of help thatflooded into the McCaugheys.A Procter & Gamble spokesperson hinted that the com-pany would consider a six to eight month supply of diapersbut added that this was the standard contribution for fami-lies with multiple births. A spokesperson for Johnson &Johnson suggested that the Thompsons contact the companyto determine if there are othings we can do.?With the assistance of the D.C. Housing Finance Agency,the Thompsons were able to move out of their cramped, one-bedroom duplex unit into a three-bedroom apartment. Sincethen they have managed to find a six bedroom house butthey have not been able to move in. Even with LindenThompsonTs salary from two jobs, they canTt afford the$1,500 rent.However, at press time, the Virginia-based Freddie MacFoundation, which gives grants to organizations that sup-port childrenTs issues and children at risk, has made a com-mitment to give the family a house from their inventory. Theimpetus for the foundationTs involvement came from staffmembers who heard/read reports of the ThompsonTs situa-tion and recommended involvement, said Shawn Flaherty,spokesperson for Freddie Mac. The foundation has scheduleda Dec, 1 meeting with the family to access their needs.Additionally, as a result of the appeal letters on theirbehalf by Sisters in Touch and the increased media coverage,the Thompsons are now receiving free day care at a localchild care center, and they were notified that they will beeligible to enroll their children in the Head Start Program.Calls and offers of donations are coming from all over theU.S. and Canada.While the Thompsons have been forced to shoulder muchof the tremendous physical and emotional strain and finan-cial burden of caring for five children (one of them died atbirth) alone, they have expressed pleasure at the showeringof support for the McCaugheys and for the way in which theAfrican-American community has now responded to them.