Speak Out A 04/20/02

Statistics are wrong

IT IS noteworthy to see that one of the many lies about life in the African American community is still replicating itself like an evil virus. Despite the skewed figures, manufactured statistics and warped logic behind this absolute drivel, the number of single-parent households in the African American community is nowhere near 66 percent anywhere in the United States. Granted, the number is higher in the larger urban areas than in the smaller communities, but it doesn't begin to approach that ridiculously contrived figure that white America seems so eager to put forth as fact and that black America seems so willing to swallow. I have lived in both large inner cities and small, almost rural areas of this nation, I am black, and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the African American family is not in a crisis situation. Having been involved in leadership in both the black church and more than one civil rights organization, I know that the real agenda is to combat racist lies that are backed up with insidious and utterly false statistics that portray the strong black male as a deserter of his family.

Just desserts

WOW! THE teen-agers these days have it really good. In the public schools you don't have to take finals if you have good attendance. What's next? No pop quizzes if you eat everything on your plate at lunch?

Driving responsibility

IS IT just me, or are people driving more and more carelessly? Forget about the police being at the right place to catch speeders. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? If you're in that much of a hurry, try leaving five or 10 minutes early. And while I'm on the subject, when I am courteous to you by putting my blinker on to let you know I'm making a turn, would you please slow down and not ride my bumper?

Personal initiative

I AM tired of hearing about how the poor are getting poorer. I am not rich, but I work hard and make a fair wage for what I do. Never in this country's history have there been so many lazy people not willing to work to get ahead. Everybody wants everything handed to them. Personal initiative will get you very far in life. Give it a try.

Surpassing Moses

DAVID LIMBAUGH'S staunch support of Israel now surpasses that of Moses.

Attendance policy

IN LAURA Johnston's article, "Spring Fever," it was mentioned that taking final exams at Central High School in Cape Girardeau was directly tied to attendance. One of the reasons for this policy is that public schools are paid by the state on the basis of average daily attendance. So it behooves administrators to encourage good attendance. One of the unintended consequences of this policy is that it serves as an incentive for even the sick to struggle to get to school. Another is that it makes it more difficult for students to attend doctor and orthodontist appointments. A third is that letting students out of finals -- so that a comprehensive exam measuring what they have learned will not be administered -- is absurd.

Oil is the key

ONCE AGAIN, oil has gotten in the way of the better judgment of our president. Apparently the administration pushed for the coup of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, an elected official, because his platform included the privatization of the largest oil company in Venezuela, from whom we get a very large amount of oil. Rather than allow the people of Venezuela to have their freedom and have the president they elected in office, President Bush decided it was his duty to help remove President Chavez from office because of the damage it might cause monetarily to his oil buddies.

Springtime for Cape

I DON'T think I can ever remember a prettier spring than we are having right now. All the blooming trees and flowers are a wonderful sight to behold.