NAACP National President stresses need for adult action to help children

5th March 2012   ·   0 Comments

By Tarrin McGhee
Contributing Writer

MEMPHIS, Tenn. no credit check signature cash loan (Special to the NNPA from the Tri-State Defender)— The African Ameri­can Network at FedEx is determined to give back to the community by impacting young lives through mentorship. That commitment was the underpinning for “The Power of Mentoring Forum” the group recently hosted at FedEx World Headquarters.

The annual event is designed to increase cultural awareness, and to encourage FedEx employees and event attendees to learn more about the power of mentoring.

Benjamin Jealous, president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), keynoted the 2012 forum (February 22), which saluted four heavyweights for enriching the lives of youth, and for notable public service achievements.

Posthumous salutes went to former University of Memphis basketball star player and coach, Larry Finch, quick 500 dollar loans and to Lt. Colonel Luke Weathers, a Memphis-born member of the Tuskegee Airmen whose exploits are detailed in the movie Red Tails.

Memphis civil rights activists and icons, Dr. Maxine Smith and the Rev. Samuel Kyles, were lauded for their consistent in­volvement and commitment to advance the Civil Rights Move­ment and their local community.

The NAACP’s 17th president and chief executive officer, Jealous is the youngest person to hold the position in the organization’s100-plus year history. He reminded forum guests of the long and hard road traveled by those before him to ensure that African Americans of his generation and future generations would have opportunities to succeed. He also discussed what it would take for children in the U.S. to prosper in the 21st century.

“It’s possible to get payday loans cupertino ca what you’re fighting for and lose what you have all at the same time,” Jealous began. “When I was growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s, my generation was treated like a bit of an exception. We were told that fighting was optional…your job is simply to reap what we have sown.

“That worked pretty well for many of us, it’s worked pretty well for me, but I dare say it didn’t work well for most of us,” he said.

Jealous described the important roles that all adults and mentors can play in helping to confront the challenges of war, crime, poverty, incarceration rates and, most importantly, the condition of the nation’s economy and education system.

“The state of affairs (in the U.S.) has real bearing on kwik cash loans austin tx our role as parents, as adults, community leaders and as mentors,” Jealous said.

“Mentoring isn’t just about passing on lessons to children, it’s about fulfilling your responsibility as an adult in this country to make sure that the country you leave them is better than the one that you inherited. We have done that for generations in this country, in some ways it defines what it means to be a citizen of this United States.”

Jealous expressed concern about what awaits children if adults don’t take action to get involved now to protect the interests of all children.

“Our young people may be the first to be born more in debt than our parents were. They may be the first to be born with less net Hawaii Urban Honolulu CDP cash advance worth than their parents had, may be first to be born more likely to go to prison than their parents were, and less likely to go to college,” he said.

“Our responsibility right now is greater because the challenges are higher too.”

According to Jealous, outside of mentoring there are additional opportunities to address the challenges that children in America are confronting, opportunities to prevent roadblocks to children’s success, and ultimately the country’s success. To start, he believes that adults should be willing to talk about things that they don’t want to talk about, such as decreasing incarceration rates and the need to improve the country’s education system.

“We as a society have to make a choice to invest more in our aspirations for our children than our fears of other people’s children,” said Jealous.

“People ask how do we catch up, how do we bridge the (education) difference with us (the United States) and Japan? It’s simple. Just stop acting like we can afford to be so different,” he said. “Japan educates their children 230 days a year. In this country we’re lucky if it’s 180.”

Asked how to get adults to recognize the importance of doing what is right for all children and looking beyond what they need to do for their own, Jealous said that a big part of it is changing how we talk about education.

“The reality is that the biggest struggle in our country right now isn’t to make sure that Black children can compete with white children, but cash advance 91730 that American children of all colors can compete with children of all colors from all countries on the planet. That’s what we have to get focused on,” he said.

Jealous concluded his keynote by sharing the NAACP’s plans to introduce an agenda this year that will focus on putting America back on track to being first in the world on issues of education, job creation and innovation. The agenda includes four main pillars that the organization will advocate for starting this spring: more time in the classroom, high quality teachers in every classroom, universal Pre-K and improving public health conditions for children across America.

This article was originally published in the March 5, 2012 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper