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ERIC Number: ED349085
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1991-Oct-25
Pages: 13
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Speech for the National Black Child Development Institute Conference (St. Louis, Missouri, October 25, 1991).
Clay, William L.
This speech by a black congressman from Missouri concerns the context in which general questions about black children must be answered. These questions include: (1) How can service providers, institutions, and government entities implement a vision for the future of black children? and (2) How can organizations that serve black children ensure that all black children receive basic support? It is suggested that: (1) the media pay too much attention to the problems black families face and too little to their heroic struggles to deal with these problems; (2) blacks must begin to define and refine the issues in their communities; (3) blacks should reestablish some of the basic values held by their parents and grandparents; (4) it is not hard work and self-reliance alone, but those qualities in combination with direct government assistance, that is required to improve the lot of individuals and it was government action not simply individual effort, that helped build up the white middle class after World War II; and (5) it was racist government policies and racist custom that have handicapped blacks and kept them from their place in the sun. The American society's contradictions and lack of logic concerning political issues are stressed. These contradictory and illogical attitudes color the actions of government, and the actions and beliefs of individuals, both black and white. (BC)
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A