COMMUNITY EDUCATED ABOUT YOUTH CRIME, DRUGS

Stovall says black community for too long has focused its attention on
athletic ability and not academics

The community must take the initiative and get involved in the lives of
young people if youth crime and drug abuse are going to be defeated, a
panel of judges, school, law enforcement and community leaders said Saturday.

That was the message of the First Annual "Be Smart" Week Parent and
Community Workshop and Luncheon held at the Leflore County Educational
Services Building on U.S. 82 West. The workshop was moderated by Dr. A.J.
Stovall, professor and chairman of the Social Science Division at Rust College.

Stovall, in his remarks to the crowd of more 60 people, said that for too
long the black community has focused its attention on athletic ability
instead of academic achievement.

Each year, the National Basketball Association has openings for somewhere
between 38 and 70 players, and many young black men think they have a shot
at playing ball professionally.

"You're talking about literally 10 million young people thinking that, by
the time that they graduate, they are going to be pros - all of them
competing for 70 jobs," Stovall said.

But there are many other avenues for young black men to succeed in besides
sports, he said.

"Just think if we put the same energy into it and told this young man here
that he can be an engineer. We need engineers. But we also need doctors,
lawyers and carpenters," Stovall said.

By the community encouraging the academic skills of young people, the
problems of crime and drug abuse within the community will cease to exist,
he said.

"Think how much better our communities would be. We wouldn't have to worry
about them engaging in crime. They would spend all their time trying to
develop themselves," Stovall said.

In 1950, the University of Michigan conducted a survey of young people's
attitudes about the influence of groups on their actions, he said.

Youngsters at that time said home life was the single biggest influence.
That was followed in descending order by school, church, peer group and
television, Stovall said.

In 1980, the ranking had changed to home life, peers, television, schools
and church.

By 1990, the home life and television were "neck-and neck" for the No. 1
spot, Stovall said. They were followed by peers, school and church.

Television is a destructive influence on young blacks today, he said.

"We've got to turn the television off. They spend too much time with
television. There needs to be 'quiet time' in the house to give kids time
to think," Stovall said.

A lack of parenting skills also has placed young adults at risk of failing
in life by being negatively influenced by their peers instead of their
parents, Stovall said.

Judge W.M. Sanders, interim Leflore County Youth Court judge, said the
presence of drugs in the community is a large part of the problem she sees
in her court every day.

"More and more teens are using drugs and at an earlier age," she said.
"Eight of 10 youths detained have tested positive for drugs."

A breakdown in family and community values has worsened the situation,
Sanders said. "Fathers are not fathers anymore. In fact, a great majority
of fathers do not even assist in raising their children."

Young women "are having babies. These teens are not emotionally or
economically equipped for the job of motherhood," she said. "Therefore,
many of the children born to these teens are left to raise themselves. They
have no concept of discipline, responsibility or self-respect."

The result of such an upbringing is "a self-destructive social cancer that
destroys everything that is good and upright in our society," Sanders said.

The solution will require morals and values being instilled in our children
at an early age, she said. "Discipline must be brought back into our homes."

Mississippi Appeals Court Judge Tyree Irving said it will take the most
active members of the community to make a difference in young people's
lives. "We've got to go out and get the parents involved."

Drugs also play a big part in Irving's court. About 90 percent of the cases
that come before his court are drug-related, he said.

"Why is it that somebody has a need for drugs?" Irving said. "We're going
to have to attack whatever it is that makes that person yearn for drugs."

Again, that will require active participation from the community as a
whole, Irving said. "We've got to come outside the church - outside the
social clubs - and find them."

The Rev. David Henderson, pastor of Jones Chapel Church No. 1, said parents
need to set a good example for their children, because often children gauge
their own desires on what is valued highly by their parents.

"If we glorify cars, that boy is going to glorify them too. If we glorify
getting our hair and nails done and what we wear, the young ladies are
going to do that also," Henderson said.

"There are things more important than material things in this world. That's
a reality, and we need to tell our young people that. We have to tell a
dying world about a risen Savior," he said.