By:Hugh B. Price
President
National Urban League
Barely six weeks from now America will mark the one-year anniversary of the notorious terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
We can never again allow ourselves to become complacent about the threat of wanton terrorism; so, , as a husband, father and a citizen, I'm grateful every day to our American soldiers overseas, and, yes to the Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents who are tracking down terrorists.
But America must also respond to several daunting challenges that existed before September 11th and continue to comprise a danger to America's present and future well-being.
Some of those challenges swirl outside America's borders or are global in nature.
For example, the challenges America and the world faces in reducing the impact of global warming, in properly assisting the development of poorer nations, and in halting the spread of the AIDS scourge-and then, finding a cure for it-in fact are every bit as important to our health, if you will, as beating back terrorism.
As United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has reminded us, we Americans are citizens of the globe, and we can't afford to think of America as the world's reigning superpower but an island unto itself when it comes to compassion.
Yes, life is unfair. That's all the more reason why the haves of the world have to make it fairer for those who have not. For, as James Wolfenson, the president of the World Bank, pointedly noted,"We will not create a safer world with bombs and brigades alone."
Within America's borders the challenges are equally great.
We must remain vigilant to protect our civil liberties even as we fashion a new protective shield against terrorism. And we must build bridges of understanding and trust across the frightening chasm of animosity, intolerance and ignorance that increasingly divides the West and the Muslim world.
No less a challenge is making opportunity and equality real for every American-if the ideal of One America that has gained such currency in our post-9/11 national mood is not to become merely a meaningless banner on buildings and cereal boxes.
Yes, certainly African Americans must not shirk their responsibility for improving the fortunes of America's"have-nots,"including those within Black America.
For example, African Americans as a group and especially black parents must take all necessary steps to prepare their children for scholastic achievement, because a sorry destiny awaits"those with poor educational credentials.
The National Urban League has several educational programs designed to address the need to inspire young people to do well in the classroom and in their communities. They range from our NULITES (National Urban League Incentive To Excel and Succeed) program involving teenagers in the communities of our affiliates across the country, to the Campaign for African-American Achievement, which mobilizes parents and communities to support the scholastic work of their youth. Its National Achievers Honor Society for students who earn a B average or better now has 23,000 students in 45 chapters.
In the last year we at the Urban League have produced two books-one, ACHIEVEMENT MATTERS, written by me, and the other, Read and Rise, produced in conjunction with Scholastic, Inc., the nation's largest publisher of children's books and magazines-that are designed to give teachers, parents and other caregivers practical tips to prepare their children for success in school.
If we're blaring the message that in education achievement matters, we need to be more determined to get the word out that, when it comes to health care, prevention matters, and we've just put together a new high-level initiative to vigorously push that message.
However, the burden for making this One America isn't ours to bear alone.
The larger society has a reciprocal obligation to fling wide the doors of opportunity and ensure equality. And the sorry fact is that for all the talk these days about One America, the reality falls far short of the rhetoric.
Recent incidents involving apparent police abuse of authority in Inglewood, California, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Tulia, Texas are a few examples of how significant the racial problem remains in just policing and the larger criminal justice system. Serious problems remain in most other sectors of American society as well.
That's why the Urban League isn't backing down or backing off, shutting up or folding our tents, giving up or going out of business, until our nation lives up to the letter of the Constitution that all men-and women-are created equal. That's the day when our nation will truly be One America.
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