
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 16, 1991                   TAG: 9104160622
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

WILDER: YOUNG BLACKS NEED HIGH MORAL GOALS

Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder has criticized what he called the lack of moral values or sense of responsibility among black youths.

"Too many young black males have trouble doing hard, honest work and staying out of jail, but no problem making illegitimate babies," he told The Washington Times.

During the interview, the Democratic governor urged black youths of both sexes to abstain from sexual relations.

"They should embrace the ultimate precaution, abstinence, until they've prepared themselves to accept the unending responsibilities of parenthood," Wilder said.

"Family values are what we've lost," he said. "They're what sustained blacks when everything else was against them: the state legislatures, the courts, the Congress and society itself.

"The family and the church transmitted values of honesty and hard work for us from generation to generation."

Wilder rejected a suggestion from University of Maryland political scientist William Galston that every child's birth certificate carry the Social Security numbers of the parents.

Wilder wondered aloud if a 13-year-old unmarried mother could be relied on to point out the real father even if she knew his identity, the newspaper said.

by CNB