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

DATE: TUESDAY, January 17, 1995                   TAG: 9501170153
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

WILDER URGES RETURN TO VALUES

Former Gov. Douglas Wilder urged black Americans to seek common ground with a pluralistic society during a rally Monday in observance of the Martin Luther King holiday.

``I hope that we could learn one thing,'' Wilder told about 1,500 people at the Arthur Ashe Center. ``That is, we all are Americans - not hyphenated Americans.''

Wilder challenged the black community to ward off defeatist attitudes, cast aside preoccupation with race, and be more concerned with what it does than what it's called.

``I'm told we are to be called African-Americans,'' Wilder said. But has anyone ever heard Americans of German descent refer to themselves as German-Americans? he asked.

``There's nothing wrong with being black and proud like James Brown in the '60s, but these are the '90s,'' Wilder said.

He sounded a return to values that aided black Americans in the past, including strong teachers who imparted to him that ``we were equal to the best, superior to the rest'' and could achieve anything. ``Don't have our youngsters pigeonholed, cornered, by those who would suggest they are different.''

by CNB