ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 2, 1997 TAG: 9701310014
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KEVIN KITTREDGE STAFF WRITER
If they aren't quite sure where they're headed, they're amazed at where they've been.
Members of Rebuilding Black Communities Inc., the Roanoke group born of the Million Man March, have held fish fries and jazz concerts, delivered groceries, given away clothing and sponsored classes in the last 15 months. And they have moved into a building, the Northwest Family Resource Center, located beside the offices of the Roanoke Tribune.
They concede they haven't done it all, or even as much as they might have liked to.
"Did we do all the things we wanted to? No," said the group's secretary, Anita Reed, a systems analyst for Allstate who is in her mid-30s. "But we accomplished a lot."
Founded in the excitement that followed the October 1995 march on Washington, RBC originally set out to be "damned good American citizens," as one member put it.
All these months later, some admit they were a tad naive.
"We were talking about rebuilding black communities. We had an idea what that was," said George Franklin, RBC's vice president. "But we didn't know the magnitude and the scope of what we took on."
"We had a vision of wanting to do so much," said Reed. "There was such enthusiasm. As time goes on, it begins to really weed out those who are not committed."
Which is just fine with her husband, Anthony Reed, the group's president.
"You don't need a lot of people to accomplish something," said Reed, a Roanoke parole officer. "A few good strong people is better than hundreds of people."
Reed, 40, said perhaps 25-30 people are still actively involved with RBC.
They may not be active enough.
Claudia Whitworth, publisher of the Tribune, said she allowed RBC the use of the building next to her newspaper office rent free, in the hopes that they would establish an after-school center for children there.
"I had renovated the building with that type of program in mind," she said. "It has so much potential. I guess it was just a hope."
Whitworth is uncertain now several months later how well the RBC project is going. "At this point I'm not sure what they're doing. I haven't seen too much. They have had some programs. I'm still hoping that they can pull it together."
As evidence of RBC's accomplishments, meanwhile, members of the group point to a list of activities they have sponsored in recent months, including dance and karate lessons, a critical-thinking class and a family fun day. They have made their resource center available for meetings of support groups and a seminar on new juvenile crime laws.
"Nobody said it was going to be easy. It's a struggle," said Reed, the RBC president. But he also said "We're still moving. We're progressing."
Perneller Chubb-Wilson, president of the Roanoke chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, praised the group. "I think it's excellent that these young black males are out here doing something [in fact, the group includes women, too]. Because it's needed. We need all the help we can get, and they do too," she said.
"We support each other," said Reed, when asked how RBC fits in with the other groups. "In the rebuilding process, everybody has a job. Our focus is the community and the kids, and the rebuilding of spirit."
Reed and other RBC members have a wish list of future projects that includes teaching young people how to repair computers, holding regular health fairs and using their building for an after-school learning resource center with tutoring and writing lessons - something that would surely warm landlord Whitworth's heart.
They are embarking on a $10,000 fund-raising drive they hope will turn some of those plans into reality. That drive, which kicks off this month, may do much to determine the group's longevity.
Meanwhile, members have learned in the wake of the Million Man March that the first steps on the road to real rebuilding can be baby ones.
"It's like anything in life," said Anita Reed. "You can wish for the sky. But you've got to be patient."
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART/Staff. Core members of Rebuilding Blackby CNBCommunities at their Melrose Avenue offices and community center are
(from left) George Franklin, Tony Reed, Anita Reed, Demetria Tucker
and Tony Patterson, along with little Jerron Byers. color.