THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 19, 1994 TAG: 9408190051
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E14 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: TEENSPEAK
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
LAST WEEK, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected a tough crime bill, in part because some legislators were angry that it didn't contain a provision for blacks given the death penalty to appeal their sentences using the argument that an overwhelming number of death row inmates are black.
The debate was a small reminder that American justice, in many ways, is not blind.
African-Americans are disproportionately involved in the justice system, particularly African-American males. And the number of young black men charged with serious crimes is growing at an alarming rate.
Shannon Teasley, a 19-year-old junior at Hampton University, volunteered to discuss the problem, and what other teens can do to help, at her Virginia Beach home.
The problem, Shannon and five of her friends said, started with the breakdown of the family. Children raised by one parent or by relatives are not learning the proper values.
``Now we have teens having children,'' said Laequinla Couther, 16, a junior at Oscar Smith High in Chesapeake. ``And they're not being brought up right.''
``And how are these young fathers who are fathering kids going to know how to raise children when they didn't have fathers themselves?'' Shannon asked.
Parents who do try to discipline their children have fewer and fewer tools at their disposal. Spanking, for example, now can be considered child abuse.
``Discipline doesn't really work the way it used to,'' said Tim Johnson, 14, an eighth-grader at Indian River Middle School in Chesa-peake.
As young black males grow older, Shannon and her friends said, they are exposed constantly to negative images - unworthy role models and poor portrayals of blacks in the media.
``Every time you turn the television on, you see O.J. Simpson,'' said Tracy Fletcher, 14, an eighth-grader at Rosemont Middle in Norfolk.
Such negative images damage the self-esteem of black children, the group said.
``It hurts,'' said Keyana Hassell, 16, a junior at Tallwood High in Virginia Beach.
``If I don't see positive role models, I'm going to think I can't do any better,'' Shannon said.
Laequinla disagreed.
``When I see it, it gives me incentive to do better,'' she said.
Compounding the problem, kids don't always have someone responsible with whom to discuss their concerns, fears and frustrations.
``Kids sometimes can't talk to their parents,'' Shannon said.
``I'm that way too,'' Tracy said. ``I can't really go to my momma and talk about personal things, like what's happening on the streets. I have to talk to my friends.''
J.R. Teasley, a 14-year-old freshman at Salem High in Virginia Beach and Shannon's younger brother, said that like Tracy, he has trouble talking to his mother about his feelings.
``Because she's a woman, and she can't relate,'' he said. Instead, he talks to his friends and uses sports as an outlet.
Everyone agreed that kids need better outlets for venting feelings, expending energy and just plain killing time. Communities and churches should expand their activities for kids, they said.
Shannon, her brother and her friends, for example, are all members of Mount Zion Interdenominational Community Christian Church's teen group. The group is social, religious and practical, sponsoring activities ranging from pool parties to lessons on how to talk to parents.
Laequinla also said teens need to talk to each other and exert positive peer pressure.
``We have to help each other,'' she said. ``That's the only way anything's going to get done.'' by CNB