THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 23, 1996 TAG: 9602230041
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Tiffany Beckett, Tallwood High School
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
Runner up: Tiffany Beckett, Tallwood High School, Chesapeake
One hot topic in today's media is race relations. Everyone is curious to find out whether the bond between black and white will get stronger, or if slavery will repeat itself, or whether blacks will take over society.
Those are all legitimate questions to ask. But in my opinion, the war between blacks and whites will never end. Because of that, I believe it is not a major issue to address.
The relationship that we must concern ourselves with is the war between blacks.
African-Americans are destroying themselves right and left every day. The sad thing about it is that many people do not recognize this is a problem.
Every day on the news you see something about wars going on in other countries. The media covers everything from military affairs to superstars' marriages breaking up.
The war that is happening in this country, every day, every second, is not shown. The media complain about the kids dying in other countries, but what about our little black children who are dying on the streets?
Organizations are constantly trying to raise enough money to go and help poor countries. Yet they don't try to obtain money to get some African-Americans out of low-income housing in bad neighborhoods. I do pity the homeless in foreign lands, but I pity the helpless here.
If this vicious cycle of genocide continues, by the year 2025, there may not even be a black race.
Being an African-American myself, the thought of my people being ``extinct'' scares me. But the time to stop this madness is now. It's not my duty or your duty; it's our duty. We as a nation must rise above the prejudice and hate in order to help the African-American race.
Slavery should be our motivation; unity should be our goal.
Every day I try to encourage my black brothers to do their best. I try to inspire them to keep their heads up and look people straight in the eye, because they are inferior to no one. I try to tell my black sisters that we are future mothers, we must have morals and values in order to pass them along to our children.
Young black women and men are the only hope. The future of African-Americans is uncertain. The black race must learn to face the challenges of today in order to survive in the competitive world of tomorrow. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Beckett
KEYWORDS: BLACK HISTORY MONTH ESSAY CONTEST by CNB