Last week’s article, Greenwood Chamber Leadership Questioned, painted a picture of an organization that needs to start talking to each other. There are still more unknown facts than known ones right now. Without assuming anything, the problem could be an easy fix. At odds seems to be some measure of communication problems that has some wondering “what is the state of Greenwood Chamber of Commerce?”
From the tenor of the article, one might assume The Oklahoma Eagle has a bone to pick with the chamber. The paper’s role was to look for answers and the paper found opinions and little in the way of hard facts. But, opinions can be news. However uncomfortable the story was, it was not a hatchet job. The Oklahoma Eagle’s readership would not be served by attacking any organization or individual in its readership. With that being said, the paper was not after Greenwood Chamber of Commerce’s Board President Rebecca Marks-Jimerson to besmirch her in anyway. We’d still like to talk to her. And we will be calling this week.
To set the record straight, the idea of finding out the state of the Chamber was the idea of management and no one else. No city leader, member of the news staff, member of the Goodwin family or anyone else directed the content of the article. That is not the way a responsible news organization works. The best story would be reporting on a vibrant chamber organization ready to share details of their plans for the Greenwood area.
The Oklahoma Eagle reached out to numerous City and community leaders and few returned phone calls for one reason or another. The story will continue to be reported and will be done with the highest degree of journalistic excellence.
Gun Control Is Nothing New To African American Teens
New racial groups have had trouble with gun violence that African American teens have long faced. This issue is nothing new to them. However, nationally, it is the celebrity cause of the moment. This clamor for change comes on the heels of the Florida high school shooting that has left 17 dead and stirred up a national debate on gun control. So strong is the debate that people are reaching into their pockets to help marches to call for gun control and for keeping schools safe. Great news? Not everyone is happy it seems.
Oprah Winfrey has pledged $500,000 to go toward the March for Our Lives gun control rally. George Clooney has already pledged another $500,000 to the effort. Oprah said the march reminded her of the Freedom Riders in the 60s. Hollywood is caught up in the shooting of a Florida high school that some describe as idyllic and the last place one would expect violence to break out at. But, it did, the kind of violence African American teens deal with on the mean streets of American cities. They don’t like violence any more than the teens of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
Cause célèbre for Winfrey, Clooney and others suddenly concerned for teens under fire who act as if this is the first time this has ever happened. Never again the eloquent teens cried out to eager cameras. This isn’t criticism of the teens, or of anyone’s generosity. It’s about why now? Charlene Carruthers is National Director at Black Youth Project 100, a group trying to create a safe environment for African American youth. Or, doing what the March for Our Lives gun control rally plans to do.
Carruthers wonders where Winfrey and Clooney were when Black teens were asking for help. Nobody has suffered more from gun violence than Black teens. And it’s not been a recent effort either, African Americans have been marching for nonviolence for years. Of course, they have been demonized for their efforts. How dare they call for a ban on assault weapons? Of course, there was no huge influx of funds from Hollywood to help them in their cause. Instead they staged sit-ins calling for change in Florida’s laws that allow for citizens to shoot unarmed citizens. Florida legislators recently knew Florida teens were heading to the capitol to ask for a gun ban. Those law-makers rushed to vote down any effort to even discuss the issue before school buses pulled up to the capitol.
There has been plenty of effort to bring about peaceful change right there in Florida. After Trayvon Martin was shot and killed about three hours away from Parkland. Born out of that high-profile death of an unarmed teen came the Dream Defenders, a group made up of students that wanted to do away with the repeal of the State’s controversial Stand Your Ground law that was used to allow George Zimmerman to shoot an unarmed teen to death.
Zimmerman was found not guilty based on the Stand Your Ground law. Calling for an end to the Stand Your Ground law was the focus of the Dream Defenders. No huge monetary investments from the entertainment world came rolling in. While Parkland teens sat with the President to air their concerns with the nation’s networks in attendance, Dream Defenders faced stony resistance from Florida lawmakers and certainly didn’t win an audience with the President of the United States. This is where we are at.
Tulsa has not been quiet and has worked to support Black teens beseeched by gun violence. The Coalition of 100 Black Men Inc. has worked for years to break the cycle of violence through mentorship. They have brought together a great group of African American men who have brought their wisdom and encouragement to do something about violence in Tulsa north neighborhoods. With varying degrees of success, the group recently identified education as a priority. For years the group has worked tirelessly and without much support in pursuit of their noble mission. They could have used a large donation from a famous person as they try and save Tulsa children from the clutches of gang violence. They could still use some help.
