By Colbert I. King
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Here we are, three days away from turning the final page on 2007. What a ride. To those who remained on board for the entire journey, a heartfelt thanks. To those who boarded, didn't care for the direction and leapt off, sorry. Hope you'll take another look next year.
We covered lot of territory. One prominent subject: presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
She first appeared in an April 21 column [" From Clinton, Hip-Hop Hypocrisy"] written on the heels of a column about Don Imus's description of the Rutgers University women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos." Clinton branded Imus's remarks as "small-minded bigotry and coarse sexism." A month earlier, however, she and husband Bill had attended a Florida fundraiser thrown in her honor by the well-heeled hip-hop producer Timbaland, author of misogynistic and denigrating lyrics that would probably make Imus blush.
My column urged Clinton to give back the $800,000 that was raised for her presidential campaign by the man who penned the lyrics: "most of u rap niggas is hoes to me . . . well put the pistol to ur head and empty the clip, pop nigga." She probably laughed at me all the way to the bank.
Clinton next turned up in a July column, " Things We Don't Have to Know," written in reaction to an interview she gave the New York Times in which she out-Huckabeed Mike Huckabee in expounding on her theological views. This is someone who once declared that she doesn't wear her religion on her sleeve. The columns left me wondering: What does Hillary Clinton really believe?
Not so with Virginia Republican Frank D. Hargrove, a member of the state's House of Delegates who famously observed that instead of seeking an apology from the commonwealth for slavery, "black citizens should get over it." Like poison ivy, I got all over him [" In Virginia, More to 'Get Over' Than Slavery," Jan 20].
There were less scratchy but more sobering moments: a Martin Luther King Jr. Day column on King's speech "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence," the reluctance of some to speak out about Iraq and King's declaration that "a time comes when silence is betrayal" [" From Dr. King, a Reminder on Iraq," Jan. 13]. A September column about Virginia Democratic congressman Jim Moran's thoughts on the American Israel Public Affairs Committee was a learning experience. That piece generated more heat than light, with the advantage going to pro-Moran voices by a wide margin.
Most of the weekly offerings, however, trolled within our nation's capital, focusing on our children.
Life seems so much harder for them. My generation, born of the working class, may not have been a lot better off economically. But we had much of what today's young generation is missing: parents and guardians with strong values, driven by common sense and a determination to see their children succeed.
Authority figures -- teachers, pastors, church deacons, school custodians -- lived in our community, knew our parents and treated (and disciplined) us as if we were their own.
Some kids came from broken homes, some failed in school. We had street crime, too. But nothing like that of today. Behavior considered aberrant then seems to be the norm now.
School test scores and crime statistics point to a generation headed in the wrong direction.
Juvenile-justice reformers proclaim a decrease in the number of D.C. youths arrested for serious crimes. That's an attempt to define the problem away.
D.C. police stats tell another story. Juvenile arrests for all crimes have increased annually since 2005. To wit: In 2005, there were 3,084 arrests; in 2006, 3,186; in 2007, through November, 3,200.
This year, I've written more than two dozen columns about the D.C. schools, the juvenile-justice system and the state of our families -- three badly damaged institutions in dire need of honest examination and repair. Without changes in these institutions, many of our children face grim prospects.
Sadly, expect no letup in 2008.
Help WantedMy Dec. 9 column noted an e-mail I received from one David Gaither, a self-described "employee of one of the non-profits that contracts with DYRS." He took me to task for my columns about the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, accusing me of conducting a "lazy and inaccurate" "witch hunt." Gaither said that he'd heard I was hoping to revive a dwindling career by trying to get DYRS chief Vinny Schiraldi removed.
A few days later, a DYRS employee wrote me that, based on his Internet research, my questioner, David Gaither, appeared to be David Muhammad, chief of committed services at DYRS.
I sent the text of the employee's e-mail to Muhammad, Schiraldi and the acting D.C. attorney general, Peter Nickles, among others, for comment.
On Dec. 21 Muhammad wrote me: "My birth name is David Gaither. While a student at Howard University I changed my name to David Muhammad after becoming a Muslim. If indeed someone named David Gaither emailed you it certainly was not me." Muhammad said that he has "not used the name David Gaither in at least ten years."
Schiraldi brought Muhammad to Washington last year from California, where, according to the Oakland Tribune, Muhammad ran a highly regarded mentoring center in Oakland and served as minister at the Nation of Islam mosque in Richmond, Calif.
The writer, "David Gaither," appears to know a lot about DYRS operations. Who is he?
His e-mail address is brokenchairrest@yahoo.com. Ideas and answers are welcome.
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