Published: April 22, 2008 11:56 am      

Education, dialogue key to confronting racial discrimination

FROSTBURG - Education, discussion and confronting issues between racial communities were the major issues at a meeting at Frostburg State University Monday night.

"Education is so important," the Rev. Alfred Deas of Metropolitan AME Church in Cumberland said. "We need you to impact our children. We need you to show the importance of education. We need you to represent a role model to children that may have an apathetic attitude."

At the meeting organized by Iota Phi Theta Fraternity and Eclectic 1, members of the Concerned Citizens Coalition spoke to a mixed crowd of students and community members about the race issues facing the community today. The focus was to go beyond just the recent concerns of racially motivated taunts and with students displaying the Confederate flag.

The panel spoke on the emphasis of education within the African-American community and how to promote to the youngest generation in the county the importance of high school and college degrees.

They spoke of a different type of education, one including understanding and open dialogue about race and the discrimination that still goes on in the area.

William Peck, member of the coalition, spoke first of the history of race relations in the area, describing the levels of segregation that went even as far as whether he could try on a shirt at a department store, for fear that a white customer would not purchase it if he had, to attending a theater near the projection booth because that was the only spot in the only theater where he would be allowed to enter.

He then said that even today, there are a number of barber shops that refuse to cut an African American's hair and organizations that still will not accept them as members.

Robin Woods, also a coalition member, said that he had personally gone into a county office trying to get a job application and found that he had to wait nearly 15 minutes and speak to several people just to get the application that he said was practically sitting next to the people he spoke to.

He added that other businesses in the area simply do not hire African-Americans, and said that even FSU does not represent the 36 percent African-American population of its students with a similar percentage of employees of that race.

He said there also remains an ignorance of what is offensive speech, saying that he had heard that one county official said that he would "lynch" anyone who did not come under budget this year, and had even kept a noose hanging in his office window to emphasize the point. When he confronted the county on this, he said that he had been told by Brian Westfall, human resources director, that the noose was gone and it wasn't a serious issue.

Norma Blacke Bordeau, president of the local NAACP chapter, said there needs to be more work to help overcome prejudice and bias. She said while her immediate community had been welcoming, she has encountered ignorance in the area. She said that in her role as president, she continues to work to fight the struggles that African-Americans have finding jobs as well as the treatment that they and mixed families still encounter in not only Allegany County, but also surrounding counties.

Members of the coalition then discussed with students some of the problems they have had in the community and also ways in which the coalition and students can help one another in working with areas of race and the community in general. This included the possibility of student volunteers going out into the community to talk about the importance of education and the coalition helping to protest and lodge complaints against discrimination the students have encountered.

Christopher Uhl, chapter president of Iota Phi Theta, said that he felt the point of the evening's meeting was to help unite the community and the students in order to work together on this issue and other issues where they could help those needing it most.

"A lot of times, people have forums and talk about problems, but not how to do anything about them," Uhl said. "That's not what this is about."

Contact Sarah Moses at smoses@times-news.com.