
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 3, 1994                   TAG: 9403030140
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Almena Hughes
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

A CALL TO LOOK BACK - THEN AHEAD

While during February much of the nation was looking back at African Americans' history, Reginald Ware was anticipating May and focusing on their future. While others were admiring how far blacks have come despite emotional, economic and physical wounds inflicted by a society sick with prejudice, Ware was watching where we're going and trying to find a cure for what ails us.

If the 35-year-old publisher of a new quarterly magazine aimed at improving African American health has his way, May will be "Black Future Month" - a time for "every black organization, church group, family, business and local association . . . to map out plans for where we want to be 10, 25 or even 50 years from now and . . . decide what we need to do to get there."

Ware's proposal - part of his editorial in the Spring '94 issue of Heart & Soul magazine - inspired me to call him at his office in Chicago.

"I thought May was good because by then we've had several months to mull things over from the time spent reflecting on our past. But actually, Black Future Month could be any month, maybe even the last part of Black History Month," Ware said. "The important thing is that we need to take steps to come together, establish financial self-sufficiency, examine our options and take charge of our own destinies."

Yes, Ware said, his take-charge plan correlates with the seven principles of Kwanzaa, the African-American holiday introduced in 1965 by Ron Karenga: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.

Ware said he'd add to the list changing the habits and mind-sets that contribute to blacks suffering disproportionately from lifestyle- and diet-related illnesses, including obesity, hypertension, diabetes, cancer and infant mortality.

"We've got to become healthier," Ware said. "Smoking kills more blacks than homicide or AIDS. That's just one thing that affects our health that we can control."

Another thing we can control, at least to a degree, he says, is our preparedness to take advantage of opportunities. The media and statistics often paint bleak pictures of blacks as self-destructive, illiterate, impoverished, immoral and inept. Ware does not agree.

Noting that the number of blacks with college degrees has doubled since the 1980s, Ware said, "In the past, we needed quotas to ensure that we got chances. But now, there are so many things going on. It's open to us, if we have the right education and skills. We need to look at the opportunities, and position ourselves to be there when they arise."

Ware, whose slick, sophisticated magazine marks a milestone collaboration with the nation's leading fitness and health publisher, Rodale Press, says he's still working out the mechanics of putting his proposed month in action. One possibility is working with other black-health-oriented organizations. But perhaps his greatest ally will be in the oral tradition - word of mouth - with each person who hears of and agrees with his proposal spreading the word to someone else.

That's where I, and maybe you, come in. I think Ware's proposal is right on target. I can't think of a better, more constructive way to spend May or any other month than bettering my own and, by extension, all people's futures.

Probably those individuals who now question the need for a Black History Month will also wonder at the necessity of a month for blacks to look ahead. Ware explains it as well as ever I could.

"I think looking at our history is necessary and fine. But looking only at history is like driving a car forward while looking only in the rear-view mirror. It's not a very smart thing to do."

by CNB