THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 5, 1997 TAG: 9702050451
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 65 lines
Forget about using Ebonics to teach children standard English, magazine editor George Curry told Norfolk State University students Tuesday.
Ebonics will just demean the students and won't get them where they should be going, Curry said.
``To me, it's an insult,'' said Curry, editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine. ``You're saying we can't teach our kids, and I disagree with that. . . .
``We waste all this time on feel-good stuff. The bottom line is: You better learn the man's language. That's how you communicate, that's how you get jobs.''
Curry, who edits one of the country's most prominent magazines for blacks, offered sometimes caustic comments on other issues and personalities, ranging from O.J. Simpson to affirmative action. But underlying it all was the message: Never give up. All obstacles, including prejudice, can be surmounted.
Curry's was the first speech during Norfolk State's Pride Week, which ushers in a month of talks and activities commemorating African-American History Month.
Speaking to 250 students at Brown Hall, Curry used his life story to encourage students to shoot for the top.
He grew up in public housing in Alabama, had to sit in the back of the bus and drink from ``colored fountains.'' His mother worked as a maid; her employer drove her home, but never let her sit in the front of the car.
``I decided then that if any of us - my younger three sisters and I - ever rode in the back seat of a car, it would be because we were chauffeured,'' Curry said.
He graduated from Knoxville College in Tennessee and went on to become the second black reporter at Sports Illustrated. He worked as the New York bureau chief and Washington correspondent for the Chicago Tribune before becoming editor of Emerge. He also appears as an analyst on Black Entertainment Television.
``You can let it (racism) defeat you or you can determine that nothing or nobody is going to stop you from attaining your goals,'' Curry said. ``It's like entering a dark room: You either create a light or you curse the darkness.''
Curry criticized several black heroes for deserting their roots: O.J. Simpson ``never had anything to do with the community until he got in trouble, and we take him back every time.'' Michael Jackson is ``the first black boy who wanted to grow up to be a white woman.''
Blacks, he said, should idolize everyday people who have made a difference in their lives, such as a teacher or coach.
Curry said affirmative action is still needed ``because we have so much negative action.'' Referring to the edge that colleges give in the admissions process to children of alumni, he said: ``The biggest quota program in the country is alumni preferences. When they're willing to get rid of alumni preferences, I'll be willing to get rid of affirmative action.''
His advice to students: Steer clear of drugs, and get to work. ``That means skipping some of the parties. But I can party much better later on when people pay me six figures than I can unemployed.''
Curry cited two fellow honors students at his high school. One became a judge in Detroit; the other was imprisoned for selling crack. ``One went to jail; the other one sends people to jail. Those are the choices you've got to make.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot
George Curry, editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine, told Norfolk State
University students Tuesday that ebonics will demean students and
won't get them where they should be going.