African Americans have been posing an important question to civic and political leaders with a greater degree of frequency and an increased sense of urgency over the past decade, “Are organizations like the NAACP, SCLC and the Urban League still relevant?” And while scholars from Harvard’s Dr. Cornel West to black political pundits like Jamal Simmons of CNN, have weighed in on the issue, the fact remains that institutionalized inequities remain for most African Americans. Rolling out recently spoke with the Urban League of Detroit’s two-time president, N. Charles Anderson, about the premier civil and human rights organization. –roz edward and charity patrick
The Urban League has had its finger on the pulse of the black community for many years. How is the organization addressing the pressing problems facing Detroiters now?
We make sure that we have the right type of programs and services in place when people approach us for job placement. Some have been out of the work force for quite sometime [and they] may need more assistance. We work very closely with the people in our community, that is why we have programs such as Mentor Working programs, which are geared to getting people over 50 back in the workplace. We try to address every need [that] we can.
The Urban League of Detroit and Southeastern Michigan is strongly invested in the development of youth, their education academic achievements and life skills. What have been some of the highlights of your tenure?
I am proud of something we created called the College Club for high school students. We have programs that focus on the challenges that young people have. But the reality is that 96 percent of children in our community are not getting in trouble, it’s that 4 percent that are, and they get all of the attention. That then leads the other children to act out to get attention from us. We thought that someone should invent a program about positive development. We have Youth Dialogue where we try to prevent young people from getting into trouble. …We also have male responsibility programs and every [year] we have a luncheon to celebrate the youth who are doing positive things with their lives and our community.
What directions will the Urban League take going forward?
Work force employment and focusing on jobs and education are always our prime focus. I try to encourage students to go to school and get good grades and stop saying going to school is acting white. I ask, if doing what you are supposed to do is acting white, then, how do you act black? Black is not dumb and uneducated, [so] why does our society feed this image to our youth? We have a great legacy. Black is intelligent it, is positive and it means going the extra mile. We need to keep focusing on those positive things and exposing people to that … This is the way we need to start going and that is how we have to roll.
Visit www. urbanleague.org for more information.
