Voices of Black Youth: Group Cites Lack of Faith in System Black Youths Urged To Ponder Issues
They sat listening to one of President CarterÛªs special assistants talk about the administrationÛªs major concernsÛÓenergy and inflationÛÓwhen 16-year-old Michelle Lewis raised her hand and asked: ÛÏIf the president is so concerned about energy, why is the window open when the am conditioner is runningÛ</br></br>LewisÛª question was not frivolous. The answer was as simple as someone forgetting to close the window when the central air-conditioning system was turned on.</br></br>But the questionÛÓasked during a meeting with White House aide Jack WatsonÛÓdid show that Lewis, an 11th grader at McKinley High School in the city, was listening critically to what was being said and judging whether words were being followed by actions. It was exactly the kind of analytical thinking encouraged under a pilot program here to determine why so few black youths vote and participate in community affairs and what could be done to reach an untapped resource in the black electorate.</br></br>What program officials were told by 28 students chosen from 13 city public high schools was that black youths of voting age have lost faith in the political process as a way to correct social ills in their communities. Students also said that in poorer black communities the problems of everyday survival are often considered more important than political involvement.</br></br>ÛÏThe community lacks the ability to hold itself together and to do something to improve things through Politics,Û said Henry Taylor, 19. a senior at Bell Vocational School,, who works part time at a local McDonaldÛªs restaurant.