African American issues

Co-founders of Brooklyn's Bedford Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corp. James "Rocky" Robinson and Joe Perez. They began the corp in 1988, after watching people die because the Ambulances responded too slowly to calls. (There are 39 volunteer ambulance corps in New York City). They are the focus of a new "The American Promise" PBS documentary. (The program premiered October 1).

Geoffrey Canada is author of Fist Stick Knife Gun; A Personal History of Violence in America (Beacon Press 1995) It provides a look into the lives of children living in violence. Canada is President and CEO of Rheedlan Centers for Children and Families in New York. He helps at risk children in the inner-city to find alternatives to violence.

Terry Johnson is a local organizer for the Philadelphia contingent headed to Monday's Million Man March. Johnson plans to walk to Washington to help symbolize his determination for a positive change in U.S. race relations. He and others will follow the path once used by the Underground Railroad.

Glenn Loury is an African-American conservative who is an outspoken critic of affirmative action programs. He has just written the book One by One From The Inside Out: Essays and Reviews on Race and Responsibility in America. Free Press 1995. In 1987, Loury was nominated to become Reagan's Deputy Secretary of Education. Loury withdrew his name citing "personal reasons." Later that year, Loury was arrested for possession of marijuana and cocaine. He now a Professor of Economics at Boston University.

Mark Harrell (her-ell) is a local organizer for the Philadelphia contingent headed to Monday's Million Man March in Washington D.C. Last year, Harrell chaired a three-day forum in Philadelphia that brought together several hundred African-American men together to discuss problems in the black community. He is the Director of the Youth Gang and Drug Prevention Program for the Philadelphia Mayor's office.

Commentator Gerald Early gives his thoughts on next week's scheduled Million Man March in Washington.

Marc Mauer is a co-author for a new study that says there has been a sharp increase over the past five years in the number of African-American males age 20-29 in jail, on probation or on parole. The study finds, on any given day, one in three black men in their 20s is under some form of court supervision. Five years ago, a similar study found that the percentage at one in four blacks. The study is titled Young Black Americans and the Criminal Justice System: Five Years Later. it's two authors are Marc Mauer and Tracy Huling.

Commentator Gerald Early reflects on the legacy of Booker T. Washington, who among other things, founded the Tuskegee Institute. Today is the 100th anniversary of a speech given by Washington at the Atlanta Exposition, which celebrated a "new" industrialized, post-reconstruction South.

Former Tuskegee Airman Robert Williams. He was with the Army Air Corps "Fighting 99th" the first squadron of Black fighter pilots in World War II. Now, after 45 years of trying he's gotten a studio interested in making a movie about the squadron. The new HBO movie, "The Tuskegee Airmen," stars Laurence Fishburne; Williams is the co-executive producer. The film debuts August 26th.

Mike Tyson returns to the ring Saturday night after a four year absence. Three of those years were spent in jail on a rape conviction. .Tyson continues to deny the charge. Commentator Gerald Early says that Tyson's release from prison sparked new questions about an old debate in the black community: tensions between the genders. Gerald Early teaches English at Washington University where he directs the program on African and Afro-American studies. He's the author of The Culture of Bruising: Essays on Prize fighting, Literature and Modern American Culture.