NAACP convention focuses on black youth

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DETROIT - For youngsters such as Jabree Campbell and Trenail Johnson, the state of young black America is paved with gold yet filled with land mines.

The two, who are attending their first NAACP convention this week in Detroit, are learning to be politically aware and engaged in their respective communities. They understand the importance of an education and want to stay out of trouble. They have career aspirations and parents who push them to do their best.

The problem, they said, is that many of their schoolmates don’t.

“When some black kids grow up, there’s a whole bunch of them who don’ t have jobs and don’t know what to do with their lives,” said Jabree, 12, of Akron, Ohio. “And some of them can’t keep a job because they do drugs, they drink and they smoke. And they don’t know how to talk to their elders.”

As hundreds of young people listened to a panel of African-American professionals and rapper Master P, the keynote speaker, discuss the state of young black America at a Wednesday session, they paid close attention. They cheered when appropriate. And when Master P’s rapper son, Romeo, made his way to the stage, many of the girls screeched with delight.

But Romeo - formerly known as L’il Romeo - was all business as he told the crowd how his father instilled the value of education even as he pursued his dream of being an entertainer. This fall, Romeo will attend the University of Southern California and play basketball for the school.

“Me being young and black, people always doubted me and I’m proving them wrong,” Romeo said.

The panelists, who ranged from a criminologist to a coalition adviser for the Congressional Black Caucus, explained the dichotomy facing young African Americans - so much promise yet so many temptations.

“We’re at a critical juncture in our history in this country,” said Khari Mosley, Pennsylvania director of the League of Young Voters. “We see the accomplishments; blacks have reached heights we’ve never seen before. But there’s another part of this generation being left behind by crime, drugs, AIDS.”

Trenail, 13, of Lynchburg, Va., said he has told schoolmates to leave their guns at home and stop selling drugs. He said they rarely listen, insisting they won’t get caught. Although he lives in a close-knit neighborhood, seedy areas surround it, he said.

Trenail’s father is a city councilman and his mom teaches at an alternative school. They encourage him to keep pursuing his dream of playing the drums in his high school and college bands.

“Even though I’m a good kid, they tell me every day to stay in school, go to college, get an education and live a good life,” Trenail said. “I want that for me. I think it can be easy, but I do have to work hard.”

Master P told the audience that despite his humble upbringings, he always believed in himself and was always proud to be black.

“All you young people, I understand what you’re going through,” said P. “Don’t be afraid to make a change. I come from the ghetto. I’m a living witness that you can make it.”

The rapper also asked the audience not to blame hip-hop for African-American social ills, though he acknowledged the industry isn’t perfect.

“I was once part of the problem. But I realized, by having kids, that if I’ve got to get in the car and turn down my own music, something is wrong and I’ve got to fix it,” he said.