Associated Press Article: The IAAF Is To Blame Silence About Caster Semenya’s Medical Condition Means They Are Hiding Something!
Silence on Semenya opens door to ignorance
The Associated Press
Wednesday, August 25, 2010; 3:03 PM
PARIS — Happily, Caster Semenya is racing again. About time, too. But the 800-meter world champion cannot outrun the questions, some of them legitimate, about how and why medical experts cleared her to compete as a woman.
The decision by track and field’s governing body, the IAAF, to give out nothing more than a terse, uninformative 56-word statement announcing the end of Semenya’s nearly yearlong gender-testing ordeal increasingly looks like a mistake.
It respected Semenya’s privacy, but it was too short to stop tongues wagging. Although Semenya has competed sparingly since her ban was lifted in July – Semenya’s fourth race will be this Friday in Brussels, Belgium – the drumbeat of “she’s half a man” is starting up again and could get louder as her times improve, as they surely will as she returns to peak form. Such whispers are wrong, ugly and uncharitable, but they also are not surprising given how poorly this saga has been handled from the start and how little effort authorities have made to dispel the misunderstandings about Semenya’s case.
Kept in the dark, competitors lining up against and being beaten again by Semenya have been left to make uninformed guesses about the gender-testing process she was subjected to. Saying simply that doctors concluded that she can compete, as the IAAF did, is not enough. Its silence and brush-offs from Semenya about what, if anything, doctors prescribed to enable her to compete again is keeping the door open for the type of intolerable ignorance voiced this past weekend by Diane Cummins. The Canadian runner should be made to wash out her mouth with soap for her stupid insensitivity.
“Is she man, is she lady?” Cummins complained to the Daily Telegraph of London after she finished 1.21 seconds behind Semenya in Berlin on Sunday.
“Even if she is a female, she’s on the very fringe of the normal athlete female biological composition from what I understand of hormone testing. So, from that perspective, most of us just feel that we are literally running against a man,” the newspaper quoted Cummins as saying.
Clearly, Cummins doesn’t get it. That means other, more diplomatic competitors likely don’t, too. They need some help figuring out the complex and sensitive issues of gender and biology that are involved here. In truth, we all do. It would help if the IAAF took the lead instead of simply clamming up.
The public admission by NBA star Magic Johnson in 1991 that he was living with HIV marked a step toward ending the shame that was associated with that disease.
If handled with tact but also with more openness, is it possible that Semenya’s case could be used to generate wider acceptance and understanding for people with so-called “disorders of sexual development”?
As it is, as Cummins’ comments showed, some people are still incapable of looking any further than Semenya’s muscular frame and thinking “man” – even though that is mistaken and cruel.
It is unreasonable to expect Semenya herself to become a Johnson-like advocate, at least not now. She is only 19. She comes from a poor village in South Africa and seemingly had no idea that she might be differently biologically from most other women until this whole affair blew up around her. She needs to focus on herself and her promising career after the horrid 11 months that she spent being prodded, poked and debated over by doctors and public opinion.
But someone does need to speak up – either her lawyers, her manager or the IAAF. They don’t need to open up Semenya’s medical files to public scrutiny. But it would help if they gave more information than simply, to cite the IAAF statement, “she can compete” and “please note that the medical details of the case remain confidential and the IAAF will make no further comment.”
If Semenya has a condition that might have been giving her a competitive edge over other women, then perhaps that could be explained privately to those runners who race against her. If she has since undergone hormone treatment to reduce or negate that advantage, then that should be explained, too. The risk otherwise is that the doubts about Semenya will simply linger, which is unfair for her and those who race against her.
“It’s obviously a human rights issue but human rights affect everyone in the race, not just one person,” British runner Jemma Simpson told the Telegraph after finishing fourth in the Berlin race that Semenya won. “No way is it a personal issue but it’s a debate about what is right and fair for everyone.”
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Toronto Star Readers Comments About About The Hermaphrodite South African Athlete Caster Semenya!
Are we forgetting the human here?
Semenya has worked very hard to excel with dedication and perseverance. She should be given all the accolades we lavish on any other excelling athlete. There has been nothing underhanded done, or meant by this person who just wants to run.
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I’m stunned at the complete ignorance of some of the comments
what part of she was born a she are people not quite understanding? Rather they want to put their own bias’ of gay/straight issue on her. She is a SHE. Always was. That SHE was born a hermaphrodite is NOT her fault. Having male hormones and some male parts on the inside is not something she chose. Her body just didn’t make the complete xx or xy determination in the womb. Stop with the stupidity and bias. It’s not a “political correct” or not issue. She’s a she, so she can run as a she. If you don’t like it, suck it up Sallies. Imagine the pain this poor woman faced when she found out with the whole word watching. Humiliating. Like you finding out you had a “birth defect” same time as the world, and now everyone debates if you’re even human. How would you feel? Idiots. Bluejean Baby…good point. She was born with an ability, be it male hormones, longer legs, whatever. If other’s can’t match it. Tough
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Solution…
Get rid of all gender based classification for sports and have it as an “Open”…technically this is the only “fair” thing to do, but it would mean that men would win every time…Lets face it…”transgendered” doesn’t mean either male or female, it means some combination of both or “in between”. Why should females have to run against someone who doesn’t have the same chemical make-up as most of the rest of the field? It’s not really fair either way, but I can understand why some female competitors are upset…they don’t have a chance against “her” as the chemical make-up of this situation tends to give this person a slight advantage over the rest of the field.
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Fairness to all athletes
Ultimately, it’s not what is fair for Semenya. It’s all about what’s fair to all the competitors. Having Semenya compete is not fair to the other women. If Sememya is allowed to compete in women’s events, then the other women competitors should be allowed to bring their hormone levels to equal Semenya’s. If the other women competitors don’t want to do that, then Semenya’s out.
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Leave her alone
She’s only 19 and she’s come back from suicide watch to perform again. How about congratulating her on coming through that ordeal alive, instead of bringing the topic back up for MORE public scrutiny. Talk about cruelty!
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Physical Ability
My title line is apt because there are all kinds of walls put up for those of us who do not possess the physical ability to perform certain feats. We are all individuals. I’m not talking just transgenderism, but every type of situation you can imagine. For eg: i will never be able to become a pilot or police officer, simply because of my poor eyesight. I was born this way; less than perfect vision is in my genes. Does this mean i should start a special group for those with poor eyesight who wish to become pilots/policeofficers? No. It means i should move on & choose something else as my life goal & stop trying to change the world to suit my needs.
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Sounds like some people are giving opinions based on incorrect info. She didn’t have a sex change. She was and is female. She is naturally gifted in the same way Usain Bolt is gifted, but because we (society) expect certain behaviour/appearances from women, and she doesn’t fit that ideal, her legitimacy is questioned.
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Its not fair but…
Listen, it seems that there are two things being debated here. Firstly, she was born with male physiology and body chemistry. There is no arguement that males have increased bone mass and also a high density in muscle tissue. This does create a huge difference between women and men. It is the equivilant in that competition as a female competator coming out and say “yes I am using steroids or HGH to enhance myself”. So now the second issue is the political correctness. We created the standards for competition, and there are classes based on gender. If you agree with this individual competing against women, then you have to agree that there should be no gender selection then. Men can compete against women. It really isnt that complicated.
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Confusion
Caster Semanya is not transgendered. She is a woman with an atypical endocrine system who ended up humiliated after the last Olympics. The other female athletes may not like it, but that is the truth. Worley, who is transgendered, is using Semanya to further her own agenda which is quite different. This article is not about Semanya; it is about Worley.
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Worley comparing Usain to Caster..
..Is just plain Stupid. Usain has an advantage because he is taller than most other runners. Caster has no physical advantages over the other females, she looks the same as them. However she is biologically different in a way that makes her almost equivalent to a female runner on drugs. Cummings has a right to ask questions. I hate when people try to be politically correct. She is NOT a normal female, it isn’t fair for her to be running against others who are.
Aug 24, 2010 8:20 AM
Why not have a transgender olympics?
Open it up to everybody, you race as you wish, no questions asked.
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Half empty or half full?
The controversy arises from people competing on a level playing field. Should the athlete be forced to take drugs that will reduce her level of testosterone or should the others be allowed to take testosterone to bring them up to the same level? Or, should there be different classes of athlete? My opinion is that there will always be gifted athletes that will rise above the others and that’s just the way they were born, can’t fault them for that. When she starts smashing records, maybe it will be different.
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Really?
I think the most closed minded part is that all of these complaints are under the assumption that the system placed to determine whether Caster can run or not did not take this into consideration. They spent months deliberating whether she could run, trust that they thought of how fair it would be and that they made the right decision.
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Other women have run faster
I think the most important part of the article here is, “who didn’t actually set a world record … who (more than 10) women have run faster than her, who didn’t set a meet record.” If other *women* have been able to run faster than her, then clearly it’s possible to run as fast as, and faster than, Semenya. So I agree that the remarks of the other competitors are just sour grapes.
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Tis is idiotic
“She” still has the same fast-twitch muscle fibres, the same anatomy and physiology of what was once a male body. Arguments for this individual’s being permitted to compete are just nauseating politically correct tripe…
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i’m sorry but i disagree
the internal physiology (heart, lungs, etc.) remains male – and usually provides a physical advantage.
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Adrenal glands are not attached to ovaries
They are located on the top,if you will, of one’s kidneys. It is an abnormality in the production of cortisol and aldosterone which figure in the production of androgen (a male sex hormone). It has absolutely nothing to do with her ovaries – which are probably normal, female ovaries.
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Male/Female
All that science and medicine can do is renovate the facade and change the plumbing. The foundation and structure remain the same. Deep down inside the cells of the body, ones DNA remains the same. Born XY, die XY. All the surgery and court rulings in the world will never change that little factor. You can dye your hair and put on make-up to look younger, but you’re still 47.
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A tough problem indeed.
The following is not meant to be disrespectful to anyone, I am just musing here. I’d like to try to tackle the “definitions” concern. How fair are any divisions at all? It seems obvious there needs to be a demarcation between male and female or females would never have a chance to win. Is that sour grapes? The more we have the ability to scrutinize the construction of the human, the more we find are physical components directly related to performance. How far are we prepared to go in creating “fair” groups of competitors? Maybe what is at fault is the previous assumption that there is only one division, that between male and female. Is it not just as fair/unfair to class someone on the border of that demarcation to both sides and see how they compete? Do we need many more divisions or just one to handle the group that is on the edge of any demarcation? How narrow are we to make those divisions? I don’t think those questions are easily answered.
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Sour grapes?
Yikes! What is wrong with this statement: “She’s ignorant,” said Worley. “You’ve got a bunch of athletes who are women who are upset because they’re not running fast enough. It’s bad sportsmanship, that’s what this is. … It’s totally sour grapes.” Worley needs to run against another athlete with drug enhanced body before calling others sour grapes.
It must be humiliating that …
… as an athlete, every health condition, illness or bodily function is made public by the media, and in particular if you are a female athlete that publicity is negative.
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She’s half man …
So how is that sour grapes ?? She had a distinct advantage since her body produces more testosterone than her competitors. That being said, it’s not something she can control, so she should be allowed to race. But she will always have an advantage …
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I agree with Cummins
It seems unfair to have to race against a transgender who has increased levels of testoerone as a result of her condition. It’s not exactly the same as racing against a man, but likely the equivalent to racing against a woman on performance enhancing drugs. I imagine it is tough dealing with this biological problem, but it’s not the other athletes fault and they are not poor sports for having this valid complaint.
Guardian UK Article: Canadian Track & Field Star Diane Cummins Says Running Against Caster Sememya Is Like Running Against A Man!
Caster Semenya faces growing backlash after competitors have their say
• Jemma Simpson breaks silence on Caster Semenya
• Opponent says field are ‘literally running against a man’
- James Callow
- guardian.co.uk, Monday 23 August 2010 09.48 BST
- Article history
Caster Semenya easily defeated a world class field in Berlin on Sunday evening. Photograph: Boris Streubel/GettyCaster Semenya will have to contend with a growing backlash from her beaten opponents, with the British runner Jemma Simpson the latest to raise her concerns while another opponent said the field were “literally running against a man”.
Simpson, who finished fourth as Semenya stormed to victory in the 800m in Berlin last night, admitted her frustration at competing against the South African teenager.
Semenya was competing in her third competitive 800m race since she was cleared to resume competition, following an 11 month absence from the sport when she had been ordered to undergo gender verification tests.
But she showed little sign of rustiness, or of any side effects from a reported course of hormone treatment, as she bridged a gap of 20 metres on the home straight to defeat the American Christin Wurth-Thomas in 1min 59.90 secs.
“It’s obviously a human rights issue but human rights affect everyone in the race, not just one person,” Simpson told the Telegraph. “The rest of the field just gets ignored. No way is it a personal issue but it’s a debate about what is right and fair for everyone. It’s a really tough subject and a lot of people are very careful about what they say. You have to be.
“You have to be diplomatic and keep your opinions to yourself but sometimes it is so frustrating.”
Canada’s Diane Cummins, who was eighth in Sunday’s race, was less guarded.
“As athletes we feel frustrated because everyone is allowed to give their opinion except us,” Cummins said. “If we give an honest opinion, we’re either seen as bad sports or we’re not happy because we’re being beaten.
“But that’s not the case. Jemma and I have been beaten tons of times by athletes who we feel are doing it in the realm of what is considered female.
“Unfortunately for Caster, she’s grown up in an environment that is complicated not just for her but for human science. Basically, is she man, is she lady? What constitutes male, what constitutes female?”
“Even if she is a female, she’s on the very fringe of the normal athlete female biological composition from what I understand of hormone testing. So, from that perspective, most of us just feel that we are literally running against a man.”
Cummins added: “It is certainly frustrating to be running against someone who seems to be doing it effortlessly. We all believe that Caster Semenya, pushed to her full potential, could break the world record.
“That’s 1.53, and that’s what college guys are running. From that perspective, she’s far superior to any female 800m runner we’ve ever had.”
Toronto Star Article: Is It Right Or Wrong For Female Athletes To Be Upset About The Hermaphrodite Caster Semenya?
Complaints against Caster Semenya ‘total sour grapes’
South Africa’s Caster Semenya waves as she prepares to compete in the women’s 800m competition on August 22, 2010 in Berlin. Semenya won the competition.
JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images
A transgender Toronto cyclist who helped South African runner Caster Semenya get reinstated lashed out Monday at complaints against her return — including a remark by Canadian Diane Cummins that it was like “running against a man.”
Kristen Worley, who attempted to become the first transgender Olympian at the 2008 Beijing Games, was responding to remarks made by Cummins and other athletes after Semenya won Sunday in the women’s 800 metres in 1:59.90 at a major meet in Berlin.
It was Semenya’s third meet back since getting the go-ahead to run again by the International Amateur Athletics Federation since the huge controversy that followed her domination at the world championships last year in Berlin.
“As athletes we feel frustrated because everyone is allowed to give their opinion except us,” Cummins was quoted as saying in The Telegraph newspaper in London. “If we give an honest opinion, we’re either seen as bad sports or we’re not happy because we’re being beaten. But that’s not the case.
“Unfortunately for Caster, she’s grown up in an environment that is complicated not just for her but for human science. Basically, is she man, is she lady? What constitutes male, what constitutes female?
“Even if she is a female, she’s on the very fringe of the normal athlete female biological composition from what I understand of hormone testing. So, from that perspective, most of us just feel that we are literally running against a man.”
Worley, co-founder of the Coalition of Athletes for Inclusion in Sport, said Cummins was “making a fool of herself. “
“She’s ignorant,” said Worley. “You’ve got a bunch of athletes who are women who are upset because they’re not running fast enough. It’s bad sportsmanship, that’s what this is. … It’s totally sour grapes.”
Worley, who will be competing in the upcoming Canadian track cycling championships in Bromont, Que., bristles at the double standard applied when sprinter Usain Bolt excels compared to the intense scrutiny Semenya faces every time she performs well.
“Basically when Usain shows up, it’s a question of who’s going to be second and third. That’s a given,” she said. “We make him king of the day. We make him world champion. We the media, we society say ‘Usain, go faster, show us what you can do.’
“But when a woman does it, who didn’t actually set a world record (in winning at the Berlin worlds last year), who (more than 10) women have run faster than her, who didn’t set a meet record, we throw her into stirrups and virtually rape her. We did that because of the way her face looks and her voice.”
Worley, who says she worked behind the scenes with Semenya’s lawyer Greg Nott, said the 19-year-old runner’s gender should never have been in question.
“She has what’s called congenital adrenal hyperplasia,” said Worley. “It’s one of over 100 different types of intersex. In fact, we’re all intersexed to one level or another. Her adrenal glands, which are attached to her ovaries, are overperforming. That’s all it is. … There’s all these misconceptions.”
Worley said it’s a social problem.
“Anything we don’t understand, we fear,” she said. “So when it comes to gender differences which are normal, it hits to the very core of us as human beings, it puts each one of us into question. That’s the challenge.
“(IOC president) Jacques Rogge said to me a couple of years ago from his office in Lausanne ‘Kristen, this is a medical problem.’ I said ‘Mr. Rogge, this is a social problem.’ I emailed him a few weeks ago (after Semenya was reinstated) ‘I guess I was right, huh.’”
Ny Times Article: Female Athletes Are Upset Controversial Intersex Athlete Caster Semenya Is Competing With Women!
As Semenya Returns, So Do Questions
By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY
Published: August 22, 2010
BERLIN — One year later, Caster Semenya is in a more secure place, but her rivals in the 800 meters are not.
Markus Schreiber/Associated Press
Caster Semenya, center, won the 800 meters by half a second.
Related
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Times Topic: Caster Semenya
After a forced 11-month absence from the event that she had bolted from obscurity to dominate, Semenya returned to competition last month after receiving confirmation from track and field’s governing body, the I.A.A.F., that she could compete as a woman.
On Sunday, on the same blue track in the Olympic Stadium where she won a world title last August, Semenya won the 800 again in a one-day meet. Her competitors, sharply critical when she emerged last year, were still voicing concerns, even though Semenya’s winning time of 1 minute 59.90 seconds was more than four seconds slower than her winning time last year and even though she had to come from behind on the final straightaway to win by a much smaller margin.
Jemma Simpson of Britain, who finished fourth Sunday in 2:00.57, said that although she felt sorry for Semenya because of the scrutiny she had endured in the last year, other competitors had been slighted in the search for justice for Semenya.
“It’s obviously a human rights issue, but human rights affect everyone in the race, not just one person,” Simpson said. “And for the rest of the field, it gets ignored.”
When asked what the fair solution would be, Simpson said: “I think every competitor has got to be considered in this kind of thing, and it’s just like, maybe for the spectators it’s fair, but we spend our whole lives trying to do this. We train hard, and it can just be taken away from you.”
Simpson conceded that the issue was “really tough” and that Semenya had a right to privacy, but she said it would be easier to accept the I.A.A.F.’s decision to allow Semenya to compete if there had been some public explanation for the ruling’s rationale. When the I.A.A.F. cleared Semenya to compete as a woman in July, it did not release test results or provide details of its methodology.
Raised as a woman in rural South Africa, Semenya has long faced questions about her sex. During South African junior competitions, rival coaches and competitors sometimes asked for proof that she was female. But the issue became a global talking point here last year after she broke free of a strong field early on the final lap and won by more than two seconds on the same day the I.A.A.F. had confirmed news reports that she had been asked to submit to sex determination tests.
Though she was awarded her gold medal in Berlin, Semenya, then 18, was not allowed to conduct a postrace news conference after track and field officials became concerned that she would not be able to cope with the controversy.
But she spoke freely after her victory Sunday with only her agent, Jukka Harkonen, by her side. “I did not think about everything that happened after my gold medal,” Semenya said. “I just concentrated on my race and on my time. My goal was to run under two minutes, and I achieved my goal.”
“I cannot say Berlin is bad memories for me,” she said later. “Because for me while I was in Berlin, I was always happy.”
Harkonen has been one of the architects of Semenya’s schedule since her return, starting her off at two minor meets in Finland last month, then urging her to return to the elite level in Berlin because of the inherent symbolism.
“It’s a good drama,” Harkonen said.
Her troubles have not yet been good for business, even though a documentary film will soon be released. Harkonen estimated that Semenya’s inability to compete for almost a year cost her $250,000 in lost appearance fees and prize money.
But it has certainly raised awareness of the complexity of determining sex as well as raising her profile in her sport. “There’s Usain Bolt and there’s Caster Semenya,” Harkonen said, perhaps too optimistically.
Semenya received a loud ovation from the crowd when she was introduced. Simpson said that although there were plenty of curiosity-seekers staring at Semenya in the call-up room, the other competitors treated her normally.
Semenya broke the two-minute barrier with only a few weeks of training and in her third race of the season.
“It is certainly frustrating to run against somebody who seems to be doing it effortlessly,” said Diane Cummins, a 36-year-old Canadian born in South Africa who finished eighth. “I mean, we all honestly believe that Caster Semenya pushed to her absolute potential could break the world record and that’s 1:53, and that’s what college guys are running, so from that perspective, she’s far superior than any female 800-meter runner we’ve ever had.”
Semenya was not the only impressive 800-meter runner on Sunday. Minutes after her race, David Rudisha of Kenya broke the 13-year-old world record in the men’s 800, winning in 1:41.09. That was two-hundredths of a second faster than the mark set by Wilson Kipketer in August 1997.
Since her return, Semenya and her representatives have declined to comment on particulars of her case or to confirm whether she had to have treatment in order to become eligible.
“We want to live in the present and the future, not the past,” her coach, Michael Seme, said Sunday.
But her present clearly shares some elements with the past. Elisa Cusma Piccione of Italy, the only runner Sunday who also competed in the world championship final against Semenya, deflected questions about Semenya after saying last year that “she’s not a woman; she’s a man.”
But others are still speaking out, and Cummins suggested that track officials consider revisiting what constitutes an acceptable biological baseline for female athletes.
“We have levels that we are not allowed to test over, so even if she’s a female, she’s on the very fringe of the normal female athlete biological composition from what I understand in terms of hormone testing,” Cummins said. “So from that perspective I think most of us sort of just feel like literally we are running against a man because what we know to be female is a certain testosterone level. And if that isn’t the case, they need to change everything.”
San Antonio Express Article: Black Community Must Help Young Black Men Or They Can Become A Menace To Society!
As the “Educating the Young Black Male” forum began Saturday morning in the sanctuary of Grace First Baptist Church, a father sat in the foyer.
His back was against the wall, and he gently played with his son, who looked to be about 3 years old. The forum’s keynote speaker, Dr. Carey Latimore IV, co-director of Trinity University’s African-American Studies Department, cited the devastating statistics that’s made the plight of young black males a decades-long crisis. He talked about the 1 in 3 black males who will go to prison sometime in their lives, the up to 50 percent who don’t finish high school, the exorbitant rate of black males without a high school diploma who are unemployed, that the great majority of blacks in college are women and that 70 percent of black children are born out of wedlock.
“God bless single mothers,” Latimore said. “But black fathers need to step up to the plate.”
In the foyer, the little boy playfully collapsed in his father’s embrace, and they never stopped looking at each other with the affection and smiles signifying that they meant the world to each other.
The idea for the conference was that of Cynthia Fowler, a member of the Grace congregation and its education committee. An educator and the mother of three teenage sons, Fowler says that her oldest son had problems in school and she understood her responsibility and commitment to help him and his younger brothers to navigate and excel.
“I knew that if I did not become an agent in my son’s life, he wouldn’t succeed in public school,” she said.
One of her sons recently finished in third place in a national speech competition in Kansas City. Her use of the word “agent” echoed Latimore’s language.
“African-Americans have lost agency in their lives,” Latimore said before defining the word. “Agency is a person or thing from which power is exerted. You can be an agent or you can be dependent. We look to everyone to take care of our business but ourselves.”
Putting the rightful responsibility on parents, Latimore added, “An agent doesn’t just send their children to schools – they send their children to school and ask questions.”
But the education of young black males isn’t just the interest or responsibility of families but of communities.
“If you’re not a parent, be somebody’s parent,” Latimore said. “Are we not our brother’s keeper?”
And communities must raise expectations and insist on excellence from their youth.
“Expectations make a big difference,” said Dr. Bette Austin, a teacher and educational consultant. “If you expect it from them, they’ll try to reach it. They may not all get there, but they’ll all be going in the right direction.”
After breakout sessions, the more than 100 people in attendance reconvened and delivered reports and solutions, copying everyone. The proposed solutions listed included providing appropriate role models in home and school, educating families and guardians on how to be good role models, teaching good values, parents advocating for themselves and their children and becoming more involved in their education, providing different learning experiences, building stronger relationships between parents and teachers, providing greater mentoring from the community, involving youth in extracurricular activities beyond athletics, helping them to increase their critical thinking skills and teaching young men how to gauge the media for positive topics relevant to black males.
“We have to reach out to the young black male,” said The Rev. Allen Ford, Grace First Baptist Church’s pastor. “But we also have to reach out to the young Hispanic male and the young white male as well.”
For this to succeed, it will take more gatherings of devoted adults and youth on Saturday mornings and afternoons as well as every other day of the week .
But it can be done.
As the forum wrapped up, two teenage boys performed a positive rap titled “Not a Statistic.” In the audience sat the little boy from the foyer, watching and listening while cradled in his father’s arms.
ABC News: Black American Infants Death Rate Triple Compared To Other Races!
Black infants face triple death rate of others
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PANORAMA CITY, LOS ANGELES (KABC) — According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, African-American infants in California are more than twice as likely to die during their first year of life compared to infants of other races.
A local organization is trying to change that and they’re hoping to get dads more involved in the health of their babies.
A majority of African-American children are born out of wedlock and most are raised by single mothers. The Black Infant Health Program understands how absent fathers can affect the health of their children. So they’ve developed a strategy to help new dads.
All parents have stress, but in some communities the stress can be even greater. Many African-American families don’t survive the added economic, social and emotional burdens. One local program recognizes this need and is reaching out to new moms.
At the Black Infant Health Program in Mission Hills, moms are connected with resources, but most of all they feel relief knowing they’re not alone.
0 African-American babies in California are 2 to 3 times more likely to die of sudden infant death syndrome than babies of other races.
“Since 1850, the data of infant mortality in the black community has not reduced. It’s alarming,” said Yodit Abraha, Black Infant Health Program manager for the Mission City Community Network.
Experts believe the cause for the high rates of infant mortality in the black community may be many fold, from economic to social to possibly biological.
“The stressors that African-Americans walk with throughout a whole generation does impact physiological makeup. So it’s a lot of stress hormones that are already high in the black community especially in the reproductive age of African-American woman,” said Abraha.
The Black Infant Health Program helps families based on their needs. They offer infant care and other parent education seminars, as well as provide emotional and economic support.
“Love your children and love yourself because if you don’t love yourself how are you going to love your child and take care of it, and get help. And it’s OK to get help,” she said.
Due to all the budget cuts, the state recently cut funding to the Black Infant Health Program. But they’re staying afloat thanks to last minute help from the First Five Foundation. When that funding runs out, the organization will have to turn to private donors.
Former NBA Clipper star Pooh Richardson is teaming up with the Black Infant Health Program to raise awareness and help the program continue their important work with mothers and babies. They’re holding a free community event with basketball workshops on Saturday, August 21 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Kids of all ages and experience levels will have an opportunity to get instruction from Richardson and a group of professional level players. Kids will be matched with others at their skill level and play in a game.
The event is taking place at James Monroe High School, located at 9229 Haskell Street in North Hills. To register to play, call (818) 830-6373.
ESPN.Com Article: Ron English Criticizes Single Parent Black Families He Says They Don’t Teach Black Men To Become Men.
Ron English not wrong
Assessment of the challenges facing athletes from single-parent families rings true
A good friend of mine once joked that women who have involved fathers dance differently than those who don’t.
My friend referred to it as the “I Got A Daddy” dance, which was his light-hearted way of explaining that women with fathers in their lives behave less provocatively.
In today’s world, it’s not exactly considered progressive to suggest that children from broken homes have behavior issues, since so few of us grew up in traditional families like the Huxtables.
Over the past week, Eastern Michigan football coach Ron English discovered just how sensitive this topic can be.
English is taking a lot of heat for saying he preferred recruits who had a “father in the background,” which some interpreted as a criticism of single mothers.
“A guy that’s raised by his mom all the time, and please don’t take me wrong, but the reality is that you’ve got to teach that guy how to be taught by a man,” English said at Mid-American Conference media day last month in response to a question about his incoming recruiting class.
After not winning a single game last year, EMU needed some publicity, but this probably isn’t what English, a second-year coach, or the university had in mind.
English has since publicly apologized for his remarks, telling AnnArbor.com: “Where I’ve been, in high-profile situations, you always have to be very careful about what you say. But I want to say I made a mistake.”
It certainly wasn’t the smartest thing for a coach coming off a winless season to say. I’m sure a lot of high school football coaches in the metro Detroit area took notice, and a few recruits probably wondered why they would want to play for a college coach whose comments seemed to indicate he was shying away from the challenge of grooming young men, rather than embracing it.
But while this won’t do English any favors in recruiting, let’s not pretend that his statements weren’t laced with some uncomfortable truths.
We commonly witness examples of athletes who could have benefited from having a father or a male figure in their lives. Michael Vick and Allen Iverson, who were both estranged from their fathers, immediately come to mind.
English wasn’t trying to knock women raising sons on their own. In fact, English’s mother died when he was just 18 months old and he was raised primarily by his grandmother. English also explained that his uncles and male coaches were important influences who helped him develop into the man he is. Clearly women are more than capable of raising boys, and there have been plenty of children from two-parent homes who have grown up to be knuckleheads.
But statistics show that children raised in single-parent homes — especially boys — suffer from some unique problems.
In 2007, there was a record number of babies born out of wedlock (four out of 10, according to the National Center for Health Statistics), and in the African-American community — which is well-represented in areas where English does a lot of recruiting — more than half of the children live in single-parent homes. The majority of these households are headed by women.
As a product of a single mother I wouldn’t dare attack women in that position, but children from single-parent homes are 35 percent more likely to live in poverty, have disciplinary issues at school, go to jail and drop out of high school.
It’s not gender discrimination to say that boys often fare better when their lives are influenced by positive male role models because it’s true. The National Fatherhood Initiative has a host of statistics that support what English said — which was just a realistic portrayal of the impact of broken homes. And mentoring young black men is one of the reasons Tony Dungy said he retired from the NFL.
Sadly, a lot of coaches are used to being ad hoc fathers, and privately, many of them will tell you that they can tell which players have a father in their life versus those who doesn’t.
It’s admirable that English clarified his statements, but I’ll bet there were plenty of single mothers who understood.
Kansas City Star Article: Are Black Male Athletes That Have Children Out Of Wedlock A Disgrace To The Black Community?
More News
The self-inflicted wound crippling the black community spread on the Internet last week like a popular joke. There was New York Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie on the HBO show “Hard Knocks,” using his fingers to count his children and appearing to struggle with their names and birth dates. Eight kids by six women in five states. Cromartie just turned 26 – a damaging stereotype come to life, allowing America to mock black men and black athletes. The Jets reportedly had to front Cromartie $500,000 before he played a down for them, just to cover all the paternity suits.
Jim Brown, civil-rights pioneer, legend and proud black man, felt his giant shoulders sag. When will this ever change? He goes into ghettos and prisons with his message of help and hope. Rival gangs stack their guns on the table when he speaks in front of them. And so little changes as he gets old and tired. Even the lucky ones who escape, like Cromartie, continue to make the mistakes of their absentee fathers, reckless negligence passed down from generation to generation like a genetic disease.
“How in the world do gangbangers control a neighborhood?” Brown asks. “Twelve- and 13-year-olds, these babies with guns in their hands? They control a community because there are no families there, no fathers there. The biggest problem in the black community is that fathers aren’t taking care of their responsibilities. It is one of the biggest contributors to our disorganization and discord. It has turned everything backward. The social effect can’t even be measured. It’s totally devastating.”
He pauses here, so exhausted by this fight.
“I don’t mind being a surrogate and father figure to these young men because I see the good it does, but we need the actual fathers,” he says. “This is a tragedy. Stop blaming the white man or the system or discrimination. Blame yourself. Cromartie is so misguided. This young man has no guidance.”
I once asked Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis why so many black athletes have children out of wedlock. His response? Because so many of us are children out of wedlock. It’s a good answer, sociologically, but it doesn’t demand introspection or improvement. We’re all products of our upbringing, our experiences, our environments. Unless we choose not to be. Alonzo Mourning grew into a model father and community pillar, using the platforms sports gave him for things beyond bedroom pleasure, and he was an orphan. It was important for him to be a good father specifically because of how much it hurt him not to have one.
“Cromartie had eight kids, and it seemed like nine of them were 3 years old – that had to be the year he made the Pro Bowl,” former NFL player Marcellus Wiley says with a laugh.
Wiley made the unusual journey from Compton, Calif., to Columbia University with the aid of a two-parent home. Marriage? Overrated, he says. He points to the American divorce rate and a recent Sports Illustrated report that 78 percent of NFL players, white and black, are either broke or divorced within two years of retirement – when there is time to be home, in other words, and really get to know your spouse without the divided time that must be poured into climbing atop something as cutthroat competitive as sports. Wiley’s parents were boyfriend and girlfriend for 21 years without getting married. He has an 11-year-old with a woman who isn’t his wife, and he says that bond requires more commitment than anything you’ll ever find at a fancy wedding reception without children.
“The baby momma should be forever,” he says. “But we come from this background where the father isn’t around all the time, and we don’t look at it as badly as other cultures do. We’ve been desensitized to this vicious cycle. This vicious cycle is our normal.”
Counters former NFL running back Robert Smith: “That’s a pathetic excuse. Are we still subservient because we came here in chains? We changed that. We can’t change this? When does this expletive change? You either follow the path or you create it.”
But it is so much easier to follow than lead – especially when the women and money are easy, too. Besides, youth is wasted on the young, and perspective and wisdom usually comes with age and your own mistakes, not the mistakes of others. The temptation around athletes is breathtaking and omnipresent. Combine fun and youth and money with beautiful women eager to be near it in a hip-hop culture that glorifies sexy excess. Throw in some gold-diggers, like the ex-wife of former NBA All-Star Kenny Anderson, who drives around with a license plate that reads “HISCASH.” (Anderson declined to discuss that part of his past, saying little beyond that his mother begged him not to get married.) It isn’t hard for an irresponsible athlete to sink in that world.
“But a lot of people come from broken homes and don’t perpetuate it,” says former NBA player Jalen Rose. “I don’t want to give black men that crutch. I don’t know of any white athletes that have as many irresponsible situations as Cromartie. I don’t care if you were born in a cave or were a crack baby, there is no justification for this. As an adult and professional, there has to be a sense of reason and responsibility. This isn’t just a money-and-power thing, though. I know guys who have never left their corner of the neighborhood who have six kids by five women. I know guys still living at home with Mom who have done the same. Money gives guys access, but this isn’t a professional-athlete problem. This is an African-American problem.”
Former NFL running back Travis Henry, broke, allegedly resorted to cocaine trafficking to alleviate debt caused by too much irresponsible sex. He told The New York Times he was trapped by four women who had his babies, but that doesn’t explain the seven other kids he had with six other women who didn’t trap him. Calvin Murphy – reportedly 14 kids by nine women. NBA journeyman Jason Caffey – reportedly 10 children by eight women. NBA journeyman Willie Anderson – reportedly nine kids by seven women. The NBA lifestyle, with so much travel and so many groupies, also ensnared Scott Skiles, the white former guard who now coaches the Milwaukee Bucks. It has been reported he has six to eight illegitimate children.
“It’s a cultural problem for us, a pattern of short-view outlooks,” Smith says. “Instant gratification. Overvalue material, undervalue education. Get rich or die trying. It’s disgusting, but it is telling. So many of the problems that plague us – education, violence, prison – start with the father’s absence.”
Smith gets angry discussing this. He got married a few years ago and just had his first baby at 38, a bundle of life-changing joy named Ty. Smith directs me to a Curtis Mayfield song about a wild child’s descent into drugs:
Little child
Runnin’ wild
Watch a while
You see he never smiles
Broken home
Father gone
Mama tired
So he’s all alone
Kind of sad
Kind of mad
Ghetto child
Thinkin’ he’s been had
One room shack
On the alley-back
Control, I’m told
From across the track
Where is the mayor
Who’ll make all things fair
He lives outside
Our polluted air
So little has changed since that song came out in 1972.
Smith has rekindled his relationship with his old man, although it is not without its stresses. A month ago, at the end of a conversation, Smith’s father mentioned something about visiting New York when he was young because he had nothing else to do. It was just a throw-away comment. But it stayed with the son after he hung up. So he called his father back.
“You had nothing else to do?” Smith asked. “No, you should have gotten your ass home and taken care of your wife and kids.”
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