IN MEMORY OF THE WONDERFUL ALLISON PAYNE

We received the news over the weekend (September 13, 2021) of the death of former WGN News Anchor and journalist, Allison Payne (February 12, 1964 to September 1, 2021). Allison was a 9 time Emmy Award winner and a 21 year anchorwoman with WGN TV. Allison was also an international journalist and popular public speaker.

It is in her role as a fellow board member that I best remember Allison Payne. In the early 1990's Allison and I both served on the Board of Directors of The Reach Out and Touch Organization, founded by Its Executive Director, Reverend Jeffery Haynes. Reach Out and Touch was located in the Englewood community, on the south side of Chicago. Englewood is now called Chi-Rac and has a reputation as the murder capital of the U.S. When we were board members of Reach Out and Touch, the community was impacted by gang related gun violence over the control of crack cocaine sales. Reach Out and Touch offered several programs to address community challenges including prevention services, recreational programming as alternatives to drug activity, gang intervention, entrepreneur services, employment opportunities and addictions services.

At each board meeting, held in Englewood, was Emmy Award winner Allison Payne. She was famous and there she was in Englewood solving problems. The cameras were not present at those board meetings and there she was, a humble super star. Perhaps part of her motivation to serve was her own public story of addiction and recovery. On several occasions Allison brought pies which she baked to our board meetings. What celebrity would do that? Allison Payne! While I am sad writing this post, I know that Heaven just received a humble servant in Allison Payne. Rest in Peace Allison.

Don'T Judge a Man Until You Have Walked a Mile in His Moccasins: Defending Richard Pryor

This morning I took a short trivia quiz online about the life of standup comedian Richard Pryor and read the comments about Richard Pryor by others who took the quiz. Most of these comments were negative. Examples:

"I don't like Richard Pryor."

"He swore too much."

"He was Vulgar."

"He was a drug addict. That's why he wasn't great."

As a child and adolescent I grew up in a family where there was drug addiction, alcoholism, domestic violence and corporal punishment. One of the few things that gave me relief back then, along with hope and laughter were Richard Pryor albums introduced to me by my father (thanks Dad!).

As I read comments about Pryor, the famous Native American Proverb came to mind, "You should never judge a man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins." Below is the comment I submitted.

"At the turn of the century Rolling Stone Magazine selected Richard Pryor as the greatest stand-up comic of all time. Richard grew up in a brothel and was sexually abused as a child. There is a strong link between childhood sexual abuse and addiction. Early in Pryor's comedy career a prominent comedian tried to convince Richard to "Stop swearing" and "Be completely clean" with his comedy routine. According to Pryor, "When I followed that advice I had a nervous breakdown on stage. I decided I needed to be true to myself. My comedy reflects the fact that I grew up with, thieves, hustlers, pimps and prostitutes."

It is important for us as addictions and recovery professionals to accept clients for where they are, i.e. stage of change, as people, (you are not what you have done) and their pathway/style of recovery.

The Royal Wedding: Racism, Poverty and Addiction in America

 I watched the royal wedding a few weeks ago, an interracial marriage with Price Harry, part of the British Royal Family and Princess Meghan Markle a TV actress, who happens to be bi-racial. As they declared their love for each other I found myself thinking about the concept of race. A concept intensified during the 18th century to justify slavery and I thought about racism along with its foolish doctrine of superiority and inferiority based on skin color and how this doctrine pits people against each other. This royal couple did not allow race to separate them from love.

At the time of this writing an economic recession has hit white rural America. This recession is playing a major role in triggering a heroin epidemic and according to the U.S. Department of Public Health this epidemic has decreased the life expectancy of white males in America by a full year. According to addictions historian William White, MA, history reveals that whenever there is an economic recession we can expect to see a stimulant or opiate epidemic. In the 1980's when the recession hit African American communities, cocaine addiction dramatically increased.

Race baiters have a way of capitalizing on this economic recession, Individuals reading this blog post 40 years from now will be able to use some form of advanced technology to view President Donald Trump walk down an escalator, wearing a blue suit, white shirt and red tie and announce his run for presidency. Speaking of Mexico he declared, "They are not our friend. When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They are bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're bringing rapist. I will build a great wall along our southern border and I will have Mexico pay for it.” This statement provided a false sense of hope to white rural America that this would improve their financial situation. He was elected President of the United States.

Steve Bannon, a part of trumps inner circle has used his pen to blame African Americans and Hispanics for white poverty in America with a goal of pitting groups against each other. The truth at the time of this writing is that American corporations and the executives who lead them are making huge profits and the money is not trinkling down to average Americans and jobs are being eliminated. Pitting groups against each other helps assure that these groups won't work together to fight corporate greed or to fight for their fair share of the pie.

In the 1960's when Dr Martin Luther King was incarcerated in a Birmingham Alabama jail for marching, the prison guards were talking to Dr King about where they lived and how much money they were making. Listening to the guards Dr. King said, "You ought to be marching with us. You're just as poor as Negroes. You are put in the position of supporting your oppressor, because of prejudice and blindness, you fail to see that the same force that oppresses Negroes in American society oppresses poor white people."

One of the best things which came out of the war on drugs has been recovery rallies and marches all over the nation which illustrates that recovery knows not one face, one race, one culture or one pathway of recovery. People of all cultures marching side by side celebrating recovery.

Bishop Michael Curry, the first Black Bishop of the Episcopal Church spoke at the Royal Wedding. I end this blog post with his words. "When love is the way, no child will ever go to bed hungry and poverty will be history."

Education As Substance Abuse Prevention and a Recovery Tool for African Americans

In the 1960's activist, religious and civil rights leader Malcolm X stated, “When you live in a poor neighborhood, you are living in an area where you have poor schools. When you have poor schools you have poor teachers. When you have poor teachers, you get a poor education, you can only work in a poor- paying job. And that poor-paying job enables you to again live in a poor neighborhood. It’s a very vicious cycle."

Malcolm echoed the sentiment of African American Elders who made the migration from the Southern States to the Northern states In search of occupational opportunities and to escape Jim Crow Laws and lynchings in the south. It is estimated that between 1916 to 1970, 6 million African Americans migrated north and secured work in the steel mills, railroads, meat packing and auto industries. The message that these elders/pioneers delivered to young African American children and adolescents who were born in the North is that education is the key to freedom. Many of these elders had parents and grandparents who during slavery were not allowed to attend school or learn to read. A slave owner’s wife was teaching Frederick Douglass to read when Douglass was enslaved. The slave owner told his wife, “If you teach him to read, it will be impossible to keep him a slave.” It was common for Black parents of the Great Migration to tell their children, “No matter how sick you are, you have to go to school.”

At the time of this writing most of the jobs African Americans secured during the Great Migration have either disappeared or have been shipped abroad. Studies indicate that African Americans have twice the unemployment rate as Whites and are still lagging behind on standardized test scores, which can determine the quality of your education. Many are also miseducated in elementary schools increasing the risks of dropping out of high school, drug use, drug selling (for income) drug related arrests felony arrests which makes it even more difficult to qualify for financial Aid for college and secure employment. Thus for many, a feeling of hopelessness can set in leading to a return to drug use  and in some instances drug selling (for income) and a return to prison. To quote Malcolm X, “A very vicious cycle.” Education is also important for African Americans seeking addictions recovery. According to Dr. William Cloud, as educational recovery capital increases, recovery rates also increase.

There is good news. Urban Prep High School, located on the South Side of Chicago has a 100% African American Male Graduation rate and 100% of these young men have gone on to college, over the course of the past decade. Nearly 90% of African Americans who attend North Lawndale Prep High school on the West Side of Chicago go on to College. The average income in the communities where these two schools are located are beneath the poverty line. These schools prove that when a school has a great mission, (Urban Prep expects every student to go to college and the students recite a daily pledge that they plan to go to college) and dedicated faculty who are able to motivate students, all things are possible!

During the Great Migration the manufacturing industry was the largest employer of African Americans. Today, the future of employment in America is STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). These jobs require a good education. The elders were right. Education is a key to success. In spite of the struggles described in this blog post, the great majority of African Americans are high school graduates. Many have also graduated from the finest colleges in the nation and the majority are middle class economically.