This opinion post was written by Jeneba Jalloh Ghatt as part of a collaboration of black bloggers. I found it interesting and trust you may as well:

"WASHINGTON -- I am taking part in a phenomenal campaign today, No Wedding No Womb (NWNW) where over 100 Bloggers are collectively, and in tandem, writing posts addressing the pandemic of out-of-wedlock births in the African American Community. The purpose is not to chastise those who have had children out-of -wedlock, but to acknowledge the dilemma and focus on breaking the cycle.  In 2010, approximately 70 percent percent of black children are born out of wedlock. That statistic is startling. 

Below is my contribution to this effort. This post will be made available on my other Blog homes:  Bellyitchblog.com,JenebaSpeaks.com and RightofBlack.com, so that the readers of each of those blog communities can hear the message and share it with others in hopes that the cycle is eventually broken and these sad statistics are reversed.

This past weekend, my husband and I were chauffeuring my children and niece about to weekend activities and the kids were in the back seats chatting. At some point, my 6-year old niece announced that she was going to be a mommy when she grew up.  Just then, my 8-year old spoke up and said, “no, you’re going to get married first and then you and your husband are going to have a baby.”  My husband and I looked at each other, shocked, but still pleasantly surprised and proud of the maturity of our son’s statement.

But then, that is his reality and that is all he knows.

For others, who have grown up in fatherless households, that is not necessary the reality of their home and of their friends and others in their community.

My son’s response is juxtaposed with another encounter I had with a young girl years earlier when I was in college.  I was waiting for a bus to collect me and take me to campus one afternoon. Waiting in the same bus terminal was a couple of young black teenage girls. I vividly recall hearing one girl say to the other, “yeah, so he wants me to have his baby” and the other girl replying, “really, wow! That’s great!”

 Wow. I was stunned. Speechless. Disappointed. Saddened. Troubled. Dismayed. Distraught. — that she was honestly considering purposefully getting pregnant in her teenage years for a boy or man who I assumed she was not married to at the time.

 I wish I was brave enough back then to butt in and say something. It would have been a risk, of course, because even back then, interjecting yourself unsolicited into another person’s private conversation was the type of thing that could get you cursed out. Still, even though I was not a mother back then, I was an older sister to my younger siblings and I knew that someone needed to tell that girl that she deserved so much better.

 I think it was that moment, back in the mid-1990s, that I realized what one of the primary causes was for planned teenage pregnancy: young girls’ lack of self esteem. I can understand unplanned pregnancies, but planned ones at such an early age just blew away my mind.  I was so taken aback at the idea that a child- and that is what you are when you are an impressionable immature teenager-would consider 1. putting her body through 40 weeks of stressful changes; 2. sacrificing her youth; and 3. doing something so life altering.

 If she valued her body, her future, her life, she wouldn’t even entertain the idea. It was beyond my comprehension.

It was certainly not a concept that would even float across my psyche at any time at such a young age.

I grew up with African immigrant parents who used to tell me and my younger sisters “your books are your boyfriend” and would warn us if we get pregnant for certain we could expect the father of our baby to abandon us for the next pretty girl who is thin and not with child. We would be the one left to care for the child alone. We took their words seriously. But we grew up in a two-parent household and did not have to suffer the effects of father abandonment as is the case with many low income single family African American households.

Somewhere along the way, girls stopped believing that they could be bigger than the circumstances they came from and there was another way to live. 

 

Self-esteem is one of those things that takes a lot of time to build.  Women in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond suffer through minimal self esteem and its effects. I believe, however, that young teenagers who are so impressionable and moldable by society, peers, the media, movies, songs and pop culture, are even more vulnerable. Indeed, there is concern and criticism today over all of the teenage pregnancy shows out there like MTVs “Teen Mom” and ABC Family’s drama, “The Secret Life of an American Teenager” for glorifying teen pregnancy.

Is there a solution?

I know that most people can relate to music. It is universal and as I racked my brain for an analogy, theme or story to help me encapsulate what the solution could be, I thought of John Mayer’s song, “Daughters.”

For all the heat and criticism that John Mayer endured after he made racial and sexist comments in a Playboy article, it is still hard to deny the genius of his songwriting skills. "Daugthers" is one of my all time favorite songs. The chorus to this song is so powerful: “Fathers be good to your daughters. Daughters would live like you do. Girls become lovers who turn into mothers, so Mothers be good to your daughters soon.” Such simple but prolific lyrics, don’t you think?

To me, that song relays that the solution to the lack of self-esteem among girls is for fathers to show them how to expect a man to treat them. The only way for the fathers to do that is to treat the women in their lives with the utmost respect. Their daughters are watching and learning. If her dad makes the mistake of abusing his relationships with the women in his life, his daughter learns that is how she can expect to be treated by the men in her life as she grows. In another verse, Mayer, who realizes in the song that the “issues” with his girl has nothing to do with him, warns:

“ Oh, you see that skin?

 

It’s the same she’s been standing in.

Since the day she saw him walking away.

Now she’s left, cleaning up the mess he made.”

This song speaks to all of the daddy issues that so many women seem to have.  But those that are caused by abandonment don’t have to be that way and indeed this is a call to all fathers out there to step up and help raise their girls properly because girls look up to their dads from very early in their lives.  Mayer represents the good guys who want to treat the daughters well if they would let them. Unfortunately, so many girls these days prefer the bad guy who will  damage them to a point where they would not know how to have or get into a healthy relationship. But there is a way to avoid it. Mayer sings,

On behalf of every man

 Looking out for every girl

You are the God and the Weight of her world.

So the sooner fathers realize their presence would do wonders to erase the possibility that their daughter would wind up in an out-of-wedlock pregnancy situation in her teens, the better.

Similarly, mothers who put up with so much crap from the men their lives teach their daughters the boundaries of what to accept from men when they grow older as well.

The key to breaking the cycle of out-of-wedlock birth among black families start with every single mother and father who has a daughter. Also because it DOES take a village, the grandmothers, aunts, Godmothers, Godfathers, cousins, uncles and other adults helping to raise our children must do their part from today onwards to instill in the daughters that their bodies are temples and that no boy or man is worth destroying their lives and their futures.

Our daughters are so worth it. Our Daughters (all of them, irrespective of race) deserve better. Don’t you think?"

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/politics-raising-children/2010/sep/22/no-wedding-no-womb-our-daughters-deserve-better/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_politics-government

Area Teens Challenged to Get Involved

 

Voting age students at Punxsutawney High School were challenged Monday to register to vote and get involved in the political process NOW.

 

TURN director John Balliet, in accordance with Constitution week, spoke to voting age students about their civic responsibility in both registering to vote and participating in the political process.

 

Balliet spoke about how radical the concept of freedom, unalienable rights and constitutional government was when our country was founded.  He explained to the upperclassmen that our system works, just not how many people thinks it works.  With the majority of the population not participating in the electoral process, he explained that it is not the majority of people that make the decisions, but rather the majority of voters.

 

Mr. Balliet encouraged the students to find a candidate they could support and get involved in the political process by telling others about the candidate and why they support him or her. He concluded the discussion by challenging students to rethink the way we do government.

 

After the assembly TURN members Rose Handyside, Bev Thompson , James Earley and Balliet registered students to vote. TURN is a local non-profit educational organization based in Du Bois. For more information visit www.turnpa.com or email info@turnpa.com

Commissioners Discuss Their Position on Sheriff Empowerment Bills

 

Treasure Lake- The Clearfield County Commissioners came to Treasure Lake Ski Lodge Tuesday evening to answer a taxpayers group questions on two bills pending before the Pennsylvania House involving the power of the County Sheriff.

 

TURN, a local non-profit educational corporation invited the Commissioners to come and to explain their position of HB 466 and 2585. The County Commissioners Association support HB 466 and the Sheriff’s Association support HB 2585.

 

Commissioner John Sobel discussed particulars of the HB 2585 and shared the concerns of the Pennsylvania State Police about  potential jurisdictional issues, which is a major concern for counties with many rural districts. Commissioner Joan Mc Millen discussed the history of both bills,  her support of HB 466, and her concerns about different aspects of HB 2585.  Mc Millen lamented that historically when groups fail to work together for a single workable solution its end result is no solution.

 

TURN director John Balliet discussed the groups interaction with both the Clearfield and Jefferson County Commissioners and Sheriff’s explaining their concerns with the bill.

Balliet stated that TURN does not support either bill due to their failure to address or correct the constitutional conflicts of an elected executive branch officer serving  both the executive and judicial branch.  Balliet also cited jurisdictional issues, funding differences and previous case law history and its implications as it relates to the definition of a police officer in Commonwealth Court.

 

Balliet also dismissed the charges groups have made that opposition to this bill is “anti-gun”, or a that this was a tenth amendment issue.  The tenth amendment allows states to formulate their own policing infrastructure. Copies of both bills were in circulation for the group to review.

 

The Clearfield Jefferson Tea Party Patriots Treasure Lake Chapter meet at the Treasure Lake Ski Lodge the third Tuesday of the month at 6 PM. The group is sponsored by TURN. For more information visit www.turnpa.com or email info@turnpa.com

 

Chris Christie rejects the flawed premises and reframes the argument. This is what conservatives have failed to do for decades.

classic.

It doesn't matter what the majority of Americans think! It matters what the majority of people who show up on election day think!

Time to stop being mad and start doing something about it !

 Since the beginning TURN has dotted the i's and crossed the t's.

We have believed in leading by example from the start. We incorporated the day after our first meeting. Why? We intended to impact public policy and get into the fray. 

One of the main reasons for TURN coming into existence, was the insistence that the i's were dotted and the t's were crossed. We thought it was hypocritical to hold our elected officials to account and not be doing everything according to the law when it came to how we ran our group(s).

Name Change

TURN will remain to be the name of our educational nonprofit corporation that organizes and sponsor group meetings. It is our group names that will be changing. Two of the groups associated with us have been known as the Punxsutawney Campaign for Liberty and the Du Bois Campaign for Liberty. 

The Campaign for Liberty has an excellent grass roots activist program that we encourage all people to utilize. I am a local coordinator for the Campaign for Liberty.

The reasons are three fold :

1. It is being rumored that Ron Paul may be running for President in 2012. If so, the Campaign for Liberty is a arm of the Dr. Paul campaign. We do not tell people who they should vote for; we outline constitutional principles.
2. We brought in three non-endorsed candidates during the primary and in the Lt. Governors race helped defeat the party endorsed candidate.  No one from the Campaign for Liberty attended any of our events or showed up to help work the polls or get out the vote drive.
3. People don't know what the Campaign for Liberty is.

We will be filing either one or two names with the Department of State within the next month. Why the rush? First, we are proactive. Second, we need to do it before we order more In Our County cards.

We will file a press release when we institute the name change. TURN will remain to be the underlying educational nonprofit behind these organizations as a resource.

TURN was also approved by Pay Pal as able to receive donations through their organization, now that our nonprofit status has been verified. It pays to be legitimate and on paper.

 

The Jefferson County Commissioners accepted an invitation to step into the lion’s den Wednesday evening to speak to a group of concerned citizens about the County budget.

 

The Punxsutawney Campaign for Liberty invited the Commissioners to speak on the topic of funded and unfunded State and Federal mandates and their impact on the Jefferson County budget.

 

Commissioner Paul Corbin opened the panel discussion giving an overview of the past seven years the trio has served Jefferson County. Commissioner Paul McIntyre gave a overview of the mandates that are placed on the county and the strain they create when the state fails to reimburse the county in a timely manner. Commissioner Jeffrey Pisarcik spoke about regional approaches and training that the Commissioners have been involved with to maximize their efficiency.

 

Chairman Corbin urged the group to continue on the path of educating their members in the operation of government. Commissioner Pisarcik encouraged members to stay involved and attend the County Commission / Government Meetings. Commissioner Mc Intyre urged members to reconsider the role of government in their lives .

 

The Commissioners were invited as part of the groups “In Our County” Outreach Program. District Attorney Jeffrey Burkett will be addressing the organization on September 15^th.

 

The Punxsutawney group meets at the Little Leo Club of Punxsutawney on the third Wednesday of the month at 6:30 PM. The Punxsutawney group is a chapter of TURN, a local non-profit educational corporation .  For more information, visit www.turnpa.com .

 

Taxpayers from around the county traveled to Treasure Lake Ski Lodge to discuss mandates with the Clearfield County Commissioners on Tuesday evening.

 

TURN PA! invited the Clearfield County Commissioners to address the group on the topic of funded and unfunded federal and state mandates and their impact on the Clearfield County budget.

 

Commissioner Joan Mc Millen addressed the group first and asked the question, “When is a tax not a tax?” Mc Millen’s presentation covered a broad overview of unfunded mandates completing her presentation with the answer to the question, “When it is a mandate”.

 

Commissioner John Sobel discussed how Clearfield County partners with other counties to combine services to avoid duplicate costs where possible.  Sobel also gave several examples of how different county agencies have done an excellent job of cost containment.

 

TURN PA! meets on the third Tuesday of the month at Treasure Lake Ski Lodge at 6:30 PM.  For more information on upcoming meetings visit www.turnpa.com or email info@turnpa.com