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Albany, NY – DAILY LESSONS: INSIDE WESTERN GUILFORD HIGH SCHOOL
DOCUMENTARY SERIES
PT. 1 WELCOME TO WESTERN GUILFORD -
The birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., often called Martin Luther King Day,
is a United States holiday. It marks the birth date of Reverend Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr., and is always observed on the third Monday of January
each year...which this year...just happens to be his actual birthday. It's the
only U.S. federal holiday commemorating an African American, and one of
only four to remember an individual person. In 1983, President Reagan
signed the bill creating the federal holiday to honor Dr. King. The holiday
was first observed in 1986. It took 14 more years, until the year 2000,
before MLK Day was officially observed in all 50 states. And it wasn't
until just last year, that Greenville County in South Carolina finally became
the last county to adopt MLK Day as a paid holiday. Our story takes place
not far from that location. Daily Lessons: Inside Western Guilford High
School is a ten-part documentary series about a public high school in Greensboro, North Carolina. A team of four reporters spent six months at
the school recording how a typical high school deals with some of today's daunting realities. Many of these are the same issues that challenge
schools all across North America. Part one, called Welcome to Western Guilford , focuses on the pressures of growth, economic and racial change,
and high stakes testing. Reporter, Deborah George, introduces us to the
people and the sounds of the school, and the problems faced by the
school, students, and community.
Deborah George reports. (8:13)
ENOUGH: THE PHONY LEADERS, DEAD-END MOVEMENTS,
AND CULTURE OF FAILURE THAT ARE UNDERMINING BLACK
AMERICA - - AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT -
And speaking as we were in our first story about this being Martin
Luther King Day, this marks the 21st Anniversary of the federal holiday.
Americans across the country are asked to celebrate it...not by taking
a day off...but by making it a day of service...to honor the life and work
of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Juan Williams writes that half a century
after Americans took to the streets to raise the bar of opportunity for all
races, too many black Americans are in crisis, caught in a twisted hip-hop culture, dropping out of school, and falling to the bottom in the 21st century
global economic competition. Williams complains that nearly forty years
after Reverend King's death, the best black talent don't have civil right's leadership as their chief ambition. Juan Williams is a Senior Correspondent
for National Public Radio, and is a frequent contributor to numerous
television programs. TBOOK talks with him about his latest book with
the long title, Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements,
And Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America - - And
What We Can Do About It.
Glenn Busby reports. (9:33)
**(Attention Program Directors. The web address given at the conclusion
of the above story, for those listeners who may be interested in learning
more about Martin Luther King day, is: www.mlkday.gov)**