Black Families Show Off Their Pride at Festival

Wanda Solomon, a single parent raising two young children, is tired of hearing people talk about the breakdown of the black family. Solomon’s family is perfectly healthy, and so are many of those around her, she said. They just aren’t getting the attention they deserve.

Solomon hopes to change all that through a new organization called Single Parents of America, a group devoted to improving black family pride and awareness.

On Saturday she found thousands of like-thinkers at the Black Family Reunion Celebration at Exposition Park.

“The black family has been unfairly represented for years,” Solomon, a Baldwin Hills nurse, said as she prepared to march in the opening parade. “If anything, we’re growing.”

Family Values Emphasized

Those who attended the third annual black family celebration, sponsored by the National Council of Negro Women, made a persuasive case as they whooped and hollered their support for speakers touting the values of family life.

Jeff Douglas, who came with his 2-year-old daughter, said there has been far too much emphasis on the negative aspects of black family life.

“We need to express the importance of black family values,” he said.

Felicia Joyner, a worker at the Watts Health Foundation, said her family, consisting of two young children, is the most important thing in her life.

“We hear so much about families not staying together,” Joyner said. “But that’s not true. And that’s what we’re here to say.”

People pushing baby strollers, riding bicycles and lazing under an intense sun were treated to an afternoon of family oriented activities. The parade marking the festival’s opening was followed by concerts, seminars and craft displays, all of which will continue today from 1 to 9 p.m.

Variety of Events

Under one tent, women were given an opportunity to learn the fundamentals of basketball, football and other sports, perhaps to better communicate with their spouses and boyfriends. Medical, spiritual and fitness tips were also offered.

At another tent, workers doled out stomache-ache medicine, which came in handy for some people who had sampled too much exotic food.

Many of the younger people gravitated to the festival stage, where Malcolm Jamal-Warner of television’s “The Cosby Show” entertained the crowd by dancing and rapping.

Actress Melba Moore also led the group in song.

Nationwide studies have shown that more than half of all black babies are born out of wedlock and that growing numbers of black children are being brought up homeless.

But Assemblywoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) said blacks should be proud of their families.

“We know who we are and we know what we have to do,” Waters said. “We’re here to say to folks that the black family is a real institution.”

Dorothy I. Height, the National Council of Negro Women’s president, said black families should not be discouraged by the problems that plague them.

“There’s nothing we can’t deal with if we get ourselves together,” Height said. “This is the time for everyone in the family to come together.”