Adapt And Overcome

Adapt And Overcome
by Linda A. Prussen-Razzano

Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend a Town Hall Meeting hosted by a local news station. The meeting focused on increasing gun violence among young people and what methods, if any, we should take to combat the situation. At the start of the meeting, the host asked, by a show of hands, how many individuals in the 300-person audience supported additional gun-control legislation. Only two people felt that additional legislation was required.

The remaining 298 or so Americans felt that we should forcefully implement the vast number of guns laws already on the books.

I walked away from this meeting with a sense of triumph for two reasons. First, it was obvious that everyday Americans understood not only the seriousness of their second Amendment rights, but they also understood that Big Government was not going to solve the gun violence problem for them.

Second, I encountered a young woman who was so steeped in American patriotism, I felt her story needed to be shared.

Amara Okpechi’s family is originally from Nigeria; they now live in Irving, Texas. She was raised in a home where both parents were strict, explicitly delineated between right and wrong, and where a Biblical sense of morality would supersede some of the immoral, but not necessarily illegal, prevailing trends in American culture.

When she entered high school in her freshman year, she joined the ROTC. She was looking for something different from the typical after-school activities. Further, the ROTC offered this young black woman a chance to shine above and beyond her straight A academic record. There, she learned to handle and work with a de-militarized M14 and experience some of the military traditions of discipline, honor, and patriotism. It was easy to see from the way she proudly stood in her uniform, back straight, head high, clothes pressed to perfection, that she was eager to show deference to those who had worn the uniform before her.

She stayed in the ROTC all through her high school career, and plans to join the Marines after she graduates in May of 2000. She appreciates the fact that female Marines must undergo the same rigorous training that their male counterparts are asked to perform. Not wanting to face a future burdened with heavy debt for college, she hopes to pursue her Jurist Doctorate with funds from her military service. She would welcome an opportunity to perform a high-risk security detail, such as guarding the President, and is more than willing to go into combat should her country call.

When asked about guns and youth violence, Amara had strong and well-developed opinions on both. She believed that the number of young people committing violence was a "small percentage compared to the whole" and that there is a "Webster’s Dictionary" of anti-gun laws that aren’t working. Instead of finger pointing and name blaming, she would prefer to see realistic approaches to combat violence, especially through strict gun-law enforcement. Her whole purpose in attending the meeting was to show that not every young person who has experience with guns is a criminal in the making. As a firm supporter of the 2nd Amendment, she offers her sterling record and love of America as proof. She feels the media has done a fair amount of "stereotyping" the young; she is the example that breaks the stereotype.

"We can’t take a reactive response [towards youth violence]," Amara stated. "We need to take a proactive response. We need to see the good in kids. We can’t just toss [them] away."

When asked about a future in the military and women’s roles, Amara understood that "feminizing" the military does pose unique problems. She expressed concern that the men would be more prone to "take care of the women first," a situation men in the military have raised as a just criticism of the current mode. I’m of the impression that should this young lady enter the Marines, she won’t need anyone taking care of her; she seems more than capable of taking care of herself.

We also touched briefly on race relations. While Amara acknowledged that there was a certain amount of prejudice inherent in society, she was unwilling to allow that to hold her down. She dismissed folks who used past racist tendencies to justify their outlook; embracing, instead, the motto "Adapt and Overcome."

You won’t see Amara’s story on television, you won’t read about it in the paper, but you should. The media seems hell-bent on portraying young people as shiftless, disenfranchised, whining "Gen Xers." What a shame, that this is the example splashed out there for other young people to see. Instead, they should be focusing on young people like Amara, who have broken out of the media-propagated "stereotypical" box and live the best of America’s ideals, pursuing excellence and self-reliance on all fronts.