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Washington TV anchor says despite civil rights progress, blacks still need to make more advances. Date published: 1/17/2006
By ELIZABETH PEZZULLO Speaking before several hundred people yesterday at the University of Mary Washington yesterday, Washington TV news anchor Jim Vance was both hopeful and heavy-hearted. Vance, who has been with WRC, the NBC affiliate in Washington since the 1960s, marveled at how far blacks have come since the start of the civil rights movement. But he also lamented how prisons are teeming with black men and how they're five times more likely to die from homicide than whites. "We've come a long way, but we have a long way to go," said Vance, the guest speaker at Mary Washington's Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration. "We have 16-year-olds writing their own obituaries." Vance recalled how his grandfather--also his namesake--couldn't conceive that his grandson would one day meet with world leaders and "even go fishing with the president of the United States. "The same system that denied him allowed his grandson" to succeed, he said. The audience sat rapt as Vance spoke of the glaring disparities between black and white and how it's everyone's responsibility to bring about change. "Dr. King was the leader of a magnificent movement," said Vance, looking at least a decade younger than his 64 years. "But everyone can do something every day to make a difference in someone's life." It was a message that resonated with the crowd, which occasionally interrupted Vance with applause. A native of Ardmore, Pa., Vance has won 15 Emmys, induction into the Journalists Hall of Fame and membership in the Silver Circle of the Washington Chapter of the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences. He began his career as a reporter with the Philadelphia Independent and as a part-time reporter with WHAT-AM. Vance, who has spoken at the university several times, also got personal. "I was a junkie," Vance told the crowd. "I was a cocaine addict and my friends saw my descent." Vance said a good friend met with him at that time with the intent of getting his life back on track. "He said, 'What you gonna do, bro?' I knew I had to do something." Vance got help and has been sober for 19 years. But before leaving the podium, he challenged the audience with the same question regarding their role to make a difference. "You never know the impact you can have on someone else's life," Vance said. "So I say to you, 'What you gonna do, bro?'" To reach ELIZABETH PEZZULLO:
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
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