Miami Herald - July 14, 2002
Ethan J. Skolnick, eskolnick@herald.com

"That was some serious panel," he said after sharing the dais with a large group of luminaries, including basketball stars Alonzo Mourning and Charles Barkley, and actors Danny Glover and Tommy Ford, the emcee.

They discussed some serious subjects with several dozen teen-agers brought to the Hotel Intercontinental from local inner-city schools, as part of Zo's Summer Groove. The focus was HIV/AIDS, but other featured topics were pregnancy, accountability, self-esteem, ambition, peer pressure and the true meaning of "keeping it real," touching on the legal trouble of singer R. Kelly and 76ers star Allen Iverson.

Boys and girls split into separate rooms, with the girls hearing from prominent female professionals while the boys heard from the men. After the showing of a Black Entertainment Television video on safe sex called "Rap It Up," Barkley revealed he had been abstinent in high school. "You guys don't even need to be thinking about sex," he said. "Y'all need to be figuring out what you're doing with your lives."

Glover, a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations, told the boys to find ways to care about themselves. Mourning advised them not to be afraid to fail.

The panel, which included actor/comedian Anthony Anderson (who said he was in the "fantasy business," so kids should not follow everything in the movies), held the audience with humor.

Barkley admitted he went "wild" as a young pro, a kid in a candy store. "What you realize after a little while is all the candy tastes the same," Barkley said. "It doesn't make you a better person having a lot of girls."

Mourning tried to engage the audience to open up, soliciting written questions teens were too shy to ask aloud. Some questions were provocative: One suggested that successful panel members could not relate to their situation.

"You think we all just woke up like this?" Barkley said. "Man, I grew up in the projects. We have been in y'all's shoes."

The discussion became particularly lively after Barkley recalled being on a radio show on which callers defended Iverson, saying his escapades were part of "keeping it real." (Tuesday, Iverson will be charged with assault and other offenses for allegedly barging into an apartment with a gun and threatening two men while looking for his wife). "Allen makes $20 million a year and lives in my neighborhood," Barkley said.

Regarding the allegation that Iverson kicked his wife out of his house naked, one teen said she may have been disrespecting him. But Barkley argued such action would never be warranted. Rather, he and fellow panelists said that "keeping it real" should mean honesty and communication, not acting out in some macho way.

After two hours, boys and girls came together again to share what they learned. Barkley left them with a thought: "This don't mean anything if y'all don't listen. Ultimately, the choice goes back to you."

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