Newspaper Page Text
Tuesday, February 9, 1999
THE MAROON TIGER
PAGE 7
WORLD AND LOCAL
Postal Service issues Malcolm X stamp
By Howard Franklin
Campus News Editor
Malcolm X, who was
shadowed by the FBI because
of his activism, was honored
by the government
Wednesday with a new
commemorative stamp.
Postal Service governor S.
David Finemen unveiled the
33-cent stamp at the Apollo
Theatre in the Harlem section
of New York.
During the ceremony,
Postal Service Governor S.
David Fineman referred to
Malcolm X as "a modern-day
revolutionary who openly
fought for the end of
oppression and injustice. He
was a visionary, a man who
dreamed of a better world
and dared to do something
about it."
Family, friends and
colleagues of Malcolm X (El-
Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) came
at New York's Apollo Theatre
to celebrate the issuance of a
U.S. postage stamp bearing
his likeness. Guests at the
presentation
included
Malcolm's
daughters
A t t a 1 1 a h ,
Gamilah, Ilyasah,
Malaak, Malikah,
and Qubilah
Shabazz.
Participating
in the historic
event were
Malcolm X's
eldest daughter,
Attallah Shabazz;
former Malcolm X
Attorney Percy E.
Sutton; actors
Harry Belafonte,
Ossie Davis and
Ruby Dee; U.S.
Representative
Chaka Fattah;
Randall
Robinson,
president of
TransAfrica Forum; with
performances by the Boys
Choir of Harlem and a
special tribute by Mike
Wallace, senior
correspondent of "60
Minutes."
Malcolm X, born
Malcolm Little in Omaha
Nebaraska, joined the nation
of Islam in 1952 and emerged
as a major spokesperson for
African Americans. He was
both a brilliant scholar and a
fiery orator whose
persuasive and passionate
views are still felt today. He
was often followed by
government agents
suspicious of his motives and
provocative views toward
whites.
A 1964 falling out with
Nation founder Elijah
Muhummad led Malcolm to
start a splinter group, the
Organization of Afro-
American unity, and to found
a mosque in Harlem. He was
assassinated February 21,
1965 at the Audubon
Ballroom in New York. Three
black Muslims were
convicted of Malcolm's
murder , which was
witnessed by his family.
The Malcolm X (El-Hajj
Malik El-Shabazz)
commemorative stamp is the
22nd stamp in the Postal
Service's Black Heritage
series which is a highly
respected roster of African
Americans whose individual
achievements have made
significant contributions to
American history and
culture.
Other honorees include:
Harriet Tubman (1978);
Martin Luther King, Jr.
(1979); Mary McLeod
Bethune (1985); Ernest E. Just
(1996); and W.E.B. DuBois
(1992).
In a new edition of "The
Autobiography of Malcolm
X" (Random House/
Ballantine) due out this
spring, Attallah Shabazz
states, "the United States
postal stamp with the image
of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz -
known to the world as
Malcolm X - and fondly loved
by myself and my five sisters
as Daddy, will provide a
source of continual pride to
his children."
One-hundred million
Malcolm X commemorative
stamps have been printed.
They are now on sale
nationwide at your local post
office.
President Clinton announces 2000 budget
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - President
Clinton put forward a $1.77
trillion 2000 budget
Monday that raises
spending on defense and
education, predicts huge
surpluses for the
future and ignores
Republican calls for a broad
tax cut.
The budget, which
covers the year beginning
on Oct. 1, sets the stage for
a battle with the
Republicans over what
to do with surpluses that are
expected to total $117.3
billion in 2000
and a massive $2.41
trillion over the next
decade.
The president's
spending plan brushes aside
Republican calls for an
across-the-board tax cut,
preferring to offer targeted
tax relief to help, among
others, people caring for
elderly and sick relatives
and stay-at-home parents.
In a blend of scandal
and substance that has come
to seem normal in
Washington, Clinton
presented the budget at the
White House Monday
morning as Monica
Lewinsky sat down to give
a closed-door deposition to
lawyers on both sides of the
Senate impeachment trial
weighing his removal from
office.
If the 2000 budget
meets its targets, it will be
the third year in a row that
the government has
achieved a surplus after 28
years of deficits. The
government returned to the
black in 1998 with a surplus
of $69.2 billion and it
expects one of $79.3 billion
in 1999, surging to $393.1
billion in 2009.
The long stream of
anticipated surpluses is the
result of deficit-cutting
packages passed in 1990,
1993 and 1997, the robust
U.S. economy now enjoying
its longest peacetime
expansion in history and a
surge in tax revenues.
If we manage the
surplus right, we can
uphold our responsibility to
future generations ... by
dedicating the lion's share
of the surplus to saving
Social Security and
Medicare and paying down
the national debt/' Clinton
said.
We have a rare
opportunity that comes
around once in a blue
moon," he added, pointing
with glee at a chart showing
the national debt shrinking
to its lowest level as a share
of the economy since World
War One if his long-term
plan is enacted.
In his State of the
Union speech on Jan. 19, the
president laid out a detailed
program for how to use the
$4.47 trillion in surpluses
the government expects
over the next 15 years.
The bulk, 62 percent,
would shore up Social
Security, 15 percent would
bolster the Medicare health
care program, 12 percent
would fund "universal
savings accounts" and 11
percent would fund
priorities like education,
research and defense.
While the Republicans
have embraced the idea of
using most of the surpluses
for Social Security, they are
also arguing for sweeping
10 percent tax cuts.
The next great debate
will center on one simple
premise: should we give tax
relief to working people
when we have the largest
surplus in American
history?," asked
Republican House Speaker
Dennis Hastert. "The
president says no, while we
say yes."
Clinton has put
forward a much more
targeted program, offering
a $1,000 tax credit for
people caring for elderly or
sick relatives, $500 for stay-
at-home parents and
incentives to spur corporate
investment in poor rural
and urban areas.
It would pay for these
chiefly by cracking down on
corporate tax loopholes.
The budget also counts
on $8 billion from boosting
the tax on cigarettes by 55
cents per pack, on
accelerating a 15-cent per
pack rise that was due in
2002, and on obtaining
$18.9 billion over the 2001-
2004 period from last year's
$206 billion
settlement between
tobacco companies and the
states.
The president's budget
would spend an extra $12.6
billion on defense in 2000
and $112 billion through
2005, giving the military the
biggest pay raise in a
generation and paying for
high-tech weapons and a
ballistic missile defense
program.
On education, the
budget would also spend an
extra $4.98 billion in 2000
on a variety of training and
education initiatives,
including hiring more
teachers and building more
schools to hold down on
class room size.
It also boosts spending
on a host of initiatives,
putting forward large sums
for mass transit and smaller
amounts for everything
from conserving land in
national parks and Civil
War battlefields to
protecting Pacific
Northwest salmon.