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Spelman Spotlight April, 1985
Along the color line ...
Bill Gray: The First Black Vice President?
by Dr. Manning Marable
It’s no secret that the
Democratic Party’s leaders are
now desperately attempting to
repudiate their ties to liberalism,
the welfare state, and the legacy
of the Great Society. Last
month’s defeat of Gary, Indiana
mayor Richard Hatcher as party
vice chair andthedillutionofthe
“special interest" caucuses con
cerned with gay and progressive
causes are signs that party of
ficials are moving aggressively to
the right. In late February, a
group of conservative
Democrats from the South and
West announced the formation
of an "independent council,”
led by "neoliberal" Represen
tative Richard A. Gephardt of
Missouri. The goal of this group,
according to Georgia Senator
Sam Nunn, is to move the
Democrats back into
“mainstream America” in short,
to reduce or eliminate the in
fluence of Blacks, Hispanics,
women's groups, and organized
labor.
In the House of Represen
tatives, a similar rush to the right
has occurred. In an interesting
move, a pragmatic “neoliberal”
has been named to replace
Congressman James Jones as
chair of the powerful House
Budget Committee. Although
elected to Congress only in 1978,
he has impressed conservatives
and the corporate media for
"preaching fiscal austerity.” Ac
cording to Business Week, the
new budget chair is regarded by
"some business lobbyists as one
of the few congressmen capable
of persuading his fellow
Democrats to rein in social
spending.” What is most sur
prising, however, is that this new
Congressional powerbroker,
who tells his friends he is a
“closet moderate,’’ is
Philadelphia’s Black Con
gressman Bill Gray.
Gray’s roots are similar to
those of other civil right leaders.
The son and grandson of
preachers, Gray is also a Baptist
minister. On his second attempt,
he defeated longtime Con
gressman Robert Nix for Con
gress. During Gray’s first years in
Congress, his voting record was
extremely progressive. Gray
became Congress’ leading figure
in the struggle against apartheid
South Africa. As chair of the
Congressional Black Caucus’
“Foreign Affairs Brain Trust,”
Gray proposed an amendment
to the Export Administration Act,
calling for penalties for U.S. firms
that make new investments
inside South Africa. In early 1984
Gray initiated an emergency
appropriation of $90 million for
African drought victims, months
before the Reagan administra
tion even acknowledged the
crisis of hunger on the continent.
As vice chair of the Black Caucus.
Gray helped to write progressive
"alternative budgets" in 1982
and 1983 which would have
shifted billions of dollars from
the military toward human
needs, including jobs and health
care programs.
Yet along the way there were
disturbing signs that Gray was
maneuvering toward an accom
modation with conservative
forces. Joining the Ap
propriations Committee in 1980,
Gray soon impressed Jones as
being “accomplished on fiscal
matters.” He provided modest
rhetorical support for Jesse
Jackson’s 1984 Presidential cam
paign, yet quietly kept all lines of
communication open to Mon
dale's aides. After the 1984
election, Gray began to talk like
Gephardt and other centrist
white Democrats. Gray informed
the press that he favored discuss
ing a proposed joint spending
freeze on social programs and
the Pentagon budget. He now
protested that the alternative
budgets were "largely sym
bolic,” and argued that all con
stituencies had to "suffer a little”
in developing a budget. At least
one memberoftheBlackCaucus
complained that Gray had “sold
out to the Boll Weevils to get the
budget job.” More surprises
were in store when the "Free
South Africa Movement” began
this winter. Hundreds of Con
gressmen, religious leaders,
trade unionists and civil rights
activists - including one
Republican Senator - have gone
to jail in nonviolent
demonstrations to protest the
apartheid regime’s brutality. But
Gray was not seen on the picket
lines; he was not with his
colleagues in November and
early December when most of
the Black Caucus went to jail for
a moral cause. The “price” for
the Budget Committee chair
took precedence over anti
apartheid agitation.
This month Gray has joined
Gephardt’s “independent coun
cil," openly throwing his grow
ing prestige with right wing
Democrats, the strongest op
ponents of the Rainbow Coali
tion. What next? It seems
probable that the insurgent
conservative Democrats need a
Black politician with “liberal
credentials” to checkmate the
liberals and progressives inside
the party. Since Gray is more
than willing to cooperate, we
might expect a biracial
Democratic Party ticket in 1988
or, at the latest, by 1992. At the
top will be someone like Virginia
Governor Charles Robb, Arkan
sas Governor Bill Clinton, or
perhaps even the ultimate yup
pie, Gary Hart. In the second slot
could be Bill Gray, a man who
claims that “the key to politics is
to never let anyone pin a liabel
on you.” Sacrificed to this
marriage of convenience could
be the vital interests of the Black
and Hispanic communities.
Dr. Manning Marable teaches
political sociology at Colgate
University. “Along the Color
Line" appears in over 140
newspapers internationally.
Spelman
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The Spelman Spotlight is a bi-monthly publication produced by and
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Mail should be addressed to Box 1239, Spelman College, Atlanta,
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Dear Readers,
The Spotlight encourages you
to vowe your opinions, make
suggestions or comments and to air
your grievances. All letters must be
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Sincerely yours,
Spelman Spotlight
Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor,
Students Against Famine in
Ethiopia/Africa or S.A.F.E., an
organization that has existed for
only three months, has already
achieved great success. Our goal
is to unite all the colleges and
uniersities across the country in
order to raise a large sum of
money for the starving people of
Africa. There are over 10 million
students within the 3,500 schools
and we are trying to tap this
tremendous resource of college
students.
We propose that, on April 25,
1985, every student across
America give up a lunch or the
monetary equivalent (ap
proximately one dollar). We
realize that a normal lunch costs
approximately $2.50, but
because of the overhead and
other lunch program expenses,
the net donation is approximate
ly one dollar. Although you have
the option to have each student
give up a dollar in cash, the
preferred method is sacrificing a
lunch through the meal plan
system. Only after considerable
effort should you resort to the
donation of one dollar. S.A.F.E.
has found out that many schools
have done similar programs and
have been very successful. This
shows the concern of students
across the country and deals a
blow to the “students are
apathetic” arguement, but the
situation in Africa calls for in
creased efforts. The important
point concerning our proposal is
that we are trying to unify all of
the students in a common goal
and if we all pull together, we
can raise a very large sum of
money and make an impact in
Africa that could save millions of
lives. If everyone donates at least
a dollar, we will raise 10 million
dollars.
We have sent out three letters:
one to the student council
president, the college pres dent
and the chaplain of every school
in the country. By the end of the
week, a letter to every college
newspaper will be sent. We have
also been actively working with
C.A.R.E. which has sent letters to
all the radio stations informing
them of our efforts and has
created an advertisement for the
school newspapers in the New
England area. While C.A.R.E. is
concentrating on New England,
the American Red Cross and
Save the Children are working
on the national level. We met
with President Schubert of the
Red Cross in Washington and he
is contacting their 200 major
chapters across the country.
These local chapters will in turn
contact the area schools and
help spread the word. Save the
Children has sent out letters to
all the campus newspapers
across the country and the
combined organizations have
over 800 direct contacts which
they are currently getting in
touch with.
Our idea is to saturate each
school with as many letters and
different angles as possible. One
particular angle is the media, we
have received great support.
S.A.F.E. has been interviewed by
local and national media. S.A.F.E.
has been written up by USA
Today, UPI, the Boston Globe,
Manchester Union Leader, and
have recently been interviewed
by theChristian Science Monitor
and AP and expect articles to be
printed soon. We have also had
interviews with Voice of America
(listening audience of over 45
million people), WEE! andWHTT
in Boston, and WGIR in
Manchester, New Hampshire.
The purpose of this letter is to
further inform you of our efforts
and to encourage you to join us
in our efforts to save millions of
lives. We hope that you will
contact your student council and
administration to get the
program started for April 25th.
Sincerely,
Brett Matthews '88
David Steinberg ’88