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Ending Affirmative Action a step backward
Court decisions against Affirmative Action congressional districts dealt a serious blow
By Rep. Tyrone Brooks
Special to Am Focus
The recent United States Su
preme Court decisions against
Affirmative Action and Georgia’s
11th Congressional District have
dealt a serious blow to the civil/
human rights progress over the
past 40 years. These are proba
bly the most devastating rulings
since the Dredd-Scott Decision
and Plessy vs. Ferguson. In both
cases, the court decided by a slim
5 - 4 majority to undérmine two
of the most beneficial and land
mark achievements for African-
Americans in the second half of
the 20th century —achievements
which have opened the doors to
minorities in the corporate sec
tor and government. The most
disturbing irony is that in both
cases the decisive vote was cast
by an African-American who has
been a great beneficiary of these
achievements.
The Georgia Association of
Black Elected Officials(GAßEO)
as well as other civil/human
rights organizations are gearing
up for a battle to protect the
gains we have won over the last
40 years. We are determined not
toallow these decisions to change
the climate across the South and
create an atmosphere which will
plunge us into a second Recon
struction. We will not allow or
tolerate any dilution of our vot
ing strength and political power
at any level of government.
On Thursday, June 29th, the
High Court ruled that Georgia’s
11th Congressional District, rep
resented by Congresswoman
Cynthia McKinney, is unconsti
tutional and declared it illegal
because they feel it was drawn
for the sole purpose of giving
Blacks the racial majority. This
decision tremendously undercut
the Voting Rights Act of 1965
Say no to confederate dpostage stamp
Stamps honor the men who fought and died to keep blacks slaves
By Richard Prince
Special to the NNPA
April 3, 1865 was a day the black
folks of Richmond, Virginia will nev
er forget. It was the day black Union
soldiersarrived tooccupythe Confed
erate capitol, signaling the end of the
Confederacy. They hugged Marse
Lincoln’s Black boys, “wept on their
shoulders, danced, set joyous barn
fires, and sang spontaneously, Sla
very Chain Done Broke at Last . . .
Gonna praise God till I die!”
Now, in 1995, the U.S. Postal Ser
vice has issued postal stamps honor
ingtheverymenwhofoughtanddied
to keep those black folks slaves. Asof
June 19, some would-be Johnny Reb
can send me a letter with U.S. gov
ernment-produced images of the
Confederate President Jefferson
Davisorhisgeneral, Robert E. Lee,or
of a successful Confederate battle.
Tell the Postal Service they
shouldn’t have done it.
It matters not alick that the Postal
Service is also peddling 32-cent
stamps with the likenesses of
Abraham Lincoln, abolitionist
Frederick Douglass and our “black
Moses,” Harriet Tubman. They were
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which was originally enacted to
prevent the systematic exclusion
of African-Americans from the
democratic process since the end
of Reconstruction. Justice
Kennedy, writing for the major
ity on the Supreme Court, de
clared that states cannot use race
as a consideration in drawing
districts. However, we question
the fairness of a verdict which
leaves “bizarre” majority white
districtsintact while dismantling
majority African-American dis
tricts. For exampl, the 6th Con
gressional District of Texas is a
majority white district with ex
tremely irregular boundaries.
However, it has been ruled con
stitutional by the court.
This leads us to a very disturb
ing assumption. Dr. Joseph E.
Lowery, national president of
SCLC came to this conclusion ina
recent statement, “We strongly
suggest that the court is not really
concerned about the shape of the
district as much as the shade of
the representative; not the con
tour of the land, but the complex
ion of the man (or woman)!”
Lowery also lamented that “trag
ically,” the pivotal vote in both 5 -
4 decisions was held by an Afri
can-American from Pinpoint,
Georgia, whosuffers from aniden
tity crisis. Lowery, along with
other African-American leaders,
feel that Justice Clarence Tho
mas has betrayed the Black com
munity. The long list of leaders
includes Reverend Jesse Jackson,
national President of the Rain
bow Coalition, who describes Jus
tice Thomas as a descendant of
slaves who is leading the fight to
disenfranchise his brothers and
sisters who are also the descen
dants of slaves.
Although the Supreme Court
decisions dealt a devastating
blow, their actions (as well as the
ideology of Clarence Thomas)did
not come as a shock to veteran
the good ones all along.
Someone at the Postal Service got
the bright idea to issue 20 first-class
postage stamps commemorating the
Civil War, the great conflict whose
legacy still sears America’s psyche
like an overseer’s lash.
To be even-handed, the set of 20
stamps features 10 representing the
North, ninetheSouth,andonestamp
thenaval battle between the Monitor
and the Merrimack, a draw.
But since when was the Civil War
acontest between equals? Whatever
happened to the idea that the seces
sionists committed treason?
When Lincoln was assassinated,
Jefferson Davis was considered so
disloyal that new President Andrew
Johnson immediately offered a
SIOO,OOO reward for his arrest.
I thought we'd all agreed that by
opposing Confederate secession, the
federal government stood unequivo
cally against the ideology for which
the Confederates died; that black
people were biologically inferior and
that slavery was their “natural” con
dition.
Let’s put this argument anoth
er way: would the U.S. Postal
Service commemorate World
Closer Look
civivhuman rights leaders, who
anticipated these decisions due
to the present hostile and con
servative climate of the court.
This is a court that is systemat
ica'ly lining up against the hard
won rights and privileges of Afri
can-Americans and other minor
ities. Therefore, we are mobiliz
ing to develop strategies to de
fend ourselves against this cur
rent crisis. During the Joint
Summer Convention of GABEO
in Savannah recently, African-
American leaders from through
out the state came together when
we convened the Georgia Afri
can-American Black Leadership
Summit. The strategy sessions
will continue Saturday, July 8
and July 15 when the National
and Southern Regional Rainbow
Coalition will sponsor a South
ern Regional Organizing Politi
cal Strategy Conference at
Antioch Baptist Church, North,
in Atlanta.
It is important to note that the
Supreme Court does not prohibit
the drawing of majority Black
districts. If there is a special
session of the General Assembly,
we will introduce a plan for three
majority districts in compliance
with the Supreme Court ruling.
Although the Supreme Court
ruling is a serious setback, there
is no reason for us to lose our
political power, and we will fight
to keep the hard won seats of
Black elected officials. We must
challenge state legislators to re
draw the district lines with the
full intent to maximize fair and
inclusive representation.
Presently, African-Americans
make up 30% of Georgia’s total
population. However, only a
meager 6% are elected officials.
On the national level, the num
bers are even more bleak. Out of
a population of between 15 and
20%, only 1.8% are elected offi
cials. We definitely cannot as
War II by issuing stamps depict
ing Adolf Hitler and Field Mar
shal Erwin Rommel?
Americansaresensitivetothesym
bolic valueourstamps hold. We have
only to remember the withdrawal
this year, after Japanese objections,
of a stamp showing a mushroom
cloud over Hiroshima. Or, with an
eye toward more homegrown con
cerns, the Postal Service’s decision to
reproduce a classic photograph of
legendarybluesman Robert. Johnson
— but to airbrush out his cigarette.
The Civil War set, to be issued at
Gettysburg, PA, has provoked hard
ly a murmur. Yet its symbolism
rankles,and notonlybecauseitcomes
amidanaffirmative-action backlash,
continuingskirmishesovertheflying
of the Confederate flag, and best
selling books declaring blacks intel
lectually inferior.
It is disturbing because it contin
ues thefalsehood that the Union and
the Confederacy both represented
respectable ideologies.
Throughoutthiscentury, textbooks
have presented the Civil War as a
struggle between “virtually identical
peoples,” writesJJames W. Loewen, a
University of Vermont sociology pro
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ford any amount of reduction to
these already sparse numbers.
The Supreme Court decision in
Georgia's 11th Congressional
District case has opened the door
to a wave of legal challenges
against all majority Black dis
tricts down the line including
elected seats in/on state legisla
tures, county commissions, city
councils, school boards, etc.
Therefore, all African-American
and minority elected officials and
citizens will experience the neg
ative effects of this ruling.
The people of Georgia should
understand that we as African-
Americans have no permanent
friends or permanent enemies.
We have only permanent inter
ests. In 1992, the U.S. Justice
Department under the Bush
Administration approved our
congressional redistricting plan.
Between 1993 and 1995, the
Clinton Administration has de
fended our congressional plan.
As far as we are concerned, a bi
partisan spirit from Washington
has been quite evident as Afri
can-Americans fight for propor
tionate representation in the
body politic in Georgia and
throughout the nation.
Although we have a tough chal
lenge ahead, we will remain opti
mistic. Georgia’s 11th District
Congresswoman Cynthia
McKinney, who continues her ef
forts to bring African-Americans
and whites together “on equal foot
ing,” summed it up in this way, “1
will continue to work hard on be
half of that which is right, on
behalf of those who have been
locked out and neglected, and 1
will redouble my efforts to bring
blacks, whites and others togeth
er in this great nation of ours.”
Representative Tyrone Brooks
ispresident of GABEQO, The Geor
gia Association of Black Elected
Officals
fessor, in his remarkable new exam
inationof 12 high-school historybooks,
Lies My Teacher Told Me (The New
Press).
Today, Loewen says, not much as
changed. “As one result, unlike the
Nazi swastika, which lies disgraced,
evenintheNorth whitesstill proudly
display the Stars and Bars of the
Confederacy on den walls, license
plates, T-shirts and high school logos
... In this sense,” he concludes, “long
after Appomattox, the Confederacy
finally won.”
Last year, a number of publishers
reissued or repackaged oral testimo
nies of former slaves compiled in the
1930's as part of the Federal Writers’'
Project.
With such titles as “Weevils in the
Wheat” and “The Negro in Virginia”
and“WeLivedinaLittle Cabininthe
Yard,” they are worth reading, for
they tell of the jubilation slaves ex
pressed when victorious Union sol
diers came through the South; they
speak of the brave human beings
whosodetested the “peculiarinstitu
tion” to which they were consigned
that they killed themselves.
Richard Prince is a Washington
based writer.
AUGUSTA FOCUS
Black women’s groups have
responsibility to fellow humans
Black women’s organizations
have a responsibility to address
the issues that impinge upon the
well-being and quality of life of
our fellow human beings. We
must not rest smugly upon what
ever laurels and material things
th it it has been our good fortune
to cbtain. African-American
women cannot afford to just
“meet, greet and eat” at our chap
ter, regional and national meet
ings.
[ am proud to report that, at its
recent (June 20-25, 1995) nation
al convention in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, the Top Ladies of
Distinction — a national public
service organization comprised
of more than five thousand wom
en — discussed, debated and
made resolutions regarding the
educational problems of black
students nationwide. TLOD’s
major programmatic thrust is
sponsorship of The Top Teens of
America, through which Top
Ladies throughout the country
raise and donate funds, counsel,
chaperone and mentor black
teenagers. Scholarships are also
provided.
National convention partici
pants recognized that low income
and minority communities have
a disproportionate number of
dump sites and other environ
mental hazards in their neigh
borhoods. Top Ladies resolved to
increase our conservation efforts
and to assist in maintaining a
national energy policy. Also dis
cussed, debated and resolved
were support for more drug treat
ment centers and focus on
strengthening families so as to
protect our children from drug
abuse. Top Ladies want stricter
penalties ford ug smuggling and
for other crimes, pointing out
More women ¢n task force
lam writir to ¢ press my
strong objectic to ti.» current
lack of involvement o. * .n-elect
ed citizens and women on the
Augusta-Richmond County
Transition Task Force. It con
cerns me that we continue to
utilize only elect. 1 officials to
address many imp tant issues.
Competent citizens with no po
litical and personal agendas must
be involved in the transition pro
cess.
The proposed citizens’ adviso
ry group is an excellent idea,
Shes Miea
$1 9.95/’
// ;all 724-7855
July 27, 1995
that the streets of America are
no longer safe for children, the
elderly and even for strong, able
bodied men. TLOD took a posi
tion favoring gun control.
At the 1995 national conven
tion TLOD posited that boot
camps be provided for first-time
youthful offenders who have not
committed deadly crimes, and
that such offenders receive edu
cational opportunity while incar
cerated. Top Ladies recognized
that too many homes in our na
tion’s cities are boarded up, van
dalized, graffiti-scarred and
abandoned. We resolved to sup
port legislation and efforts to
repair those homes and make
them functional to alleviate the
homelessness that is a blight on
our nation. Many Top Ladies are
active in helping build homes in
their community in concert with
Habitat for Humanity. These
activities are consistent with
TLOD’s programmatic thrust of
Beautification of our Communi
ties.
Mrs. Dorothy Allen Chimney
— a Lufkin, Texas educator, the
national president of the Top
Ladies of Distinction — has
vowed to put issues that will
improve the quality of life for all
of us at the top of her agenda.
Resolutions were adopted by ac
clamation at the convention. Mrs.
Chimney will put in place na
tional committees to address the
issues and concerns stated in this
letter. As black women leaders,
we must domore than meet, greet
and eat in our organizations!
Dr. Katie H. Wright
AUGUSTA
(Dr. Wright is the national 2nd
nice president, Top Ladies of Dis
tinction)
providing an opportunity for di
verse involvement from the com
munity. Representatives from
the husiness, education and pri
vai. ectors could bring a bal
anc: o the current structure.
1' ieve that, in order for con
soli- .tion to work in the best
intcres' of all, we need to change
the way we dobusiness. We must
be more inclusive. It is impor
tanttoinvolve women and young
people as we plan for the future.
Jeanette .ummings
AUGUTTA
9