Newspaper Page Text
8
October 12, 1995
THIS WAY FOR BLACK EMPOWERMENT
T S
Minister Louis Farrakhan,
black independent
he Million Man March on Washing-
I ton, D.C. has the potential to be a
very historic occasion for the Black
community.
American political life is in a total up
heaval. It is critical that a strong state
ment be made by us about our vision for
ourselves and our country in the midst of
that instability and ferment. That Minis
ter Louis Farrakhan and Dr. Ben Chavis
have asked all March participants and
supporters to assert the political power of
the African-American community by reg
istering to vote as independents, not only
strengthens the statement of the March,
but helps to further connect Black people
to the emerging American. independent
movement.
In 1988, Minister Farrakhan and I be
gan an intense dialogue on the importance
of the independent option for our people.
We stood together in Atlanta that summer
publicly urging our political independence,
as the Democratic Convention displayed
its utter disrespect for us, and Jesse Jack
son sealed his fate by refusing to break
with the Democratic Party. Now the call
for the Black community to register and to
vote as independents has even greater
urgency.
While the last-minute decision by Rev.
Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton to endorse
the March is a welcomed one, I am con
cerned that the pro-independent cutting
edge of the March will be muted by Rev.
Jackson who is, after all, a committed
democrat. If the Black community has
something to atone for it is, in my opinion,
our blind loyalty to the Democratic Party.
And ifthe Million Man Marchisin any way
manipulated by Black democrats to reas
sert our servitude to Bill Clinton and the
Democratic Party, then we will have al
lowed a very positive and empowering pro
cess to be undermined.
There are similar dangers in some of the
responses to the potential independent
presidential candidacy of Gen. Colin Powell,
a candidacy made all the more imminent
by polls which show him winning the White
House in a three-way race with Clinton
and Bob Dole and by Ross Perot’s an
nouncement that he is forming a national
third party for the 1996 elections.
In last week’s edition of the New York
Amsterdam News, publisher and editor-in
chief Wilbert Tatum wrote an editorial
which raised a number of concerns about
Mr. Powell. These included the suggestion
that he might be manipulated by whites to
become another Clarence Thomas, that he
is too much of an unknown quantity in our
community, and that the notion that white
America would consider voting for him is
simply a ploy designed to sell his new book.
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“That Minister Louis Farrakhan
and Dr. Ben Chavis have asked
all March participants and sup
porters to assert the political
power of the African-American
community by registering to
vote as independents, not only
strengthens the statement of the
March, but helps to further con
nect Black people to the emerg
ing American independent
movement,” notes Dr. Lenora
Fulani.
While there is no doubt in my mind that
everyone from Random House to Newt
Gingrichtoßill Clinton to Ross Perot wants
a piece of the Powell action, I think that the
question of whether white America would
vote for him is exactly the wrong one. We,
after all, are the community that has fallen
into line to vote for virtually every white
democrat put up for election. For us, the far
more important question is whether Black
people will break that utterly bankrupt
arrangement and vote independent.
If Colin Powell runs for the presidency as
an independent, he will be directly chal
lenging the 60-year allegiance of our com
munity tothe Democratic Party. He will be
directly challenging those Black democratic
leaders — elected and otherwise — who
will be pulling votes for Bill Clinton. He
will be opening the door still further to a
new national electoral coalition between
Black voters and the white “center,” a
coalition which has the potential to signif
icantly empower us, given that we (togeth
er with other liberal ex-democrats) would
make it the new majority coalitionin Amer
ican politics.
I think it is critical that the potential
offered by all of the emerging independent
options be openly and seriously discussed in
our community. Attempts to short-circuit or
pre-empt them by Black democrats will, in
my opinion, do significant damage to our
interests and will help those who long ago
sold us out. Through the Committee for a
Unified Independent Party, I continue my
efforts on behalf of the Black community to
promote that open dialogue. Please call or
write to me today if you would like to be a
part of this empowerment process.
I offer my full support and congratula
tions to my old friend and colleague Minis
ter Farrakhan, theindependent Black lead
er, and to the million marching indepen
dent Black men.
Editorial
Charles W. Walker |
Publisher :
Frederick Benjamin
Managing Editor :
Dot T. Ealy b 4
Marketing Director
Rhonda Jones
Copy Editor
Rhonda Y. Maree ‘
Reporter
Jimmy Carter ‘
Distribution |
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Sheila Jones
Account Representative
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Lillian Wan
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The saving of a dying culture
frican Americansand
ANative Americans
share a common his
tory of oppression in this
country. While our stories
are not the same, there are
many shared themes and
shared outcomes of that his
tory. So it’s not surprising
that we have come to com
mon solutions to our prob
lems.
One solution can be
summed up in the Akan
word “sankofa” — going
back to our roots in order to
go forward. Inother words,
we must reclaim our pastin
order to make progress as a
people. Another solution is
that education can play a
liberating role for our peo
ple and is critical to the re
vitalization of our commu
nities. Living in a nation
where information and the
access to it promise to be
the key to survival in the
next century, both Native
Americans and African
Americans must find a way
of equipping our children to
be a partofthat future econ
omy and that world.
For Native Americans,
the intersection ofthese two
solutions is found in the
American Indian College
Fund (AICF). Modeled on
the older, highly-successful
United Negro College Fund,
.the AICF was established
«in 1989 by the presidents of
the American Indian colleg
es. The American Indian
Pohce misconduct, citizens’ rights
hat has Mark
‘N; Fuhrman taught
us about police mis
conductand citizens’rights?
Acute tensions between
cops and those they’re sworn
to protect undermine the
harmony and safety of com
munities.
When complaints of gross
police misconduct rise in
urban pressure cookers,
sometimes they boil over
dangerously.
Remembertheriots —the
big one in Los Angeles and
the aftershocks across the
nation — because the police
who beat Rodney King were
exonerated. :
Tensions are rising once
again in cities that already
have problems with crime.
The list of recent abuses
is familiar and frightening.
In Philadelphia, a federal
grand jury is investigating
patterns of police miscon
duct against poor blacks,
including charges of fram
ing people with false evi
dence and lying to secure
‘search warrants.
' ‘Already over 40 criminal
convictions have been over
‘turned and another thou
Bernice Powell Jackson notes, "The first
tribal colleges were founded during the
movement of Native Americans for self
determination in the 1960 s and 19705. They
~were founded by Native-American leaders
who saw that mainstream education was
failing their people and that their tribes were
in danger of losing both their past and their
future”
College Fund now includes
29 two and four year colleg
es with 15,000 students, lo
cated on or near reserva
tions in 12 Midwestern and
Western states. The AICF
raises funds for these insti
tutions, which are used to
provide scholarships and
student aid as well as to
strengthen Native-Ameri
can studies departments
and to begin to build en
dowments for its member
institutions.
These are some of the na
tion’s newest colleges, serv
ing some ofthe nation’s poor
est people. The first tribal
colleges were founded dur
ing the movement of Native
Americans for self-determi
nation in the 1960 s and
19705. They were founded
by Native-American leaders
who saw that mainstream
education was failing their
people and that their tribes
were in danger of losing both
their past and their future —
*Already over 40 criminal convictions have
been overturned and another thousand are
under review. If former detective Mark
Fuhrman’s notorious tapes are based on
fact instead of fiction,” notes coiumnist
Hugh B. Price, "then the Los Angeles Police
Department should soon come under similar
scrutiny.”
sand are under review.
If former detective Mark
Fuhrman’s notorious tapes
are based on fact instead of
fiction, then the Los Ange
les Police Department
should soon come under
similar scrutiny.
The abuse is not confined
toblacks. In arecent Wash
ington Post article entitled
“Bullies in Blue,” syndicat
ed columnist Robert Novak
recounted a run-in with an
officer that blew up way out
of proportion to his minor
traffic offense.
This incident prompted
Novak to worry: “If this is
how the police treat white
men in suits, what will they
do to African-Americans?”
Since the federal consti
of losing history and culture
as elders died out without
passingonthelanguagesand
culture to the next genera
tion and as young people
succumbed to the dangers of
alcohol and despair brought
on by poverty and lack of
self-esteem.
Historically, education
was a difficult issue for Na
tive Americans. While trib
al leaders had usually ne
gotiated for access to educa
tion in their treaties with
the U.S. government, those
provisions were rarely hon
ored. Instead white educa
tors and missionaries pro
vided education for Indian
children, premised on the
concept of assimilation of
Indian people into the larg
er society. Thus, these edu
cators often forced Indian
children to live in boarding
schools away from their
families, while forbidding
them to speak their own
languages and giving them
tutional rights of American
citizens are at risk, I call
upon President Clinton to
create a national commis
sionimmediately toaddress
this crisis in urban law en
forcement.
The role of such a com
mission will not be to con
duct a series of hearings
across the country, to en
gageinendless fact finding,
or to investigate anew the
root causes of urban crime.
The commission’s more
focused and time-limited
charge from the President
would be to:
eGather testimony, evi
dence, findings and disposi
tions from relevant grand
jury investigations, and ci
vilian complaint proceed-
Christian names and new
identities.
But the new Native Amer
icancollegesaregroundedin
traditional Indian culture
and values. Preservation of
tribal languages, traditions,
values, music, literatureand
art is one of the critical mis
sions of these colleges. Tra
ditional college academics
are offered alongside classes
in Native American history,
language, literatureand arts.
Native American colleges
are now more than institu
tions of higher education.
They are home — centers of
every aspect of Indian life
— for many Indian commu
nities. On many reserva
tions, they operate the only
libraries, daycare centers
and tribal archives. They
operate health care centers,
employ hundreds of tribal
members and produce nurs
es, doctors, technicians,
teachers and administra
togs so desperately needed.
itting Bull, the Lakota
Sioux chief, once said, “Let
us put our minds together
and see what life we can
make for our children.” The
American Indian College
Fund and its member insti
tutions have taken that
challenge seriously and are
making it a reality.
For more information on
the American Indian Col
lege Fund, write: 21 W.
68th Street, Suite IF, New
York, NY 10023.
ings. 2
® Ascertain whetherthere
are recurring patterns of '
abuse and, if so, what kind.
sAnalyze the strategies
and tools needed by police
departments to combat the
- violent and sophisti- |
cated forms of crime that
plague cities today. ‘
¢lssue findings about the
- and frequency of
abuse of citizens’ constitu
tional rights.
*Promulgate a model
code of police conduct con
sistent with the U.S. Con
stitution.
The very creation and
highly publicized distribu
tion of this code of police
conduct would place height
ened pressure on police de
partments to comply.
Theoverarching constitu
tional issues that the presi
dential commission would
address are too important
to be left tolocal police com
missions or civilian com
plaint review boards.
American citizens deserve
aggressive federal protec
tion of their constitutional
rights against abuse by law
less cops. :