Newspaper Page Text
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August 15, 1996
GOING PLACES By J. Philip Waring
Dr. Lowery may retire
his week’s Going Places column
T features an excerpt from an At
lanta Constitutionarticle by H.R.
Towns.
... With the Southern Christian Lead
ership Conference opening its 39th con
vention today in Detroit, the Rev. Jo
seph Lowery is hinting that this session
could be his last.
The veteran civil rights leader, who
has headed the Atlanta-based organi
zation for the past 19 years, said he may
decline to accept the nomination as pres
ident at next year’s convention.
“In all probability, this may be my last
year,” said Lowery, 74, who took the
SCLC helm from the late Rev. Ralph
David Abernathy in 1976. “I want to
take some time out to write.”
Lowery quipped, “Word has gotten
out that [blacks] have won all the victo
ries, that the struggle is over.”
Turning serious, he added, “It’s hard
er now to raise funds.”
State Rep. Tyrone Brooks, who worked
in the organization for more than 30
years, said he believes Lowery is close to
retirement. “I think it’s time for him to
spend more time on the golf course and
travel with his wife and family,” Brooks
said. “He’s paid his dues.”
If Lowery retires next year, Brooks
said he might seek the post. He joined
the organization as a teenager and
served under its founders, the Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr. and Abernathy.
Brooks also was on staff under Lowery
before leaving the organization in 1979
to pursue other interests.
“I grew up in the SCLC,” he said. “I
FOCUS IN SOUTH CAROLINA By Lawrence E. Harrison
Terrorism nothing new
e do not have to look to foreign
‘N; shores for terrorism. Itisa part
of our history, pastand present.
African Americans are well aware of it.
The physical damageis soapparent, but
there is more, much more.
Terrorism does indeed involve bombs,
fire and death. The history books tell
about some, but they do not tell all. We
are just now beginning to learn of some
Americans’ utter contempt for the well
being of other Americans of maybe a
different complexion or persuasion. How
else can we explain the lynchings and
the destruction of whole towns? We are
right to hide it in the back pages of our
archives, to designate a place of shame.
Sadly, however, neither our conscious
ness nor our conscience has become
steeped deeply enough into its conse
quences. We can remember. Those who
can remember first-hand have insight
and deserve recognition and praise from
the African-American community, if
only for their survival. They and the
rest of us also have a duty — a duty to
learn from history, to pass along that
history and to make the future better.
There are also scars and hurts that
have not been as visible ... At least, we
have pretended that they did not exist.
The nature of a people is made up of
many factors. When that nature has
been so violated, a few generations do
not completely tell the tale; and there
are always some within each genera
tion that may escape the full effect. But
the full effect is always there. Terrorism
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love the SCLC. It's in my blood.”
But the immediate matter at hand is
the convention, Lowery said, adding
that the past year has been successful
for the SCLC. It has:
*negotiated a pact with the Publix
grocery chain and Shoney’s restaurants
worth more than $157 million to hire
and promote more blacks and build more
grocery stores and restaurants in mi
nority neighborhoods;
eled the national call for the investi
gation of burned black churches;
*helped register thousands of new
voters in Georgia, Alabama and Missis
sippi;
*increased itsnumber of chapters and
affiliates by 13 percent, to more than
300 nationwide.
The highlights of this year’s conven
tion, which is expected to draw more
than 2,000 delegates, include a session
with Attorney General Janet Reno, who
will provide an update on the investiga
tion into burned black churches. There
also will be forums on getting blacks to
spend more money in their communi
ties, [on] youths and handgun violence,
and [on] the impact of redistricting on
the black community.
Lowery said organizations like the
SCLC are more important than ever and
that will be reflected at the convention.
“We’ll be talking about strategies for
countering the assault on black life and
anchoring ourselves for the next centu
ry,” Lowery said. “We are also very
much concerned about what’s happen
ing in voting rights. They’re turning
back the clock on many of our gains.”
can alsobedefined by what it does tothe
mind, and to the soul. That may be the
most inclusive terrorism of all.
We have not fought terrorism well, in
any time, or in any way. We have only
answered violence with violence or
sought to eradicate the results of terror
ism by eradicating its source — human
beings. For example, we are now seek
ing tojail children. Have we really come
so far? Or maybe, have we really not
come so far? The answer might surprise
us, depending of course on how it affects
us. Either way, we will all live in fear. It
is certainly not the way it should be.
Another question is, “Can the hearts
of human beings ever be completely free
of either perpetrating terrorism or be
ing its victim?” It may be the most im
portant question of all. Two thousand or
soyears of religion have not changed us
or made us whole. The fault has not
been with thereligion, however we might
have defined it: It has been with human
beings themselves. Hope, if it does not
spring eternal, is no hope at all. For
humankind, itiseven morethan that. It
is all we have, in ourselves and more
than ourselves. If we do not have it, it is
indeed the true terror.
We must fear more than fear itself in
1996, in America, in the world. Human
beings’ actions should definitely scare
us, but their non-actions should scare
us as well. African Americans are ac
quainted with both. This new fear, how
ever, is for all of us.
Charles W. Walker
Publisher
Frederick Benjamin
Managing Editor
Dot T. Ealy
Marketing Director
Rhonda Jones
Copy Editor
Timmy Cox
News Correspondent
Derick Wells
Art Director
Sheila Jones
Office Manager
Lillian Wan
Layout Artist
Editorial
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THIS WAY FOR BLACK EMPOWERMENT By Dr. Lenora Fulani
The new black voice
our years ago, just after Ross
F Perot’s 1992 presidential cam
paign, when I myself was an in
dependent candidate for the presiden
cy, I was invited to address a group of
supporters of Ross Perot in southern
California. The top was building an
independent movement that could bring
together Americans of different politi
cal persuasions, economic status, and
racial backgrounds. I must confess I
was nervous. I was going to speak to a
crowd of 400 Perot partisans, very few
of whom were African-American, and
frankly I had noidea what the response
would be like. I believed very passion
ately —aslstill do— that the American
people can overcome our differences and
come together to save our country. This
wasmy dream. And I must tell you that
when I finished my speech and this
room full of Perot supporters rose to
their feet and gave me a standing ova
tion, I felt certain — probably for the
first time — that my dream would be
come a reality.
And indeed, it has. For this month,
hundreds of thousands of Reform Party
members around the country from many
walks of life will come together in this
most historic experiment in grassroots
democracy to select the Reform Party
candidate for president and move us
further down the path of building a new
party of the American people.
TO BE EQUAL By Hugh B. Price
Welfare reform vs. reality
he sweeping legislation overhaul-
I ing the nation’s welfare system
that Congress has passed and
President Clinton has signed is a calam
ity. It is a declaration that the federal
government has wearied of the war on
poverty and decided towage war against
poor mothers and their children instead.
We wholeheartedly endorse the idea
that all Americans should earn their
own keep through gainful employment
and entrepreneurship. The core mis
sion of the Urban League movement is
helping those we serve become econom
ically self-sufficient.
Superficially, this welfare legislation
seems consistent with that philosophy.
It ends the federal guarantee of public
assistance for poor families by imposing
a five-year lifetime limit on benefits.
This is supposed to push welfare recip
ients into the labor force by 1 moving
the crutch of long-term publi assis
tance. ,
But the problem is that, while the
American economy is a marvel at gener
ating jobs and wealth for the greatest
number, it has a rapidly-diminishing
number of jobs for those with low skills.
Many inner-city residents simply can
not find work, try as they might, due to
the chronic undersupply of low-skill jobs
and oversupply of higher-skilled appli
cants who are willing to compete with
low-skill workers for those jobs. Dis
crimination against black applicants by
inner-city and downtown merchants
The CSRA Classic is coming!
It is amazing to me how plain old
grassroots democracy frightens the po
litical establishment. It is a measure of
how alienated our government and the
twomajor parties have become from the
American people — from you and me.
They are panicked that ordinary Amer
icans are standing up and saying we
don’t like the way the government is
being run; we don’t like the way the
country is being run; we don’t like
what’s happening to our children and
neighbors, whether we live in the sub
urbs or the inner city. These are the
kinds of things the majority of Ameri
cans are profoundly concerned about.
And we have decided to take matters
into our own hands and build a new
political party. This has shaken the
political establishment, including both
political parties and the media — to the
core.
Nearly every magazine and newspa
per in the country has attacked Ross
Perot and the Reform Party in the last
several weeks. Some of them criticize
Mr. Perot’s style. Some don’t like his
allies, like the articles that have at
tacked him for having me in the party.
The political establishment types hate
it when people of different backgrounds
come together, especially when Blacks
and whites come together. The criti
cism that the Reform Party is nothing
but a platform for Ross Perot has dom
alike is another formidable obstacle to
employment.
A study co-authored by Nikolas
Theodore of the Chicago Urban League,
and Virginia Carlson of the University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, found that in
Illinois there are four workers in need of
entry-level jobs for every job opening in
the state. The problem is worse in the
cities: In Chicago, there are six workers
for every slot; in East St. Louis, nine.
Given that reality, what are welfare
mothers who cannot find work supposed
to do for family income when the time
limits expire? Where will income for
rent, heat, clothing, school supplies, and
so forth come from? Do we really want
these desperate mothers to turn to hus
tling, prostitution, drug dealing or pan
handling? Are these the family values
that Washington has in mind?
Indeed, the Congressional Budget Of
fice last spring warned that many, per
haps even most, welfare recipients who
are lopped off the rolls won’t be able to
find jobs in the private sector. And sep
arate analyses of this legislation by the
Urban Institute and the Federal Office
of Management and Budget indicate
that — with one-fifth of America’s chil
dren already stranded in poverty — it
will almost certainly push at least one
million more children down to those
depths.
Contrary to this bill’s assumptions,
state governments won’t be able to pro
tect these vulnerable citizens because
inated the media coverage since the
initiative to build the party was first
announced by Mr. Perot on September
25.
But the Reform Party is not about Ross
Perot, though I deeply respect and honor
the role that he has played in helping to
create the party. The Reform Party is
about much, much more than Ross Perot
or who gets the keys to the Oval Office in
1996. It's about changing the political
environment in this country so that neg
ative campaigning and all its destructive
effects are eliminated. It’s about doing
away with the partisan dealmaking on
Capitol Hill, along with the endless ma
nipulations where one group is pitted
against another group, many times along
racial lines. We want to change the
political environment in this country so
that the American people, from all walks
of life, can come together and create a
society in which the economy can grow
and benefit the average person. We want
to create a society where people can live
decently from birthtothe grave. Wewant
tohaveacountry where there is harmony
between the races and respect for person
al liberty, where the Constitution and
Bill of Rights that the first American
revolutionaries fought and died for is the
actuallawoftheland. To achieve this, we
must create a new party. And Black
America must be among the strongest
voices in that party. Join me.
they themselves have significant fiscal
problems. '
Instead, what is most likely to happen
is that the mothers and children cast off
welfare will swell the ranks of the home
less on America’s streets — where their
presence will derail the progress many
cities have made recently in improving
the quality of life of their business dis
tricts and neighborhoods.
It is imperative that we all speak out
to say that, if the federal government
really wants to, promote self-reliance
instead of washing its hands of the wel
fare problem, it would, yes, insist that
able-bodied welfare recipients work. But
it would also fund a public-sector jobs
program to rebuild the nation’s crum
bling infrastructure. Such a program
would provide work for those where the
local unemployment rate is high and
there simply aren’t enough jobs to go
around.
That’s what President Clinton origi
nally had in mind when he proposed
endingthe traditional welfare program.
That would be the kind of welfare re
form that would truly reflect family
values by promoting self-reliance and
protecting children. '
Unfortunately, the legislation we are
now burdened with is just the opposite:
Itistheaction ofa Congress and a White
House shedding its responsibility to
provide for all of the people of the Unit
ed States, and the nation will soon see
its very negative impact.