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August 29, 1996 AUGUSTA FOCUS
World / National View
Nigerian trip
spells trouble for
Moseley-Braun
By Dennis Conrad
ASSOCIATED PRESS Writer
CHICAGO
Fouryears after Carol Moseley-
Braun made history as the
nation’s first elected black female
senator, the Illinois Democrat is
getting some tough questions from
her home-state delegates despite
herrole as vice chair of the party’s
national convention.
Moseley-Braun delivered brief
welcoming remarks Monday night
asvice chairwoman ofthe conven
tion. She generated cheers and
applause by recalling how llinois
had, “in the spirit of Abraham
Lincoln,” come togetheracross the
lines of race and gender and geog
raphy to make her election pos
sible.
But she spent much of the
convention’sopeningday dodging
reporters’ questions about secret
trip to Nigeria last month to visit
its dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha.
“I have answered the last ques
tion in life about my vacation,”
"she said.
At one point, though, she took
time out to discount published
rumors that Vice President Al
Gore’s motorcade abandoned her
Saturday because of tension with
the Clinton administration over
the trip. The State Department
last week issued a rare public
condemnation of the trip.
“It’s like I am under such a
microscope,” she sighed. “Gee, I
can’t get lost. I was walking down
the street. I missed my car.”
Stillmore than ssoo,oooin debt
from her last campaign and for
years dogged by bad press about
past expenses registered by her
former fianceand campaign man-
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R
Senator
Carol
Moseley-
Braun
ager, Moseley-Braun was ex
pected to have a tough GOP chal
lenger in 1998.
Now, she may get a Democratic
one as well.
Evensome personal friends, long
time political allies and others at
tending the convention say the trip
is hard to defend.
“I think she will not win renomi
nation in the primary in 1998,” said
Illinois convention delegate Patrick
Welch, a state senator and state
party committeeman. “I think her
career as an elected official is over.”
Democrats like Welch worry that
the fallout from the trip could affect
their own futures in 1998 _ a year
when the party alsohoped toretake
the governor’s mansion for the first
timein 22 years. Moseley-Braun, at
thetop of theticket, isnot what they
want, they say.
Some delegates and party activ
istssayfreshman Chicago Congress
man Jesse Jackson Jr., son of the
Rev. Jesse Jackson and one of the
sharpest critics of the Nigeria trip,
may be the right one to succeed
Moseley-Braun.
“Frankly, if any white politician
ranagainsther he would beaccused
of attacking the black vote,” said
Robert Creamer, executive director
of Citizen Actioninlllinois, thestate’s
largest public-interest group.
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T } Urprisingiy Low rrices:
Baptists, black press announce partnership
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Pledging to speak with a unit
ed voice, the nation’s two oldest
African-American institutions,
the black church and the black
press, will announce a new wide
ranging partnership, including
a nationwide subscription drive
at the National Baptist Conven
tion, USA Inc.’s annual conven
tion, Sept. 1-6, at the Orlando
Convention Center in Orlando,
Fla.
The National Newspaper Pub
lishers Association (NNPA) has
its roots in the first black news
paper, published in 1827. The
National Baptist Convention,
USA, Inc. (NBCUSA, Inc.), was
founded in the 1860 s in West
Africa.
Both will work together to
“speak for the voiceless” in Amer
ica, leaders of the two organiza
tions said.
Dr. Henry J. Lyons, president
of the 8.5 million-member
NBCUSA, Inc. said, “This effort
will eradicate the myth that Af
rican Americans cannot do any
thing together.
“This is one of the most mean
ingful movements that we will
Farrakhan seeks access to Libyan grant
From page one
enter the fortress and to con
front it from within.”
Farrakhan drew widespread
criticism for the trip, which in
cluded meetings with Gadhafi,
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
and Nigerian ruler Gen. Sani
Abacha. White House spokesman
Mike McCurryreferred toitas“a
thugfest tour.”
Gadhafi, a pariah among world
leaders, has been laboring for
years to rehabilitate his stand
ing through back-channel con
tacts with the United States.
McCurry characterized
Farrakhan’s meeting with the
Libyan leader as part of an effort
by Gadhafi “to worm his way
back into the good graces of the
world” without turning over two
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NNPA President Dorothy R. Leavell and NBCUSA, Inc. President Dr.
Henry J. Lyons.
ever have the opportunity tobe a
part of. As African Americans,
we must recommit ourselves to
each other. We must have the
faith to do business with each
other and support each other.”
The joint effort harks back to a
traditionally close relationship
between the black church and
the black press.
“The black church has had to
Libyan suspects in the Decem
ber 1988 bombing of Pan Am
Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scot
land.
After hereturned to the United
States last winter, the Justice
Department warned Farrakhan
that he would have to register as
a foreign agent if he was carry
ing out directions from Libya or
any other foreign government.
Farrakhandeniedin aletterthat
he was doing so.
Farrakhan’srequest regarding
the donation, first reported Mon
day by The Wall Street Journal,
poses an election-season di
lemma for the Clinton adminis
tration.
The president is under pres
sure to demonstrate resolve
against terrorism, and could re
kindle controversy by appearing
tohelp Farrakhan, a divisive fig
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rely upon the black press to tell
its story and it is the only press
that understands the cultural
and historic aspects of the black
church. Itis,and always hasbeen,
my goal to ‘raise a standard’ for
my people, both spiritually and
economically. [This] subscription
drive will go a long way toward
reaching my goals,” Dr. Lyons
said.
ure who has been criticized in
the past for racist remarks.
But rules against doing busi
ness with Libya are aimed at
preventing economic benefits
from flowing to an outlaw state,
and it may be politically difficult
to deny a gift flowing the other
direction with the stated pur
pose ofhelping American minori
ties. -
At a meeting of black journal
istsinNashville, Tenn. last week,
Farrakhan said he wanted to use
the money from Gadhafi “to put
some hope in a people that are
quickly losing hope.”
He also told the group he
planned to travel soon to accept
the $250,000 humanitarian
award, established in 1989 and
first given to South Africa’s
Nelson Mandela.
The go-between in Farrakhan’s
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The subscription drive will be
coordinated through the 33,000-
plus NBCUSA, Inc’s member
churches in America. Parishio
ners will be encouraged to sup
port their local African-Ameri
can newspaper, buying them
through their home churches.
“To have the black church and
press come together on better
ways to reach our common con
stituencies is a significant step,”
said Dorothy R. Leavell, presi
dent of the NNPA, which repre
sents more than 200 African-
American newspapers and 11
million-plus readers across the
country.
“This agreement unites two of
our community’s most powerful
influences. Together we have a
voice not only to tell our stories,
but also to empower our commu
nity,” Mrs. Leavell said.
The initial announcement
about the agreement was made
during the National Newspaper
Publishers Association’s 56th
Annual Convention in Houston
in June. A subsequent meeting
between President Leavell and
Dr. LyonsinJuly further cement
ed the relationship.
effort to win federal permission
to accept the money is a success
ful North Carolina businessman,
Marion “Rex” Harris, according
to the Wall Street Journal. =
Harris sees the money as‘a
way “to bring black Americans
back into America,” he told the
newspaper. “A lot of the money
will help our young children who
are hungry, to build homes, to
send many to universities.”
As a broker for the transac
tion, Harris also could collect a
significant fee if he is successful,
the newspaper said. i
Harris was recruited for the
jobbythe Rev. Benjamin Chavis,
the ousted leader of the National
Association for the Advancement
of Colored People who helped
Farrakhan organize the day-long
gathering of black men in Wash
ington last year. o