Newspaper Page Text
August 29, 1996 , AUGUSTA FOCUS
8
GOING PLACES By J. Philip Waring =
Augustans welcomed at
Democratic Convention
very four years the American peo-
E ple enjoy their participation in na
tional presidential conventions,
Democratic and Republican. And, since
last year, we've had a smaller third party
headed by billionaire Ross Perot of Texas.
There was a rather cold and business
like Republican (Grand Old Party) Con
vention held in San Diego, Calif. earlier
this month. Few readers of this lusty, 15-
year-old Afro-American weekly or their
friends, family or church members at
tended. Fortunately, however, retired
four-star Army General Colin Powell was
invited. And he used the occasion to excel
lent advantage with his dignified pres
ence and good speaking delivery, although
he knew the content of his speech would
not be popular, as the GOP had already
voted against it.
This stately war hero proceeded with a
profound plea for the Convention attend
ees to accept his fairness doctrine for
affirmative action for minorities, a wom
an’s right to choose for or against abor
tion, and equal and fair treatment of all
Americans. Although he received some
boos and criticism, General Powell’s sin
cerity won applause and recoghition from
ths cold group that his plea was good old
fashioned Americanism.
Democratic Convention &t Chicago
entirely different R
: This affair currently in operation at
aforesaid city furnished an efitirely dif
ferent, equal, balanced and realistic pic
ture of our real America. There was a
healthy group of delegates -~ men, wom
en, minorities, those from various reli
gions, incomes, educationalbackgrounds
and people with different ideais of what is
good forthe American Dream. Therewas,
according to plentiful mediacoverage, a
mixture of rich ideas and suggestions,
which should be helpful for our republic
into the next century. el
Georgians with Augumfigttm
TO BE EQUAL By Hugh B. Price
A marathon, not a spflnt :
his past week nearly 4,000 Urban
I Leaguers and another 11,000
friends, partners and guests gath
ered in New Orleans.
We renewed old acquaintances and
made new alliances. We broke bread to
gether and exchanged information about
what’s happening “on the ground” in dif
ferent parts of the wide land of ours. Yes,
we partied hard at times and laughed
uproariously at times and, with the help
of Mayor Mark Morial and the citizenry of
the “Big Easy,” had a great, refreshing
time.
But, most importantly, we also thought
hard about the situation facing African
Americans and all of America.
And we were charged by ourown mem
bership and by the numerous scholars,
activists and business and religious lead
ers who filled our panels and workshops
and plenary sessions to work harder to
ensure that we’re doing what needs to be
done to prepare African Americans and
other Americans to prosper in the 21st
century.
We remembered the late Ron Brown,
the dynamic secretary of comimerce, who
had been a stalwart of the Usban League
movement since he joined the organiza
tion in the mid-19605.
Some would say that Ron == who bril
liantly captained the Democratic Party’s
successful quest for the White House in
1992, and became the most effective sec
retary of commerce in American history
—had“moved on” from the Urban League
movement. s A
We know better: In fact, he had riot
moved on: He had just moved his commit
ment and efforts to make Ameri¢an soci
ety as economically and socially inclusive
AgsnFeydis
Since 1981 ,
A Walker Group Publication
1143 Laney Walker Blvd.
Editorial
From what this ¢olumnist could gléan
from television, radio, printéd media, ett.,
our state and local hometown area was
well-represented in this important polit
ical gathering. One might see aTV shotof
Sen. Charles Walker; State Rep. Calvin
Smyre of Columbus, Ga.; dur great opera
diva Jessye Norman and her birother Dr.
Simon Norman. Then, there were lots
and lots of other faces and outstanding
personalities in this huge'crowd of busy,
friendly and hard-working delegates, es
pecially from Whatisknowh as"thé world
of Atlanta.” Much Was :fiomfi@edi&
the party in I sdf ug o
Congratu?km' to golf stars Tiger
Woods and (Augustan)Jim Dént.
Two friends, Chaplam&c Redd and
CWO Joe Goeng poinited ot to this colum
nist the athleti¢ importange®f the slim but
important Mw@oneed‘lmetfibm
and how both ¢otld pave tmay forothers.
The two of them¥representtWo diffefent but
successful ages: Dent, now#Veteragwith a
bt of g, haiine 3 tisinc VB iY
sports arena thist largely shut out péople of
color. He nefieldf ifited over the
decades to climbup this habarrier, win
ning here and there arodndthe nation.
&mesayhe’sm mad ?:v.il‘&}u %‘
'l‘hen one hfl— ‘l'n i :‘ .;. ‘v.
Woods Jr. at Stamiferd _. i}
has won three consegutive’ LS, Alnateut
Golf Association tournigiients, which
made him eligible t pléy ity the great
this recent thirdigolfvicterylagh week, he
decided to R n professional; and will
to play in Aogmne now earn
millions of doMlats annually, «-~
Thought you'd like to gé %erfllt
other a collegé youth. Let th%.-mfity
golfers take heart with these victories. -
as possible to a larger stage.
In doing g, He illuminated a funda
mental tmtfi about the movement for
social justice'in America, which the Ur
ban League sptungfrom B@yearsago and
in which it plays a piv: '
That truth is that the movement, going
on four centutiesold, is not & sprint. Itsa
marathon—amarathon whichdemands,
above all, the commitment#nd the stam
ina to dothe hard, unglamerous work day
in and day out o that one ¢an not only go
the distance, but even pickup the pace of
‘the forward mevement at times. :
Ron knew, and we know, that this is
one of those periods that requires pickirig
up the pace for,despite the great progress
that has been tade and is being made, so
much remajn;: doto build 21st century
communities across America thatinclude
all in America and give all of us a ¢hance
to achieve to the best of our abilities. To
improve our publicschoolsso thatquality
education is available forall, Togive all of
our citizens the skills theyll need to gain:
decent-payingjobs if the te;hmld‘gltalfi'
driven labor market of the 21st century.
Last Wednesday, at our efid-of-the-con-.
ference dinner at the Ernést N. Morial -
Convention Cefiter, I noted that the new
century will be uponus Wfim, two
weeks, and thréenights, andl asked —as-
I had at our ofehing session «= “Are we
awake toits inevitabil wfiofin
possibilities?t 14 - & A & .
We of the Urban' League mmwm
think we are, and we go fd’thfi'm ew
Orleans prepared wcont:lnmk' our
selvtisa, and oufpartners, fi oéuAmc;
ica that estion, to follow
with t\a\rt;‘:::gz'l:‘;u L ;
If not us, then who? If not now, when?
- Charles W. Walker
. Publigher: .
Dot T.Ealy
Marketing Director
vl e
2 A
~ 'RhondudJories
~ Copy Editor
| Timmy Cox
- News Corresponident
Derick Wells
Art Directot
Sheila Jon
6 i 4
R P ,fl”,m" 7 . mm%bww
Ch%%! . emonium.. =
| ¢ 2 &/ \L.
' \/ | ’w ll : ’
8 - "W | p al
T pa Bj |
P |LI » 7\
}/’ s(e RS b 7 3
v ey » 7 S Lol N 2 !
CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL By Bernice Powgll Jackson
Blessed are the peacemakers
Part Two
| ast week I wrote from the heart
.‘,I with my reaction to the follow-up
to the Kansas City gang summit
and our failure as adults to continue to
focus our efforts in helping these young
‘people end the violence which engulfs
‘our communities and kills thousands of
young people every year. This week I
‘write from the head about the continu
: in%hcrisis of violence.
- The attention span of our nation is
_shorter than that of a kindergartener
when it comes to dealing with our prob
lems. Whether it is the problem of rac
ism, the problem of violence, the prob
lem of police brutality, the problem of
-church burnings, we are only interested
in the superficial causes and the quick
fixes. We are not in it for the duration —
until we get past the pain, the denial,
the anger, the excuses — to the real
solutions. We are not able, somehow, to
invest ourselves and our funds in the
real long-term solutions.
. So it is with the issue of violence and
Jyouth. Instead of really looking at root
‘eauses and dealing with them, we are
‘marching quickly toward the increas
ing criminalization of young people. So,
‘the governor of Illinois proposed that all
youth services should come under the
Department of Corrections and that the
police can hold children from seven years
old for 24 hours without notifying their
parents. The California Assembly is con
sidering a bill that would permit the
holding of children who have been ar
rested in adult lockups for longer peri
THIS WAY FOR BLACK EMPOWERMENT By Dr. Lenora Fulani
Gender and democracy gap
9w he newspapers and talk televi-
I I sion are filled with debates over
whether or not Bob Dole and the
‘Republican Party can close the “gender
gap.” In other words, can they cut into
Bill Clinton’s nearly 20-point lead among
women voters?
While Dole may be able to lop off some
points from Clinton’s female support,
‘the Republicans are far from being the
party of American women. The Repub
lican convention was a political fashion
show — a highly orchestrated parade of
‘Women was presented to the public in
the hopes that the party could be made
so appear “woman-friendly.” But the
mere fact that the Republican Party has
a “gender gap” indicates that it has a
core constituency — white, conserva
tive males — of which women are not a
part. Consequently, thereis a“gap” that
‘has to be closed.
Even the term is somewhat deceptive
- because “gender gap” sounds fairly
harmless. What that means is, howev
er, that women are not an integral part
of the party, so that special appeals
must be made to us in order to win our
votes. The trick, for the Republicans, is
to figure out how to attract us without
changing what is fundamentally trou
blesome about the Republican Party —
that it is an exclusionary party which
practices exclusionary politics. Howev
~ér,the more the Republicans make their
disingenuous appeal, the more trouble
they run into. A poll conducted by the
Pew Research Center earlier this year
indicates that 58 percent of women (as
opposed to 46 percent of men) are very
bothered by politicians saying things
_simply in order to get elected. “Attrac
‘tion politics” is not very attractive to
“women.
" Certainly the Democratic Party has
“historically been more connected to
ods and removes confidentiality rights
forthe youth. Instead'of more money for
prevention programs and jobsforyouth,
politicians fan the flames of the panic of
the public and just bßuild more prisons.
When we do look gt the issue of vio
lence and youth, we tend to look at the
wrong things and come to the wrong
conclusions. We think that youth vio
lence is isolated in our inner cities,
when the reality is that it is every
where. Just yesterday I read in The
Washington Post of the death of a young
person in suburban Alexandria, Va. by
gangviolence. Gangs arein many, many
suburbs and involve youth of all races.
We know in our heart of hearts that
part of the blame has to fall on the
availability of guns, yet we fail to do
anything aboutit. There are an estimat
ed 200 million firearms on the streets of"
our cities. The domestic weapons com
plex, largely based in New England, has
a sl6 billion annual market. There are
some 287,000 licensed gun dealers in
the U.S. and tens of thousands of illegal
ones.
Indeed, in that same issue of The
Washington Post, there was an article
in which a National Rifle Association
researcher contends that it is not the
availability of guns which is responsible
forthe increased homicide rates of young
men, but the race of the young men
which is responsible for the homicide
rates. In other words, it is the fact that
these young men are black or Latino,
which is responsible for their deaths. In
other words, white Americans don’t need
women and a women’s agenda than the
Republicans. But it is well-known that
the political alliance between women
voters and the Democrats is based on
the party’s track record of support for
the public safety net. Issues such as job
training, daycare and welfare are im
portant to women, including women of
color, because we are a more marginal
force in the economy than men.
The Democratic Party might have the
gender advantage for the moment. But
the more the Democratic Party
backpedals away from its support for
the safety net — as President Clinton
did recently in agreeing to sign the
Republican welfare bill —the more it
undermines its support among women.
The more the Democratic Party reshapes
its agenda to prioritize the same core
constituency as the Republicans —
white, conservative males —the more it
digs its own “gender gap,” not to men
tion a “racial gap,” a “labor gap” and a
“liberal gap.”
The question then becomes whether
the Democrats and Republicans will
face any outside competition for the
women’s vote — namely, from a major
third party.
Support for a third party among wom
en is strong. Recent polls by Pew Re
search show that 57 percent favor such
a party. What's more, concern with de
mocracy reform issues — high on the
list of priorities for the new, indepen
dent Reform Party — is strong among
women. In some cases higher even than
among men.
For example, 73 percent of women
support term limits, while the Demo
crats have opposed them and the Re
publicans have failed to muster enough
muscle to pass them. Where term limits
have been enacted locally, women can
didates for office have been among the
to worry about guns and young people,
it’s ablack and Latino problem. In other
words, let the gun flow continue.
There are young people who know
differently from all of this and who are
busy trying to stop the violence in their
own communities. They have few funds
and too dittle community support.
We can do better in this nation. We
can commit ourselves to our youth — all
our youth — for the long haul. We can
provide funds, space, recreational equip
ment and jobs. If every African-Ameri
can man who attended the Million Man
March and every Latino man found one
young man to work with personally, it
would make a difference. If we each
committed ourselves to working — ac
tively and loudly — for gun control, it
would make a difference. If each church
committed itself to providing sanctuary
for young people from the streets, it
would make a difference. If each busi
ness provided a job, it would make a
difference. : :
Some organizations helping to
end the violence =
Break and Build, 200 E. 12th St. Kan
sas City, Mont. 64127; Increase the
Peace Network, c/o Youth Struggling
for Survival, P.O. Box 477446, Chicago,
111. 60647; Ten Point Coalition, 215 For
est Hills Ave.,Jamaica Plain, Ma. 02130;
and Barrios Unidos, 313 Front St., San
ta Cruz, Calif. 95060. Barrios Unidos
has many economic development
projects, including a silk screening busi
ness, which can print T-shirts for your
organization.
primary beneficiaries. Negative cam
paigning bothers 63 percent of women
(compared with 57 percent of men). And
80 percent of women favor strong re
strictions on gifts from lobbyists tomem
bers of Congress, another democracy
reform the 104th Congress failed to pass.
As far as women are concerned, the
democracy gap may become as impor
tant as the social and economic issues
that have defined the gender gap, mak
ing the Reform Party a serious contend
er for the women’s vote.
And what of abortion, considered the
defining issue of gender politics? The
Republicans are the pro-life party. The
Democrats are the pro-choice party. The
debate has been very polarized. But a
new framing of the issue has emerged
along with the populist third-party
movement against Big Government.
Within this new framework, abortion is
not a proper concern of government one
way or the other because the decision is
personal and therefore the government
hasnorighttoregulate it one way or the
other. This is the position that Ross
Perot has taken, and it is an appealing
one to many women because it has the
potential to de-politicize a much-exploit
ed issue.
An astonishing 95 percent of Ameri
can women say there must be some level
of reform of the current political pro
cess. They may well turn out to be a core
constituency of the populist movement
for a third party, and for the democrati
zation of American politics.
Dr. Lenora B. Fulani twice ran for
president of the U.S. as an independent,
making history in 1988 when she became
the first woman and African American to
get on the ballot in all 50 states. Dr.
Fulani is currently a leading activist in
the Reform Party and chairs the Commit
tee for a United Independent Party.