Augusta focus. ([Augusta, Ga.) 198?-current, December 26, 1996, Image 8

Augusta focus., December 26, 1996, Page 8, Image 8

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Newspaper Page Text8 December 26, 1996 AUGUSTA FOCUS GUEST COLUMN By Dr. Conrad W. Worrill Self-inspection and African people s we continue to pursue the goals A of liberation and independence in the black liberation move ment, from time to time it is imperative that we take a moment to look deep inside ourselves as a people. Daily we observe the increased num ber of African people killing each other, mentally and physically abusing each other, stealing from each other and be ing dishonest with each other. This is due, in part, to the fact that segments of the African community in the United States are disconnected from the moral and ethical traditions that have characterized relationships among African people in the past. This problem has caused far too many of us to believe that we cannot change the current situation in which we find ourselves. Many African people believe that the condition of African people in America is permanent. They have therefore cho sen the easy road, cooperating with the forces of white supremacy who continue to demonstrate that they will do every thing in their power to keep African people in this country at the bottom of society. This resultsin many African people in America developing a “bottom mentali ty.” In other words, many of our people buy into whatever the white supremacy forces feed us through the media and through educational and religious insti tutions. They constantly tell us that we are on the bottom and that we will remain there. But white supremacy forces offer individual African people in America the chance to get off the bottom if you join them. : “Ifyou join us you can obtain a good job, buy a nice house, buy a nice car, take nice vacations, and some of you, who choose, can even live with us,” they say. We were not always like this and we must examine ourselves as we struggle to overthrow the system of white su premacy and its impact on us. The Creative Force of the universe CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL By Bernice Powell Jackson Not in our town ast year this time a grassroots I campaign againstracism and hate violence occurred in cities and towns across the nation. Spawned by the actions of citizens in Billings, Mont. whorefused to allow their Jewish neigh bors to be terrorized by local white su premacist groups, the campaign was named Not in Our Town and culminat ed in a documentary aired on the Public Broadcasting System. As black churches continue toburn in 1996, Not in Our Town once again is taking place in communities which are saying No toracism and are responding with a commitment to end racially mo tivated violence and intolerance. This year’s campaign began on Internation al Human Rights Day, Dec. 10 and ends with Martin Luther King Jr.’s'birthday celebration in January. Once again, it will include a documentary, to air on Dec. 23, which will tell the stories of what communities across the nation are doing. Stories like that of St. John Bap tist Church in South Carolina, a black church that burned. For a decade St. John had been the target of racially motivated hate crimes, including dese crations of the church, its contents and its cemetery on several occasions. Now, members ofthat community, along with labor union members and church mem bers from other parts of the country, are Agsn Fe el Since 1981 A Walker Group Publication 1143 Laney Walker Blvd. has endowed us with the capacity to make great contributions to the world. A simple inspection of the ancient Nile Valley civilization of Kemet (Egypt) should inspire all African people to re spect their history and to hold them selves in high esteem. Kemet and the Kemetic people were the creators of math, science, architecture, writing, government, astronomy, medicine and so much more. The Kemetic people pro duced wisdom that was written in Medew Netcher (Divine Speech) or what Europeans call hieroglyphs. Wecan examine this Kemetic wisdom in The Husia, retranslated by Dr. Maulana Karenga. The Husia gives in sightinto how our ancestors viewed life, death, human relations, marriage, parenting, use of power, God, family as well as their standards of moral and ethical conduct. Reading this spiritual text elicits strong feelings for African people in a most profound and spiritual way. Consider these words from The Husia: “Do not terrorize people, for if you do, God will punish you accordingly. Ifany one lives by such means, God will take bread from his or her mouth. If one says, ‘I shall be rich by such means,’ she will eventually have to say, ‘My means en trapped me.” This passage continues: “Ifone says, ‘I will rob another,” he will end up being robbed himself. The plans of men and women do not always come to pass for, in the end, it is the will of God which prevails. Therefore, one should live in peace with others and they will come and willingly give gifts which another would take from them through fear.” Written about 5,000 years ago, the wisdom of these words should cause African people to reflect on our signifi cance as we struggle to create a greater good for our race. Dr. Worrill is the National Chairman o[, the National Black United Front (NBUF) located at 700 E. Oakwood Blvd., Chicago, 111., 60653. Tel: (312) 268-7500, ext. 144. Fax: (312) 924-1956. rebuilding St. John. Stories like two women in Ohio who began a “Not in Our Agency” education campaign for thousands of state em ployees after an annual Ku Klux Klan cross-burning on the state house lawn. Or the follow-up to the original Not in Our Town story, which occurred in Bili ings, Mont. and includes a look at the quality of life in the Jewish community there today. Not in Our Town is being used by town and city governments, by schools and ministerial associations. Many programs will focus on young people, helping them to understand the impact of racially-mo tivated violence. Many cities will use the videotapeasa part of their Martin Luther King Jr. celebrations. In this year of black church burnings, inthis year where we see the continuing racism of the criminal justice system and other incidents of racism all across our nation, Not in Our Town is one way to get every community to talk about what racism means in 1996 and the responsibility that all people of good will have to fight it wherever and when ever we confront it. We must all say loudly and firmly, “Not in Our Town.” For more information on Not in Our Town, contact your local public televi sion station or the Working Group at (510)547-8484 or by fax(slo) 547-8844. Charles W. Walker Publisher Frederick Benjamin Managing Editor Dot T. Ealy Marketing Director Rhonda Jones Copy Editor Derick Wells Art Director Sheila Jones Office Manager Lillian Wan Layout Artist Delores McKevie Account Representative Editorial TO BE EQUAL By Hugh B. Price Keeping Christmas well ... and it was always said of him that he knew how to keep Christmas well ... hese simple words poignantly I characterize the understanding, atonement and redemption of Ebenezer Scrooge, the hard-hearted man of business and the central charac ter of Charles Dickens’ classic, A Christ mas Carol. Duringthe course of this brieftale, set in mid-19th century London, the efforts to reclaim Scrooge’s soul by the ghost of his former business partner and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future bear wondrous success. Scrooge changes from “a squeezing, wrenching, grasping” man to “as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old City knew ... His own heart laughed, and that was quite enough for him.” A Christmas Carol is a simple tale. It speaks to fundamental human failings and fundamental human truths, and to fundamenial human hopes and funda mental human rights. At the tale’s beginning, Scrooge de fends to the ghost of his former partner their indifference toward those less for tunate by claiming, “But you were al ways a good man of business, Jacob.” The spirit cries out in condemnation, “Business! Mankind was my business. THIS WAY FOR BLACK EMPOWERMENT By Dr. Lenora Fulani Mobutu is back in Zaire ast Friday I had the opportunity I to interview Pierre Emannuel Übalijoro, the second counsel to the Rwandan Mission to the United Nations, on my weekly public affairs television show, Fulani!linvited him to share his insight on the complex crisis unfolding in Rwanda and neighboring Zaire. The crisis escalated this week with Mobutu Sese Seko’s return to Zaire, after a four-month stay in Europe for cancer treatment. Much of the region’s misery can be attributed to Mobutu’s 31-year reign of terror. Among other crimes, Mobutu was a staunch ally of the former extremist regime in Rwanda, which was overthrown by the Rwandan Patriotic Front — Mr. Übalijoro’s gov ernment — two and a half years ago. Mobutu appears now to be trying to rally his military for an assault on the pro-democracy rebels who have taken control ofthe eastern part of the country and liberated hundreds of thousands of Rwandanstrapped in the refugee camps there. In the course of four months in 1994, this extremist Rwandan regime orga nized the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Tutsis, as well as thousands of ethnic Hutus who opposed the regime and its genocidal policies. The genocide was a last-ditch attempt by the corrupt and dictatorial regime of the late President Juvenal Habyarimana to hold on to power in the face of strong internal and internation al pressure to move to a power-sharing agreement with the Rwandan Patriotic Front and other Rwandan opposition parties. The Western press usually re ports that 500,000 people were elimi nated by the regime’s killing machine. In reality, Mr. Übalijoro told us, over a million people died — sometimes at the rate of 10,000 a day. The international "..‘ g &< N €. \ a b .’vl 3 E ot 2 3 i"— g 1! /V"?‘ g eF e g ey "» b : "_-‘.,:Z;.;“,':ij_ ;;\’ 4 vs L R\ ?‘._v'..;.-,".-.”.. Mo, ’}‘.:o". : 3 b ~.’"M "‘i % ‘l’ ~i R o~ A 4o 7 he J i ._‘.'./ 4 ;'6 &msz . 248 S “I//;/A'_V..'. 3.' /’ “ “ 'l/ ¥ Metlin S g TIGKaE NG MO The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance and benev olence were all my business.” : Scrooge comes to understand that these words are true, that kindness and love and compassion are the most pre cious of possessions and that the mea sure of one’s store of them is the degree to which they are shared with others. He comes to understand a fundamental truth of human existence: We are our brothers’ and our sisters’ keepers. What that truthembodies is described in the precepts of many different reli gious creeds and festivals other than Christianity and Christmas. It is em bodied, for example, in the Jewish cele bration of Chanukah, a word which means “rededication,” and is also spelled out in the Nguzo Saba, or seven princi ples of Kwanzaa, the African-American celebration of community and culture, which occurs from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1. Those principles are umoja (unity), kujichagulia (self-determination), ujima (collective work and responsibility), ujamaa (cooperative economics), nia (a sense of purpose), kuumba (creativity) and imani (faith). Of these, the most important is the lastone, for faith enables us tobelievein the essential goodness of human beings and to believe that it is worth our effort community did nothing to stop the slaughter. Worse, the United Nations Security Council, under strong pres sure from the United States, reduced the small peacekeeping force stationed in Rwanda, “leaving the Rwandans to themselves.” The killing only abated when the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) launched a major offensive, driving the army and its lynch mobs into the west of Rwanda and, finally, into Zaire. As they fled, officials and soldiers of the former government destroyed or stole every thing of value, and caused over two million Hutu civilians to flee with them into neighboring Zaire and Tanzania by convincing them they would be killed by the RPF’s new government if they stayed. The Tanzanian Government attempt ed, with some success, to disarm the refugees and their military “leaders” as theyarrivedintheir country. Butin Zaire, thesituation was quite different. Mobutu permitted the former Rwandan armed forces to keep their weapons, to reorga nize, and to carry out cross-border at tacks against the RPF. The genocidal militias ruled the refugee camps. Mr. Übalijoro told us that, “in order to reach therefugees, theinternational reliefagen cies had to deal with the militias, who used the refugees as bargaining chips.” The Rwandan war criminals imposed taxes on the refugees (using the revenue to buy weapons), forced young men and women toundergomilitary training, and, Mr. Übalijoro added, “exported their geno cidal ideology to Zaire.” That is, the Rwandan extremists linked up with the corrupt army of Mobutu and began carry ing out “ethnic cleansing” operations against Zairian Tutsi communities, mur dering thousands and driving them from their farms and businesses. Facing extermination, these Tutsi 00 GASY 1O FIND-— b e Bl (kA T___| w’%ﬁﬂ[ﬂ“"!] {‘YW,' Wik ~ N T ‘r.{.h".:,'l‘,j / ol —— ||| O /=, L e T A M e ]‘y‘lm{(", oy ‘R"‘t Y v I f;?i.!!in' Al )ﬁ‘,iﬂ i’ oo BTSN L TR T PERD-ME ELMO to help those with whom we share the planet. We at the National Urban League have been privileged in the past 18 months to honor at our Equal Opportu nity Day Dinner two people who exem plify that faith and generosity of spirit, Oseola McCarty and Matel “Matt” Dawson Jr. Both came to national attention and acclaim because of their extraordinary financial philanthropy: In 1995 Miss McCarty, a laundress all her working life, donated $150,000 of her savings to the University of Southern Mississippi for student scholarships. Mr. Dawson, a skilled factory worker for the Ford Mo tor Company for 56 years, has given away more than $700,000 to schools, colleges, churches and individuals. But Oseola McCarty and Matel Dawson Jr. were motivated, not by the amount of money they could give nor by the atten tion they might receive from doing so, but by the spirit of giving, by faith in and a sense of compassion for and kinship to their fellow human beings. They, and many, many like them, un derstood what their “business” was. Like the redeemed Ebenezer Scrooge, they understood that “keeping Christmas” is not a seasonal matter, but something to dedicate oneself to all year ‘round. communities joined with an array of anti-Mobutu guerrilla organizations — the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire — and attacked the camps, routing the Rwandan militias and their Zairian al lies, and liberating the refugees. For the past two months, hundreds of thou sands of refugees have returned to Rwanda, many bearing machete and bullet wounds inflicted on them by the militias in an attempt to prevent their leaving. Now Mr. Übalijoro’s government must face the challenge of re-integrating these refugees to an economy and society still reeling from the genocide and destruc tion of 1994. Mr. Übalijoro emphasized that the international community must drop its talk of deploying a military force to the region, and shift its mission to providing economic assistance to the new Rwandan government. In addition, the work of the International Tribunal — which the United Nations promised toset up to try war crimes — must be expedit ed, ifthe cycle of impunity is to be broken. In a step toward national reconciliation, Rwanda has passed a law establishing graduated degrees of culpability for the genocide, and providing amnesty for some crimes in return for full confessions and acknowledgment of guilt. “Some amnes ty is necessary,” said Mr. Übalijoro. “To create a coherent society, we must learn how to forgive.” Clearly, one of the “root causes” of the Central African tragedy is the Mobutu regime. The solution to the crisis is in the hands of the democratic forces of Central Africa— the Rwandan Patriot ic Front, the Alliance of Democratic Forcesfor the Liberation of Congo-Zaire, and Zaire’s constitutional democracy movement led by the popular Etienne Tshisekedi — who deserve the full sup port of the international comrnunity.