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NOVEMBER o, Ivy/ AUGUSTA FOCUS
Success of women’s
march is good omen
ast month in Philadelphia, wom
en from all over America reded
icated themselves to the ideal of
family, sisterhood, community
and solidarity.
The NAACP was O‘Pm“d tobeone of the
many supporters of this march as thou
sands of our members were represented
in the beautiful throng of black women.
We participated as an organization
because we believe in the goals and ob
jectives of the Million Women March.
We took pride in supporting the women
who gathered in Philadelphia and in
each of their personal and collective rea
sons for being there.
As someone who spoke at and was
inspired by the Million Man March, I
was equally supportive of the women of
color nationwide who came together with
a positive plan of action for the future.
The stronger-than-expected turnout
is another sign of the tremendous well
spring of good intentions and motiva
tions in our community as we move to
gether to seek answers to the myriad of
problems facing America and especially
people of color.
The de-emphasis on politics and the
renewed interest in matters of the soul
and spirit was both obvious and long
overdue.
While politics were very much a part of
the march, it remained outside of the
THIS WAY FOR BLACK EMPOWERMENT By Dr: Lenora Fulani
Abolish the FEC!
ith all the public furor over
campaign finance reform
and political corruption, it
would also make sense to
focuson the regulatory body
which is in charge of the entire election
process. That body is the Federal Election
Commission. And, in a word, this Com
mission has got, to go. . —_
The Fcc'm%%.sed in 1974:1ts Strye"
ture and design was controversial,'and in «
manyrespects, tainted from the very start.
It was originally to be a six-member body,
with Congress appointing four of the six
commissioners, but the Supreme Court
invalidated the structure of the Commis
sion on the grounds that it violated the
doctrine of separation of powers. Since the
FEC was set up by Congress to oversee
Congressional elections, Congress wanted
to choose the people who would be check
ing up on them. That would have been
nice for Congress. But the Supreme Court
didn’t buy it.
In 1976, the FEC was restructured to
have commissioners appointed by the
President and confirr.ed by the Senate. In
addition, two nonvoting members—the
clerk ofthe House and the secretary of the
Senate—were added. Obviously, the
Democrats and Republicans wanted to
hold on to as much control as possible over
the FEC.
However, in 1993, the courts struck
down the “nonvoting member provision”
as violating the separation of powers doc
trine once again. The FEC had to recon
struct itself for a second time in less than
20 years. By then, it should have been
apparent that this was one of the most
highly politicized bodies in the history of
American government.
Today the Commission is a six-member
body, made up of three Democratic and
three Republican appointees. Any enforce
ment action undertaken by the Commis
sion requires the vote of a majority of
Commissioners—which meansfour. Con
sequently, any time one party or the other
wants to block an enforcement action, an
investigation, a penalty or a fine, it can do
so simply by having the Commissioners
vote along partisan lines.
Right now, some Congressional eyes are
turning toward the FEC looking for ways
to reform it, to make it ever so slightly
AusustalfFQCUS
' Since 1981
A Walker Group Publication
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main focus. There is a growing realiza
tion that many of the problems, chal
lenges and aspirations of our communi
ties cannot be met or solved by govern
ment entities. While government has a
role in improving our lot and our lives,
many are seeking other avenues for
wholeness, that when properly devel
oped, ultimately drive the body politic.
It is inspiring to me that we are look
ing toward the church, our God and each
other for a more personal and fulfilling
existence. Our nation’s elected leader
ship would learn a great deal by spend
ing time at events like the Million Wom
en March to grasp the intent and spirit of
our people and to learn how to reach out
to other individuals rather than simply
bicker, fight and posture.
It may be that the Million Women
March with all the exuberance and ex
citement will serve as a larger catalystin
the next century. As women across the
world assume more responsibilities and
respect each day, it is empowering to see
agathering of problem solvers once again
leading the way.
Kweisi Mfume is the president and
CEO of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People. For
more information about the NAACP, con
tact them at their web page:
www.naacp.org.
more balanced and inclusionary. Some of
the smarter guys on Capitol Hill have
figured out that the contours of American
politics are changing and it would be best
to be responsive to that. They are feeling
the heat from the independent movement.
Senater Max Cleland of Georgia has a new
bill that would give one seat on the FEC to
.an independent from among the indepen
‘:nt parties that garner pver three per
mgent of the vote in national electigns. Two
would go to Democrats. Two to Republi
cans. Two to nonpartisans appointed by
the Supreme Court.
The truth about the Federal Election
Commission is that it is a complete corrup
tion, and putting independents on it won’t
cure that problem. We need a regulatory
body that is completely independent of
government and of the parties. It hastobe
an independent, nongovernmental appa
ratus, since it supervises the process by
which governmental officials are elected.
Making it multi-partisan creates the ap
pearance of fairness. But the body which
regulates elections shouldn’t be partisan
at all.
Wehavetototally aolish the FEC, create
acompletely independent and nongovern
mental alternative and turn over any and
all investigations it is currently conduct
ing for review by the equivalent of an
independent counsel. I know what it is to
be an independent candidate thrust into
the investigative net of the anti-indepen
dent bipartisan Federal Election Commis
sion. I've been under investigation by the
FECsince my 1992 presidential campaign.
I'have been accuse—and the exonerated—
of being part of a criminal conspiracy to
commit fraud and embezzlement of gov
ernment funds. I've had to supply thou
sands of pages of documents. Contributors
to my campaign have been questioned by
FECinvestigators; vendors whom my cam
paign hired were subpoenaed for docu
ments pertaining to their private business
interests and not the campaign. There
havebeen five years and hundreds of thou
sands of taxpayer dollars spent on investi
gating the crime of being an independent.
Lenora B. Fulani twice ran for president
of the United States 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.
Charles W. Walker
Publisher
Frederick Benjamin
Managing Editor
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Miranda Gastiaburo
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Debby Rivera
Advertising Production
Sheila Jones
Office Manager
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Loretta LaGrone
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CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL By Bernice Powell Jackson g
Remembering the Little Rock Nine
or young people, 40 years ago
may be history, but for some of
us, it seems like yesterday, or at
least yesteryear. In the news
these days is the reminder that
it was only 40 years ago that a governor
defied the federal government in a much
publicized event in the civil rights move
ment. It was all about the right of black
children to attend public schools—the
same public schools that whites attend
ed, instead of the inferior, segregated
ones they had attended for generations.
The place was Little Rock, Arkansas,
the home state of President Clinton and
newspapers and televisions carry pic
tures of the governor standing in the
doorway of Central High and defying the
court-ordered desegregation of Central
High. It was only when President Eisen
hower ordered in federal troops that the
nine black students, dubbed the Little
Rock Nine, were able to enter the build
ing.
Escorted by members of the 101st Air
borne, the nine teenagers braved mobs
spitting on them, shouting epithets and
threatening them and their families.
Most of uscan hardly imagine how fright
ening, how disgusting, how exhausting
it must have been for those nine chil
dren. One recalled never once having
gone to the bathroom at school since the
soldiers couldn’t go in with her for pro
tection. One remembers her dress so
wet with spit that she could wring it out.
Another recalls the FBI asking her par
ents for permission to fingerprint her so
that they could identify her body when it
was found. Several still are uncomfort
able in crowds and at least one admits to
spending thousands of dollars in thera
py.
Miraculously, the Little Rock Nine
TO BE EQUAL By Hugh B. Price
Actions speak louder
ast June, President Clinton
urged our nation to lay the
groundwork for becoming what
he calls “One America in the
21st century” by confrontingits
lingering tensions over race.
America must heed his advice. We all
have an enormous stake in that effort
because ourracial difficulties undermine
our many strengths.
On amoral level, America can’t preach
human rights to other nations when
racial injustice continues to fester in our
own. On a pragmatic level, we won’t be
prepared to compete in the global mar
ketplace if the dynamics of race and
ethnicity continue to deny millions of
people a first-rate education.
The Urban League has acted to pro
mote racial harmony and inclusion for
nearly a century; and we've recently
joined with the National Conference,
Anti-Defamation League, National
Council of La Raza and Leadership Ed
ucation for Asian Pacifics in the Nation
al Voices coalition to more effectively do
that. -
We salute the President and the early
steps his task force of distinguished cit
izens has taken.
But, to be blunt, we worry that the
initiative is too long on dialogue and too
short onaction. Talk is not enough. Now
.is the time for actions to speak louder
than words—in order to empower the
words with real meaning.
For one thing, the President can react
swiftly to the dismaying recent an
nouncement by Gilbert Casellas, chair
man of the U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission, that he’ll re
sign at the end of the year.
Casellas is widely admired in the civil
rights community for trying to effective
ly lead an agency burdened with a huge
members survived and even flourished
after their frightening experience. They
include an accountant, a social worker, a
real estate salesperson, a clinical psy
chologist, a teacher, a journalist and an
investment banker. But only one re
mains in Little Rock; two no longer even
live in the U.S.
The lessons of the case of the Little
Rock Nine could be many, if the city of
Little Rock and if our nation chooses to
learn them. Clearly, the case proved
that the federal government did have
the authority and the right to make sure
that constitutional rights overrode so
called “states’ rights.” Indeed, the term
“states’ rights” is a code word even today
for African Americans, who remember
the use of it during the Little Rock Nine
case and therefore many of us are dis
trustful of recent moves by states to take
control of welfare.
But what have we learned about
schools and integration? In most large
cities, students of color attend schools
which have few white students. Mean
while, the Supreme Court have been
overturning desegregation orders and
has ruled that suburban school districts
cannot be forced to accept urban stu
dents as a means of redressing segrega
tion. Terrie Roberts, one of the Little
Rock Nine comments, “It’s not about
separating or integrating; it’s about try
ing to find a formula that’s going to
supply black children with what they
need to succeed in society.” He also
recalls that their hope was that when
whites saw that not all blacks carried
weapons and that they were real human
beings that they would accept the black
students. “But after they knew us, they
still didn’t like us,” he said.
- And what have we learned about how
caseload and a too-small budget. His
own assessment—that the agency “could
do a lot better if we had more money,
more people, more support”—ought to
galvanize the White House to take the
action necessary to eliminate its backlog
of 80,000 cases and enable it to stay
current with its caseload from now on.
Secondly, Clinton and the task force
must continue to remind the nation that
by the middle of the next century, half
the population will be people of color.
That reality underscores how important
promoting inclusion and equal opportu
nity is.
America’s economic and civic vitality
will increasingly be dependent on non
white workers, entrepreneurs, taxpay
ers and customers. The better educated
this growing segment of the American
population is, the more robust our econ
omy, the more harmonious our society
and the more secure the entire popula
tion will be.
Court decisions and state ballot initia
tives may alter some of the tools and
mechanisms used to reach that goal.
Butthe President’sinitiative should keep
the nation’s eye on the prize of inclusion
—in the neighborhoods we live in, in the
schools and colleges we attend, in the
companies we work for or own—even if
the mechanisms used to achieve it have
to evolve.
The President can drive that point
home by inviting corporate CEOs, Cham
ber of Commerce leaders and university
presidents to high-profile meetings to
affirm their commitments to inclusion.
Similar summits involving grass roots
organizations like the Urban League
and our partners in National Voices and
other community and religious institu
tions could be held 'simultaneously all
across the country to shore up the na
we mug all actively participate in end-,
ing ralclm? In a recent CBS Sunday
Morninginterview, a white citizen of
Little Rot, who was a student during
the time € the Little Rock Nine, com-,
mented thit most people believe that,
the near-n’r which accompanied the:
desegregatity were the actions of a small
minority of he people. He was then.
asked by the gporter, “Well, why didn’t
the majority Bfak out and say this was|
wrong?” He Yad no answer to that
question. Indeq, what might have hap-'
pened if white hildren walked next to!
the black childl\fi? What would have.
happened if whie clergy had walked|
with them? Whatwould have happened|
if white mothers a\d fathers had been at
their sides?
Finally, what hae we learned about
the toll taken on thee who dare to chal
lenge racism, to bepn the front lines?
Young people were dten in the forefront
of the civil rights aovement—at the
lunch counters, on he Freedom Ride
busses, in desegregasd schools. Many
of them, like that meaber of the Little
Rock Nine, have needd extensive psy
chological treatment; rany others have
needed long-term medial care for dam
aged kidneys, crushed kulls and other
injuries.
The Little Rock Nine blieve their par
ents’ bravery and detemination have
never been recognized ether. At least
one family had their hous bombed and
one father lost his job. [ave we ever
really acknowledged the szrifices these
heroes and sheroes made »r all of us?
As we carry on this natioml conversa
tion on race, the Little Roc Nine case
has lots of lessons for us. Wéust have to
.ask the right questions to larn them.
tional commitment to inclusia.
The President’s initiative rust also
squarely confront the festerinjissue of
police misconduct and brutalit; toward
minority civilians. The 1996 klling of
Jonny Gammage by white policeofficers
outside Pittsburgh, the viciousassault
on Rodney King and, most recettly, the
barbaric attack on Abner Louina are
just the most notorious of a widapread
pattern of law enforcement tactig that
often ensnare civilians who've dae lit
tle or nothing wrong.
Of course, we must catch andpunish
criminals and maintain order byenforc
ing “quality of life” laws. But feating
trivial offenders and true innocedts like
hardened criminals is dangerousy coun
terproductive. If there’s oneflesson
America should have learned ly now,
it’s that race relations won’t ipprove
until there is peace between polpe and
the minority civilians they are syorn to
serve.
The President and the task force should
summon governors, mayors and state
and local police chiefs in order tdfocus
public attention on the urgent nded for
reform. Clinton should insist thit the
Justice Department investigate and pros
ecute any patterns of abuse found in
police departments. Finally, he should
instruct the U.S. Solicitor General to
urge the courts to scale back the run
away discretionthat has encouraged this
abuse of power. ‘
These are just some of the tests the
President and the task force must pass if
their work is to extend the Anerican
Dream to all Americans. Only taen will
the country embody the slogan of the
President’s initiative on race: “One
America in the 21st century.”