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APRIL 30, 1998 AUGUSTA FOCUS
TO BE EQUAL By Hugh B. Price
The sense of opportunity
he effort of African Ameri
cans to hew a place of com
fort and-opportunity out
ofthe American experience
has never been an easy one. Even
as we've celebrated every step up
the mountain, we’ve had to en
dure setbacks engineered by those
envious of and fearful of our suc
cess.
But, as the whole of African-
American history proves, the set
backs have only made us more
determined to overcome,
The truth of that observation
was underscored for me by three
events which occurred April 15
and 16. One was a judicial ruling
against affirmative action. The
second was an appointment at the
top of one of America’s largest
corporations. And the third wasa
meeting at the Urban League’s
national headquarters in New
York.
On April 15, The U.S. Court of
Appeals for the District of Colum
bia ruled that the Federal Com
munications Commission can’t use
its regulatory authority to compel
radioand television stationsto hire
more minorities. The court de
clared that promoting diversity
does not serve a compelling state
interest. This is a shocking set
back in an industry which, after
all, decides what’s news and how
toconvey it and one in which people
of color make up just 19.9 percent
of the full-time employees.
We expect that industry execu
tives, however, will seeit’s in their
best interests, as well as the
nation’s, to have a balanced and
diverse workforce and viewpoints.
Yet, also on April 15, Black
Americareached asignificant mile
stonebecause a brilliant individual
whois African American, Franklin
D. Raines, now head of the U.S.
Office of Management and Bud-
The home*mortgage eompany
has nearly S4OO billion in assets
and is the thirty-third largest cor
poration in America.
Raines is a well-deserved indi
vidual achievement, as his educa
tional and career accomplishments
bear eloquent witness.
But hisappointment alsorecords
agreat benchmark in the annals of
Black American history: Raines is
the first African American to head
a Fortune 500 corporation.
The third event that occurred
during those two days was the
meetingat National Urban League
headquarters with more than 200
black professionals who ranged in
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age from 20-something to 40-some
thing. They came from law firms,
investment and commercial banks,
entertainment, manufacturing,
consumer-products companies,
and other business entities.
Of course, this meeting had been
set weeks before at the urging of
leaders of networks of black pro
fessionals in such cities as New
Orleans, Philadelphia, Washing
ton, Oakland and Denver.
But it should be seen as con
nected to the April 15 events and
of great significance. For these
younger professionals, superbly
educated and intensely ambitious,
recognized that they must share
information and advice in order
for them—and African Americans
as a group—to do well and pros
per. Theyunderstand that theone
and the other really go hand in
hand.
They also advised us Urban
Leaguers what we must do: help
their efforts and be more forceful
in forging pathways of economic
opportunity for blacks of all eco
nomic levels.
We accept that command will
ingly. After all, it is part of our 90-
year-old mission. And we expect
many of those younger profession
als to help push their messages—
and our message—at our 88th an
nual conference this August in
Philadelphia.
That message has many facets.
But it comes down to this.
This is a time of unparalleled
opportunity for African Americans.
Itis that sense above all which has
fueled the intelligence, shrewd
ness, perseverance, and grit of
myriad African Americans like
Frank Raines and those who met
with us.
Oh yes, it’s a time of great crisis,
too, as the forces of racist reaction
seek to cap theambition and deter
mination which have brought us
this far. They want to discourage
us so that we’ll stop trying, be
cause they know that the more
more of ustry, the more more of us
will succeed.
But African Americans have
come this far because we’ve recog
nized the truth the great scientist,
Albert Einstein, among many, ex
pressed sosuccinctly: that in every
crisis there is opportunity.
No, weall don’t have to aspire to
wear white collars.
What we must do is recognize
that the pursuit of economic power
is our individual and collective re
sponsibility and keep our eyes on
the prize—and fight on.
Charles W. Walker
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CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL By Bernice Powell Jackson -
The plight of African-American farmers *
ne of the phenomena of
20th century America was
the migration of millions
of African Americans
from the rural South, where they
had lived since slavery to jobs in
urban centers in the North and
Midwest. Today, because so many
African Americans live in cities,
many have forgotten that impor
tant legacy of black-gwned farms.
But farming is a keystone to the
economic development of the Afri
can American community. The
tragedy is that African-American
farmers are quickly losing land.
And thefederal government seems
to be helping them to do so.
As a result, nearly a thousand
African-American farmers are su
ing the U.S. Agriculture Depart
ment in a nationwide class action
suit, accusing it of decades of dis
crimination in the distribution of
farm loans. The black farmers
claim that the good ol’ boy net
work of Farmers Home Adminis
tration local agents and boards,
nearly all white, delayed or denied
their loan applications, accelerated
ALONG THE COLOR LINE By Dr. Manning Marable
Transforming Black studies (part I)
frican-American Studies,
once considered an insur
gentoutsiderin whiteaca
demic circles, has in re
cent years become part of the in
tellectual establishment.
Nearly all major universities
haveestablished programs, depart
ments and research centers in Af
rican-American Studies, as well as
other innovative interdisciplinary
programs in gender studies and
ethnic studies. The core require
ments of undergraduate curricula
usually include one or more courses
in nonwestem or gender studies.
Foundations are now actively sup
portinga number of major research
projects initiated by black studies
scholars. Most programs work co
operatively with other traditional
departments, even those programs
which have an ideological adher
ence to “Afrocentrism.” ,
Yet this success has been
achieved at a certain price. As
black studies is being assimilated
into the mainstream academic dis
course, perhaps it is important to
restatethe keyideasthat informed
the historical development of the
field itself.
At the heart of black studies is
their payment schedules, fore
closed early, gave them less money
than their white counterparts and
left them out of technical training.
The suit also says that even when
the black farmers complained, the
Agriculture Department ignored
hundredsof their grievances. This
was particularly truein the 1980 s,
when the Reagan administration
dismantled the Agriculture
Department’s civil rights office,
the suit says.
As a result of these policies and
actions, African Americans have
left farming at twice the rate that
European American farmers have.
Today, only 18,000 African-Ameri
can families are left farming. And
while family farming seems like a
thing of the past, it appears that
black farmers were forced out of
farming more quickly due to the
government’sdiscriminatory prac
tices.
In response to the complaints of
the black farmers and questions
by Congressional Black Caucus
members, especially Representa
theblackintellectual tradition, an
enormous body of scholarship in
the social science and humanities
by and about people of African
descent. That intellectual tradi
tion has generally been “descrip
tive,” “corrective” and prescrip
tive.” Scholars sought first to pro
vide thick description of the sub
stance and contours of black life
and history. They examined the
reality of the black experience from
the point of view of black people
themselves. It is from that per
spective that historical knowledge
can be constructed to accurately
describe the contours of black con
sciousness and collective identity.
The black intellectual tradition
has been “corrective” in its at
tempts to critique the racist ste
reotypes and assumptions of black
biological, genetic or cultural infe
riority which unfortunately still
exist within much white scholar
ship. It challenged Eurocentric
notions of aesthetics and beauty,
which have often been grounded
in a contempt for black culture.
Finally, black studies was also
prescriptive—it viewed knowledge
production asbeingintegral to the
construction of alternative strate
Happy National Postcard Week,
May 3-9, 1998
tive Eva Clayton (D-N.C.), Agri
culture Secretary Dan Glickman
has agreed to work to change these
practices and has reinstituted the
civil rights department in his
agency. Representative Clayton
has introduced a bill that would
add African American and other
farmers of color to county agricul
ture committees and exert more
federal control over decisions made
regarding fedegal farming loans.
Importantly, President Clinton
met with black farmers in Decem
ber, pledging S6OO million in loans
and programs aimed at black and
other farmers of color. But black
farmers indicate that. they have
yet to see these much-needed dol
lars.
Now African-American farmers
are taking their cause to a higher
level. Headed by John Boyd Jr. the
National Black Farmers Associa
tion recently took their case to the
United Nations. In a protest held
acrossthestreet from the UN build
ing in New York City, black farm
ers asked for their case to be taken
giesand programsdedicated tothe
eradication of racism and the em
powerment of black people. In
short, there were both theoretical
and practical connections between
scholarship and social change. The
function of black studies scholar
ship should be more than the cel
ebration of heritage and self-es
teem; it must utilize history and
culture as tools through which an
oppressed people can interpret
their common experiences, for the
larger purposes of transforming
their actual conditions and the
entire society.
The classical black intellectual
tradition that has developed over
morethanacenturyreflected these
general tenets. W.E.B. Du Bois
was not only a great sociologist
and historian, but also the co
founder of the NAACP and the
“father of Pan-Africanism.” C.L.R.
James wasa brilliant cultural critic
and historian who was also inti
mately involved in black anti colo
nial movements in Africa and the
Caribbean. Even conservative
scholars like sociologist CharlesS.
Johnson actively used their schol
arship in the effort to dismantle
Jim Crow segregation.
to the UN Commission on Human"
Rights. Citingthe enslavement of”
African peoples and the involun
tary and unpaid work done by
blacksonce in thisnation, theblack
farmers are appealing to the UN_
because they see this treatment,
which continues in the discrimi
natory actions of the government;
against black farmers, as a human,
rights violation. ha:
The Reconstruction-era prom-:-
ise of forty acres and a mule to,
former slaves is often cited in the
debate about reparations for Afri
can Americans whose ancestors;
were never paid for their labor.
Theirony is that even those blacks,
who did receive land, usually t'rouil
either inheritance or by hard work
and purchasing it, have had to,
battle in every generation to keep,
it. In the past it mear( battling
unscrupulous local off:.-ials and,
racist and greedy farmcrs. It ap-,
pears it also meant fighting the
federal government in a battle
which is not yet over, more than”
100 years after Reconstruction. -
The now-classical texts in black;o
studies written before the 19608
were largely produced cither out«q
side the academy or at segregated, A
all-black colleges. Despite littles
research support and few re.m
sources, a standard of excellences}
was firmly established. These ear
lier scholars understood t hat critisiq
cal research into the heart of blackot
life and culture had to be interdis«ys
ciplinary. The tools of black stud-s
ies scholarship could not be nar-q
rowly confined to the parametersy
of traditional disciplines set by;s
Euro-Americanintellectuals. The
best example of this is provided by}
the thought of Du Bois. s
8
Critical knowledge is alwaysq
conjunctural, aproduct of its time.;o
If black studies is to continue itg,|
development asatheoreticallyrich,y
interdisciplinary field, it must cony
tinually challenge itself to under-y;
stand contemporary black,,
America. We must be in the forey,
front in helping to interpret they;
new social, economic, cultural and,,,
global forces at work which are,,
rapidly restructuring African+
American communities, as well ag;;
Africa and the black Diaspora.