Newspaper Page Text
8A
JUNE 24, 1999
BEARBARA’S BEAT By Dr. Barbara Reynolds
The dangers of
iraveling while black
3} rocky hotror show is what awaits
A2B not only selected Black and His
| #7# panic travelers, but also African
\iiericans working for the U.S. Customs
<o rvice who don’t want to go along with
" ~harassment of people of color.
Hecently, the Subcommittee on Over
si2Mt of the House Ways and Means com
-1 #tee upon a request made by Rep. John
_o wis(D-Ga.)held hearings on the nation
s laharassment of Black travelers. Some
){ the testimony only added to the in
-12 med passions of Blacks who are already
soing harassed, beaten and killed on the
I:fions highways for Driving While Black
DWD.
Whistle blower Cathy Harris, founder of
“i:stoms Employees Against Discrimina
:ion” Association (CEEDA), provided the
~=aring with a graphic and chilling ac
«ount of how Blacks, especially females,
.o targeted for demeaning inspections
»+sed on their gender and race. In a writ
. n statement, obtained by this writer,
_ rris, al3 year U.S. Customs employee,
1 out the following problem areas:
ȴ'emale customs inspectors are being
‘ted to exploit female travelers and do
ip searches on them as punishment for
i allowing the customs inspectors to
inally harass them. Female custom in
‘gtors are also gawked at and sexually
rassed in the same manner as female
ivelers.
+Customs agents are embarrassing
-ck and Hispanic travelers by singling
om out and demandingthat they take off
2irs socks, shoes, and other items in
blic view and are also spoken to in an
usive and threatening manner. If there
e reasons for an examination, proper
scedures would call for two Custom
:pectors to escort the traveler to a pri
i search room. :
* Black travelersawaiting friends or fam
“members in international arrival lob
¢s are sometimes detained and taken
side the Customs area and given illegal
It-downs and strip searches.
»In order to make it look like Customs
o inspecting more White travelers than
4tinos or Blacks, custom inspectors are
sifying reports by recording Latino trav
lers as white.
» Although the canine teams are signal
> positive alerts for drugs on more White
«velers than Blacks, Blacks are 100 per
11t ofthose who are examined. The latter
wolvesbeing handcuffed and taken tothe
swpital for X-rays and monitored bowel
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movements. Those singled out can be kept
for up to five days. In Chicago, 90 Black
female travelers have filed a class action
complaint forillegally beingstrip searched
and being forced to have X-Rays and their
bowel movements monitored.
Whilethe treatment oftravelersis harsh
by Harris’ account, the plight of Black
employees is too. Harris said that out of 60
custom inspectors and two other Black
female senior inspectors, she is the high
est ranking Black female in the Port of
Atlanta. And that “after applying for a
supervigor’s position, my record was ru
ined with continuous disciplinary actions
from Whites.”
Reports show employee problems sys
tem wide. For example, in El Paso, there
are complaints of widespread sexual ha
rassment. When the charges are proven,
managers are not fired, forced to retire or
demoted. Instead they are merely trans
ferred.
. InAtlanta, reports show that Black trav
elers are being carted off to the hospitals
for X-rays and monitored bowel move
ments and are kept there for days to fulfill
overtime requirements for agents.
“In Atlanta, White males are harassing
Black employees at work and their homes.
These males also stalk Black females,
violate their desks, put pins in our chairs,
scratch up our cars, write racial epithets
on our computers. The first and only Black
canine handler dog in the Port is believed
to have been poisoned,” Harris said.
Lewis’ hearings came on the heals of a
TV report that alleged that customs in
spectors at the Hartsfield airport in At
lanta were more likely to detain Blacks
than Whites. The report said 90 percent of
those sent from the airport to the hospital
for X-rays for drugs were Black, but only
20 percent of Blacks detained by customs
officers were carrying drugs.
‘Customs™ Commissioner Raymond W."
Kelly has insisted that racial profiling--
selecting passengers for search based on
their race--is not a Customs’ policy. But
U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno admit
ted in a recent news Conference that
Racial Profiling is an issue “we can’t duck.
We must confront it and understand it.”
Dr. Barbara Reynolds newest book, “No
IWon'’t Shut Up: 30 Years of Telling it Like
It 15,.” can be purchased by sending a check
for $17.95 to her plus $4 pustageto 4806 St.
Barnabas Rd., Suite 598, Temple Hills,
Md. 20757.
Charles W. Walker
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Frederick Benjamin
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Opinion
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The Aliami Herald ;
TO BE EQUAL By Hugh B. Price b
Shadows over black America
he signs and statistics mapping
the progress African Americans
have made during the 1990 s have
been very, very good recently.
Driven by the so-called Long Boom of
the American acumen, the growth of the
number of blacks with middled class in
comes continues, and their expansion
into more of the significant occupational
sectors of the society has become more
pronounced as well.
The even more welcome news is that
“thetong-period of prosperity finally ap
pears te-be improving the terrible job
status of poor young black males.
According to a study published this
month by economists Richard B. Freman,
of Harvard, and William M. Rodgers 111,
of the College of William and Mary,
they’re working in greater numbers and
earning bigger paychecks than ever be
fore.
(One thing the study proved again is
that, for all the subtle, and not so subtle,
accusations that poor black males are
lazy shiftless, they, like most other hu
man beings hunger for the chance to be
productive.)
As Newsweek Magazine noted in its
recent cover story, “By a wide array of
measures, now is a great time, the best
time ever, to be black and in America.”
Yet, as Newsweek itself recognized, the
Black Experience in America remains,
CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL By Bernice Powell Jackson
Working to end the violence
hereisalot oftalk about ending the
violence in the schools and in our
communities and there are some
who are doing something about it.
While the politicians are locked into de
bates, and the gun lobbies continue to hold
conventions and suggest that the solution
to violence in schools is to arm the teach
ers, there are organizations which have
been quietly working for the past decade
or more than to end the violence. Here are
two such organizations:
The Institute for Peace and Justice
This St. Louis based organization is
actually a network or organizations work
ing for peace in families, in schools and in
communities. It has designed a non-vio
lence pledge for families, as well as books,
tapes and other materials for parents,
educators, youth and adults. It works on
suchissues ashumanrights, including the
use of child soldiers’ and economic injus
tice, including educating parents and chil
dren about our culture of consumption. It
has developed alternatives to violence
church kits in English and Spanish to help
local churches actively work against vio
lence. One of its advocacy priorities is
challenging the culture of violence and it
conducts workshops around the nation on
this topic.
Support our advertisers! Call or visit them and tell them you
saw their ads here in the Augusta Focus!
even in these best of times, shadowed by
anequally significant set of statistics and
signs that tell us how much progress
remains to be made.
After all, the unemployment rate of
young black men is still, at 17.6 percent,
nearly three times that of their white
counterparts.
That fact and the personal stories of
dashed hopes behind it led Boston Uni
versity economist Glenn C. Loury to
write that “(t)he unfortunate reality is
that race-based barriers tojob access are
a seemingly permanent“féature of the
economy.”
Loury also pointedly noted that we can
expect the black unemployment rate to
regain astronomical levels one the cur
rent expansion ends.
But there is little doubt that the most
poignant and frightening statistics that
becloud Black America’s and America’s
present and future are now, increasingly
black women.
That was brought home to me recently
by an alarming documentary on the pub
lic impact of California’s five year old
“three strikes” law that’s been airing on
Public Broadcasting Service Stations
around the country this month.
The documentary, sponsored by the
Television With A Point of View (POV)
project and produced by Michael J. Moore,
is called “The Legacy: Murder & Media,
Every year at its annual awards dinner,
the Institute for Peace and Justice honors
those grassroots community workers
against violence. This year, for instance
they honored an interfaith partnership
between a St. Louis temple and a local
Roman Catholic church which together
fought the state wide referendum on car
rying of concealed weapons. They also
honored a Presbyterian church in
Clarksville, TN which conducted a twoday
anti-violence training for the community,
bringing together police, parents, social
service agencies and educators and acoun
try violence prevention program in Santa
Clara, CA. Other organizations received
awards for their collaboration on anti
violence projects and for education pro
grams which seek to end violence.
Together, these thousands of individu
als across the nation are working to stop
the violence where they live. They’re not
just talking they’re working. :
Conflict Resolution Education Net
work (CREnet)
This organization isanational and inter
national clearinghouse for information
resources and technical assistance in the
field of conflict resolution and education.
Based in Washington, DC, it works to
promote conflict resolution education in
Politics & Prisons.”
It examines the tragic results the po-;
litically popular but wrong headed “lock
em up and throw away the key” attitude,
toward the crime problem has produced.>
The draconian three strikes law, and;
similar ones 24 other states and the;
federal government have enacted, im~
pose long sentences, up to life with noy
possibility of parole, on those who com-4
mit felonies a second and third time.
The felonies that trigger the law for
individuals aren’t-just murder;-ki
ing, assault and rape. I some states in
cluding California, non-violent felonies
are also counted.
Indeed a startling result of California’s
three strikes law is that 81 percent of the
40,000 people sentenced underit thus far |
were convicted of non violent offenses|
such as theft of possession of narcotics.
Just one percent of the sentences were
imposed on people convicted of murder.
The three strikes law, and their kin
foster the pretense that American soci
ety can thrive even while it imprisons an |
ever increasing proportion of its popula-|
tion: !
They pretend that society can bear the !
human and financial cost deliberately!
warehousing a growing proportion of its !
population. i
That’s terrible economics, given that |
nationally the average cost of housing an l
all U.S. schools. Its programs teach and
model skills of mediation, negotiation and
collaborative problem solving.
Indeed, the evidence shows that such
programs do make a difference for our
young people. For instance, a 1992 study
in New York reported a 50% decline in
student assaults after such education was
included and student peer mediation pro
grams alsoreduce the incidence of suspen
sions and fighting among students. Today
there are over $8,500 school based confligt
resolution programs in the U.S,, but in a
country with 86,000 public schools clearly
there is much work to be done.
In July CREneet will hold its 14 annual
conference on education and leadership for
safeschools, which will be held in Boston and
is being co sponsored by a number of organi
zations. It will include dozens of workshops
and much information.
For more information on the Institute
for Peace and Justice and its Parenting
network and Families against Violence
network, write 4144 Lindell Blvd., #4OB,
St. Louis, MO 63108 or call (314) 533-4445
0rfax(314)533-1017 oremail ppjn@aol.com
To contact the Conflict Resolution Educa
tion Network, write 1527 New Hampshire
Avenue,N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036 or»
call (2020) 667-9700 or email)
nidr@crenet.org.