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SEPTEMBER 23, 1999
ALONG THE COLOR LINE By Dr. Manning Marable
The battle for ideas
f olitical power always expresses
itself as a body of ideas. If you
can create and popularize the
key ideas that define the gen
eral perceptions about public issues,
vou will largely determine what hap
pens politically. It matters less who
cets elected, than what policies and
programs that person implements once
'n office. Politics is only superficially
Ibout personalities: it isthe implemen
tation of ideas through power.
Part of our current dilemma in Afri
‘an-American politics is the poverty of
new ideas. The NAACP’s public policy
ligenda is not substantially different
than it was 20 years ago. On the other
hand, Louis Farrakhan has basically
patterned his program after that of
Booker T. Washington’s a century ago
-—-social conservatism, black entrepre
neurship, self help, racial separatism.
When liberal integrationists and con
servative black nationalists aren’t say
ing much that’s new, thereal losers are
the African-American people.
In the past 30 years, conservatives
have shifted the public’s political dis
ourse sharply to the right. Part of
heir success came from electoral vic
ories, notably the 1980 election of
Ronald Reagan, and the 1994 Congres
sional triumph of the “Contract With
noerica.” However, a critically impor
ant factor in pushing U.S. politics to
the right was the decisive ideological
ole played by white conservative think
CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL By Bernice Powell Jackson
Waco: The coverup
\ nthesummerof 1995, FBI agentswho
¥ commanded the government’s ar
# mored assaultonthe Branch Davidians’
home outside Waco, Texas, swore under
oathtoa Congressional oversight commit
tee that although their tanks battered
down the flimsywalls ofthe Davidian’s Mt.
Carmel Center, and spewed CS gas at
vomen and children for six hours, they
v overdid anythingthat could have started
tho fire that eventually took more than 76
civilian lives. Now, four years later, a
provious undisclosed FBI audiotape clearly
roveals that agents fired combustible tear
gas rounds.
Congressional leaders, some of whom
prosided over the 199 hearings that let
t\lc 'BI off the hook, are now calling for a
now set of hearings. But there is little
rcason to believe that a forum presided
over by Democrats and Republicans will
¢ relicit a satisfactory explanation as to
Low our law enforcement officials pro
voked this tragedy. If the history of the
1995 hearing is any guide, any new inves
tizations ofthe FBl’s actions will be milked
by both parties for every possible partisan
advantage and then discarded.
Although there were some true believ
ers among Congressional staff and some
f <t term members, no one in the leader
ship of either party ever seriously wanted
hearings that would uncover law enforce
ment abuses and law the basis for much
needed reformed of the agencies in ques
tion. In the wake of the greatest law
enforcement disaster in FBI history, no
onewith oversight responsibilities wanted
to do anything at all. Grassroots activists
and independent investigators across the
political spectrum, religious scholars who
had studies the Branch Davidian sect,
Second Amendment activist, civil rights
campaigners afraid to stand up for the
rights of those most Americans regard as
“Iringe” started lobbying Congress in the
nionth after the fire, urging that the FBI
b~ held to account. Members on both sides
ol the aisle turned a deaf ear.
But by the summer of 1995, the political
environment had changed. The Republi
cans now had a majority, and the National
Rifle Association was boasting, with good
reason, that its campaign contributions
had helped the Republicans in their 1994
elcctoral sweep. The instructed their Con
gressional beneficiaries thatit was time to
roll back the assault weapons ban and
other restrictions on gun ownership passed
by Clinton and his Democratic allies. The
evregrious abuses by law enforcement agen
¢ios likethe FBI and the Bureauof Lacohol,
T «weoand Firearms at Waco, Ruby Ridge
o L lsewhere became ammunition in the
I oublican/NRA campaign against the
Clton Administration,
Meanwhile, the Democrats mobilized for
thedefenseoftheir Commanderin Chiefand
the nation’slaw enforcement agencies. Many
ol servers of the 1995 hearings remarked
t v the Democrats and Republicans seemed
\ A
AUGUSTA FOCUS
tanks and foundations.
According to author David Callahan,
writing in a recent Nation issue, the 20
wealthiest conservative think tanks will
have spent over $1 billion in the 1990 s to
“develop and disseminate policy ideas.”
Most of this money is given by “corpora
tions and wealthy businessmen, with
conservative think tanks increasingly
acting as magnets for special interest
money.”
The “godfather” of ultra-conservative
think tanks is the Heritage Foundation,
started in 1973 by Paul Weyrich, who
subsequently also established the Free
Congress Foundation. The Heritage
Foundation spent $28.,7 million in 1998
alone, which accordingto Harvard Politi
cal Review researcher Luke McLoughlin,
is “more than the top 10 liberal think
tanks combined.” The Heritage Founda
tion spends much of this money on push
ing conservativeideasin themedia. “Two
hundred issue bulletins go out to 650
editorial page editors each year, 30 to 40
national columnists, and 450 talk-radio
hosts,” McLoughlin notes. The Heritage
web site “allows legislative aides access
todownload conservative position papers
on countless subjects.”
The leading conservative think tank
on the issue of race is the notorious
American Enterprise Institute (AEI).
With abudget of sl3 millionin 1998, AEI
receives much of its money from the
right wing Bradley Foundation and ma
jor corporations. The AEI continuously
to have switched places, with the Republi
cans defending the rights of an outcast mi
nority, while the Democrats defended the
abusive government agents. From the open
ing gavel, the five Congressional Black Cau
cus members on the panel madeit clear that
they were Democrats first, civil rights lead
erssecond. Only monthsearlier theyhad led
aspirited defense ofthe Fourth Amendment
right to freedom from unwarranted search
and seizure in response to an (ultimately
successful) attempt by Republicans to over
turn the “exclusionary rule” that said evi
dence obtained illegally at trail could not be
introduced in court. Butin spite of pleas from
myself and other advocates for the rights of
the Branch Davidians, they refused to speak
up on the gross violations of Fourth Amend
ment rights committed by the ATF when
theyfalsely obtained adefectivewarrantand
used it asjustification for the original raid on
Mr. Carmel. Trying to score points against
theßepublicanswaseverything; joiningranks
with them in a defense of civil liberties was
apparently impossible for these Democrats
to do.
Though the Republicans did question law
enforcement abuses, their partisan agenda
became clear when they focused their line of
questioning on trying to expose the White
House’s role in signing off the final gas/tank
assault on Mt. Carmel. This took the form of
trying to show that Attorney General Janet
Reno, was not really the one ultimately
responsible for giving the OK to the assault.
But if one thing emerges from all the
testimony and reportsit is that the Attorney
General was thoroughly bamboozled by the
FBI. BillJohnson,a prosecutor fromthe U.S.
Attorney’s office in San Antonio involved in
theoriginal and newinvestigations, recently
wrote Mr. Reno a warning that aides misled
her about the role of Federal agents in the
assault: “I have formed the belief that facts
may have been kept from' you and quite
possibly are being kept from you even now by
components of the department.”
Ifthegoal isnow toinvestigatelaw enforce
ment abuses, it would ve fruitful to focus the
inquiry on how it was that the FBI fed the
Attorney General selective information to
support the courseofaction they had already
settled on, how the American people were
misinformed and misled and how the parti
san agendas of both political parties fueled a
bi-partisan cover-upofoneofthemost shame
ful and destructive abuses of constitutional
rights ever in American history.
Lenora B. Fulani twice ran for President of
the U.S. as an independent, making history
in 1988 when she becamethefirstwomanand
African American to get on the ballot in all
fifty states. Dr. Fulani is currently a leading
activist in the Reform Party and chairs the
Committee for a Unified Independent Party.
She can be reached at 800-288-3201 or at
http: ! | www.Fulani.org. To have your name
added to the email distribution list for Dr.
Fulani’s column please notify us at
Opinion
pumps out blatantly racist position pa
pers against affirmative action, minority
scholarships, minority economic set
asides, and other civil rights reforms.
Deborah Toler, a policy researcher with
the Institute for Public Accuracy, re
cently analyzed the AEl’s “race desk.”
There is first Dinesh D’Sousa, author of
The End of Racism, a pseudoscholarly
work that attributes racial inequality
and oppression to African Americans
themselves. Charles Murray, co-author
of the racist diatribe, The Bell Curve,
receives ahandsome salary as AEl’s Bra
dley Fellow. Former judge Robert Bork,
the conservative legal scholar who Reagan
tried unsuccessfully to place on the Su
preme Court, is AEl’s John M. Olin Fel
low in Legal Studies. According to Toler,
Bork’s book Slouching Towards
Gomorrah “locates much of the blame for
the decline of bourgeois culture in Afri
can-American culture.” AEI fellow Ben
Wattenberg attributes the rise of “non-
European populations”as afundamental
threat to western civilization.
These conservative think tanks and
foundations are like a “parallel govern
ment” without any democratic account
ability. As Callahan observes, “many
operate as extra party organizations,
adopting the tactics of the permanent
political campaign byincorporating a fund
raising arm, a lobbying arm, a policy
analysis and development arm, a public
relations arm and a grassroots mobiliza
tion or constituency development arm.”
GUEST COMMENTARY By Earl Ofari Hutchison
For sale: Black and brown babies
he bold pitch on a giant billboard
on the street corner in the- pre
dominantly Black and Latino area
of South Central Los Angeles of
fers drug users S2OO if they agree to be
sterilized. To insure there’s no mistake
about which drug users they’re talking
about, the group behind the campaign,
Children Requiring A Caring Kommunity,
changed the letter “c” the letter “K” on
the word “community” in order to form
theacronym, C.R.A.C.K. Thegroup claims
to have chapters in Las Vegas, Denver,
Chicago, Minneapolis, Florida, and
throughout California. It plans toexpand
to other cities and place its billboards
promoting sterilization nationwide.
C.R.A.C.K. supporters claim they are
sickened by the genetic devastation suf
fered by children born to crack users and
want to protect them and society from it.
Theinsist that C.R.A.C.K. does not single
out any racial group.
But there are good reasons to believe
otherwise. The sterilization campaign
blatantly plays on the widely-held public
belief that crack is the exclusive drug of
choice for Blacks and Latinos. Why? Be
cause no other type of drug use is explic
itly mentioned. In addition, there are no
billboards outside of Latino and Black
neighborhoods offering money to users
of other types of drugs.
The suspicion is that the C.R.A.C.K.
campaign is yet another play aimed at
reducing the African-American popula
tion. And, conspiracy theorist almost cer
tainly will denounce it is a “racist geno
cide plot” against Blacks.
There’s also this question: Why stop at
sterilizing drug users? Why not sterilize
any adult with a congenital disease, psy
chological impairment, or physical defor
mity if someone believers their children
MIGHT be physically or psychologically
“imperfect?” And should any individual
or organization have the right to make a
life-choice decision for someone else?
No matter how much C.R.A.C.K. ster
ilization backers think they are helping
the fight a grave health and social prob
lem, their campaign rests on a solid
bedrock of dangerous myths about drug
use and drug users. The National Insti
tute of Drug Abuse has totally shattered
these myths.
. Myth 1: The children of crack
users are hopeless doomed to suffer men
tal retardation, commit violent acts and
are susceptible to HIV/AIDS or other
physical maladies. Thisis a rehash of the
medically discredited big scare of the
1980 s that crack babies would grow into
monsters that would plague our schools
and streets. Researchers have found no
evidence that children born to crack
addicted parents have exhibited en masse
these grotesque physical and behavioral
problems.
. Myth 2: Crack users are hooked
for life. Medical professionals have found
What can the Black Freedom Move
ment and progressives learn from the
Far Right? Conservatives’gainsindicate
that a multifaceted strategy —including
fundraising, lobbying, policy analysis,
media and grassroots mobilization — is
essential for winning the battle of ideas.
Progressive and liberal mass organiza
tions from the NAACP to the AFL-CIO
need a similar strategy, but based on
democratic and social justice ideas. The
Democratic Party is not the vehicle for
building this alternative strategy. Just
as the conservatives operate both inside
and outside the Republican Party, as it
serves their long-term interests, we must
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that intensive therapy, treatment, coun
seling, the availability ofjob skills, train
ing and education programs are ex
tremely effective in weaning and keeping
long term drugs users off them.
° Myth 3: Crack cocain use has
reached epidemicproportionsin America.
Overall, cocain use has plunged since
1985. The current estimate is that there
are 600, 000 crack users. During the
same time, the number of methamphet
amine users has soured to nearly five
million. Thisis the overwhelming drug of
choice in White, working class suburbs
and rural areas. Methamphetamine is
considered by some as lethal, if not more
than crack. It stays in the body longer,
hasgreater potency, and producesjust as
dangerous physical and emotional prob
lems as cocaine.
° Myth 4: Crack users are almost
exclusively Black or Latino. While crack
use is greatest among Blacks are nearly
as many Whites who use it as Latinos.
And this estimate probably understates
the number of White drug users. Blacks
and Latinos are most likely to be ar
rested and prosecuted for drug use or
wind up in public health agencies than
Whites for drug use. This boosts the
number of non-White drug uSers in the
official stats.
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they too “... will know.”
g Charles W. Walker
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dothe same with the Democrats. What
is urgently needed is a broadly diverse,
progressive formation that is indepen
dent of the Democratic Party, that can
develop and fight for those ideas that
directly address the real needs of the
great majority of the American people.
Dr. Manning Marable is professor of
History and Political Scienceand direc
tor of the Institute for Research in
African-American Studies at Columbia
University. “Along the Color Line” is
distributed free of charge and appears
inover 325 publicationsthroughout the
U.S. and internationally.
Beyond fanning faulty medical myths
and racial stereotypes, the C.R.A.C.K.
sterilization campaign is ethically and
morally indefensible. It tells men and
women that they have no right to make
choices, even bad ones, about their lives.
The right to reproduction is one of the
mostbasicadults possess. And C.R.A.C.K.
demands that they bargain it away for a
measly S2OO. The group also makes a
blanket, value judgement that drug us
ers are beyond redemption and are inca
pable of makinga positive changein their
lives. Sterilization is a drastic, racially
tinged, quick fix answer to the complex
problem of drug abuse. It can’t and
shouldn’t replace proven programs and
methods to treat drug abuse and allow
users to reclaim their lives. This is still
the best way to insure healthy and so
cially adjusted children. The C.R.A.C.K.
sterilization campaign promotes the op
posite message.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is the author of
“The Crisis in Black and Black.” email:
ehutchi344@aol.com. Protest
C.R.A.C.K'’s sterilization campaign.
Write, call or fax
C.R.A.C K..email:luvbabies@aol.com;Phone:
714-236-0217; Address: P.OO. 74, Stanton,
Calif. 90680. The address of C.R.A.C.K.’s
web site is www.cracksterilization.com.
Its toll free number is 1-888-30-CRACK.