Newspaper Page Text
6A
OCTOBER 18, 2001
Candidate forums
drawing poorly
What'’s going to happen
the first time the “new”
commission — probably
made up entirely of incum
bents because only a mi
nuscule number of people
in this city can be both
ered to drag themselves to
the polls once every few
years — makes an unpopu
lar decision that does not
bode well for this or that
business or personal in
terest? The citizens are
going to be in an uproar.
Protests will be held, hos
tile sound bites will thrill
‘television crews and some
daytime show-type drama
will become a feature of
the dinner hour.
- So why in the world
aren’t those future pro
testers and crybabies
haunting the Chamber of
Commerce on Monday
nights, where the candi
date forums are being
held? On the first night,
Oct. 1, the house was prac
tically packed. The room
was a small one, however,
so this translates into
about 40 people. On the
Bth, about half that many
showed up.
On the 15th, if you take
away the people whose jobs
GUEST COMMENTARY By Kevin B. Zeese
The drug war
and terrorism
dvocates of the war on
drugs have used the
recent terrorist catas
trophe to urge expan
sion of the drug war. But aswe
embark on a renewed war
against terrorism it would be
wise to more honestly look at
the war on drugs — since like
terrorismitis without national
boundaries against an unde
fined enemy. Wecannot afford
to have our anti-terrorism ef
forts fail as clearly as the drug
war has failed sowebetter learn
from our mistakes.
The American public recog
nizesthedrugwar’sfailure—a
recent Pew poll shows 75 per
cent see the failure. Only the
most diehard drugwarriorscon
tinue to urge escalation. We
have spent a half a trillion dol
lars since 1980 and developed
the largest prison system in
world history but heroin and
cocaine are less expensive and
morepure, overdosesand emer
gency room mentions of drugs
AuguSta Charles W. Walker
Publisher
Focus Frederick Benjamin
Managing Editor
Since 1981
A Walker Group
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'y Dennis Williams Lillian Wan
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AUGUSTAFOCUS
required themtobethere,
like Chamber officials
and journalists, there
were four attendees.
Four.
Out of a city of 200,000.
Here is a free opportu
nity held right after
work, at least for nine
to-fivers, to meet and chat
with your representa
tives and potential rep
resentatives. An oppor
tunity to not only hear
what these men have to
say, but to plant your own
views in their ears as well.
An opportunity to actu
ally get those burning
questions answered in
stead of letting them fes
ter and then go to waste
in Rants & Raves, or its
sister column, the Whine
Line.
The citizens of Augusta
should either get out and
make themselves heard
at community events like
this one, or else resist
the urge to cry “exclusiv
ity” when things don’t go
their way. Because if you
don’t adopt the squeaky
wheel approach now,
while there’s still time,
that is exactly what is
going to happen.
are at record highs and ado
lescent drugusehasincreased
by 50 percent since 1990.
The failed drug war is a
luxury we can no longer af
ford; it drains our resources
costing S4O billion dollars an
nually. Investigators work
ingondrugenforcement could
beworkingon counter terror
ism;drugenforcementagents
could be sky marshals. We
are dividing the nation by ar
restingnearly twomillionnon
violent offenderseachyearon
drugcharges. If we are going
towar we can no longer afford
the drug war — it is counter
productive, divisiveand drain
ing.
In addition to draining our
resources drug prohibition is
funding terrorism. Interpol
has already noted that the
chief source of funding of ter
rorism is the drugtrade. The
UN reportsit is a S4OO billion
See DRUG WAR, page 7A
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WITNESS FOR JUSTICE By Bernice Powell Jackson
A new kind of war
y father was a cap
tainin the segregated
U.S. Army of World
Warll. My ancestors
made great sacrifices tolivein
this country. I treasure the
ideals that this nation stands
for and lament when we donot
live up to these ideals of lib
erty, justice and freedom. In
deed, my own work and that of
many, many other Americans
is dedicated to holding our
nation, my community and
myselfaccountable toour Con
stitution and Declaration of
Independenceand totheinter
national treaties of law that
we have signed throughout
our history.
That said, I must say what
many others are saying in
countless marches and vigils
for peace across this nation —
the deaths of 5,000 innocent
people must be punished, but
there are international laws
which our nation helped set
up to punish those behind
these deeds. There are alter
GUEST COMMENTARY By Michael Eric Dyson
Dissent not unpatriotic
od didn’t call America
to do what she’s doing
inthe world now, Mar
tin Luther King Jr.
thundered from his Atlanta
pulpit exactly two months be
fore his death at the hands of
a cowardly racial terrorist.
God didn’t call America to
engage in a senseless, unjust
war.
Of course, King was refer
ring to the Vietnam War, and
he took a lashing in public for
his dissenting views. He was
accused of being unpatriotic.
He was charged with moral
treason. Other black leaders
like Roy Wilkins and Whitney
Younglambasted him (though
they later came to acknowl
edge, as did the nation, that
King’s views were courageous
and correct).
Andyet, Kingwasoneofthe
greatest patriots this nation
has produced. He proved it by
giving his life in a fight to
defend thiscountry’sbest side
against its worst. As we con
sider the role of dissent in the
nation’s struggles, especially
in the shadow of terrorism
and war, it is good to remem
berthat dissent helps, not ham
pers, truedemocracy. IfKing’s
actionsagainst war proveany
thing, it’s that there’s a huge
difference between patriotism
and nationalism.
Patriotism is the critical as
natives to the bombings. Al
ready four United Nations
workers have been killed by
our bombingsand surely more
innocent civilians will bekilled.
And now theadministration is
hintingthat the bombings will
not be confined to Afghani
stan. More chances that inno
cent civilians will be killed by
U.S. bombs.
What we don’t seem to un
derstand yet is that this is a
different kind of war than we
have ever fought before and
conventional war strategies
will not only not work, but
may well backfire on us. This
is a war of right, not a war of
might. This is a war for the
hearts of many around the
world, including many non-
Muslims, who have watched
our economic policies make
Western nations richer and
other nations poorer. A war
for the hearts of those who
have seen first-hand our sup
port of tyrants and military
governments solely because
firmation of one’s country in
light of its best values. In a
commencementaddressat Lin
coln University in 1961, King
praised the American dream
and the Declaration of Inde
pendence, saying that seldom
if ever in the history of the
world has asociopolitical docu
ment expressed in such pro
foundly eloquent and un
equivocal language the dignity
and worth of human personal
ity. And when he gave his fa
mous I Havea Dream” speech
before the Lincoln Memorial
in 1963, King reaffirmed that
hisdream was deeply rooted in
the American dream that one
day this nation willriseupand
live out the true meaning of its
creed: We hold these truths to
be self-evident, that all men
are created equal.
But King understood the
contradictions at the heart of
American society. In his Lin
coln University commence
ment address, Kingsaid, since
the founding fathers of our
nation dreamed this noble
dream, America hasbeen some
thing of a schizophrenic per
sonality, tragically divided
against herself. America, King
said, preaches democracy but
practices its selective applica
tion.
Moreover, King understood
the perils of an isolationist
nationalism that celebrates
they supported U.S. policies
while we turned our back on
their human rights violations
and their undemocratic ways.
This is a war for the hearts of
those who want badly to be
lieve that liberty and justice
for all includes them, too.
This is a different kind of
war becauseit involves terror
ism and those who are willing
to give up not only their own
lives but also the lives of inno
cent civilians. In the half a
century since the end of World
War 11, the world has seen a
new phenomenon of civilians
being killed during wars. Be
cause we in the U.S. have not
seenwarin our homeland dur
ing this time, we have been
able to ignore this growing
phenomenon. InWorld Warl,
theratio of military personnel
killed to civilians killed was 8
to 1. In World War II it grew
to 1 to 1, and in the many
smaller wars since 1945, the
ratio has been 1 to 8. In the
words of Anne Llewellyn
one’scountry at the expense of
recognizing one’s global citi
zenship. Otherwise, loyalty to
nation might turn vicious, de
mandingthat one subordinate
moral principle to narrow na
tional self-interest. In his
church sermon, Kingsaid that
inVietnam, America had com
mitted more war crimes al
most than any nation in the
world. And we wouldn’t stop it
because of our pride and our
arrogance as a nation.
Earlier, in hislandmark ora
tion “A Time To Break Si
lence,” delivered at New York’s
Riverside Church in 1967 a
year before he was assassi
nated, King insisted on inter
nationalism over nationalist
sentiment. King said that ev
ery nation must now develop
an overriding loyalty to man
kind as a whole in order to
preservethebest in their indi
vidual societies. King con
tended that such a call for a
worldwide fellowship that lifts
neighborly concern beyond
one’s tribe, race, class and
nation isin reality a call for an
all-embracing and uncondi
Augusta Focus: A good
- .read for 20 years!
Barstow, editor of War’s Dirty
Secret: Rape, Prostitution and
Other Crimes Against Women,
“This means that the victims
of war have changed: the great
majority being civilians, they
are now mainly women, chil
drenandtheelderly ... Nowits
chief actors are civilians who
had little or nosay about start
ing the war and who stand to
win nothing and to lose every
thing because of the conflict.”
Wars of terrorists by their
very nature are wars against
civilian victims. If we use our
conventional wartimemental
ity and strategies, more inno
cent victims on both sides will
perish. I do not believe that
the war against terrorists can
be won by crushing the ex
tremists, because it is doubtful
that we can destroy the many
little cells around which they
are organized. But I am con
vinced that we cannot win the
war for the hearts of the mil-
See NEW WAR, page 7A
tional love for all men.
Attheend of King’s sermon,
appropriately titled “The Drum
Major Instinct,” which dis
sected theimpulse of individu
als to be supreme and of na
tions to rule the world, King
declared that the God I wor
ship has a way of saying,
“Don’t play with me. Be still
and know that I'm God. And if
you don’t stop your reckless
course, I'll rise up and break
the backbone of your power.
And that can happen:to
America.”
Martin Luther King Jr.’s
roleasadissenter and prophet
never diminished his patrio
tism. True patriots love their
country enough to tell it the
truth. King never confused a
healthy patriotism with amyo
pic nationalism that often
wrapped ethnic bigotry and
racial terror in a flag. Neither
should we.
Michael Eric Dyson isapro
fessor of religious studies at
DePaul Universityand author
of Holler If You Hear Me:
Searching for Tupac Shakur.
E-mail: mdyson@depaul.edu