Newspaper Page Text
8A
OCTOBER 25, 2001
D Y SR LR TR N UPR T L s R
TR ‘ OB R S
Say, yes, to air plan
hisisnotimetobetimid.
With Augustastanding
at the gate of prosperity,
this is no time to turn
back and throw out the Master
Plan that has been proposed
that would turn Augusta Re
gional Airport into something
that will attract big airlines
and turn thistown into thecity
it was meant to be.
Again.
Yes, the city threw out a per
fectly good airport plan once
before. In 1974 a renovation
plan wasdeveloped, and all that
work wasted -- and since then
duplicated. How ridiculous
would it be to back down yet
again?
Theplan, thenand now, calls
for buildinga midfield terminal
and parallel runways, which
would get rid of the possibility
of runway collision that exists
with the current intersecting
runways. It also gets rid of the
possibility cf one stalled air
plane shutting do*n both run
ways, which would happen if a
break-down occurred in thein
tersection.
Believe me, Murphy’s Law
does operate on airplane run
ways. It doe:- happen. And for
TO BE EQUAL By Hugh B. Price
Keeping our eyes
on the prize
mid the shock and dis
locations of the past
month, and our ongo
ing sense of loss, one
can’t beblamed for sometimes,
for just a moment, wondering
ifthere’s really a future worth
fighting for.
Thatgivingintosadnessand
despair must only be tempo
rary, however — a way of tak
ing stock of where American
societyis,and whereit needs to
be that gets us moving again to
thegoal of helping more Ameri
cans climb the ladder to an
expanded, moreinclusive main
stream.
That’s why the technology
leadership grant of more than
$2.7 million in software the
Microsoft Corp. has just given
the National Urban League is
so significant: It’s a tangible
demonstration that Americans
fromall walksofliferealizethat
the goals worth pursuing be
fore the tragic events of Sep
tember 11 arestill worth pursu
ing — and in fact worth pursu
ing now more than ever.
One of those goals was, and
remains, closing the so-called
digital divide —the gap be
tweenthose who have access to
computersandthelnternet,and
high-level technological skills,
and those who do not — that
exists between blacks and
whites.
In recent years there’s been
muchjustifiableconcernabout
that gap. Last year one major
study estimated its size at 14
percentage points: 50 percent of
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this reason, airlines are not
interested in workingwithan
airport that does not feature
parallel runways.
Unfortunately, we stillhave
asinall-town mentality. There
arestill some narrow-minded,
short-sighted people with no
vision whatsoever who are
stillin charge and want noth
ing more than to hold on to
the status quo. What they
don’t seem to realize is, if we
want to grow big, we need to
think big. And then we need
to act big. We need to have a
“go out and get it” attitude
and not a “sit back and hope
for the best while we hide our
heads” attitude.
Sept. 11, as bad as it was,
wascnlyasetback. If wemake
our preparations now, by go
ing ahead with the plan that
Aviation Commission Chair
Marcie Wilhelmi has so val
iantly promoted, then when it
istimetoimplement the plan,
the tragedy will be behind us.
The ripples that day created
onthesurfaceof our economy
will have faded.
This is a time for boldness.
It is time to say yes to the
Airport Master Plan.
whites had Internet across
compared to 36 percent of
blacks.
However, as journalist Joel
Dreyfuss pointed out in an
essay, “Black Americans and
thelnternet: The Technologi
cal Imperative” in our recent
policy journal, The State of
Black America 2001, studies
earlier this year showed that
Latino-Americans had sur
passed white Americans in
computer use, and that Afri
carrAmericans were fast clos
ing the gap. '
That. narrowing, Dreyfuss
wrote, wasduein part toblack
families responding “to the
debate as other groups had.
Theybought computerstoas
sure their children would not
be left behind, for their home
businesses, and for their own
private use.”
In addition, Dreyfuss
pointed out, many private
companies, like Microsoft,
have organized and invested
in programs to close the gap.
Those two groups — indi
viduals and families, on the
one hand; private companies
ontheother—haveseen that
technological literacy and
ready access to technology are
essential if we're to close the
digital divide and prevent low
incomecommunities from be
ing frozen out of an increas
ingly technology-driven soci
ety.
Microsoft hasbeen aleader
See PRIZE, Page 9A
Charles W. Walker
Publisher
Frederick Benjamin
Managing Editor
Newsfi"eaiums
RhondadJones
Copy Desk
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WITNESS FOR JUSTICE By Bernice Powell Jackson
Fear itself
think it was Franklin
Delano Roosevelt who said,
“Theonly thingwe haveto
fear is fear itself.” It was
his way of telling the nation
that our fears for the future
were keeping our nation from
economic recovery from the
Great Depression. We, too,
must be careful not to be im
mobilized by the fear - fear of
war, fear for ourselves and
our family members, fear of
Arabs or Muslims, fear of an
thrax or other deadly diseases.
Fear in these days is per
fectly understandable. Never
before has our nation en
dured such a massive attack.
Never before have we been
forced to deal with' terror
ism. Never before have we
had to experience what it
must feel like to live in Co
lombia, a nation which has
experienced war for 50 years,
in which terrorism is a daily
part of life. Never before have
we had to experience what it
must feel like to live in Indo
GUEST COMMENTARY By Jacob G. Hornberger
Is this the time to question foreign policy?
Ithoughitisconsidered
by many to be beyond
the pale of proper dis
course to discuss
whether U.S. foreign policy
may have contributed to the
current crisis, the American
people ignore this possibility
at their peril. After all, if U.S.
foreign policy is giving rise to
terrorism against the Ameri
can people, what good is it
going to do to smash current
terrorists if they’re simply
going to be replaced by new
ones?
Consider the US.
government’s 30-year-long
war on drugs. Despite the
manifest failure of the drug
war and all the violence aris
ing from i, the government
steadfastly adheres to the
same policy: Smash the drug
lords, only to have them im
mediately replaced with new
ones. Ending the root of the
problem —the drug war and
its related violence — is not
considered an adoceptable op
tion.
Recall the government’s at
titude after Timothy
McVeigh’s attack on the fed
eral building in Oklahoma
City. Any inquiry as to why
McVeigh committed the bomb
ing (in retaliation for what
the government had done at
Waco), would be immediately
met with: “You’re defending
nesiaor the Philippines. The
truth is that many nations
have suffered terrorism,
sometimes on a daily basis
for decades, and many of us
ignored their cries for jus
tice.
Just as we must be careful
not to be immobilized by the
fear, we must also be careful
not to become driven by the
fear either. Vengeance and
blind retaliation can result
from the fear. Racial and re
ligious stereotyping and pro
filing can result from the
fear. Bad foreign policy -the
support of repressive regimes
Just because they support us,
for example, can result from
the fear.
Fear is a funny thing. It
can cause us to forget his
tory. In all the stories about
thoseterribleattacksin New
York and Washington, for
instance, we talked about the
massive loss of life, forget
ting that thousands were
killed in the Tulsa race riots
or justifying what McVeigh
did!” But if the government
commits another Waco, how
can we rest assured that we
won’t encounter another
McVeigh?
Thisrefusal to examine gov
ernmental policy is not only
foolish, it’s also dangerous. If
government policy is giving
rise to adverse consequences,
then it stands to reason that
efforts to eradicate the conse
quences will be fruitless and
actually might giverisetoeven
greater adverse consequences
(e.g., the loss of domestic civil
liberties).
If, on the other hand, ad
verse behavior can be dimin
ished by putting an end to the
governmental policies that are
giving rise to it, then why
shouldn’t people consider that
option while, at the same time,
bringingtheretaliatorstojus
tice?
U.S. officials claim that the
attacks on New York and
Washington were motivated
by hatred for freedom, democ
racy,and Western values. But
what if they’re mistaken? Af
ter all, doesn’t Switzerland
support those values? Why
aren’t the Swiss being tar
geted by terrorists?
In a recent (September 21)
Washington Post‘article en
titled “Understanding the
Mind of Osama bin Laden,”
in 1921, where an entire 35
block community was de
stroyed only because it was
black and where thousands
of black families were forced
into exile, most never to re
turn. We forgot the story of
Rosewood, Florida, where a
smaller version of the same
kind of annihilation oc
curred.
Fear can even cause us to
forget recent history. Many
Americans, including even
some of the African Ameri
cans who were victims them
selves of racial profiling,
closed their eyes to what was
and 1s happening to Arab
Americans and Muslim
Americans. As we continue
tohear stories of Arab Ameri
cans taken off airplanes only
because they made some pas
senger or crew member un
comfortable, not because they
were acting suspiciously or
had done anything threaten
ing, we know that the fear is.
still in control.
bin Laden is quoted as saying
that among the principal rea
sons he declared a holy war
against the American people
was the U.S. government'’s
long-standing war against
Iraq, including the bombs our
government has dropped for
10 years and its economic em
bargo that bin Laden says has
starved a multitude of Iraqi
children, with the use of U.S.
military forces that are occu
pying holy lands in Saudi
Arabia.
Is bin Laden telling the
truth? Should it matter?
Ifindeed a U.S. governmen
tal policy is a principal factor
that is motivating retaliation
against the American people,
why should it be considered
beyond the pale of legitimate
discourse to examineitsright
fulnessand inquire whether it
shouldbe continued, especially
if its continuation is likely to
lead to more reprisals against
Americans?
No one, of course, would
argue that the U.S. war
against Iraq and its embargo
against the Iraqi people would
justify what happened in New
York and Washington. But
isn’t there a big difference be
tween justifying and explain
Need to sound off? Fax us at 724-8432
Fear can cause us to allow
ourcivil liberties to be eroded
for the sake of “national se
curity.” Make no mistake
about it, I want our country
to protect its citizens from
attack of whatever kind. But
I worry when I hear that
there are dozens, perhaps
hundreds - no one really
knows the number, of Arabs
and Arab Americans being
held by the government in
the Manhattan Detention
Center in New York City,
with no charges and perhaps
no attorneys. I worry when
the president’s press secre
tary warns the media about
its coverage of the president
and the bombings. History
tells us that when the fear
takes over, nations allow
their freedom to be curtailed
and that is always danger
ous.
There are fearful times. But
we must not allow the fear to
consume us.
ing?
After all, wouldn’t the Iraqi
people, after 10 continuous
years of bombs and embargoes
leveled against them, be likely
to feel the same hurt, pain,
and grief that the American
people feel after the attacks on
New York and Washington?
Wouldn’t they be likely to feel
thesame ache for revenge and
retribution that Americans
have?
There are those who claim
that now is not the time to
question foreign policy. Why
not? Is it the duty of the citi
zen to blindly follow his gov
ernment into war, no ques
tions asked? Or is it to arrive
atanindependent determina
tion as to whether his govern
ment is pursuing a wise, pru
dent, and moral course of ac
tion, especially if he and his
loved ohes have a big personal
stake in the outcome?
Mr. Hornbergerispresident
of The Future of Freedom
Foundationin Fairfax, Va,and
co-editor of The Failure of
America’s Foreign Wars.
Much longer analyses of the
waron terrorism areposted in
the Commentary section of the
Foundation’s web site.