Newspaper Page Text
4A
MARCH 21, 2002
pinion
Onthemayor’srequest
for a vote and veto
ake a step back for a
T minute and look at
the current situa
tion in Augusta:
A few months ago, Mayor
Bob Young whined that
Mayor Young had no power
and complained that
Mayor Young needed a vote
and a veto because Mayor
Young couldn’t get any
thing done. He said our
government was broken.
Over the next six weeks,
bills to change the local
government or tweak it
came out of the state gen
eral assembly, editorials
in the local newspapers
argued one way or another
for a change, county com
missioners opined on the
subject and discussion en
sued. :
Note that last phrase:
“discussion ensued.”
What the mayor failed to
realize then and still fails
to realize to this day is
that he DOES have power,
he just doesn’t have any
idea how to use it.
Because he holds the title
of “Mayor of Augusta,”
the politicians, the people
and the press all listen to
him. He is supposed to lead
the way.
Unfortunately, the
mayor doesn’t get it and he
doesn’t have a compass to
help him.
If he had used his voice
to create a discussion
about improving the way
our government operates,
about improving race re
lations, about the need for
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Focus Frederick Benjamin
Managing Editor
Since 1981
A Walker Group
Publication
1143 Laney Walker Blvd.
Lillian Wan Copy Editor
. Ebone Brown Office Manager
j/ (fi \ Samuel Daniels Production Assistant
V&R Dennis Williams Advertising Production
‘ ; Panoßrooks Advertising Rep.
N A Shun Norris Staff Writer
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AUGUSTA FOCUS
new jobs in Richmond
County and economic re
vitalization down on
Broad Street, people, the
press and the politicians
would listen to him, take
his lead and get things
accomplished.
Bills would be floating
out of the general assem
bly that could be work
ing to improve roads and
sidewalks, reduce taxes
and more.
Unfortunately, that is
not happening.
Unfortunately, the
mayor only thinks about
himself, not his position.
He wants power, not pro
duction.
If the mayor (and a few
other nearsighted politi
cians) would lead instead
of whine and whimper
that the sky is falling, if
he would show backbone,
if he would show the true
courage of his convic
tions and truly put
what’s best for the city
first (instead of what’s
best for his own political
future), Augusta would
not be wasting its time
and its tax dollars on re
inventing the wheel that
is our city government.
If the mayor pushed
that wheel forward
rather than spinning it,
we wouldn’t have wasted
the last two months try
ing to fix something that
isn’t broken.
Unfortunately, that’s
not the case.
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S T T
-
www.cagle.com
GUEST COMMENTARY By Dan Davidson
First quarter signals trouble for USPS
new 8.7 percent postage
rateincrease beingcon
sidered is not likely to
save the U.S. Postal
Service from another finan
cially disastrous year, analysts
say.
For the first quarter of its
fiscal year, which ended Nov.
30, Postal Service mail volume
fell 5.5 percent from the same
quarter a year ago, the largest
drop in recent history.
By Dec. 28, less than four
months into its fiscal year, the
organization wasalready more
than SSOO millionin netincome
offits forecast and the prospect
is for more red ink for the rest
of the year.
The Postal service had been
projectinga sl.3sbillion deficit
fortheyear. Butchieffinancial
officer Richard Strasser told
Federal Times Jan. 8 that that
estimate was made before the
terrorist attacks that crippled
the mailing economy and ag
gravated a national recession.
Howbad the Postal Service’s
financial condition gets this
year depends largely on how
quickly the economy turns
around, Strasser said.
ALONG THE COLOR LINE By Dr. Manning Marable
The pOlitiCS of hlp h()p PART TWO OF TWO
here has always been a
fundamental struggle
for the “soul” of hip
hop culture, repre
sented by the deep tension be
tween politically-conscious
and “positivity” rap artists
versus the powerful and reac
tionary impulses toward mi
sogyny, homophobia, corpo
rate greed, and crude
commodification.
The most recent example of
this struggle for hip hop’s
“soul” was vividly expressed
at the recent West Coast hip
hop conference. Respected rap
pers such as Mike Concepcion
and the D.0.C., and Def Jam
founder and conference leader
Russell Simmons, emphasized
the need to mobilize artists
around progressive goals, such
as supporting voter education
and registration campaigns.
Solidarity was expressed for
progressive feminist poet/art
ist Sara Jones, who is suing
over the Federal Communica
tions Commission’s fine im
posed against an Oregon radio
station’s playing of her song,
“Your Revolution.” Nation of
Islam leader Louis Farrakhan,
in his keynote address, urged
the hip hop community to re
nounce lyrics promoting vio
lence and social divisiveness.
“From the suffering of our
“It’s not clear at all” what
the year’s losses will total,
Strasser said.
Strasser said he was “very
concerned about the whole ad
vertising market and where
volumes weregoingfor thenext
three to six months.”
Observersagreed theresults
of the first four of the Postal
Service’s 13annual accounting
periods do not bode well, espe
cially since those months in
cluded the Christmas season,
the most profitable part of the
year for the agency.
“They’vejust comeout of the
mostlucrative time of theyear,
and they essentially have no
profit to show for it,” said Rob
ert McLean, executive director
of the Mailers Council, a mail
ing industry advocate in Ar
lington, Va. “You can expect a
substantial deficit at the end of
the year, but how big it will be
depends on the national
economy. Ifthe economy does
not rebound, we will see some
very large deficits over thenext
several accounting periods.”
Gene Del Polito, president of
the Association for Postal Com
merce, another industry advo
people came rap,” Farrakhan
observed. “That should make
you a servant of those that
produced you.”
Theforces of negativity were
also present, reflected in the
controversial remarks of the
founder of Death Row Records
Marion “Suge” Knight.
Launching into an attack
against artists such as Dr.
Dre, Master P, and Janet Jack
son, Knight criticized sisters
in attendance for “wanting to
be men.” When Knight then
argued that women “were not
strong enough to be leaders,”
observers were stunned. Hip-
Hop Summit Action Network
president Minister Benjamin
Muhammad later observed: “A
summitiswherediverseforces
come together... You saw the
compassion side and the raw
side of hip hop. You saw the
focus of economics and the
side that focuses on social
transformation.”
Years before the 1986 re
lease of Run DMC’s “Raising
Hell,” which became the first
rap album to go platinum,
music industry executives saw
the huge profit-making poten
tial of this explosive new art
form. Many of the “Old School”
rap artists were brutally ex
ploited by unscrupulous busi
ness practices of both white
catebased in Arlington, agreed,
but in starker terms.
“It’s the worse we’ve ever
seen,” Del Polito said. “There
was a bigdrop in volumein the
first quarter, and, from talking
to our members, the signs for
the next six months are very
negative. Any [economic] re
covery thathappenswillbevery,
very gradual.”
The Postal Service is well on
its way to a multibillion dollar
deficit for the year, even with
anearlyrateincrease, Del Polito
said.
The Postal Service is confer
ring with the mailing industry
and other groups on a proposed
8.7 postage rate increase. If
there is broad-based support
for the rate hike, it would take
effect June 30.
But if there is a postage rate
hike then, it would boost rates
onlyforthethreemonthsofthe
fiscal year — generating about
slbillion in additional revenue
— Del Polito said.
“In the fall, they will prob
ably have to file for another
rate increase unless there is a
miracle in the economy,” he
said.
and black managers and mu
sic executives. Some artists
were willing (and eager) tosell
themselves and their creativ
ity to manufacture music that
was designed largely for com
mercial purposes, promoting
negative values that were an
tithetical to blacks’ interests.
Yet also from thebeginning,
the tradition of politically pro
gressive and socially-conscious
hip hop has been central to
thisyouth-oriented culture. In
1982, rap moved decisively
from party-oriented themes to
political issues with the re
lease of Grandmaster Flash
and the Furious Five’s “The
Message.” The following year
Keith Leblanc of Tommy Boy
recordsreleased “No Sell-out,”
incorporating the powerful
voice of Malcolm Xintotherap
single. This marked the begin
ning of the incorporation of
Malcolm’s uncompromising
words and political message,
which would be sampled in
hundreds of hip hop songs,
especially in the late 1980’s
and early 1990’5. Alsoin 1983,
Grandmaster Flash and Melle
Melreleased their anti-cocaine
anthem “White Lines (Don’t
DoIt),” which was designed to
promote greater anti-drug so
cial awareness within black
and Latino communities.
For the first quarter, from
September 8 to November 30,
mail volume was off 2.8 billion
pieces, or 5.5 percent, the big
gest quarterly declineinrecent
history.
Advertising mail led the de
cline, posting 2.2 million fewer
pieces than during the same
period one year ago. Net in
come, meanwhile, was SIOB
million, $521 million less than
expected. ’ _
For the fourth accounting
period, from December 1 to 28,
volume, revenue and net in
comewerealllessthanexpected,
Strasser said.
“The most alarming num
bers are the drop in volumes,”
said Neil Denton, executive di
rector for the Alliance for Non
profit Mailers, a mailingindus
tryadvocatebased in Washing
ton, D.C.
“When the volumes disap
pear, it’s a struggle to get that
back. It means mailers are
finding other ways to commu
nicate with their customers,
and if they are just as reliable,
the Postal Service won’t get
See USPS, page 5A
Nearly a decade later, as hip
hop migrated to the west coast,
seminal rap group NWA re
corded the song “Dope Man,”
which upon close examination,
reveals an emphatic anti-drug
message, despite its explicit
lyrics.
Social critice like Kevin
Powell have described the pe
riod between 1987 and 1992 as
the “golden age” of hip hop
music, a time of enormous cre
ativity and artistic original
ity. More than any other group -
at that time, Public Enemy
(PE) set the standard for pro
gressive, socially consciousrap.
Though not as commercially
heralded as PE, the emergence
of KRS One and his group
Boogie Down Productions, also
changed the content of rap
albums, beginning with the
1987 album “Criminal
Minded.” Other similar ex
amples include: the 1989 re
lease of “Daddy’s Little Girl”
by MC Nikki D (Nichelle
Strong), who was the first fe
male rapper to rhyme about
abortion, from a young
woman’s perspective; theemer
gence of the brilliant (and
underappreciated) rapper
Paris, the self-proclaimed
“black panther of hip hop,”
See HIP-HOP, page 5A