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(ommentary
The next election in black and white
! This November will be one
f the most important elec
ions in our life time. We
ust vote. The control of the
.S. Senate is up for grabs.
here is a stiff challenge for
orgia’s governor’s man
ion. Issues of prison reform,
quitable social programs,
education, and many more
portant issues are staring
g: in the face. We have to
respond
! George Bush and his
'l:ronies are looking to this
flection for a mandate for
heir bandit style of politics.
We must send them a mes
sage that we aren’t pleased
with their domestic agenda,
foreign policy and rogue pol
i We need togtudy the issues
'TO BE EQUAL By Hugh B. Price : e
The Louima case and persistence of memory
On September 20, a New
York Times news story told
of a remarkable pattern seen
in the sifting of potential
jurors for the last federal
trial stemming from the sen
sational case of the savage
sexual assault of Abner
Louima by New York City
police officers in a precinct
station bathroom in 1997.
- The Times story said that
a noticeable “racial divide in
perceptions about the case”
was evident between black
and white potential jurors.
Generally, the white jurors
had: only very hazy recollec
tions of the details of the
case; but blacks’ remem
bered even relatively minor
details clearly.
“Many of the blacks
described Mr. Louima’s
ardeal as they would a cul
tural touchstone,” the Times
report noted, “like the case
of the Scottsboro boys or the
Birmingham church bomb
ing.”
< In one sense, the jury ques
tioning was for naught,
hecause Charles Schwartz,
‘Marable
. From page 10A
Mississippi’s NAACP branch
who was brutally assassinat
ed in front of his home and
family in 1963; Septima
Poinsette Clark, who created
the Citizenship Education
program which taught thou
sands of poor and illiterate
blacks to read, write, and to
register to vote; Robert
Moses, a young mathematics
. teacher, who went into Mis
_.sissippi to organize voter
peducation and registration
ccampaigns; the Vanderbuilt
;Divinity student, James
<Lawson, who trained civil
.rights activists in civil dis
,obedience techniques and
taught them the philosophy
.of non-violence of Mohandas
;Gandhi; the courageous Ella
. Baker, veteran of civil rights
.organizations who inspired
the creation of the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee in 1960; the leg
sendary Fannie Lou Hamer, a
.former cotton field laborer
(Who co-founded the Missis
tßippi Freedom Democratic
-Party, and challenged the
whites-only state delegation
.at the 1964 Democratic
tNational Convention; and
.John Lewis, who in his early
<twenties participated in
. “freedom rides” to desegre
jgate ‘interstate bus routes,
;and led non-violent “sit-in”
.demonstrations at whites
jonly lunch ooulne:e;s;_ Thur
good Marshall, lead attorney .
of the NAACP Legal Defense
Fund, and later the first
in the o
By The Rev. D 4
Ralph C. Watkins )
and make sure we under
stand them. We can’t allow
misguided, racist media out
lets to influence our votes.
There has been a series of
attacks on our leaders and
we must show them that we
aren’t stupid. We know who
has our best interest at
heart.
Our votes should be influ
enced by issues. Knowledge
is the key. We have.to study
the former officer federal
prosecutors said helped in
the attack, struck a deal that
canceled perjury and civil
rights violation charges
against him in exchange for a
five-year sentence for a prior
perjury conviction in the
case — and the unusual stip
ulation that he cannot pro
claim he is innocent during
‘the duration of his sentence.
Yet, the “racial divide”
about this case the jury ques
tioning uncovered reveals
something very important
about the workings of histo
ry and justice.
Five 'years ago the
unspeakably brutal assault
Louima endured ushered in
an intense period of high
lighting and challenging
police misconduct, especially
against people of color, in
New York City and other
communities and states.
The officer who attacked
Louima, Justin Volpe, pled
guilty to the crime in 1999
and was sentenced to 30
years in prison.
The Schwarz plea bargain
black Supreme Court Jus
tice; 'and .Gloria Hayes
Richardson, who led the
desegregation campaign in
Cambridge, Maryland.
Creative and talented indi
viduals often help to define a
moment in history, yet histo
ry is fundamentally made by
ordinary people, who work
every day, who sacrifice for
their children, and find
social meaning through
their struggles and contribu
tions to their communities,
voluntary organizations, and
religious institutions. The
struggle for freedom was
‘always. expressed in collec
tive terms for the African-
American people. The spirit
of freedom was expressed in
their celebrations of what
was first termed “Negro His
tory Month” held every Feb
ruary; through celebrations
such as ‘Juneteenth,” hon
oring the date of June 19,
1865, when blacks in Texas
first learned of their emanci
pation from slavery; to the
popular national liberation
flag of the black masses
inspired by Marcus Garvey, a
flowing colorful banner of
“red, black, and green.”
The fierce and unrelenting
character of white racism,
and the structural barriers
that inhibited and flourish
ing of full democratic life in
the U.S., constructed a
national consciousness and
political culture that
expressed itself through a
myriad of institutional and
organizational forms. Black
people regardless of their
social class deeply felt a
sense of linked fates, which
and fully understand the
issues that affect our people
and then decipher where
each candidate stands on
these issues. If you want to
learn more so that you can
go to the polls as an enlight
ened voter then I encourage
you to come to the Town Hall
Meeting on October 9, 2002.
On October 9, from 7:00
p.m. until 9:00 p.m. at Beu
lah Grove Baptist Church,
1434 Poplar Street, a Town
Hall meeting will hosted by
the civil rights giant, Rev. Dr.
Joseph Lowery and The
Georgia Coalition for the
People’s Agenda. The for
mer congressman, ambassa
dor and mayor of Atlanta,
Rev. Andrew Young, will be
in attendance along ‘with
recently means that the legal
system’s effort to punish all
of the criminals on the New
York City police force respon
sible for that heinous act
concluded wtih what can
best be described as only a
half measure of justice.
Federal prosecutors had
tried through three trials
since 1999 to prove that
Schwarz was the officer who
pinned Louima to the bath
room floor for Volpe, but fed
eral juries could never agree
on that (a jury in 2000 did
convict Schwarz of perjuring
himself when he sdid under
oath that he had not escorted
Louima away from the
precinct’s front desk toward
the bathroom the night of
the attack.)
It appears that the plea
arrangement was the best
that could be hoped for, even
though it means that the
identity of the police officer
who directly aided Volpe that
awful night will remain, for
the time being, unanswered.
It means several other
things as well.
well as to their collective his
tory of resistance. The suc
cess of any one member of a
disadvantaged community
are, in many ways, shared
and experienced by all.
The médern desegregation
movement was successfully
constructed, and was able to
transform America’s politi
cal and social institutions,
because it fully reflected
that national black con
sciousness, a collective iden
tity borne of triumphs as
well as tragedies, the fruit of
deferred dreams and demo
cratic aspirations. During
the desegregationist phase
of the struggle for civil
rights, from roughly 1954 to
1965, voluntary organiza
tions supported a number of
national political groups, all
espousing civil rights, but
disagreeing sharply over the
appropriate strategies and
tactics used to achieve them.
Middle class-oriented blacks
usually favored the moder
ate approaches of the
NAACP and the more con
servative National Urban
League, both of which
favored coalitions with white
liberal constituencies in gov
ernment, business, and phil
anthropic agencies to imple
ment racial reforms, such as
affirmative action and
minority economic programs
to promote the development
of black capitalism.
The African-American
religious community and
faith-based institutions pro
vided the necessary
resources to King’s South
ern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), founded
in 1957. Unlike the NAACP
AUGUSTA FOCUS
George Curry of the Nation
al Black Newspaper Associa
tion, Rev. Timothy McDon
ald of Atlanta, and Sister
Felicia Davis. They will lead
a discussion around issues.
This Town Hall meeting
will be a dialogue. You will
have the opportunity to
share your concerns as well
as listen to some of our most
respected leaders share their
perspective on the key issues
facing the African-American
community. I will be there!
Will you be there?
Dr. Watkins is a-seciology
professor at Augusta State
University and can be
reached at (706) 737-1735 or
e-mail: rwatkins@aug.edu
One is that, although the
assault was committed in the
midst of a busy police
precinct, most likely wit
nessed -by several other
police officers, and its details
‘were soon known to numer
ous other police officers who
were in the station house
that night, some number of
police officers are still stand
ing behind the “blue wall of
silence,” disgracing them
selves and their unifdrms
and the city they have sworn
to protect and serve.
- This is particularly bitter
for many African Americans
and Haitian Americans, of
whom Louima is one,
because the Louima case —
coming before police racial
profiling of people of color
became an explosive national
issue — crystallized African
Americans’ justifiable skep
ticism, borne of long experi
ence, that the criminal jus
tice system can be depended
upon to protect them not
only from criminals, but
from arbitrary and unjust
behavior by police, too.
which emphasized litigation
and legislation, the SCLC
practiced civil disobedience
mass campaigns, designed to
mobilize church congrega
tions to pack the jails, in
order to pressure authorities
to eliminate discriminatory
laws. The SCLC used eco
nomic boycotts and tactics of
peaceful civic disruption to
force local business and
political leaders to change
their policies towards blacks.
To their left politically, were
the Congress of Racial
Equality (CORE), founded
by James Farmer and
Bayard Rustin in 1941, and
the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee
(SNCC), launched from the
“sit-in” student protests
during the winter and
spring months of 1960.
Throughout most of its his
tory, CORE was a racially
integrated organization
that actively used civil dis
obedience tactics, such as
“git-ins” and “freedom
rides” to challenge Jim
Crow laws.
SNCC activists also
desegregated lunch coun
ters and initiated voter
education and registration
drives in many of the most
poverty stricken and dan
gerous areas of the rural
South. But they also
described themselves, with
youthful elan, as_ the
“True Believers,”
absolutely dedicated to
placing “their bodies on
the line” in the struggle to
outlaw Jim Crow. SNCC
frequently used the “jail
in” tactic of breaking seg
regation laws and refusing
Who are the terrorists?
The American blue chip
cerporations are the true
terrorists in America. They
are the ones creating terror
with their lies, trickery and
deception. They are the ter
rorists who are:
1. Creating terror in the
workplace.
2. Causing millions of
Americans to lose every
thing. ;
3. Causing former employ
ees to commit suicide.
4. Bringing down the Dow
But there is also another
way to look at the half meas
ure of justice produced by
the legal conclusion of the
Louima case.
It is to believe that the
search for justice in this case
— that is to say, the search to
understand and not forget its
more profound meanings —
will go on.
It is to believe that, in fact,
the limitations of the legal
system in this case under
score the historical role of
two other forces: One is per
sistence. The other is per
sistence of money.
The importance of persist
ence was evident in the
refusal of federal prosecutors
to succumb to the disingenu
ous “advice” of some that the
public was “weary” of the
case and that they should
give up their efforts against
Schwarz. The Times story
starkly shows that many
blacks (and some whites, too)
are not and will never be
weary of pursing justice.
And the importance of per
sistence was evident in the
to pay fines or to post bail,
preferring to overload the
capacity of the criminal
justice system to manage
public resistance in black
communities. Although all
of these formations dis
agreed with each other
about many issues, they all
came together in a common
front to eliminate the Jim
Crow regime. The varia
tions and divergences rep
resented by their different
styles of work were really a
strength, not a weakness.
That diversity reflected the
complex and sometimes
contradictory constituen
cies and competing inter
ests within the African-
American community as a
whole. The mass democrat
ic movement for desegrega
tion, over a period of many
years, had finally con
vinced the majority of
white Americans to end
their longstanding commit
ment to legal segregation.
Proven R Leadership
Courageous § Al Fighter
Dedicated ,( (8 Visionary
Georgia House District 97
www.aosmith.com
Paid for by the Committse to elect Otis Smith
OCTOBER 3, 2002
Jones and other financial
markets.
5. Stealing the investors’
confidence in this country by
no longer investing.
6. Stealing retirees’ pen
sions and health benefits
and veterans’ benefits.
Warning America: Prepare
yourself for a rough, bumpy
ride because only a few cor
porations have been exposed.
Ron Vinson ;
Augusta, Ga.
Call 722-4222
to Subscribe
Only $24.95
final statement this past
weekend of Abner Louima
himself. :
He said: “This is not the
way I wanted this to end.
But ... fighting the good fight
established the principal
that what has happened to
me will not be tolerated and
will never happen to my chil
dren or anyone else’s chil
dren.”
These words, even as
Louima ended by saying now
it was for himself and other
people to get on with their
lives, underscored the second
force —the persistence of
memory.
Yes, of course, we will get on
with our lives, as we have
while the various trials of this
case have come and gone. But
there will be no forgetting
what happened. And there
will be no forgetting what
remains to be done so that
Louima’s hope for “my chil
dren or anyone else’s children”
can become a reality.
Hugh B. Price is president
of the National Urban
League.
The struggle for black
reparations will ultimately
be won, but the length of
time it will take to get
there depends on our abili
ty to learn from our own
history. The next stage of
the African-American free
dom struggle, the demand
for reparations, must
become the new political
consciousness of the great
majority of our people, in
order to win.
Dr. Manning Marable is
Professor of History and
Political Science, and the
director of the Institute for
Research in African-Ameri
can Studies at Columbia
University in New York.
Along the Color Line is dis
tributed free of charge to
over 350 publications
throughout the U.S. and
internationally. Dr.
Marable’s column is also
available on the Internet at
www.manningmarable.net.
11A