Newspaper Page Text
2A
October 28, 2004
National World
President Bush declines BET interview
to address African-American voters
WASHINGTON - After
more than a month of wait
ing, BET finally got an
answer from President
George W. Bush to a formal
invitation ~to address
African-American voters in
his own primetime BET
NIGHTLY NEWS inter
view on the network. The
answer is no.
BET Founder and CEO
Robert Johnson first issued
invitations to both Presi
dent Bush and Democratic
Presidential hopeful Sena
tor John Kerry (D-Massa
chusetts) on September 14.
He asked each of them to
appear on the network to
discuss issues of relevance to
BET viewers during this
crucial stretch of the 2004
Presidential Election cam
paign. Senator Kerry
accepted, and his half-hour
Draft rumors won’t go away
Py g g
ational Correspondent
WASHINGTON
(NNPA) - “You’ve Got
Mail!” Those three
words signal to millions
of Americans that a new
e-mail message has
arrived in their comput
er’s mailbox. But when
those words appeared on
computer screens recent
ly, it wasn’t a routine
notification. Shock, fear
and anger overcame
more than 600,000
young people when they
opened the message and
saw bold, red ink: “YOU
HAVE BEEN DRAFT
ED
That message, appear
ing on a sample draft
card, is a part of Rock
the Vote’s “Draft Your
Friend” Internet cam
paign designed to raise
awareness about the pos
sible reinstatement of
the military’ - draft.
War in Darfur: the who's and why’s of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis
gfi ELLEN KNICKMEY-
Associated Press Writer
KHARTOUM, Sudan
(AP) — War in western
Sudan’s Darfur province
often is called a clash
between Arab herders
and African farmers, but
it's not that simple:
Combatants on both
sides are largely black
Africans, for example,
and the divide between
them is more about cul
ture than skin tone.
Traditional tensions
between the two groups
have escalated to a level
of bloodletting that the
United States calls gov-
interview was televised on
October 7. But according
to representatives of the
White House, President
Bush’s current schedule will
not allow time for him to
appear on BET, and they
asked that the network
approach him again, “after
the election.”
In response to the Bush
decline, Mr. Johnson has
sent an open letter to top
African Americans in the
Bush Administration — Sec
retary of State Colin Powell,
National Security Advisor
Condoleezza Rice, Secre
tary of Education Rod
Paige, and Housing and
Urban Development Secre
tary Alphonso Jackson;
along with former Okla
homa Republican Con
gressman J. C. Watts, who
is leading a grassroots group
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Rock the Vote has cap
tured the minds of
young voters with artists
such as Mary J Blige, LL
Cool J, Nas, No Doubt
and Destiny’s Child
since 1990. The non
partisan group has regis
tered more than 1.3 mil
lion people to vote this
year.
However, Republican
ernment-backed geno
cide, and the United
Nations calls the world’s
worst humanitarian cri
sis.
Here are some com
mon questions about the
Darfur conflict:
Q. What is Darfur?
A. Darfur means
“Homeland of the Fur,”
the name of one of the
remote region’s seden
tary, non-Arab tribes. An
independent Sultanate
until 1916, Darfur’s area
makes up one-fifth of
Sudan, Africa’s largest
nation.
Darfur’s six million
people include largely
nomadic tribes who con
of African-American
Republicans supporting the
Bush re-election effort.
Here is the text of Mr.
Johnson's letter to leading
African-American members
of the Bush Administration
in response to President
Bush’s decline of BET’s
invitation to appear on the
network:
On September 14, BET
extended invitations to
both President George W.
Bush and Senator John
Kerry to discuss issues of
relevance to African-Ameri
can voters in their own
primetime interview spe
cials on our network. Sena
tor Kerry accepted our invi
tation within a few days
and that interview special
was televised on Thursday,
October 7.
To our disappointment
National Committee
(RNC) chairman Ed
Gillespie is not amused
by the clever Internet
campaign.
In a letter to Rock the
Vote President Jehmu
Greene, the RNC chair
man says, ‘lt has been
brought to the attention
of the Republican
N a2t 1 o 0 n al
sider themselves Arab by
language and culture,
and non-Arab tribes that
are a mix of sedentary
farmers and nomadic
herders. Tribal clashes
over land and water
rights have long been
common.
Q: What is the war
about?
A. Sudan’s Arab-domi
nated government is
accused of rallying Arab
tribal fighters to help
quash two non-Arab
rebel groups that
launched attacks on mil
itary targets in February
2003, complaining of
neglect and discrimina
tion by the government.
AUGUSTA FOCUS
P
Robert Johnson
and after 35 days of wait
ing, we were informed this
week that President Bush
will not make room in his
schedule to appear on BET
to share his vision with
African-American voters.
Contacts with the Bush
campaign further instruct
ed us to “ask again after the
election.”
As leading African Amer-
Committee...that your |
organization is sponsor- E
ing and promoting a |
false and misleading |
Internet campaign t
designed to scare Ameri- |
ca’s youth into believing ]
that they may be drafted |
to serve in the military.” |
The letter continues, I
“...your Rock the Vote
Sec Daft, page 12A J
The political struggle
touched off traditional
tensions between the two
groups. So has the
advance of the Sahara
Desert by an estimated
10 kilometers (six miles)
a year, increasing compe
tition for remaining fer
tile land.
Q. What’s the toll of
the conflict?
A. More than 400 vil
lages destroyed and more
than 100 others heavily
damaged - almost all
non-Arab ethnic groups.
More than 50,000 peo
ple dead, and 1.4 million
uprooted, including
200,000 who have fled
into neighboring Chad.
R e R,
- ol S
& g k.
b ".‘."4 e . X
e
W e
President George W. Bush
icans appointed by Presi
dent Bush and supportive
of both his policies and his
re-election campaign, |
urge you to ask the Presi
dent to reconsider. While
we have applauded your
appointment to such a key
role in the Bush Adminis
tration, political appoint
ments are not enough when
it comes to communicating
Black farmers refuse to
let Feds soil their goals
wMAKEBRAANDERSON
ational Correspondent
WASHINGTON (NNPA)
— When federal law enforce
ment officials went to evict
John Boyd from his Virginia
farm more than 10 years ago,
they discovered what Boyd's
friends already knew about
him — he can be stubborn as a
mule.
“The government sent U.S.
Marshals to my house and said
I had to leave my property, but
I knew if I left that would
mean | vacated my property
and they would have the right
to take it,” explains John Boyd,
fourth-generation farmer and
economist. “They had already
sold most of my equipment
and put billboard advertise
ments for the selling of my
farm, but I wasnt leaving.
Finally, they left.”
The atwempted seizure of
Boyd’s farm was the start of a
complicated battle between
black farmers, led by Boyd,
president of the National Asso
ciation of black Farmers, and
the U.S. Department of Agri
culture (USDA). Recently,
Q. Who are the Jan
jaweed?
A. That word is used
by non-Arabs for Arab
tribal fighters on the
government side. Non-
Arabs say the tribal
fighters — on horse and
camels — join Sudanese
government forces in
attacks on villages in
which civilians are killed
and raped and homes are
looted and burned.
Q. Who controls the
Janjaweed?
A. Sudan’s government
denies responsibility,
saying the Janjaweed are
renegades and their
alleged atrocities exag
gerated. However, lead
the President’s plan of
action to address issues that
African Americans find
important.
There is little doubt that
African-American voters
have the power to decide
the outcome of this elec
tion. Our invitations to
President Bush and Senator
Kerry were each candidate’s
chance to show African
Americans that their issues,
opinions and their votes
really matter. To decline
this opportunity does not
send a very positive signal
to African Americans with
just 14 days left before the
election.
We look forward to your
response to our request for
intervention in this matter.
Respectfully, Robert L.
Johnson Founder and CEO
BET
black farmers sued the USDA,
alleging that it continues to dis
criminate against them in
ing loans and qualifying
%lllzrr;'nunfgr farm p : . The
farmers filed a smt that
was supposedly settled five
years ago.
The latest suit, filled on Sep
tember 9, seeks $20.5 billion
and class action status for
approximately 25,000 blacks
who farmed between 1997 and
2004.
Since the early 1900 s, the
number of black farmers has
been falling as the nation tran
siioned from rural to urban
communities and corporate
conglomerates began buyi
tralftional family faur};lnsng
According to the Environmen
tal Working Group (EWG),
backs own only one percent of
all farms. The number of farms
run by African-Americans
went from 54,367 in 1982 to
29,090 in 2002, a trend that
Boyd partly attributes to
USDA discrimination.
“In Mecklenburg County,
Va., I tried for nine years to get
Sec Farmers, page 10A
ers of the Arab tribal
militia — including Dar
fur’s most prominent and
feared Arab sheik, Musa
Hilal - say Sudan’s gov
ernment asked Arab
tribes to help combat the
rebels.
Some, but not all, of
the Arab tribes joined
the fight. Hilal’s says his
tribe supplied most of
the 2,000 Arab tribal
fighters rallied in north
ern Darfur.
Uniformed men identi
fied by African Union
monitors as suspected
Janjaweed say they are
supplied and paid by the
: Sec Darfur, page 10A