Augusta focus. ([Augusta, Ga.) 198?-current, January 20, 2005, Image 9

Augusta focus., January 20, 2005, Page 9A, Image 9

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Newspaper Page Text(ommentary BLACKONOMICS By James Clingman A black Tsunami Now that the first Tsunami has subsided, another one has been visited upon the same people. Its the “Money Tsuna mi. Just after the huge waves hammered the leanlf cities, ?imlilars beach !:i?arts. billions of ollars immediately began to wash onto those same shores. Money came in so fast they didnt know how to handle it. t?\ut}t:;)ttoworry.l:unsune ey have figured it out by now. All that money being ra?ed was a s"ﬁi:t to behold. e d\;aunl:gh iﬁm countries began eir com uton; lictde children raispec-;i money; and corporations vied to see who could give the most. Even our president dipped into his pocket, albeit, not too deep into his ﬁod(n and came up with a whopping $10,000! Of course, that Yxad to be lead news story. After all, arent “Bible believers” su to broad cast our cha}:nft)}oj(zj)r is it the other way around? (Pardon me while I check Marthew 6:14.) This country and others, now coming up with billions of dollars, have looked on for years as Africans have suffered tremendous hardships. There GUEST COMMENTARY By Bill Fletxcher Jr. & B Elusive peace in the Sudan As we edged into 2005 it was announced that a final peace agreement had been reached between the Sudanese govern ment of General Al-Bashir in Khartoum, and the rebel forces in the South known as the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army. If successful, this peace agreement will bring to an end Africas longest running civil war, a confrontaton which is reputed to have cost the lives of two million people. Events over the last year in the Sudans western region of Darfur have overshadowed the depth of the larger crisis facing Sudanese society. The civil war between the North and the South arose out of efforts by various Northern Sudanese dominated governments to impose their interpretation of Islam on the largely non-Mus lim Southern region. The war took on a greater intensity when ol reserves were discov ered in the South. Despite important differ ences, there is an underlying linkage between the hopefully resolved North/South conflict on the one hand, and the war in Darfur on the other. It is important to understand that the borders of the Sudan were not drawn up by the people who have lived in its territory. The Sudan, during colonial times, was a British possession, and at one point jointly admin istered by both the British and their puppet allies in Egypt. LETTER TO THE EDITOR Few investigation racially motivated The five year criminal investigation of fire chief Ronnie Few was racially motivated and it was wrong. It is this kind of racism that prevents Augusta from was no outpouring of funds and military support from this country when nearly a million people were bcm%ksslaughtcrod in l{wanda, but folks in Holly wmdareal:}o;;xttomakealg‘tof money on that tragedy with its new eliovie “Hotel l{wanda." People dying in Sudan and Congo seem to have no effect either. With all of the money being spent in Iraq for a war that should never have been, a billion per week, you would think we could break off a bil lion or wo to save lives in Africa rather than to kill people in Iraq? Oh, I'm sorry. Most of the jack being squandered in Iraq is ing to ﬁalliburton. Sorry, F))ick Didnt mean to get in yo bidness. Hey, maybe you can figure out eLow your former company can get a piece of this Tsunami action. Need infra structure? Need meals on wheels? Halliburton to the res cue. What do you think, Mr. vice President? The crazy money being rased and sent off to Asia, some $6 billion and counting, graphically portrays a few aspects of our so-called global What came to be known as the Sudan was the forced merger of the largely Arab and Muslim North, with the largely non- Arab but Muslim West (Dar fur), and the largely Christian and Animist South. Though there was no reason that these groups could not hava other wise found a way to live togeth er, opportunist political ele ments took advantage of eth nic, religious and resource ten sions in order to advance their narrow objectives. This seems to have been especially true of the minority ethnic clans in the northern part of the Sudan that have dominated the country since independence. The apparent end to the North/South civil war only resolves part of the irmtation which permeates the Sudan. The undemocratic nature of the Khartoum regime will tend to undermine all progress made in effors to end the North/South war. The Khar toum government’s willingness to utilize ethnic deansing as its modus operandi in fighting rebels in Darfur, for example, is linked to its repression of all dis sent in the country as a whole. A regime that believes that it is acceptable to arm and encour age Arab militias to commit atrocities against non-Arab Muslims in the name of fight ing an insurrection is a regime in which one can put only qualified hope. That said, the government of growing. Until we change our thinking, Augusta will continue to be perceived as a small racist town, totally controlled by the white power structure and or the good old boy network. AUGUSTA FOCUS society. But, even more distress ingisthclackof black con sciousness by many brothas and sistahs in the U.g. for their relatives in Africa. First of all, as I stated above, we have watched ple in Africa suffer several EFoamanﬁ like disasters and have done lit tle to help them. For instance, in response to the news about the tragedy in Asia, Eobal africa.com reported the follow ing: “It has been common knowledge ... that an African child below the age of five dies every three seconds on the (African) continent. That means every week 201,600 African children don't get to celebrate their Sth birthday. Every year ten and a half mi{- lion (10.4}?3,200) African chil dren perish, some through cur able gf\d pncvemablcug;mcs such as malaria, small pox, chicken pox, measles, whoop ing cougE,o c(izscntcry, malnutri tion, and others through com binations of n?ea, starvation, poisoning, political misman agement, local wars and delib erate genocidal policies of crim inal, puppet governments. Of course, we are not taking into General Al-Bashir and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army are to be applauded for taking even the tentative steps towards peace. That peace will be a precarious one, however, as long as there is a larger failure to recognize that the Sudan is truly a multi-ethnic, multi-reli gious state where a politics of tolerance is the only measure through which peace and sta bility can be fully achieved. A politics of tolerance will be, itself, a step toward a democrat ic Sudan, a country that, in addition to being the largest in Africa, could serve as an exam ple for those seeking a path out of the cydone of ethnic war and societal collapse. The changes this necessitates, however, are nothing short of revolutionary. Bill Fletcher Jr. is president of Trans Africa Forum, a Washing ton, D.C.-based non-profit edu cational and organizing center formed to raise awareness in the United States about issues facing the nations and peoples of Africa, the Caribbean and Latin Ameri ca. He alo is co-chair of the anti war coalition, United for Peace | and Justice (www.unitedfor- ! peace.org). He can benrachcdat% bfletcher@ansafricaforum.org. | Today I honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by recog nizing, acknowledging and speaking out against racism. Barbara Thurmond Augusta, GA 30904 consideration another twenty million...annual deaths. This means, in human terms, Africa is haemormz.hging (sic) from a disaster much greater in scale than two Asian Earthquake Tsunamis each and every week, year in and year 0ut...” So much for the “Diaspora” we hold so dear. The reaction by many black folks to the Tsuna mi disaster simply mimicked what the atab%shmcnt was doing. 1 heard no questions about Africa nor did I read any coverage on the condition of the people living there. Brother Colin lPowcll never mentioned it in his defense of what Bush was not doing and had not done. (I wont even go there with Condoleezza Rice; even though it would not take lo it's not worgh the time.) Folﬁ were highly interested in find ing one of Oprah’s regular ests, but several high-profile Ell:lck folks in the media never uttered a mumblin’ word about the fate of their brothers and sisters in Africa. A :ﬁht to behold was the National basketball Association players offering SI,OOO per point scored to the Tsunami relief effort. With a guy that GUEST COMMENTARY By Rev. Barbara Reynolds Armstrong Williams is no Shirley Chisholm Unbossed and Unbought, the title of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm’s autobiography, accurately described her values and way of life. The former New York co oman died recently at her Eome in Florida. She was 80-years-old. With the passing of Esence Magazine into white hands and the scandal exposing columnist Armstrong Williams as a paid agent ofnrie Bush Administra uon, I wonder if something equally as important is dying right along with Chisholm. Have money and the bottom line become more important than black pride and economic solidarity? I am no stranger to Chisholm, Esence or Williams. I covered Chisholm’s 1972 race for the presidency as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune. 1 have been writing gr Essence since its inception. And when Williams came to Washington from the sticks of South Carolina, I fought for him to have a right to speak his mind as a journal ist, even though I virtually dis agree with most everything he says. Black history shows us what happens when we do not wear the Chisholm sl of “unbossed” and “uzﬁ?ught" like a halo. Blacks sold each other out in Africa to the white slave masters and it has been going on every since. In the 19705, 1 watched with pride as this feisty former school teacher, who broke all the rules to become the a]f;:t black fctx)mlc in Congress, t black male leaders to mﬁr:uz.r presi dent. There were tactics {:)u md: her, ignore her, buy her, but mﬁxgi\,o once telling a room full of black male leaders, “that lam the only one here who had the balls to get things done.” In an interview, she told me, “I don't necessary want to be tuncmlgeured as the first ﬂ t as a daring, - ts: be Black aé:: was a catalyst r change in the 20th century.” In other words, S}:liln?'cy Chisholm always knew that real leadership must be larger than one’s scE-inm Institu was hated a few weeks ago, Jer maine O'Neal, lcadmgaﬁ: way with $55,000 for his 55 point performance, several pg(;crs got in on the act, scoring points and making pledges. Who knows how much they will end up sending? Now cﬁ'm'e's the thing. As we all know, most of the players in the NBA are black. &c;nlsl someone tell me where they were for the Rwan da, Sudan, and Congo disas ters? Other than Pam{ziDEwing, Alonzo Mourning, a maybe a few more, where were they when their fellow NBA player, Dikembe Mutomg, announced he needed help to build a hospital in his native Kinshasa? We have gotten so used to following [E(C) establishment and have forgotten about our own pcoplcﬁ:)crc and abroad. Not to diminish what hap pened to the people of Asia, but Africa has a 'Fseti)narm everyday; wheres the U.S. government? Too b looklnﬁzg: oil in the Moth:;znd perhaps. Where are black Americans? Too busy waiting for white folks to show us mv:/iat to do perhaps. Yo! Brothers and Sisters, ath letes and entertainers, and tions or individuals in leader ship positions hold a sacred trust. They speak for the voice less; they dream big dreams that wake up the left behind and mm.lf our talk and walk our With the recent sale of Essence to Time Warner, men such as Robert L. Johnson, thinks it's a great deal. “Black businesses wﬁu have to realize that to be in business takes precedence over being black. At the end of the day, they will sell to the highest bidder who will likely be white. It’s just a marter of when,” says Johnson.” Strangely enough dope push ers, rs use the samcgl:iinneg%?ﬁ:r;rip;]e drive- by shootings, the blood and how the music enriches the under takers. It’s just business.” John son, of course, sold Black Entertainment Television to media giant Viacom, which also spd?ed the death of anoth er excellent black instituition — Emerge Magazine. The black community lost, but at least one black man became a bil lionaire. Is that supposed to be an equitable trade-off? I believe there is a way to make money and still advance the cause g?our race. John H. Johnson seems to know how to do this with Ebony and Jet. It is a wonderful experience every month to pick up a magazine where [ know I;)lc: like Susan Taylor, Ed Teowis, Dianne Weathers were calling the shots. They are people who look like me, who m lived our history and shared our aspirations. Too many women’s maga zines already are trashy, sex _]Eed dlers. Will the bm by Time be a buck dance hill all in the name of protecting the bot tom line? Author A. Peter Bailey has oollcctcg l:kom than l.soofmdif ferent i m g;t;nd the wo:lj and he ntﬁ re selling out to Time, owrmsj}%:mv should have allowed black companies to purchase the company. That’s the point Black Enterprise owner Earl Graves is making,” Armstrong Williams and many other conservative black writers January 20, 2005 i)_lthcr ai;r:)cl)ltable” black f(folldcl.: ow t r Blackonomics M:ﬁl' ':rl: Dollar Club (BMDC), and we can help one another on a continu ous basis, not just when a Tsunami hits. Go to www.blackonomics.com and add your name to the BMDC Maif';ﬁg List. Or send an e-mail to jdingman@blacko nomics.com saying “Sign me up!” Our people collei] use some money too. James ?’ Clingman, an adjunct professor at %nimsi— ty of Cincinnatis African Ameri can Studies department, is former editor of the Cincinnati Herald Newspaper and founder of the Greater Cincinnati African American Chamber of Com merce. He hosts the miz:fm gram, ‘Blackonomics,” and has written several books, including: Economic Empowerment or Eco nomic Enslavement - We have a Choice; Blackonomics; and the recently published Black-o- Knowk%e—&uﬂ” we need to know. Clingman's books are available at his Web site, www.blackonomics.com. He can be contacted there or by telephone at 513/ 4894132, are a horse of another color. While 1 was virtually banned from column writing in the mainstream press because of my liberal views, men like Williams are rewarded, not only by the Republicans who pay them off, but by the syndi cates that eagerly await their anti-black propaganda. It was disdosed recendy that Armstrong was paid $244,000 in taxpayer money to promote the Bush administrations No Child Left Behind education reform policy and to interview Education Secretary Rod Paige for TV and radio spots. Williams, who owns a PR company, is now more a busi nessman than a journalist and he is only doing what business men do. They make money. If his paychecks come from white conservatives whose objective is to stymie the black community, its not personal, its just busi ness. The syndicate that hired Williams knew he owned a public relations firm, but as long as he spouted views against affirmative action and applaud ed Clarence Thomas, the news executives could care less about ethics. With those kinds of values gaining credence, it’s important that while we say farewell to Shirley Chisholm we must never say good bye to her val ues. Her business was taking care of our business. She never thought blacks were for sell. She was Unbought and Unbossed. How many leaders do you hear saying that today? Rev. Barbama Reynolds is the relsgion columnist for NNPA 1s an author of four books, inclurl ing “Out Of Hell & Living Well: Healing from the Inside Out: and a graduate of the Howard Uni- United Theological Seminary, where she earmed a doctorate degree in ministry. She can be rtacbed at wuw. reynoldsnews.com. 9A