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(ommentary
I’d rather switch than fight
The old dgarette commercial
said, “I'd rather fight than
switch.” My question is: Why
fight when all you have to do is
switch’ Black folks spend a
great deal of ume E;hting
against those who couldnt care
less about us; we fight over
some one elses stuff, and we
fight to get folks to like us and
treat us ‘:‘S}“' We have fought
these battles for hundreds of
years and we still havent won.
We continue to fight against
that pervasive bugaboo, institu
tional racism, both public and
private. We fight against
wrongdoing by corporate
mog\i and continue to build
their wealth by buying every
thing they make. Arent you
tired of fighting? Wouldn' you
rather just switch than keep on
e A
Consider this: How serious
can black folks be about repara
tions if we are not willing to use
what we already have in our
pockets and purses to create
and maintain our own “inter
nal reparations” fund? All we
need to do is redirect a greater
portion of our spending and
our contributions back to our
selves. Booker T. said a long
GUEST COMMENTARY By Ron Walter
The scourge of back poverty
Until recently, I had never
heard of the latest disease
now ravaging Angola in
West Africa, caflcf “Mar
burg.” Something like the
dreaded Ebola virus or
HIV/AIDS, it spreads
through the transmission of
body fluids and has killed
235 people in that country.
That his why international
health officials have raced
into Angola to attempt to
cut it off from spreading,
since the virus builds and
builds in the body even
after killing the person. It
has been called a virtual
“time-bomb.”
The more you hear about
these diseases that appear to
have the capacity to wipe
out large sectors of tEf:
African population, it seems
that they all have one basic
root - they breed in areas
where there is little modern
education and where gut
wrenching poverty is the
way of lif%. Yet, it does not
appear that reducing global
poverty has the same
urgency in this country as
making war.
For example, it was
recently reported that the
world’s ricli):s nations, the
G-8, failed to reach an
agreement on how to erase
S4O billion of so-called
“debt” from the world’s
poorest nations. | say so
called because the very idea
of there being an African
debt to the United States or
Europe is a laughable
proposition: Black people
sitting in America have not
been paid for the hundreds
of year of slavery they
endured, and African coun
tries have not been reim
bursed for the theft of natu
ral and human resources
that European took from
that Continent.
In any case, while Britain
has proposed doubling eco
nomic assistance to Africa
and has begun to pay off 10
percent of the debrt of 22 of
the poorest countries, the
United States has put forth
a very different plan
opposed by the European
countries and the \Xz)crld
ume ago, “The world might
pity a whining nation, but it
will never respect it (unal it
respects itself enough to do for
itself).”
How can we be serious about
being “induded” in economic
de::fopmcm projects paid for
with our tax dollars if we are
not willing to stop participating
in these stupid “minority” pro
grams? Having to be certified
that we are “minority” is an
insult, but rather than just
switch, we continue to fight for
our portion of the 20 percent
set-aside while white males get
the rest — and they don't have to
be certified! We even have black
folks promoting this irrational
scenario and then bragging
about how they helped get us
“induded.” Why are we always
the ones being induded? When
will we start being the “indud
ers” rather than the “indudees™
Black people, in general, have
been reduced to nothing more
than asinine terms like “per
centages,” “goals,” “aspira
tons, “‘minorities,” “underun
lized,” and “disadvantaged.”
We fight for a pittance of our
own tax dollars and for rea
procity in the marketplace, but
Bank. The U.S. proposed
reducing the debt, while at
the same time reducing the
money available for low
interest loans to poor coun
tries. In other words, it
doesn't want to come out a
net loser in the deal, so it
pays for reducing the debt
of poor countries with the
money it contributes for the
development. .
The Bush administration
just doesn't get it. It is diffi
cult to make real progress
with respect to a number of
social problems unless you
are abfi to deal effectively
with poverty. In this coun
try, for example, we expect
excellent educational per
formance in areas that are
racked by poverty, really
expecting the school - a
community institution - to
perform in ways different
from the environment in
which it exists. While some
schools do, they are the
exception.
The same thought exists
with respect to HIV/AIDS,
originalfy a problem of
homosexual males that has
become heterosexually
transmitted in the context
of poor, drug infested com
munities.
So far, there has been a
great deal of game-playing
in the field of poverty elim
ination with the World
Bank and International
Monetary Fund, demand
ing that poor countries
arrange their economies to
qualig' for the latest pro
gram that promises to
impact on their economic
condition. For most coun
tries, if they could qualify
for foreign ° assistance
according to the rules laid
down by the World Bank -
have “transparency” and
good management in gov
ernment, ieavc effective
monetary arrangements and
legislation to utilize foreign
assistance, have trained
money managers, and etc. -
they would probably not
need it.
In his most recent book,
The End of Poverty, Profes
sor Jeffrey Sachs O?Colum
AUGUSTA FOCUS
we make none of the ground
rules. White males are running
this stuff, y'all, and we act like
we are in the . Yeah, we're
mthcgamcafir?mwcamd\c
pawns. Why dont we just
switch?
The bottom-line for black
people, at least those of us who
are not afraid to face reality and
then do something about our
plight, is that we must stop
using so much of our time and
resources fighting, and we must
make a consdous decision to
switch. I am not by any means
saying we should walk away
from the fight for reparations,
injustice, and corruption in
politics and business. But let’s
understand this: The folks who
are running this show have
been doing so for hundreds of
years, and they are not about to
We have been calling their
misdeeds to their attention,
petitioning them to do better
by us, t(l)nfic fair to us, and yet
they have demonstrated not
only their unwillingness to
change but also their disdain
and outright unconcem for our
condition. Isnt it obvious that
we must take things into our
bia has written that essen
tially poor people need
direct financial investment
in their societies to build
economic infrastructure, to
pay for urgent health issues,
to construct universal edu
cation, to perfect their gov
ernmental systems and the
like. Then, he says, they will
be able to more successfully
deal with their own poverty
by their connection to the
international economic sys
tem.
We know that he is right
because it has taken 50
years to cut the official
black poverty rate in half in
the black community in
America and we live in the
most economically dynamic
society in the world. What |
wonder is how many black
people have to die while the
leading countries in the
world and the major inter
national institutions come
to terms with how to really
deal with poverty. And
while many of them may be
misguided, there exists in
the United States a real
resentment about dealing
with such problems right
now, even a feeling that the
poor have made these prob
lems themselves so they
have to fix them.
Poverty is a drain on the
ability of countries in the
global system to construct
“democracy,” to stop fight
ing and killing each other,
in short, to stop calling on
the Ron resources in states
and institutions to deal
with the results of poverty.
Why does this strategy
make sense?
Ron Walters is the Distin
guished Leadership Scholar,
director of the African Amer
ican Leadership Institute in
the Academy of Leadership
and professor of government
and politics at the University
of Maryland-College Park.
His latest book is “White
Nationalism, Black Interests”
(Wayne State University
Press).
own hands?
Marc Morial, Urban League
President, said in the latest
redundant State of Black
America Report that the new
avil rights struggle is economic.
Martin Luther Kinisnid that
in 1968! In his book, Betrayal
by Any Other Name, Khalid
Al-Mansour, in disassing the
role of NAACP leadership and
our civil nights fight writes,
“Responsible leadership is ...
required to put the est
attention where the proa:xn is
the greatest. If cvil nghts is 20
percen of the problem, why
allocare 100 percent of the
resources behind this strategy?”
Duh!"
Why not just switch rather
than fight, at least in the eco
nomic arena’ We continue to
give what we eam right back to
those about whom we com
plain, creating more wealth for
their families. Most of the busi
nesses located in black n:'fi—
borhoods do not give t
they earn back to us. They take
it home and divide it among
their own people, and they
continue to establish more
businesses, more rotating credit
sodeties, more vertically inte-
It’s time tyc;gl;:;ve ahead
on no Child Left Behind
Teni Clark has two mas
ter’s degrees in counseling
and education administra
tion and nine years of
classroom experience, yet
the Pontiac, Mich. teacher
attributes her success with
Pontiac’s most severely
emotionally disturbed
middle-school students to
a more basic skill. “I'm
blessed with patience,”
she says.
Clark spends most of
her time getting at the
heart of what is disturbing
the 40 children she sees
cach day in this predomi
nantly African-American
city just outside Detroit.
Only after she diagnoses
the erratic behavior can
she help them concentrate
on the subjects at hand:
reading, math, science,
social studies and writing.
She was making progress
until Washington bureau
crats knocked on her
classroom door. Under the
so-called “No Child Left
Behind” law, all states
must have “highly quali
fied teachers” by the end
of the 2005-06 school
year.
“Highly qualified”
means teachers must earn
a bachelor’s degree and
state certification in each
of the subjects they teach.
In Clark’s case, this means
discounting the experi
ence, dedication and the
effectiveness of special
education teachers who
often are called upon to
teach multiple grades and
subjects. She is now strug
gling to find money to pay
for the classes and testing
needed for the additional
five subject certifications.
At the same time, the
nearly 11,000-student dis
trict is grappling with
grated economic initiatives,
and they continue to buy their
own stuff from one another -
no matter the cost, because
they understand that the drcu
lar effect of money means
“what goes around comes
around.” The money they
spend with their brothers and
sisters will eventually return to
them. They have no need or
interest in fighting or switch
m?f you want to i
against the mo:(tmgofigrl;:f
MOst COrTupt, Most uncompas
sionate, most ruthless, most
greedy, and the most arrogant
economic force in the world,
then you go right ahead. I have
e
If you modcm-dazlufll‘;larc‘kg
overseers, who are still i
from the Stockholm Syn
drome, want to keep running
es on your brothers and sis
%:lmnby tdfing us to keep quiet,
and by selling us disingenuous
"prog‘ansfsl!'mgm are ch‘t alive
by our dysfunction, there is
a.gsolutcly nothing I can do
about that.
But if you to be one
of those “hard fighting soldiers”
we like to sing about on Sun
day mormings, ready and will
finding and keeping spe
cial-needs teachers. Clark
is one of four who teach
middle-school students
and one of the few who is
educated in techniques for
reaching emotionally dis
turbed children.
Clark’s story — multi
plied a thousand times in
public schools across the
country — is the reason
why the National Educa
tion Association (NEA)
and local school districts
have filed suit against the
Department of Education
and its secretary, Margaret
Spellings.
The No Child Left
Behind Act specifically
requires that Washington
pay for the costly regula
tions it is imposing on
Pontiac’s schools and
other local school dis
tricts. NEA is standing up
for children across this
country by helping school
districts like Pontiac that
have struggled for years
with billions of dollars in
expensive mandates under
this law.
The principle is simple:
either provide adequate
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April 28, 2005
ing to get serious about
gnonfig freedom, rudyymtl;
make the sacrifices necessary to
be respected, like Booker T.
med, and if you are
id of what white folks
think about you standing up
with and for yourd;::)pk, just
as others do for thei pm
then you must switch
thang;\t.
Switch to black owned busi
nesses. Switch to black made
products. Switch to black
owned media. If you are seri
ous,mitchtoblxi?
James E. Clirinan. an
adjunct professor at the Universi
ty of Cincinnatis African Ameri
can Studies departmens, is former
editor of the Cincinnati Herald
Newspaper and founder of the
Greater Cincinnati African
American Chamber of Com
merce. He hosts the w
gram, ‘Blackonomics,” has
wnitten severdl books, including:
Economic Empowerment or Eco
nomic Enslavement - We have a
Choice; Blackonomics; and the
recently published Black-o-
Knowlidge- .Tbboo/eaing
man for a or purchase s s
books, to his Web site,
wwzubévkonomdxwm He can
be contacted by telephone at 513/
4894132,
funding or stop unfairly
labeling teachers as
“unqualified” and schools
as “failing.” And stop
forcing parents to use
their own local taxpayer
dollars to meet these new
federal requirements.
The lawsuit is simple:
school districts are asking
the Education Depart
ment o follow its own law
by paying for burdensome
rules and regulations.
Back in Pontiac, Clark is
puzzled how politicians
“can now come and tell
me I am not doing a good
job. Somewhere in the
nation’s capitol, someone
is saying a test is the
answer.”
What it truly means to
be an effective teacher
should never become lost
in unfunded mandates,
arbitrary goals and testing
bureaucracy.
Reg Weaver, a middle
school science teacher from
Harvey, 111., is president of
the National Education
Association.
9A