COMMENTSEditorialsCredo of the Black PressThe Black Press believes that America can best lead the world away from racialand natural antagonisms when it accords to every person, regardless of race,color or creed, full human rights. Hating no person, fearing no person in thefirm belief that all are hurt as long as anyone is held back.Growing Up FastSome black families who madetheir annual pilgrimages to amuse-ment parks this summer and fallwere in for a shock when they linedup at the gate.It wasnTt that prices had gone up.That has become a recognized fact ofentertainment life at these enclavesof fantasy, like $2 osmall? fountainsoft drinks and $4.50 hot dogs.One expects to drop a fortune atthese places, and generally comesprepared to do so. The dad who re-acts with shocked amazement everytime he gets hit with a bill of $20 fora bit of food and a gulp of liquid forhimself and his entourage isnTt goingto make many friends or get muchsympathy, either from his fellowtravelers or his own family.But a new indignity surfaced this_ summer that was just going too farfor some of the local tourists we havetalked to.Walking up to the ticket windowafter sweltering in outrageously longlines for an inordinate amount oftime, many a family of mom, dad andtwo kids was hit with a whopping en-try fee for four oadults.?Since time immemorial (well, atleast as long as most folks are willingto admit being able to remember, thecutoff age between ochild? andoadult? fare has been 12.Maybe it came from the biblicalcutoff point of when a young man orwoman was able to accept responsi-bility in the community"at 13.But as long as anyone can remem-ber"during the days of the circus,the long lines at county fairs andmovie houses, and yes, at amuse-ment parks, the cutoff point betweenthe full adult ticket price and themuch greater savings one receivedfor a childTs fare was o12 and under.?It was so ingrained in the Ameri-can consciousness that few peoplethought to question it when inquir-ing about ticket prices.When they got to the ticket win-dow this year, however, they foundout that a number of venues, appar-ently in unison, had come up with anew age for oadulthood.?Seven.Yes, we were surprised, too. Andyou can imagine the incredulity withwhich that announcement wasgreeted, particularly by folks fromthe community who had made thetrek of several hours to get there.Many a family arrived with aneight-year-old and a 10-year-old intow, thinking they had two children,only to be told they were mistaken.What they had was two adults, andthey needed to pony up or move on.At least one irate father was heardto intone that oIf these are adults,where can I get them jobs so theycan help pay for these tickets??Strange how little humor oamuse-ment? establishment employees candredge up at moments like these.They doubtless knew in advance howoutrageous the new line of demarca-tion was, and ready with their onlydefense: stonewalling and repeatingopolicy.?It is an outrageous excuse tosqueeze those few extra dollars fromhardworking parents who have littlerecourse once they get to the gate,we agree.But what is there to do? We couldorganize boycotts and marches, butthe fact of the matter is that, like theaforementioned hot dogs and drinks(not to mention $17 tee shirts andhats), folks will probably grit theirteeth and pay up.After all, it is the 90s. We need allthe diversion we can get, no matterhow much it costs us.But a word to the wise in theamusement park business: After ajolt like that, your place had betterbe great!Son Of BlaxploitationThe term, oBlaxploitation,? hasbeen used to describe what are, de-pending on your orientation, some ofthe most stereotypical, degradingtrash since Stepin Fetchit, or greatfun produced by and for black audi-ences, where they can see them-selves as empowered heroes.After a brief, very successful runin the T70s and early T80s, the genreseemed destined for oblivion. But so-cial conditions and just plain nostal-gia seem to be breathing new lifeinto the art form.Critics rail about the decline invalues and the fact that black audi-ences still seem so determined toflock to movie houses where they arebeing depicted in such a demeaninglight, but the fact is that they are do-ing just that.There are films like Malcolm X,Rosewood, Mandela, Sarafina andthe like. But black folks line up to seeJuice, Boyz N the Hood, Dead Presi-dents, Booty Call and Friday.And the original oblaxploitation?epics, like Sweet SweetbackTsBaaadass Song, Shaft, Superfly,Coffy, and Blackula, have taken onocult classic? status and are pullingin respectable numbers in your localvideo stores.Why this fascination with pimps,.ohoTs,? drug dealers and armed rob-bers?The genreTs defenders say the re-vival is no different from the main-stream audienceTs fascination withFast Times at Ridgemont High, Fer-ris BuellerTs Day Off, or any of theCheech and Chong epics that kidsnowadays have rediscovered.Those movies were mindless, fullof sex, drugs, and rock and roll, withlittle regard for authority or moralconventions.A generation that has spent yearsbeing lectured to about the avoidingpitfalls and political incorrectness atevery turn finds their mindless aban-don refreshing and soothing.Thus it is with young (and not-so-young) black theatre-goers, we aretold. They know what is good andwhat is right. They know they have aduty to uplift the race.But it is fun to go out and sitthrough a movie that will make youlaugh and feel good, where you donTthave to spend every minute think-ing. One has to do too much of that atschool, they say. Not to mention life.Those of us who admire good cin-ema and good examples may deplorethis trend as much as we want.But we will only make it that muchmore popular.ARCHIBALD?)after the Revolutionary War.theTHE TABLOID PRESS FINALY SET{\ LIM\T ON PRINCESS DIANAS PRIVACY.igsai wit\ kw oyeye I :ees Mi |\ \oawily fsRae ew|) a1 VAN i INN \WEN STs oo\ A\\' v.aRacism StillImpacts LivesBY TREY BANKHEADI know, I know...;the title of this column simply did notsurprise you, right? You've read it all before... How the Whiteman is oppressing us, so youTre expecting yet another rant-ing article about the injustice of racism.Well, you're right...but not in the way you might think.Recently, I discussed the matter of racism and prejudicewith one of my classes. My class listed all the old arguments,all of the indignities othey? have done to ous.? They definedoprejudice? as oa fear of people who are different from whatis considered normal,? and as ohatred of one group by an-other.? While the class seemed to think that dating outsideoneTs race causes more problems than it is worth, thereseemed to be no controversy regarding simple friendshipswith people of other races.Life is so simple I the classroom.I encountered racism this past week. When it happened, Idiscovered just how well I did not know someone I had oncecalled a friend. The situation surprised and angered me, andI was shocked at the intensity of my surprise. I mean, whyshould I be surprised that racism still exists? ITm a Blackman living in the South. So, youTd think I'd be used to rac-ism, right?A few days ago, I was talking with a Black friend about atrip my wife and I had recently taken to Atlanta. During thetrip, we stayed with some friends. While I was telling Pennyabout all the things we and our friends had done, she lis-tened. However, at one point, she interrupted, and, with anicy tone, asked me: oWhat race are your friends??Not knowing the point of the question, I told her oWhite.?Right after I told her that, Penny became angry and distant.She no longer wanted to discuss the trip, and kept trying tochange the subject.It was then that I realized how little I really knew her. Itried to discuss the matter with her, to find out why she wasso angry with me about this, but she refused to discuss it.Later, when I spoke with her again, she pretended nothinghad happened. But I know now that, no matter what, thingswill never be the same. Penny has a problem with Whitepeople. And she now has a problem with me for havingWhite friends. And what scares me the most about the wholesituation is that she is pregnant. What lessons of hatred isshe going to teach her unborn baby girl? As a bumper stickerI've seen says, oHate is NOT a family value.?It is really so hard to believe that, sometimes, people DOget along? People usually assume the worse about people.My Black female friend was angered by my having Whitefriends. Why? These are people who have supported mewhen I needed uplifting. My wife and I feel we can discuspretty much anything with them. We trust them. In a veryreal sense, they are family to us. Should we give up thissupport simply because theyTre white? True, there are someexperiences they will never understand, because they arenot black. Likewise, there are some things WE won't under-stand either, because weTre not White. But, unlike with myofriend,? we can discuss those differences without anyonebeing offended! We argue about politics, morality, religion,and parenting. We donTt agree on everything, but thatTsokay, too. Each of us have our own ideas and experiences tobring to the relationship.That is what makes our friendship work: Our differences.Our uniqueness. Each personTs individuality adds somethingto the relationship. They are our friends because of who theARE, not because of their skin color!As a teacher, I see a lot of Black students saying howthey ohate White people? and that oWhits arenTt worth any-thing.? The whole point of the Civil Rights movement was togain equal rights, and for people to be judged on their abili-ties, not their color. It was about the fight for freedom fromracism, How can we expect to ever get there if we're nowdoing the same thing? We canTt expect people to treat uswith equality if we donTt respect peopleTs differences.I wonder what whoever ends up teaching Penny's daugh-ter is going to have to deal with. I have the hardest timeconvincing my students that racism is wrong no matter whois dolng it. They'll complain when they're discriminatedagainst by White people, but many of them will eet ifaBlack person does the same thing to somebody White. Then,they justify it by saying oThey do it to us.? But, does thatmake it any more RIGHT, just because we're doing it now? Ifso, then all the oppression we've taken over the years hasbeen justified.An old saying goes: oYou do not defeat an enemy by be-coming him.? In other words, if we stoop to the same level asthose who actually are oppressing us, we will make the samemistakes. Also, if we hate ALL White people for the actionsof a few, then how are we any different from the Klan? TheSkinheads? The Nazis? The answer othey did it to us?doesnTt make it any more right. People are different. Thosedifferences exist, and must be accepted.I'll close by quoting actor George Takei: oWe have to rec-ognize diversity not as a problem or something that is goingto divide us, but as the very thing that makes it possible forus to survive.?KILLER COPS: OUT OF CONTROLBy Dr. Manning MarableAlong the Color LineBlack Americans were outraged last month with the bru-tal torture of a young black man in Brooklyn by New YorkCity police officers. Abner Louima, a 30-year-old Haitian im-migrant employed as a security guard, was arrested after analtercation with police. Once he had arrived at the precinct,Louima was viciously assaulted. Louima was raped with thewooden handle of a toilet plunger up his rectum, and then inhis mouth, breaking his teeth.The police officers screamed racist epithets as theyworked on Louima. One attacker even shouted, oThis isGiuliani time, not Dinkins time,? a reference to RepublicanMayor Rudolph GiulianiTs predecessor, black liberal Demo-crat David Dinkins. Released in critical condition; the samecop threatened Louima that he would kill him and his familyif the incident became known.However, the public outcry over this case was so over-whelming and immediate that Giuliani had no alternativeexcept to distance himself from his pals in the NYPD. Sev-eral police officers were arrested, while their supervisorsvere both transferred and suspended.As sickening as the Louima case is, it is not unusual.Throughout metropolitan New York and across the country,there are similar incidents of police brutality and murder.This pervasive pattern of police violence has also led to hun-dreds of black and Latino public demonstrations and pro-tests, calling for justice.For example, in New York City on June 28, 1996, 10,000people marched down Fifth Avenue from 59th Street to theUnited Nations, in a demonstration protesting othe burningof black churches and police brutality.? Singing, oWe ShallOvercome? and oAinTt Gonna Let Nobody Turn Us Around,?the marchers represented a range of religious, labor and civilrights organizations. In the Bronx, protesters outraged atthe shootings of two Hispanic young men by the policestaged a oboisterous sit-in? in October 1995, outside theBronx District Attorney's office.On June 13, 1996, in Brooklyn, Aswan Keshawn Watson,an unarmed 21-year-old black male, was killed by two whiteplainclothes officers who fired 18 bullets into him. Activistsin central Brooklyn held a mass forum on Aug. 5, 1996,charging WatsonTs death as oevidence of blatant police con-tempt.? On May 2, a Brooklyn grand jury found that theseofficers owere justified in believing themselves to be in dan-ger? when they mistakenly judged WatsonTs car steering-wheel lock for a gun.In Patterson, N.J., in February 1995, teenagers led ademonstration outside that cityTs police headquarters to pro-test the killing of a 16-year-old boy by a rookie police officer.In Staten Island on May 1, 1994, hundreds of school chil-dren, parents and working people marched in the Cliftonsection of the borough to protest the death of Ernest Savon,who allegedly was fatally beaten by police. To publicize thescores of police shootings of black and Latino young men inmetro New York since 1993, several mothersT groups andcommunity activists have organized annual protests on thetheme, oRacial Justice Day.? The April rally brought 300protesters to City Hall Park, As the demonstration moveduptown toward Washington Square Park, chanting, oThepeople united will never be defeated,? hundreds of onlookersjoined the march, growing the estimated number of protest-ers to 1,000.