Credo 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.Who Will Vouch For Us?The debate over school vouchers,like that which rages over charterschools, is sweeping the country, andon its outcome hinges much of the fu-ture of the black community.African-Americans can be forgivenif they are confused over which sideto take in the furor, but to be com-pletely uninterested in the outcomemay be signing the death warrantfor the aspirations of our progeny.Both debates hinge on the futureof public and private education inthis country, and both leave the com-munity puzzled as to which way isbest for our future.The arguments against bothmainly come from the more oliberal ?elements in society and government,generally including teachers andthose who work with children.They have gone as far as callingthe idea of vouchers for school tu-ition othe thing that won Tt die, ? asconservatives continue to bring it up.They say forces supporting thesetwo issues are pushing a hiddenayvenda. They have hated the publicschool system ever since it wasforced to integrate in the T50s andH0s, and ever since school prayerwas removed.ese latest proposals, theycharge, are simply a ruse to get thegovernment to pay for their childrentogo to private schools which don Ttve the same restrictions or com-mitment to diversified education,and at the same time cripple an insti-tution that they accuse of ospreadingvodless liberalism. ?If either or both are adopted onany kind of a widespread basis, theyclaim, all of the protections that pub-lic law atfords our children will go bythe wayside and public school sys-tems will be left impoverished, filledwith the children the private institu-tions don Tt want: the very poor,those with severe learning and\Iphysical disabilities, and blacks.Proponents weigh in just asheavily on the other side. They arguepersuasively that public educationhas failed American school children,African-American children most ofall.It has stymied and frustratedblack children in particular, and,worse than not teaching them whatthey need to know in society, hascrushed their enthusiasm for learn-ing entirely.Vouchers and charter schools, theysay, are weapons parents, in particu-lar black parents, can use to see thattheir children get the kind and qual-ity of education they feel they needand deserve.In addition, they say, the competi-tion will actually be good for publicschools. Once they realize that theyface the loss of their ofree ride ? ifthey continue to shortchange ouryouth, they will get their act to-gether.It is a win-win situation all around,they say, particularly for black stu-dents.Oh, and they also say that the fu-ture looks dim for African-Ameri-cans if these new measures are notadopted. Public education will onlyget worse, and will continue to grindtheir children into the dirt.So, which way to go? Do we sup-port vouchers and charter schools,only to find our children stranded inneglected shells of schools with noresources?Or do we help defeat them, and al-low the public schools to continuetheir current course and otrack ? thekids and the race into oblivion?The debate is happening rightnow. The change will either occur orwill not, right now.Parents and those who care aboutblack children had better make surethey are not left on the sidelines.Deadly Forcelast week, a teenager walkingdown the street eating a candy barwith a silver wrapper was shot by afederal marshal.The marshal though the youngman Was carrying a gun, There is noword on exactly how else he mayhave felt threatened by the high-school soccer star, or whether he de-manded that the youth drop theThree Musketeers bar before put-ting him in the hospital.sut the shooting provides evenmore evidence that a serious prob-lem has developed for the youngergeneration of African-Americans.Two things have become painfullyobvious as we read and watch thenews.First, the criminal justice sys-tem "in particular its law enforce-ment officers "are convinced that, inthe battle against violent crime,black teens are the enemy. Period.Second, and more importantly,they feel that they have carteblanche to deal with this perceivedthreat in any way they see fit.The results have been a owar oncrime ? that has come to be acknowl-edged, by everyone except law en-forcement officials, as a war on blackyouth.Those officials are quick to denythat any official prejudice or dis-crimination exists in these cases, andthat may be the case. But the resultsspeak for themselves.For many Americans raised withthe oDragnet ? image of police offic-ers, who were forbidden from evendrawing their weapons unless theperson they were trying to detainhad a weapon and was actually in theprocess of firing it at them, the ac-counts of police mayhem have beenhard to believe.But they are legion. Unarmedteenagers by the dozens are fallingto police gunfire, some of them shotin the back.In the fantasy world of oDragnet ?and oAdam-12, ? police who wereeven suspected of shooting unarmedcivilians faced immediate, severepenalties.In reality, as case after caseshows, absolutely nothing is everdone to these officers, even when, asin the Jonny Gammage case in Phila-delphia, authorities can be convincedto bring charges. .So, police view any black youth assuspicious, and feel confident inshooting first, asking questions later.In the war on crime, black youthfind themselves in the middle, tar-geted by both sides,It is a war in which we are all los-ing.\Wee SCLC'S NEXTILL NEVERProposition 209Proves ThatTime Travel IsPossibleBY TREY BANKHEADI Tm a science fiction fan. Star Trek, Star Wars...If it has ospace ? or ostar ? in it somewhere, I Tll probably like it. So, Iread a lot of stories and see a lot of movies that deal with theidea of going back in time. But modern scientists are stillarguing whether something like that is even possible.I know it Ts possible. Just look at the T70s fashions that arecoming back.Never mind. Instead, look at what Ts going on in politicsright now. I Tve mentioned Proposition 209 twice already inprevious columns, but I haven't gone into detail abeut it.Sit down. I don Tt want you falling over when you readabout this.Proposition 209 is a California-based law formally titled oThe California Civil Rights Initiative. ? The purpose of theinitiative, according to its creators, is to restore fairness toall races by eliminating racial and gender based preferences( oquotas ?) in business hiring practices and school admissionspolicies.That Ts their goal, and | applaud it. Unfortunately, this isthe real world. And in the real world, it Ts mostly people ofcolor being discriminated against, despite what CaliforniaGovernor Pete Wilson will tell you.When the news on Prop. 209 came out, it ignited a politi-cal firestorm that is still raging. The Urban League, theNAACP, the Rainbow Coalition, the ACLU...all the majorplayers in Civil Rights stepped up to bat against the newlaw.What happened next? It was held up in court as chal-lenges against it were heard. Then, about a month ago, theNinth Circuit Court of Appeals supported Proposition 209,despite the challenges standing against it.It went next to the Supreme Court. The Court dismissedthe case without hearing the challenge! So, Proposition 209is alive and active in the State of California. And it Ts sup-porters are now traveling state to.state to spread its influ-ence.That Ts the history lesson for today. Here comes the politi-cal part.What Proposition 209 does is make ALL Affirmative Ac-tion programs illegal. Prejudice exists in the real world. Af-firmation Action programs have been used for years to try tocounter those prejudices, leveling the playing fields for mi-norities and women. What Proposition 209 does is take usback in time to a point where businesses and schools have noreason to focus on recruitment efforts for minorities andwomen. That Ts right...everything old is new again.Proposition 209, in addition to eliminating AffirmativeAction programs, has set back civil rights by thirty years byeliminating the following: research aimed at the medicalproblems of women of specific ethnic groups; outreach pro-grams for qualified women and minorities to encourage themto apply for public jobs in nontraditional fields; women Ts re-source centers on college campuses; advertising jobs in mi-nority newspapers; tutoring and mentoring designed to helpminority students succeed in school and to gain skills andleadership abilities; and programs which encourage girls andwomen to pursue education in science and math.Shocked yet? It gets worse.The way the law is worded, making use of broad andvague language, it opens the door to court challenges to ac-tivities such as rape crisis centers, pregnancy leave forwomen, and women Ts and ethnic studies. AND, as if all thatisn Tt enough, it weakens laws against sex discrimination. Aclause of the bill legalizes any sex discrimination which is oreasonably necessary. ? oReasonably necessary. ? Whoever defines that littlephrase will be the one with the most to gain. In other words,those that support the bill, such as California Governor PeteWilson, House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich,and Sen. David Duke (former Grand Dragon of the Ku KluxPRESIDENT, BurFILL YouR SHOESCrroreryANN. OF DR.MARIN. \If You Have An OpinionAbout Our Community...\~Klan). I don Tt know about you, but these are NOT the peopleI want designing the future of American education and busi-ness.HERE Ts something to think about: I just found out thatCongress is actually considering a similar bill, to enact onthe federal level. In other words, no government-run agencywould have to worry about equal representation, regardlessof WHAT the Constitution says. So, if you were thinkingthat you don Tt have to worry about Proposition 209, it maysoon have a big brother that you WILL have to worry about!It Ts nearly the year 2000. Technology is moving forwardat such an incredible rate that the things I see on Star Trekmay be possible in my lifetime. Why is it, though, that our ogreat leaders ? are going in the opposite direction...towardsthe past?VANTAGEPOINTArticles and Essays by Ron DanielsTHE SELL OUT IN NEW YORK: WHEN PRAGMATISMREPLACES PRINCIPLERudolph Giuliani, Mayor of New York, is the epitome of anew wave of right-wing politicians who have come to powerin the last decade espousing policies and programs in directopposition to the interests of people of color and poor andworking people. Indeed, it was Rudolph Giuliani who wonthe mayoralty in 1993 by bashing former Mayor David Din-kins and accepting the support of the Police Benevolent As-sociation of the New York Police Department at a drunken,profanity filled, racist rally on the steps of City Hall. Ru-dolph Giuliani, like so many right-wing politicians aroundthis nation, was swept into office by the white backlashagainst the progress of black people and other people of colorduring the era of T60s.In the face of this kind of right-wing record, how is itpossible that prominent black political and religious leadersand liberal-progressive labor leaders could line up in supportof Rudolph Giuliani in the recent mayoral election in NewYork? Such notable figures as Congressman Floyd Flake,Congressman Augustus Towns and stalwart labor leaderslike Stanley Hill of District 37 AFSME and Dennis Riveria of1199 Health and Hospital Workers gave their stamp of ap-proval to a mayor who has given tax breaks to Wall Streetwhile offering no meaningful plan for job generation or eco-nomic development for inner-city neighborhoods and commu-nities. His Honor has been a prime proponent of workfarewhich threatens to undermine the security/stability of work-ers with good-paying union jobs within the municipal work-force. In addition, in a city where hundreds of thousands ofBlack and Latino students are compelled to attend low-per-forming schools, Giuliani drastically reduced the educationbudget further, damaging the chances for these young peopleto attain a quality education.Rudolph Giuliani Ts major claim to fame is a dramatic re-duction in crime. New Yorkers are said to be feeling muchsafer these days. Police brutality and misconduct, however,have noticeably increased as Giuliani Ts aggressive policingpolicies have resulted in scores of cases of police brutalityand murder. People in inner-city neighborhoods, particularlyyoung African-American, Latino and Asian males, feel lesssecure as they daily face the threat of harassment, abuse oreven death at the hands of renegade cops. This is the manthat some prominent African American leaders and stalwartlabor leaders endorsed in the recent mayoral,campaign.In making this fateful decision, these orespected ? leadersintentionally or unintentionally sold out the interests andaspirations of the masses of black people, other people ofcolor and poor and working people. In most instances theseleaders meant well, they were simply being opractical ? ingoing along to get along in order to have access to the winnerin the hope of garnering some benefit for their limited con-stituency or for themselves. They chose the prospect of gain-ing odivisible ? patronage/benefits, those that might accrue toan individual or a narrow constituency over oindivisible ?benefits, those benefits that accrue to an entire group orclass. They place pragmatism over vision, values and prin-ciple. They abandoned the many in the interest of a few.This is not just a New York phenomenon; it is a patternof politics which is becoming increasingly prevalent in BlackAmerica and among liberal/progressive political leaders allacross the couritry. Faced with the reality of the hegemony ofthe right wing, far too many political leaders have suc-cumbed to the temptation to oplay politics ? by accommodat-ing to those in power