Remembering Malcolm, x:On May 19, we celebrated the sit day of one of our great ? ranin America leaders, Malcolm X. On May 19, Brother Malcolm would havebeen 74 years old. Malcolm was born May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska.Even though Malcolm is no longer physically with us his spirit stilllives and his profound contributions to worldwide African liberationremain significant.Tt was on Feb. 21, 1965 that Malcolm X was assassinated at theAudubon Ballroom in Manhattan, New York, by force, who were tryingto stop his impact on our movement. They were not successful. He is stillour oShining Black Prince. �. Malcolm X is a man that should be studied carefully in our effortsto examine a critical period in our history "the 1960s. For it was duringthis period that Malcolm X became an internationally known and re-spected African in America leader, whose ideas were widely discussedand debated. T It was through the Nation of Islam, under the leadership of theHonorable Elijah Muhammad, that Malcolm X was given an opportunity to develop his tremendous talents as a teacher, researcher, orator, and organizer.F Malcolm X joined the Nation of Islam while in prison in 1952. Afterhis release in the mid 1950s, Malcolm X became a full-time minister forithe Nation of Islam. That became one of the most important organizations oin the history of African in America, people. From his main base in Harlem, at Mosque Number 7, he launched his talents on the world.5 Malcolm X was a revolutionary who presented a model of black;manhood that shook the world. When Malcolm X finally left the Nationof Islam, because of internal differences, he decided to take his first tripto Mother Africa. Malcolm spent five weeks in Africa, from April 13 toMay 21, 1964.- This trip helped re-establish our links with the movement to reclaim o Africa for the Africans. � Malcolm met many of the leaders and people ofAfrica. He visited Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, Nigeria, Ghana,Monrovia, Liberia, Senegal, Tanzania, Guinea, Morocco, and Algeria.This trip and subsequent trips abroad helped Malcolm sharpen his understanding of the worldwide system of white supremacy as the numberone enemy.of African people throughout the world. This has not changed.After leaving the Nation of Islam, Malcolm began to broaden hisorganizing strategies by attempting to reach out and work with many ofthe more established civil rights organizations and movement tendenciesto acommon organizational vehicle. Malcolm began building this vehiclethrough his establishment of the Organization for Afro-American Unity.Malcolm felt that a united front was the necessary mechanism bywhich the political consciousness of African American people could beraised. Also, he felt that this united front would be the common voice weneeded to represent the black liberation movement in this country. Manyof us are still working to build this united front concept of organizingtoward our liberation in America.In the spirit of Malcolm, let us summarize his contributions:1. Malcolm X was aconcrete example that if you discipline yourselfand find a new outlook on life you can transform your behavior.2. From 1952-1963, Malcolm X helped the Honorable ElijahMuhammad build the Nation of Islam into a powerful force.3. During this same period, Malcolm became the spokesman for theHonorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam and thus, becamea spokesman for the black nationalist movement in one of the mostimportant periods in our history "the period of the mid 1950s through the4: In this role, Malcolm articulated many important concepts andideas that helped strengthen the black nationalist movement in thiscountry, as-well as, the Civil Rights Movement, His speech, oThe Ballotor the Bullet, � still rings in our ears. His conception of the role of oHouseNegroes � vs oField Negroes � is still with us today. And his coining thephrase, oBy Any Means Necessary � is just one of a few of the ideas andconcepts that concretely impacted the black movement.5. Malcolm X defined black nationalism in simple terminology thatappealed to the black masses when he said, othe political philosophy ofblack nationalism is that blacks should control the politics and politiciansin our own community. ... The economic philosophy of black nationalismmust be designed to re-cducate our community to the importance ofcontrolling the economy in which we live by owning and operating thebusinesses. The social philosophy of black nationalism is we must becomesocially mature enough to realize the responsibility on us to clevate theconditions and standards of our community to a higher level. �6. Malcolm X linked the black struggle in this country with thestruggle of African people around the world. .7. Malcolm helped shape black people's pride in themselves and byso doing, he exposed, by teaching, that the greatest crime of white peoplewas they taught us to hate ourselves. It was Malcolm Ts spirit that gener-ated the black pride, black studics, and black power phases of ourmovement.So, on the one hand, Malcolm helped internationalizc our struggleand on the other hand, he linked it up to the mass struggle and issucs thatfaced our people in America. By taking this approach, Malcolm was ableto provide a basis for the continued historical efforts to build worldwideAfrican unity.Remember Malcolm!(Dr. Worrill is the National Chairman of the National Black UnitedFront, located at, 12817 Ashland Ave., Flr. 1, Calumet Park, Ill. 60827,(708) 389-9929.)lfm�"� | KLEAVER TS IKLIPJust a week or: so ago, there wasa highly touted TV show featuringDiana Ross. It was called oDoublePlatinum � and for the most part,was fairly entertaining. |I knew about Brandy becausemy former county partner, ComptonCouncilwoman Marcine Shaw, hadbrought her to perform for Supervi-sor Kenneth Hahn when she was apre-teen. She was great then andeven better today.Seeing Diana Ross in the moviebrought back some fond memories.As is commonly known, Diana wasthe linchpin of the famed Supremes.The Supremes, the Temptations, theMiracles, the Marvelettes, MaryWells and of course, Marvin Gayeand Stevie Wonder, were the rock-ets that shot Motown Records intoouterspace back in the 1960s.Aside from being areporter-pho-tographer for the MichiganChronicle newspaper in Detroit, Ialso doubled as publicist for thethen-fledgling Motown label.Just being at Mowtown was somuch fun, I might have worked forfree. That, of course, is hindsight.Long before the Supremes everhad a hit record, nobody exceptBerry Gordy Jr., thought they hadmuch talent. So-o-o-0, when Gordyhooked up with a social club calledthe 500 Club in Detroit, the threegirls, Mary Wilson, FlorenceBallard and Diana Ross, were rel-singer-actress, Brandy and the great :egated to the role of being mascotsfor a softball team called theHitsville-500.Somewhere in the archives ofthe Michigan Chronicle is a photo-graph of these three very, veryyoung would-be entertainers, stand-ing in front ofthe bench at aballgame. They looked so lost andtotally out of place, out there on thefield.This was not to be the case for avery long time. Within a matter ofmonths, the Supremes had a big hitthat took them on tour with theMotor Town Review.This was a show that played tojust about every major theatre andvenue in the country. Motown washot and so were the Supremes!The girls got bigger and better.They toured. the country and fi-nally, they came back to Detroit.One of the oddities of their famewas the fact that Flo Ballard "con-sidered the sexpot of the trio "hada mother, who had never seen herperform.When they came back to townthis time, they were booked into aplace called the Roostertail. Thiswas an upscale nightery where acouple could drop a couple of hun-dred dollars with great case for anevening's entertainment.This was truly ohigh cotton � forthat city, time and circumstance.] don Tt remember how the sub-ject came up, but on the openingnight of the show with the Supremes,f INSSome Famous Faces Have Beé*D4 a Als) ieit was again nojed that Elo Ballard Tsmom had nev MoD g peo tdaughter on stag 1y-Berry called me fig his sumpous office and told me y as-signment for the evening was to goto Flo Ts mother Ts house, pick her upand be her escort for the evening.And so I did..Her mom was ecstatic, a nicelooking, matronly lady, she seemedsomewhat in awe of all of the trap-pings in such a place as theRoostertail.She said almost nothing the en-tire evening. Our table was adja-cent to the stage and each time the girls came close, one could see alook of pride that was indescrib-able. .At one juncture, as the girlsglided through their choreographyand came close.to the edge of thestage, Mrs. Ballard (and I Tm notcertain that was her name), had tearsin her eyes and quickly wiped themaway with the napkin she was hold-ing.When the show was over and |took her backstage, she couldn Ttspeak. She just grabbed Flo andhugged her. That owe moment wasworth it all. No words were needed.There was only the expression ofpure and unselfish love.Diana was different. She wasimperious from the very beginning.It was almost as though she knewshe was destined for greatness andwas not going to let anything gei in1 fuge Places"the Avay. She was nice enough, bute was also an aloofness abouter. While the other two girls kindof olet their hair down � from timeto time, Diana was truly oQueen ofthe Hunt. � -Since then, she has shown justhow much of a queen she really is.Seeing her in the movie recentlymade me almost forget that morethan 35 years have passed since sheand the others were youngsters run-ning around the studio at 2648 W.Grand Blvd., Detroit, Mich.The movie brought back scadsof memories and in days to come,there will be occasional anecdotesabout some of the other performersfrom that fabulous era.Mary Wilson is still around andperforming. She is still as pretty asshe was in those early days. Flo-rence Ballard passed away severalyears ago in somewhat dire circum-stances. But we remember the gooddays.Diana ascended to her throneyears ago and still reigns from alegendary Mount Olympus. She isas fabulous and as fashionable asshe was as a member of theSupremes.Incidentally, although shesounded nothing like Billie Holli-day in oLady Sings the Blues, � sheproved to the world that she is onehell of an actress.There are so many stories andnot enough years in which to tellthem all. "Oe BieThe crippling devastation ofviolence cannot be over-stated. Violence is rooted inthe genesis and ongoing prioritics of thisnation, which are quicker to crush than con- ciliate. America Ts images glorify its violentpast and make modern-day herocs out ofthose who behave violently.Violence is the leading killer of youthwhich hardly raises eyebrows. And, it is im-possible to reconcile violence driven painand suffering with pervasive public apathy.In recent ycars, especially since the 1992uprising in Los Angeles, there have been newprojects, both nationally and locally to re-duce preventable violence. Central to suchefforts are organized coalitions that pool re-sources starting at the local/neighborhoodlevel.Onc thing is clear. Violence is multi-fac-eted and all of the medical, health-related andsocial services professions must take owner-ship and work collaboratively to reduce Itseffects.Each year, more than 50,000 people dic inthe United States as aresult of violent acts. Ofthis number, approximately 20,000 dic fromhomicide and a greater number from suicide.Homicide rates are highest in urban arcas, afact that often leads to the erroncous assump-tion that most violence is the result of randomStrect killings. On the contrary, the majorityof homicides occur between people who knoweach other.Other factors such as alcohol and drugsare contributing factors in escalating angerinto homicide. The role of firearms, particu-larly handguns, in thesq deaths ts significant.Increasing homicide rates parallel the increas-ingly availability of firearms, including hand-guns. On an average day in this country, atleast one child dics from an unintentionalshooting. Accidental shootings are the thirdIcading cause of death for 10-to-29-ycar-olds.Some 50 percent of all unintentional childshootings occur in the victims T homes and anadditional 40 percent occur in the homes offriends or relatives.Gang-related violence has garnered muchattention in the nation over the past 20 years.In Los Angeles, it is estimated there are cur-rently more than 100,000 gang members whobelong to more than | ,00O gangs. Despite theillegal activity associated with the gangs,youth joined gangs for many reasons, havingnothing to do with such activities. Gang mem-bers do commit more types of crime andcommit crimes more often than non-gangyouth. However, many gang members are notinvolved in crime. Drive-by shootings andother gun-rclated activities carried out bygang, members have increased as guns on thestreets have proliferated. =The reduction of violent injurics requires a_comprehensive health approach. A study bythe Violence Prevention Coalition of GreaterLos Angeles found that such an approach isbuilt on a three-tiered model of primary, sec-ondary and tertiary prevention. Accordingly,primary prevention would seck to reduce theincidence of new cases of violence; second-ary prevention would intervene carly in thesequence of violent acts, tertiary prevention *would happen after a violent act has occurredto restore as much functioning as possible tothe individual or community. Of the threetiers of prevention, primary prevention holdsthe greatest promise for programs aimed atpreventing violence, even though primaryprevention requires a long-term commitment.In Los Angeles County the Los AngelesViolence Prevention Coalition is one of thepublic health efforts addressing the epidemicof violence. The coalition was formed by theL.A. County Department of Health Servicesin 1991 and consists of more than 400 mem-bers with expertise in particular categorics ofviolence or violence-prevention.The Violence Prevention Coalition wasformed based on the belief that the level ofviolence and resulting injuries in Los Angelesare unacceptable. The coalition has adoptedthree goals with specific objectives over thenext four years. The first goal is to reduce theIs Violence Reduction Realy Important?availability and accessibility of firearms. Thisinvolves developing a baseline estimate ofthe number of licensed firearms dealers andmaintaining close communication and con-tact with local law enforcement agencies.The second goal is to change communitynorms to reflect support for non-violent be-havior. A crucial objective related to this goalis involving the media in violence-preventionactivities and campaigns. Perhaps an evenmore important objective is developing local/neighborhood coalitions and networks thatreflect the area Ts demographic makeup.The final goal is to promote alternatives toviolence. The first objective here is promot-ing education and training in conflict resolu-tion and dispute mediation, particularly inschool systems. Efforts are being made torequire teaching staffs within Los AngelesCounty's 85 school districts to receive train-ing to improve their skills in the area ofconflict resolution.Community organization and systems pre-vention are part of the primary preventionmodel. The coalition is working towards modi-fying or removing institutional barriers andbuilding community resources. These activi-tics include tracking and sponsoring legisla-lion, investigating the media Ts role in vio-lence d@nd advocating a balanced approach toviolence and alternatives to violence in theentertainment and news media.The problem of violence will not be solvedby putting 100,000 more police officers onthe strects, by constructing more prison cells,or by extending the death penalty to morecrimes. The question is whether the recentheightened attention to violence will trans-late into public policy changes and, moreimportantly, ultimately changes in the valueswhich nurture America Ts culture of violence.Turning this around is a monumental task.Well-meaning anti-violence strategies andprograms will have only token impact untilthey are embraced by government and thepublic alike. There is great pressure to main-tain the violence-producing status-quo.(BETWEEN THE LINESBy AASADULLAH SAMAD. 965sYt on aeoe Re be av) Me ie nnaMES eels ge iatido, te BsWe & BomWhy I Refuse to Be a Negro: T An Open Letter to a Friend of the Pastbaskets? Who's baskets get filled first?Understanding the social construct and bar-riers that impede wealth creation in ourcommunities, what are the policies thatdictate basket protection or obasket distri-bution? � When do we get more baskets, or' do we T Even as those questions go unan-swered, there are those who feel parity isnot achievable, something is better thannothing. There are those who will gladlyhelp us build from the compromise posi-tion and we should accept it. Clearly a oNegro � frame of thought.I have one good friend who likes to play ohealer, � that as been trying to mend a 10-year rift between myself and former friend,one of those who has attained this ofavoriteNegro � status.Neither of us are real anxious to ad-vance the discussion; he because he feelsall I do is criticize the compromise positionof what he calls social and economicprogress, and | because I can Tt go back toaccepting osameness, � the Negro's com-promise as a ofact of life, � What he sces as obuilding for future generations, � (andmany others) see as rebuilding owhat wasulready there, � reinforcing the compromisefor another generation (20 Years or so).We're not doing anything new. We're tak-ing what we T ve being given and acceptingthat as ochange. � T Hundreds of thousands of dollars in de-velopment only replacing hundreds of thou-sands of dollars in damage caused sevenyear earlier, because Negro leadership ig-nored the social construct. The Negrothought and their compromise position laidtheir buckets down so far back, that it cre-ated an underclass that exploded.Now the opoverty pimps � and socialchange oprogressives � are making moneyon rebuilding an inferior community infra-structure and economy. In the face of in-creasing policies that divide class and race,we're being told by some Negroes that weneed to accept token benevolence and dothis all again. It Ts really tough to accept thatface of advancing societies. I told my friendI could never be friends with someone whofecls that sameness is progress, and that Tsacceptable, My friend said, why? and I toldhim, oBecause to heal you have to be oflike-mind on some fundamental ground.On the fundamental issues of progress forour people, I am not of like-mind in thiscase. | can Tt accept the compromise and Irefuse to go back to being a Negro.\yTenth � theory.The thesis was that we use the otop tenpercent � of our academic, professional andentreprencurial talents to build schools,industry and cconomy for our communi-ties, never accepting an inferior position onsocial disparity issues. This conflict hascome full circle in 100 years. Los Angelesis a centerpicce.Black leaders are stumbling all overcach other to attain ofavorite Negro � status,and the company line is the ignore theshifting social construct, and the dispari-ties that are widoning, for what is currentlybeing done and accept it for what it is,People and organizations now making alittle money (to their big moncy), buildinglittle buildings (to their huge buildings) arenow saying their success is the measure bywhich our whole community should beguided, Let's accept the compromise posi-tion and build within the means allotted, oLaying our baskets down � means use whatwe have and make the best of it, However,in a biased social construct, there will con-tinue to be policies, and harriers that limitthe full capacity of our community.If we lay our baskets down where weare, how far behitd are our baskets to theirI heard one very respected communityleader, one whom I have much respect for,tell a(mixed) group of key civic stockhold-ers that we (meaning South L.A., referringthose who live in South L.A., translation "black folk) omust lay our baskets downwhere we are. � Now those of us who knowthe origins (and the history) of that quote,understand its implications. It can be takenseveral ways. The way I took it, well it wasa very troubling statement for me person-ally. The statement was Booker T.Washington's, who had become America Ts. ofavorite Negro � in the light of the passingof Frederick Douglass. Washington's posi-tion was significantly less oradical � thanDouglass who accepted nothing less thantotal equality. Washington's statement camein the midst of a social reconstruction thatwas seen as the most vicious period inAmerican history and blacks were resistingthat order, The biggest critic ofWashington's position was W.E.B. DeBois,who called the olay our baskets down posi-tion � the acceptance of an inferior positionand called for black America to use itshuman capital develop the total capacity ofthe yguce, in every major industry, on aparily basis. It was known as the oTalentedFor the past few monthsthis column has carried' frequent commentary on oidentity � "spe-cifically cultural identity and the need to' reinforce it. The issues that most impact: blacks today are many of the same issuesthat faced our people 20 years ago, 30 yearsago, in some cases, 100 years ago. Under-standing the argument that strategic alli-ances must be formed for a more collabora-tive approach to collective social, politicaland economic change is a sensible onc,given a firm view of what the outcomes will_ be; the end result being tangible (and intan-gible) payoffs that equally benefit all in the ocoalition. �But what we are beginning to see todayis the argument for accepting less than equal_ benefits, accepting the social construct and' working with inferior perimeters con-- structed along racial and stercotypical lines._ While more and more data confirms that| social and economic disparities exist, there| is still @ significant segment of the black |_ Teadership that is promoting a buy-in tocoalitions that does speak to the disparities. beyond acknowledgment nor feel they can-® be addressed beyond the context of the ogeneral � plan, " ee a eae es ae tae ae: ae a a ae ge ae ae me eeitHfesh AOE EE Kye is. A Oe a is lea at a