e White People T s Party T~ oDemocrats remade themselves as the black people Ts party. ?- oGuppoue forsee Speaker of che House Newt Gingrich said that. Whatwould happen? Before you could say, oJesse Jackson Ts next pressconference, ? Gingrich would deny the remark, say he was misquoted,say it was taken out of context, before finally apologizing.Well, a national leader did make a similar remark, NAACPchairman Julian Bond, in a recent speech, said, oRepublicans re-made themselves as the white people Ts party. ?Yet in a typical national election, the owhite vote ? splits fairlyevenly between Democrat and Republican. Minorities and singlewomen tip the scales. As a percentage, far more whites vote-Demo-crat than blacks vote Republican. Blacks show more loyalty to aparty "in this case, Democratic "than does any group in America.Clinton Ts job approval rate among blacks hovers around 90 percent.So, the hypothetical Newt Gingrich remark, calling the DemocraticParty the oblack people Ts party, ? would have been far more accuratethan Julian Bond Ts remark about Republicans and white people. Oh,well.But there Ts more. Bond gave a ringing defense of affirmativeaction, stating that o...affirmative acti6n made the black middleclass .... affirmative action helped a third of all blacks. ? Really. Intheir book, America in Black and White, Stephan and AbigailThernstrom show that the black middle class existed and grew well_ before affirmative action. Moreover, they point out that affirmativeaction did not accelerate the growth of the black middle class.And economist Thomas Sowell recently wrote, oYet the rapidgrowth of that [black) middle class began even before the civil rightsrevolution of the 1960s, much less the racial quotas and preferences that began in the 1970s. The rise of blacks into professional andsimilar occupations was faster in the five years preceding passage ofthe Civil Rights Act of 1964 than in the five years following itspassage. ?Bond is, quite simply, wrong. But this blind belief "no affirma-tive action, no black middle class "dominates contemporary think-ing among oblack leaders ? and many other liberals. This mistakenview explains the almost pathological defense of big government andthe indifference towards the unfair middle class tax burden. After all,but for government Ts benevolence, where would blacks be?Note Bond says a third of all blacks owe affirmative action.Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell places the figure at 100 percent: oEverybody who's a person of color in this country has benefitedfrom affirmative action. There has not been anybody who has gotteninto college on their own, nobody who Ts gotten a job on their own,no one who Ts prospered as a businessman or a businesswoman ontheir own without affirmative action. ? 33 percent versus 100 per-cent? Pretty big difference. But why quibble?Now, no speech by a oblack leader ? seems complete without theobligatory attack on Ronald Reagan. Bond said, oThen Reaganremoved government from every aspect of American life. Theyattempted to destroy all the laws that say America should bebias-free. ? Reagan removed government from every aspect ofAmerican life? Hey, despite promises, the Gip couldn Tt even shutdown the Departments of Energy and Education. Social spendingunder Ronald Reagan went up, not down.If Bond means that Reagan Ts policies hurt black people, wrongagain. Under Reagan, black adult unemployment fell faster than didwhite unemployment. Black teenage unemployment fell faster thandid white teenage unemployment. And blacks started businesses ata rate faster than did whites, with the pace of revenues exceedingthat of whites. In 1981, the nation Ts poverty rate stood at 14 percent.It declined to 11.6 percent in 1988, Reagan Ts last year in office.Republicans, the white people's party? Nearly half of all adultsown stock, either directly or through some investment vehicle likea 401-K. This means that Americans of all races have a stake instrong, prosperous, growing companies. Since Republicans tax andregulate less "good things for the corporate bottom line "who islooking out for the little guy?Despite the dastardly Reagan, the black middle class grew. Whatdoes this say? It confirms Barbara Bush Ts remark, oWhat happens inyour house is more important than what happens in the WhiteHouse. ?So, Mr. Bond Ts pessimism is unwarranted. Worse than pessi-mism, however, is wasted energy. The tough problems "teen preg-nancy, under-performing schools, crime "get slighted in favor ofthe gratifying (but ultimately unproductive) kicking of RonaldReagan and the Republicans.The great black singer Joe Williams just died. Like many of hisblack contemporaries, he toiled in relative obscurity until hismid-thirties, never reaching the status of other white crooners.When asked whether he felt bitter, Williams said, oA friend of mineonce said that hate is too important an emotion to waste on someoneyou don Tt like. ? You know, like Republicans.(Larry Elder is a talk show host on KABC Radio.)a A Y veapidlmoaths ago, the Willis family had_ their annual summer reunion. Thiswas a different family gathering. Itwas different because for the firsttime in nearly 20 years, all of theyoungsters were able to be present.In previous years, the childrenof the four brothers and two sistersof the Willis clan, had for one rea-son or another for not been able toattend. For the most part, just thesenior adults had been involved inthe previous gatherings.Now, the children were all out ofcollege and were getting settled intheir own individual careers andbusiness. For some of them, thiswas the first time in their lives theyhad been able touch bases with allof their cousins, aunts and uncles.A program was planned. One ofthe brothers was a minister and hewas Called upon to offer the prayerand the blessing. This was done andthe women and some of the menretreated to the area where the foodswould be served. An older unclewas seated about 25 yards away fromthe rest of the food with some kindof weird contraption at his feet.When he was asked about this othing ? he had, he just laughed andsaid, oThis is my turkey fryer. ?Nobody believed him of course,until they saw him empty about:three gallons of peanut oil into it,then light a fire under it.He then pulled a whole turkeyfrom a huge chest. The bird lookedas though it weighed about 16-19Ibs. He injected the turkey with somespices and stuff and then he tied alightweight nylon rope through it.He lowered the turkey into the boil-ing oil and the crowd grew. Theyhad never heard of fried turkey. As the pots and pans came for-wot on ates serving ke. some ofthe younger folk were amazed. They _saw chitterlings (chittlins), smokedham, (somebody had had a hamshipped from Arkansas), moundsof fried chicken, ribs, smoked sau-sages, roast beef and pork roast.One of the women had found somepigtails and cooked them with whitebeans. There were at least threedifferent huge pots of greens. Onehad mixed greens, another had justcollards and another had greenscooked with okra.There were several different pansof yams and sweet potatoes. Onewas cooked with apples, brownsugar and cinnamon and topped withmarshmallows. Another had pecansin it and then there were a few withjust sweet potatoes, sugars andspice.Of course there was corn on thecob and potato salad, some withmustard, and some without.The desserts were too numerousto attempt to count, with at east six.different kinds of cakes and maybeten different kinds of pies and withalways more.of the same waiting inthe wings. .One of the oddities of this re-union was that some of the foodsthat were there were new to some ofthe young people. They didn Tt nowanything about odirty rice ? or friedgizzards. They didn Tt know aboutpigtails, pig ears or osnoots. ? Thiswas indeed a cultural awakeningfor many of them.An amazing thing happenedhowever. As the younger peopleate, they initially criticized thechoice of food, claiming it was un-healthy. They were looking forsnacks that were fat free and per-haps Sushi, even. They complainedabout the deserts and the pork, call-ing the ribs and other pork. oswine. ?Then, one of the older familymembers happened to hear the criti- cism. He didn Tt make an issue, hejust began to talk about the historyof the family. He explained that theyoung people who were concernedabout the food were probably rightin some of the cases. But, he ex-plained this food was the food thathad brought generation after gen-eration of this and many other blackfamilies through hard times.He talked at length about thetimes when their family didn Tt haveanything other than the scraps fromthe table at the big house. He ex-plained about the depression yearsand how their faith in God and theirown ingenuity in fixing whateverwas available had seen them throughthe rough years.As the evening wore down, andthe darkness began to creep in, somemember of the family had brought alarge television set and VCR to thepark for the family members togather gather around to watch oSoulFood. ?Some of the youngsters had seenit in the theater and some otherothers had seen it on television.There were, however, several of theolder folk who had not seen it, anddidn't know what it was about.As the movie played, peoplebecame engrossed in it. Snifflescould be heard from more than oneperson. Noses being blown and dis-creet coughs made it clear that thepeople were enjoying the movie.But nobody could explain whythe tears came. Nobody could saywhy so many were crying at thissilly movie.Then great-grandma Willis, astately woman with much class asstyle belied her 77 years. She spokeup and in aclear voice said, oJust incase anybody wants to know, yes, Icried when I saw that movie. It tookme home and it made me Have abetter understanding of all thoseyears that had gone by. I remem-bered my granny and granpaw, |could see them picking peas in Caro-lina. I could hear them talkingamong themselves in a room withthe coal oil lamp at night. ? oI remember Sunday morningbreakfast with hot biscuits and sor-ghum and sometimes some fatbackor jowl bacon, ? she continued, Af-ter church on Sunday morning,mama and granny would comehome, fry chicken and we wouldhave greens and candied yams andAunt Minnie would bake a marblecake with white icing. We wouldeat and then sit around on the frontporch and talk about the week pastand the week to come. ? oMake no mistake about it, thismovie took me home and the feel-ing in that household is the samefeeling that ought to exist at thisfamily reunion. ?As she spoke, her eyes filledwith tears, as if she was remember-ing those family members who hadgone on, and she looked at theyoungsters who had been criticaland she said, oThis is the soul foodmovie for our family. It tells thestory of the love we have sharedand all of the things we have had todo to keep the family together. ?She stopped. And the reunionwas quiet. Then somebody lookedover at the table where the food hadbeen and commented, oFor youngfolk who thought they were too goodand too sophisticated for Southernfood, it sure went away fast. Thereain Tt nuthin T left, and that includesthe bones from the fried turkey. ?J, -My THOUGHTS A Elvis? Hitler? or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jn?By EARL OFARI HUTCHINSON, PhD} Part 1If the voting booth closed andthe ballots were counted today for Timemagazine Ts Person of the Century ? either ElvisPresley or Adolph Hitler would be runaway votegetters over Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Bothmen each have nearly doubled the number ofvotes that King has gotten for Time Magazine'stop spot.Since Time announced its national poll for oPerson of the Century ? earlier this year, King Tsvote total has barely budged. The editors insistthat the poll is just that, a poll, and they willmake and announce their final selection in De-cember. But the fact that he has barely made thetop ten list tells much about how little the tow-ering contributions King has made to the move-ments for social change in this century are ap-preciated.A King selection for the top spot should haveless to do with what the editors at Time thinkabout him than what the millions globally whohave benefited from the movements for civilrights, peace and justice think about him. Sull,Time's oPerson of the Century ? derby 1s a price-less opportunity to educate young persons andremind adults of King Ts eternal legacy of peaceand social justice and the need to continue thestruggle to fulfill that legacy.Yet King Ts contributions remain in mortaldanger of being shoved to the wayside of his-tory. Much of the public tightly labels him as a oblack leader, ? a ocivil rights ? leader, or say thathe simply imitated Gandhi. These are huge myths.King certainly was a staunch practitioner ofGandhi's tactics of non-violent resistance andnon-accommodation to injustice. But he took histeacher's message and refined, broadened andstretched it into a global moral imperative for allhumankind. That moral imperative stretched waybeyond the limits of the civil rights movement.When he formed the Southern Christian Lead-ership Conference in 1957, King staked out themoral high ground for the infant modern daycivil rights movement. It was classic good ver-sus evil. Many white Americans were sickenedby the gory news scenes of baton welding racistSouthern sheriffs, firehoses, police dogs, andKlan violence unleashed against peaceful blackprotesters. King made it possible, even obligatory, formillions of persons throughout the world tocondemn racial segregation as immoral and "indefensible. The civil rights movement spurredstudents and workers in Asia, Africa, and LatinAmerica to oppose the military strongmen, dic-tators and demagogues in their countries. Heinspired liberation priests in Latin America,and student demonstrators in Europe. He deeplyinfluenced the struggle against Apartheid inSouth Africa. Nelson Mandela has repeatedlysaid that he owes a profound debt of gratitude toKing.Mandela is not the only major leader to saythat. Caesar Chavez, a leader much deserving ofpraise and gratitude for his selfless contribu-tions to peace and social justice, made his great-est mark as champion of the farmworkers andlabor organizing battles. Chavez never hesitatedto admit that King taught and inspired him.Nearly all of the main anti-war leaders ex-pressed their debt of gratitude to King. Theyrecognized that his brave and outspoken opposi-tion to the Vietnam war and militarism gave ahuge boost to the anti-war movement. The lead-ers of the gay rights, and women Ts movementsalso owe a debt of gratitude to King. They toowere inspired by him and borrowed heavilyfrom the tactics of the civil rights movement.With due respect to Elvis, and (ugh) Hitler,this is what we should tell the editors at Timemagazine when they pick their oPerson of theCentury. ?Time Magazineemail: letters @time.comfax: (212) 522-8949(Earl Ofari Hutchinson is director of theNational Alliance for Positive Action. On Oct.27, the National Alliance will hold a MartinLuther King oPerson of the Century o Walk. Thegroup is calling for similar walks and com-memorations in other cities between October 27and 30 to urge everyone to tell Time Magazine tomake King the oPerson of the Century. ? He canbe heard on KPFK Radio, 90.7, Tuesdays, 7-8p.m.)JThe homogenizedversion of com-munity (black) press put out by theLos Angeles Times, a weekly insertcalled-Our Times, put out a omostinfluential ? list a couple of weeksago. Itrepresented a perfect exampleof why one should be very carefulabout compiling lists. Particularlywhen you label it, oMost Influen-tial. ? Did the list convey some peoplewith some influence? Definitely.People who are oMost familiar(People you're most likely to seeeverywhere), ? maybe. People whoare oMost popular, ? questionable.People who are oMost Influential ?in the lives of people in Crenshawand Inglewood, a few but not many.Definitely not 103.After a couple dozen calls of oSamad, did you see that #@%!, ? |thought I'd take up the paper Ts offerfor a public critique of its list ( oDidwe goof? ?) before it puts out itsreader Ts list. I Tm qualified inasmuchas I'm not exactly looking to get onanybody's (particularly the other'sman) list, and the olistees ? are notlikely to take me seriously, but the .rest of the community readershipwill, I love being in the position ofbeing underestimated (freedom doesthat kind of thing). Comin T outtanowhere works.Why is this list particularly dan-BETWEEN THE Lines Their T Times 1999 Most Influential: Example of Why Lists T Can be Dangerousgerous? Because it gives a false im-pression of degrees of influence thatare deeply flawed, highly exclusion-ary and quite partisan in the LosAngeles Times desire to make oItsleaders ? in our communities. In fact,the editorial olead-in ? to othe list ?states that there is no real (scien-tific) basis for their picks. They saythey were just oour ? picks to oin-voke debate... ? Well, that it did.Imagining playing a game andsaying it doesn Tt matter owho won TVince Lombardi once said, oIf itdoesn Tt matter who wins or loses,then why do we keep score? ? Ifyou're going to have a omost ? any-thing, what Ts the basis for the num-ber you settle on? Why 103? Whynot 33, or just three? Clearly, thishelps you understand that there isanother motive in mind.A group of us, who know thecommunity sat around a table to ohave fun ? with this list. We counted22 people (that we could agree upon)that actually had omost influential ?status inthe community. We countedanother 31 that had osome juice ?status (Brownie point: naming teach-ers was a nice touch). That left an-other fifty (50) people that we allsaid, o???, ? in terms of the level ofinfluence they had in the commu-nity, Our Times should have entitledits list, o103 people we like in©Crenshaw and Inglewood. ? Therewould have been no controversy overthat. People can like who they wantto like, but when you designate it omost influential, ? it Ts highly mis-leading, almost irresponsible anddownright wack!!Here Ts how ridiculous this listwas; there were no community me-dia organizations on the list. Thereare five black-owned newspapers,one black-owned radio station, andtwo community-based magazinesthat provide tens of thousands in thecommunity their principle sourcesof information (news and views) ona daily or weekly basis. Black radioand black newspapers are the mostinfluential entities for information_ in our community. You'd think onepublisher, editor, writer, or generalmanager would make the list, right?Nope.There are three community banksthat provide thousands of commu-nity people services that the so-called oconventional ? banks don Tt. Theyput millions of dollars into loans forhome ownership and business (whenthe other man rejects many of them).Did one community bank CEO makethe list? Nope.There are two major medical cen-ters (on Prarie and Santa Rosalia)with dozens of community-baseddoctors who treat hundreds of pa-tients on a daily basis. Did any makethe list? Nope.One of the top academic privateschools in the nation (MarcusGarvey) "which has graduated hun-dreds of students into top collegeswith so-called incorrigible youthfrom inner @ity schools "made thelist, right? Nope (nor did severalother high achieving private schoolsin the area).Did any of the bookstore owners,restaurant-owners (except FlyingFox), and watering holes where thou-sands of people frequent to eat andsocialize oin their community, ? anddiscuss the issues of the day makethe list? Nope. The owner of themost successful funeral home in oour ? community serving over 5,000bereaved families a year, did he makethe list? Nope. Nor did lawyers likeJohnnie Cochran or Melanie Lomax?Nor did the top two gang interven-tion agencies in the area make othelist. ? All of these were literally ono-brainers ? for a omost influential ?list. Then there was othe list Ts ? bi-ased subjectivity. If people are in-fluential, they make the list whetheryou like them or not.Can you imagine the nation Tsmost recognizable former congress-woman (and county .supervisor)making the list, but not the nation Tscurrently most recognizable (andmost influential with PresidentClinton) congresswoman, who rep-resents the district this list covers,not making the list? Nor the sitingstate senator (and chair of the BlackCaucus), nor the sitting assembly-men (in Crenshaw and Inglewood)?None of them made the list. |The obig ? old Churches (FAME,West Angeles, Holman andCrenshaw Christian Center) madethe list, but the fastest growing large oprogressive ? non-denominationalsare currently the influential congre-gation in the faith community. Canyou imagine the Crenshaw Cham-ber president making the list, andnot the presidents of the omore in-fluential ? business trade organiza-tions from the Black Business Asso-ciation of the Greater Los AngelesAfrican American Chamber? Oreven the L.A. Chamber of Com-merce with its president, EssentialBurts, being from our community,not making othe list? ?None of Tem made it. There werenotable oexceptions. ? A few thatmade the list are not from Crenshaw/Inglewood. But there are three CalState University presidents that didnot make the list. What's the basisfor going out of the area? Therewere some oPasadena ? activists, and oSouth Bay ? people who made thelist, but some very obvious seniornhactivists and elected officials thatdidn Tt. Very subjective choices(probably for political correctnesssake).The most glaring (and aggravat-ing) bias was that demonstrated to-ward young leadership. Not one per-son under the age of 30 made the list.One person age 30 (actress WendyRobinson) made the list. Los Angeleshas learned very little since 1992 interms of who's running What in L.A.There are some young professionalsand community advocates doing somewonderful things in L.A. "none of itbeing recognized. If you don Tt thinkthey have influence, attend one oftheir functions and see thousands ofpeople you T ve never seen before, fewof whom know you. They have theirown network and their own leader-ship. And they probably recognizefew people oon the list ? as influenc-ing their realities. oThe list ? clearly continues toignore a whole (probably our besttrained) generation of technocratsand ocyber-prenuers ? that have moreinfluence than most anyone theynamed, Tsk, tsk.Making lists is a very dangerousproposition. It not only let's peopleknow what you think you know, itmakes it very obvious to peoplewhat you don Tt know. And that canhurt you.