ic stand on a BirminghamTill with his motherThe Justice Department announced in late May thatunderpinnings $ of Souther segregation and helped launch the civilnights movement. His death and susegent news coverage preceded Rosa Park'sramab bus by two months and was cited as one of| the incidents that dramtically ignited the Civil Rights Movement.ashortly before his bratalGeorge E. Cu |NNPA Editor-in-ChiefWASHINGTON (NNPA) -After initiallynot have authonthe 1955 death of Emmett Ti , a14-year-old African-American_ who was beaten, shot in the head;and thrown into the TallahatchieRiver near Greenwood, Miss. forallegedly whistling at a Whitewoman, the United States Justice TDepartment reversed. itself thisweek and announced that it willwork with a District Attomey inMississippi to see: . if furtherProsecutions are warranted.Two White; men - RoyBryant and his half-brother, J.W.; © Continue rm Page 'Carolina, Inc. and. were granted allthe rights and privileges .of the.national organizaton. «Last month, April 24, 2004, thefounding membersintroduced to the public and werepinned with their 100 Lapel Pins atthe annual forum for the 100BLACK MEN OF EASTERNNORTH CAROLINA, INC. withBuder W. Lewis installed as.President, Clarence Goss, Jr. asVice-President, On dasTheadbrer Stephan ?"? po asS¢crefary, o\Joe Shambley asMembership °. Chairperson, "_JoeDaniels as Fund RaisingChairperson, Edward Newton asMentoring Chairperson, _JesseHinton as Education Chairperson,Maurice Jordan as EventChairperson and Mr. Farris Dixon,Public Relations.Looking back on the 100...The o100 Black Men ? conceptoriginated in 1963 when a group ofblack men living in New York inClinton- Continues from Page 1history, there may be newmaterial about Northern Irelandand the Middle East, in whichClinton was deeply involved.There will surely be plenty aboutwhat Hillary called the "vastight-wing conspiracy" againstog husband, oincluding thepseudo-scandal of Whitewater.Some talk of "score settling ?.In fact, if Clinton rather than hisghostwriter is in charge of thenartative, the bits about his earlycareer in Arkansas could be themost entertaining.But whatever the content, themere name of its larger-than-lifedeclaring that it did hto investigatebrothersthat Ts yMilam " admitted taking youngTill, who was visiting ofromChicago, from his great uncle Tsome around 2:30 am. onAugust 28, but initially deniedharming him. An T all-White,all-male jury in Mississippiacquitted the two men.Four months © later, theers admitted to writerWilliam Bradford Huie that thehad indeed murdered Till,Writing in. oLook ? vwhad told him: oWell, when he[Emmett] told me about thisWhite girl he had, my friend,here. That's what we got to fightcoming together resulted in theformation of the One HundredBlack Men of New York, Inc.Over the years it has beeninstrumental in propelling theadvancement of over 60,000.Black Americans, young and old2were alikThe original founders wantedto develop a local organization forthe purpose of pooling theirresources and implementams designed to improve thequality of life for Blacks and otherminorities. They also wanted toinsure the future of theircommunities by aiming an intensenumber of resources towardsyouth development. Some ofthese these members weresuccessful men from variousfields of business and industryand included such notables asDavid Dinkins, the fromer Mayorof New York, alonf withLivingston Wingate and AndrewHatcher to name a few.In 1976, Dr. William Haylingformed the 100 Black Men ofNew Jersey. It was this organizingauthor will ensure the impact ofMy Life.The timing of publication hasbeen crucial - and explains whyClinton's editor took tosleeping overnight at his homein Chappaqua, New York, tomake sure his undisciplinedcharge finished the, job, so thebook could appear next month.Any later, and publicationmight have stolen the thunderof John Kerry's coronation atthe Democratic convention inthe last week of pul. Or thebook could have been delayeduntil after the November 2election - by which time thecountry's attentions might havewows Acosta, AssistantB) General for the Civil Rightsi Division, said in announcing thedecision on Monday. oThis brutal " murder and_ Muscarriage of justice ou a| Mation and helped galvanizeSupport for the~ American civil rights movement.. We owe it to Emmett Till, andaoe I just looked at himand I said I said, Boy, you ain Tt nevergoing to T see the suh come upneeAnd he didn Tt. oThe Emmett Till case-stands at the heart of the- American. civil_ movement, ?rightsR. AlexanderAttorngrotesquemodernwe owe it to ourselves, to seewhether after all these years,some additional measure ofjustice remains possible. ?Untl now, the JusticeDepartment had declinedrepeated requests from Till Tsmother, Mamie Till Mobley, andCongressman Bobby Rush, whorepresents her district in Chicago,to reopen the case. Mobley died ayear ago at the age of 81.In February, Rep. Rushfiled a bill in Congress askingthat body to. formally requestAttomey General John Ashcroftto re-open the case, ADepartment of Justicespokesman told the ChiTribune at the time that otheStatute of limitations...barred thezine, department from investi ting_Hute. recalled that }.W. Milamthe case further. ? ... After receiving research anda legal opinion from the_m Legislative Counsel for thet this war Ts about down. 'House of. Representatives and Tthe "Congressional Researchattempt that was: followed insuccession by the formation, ofndanapos St Lous, ighAtlanta, = the SaFrancisco/Oakland Bay . Area, oNassau/Sajfol and Sac to, InNew ." Jersey, Los Angeles,Indiatiipols, Louis, Pittsburgh,Atlanta, Bay area, Nassau/Sajfoland = to then formed anational organization called the100 Black Men of America, Inc.,which Dr. Hayling was thefounding president.On May 27, 1987 this. newlyformedintroduced itself to the natifh byholding its first "_ nationalconference in Atlanta. With it Tsjoint mission to improve thequality of life and enhanceeducational opportunities forAfnican-Americans, m ts ofthe 100 serve as a strong force forovercoming the cultural . andfinancial obstacles that havelimited the achievements ofAfrican-American youth,1986, the individual chapters ofOrganization. _ then TService, Rush wrote to Ashcrofton February 27 and pointed outthat 18 USC 3282,.-a federallaw, states, oan indictment forany offense punishable by deathmay be found at any timewithout limitation. ? The 1964Civil Rights Act and anotherfederal statue contain similarey language.Moreover, Rush noted thatseveral civil rights cases that weremore than 30 years old, includingthe bombing of the SixteenthStreet Church in BirminAla. and the murder of NAACPleader Medgar Evers inMississippi, were prosecuted withthe help of the JusticeDepartment.Congressman Rush sentAshcroft a second letter on April20. He wrote, oEmmett. Till Tsmother, Mamile Till-Mobley,similarly = made numerousrequests to the " JusticeDepartment and the FederalBureau of Investigations toinvestigate her son Ts murder.Unfortunately, she received onlyindifference and silence as afather telling response. I wouldope that the Justice Departmentwould not ra a member ofCongress the same way it treatedMrs. Till-Mobley 50 years ag "with indifference and silence. ?Neither letter had beenanswered as of this week,according to Rush Ts office.Recently, CongressmanCharles Rangel and Sen. CharlesSchumer, th New YorkDemocrats, joined Rush Ts call fora Justice Departmentinvestigation. oEmmett Till Ts murder akes Root in Easternparticularly = young African- American males. The Organizationhas made outstanding progress,proving that Blacks can, and do,excel in corporate and communityleadership._ Nayionally, the 100 has alsoproven that training and supportprovided for thousands of youtheach © year has improvedOpportunities to stabilize theirlearning enviroriment, becomeself supportive and becomeempowered to control their owndestinies. During the 90 Ts, thechanging times ght on newchallenges as well as yieldingmany unanticipated opportunities.In response to these forces, theNational Chairman, Thomas W.Dortch, Jr. has unveiled andaggressive plans to more T tightfocus the organization in its Wellnongoing development. The planated, FOUR FOR THEFUTURE, " focuses on four areasdeemed critical to insuring thefuture of our youth andcommunity at large. Since thattime, the organization has beganseared into the minds of allAmericans the hate and violenceof racism. in the South, ?said at a news conference. oButbecause of the efforts of theBlack Press especially, the crime,not solved in the courts, raise theconsciousness of Americans andtriggered the Civil RightsMovement. ?Rep. Bennie Thompson(D.-Miss.), issued a StatementMonday saying, oToday Tsdecision is also a testament to thecontributions of CongressmanBobby Rush (D-IL.) who hasbeen invaluable in the effort. ?In an interview with theNNPA News Service last month,Congressman Rush said, oThefederal government has theresources, it has the authority andshould have the will to re-openthis case. Emmett Till cannot andwill not rest in peace. Mamie TillMobley cannot and will not restin peace until there Ts justice. Wecannot rest in peace. ?Mobley shocked the worldwhen she held an open-casketfuneral for her disfigured son.More than 600,000 peoplemarched pass the casket andmillions of others will neverforget the ghastly photo of Tillago that appeared in Jet magazine.In an interview withEmerge magazine, Mobley toldthis writer: oI think about whathe must have suffered. I will askthe Lord why did he have tosuffer? If they had just shot him,that could have been much easierto bear. And in one of thosequestion sessions, the Lordshowed me, revealed to me, theway he [Till] looked was theto channeled all its resourcestowards youth ~ "_ "mentoring,anti-violence, education,economic development, "_ andhealth and wellness programs,although these areas had alwaysbeen part of the "100 movement."In 1995, the organization fullyoutlined a long-term strategy foraddressing these critical areas.The Nut and Bolt Issues of the100Since their mission statementaims to improve the quality of lifeof our communities, and enhanceeducational and " economicOpportunities for all AfricanAmericans, 100 Black Menchapters across the nation, viatheir strategies being focus in theareas of (1) Mentoring, (2)Education, (3) Health andess intiatves and (4)Economic DevelopmentPrograms, young people whohave been coming in contact withthe o100 ? are gaining a muchneeded competitive edge.With a mission to improve thequality of life of our citzens andification of race hatred.This is what race hatred looks likeRangel ~ race hatred is ugly. ?Rush is also appealing toCongress to award aCongressional Medal of Honor toTill Ts mother posthumously oforher courage, but also for hercommitment to y NeBoth Milam and Breant aredead. But Carolyn Bryant,wpposedly the object of |Till Ts interest, is believed to be stialive. By all accounts, she did notaccompany the men on the nithey kidnapped and murdered Till.According to Till Ts . greatuncle, Milam and Bryant did notcome to his home alone. At leastanother voice was heard once Tillhad be taken from the house. ianyone is prosecuted as a result othi inquiry, more than likely it willbe that person, many close to thea~_ The Till investigation mightbe hampered by the lack "rstranscript of the murder trial. Likemany controversial cases involvingthe deaths of African- Americansin the South during that period,such as Medgar Evers, thetranscript is missing from courtfiles. In Evers case, however, his .widow, Myrlie, had kept a copy ofcourt proceedings.fore Mobley died, she hadmade peace with her son Ts death.She told Emerge, oThe Lordspoke to me and said that Emmettdidn Tt belong to me in the firstace, that I had been chosen tohis mother while he was onearth and that he came. here with aspecific purpose. He Ts done whathe came to do. ?Carolinaenhance educational opportunitiesfor African-Americans, the o100 ?membership in Greenville upontaking its national oaths vow tocontinue to serve as a strong forcefor overcoming the cultural andfinancial obstacles that have plaguethe achievements ofAfrican-American youth, locallywith a particular emphasis onyoung Afncan-American males...The future is TODAYThe o100, ? realizing that youthtoday _ representcommunities will be tomorrow,acknowledge that between nowand 2005, more than half of all newentrants into the work force will beminorities and at the same time,one half of all jobs will require amore educated workforce. Therescope 1s global. They feel that ifAmerica behind in producingmore young minority menwomen for the workforce in thecoming "_ décades, "- America'seconomic ability to co in theglobal marketplace will severelycompromised.They feel that they must becommitted to the intellectualPrecedent With Attack cone onemt fshifted to T. an - incomin;Democratic president, and TClinton's. memoirs would beancient history.But the deeper question is,now Bill Clinton has his lifeback, what will he do with jt?In 2000, Al Gore, anxious notto be tatred with the Clinton. most effectively getsscandals, barely allowed hisboss to put a foot on thecampaign trail. The earnestKerry, however much he risksbeing lost in the Clinton dazzle,is unlikely to make the samemistake.The former president will notwin over wavering Republicans,for whom he is still Bubba-cum-Beelzebub. But heremains the Democrats Tbrightest, star, and the: party's thmost potent fundraiser, ForAfrican Americans and othercore constituencies, he is atalisman. Victory in..2004, it isSaid, will go to T the side thatctit ets out thevote. And no one can do thatlike Bill Clinton,But his longer-term future is amystery. Clinton is only 57,three years younger than Kerry.Thanks to speeches at up toUS$100,000 ($167,000) a go,and now the book, the $5million-odd (§8.3 million) legaldebts from Whitewater are adistant memory, For the firsttime in his: life, he is rich. Buten: again, money never: muchinterested him, -Since leaving office, he toyed .with - but, rejected - offers of atalk show. He briefly had a jointtelevision commentary slot with:his old sparring partner BobDole. It has ben tae hemight be UN Secretary General,Mayor of New York, globalanti-Aids supremo, cr evenKerry's running mate. Whoknows? All that is certain is thatafter the travails of authorship,Bill Clinton is back.- INDEPENDENTbased upon the following tsof respect for fanily, sprinliy,justice and integrity. The VisionStatement The 100 Black Men ofour diverse talents to create an environment where our childrenate motivated to achieve, and toLe our people to becomesel sufficient shareholders. in theeconomic and social fabric of theoer we serveTheir Phi y: "What TheySee is What They Will Be" andinvite thise who share the samegoals to contact them. ThePresident can be reached at (252)355-6152 or he cam be emailed atbwl148@aol.comIraq isn't another Vietnam - it'smuch worse. The images ofabused prisoners demonstrate notjust American depravity, says thepitjosop her John Gray, but theof w wat as a mora=a .Misguided from the start, the warin Iraq is spiralling out of control.Any legitimacy the occupyingforces may ever have possessedhas been destroyed, and: there aresigns that Iraqi insurgents arecoming together to mount amovement of resistance that couldrender the country ungovernable.With even more damning imagesikely to find their way into theic realm in the near future, thehited States is facing an historicdefeat in Iraq - a blow toAmericanmorethan it » in Vietnam, anfar in its global implications.leper i ble Snplcatonof currently available evidence isthat the use of torture by USforces was not an aberration, but asanctioned at the highestU there weresetious breaches of discipline, andthe blank failure to understandthat they had done anythiything Py pee of Russian firepowerwrong displayed by some of theabusers does not speak well forthe levels of training of sectionsof the US military.Abuse on the scalesuggested by the Red Crossreport cannot be accounted forby any mete lapse in discipline orthe trailer-park mentality of someAmerican recruits. It wasinherent in the Americanapproach to the war. Americanoaditary intervention in Iraq wasbased on neo-conservativefantasies about US forces beinggreeted as liberators. In fact, ascould be foreseen at the time, ithas embroiled these forces in abrutal and hopeless war againstthe Iraqi people. From beia8 passive recipients ofAmerican goodwill, they are nowviewed as virtually subhuman, If,as seems clear, British forces areinnocent of anything resemblithe systemic abuse thatto have been practised by theAmericans, one reason is thatthey do not share these attitudes.The resistance mounted bythe sia insurgents can becompared to the anti-colonialliberation struggles of the 1950s,but the closest with theintractable ict now underway arte found in Chechnya,which remains a zone of anarchyand terror despite the ruthlessand tematic use of torturefor more than a decade. It wasthe prospect of an intractableguerilla conflict that led manysoldiers in the Pentagon toexpress deep _ reservationsre the war. When thecian Laden launched the hasinvasion of Iraq, US forces raelunged into a of conflictfor which they are supremely illuipped. o A the wake of Vietnamand Somalia, American militarydoctrine, has been based on"force protection" and "shockand awe". In practice, thesestrategies mean killing anyonewho appears to pose any tto US forces and overcoming theenemy through the use ofoverwhelming firepower.Effective in the early stages ofthe war when the enemy was Saddam and his regime, thappears deeply counterpeoductive phen,as in Iraq today, the enemycomprises T much of thepopulation. As Douglas Hurd has thaobserved, filling the hospitals andmortuaries is not the best way towin hearts and minds. The effecthas been to make the conflictmore savage. It is incircumstances such as these thattorture becomes routine. In IraqOver the past year, as inChechnya, and before that inAlgeria where the French foughta similar dirty war, anyone couldend up a victim of torture.n subjecting "_ randomlyselected Iraqis to abuse,American forces are following awell-trodden path, but the typeof torture that has been practisedsome distinctive features.Unlike the Russians or theFrench, who inflicted extremesof physical pain as well, USforces in Iraq appear to berelying mainly on techniques that ocuson the application of .intense psychological pressure. Inorder sparc up detainees theyhave swept up from the streets,they have used disorientation,sensory deprivation and sexualhumiliation. These are all formsof abuse that would damage anyhuman being, but leading nakedIraqi males around on dog leadsand covering their heads withwomen's underwear look liketechniques designed specificallyin ofder to. attack the prisoners Tidentity and values. The result ist an. indelible image of o4as beenIslamicAmerican depravityimprinted on the entiworld.It remains unclear howthese techniques came to be usedin Abu Ghraib prison. What isevident is that from the start ofthe war on terror the Bushadministration has flouted orcircumvented international lawon the treatment T of detainees. Itunilaterally declared members ofterrorist organisations to bei combatants who are notentitled to the protection of theGeneva Convention. _ " Thedetainees held =f GuantanamoBay fall into this category, and soapparently did the Taliban and-Qa'i ; who werecaptured in Afghanistan. Beinbeyond the reach of internationallaw, they were liable to torture.* In Trag, + the Bushadministration evadedinternational law by a differentroute. They outsourced securityduties at Abu Ghraib and otherAmerican detention facilities toprvate ia map not coveredy w and not regulaby the Ceneva Convention. Ineffect, the Bush administrationdeliberately created a lawlessthrees in which abuseractised with ity.Practx A aap tywho watched video stills of thesexual abuse of Iraqi women byUS personnel in a closed sessionon Capitol Hill in Washington lastweek have described _ thebehaviour they witnessed asun-American, Maybe so, but it wasof American ieadership. Thetorture of Iragis by US Personnis an applicetion of the Bushadministration's strategy in the waron terror.Tossing aside internationallaw and the norms of civilisedDehaviout in this way isself-defeating. Not so 7the clash of civilisations Secrass and erroneous theory, butafter the recent revelations it isbecoming a self-fulfilling0 . In toppli theAnedcca dowthedin comentWestern regime, not unlike theStalinist Soviet Union in itsmilitant secularism. In doing so,they empowered radical Islam asthe single most importan t politicalforce in the country.The immediate beneficiaryof the torture revelations is {ito be Iran - a fact that seems tohave been grasped by AhmedChalabi (the Iraqi émigré that the.neo-conservatives believed woulddengan, Country to American-styledemocracy), appears to beforging links with the IranianContinnn on Page 13what our.