uinbintainEtnniemmaauditias = = =“ Riestidiciaeee

 

that genocide is ta

 

 

 

 

  

  

va

 

ment in Khartoum an

government

| State Colin Powell said for the first time
po ae in Sudan and that the

govern-
“sponsored Arab militias

“bear responsibility” for rapes, killings and other abuses that
have left 1.2 million black Africans homeless. 7

by George Gedda S

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush
administration. for the first time on
Thursday (Sept. 9) called attacks in

Sudan's Darfur region by government-

backed Arab militia against black Af- *

ricans “genocide.”

The designation by Secretary of
State Colin Powell came as a U.S. pro-
posal in the U.N. Security Council to
impose sanctions against Sudan en-
countered opposition. Powell told
Congress that Sudan's government is
to blame for the killing of tens of thou-
sands and uprooting of 1.2 million
People

_ In recent interviews with 1,136
refugees in neighboring Chad, the
State Department found a “consistent

~ Bev Smith - Talk Show Host
The Bev Smith Show/AURN Radio
GREENVILLE, NC - Youth Today,

Inc., 4 local nonprofit agency re-

cently in announcing it's initiative
in focusing on family and commu-
nity will hold its inaugural event
during their Eastern North Carolina
Family Empowerment Conference

hs) Wh

By Alan Heynmann

It has been more than 33 years sitice
President Richard Nixon declared war on
illegal drugs and called drug abuse “pub-
lic enemy number ore in the United
States.” Hundreds of billions of dollars
later, with hundreds of thousands of
Americans behind bars, we are no closer
to Nixon's dream of a drug-free nation
than we were in 1971. As with alcohol

Buyin

by William Reed

The Atlanta Inquirer Inc.

ATLANTA - With all the emphasis
Black people put on “getting out the
vote,” shouldnt we be more vigilant ré-
garding external forces that affect how
and who we voté for? An example of
how the more powerful Jewish obby

exerts controls over the larger Blac

electorate is the Alabama Democratic

rimary pitting Congressman Earl
Hilliard against challenger Arturo
Davis. The American Israeli Public Af-
fairs Committee (AIPAC) is backin
Mr. Davis’ quest to win Alabama's 7th
district congressional seat ¢ of its
dissatisfaction with Hilliard’s foreign
policy views.

While most Black members of
Congress play down sympathies Blacks
have for countries deemed as “off-lim-
its” by the American political establish-
ment, Hilliard’s has been more in line
with his constituents. Hilliard’s inter-
est in Cuba, Iran and Libya rankled
many within the Jewish political estab-
lishment but the straw that broke the
camel's back was his decision to vote
against a House Resolution that
uncritically expressed “solidarity with
Israel”.

Many Black Americans, in contrast
to the self-interests illustrated by their
representatives in ( ongress, are con-
cerned about the imperialism and rac-

 

aid widespread pattern of atrocities
committed against non-Arab villag-
ers,” according to a department re-
port. It added that about a third of
the refugees who wete interviewed
heard racial epithets while under
attack.

Powell said that as a member
of the 1948 international genocide
convention, Sudan is obliged to pre-
vent and punish acts of genocide.

“To us, at this time, it appears
that Sudan has failed to do so,” he
said, oe

Powell’s announcement came
as the United States was pressuring
the U.N. Security Council to im-
pose sanctions on Sudan’ oil indus-
try, among other measures, if the

on Saturday, September 25th at
the Greenville Convention Cen-
ter.

Angel Savage, founder and
executive director says this con-
ference will become an annual
event. Savage stated that the in-
augural conferences’ objective
will be to bring families from all
walks of life and family service
providers together under one roof
with one objective: "strengthen-
ing families.”

She further went on to say
that the multiplicity of challenges
facing many familic overwhelm-
ing and that she intends to make
people aware of available re-
sources that are in place to hel
them. "But more importantly,"
said Savage, "the success of this
conference will be measured ia
part by the call-to-action for non-
governmental agencies and indi-
viduals to avail themselves to the
cause of strengthening our fami-
lies." She added that everyone has
heard the African proverb that it
takes an entire village to raise one
child and that "it was pass time to

Prohibition in the 1930s, drug prohi-
bition has brought us far more prob-
lems than it has solved.

You won't hear John Kerry or George
W. Bush talking much about it this
fall, but the producers of the upcom-
ing “American Candidate” series on
Showtime have made drugs a key is-
sue of this televised campaign - and
for good reason. As former Gov. Gary

  

government does not take steps to improve
security in Datfu. 9. | 3

- Such sanctions are opposed by China
and, Pakistan, Security Council members
that import Sudanese oil.

- The Bush administration has not se-
rigusly considered sending troops to
Sudan. The African Union, a continent-

wide security group, has dispatched 125

monitots to Darfur who are protected by
300 Aftican Union troops.

U.N. envoy Jan Pronk urged Sudan
last week to allow more than 3,000 troops
into the region to stop violence and to pre-
vent the conflict from escalating, —

In Abuja, Nigeria, where Darfur

eace talks are under way, Sudanese

Dep Foreign Minister Najeeb El-Khair
Abdel Wahab criticized Powell’s action.

“We don't think this kind of attitude
can help the situation in Darfur. We ex-
pect the international community to as-
sist the process that is taking place in
Abuja, and not put oil on the fire,” he
said.

The European Union also was criti-
cal. “We have not discussed specifically
the use of the word genocide,” said spokes-
man Jean-Charles Ellermann-Kingombe
“For us, we have noted that there is an
extremely serious situation that still re-
quires a huge humanitarian aid effort.”

State Department officials acknowl-
edged the possibility that the genocide

designation could hinder U.S. efforts to.

encourage more robust Sudanese govern-
ment efforts to protect Darfur's citizens.
And Powell has acknowledged the desig-
nation will not lead directly to any mate-
rial benefit for Darfur’s victims.

The 1948 genocide convention de-
fines that act as a calculated effort to de-
stroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious
group in whole or in part.

State Department officials could not

literally drive this point home."
This inaugural event will also be co-
sponsored by Burney & Burney Con-

struction. The conference, which begins

at Jam at the Greenville Convention
Center, will host exhibits and pert
mances for the entire family and the
community. The first phase of the event
will end at 4PM. The topics that will
be discussed during that time will cover
a speech and discussion on the Father-
hood Movement, making critical deci-
sions, parenting teens; public health, a
hair and fashion show with John
Casablanca Modeling Center and cul-
minated by a Gospel Rap Concert fea-
turing "Future -- The Takeover with
Brandon Dawson.

Beginning at 6:30PM there will
there will be a Pre-Gala Reception at the
Hilton Multipurpose Room where she
will joined by Joyce Mitchell, special as-
sistant to Senator and Vice Presidential
Nominee, John Edwards, Singer-Song
Writer Ernest Silver, Comedian Huber
" Poochie" Hammonds, Reggie Price of

~WOOW Radio and the Gospel Music

Mix Party, Artist Richard Wilson and
finally Bev Smith, herself. She promises
that this will be an exciting day for all

Johnson (R-N.M.) once said, the drug war
is “the most important social issue in America
today that has an easy, politically possible
solution.”

Regardless of political background, many
agree that government should not be in the
business of punishing its citizens for what
they choose to put into their own bodies. Un-
fortunately, drug users have provided an easy
target for politicians (of both parties) who

The Black Vote

ism evident in the Arab-Israeli conflict,
Much of what is happening to the Pal-
estinians resembles socio-economic ills
urban Blacks face here. In the Palestin-
ian territories almost half the working
population are unemployed. The Inter-
national Labor Organization (ILO) says
that unemployment in the territories
reached 43 percent during the first three
months of this year. Economic output
in Palestinian areas fell by 12 percent
last year, while the proportion of the
population subsisting on less than $2 a
day has raised to 46 percent and could
widen to 62 percent in 2002. The ILO
says the Palestinian territories are in a
“socio-economic meltdown”

In Israel, the gross domestic prod-

uct fell by 0.5 percent last year, while
unemployment edged up two percent-
age points to 10.5. The Israeli construc-
tion industry has been hit hard by the
loss of about 55,000 Palestinian work-
ers, while the tourist sector is sttuggling
with a 50 percent drop in visitors.
Israel's lucrative hi-tech industries are
suffering as a result of last year’s eco-
nomic downturn in the U.S. AIPAC’s
concern with Hilliard is that people like
him could lead to increased Bleck in-
volvement in supporting Arab posi-

tions,
If Rep. Hilliard’s (and Atlanta

Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney's)

sentiments were to evolve into the leg-

islative position of the Congressional
Black Caucus (CBC) it would interfere
with the current grip AIPAC has on
U.S. foreign policy and bring into plain
view a latent disagreement between the
Black and Jewish electorates over the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Since 1978 AIPAC has had little
to worry about from Black politicians
in Congress. Out of fear of losing the
positive media attention and financial
support that can be garnered by the Jew-
ish lobby, CBC members have swal-
lowed AIPAC’s positions whole. Only
5 CBC members out of 38 had the
courage to oppose the House Resolu-
tion branding Yasser Arafat.a terrorist,
without proof or hearings, and which
tem the U.S. Congress’ stance of
complete solidarity with Israel. If
AIPAC, which helped raise over 50 per-
cent of Hilliard’s challenger’s funds, has
its way in the Alabama and Atlanta con-
tests the 5 CBC members that voted
against the resolution will have two less
members in their midst. Actoss the na-
tion, over 50 percent of monies Black
congressional garner for political races
comes from outside their districts;
Hilliard’s and McKinney's race illus-
trates those chickens coming home to
roost, What does it say if AIPAC is able
to determine who represents Black
people on the basis of the political can-
didates’ positions on Israch?

say whether any convention member
had ever invoked the accord. U.N.
spokesman Fred Eckhard said he be-
lieves Powell's designation was a first.

Other crises that often carry the
genocide label have occurred in
Rwanda in 1994 and Cambodia from
1975-79. Former Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic is facing genocide
charges before an international war
crimes tribunal at The Hague. .

Congress this summer called the
violence in Sudan genocide.

Under the genocide convention,
the United Nations can take any ac-
tion under its charter that it considers
“appropriate for the prevention and
suppression of acts of genocide,”
Powell said. He urged the UN. Secu-
rity Council to approve a resolution
that asks the United Nations to look
into “all violations of international hu-
manitarian law and human rights that
have occurred in Darfur.”

The violence in Darfur began
when black African tribes rebelled in
February 2003, accusing the national
government in Khartoum of neglect-
ing their interests. In response, Powell
said, Arab militias coupled with
Sudanese military forces “committed
large-scale acts of violence, including
murders, rape and physical assaults on
non-Arab individuals.”

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist,
R-Tenn., who has visited Sudan re-
peatedly, said the crisis “could be one
of the greatest humanitarian tragedies
of all time.”

Democratic presidential candi-
date John Kerry said Thursday, “The
United States should ensure the im-
mediate deployment of an effective in-
ternational force to disarm militia and
facilitate the delivery of humanitarian

st To Address Plight of

those who attend.
Also, taking part in this event

will be state agencies, churches, |

youth groups, support groups and
local colleges.

- MORE ON BEV. SMITH...

Headlining the event will be na-
tionally known radio and TV talk
show host. Ms. Bev Smith of the
American Urban Radio Networks.

In professional circles, this
former investigative reporter is
known as a dedicated, popular, and
powerful social commentator. Ms.

mith’s "Straight Up" commentar-
ies have already generated a huge au-
dience across the country. And. now,
first with four hours of the Bev
Smith Show which initially aired na-
tionally from 10PM. to 2AM and
‘which has been carried locally on
WOOW Radio for close to five years
continues to be broadcast in her new
time slot from 7PM ‘to 10PM Mon-
day through Friday. Her show goes
in depth on numerous topics, tack-
ling top politicians, and examining
social issues that affect African-
Americans.
Bev Smith is a media voice to

want to appear “ough on crime.” Here
are just afew examples of the abuses this
has caused:

* Last year, nearly 700,000 people were
arrested for marijuana possession.

* Armed federal agents continue to an-
tagonize AIDS, cancer and MS patients
who use medical marijuana legally under
state law. The vast majority of Americans
want these patients left alone.

* A college student can lose her stu-
dent loans and her food stamp benefits if
she's convicted of a drug offense. No other
crime, including rape or murder bars
Americans from bortowing money to go
college or receivin public assistance.

* In the name of protecting the chil-
dren,” the federal government insists on
an abstinence-only drug education pro-
gram that completely ignores a simple

Fa

 

 

  

UN mull resolution pressing

ten 0

   
  
  
 

 

 

 

 

assistance in Darfur.”

In a speech to the National Bap-
tist Convention in New Orleans, Kerry
said, “The Sudanese government has
thus far rejected such force, but the
United States shoutd lead the United
Nations, truly lead, in order to make
plain that we're not going to accept
Khartoum continuing to block its de-
ployment.” His remarks got a stand-
ing ovation.

In a separate statement issued
hours after Kerry's remarks, President
Bush highlighted American efforts to
ease the suffering in Darfur.

“We have provided more than
$211 million in aid and humanitarian
relief, and we will provide an additional
$250 million,” Bush said.

He also said neither the militias
nor the rebels have respected a cease-
fire agreement signed last spring,

‘It is clear that only outside ac-

be reckoned with. -

On the air for over three de-
cades, she's appeared on NBC's "The
Today Show,” ABC's "Good Morn-
ing America,” CNN's "Crier and

~Company," and "Lar :
Well recognized throughout the na-
tion, Bev Smith has received more
than 300 awards for her contribu-
tions to outstanding broadcasting
achievement.

Bev Smith began her television
and radio career in 1971 when she
was named Pittsburgh's first African
American Consumer Affairs Investi-
gative Reporter for WPXI Television,
an NBC affiliate. While a.repofter,
she received numerous awards for
consumer investigation, including
the 1980 and 1989 Pennsylvania So-
cial Security Outstanding Journalist
Award, an award that had never be-
fore been presented to any journal-
ist and has not been given to a jour-
nalist since then.

Bev wrote a weekly consumer
advice column, called "Bev Sez" for
The Pittsburgh Courier, the nation's
oldest African-American newspaper.
She also hosted a television talk show,

y the drug war isn’t an election issue - but should be

fact: some kids will use drugs. Encour-
aging kids not to use drugs is fine, but if
they do, failing to make sure they have
enough information at their disposal can
be deadly.

* Instead of an honest dialogue among
students, parents and teachers, the fed-
eral government is pushing a drug test-
ing policy that requires children to uri-
nate in front of strangers. Yet it remains
easier for kids to buy marijuana than
Cigarettes.

“The drug war unfairly targets people
of color. Of those in prison on drug
charges in New York State, 93 percent
are African American or Latino. A per-
son convicted of selling five grams of
“crack,” which is stereotypicaUy associ-
ated with low-income minority commu-
nities, receives a five-year federal man-

King. Lime.” ’

tion can stop the ki ing, Bush said.
“My government is seeking a new Se-
curity Council resoltition to authorize

“an expanded African Union security

force to prevent further bloodshed. We

will also seek to ban flights by Sudanese

military aircraft in Darfur.”
The Darfur crisis has attracted the

interest of many conservative Chris-

tian groups and civil rights organiza--
. ®

tions.

For example, Samaritan’s Purse, a -

Christian relief organization, has pro-
vided food, medicine and other sup-
lies to thousands of displaced fami-
les there, and evangelicals have joined
with moderate religious groups to in-
crease public awareness about the suf-
fering. .

On the civil rights front, the Rev.
Jesse Jackson recently visited and has
called for vastly increased U.S. hu-
manitarian relief efforts in Darfur. _

milies and Leadership

  

#

‘Angel Savage -YouthToday, Inc
Founder/Executive Director,

"Vibrations." for KDKA TV. In
1975, she was named News and Pub-
lic Affairs Director for the Sheridan
Broadcasting Company (now know
as American Urban Radio Net-
works). Bev also hosted a lively talk
show on Sheridan's flagship station,
Moke Bev Smitu PAGE 3

datory minimum sentence. The same sen-
tence applies for selling 500 grams of pow-
der cocaine.

Despite all the wasted lives and dollars,
the tide seems to be turning against the
drug war. This fall, the Supreme Court
will hear a landmark medical marijuana
case that could end the federal’
government's harassment of patients and
caregivers once and for all. The author
of the studentoan ban for drug offend-
ers has acknowledged that his legislation
goes too far. And across the country, school
districts are deciding against random stu-
dent drug testing because it's expensive,
intrusive and doesn't stop kids from us-
ing drugs.,

Politicians wont take up this issue - or
any issue - unless they hear from their con-
stituents in large numbers. Keep the posi-
tive momen tum going by taking action
against the war on drugs.

 

 

Protesting still matters...

AIDS. Abortion rights. Ending the
war in Iraq, Stop the genocide in Sudan.
These are some of the topics that were
on the minds of thousands of protest-
ers last week who converged on New
York City to let their voices be heard at
the Republican National Convention.

There were clearly protesters at the
Democratic National Convention last
month in Boston, but nothing ap-
proaching the anger and resentment
toward President George W. Bush and
his policies were seen in Beantown.

he olice put the crowd estimates
at 100,000 or more, Rev. Jesse Jackson
St, and others said there were between
500,000 and 1 million people lining the
streets of New York.

We aren't here to quibble about
crowd estimates, What is truly impor-
tant is that there are some Americans
Who are more than willing to not be
silent critics. These folks chose to get
off the couch or take some time away
from their college studies, to let the

world know that there are some is-
sues that are critically important.

There have been many others
who tried to dismiss such protests.
According to these misinformed
souls, protesting is a thing of the past
and really doesn't lead to an effective
result.

We absolutely disagree.

If there is one person who is
forced to stand up and have their
voice heard, then the time and en-
ergy spent protesting has a desired
ettect, Our nation’s history is replete
with various causes that only began
when an ordinary person or two
joined arms with others to raise the
consciousness of a people who chose
to remain silent.

Were it not for the work of Su-
san B. Anthony, Harriet Tubman and
other pioneering sisters, the women
of today would in not enjoy the rights
they casually take for granted,

Nelson Mandela is out of prison

today because Randall Robinson and his
TransAfrica Organization didn’t let up
one bit in their pursuit to end apart-
heid.

The AIDS crisis would truly be
beyond control had not countless men
and women walked down city streets
carrying candles to symbolize the many
who died as a result of the devastating
disease.

Yet, there are some ill-conceived
marches and protests that have done
nothing more than embarrass those
who led them. But when a constitution:
ally guaranteed event is held with a sin-
cere purpose and direction, the nation’s
attention can definitely be swayed to a
particular position.

It is our desire that elected offi-
cials—Black, white, Hispanic, Repub-
lican, Democrat and independents—
would not wave off the voices of dis.
sent. Listen to them, Consider their
appeals t0 your consciousness. What
you may consider to be a bother today
could very well be the catalyst that
changes a nation for the better.

 
 

 

 

 

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tive who placed the attack ads o1 - petschors into switching parties. tit

Black-oriented radio stations in th alden-Ford and her ment vote in May for 4

battlefield” states of Pennsylvania, Woodson, are both eply embedded unemployment insurance benefits.

Missouri, Michigan, Ohio and Wis- ‘in the Bradley-Bush matrix. As we said, despite the fact that it was Republi [- thy to gay According

consin, is for all practical purpdses a this is an inces uous bunch. —_ cans who opposed the extension. — ; tothe CBS/BET poll: “More than half fied threat to discount pro-

of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is 2 now fede _ who are unemployed and hurting ~ the ites think there should be no legal recog- undermine the rights of qualified
ing board member of the Black of more likely we would vote Demo- nition of same-sex relationships. Americans to vote According to «

Alliance for Educational Options cratic!” said the ad ~ as dishonest and

     
 

Among voters overall, 39% share thi paper issued by the NAACP and

Seo the pencschedt vouchers cynical an example of campaign poi- "cans say the Itaq war was “worth the view,” ea, , cople for the American Way, The
| eived, birthed and jump- tis | too : son as has ever been broadcast on cos 1” Sigh nificantly, only one in ten This is Bush’s only opening for-a P woflin Crow:
eared with a en Bo on i 1989 ive; conservative Shack tee ack . Long Shadow of Jim Crow:

 
 
 
 
  
  

che ship,  Black-oriented radio. The ad wasn't Blacks think vo sare the best so- “legitimate” inroad on Black public his ¢ ot, Michi
far-right Bradley and Walton illusi ¢, Ieli'a feviece in. Republican, it was anti-Black wot lution to school problems. icy opinion. As reported inourNo. . This ummer, Michigan state
ily Fe ions (W; . Si ich the c 2 metas gerly col- ng The “erative conservative 3, The won news for Republican: my ane Anal ie Joint a pian pappascorge (R- Troy) say.
, r, the political tri- itic ip so expen- rcent of Black | ered voters niter for Political and Economic WUOted ir
yam ey Cultn the COP and its told pollsters that they world “dene Studies ttyl of African American '8 “If we do not suppress the De-

   
     

  

  

  
  

 
 
 

 

ot nar miiced Sebvooe : om Bh ear Corporate- sively cultivated by the ital or are Mishciews py age dorhty Los ‘ia,  tfOit vote, we're poi to have a tough
- the incestuous spawr , Phony Black leadership cabal affiliated foundations has one purpose: _ hitely’ vote in November, up from 71 opinion, self-described Black Christian we pore? WE Te going ‘sn
ft igh oui nding | is predic Republican rule. to neutralize African Americans as 4 percent in 2000, when Blacks turned “conservatives” in fact vote overwhelm- Ewer pe ieetion
work — have collected over $77 mil- Therefore, their immediate assign- _political force. 7 out in record numbers in many areas. ingl “liberal” - that is, Democratic. It is foolish and ahistorical t
lion dollars in grants fr ment: suppress the Black vote. And no wonder. There is simply GOP leadership is determined to blunt the huge influx of Bush faith- eak of the ssibil; f : tical alli.
Rod Paige’s Education Department. In The Walden-Ford ads, which no match between the broad Black p Mis feroe enetgy at all cost based money sway the congregations? a betw an Bla oko and the GOP
effect, Virginia Walden-Ford’s BAEO mimic ident Bush's charge at _ litical consensus and Bushite Republi The Wild We shall see, One cannot forge an alliance with the
~ which received $1.3 million in fed- the July National Urban | n- can ideology and practice, As Harvard There is a great anger among Af- Crimes against citizenshi; an who has Be an his cross-hai €
eral funds ~ has been “graduated” to a vention, that the Democrats take Af- social demographer Dr. Michael C, rican Americans, which can be invoked We estimate that the GOP and its Afer the 19 presidential che pith
Bush administration functionary, _ rican Americans “for erant Dawson has observed, Blacks “could with the mention of a single word: associated eh affiliates spent which Republiey Barry Goldware
ile continuing to be su idized by “reverse of what the D all look like liberal Democrats com- Florida. However, there is also a wild about $7 mi lion on Black media — !" Wil ed direct to the whi Dems.
the Walton faith bet? do,” said Washington. P ical pared to the rest of them [whites], but card out there, a joker that Black mostly radio ~ in the 2002 non-presi- appeale th Soxh. h “COP L ee
-tight moneybags. These Black at- writer Thomas B. Edsall in the A gust among each other, some Blacks look America has never before had to con- dential elections. 2004 will be a bil- “tats 0 ‘; outh, h i if fst ae
tack dogs are well fed. Shoat fdition of the Tavis Smiley like Mondale Democrats, some of front: the electoral effect sf foot non dollat spending spree. We can ex. yrnsclously morph itsel ‘Like the
WALLOWING IN THE SaME sTY Show. “The Democrats ‘try to build them look like Clinton Democrats, based bribery of Black preachers. (See pect Republican circles to ee Dj aa an's Party FA a " e
- 1. Walden-Ford’s personal fiefdom, turnout. These ads try to suppress and some of them look like Swedish “Defunding the Right Rev. Dr. increase their budgets for Black media fashio ed cama “id th ag Salle
DC Parents for School Choice, which rwrnost, It’s andlor wee the Black ge ar ais of lana look Gist nur 2, gos) tiny of oe Gea ee — and that a a against Black peor le Itbecame a
shares a phone line wi BAEO, te- vote own on the assumption that _ |i t.” is, November _ millions of dollars have een doled out of it will go to negative, attack ads, f9¢ c A
fad snr from the Brad- Blacks vote Democrat peat 21, 2002.) Bush-type Republicans do by faith-based offices in most.federal much of it fronted by their Black sur- Dixiecrat party, and has structured ev-

     
  
 

zk not exist in statistically significant departments: Health and Human Ser- tes, largely drawn from the phony FY National can paign strategy around its
numbers in Blaek America despite ee Housing and Urban Develop- school oh movement. They wi face-based srongnead in te squthern
Armstrong Williams’ high profile in i io masquerade as “new” organizations would thus beau ase, the GOP
the corporate media and Clarence such as Virginia Walden-Ford’s People ath Den: to be a national ai just
omas odious presence on the Su- of Color United ~ but it’s the same 45 the Democrats would cease to be a vi-

 
  

        
 

e Court. Bush will certainh corrupt crowd of Black mercenaries, ble national par without overwhelm-

Sore Black votes than he pea - working for the Bradley Foundation, he Black su por. Thisis the ridlock that

to based on actual commonality of opin- «2 Wal-Mart and Bush. oo be cha, has | ee ueathed us, vhich cannot

rat- . ion ~somewhe around the 8 percent “ partmer "Meanwhile, the more familiar, Se chr! sth yn i Reitin
think that he got in 2000. But the i tial data of Bi down-and-dirty forms of Black voter 2» OF any ae tease aT ee
are more dismal for the Republicans heavily weighted with Pentecostals suppression will run rampant ~ that’s the absencé of the most intense and con-

in any election since 1964. who, before the political money be- why African Americans are so deter- sciously transformative work by Black nd
ea BLACK VOTERS FIRED UP came available, eschewed tem- mined to vote, so that we can make —“ivists and rogressive allies within an
uct pests Washington, rich “ . A July CBS/BET poll of Black poral electoral affairs — have applied up for the theft that is certain to be outside the emocratic F arty.
D.C., her DC Ss group fan an In an interview with Knight voters revealed the Grand Canyon that "these grants and contracts. Are they committed. MoveOn.org has joined . In that sense, nothing ha changed
mparing Sen. Edward Recast Ridder newspapers, Bradley- Op- separates African American opinion capable of mobilizing congrega- Jesse Jackson and other Black leaders since 1865. Except back en, the pro-
(D-Mass.) to Bull Connor, who set erative Virginia Walden-Ford tried to ‘and that of whites — and the ocean that tions for Bush, against the better judge- to demand that the Republican Na- Slavery Piel (Democrats) didn’ have a
other ad compared Sen. Mary wanted pe

in positive terms. “I roils between Bush and the Black elec- ment ~ the Black consensus — ameng tional Committee "disavow all forms Pack o 5 ity suits suppressing

      
  
 

ple to. think about'the ac- _torate. Only 3 percent of Blacks are church membership? The great of voter suppression, including voter Radial Renn : determination to vote for

stg the Continuing Mis-education of e Negro
by Dr. Edward Rhymes over and over again in the American pants. And do we take a stand against have cloaked ourselves in the stereo- _ black student achievement than who is egal society (and Brother Senator
“ Obama said there is no white America

There can be no great disappoint- media, Causing unwarranted criticism such flawed and misleading character- * ibk __ teaching our children and what is bein
ment, where there is SF pry Lo - of African-American women and the izations? No, on the contrary, we are Wikis ween ar ba ne pects . taught, 1 consider that type of thine or black America) why should I have to
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Afiess-Americta communi asa More than willing to accept full title to as if they are unique to our culture and just as pathological as gang activity or 4fSwer questions about the supposed

. whole. Nonetheless, we as a - them. * identity. Makes no difference if —_ fatherlessness. ‘ !
I'am disappointed, | am a bit dis- swallowed this fallacy h eand —_ have also received remarks stat- ry noctey of doug dealers aid tery need to falsely indict ourselves, are the ‘ity, when whites do not have to do the
and I am somewhat disturbed. _biased-sinker. ing that I am acting as if we are an “un- are whine, ‘yokes vo difference if the comments Spike Lee made on the Tavis Same? The minute I answer one ques-
» you may ask? I'll tell you. The re- Nowadays I can rarely turn on my touchable race,” that we need to be more “typical” criminal is a white, non-His- Smiley Show (Thursda » July 22) when tion, I'am sa itch, I am inferior.” For
made by certain entertainers and television or radio without hearing “critical” of ourselves. These same people panic male or that black males are less he insinuated that bla don'tembrace _6¢, it is absolutely that simple. Do we,
personalities; as well as the apparent cul- some African-American + also confess a tye at our young prone to abuse their ers than and support dramas as much we should _ in the black community, have real con-
pabiliy of the “leaders” in the African- m ep em almost - people's deplorable lack of uae whites. We have no roblem believing ~ citing the lack of turnout for movies cerns? No doubt about it. Can we do
hore Sommunity, has ered a ) as if we, as bi sri in! een the a het mae io aa tl char it us who are greatest perpe- such as Antwone Fisher. Interestingly, be pei antag Misconcep-
truth. That truth is not ies of it. ust isn't 8 ons, almost pitiful. a Denzel Washi 8c direc- tons, ucation an
posed reluctince of the Black cone, Oe ce. Al susahs échnic ) There P trators, And those of us who reveal ngton (producer & direc dp

ste-
ase. Altho minorities ; no group of people 66 énai tor of An reo not offer any real answers.
rotor fe e “problems,” noris it have greatly benefited from affirmative in the history of this one tar al denial” “pla or i cae the followin Fen te Pew The C scri f

t African Americans

urther evidence of this deviant behavior of the black commu-

. riptures tell us that “you
action policies, white women, statisti- been more negatively touched on thes tim” and/or ‘making excuses.” AsThave question of wherh®s ogc ts sp shall know the rth and the truth al

to ‘play the victim.” It is the relative ease cally, have ben more than any the sons and ters of Africa. We viewed iting - ported dr _ make you free.” As we, as a community,
Gc Seek teones iterate Suge Tarane floor ian sale icon
lieve the worst about ourselves. While a Contfary to the popular notion that it Se eamanicng stereotypes and la- ive brothers and sisters (this in- of all, don't do as well, period. Black or face, crime, poverty and the vast num-
great deal of time and dialogue has been rewards the “unqualified, _ affirmative — bels that this world has had to offer As Slides thinkers such as Tim Wise and white, they don't do ay well.” ber of concerns that we face; we must
spent, lately, on our presumed socio- action cknow'edges the historical and far as the need for us to be more critical Noam Chomsky) — not one of them After watching the interview I de- be citcumspect. I would think that we,
pathic behaviors, we have ignored a present institutional and social =e pbc once again, blacks have has hinted that racism, poverty or any cided to research to ascertain which da live in Y asirengead America, would

€ven more sociopathic — our di discriminati On, racism, sexism, etc. » Gissected and scrutinize ‘ societal is an excuse claim was true. ‘Ow exactly what it means to declare a
rue oo denonine ane that have hindered qualified applicants emsel other isan for any ; true. | found that of the top

hinderes ves and their circumstances di | - 100h , ies of all-ti war based on flawed and unproven in-
I rales eat something from receiving fui and equal opportu- more than any group of people inthe Gilt: Nonetheles, that is the ee thee cary ei pe pe er

negative ut ourselves we are quick to _ nities, Education (and access to aqual- United States of America. Frederick thar is us leveled against us fre- those were not what | would call “true” Dr. Edward Rhymes, of New

: ownership. people are drugs _ ity education) being the factor ass, W.E. B. DuBois, Booker T. q aod Pee ) dramas ~ Titanic, Gladiator, to name a Bedford, Massachusetts, is a consultant

and drug dealers,” and our re- the of ap- n, Alice Walker, Zora Neale we até so ready to condemn, couple). | also looked at the top gross- 4m the areas racism, equity & diversity,

Asst,

=

in . 52 & oe e e
nse? “Yep, that's us.” “Most Black plicants for jobs, makes white women Hurston, Toni Morrison, Malcolm X, : educatio lescent
folks are rh and on welfare,” and our mumber one on the affirmative action ames Baldwin, Langston Hughes, aan Wee cual ready to eee rn es tesa dae He is abo vane “Pefeor
response? benefit Kunjufu, Cornell usetts-
out the

n ime being im-
that’s us.” It seems that list, How? Affirmative action West and the black : when th beca that shen 8 : he Uni : M
sel pant , we aol question besaine « lagat and — reality “ i oe on and ran G mention rnin ds National Center ly do the worst. sudo like to roll Dertmeath. Be ner io check
Imagine a patien t who goes to see adoc- gene hi ks arid Many women ie tor, Afticana.com, The Hutchinson Re- 17 2003} powen 9 Loge December ork cea fica) since 1982. Out . Rhymes Reasons page on his website

tly white women). who tete.). These insightful brothers and down by h ; :
he or she has cancer. The patient asks been csppeniai and stay-at-home ster have held a candle up to our oa the ne deode ead the ar Ar “ ee ae by African
mothers (many 0 Boyz-

teenage preg- OF the 59 dramas that were listed, 9 were bttp://mysite. verizon. net/vzed8hqr/
rhymesworld
them were also col- ches with their powerful and N-T

 

cancer?” The doctor answers: “] don't kgresacsted) to redefine them- words. What more do we have ey chop ofaey group 9 ir et tri haven cot Mo en Blues — if you

know; you just look like you have can- and enter the work force to pur- ‘It also seems that we love a, decry cade and OR clas apnea ee Spike’): had a predonie nt nice The

cer.” Now, eee of you think that’s sue careers. Also the rising number of the notion that words ons people can the collective “bravo” for our youn (Whats Love Got Do With It) or one Minority Voice Newspaper
acceptable answer? How aie you many whitewomen tell us what the words are to the latest when the U.S. Department of or more of the leading roles were por- :

 

an com
would just t something that seri- to seek yment and continuing . rap album, but can’t tell us who Jam on's National Ce: . , ; is Published by
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Opinion, at rectify sisters, allow n some- Y ts Rouse
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Sresctdnatie Geta h es ere thie) taimieieces Scalar | cartes
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vl and aficmaive scion aye been ced the dabobial champions son's Batson tl yor eee pot eof le: mea ny Aide noe Whee An co “Greene aoe
spate a that have ben- of “lazy” junaualfed” blacks, have dist Liidacrs song, How come they pears that our youth arent the only ones was released on DVD and vider inert "
d blacks more than any other gro whites more than any group don't come serie idemna, who need to study more. Yes, '@ loye one milling ies in 3 days, Phone: (252) 757-0365
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lainey bcm specication ct its and fay cae nee; |The Minorty Volee
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ms at wets Aces Americans are not nceeabars pecgnane in tele with the i427 think ithe problem WOOW Radio
ref aper a Fopactint or that we years, but lam proud of what It is not because I am in denial, nor is it Greenville NC
as blacks tha t we are somehow they have done, The high-profile because I have a problem with “tellin it Wm. Clark. Gen Mgr
untouchable, tare truly ignorant of | prophets of black negativicy he one ike iti” Is for the same reason a , ‘and :

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is increasing wit each pass toy) We are looked at as belag greteer Boron thet whites 4 ue su reo) burs . :

 

 

 

 

 
 

Powell and Rice
. by Hazel Trice Edney

. WASHINGTON (NNPA) - The
Bush Administration’s top Blacks —
Secretary of State Colin Powell and Na-

tional Security Advisor Condoleezza
Rice — will cast long shadows over the

 
   

Republican National Convention in
New York this week — but not long
enough to win Black votes, predicts the
last Black Republican to serve in the
United States Senate.

“T applaud Rice and Powell’s ap-
pointments and Lthink most African-
Americans applaud them as well. But
when you're talking bread-and-butter
issues, when you're talking jobs and

health care, you have to balance that.
What are they doing for the millions of
African-Americans who are suffering?”
asks former Massachusetts Sen. Ed
Brooke, the first Black elected to the

U.S. Senate in the 20th Century.

“From the tax programs, the war, and
the disproportionate number of Afri-
can-Americans going to war, when you
look at it that way, they can’t expect to
receive African-American votes just be-
cause of a few Black appointments.”
Brooke, who remains loyal to the
Republican Party, says he will not at-

tend the convention because he is nota

delegate and is no longer involved in

cannot Overs

  

Massachusetts politics. He says his de-
cision not to attend the convention is
not a protest. Yet, his disappointment
is evident.

“The Republican Party has not
done what it should have done to at-
tract African- Americans,” he says.
“The party of Lincoln is not the p
of Lincoln today. Unfortunately, Af-
rican-Americans still view the Repub-
lican Party as opposed to the issues
that are most important to African-
Americans.”

- Brooke, who served in the Sen-
ate from 1967 to 1979, comes from
an era when progressive Republicans
maintained a strong influence over the
direction of the party, not just in ob-
taining Black appointments.

Until Franklin D. -Roosevelt’s
“New Deal” from 1933-1938, most
Blacks were registered Republicans. As
late as the early | 960s, it was not un-
usual for Republican candidates to get
30 percent of the Black vote, particu-
larly moderate Republicans such as
New York City Mayor John V. Lind-
say and Connecticut Sen. Lowell
Weicker.

A major turning point for the
party and its relationship with Afri-
can-Americans came when Republi-
cans chose Sen. Barry Goldwater, an
archconservative from Arizona, as its
presidential candidate in 1964.

Goldwater ran on a states’ right
platform, an overt attempt to court
Southern segregationists. Only 6 per-
cent of Blacks voted for Goldwater.

By contrast, 94 percent of Afri-
can-Americans supported incumbent
Democratic President Lyndon B.

Johnson, who was elected in a land-
slide. .

Since that time, Republicans have
never received more than 15 percent
of the Black vote. In 2000, George W.
Bush received only 8 percent of the Af-
rican-American vote, the weakest sup-
port a GOP nominee has received since
Goldwater. The more the GOP has
shifted to the right, the less support it
receives from African-American.

“How sad it is that there no longer
is that social justice wing of the Re-
publican Party,” says Ralph Neas, presi-
dent of People for the American Way
and former chief counsel to Brooke.
“That wing of the party no longer ex-
ists.

It's getting steadily worse, he says.

“Even into the early 90s you could
still get a third of the Republicans in
the U. S. Senate and in the U. S. House
of Representatives to support social
justice issues, including civil rights,”
says Neas. “But in 1994 [the year Re-
publicans took over control of both the
House and Senate and launched their
‘Contract with America’ campaign],
that Republican Party that I used to
be a part of ended, and the right wing
of the party now controls it. I’m talk-
inig about the leadership of the House,
the leadership of the United States Sen-
ate, the leadership of the White House.

We now have the most Right-wing ad- -

ministration in modern times. This ad-
ministration is doing everything pos-
sible to undermine - if not destroy -
the Edward W. Brooks of the wor d,
those Republican moderates and lib-
erals who were such an important part
of our history and civil rights history

   

over the last 40 or 50 years.”

Neas says President Bush’s choice
of judicial nominees is just one issue
that leads some to view the Republi-
can National Convention as a revival
of “obstructionism”.

“Instead of seeking to nominate
well-qualified, mainstream candidates
who satisfy the important criteria for
confirmation to the federal judiciary,
the President, time and time again, has
nominated individuals with extreme,
right-wing legal views who pose a
threat to the rights and freedoms that
Americans hold dear,” Neas states.

Bruce Ransom, professor of po-
litical science at Clemson University
in South Carolina, says the judicial
nominations are part of a larger prob-
lem.

“Primarily, there’s a notion that

views Republican conservatism as akin °

to racism or anti-Black,” he observes.

Colin Powell, the nation’s first
Black secretary of state, has been ap-
plauded by African-Americans for con-
sistently supporting affirmative action.

Although Condoleezza Rice sup-
ports affirmative action but agreed
with President Bushs decision to op-
pose two affirmative action programs
at the University of Michigan, she is
warmly received by Blacks and has
been honored by the NAACP the Na-
tional Urban League and other Black
groups.

While they may get may be per-
sonally popular, analysts say it will take
far more than the popularity of Bush
appointees to sway African-American
voters.

It’s not just about skin color, says

- country if they woul

David Covin, professor of ent
and ethnic studies at California State
University — Sacramento.

“Black people are extremely sen-
sitive to how issues affect them collec:
tively and Black people as a group ten
to be more affected than White s ple
as a group,” says Covin, president of
the National Conference of Black Po-
litical Scientists. “The fact that Colin
Powell and Condoleezza were selected
doesn’t matter.”

‘If the Republican Party ever ex-
pects to attract Black voters in signifi-
cant numbers, it must adopt different
policies, according to political scien-
tists. oo
“When you see President Bush ar-
guing against affirmative action with the
Supreme Court on Martin Luther King’s
birthday, symbolically, that sends a mes-
sage to African-Americans about their
outreach to the Black community,” says
Desiree Pedescleaux, associate professor
of political science at Spelman College
in Adanta. “Itwill take careful planning.
It will take years of work.”

Covin agrees.

“It takes a track record. They had
a great track record with Black voters
up to the 1932 election. They were not
only the party of Lincoln but of the
13th, 1th, and 15th amendments.”

Politics is more than about win-
ning an election, explains Neas.

“It would certainly be good for the

d be more inclu-

sive and there are always going to be
areas where you do want a variety of
views,” he says. “This is what this elec- .
tion is all about, which way we're go-
ing to go asacountry.” »

 

Bev Smith:

WAMO. Since then, Bev Smith has
taken her "fire brand" style of talk
shows to KDKA and WTAE Radio
in Pittsburgh; WGBS (now WNWS)
in Miami; WKIS in Orlando; and

 

   

 

WRC in Washington. She has guest
hosted on the Larry King Show and
the popular Kathy Hughes Show on
WOL Radio in Washington. Bev
served as the host of a one-hour talk
show, "Our Voices," which was seen
nationally on Black Entertainment
Television and in 40 countries out-
side the United States. In addition
to her regular radio and television
work, Bev has made appearances on
ABC's "Good Morning America;"

RECORD NUMBER

By George E. Curry,
NNPA Editor-in-Chief

WASHINGTON - The 167 Blacks at-
tending this week’s Republican Na-
tional Convention in New York rep-
resents the largest bloc of African-
American delegates to ever attend a
GOP convention.

“This dramatic increase in Afri-
can American delegate participation is
a remarkable showing for the Repub-
lican convention, and it will be inter-
esting to see whether it filters into the
voting booths come November,” said
Joint Center for Political and Eco-
nomic Studies President Eddie N.
Williams.

“Our polling since the 2000 elec-
tion has indicated some increasing
support for Republicans among

Bush’s father fores

by George Gedda

WASHINGTON - Not many people
foresaw the postwar difficulties the ad-
ministration has endured in Iraq. Of
the few who did, two stand out, both
lions of Republican Party.

One was George H.W. Bush. The
other was his secretary of State, James
A. Baket.

“Incalculable human and political
costs” would ave been the result, the se-
nior Bush has said, if his adminstration
had pushed all the way to Baghdad and
sought to overthrow Saddam Hussien
after the U.S. led coalition ousted the
Iragi army from Kuwait during the
persian Gulf War in 1991.

“We would have been forced to
occupy Baghdad and, in ‘effect tule
Iraq,’ Bush wrote. “The coalition
would collapse... Going in and, in ef-
fect Iraq,” Bush wrote. “The coalition
would instantly collapse. Going in and
thus unilaterally exceeding the United
Nations mandate would have destroyed
the precedent of international ae
to aggressionwe hped to established.

“Had we gone the invasion route,
the United states could concievably still
be an occupying power in the bitterly
hostile land. It would have been a dra-
matically different — and perhaps bar-

|
ila iis} ANE SAE et ea a lh ahh cei A hh Wich AB \\ ath n-e humane on .. 4

‘ war, sucking U

NBC's "Today Show;” and CNN's
"Crier and Company” and "Talk
Back". "Larry King Live," and "Sonja
Live." Bev can be seen as a regular

guest on the PBS shows "To The

  

‘Brandon Dawson wh

Contrary" and "This Week in
America." Never afraid to tackle is-
sues, she has lived with the home-
less, walked the streets investi ating
prostitutes, raised money for Babie
with AIDS, talked with inmates on
death row, and learned to shoot a gun
with the FBI. She has interviewed
personalities such as Bill Cosby, Vice
President Al Gore, Pearl Bailey, Steve
Alien, Sammy Davis, Jr. and a host
of guests, many of whom she now

younger African Americans, although
as shown in the 2002 midterms, this
generally has not translated into
more votes for the GOP.”

Blacks at this year’s convention
are 6.7 percent of the 2,509 total del-
egates, surpassing the previous
record of 6 percent set in 1912.

“After 1912, the Republican
Party changed its rules, allocating
delegates to states, and it has taken
92 years for black representation to
exceed the 1912 level,” the Joint
Center for Political and Economic
Studies said in its report, “Blacks and
the 2004 Republican National Con-
vention.”

In 1996, the 52 Black delegates
were 2.6 percent of the total delegate
count. In 2000, there were 85 Afri-
can-American delegates (4.1 percent).

ren — outcome.”
The senior thoughts are outlined
in “A World Transformed,” published
well before his son became president.
After Desert Storm, the nation was
deeply split over whether bush was
right to bring the troops home while
leaving Saddam's regime intact.
though the political context of
the region at the time was diffeent from
what the incumbant President Bush
faced in 2003, the father’s about-Iraq
war situation were eerily prescient,
Baker had a similar view on the
perils of a regime change policy in Ira
after Desert Storm. In! ptember 1996
opinion piece, he said, “Iraqi soliders
and civilians could be expected to re-
sist and enemy seizure of their own
country with a ferocity not reviously
demonstrated on the battlefted in Ku-

wait. “Even if Hussein were captured

and his regime toppled, US forces
would still have been confronted with
the spector of a military occupation of
indebnite duration to pacify the contry
and sustain a new government in
power. “Removing him from power
might well have plunged Iraq into civil
forces in to preserve
order. Had we elected to march on
Baghdad, our forces might still be
there.” Seven years after B

 

Richard Wilson

aker wrote’

refers to as her "special friends."
Over the past 20 years, Bev has re-
ceived nearly 300 awards, citations
and trophies for her contributions in
radio and television. Among them,

  

the 1978 Most Outstanding Black
Woman in America, the 1981 Penn-
sylvania Trial Lawyers Woman of the
Year Award, the 1984 Miami Uni-
versity Outstanding Journalist Award
and the 1990 Radio Air Crystal
Award for her live radio town meet-
ing, "Children Killing Children
Over Drugs." Mayors from Pitts-
burgh, PA; Jacksonville, NC; Cin-
cinnati and Columbus, OH have de-
clared special Bev Smith Days. Bev

S OF BLACKS ATTEND

In addition to the regulars, there are
123 Black alternate delegates to the
2004 convention, up from 76 in 2000.

States with the largest proportion
of Black delegates are Louisiana (15.6
percent), Michigan (13.1 percent),
Maryland (10.3 percent) and New
York (12.7 percent).

Some states showed substantial
increase, including Florida with 13
Black delegates, up from four in 2000;
Louisiana from one to seven, Michi-
gan went from three to eight and New
York is up from seven delegates in
2000 to 13 this year.

Despite the progress in Black
GOP numbers, the Joint Center re;

ports that there is a big gap in the

Black leadership and participation
rates in the two major political par-

those words, in 2003, the political situ-
ation in the region had changed dra-
matically. As the incumbent adminis-
tration saw it, Saddam had systemati-
cally igonred for 12 years UN Security
Council demands that he eliminate his
weapons of mass destruction. Also,
the administration believed, perhaps
wrongly, that Saddam had reconstituted
weapons programs that had been un-
covered and destroyed since 1991. So
the Iraq war that former Presidert Bush
chose not to fight in 1991 was carried
out by his son in 2003, and cast by the
current Prsident Bush as part of the
global was on terrism that had begun
with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks 18
months earlier. Saddam was perceived
—— atleast by the current President
Bush as a far greater menace in 2003,
the political situation in the region had
change dramatically. As the adminis-
tration saw it Saddam had systemati-
cally ignored 12 years U.N Saecurity
Council demands that he eliminate his
weapons of mass destruction.

Also, the administration believed,
perhaps wrongly, that Saddam had re-
constituted weapons programs that had
been uncovered and destroyed since
1991.

So the Iraq war that the former
President Bush chose not to fight in

“Shawn Hopper «

Coming To Greenville

was named Woman of the Year and
received the 1990 Best Journalist
Award from the Arab-American
League and the 1996 'Best in Jour-
nalism Award from the National As-

   

sociation of Negro Business and Pro-
fessional Women. She is also a
Kellogg Foundation recipient. In
1998, Ashley Stuart Compan
named Bev "Great Woman of Style".
She enjoys traveling, spending time
with her daughter. Heather, and
randdaughter Gabrielle dedicating
her time to the Philippine-American
Foundation Project for Women in
the Working Community, and focus-
ing on writing two books: A Funny

ties. ,

“Black participation in the ma-
jor parties national convention is
strongly Democratic,” the Joint Cen-
ter report observes. “At this year’s
Republican convention, Blacks com-
Prise 6.7 percent of the delegates, as
Syupencal with 20.1 percent of the
delegates at this year’s Democratic
convention. The Republicans’ con-
vention committees had 24 Black
members (5.5 percent) and one chair
(Jennifer Carroll, Permanent Orga-
nization), whereas there were 109
Black members on the Democrats’
convention committees, including
chairs and vice chairs of all three
(Platform, Rules, Credentials).”

The report continues, “The RNC
has two Black members out of a total
of 165 (1.2 percent), while the DNC

aw the cost of Iraq War

1991 was carried out by his son in
2003, and cast by the current President
Bush as part of the global war on ter-
rorism that had begun with the Sept.
11, 2000, attacks 18 months earlier.

Saddam was perceived — at least
by the current President Bush —— as
a far greater menace in 2003 than he
had been in 1991 when the senior Bush
was content with liberating: Kuwait and
foregoing regime change in Baghdad.

The current President Bush un-
doubtedly was warned about the possi-
bility of heavy U.S. troop casualties in
the 2003 war. But one wonders whether
those warnings were lear-sighted as Baker
when he wrote about the perils of oust-
ing Saddam Militarily.

If that had been the policy in
1991, Baker said, it “would certainly
have resulted in substantially greater
casualties to Americanforces than
(Desert Storm) itself. For this reason,
our military and the president's senior
advisers were properly dead-set against
it.’

Degense Department figures show
that, as of August 3st, 109 soldiers died
during the 2003 Iraq war as a results
of hostile action, compared with the
611 since Bush declared an end to
major combat actions in Iraq on May
1, 2003.

 

Thing Happened on the Way to Suc-
cess and Israel in Black and White.
Combining her knowledge and ex-
pertise with her passionate spirit, Bev
is a highly sought after public speaker
and multi-cultural diversity trainer.

"The Bev Smith Show" has its
own 800 number allowing listeners
to talk "toll free" to Bev and her pro-

1 Hubert Hammond: -:

vocative guests on whatever exciting
conversation she's has going on.
"The Bev Smith Show" is the only
national talk show targeted to a Black
audience. Formally a Washington,
DC resident, she is well known to
many movers, shakers, controversies
and celebrities who appear on her
show. "The Bev Smith Show" is
known to captivate it's listening.
CLOSING OUT THE INAUGURAL
During the evening segment of

has 97 Black members (22 percent).
Most of the Republicans associated
with state Republican parties across
the country are in positions related to
‘outreach’ to minorities. Black Demo-
crats are in leadership positions in
state parties across the United States,
with six state party chairmen, includ-
ing large states such as Illinois and
New York.”

The Joint Center report notes
that studies it conducted between
1984 and 1990 showed a slight in-
crease in the number of Blacks identi-
fying with the Republican Party.

“In 1984, 5.9 percent of those
surveyed identified themselves as Re-
publicans,” the Center said. “By 1990
that proportion had increased to 10

ercent. However, by 2000, that trend
bad been somewhat reversed, with
only 6.6 percent of African Americans
identifying with the GOP.”

In a 1992 Joint Center Poll, 12.6
percent of Blacks identified with the
Republican Party, if independents
leaning Republicans are counted.
However, when independents are ex-
cluded, the report said, 9.5 percent of
Blacks identify with the GOP approxi-
mately the same figure as 1992.

Republicans have made their
greatest inroads with younger Blacks.
According to surveys conducted by the
Joint Center, in 2002, 8.6 percent of
African American ages 18-25 identi-
fied with the Republican Party. An-
other 8.6 percent described them-
selves As ingependent leaning toward
the GC

“This apparent trend of youn
African Americans identifying with
the Republican Party is less encour-
aging tr the GOP than it might ap-
ear,’ the report states. “...What is
fappening is that some younger Af-
rican Americans begin to identify
with the GOP - what pollsters refer
to as ‘weak identifiers’ - and then the
GOP leadership adopts some olicy
Position (e.g., opposition to affirma-
tive action) or subsequently commits
some gaffe (such as the South Caro-
lina confederate flag or Trent Lott
episodes), and the weak identifiers
cease identifying with the Republi-
can Party.”

 

this conference and to close out this
daylong occasion, Ms. Smith will deliver
the keynote speech. She will be address
"The Plight of Families and the Role of
Leadership". The event will takes place

on Saturday, September 25th. Her

speech will conclude the occasion with
a formal black tie dinner where her lis-
teners and friends will personally have
the opportunity to meet her.
is conference will also be

hosted by KISS 102 FM and is dedi-
cated to Youth Today's motto of "Let
Us Synergize, We Are All In This To-
gether." The event promises to provide
a day of education, fun, and great en-
tertainment and Ms. Savage hopes that
Greenville will warmly welcome Ms.
Smith who is visiting Greenville for the
second time in five years,
FREE ADMISSION DURING DAY EVENT

Ms. Savage reminds those who
plan to attend that all funds and ser-
vices donated and collected for spon-
sorship are tax deductible. Also free ad-
mission can be gained those youth in
attendence if they bring three can of
goods or more. Adults can’ be admit-
ted free if they bringin two or more
toiletry items, ' .
She also wanted to remind those
vendors or entertainers who are inter-
ested in joining this activity can con-
tact the E.N.C.EE. Conference Plan-
ning Personnel at (252) 752-5637.
Tickets can be obtained at any ABC
Phones retail stores throughout East-
ern North Carolina. Ms. Savage aid
that group tickets for this event can
be purchases by calling (252) 347-
5916

GOP CONVENTION IN NEW YORK

It concludes, “Despite the com-
patibility between the GOP issue po-
sitions in several areas, and the views
of many y6ung African Americans, the
overly conservative and southern
white nature of the national Republi-
can Party keeps young Blacks, when
they vote, firmly in the Democratic
column.”

President Bush’s “small pluses
with African Americans have been bal-
anced by several very large negatives,”
the Joint Center report states. The
smaller pluses include the appoint-
ments of Secretary of State Colin
Powell, Secretary of Education Rod
Paige, Secretary of Housing and Ur-
ban Development Alphonso Jackson,
and Condoleezza Rice as National Se-
curity Advisor. He also received sup-
port for his faith-based initiative and
proposing the “No Child Left Behind”
Act. |

“The negative side of the Bush
ledger is quite meaningful to Afri-
can Americans,” the report said.
“First and probably most important,
Bush opposed affirmative action in
the University of Michigan case be-
fore the U.S. Supreme Court. Sec-

_ ond, Black unemployment has risen

substantially and household income
has declined from the heights of the
Clinton years.

“Very little of Bush's large tax
cuts has gone to African Americans,
and budget planning for a second
Bush term includes substantial cuts
in essential programs, including Sec-
tion 8 housing vouchers. Bush has
appointed to the federal bench sev-
eral conservatives with questionable
civil rights records, includin Judge
Charles W. Pickering from Missi
sippi. Finally, African Americans
opposed the war in Iraq more than
any other group of Americans...”

The Joint Center report con-
cludes, “African American voters have
not given support to Republican presi-
dential candidates since 1960. In
2000, George W. Bush received a
smaller percentage of the black vote
than any Republican candidate since
Barry Goldwater in 1964. Bush is
unlikely to improve much on that per-
formance this year.”

 

 

z eS Se ee en a

 
-— ee ee ee ee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By WDLBERT A. TATUM

A more-than-serious presidential
candidate mounted a lectern in Nash-
ville, Tennessee, to speak to a national
convention of members of the Ameri-
can Legion, the oldest and vet-
erans organization in America. The
candidate, John Kerry, had traveled far
afield from his vacation retreat in Nan-
tucket, where he was reported to have
been windsurfing and relaxing fro

rom a
torrid pace of campaign stops prior to

taking a break as is , during
the opposing party's =e conven-
tion.

While it is traditional- to lay low
during the opposing party's conven-
tion, Mr. Kerry decided to break that
tradition, for he had been roundly blis-
tered by a series of ads that have been
placed in most of the swing states by a

veterans =o from all accounts _
care-

has been with the truth, espe-
cially about the Vietnam War record
of John Kerry, through the use of funds
allowed to be legitimately collected by

Record number of Blacks atte

By George E. Curry,~

NNPA itor-in-Chief
WASHINGTON - The 167 Blacks
attending this week's Republican Na-
tional Convention in New York repre-

sents the largest bloc of African-Ameri-

can delegates to ever attend a GOP

convention.
Am Pie tic increase in African
erican delegate cipation is a
remarkable show *for the Republi-
can convention, and it will be interest-
ing to see whether it filters into the
voting booths come November,” said
Joint Center for Political and Economic
Studies President Eddie N. Williams.
“Our polling since the 2000 elec-
tion hai : don . .
port for Republicans among younger
African Ar tlce alth Pe shoon
in the 2002 midterms, this generally
has not translated into more votes for
the GOP” ,
Blacks at this year's convention are
6.7 percent of the 2,509 total tes,
ing the previous record of 6 per-
soto 1912; the Republ Party
“After 1912, ican
changed its rules, allocati tes
to nese and it has abn Speen

level,” the Joint Center for Political and
Economic Studies said in its report,
“Blacks and the 2004 Republican Na-
tional Convention.”

In 1996, the 52 Black delegates
were 2.6 percent of the total delegate
count. In 2000, there were 85 Aftican-
American delegates (4.1 percent). In
addition to the ere are 123
Black alternate delegates to the 2004
convention, up from 76 in 2000.

States with the largest proportion

of Black delegates are Louisiana (15.6

rcent), Michigan (13.1 percent),

Maryland (10.3 percent) and New York
(12.7 percent).

Some states showed substantial
increase, including Florida with 13

ONE MILLION BLACK

VOTES VANISH

by Greg Palast

One ‘million black votes didn't
count in the 2000 presidential election

It's not too hard to get your vote
lost — if some politicians want it to be
lost!

In the 2000 presidential election,
1.9 million Americans cast ballots that
no one counted. “Spoiled votes” is the
technical term. The pile of ballots left
to rot has a distinctly dark hue: About
1 million of them — half of the re-
jected ballots — were cast by African
Americans although black voters make
up only 12 percent of the electorate.

This year, it could get worse.

These ugly racial statistics are hid-
den away in the mathematical thickets
of the appendices to official reports
coming out of the investigation of bal-
lot-box monkey business in Florida
from the last go-'round.

How do you spoil 2 million bal-
lots? Not by leaving them out of the
fridge too long. A stray mark, a jammed

ine, a punch card punched twice
will do it. fs easy to lose your vote,
especially when some politicians want
your vote lost.

While investigating the 2000 bal-
lot count in Florida for BBC Televi-
sion, I saw firsthand how the spoilage
game was played — with black voters
the predetermined losers.

Florida's Gadsden County has the
highest percentage of black voters in
the state — and the highest spoilage
rate. One in 8 votes cast there in 2
was never counted. Many voters wrote
in “Al Gore.” Optical reading machines
ee these because “Al” is a “stray
mar

By contrast, in neighboring Talla-
hassee, the capital, vote spoilage was
neatly zip; every vote counted. The
difference? In Tallahassee’s white- ma-
jority county, voters placed their bal-

irectly into optical scanners, If
they added a stray mark, they received
another ballot with instructions to cor-
rect it. }

In other words, in the white
county, make a mistake and get another
ballog; in the black county, make a mis-

take, ballot is L
The | U.S. Civil Rights Commis-
CONTINUES ON PAGE 4

resentation to exceed the 1912 |

 

proups not running for office but who
an intense interest in the outcome
as a matter of their regard, or the good
and welfare of the country. That sec-
tion of law - 527 - is part of the
McCain-Feingold Act, which was sup-
posed to sepiine the use of soft money
during an election campaign. “While
the Act itself made the use of such
money for nefarious purposes much
less likely, a loophole in the law seenis
to have allowed a group of veterans,
who are said to have been witnesses to
actions by presidential candidate John
Kerry, to repudiate published versions
of his heroism and make a mockery of
is having received the Silver Star and
three Purple Hearts for heroism.
These ads have been running for
several weeks in several states, and be-
cause the Kerry people did not react
fast enough, a great many people be-
to believe that; the stories about
tty's heroic acts were a scam. Over
the last month, the ads, although un-
true, have cost the Kerry campaign the
leadership position in polls in many

Black delegates, up from four in 2000;
Louisiana from one to seven, Michi-
ge went from three to eight and New

ork is up from seven delegates in 2000
to 13 this year.

Despite the progress in Black
GOP numbers, the Joint Center re-
pos that there is a big gap in the Black
eadership and participation rates in the

jor political parties.
“Black participation in the major
parties national convention is strongly
Democratic,” the Joint Center report
observes. “At this year’s Republican
convention, Blacks comprise 6.7 per-
cent of the delegates, as compared with
20.1 percent of the delegates at this
year's Democratic convention. The Re-
publicans’ convention committees had
24 Black members (5.5 percent) and
one chair (Jennifer Carroll, Permanent
Organization), whereas there were 109
Black members on the Democrats’ con-
vention committees, including chairs
and vice chairs of all three (Platform,
Rules, Credentials)”

The report continues, “The RNC

two

 

REP. GK.

| Li |
ae wie os

i wy teeny Set ONY 1 ee a, So

 

__ Ist District Congress

This election year will bring

states, and if npt addressed promptly,
with the strongest kind of lang

based upon the best facts available,
could cost the Kerry campaign this
election. Mr. Kerry, realizing this,
broke with tradition and went toM \-
phis to talk to the veterans, to tell them
the true story, as he lived it. Kerry was
serious, straightforward and credible.
There are many supporters of the
Democratic ticket who believe that Mr.
Kerry could have shown more anget,
more spunk and more resolve about

uashing that which is so clearly a lie,

that has cost his campaign so dearly.
Our hope is that the American
voter is intellig nt enough to dismiss
these specious charges being laid against
Kerry from 35 years ago, and begin to
listen to the messages that Mr. Kerry
has been trying to deliver since the cam-
paign began. These include fair ben-
efits for veterans; an end to the foolish
war in which we are now engaged and
from which it will be almost impos-
sible to extricate our troops without a
much larger loss of life and several more

has two Black members out of a total
of 165 (1.2 percent), while the DNC
has 97 Biack members (22 percent).
Most of the Republicans associated
with state Republican parties across the
country are in positions related to ‘out-
reach’ to minorities. Black Democrats
are in leadership positions in state par-
ties across the United States, with six
state party chairmen, including large
states such as Illinois and New York.

The Joint Center report notes that
studies it conducted between’! 984 and
1990 showed a slight increase in the
number of Blacks identifying with the
Republican Party.

“In 1984, 5.9 percent of those
surveyed identified themselves as Re-
publicans,” the Center said. “By 1990
that proportion had increased to 10

ercent. However, by 2000, that trend
bad been somewhat reversed, with only
6.6 percent of African Americans iden-
tifying with the GOP”

In a 1992 Joint Center Poll, 12.6
pereent of Blacks identified with the

 

 

|

preset eier ty

  

ee
i a ae
eR ll tin cite Fey

nd

publican Party, ifindependents lean-

 

billions of dollars; a restoration of fund-
ing for the No Child Left Behind Act;
and the elimination of mote tax cuts
for the already wealthy, who received a
major tax cut a short while ago because
Bush said that the wealthiest of us paid
the most money into the tax systenMand
should get much of the money back.
(The continuation of that tax cut for
the very wealthy will bankrupt this
nation and leave us without funds to
fight a war that should not have been
started, and make it impossible to prop-
erly educate our children, provide suf-
ficient funds for Medicare and keep the
Social Security system viable.)

Those are a few of the things that
John Kerry is addressing, and the same
kinds of things that Bush is either pay-
ing too little attention to or glossing
over, as if they did not present a major

“problem to the people of this nation.

In sum, Mr. Bush is not a serious
candidate, and Mr. John Kerry is.
Kerry's programs, benefits and visions
are those realities that will help this
nation and its people survive. Bush's

ing Republicans are counted. However,
when independents are excluded, the
report said, 9.5 percent of Blacks iden-
ti, with the GOP, approximately the
same figure as 1992.

Republicans have made their
greatest inroads with younger Blacks.
According to surveys conducted by the
Joint Center, in 2002, 8.6 percent of
African American ages 18-25 identified
with the Republican Party. Another 8.6
percent described themselves as inde-
pendents leaning toward the GOP

“This apparent trend of young
African Americans identifying with the
‘Republican Party is less encouraging for
the GOP than it might appear,” the
report states. "... What is happening is
that some younger African Americans
begin to identify with the GOP - what
pollsters refer to as ‘weak identifiers’ -
and then the GOP leadership adopts
some policy position (e.g., opposition
to affirmative action) or subsequent!
commits some (such as the Sou
Carolina confederate
episodes), and the weak

 
 
   
  
  
 

  
   

 
 
 
  
 

 
  

 

sii emia RE a

fing ot Trent Lott

   

  
 

i

han
—
: re {
F Ss ” ra ae 5
"

i ia

t

foolishness and desire for a short-term
fix will make paupers and victims of

~ us all,

‘There is no question in our minds
that the enemy che has no name, no
vountry, no anthem and no flag is our
enemy, whether they are located in
New York, Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey,
Berlin or Moscow. Terrorists are evety-
where. While we must be vigilant, we
do not have to be insarie. Russia, su

pow r our ally now, is having a pro
€m of its own with terrorists, but they
are tetrorists of their own making in
Chechnya. Our terrorists are not es-
sentially homegrown, although many
would-be terrorists live here, having
come. here legally due to the immigra-
tion policies of the U.S. that are lib-
eral, as they should be. But it would be
our bet that many of those we find here
from the Middle East are terrorists wait-
ing in cells that were established long ago,
and they are waiting to strike America at
any time or place considered vulnerable
ae by those who would do us harm.
Mr. Bush does not seem to understand

GOP Convention in

identifying with the Republican Party.”

It concludes, “Despite the compat-
ibility between the GOP issue positions
in several areas, and the views of many
young African Americans, the overly
Conservative and southern white nature
of the national Republican Party keeps
young Blacks, when they vote, firmly
in the Democratic column.”

President Bush's “small pluses with
African Americans have been balanced
by several very large negatives,” the
Joint Center report states. The smaller
pluses include the appointments of Sec-
retary of State Colin Powell, Secretary
of Education Rod Paige, Secretary of
Housing and Urban Development
Alphonso Jackson, and Condoleezza
Rice as National Security Advisor. He
also received support for his faith-based
initiative and proposing the “No Child
Left Behind” Act.

“The negative side of the Bush led-
ger is quite meaningful to African
Americans,” the report said. “First and
probably most important, Bush op-
posed affirmative action in the Univer-

 
 
  
    
 

 

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baat cr Sygate:

UN) Ut / -2q

  
  

So a eee a
‘

 

: us a president or a dictator

that he cannot take the Patriot Act and
intimidate Americans unjustly, without
creating sympathy for those who lie in’
wait to destroy us, ee

__ We believe‘ that presidential can-
didate Kerry is a man of value. We be-
lieve that he is strong and intelligent.
We do not believe that he would suffer
ot should suffer the fool that President
Bush seems to gladly be. Mr. Kerry,
although clearly the superior candidate,
must let the people of J America know,
over the course of the 60 remaining
days until the election, just how supe-
rior he is, and how he must be the one
chosen to save America in its hour of
need. Indeed, it's our peril if the Bush
team is devious enough to outwit the
American people once more, while set-
ting America up for the entrance of a
dictator. .
Wilbert Tatum is the Publisher Emeri-
tus & Chairman of the Board at the

Amsterdam News in New York City.

The AmsterdamNews is one of the old-
est black newspapers in the country and
has been in publication for 95 years.

New York

sity of Michigan case before the U.S.
Supreme Court. Second, Black unem-
loyment has risen substantially and
household income has declined from
the heights of the Clinton years.
“Very little of Bush's large tax cuts
has gone to African Americans, and
budget planning for a second Bush
tetm includes substantial Cuts in essen-
tial programs, including Section 8
housing vouchers. Bush has appointed
to the Federal bench several conserva-
tives with questionable civil rights
records, including Judge Charles W.
Pickering from Mississippi. Finally,
African Americans opposed the war in
Iraq more than any other group of
Americans...”
The Joint Center report con-
cludes, “African American voters have

- Not given support to Republican presi-

dential candidates since 1960. In 2000,
George W. Bush received a smaller per-
centage of the black vote than any Re-
publican candidate since Barry
Goldwater in 1964. Bush is unlikely
to improve much on that performance

     
  

  

 

 

 
 

Black

by Shannon Gibney
Minnesota § kesman-Recorder
MINN. LIS (NNPA) By most ac-
counts, African Americans aren't doing
_ too well. Blacks are six times more likely
to be murdered than Whites, and the
vast majority is-Black-on-Black vio-
lence. And, more pack children live in
verty than ever before. Blacks m
kes often than Hispanics or Whites and
two out of three
in divorce,
One in 10 Black men in their 20s
and early 30s is in prison or jail, and
Black women suffer violence from their
Black male partners more than twice as
often as Whi women suffer violence
from their White male partners,
All this despite the significant gains

lack marriages end

 

By Michael Garrett

Every project that would be sup-
ported by the upcoming bond refer-
endum is important and needed. How-
ever, none of them will directly affect
the quality of life for thousands of west
Greenvilic families as much as the pro-
posed revitalization of 45 blocks in
west Greenville. It is for the sake of
west Greenville that I urge all voters
to reject the bond referendum. If not,
the only people who will truly benefit
from the $4.5 million price tag will be

a few big contractors. Worst of all, the

slum that we are trying to revitalize

Op as amore modem slum.

America’s

of the Civil Rights and Black Power
movements — all this despite our attacks
on legalized racism, institutionalized rac-
ism, educational disparities, unequal
health care access and service.

But according to Bennett College
President Johnnetta Betsch Cole and
Spelman professor Beverly Guy-Sheftall,
authors of the
“Gender Talk: The Struggle for Women's
Equality in African American Commu-
nities” (Ballantine Books), a primary
cause of these lasting ailments is rarely,
if ever, acknowledged: or dealt with in our
communities. That ailment is sexism,

In 230 pages of well-documented
arguments, anecdotes, and studies,
Betsch Cole and Guy-Sheftall put forth

the persuasive and troubling assertion

(with period lighting) long before any-
body else weet spend that kind
of money in west Greenville again.

._ Let's get real! We have problems
in this community that new construc-
tion will not fix. And by “we” I mean
the community and various depart-
ments of the City of Greenville admin-
istration. As far as west Greenville is
concerned, we have not been willing
to enforce the existing city codes on
littering, loitering, loud noise after
hours and plain old illegal public
dumping on vacant lots, just to name
a few things. Make no mistake about

it; these types of things will make any |

neignborhood undesirable when le
unchecked.

If only for the sake of west
Greenville, voters of good conscience
should be willing to wait until the City
of Greenville demonstrates a willing-
ness to enforce the codes in that area
just as in the rest of the city. After that,
floating a bond sounds like a great idea
to me.

Unless you own afarge construc-
tion company, voting “No” on the
bond referendum may be one of the

 

Does

 

   

sentative arrives.

something
smell Funny

Even with a system as safe and
secure as your natural gas system,
leak could occur, That’s why you
and your family need to know
wnat to do in case you smell gas.

First, Call Greenville Utilities imme-
diately at 551-1567 or 752-5627,
Call anytime, day or night, and
we'll correct the problem.

Whiie you're waiting for repair ser-
vice, open a window, don’t use
any matches, and don’t operate
electrical switches or appliances.

Leave the site until the GUC repre-

Chances are you'll never experi-
ence a gas leak. but it’s good to
know what to do just in case. If
you don't know what natu-
ral gas smells like, you are
welcome to stop by our of-
fice and pick up a scratch
and sniff brochure

rovocative new book

~

o

that the R of partnership between

Black men and women is our Achilles
heel. This inequality, they argue, has
marred our progress since slavery, and

ill continue to do so if we do not face
the problem honestly and with a firm
commitment to change.

“Now is a particularly critical time
for “Gender Talk” because of what we
perceive to be an embattled Black, mostly
male leadership, a deepening crisis in
Black male-female relationships, an em-
brace of patriarchal family values, and a
backlash against feminism and Black
feminists,” write the authors.

Betsch Cole and Guy-Sheftall assert
that these conventional patriarchal lead-
ers and the roles that they affirm stifle
the very creativity, compassion and ge-

MENTARY Gree @ The Bnd eee

most beneficial and co us things
you've ever done. It woul be easy to
feel good about voting for it and
thereby doing our part to make
Greenville better. But, we may feel
much differently after a few years have
passed and we realize that no one took
the time and effort to prepare the
eople who will live in west Greenville
or their “new” neighborhood by let-
ting them know how it must be better
cared for.

We've seen some fine presen-
tations on the referendum. Over
$30,000 is being spent just pro-
moting it to the voters. The prob-
lem is, some of us have seen this
show before. Believe it or not,
people thought that Kearney Park
would be like paradise when com-
pared to the downtown area where
many black families lived before
the Urban Renewal program
inl958. The two programs are very
different but I can’t help thinkin
that the history of Kearney Park
has a great deal to teach us about
the proposed revitalization.

he only power that citizens will
have to prevent a repeat of trying to
cover old problems with new bricks is
a “No” vote on the upcoming referen-
dum. We can do it right by first en-
forcing existing codes Before Passing a
bond referendum.

One Million Bla

CONTINUES FROM PAGE 3

sion looked into the smelly pile of
spoiled ballots and concluded that, of
the 179,855 ballots invalidated by
Florida officials, 53 percent were cast
by black voters. In Florida, a black citi-

zen was 10 times as likely to have a
vote rejected.as a, white votetesin, mg, --

ut let’s not get smug about
Florida's Jim Crow spoilage rate. Civil

  

roblem

 

_ September 17 - 30, 2004 The Minority Voice Newspaper Page §

nius that is at the heart of our
community's power.

If Black men are taught that devel-
oping their masculinity is the sole route
to seltmpowerment, the authors state,
they will likely be trapped acting out the

iolent and super-sexualized roles that
mainstream White culture has ear-
marked as “Black male identity.” They
will never, in fact, discover the other
parts of their identity that could actu-
ally enable them to reach their potential
(such as their intellect and their com-
Passion). .

Conversely, if Black women are
taught that the only way to nurture their
families and communities is to submit
to abuse at the hands of our partners or
risk being called a “race traitor,” we will
never be able to break the cycle and
achieve empowerment for ourselves or
for our children.

Betsch Cole and Guy-Sheftall write,
“Privileging racism over sexism has not
worked well in the past, and it will not
solve the current problems Black
America faces... Perhaps Black women’s
willingness to put men’s interests first
also set the stage for today’s gender wars.”

The authors state that this gender
revolution must permeate the Black so-
cial and editel| institutions; hip-hop

usic, and the Black church.

“Perhaps it is not surprising that
African American men, who were pro-
hibited from exercising power in other
public arenas, would be adamant about
maintaining authority in the one insti-
tution they did manage to control,
Black churches. Their embrace of pa-
triarchy in Black churches was aided by
passages in the Bible that support the
subordination of women,” write Betsch
Cole and Guy-Sheftall.

They also indict the Black church
for prolonging the AIDS/HIV crisis in
Black communities: “When Black min-
isters gathered at a conference in 1980,
there was the unbelievable charge:
AIDS is not our problem. We're not
going to let them [Whites] blame this
on us,’ which confirmed thé charge
among many Black gay activists that at
the beginning of the epidemic the Black
church had turned a deaf ear on one of
our most devastating problems.”

“Gender Talk” criticizes the Black
press for similarly lending a deaf ear to
issues of sexism and homophobia,

Although insightful and even vi-
sionary at moments, “Gender Talk’s”
most disappointing section is the chap-
ter on hip-hop music. In this chapter,
the usually clear-eyed Betsch Cole and
Guy-Shefall resent the all-too famil-

the entire

by Sexism?

enre of hip-hip music as mysogonist.
They even go so far as to suggest that
censorship may be required in order to
combat the music’s detrimental effects
on the vulnerable adolescent mind.

Unfortunately, the authors fail to

see that the fault does:‘not lie in the mu-

sic, but in the apparatus that promotes
certain strains of hip-hop above others.
There are plenty of hi ‘hop artists pre-
senting complicated ideas about gender
~ try Me’Shell N’Degeocello, Erykah

- Badu, Lauryn Hill, Common, or even

Minnesota’s’own Edupo. However, these
artists do not have the marketing ma-
chine that 50 Cent or Kelis does, and
never will — precisely because their mes-
sages are subversive.

This particular Gen Xer wishes that
Baby Boomers would quit blaming the
messengers (hip-hop) and get-onto to
dismantling the system.

Overall, however, “Gender Talk” is
aught and compelling read, filled with

yses, questions and new projects re-
rding Black ender roles that could
Keep you busy er the rest of 2004 ~ and
beyond. It is a much-needed antidote
to the steady stream of conventional
messages from the mainstream Black es-
tabliskment about what plagues our
community, and what we need to do
about it.

 

COMMENTARY - Liberals are...

Bush supporters choose to believe his
lies and help spread them. They will never
change. Many don’t know the issues fac-
ing us and don't care. They are the reju-
diced bigots who are full of hate and were
in the Democratic party in the sixties and
changed to the Republican arty (good
riddance) because of the Civil Rights Act.
They don’t talk about that now but deep
down that drives their attitude and vote
and this trait is bred into their children.

The Falwell/Robertson type ex-
ploited this and interpreted the Bible to
suit these bigots’ desire and they love to
have lies preached to them about liberals,
It justifies their hate. Of course Farwell
(the pure one) got out of the military draft
like Bush, Cheney, and Ashcroft but criti-
cizes Democrats who didn’t serve.

I have talked to thousands in the last
year and half and I can tell all you Bible
thumpers who hide behind it to do your
dirty work, liberals will not let you get
away with your lies about us any longer

~

Rights Commissioner Christopher
Eley recently appointed dean of Boalt
Hall School of Law at UC Berkeley,
took the Florida study nationwide. His
team discovered the uncomfortable
fact that Florida is typical of the na-
tion, .

+. Philip. Klinkner, the Statistician
working on the Edley investigations,
concluded, “It appears that about half

   

We do our part to help out around the house.

without you being called on it. Demo- °:

crats have let you get away with it for
too long. NO MORE!

Some person had a letter in the Re-
flector on Aug. 26th. spreading lies about
Kerry and he said he guess he didn’t un-
derstand liberalism. | will help him out
and hope he can digest it.

Liberals are open minded, generous,
ok religious freedom, equal eae envi-
ronmental smateeionn noth care and
educated children, veteran benefits, bal-
anced budget, support people bom with
different sexual orientation, women right
to decide what is best for their health,
and worker benefits, WE DON’T BE-
LIEVE IN ATTACKING ANOTHER
COUNTRY UNLESS IT HAD SOME-
THING TO DO WITH ATTACKING
US. In short, liberals help people while
Republicans help themselves,

Dewy Funkhouser
Greenville, NC

of all ballots spoiled in the U.S.A. —
about 1 million votes — were cast by
nonwhite voters.”

This “no count,” as the Civil
Rights Commission calls it, is no acci-
dent. In Florida, for example, I dis-
covered that technicians had warned
Gov. Jeb Bush’s office well:in-advance
of Novémber 2000 of the racial bend
in the vote- count procedures.

 

From Left to right Loreenzo Howard,
Dewey Funkhouser and Bob das
Greenville Resident spreads his mes-
Sage from Florida to Washington

 

 

ck Votes Vanish

Herein lies the problem. An apart-
heid vote-counting system is far from
politically neutral. Given that more
than 90 percent of the black electorate
votes Democratic, had all the “spoiled”
votes been tallied, Gore would have
taken Florida in a walk, not to men-
tion fattening his popular vote total na-
tionwide. Its not surprising that the
First Brother’s team, informed of im-
pending rejection of black ballots,

looked away and whistled.

The ballot-box blackout is not the
monopoly of one party. Cook Coun ty,
Ill., has one of the nation’s worst spoil-
age rates. That's not surprising. Boss
Daley's Democratic machine, now his
son's, survives by systematic disenfran-
chisement of Chicago's black vote.

How can we fix it? First, let’s shed
the convenient excuses for vote spoil-
age, such as a lack of voter education.

_ One television network stated as fact

that Florida's black voters, newly regis-
tered and lacking education, had diffi-
culty with their ballots, In other words,
blacks are too dumb to vote.

This convenient racist excuse is
dead wrong. After that disaster in
Gadsden, Fla., public outcry forced the
government to change that black
county's procedures to match that of
white, counties. The result: near zero
spolage in the 2002 election. Ballot

esign, machines and procedure, says
statistician Klinkner, control spoilage.

In other words, the vote counters,
not the voters, are to blame. Politicians
who choose the type of ballot and the
method of counting have long fine-
tuned the spoilage rate to their liking

It is about to get worse. The ill-
named “Help America Vote Act,”
signed by President Bush in 2002, is
pushing computerization of the ballot

Ox.

California decertified some of
Diebold Corp.’s digital ballot boxes in
response to fears that hackers could pick
our next president. But the known dan-
ger of black-box voting is that comput-
ers, even with their software secure, are
vulnerable to low-tech spoilage games:
polls opening late, locked-in votes,
votes lost in the ether.

And once again, the history of
computer-voting glitches has a decid-
edly racial bias. Florida’s Broward
County grandly shifted to touch-screen
voting in 2002. In white precincts, all
seemed to go well. In black precincts,
hundreds of African Americans showed
up at polls with machines down and
votes that simply disappeared,

Going digital wont fix the prob-

ee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Imagine how hard it would be to make dinner without electricity, Or do the’ laundry.
Or run the circular saw, That's the beauty of electricity, out suspicious counts
it makes life easier. And we try to make it even easier still by delivering electricity | In America, a simple fix based on.
directly to your home, 24 hours a day. Reliably and dependably, ___ paper balloting is resisted because, un-

, fortunately, too many politicians who
understand the racial bias in the vote-
spoilage game are its beneficiaries, with

little incentive to find those missing |
million black voters’ ballots. |
Greg Palast is the author of “The a

lem. Canada and Sweden vote on pa-
per ballots with little spoilage and with-

951-1567 * 752-5627

, «to

 

 

 

 

 

 

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) | b ' | . a \.
 

 

 

MEMPHIS - The decision by

Eagleston County (Colorado) prosecu-

tors to drop sexual assault charges
against Los Angeles Lakers’ star, Kobe
Bryant, was truly a blessing i
ways than one. Forget the fact that we

no longer have t ge in “Kobe
Watches” on Laker as Kobe's
' “diversion from real iden reality” became

the reality of our real life diversion
(watching sports). Forget that the

charges were highly s t to begin
with-as was the basis for a ore
hearing. Forget that. Kobe's interpre-
tation of a consensual indiscretion be-
came more fodder for when consent
ends and rape begins- “yes” means “yes”
until it no longer serves the Purpose
of one of the participants, then yes”
means “no” (“no” means “no” was never

Depression

by Byron Williams
The alarm poss off and you greet
the morning with sleepless eyes, or per-
haps sleep is all that you desire to do.
Your world is closing in, leaving you
somewhere between sad, irritable and
tense.
hi You do not have the for the
ings that you normally do. Your mind
is are Car feelings of worthless-

ness, hopelessness or guilt. You are

‘tired, but you cannot sleep; hungry, but

cannot eat; and for some, suicide
crosses the mind as a viable option.

If any of this sounds familiar, you
may be part of the fraternity that com-
prises approximately 5 percent of the
American population within a given
year, better known as major depressive
disorder.

Major depressive disorder, com-
monly referred to as “depression,” can
severely disrupt one’s life, affecting ap-

Economists

MILWAUKEE — More American com-
panies to add jobs in the fourth
quarter thati a year ago, even as they re-
main cautious about hiring, a new sur-
vey said.

Manufacturing, retail and service
businesses in particular expressed strong
optimism about hiring from October
through December, according to the
quarterly survey of 16,000 U.S. employ-
ers prepared for release Tuesday by Man-
power Inc.

Overall, 28 percent of all businesses
surveyed said they plan to add staff in
the fourth quarter, compared with 7
percent that expect to reduce their pay-
rolls, the survey said. Sixty percent of
employers said they plan no changes in
their staffing levels, and 5 percent said
they were not sure.

“We are seeing that companies con-
tinue to have an appetite to hire people,”
said Jeff Joerres, chairman and chief ex-
ecutive officer of Manpower, a global
staffing company based in the Milwau-
kee suburb of Glendale.

The fourth-quarter outlook is a
considerable improvement from a year
ago, when the net percentage of compa-
nies anticipating increase hiring was

Surveyed Veiwers
Say ‘Enough Al-

to Reality
vos Shows

Maybe it’s a signal that the Ameri-
can TV audienceis growing weary of re-
ality programming, Or, perhaps view-
efs just don’t want to admit that they
love folk humiliating themselves and
cach other and eat bugs. Whatever the
reason a majority of respondents to the
Circuit City Fall TV Survey* said they're
tired of reality shows. When asked about
reality TV, 58 percent said, "Enough al-
ready!, Give me a break!”

Like it or not, there's plenty of re-
ality programming in the news fall TV
schedule. Networks are offereing at least
15 reality shows this fall, compared to
six last year. With the new TV season

kicking off, the Circiut City surveyed

2 100 adults and discovered the follow-

, ing:

*Many viewers (47%) are looking
forward to new prime time program-
ming, following the new football season
(28%), presidential coverarge (15%),
and the World Series (10%)

*57 percent have TV sets in the
least three rooms in their houses.

"34 percent said they plan to pur-
chase a new set witin the next year, Of
those, 56 percent plan to buy a Aatpanel
TV.

*Picture quality (94%), price
(81%) and picture size (69%) are the
most important attributes shoppers con-
sider before purchasing a new TV.

*59 percent of respondents admit
to falling asleep in front of the TV at
least once a week: 13 percent sia they
do it every night.

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other high profile Black man go
throught another emasculating “O.J.”
iodine dominating tal eins
*he said, she said,” the did, she the

hey snipe naana lesion, .

highly sensitive national\election.
Doesnt the public, and B people
in particular, have enough grand dis-
tractions without the
tionalism of a faux pas rape case?
Haven't we learned our lesson from
that? Maybe not. Like the dismissed
Ray Lewis murder charges before it, the

Kobe Bryant rape trial was in the pro-\

cess of creating a media “feedi

that would have been ner
than an on-going social commentary
on the arrogance of professional ath-

places a

ite, sleep, work and relationships.
Roughly 1e percent of Americans will

experience depression during their life-
time. ie
ression is not something you
can justo out of.” It's erik an
imbalance of brain chemicals, ong
with other factors. A depressive disor-
der is not a sign of personal weakness
or a condition that can be willed or
wished away. People with a depressive
illness cannot merely “pull themselves
together” and get better. '

The cost in human suffering can-
not be estimated. Friends and Emily
are often frustrated by what is dismissed
as “selfish” behavior.

Depression, especially that which
goes untreated, can exact a heavy toll
on everyone involved. The ignorance

iated with depression can cause the
most well-meaning individuals to fur-
ther isolate the one they are trying to

See Pace of Hiring

half of that in the current survey.

Still, the latest survey found results
similar to the previous two quarters this
year, when seasonally adjusted. ’

“There will be hiring. And it will
be measured and it will be steady,”
Joerres said. “It will be good, just not
accelerating.”

About 29 percent of the businesses
surveyed in the durable-goods manufac-
turing sector said they expect to add jobs
in the last three months of the year, and
27 percent making nondurable goods
said the same.

Durable goods are products that are
expected to have a long life, such as fur-
niture and appliances. Nondurable
goods are used in a short period of time,
such as cosmetics.

“We've not seen manufacturin
have that kind of optimism in several
years now,” Joerres said.

Economists say that is important,

itional sensa-

heavy

uncouth young Black males. ’
god, we were spared all of that. I think
many of us learned from the “O.J.
experience” that there would be no
winners in that scenario. The real
question is, ‘Did Kobe Bryant learn
his lesson?” We hope so.

Kobe Bryant paid dearly for his
indiscretion, for which he eed
been cleared, and an expensive lesson
it was. Certainly not worth the mil-
lions of dollars in endorsement oppor-
tunities that a young man, at the top
of his game, at the top of the game,
the NBA, pat aed its ook:
any other professional sports :
Sex makes-one do crazy stuff, bur to
give up millions?

The three biggest aphrodisiacs in
American society are fame, and
money-each acting as an agent that ex-

help.
P Without treatment, symptoms
can last for weeks, months or years.
propriate treatment, however,
can help most people who suffer from
depression. Yet nearly two-thirds of
depressed people do not get proper
treatment.
Women are almost twice as likely
to become depressed as men. The
higher risk may be due partly to hor-

monal changes brought on by puberty,

_ Menstruation, menopause and preg-

nancy.
“Although their risk for depression
is lower, men are more likely to go un-
diagnosed and less likely to seek help.
They may show the typical symptoms
of depression, but are more likely to
be angry and hostile or to mask their
condition with alcohol or drug abuse.
Suicide is an especially serious risk for
men with depression, who are four

since the manufacturing sector drives
the economy and has jobs that pay well.

Ernie Goss, an economics profes-
sor at Creighton University in Omaha,
Neb., said he expects the large federal
deficit to lead to a weaker do
will reduce imports and boost products
made in the United States.

“The dollar should weaken some
more,” he said. “That should help jobs
in manufacturing.”

Recent government reports show
U.S. companies added 144,000 jobs
in August, the most since May.

But economists say the economic
recovery will take time and depend on
several factors the November presiden-
tal election, the war in Iraq, oil prices
and interest rates.

They also said spiking health care
costs have left employers reluctant to
take on new workers,

“There's a whole bunch of uncer-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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burden on

times more likely than women to kill
themselves.

The myriad physical and emo-

br seniors, such as
the loss of a life-long partner or pro-
longed illness, Saclhy contribute to
depression.

Too often the symptoms of de-
Pression are not recognized for what
they are. Many symptoms are misdi-
agnosed as physical problems. There
is a temptation to exclusively place a
sociological or theological critique on
something that requires a clinical

ysis.

The social stigma associated with
depression causes many people to re-
main “closeted,” avoiding the very help
they need. Ata time when they should
be reaching out, they sink further into
an abyss of darkness and isolation.

Depression is of particular inter-
est to me because I am part of the 5

Holding Steady

tainties, and uncertainty is very bad for
economic growth,” said Dawn McLaren,
a research economist at Arizona State
University’s business school.

Hiring prospects in the four U.S.
regions — the Midwest, Northeast, West
and South — remain the same as in the
previous quarter, the Manpower survey
says. Prospects are the strongest in the
West and the weakest in the Northeast.

es

 

 

cites sexual desire and clouds our j idg- who all did three guys in three num pu™*y mentality, who think what
ment which makes us believe plan J days, lose? Hell, Kobe Wes 2 notch on _ they're sitting is worth more than gold.
is desirous to all and all should capitu- her belt. But me attention stayed on And true, (some of) itis good...but not
late to our desires. I'm sure Kobe was Kobe, who everyone said (and is still that good. y some men pay
drunk with, at least, one of the three on saying), should have known better...and more than others, and many pay more
his fateful night, as was the woman he _ he should've. Kobe is a lion that got than they should. Then there is Kobe,
encountered. Plenty of folk are enam- caught ina mousetrap. It wasn't even a who ol aid $100 million for his.
oted by fame and/or money, even if it is lion trap. It was ‘the smallest of small That is the low-end estimate of the lost
someone else's. People have millions of _ traps that the biggest of big li- endorsements and other cegartainity
these encounters annually as they have _ ons. Caught by a commodity that is, costs withdrawn from the high-
become part and parcel of our cultural true-subjective in value, worth any- est profile player over the past 18
fabric that has even touched the Presi- where from $20 to $2,000 if you were. months.
ncy. to pay for it (depending who you do)- Kobe learned, we hope, a very
The only problem with these type and most of us do pay for it, whether _ valuable lesson. al ern for it.
of encounters is usually one has much —_you call it a dinner date, jewelry, rent, Kobe lost sight of who he was, and lost
more to lose than the other when the cars, trips or cash, it is seen, most times, sight 4 of me value of the commodity
encounter becomes public. The one _ as part of a fair ex : he was pursuing, which by all accounts,
with the money and fame usually is the Something Kobe:could have eas- was worth much less than what he
loser to the one whose only attraction _ ily Paid-top shelf-if that was just what _paid-and will T'still pay in the civil
to the rich and famous was that they he needed to do. Of course, you have suit. Caught in a trap hé easily should
were, “rich” and/or “famous.” How women who have, what I call the plati- have stepped over. .
much prestige did a hotel check-in girl, :

 

percent who must sometimes battle
with its haunting effects. There have
been times when depression has placed
undo stress on important relationships
in my life.

Having been diagnosed five years
ago, it is an ongoing challenge to rec-
ognize the symptoms and take the nec-
essary precautions. Treating the symp-
toms, however, does not address
underlying causes. Without under-
standing the root causes, the symptoms
of depression can place one on a tread-
mill of aggravation.

I decided to speak openly about
depression because too many individu-
als in our society are attempting to
function with untreated major depres-
sive disorder. The people writing our
Prescriptions, providing legal advice,
rotating our tires or who pledged “I do”

 

could very well be part of the popula-
tion that is depressed.

If you find yourself tired, restless,
unable to eat, eating too much, can-
celing activities, unable to slee
through the night or simply irritable,
ask yourself, “How long has it been?”

‘Am I developing a pattern?”

Ifso, contact a doctor or a mental
health professional immediately, De-
pression is treatable, but you must take
the first step.

Byron Williams writes a weekly
political/social commentary at
Byronspeaks.com. Byron serves as pas-
tor of the Resurrection. Community

Church in Oakland, California.

4k

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September 17 - 30,2004 The Minority

Black Consumers Spending Habits Are Ugly!!

by Sharon Woodson-Bryant
Los Angeles Sentinel ‘

LOS ANGELES - If you didn’t like what
entertainer Bill Cosby had to say about
Black people and education then don’t
read anymore of this column. It is not
pretty.

Last month in USA TODAY, an ar-
ticle referred to the tough economic
times African Americans are now facing
with an unemploy-ment rate of more
than 10 percent. But, rather than belt-
tightening, our response has been to
spend more.

According to Target Market, a com-
pany that tracks Black consumer dollars

The ABC’s of Black

by Alton R. Maddox, Esq.
NEW YORK CITY - Blacks have fared

no better in national politics than im-
poverished Black defendants have fared
in the criminal justice system. Despite
the fact that Black political support
since 1960 was necessary for the elec-
tion of every Democratic president, our
reward, on each of these occasions, has
been to receive a minimum rather than
a inaximum sentence for the next four
years through plea bargaining.

Like eee defendanss leaving
local courthouses with their legal aid
attorneys after they have just received
lenient sentences, Black voters typically
breathe a sigh of relief when the Demo-
cratic presidential candidate prevails in
the Etcctoral College. The reward is
work release for four more years.

Meanwhile, white voters, on the
other hand, enjoy political atronage
and lucrative contracts like the four as-
sassins who left the Albany courthouse
with job promotions and commenda-
tions. The Democratic Party acts like a
reverse Robin Hood. It robs its loyal
Black voters to enrich whites. This is
standing reparations on its head.

Over the last forty years, our po-
litical and economic condition in the
United States has worsened geometri-
cally. The Republicans were in the
White House for 24 of these years, For
the other years, the Democratic Party
maintained that non-contributing
Blacks should be thankful for reprieves
especially since they arose from pro
bono representations.

Altho our condition has wors-
ened every four years after exercising

the franchise, it is also difficult to beat

a charge that our wounds are self-in-
flicted because we failed to vote. If
Blacks fail to vote, Black leaders will
blame them for creating their own woe-
ful conditions.

Blacks must initiate a strategic vot-
ing and spending plan in 2004 after
participating and deliberating in local,
emergency caucuses. This must be
done over the next seven weeks. Vot-

ing without a mission statement will

not help us politically since politics is
based on the law of contracts.

The Republican Party has served
notice that it has become the all-white
people's party. “Four more years” is a
Republican battle cry. Bush 43 needs
the time to complete his mission of dis-
enfranchising and displacing descen-
dants of enclaived Africans while the
Democratic Party acts as a lookout.

Blacks are like manual typewrit-

nationally, Blacks spend a significant
amount of their income on depreciable
products. In 2002, the year the econom
nose-dived we spent $22.9 billion on
clothes, $3.2 billion on electronics and
$11.6 billion on furniture to put into
homes that, in many cases, were rented.
_ Among our favorite purchases are
cars and liquor. Although Blacks make
up only 12 percent of the U.S. popula-
tion, we account for 30 percent of the
country’s scotch consumption. Detroit,
which is 80 percent Black is the world’s
No 1 market for Cognac. Lincoln was
so impressed with the $46.7billion that
Blacks spend on cars that the automaker
commissioned Sean “P Diddy Combs,

ers, and all historically-oppressed
groups are temporarily forced to pla
musical chairs. Eventually, Blacks will
be outsdurced. In the interim, the
criminal justice systenr will continue
to emulate the growth'pattern of a hog
in slop. After the presidential election
on November 2, Blacks will receive
either life imprisonment or capital
punishment.

Our political fate in 2004 mir-
rors the judicial fate of the Scottsboro
Boys in Jackson County, Alabama, in
April 1931 after having been charged
with raping two female hobos on a
freight train. If these nine boys had
originally received life sentences in-
stead of death warrants for raping
white women, they would have never
become a cause célébre.

Any Black male accused of rap-
ing a white woman in 1931 Alabama
faced only two options: an extrajudi-
cial lynching or the electric chair.
Eight of the boys were sentenced to
the electric chair, including Eugene

Williams, who on March 25, 1931, °

was a juvenile.

Although the prosecution specifi-
cally instructed the all-white jury that
Ray Wright should only receive life
imprisonment, a mistrial had to be de-
clared when some of the jurors held
out for the death penalty. These ju-
rors refused to embrace the law. All of
ee eh had nooses in their
overalls.

After two Supreme Court deci-
sions in 1932 and 1935, and after
Ruby Bates admitted that in Febru-
aty 1932 she and Victoria Price had
lied about the nine boys, Alabama
continued to seek to execute them.
Even today, the criminal justice sys-
tem is absolutely unconcerned about
any search for the truth. Instead, the
system acts like a vampire.

A deputy sheriff shot Ozzie Powell
in the head in January 1936. Alabama
reluctantly dropped charges against four
of the boys in July 1937, Haywood
Patterson escaped from an Alabama
prison in July 1948. Andy Wright was
the last of the boys to be paroled, in
June 1950. All of. the boys had been
subjected to “prison psychosis.”

By 1959, they had all died except
for Clarence Norris, with whom I had
an opportunity to meet and discuss his
ordeal before he died in January 1989,
Little did I know then that several
young boys from Harlem would be
caught up in the recycling of the
Scottsboro Boys case in April 1989.

I ended up as one of the casual-

the entertainment and fashion mogul,
to design a limited-edition Navigator
lete with six plasma screens, three

DVD players and a Sony PlayStation 2.
rf make this even sadder, the only

area where Blacks seem to be cutting
back on spending are books; total pur-
chases have gone from a high of $365
million in 2000 to $303 million in
2002. .
According to the published reports,

the Ariel Mutual Funds/Charles Schwab
2003 Black investor survey found that
when comparing households where
Blacks and whites had roughly the same
household incomes, whites saved nearly
20 percent more each month for retire-

politic
ties by successfully representin
Michael Briscoe in the rape case an
threatening to also represent Antron
McCray before I was ambushed judi-
cially. Assistant District Attorney Linda
Fairstein and members of the NYPD
conspired to railroad the Central Park
Jogger defendants. To achieve this ob-
jective, they needed cooperating de-
fense attorneys.

President-select George W. Bush
and his chief henchman, Dick Cheney,
remind you of the Scottsboro Boys
prosecution team, which consisted of
Lt. Governor Thomas E. Knight and
Melvin Hutson, Morgan County so-
licitor. After Norris vy, Alabama, they
struck every Black juror to the satis-
faction of Haywood Patterson: “I didn’t
want no scared Negroes judging me.”

Norris v. Alabama ordered Ala-
bama to put Blacks on its jury rolls in
1935. Afterwards, a white farmer re-

ed to convict Patterson. He noted
“A n—t's going to stay in his place as
long as you let him alone.” He sus-
pected that the white women had ex-
cited the uncontrollable sexual appe-
tites of the Black boys.

Patterson's prior death sentences
had been reversed on appeal. This was
his fourth trial. Instead of granting
Patterson a new trial, Judge James E.
Horton gave him a life sentence, de-
spite Powell v. Alabama. This was a ju-

icial lynching. Once a mistrial is de-
clared, a criminal defendant is entitled
to a new trial with the remote possi-
bility of securing an acquittal.

Senators John Kerry and John
Edwards remind you of the original de-
fense team of Stephen Roddy, a Chat-
tanooga attorney who Judge Horton
forced to represent the boys pro bono.
No Alabama attorney could be sum-
marily secured to represent them.

To make the foreign representa-
tion legal, an Alabama attorney, Milo

Moody, had to be appointed as local

counsel to satisfy a requirement of | pro
hac vice representation. This move was
a cover for a judicial lynching. Roddy
and Moody actually aided and abetted
the prosecution.

The Supreme Court ruled in
Powell v. Alabama that executing the
Scottsboro Boys without a retrial
would amount to “judicial murder.”
The Supreme Court also found that
the boys had been constitutionall
shortchanged of their right to the cf
fective assistance of counsel under the
Sixth Amendment.

This ruling was a first for the Su-
preme Court. Previously it had given

 

eo ee

 

 

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ment, and 30 percent of African Ameri-
can earning $100,000 a year had less
than $5,000 in retirement savings.

Is this about instant ratification
or bad habits from our Emily back-
grounds? My father taught me to al-
ways pay my creditors, even if all I
could send was a dollar. But the ad-
vice he didn’t give me came from a
white friend, who told me years later
that her father had taught her to al-
Ways pay yourself first. “Put a regular
amount of money into your savings
before you do anything else with it,”
she explained.

Today there is a growing effort to

- bring financial literacy to the African

S in 2004

absolute deference to states’ rights. This
prior stance allowed states to maintain

angaroo courts without worrying
about federal judicial review. In 1963,
the Supreme Court mandated that
sence; an indigent defendant must
be appointed in all felony cases.

Samuel Leibowitz of New York
City was retained as their chief coun-
sel. The new attorney was only an up-
prade. Leibowitz publicly stated that

€ was a Democrat, like most white
Southerners, and he was not a “red.”
Moreover, his only intent was to keep
“innocent boys from the electric chair.”

This explains the disproportionate
representation of Blacks in the criminal
justice system and the intention of white
Democrats. While Blacks may exercise
the right of pro se representation in
criminal cases, pro se representation is
prohibited in a republican form of gov-
ernment. Politically, representation must
come through a political party. Blacks
control no political party.

Aside ftom his ineffective politi-
cal advocacy on behalf of Blacks, it
could be argued that Kerry should re-
cuse himself for benefiting from a con-
flict of interest and, through his rela-
tionship with Bush, creatin an appear-
ance of impropriety. He and his cousin,
Bush 43, are both members of Skull
and Bones, a secret society at Yale Uni-
versity with a history of racial exclu-
sivity and a secret mission.

In jury trials, relatives of litigants
are disqualified from sitting on those
juries and persons with confidential
philosophies are unable to be exposed
to voir dire, The tentatively scheduled
September 30 presidential debate is im-
portant. During this debate, Bush and
Kerry should be required to reveal the
secrets of the secret society. Anti-Ma-
sons, of the nineteenth century, must
be rolling over in their graves.

Mysticism fuels Black politics.

_ Contrary to popular myths in the Black

community, it is money rather than

votes that elect political candidates,
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and NJ
Sen. John Corzine are adherents of
checkbook politics. The late Mayor
Harold Washington also demanded a
war chest before he embarked on a
mayoral campaign.

In a capitalist society, everything
and everybody is up for sale. The Com.
merce Clause is the most important
constitutional provision in capitalism.
A non-marketable item is summarily
disposable since it impedes the flow of
commerce. See, for example, the fu-
ture of Blacks in the United States af-
ter 2004.

Forty years ago, Fannie Lou
Hamer rose up and cried out that there
was not a dime’s worth of difference
between economic and political bond-
age, which she was serving in the Mis-
sissippi Delta, and capital punishment.
Today, Black leaders are arguing that,
contrary to Hamer, there is a dime’s
worth of difference between economic
and political bondage and capital pun-
ishment.

John Brown, a white revolution-
ary, respectfully disagreed. Through his
actions, reflected in the words of
Patrick Henry, he said, “give [them]
liberty or give me death.” If John
Brown were living today, every single
Black leader would alert the authori-
ties that a terrorist is afoot in the Black
community.

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American community. Special wotk-
shops through the Urban League, for
example, teach people that credit cards
are like crack cocaine. According to the
workshop leader, George Thompson,
credit cards are illusions, ‘They make
you think you can do things that you
cant. They are bad for you, but you
g¢t a temporary high from spending.
You know it’s wrong but do it anyway.”
As acommunity we must end this
addiction to debt. We must stop spend-
ing more than we make and start plan-
ning for our retirement. But money
doesn’t come with instructions, so we
must learn ways to become more em-
powered and in control of our finan-
cial lives,
Budgets just don’t work for me,
but I discovered a way to tame com-
ulsive shopping. Several years ago, I
kept a small notebook and wrote down
every cent I spent each day for six
months. It was amazing to see how I -
frittered away money on junk food and
mindless purchases. That uncompli-

Shorter Life

cated exercise taught me to be more
disciplined. After a few weeks, I re-

member getting to the point that I.

would just not buy that candy bar or a
pair of earrings because I didn’t want
the hassle of writing it down. It made
me stop and think and often realize
that I didn't need to buy it. -

When you see the big picture of
your spending patterns you must rec-
oncile them with your values. What is
really important in your life? This is
what you should be teaching your chil-
dren. They learn about money by ob-
serving their parents and how you
spend your money tells a story. If you

0 to the ATM all of the time, your
Bias will think that is a way of life for
an endless amount of money.

Undoubtedly, income disparity,
higherrates of unemployment, and
credit discrimination are financial
hurdles to the economic vitality of
Blacks. But so are our consumer tastes.
We must find the courage to change
our spending habits.

Expectancy

For Today’s Youth...?

GREENVILLE, NC - “The genera-
tion of youth now in schools may be
the first to have a shorter life expect-
ancy than their parents” (Be Active
North Carolina: JAMA 2003. 187-
193), Come address this problem and
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Chamber Endorse
of Greenville

GREENVILLE - The Greenville—Pitt
Coumy Chamber of Commerce has
endorsed the four City of Greenville
bond items that will be on the No-
vember 2, 2004 ballot to be voted~
on by city residents.

“We believe these projects are
important for Greenville,” said
Henry Hinton, Chairman of the
Chambers Board of Directors.

“As the city grows, we need to
provide the streets and drainage to
support this growth as well as revi-
talize areas which need
improvement.” We have been fortu-
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if we want opetly growth to con-
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Hincon said.

tendent, Dr. Steven Ballard, Chancel-
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President: of PCC, will discuss issues
regarding the Health of Academics. Dr,
Ronald Perkin Pediatrics Chair of the
Brody School of Medicine, and Mr
Robert Greczyn, Jr., Pres/CEO of NC
Blue Cross/Blue Shield, will address
roblems such as the egst of health to
Businesses Dr. Marcus Plescia, of N.C.
Public Health, will discuss possible so-
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a panel of business representatives will
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talent, and money to local schools.
The cost for the Education Sum-
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lunch. For more information or to reg-
ister call 752-4101 or email
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City
Bonds

The City of Greenville has called
for bond referenda for street im-
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stonnwater drainage improvements
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November 2nd ballot.

The vote in favor of supporting
the bonds, taken on Augustt 26 at a
regular meeting, was unanimous by
the Board of Directors according to
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The resolution adopted by the
Board of Directors can be found on
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with Suejette Jones

 

“Let's Review”
The Saga of Jo-Ann Little
Upon reading the obituary of the
civil-rights leader, Golden Frinks and
noting that, among other achievements,
he was the leader of the “Free Joan Little
Movement,” my mind reflected to the
sensational trial of Joan Little. Accord.
ing to an interview by David Celeski
with one of het lawyers, Karen Bethea-
Shields, I quote her words: “Joan Little
(aka Jo-Ann Little) lived in little Wash.
ington, North Carolina, Beaufort

 

Community Voices
sty Zoices

County. She was a very young, (19-ye
old) cute, a tiny, cing Kete gt She was
from a poor family and she was a survi-
vor. She knew the streets. She was not a
pretty person to deal with. I’m not talk-
ing about looks: I mean she was cun-
ning and she could be kind of brash.
She was in the Beaufort County jail
for breaking and enteting and larceny,
and her case was on appeal. There was a
jailer named Clarence Alligood, who
was 62 years old. He had a reputation
of asking sexual favors from the female
inmates after bringing them treats. He
would give them these little treats and
then at some point ask them to pay up
with some sexual favor. This particular

"night in August of 1974, Joan was the

only female inmate in the women’s sec.
tion. Alligood was the only jailer on
duty. He went into the women’s sec-
tion with an ice. pick and into the cell
where Joan was and told her that it was
time for her to “pay up,”

Alligood sat down on the cot and
made her remove her clothes and raped
her. At some point, he relaxed and the
ice pick fell out of his hand. She got her
hand on the ice pick and during the
struggled, she stabbed him multiple
times. When he fell she went to the
next cell, grabbed her clothes and was
able to get out of the jail. .

Joan knew that nobody was goin
to believe her because Alligood had al-

ready told her that. He said to her that:

“nobody is going to believe you and that

 

 

 

 

|Spiritual Reflections

  

Greetings:

It ts indeed great, to be able to
write you and share these words with
you. As I was teaching Bible study the
other night, I began to ask myself why
have so many Christian fallen by the
wayside and it was revealed to me,
what part of the problem is?

Consider this passage of Scripture,
Romans 12:1-2 | BESBEC you
therefore, brethren, by the merctes of

~ God, that ye present your bodies a liv-

ing sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world.

- but be ye transformed by the renew-
_ ing of your mind, that ye may prove

what is that good, and acceptable, and
perfect, will of God.”

In most of our Bibles we will find

__ the word beseech in bold letters and

capitalized, meaning we are to put spe-
cial emphasis on that word, BESEECH
(means implore, plead, demand, beg).
Paul here is pleading with us that we
as children of God have to present our
bodies to God as a living sacrifice, holy
and acceptable unto Him for this is
our reasonable service.

This is where most Christian
make their mistake. They don't seem
to take God's word serious, they don't
seem to want to do what He said like
He said to do it. In order for us to
present our bodies to God we must first
sanctify it unto the LORD. God has
said in His word in 1 Thessalonians
4:4, “That every one of you should

by Jamal E Watson
Amsterdam News Staff

A group of Black farmers is
suing the U.S. Department of Ag-
riculture, charging the agency with
discriminating against them in fed-
eral loan and farm programs.

The lawsuit, which seeks $20.5
billion and class-action status for
up to 25,000 Blacks who farmed
or attempted to farm between 1997
and 2004, comes five years after the
USDA settled a discrimination law-
suit over charges that the govern-

Blacks and Koreans: §
by J. ZAMGBA BR( IWNE
Amsterdam News Staff

A group of African-Americans and
Koreans will hold a joint cultural festi-
val in Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park on
Sunday, Sept. 19, starting at noon.

Korean businesswoman Betty
Parks, the owner of Manna’s Restau-
rant and chief sponsor of the event,
said it’s ee to build an alliance
and ease tensions between the two eth-
nic communities.

Activities will include perfor-
mances by Korean folk singers, as well
as African drumming.

Linda Sejung Park, a spokes-
woman for the event, said that the pur-
pose of the festival, a "celebration of
culture between Koreans and African-
Americans," is to provide a space for
the two ethnic groups to learn more
about each other through the exchange
of foods and culture.

Park said that this is the first time
the annual Black/Korean festival has
been held in Harlem, and the cost for

the event was largely footed by local |

Korean merchants.
Manhattan Borough President C.

seh e k Aibliit lls hy ad

know how to possess his vessel in sanc-
tification and honor;” and in II
Thessalonians 2:13 “But we are bound
to give thanks always to God for you,
brethren beloved of the Lord, because.
God hath from the be inning chosen
you to salvation throu F sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth.”
You see sanctification is so impor-
tant to God that it is also His name
JEHOVAH-IVTKADDESH: “The
Lord Who Sanctifies” Ley. 20:8. “To
make whole, set apart for holiness.” We
must realize that this is God’s program
and not Burger King we can't have it
our way. Paul recognized the impor-
tance of the presentation of our bodies
to God, so he tells us how we must
present it to Him. First it has to be holy,
ecause without holiness no man shall
see the Lord.
Second, it has to be acceptable
unto God, your presentation of your-
selves has to be without spot or blem-

ish because yo have become the priest

of yout body and the priest in the old
testament time if they presented any-
thing unclean or unworthy unto God
they fell dead in His present.

3rd this is your reasonable service;
it is your duty as a Christian to live
holy and keep the commandment of
God. So again I say that part of the
problem with Christian falling away
from the faith is that they don’t realize
that they have to present themselves to

od.

Many Christian are quick to say,
“Lord You got to help me” but I came
to correct you today and say to you,
it's time for you to settle down and read
the instruction book (THE BIBLE).
God has already given you all the help
that you need He have given you His
only begotten son, Jesus Christ to help
you in your times of trouble. So, until
the next article why don't you take this
time to search your hearts and start
sanctifying yourselves and become the
vessels that God can use? Don't be con.
formed to this worlds way of living but

be ye transformed by the renewing of

the mind.
Apostle George A. Hawkins

ment had withheld loans and sub-
sidies to Black farmers for years,
The last thing in the world the
African-American should be denied
is the right to farm. That is the rea.
son we were brought here," said
Thomas Burrell, president of the
Black Farmers and Agriculturists
Association. ''Farming should be an
entitlement to Black folk. Our
great-grandfathers and great-grand-
mothers paid for that opportunity.”
A spokesman for the USDA re-
fused to comment on the lawsuit.

haring a common bond

Virginia Fields, the Greater Harlem
Chamber of Commerce, and a host of
Harlem-based business establishments
have endorsed the event, Parks said,

there’s no use you yelling.” And she
knew that was true. No one was ving

to believe her. She's in jail. She’s a black.

woman. He's white. He's a male. He be-
lieved that he could do anything he
wants to do to a black woman. He's been
taught that all his life. Nobody had ever
heard of a black woman accusing a white
man of doing something and not end-
ing up dead. And so the reason Joan
runs is because she’s scared. For a while

old black man in the community hid
her. They came and searched his place
at least twice, but they never found her.
A friend of Joan's contacted Jerry Paul
(a promising young Greenville la er),
who dater became the leader of her de-
fense team. He and a professor from
Chapel Hill went down and got her out
of Beaufort County. At that time she
was offered an opportunity to leave the
country, but because she felt that she
wasnt guilty, she didn’t go. She wanted
to stay and prove here innocents by tell-
ing her side of the story, so Joan, al-
though knowing that she faced a death
penalty, turned herself in to the SBI.
Dr. Page Hudson, the state medi-
cal examiner at that time, upon com-
pleting his autopsy on Alligood placed
a called to Jerry Paul telling him that he
needed to take a look at his findings,
Based on the autopsy report, he said that
there was more to this than Alligood
dying in the line of duty. Hudson te-

ported that his findings where consis-

tent with the story that Joan had told.
They had a dead jailer with his pants
down which was proof of sexual mis-
conduct, which they neglected to first
tell the public at the time of the jailer’s
death. And you only had one stab

 

ine vandrand wer deyeees: Fipe Rescue Appreciation to
Honor Local Heroes

cated showed that he was coming at
Joan. They also had other female in-
mates testify that they he had sexually
victimized them in exchange for snacks,
magazines and other favors.

Joan was incarcerated at the prison
in Raleigh. The case was worked on for
about a year. When the jury arguments

ibegan, some of the jurors started crying
she hid out in the black community. An ©

when her lawyers pleaded her case about
Joan's helplessness in the face of the
power and control of the jailer. The ju-
rors were led step by step through the
rape scene. When al was finished, the
courtroom was silent. The verdict was
NOT GUILTY !

(End of Interview as printed in The
News and Observer)

NOTE: As of today the public in
general has no knowledge of what hap-

ened to Joan Little, She is reported to

fave re-located in New York or Califor-
nia. One thing for sure—she is no longer
in Beaufort County where her story
made national news and became one of
the most controversial civil-rights cases
in U.S. History. Her lawyer, Karen
Bethea Shields (who was Karen Gallo-
way at that time) was brought up in
Method, an African-American commu-
nity, which since has been annexed PY
Raleigh. She was one of the first blac
students at Broughton High School, one
of the first black women to graduate
from Duke University Law School, and
one of the state's first black judges. At
the time of this interview she was prac-
ticing law in downtown Durham, N.C.
Respectfully submitted
Suejette Jones

 

SCLC is a victim of its own success

by Cynthia Tucker

ATLANTA - The Southern Christian
Leadership Conference, the venerable
civil rights organization founded by Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. and his lieu-
tenants, may be in its death throes Its

 Tecent convention showcased an agency

that has sunk so low that one of the
leading candidates for its presidenc

was a convicted felon. The SCLC’s is
beset by contentiousness, conflicting
agendas and competing egos, bicker-
ing so divisive that its last president,

Martin Luther King III threw up his.

hands and quit last November. Last
month, their most recent gathering
ended with a vote to keep its 82-year-
old caretaker president, Fred
Shuttlesworth. But neither
Shuttlesworth nor any younger succes-
sor can hope to restore lie organization
to its former glory.

The problem is too fundamental,
too basic, to overcome: The SCLC, like
the other leading civil rights organiza-
tions, is victim of its own success. But
t is a shadow of its former self. The
secretary of state and the lational secu-
rity adviser are black. Barack Obama,
a man whose father was a black
Kenyan, stands an excellent chance of
winning a seat in the U.S. Senate. A
black woman, Ruth Simmons, is presi-
dent of Brown University, which is an
Ivy League institution. The men who
run Time Waner, Merrill Lynch and
American Express are all black Ameri-
cans. When King, the Rev. Ralph
Abernathy, Jr. and Joseph Lowery
found the SCLC in 1957, they coukld
have hardly imgained such dramtic
changes in a short period of time.

But the SCLC lives in the past,
fights the last war, denies the future. It

cannot admit that the social landscape
has changed, that black Americans
no longer Fie fierce and unrelenting
discrimination, that a politically active
black middle class worries about na-
tional security, health care and job se-
curity, just lke their white neighbors
do.

Many black Americans have qui-
etly cheered the recent comments of
comedian Bill Cosby, who has taken
to using his stature to publicly chastise
blacks whose self-destructive habits
keep them out of the economic and
social mainstream. But the SCLC’s
leaders have been unable to admit that
many of the barriers holding back black
accomplishment are those we have
erected ourselves: drug use, educational
failure, out-of- wedlock births.

This year, several SCLC board
members reached out for vibrant new

leadership, backing TV judge Greg

Mathis for president. His biography. oldest and most respected civil rights |

which includes overcoming a recofd of
juvenile crime, might have had appeal
to at-risk youth. But another faction,

led by former Black’ Panther Party .

Chairwoman Elaine Brown, pushed
Ralph David Abemathy III, son of one
of the founders,

Abernathy served time in prison
tor theft of public funds as a state leg-
islator. After a confrontation with
Abemathy, Mathis dropped out of con-
tention.

The radical Black Panthers once
opposed everything the nonviolent
SCLC stood for and wanted to destroy
it. Maybe they're finally getting their
chance. Not that they needed to. The
SCLC was already on life support.
Cynthia Tucker is editorial page
editor for The Atlanta Consitiution,

 

 
 

Open Thurs
Open Fri,
Open Sat

 

   
 

and MORE
411 Deck St. Greenville NC 27834
252-756-9558

 

 

 

 

  

 

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Pitt St.

   

 

The Greenville-Pitt Chamber of Com-
merce is currently seeking sponsors for
the Annual Greenville Fire-Rescue
Appreciation Dinner. This year’s dhmer
will be held ut the Hilton of Greenville
on Tuesday, October 12, 2004 at 6:30
PM. and will include a presentation of
the Greenville Fire-Rescue Person of
the Year. “This is a great opportunity
to shew your appreciation for these
outstanding people who help make our
city a safer place to live,” said Supine
Sanelle, chamber president. “Sponsors

can “ive back to the commumty and
support fire-rescue professionals by
sponsoring an individual or an entire
table at this event.”

Grand sponsors for the event include

| DSM Pharmaceuticals, Hastings Ford,

and Minges & Associates.
The cost‘is $20.00 per person for each

Fire-Rescue Professional, Sponsor an

individual or an entire table for
$160.00. To reserve seats or for more
information you can call 752-4101 or
email chamber@greenvillenc.org. -

 

 

WORLD'S LARGESTS WAR PROTESTS

The following information was submitted by:

Charles Shiver (Former Greenville Businessman)

The largest anti-war was held February 15, 2003 around the
world. The largest was held in Romr: 3 million people, 1.3 mil-
lion in Barcelona, Spain, I million in London, England and other
in 600 cities around the world. Something to think about it...
SOURCE: Guiness Book of Record Page 143.

 

 

The NAACP

GREENVILLE - On a fairl regular
basis, for many years, people in our
area have come to me pleading for in-
formation about how to get help from

the NAACP. Usually they come with -

distressing details of some type of mis-
treatment. Many people have an im-
age of the NAACP as an organization
that has the resources to help correct
injustices of any sort. That is not a false
image. The NAACP WAS that orga-
nization in times past. Today we have
allowed the NAACP to become very
weak at the local level. I’m sad to say
it, but most people who think of the

_ NAACP when they are in need have

never seriously considered joining or
even coming to a regular meeting.
Locally, in Pitt and the surround-
ing counties, there is a solid connec-
tion with the state and national offices.
The truth is that we need more than
that to be effective. Like any organi-
zation that seeks to be an advocate,
your strength is your membership.
Here is more sad news. If you joined
the NAACP today and went directly
to the next meeting, it will not result
in any noticeable change. Why then,
you might ask, would I bother? Be-
cause that is the first step! You can't
move on to the other steps without the
effort of taking the first step, which is
joining: The next step is to get a copy
of the rules and then attend meetings
on a regular basis. Our NAACP can
be as good or as useless as we want it
to be. It did not get to be the largest,
ofganization in America just by acci-
dent. It has a solid organizational struc-

& Your

ture that will serve any community
well that is progressive enough to use
it. Too many times, people use the
NAACP’s name while operating in a
way that is totally the opposite of rules
of the organization. Those are the lo-
cal chapters that never get much done
and never resolve the matters that
come to their attention. As a result,
they help to give the organization a
reputation for not being useful. That’s
why it’s important that the members
know the rules so that they can give
knowledgeable input about how things
are to be done.

Here's the good. news! You can
really begin to make a difference to-
day. The first of 3 organizational meet-
ings for the Pitt County NAACP will
take place at 6:00PM on Sunday, Sep-
tember 26", 2004 at Cherry Lane
Church, Myrtle Avenue in Greenville.
Whether you haven't officially joined
or not, make plans to be there and en-
courage everyone that you encounter
to do so, as well. It wouldn't hurt to
get a copy of the rules before going to
the meeting. That way, you can walk
in the door totally in-the-know,

Let's face it. Our local NAACP
is weak but we can rebuild it to make
it strong and credible. People in our
community don't have any place to
turn now for so many things that need
to be addressed. Our Pitt County
NAACP can be that resource. We will
need YOUR involvement to make that
happen and it still won't happen,ayer-

night. So, let’s get sta 2. on Suimday,
. ie 26" at Chey Bi Le irra

you there.

 

 

 

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The Dynamics of Leadership

“Leadership” is a word on

everyone's lips, The young attack it
0

and the old grow wistful for it. Par-
ents have lost it and police seek it.
Experts claim it and artists spurn it,
while scholars want it. Philosophers
reconcile it (as authority) with liberty
and theologians demonstrate its com-
patibility with conscience. Everybody
agrees that there is less of it than there
used to be. Leadership is the pivotal
force behind successful organizations
and that to create vital and viable or-

anizations, leadership is necessary to

elp organizations develop a new vi-
sion oft what they can be, then mobi-
lize the organization change toward
new vision. Some great leaders are
Moses, Pericles, Julius Caesar, Jesus
Christ, Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., Archbishop Desmond Tutu,

’. agement vs. Lea

Nelson Mandela, and Winston
Churchill amon many others. Man-
dershir Managers are

people who do things right and lead.
ers are people who do the right thing.
Let's get rid of management! People
© not want to be. managed. They,
want to be led. Ask your horse. You

-can lead your house too water, but you

cannot manage him to drink. If you
want to manage someone, manage
yourself. Do that well and you will be
teady to stop managing. And start
leading. Leadership involves commu-
nication. Communication creates
meaning for people. It is the only way
any group, small or large, can become
aligned behind the overarching goals
of an organization. Talent, genius,
education will not make leaders, but
persistence and determination are om-
nipotent. Leaders might use five skills:

1. The ability to accept ple as they
are, not as you would like then to be.

2. The capacity to approach rela-
tionships and problems in terms of the
Present rather than the past, though
we can leam from the past. .

3. The ability to treat people who
are close to you with the same courte-
ous attention that you extend to
strangers and casual acquaintances.
We tend to take for granted those to
whom we are closest.

4. The ability to trust others, even
if the risk seems great.

5. The ability to do without con-
stant approval and recognition from
others. It should not really matter
how many people like leaders. The im-
portant thing is the quality of work
that results Bom collaborating with
them. It-is the large part of a leader's
job to take risks. Th the successful

 

n°

   
  

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Is a bad deal for America.

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- members use good manners in the

| without television as often as possible.

September 17 - 30, 2004. . The Minority Voice Newspaper Page 9

leader, failure: is a be inning, the
springboard of hope. Te worry puts
obstacles in the way of clear thinking.
- Effective leadership negates pro-
test, grievance, and career change as
well as resignation and apathy. Lao
Tzu said, “To lead, we must follow.”
Practice Advice for Daughters
Perennial advice for teenagers
preparing to go to college -
1. Study hard, do your work, don't fol-
low the crowd, think for yourself.
2. Read a major nation newspaper
daily, and read the Black Press, then
youll know more than your peers, and
probably more than your professors.
3. Show up! To vote, to mentor, to tu-
tor, to city council, PTA and school
oard meetings.
4. Move from commitment to action,
says Delta Sigma Theta President
Gwendolyn Boyd. She says to know
something and not to do it is a sin.
5. Don't drink, but girls, if you do,
don't set your drink down at a party -
geta _—_ fresh drink.
6. Look for character in men; it lasts
longer than money or looks.
7. President Johnnetta B. Cole, President
of Bennett College, has said she learned
from her family and friends in Jackson-
ville, Florida that a woman would be
known by the company she keeps.
8. Dr. Benjamin S. Mays, the educa-
tor, President of Morehouse College
in Atlanta, Georgia imparted weekly
wisdom back in 1940’s and1950’s to
that —_generation of men that excel-
lence was the best defense and offense.
They __ simply had no hope of suc-
cess in life without it. Form: “Sister
Speak” - EBONY Magazine, Septem-
ber 2004, page. 32 Please read it.

Involvement with children is es-
sential. “Character is like a tree and
reputation like its shadow. The
shadow is what we think of it; the tree
is the real thing,” Abraham Lincoln
once said, “Raising children of char-
acter demands truth and attention.
We need to create an environm Lin
which our children can dee hab
its of honesty, generosity aXd a sense
of justice.”

Consider these steps to help your
children build sturdy character

* Model good character in the
home. It is critically important that
those who are attempting to influence
children in positive ways, “walk the
talk.”

* Be clear about your values. Talk
with children about where you stand
on important issues.

* Show respect for your spouse,
your children and other family mem-

ers. Simply stated, respect begets re-
spect.

* Model and teach your children
good manners. Insist that all family

Jackie Robinson
League Holds |
Annual Banquet

 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
  
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
 
  
 
  
   

home.
* Have family meals together

Mealtime is an excellent time for par-
ents to talk with and listen to the chil-
dren and strengthen family ties.

* Dont provide your children ac-
cess to alcohol and drugs. Model ap-
propriate behavior regarding alcohol
and drugs,

* Leam to say no and mean it.

* Refuse to cover for your
children or make excuses for their
behavior.

* Keep your children Pusy in |

Ositive activities such as sports, hob-
bies, music or other forms of the arts,
church or: youth groups.

* Set clear expectations for your
children and hold. them accountable
for their actions.

* Know where your children are,
what they are doing and with whom.
Insist on meeting your children’s
friends and their parents.* Character
counts, BEATRICE MAYE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hemby.
Tarboro, NC
(252) 823-5129

 

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— Matts~ -
Scotland Neck, NC
(252) 826-4406

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Serving Families”

  

-

The Jackie Robinson Baseball
League Summer Season concluded gives young
with annual banquet award ceremo- city the opportunity to play organized
nies that was held at J.H. Rose High _ baseball through out the long hot Sum-
School. mer months. Photos: Jim Rouse

truth and beauty is a sphere of activ-
we are permitted to remain children all

This highly successful program
| f

ack yout in the inner

our lives,

 

Pitt County

Democratic
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fo

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to

Africa they came. In 1842 freed
slaves founded a settlement with

th

it

 

Expedition aims to
find lost slave ship

by Ian James

Associated Press Writer |

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -
Archaeologists are set to begin an

ee this month in opes

wrecked
the Turks and C
1841 carrying a cargo of African

slaves.

is unusual because all 193 slaves
| made it to shore, and all but one
survived to see their freedom
granted by
that had
Mest settled in the arid, low-ly-
ing islands and
working its salt ponds and rais-
ing families.

lar significance for the British ter-
ritory of 25,000 people because
researchers believe virtually all
native islanders have ties by blood
of marriage to the survivors.

ten, reflected only in vag:
passed down over generations, un-
til archaeologists in the :
pieced together details from records
in Britain, Cuba, Jamaica, Bahamas
and the United States.

to begin Aug. 28, with searchers
using swimmers dr.
boards behind a dive

waters seldom visited by divers.

ing to find it simply because all the
paperwork points to one location,”
said Nigel Sadler, an Engli
ologist and director of the Turks and
Caicos National Museum.

brigantine sank o
on uninhabited East Caicos is-
land, a treacherous coastline lit-
tered with shipwrecks,

T&C Explorer, is to leave Grand
Turk with

cluding filmmakers from Wind-
ward Media of Kemah, Texas,
making a documentary for U.S.

is funded with $80,000 given by

resorts, developers, the islands’
tourism board and foes donors.

istence came in 1993 when
Grethe Seim, late founder of the
National Museum, and American
archaeologist Donald Keith were
looking
facts at the Smithsonian Institu-
tion in Washington.

an artifact dealer mentioned two
wooden African idols from a ship- | -
wreck off Turks and Caicos. Re-
search showed the ship’s name was
listed in documents as Trouvadore
— Trovador in Spanish — and
that the idols weren't African but
from Easter Island, probably me-
mentos Drought by Spanish or
Port

anywhere in one document. It’s
little bits and pieces that you put
together — letters back and
forth,” said Keith, who runs the
group Ships of Discovery at the
Corpus C

ence and History in Texas.

in spots from Turkey to South
Korea, and in the 1980s excavated |
the 16th centu
Wreck off Tur
about 575 miles
ami.

broke apart after hittin reefs,
probably leaving metal B

and slaves’ chains strewn about
and perhaps buried in sand. If the
team finds
will a

the

from Africa to Cuba seven years
after Britain's 1834 order to eman-
cipate slaves,

thorities in Nassau, Bahamas, on
April 3, 1841, a British magistrate
wrote that the Africans were

a jail where they were given food
and clothing.

one African woman on the beach
who tried to escape. The 20 Spanish
and Portuguese sailors were sent un-
der guard to Nassau and deported

ken to Nassau,
Turks and Caicos
signed to work on the many salt
ponds under one-

taking salt into pi
Th

dozen residents.

exist
Chad
other researchers Say survivors

probably brou

Music to basket-weaving. On the
Net:

www.slaveshiptrouvadore.com

finding a Spanish ship that
the

ong the jagged reefs off | ’

icos Islands in

The story of the Trouvadore

a British government
just outlawed slavery.

new lives |.

The shipwreck holds particu-

Their story was nearly forgot-
8 tales

past decade
The two-week expedition is
ed on tow

at to scan

square miles of shallow, clear

“We are very confident we're go-

the Spanish

All accounts sa
rf Breezy Point

_ The chartered sedrch boat,
a 13-member team in-

ublic television. The expedition

otel and tourism association,

A first hint of the ship’s ex-

ough records of arti-

One century-old letter from

uese sailors,
“The whole story is not told

risti Museum of Sci-

Keith has studied shipwrecks

Molasses Reef
s and Caicos,
southeast of Mi-

He suspects the Trouvadore

atches

promising spots, they
ply to excavate artifacts for
ational Museum.

The ship wrecked on its way

In a letter sent to colonial au-

und naked, then quarantined in

The crew had shot and killed

Cuba.

While 24 freed slaves were
168 stayed in
and were as-

ear contracts,

es in exchange

r shelter and food, Sadler said.

ey brought a7 percent increase

a population of about 2,300,
t

»

8 not clear from where in

¢ African name Bambarra, and
remains today with several

Towns named Bambara also
in Mali in West Africa and
ad in central Africa. Sadler and

ght that name with
em, along with traditions from

 

 

 

 

 
o eae
te

-— ww we ee ee

Page 10 The Minority Voice Newspaper

Rising Use
By Rachell L. Swarns
SILVER SPRING, Md. - For a mo-
ment, the Ethiopian-born activist
seemed to melt into the crowd, blend-
ing into the sea of black professors,
health experts and community leaders
considering how to educate blacks.
about the dangers of prostate cancer.

But when he s
some attention on African immigrants,
the dividing lines were promptly and
pointedly drawn. .

The focus of the campaign, activ-

be strictly on African-Americans.

“I said, “But I am African and |
am an American citizen; am I not Af-
rican-American?: ” asked Kamus, an
advocate for African immigrants here.

“They said, ‘No, no, no, not you.”

“The census is claiming me as an

focusing

African-American,” said Kamius, 47,
who has lived in this country for 20
years. “If I walk down the streets,
white people see me as an Aftican-
American. Yet African-Americans are
saying, “You are not one of us.’ So |
ask myself, in this country, how do I
define.myself?” .
That’ prickly question is increas-
ingly being raised as the growing num-
ber of foreign- born Blacks in the
United States inspires a quiet debate

over who can claim the term “Aftican-
ist Abdulaziz Kamus was told, would

American.” The term has rapidly te-
placed “black” in much of the nation’s
political and cultural discourse.

In the 1990s in the United States,
the number of blacks with recent roots
in sub-Saharan Africa nearly tripled.
And the number of blacks with: ori-
gins in the Caribbean grew by more

‘September 17 - 30, 2004

Of ‘African-American’ Raises

- than 60 percent, according to demog-

raphers at the State University of New
York at Albany.

By 2000, foreign-born blacks con-
stituted nearly 34 percent of blacks in
Miami, 30 percent of those in New
York City and 28 percent of those in
Boston, an analysis of census data done
at Queens College shows,

In recent years, black immigrants
and their children have become more
visible in universities, in the workplace
and in politics. They include Secretary
of State Colin Powell, son of Jamaican
immigrants, and Illinois state Sen.
Barack Obama, born to-a Kenyan fa-
ther and an American mother, who is
leading the polls in the race for a U.S.
Senate seat,

The demographic shifts gained
strength in the 1960s after changes in

Iraq had no WMD: the final verdict

Julian Borger in Washington
The Guardian

WASHINGTON, DC - The compre-
hensive 15-month search for weapons
of mass destruction in Iraq has con-
cluded that the only chemical or bio-
logical agents that Saddam Hussein's
regime was working on before last
year’s invasion were small quantities
of poisons, most likely for use in as-
sassinations.

A draft of the Iraq Survey Group's
final report circulating in Washington
found no sign of the alleged illegal
stockpiles that the US and Britain pre-
sented as the justification for going to
war, nor did it find any evidence of
efforts to reconstitute Iraq’s nuclear
weapons programme.

It also appears to play down an
interim report which suggested there
was evidence that Iraq was develop-
ing “test amounts” of ricin for use in
weapons. Instead, the ISG report says
in its conclusion that there was evi-
dence to suggest the Iraqi regime
planned to restart its illeg: weapons
a if UN sanctions were

ifted.

Charles Duelfer, the head of the
ISG, has said he intends to deliver his
final report by the end of the month.
It is likely to become a heated issue in
the election campaign.

President George Bush now ad-

mits that stockpiles have not been
found in Iraq but claimed as recent

as Thursday
the capability of making weapons, and

t“S. td. Hi . had -

he could have passed that capability

on to the enemy”.

The draft Duelfer report, accord-_

ing to the New York Times, finds no

evidence of a capability, but only of .

an intention to rebuild that capability
once the UN embargo had been re-
moved and Iraq was no longer the tar-
get of intense international scrutiny.
The finding adds weight to Mr
Bush's assertions on the long-term dan-
pet posed by the former Iraqi leader,
ut it also suggests that, contrary to
the administration's claims, diplomacy

and containment were working prior

to the invasion.

The draft report was handed to
British, US and Australian experts at a
meeting in London earlier this month,
according to the New York Times. It
Duelfer’s predecessor, David , who
concluded “we were almost all wrong”
in thinking Saddam had stockpiled
weapons. The Duelfer report goes into
greater detail. 7

Mr Kay’s earlier findings men-
tioned the existence of a network of
laboratories run by the Iraqi intelli-
gence service, and suggested that the
regime could be producing “test
amounts” of chemical weapons and

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largely confirms the findings of Mr
fer Ka

researching the use of ricin in weap-
ons.

Subsequent inspections of the
clandestine labs, under Mr Duelfer’s
leadership, found they were capable of
producing small quantities of lethal
chemical and biological agents, more
useful for assassinations 0 individuals
than for inflicting mass casualties.

Mr Duelfer, according to the
draft, does not exclude the possibility
that some weapons materials could
have been smuggled out of Iraq before
the war, a, possibility raised by the ad-
ministration and its supporters. How-
ever, the report a aete produces no
significant evidence to support the
claim. Nor does it find any evidence
of any action by the Saddam regime
to convert dual-use industrial equip-
ment to weapons production.

“I think we know exactly how this
is going to play out,” said Joseph
Cirincione, a proliferation expert at the
Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace.

“You'll see a very elaborate spin
operation. But there’s not much new
here from what the ISG reported be-
fore,” he said. “There are stil no weap-
ons, no production of weapons and no
programmes to begin the production
of weapons. What we're left with here
is that Saddam Hussein might have
had the desire to rgbuild the capabil-
ity to build those weapons.”

Well, lots of people have desire
for these weapons. Lots of people have
intent. But that’s not what we went to
war for.”

The motives for war, meanwhile,

"came under fresh scrutiny last night

as the Telegraph reported that Tony
Blair was warned in Foreign Office
papers a year before the invasion of the
scale of dealing with a post-Saddam
Iraq.

: The Liberal Democrat foreign af-
fairs spokesman, Sir Menzies
Campbell, said that if authenticated,
the papers “demonstrate that the gov-
ernment agreed with the Bush admin-
istration on regime change in Iraq
more than a year before military ac-
tion was taken’.

Mr Duelfer, who is reported to
still be in Baghdad, did not respond to
a request for an interview on the ques-
tion of WMD yesterday.

Earlier this year, he told the
Guardian that he expected his report
would leave “some unanswered ques-
tions”,

federal immigration law led to in-
creased migration from Africa and

_ Latin America. The shifts have been

accompanied in some places by. fears
that newcomers might eclipse native-
born blacks.

Ethnic Identity Debated

And they have touched off deli-
cate musings about ethnic labels, iden-
tity and the often unspoken differences
among people of the same skin color.

Ear this month, the debate spilled
into public view when Alan Keyes, black
Republican challenger for the Senate seat
in Illinois, questioned whether Obama,
keynote speaker at the Democratic Na-
tional Convention, should claim an Afri-
can-American identity.

“Barack Obama ¢laims an Afri-
can-American heritage,” Keyes said on
the ABC program “This Week With
George Stephanopoulos.” “Barack
Obama and I have the same race - that
is, physical characteristics. We are not
from the same heritage. -

“My ancestors toiled in slavery in

this country,” Keyes said. “My con-
sciousness, who I arn as a person, has
been shaped by my struggle, deeply
emotional and deeply painful, with the
reality of that heritage.” -

Some black Americans argue that
black immigrants, such as Kamus, and
the children of immigrants, such as
Obama and Powell, are most certain!
African-American. Obama and Powell
often use that term when describing
themselves.

_ Yet some immigrants and their
children prefer to be called African or
Nigerian- American or Jamaican-
American, depending on their coun-
tries of origin. Other people prefer the
term “black, ” which seems to be more
inclusive.

Disparity In Achievement Seen

Keyes’ comments reflect the views
of a number of black Americans, in-
cluding those who challenged Kamus

 

at the meeting on prostate cancer this
ear.

, Many argued that the term “Afri-
can-American’ should’ refer to the de-
scendents of slaves brought to the
United States centuries ago, not to
neweomers who have not inherited the
legacy of bondage, segregation and le-
eal iscrimination.

Several studies suggest that black
immigrants and their children are
achieving at higher levels than native-
born blacks. A study based on 2000
census data conducted by John R. Lo-

and Glenn Deane at SUNY-Al-
Bany found that African immigrants
typically had more education and

igher median incomes than did na-
tive-born blacks.

Sociologists say foreign- born

from majority- black countries
are less psychologically stigmatized by
race. Many arrive with higher levels
of education and professional experi-
ence. And sociologists say they often
encounter less discrimination.

Obama says such arguments do
not reflect the views of black Ameri-
cans who have joined forces over the
years with Africans and people from
the Caribbean to fight colonialism and
poverty.

He says that black descendants of
slaves share more similarities than dif-
ferences with black migrants and their
children. .

He says that his grandfather
worked as a servant in Kenya and was
described as a houseboy by whites even
when he was a middle-aged man.

“Some of the patterns of struggle
and degradation that blacks in the
United States experienced aren't that
different from the colonial experience
in the Caribbean or the African conti-
nent,” Obama said in an interview.

“For me the term ‘African- Ameri-
can’ really does fit,” said Obama, 43.
“T'm African - I trace half of my heri-

Question Of Who Belongs

tage to Africa directly - and I'm Ameri-
can.”

The term “African-American” has
crept steadily into the nation’s vocabu-
lary since 1988, when the Rev. Jesse
Jackson urged Americans to use it to
refer to blacks. a
“Tt puts us in our proper histori-
cal context,” Jackson said then. In a
recent interview, he added that he still
favored the term. “Every ethnic group
in this country has a reference to some
land base, some historical cultural base.
African- Americans have hit that level
of cultural maturity.”

Since 1989, the number of blacks
using the term has steadily increased,
polls show. .

In a survey that year conducted
by ABC and The Washington Post, 66
percent said they preferred the term
‘black,” 22 percent preferred “African-
American,” 10 percent liked both
terms and 2 percent had no opinion.

In 2000, the Census Bureau for the
first time allowed respondents to check a
box with the heading “African-American”
next to the term “black.” In 2003, a poll
by the same news organizations found that
48 percent of blacks preferred the term
“African-American,” 35 percent favored
“black” and 17 percent liked both terms.

Many whites use the term for all
blacks,

Phillip J. Brutus, the first Haitian-
born state legislator in Florida, favors
the term black because it includes for-
eign- born immigrants and black
Americans.

“ ‘African-American’ has become
the politically correct term to use, but
I stil say black,” said Brutus, who lives
in Miami. “I say I’m black and Ameri-
can. That's what’s most accurate. I
think, by and large, black is more en-
compassing.”

Rachelle L. Strearns wirtes for the he
New York Times

Obama says it’s time to move beyond
‘One Black’ Syndrome...

by Hazel Trice Edney
Originally posted 9/15/2004

WASHINGTON (NNPA) - U.
S. Senate Candidate Barack Obama,
singled out for his exceptional speech
at the Democratic National Conven-
tion in Boston, says Blacks have moved
pas the need for a single national

eader.

“We're beyond the point where we
just have one messiah,” Obama says in
an NNPA interview during the Con-
gressional Black Caucus’ Annual Leg-
islative Conference. “What we need is
collective leadership helping to move
the ball forward. I thin everybody's
got a contribution to make.”

The 42-year-old Illinois state sena-
tor, former civil rights lawyer and
Harvard law school graduate, became
a household word after his rousing
primetime speech. Some pundits im-
mediately hailed Obama as the “Tiger
Woods” of politics and predicted that
he will eclipse Jesse Jackson and Al
Sharpton in popularity.

“There are people like myself, who
hopefully can work within an institu-
tion like the United States Senate and
do important work,” he says, rejecting
the notion that African-Americans
must choose between he, Jackson or

Sharpton. “There are going to be other
people like Rev. Sharpton, who will be

, using a different plattorm. And, I don’t

think those things are contradictory.
Rey. Jackson is a constituent-and fam-
ily friend and he was an important early
supporter of my campaign. I continue
to draw from the wisdom and knowl-
edge of those who paid enormous sac-
rifices to help people like myself have
the opportunities that I do.”

Obama's quick rise outside his
home state has caused political observ-
ers to scrutinize him dosely

“The rap in Chicago was that he
was not Black enough. And so, that’s
still going to be a lingering uestion,”
says University of Maryland Political
Scientist Ronald Walters. “But his leg-
islative record tells you that he has been
good on progressive legislation. He
seems to be a liberal. He seems to have
really taken some time to deal with
urban issues.”

Walters did not always hold this
opinion. He admits he was among the
first to question Obama’s racial alle-

lance because of the belief that he had
Been a belief that Obama had been a
member of the Democratic Leadership
Committee, a centrist group that works
to move the party to the right.

“Tt was said that he was sort of a
paper member of it, but that was to

 

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give himself some entrée,” Walters says.
“My interpretation was that he was
covering all bases with the Democratic
Party.”

Obama declares that no such rela-
tionship with the DLC ever existed.

“The Black Commentator, the Web
site, saw my name as one of the 100 up-
and-coming that the DLC had listed and
assumed that somehow that made mea
DLC member. They were mistaken,” he
says.

Obama explains, “I try not to label
myself as any particular kind of legisla-
tor. I like to have flexibility to make judg-
ment calls about what I think is best for
MY YOK. ani dinw

Moving through thick crowds at the
Democratic convention and at last week’s
CBC Weekend, Obama always seemed
to stand out, attracting crowds every-
where he went. If elected to the Senate,
he says he will not blend in there either,
but will speak up on issues that affect
African-Americans and others.

“Some issues cut across all racial
lines, like jobs, education, and health
care,” he says. “But they especially ben-
efit Aftican-Americans, who are dispro.
portionately unemployed, dispropor-
tionately lack health care coverage, dis-
proportionately go to sub-standard
schools. There are also those specific is-
sues surrounding civil rights, voting
rights, and health disparities in areas like

DS, in which I look forward to be-
ing an advocate, not only because I’m
rican-American but also because it’s
the right thing to do.”
bama says he objects to Presi-
dent Bush polit the federal courts
with Far Right extremeists.

“I hope John Kerry is the next
president,” he says. “I have confidence
that his judicial appointments will be
sympathetic to civil rights and voting
rights and civil liberties. If President
Bush got another four years, I think
wed have to be fearful.”

Obama is being challenged by
Alan Keyes, a two time long-shot presi-
dential candidate and former under
secretary of state in the Reagan admin-
istration. Keyes, a resident of Mary-

| land, announced his Illinois senatorial
|} candidacy last month.

Obama, who holds a he lead in

the polls, tactfully avoids discussing his

opponent.
If elected, as expected, Obama will

[be the third African-American to serve
} in the U. S. Senate since Reconstruc-
Ht tion. The others are Edward W. Brooke

(1966-1978) and Caro} Moseley Braun ,
(1992-1998). :

Observers see him as a potential
new voice on the Hill. But they see him
as serving dual roles,

lhe son of a White American
mother and Kenyan father, some see
Obama as helping bridge the racial gap.

I've always identified as an Afri-

i} can-American. People look at me and

say, ‘There's an African-American
brother,” he explains,
Yet he is not limited by that.
I think I can speak to many cul-
tures, but I don't think that’s unique
to me, “Obama says, “I think ir’ just a

7} Matter of experience and exposure as

opposed to where your bloodline is.
ats why I've never been someone
who believes there should only be one
A rican-American leader, Everybody's
Bt a voice that they contribute.”
een

| The trail is the
> the end of the trail, vel
| $00 fast and you miss all

traveling for,
“Louis L'Amour for

Rhe

 

 

 

 
 

GOP compassion

by Ron Walters

In the 2000 elections, Republi-
cans tried to evoke a convention theme
that projected them as the “compas-
sionate” party. The problem was that
the Rep
alists and had an image constructed by
Rep. Newt Gingrich, who had recently
stepped down as Speaker of the House.

sively Narrow, mean-spirited and even
hateful.

In order to win, George Bush and
his colleagues set out to paint a more
moderate image by parachuting in
some Blacks ministers and their choirs,
along with Hispanics and Asians to
give a false picture of the party.

The 2004 convention did it again,
this time against the backdrop of
George Bush, the president’s Hispanic
nephew; First Lady Laura Bush repre:

senting women’s issues; Black Lt. Gov,

Treasuries

BY Ros Krasny
African American Observer

CHICAGO ~ As the month of Au-
gust came to a close, U.S. Treasury
Prices fell for a third session as oil prices
simmered down and dealers became
convinced of future Federal Reserve
rate hikes after upbeat comments by
Fed Govenor Ben Bemanke.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury
note fell 4/32 for a yield of 4.30 per-
cent, up from 4,29 percent late Mon-
day anal its high-est level since Aug. 8.
The next upside target is 4.31 percent
and then 4.40 percent.

Momentum has shifted mostly as
crude oil prices back away from highs
near $50 per barrel hit on Friday. Oc-
tober crude oil-futures are back near
$45.50 per barrel. .

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve offi-
cials, who have been mostly sidelined
in recent weeks, have returned with
an upbeat mantra on the economy.Late
on Monday, Bernanke termed mon-
etary policy “very accommodative” and
said rising oil prices will not derail the
U.S. economic expansion. Consumer
spending, he added, has “picked up
firly considerably.”

Bernanke's comments, made in an
interview on the television program

lican Party was really nation-

Gingrich GOP was viewed as appres- .

Michael Steele of Maryland, and’ Sec-
retary of Education Rod Paige. Curi-
ously, the Bush people prevenited Sec-
tetary Colin Powell, a popular moder-
ate Republican, from attending on the
grounds that national security should
not be politicized. But at the same time,
they allowed Condoleezza Rice to at.
tend the convention and hauled out
Gen. Tommy Franks, head‘of the war
effort in Iraq, for a political endorse-
ment.

Michael Steele however, was to be
a key voice representing diversity as the
GOP's version of Barack Obama. Like
Obama, Steele gave a speech asserting
that opportunity was “at the reach of
every American” if they would just
work for it and that Blacks have come
along way since the Civil Rights Move-
ment by refusing to accept “the poi-
sonous path of complacency.”

I resent the not so subtle sugges-

Nightly Busiriess Report, echoed those
of Dallas Fed President Robert McTeer
earlier Monday and left dealets more

“convinced of “a September rate in-

crease.

Futures prices reflect an 88 per-
cent chance the fed funds rate will be
raised by 25 bps in September, up from
76 percent at the end of last week.

Tuesday's economic data on hous-
ing and retail sales had no lasting/tn-
pact on bond prices. .

Existing home sales in July fell to
an annualized 6.72 million units, shy
of Wall Street forecasts of 6.81 million
units. Still, sales were the third-highest
on record, coming off a five-month
string of increases.

Lower mortgage rates in the past
few weeks are likely to bump up sales
again, even if the peak of the housing
sales boom may have passed, traders
said. .

“There is no reason yet to expect
any further significant decline in ac-
tivity; with mortgage rates back below
6 percent for.a standard 30-year fixed
there is little chance the housing mar-
ket will weaken in the near-term,” said
lan Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist
at High Frequency Economics.

Weekly chain store sales were soft,
according to Redbook Research, with

The Adventures of Deacon James:

WIN THIS HONDA

by Deacon James D. Evans
Dear Mr. Helper: - pee
| With lap top in hand you too Mr.
Helper should now my story. All day
that Saturday July 10th my prayer was
Jesus help me. Jesus help me sell these
fundraiser tickets, “ After three hours
at the flea market only one ticket -was
sold. By eleven thirty I was at home
cooling off from a hot day in the sun.
It was about 2:30 PM when I noticed
that the passenger side “WIN THIS
HONDA “ sign was missing. Oh’
Jesus help me was my prayer, Retrac-
ing my route back to the flea market
was my next move. South on. route
#77 to the flea market grounds was my
goal. Then the oil light started to wink.
My mind said I shouldn ‘t need oil.
But just in case, I did a Uturn into the
Handy Mart for a quart of oil. My
uestion was “does the oil light wink
or one quart low? Well it did. Now,
God’s wheels of timing were turning,

so that I would be on time to meet .

my angel. I purchased the oil, poured
the oil with my left hand. made a mess
all over the engine. Towels were
needed. I had to.search for them to
clean off the engine. A small but nec-
essary delay, Then I headed back to
the flea market grounds. Once thére I

prayed, “ Jesus help me “ but the sign

was not to be found. Now on my way

~ back home still praying “Jesus he p me
“ I thought I saw it beside the road
“Jesus help me “ was still my prayer.
What I saw beside the road turned out
to be a roofing shingle black like thé
magnetized side of my sign. Oh’ well!
“Jesus help:mel!” As if walked a good
hot distant back to my Hondo, a blue
van pulled in front of the red Hondo.
I thought the van occupants were of-
fering road assisstant. But you, Mr
Helper, said to me’ “Did you loose a
sign “? Astonished I’said how did your
know? Follow me I'll take you tot was
the comment, Returning to the spot
Of the sign I asked. Sir are bed a Chris-
tian? You said yes I am. 1 am “God's
Little Helper” those words went right
over my head, You picked up my sign
to replace it on the door, I suggested
we not do that, it fell once it may fall
again. You reach into your well used
wallet and gave me a $10.00 bill and
said “hold that” READERS, WHAT
ARE YOU THINKING? ME TO, We
exchanged cards; you said write me
some $2.00 tickets, | am GOD’S
LITTLE HELPER and ‘so are you.
That is what your card said “God’s
Little Helper” as you ‘drove away leav-

ing me dumbfounded. Mr. God’s little
Pe u made my day. With this
story, I have told it over and over again

my ticket sales are now very brisk. P
5: took the sign back to the sign shop

for repair, the owner said after several

things are necessary
wed hme he ym Noe
what to

to cde dg oho he

TH

e

;

t to orate ae _
Aquinas

ee

(i

 

checks, he could find nothing wrong
with the sign so I’ say thank you! Jesus

thank youl-for helping me,
Your Humble Servant Deacon James D.

Evans Prograrn Manager, Philadelphia
House Philippi Church of Christ 1610
Farmville Blvd
Greenville, NC 27834

September 17 - 30, 2004

tion by coriservatives that’Blacks have
hot become equal in Ametica because
they haven't tried hard enough. Look
at the odds of racism, classist,
genderism, and the rest.

In fact, Steele did admit that the
challenges are real, and that we all must

_ be vigilant in the fight against poverty

and the lack of education, since what
defines civi| rights today is whether you
can own that lunch counter to create
legacy wealth for your children: Steele
also railed against the theme of hope
that was highlighted at the Democratic
convention. He said that results were
what mattered and that Bush had de-
livered results on his: agenda by pro-
toting tax cuts, home ownership, edu-
cation and the like.

_ Steele then closed his speech tef-
erencing his mother, Mabel Turner; as
a great inspiration in his life who mod-

eled character-building by not taking:

slips on lower

August sales so far down 1.0 percent
vs. July, ’ .

Some cash-strapped consumers are
said to. be delaying purchases. when
possible, and the continued aftermath
of Hurricane Charley in Florida also
cut into sales, .

The 30-year bond fell 5/32 to yield
5.09 percent, up from 5.07 percent on
Monday. Five-year notes slipped 4/32
to yield 3.49 percent, up from 3.47 per-
cent, and 2-year notes were down 2/
32 at a yield of 2.50 percent, up from

2.47 percent.
Traders hope for guid-ance from

-Wednesday’s July durable goods reports

€
Sade a! cy Or rr

 

..With Central American nations
that treads on American sovereignty...

Is a bad deal for America.

Paid for by:
www.AmericansForFairTrade.org

“Big pimpin”

welfare, practicing thrift and rejecting
racial hatred. But he said she also ques-
tioned how he could be a Republican;
she knew that her values wete not po-
litical but was how most Black people
survived.

This once every four year focus on
compassion’ is like pimpin’ the con-
cept, big time. Because the real face of
the Bush administration is one that just
recently cut overtime pay for all but
“first responders.” It changed public
housing regulations relating to the
$14.4 billion housing voucher program
to allow more middle income people
to become eligible, a move that the
New York Times said would leave
“those with lower incomes to fight for
a smaller share of the pie.”

This comes at a time when the
Census Bureau reported that the pov-
erty rate increased for the third straight

year and those without health insur-

crude oil

and revised second-quar-ter gross do-
mestic product figures due on Friday.

The week's headline event could
be a speech by Fed Chairman Alan
Greenspan’ in Jackson Hole, Wyoming,
on Friday.

Chicago Board of Trade Treasury
futures encoun-tered technical selling
on Monday and met more of the same
on Tuesday, although traded volumes
have been light. .

Next support lies.at the 20-day
moving averages in Sept. five-year, 10-
year and 30 year futures. For 10-year
futures the averages crossess at 1:11-29/

32.

  

The Minority Voice Newspaper

Page 11

 

ance grew from 13 percent in the late
1980s to nearly 16 percent today.
What we have here then is a “bait-
and-switch” image making strategy that
will hide the fact that the Bush admin-
istration has conducted some of the
most racially negative acts, such as ap-
pointing judges insensitive to civil
rights while smiling “compassionately.”
Polls are even showing that in. spite of
the negative tone of his administration,
like Ronald Reagan, George Bush is
benefitting from being likable.
ile this “compassionate” cha-
rade was going on Tuesday night, the
real face of the Republican convention
was being shown in another place, at a
closed, invitation only rally for “Fam-
ily, Faith and Freedom” by Christian
conservatives who really run the party,
at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Leading

conservative Sen. Sam Brownback of

Kansas, struck the theme issuing a call
to “win the culture war,” a thought ut-
tered from the podium by Patrick
Buchanan in 1992 that meant war
against gays, affirmative action, hip-
hip, abortion and all of the things that
the nationalist movement opposed.
This Republican Party holds.po-

sitions that are antithetical to Black in--- ~~

terests, which is why all of the 13 Black
Republican candidates for the U.S.
House, and the two candidates for the

U.S. Senate will lose and why George

Bush will be lucky to get 5.percent of

' the Black vote in this election, down

from 8 percent the last time.

Ron Walters is a distinguished
leadership scholar, director of the Af-
rican American Leadership Institute in
the Academy of Leaders ip and pro-
fessor of government and politics at the

University of Maryland-College Park.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

cr a nee mt Se i. % ee te ie pia
i oO i «6b
i

Paid for by the Judge Wynn Committee

i. ae em

i
:

 

 

 

3329 S. Memorial Dr.

the market for a car...
Tom Dempsey
Where we we do the deals other people don’t
SUZUKI OF GREENVILLE

For 45 years, my fa-
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to buy, you are not
buying from me or
anyone. So if your in
Please come see me...

 

 

 
 
 
 

 

t hi e i ’ ‘
pas tt . -"
a ie

Wed., September 22, 2004

Greenville, NC 27834

  
 
  
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
 

» Acholar/best-selling author “who has forged

wnigque rok: he wa compelling spokesman for
_ the concerns of the black community, and also a
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% oe ff ; —-- rca ea }

the "50th Annivenssry oF Rock . ae
Roll” has Rolling Stone cover shots
of Elvis Presley, Blondie and others
on eight commemorative beer cans.
What's missing is a black artise, —

: Raber romps eri rama
of pop culture at Syracuse Univer-
sity, said the absence is “beyond con-
credited with inventi g rock ‘n’ roll.

as would be like :
cans Of six npres paint-
ers and not inclu ing any french
people on it,” he said. “It leaves out
an enormous amount,” .

The brewer and the magazine
issued the cans this summer, depict-
ing Elvis Presley, Blondie, Alice Co
pet Bon Jovi, Def Leppard and
tars

    
    

ie Nelson, as well as two gui-

ing officer for Rolling Stone pub-
lisher Wenner Media, said race
wasn't a consideration when choos-
ingthe artists, 8
“We didn’t even consciously
think pro or con, the same way that
the only woman on'there is Blondie.
We just went with the people that
we thought were appropriate,” he
said. “We went through (the covers)
and said these people we don’t think

are appropriate, ot wouldn't appeal
inkers,”

to Miller drinker .
Armstrong noted Rolling Stone

wasn't around for the birth of tock

‘n’ roll — it was first published in
1967 —when many formative black
artists of the genre emerged. And
many artists who ap ‘On.cov-
ers balked at being associated with a
promotion involving alcohol, he
said. - |
Jimi Hendrix's estate, for in-
stance, is protective of his image,
Armstrong said. “Again I think it
might have had something to do
with the beer.”

Miller spokesman Scott Bussen
said the company started with a
broad wish list. .

“Tm sure that our objective was
to get as diverse a representation of
musical acts as well as diversity,” he
said, but the company’s choices were
limited to Rolling Stone covers,

Miller spokeswoman Moll
Reilly said other artists were consid-
ered, but “these are the artists that
gave us approval to use their images
on the beer cans.” > ?

Six of the initial 10 inductees
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fam
in Cleveland in 1986 were black, in-
cluding Chuck ,

les and Little Richard. The
Hall of Fame, which is thtowing a
summer concert series sponsored by
Miller Lite, declined to comment on
the cans.

Todd Mesek, the hall of fame’s.

senior marketing director, said “Af-
rican heritage is critical” to rock’s de-
velopment.

‘Arguably all rock and roll came

from, or at least was greatly influ-

enced by, African culture,” Mesek . |

said. “Rock and roll came from
R&B, jazz, folk. Ail those genres
before rock and roll came together
to birth rock and roll.” :

William McKeen, chairman of
the University of Florida journalism
department and editor of the book
“Rock and Roll is Here to Stay,”
called the list strange.

“I look at rock ‘n’ roll in racial
terms. Rock and roll is black
America meeting white America,”
McKeen said. “It's about the merger
of white people’s music, country,
with black people's music, rural
blues.

“I mean, sure, you can argue
that Elvis opened the door, but then
Chuck Berry and Little Richard and

Bo Didley came through,” McKeen
said.

The Bush and Kerry campaigns have
jie rn to three presidential
debates, ashington Post reported
today.

The Bush campaign, which had ho

The second debate will be held Oct. 8
in Missouri with a town- meeting style
and the third will be on Oct. 13 in
Tempe, Ariz.

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