Green commerce
omeone
court
urne in
25-year-old Robert Jac on
left, not only th Black com
munity, but thi earth re ult
of conflict ith omeon el in
the Black community. Th gun
b ttle that ended hi life echo
thou and of other every year
here the more comfortable
pproach i to ettl dispute
ith "shoot" in tead of
" uits".
Being member of th Blac
community, I cannot claim
immunity from the "civil
hoot ., mentality. Ironic lly, a
hort tim go, hi! I w pr
p rin commen on the judi
ci ry, my ife an er d a tel -
phon call from ny an ry
quaintance ho" eu ed h r
out" ov r a di pute. Aft r th
call was abruptly terminated at
our nd the telephon r n
ain. Thi time I field d th
call.
In trio
rd ,the me call r dem n
d d that I re train my ife fr m
involvem nt in his family' bu i
n . He continued to y " ....
if you c n' t, I' m goin to com
ov r there and traighten thing
out:' That' when I n pp d
b c t nature.
"If you come over h ie;" I
ternlyadvi ed, "you're going to
be in for a big urpri e." He
uttered a fe more ords. I
asn't listening at all. "Ju t
come on," I said. He uttered
fe more. 'Just come on," I
repeated. "Just come on." Thi
time he cho to do the hang-
ing up. .
A myadrenalin return d to
normal, I realized the only dif
ference between th situation
and the one that killed Robert
Jack on as that e couldn't
h ot on another over th
t lephone. It further ccurred
to m th t hould we m et
imm di tely, th chan that I
ould b de d or in j il tonight
ere great r than I de ired.
Had he ju t id I'm goin to
u you for th harm your wife
cau ed, we could have argued
toward a "civil uit" in tead of a
.. civil hoot". But I under tood
the dynamics. H avoided juri
. but
blind Justice
prudence for th am re on
th young black oman- at th
upermark t avoid d jurts-
prud nee. either had con-
fid nee that the court would b
fair and equitable.
Alvah C. Roebuck didn't
have confidenc that juri
prudence ould be fair or equit
able. He felt that in a di put
with hi hite partner, Richard
W. S ar , he ould 10 . That i
the rea on Roebuck' heir
don't 0 n Sear, Roebuck, and
C . today. Realizin that the
court ide ith WHITE in t d
of ith RIGHT, Ro buck t
tied ith rs for ne dollar; in
exchange, h ave up hi int
re t in th company to ear.
Roebuck' apprehensions
WHAl ARE
'IOU WArCHl ,?
A PREVlEW'�
EL SALVADOR.
Thoughts from an Ordinary Black Man
Can a civil rights orqanization be respected?
h t is the purpo of the
Civil Rights movement nd its
or anizations in the 1980's. Is
it necessary to have a CP
-a Civil Rights Commi ons or
afflrmative action and set asides?
e have rewritten local state
and national laws to include
BI c American. e now have
Presidential candidates, hool
uperintend nt n tor repre-
ntative mayors. astronants
poll chief, fir chiefs, city
pre 'dents
yet
ve
comment oming out of the
Black community.
Ther are two possible rea-
ns for this contradiction:
either the people and groups
complaining are lying about
there being problem . or tho
who c using or I tting the
conditions continue do not
come from a single ethni or
racial group.
Some of th responsibl
may come from the Black
ommunity it If. om in-
t ntionall suppress th goals
and aspiration of Blac Ameri-
cans hi! oth rs do n gativ
things unkno ingly for la k of
understandin or ducation.
Both of the typ need
help and this is the area in hi h
the Civil Rights Movement will
find relevan e in the 19 0'
and beyond. Th peopl e
fought so hard to place in the
jobs need to be a ed bout
poor chi v ment and la of
progres in the rea of the
Bla c rnmunit under their
influ n c. It i th Civil Rights
movement that must hold thos
u tional, ivil aOO political
a ount ble to th
ho stru I d nd
rift d to put them in po it-
ions of uthorit. OnI
through this qu stioning pro e s
an th historical Bla ivil
. hts Or anizations continu to
influ ntial part of
ommunit. There
ill list n