I .
5
OPINION
Vor
ByRo D
What happening with the
Rainbow Coalition around the
country? One place you might
want to look is Ne York State
where state Representative Ar
thur O. Eave has worked to
build one of the most for
midable state chapters of the
Rainbow Coalition in America.
State Chairman Eave, who is
Deputy Speaker of the Ne
York 'State Assembly has
managed to pull together a
broad range of constituencies
under the umbrella of the Rain
bow Coalition with repre
sentation in virtually every
major city in the state, and most
of he state congressional dis
tricts.
The Deputy Speaker who is
from Buffalo in upstate New
Yor k, has also been able to build
an effective wor king relation be
tween upstate New York and
the"Big Apple," New York City;
a feat that speaks well of his stat
ure and reputation in the state,
as well as his talents as an or
ganizer.
BUDGET FOR THE PEOPLE
ow, under Eave's leader
ship, the New York State Rain
bow Coalition has launched a
campaign for a People's
Rainbowca
I
Budget
Taking the cue &om Nation
al Rainbow Coalition Pcesident
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, the Nev/
York State Rainbow is targeting
the State Capital, Albany, and
the New York Assembly as the
'In the final
analysis the
Informed
movement into
various
dimensions of
politics which
Jackson has
inspired may be
his greatest
legacy.'
•
.
major focal point to exercise
some grassroots people power.
, During his 1988 P.residential
Campaign Jesse Jackson
focused a great deal on the
question of inspiring and
mobilizing people for empower
ment. In this regard Jackson
used his campaign '88 as a
vehicle to build statewide infra
structures and organization to
empower people at the state
and local level.
paigns to a Peoples Budqet
at help-t e-rich,
STRUCTURE
HAVEIMPACf
Often turning campaign ral
lies and events into workshops
and teach-ins on practical
politics Jesse J ackson pointed
to state capitals and state legis
latures as centers of power
which Rainbow Coalitions and
the progressive movement
needed to target for legislative
action days and lobbying, in
eluding major efforts to impact
on state budget priorities.
Since the era of New
Federalism enacted by Richard
Nixon in the late sixties, much of
what happens in counties, vil
lages and cities is decided in
state capitals through policies
established by state legislatures.
Hence the need for "Jackson
Action" Rainbow style at state
capitals across the land.
Having picked up on the les
son, the New York State Rain
bow is now showing the way.
When Governor Mario Cuomo
anounced some months ago that
there would have to be some
substantial cuts in spending to
balance the budget in light of a
2.6 billion dollar defici, the
New York Rainbow Coalition
sprang into action.
The principal concern was
that vital services to poor and
· ck he-poor p an
EEDED TO working 'people not be dis
mantled -or crippled, and that
the budge not be balanced on
the backs of the poor. .
on the capital for a day of mass
direct action and lobbying. By
all measures the New York
S tate Rainbo Coalition's,
mobilization i.round .state
budget priorities would appear
to be a model for Rainbow
Coalitions and progressive ac
tivists nationwide.
When analysts exxamine the
meaning and results of Jesse
Jackson's 84 and 88 campaigns
and the growth of the Rainbow
movement, they seldom focus
on the' kind of expanded politi
cal participation and concrete
focus on empowerment that the
New York Rainbow's Cam
paign for a Peoples Budget rep
resents. Yet in the final analysis
the massive and informed move
mentpnto various dimensions of
politics which Jess Jackson has
inspired may be his greatest
legacy.
I'm sure he's saying RIGHT
ON to the New York Rainbow
Coalition.
I
..... The David Duke Victory:
GO'p . Responsibility
By Robert . Taylor
Although the Republican party
has tried desperately to distance
itself from the election victory of
former Ku Klux KJan member
Davide Duke, Reagan ad
ministration policies toward
Blacks and Bush administration
campaign tactics in part paved
the way for Duke and his anti
Black message.
Running as a Republican Duke
won a natrow victory recently in
Louisiana's 81st district - an
area basically compo ed of vir
tually all white New Orleans
suburb of Merairie. He will now
represent that district in the
tate legislature.
uke achieved victory by run
on a conservative platform
whi included nco-racist char
ges ,s ch as the assertion that
whites were being denied their
civil righ ts by Blacks. And
noting that Blac are having
babies at a much faster rate than
whites, he promised that the
would do something to "curb the
birth rate among Black welfare
mothers."
Duke's openly anti-Black and
anti-J ewish utterances shocked
the Re pub licans and party
chairman Lee Atwater claimed
Duke had fooled th whites who
voted for him, Atwater is wrong!
We must remember that it was
TAX 'REFORM' HURTS
POOR
1n the face of a "reformed
tax structure which this year will
allow the wealthiest 10% of New
York's population to pay no
taxes, the Rainbow Coalition is
also determined to fight for the
re-iastitution of a progre ive
tax system which will force the
wealthy to pay their fair share.
At a recent statewide con
ference in New York City, 500
Rainbow activists, labor
leaders, grassroots organizers,
ministers and elected official
gathered from around the state
to finalize a "Peoples Budge
and to undergo orientation and
training in the fme art of lobby
ing.
of this writing state legis
lators are being contacted dis
trictby district in an effort to
line up support for the People
Budget
On March 6, the Rainbow
Coahtion and its allies will take
the campaign for a Peoples
Budget directly to 'the capital
when scores of people from
around the state will converge
'David Du e
is saying
openly what
allot of
hites fee ... '
in etairie where the citizen
rallied behind their 1 sheri
whe e ordered his deputies to
stop and questi 0 any Blacks
driving through predominantly
white areas.
Remem er that Metairi itself
i in large p rt a result f "whit
I fli ht - bein composed of
whites who fl d New rleans in
th 1960' in order to avoid
court-ordered cb 01 integr -
tion.
Thos whites wh voted for'
Duke knew exactly what they
were doing. They knew of hi
nearl 2O-year association with
the Viciously anti-Black �
They knew he now beaded an
orga ization whose sole purpos
was 0 figh for the rights of
white people." They heard What
he s id about reducing the
Black birth-rate. The applauded
when he declared that school in
tegration was harming hite
children.
The real problem is that Duke
was saying openly what a lot of
whites fcel and would say to one
. another but would not say
publicly for fear of being labeled
racist.
The simple fact is that de pite
their power and wealth a I t of
whi e people fear Blac .
And another fact is that the
Republican party has long
played on .this white fear of
Blacks. It was no mistake that
Atwater himself as head of the
Bush �mp ign made a jor
. ue out of Willie Horton - a
Black man who raped a white
. It was n mistake that
nt Bush spent mu of
ampaign attacking
Is." And we need ot
repea the count] ss instance
that f rmer President Reagan
throu policy and statement
m de whites feel cornf rta 1
with eir prejudices.
vid Duke and hi anti-Bl ck
m ss ge may have w n in
Louis' a but he indirectly h d.
the h lp of R nald Reag n,
Bush and e Alw tCL