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Opin:on
Ind p
n
c
It' to be rstood
.Africaa:Americaa A
j per- be a humaa Ud
lDUaeal � -. • compeD- . therefore odds with other
phrue ould sene a group 110 leek to
ba ie axiom of African- pr h Iibcratioa aDd
Americ politics. Our al- �ment.
legi nee ould be to oUr Bvery Africaa-American
intere �, not to y political community in America ought to
p ty, I crest grou have an INDE ENDENT
institution or perso BLACK ,POLITICAL OR-
African-Americans ould GANIZATIO of some form
be independent. That is to y in order to barn and enhance
free to chose �hat believe . powet:. W1II8tc�
d t and ho The app&ies for eDdors-
free of control or . iDg' 0 . ues uch school
fluence fro forces 0 de -of levies bond i sues tax
the African-American com- meas";es etc. '
munity. The key to structuring a vi-
We should m ilize 0 up- ab e mpo is LEGITJMACY
portonbe�alfofthosewbo up- and CREDIBILITY. People
port our ��er t and.. nda, within the community must
nd mobilize oppo Ilion to co e to believe in the IBPO nd
those who are antagonistic to be willing to folio its recom- �
our genda and intere . In mend at ions. The key to thi
electoral political terms, this kind of organization I
m y me n supporting legitimacy is INCLUSIVE­
Democrats, it m y mean sup- NESS and INTEGRITY. An
porting Republicans, a d yes it effort m t be made to include
m y me n upporting inde-. t e bro de t po ible
pende or person not. - prec rum of interests within
oci ted with the t 0 major community hich are will-
parti . The bouo line is to . to ecept g objec-
dvance# African-American in- ti e , and principles bf the
terest and the Afric n- IBPO.
American Agend . 'Then the IBPO must be true
Homicide ] the second­
leading cau of death a D
all 15 to 24 year-o in the
United States. For B cks i
age group,
IeaCIIIl2 cause of death .
U.S_, claiming 2,644 victims .
1 .
Whether or not these you
are victims or vitimizers
responsibility to seek
ansi'Welrs to thi romp and
violent prob m. '
Young people are dyi
o r eels.lllDOCCot d
biding re idents
prisoDc in their
munities. The -mean
cas adar
many of our neigh hoods.
We don't need any
reports from «imino
professor to pr
vio nce i on the rise.
o What need' an alI-ou
commitment from our politi­
cal, in ss and community
tle ader to ddre the
pt b1em. .
The elect Commi tee of
the U.S. Congres on
. e Yo d Fa ..
recently h ld hearing eo-
titl d" iolen e By and
Agai t America's Children."
Indeed, the stat ti(5 which
emerged from the iDg are
devastiDg:
- Fro 1982 to 1984,
teenagers ages 12-19 re the
victims of 1.8 mm' violent
aimes annually, twice the rate
of adults over e 20.
- Only about 42% of
juveniles and.)'0UD8 adults in
jeveni detention, correction­
al, and shelter facilities have
comp ted more than 8 years
of school, compared to 76% of
the general population of th .
egroup.
- In 1987, 43.7% of
homicide victims under the
e of 18 were killed by
firearms.
Wi out quest jon the easy
availability of guns and drugs
is partly responsible for the in­
ere sed violence. We must
legislate tricter gun control
I and adopt an aggressive
strategy to stop the flow of
drugs into our country from
foreign lands. Our nation
hould develop a total quality­
of-lif package for our youth,
e pecially education, begin­
ning at the earliest possible
e.
In terms of education w
m spear d the fo wing
genda:
J 2.5-J 1.
iza ions
. to its calling and oper e in" '" set goals, define our inter
keepiDa with the B aaenda
adopted by the �UDity. It
m fUDCtioo in the iDler­
CIt of the entire Black com ..
munity aDd not in the narrow
d-iDtereat of y group or in­
divid exclusively. The people
m believe that the IBPO is
HONESTLY functioning in the
interest of the community.
lDUutUl' .e what i woufd mean
if Alric n-Americans could
build independent Black politi­
cal or anizations, community
by commu ity, all acro s
America to harn our politi­
cal po er b ed on collec­
tive/com unity goals and
interests. We would not be
taken for granted and we would
be much more highly respected
a group. The net result would
be forward progress at an c­
celerated pace for African­
Americans. We need to build
Independent Black Political
Organization based 0 the
axiom "no permanen friends,
your political per u ion or
party affiliation our participa­
tion in politics should be
governed by our agenda d in­
terest. AD indepe dent Black
political organization can func­
tion to enable the community to
(
Expand Head Start to
serve every eligible child.
Research shows th students
who have presChool education
had an empliiyment rate
do ubi to th who did DO
and were 50% more likely to
graduate from high chooL
- Fully fund Cllapter ODe,
a federal education program
providing remedi I education
ass' tance to disadvant ged
children in elementary and
secondary chools. Eor
children ho participate in
e program ignificant im-
provement in t t score h
been own over the t two
deca
- Adop th proven track
record f "effective choo "
and educ tional concept,
which have d monstrated tan­
gible re u) . Includ d mong
those re ults are strong
dership, high pectatio
for tudent achieve men an
rderly chool and fe school
atmo phere, emphasis on
destructr.:e tendeDcy aecd$ &0
be voided at aU cost. Heeee the
IBPO can be extraordinarily
useful by building an effective
proces for in ervie ing,
screening. aDd e . can-
di es for public officc based
on the Black aaeDCtL
no permanent e emies, j t
permanent Interest". I
Ron Daniels served lIS the
Director of the M' Ruin­
bow Coalition IUUl the Deputy
Campaign manager lOT the
Reverend Jesse Jackson's
Presidential Campaign'88. He
has served as Pruident 0/ the
National Bl«kAssembly and as
Chairperson /0 the National
Black Independent Political
Party. CUTTently, he sewes as
President of the Institute fOT
Community Organjzation and
Development in }tolUlg.rtown,
Ohio. He 11UIY be .COI'II«I«I. at
(216) 746-5747.
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Cultw.-. .........
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