arable
p ..
ult; middle class omen are
rarely raped or ulted, and
ealthy omen almost never
experience sexual ult.
The . ti are clear on
this point. White women
• ve in families earning under
$7,soo annually have SOO per­
cent greater likelihood of being
raped that white omen w 0
come from household with
more th S15,OOO income. The
gap. eve more extreme for
African-American women.
For Black middle cia s
families, the rate of r pe i 22
per 100,000. For attempted
rape, low income Black worn n
are victimized t r te of 237
per 100,000 annually.
- Rape is almost alw ys in­
trar cial, no in erraci I. ine
o often tim , a white r pi t'
victim is bite female. Ninety
percea 0 all 81 ck omen who
raped h ve been ulted
by a Bl c male.
exu I violence within the
African- erican community,
ore,· n so etbing tee -
ported" by whit .
It . ntially th brut lily
committed by Blac men
g inst our mothers, wives,
. ers and daughter . It is the
r t type of violence, using the
Rift of. xualitv in a be tial and
animalistic y, to create terror
d fear among Black omen.
The form of iolence which
mo t directly impacts Black
men i homicid. early half of
all murder committed in ny
given year are Blac men who
murder other Black men.
But that' only part of the
pr lem. We must recognize,
fir t, that the homicide rate
amo African-American is
growing. B ck in 1960, the
homicide r te for Bla in
the U.S. 37 per 100,000. By
1979, the BI homicide rate
w 6S per 100,000, compared
" to the . e .. r e
of 10 per 100,000. ' her
ords, a typo cal B ' bas
ix to even time greater
Ii elihood of bei a murder
victim than . te male.
The chief victims of
homicide in our community are
young African-American
males.
Murder ] the fourth leading
cause of de th for all Black
men, and e· of
death for B 20 to
29 years. In the 19905, more
Bl ck men will kill eac other
th n the tot I umber of
American troops killed during
the Vietnam War.
Today in the U.S., typical
white fe e's . ical chan­
ce of becomi a murder vic­
tim are one in 606. For white
men, the nan to 0 e
chance in 186. Por Blac
e the odds are 0 in 124.
But fo Black me the chances
are one in twenty nioe.
For young B men living
in cities 0 are betweea 20
to 29, e odds of becoming a
murder victim are than one
in twenty.
BI ck young men in
American cities today are the
primary targets for truction
- not only from drugs and
police brutality, but from each
other.
Dr. Manning is Professor of
Political Science and Sociology
at the University of Colorado,
Boulder. "Along the Color Line"
appears in over }70 newspapers
intemotionally.
Be
By
"A nation that continues year
after year to spend more money
OD military defense than on
programs of social uplift is ap­
proaching "spiritual death".
These were the prophetic words
of Martin Luther King he
spoke a the Riverside Church
in ew � ork one year before he
assauinated.
The Viet Nam War sap-
piDg vital resources away from
programs and prcjects to help
poor and working people in
America. King talked of
"spiritual death" because plac­
ing a priority on manufacturing
bombs to make war over
producing bread to feed the
hungry i 'symptomatic of a
deranged value system and
sick political-economic system.
King realized that millions of
people would continue to suffer
cultural, educational, occupa­
tional and physical deat as
as this nation could build
exotic weapons for defense,
hile failing to defend poor
people against hunger, poverty
and disease. America did not
heed King's warning. America
continues to m"inlain a w r
conorsy,
In the SO's Ronald Reagan
presided over a multi-trillion
dollar escalation in the defense
budget including billions of dol­
lars for his "Star .Wars" fantasy.
The massive military build up
achieved at the expense of
poor and working people as vir­
tually every major social
program to aid the disad­
vantaged was drastically
reduced.
There a 63% cut in job
training programs in the Black
community-fo� example and aid
»<:':
the 90s the National African
American community must
muster th energy and r olve
to mount a major assaul on
America's defense budget, the
. defense establi hment and
America's militaristic mentality
and values. .
We cannot win the "war on
�. without winning the war
against poverty" African
Americans will not have
secure future unless the battle
J against illiteracy, and inade­
quate education is on.
The elevation and uplift of
the Blac masses will require a�
m j r change in America'
prioriti and amassi ve infusion
of resources for jobs, housing.
education and healthcare. It
will be impossible to make the
necessary investmen of resour­
ces for human development
without taking direct aim at the
military budget.
To use a time worn cliche its
time for African Americans to
pus for a conversio of "guns to
butter". The very ife of our
community may de :ad on that
pr pea.
I .' t� Ron Dame served
, II Dir , the tional Rain­
. bow Co lition and as the
Deputy Campaign Manager for
the Reverend Jes Jackson's
Presidential Camp ign '88. He
has rved as President of the
National Black Assembly and
Chairperson of th National
Black Independent Politic 1
Party. Currently, he serves
President of the Institute for
Community Organization and
Development in Youngstown,
Ohio. He may be contacted at
(216) 746-5747.
•
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