Crisis i
Violence
By Ron D ni
A few weeks ago Michael
McGhee, a Black Councilman
in Milwaukee, Wiscon in sent
shock waves through the city
when vowed to use violence
unless there was a more
erious commitment to im­
prove the plight of the inner­
city residents in his ward.
Predictably Council Mc­
Ghee, who is a former member
of th Black Panther Party, was
roundly condemmed by the
whit establishment and some
of the more moderate leaders
in the African American com­
munity.
There were expressions of
dismay that an elected official
and keeper of the public trust
could m ke such "provocauve"
and "irresponsible" statements.
Needless to say, no re pon ..
ible African American leader
advocates the use 'of violence
a the principal mean of
resolving problems or redre -
ing grievances. Indeed even
Council McGhee's ultimatum
was articulated as a kind of
strategy of last resort, and it
had a year deadl ine attached
to it.
TIlE COU CILMA
declared that unless the ci ty
responded to the demand of
his con tituents within 5 years,
th y would have no alternative
bUI to turn to violence to
achieve ju tice. The' ultimatum
wa a clear warning that the
city of Milwaukee i itting on I
a time bomb which is on the
verge of exploding.
Blac merica:
hat breed violen
What the self-righteous con-'
demnations of Councilman
McGhee ignor i the violence
t at breed violence.
Milwaukee's inner-city ghetto
is not the only Black com­
munity with a fu e that is run­
ning out. , ,
All across America African
American .poor and working
people are suffering from an
intense period of the kind of
violence born of overt racism,
institutional racism and
policies of indifference and
neglect. ,
After a period of high ex­
pectations in the 60's and 70's,
Reaganism and Reagonomics
ripped apart the '0 called
fcty net which was at best a
fragile floor underneath the
Blac community. When
Reagan destroyed this floor
millions of Black people
plunged further into poverty.
TODAY I 0.' 2 Black
children live in poverty; 1 of 3
Black enior citizens lives in
pov rty; 1 of 3 Black women
between 18-55 lives in pover­
ty; and Black men arc in fact
. an "endangered species". The
greatest cause or death of
Black men ages 18-24 i
homictdcrtra ticidc.
The Black male college
population declined by 46,000
over the la t decade.
Meanwhilc the Black male
prison population increased by
76,000 between 1986 and
1989. There arc now more
Black men in prison than in
COllege.
One of the key factors con­
tributing to this escalating
crisis is chronic unemployment
and underemployment. The de­
industrializa ion of America
has supped away a traditional
base of employment for
African American worker .
The economy is rapidly chang­
ing, but underfunded, inade­
quate inner-city public school
systems are failing to educate
African Americans to meet the
requirements of the changing
economy.
Hence vast numbers of
African Americans come to the
�job market with .marginat or
ob olete skills; a marginality'.
and oblescence resulting from
decades, and centuries of
raci m and economic exploita­
tion.
A STARTLI G ex­
ample of the destablizing im­
pact of unemployment on
Black males in particular, Wil­
liam Juliu Wilson cited the
following tatistics in a recent
PBS television interview wi th
Charlene Hunter Gault: In
1950 in the Oakland section of
Chicago, there were 70 Black
males employed for every 100
Black women. By 1989 the
number of Black males
employed had dropped drasti­
cally to 19 for every 100 Black
women. This statistic is I ded
with devastating implication
in terms of the Black family,
the drug economy. crime,
violence and increasing Black
male incarceration.
All of this litany of ills af­
flicting the Black community
constitute VIOL ECE against
a people. When the govern­
ment fails to provide jobs for
R Ben] min . Chavi ,Jr.
There - hav been many
studies that h ve concluded
that hypcrtensi n or high blood
pressure am ng African
Americans i one of the
greate t cause f death. Now
a Ie ding medi a authority on
hyperten ion as authored a
medical textb k which scien­
tifically cstabli 'he a linkage
between onc's hypertension
and reacuon to cism.
Dr. Elijah S' under', Car-
diologist at ih Univer ity of
ryland Me ical S hool,
rccently authorc Hypcrt nsion
in Blacks. Dr. Saunde con­
cluded thai "if there were no
racism in Amc lea, hyp rten-
ion would be of a prob-
Black s.
i at near-
epidemi prop rtions among
black and i hiefly r pon-
ible for their igb mortality
rates from hea t and kidney
di ea e and tro e."
We have kn wn for a long
time that being' victim of sys­
ternatic and insti utional raci .rn
doe limit one's life exp ctan­
cy. Yet we liv in a society
where certain thi g have to b
proven cicntific llyor tatisti-
cally bcfor ccr in thin are.
believed to be tr c. Thank to
the re earch and 'I inical ob er-
r Dr.
mal deqi ion
. will under­
eadJy nature
i ty.
con id
i uation.
Councilman Michael Mc­
G ee and Black people w.ho
ar fed up with the government
in America, at all levels. re
not th problem. The problem
i a callous, raci t y tern
w ich daily heap violence on
our' people with impunity.
What Michael cGhee and a .
growing numbe 0 Afric n
American' are ying i time
ou ! It will cirhe be "fr edom
fo� everybody 0 freedom for
nobody". I
R on Dan iels serves as
President of the Institute for'
Community Org ization and
D vclopment in Youngstown,
o io. He may be contacted at
(216) 746-5747.
I .
Hypertension
f Tennes ee and Ms. Cheryl
Arm read f St. Loui Univer­
sity demon trated that "raci m
et off a greater blood pre -
urc ri e than other kinds of
a'n�er" among African
Am ricans. The re earch rs
con Iuded that "s ch a harp
ri indicate a hyperactive
blo d pres urc, which, if con­
tinually provoked over several
yea can becom a dangerous
combinati n with other ri
fact r f r hypertension."
S A R":SUI .. T of Dr.
Saunders' pion ering re carch
and other studies, the follow­
ing finding should b kept in
mind: 1) A ople who tend to
urpre the ranger, regardl
o race, h ve higher blood
pre' ure than normal., (2)
Raci m i particularly potent
trigger f nger and of high
blood pre ure in Afrie n
Americans.
The p' i t he re i th t
African Am ricans and other ,
who are viet m f raci m h ve
to be carefu not only on h w
thcy challen e raci m in th ir
mid t but· I ca re m t b
taken not to int rnalize r up-
pre ne ' reaction or anger.
It would be a big mi take
f Dr. Saund rs'
tudi of th oth r
hcr to re p nd y
"W II, thi
C tiD
, ,