y
l
S PTEM E 1'·12, 1
em
•
1
the
ti tude. In fact ike upt to
dem an tbe credibility and
reputation of PUSH by
deman4ing that PUSH ans er
a series of insulting que lions.
Imagine a national civil
rights organization . itb' the
longstanding record of PUSH
beinl ked to aDS er que - .
tions like these: Date and state -
of incorporation; available
biograpbical info marion" on.
PUSH officers and Board of
Directors; agenda and minute.
of PUSH Board of Director'
meetings during fiscal year
1988, 1989, and 1990; list of
corporations and individuals
contributing more than .$500
to PUSH during fiscal year
1988,1989 nd 1990.
Tbi unbelievable r-
rogance i . ke'calll1tg 'PUSH
nd Ib" national African
American community a "boy".
My sense is that this kind of
arrogance and disregard for
. .
I
MICHIGA CITIZE PAG J
e�oyco
ricans nd tbe
lion is perv ive in
bite corporate America.
. Fortunately there is one
prescription bich c n cure
tbj kind of di re pectful at­
titude and polices of neglect
quickly - itbout Black dol­
lars, white corporations like
Nike can quickly leatn to
. respect u , respond to our
demand lbat tbey rti�vest· a
faif share of the profits �arned
from Black con umers back
into the Black commu ty.
As of tbis writing ike is
already surfacing affi ative
action' pi S, 8 Is, and
. timeJab bicb it up d-
y ba bad on the ta' e for
ome time. hat has been
revealed and/or promised thus
far is woefully inadeq te in­
light of tbe demands being
pressed on behal f of lack
people by PUSH.
Nike mu t sign a riuen
convenant ith PUSH bich
outline ho aJl of the
wbo e job it is to iDduce
By Ro. D •• 1e Black people to uy even
A fe eea a, Operation more' of a particular
PUSH (People United to corporation' pr� t.
rve Humanity) as forced It' time out for bein,
to calla Dalion ide boycott of economic chum • It' ti to
the Nike Inc., fter Nike at- play economic rei I.
rogantly ref ed to enter into Wbile Black people co -
di io itb PUSH about pri e 3()..4() of Nibs retail
ike' policy town African sales of gym sbOa, Nib does
America . not have a siDlle African
Ni e i American's leading. American on it Board of
atbletic shoe ear corporation Directors .aocl no Black Vice- '
ith S2.4 billion in retail sales Pre iden".
in 1989. By me estimates Nike doe 01 deposit
African Americans account monie in Black e
for some 30.,-40 of Nike lack adver . in.
gym shoe Ie. BI c )a firms.
Rev. Tyrone 'Crider, Execu- Ni e does DOt place .�y of
tive Director of PUSH, its hippo ered Mk: I Jor-
legitimately oupt to the don, Bo Jackson, alie
Nike Corporation tbe right Jobn on, or Spike Lee ads
question: What do A/rican ith Black 0 ned De papers
America1lS get b«k in reiur« or m gazinc .
lor purc#UUillg ore tluul 200 And while i e clai to
.. millioll dollars worth 0/ Hike alloc a te 1S� of i S10 mil-
gy s"�s each year? lion dollar pbilanthropic
I As e approach the 21st budget to minority pro ....
century, African American: with no BI c Vjce Presiden
can ill afford ,10 spend their and no Blae bo rei mbers,
dollars itb busine es and there i no one in a key po i-
corporation bich do. not tion within Nike's structure to
respect Blac people enough I shape the' character and
to provide a fair' share of quality of ike's Corponte
return back to tbe African gift and don tio •
American community: '" ,-, Ni e ' n.tud 'i' '.1 0 ,�.
And fair share do'e's not inajor' prob·lem. The �t()P of-'"
mean tokeni m, symboli m or ficers of Ni e re po cd to
lucrative contr cts for an elite PUSH with -a bo clare you
Ie tar and I uminaries que tion us or cb lien e at-
Behindthe
er against Iraq
Dr. � ..... NlanlDle
1 Saddam H�iD is the one
iDtematiooal leader American
coaservatM.s d liberals alike
10Ye to tee There's little com-
endable about Hussein' dic­
tatorial record. Employing
po. against in emal dis­
sidents, limiting freedom of
speech and political expr.ession,
murderina his oponents, send­
ing one hundred thousand
troops into little Kuwait after
Dl'CmU· w:. _. not to do so - Hus-
. appears ruthl and ina-
E the harshest critics of
Americ:a . Israel in theArba
orld objected to Iraq' in­
vasion. After he itation, the
Palestine Liberation Organiza­
tion fmally urded H\JSsein to
·thdr his army from Kuwait.
The mu lim Brotherhood,
religio fundamentalists out-
1awed by former Egyptian "Presi­
dent An ar S d t, declared
that "this graVe cirsis ope all
door to evil to affect the
(M ') stru es."
By I te eplember, perhaps
one hundred thou nd
American troops will be sta­
tioned in Saudi Arabia,
theoretkaDy prot "&ieDd-
Iy Arabs" fro the nasty
"B utcher of Baghdad.·
Democrats and Rep bli'
alike h Ye co peted aplUt
each other in ... H_ ....
B
S CE
own r oric Iran.
However, S ddam Hussein
the ·perfect vilIan" for the
� t-Cold War. A non hite;:
noncommunist, radical
dicatator who represented the
poteatial of permiting
any Third World country fr
exercis!ng too much power.
R Ar h stereotypesha�
been ed to whip up public
support fo the invevitable U.s ..
military blitzkrieg. The new
enemi • t ·democr cy"
aren't the Communists; they are
DO armed, militant nonwhites.
The struggle giv
was to the north . outh con­
&OlntatioD.
But belo e launching a war to
defend ·ti demoaacy, we
need to remind ourselves that
Kuwait is hardly democr tic.
SHOULD ALSO try to
rebeDd Hussein's mol.ive$.
KDWU·t"1 tenitory
origiDally par,t � Iraq under the
. Ott Empire.
Seco d, Kuwaiti oil policy
had been deliberately d igned
todestabilizelr q. Wbywould
small, Y country, with in- .
vestments exceeding $100 bil-
lion in the United . dom
alone, deliberately OYerproduce
far more oil than it OPEC
quota permitted? It i certain
taht they didn't eeed th extra
cash.
Kuwaiti ov rproduction
belped' to eprea r d oil
prices, creating major porblems
for a large, impoYerished nation
such as Ir q, which required
higher oil prices for it a�­
bitio ocial and econODllC
�Iopmeat programs. I
TH US POLE ICS
against Hus ein al 0 eem
rather hypocritical, consi ering
it bloody record of i ega I
military invasions int the
Dominican Rebu Iic,
Nicaragua, Gr and m
recently, Panama.
But the UDSpo en agen fo
Bush and Companf' to p ect
U.S. corporate 'iDle 0-
cess to cheap mineral resour
suCba I oil. B· oil corporatio
ha� used the Ir qui .. an
excuse to hike ga oline nd
home beating oil prices to con-
ume
In early August, the S �te
demands on the table will be
met. Until tbat time, Black
people bould intensi fy the
boycott of Nike.
Once a corporate giant like
Nike falls into line 'it will end
a clear mes age to tbe rest of
Corporate America thai
Afric n Americans want a fair
sbare of return for. our con­
sumer dollars and - we intend
to et it!
ROil Daniel serves as
President 01 th« lnstisute lor
Co",,,,,,,.,·ty Organization QIId'
D�" lopment ill Young town;
Ohio. H� may be contacted at
(2/6) 746-5747.
ed an amendment to tbe
ease Authorization Bill, re-
I Quiring federal uthorities to
o_'en protected wildernes
lands for oil d gas develop­
ment. Without public deb le,
our envionment j in gre ter
jeopardy, and our pockets are
being picked t the pump.
The real tr gedy for
Americans i that our young
people are being sent die .no for
democracy, not (Of freedom,
b t to protect oil eorpor . OIl
P olib, and to preserve corrupt,
o· -rich regimes which de pise
democracy.
I
Dr. Manning Marable is
Pro/essor of Political Science lit
th University of Colorado,
Bouldu. "Alon the Color line"
appean in 170 newspapers inter­
nationally
