e
Da
In the 60' and 70' Black
Po er, BI ck Nation Iism
and Black Consciou ness
emerged a key concept to
advance the tr ggle for
plack liberation.
. "BI ckne" u ed . a
b i for mobilizing African
Am ric ns to gain acce to
corridor of po er hich pre­
viou Iy were off limit.
A re ult Black f ce
g n to ppe r everywh re
from faculty. staff nd ad­
mini tr rive positions within
colleges and univer itle to
memb r of the board of
community agencie to mem­
ber hip on the Boards of
Americ 'Fortune 500 Cor­
poration .
In the rena of electoral
po li rics , the era of Black
Power propelled n unprece­
dented numher of African
American' into elective and
appoi nuvc offices at all
level ..
Now it is accurate to 'ay
that Africans American have
'more people in ey positions
'01' power and inlucncc than
ever before in our hi tory.
The question is, has, this in­
tegr tion into thc phere of
public and private power
made a difference, or will it
make a diff renee in the fu­
ture?
The Black f'a cc s arc' in
place, but have Black people
genuinely made a ignif'icam
progress?
A
I CM ,ASI
(; n u m-
a
d
•
I
SEPTEMB�R 30 - OCTOBER " 1
, 9 r of
I Tile rc is no da ngc r 10 the
Will BI ,c ness be vicwed t tu quo as long as these
a a et of pnnciplcs which Black face think lik and act
compel African. in America like those who control thi
to be at the vanguard of the system and these Black face'
. struggle for thc iran 'forma- are willing to protect and
tion of America and th crca- I defend the i rue rest of the
tion of new society? ruling elite.
Or will- the concept of
Blackne s be reduced to a t'ms kind 01 cooptation
strategywhtch i ba d on the
bland nd vulgar que. t to hollow ymbolism of skin
replace hite Iaccs with
Bl ck face within the exist- color is likely to be incre s­
ingly in evidence throughout
ing American political and the nineties.
economic y ucrn? T
I th ·Black movement" he po er elite will iden-
tify and promote Black
simply movemcnt to elected a d appoint d offi-
promote peoptcwith thc sarnc c ia l w 0 can se ve a'
kin color irrespective of psycholo ic I sub tit�te. for
their commitment to the real chan e and buffer' ar-
Bla�k agenda or Black rayed aga'n t the es alatin
people. anger and frustration boiling
Teare among the most among th oppre sed Black
pre ing questions which musses.
Arric n American' must di - Unle there is a clarity
CU ,debate and find answers about the original meaning
and intent f "Blackne s" a a
the Black libera-
9
ber of analyst nd poliucat
activi t rgue, wit great per-
ua ivene s, th t conditions
for the ma se of African
Americans are wor 1 today
than th y were twenty years
ago.
I h ppen to trongly con­
cur with that as e ment. The
di crepan,cy between the ap­
pearance or empowerment
and the lack of progre s for
the African American masse
r i es yet another question.
Why has Black dvancement
been tymied de pite the fact
that there arc so many Black
f ces in high place ? Could it
be that many of the e '81 ck
faces in high place arc not
dedicated to promoting the
Black agenda nd Black in­
tere ts'!
The e que tion a likely
to be ocme incre ingl y
troublesome a' more and
more Black people arc ac­
cepied into the variou sy­
tems of power in the United
States in the coming years.
A.'RICA AMERICA S
have reached a cri tic I j unc­
.turc in the quest for
"freedom" or "liberation:" Ci!\
an upprc!,'l'u p e op l c in
America. Will our definitiun
of tt Blacknc-, .. he l.!fUundcd
in a mor41ll1y and value l\y!\­
tern that commits African
Americans to the -eradication
ot� �aci, .m. s c x is m, poverty,
militarism and economic ex­
ploitation and political op­
pres 'jon'!
o
to as we cnter the last decade
of the 20th century.
I . m convinced that the
ruling c l irc In the Un i te d
States i. quite prepared to 41C­
cept and incorporate an even
larger number or Black faces
into position!' or power.
The Black faces
are In place, but
have Black
people genuinely
. made a
Ignlflcant
progress?
We gotta neve heart
Ily M rial Wrig t f4:tte Mft
. I
I'll call hi m John. He wa
the kind of tudent that
chool give up on. As rd
of the Di trict of Columbia,
he had lived in everal foster
homes. Often he didn't go to
school. When he went, he got
into trouble with hi teacher'
and into fight with other tu­
dent. At ge 16, he read t a
fourth-grade level, and hi
math kill were tho e of a
i xth-grade r. He �idn' t u e
drugs, but he ometime
abu ed Icohol.
John' ·tory is all too
familiar, and he might have
continued along tr gic By
predict ble path. But he
didn't. In three ye rs, he im­
proved his r ading nd math
kill. ·to the tenth-grade
leve.1. In hI. la. t year 01
chool h' ·hecame. pre. ident·
o hi �tudent body.
T od ,a t 2 1. h h ' jus t
one cour'e to finish be ore h
e rn hi I h chool
diploma. Emplo d full time
itn the D.C. anitation
d parlm nt, h plan to go to
coJI c and ork profe -
10naH Ith children.
hal h ppened to John to
chang hi life tory? He wa
·referred to City Light in
Washington, D.C., a special
'chool for disadv ntaled nd
troubled teenager and younj
adult that gives a econd
chance to tudent whom
other have given up on. John'
attended City Light for four.
year', and during tho e year,
the staff helped John tackle
hi academic and behavior
problems, rranged part-lime
nd ummer work experien­
ce, nd encour ged him to
think bout the future and et
goal for himself.
SMALL CLASSES, lots
of individual attention, and
computer-a. is ted learning
are the hallmarks of City
Lisht ' academic program.
Individual and group therapy,
famity counseling. and ub-
t nee abu e treatment nd
prevention arc avail blc at or
through th ,chool. And tu­
d nt. re elve career coun cl­
Ing, tr Inln In Independenl
living, nd job placement and
folio -up.
The e nee of City
Light, however, i heart.
Teachers and coun elor
believe th t their tudents­
angry, troubled, nd academi­
cally un. ucce ul-can be
helped to live productive
live . City Light doe n 't give
up on its students, no mailer
how difficult or re'i tant they
may be.
"I messed up hen I first
came to City Lights," says
John. "I didn't want to go to
school. Teacher!\ would say
slurf to me nd I would rgue
with them. '. don t need you, '
I would y. But the teacher
pushed me. They kept on tell­
iOI me, 'You're going to be
omebody.' 1 didn't even
kno wh I future wa , but
they kept on aying it."
After he started City
.Light , Y' John, he
brieflyexperimented with
marijuan .. "The teacher ju t
taycd on my ca�c. They
m de me wor . They told me
I had to hI ve a goal. Finally I
beg n to Ii ten. 1 aid, 'I gotta
ch nge.·"
John ay he wa able to
change, think about go I ,
nd prep re for tt)e future be­
cau e City Lights offered him
a secure b s from which to
try new way to be. When he
filed, he ay. the taff wa
there to help. "I like the way
they calm people down. They
know how to tal to you.
The e people at City Light
Continued on P ge 14
,
P g 4
in order to obtain
remedy; there
might be full remedy for
the gender based di crimina-
tion they ffcr.
Co
con­
trover y re olve round the
i sue of di arate impa t. La t
year, the S premc Court in it
W rd Co c dcci ion nar-
I rowed the aw maki ng it ex­
tremely di Iicult for victim
of di. par tc impact dis­
to prove thcir
pie, an Ev n ton,
an who wa ted to
become a firefighter was
deni d that opportunity when
the coring of an agili y te t
w ,arbilra Ily change in a
way that ad a di propor­
tionate imp ct on women ap­
plicant . W en she ued the
city under Hie VII, th tri I
court rulcd t at she had indeed
proved di c minatory impact,
that th city had failed to ju -
tify it met d of coring the
test, and tha relief hould be
awarded. .
Then, th Supreme Court
i sued Ward Cove
deci iQn. Th t led the appeal
I ourt to rul that even though
the city had not proffered
onvin ing ationale for it
coring, the urden wa on the
laintiff to show that "no
egilimate purpo e" wa
erv d by t e new scoring
ethod - arly impo ible
urden of pr of.
Opponen of the Ci . J •
Igh! Act of 1990 have
louded th ebate with th
legi I tion -
the pr -ward
MICHIGAN CITIZE
Ron
Daniel.
I VANTAGE
POINT
tion movement, then there i
the growing danger that the
rna . cs of African. in
America will b confused apd
victimized by a 'hallow kin
politics which will serve th
masters. of this oppres ive
s)' tem while keeping the.
Black rna .. clocked in 20th
century slavery. ,
Ron D'a nl el s se rv e s IH
Pre. idem of the Institute for
Communit y Organization
lind Dcvetopmen) in
Young: town. Ohio. H m ay
b . contacted til (2 J 6) 746-
5747.
n
om
Cove t ndard of proof in di -
parate impact ca e - will
forcc bu in .cs to rely on
quota to avoid Ii tig tion.
But quota are not th real
i ue ; mployment dis­
crimination i th i u. AI­
mo t 2 ycars , of xp rien
und r prior legal tandard did
not force employ r to r ort
to quota :'
EITHER WILL TH
Civil Right Act of t O. or
wi II th dam c provi Ion
included in the le i lation.
force bu i ncsscs to go
bankrupt or encourage un­
ncce ary litigation. Rather,
they will afford vi9tim of
gender di crimin tion nd
religiou di crimination the
opportunity for a full remeuy
for proven intentional dis­
crimination.
Thi' i what the Civil
Right Act of 19 0 al I
about: en uring that all·
Citizens h ve aeces to a
workpl ce fr e of. negative
con ideration of r ce eth­
nicity, color, gender nd
·religion.
It i di he rtenin th t
Pre Ident Bu h who ha ar­
ticul ted upport or the n ht
of worn n nd p pic of color,
would ven coni mpl t veto·
. ng thi Important Ivi I TI ht
'egl lation.
Con re
the rhet fI