I .
au
v
o cl
axe
·0
true colors s he caved in to
Two weeks ago George the pressure of white busi ..
Wal er Bush, who pledged to ness interests and played to
make the United States a the latent and overt raci t
"kinder and. g�ntl.er" nali�n, entiments of f r right con
vetoed the CIvil Rights Act of . stitutencies in Arne-ric n
1990. ociety.
The President showed hi The Bu h veto climaxed a
The
•
I
comprehen ive ass ult on
civil right • affirmative ac
tion and Black progre
which began ilh Richard
Nixon and was drastic lIy in
tensified by Ronald Reagan.
Richard Nixon openly
sought to stall civil rights
ew International Racism
By Manning M r ble
A genera tion ago,
"racism"during the Jim Crow
segregation era meant "White"
and "colored" signs indicating
a separate and unequal status
for people of color. But today,
througho u t the western
capitalist world, we are wit
nessing a new rind of racism,
rooted in the changing ethnic
and ocioeconomic realitie
of the po t-Cold War period.
There is a link, in short, be
tween President Bu h' veto
of the Civil Right Act of 1990,
the olid majority by whit
voters given to David Du e in
his un ucce sful campai n (or
Senator of 1.0 i lana, and the
international di crimination
and oppression against non-
hite immigrant and undocu- .
men ted refugees.
Throughout the we tern
orld inj ent year there bas
been a dramatic upsurgence of
tbe politic of racism, includ
ing vigilan violence, aimed
at people of color or ethnic I
miDOritie .
In France, the neofascis!
National Front b cam
paigned succe sfully on .the
issue of hite suprem cy. The
Front' leader dcliberately
provoked racist as ults on
nonwhites by calling openly
for Arabs, Africans and other
"foreigner " to be expelled
back to" their cave on the
other side of the Mediter
reanean."
MORE TIIAN ONE
hundred North Africans Jiving
in France were iJled by
bite in a twelve year period.
Despite the liberal rhetoric of
the sociali t Mitterand
government people of color
experience deportation iden
ti ty checks by police, and
legal harassment.
In Italy, doze s of Black
sm 11 merchant and workers
bave been assaulted in Milan
and Turin tbis year. Pamphlets
have been circulated calling
for the cons tru�ti on of
"crematoriums for immigrants
and Jews."
A new racist political party
has been formed, tbe Lombar
dy League, witb the goal of
recruiting low income, ork
ing class whites and first-time
voters. Similiar developments
have occurred in the Nether
lands, with the establi hm
of the Centrum Party, Icb
advocates .racist policie
But the most dramati x-
amples of racism ar occuring
in Great Britain. Hundreds of
people of color, of A ian,
African and Caribbean an
cestry, have been victims of
r cially-motivated violence.
Co ervative Prime Minister
M rgaret Thatcher h amed
that he ould never permit
England to be" amped by
people itb a different cul
ture."
In 1981, Parliament passed
the N tionality Act, wbicb
ended the ancient definition of
citizenship s based on ooe's
birth on British oil. in
stead placed it on an
individual's descent or
patrialjty.
HOW DO E explain
rise of racial bigotry and
violence itbin European
ocietie? European and
American corporations
destroyed Third Wo!ld tradi
tional economie , creating
millions of unemployed, land
less people.
Western governments
created authoritarian regimes
in the e countries which
would protect capitali t in
ves tments, control trade
. unions, and eJimiate radical
protest . Tb millio of non
white people began to move to
the w bi te e t in earcb of
jobs and opportunity.
By 1986. about even per ..
cent of the populations of the
etherlands, France and West
Germany were etbnic
minorities. Immigrant com
prise 14.5 percent of
Swi tzerland' population.
Dr. annlng
arable
Millions of African and Asian
people live and work in lon
don, Pari ,and Europe'
major cities. Immigrants of
color are allocated their
ecieues' worst and mo t haz
ardous jobs.
10 West Germany, � ex
ample, Tur s are widel y
vie ed a "ubhuman". Ger
mao subcontractors have been
known to hire out Turkish
orters to clean up nuclear
power plants so that they
return home before the radia
tion ta e effect.
The new racism is neces
ry to justify the exploitation
discrimination of hites
over nonwhite .. But an even
peater factor i fear. By the
year 2050, there will be a
projected eleven bmion
people world ide. Only 1.4
billion pf them will live in the
United State, Caoada,
Europe and Japan, the in
d trialized, ealthy' nations.
THE VAST MAJORITY
of bumanki nd will be non
wbite. Even ten years from
today, Sao Paulo, Brazil, will
bave a population of 30 mil
lion; Rio de Janeiro, Cairo and
exico City wilJ exCeed 20
million. The fundamental
political reality of the twenty
first cen tury will be the trug
gle for equality and
democracy between the white
"north" and the impoverished,
exploited nonwhite" outh."
Dr. Manning Marilble is
Pro/usor 0/ Political Sciece,
Ulliversity 0/ Colorado,
BOlilder. "Along the Color
Lille- appears in over 170
lIewspapers internationally.
NOVEMBER 11-17, 1'"
Ion
s
progres by minimizing civi
rights enforcement. It wa
Ronald Re gan, however;
who embarked on the most
radical campaign to overtur
the civil rights advances of
the 60's.
Under Reagan the Justic
Department actually "ttacke
civil right and affirmativ
action. The Justice Depar
mcnt, with con iderable u
cess, began to shift the
burden of proof of di
crimination and segregation
to the victims of racism.
THE EXISTE CE OF
patterns of segr gation and
exclusion. the Ju tice Depart
ment argued, wa not aa suf
ficient ba is for demanding
or granting remedies.
Inste d, the victim must
prove that somewhere, at
so me"'ti me. omeone con
sciou Iy adopted policies
with the clear INTENT to dis
criminatc ba ed on race.
color or sex.
The anti-civil right po
ture adopted by the Ju rice
Department, coupled with a
concerted drive to pack the
federal judiciary it� con er
vative judge. et the tag
for a serie of civil rights
reversals.
. In recent years a morc con-
ervative Supreme Court ha
delivercd damaging blow to
affirmative action particul r.-.
ly in the reo of employment.
The Civil Right Act of
1990 was designed to repair
nd overcome the dam ge of
the e recent Supreme Court
decision.
THE CIVIL RIGHTS
veto come within a climate
of increased racial ho tili y
and antagonism which
Nixon. Rc g nand Bu h
helped to foster. All of them
played to the politic of
racism by Ie ding nd cater
ing to the fcars and latent
racism in much of white
America.
Subtly and not 0 subtly
the "ilJu ion" Black progre s
has come to the defined as'
taking away white rights.
Hence term like "rever e
discrimination" and .. ,lac
racism" have come .\intQ
vogue. Pandering to the con
servative right has provided
moral/official � nction for a
neo-raci t trend emanating
from the highc t level of
government.
David Duke and hi con
stituent . may be dangerous,
but they are no more
dangerous or de tructive than
I
MICHIGAN CITIZEN PAGE 5
Ron
Daniel •
VANTAGE
_POINT
a Pre ident who c me to of
fice on the back of Willie
Horton and Presid nt who
politely turn b ck the cloc I
on Black progre s by vetoing
a major civil right bill.
deca
FO�
civil right. affirmative- ac-
tion nd Ir ican American
pro_gre has been under
eriou siege in thc U.S.
Even Jimmy Carter; the
last Democrati Pre ide nt ,
cautioned the. Black leader
and constituent who over
whe lrningty supported him
th't they hould cool heir
demands. In effect Jimmy
Carter told Black people to
accept whatever incremental
progrc on the Black genda
he a willing to tolerate or
he would ab ndon the Bl c
agenda completely.
The Bush veto, to
reiterate, i not surpri ing. It
is p rt and parcel of
stratcgy to contain Black
aspirations nd force accep
tance of the ra�u -quo; a
statu -quo which leaves
African Americ\n without
equity and parity in the'
economic structure and y
tcm of American society.
A tatus-quo in which the
vast majority of Black re
forced to accept, defacto, the
symbolic progre 'for a few
within the African American
community, while the Black
poor uffer enormous deva -
tation and depr vity.
What surpri e me i. the
I ck of outrage in the African
American community.
Gcorge Bu h i doing hi job.
The President i perpetu ting
rhe old habit of retaining
political power by sc pego t
ing Black people and
minoritie .
The real que tion is are we
a Afric n Americans on our
job?
Now th t George Bu h fI
slapped u in the face
(again), how will we
respond? Will it be with wolf
ticket, re olution and
rhetoric, or are wc really
re dy to fight b ck?
What are we prepared to
do to ovcrride the George
Bu h/U.S.A. veto of Black
America?
r
I
Ron Daniels erves a
President of the Institute for
Community Organization and
Development in Youngstown,
Ohio. He may be contacted at
(216) 746-5747.