r
Opinion, Commentary, Editorials
,January 6-12, 19 1 ' MICHIGAN CITIZ
lncl
By ROD Daniels
It came like a bombshell
on the hills of the Bush veto
of the Civil Rights BiJ1 of
1990. In d December
Michael Williams, the "Civil
Rights" chief for the u.. .
Department of Educauon, is-"
sued a policy decree that
race ... based minority scholar
ships violated civil right
laws. '
According to this ruling, it
is illegat for 'any college or
university to use their in
sti tutional resources to fund
minority scholarships.
Williams threatened a cut
off of.all federal funds to any·
cortege or unive r ity that
continued to grant "race
based" scholarships.
, Beyond the stgnificance
of the policy itsetf, however;
it is interesting to note who
• the Bush administration
trotted out to flpat this
odo-rous trial bait iori (the
pol icy has -s i nee been
reversed (n the face of a hail
of prote t).
Michael Williams, the As
sistant Secretary for Civil
Rights for the U.S. Depart
me n t. of Education is an
African American. He is IN-
• el.UDED along with many'
other' African Americans in
the Bush administration.
WILLIAMS, A BLACK
lo for xclu
gy for' whi
man, doggedly articulated
the p ol ic y on mi no ri ty
scholar hips with a fervor
and passion which
demonstrates the dangers of
the new found strategy of IN
CLUSION FOR EXCLUSION,
Now Brack 'faces can be
counted' on to take the point
in the offensive to' return
America to a kind of race
neutral society; a "color
. blind society", which relin- '
quishes its responsibility to
develop and maintain
policies which 4 provide
remedies. for the white racist
polrcies of discrimmination
and exclusion which have
stymied advancement for the
masses of Black people and
damaged the African
American communi ty;
policies which will per
manently freeze vast num
bers of Black people into a r
cond ilion of j.o bless ness,
poverty � and economic
peonage an/permanently EX
CLUDE t!fem from the
promise" of the "American'
Dream".
, Now persons who have
risen from amongst the vic
timized and oppressed can re
relied upon to be the
lpokespersons for. re pr e
sentatives of and apologist
for the victlmizers' and the
victimizing system.
1.991: A Yea .. of
By Uenja-mln F. Ch vi Jr:
When a new year begins,
the re is al way the oppor
tuni ty to asses' the past year
and make predictions and
commitments for the future.
Thc Civil Rights Movement
in the United State' hes won
some victories. but also e
have suffered 'orne defeats.
While orne gains were ac
'Compl�hed durin, the year
i th the enact ent by Con
gress of legislation concern
ing hou.in ,.clean air, and
the rights of person with dis-
• abi Ii tics, President Bush's
, veto of, me Civil Rights Act
of 1 990 was I major setback.
The Republicans have an-
nounced their national
tr tegy rin 1991 as targeting
race-related i sues like at
firmativ' action and 0-
called quotas as a means of
mohiliztng white American
re enlmcnt to racial progre ,
especially during 'the current
economic downturn and
r ce sion,
" Ip other words, conserva
tive Republicans see the fu
ture viability of negative
campaigning on racial issues
to win election in 1991 and
et the stage for the 1992
Pre icJential elections.
WE BELIEVE, however,
that depending on how the
Persian Gulf cr is rs is
rc solved, the Uni ted State
will r cc in 1991 unprecc
,dented ocial and economic
di location due to he con
tinued deterio"'rat'ion of the
domestic economy. There
fore. some of tbe traditional
assumptions about the infal
libility of the U.S. economic'
market ystem will face
severe tests:
It i I irfst the national
interest, p rricularly as �e
global community continues
to change for the betterment
,0 f hum an kin d , t hat the
United States, "the leader of
the free world," continue to
be racially segreg ted and
•
Ion:
n
w.>:
.h
Til .. : ESTAR·
LISIIM .. :NT has nothing to
fear from Judge Cl arc ncc
Thomas (often mentioned a,
, the Black succe r to Thur-.
good Marshal) 'whose judi-
development i. .n ical to the
future cff'ccuvc ncss of the
truggle "for justl e and em-
powerment. '
WE ARE, II EVER,
optim! tic about the potential
for ignificant change in this
nation in the near-future. The
Rev. Dr. Wi'lti Ill' Howard.
Executive Director of the
Blac Council of the
Reformed' If Church in
America, ha best started a
new year vision. Howard 85-
cncd, "In 1 C)(») at new breeze'
i going to b low. Black
people arc waking up again.
We know what the deal i5
and we re not going to lay
down and take what is bein
dished out to' us without a
fight. The in titutions of thi
country wi II once ag in be
challenged to come to term
with the reality of our
pre ence in Am'erica.
In the day that i d wning,
we all will' have to come to
term with Martin Luther
However, rule by any
means necessary is the name
of the game. Therefore, like
. the rulers of any system of
domination, the elite will
also use COOPTATION or IN- '
elUSION as 'a strategy to
main.tain the status-quo.
Typically, the European
'colonial powers in Africa and ,.
ci a l philosophy i as
the Third _World utilized a
conservative and antithetical
strategy of including a few to Black interests as that of'
, from among the colonized as the infamous Judge Bork. , .-
a means maintaining control The establishment can
over the masses.
Those ho are Included take great p_ri_de in General
must be of a certain mindset Colin Powell who performs .
or the yare e xpec ted to his duties so well in defense
of a racist and exptoirlve
develop the correct mindse t.
U.S. sy tern that the power
As Carter G, Wood on put it elite may well promote him
"he who controls the. mind for incl sion into the oval of
has nothing to fear from flee as President.
bodies" .
The, African American
, There is now a sm�1I but
community must be increas-
.s ignlf] cant number of
African Americans who have ingly wary of Black faces in
high place within the estab-
,developed the correct '
mindset for inclusion ito.the hshment. Their positions
-may not represent progre s at
system of white domination. an but rather a mere illusion .
The po er eli te .has noth- . : I
of progress. .
ing to fear from Michael Wil- A .Iocus on Black faces
Iiams or tho e "responsible"
African American who alo�e may onlymake us the
, unwi ttin accomplices to in-
URGF.D Bush to veto thecivil
Rights B, jJ). � clusion for exculs ion, the
new s tra tegy for white
domination.
v
THE POLITICAL
economic ystem in America
is stiJl. con trolled by and
operated in the interest Of a
relatively small but wealthy
white male elit .--
. Busines ,capitalist, profit
oriented. greed mo ti vated
business i till the "business
of government" in the U.S.
The wealthy white male elite
which rules and. runs
America use .the trapping
of "representative
democracy" to perpe tua te
their power, privilege and
dominance over this society
. and much of the world.
Exploitation for profit is
their game. And .in the final
analysis if they have. little
regard for race. color, creed,
sex, national origin or sexual
P reje renee. ,
�veryone and everything
in the U.S. and the world is
fair game for their schemes.
Racism and racial and intra
class strife and division is
but a tool t keep this white
male-ejite at. the hctrn and in
control.
AS EVIDENCED b� the
counterintellegences pro-,
gr�m (cointclpro) in tbe six
ties, those who control the
system are prepared to use
disinformation, slande-r, ter
ror. 'intimidation .and even
murder to maintain ihctr
, rule.
divided into multiple unequal
societies.
The Civil Rights Move
ment ha: another opportunity
� to exert leaders hip in helping
the United State' to rid itself
of its most historic and per
sistent prohlem: racism. "
y!e must gear up our forces
now to trengthen s.upport r r
the pas age of the Civil
Right Ac' of 199,1.
We must place a greater
emph is on the involvement
of the youth of our 'co m
munitie in' participatory
event and demon tf tion
around the i ue of ed uca
qon, employment. hou'ing.
health care. drug abuse, and_
violence, Youth leadership
on
Daniel •
,
VANTAGE
POINT
Ron Daniels serves as
President of the Institute Jor
Community Organization . .'
and Development in
Youngstown, Ohio,
1
CiVIL
RIGHTS
King, Jr. 's admonition:
"Either we will learn to live
tOlether as brother (and'
sisters) or we will peri h
,olether as fools."
Indeed, African Americ ns
a well as other racial and
ethnic communities aero s
the United States re w king
up again. Let· our collective
re solve be to unite our cncr
gie and efforts in tenacious
and audacious revived move
ment for racial ju lice not
only for 1991, but as long a
there is one child of God who
i per ecuted. �xploited and
denied liber tion in thi na
tion nd world.
.'