EDITORIAL
PA
,
,
th pre idential camp i n, Je e Ja on
'0 ten ed udi ce "Ho m nyof 0 h e VCR' in
our livin room?" A e peered, m ny hand ould hoot up
in the ir. "Ho many of you h ve crui mi ile in your
livin room?" J c on ould , evo in lau hter. Hi
point w ,tha' thi n tien y cb nneHn It r ource into
mttu ry pendin I In behind the J P ne e nd Ger-
m ns, nd it co tin (he country In j
he Ith c re - the qu lity of Ii e.
Sincc the e rly 0' under Re an, the U.S. h dire ted
2 of its t x doll to buildin the milu r m chine e
II w unlea hed on the people of Ir q.
The Ii to Americ n c u ltie on't be ounted only on
the b ttlefield. We mu t t e our bodycount t home ell.
Count the hornele in the treets, who forfeited fund for
hou In . T lIy up the job 10 t by not i in merrc n ro d
nd bridge, in order to develop crui e mi ile nd Br dley
tn. C II th n m of innocent m ed behind the inf nt
mort lity t ti ti ; toll tho e who died for 1 c 0
dequ tc he Ith c re: mourn t e 10 0 tho ho h ve
uccumbcd to uncomb tted di e e, all 0 the U .. might
devi e the ultim te electronic we pori of de tho
The nation' Ie der found ne ,ef icie nt method 0
reducing cities like B ghd d to rubble qUI ly, hil our
own ciuc: crumbled ilently. Fund for higher du auon
were cut, lunng the nation' men nd omen Into the chool
of killing. The U.S. provided the 111 of d trucuon In the
military r ther th n the wherewith I to build happy f mily
lifc. Drug with their companion of de th and d truction,
wept into the vacuum of joblc ne nd hopele ne .
George Bu h i pp rently ware of wh" h re at home w
. crificed to build the mighty war m chine. A the w r
entered it final formal daYr Wedne day, February 27, Bu h
held pres conference to nnounce h "will not for et" the
U.S. undercla and laid out n "opportunity tlOn pi not
which will be pre ented to Congrc s.
The plan offer little to the nation. but lot to the tradi
tional Bu h upport groups, the right wing and bu ine . It
doe offer firms tax breaks for locating in depre ed area.
It offers the elderly no incrtased ocial eeurHy benefit,
only a chance to work a little longer without cutting into
their social ecurity benefit. It promote wider choice for
parents in chOOSing their children' chool, but not the
public transportation system to get the kid to tho e distant
chools, nor the- m01ley for college w-hen they graduate. And
it steps up the loss of rights in the name of crime fightin by
relaxing court rule barring 'evidence gathered without a
warrant.
Bush's approach to the "underclass" i a Cold. unfeeling
and ruthle s a the needles war he waged for control of Gulf
oil. A lot of rhetoric with little compassion for the. uffering.
For. as he spoke. the poor were being a ked again to
sacrifice. On Friday, March 1, ome 170,000 recipients of
social service in Michigan will open their aid· check en
velop . only to find their monthly grant ha. been cut 17%.
, In the f ce of the cce\.era\ing decline wnhtn Americ •
Je se Jackson's question nexi election lime mighl velJ be,
"How many of you have Ji-.:ing ro ms?" .
Only a mas movement by the people will turn thi nation
around. We just hope it isn't too late.
y
DR. M UL K R
G . the rchitect of the
doctri ne of K w ida nd the
creator of K nza, h consis
tently cont nded that "culture i
the key cri i in Black life".
My concern. however, is that
the re is the d nger of tudying
hi tory for history's sake or
celebrating culture for the ake
of celebrating culture.
Carter G. Woodson en
couraged Blac people to tudy
our hi tory and culture as a
. mean of.liber' ling our minds
from the "mis-education" of
. Euro-centric hi tory and cul
ture. The re-e ucation of
African people was seen as in
tegral to the psycho-cultural
re toration of the race.
As Carter G. Woodson put,
"he who controls the mind has
nothing to fear from the body".
Liberatin the mind i a part of
progre of tiber ling a people
from opprcs jon and domina
tion.
Malcolm X was not con
cerned wi th the tudy of history
as a mere academic exercise.
alII" r fJ9Il �/IIIJtII,."..
\llrrfl"u; NII�jt"-' .
MEHllIJ4Ilf, e.tcK,..T 1He � fRM', OOR �TRDT ST�a; GUIeRD.'
African Am rican
'Oppo Oil W
----------------
-
concerned i th
n Iy in ho various people
had overcome I very, oppres
sion and domin lion.
alcolm u ested th t if
BI c people could find out
ho other peo-ple had otten
their problem trai ht, then
Afric n people could et' some
clue to how to et our prob
lem tr i ht.
D. UL A
G i cert inly one of the pre
eminent chol r of our time.
However, I feel confident that
Dr. K reng would tell u that
hi tudy of A ric n hi tory and
culture and hi re e rch into an
cient E ypti n civili tion i not
imply chol r hip for
cholar hip's ake.
Dr. Kareng' mi ion i to
t ud y the p lab si for
laying a foundation to re cue
our future.
The tudy of culture func
tion to help u formulate and
rticulate a Black value system
to serve ·as guide in our daily
inter-action with each other and
with olher people.
The nowledge nd aware-
ne of our history and culture
L ad
r
by Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.
• t was a trul y historic and
spirit-filled day, February 15,
1991. at Abyssi nian Bal)tis t
Church in Harlem, New York
when more than 100 African
American church� civil rights,
poli tical .. civic and 9ther I.eaders
athered to p rticipate in th Na
tiona I Emergency African
American Lcadership Summit on
the Oil War.
One month after the United
States and allied armed forces
went to war with Iraq, a broad
range of African American
leaders reached a national con
sensus in oppposition to the im
mQ.rality and injustice of the war
in the Gulf.
The expl icit unity that was
achieved among African
Ameri,can leaders at the Leader-
hip Summit was unprecedented
jn recent years. Rev. Dr. Calvin
Butts. Pastor of Abyssinian Bap
tist Church. welcomed the
part icipants "to the heart of the.
African American community
and to one of our historic chur
ches where we are free to speak
the truth for the sake of justice."
The Rev. Dr. M. William"
Howard, Executive Director of
the African American Council of
the Reformed Church of America
explained, "The purpose of this
emergency meetln is to respond
to the immofaility of the Oil War
by developing a plan of action
that can mobilize the African
American community across the
nation to stop this unjust war.",
CONGREESSMAN
Major.
., .
THE MICHIGAN' CITIZEN
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-...:...,. .. -'.
i eapon an our tru -Ie for
urvival and developm nt a
people.
I feel that it i important to
ma e the e ob ervalion be
cau e A rican American Hi tory ..
onth and t e study of 0 r is
tory nd culture can become
ritualistic, faddt h and ir
relevant to our tru le n
oppre . ed people.
ALL TOO 0 T these
d y I encounter brothers nd
i tera ho ar down with Arre
centrity nd th cultural piece
who re mi in in action in the
frontlines of the tru te for
Black liberation.
The greate t imper live for
an oppre sed people i to CT
to transform their condition. To
ba k in one knowledge of hil
tory and culture without tran •
I tin th t now ledge into a
useful and practical mean of
w gin individual and collec
tive truggle toward the libera
tion of African people is
fruitle and futile.
Given the wretched and er
vile condition of Africans in
America and the world over,
Black consciousness and cui·
Owens, Democrat of Brooklyn, .
add ressed the assembl y and'
declared, "American society has
become bloodthirsty, the Bu h
Administration is bloodthirsty,
but we must say no to this war
and we must say no to this in-
humanitv." Former Con-
.. .. t I '�C."
P )' � a,. �4 �� ..J fP1
pre ente n rafl o[ an open let-
ter to President Bush. After
reviewing the draft with addi
tional eailing, the Leader hip
Summi t unanimou ly adopted the
letter to Bush.
The open letter to the Presi
dent stated, "We, the under
signed, do herewith declare .our
opposition to the war in th� Oulf
on moral, spiritual,·
humanitarian. economic and
poli tical grounds. This war i not
a clean, sanitized, high-tech dis
play of allied superior military
power. The war in the Oulf is
wrong, unnecessary, unprin
cipled an dirty. This war is in
violation of all standards of fun
damental human rights. We are
outraged at the countless number
of innoccnt civilians who have
been killed as a result of wanton
military action. This is not· a just
war!"
The Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery,
President of the Southern Chris·
tian Leadership Conference,
stressed the important of moving
quickly to avert the escal ion of
the Oil War. Lowery em
phasized, "We must challenge the
President now in order to prevent
an even greater tragedy from hap
pening. "
Bishop John Hurst Adams, a
� R TO KEEP 1]E
REST IN 1l\EIR
PROPER, SU9S£R Eftf,
RESCJJRCE· PRO�\DlNG
RolE�
.\.
CPS
v
tural a arene m t lead to 0-
cial and political ction.
We mu t ind ithin our 1-
tory and culture th vi ion and
v lue ,the heerle nd t n-
Ipiradon to en a' e t Itru -Ie
that ill lead to t re urr clio
of our people.
The le on of t livel and
stru le of 0 een zin a and
Chata Zul u, Hanie t Tubman
and Nat Turner, Sojourner Truth
and Frederic Doull a, ary
McLeod Bethune nd Martin
Luther Kin , Fannie Lou Hamer
and Malcolm X ch lien e to
believe the orda of arcua
G rvey hen e aid "up you
mi hty race, you can ac
compliah what you ill."
ROil Dalliels erves as Presi
de;at 0/ the Illstitute lor Com·
mUllity Orgallizatioll alld
Developmellt in Youngstown,
Ohio. He may be contacted at
(216) 146-5747.
senior Bi hop of the African
Methodist Episcopal Church
stated, "We are further opposed
to this war because of the racist
manner in which acts of violence
and war have been carried out
against people of color over the
last fifty year." Cleveland
Robi nson, a nationally known
labor leader representing District
Continued 08 Pale 5
Reader
oppo e war
opposition' .
Dear Editor:
At a lime when the men and
women in our armed forces are
facing their greatest teat, we at
home are facing a test as well.
Our te t is to maintain' our unity
and resolve, as our troops are
- 'doing in the Persian Gulf.
We don't, want Sad dam Hus-
·se into take this country's
tolerance for anti-war
demon.strator as a Signal he
should wait out our resolve in a
long and· bloody war.
I'm outragcd at the brutal
treatment of our POW's. And
I'm saddened to see the media
give so much attention to the
sma II n u m b e'r 0 fan t i - war
protesters who have sprung into
action. It seem' that every time
a few protesters pick up their
signs, the cameras swarm
around. them, and they end up on
the new.
Our oldiers have said that
they have a job to do and re
going to get it done. I feel I have
a job to do, too. And that's to .
stand up in strong support of our
troop.
I want them to know that I
and the American people are
very proud of them. We are all
in pired by their bravery.
I hope th t you'll print my
letter, and others like it, in the
days ahead. Thousands of local
American newspapers are
reaching our men and women in
uniform every day. Your
new paper may be one of thcm.
I want the troop to know that
we hold them in our thoughts
and prayer every day.
S'incerely,
Kenneth Riley