-- ,
p
h,
, By Ron Danle
At the height of the m liciou
-congre ional campaign to
",-dethrone him and ride him out of
'Congre s, miling Adam
Clayton Powell would alway
exhort his upporter to "keep
, the faith baby". •
A familiar gospel rendition
'often reverberate through
J Black church sanctuaries on
Sunday: "We have come thi far
by faith, leaning on the Lord".
J And Imani, Faith i the eventh
.sprtnctpte of the Black Value
,Sy tern.
Despite all the adversity we
, face, Africans in America must
I elieve i the riab 0 of
I ur .�!rugll.,and that lA tbe end
Africa'n
Continued from Page 4
Connecticut, the local
newspaper appears to have a
racist vendetta against Attorney
Lubbie Harper. Attorney Har­
per is an African American who
is the legal counsel for the local
.school bard and an outstanding
.community leader.
The New Haven Register
.repeatedly has attacked Harper.
Other local African American
.leaders in New Haven have
'-declared, "The singling out of
Lubbie Harper again and again
,-by The New Have Register looks
. like, smells like, and sounds like
selective persecution and racial'
.harassment." Again, similar to
,the false alte.gatlons against
Floyd Flake, The New Haven
Register has printed misinfor­
mation concerning the issue of
Lubbie Harper's taxes. The al­
legations against Harper now
have been found to be baseless
and false.
, One would think that after
�ew Haven successfully elected
its first Arrtcan American
mayor: John Daniels, the tide of
racism in the local media would
recede. To the contrary, racist
journalism in New Haven is es­
calating. It now appears that the
forces of racism within The New'
Haven Register are bent on
polarizing the people of New
Haven along the lines of race for
poli tical and economic reasons.
We support the newly formed
New Haven Commi ttee for Fair­
ness and Racial Justice in the
Media (CFRJM). Throughout
the nation local committees, like'
CFRJM, should be organized to
monitor and challenge racial
bias in the media.
WE RESPECT and demand
the rreedom of the press. That is
not' the is ue , We, however,
know from our monitoring the
media across the nation that
there is an increasj ng negative,
racial overtone in the manner in
which African American leader
are being treated by the pres .
Racism in the media i a threat
to liberty and freedom. Racial
attacks again t anyone by the'
media can not and hould not be
tolerated.
"truth cru hed to earth will ri e
again" .
African in America have uf­
fered through the travail of
lavery with all of its hock and
horrors. We were torn from our
ancestral homeland, forced to
march long di tances to the e
and then undertake the ordeal of
the "dread middle pas age".
THE TRANS·ATLANTIC
Slave Trade prod uced the
greatest holocaust in human his- .
tory a 100 million Africans lost
their live by orne e timate .
Once in the Western Herni-
ph r icans were subjected
to l e II I brea lng" proce s;
a consctousr errort to de­
Africanize the African nd cre­
ate a semi-human suitable to
serve the white master.
We were taught that our
African ancestry tainted us and
that our color w a badge of
degradation. We were reduced
to chattels, property with no
recognized right to marry or
maintain families.
But despite all the trials and
tribulations of slavery, Africans
in America survived. Not only
did we survive, we refused to
submit to our oppres ors.
The slave masters were
forced to contend wi th work
stoppages, slow downs,
sabotage, the constant threat of
revolt and the ever present
reality of the run away slaves
"stealing away" to freedom. And
"Free Blacks" were at the
forefront of the abolitionist
movement which fought to over­
turn the slave system.
Once "emancipated,"
Africans in America were still
not genuinely free. We were
used and abused 'by power
hungry poli tic ians and then
abandoned.
In the South we endured a
rein of terror and the imposition
of a rigid system of apartheid
U.S. style. Hundreds of Africans
were lynched as a means of en­
forcing the" Jim Crow" system
and keeping Blacks in their
place. White supremacy has al­
ways shuttered at the prospect of
the potential of Black Power.
Despite the odds, African
Americans rose up to defy the
southern system of segregation
and terror. We kept the faith and
kept on coming.
THE CIVIL RIGHTS
Revolution of the 60's and 70's
was one of the great social
movements in world history; a
movement that � exposed
America' hypocri y before the
world and shattered the shackle
of legally anctioned segrega­
tion in thi nation; a movement
which demonstrated th t there is
nothing more powerful than a
people wi th made up mind and
the confidence/faith and deter­
mination to be free.
Adver ity ha not de troyed
Africans in America. Adver ity
has bred the character and faith
to shape Africans in America a
a powerful, humanistic force for
I ,
.. '
. ,
VANTAGE
POINT
'Ron
Daniel
change.
African Americans have not
been crushed by the oppressive
ystems of this ociety. We have
sustained a steady and unrelent­
ing truggle to overcome and
tr rorm a racist, e tiv
an oppre 'ive n Oil hat
struggle must continue until we
are victoriou .
We were taught that our
African IInce.try tainted
u. and that our color
w.s a blldge of
degradlltlon. We were
reduc d to chattel.,
property with no
recognized rlgb't to
marry or maintain
tsmttt« _
In the face of the current
crises which threaten to derail
the freedom train and destroy
the very fabric of the African
American community, African
Americans must keep the faith .
The growi ng poverty, un­
employment, homelessness and
epidemic of drugs, AIDS,
violence and fratricide is but the
latest chapter in America's
genocidal attack on Africans in
this country.
We must not waver in our
faith in the righteou nes of our
struggle or in our commitment
to triumph over the evils of
racism and militarism.
We must keep the faith be­
cause we who built the pyramids
and gave the world its first
glimpse of astronomy, medicine,
science and mathematics can
and will continue our re-emer­
gence as a great people.
We must keep the faith be­
cause we Vi 0 offered up the
first people on this planet and
provided humanity with ,i ts first
ta te of civilization can rescue
ourselve from a decadent and
dying nation.
We must keep the faith be­
cau e we who survived the
travail of slavery, the greatest
holocaust in human history and
the adversi ties of segregation,
c n and will liberate ourselve
and in the proce . creete a new
and more humane society.
At all co t, and no matter how
evere the crl e and adversities
which confront us, we a
African in America mu t keep
the faith.
Ron Daniels serves as Presi­
dent 01 the Institute lor Com­
munity Organization and
Development in' Youngstown,
Ohio. He may be contacted at
(216) 746-5747.
Vihy we must free Cart r
""IrQ R. �[)_'&'''��'t!��.�
Pol/e brut /lty
1933, 1991 •.. 2000
nd?
.
tDD
The ye r w 1933, the 9th
d Y 0 October. the pi ce
I ETY SIX, S.C., from the
New York Herald Tribune the r­
ticle re d: Lynchers Slay Negro:
One Tell 01 Police Help,
coroner' jury ordered four men
held I te tod y on ch rge of
murderin Bennie Thomp on,
youthful e ro who w t en
from the j il hue I t night nd
be ten to de tho
• "The cuon w t en after
Burley Lepp rd h d re d t t�­
ment admitting th t he nd three
white men had ta en the youth
from hi cell nd whipped him
with "automobile top tube ."
The men implicated by Lepp rd
were J. F. Morris, "Le ty Maye
and "Toody" Webb. Leppard,
textile worker, and Maye were
in j il tonight, but officer were
till earching for the other two.
"We and the other had orne
trouble with the Negro at a cafe
last night and he drew a pi tolon
u ." Leppard' s ta tement aid.
The Negro was arre ted and put
in jail. Later the four of us went
to the jail and a ked the jailer to
turn the Negro over to u. He
refused, telling us we would
have to see the chief.
"Chief of Police Rush came
in a few minutes later, and we
made the same request of him.
He told us to wait until dark and
com back and we would find
the j ail unlocked. We went back
to the jail a short time later and
we found the door open and the
lock hanging in the cell door ....
We took the Negro out and drove
him down the road in my car.
ALL OF US beat him with
automobile top tubes and left
Specllli to Mic
In a nation where murderer
average six and a half years in
prison before release, Maurice
Carter continues to be stuck be­
hind bars in state prison after
more than fifteen years for an
attempted .murder conviction
having no substance.
If he had cut his best deal
prior to trial he would have been
freed years ago, undoubtedly. If
he would have bowed down
under the weight of the inj us­
nee, admi tting the conviction
was correct in return for con­
sideration, Carter would now be
free. By failing to abandon his
integrity, however, Carter
remains locked up.
State law, like its federal
counterpart, appears to have, no
relation to truth, morality, nor
justice; it simply lends predict­
ability and stability to certain
social classes. Meanwhile en­
tire classes of citizens are forced
out ide of the system, outlaws of
li.ttle concern to the powers­
that-be.
Carter' imprt onment is a
result of being unwilling to
never be guilty of uch dirty
tricks as that," he said.
The year 1991, the 25th day
of March, the place Lo An­
geles, California, from
Newsweek Magazine the article
read: Brutality on the Beat
... four defendant were
photographed and finger printed
and brought before a L.A supe­
rior judge.
The principle charge in the
grand jury indicted was assault
with a deadly weapon .... After
bail hearing and a hearing date
were set Stacey Koo n, Ted
Briseno, Laurence Powell, and
trait-ja��et h�mself into a di -
obedience to the truth, becom­
ing a part of the oclety-wide
mis use of the power of reason-
Maurice Carter
ing which creates the mental
prison of an artificial cla s, cul­
ture, and breeding.
MANY IN THE Black com­
munity, believing "when in
Rome, do as the Romans do,"
also abuse our own best interests
Timothy Wind ere free to
pp renlly the four ho ere
LA police officer had ome
trouble ith the egro 0
peedin in hi c r do n the
highw y. The young ne ro od­
ney Kin w topped nd ar­
re ted hortly fter d r on
M rch 3rd. He w hot ith
tun gun by one officer, then vi­
ciou ly clubbed, tomped and
kic ed more th n SO time by
three other. The Ne ro' kull
wa broken in nine places. Just
fter 8 o'clock ever 1 mornin
I ter the egro' body be rin
many welt een for the first
time by other m 11 negro boy.
TH CHI of Police 0 ryl
Gates defended hi record by
telling reporter that he h d "lot
of friend in the Black com­
munity." When the police
department came under fire for
the choke-hold de th of Blac
several year ago, he even
blamed the victim for not
having veins in their neck "lilce
normal people. "
Mayor tom bradley, him elf
negroe, and who h s no power to
remove the police chief i aid
to be working behind the cenes
to oust him. Chief Gate who
ha been a cop 42 of his 64 yean
m de a statement. "I'm not
going anywhere."
I.
by a i ing, if no,;, racing,
Western ociety' reckles in­
subordination, if not con­
temptuousness, if not
embracing, Western ociety's
reckless insubordination, if not
contemptuousness, to the rules
and con traint inherent within
the natural order, de pite �
.. knowing better.
Like the Nelon Mandela
ituation, Carter's predicament
ree k of uch in] us tice that
people of con cie nce, of all
colors, must get, in the face of
the governor, the attorney
general, and the Parole Board.
pressuring them to free Carter.
Unlike Mandela '8 oppressors,
who never pretended to stand for
liberty and justice for all.
America continues to hold out
the guarantee of sett-determnta­
tion and promise of democracy.
It should be easier, therefore, to
gain Carter' freedom.
Carter's plight, and many
more suffering the same type of
injustice, challenges the Blac
community in Michigan to get
involved in securing the bless­
ings of liberty and ju tice for
our elves from the me an-
Continued on, 13