,_.
JU
I he ded to
he r mier of Jun le
Fever, ju t hour fter
bein c lled by the
Reverend Willi m Cooper
�"nd r. Erne tine E ell,
:. (1 ho informed me th t 17
.. ,.ye r old young m n n med
Alfred Ewell, high
chool footb 11 pi yer nd
"honor tude nt, h d
·&.'attended a p rty on the
Co Ifir t turday In June in
"4'the Atl ntlc Be ch ection
lor Queen, New Yor .
fI ,·While there, he beg n
n:, oci lizing with a young
1 .. white female.
_. Mr. Ewell, who i
. Blac , wa immedi tely
confronted by a young
white male who loudly
-, 'prote ted the fact that he
t" wa ocializing out ide of
l. hi race. They rgued for
"a while, and the matter wa
br.reporte111y re olved.
Hour later Ewell left the
I r p rty, and wa i tting on
• v the bo rdwalk on Atlantic
-Beacn when he wa
.. �,attacked by a white mob
,with bats, who beat him
into a coma. He lies now
at the point of death, even
after receiving extensive
brain urgery.
It eemed ironic a I sat
. and watched Spike Lee's
film-which also centered
around an interracial affair
that isolated a Black man
and a white woman from
their familie and
community-e-that what i
being dealt with
cinematically by Lee i
realistically being paid for
by Ewell.
THE MATTER of
interracial relations or
marriage is not the debate
that I want to enter at this
point. The matter of
justice is still unanswered,
and until one can deal wi th
the basic premise of equal
protection under the law
and justice for all, any
academic debate on
interracial relations is
fruitless and really leads to
nowhere.
Whether one agrees
with Ewell socializing
outside of his race or not,
no one has the right, based
on skin color, to pulverize
and brutally beat this
young man to the poi nt of
death.
And it doe n't explain
why the police department
would wait two days
before they told the family
that the word "nigger" was
- used at the party during the
initial argument and at the
subsequent beating, and
that they knew all along
who the main assailant
was.
It seems that history has
a way of using our children
to nudge us toward reality
because if we needed any
validation that there is
some Jungle Fever out
here, or any reminder that
there is an absence of civil
rights for some, then
nature has use Alfred
Ewell to bring that point
home loud and clear.
I STOOD OVER his
bed with his weeping
mother, looking at pictures
of him when he was
. healthy on hi hospital bed
wall as he lay there with
_.. tubes pi unged in all part
, of his body-comatose.
And the q ues lions
repeatedly cam to mind:
How long? How many
more hospital -must I
visi t? How many more
mothers must I comfort?
Enough is enough.
. Too often we have aid
.' "this is it." But we really
-. don't mean that, because if
" we did, we would have
topped.n a long time ago.
orld
n
hite thing
under t nd."
Prior to the Ethiopian rebel
fully c pturing the capital city of
Addi b b , the 1 raeti Air
Force nd Jewi h Agency coor­
din ted "Oper tion Solomon" to
airlift Imo t 15,000 Bl ck Jew
from Ethiopi to 1 rael.
The "Oper tion Solomon"
progr m conducted by I rael,
w one of the large t airlifts of
mankind Ince the U.S. evaca­
tion of Saigon at the end of the
Vietn m W r. In pite of its
e
Each ye r, Ebony Magazine
identifies a group of influential
African men and women. Some
are bonafide leaders, but many
�re imply prominent per-
onalitie .
Correctly 0 and like clock­
work, right after the i ue ap­
pear , Ebony i flooded wi th
letter from readers asking why
certain people are on the list or
why some were left off.
To Ebony's credit, and per-
VIEWS
10 i ti nd e cellent coordin -
lion m ny re wondering, hy
did the e i h t re p y 35 mil­
lion in r n om oney to
Ethiopi n offical, nd till be
illing to incur nother $150
million in the ne t y r for e -
pen e for Bl c Je ho don't
no the 1 ngu g of I r el nd
in mo t ca e don't even no
e ctly where the Middle E t
country i loc ted?
While the 1 rae l i people
hould be congratul ted by the
world tor their hum ni tarian ef­
fort tow rd the displaced
Ethiopi n Jew ,one of the major
que tion that people of color
hould be king i , why?
'THE' PEOPLE 0 I rael
have a tradition of relations with
Ethiopia that goe back to the
days of King Solomon and the
Queen of Sheba, but now Addis
Ababa i in turmoil. The war­
ring troops in that country have
r, the I -
r eli g in proved their
chutzpah nd preci ion by utiliz­
ing 30 gi nt pi ne carrying over
thou nd people e ch nd
flying 40 ortie in nd out of an
irport urrounded by fighting.
Courageou I raell pilot , doc­
tor ,paramedic and milit ry
commander braved gunfire,
t nk , and mort for over 35
hour to ferry the di placed
Black Jews out of Addi ,but till
many re a king, "why".
The E thiopi n Jew do have
historical bond with their
brethren in the land of I rael.
The 15,000 new immigrant will
e t
e Ed
cato
haps becau e it truly wants to be
Objective, probably the mo t in­
fluential African in the world
was left off the list. That person
is Ebony's own founder, John H.
Johnson.
African Americans and
Africans throughout the world
look to and read his publications
religiously. Now that is in­
fluence and power. HILTON:
HIGHER EDUCATION acknow­
ledges and respects Johnson
Publishing Company's leading
po ilion.
BUT THERE MAY come a
time when more than a few
people will begin to notice the
difference between a "leading"
and "leader" po ition. Thi is
not a "Black Thing" but rather a
case of markets and positioning.
That is al 0 why HILTON:
HIGHER EDUCATION remain
critical of JPC for not moving
A' Short Memory
By Dr. Cbarles W.
Faulker
Quick! When was the
last time you heard or read
about the brutal beating of
Rodney King by Los An­
geles police? Outside of
Los Angeles, the case is
practically forgotten. It's
back to business as usual.
Black people have short
memories. Black people
are "So kind and forgiv­
ing."
The unfortunate fact is
that Blac people have ex­
perienced police brutality,
and general racism, so fre­
quently that they accept it ,
as a way of life. "Nobody
ever did anything before to
stop it, so what makes you
thing that anything will be
done this time?" This
tatement represents the
thinking of most Blacks.
And this i a major reason
for the continuation of
racism and for the brutal
by-products of racism from
job di crimination to
police brutality .
The great M.C. Hammer
ings "You Can't Touch
This!" Racist say, "You
Can't Touch Mel" They
enerally know that noth-
ing b'ad will happen to
them if they beat up on a
Black. Whites generally
feel, "i f Blacks aren't
going to help themselves,
then don't expect me to
hel p you. After all, I
rece i ve the benefi ts of
racism such as good jobs."
Many of my friends have
told not a single white col­
league o.f their's bothered
to discuss the bru tal bea t­
ing of Rodney King.
You should not underes­
tima te the severe ugliness
that the Rodney King
brutali ty case conyers
about raci m in America.
You should never forget
that as Rodney King was
being clubbed in the head
by a policeman, he turned
over onto his back in order
to avoid this continuous at­
tempt to cru h his skull.
Another policeman, then,
clubbed him in the face and
broke, the, bone around hi
eye.
YET, FEW WHITES
across the country even
discuss the case, and mo t
Blacks act a if they would
rather forget that it hap­
pened. Jewish citizen of
thi country use an excel­
lent tactic against anti­
semitism. They publicize
every single act of anti­
semitism that occur,
whether large or small.
They make a continuous ef­
fort to keep anti-semitism
on the front page.
Black people must adopt
the same tactic. They must
join together to contact the
media regarding the smal­
les t j ns ranee of racism.
When the medic gets tired
of hearing about it, they
must go from door-to-door
and tell anyone 'who will
listen, about what hap­
pened to them. You can
joi or organize a group
whose purpo e i solely to
collect .and distribute data
about every case of racism.
The Rodney King police
brutality ca e presented a
one-in-a-lifetime oppor­
tuni!y to force the public to
focus on what really hap­
pens, daily, to Black
Americans. Thi window
of opportunity has nearly
clo ed and may never open
again.
Continuous publici ty of
racial in en jtivity will
have two major impacts.
o th t area
have proven thatl'they re not to
be trusted in ide I raeli home
country, t ey' e
of ervitude, it i on u to
develop i t nee nd intern -
tion 1 outre ch progr m to help
tbe children of th t irlift to the
be the pilo t, doctor,
p ramedic and comm nders of
the 21 t century,
o
001
with or tepping forward with
the African world and become
an "Incorporating African
World Magazine. "
But where are the educ tor
on thi lit of leaders? More
specifically where are our, col­
lege pre ident? What kind of
me age i Ebony ending an­
nually to young people,
graduate tudent and pro pee­
live educator?
111 terms of ome occupation ,
the Ebony list i more than ac­
curate and definitely doe a bet­
ter job of recognizing the e
individuals than most other pub­
lications.
YES, DR. HENRY Ponder i
on the Ii t, but not in hi role as
Fisk University President. Ye ,
Dr. Clifton Wharton is on the
list, but his position 0 Chair and
CEO of TIAA-CREF, al though
very influential, is actually
detached.
What about the presidents of
such premiere world cla s in­
stitutions as Clark Atlanta, Spel­
man, Hampton, Howard (the
HAl's), Meharry, Southern?
What about the A-frican pre i­
dents of predominantly
European American major col­
leges uch as' Cal State Fuller­
ton, Colorado State ..university,
Michigan-Dearborn or Univer­
sity of Houston?
What about the presidents of
influential education organiza­
tions such as the United Negro
COllege Fund, the national AI-
COPING
By Dr.
Charle
.w.
• Faulkner'"
1) It will let the world
know that racial brutality
really does exist, and that
Blacks experience its ugli­
ness daily. 2) It will let the
world know that Blacks are
a strong, strong people,
contrary to hat many
people currently think of
Blacks. Few people bf any
race could ithstand the
psychological ("you're
lazy, dirty and tupid"),
physical ("Beat the hell out
qf thi nigger") and legal
("you can never prove that
we won't give you � job
because you are Black")
a pects of raci m. Black
people are a strong people.
Keith O .
Hilton
HIGHER
EDUCATION
liance of Black School
Educator or NAFEO?
Ebony can not list every per-
on nominated or liked, how­
ever, the fact till remains that
the vast majority of bu ines
people, congre per on ,
educ tor, theologians, etc., will
continue to receive their formal
training in in titution of higher
education.
If education and educators:
are not recognized a one of the
most influential field in this
country, then whom can we
blame 1) as other publications
edge into our market and 2) a
some of our young people don't
understand the value of that
education?
HILTON: HIGHER EDUCA-
TION is designed to dialogue.'
,with college and world readers.
Education is ongoing and cer­
tainly not limited to school'
classrooms. Let's talk. (714) l
899-0650. '
WAR
MONUME TS
WORLD WA� ]I
VIETNAM
-_
lRAQ'