01 on
ducation i
r, We 1 frica
. 'i. What es pi
rtant what ta
�tiJUI or �abama.
f,P�iate your fcedbac
oaber anlcl .
-�" Thin are tlIrbuleDl
... btre In Niger. They not q te
I to the scale of tbj happen-
-f In Thhld, Benin or 'Jbao, but
aoae I , turbuleDl.
NIGER IS IN the proceu of
formin from the mllitary
�DI party to a system of multi
parties. This seems to be the trend
'In West African countri at the mo­
ment,
As tend to be the , a large
part of the> protest' initiated by
� universi ty tuden . This in
: tum has affected tbe hi&h school
I ltuden and to some de , the
; grade school t\ldents.
• Last year, amidst a march by
: university studen , nine students
: ere bot by soldiers. out-
I raged the students and they lit out
: of c for six mon • The out-:
I come VI called "anncc blanche" -
l a blank year. Basically, owry stu­
I dent 100t a year of scbool.
I, This year has seen the retin- .
ell 0 bard • '
regularly .tudcn . ar;s on .
I come to class. lbIy n
I threatened with uotber year,
, something tbey really can't afford.
I In Febnwy, tbe anniveraary of
I the deaths, the students became
l violent. No one was hurt, but cars
I were burned. Store wil¥!o were
I broken and set afire and the
. , American Cultural Center '91 at-
: tacked.
I
I SOMESAYTHATpro-Sadam
: faction infiltraled a peaceful stu-
I dent marched and started trouble.
, The university and all of the high
I schools across the country were
, closed for one month. Hence the
, threat of 10 ing another year.
: My situation bas been a little
: different and a little I fnIItrat-
lng. I teach English on the univer­
;. sity campus. My school Is a
I private international school of the
: French speaking West African
'countries. '
: We are not directly affected by
: Nigerian politics, but we haw
, problems of our own, lite many
I problems found in Africa. The root
is financial.
, My school is brand new and it
: bas been opened without the
• p�r funds. so in the middle of
: the year, most teachers ref\Md to
I teach until they got their books and
cI materials (back to � finan-
cial problem).
So things have been stagnating.
but oot quite as bad u the Univer­
si . Thin are beginni to pick
• up nd I am finding myself very
• busy. i will close now, but will
: keep you posted of educational is-
,sues in Niger. Best Wis�. . .
lIILTON: HIGHER EDUCA­
:'170N is desigMd to diIJIope with
cdllege and world retUIen. Educa­
• ioll i.t ongoinl aNl cerllliNy IIOt
� to c/lwroom".,. Let's
Brief
J. The infant mortality rate in
1990 was 121 deaths por
tHobsand live births. - Hunger
i�
,
:c In 1986, 65 perccnt of
cb'fi,dren were underweipt. -
thnger 1990
tIn 1984, there was one
physician for every 1 ,010
��()ple. - World Development
Report ,1990
or ed to elimin ie the
problem of r ci m in Cuba,
and ho the revolution h d
or ed to advance their entire
ociety politic By, ocially,
economically nd pirituaJity.
Since the Cub n revolution,
the new leade hip nd overn­
ment entitle each citizen to
good he lth c e, unli e efore
the tr ition hen he lth care
'91 only for the ell-off nd
the rich. Under the old regime,
orkin people h d no right ,
no y in production quota , no
v cation. Tod y 97� of the
or e are in unions.
They 11 or 11 month
ith one month off for v ca­
tion.
Also one may find it h rd to
believe, but tatistics show th t
Cuba's over- 11 heal th care is
rated higher than the U.S.A. in
a number of rea. For ex-
VIEWS
'" uu� I 100 cd
t e malnutrition,
t e hun er, the pro titu on at
o r m media al ay tal s
bout but couldn't find it!
y e they got Cub mi ed up
itb L.A., .Y., or Cruca o?
e vi ited one of their
ho pi t I here there h d been
a hort ge of medicine beca e
of the U.S. bloc de. They h d
re olved the hort e by usin
cupuncture nd herbal
medicine effectively. Their
doctor po e of h vin
tremendo ucce ith them
nd aving hundreds of
thou and of doll rs as well.
They even had g rden on the
ide of the ho pital where they
grew their own herb 1 plants.
We vi i ted the Che Guev ra
High School and were greeted
by a very impre sive tudent
body. We visited the cIa es
and the tudent were busy
tudying, not because they were
tudying for a job, but because
a,l
In the pa t, the leader hi
and the mul tinationals
efi ted from raci m, ex! m,
segre ation. Under tbe e
the Ie dership they have stru ed
to ee everyone as Cuba -not
African or Sp nisb Cubans.
There a no denial of tbe
role African culture h played
on time. All we hear from t in the development of the
U.S. Olympic committee 0 - Cuban culture tod y.and his­
cial are complaints about todcally, in music, arts and
pos ibility of not bavin air- crafts, and dance. RecOgnition
conditioning. They fail to of thi was important in in
that unlike all of the other Pa. and wderstanding Cuban uni,; ,
American ho ts, Cuba ill not que hislorical development.
receive any funds to spo or • My trip proved to be more
the game becau e of the then unique and hen people
economic boycott of t U.S. k me III I go bact to Cuba?
The Cuban people should be Myana er i definitely YES I I
commended for tbeir dedlca- plan to visit Cuba agalnl Cuba
lion for takina on tbe re POD- was such a po erful place to
ibility of holdina the games:�, visit.
-
�EA5rERN',
EUAOPt!.
J
a
UNCLE S'AM
,'ALWAYS
TAKES CARE OF
HIS FRJfNf)31
.'
Dear Dr. Faullmer:
There you go againl Three eea
a.o, you wrote an article criucizlng
people who believe in Christianity.
A couple of weeks after that, you
criticized troloay. What' your
problem? The next time, I you
wl�l �ritic�e people who play the
10 ." ' American
and., 'dt plUlosoJ)hiea have
been with for centuries, and have
&twn us hope, so leave alone.
SIIDed •••. Mr. P., Mia I, FI
Dear Mr. P.:
.The issues - that you mentioned
ve been left alone for too long.
Many, many African Americans
have great "faith" in reUgion, trol­
oay and, even the lottery. The trust
is so great that billions of dollars are
spent annually by people who hope
for success. The sacrifices that one
makes as the result of Utis hope only
worsens the individual's situation,
financially, socially and otherwise.
Submitting
one elf to an
authority without
. questioning the
validity of that
authority is to
relegate one to
continued ig­
norance. I do not
usc the term ig­
norance in a'
deroaatory man- ,
naer. But there
are many ways to
view anything. It
is pouible 't�t the
Ideas that one bas
about the important things in his life
may be wrong. But there are many
ways to view anything. It is possible
that the ide that one has about the
important things in his life may be
,.' wrona. They may even be detrimen­
tal.
st Us, Again
By WILLIAM REED
Isn't it time that so-called
"minori ty" groups take a look at the
obstacles that alway seem to con­
front us? While we are always in­
cluded out in the busine s of
America, too many people have a
record of moving the goalposts to
keep us from u�ding on our own.
Is it not true that if any' of us move
to eliminate the European value sys­
tem from our lives and prac­
tices, too often we find oursel-
ves caught up in the American
Just-Us system?
Contemporary American
history illustrates that non­
white leaders will emerge, from
the other side of the, tracks,
preach a philosophy of group
self-help and separation from
Europeans and their values;
only to fi nd themselve
depicted as malcontents and
demagogues in print and in the
nation' courtrooms.
As these non-white, and
non-traditional leaders begin to
gain wealth, growing organize-
- lions, and increased self-deter­
mination, they've all gotten
themselves into trouble with the
mainstream media and/or the Jl.atice
Department.
WHENEVER WE'VE SET up
systems that do not include as­
simulation of European values we
get anee, wi� the cases of the
Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Mar­
CUI Garvey, Rev. Sun Myung Moon,
'or Yahweh Bcn Yahweh.
A half century ago, Elijah Poole
became the Honorable Elijah
Muhammad and started to build the
American Black Mlalim movement.
Elijah Muhammad pre cbed that
Blaeicl would be bener off if they left
white values and customs behind and
started to build and think for them­
selves.
Muhammad was then vilified in
the American press as being a
"danger" to the racial harmony of the
country.
Before him, Marcu Garvey
created the greatest Black internal
investment system, via the Back to
Africa movement, that Black
Vahwab Ben Vahwah
America has ever known. Garvey
mobilized millions in the 192(l§ to
eek their own determination and
destiny, and for thi he w sent to
U.S. pri ons at the height of the
movement.
Sun MyungMoon, an Asian, built
a worldwide movement b ed on the
concept of the "unification" and true
brotherhood of men. In the process
of unifying the world, Moon built a
large church treasure chest, but '91
hauled of! by the reds to Danbury
Prison on charge involving less than
S10,()(X) for "tax ev ion."
AND NOW, ANOTHER
"minority," Yahwah Bcn Yahwah .
Submitting
oneself to an
authority without
questioning the
'validity is to
relegate one to
continue
ignorance.
in a Miami, Flordia pri on 0
dubious federal charJea.
Yahwah Ben Yahwah il the
spiritual leader of a Black Hebrew
Israelite rellglou denomination
based in Florida. His orpnlzatlon
has amassed a self-contaJocd $100'
million empire that inchMi s.r
markets, hotels, other real estate aocl
child care racili ties to service BIIdEI.
Yahwah Bcn Yahwah hal beeft
held in confinment for over 6
months because authorities
won't permit bail. The cbarps
, against him,' and 16 follow
range from homicide, to arson to
extortion. Prior to his anat Ben
Yahwah had been widely recoa­
nized a strong civic, bw
political and religious leader in
Southern Florida.
While Bcn Yabwah may be
guilty of the cbarps, "minority"
people would do well to DOle
that a very sinister sodal pat­
tern, ala the others, in this •
But the public is nol "\mIwarc"
of the Just-U problems of Ben
Yahwah. More than 15,000
voters in Miami. and over a mil­
lion nationwide, have siped
petitions for ban pro 10 aDd
bond relc;uc of Yah ab.
While Elijah M�mmad and
Garvey have one' on to meet
blue-eyed Savior in the Ity, today
Black Americans ould do well to
watch the treatment of the remalnln
non-E� Moon aDd Yl
The Ole Boy N twort
i own and doesn't to
current in ntlo of includ - any
us in their groups or wntures. So,
why i it that when leaders of "our
kind" tart to make '-dway, per-
ticularl y econo , y
I ca t up in All.ta'l�CM
J t-U sya m?
FOR EXAMPlE, many people
truly believe that they will be
rewarded in an "afterlife" for endur­
ing trails, tribulation and pain in this
life.
And maybe they will be. It's also
possible that they won't be.
There are legitimate argumenm
apintl the notion of an afterlife that
should, at Ie t, be considered. What
if there i no afterlife? One would
,
e
COPI
I
then years on tbia �
oductively and may have,
r ined himaelf unncceuarUy
And unwisely. I
. trology may be alegitlma o�
deavor a� the utrological c�
may provide an accurate [naipt Intq
one' "inner self." But suppolO
astrology' just an UDldentific U­
lusion that is used to manipulate
gullible and restrain them fro
taking charge of their own lIvea.
while making the happy .trol r
rich. Thero
a r 0
legitimate ar­
aumenu
a g a t n a t
as t r o lo y
that should,
at least, be
considered.
Maybe, Just
maybe,
astrology il
onlyapmc.
Thefaetis
that whoever
accepts any­
thing without
questioning it, regardl ofhJs race,
is isolating himself from informadon
that is different from what be already
kno . Some people refuse to con- '
sider another person's Ad simply
-because he fears that the new idell
m y prove his id to be wrong. He
fears that he would be thrown into a
period of confusion about his life.
Confusion, though, is often a ign
that one is learning thin about the
world that he had not known before.
Now he can find new answers to
questions that he could not answer
before. Discovering new, confuaina
information is cenainly uperior to
"faith," which tella you to k DO
questions but to ccept your current
limited knowledge the flnal truth.