VIEWS OPINIONS
J(am
Suit
Publish r: Ch rl
Production: 0 w yne Buch n - K cen Bark
Anita Iroha • Id II C rt r - K i Andrich
Advertising Manager: Mich el Ru II
Images and. reality: the
Thoma hearings
We live in an age of images and perceptions, when
what one ees or thinks they see i often more important
that what really i .
When the nation s t glued to their televi ion ets
watching the "he aid, he aid" circus of the Clarence
Thoma - Anita Hill charges, many of u were di turbed
by what we really saw. It was the im ge of America's
mo t ba ic reality: white male supremacy.
A group of white, millionaire Senators ,-many of
them guilty of such transgressions as leaving a drowned
girl in the bottom of a Mas chusetts pond, stealing
peeche from English politicians and financial misdeal­
ings-sat in judgement on a Black man and woman.
No white male candidate for traffic judge, let alone
the Supreme Court would ever have been subjected in
public, on television, live for the nation to see, what
Judge Clarence Thomas was subjected to.
Thomas rightfully called it racism, though his own .
e rlier attempt to distance himself from anything Black
gave him little right to cop the plea. Con idering how
little the white male system- as represented by
Plagarizing Biden, Womanizing Kennedy,
Segregationist Thurmond et al -know or cares about
sexi m or raci m, it wa amazing the whole thing made
its way into out living rooms. .
While the drama erved someone's interest, probably
the m� group that brought us Willie. Horton and the
Civil Rights veto, it may in the long run serve a greater
purpose.
Will the country ever again be able to stomach the
cene of white male supremacy supreme peering down
ttfeir noses in judgement on a situation they did not
understand?
The real racism is the whole ystem the Senate Com­
mittee represented.
The. system that has thoroughly and historically set
about to destroy Black males and thus the Black family.
These Senators are the overseers of the laws that prohibit
fathers from staying with families who receive public
a sistance.
These are the men who write and enforce the unwrit­
ten rule of society as they meander the hall of power.
They are members of the good old boys club that install
the glas ceilings to stop the progress of the few Blacks
that m ke it through corporate America's doors. The e
men are .the living ymbols of the mentality that legal­
ize the gun which kill hundred of thou ands of Blacks
annually. These are the guys who look the other way
when an Oliver North is caught swapping guns for
cocaine. These are the fellows that would rather spend
billions to buy high tech military hardware to kill
peoples of color from Panama to Grenada to Iraq while
American citizens have no jobs, no . health care, no
higher education, no decent housing and even no food.
If eight women from Congress can march up the steps
to Capitol Hill and force three days of non-stop public
,hearings, live and on t.v., then there must be eight
courageous, indignant people of conscience to demand
a revolution in the country's priorities-from death and,
violence to life and health.
The omen leaders in Congres understood their elf
interest and had the courage to demand it. Where is the
Blac leader hip to under t nd our elf-interest and the
cour ge to demand it.
Will the media who slurped up after the sexism and
racism of the Thomas-Hill confrontation be as interested
in issues of child care, housing, health care, education,
and jobs. Capturing that interest is again a matter of
leadership. The click, click of high heels on the Capitol
Steps caught the country's imagination. Black males
must do the same. .
oc
msroRlCALL Y, ho
middle cl no always proved
to be such trustworthy ally of the
ruling elite.
The middle cl h always
sp wned intellectuals and ctivists
who rose bov the comfort of their
own circwnstan to rebel against
oppressive systems.
, even at the
level of it's own If interest, must
reckon with the reality that the seeds
of deprivation, sown by an exploi­
tive ruling elite, is producing a bitter
harv t of anger, hatred, violence
an-I
Ron Danielsserves as President
of the Institute for Community Or­
ganization and Development in
Youngtown, Ohio. He may be con­
tacted at (216) 746-5747.
,
By BENJAMIN F .. CHAVIS, JR
African.Amerbn, Native Ameri­
can, Hisp ·c American, and Asian
American delegates from every state
in the nation will attend the historic
"First "National People of Color
Environmental Leadership Summit"
on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.,
October 24-27, 1991. These sisters
, and brothers will be joined by other
delegates from Puerto Rico, Central
and South America, Africa and the
South Pacific.
The problem of environmental
racisn is both a national and an
international cris � . The Communi­
ties of people of color are deliber­
ately being targeted for toxic pollu­
tion, dumping, and a vast array of
different types of environmental
injustices.
AS A DIRECI' respoose am chal­
lenge to this growing problem, the
Commission for Racial Justice of the
United Church of Christ is sponsor­
ing this important leadership gather­
ing. The process to plan and develop
the coordination of the Sutmlit is
itself a testimony to the viability of
multiracial and multicultural struggle
and "movement-building" forums
effective future . to Icon ..
front institutional racism.
The Gulf Co Tenants
ciation, the Southwest Organizing
Project and a host of other national
and regional organizations have joined
in the support of the summit.
,FOR THE FIRST time in the
history of this nation, grassroots and
national leaders from the Native
American, African American, His­
panic American, and Asian Ameri­
can communiti , who actively
involved in the 1I'Uggie for environ­
menial justice" will hav the oppor­
tunity to be together in the same
place to discuss, debate, reach con­
sensus, and to agree on a national
plan of action.
The successful convenin of the
Swrmit comes in th w e of many
attempts to divid' and conquer non­
white communities' in the United
States. A racial inju tice anywhere
is a threat to r cia! justice every­
where. The' ue of the environment
may be the one . that allow for
the broadest possible multir ial
approach to building a r newed na­
tional social justice movement.
, ' The m jor goals of The ' First
. al People of Color Environ­
mental Leadership Summit
(1) To facilita an ongoing
process for people of color Ie ders to
strengthen their national, regional,
and local organizations and commu­
nities which are involved in chal­
lenging environmental injustice; (2)
to provide an opportunity to initiate
dialogue between people of color
leaders and the head of the national
environrn ntal organizations; (3) to
identify key environmental policy
q '. OIlS from the perspective of
people of color leadership; and (4)
to imp t the decision-making proc­
ess in the interests of environmental
justice at the fed ral, state, and
municipal levels.
The "Leadership Summit" will
adapt a et of "Principl of
Environmental ustic 'which will
help guid the trengthening of th
future movem nt. Th draft of one
of the principles tate, "Environ­
mental policy must be based on jus­
tice for all without disaimination
due to race. ethnicity, g , n -
tionality, religion, or culture."
Dr. Robert Bullard of the Uni­
versity of California at Riverside
'">i
•
•
�atic Rep. Patricia SchrMder of CMcwodo. cent • leads a group of MeuM Democrottt
wemen to Senate to ..... � on the Oar. Thomcn ¥ON,
•
People of color leadership
. ,
.summlt on he environment
............
stated, "Persons Of color who live in
w te site we often victims of
'doubl hammy,' in th tthey are
exposed to elevated risks iated
with living in polluted environments
at the same time they have problems
getting ace to health and medical
faciliti ."
ENVIRO MENTAL
color in th ir commun.iti .
It i our hope that th Summit
will re ult in a positive difference for
environmental justice for all. _