EDITORAL
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READERS WRITE
IN THE NORTHERN districts
o.fNew York. a group of politicized
prisoners are beginning to frame a
unique response to this plague of
*ack encagement. '
, In late November 1991, some 64
Wisoners at New York's Comstock
Prison put their signatures to a docu
ment formally renouncing their
citizenship in a nation bent on spit
dng on their alleged "freedoms."
the document expresses historical
and contemporary beliefs that
demand serverance from the land of
tertured birth.
: It is called the "Petition for
Renunciation of U.S. Citizenship by
Brothers Incarcerated in the Com
slock Correctional
Pacility... ovember, 1991:
: We, the undersigned, renounce
tie citizenship United States Con
g1ess thrust upon us without our con
�nt.
: We believe the act of incorporat
ing Africans and Indians into the
U.S. framework serve to nullify the
ar crimes against our ancestors.
; We believe America is an il
legi timate country founded on
genOCide, kidnapping, rape, theft,
dppre ion and racism.
, We believe America' ystem of
tJ:onomics perpetuates oppression,
pover\y nd crime. Eurocentric
q.pita m cannot exist without ex
",oitatiqn.
We 6elieve 'that this y tem of
nerve.
lnterated perSOM «king mor«
ill/ormation may colltllCt: Joan
Gibbs, Attorney Center for COIIStiJu-
tional Rights 666 Broadway, 7th Fl.
Hew York, H.Y. 10003.'
VIEWS OPINIONS
Bl c politici
political te e
nd uncrit cal b e to emersce
any Democratic candidate that p
pea "electable." 0 negotiatio ,
no ainln , no evera , j t pic
winner nd Sign on. .
In t nee of a Bl c A da
and some rm commitmen by a
political party or their candid to
nce that agenda, t it that
the Bl c politicia expect to gain
by upportin candida bo are
soft pedalin or igoorin Black is-
uc and concerns?
This kind of disorientation, d ar
ray, dl organization and lac of
leadership constitutes a very d
tate of affairs in terms of the Black
Agenda, the Black vote and the '92
election.
A the 1992 National Black
Political Agenda put it, "both partie
have betrayed whenever their in
tere t conflicted with ours (which
w mo t of the time), and whenever
our force ere unorganized and de
pendent, quiescent and compliant."
The cri e we face a Blac
people are far to serious to blindly
entrust our fate to either of the estab
lishment parties.
NO PARTY or candidate who
doe not have Black people
PUBUCL Y on their agenda deser
ves the slightest comideratlon from
Black people. If our �ues and con-
protra�ed struggle.
STANDING AT the side of
Dunham's bed was her physician,
Dr. Lee Blount, Jr., who has been one
of the physicians that has rendered
decades of ervice to the African
liberation movement here and
abroad.
As we walked in and greeted
sister Dunham, she milcd and said,
"1 hope you are not coming to tell me
to stop fasting!" And of course we
said, "Oh, no: We are here to support'
you and tell you that millions of
istets and brothers throughout the
nation, in Haiti and in other parts of
the world are praying for you and
stand behind you all. the way."
Dick Gregory journeyed to East
St. Louis to show upport for
Dunham' fast and protest Local
and federal authorities, however, did
not like the fact that brother Gregory
was in town and immediately
urested him for "demoDitrating" at
a federal building. Once Gregory
w released, be w subsequently
rc-arrested twice to "harass" him out
of time.
DUNBA
ded:lCa"� tr4*101Il ft Ier.
ne to urat j ee II crone
on behalf of Hal tian refugees
de erves the involvement of
millionl. Sister Dunham is making
her contrlbudoDl at great personal
ut 0 tr it P Ii
Uy non
cus dof ln
th thr r for dto
. on tri 1 for di ppin
o 2. million. .
Court w tchers flip on th nightly n w to h r th 1 t t
ut th 'Chief' rom n : th tri ith com 0 to
Germany and Arizona; th nt mon y �d or ubur n di ,
the 1 nd tin m ting in the m 11 par n 10 ..••
Th whol nd 1 h uld not om ny urpri . H rt i
th t kind of cop who mad a car er ch ing down BI c .
Wh n Bl c er f w nd far b tw non th 0 troit force
Hart was th re to slip into Blind Pi c in the. ft rhou�
join 0 that th raids could follow. He h s don hite fol
dirty or for y rs.It w s the p tt m ofb h vior th t brought
. him up through th ran and put him where h is now.
He wa nitch. long as h ood at eeping Blac
fo'l in lin , h wa allowed to do he did. When he b cam
el s to the powers that be, he w brought up hort,
ubjected to scandal and pro ecution. ow, th taxp yers h ve
to keep on paying. We'r paying for the whole spectacle seen
on nightly new and page one.
As long as our leadership is pick d for us, we '1,1 get the more
of the same. It is humiliating to hear all the details , The most
recent testimony r veal that Hart did not "realize" the
companies set up by Deputy Chief Ken Weiner were dummy
corporations, real only on paper. .
Had Hart taken the time to read the names of the compam
out loud, he might have had a clue. Sonigro. Say it ou�oud. It'
as if Weiner was laughing all the way to th· bank WIth Hart'
checks.
, Nor is it surprising to read this weekend that one out of five
policemen on the D troit force has been. sued in court for
improper or violent behavior. These are suits, not complaints.
• · Corruption at the top will breed the same all the way down the
� ranks. There are good police out there, but they have a hard
time staying that way. There is the corruption of drugs and all
the money that flows with the drugs. It is the drug slush fund
that Hart is accused of dipping into. The police department,
aided by the mayor, has fought long and hard to keep its slush
fund away from public scrutiny. , .
. Citizens have to take control of their commumty. One way
to reclaim the police department would be to have an elected
police review board. The board should not be elected at-large
as the city council is, but rather from and for each precinct.
Civilian Review Boards should have the power to review all
expenditures of money, civilian brutality complaints and
recommend promotions.
Right now, everyone but us control this city. Taking control
of the'police who are nearest to the �'.!Y in terms 0 daily
service would be a real first step.
Detroit' Finest can withstand the light of continual p blic
. crutiny. omanizers and hustler would have to go
Somewhere else.
The Black agenda, the Black vote and the '92 el ction:
TBEDEMOCRATIC Party, the
elltwhile "friend" of Black people
held the Blac vote hostage for
decad because there is the percep
tion that the Black vote has nowhere
toao·
African Americans have been the
most loyal and devoted constituency
within the Democratic Party, hold
ing firm to deliver elections and the
attendant poils to the Democrats
when others came and went at will.
Indeed, it was defection of white
voters froin tHe Democratic Party,
enchanted by the reactionary and
racist message of Ronald Reagan,
which resulted in Republican control
of the White House for the last
decade. '
pite the fact that there are
some 70 million people in the U.s.
who are not registered to vote, tbe
Democratic Party has embarked on a
desperate course of attempting, to
reclaim the so called "Reagan
Democrats. "
The white male voter, "Joe six
pack," the "bubba vote," is the prize
which the Democratic Party seeks to
court and capture in hopes of fielding
an "electable" candidate for the
White House in "92.
. Since the election is about power
and spoils instead of principle, the
issue of racism in U.S. society and
the deteriorating condition of the
masses of Black people can and must,
be put on the back burner or
bid. Therefore ilence prev
The only time t t Bl people
come up in the deba in the coded
me ed in th competition be
tween the Democr t and
Republican for the white vote.
Reagan ed th idea of the "burden
of government" n the backs of the
people his code word for BI clcs.
George B h exploited the image of
·Willie Horton to transmit hi racial
me age.
Thi year both parties, responding
to the succ of David Duke in at
tracting white voters in Loui iana,
have adopted "welfare reform,"
their new found code word for elec
tion '92.
Once again Black people are
being battered as the two estab
lishment parties fight for power and
influence within a system which i
woefully neglecting tl\e m ges of
Black people.
Who will break the silence and
peak for the masses of Black
people? .
THE RFAL TRAGEDY is that
virtually none Of the mainsteam, es
tablished Black political leadership
has tepped fO$ to boldly and un-
'f
,
,
o
DA
VA TAGE
POI T
At the wisdom age of 82,
Katherine Dunham continues to
provide effective leadership and
inspiration for million of persons
tbroughou; the world for the cause of
justice and human dignity. For more
than four weeks, this strong African
American woman has sacrificed and
risked her own life to portest the
inhuman and immoral natfilent of
Hiatian refugees by the government
of the United States.
Katherine Dunham has refused to
eat until the United States changes its
current policy of "forced
repatriation" of Haitian refugees
from the United States back to the
reprssive situation in Haiti. The bold
determination of Dunham has won
the prayerful admiration of millions.
She has helped to keep the national
and international spotlight on the
plight of thousands of Hiatien
regugees who are still being
mistreated terribly by the Bush
Administration.
From her hopsital bed in St.
Mary's Hospital in East St. Louis,
lllinois, Dunham wrote to President
Bush appealing for an end to the
inhumniaty toward the Haitian
refugees, she stated, "I find the most
recent dccis pns regarding Haitian
refugees shocking. Please believe.
me, Mr. President, those returned
will receive no welcOme.
Having lived in Haiti sporadicall y
for over fifty years, I find Haiti too
'.
I
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cems are too hot for the Democratic :
Party to handle, then it i imperative
that we form our own Bl ck led third ..
force or new political party to pe :.
for the mas of Bl c people, �
minoriti , omen, nd poor and �
working people in this country. ;
- Our challenge is not to beg the •
Democrats for the Republicans to :
consider the Black Agenda in '92. :
Our challenge i to po e the vital ;:
alternative to the establishment par- t'
tl� ,
We must ttuggle to repl ce them. If
That i precisely the mi ion of my
independent pre idential crusade in :
'92 - to forge a formidable mass ::
ba ed, democratic, independent, �
progre ive movement that can con- :
test for power; the power to govern
in the intere t of the vast majority of •
Black people, minorities, women, �
and poor and working people. �
�
Ron Daniels serves as President -I
of the Instiua« for Community Or- ·
ganization and Development in
Youngstown, Ohio. He may be COII- : '
tacted at (216) 746-5747.
valuabble' to ignore or allow to
disntegrate. "
DUNHAM, WHO is a
world-renowned dancer and teacher,
is a living legend. It eems that
Katherine Dunham is now willing to
risk death in order to wake up this
nation to confront the ongoing
tragedy of our Haitian sisters and
btothers. Will the African-American
communi ty respond to the challenge
of one of the "mothers of the freedom
movement"? Will the millions of
persons of good conscience in this
nation stand up -with Dunham and
others to demand justice for
Haitians?
We thank sister Dunham for her
courage and for her sacrifice. At a
time when there are many who are
seeking out leadcIShip models, we
thank si ter Dunham for her
consistent leadership for over six
decades. Dunham' life eEmplifies
the be t of African tradition:
persistent struggle for the freedom of
all.
Recently, we visited with
Katherine Dunham in St. Mary's
Hospital. Although she bad not eaten
food for many days, her spirit
strong and vibrant. In fact, e
impreased with her ben of
moral and soci81 responsibility
well as a profound commitment to
and unders tanding of African
beri.tage amid t the pres ,ute of
omstock brothers
" .
renounce citizenship
� MUMIA ABU-JAMAL ' economics condemned Africans In-
. '
:, According to recent U.S. govern- dians, Latinos and poor whites to
�ent statistics, over 50,000 people ghetto col�nies.
tre in New York prisons. Of that We believe the 13th Amendment
Jstonishing number al ost SO per- never freed slaves. We were
Et are African-�erlcan. And a "released" into a totally im
er, though significant, percent- poverished condition wherein many
g of roughly 30.7 percent are orourpeerswere forced to engage in
fiispanics. a de�perate sub-culture in order to
: This is so even though only 13'.68 survive.
rcent of New York' state popula- We believe the 13th Amendment
n is Black and Hispanic. is also unconstitutional as it commits
prisoners to the station of a slave, by
violating the premise of rehabilita
tion and by not allowing, the notion
of self-determination,
We believe many major religious
bodies should ask for the world's
forgiveness for its crimes against'
Africans, Indians (indigenous), and
poor whites, and should pay indem
nity for its part in the European slave
holocaust and expansionism.
We believe the names of the
founding families and plantation
owners should be revealed in our
history books.
We believe America should tell
the descendants of the slave
holocaust, the nations we come
from, that we can ask for political
asylum there or be repatriated back
to those original natioDl."
Signed by 64 Black Inmates of
Comstock Correctional Facility,
(NY State)."
Denied the mo t fundamental.
rights guaranteed by the Untied
Nations Declaratio governing the
rights of imprisoned persons, sub
jected to dally brutality and utter
humiliation, caged by a system born
in racist imbalance, the Comstock
Brothers' Pet,ition touch a deep
Helping Haitian : The inspiration
of Katherine Dunham
BENJAMIN
CHAVIS
CIVIL
RIGHTS
JOURNAL
risk at the age of 82. We must not let
Dunham make this important
challenge alone. Let us with one'
united voice and joint action demand:
justice for Haitian refugees. ·
We recommend that everyone:
take the time to do the following
immediatel y:
1) Telegram President Bush,
calling for stronger action by the'
United States to help restore the'
legitimate democratically-elected:
government of President'
Jean-Bertrand Aristidc and to stop
repatriation of Haitian refugees until '
President Aristide is restored back to :
office in Haiti.
2) Contact members of the U.
Congress to authorize support for
Or lion of American Sta
(OM) to oversee acttrid in
to enaur'C the return of dcmoc
Haid.