We al 0 know that there
are nearly 30 African
new papers in thi country
from coast to co t.
PRACTIC LLY
VERY major U.S. city ha
t least one African-
American new paper. Some
have two or three.
Aloin each of these
major citie , there i a ub
stantial number of tudent of
African de cent attending
colleges. '
Many of the e tudents at
tend or attended the mo t
prestigious body of private
college in the nation - the
Ivy League College .
Harvard (Cambridge,
MA), Yale (New Haven, CI),
Princeton (NJ), Columbia
(New York Town), Cornell
(Ithaca, NY), Darthmouth
(New Hamp hire), Brown
(Rhode Island) and Penn
(Philadelphia, PA).
How many people know
that one of the greate t
African journalists that the
world has ever known, Dr.
W.E.B. DuBois, was a
graduate of Harvard? He was
not the only African jour
nalist to graduate from one of
the e institutions, but we cite
him a one example Of how
two great tradition have
common branche .
1)0 TUDENT OR
graduates of these eight in
stitutions still read the
African press? The African
pre s is alive in Bo ton, New
Haven, New' York,
Providence and Philadelphia.
Today, graduates of these
colleges live throughout the
nation and world and as we
noted earlier, there are nearly
300 African newspapers in
this country. Are you reading
the African press on a regular
basis?
We present these ba ic
questions to Ivy League
readers of the African pres in
order to broaden our under
standing of the role of the
press in America.
IF YOU are a student or
graduate of one of the Ivy
League college or know
alumni of, the e colleges,
please give us feedback on
these questions. We would
also like to know of your
recommendation on making ,
higher education an even
higher priority for student of
African descent.
Plea e call or write to:
HILTON: HIGHER EDUCATION,
3139 N. Garey Ave., #101,
Pomona, CA 91767.
HILTON: HIGHER EDUCA·
TION is de igned to dialogue
with college and world
readers. Education is ongo
ing and certainly not limited
to c las room study. Let'
talk. (714) 899-0650.
'ADVERTISE
VIEWS OPINIONS
h 1
Republican pre idential
candidate P tric Buchanan never
tires 0 b hing what h terms th
"Israeli lobby," and openly exp
hi olidarity with white
upremaci in South Afri . Dan
Quayle has recently attac ed people
on welfare, wi thout a coherent
e planation why, after twelve years
of Reagan-Bush steward hip, no
By NATHANIEL SCOTT
Co""'.pond«Jt
When Sears announced the May
closing of its Highland Park store,
what reverberated throughout the
city can best be d cribed with the
word shock. And, judging from
some of the comments of this city'
citizenry, that emotion has not been
overcome.
Many feel that Sears, at the very
least, could have given the city more
time to devise some kind of a plan
that will offset the loss of revenue
Sears feeds into thi community.
Yet, more than one "Who cares?"
and "So what?" were, and are, the
expre ions that one hears, that one
has to wonder why?
Why would Sears, which plans
the opening of other stores, abandon
this city without even a token of what
Chrysler did when it moved its
World Headquarters?
. FURTHERMORE, IF Sears
was the reported "anchor store" for
the $27 million Town Center com
plex at Manchester and Woodward,
on what agreements, if any was this
"anchor store" precipitated? And
does Sears owe Highland Park more
By NOBMAN HILL
This column will give a
thumbnail historical overview of
the civil rights movement and
review the challenges we face
today, the skills we need and the
tasks we face in the 1990s.
We at the Randolph Institute
divide the civil rights movement's
history into 3 periods: first, the
period from 1896. to 1954,
encompassing the legal struggle to
end Jim Crow; second, the period
from 1955 to 1965, encompassing
the popular struggle to end Jim
Crow in the civic arena; and finally,
the period from 1965 to present,
which has encompassed the
political struggle to achieve
economic justice and to maintain
and enforce the legal platform for
racial equali ty ..
In 1954, the Supreme Court, in
the ruling on Brown vs. Board of
Education, effectively killed the
concept of "separate but equal."
But the Brown decision in itself did
not represent a final 'victory.
In tead, it required political
implementation and support The
NAACP, the nation's oldest and
largest civil rights organization,
played a key role in this period by
tirelessly mounting legal
challenges to Jim Crow doctrine.
Because implementing Brown
would require broad political
than the back of its hand?
Reportedly, Mayor Linsey Porter
wants to "entice" Sears to remain in
Highland Park until year's end.
On the other hand, that arne
report quoted a Sears spokesperson
as aying that there has been an "ex
pression of interest" in the building
which, by implication, belongs to
Sears.
Words, words, words. Words that
have little if any meaning for High
land Park's citizenry. Very few
people are privileged to know what
goes on behind the closed doors of
the political machinery in Highland
P rk, and therefore little, if any, of
the real negotiation can be pecu
lated on.
However, this much is absolute
Councilwoman Greta Johnson h (
"petitioned Sears' corporate head
quarters (repre entatives) to come to
Highland Park to speak with the
elected leaders and citizens" before
Sears duplicates the Willow Run ex
odus that is abandoning that city .
COUNCILMEMBER Johnson,
in an April 6 letter to Sears CEO
Edward A Brennan in Chicago, as
sured him that she understood the
"economic factors" in Sears'
P Y -motivated bate
crim against homo exual men and
Ie bians are al 0 incre ing, for
imil r reasons.
According to the U.S.
Departm nt of Justice, tho and of
aults against Ie bians and gay are
record d every y ar. In 1 alone,
there were 563 a saul ts again t
le bians and gays in California, 529
in Illinoi , 387 in Ohio, 268 in New
York, and m in Te
deci ion, and he said that the
citizen of Highland Park "ap
preciated the ervices rendered ... for
the past 54 years" and that during
that time, "Sears has been one of the
primary stores in Highland Park and
has contributed greatly to (the city's)
stability (while earning money for its
stockholders). "
Yet, the councilmember's appeal
may fall on deaf ears, because Sears'
reported po ition i that Highland
Park has "a shrinking population lar
gely made up of apartment dwellers,
o ceo
Y unli ely th t
h pe on ly t 11
Bl ck , Hi panic nd
ian-Americans. It i imp rob ble
that Buchanan d pi e U J wi h
people. ther, the ource of their
hatted i politically-in pired.
Buchanan' anti miti m or B h'
pand rin to raci m are th produ
of naked political ambition. either
would lead a lynch mob or deface
Jewi h cemetery-but om of their
zealous followers on the far right
undoubtedly would.
Hatred cannot be barred from
politics, unless we begin to e tep
to uproot di crimin tion throughout
ociety as a whole.
T I
EA
actually
Dr. M anning Marable i
Professor of Political Science and
History, Univer ity of Colorado,
Boulder. "Along t Color Line"
appears in over 230 w papers
internationally, and a radio ver ion
is broadcast by ov r 50 stations
throughout North America.
labor movement.
Furthermore, a coali lion of
broad social forces (including
Blacks, trade unions, and liberals)
has better chances of suces than
any "go-it-alone strategy" that is
sure to be hampered' by Blacks
making up only some 12 percent of
the population.
Today's challenge for Black
students is to develop the skills
necessary to help achieve economic
justice. In the past, skills needed by
activi ts in the civil right
movement included courage,
commitment, perserverance and
short-term organizational kills.
TUD TS PIA YED A key
role in demonstrating these kills,
particularly in the period from 1955
to 1965 when students were in the
vanguard of the movement. In that
period, tudents sub tituted for the
participation of their elders, who
were generalJ y tied down wi th dail y
responsibilities. Students were the
teacher to the rest of ociety,
showing the world what
commitment and faith meant.
Students were the front line in
the direct action period of the civil
righ movement's' struggle.
Skill needed today by the civil
rights movement include those
owe you nothing-not even a ix
month, nine-month or year's ad
vance notice."
BUT ALL DID not bandon
Sears beca e of income bracket.
Even since Sears wanted to charge
me for the tissue paper to wrap a
porcelain gift I was purch ing, I've
taken my b in elsewhere.
However, councilmember
Johnson's proposition to make the
existing Sears n "outlet tore" does
have merit.
Civil igh
.A word to
enior citizens and others on fixed
income who don't (because they
can't) hop at Sears."
In other words, "I have used you
up and now that your land is barren,
I am off to greener pastures. When
you were young, senior citizens,
apartment dwellers and fixed-in
come people, the fruits of your labor
were welcome. But this i not an
exerci e in Biblical expre ion and
brotherly love; this i cold, hard cash.
We may have used your city, but we
•
n
pa
�Iack
support, the civil rights movement
had to generate such support by
dramatizing and publicizing the
evils of segregation. This was the
beginning of a new era for the civil
rights movement.
IN THE PERIOD from 1955 to
1965, the civil rights movement's
dominant strategy was "direct
action." Our focus was on building
a popular protest movement across
the nation, and particular] y in the
South, a movement so influential
that change would be inevitable.
This strategy and this period
succeeded for several reasons.
Because our struggle was
against unjust, brutal, and blatant
racism tha t a ttacked all Blacks.
most of America could untie behind
us.
The pig-headed brutali ty and
bigotry of people like Bull Conner
and Sheriff Jim Clar painfully yet
effectively advanced our cause.
Civil rights became the
dominant domestic political issue.
Ending legal segregation wa
possible at little or no economic
cost to the government or to
society. Finally, thi 'period
depended for its succe s on the
courage, commitment, and
short-term organizationaJ kill of
"
civil rights activists, leaders, and
volunteers, especially thousands of
committed Black students.
THIS PERIOD achieved a
legal platform for racial equality,
and laid the groundwork for the
broader and more difficult struggle
for economic justice.
In the period from 1965 to the
present, the civil rights movement's
dominant strategy has been, and
needs to continue to be, political
participation and
coalition-building for economic
justice. 41 this period, we have seen
a tremendou growth in Black
po li tical power, reflected
particularly in an explosive growth
in the number and influence of
Black elected officials. We have
seen sigmficant voting rights
progress, and the substantial
elimination of legal egregation.
In this period, while
discrimination still exists and
demands our opposition, Black
problems and issue have been
overwhelmingly economic, not
purely racial. We have hared
interests in workers, have-nots and
have-littles of all race on i u
such as healthcare, unemployment
affordable hou ing, quality
education, deindustrialization, and
the weakening of the American
skills which Black trade unionists
develop in the labor movement.
These skill include organizing
and organizational know-how, and
an understanding of economic,
politics, and coalition-building. To
assist the movement, today's Black
students can and must develop
addi tional .skills while building
local organizations, skills uch as
anal ytical abili tie and
communications skills. To
strengthen ties between labor and
the Black community, Black
tudents must learn to empha ize
our common concerns. Thi
demands experience working with
local Randolph Institute affiliates,
with local unions or with the local
AFL-CIO, with Get-Out-The- Vote
campaigns, and with Frontlash, the
student arm of the labor movement.
For our movement to be ucce ful
in the future, we must avoid the
poli tics of ymboli m, and .
empha ize the politics of
ub tance , coalition, and
ubs tantial change.
In conclusion, th cliche is true:
today' student will be
tomorrow's leaders. Developing
the kill and experience necessary
to erve our movement effective
leaders is essential to our future
success.