READERS WRITE
EDITORAL
, .
W canbeall
we want to be!
By KEN ETH NODGAA
We are beautiful, humble, gentle,
great, proud, strong. intelligent, and
confidentl We are African­
American men and women. '
We have endured hundreds of
years of slavery, and racism, the pain
of segregation, lynching, unemploy­
ment, and yet we have remained
strong.
Sometimes we may become
angry knowing the past, but then we
realize that it was nothing we did.
We were the victim -not the vic­
timtzer. So we remain humble,
mowing that deep inside of us lie the
souls of leaders like M.L.King and
Ell. Baker.
We have been told that our skin is
Black and ugly. That only white­
colored skin represents beauty, but
now we realize that we are beautiful!
That beauty comes in all colors,
shades, and races.
----------------�,�,�,����'�------------�----�------------'------------------
I UNDERstAND __ "'.' :�t:G.;(�:'::.:'. 'OKAY THEN... . :\).;';'·::-:�'�I��· B�;:C��A�E�;'����?�'
THAT BLICK :'/" HERES YOO_K '/'/' _. -',.,
PEOPLE ARE :', CHANCE w- · WOlJl..D � UKE TO "
NoT HAm X. MAKE '(WR SE.E. I N THE 'til:!!-r£' HOUSE.
WITH ,-HE..
C�I(E_ of
• PRESIDENTIAL
CA.NDIDATES ....
VIEWS OPINIONS
m
in
Pre ident Ari tide, who w
ept into power by n
overwhelming vo of th Haitian
people, w forced to flee the
country in the ce of military coup
everal months go. Sin that tim
the Organization of American Stat
and the international community
been working to return Ari tide to
power.
On the surface th United Stat
bas projected itself as a guardian of
Hai tian democracy and a champion
of Aristide's return to power. In fact,
the behavior of the U.S. has been
ambivalent and hypocritical.
INDEED, U .. policy towards
Haiti over the last few decades has
been one of the principal ources of
the current crisis.
For years the U.S. government
successfully propped up the corrupt
dictatorship of the Duvalier family
- Poppy Doc and Baby Doc.
Under the ruthless regimes of the
Duvaliers, a small Haitian oligrachy
imposed their will on the masses of
Y Haiti n
people ro e up in rebellion and
ousred the hated Baby Doc Duvalier,
who was the successor to hi father,
. Papa Doc.
What the rebellion failed to
uproot, however, wa the
entrenched, corrupt oligarchy which
the Duvaliers had nurtured nd
protected for years.
Consequent! y, the last decade has
been filled wi th fake elections, coups
and counter coups, as various
factions within the oligarchy sought
to grab and maintain power.
Meanwhile the Haitian masses
continued to suffer.
It was a humble, visionary and
:�
'.'
• t
.'
.. '
r. · :.
U.S. joined in thi call nd-" :.
O T I nction ere impo ed in n' ::
, w s �
AD tide ho w elected President t mpt to Loree the military junta to' ::
in ma hing victory in c down. To date, lhecoupl rs":,
internationally upervised election. h ve tubbornly refused to'" :
Though the U.S. w lukewarm. on relinquish power to Aristide. !I:.:'
AD tide, the democratic proces d "
. ,
po n loudly and clearly. . 0 G CRY does no "
,I
Ari tide made no ecret of his ant a leader with Aristide's vi ion- i ;:
intent to build a people democracy of new H iti in power. ., .:
ba ed on genuine poli tical and Art tide is the personification of·,! "
economic democracy. Finally it the Haitian masse' piration for, ::
appeared that the Haitian m real freedom and economic equali ty. " :'
,-
would be delivered from the His return to power would be in :�
tyrannical rule of a corrupt Haitian direct opposition to the longstandin :1
oligarchy. corruption, mis-rule and abuse of .:
"
Internationally upervised power of the oligarchy. :1
elections nothwithstanding, the Hence the negotiations for
Haitian oligarchy was not prepared Aristide' return have been' :,i
to surrender it' power and . repeatedly thwarted by forces' ,I,
privileges. representing the oligarchy who are ... -:- ::
Hence the Army, a tradi tiona! tool insi ting that Aristide be forced to ::
of the oligarchy, acted to drive share power with the leaders of the.. ::
President Aristide from power. coup. ::
Thisi a prescription for paralysis e , ::
and death for Aristide. :'
:'
"
"
,I
"
"
,.
... ;
.,'
;:
; .....
.-
r
as Ida B. Well in her crusade for
justice. As intelligent as Carter O.
Woodson, and W.E.B. Du Bois in
their struggles for Freedom, Justice,
and Equality. ,
OUf goal are to be as proud as
Sojourner Truth, strong as Harriet
Tubman, and yet as gentle, and dedi-
cated as Mary Mcl.eod Bethune. .,..
Yes, we live in two world realities .'
- The present reality of in- -z: .. _:?�,::? .. »:
dividualism, crime, brutality, and - - , _ .
hatred, and the future reality of - .. _-- -.,
building a society that wHl
transcends the evils of racism
. '
sexism, unemployment, classism,
etc. A society that would be beauti­
ful, humble, and gentle. One that
�ould, as M.L. King once said,
Judge people base on there charac­
ter, and not the color of their skin."
A society that would value people
first, and money second. A society
that would see people, and not
economics, as the center of all
development.
WE'VE LEARNED to develop
the confidence needed to become the
greatest we can be. We're working
to advance ourselves, our families,
and our race, So we may transcend
tbe anti-human behavior that has
plagued our society and the world for
so longl
Our goals are to be as intelligent
:"
� ...
".
RE5()LT5
o
�HARR\S--*- .
PO, BOx J..{770
CHICAGO, IL.�
Di mantle U.S.
apartheid in education
Now that the stage is being set
inside South Africa for the
dismantling of apartheid, it is our
concern that renewed attention be
given to dismantling systems of
racist segregation and discrimination
here inside the United States. The
latest ruling by the Supreme Court of.
the United States on school
desegregation is another step in the
wrong direction.
It has been 38 years since the
historic 1954 Brown vs. Board of
Education decision in which the
Supreme Court voted that separate
and unequal schools were
uncon ti tutional. For years
considerable progress was made
toward .desegregating the nation's
schools.
. In mo t cities this was only
accomplished after severe court
battles and local truggles against
institutionalized racism in the
education system. During the past
10 years, however, the Supreme
Court has taken incremental teps
backward away from the firm stance
. if the Brown deci ion.
Today, school systems aero the
nation are resegregating based on
race. At a time when there should be
a stronger federal demand that all of
the children of this nation be given
an equal opportunity to receive a
quality education in public school ,
the highest court in the country cts
THE LATEST RULING
involves the De Kalb County,
Georgia school district, which has
been under federal court-ordered
desegregation since 1969. The
United States l1th Circuit Court of
Appeals in 1989 ruled against the De
Kalb County school officials,
concluding that the school district
should remain under federal
supervision until it had achieved and
maintained racial equality for at least
three years in seven specified aspects
of its operation.
The Supreme Court now says it
disagrees with the U.S. 11th Circuit
Court in Georgia, and instead agrees
with the De Kalb County school
officials who want to be released
from federal scrutiny and
supervision on the issue of school
desegregation.
Ruling unanimously 8-0, the
Supreme Court has given a clear
signal to hundreds of school districts
that "local control" and
resegregation' of school sy tems is
becoming more and more tolerable­
and permissive.
Intere tingly, Justice Clarence
Thomas, also from Georgia, did not
participate in the vote because it w
argued before the Supreme Court
to dilute the federal role in achieving
school desegregation. .
AS MALCOLM X once said,
"We are today seeing a global rebel­
lion of t� oppressed against the op­
pressor, the exploi ted against the
exploiter." '
Inspired by a poem by Mychal
Wynn
prior to Thomas' appointment We
know, though, from reviewing
Thomas' publicposition on related
matters that the vote would probably
have been 9-0 if Thomas bad voted
on this case.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy
wrote the majority opinion in the De
Kalb decision. Kennedy wrote,
"Partial relinquishment of judicial
control, where justified by the facts
of the case, can be an important and •
significant step in fulfilling the
district court's duty to return the
operations and control of schools to
local authorities." We most not
forget why the federal courts were
first petitioned to order school
desegregation.
THE NAACP LEGAL Defense
and Educational Fund and other civil
rights organizations had to sue
hundreds of school districts
throughout the country to challenge
the racist segregation of students in '
public schools.
Now ome of these same school
districts are attempting to use the
federal courts to justify the
resegregation of schools. �y, it
appears that the present composition
of "Justices" on the Supreme Court
are also prone to be more
sympathetic to tbi regressive and
backward tendency.
".
I'
I'
I •
..
..
I,
I.
•
Unfortunately, the U.S •. ,
government bas been a party to these '
attempts to place Aristide in a
life-threatening position.
- ,.
I'
"
DEMOCRACY IN Haiti and the .::
life of President Aristide are clearly, :.
still in danger. Unless the coup .. "
leader are removed from all ::
positions of pow�r and the mill tacy, " ::
neutralized, Aristide's return to Haiti I'
I' I
will be like walking into a dea . ::
chamber. -,
"
"
It
'1 I
I,
:'
I'
,
ADstide can only be returned to;.,
power under conditions which insure
his security and political survival.: it,
Otherwise the promise of genuine."
political and economic democracy:'- ::
which he represents will once again�'. "
be frustrated in Hai ti. ' ::
I,
f,
:1
Ii
:,
,I
"
,t
,I
,
"
:!
t
( ,
RonDaniels serves as Presidens- ·
of, the Institute for Community t.
Organization and Development in" I
Youngstown, Ohio. He may be
comacted at (216) 746-5747. tit
� j., �,
.
;;.. :;
, :i
;,
I'
"
"
.1
"
"
'.
"
CIVIL
RIGHTS
JOURNA
,
,
�.
I
The school systems of our nation
should be preparing for the"
increasing multiracial diversity of." :�
the national population. On the " :�
contrary, the ugly specter of racial ��
discrimination is regaining new;:
pseudo-justification not only in' :;
some local school districts but also in : ..
the Supreme Court. ' •
..
"
,I
,
.,
I "
AIL OF these �ron8 steps pose . ::
a renewed Challenge to the Civil' :�
Rights Movement of the 1990's ':
Yes, there has been considerabl --.
'progress. But there are man .
indications that certain aspects of the
foundation of the 'progress won are.
being removed.
The oppo ition to racial progm�1;I;
is methodical and persistent. W
�ust �t rest on � memory of pasegE,
vtctones. The Immorality of the
recent decisions of the Sup rem
Court in regard to public educatio
must not go unchallenged. ,
All children 'should have fair
chance at life. To deny educatiOJUlI;iiiii#
opportunity to a child based on race
is wrong and should never be
toleratednomatterwhatattemp are
made to justify it. America
apartheid in education must b
dismantled nowl