CAN YOU name ten Pan­
�fSD8De1S? I kmw t
. nb'many
SW� gmd\B d. Ivy
League roDe in partiallar, be-
many d. you have infixmcd
me that you read African­
�ricanncwspapcrs.
The L.A. Ob erver, L.A.
�'CIIV'·..,..,� ... 1t � San Bcnm-
dim Plmm-Rcpor1cr, � San
Raraa> Sun-Rcpom, 0lica!J>
IOOepcrxlcnt Bullentin, Qlicago
a1i2al, New Yodc AImtcrdam
New Yodc Big Red News,
New York Carib New,
WmngtmAfm American.
R> tmse of you woo arc mw
familiar with my column, you
kmw that I am a stro� �
am aiticofthe Afiican-�rican
pas.
Itj doesootseempa;siblefor
anystudem., go1broughanimtitu­
lion of education, be ttquiJed D
read, read am read, aM rot be
expected to e an African­
American ncwspepa or two a
�oa3ionaI1y.
If that 1m oot beea the cmIC,
me 1bc "Joo" eX
frtbrmIng you bat )00 hive beat
mised1aied, or at best uOOcrcdu­
catcd.
11IE PAN-AFRICAN press,
oom�tingofoycr300 mwspapcrs,
remains a potent educational
vehicle 00 college � am
oommunitics througOOut AImica
am the world.
1lae O:wspapcts play a sig­
Iificanl role in stimulating interest
in reading, �matics and think­
� skills. In many ways, �
ttae newspapets � � �xt best
�., being tmc.
�n African publislm like
Dr. CuiDn Goodlett, Gcri Warren,
Hurley Green, Oaudia Whitworth,
Karl Rodney, Les Humphrey,
Brian Towmcnd aIX1 the ItuOOreds
d. otbcJs lecture about literacy,
people in � kOOw listen.
Dr. RUb Love, pu1>1ismof tre
OIli1bmia Voice, also forrm- su- .
pcrintcOOent d. sd¥lc;>� in QlIclaOO
am QUcago, � a . �
of the usage of Pan African
�as a rrears ofedocat­
� college am sc:ooJXlary scbx>l
stuienIs.
Graduates, as future leaders in
your planned professional fie� a
key will rrtN be k> stay abreast of
academic, career, a.1ltural, com­
munity am world events.
'IBm WILL oontinlJ: k> be
� by identifying current BOO
mnICIqXX8ry news sources that
canbequiddyscannedforresearch
ml pIeM\I'e. What better SOUICe
than the Afiican-�rican press?
Prd.essor .Jcffrirs am aty Col­
�Dr.Hooks'�from�
NAACP, P J. PaUeJson rY::W
� MinisSerofJamaica, Profes-
101' Adta Hill's position on sexual
immsmeni, Ka�� Dunham's
fast fbr Haiti, tre LA cxpIa;ion,
ct:.
These am many other news
itclm were coveted oot only in �
daily pIeSS, but also from a �u1�-
1 cultlnl am African perspeenve m
� Pan-African press.
To the � of 1992, many of
youwillsoerto grtat�ightsin your
professiom; some will rot' All of
you }8ye at this point cxperierx:ed
bi eX. success that have enabled
)OU D relo&d � �nt. Stay
thcCOUl9C.
That arne race and cl divi ion
run down Detroit's Eight Mile
Ro d, eparating the poor,
unemployed and homele from
comfortable, uburban white
enclaves. It sets apart Harlem and
Bed-Stuy from the multimillion
dollar estates in Connecticut's posh
suburbs.
THE LOS ANGELES race
upri ing can be understood only
from the vantagepoint of the
race/c; fault line, because the
violence unleased by Rodney King's
case was just a tremor along that
VIEWS/OPINIONS
division.
On different ide of the
race/cl f ul t, e ch group ten to
perceive i in dieally different
'w y. The v t m jority of 11
Americ n -BI c, L tino,
i n-Americ n nd
bite-believe that the innocent
verdict in th n ron .
But ccording to one recent poll
in USA Tod y, 8 percent of all
Afri n-Americans tated that th
criminal j tice ystem w clearly
"hi ed gainst Black people." S·
percent of all Blac agreed that
there w "very much" police
brutality against people of color, and
noth r 33 percent believed that uch
violence w "considerable."
Conversely, only 36 percent of all
whites re ponded that the justice
y tem was racially biased. Only 17
percent of whit stated that there
wa exce sive police brutality
against minorities.
The unanticipated eruption or
rage stripped away the facade of
BI ck progress in the central cities,
boiling with the problems of poverty,
drugs, gang violence,
unemployment, poor school and
deteriorating public housing.
THE WHITE MEDIA tried
,
d perately to tum
from the i in
t Lo Angl P In
merely "riot" hich w
by mo t African- ri
Thi ignore the hi toric I
evidence bout dynami 0 I
civil Unrest. After th W t racial
rebellion 0 1 5, for example,
ociologi ts later determined that
only bout 15 percent of all Bl c
ghetto re ident h d ctu By
p rticip ted in the r on nd
violence.
However, between on third to
one half of all re ident later
- expres ed support for tho e who had
d troyed white-own d property and
attac ed ymbol of white uthority.
About two-thirds later greed that
"the targe of the rebellion got what
they deserved."
So although the m jority of
African-Americans in outhcentral
L.A. didn't take to the streets, that
doe n't mean that they aren't
alienated and outraged by race and
class oppression.
They ere
hunting fe r
colle e-bound 0 d brothe
could be topped for minor tra c
viol tio , and 1 ter be found or
dyin in th city tree .
Thi i wh t epre ent tive
Floyd FI e of Brooklyn me nt
when he explained why the hopes of
millions of African-Ameri in the
inherent faim of the le ystem
were h ttered: "When Rodney
King w OJl the ground gettin beat,
we were all on the ground gettin
be t."
But if we li ten carefully to young
African-Americans i the tree ,
this gcnerationis telling morc than
just its di ti faction with the Kin
verdict. The violence wa not
directly generated by rcactio to
courtroom dec io .
What our young people painfully
realize is that the entire "sysllem"
-the government and its politicllDl,
the courts and the police, the
o THE BI ck middle cl
profcs ionaIs, many of whom had
come to believe the mythology about
racial progre under the
Regan-BUSh era, the King verdict
?
...
Wha
By lakin to the tree , they arc
crying out to ociety: "We will be
heardl e ill not be ignored, and
e will not go way quietly.
And if the ystem and society
re to . ten to us, e intend to
bum it to the ground." That' the
meaning of Lo Angel .
Dr. Manning Marable i
Pro or of Political Science and
Hi tory, Univers'ty of Colorado,
Boulder. "Along the� Color line"
ppcars in over- 250 publications
internationally, and a radio version'
broa t by more than fifty lations
orth America.
URBAN DWELLERS
We doubt there will be much real help coming to the cities soon. of h alth car and no acces .to busln ss capital In the American
This photo tell the story. It wa printed in the New York Times cities? SittIng around the tabl are the bll •• fully Ignorant: '
with the caption: • A Bipartisan Caucus Tackle Urban Aid Richard Darman, White Ho�se budg t director; George Mitchell,
Proposals·. How much under tanding does thi group of rich, Senate majority leader; Richard Gephardt, Hou.e majority
white male bring to the problem of Ingle moth rs,. leader; Bob Dole, Senate minority leader and Hou.e Sp aker
unemployed father , the homeles , and mis-and-under educated Tom Foley.
poor truggllng again t the infu ion of gun� nd dop , the lack
READERS
WRITE
L.A.
Round-Up
There } a very dangerous
situation, going on in L.A. today.
That i the massive round-up and
arrest of thousands of people in the
city ofLo Angeles.
They are bursting into people's
homes, ten and twelve at a time on
open warrants with no
evidence-just on an alleged phone
call or an alleged association with a
gang. All their rights as U.S.
Citizens have been take away.
This is what the people in power
wanted all the time - the
opportunity to take away all the
rights of African people and the
wholesale arrest of us.
Black leaders and activists must
speak out against this because your
city could be next. .
William Evan.
(The conscious)
Michigan Citizen
ccepts lette'
from Its reade
Sign and mall to:
Michigan Citizen,
P.O. 03S60,
Highland Park, MI
48203
A! I
I
I
I
. ,
READERS WRITE
HIL1ON: HlGHEREDUCA-
110N is �todialogue with
co&geandworldreoders. Etka­
don is ongoing ard certainly 11«
IimiIed to classroom study. Us
tDlk. (714) 89}.()65().
,
f
I
WI I'
'. I
" !
I
I.
, I
ar
When the young woman turned to walk w y, the Asian
woman shot her in the back of the head. The Asian woman
was afraid. No charges were brought against her.
Should Black people be afraid of white people's fear?
Sure looks that way. Can they jury's verdict of not guilty be
considered JUStification enough for the rioting that has broken
out in Los Angeles and other parts of the nation?
What is happening? The doctor, who is white, threatened the young man with
After months of testimony, wbich included a very a shotgun which he kept in the trunk of his car. When brought
revcalingvideo tape and eye-witnesses.the four white police to trial, it was decided that the doctor's fear, according to the.
officers on trial for excessive use of force in the beating of verdict rendered in the case, was enough to justify his pulling
Rodney King, a Black man, have been acquitted bv-all-.ft" shotgun on a Black youth. The doctor was afraid.
all-white jury. While watching the newscast, I saw one of the
police officers charged in the beating testify to the fact that
he was in fear for his life.
He was afraid that, if allowed, Rodney King would have
gotten up and taken his gun away from him. The officer was
afraid that 1 ying on the gro\lIld in agony being beaten into a
bruised mass surrounded by 21 police officers Rodney King
would somehow find the strength to get up and take the
officer's gun from him. The officer was afraid. I can think
of one other person that was afraid that night, Rodney King
Rodney King was very afraid that he was going to die.
Lately, I have been hearing and reading quite a bit about
how certain people' fear is enough to justify extreme
reaction to any given situation. A doctor in Birmingham, MI
was afraid of young Black male whom he found leaning
. against his car one day. .
OUT THE MIDDLE of last year a white woman in
Florida filed for workman's compensation because she
developed a fear of her Black co-workers after being mugged
by a Black man.
When the cbmpany she works for tried to top the
compensation, a federal judge ruled in the white woman's
favor, aying that her claim is legitimate because of the
emotional trauma the women has suffered due to her
unpleasant experience t the hands of one Black man. The
woman's fear w justification ,enough for awarding her
w rkman's compo The white woman was afraid.
An Asian woman was afraid of a young Black woman with
whom she had experienced a confrontation in her store. As
a result of her fear, the Asian woman pulled a gun on the
young Black woman.
FOR MOST, including myself, probably not. But,
though I may not agree with the actio of the ri01eIS, I can
certainly understand and empathize with the rage and the
frustration brought about as a result of this travesty of justice.
The jurors, no matter how convincing their facade may
appear to be, will have to spend every waking moment
justifying their verdict of not guilty; if not the media, then to
themselves.
For as one minister put it, while being interviewed by a
reporter for the evening news, this i a clear case of "] tice
for Just U I" Suddenly, I am afraid.ofwhite people' fear.
I' •
Ch ryl Lynn, Paator - Detroit
•