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VIEWS OPINIONS
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EDITORIAL
And a Ii Ie child
shall lead h m
: like a oullah
With hi peech before the Rainbow Coalition I t weekend,
- Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton demonstrated he is genuine cracker,
, but not a very smart one.
Surely good manners would dictate you do not insult a people in
their own house when you are an invited gue 1. But Clinton did just
that when he used the Rainbow platform to cbatize S· ter Souljah.
This is someone with whom he never talked. She's a rapper from
a world removed from the circle Bill Clinton travels through as
hip hop is from a Brahms lullaby.
Apparently Clinton wan d to prove his political courage to the
Reagan Democra .Th are the blue collar suburbanite who cast
their ballots for th e Republicans pouting racially coded mes­
sages: Jaw and order, WiJlie Horton, chool busing.
Clinton' superficial understanding of courage was ily dts-
mantled by Sister Souljah in pres conferences and interviews.
Unfortunately, but as expected, a long line of impering black
(that's a deliberatly mall 'b') politicians fell in line on their knee
joining Clinton to silence their own young. Rep. Michael Epsy
played the lap dog role to perfection on the Today Show. But he
was not alone.
The young woman has a me ge that pumps a sense of pride into
tbe community. Souljah says we're at war. If body count is any
iooication of conflict you have to agree.
Infant mortality rates, life expectancy, crack babie , homicide
rates for Black males -by whatever statistic you guage the truggle,
we're not only in a war, but 10 ing it.
Souljah is pro-African, all Africans around the world. Anyone
listening to her explanation of the comment Clinton took out of
context has to admit she made her point: Too many Qf our young
people have raised themselves and find no value in their own life or
that of anyone else. Hopeless and ill served by politicians and
society, they are as casual about killing as they are living.
Had Clinton' troubled himself to listen to a message that has
earned a large following among our nation's youth, he could have
learned omething. Had he offered a plan for the ravaged inner citie
of America, everyone would be congratulating him.
Instead, Clinton chose the Bush strategy of divide, play to racial
fears. Hedemonstrated his roots in racism are stronger than his
vision for the country.
What can African Americans do about it? A caller on a local
radio talk how offered one suggestion: Do like the Jews. Follow
Clinto� disrupt every speech he gives, Force him to answer to his
racism at every stop he makes. Hound him from public life.
For he has demonstrated he offers this country nothing.
We prefer to heed the message of Sister Souljah. It's a message
as American as the Statue of Liberty's "Give me your tired, your
poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free. '!
In Souljah's words: Be strong-minded. Be productive. Beun­
afraid of expressing yourselve and getting what you waht in this
society.
Don't Duck The lssuel
Are you regi tered to vote?
In order to vote In the August 4th '
Michigan primary,
you must be regi tered by
July 6, 1 2
o TU AT LY to
Bl what ount of money
could truly ea e the pain of a
people ho ve u ered for
lmo t four hundred ye r .
Considering the Blac race in
America I GNP of
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OFTEN CALLED THE 'HOME BOY,' IT WAS LAST SEEN IN URBAN AMERICA AROUND THE EARLY 21ST
CENTURY. AND LIKE THE DINOSAUR HE DIED OUT DUE TO THE INABILITY TO ADAPT TO HIS CHANGING
ENVIRONMENT.
he r gl r j ic
and fr edom in Hal i
In the wake of President Bush's
latest executive order to intercept
Haitian refugees on the bigh and
return them back to the tate of
political terrorism inside Haiti, there
re millions of people throughout the
world who are horrified at the
ongoing persecution of the people of
Haiti:
The ultimate insult is the bogus
and racially insensitive new policy
of the president We believe that Mr.
Bush and his senior policy advisors
are guilty of violating international
laws that fOrQid the forcible return of
persons that have fled poli tical
repression. Somehow once again
the i ue of race and policy decisions
has taken on bisto,ric ignificance
wi thin the framework of the
so-called "New World Order."
As one Berlin Wall was finally
tom down in Europe, now the world
bas to contend with a new "Berlin
Wall" being built by the United
States around the nation of Haiti.
The new wall is just as deadly and
just politically motivated as was
the rationale for the old wall.
. tory does repeat itself.
Tbe problem i t D it is
peopl of color bo are cau t in the
strong teeth political reDlreaaion,
the tolerance level of the
international community ppears to
be much higher. e must not forget
that when President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide demoaatically elected
in Haiti I t year, the mood of
Bush Administration w luke arm
concerning Art tide's announced
plans to return the power of Haiti to
the people of Haiti.
THE F.ARL Y negative reaction
of the Bush Administration toward
the outcome of the elections in Haiti
ent the wrong message to U.S.
trained military leadeD of Haiti.
One cannot fully understand the
underlying b of the current U.S.
'policy toward Haitian refugees
without �deIStimding the hi torieal
and supportive relationship between
the government of the United· Sta
and the military " lIOng men" who
have eized tate power in Haiti.
Now that another 15,000 or more
Hai tian refugees are being held at the
U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay
in Cuba, the harsh realitie of
geo-political con t in the W tern
Hemi hpere are gain pai fully
revealed.
BEN
CHAVIS
CIVIL
�IGHTS
example, Marlin Fitzwater, B a's
Whi te House _ s'pokesman
announced at a brle� "A handful
of Haitiam were rescued at sea this ,
morning and are being re�." The unj t clubbing of Rodney King
First, we 'have been infonne4 that in Los Angeles by persons in:
there were over SO persons, many of uniforms with guns and nightsticks:
hom ere omen and cl:lild.ren, in i really no diffeI,'Cnt from the unjust:
the boat intercepted. Clubbing of Haitian refugees at sea'
Fitzwater' view that these 50 or, by persons inunifonns with guns and'
more bumen beings are just "A nightsticks. :
handful of Haitians" is illustrative of And yet, we believe that all:
how tho e in power routinely Americans should be uncomfortable:
dismis the magnitude of, the with the unjust treatment of Haitian:
oppres ion of others. refugees. In this year of national'
U.S. policy is blind to the political decision-making, let us not:
uffering of the people of Haiti forget that we will have an:
because tbese policy makers dare not opportunity to vote for a change in:
open their eyes to see their own the current direction of the nation. ;
implication in thi official·madness· Today, there is no truggle in the'
toward Hai aDS who are struggling 'entire orld like that of the plight of:
for justice and freedom. Secondly, the people of Haiti to reclaim their:
the truth i no one w "rescued at freedom and democracy. This'
sea." Those refugees re fleeing a truggle demands our attention,
ituation of repre ion and to be energy, support and solidarity. Le
forcibly "Kidnapped" at ea by the us together join in an unprecedented
U.S. Coast Guard and taken back to voice of unity to break the silence in
a life threatening ituation iJ1 Haiti this nation conccmiDg our Hai .
bardly be called a "racue." sisters and brotbers. We
aftold to do
CAN commUDity, in
OiI1iadar" t re ntin the
face of lhi e calation of the,
For mi treatment of Haitian refugees.
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