•
VIEWS,IOPINIONS
ITH
HILTO
"The medi ve been talkin
bout 'friendly fire' that 'lled
Bri ti h oldiers I t year in Desert
Storm," he sid. In my c e,
another Bl c pilot killed and
1 barely caped with my life. The
'friendly fire' that killed the British
wa an accident I t ing. The
malfunctions that killed my friend
and ne rly illed me ere
deliberate botage - intentional
and planned things."
"1 don't know whether they
were Ku Kl uxer or azi
OT
ith d th
when he 00 0 in tang
Fighter from the airfield at
Rama lli, Italy, on July 11, 1933.
The tail of . plane bro eo when
bout 10,000 feet high, and
he d chute from plan
tumblin and rolling out of control.
Another BI c pilot, Capt. Leon
oberts, al 0 a kegee Airman,
too 0 j t d of Alsbroo and
in new Mustang w killed fier
a hort flight. Hi body wa
recovered but the ca e of the crash
w not determined.
Al brook aid, "Captain
Roberts w an excellent pilot" and
cert inly would not h ve died
"under normal circum ranee .
Enemy action was not clo e enough
to . cd 0
Both pllo
feel- 0 the De before
flyin them in com l They d
been flying P-40 Watba,wkS
Art Carter, correspondent
for the Afro-American new pape
in World W Il wrote for everal
BI ne p pe :
"'I I doing 400 Qlil
our d tarted to roll the hip
hen I got over on my b c and
then the hip hippedaboutcrazily
d tarted in erted pin, ,,, the
pilot aid.
"The ship's altimeter dropped
rapidl y, and when the needle wept
p t 5,000 feet, generally regarded
as minimum altitude for pin
recovery in a fighter plane, the little
balls of perspiration began to pop
out on his foreh d.
"THE SHIP'S OSE fell
below the horizon, giving him little
hope, but it promptly went up gain
and there w nothing el to do but
jump. He bailed out and cleared the
ship just in the nick of time, as the
PILOT LEON ROBE TS
was killed and Alsbrook till
. . -.
.�
,ading Je
THIS SPACE. '5
RESERVE.D FeR
GEORGE BUSH,
PLEP6£ 5 rEP AADJND
, ---
--tt-I!ARR: / S r" I, - cq99�'
•
uttering any warning about the
bombshell he planned to drop.
Even worse, Cinton's aides had
privately warned members of the
p fore the speech about its con­
tents. Jackson and the Rainbow
Coalition had been manipulated, in
effect, to illustrate the Demoaatic
candidate's "independence" from
, Blacks in gcucIal and from Jackson in
particular.
Jackson was furious, and he tried
to fight back with all of his resources,
He told the press that the Sister Soul­
jab incident had revealed a, p�foUDd
"cbamcter flaw" in Cinton.
To Rainbow follower:s, Clinton
was characterized as the "enemy,"
Many Rainbow Coalition activists
began to call for a coalition with Perot
One prominent Black political scien­
tist even proposed a "Perot-Jackson"
ticket for 1992.
THEN, ONLY two days before
the opening of the Demoaatic nation­
al COD\'CDtion in New York, Jackson
otIered a lukewarm endorsement of
Cinton.
Many ofhis oldest supporters were
S.bocbd by Jackson's televised en­
domemem. To some, Jacbon's staIC­
ment was reminiscent of the
videotapes of the fonner hostages in
Lebanon--<:aptives who mouthed
meaningle s phrases wri tten by
others, ords which they didn't
believe themselves.
Even Jackson offered a fiagile
olive bmDch to Cinton, deep hostility
remained.
For example, after Jackson's ap­
pearance on ":Meet the ", ceord­
ing to the Ne York Time , he
HI H R
DUCA 10
Fulani & Daniels:
Presidential
candidates;
African style
amP�IUDt
y GcaJF
m, .Jeny Brown mI Perot
IBve oommanded Iadlines in
both the African ArmDn mI
mnAfricanAmcrk:an
Although both Fu1ani and
Danie blYeo�oolurnIB
tIIltnl1in � Pan African P
1ba � HILTO : mGHER
IIDUCATION will 00 a three part
oolumn dIlt will b �e-
om �irstale ·ti
RcadeIs will quiddy sec tlIU
Fulani mI Danie am veleran
politiciam with slighlly different
idcologi But both bIYe 00 •
tmdy mdfinnootbcirprogl'arm.
PART ONE will higbUgbtDr.
Lenora Fulani. Part Two will
OOY'CI'Mr. Ron Daniels. Part'Ihree
fbcu;cs on some of tmr real am
perceived political differerx.es.
We strongly em>urage stl.xierl5,
vom am p� vom k>
lcr.ep botheycson thepoliticial ball.
(714) 899-ns5O. .
Mr. Ron Daniels. Two years
1lP, Ron Daniels, tre syOOialted
ool�t, political analyst and es­
sistant campaign manager for
.bI;e Jaclcson in 1988, anmuoced
that he was "seriO\Ely expl�"
his own iOOc:peIxJent nm fur Presi­
drnt in 1992.
..
,
��_lIIliDCIDllili!­
dccdonscmon tbatbas bealsilent
-atlemt fnm the twoaulidatrs
�� 1bc demx.mtic am ,
�partira.
WID' Roo Daniels? AImIlJ
other thiJ9 he advocates D.C.
�000d, a slowdown in prson
oonstruction b boost social spem­
iqJmI repmati<xB b �ts
eX African "slaws. "
� fifty )'C8IS old Daniels ..
a B.A. in' History from
YO\JI9bwn UnivelSity (Ohio),
M.A. from the Swe- UnivelSity of
New Yorlc at Albany and �OO�
docmal studics at Union Graduate
Scmol.
RON DA.NIILS IS amently
President d. � Institulc for Com­
munity Organization and
'Developmcol in YoUl9Dwn. In
tIIlt C31*ity, he .. served � a
corsultanr to a m.unber of or­
ganizatiom am ageIrics mtion­
wide.
lk is JqpII'dcd by S(IM. ore
rl: � ptania' t1raeticiam mI
praditiomseX�wbltBladt
politics 0Ya' � b8t two decade&
Daniels aerwd • PnsideDl eX
� NadorBl Blade Polidical As­
sembly fian 1974-l9EI). He was
<Bof1bcprlD:.ipalardlitcctsof1bc
National Black Polictial
Assembly's 76 strategy which
projected � idea of an iIlde­
pendent African American
. pcadcmial cautidale in 1976.
In 1m, he was an irxk:pemkm
candidate for Mayor of
YO\I9OWD. wh= he garmcd
rarly 20 pera:nt of � vole in
three way oomcst - more voces
1lImany irxk:pe1X1cntcmxtidate for
mayor in � himiy of� city.
In is&}, Ron Daniels WE �
�of��Coo­
\altion of � NaIiooal BIaclc In­
depea mat Political Party am WE
later dectd � ml
�cINBIPP.
ACCORDING TO press
� Danids has served � a
�, pmrlBtalXl 1aIO\It'C per­
lOllb'tmre tllm50000Depam
�ammtiooalmlina-­
IIIdooal ooliezetr.C8 aIX1 00I'l\a}-
1iom OYer � pMt 2Oyem.
His work' a political analyst,
1ectlm'm1 autmr 1m 1aIcen him
b Kenya, Tanzania, 1hnbabwe,
Ethiopia, Liberia, Guyana,
� Barbados, Dominica,
Aodg\a, Oreoada, ODlmlHwl­
pry:
These are dearly "the worst of
times" for Black America's leading
politician, Jesse Jackson.
Only four short years ago, he was
champion of a massive democratic
movement which had mobilized
around his presidential candidacy.
Jacbon won almost 7 million popular
votes in the 1988 Demoeratic
primaries. Dukakis was forced to
negotiate with him from a position of
weakness. Black elected officials and
the civil rlghls establishmen1looked
to Jackson for their maIChing ordeD.
What had gone wrong in only four
years? If we read Jesse's mind, we
might find him attempting to explain
the factors for his CUIICDt predica­
ment
After the Dukakis defeat, many
conservative ·Democrats blamed
Jackson's liberal politics for their
party's troubles in attracting middle
income white voter:s.
Bill Cinton, along with Tennessee
Senator AI Gore and Virginia gover­
nor Charles Robb" became the
nucleus for moving the party to the
"center." With Jackson on the politi·
cal sidelines in the 1992 Democratic
primaries, Clinton succeeded in win­
ning the majority of African­
Americans votes in primary elections.
Fonner Congresswoman Barbara
Jordan and former Urban League
Director Vernon Jordan became
prominent Ointon advi ers. Con- THE CLINTON-JACKSON
gresswoman Maxine Waters, a feud finally erupted into open warfare
talented and progressive leader, dis- with the AI'kamM Demoaat's con­
tanc::ed heISelf from Jackson to en- trover:sial apeecb before the Rainbow
doISe Arb,..'s governor. Coalition, in which Clinton con-
Inaeasingly isolated, Jesse felt ig- demned rap artist Sister Souljah.
nored as a leader, and was worried by Cinton had caucused with Jeue
Cinton's overt policy appeals td the ,. privately before the speech, witbo
white, suburban middle c1 • Mattera
became much worse when Cinton
responded with hostility against J�­
son, when told erroDCOusly that the
Black leader had endorsed liberal
Democrat Tom Harkin for presidenL'
Despite Clinton's subsequent
apology, Jackson w deeply stung by
these videotaped statements, and he
tried to reassert himself into the
presidential �ntest without becom­
ing a candidate.
This helps to explain Jackson's
sudden f8scination with billionaire
Ross Perot Jackson was one of the
first national leaders wbo were c0n­
sulted after Perot's initial an­
DOuncement that he might seek the
presidency.
Jackson constantly praised Perot to
his close associates in the Rainbow
Coalition's Washington, D.C. office,
proclaiming privately that the Te:ras
billionaire was more "progressive"
than Clinton.
Jackson igoored any evidence c0n­
tradicting his thesJs..-auch as the fad
that all of Perot's campaign scrategists
were white men. Jackson failed to tell
his supporters that Perot's former
oompany, EleCtonic Data Systems.,
had a tem'ble record of at1iImalive
action UDder his supervision. When
Perot finally left lIDS, only ODe per­
cent of the firm's managers and super­
visors were minorities..
-dragged Tom Brokaw, the NBC
aDdlorman, and TImothy Ruseeri, a
vice president of NBC News, into a
men's room for a 23-minute ha­
mngue."
This "emotional- conversation
"centered on Jackson's grievances
about what he pelteivCl shabby
treatment at the hands of the Cinton
camp.-
Why did Jease finally endorse
Clinton? There were three basic
reasons.
Ymt, the endomement of Cinton
was "the price of admission- to
Madison Square Garden, and a
television speech befolC the 00D\'eD­
tion.
JACKSON DID deliver a typical-
ly brilliant address, but it at a
price.
'Second, despite his constant tlirta­
tions with Perot, Jacbonhu invested
heavily into the Demoaatic Party for
decades..
The Rainbow Coalition's ey ac­
tivists were prepared to back Perot,
but Jackson feared that a Cinton vic­
tory in November would deatroy his
future cIutncft iDside his own party.
Jackson wants to seek the presidency
in either 1996 or 2(0).
Perot' national orpnization
also in disaaay, with growing rumoIS
of internal dissension. Jease may have
anticipated Perot's withdrawal from
the presidential race.
THIRDLY,Jackson forced to
embrace a hite politician whom he
strongly d.islikes because of the inter­
nal weaknmes within the Rainbow.
In 1988, J coon briefly had the
They decided to downpl Y this
bo ge in order to guard th
progr m for oncomin BI c
pilo .
"I'm tellin my tory now
beca time tting lit'
better to put the out on the
table and give the truth a chance, "
the former pilot 'd.
"Sometimes the truth hurts and
it' ugly, but you feel better and you
breathe easier when the air i
clear."
mind
ALONG
THE COLOR
UNE
people, I'C8O\JI'Ca and organizational
ability to launch a major independent
campaign. But in 1989, he dismantled
the activist branches at state levels,
and refused to build an independent
group which could challenge the
Demoaats and their movement to the
right.
JacaOn out-maneuvered by
Cinton because he lacked the jnde..
pendcDt political vehicle essential to
run amdidatca and to 6ght for the
Rainbow Coalition' progressive so­
daI genda.
If we could ,really read Jes e
Jackson's mind, the "Country
Preacher" would privately admit that
becaUie of his failure to launch a
movement ou ide tbC Democratic
party, be had really helped to defeat
himself.
Dr. Manning Marabl� is
Pro/essor 0/ Polilical Sc�nc� and
History, Univ�rJity 0/ Colorado,
Bouldu. "Along the Color LiM"
apJHUUs in ov�r 250 publications
and is broadcast by mor� than 50
radio sttltions Uaul7lOlionally.