VIEWS/OPINIONS
Unfortunat ly, President George
B h 0 from pte rience
how to incre e hi tanding in
public opinion polls. In the face of
the Clinton-Gore c ndid cy for
Pre ident nd Vice-Pre ldent,
Bush' ting is at an all time low.
But we remember how the
popul rity of the Bu h
Administration oared to a record
high er the decision w made to
m e war on S ddam H ein and
Iraq.
Al though it ha n w been
expo ed that the Reagan and B h
Administrations ctually helped to
arm Saddam prior to Iraq' inv ion
of Kuwait, the sight of the United
States military apparatus mercile sly
bombing and attacking Iraq
engendered a revitalization of this
nation's spirit of "patriotism" in
conte t of a growing reliance on the
use of militarism to solve
international problems.
Now over a year later, President
Bush is in another predicament in
terms of low public support for his
re-election.
Will Saddam Hussein once again
be used by the Bush Administration
to divert voters' attention from the
unprecendented domestic inequiti
and inj ti ?
WI BU once gain call
upon the U.S. military m ans of
arou ing public upport for
American foreign policy?
Wh t ppened to the war on
drugs in the United States? What'
the Bu h Admini tr tion really
going to do in response to the 1.0
Angel "Uprising"? Will voters be
ersuaded to re-elect Bush if the
political n eds the Wrote House turn
into another blood thirst? These
questions need to be raised publicly
and forcefully.
In this poli tical season of
campaigning, it is important for
voters to put necessary questions to
all of the candidates of all of the
parties. In particular the Bush
Administration has to be held
accountable for the growing neglect
of the urban centers of the nation, the
increasing racial hostilities and
violence in many communities and
the expanding ranks of the poor and
impoverished in the "richest" nation
in the world.
We believe that the national
priorities of the United States should
be changed in th interest of elpin
to llevi te m ive proble of
th poor and victimized.
en will there be clear voice
nd le de hip out of the White
Ho e that call for th dismantling
of Americ n apartheid, l.e.
institutionalized cia! inequality in
all pee of thi ociety?
T 110 0 1992
offer voter choice. The
Democrats would do well to avoid
becoming Republican-Democrats in
a cheme to attract Republican
voters.
The future of the nation should
not be relegated olely to party
affiliation or identification, but the
journey to a new and better future is
going to require new and committed
leadershi p to envisioniug and
leading th nation to becoming a
truly multiracial/muticultural
society where justice and economic
equality are ensured for all.
There was a recent sigh of relief
when compromise was developed
between the United Nations
inspection team and Iraq concerning
the U.No's inspection of the
Agriculture Ministry Building in
A convention
ET, U w
aid to be in te of "grudgingly
cceptance" of the compromi t
w chieved. Again, hy' Bush
becoming "trigger ppy"? Why'
there this need to rush b c to war
with Iraq? The bedding of blood in
military conflict to re ch political
objective i the height of
immorality and human in cency.
Bush would do well to pay more
attention to the profound problems
inside the United States that have
been ignored by the Administration
for too long. Bush and Quayle are
out of touch with th vast majority of
the people who are yearning for
social change.
The White House needs to be
cleaned out and we must make every
effort to ee that there are no' more
"blood stains" of unnecessary wars
being made to satisfy the thirsts of
the rutble •
..
FROM
DEATH
ROW
The mul ti-colored sea of
helium-filled balloons, the red, white
and blue bunting, the hundreds of
placards promoting various
politicians are now gone, and New
York's Madison Square Garden is
either dark and quiet, or hosts a new
program to excite and divert the
masses.
The Democratic Party's show on
the Hudson is now over. The tons of
political gas released from thousands
of speeches have dissipated like
morning mist, gone who knows
where?
The impressions left by published
reports are that African-Americans,
perhaps like naughty children, are to
be een and not heard, and if need be,
slapped a little, to be kept in line.
The recent Clinton/Sista Souljah
flap shows how politics, being the art
convic ion
of symbols, insinuates itself into
peoples' lives, for a cheap, yet
dramatic effect.
SINCE WHEN ARE politicians
arbiters of popular culture? This
year's campaign, with sophomoric.
Quayle-chirping at the Murphy
Brown TV show. and
Clinton-slappings of raptivist Sista
Souljah for her purported anti-white
rantings, features a silly new low in
a "profession" that generally aspires
to rise to the gutter.
Can we now expect the White
House to issue an approved list of TV
hows which are allowable?
Will Democratic hopeful Clinton
now take his cul ture hit parade to'
rock icon, Ax! Ro e, to lecture the
young white guitarist and lead singer
of Guns N' Ro es on his anti-nigger
and anti-fag lyrics?
Incredibly, Souljah took far more
heat and criticism for her silly "kill
whitey" quotes, than did Clinton for
his political, governmental actions,
which killed several people, on
Arkansas' Death Row, for real.
Clinton's nakedly political attack
on Souljah was a calculated slap at
her host, Rainbow coalitionist Jesse
Jackson, in a premeditated bid for the
white racist vote, no less calculated
nor political than the executions of
Ricky Ray Rector; a brain-damaged
Black Arkansan, and 'Stephen
Douglas Hill, each accomplished by
Clinton'S deadly signature.
IN THE BLIND race for a "win" .
for the party, Black Democrats are
groveling before a politician who
prays in a Black Clurc ona Sunday,
MUMIA
ABU
JAMAL
onI Y to kick Blacks in the teeth the
. rest of the week.
Both so-called parties are but two
heads of the same beast: big
business.
It is to these corporate, moneyed
interest that kisses were blown
during the show-convention, but to
those who have been loyal for
generations, Blacks, and to a lesser
extent, organized labor, the party
extended a gloved fi t, for their
kisses and genuflections.
What is a "win," when the barest
shreds of dignity are the cost?
If Blacks, with our millions, must
ki s a boot to "win," how much have
we already lost?
•
EDITORIAL
The in anity of
hopping in other'
people' communi ie
A report w published thi week detailing the large number of
Octroi rs who journey off to the uburb to do their shopping.
They carry with them literally billions of dollars, according to the
report. Th e shoppers offered a variety of reasons ranging from
safety to lection to explain this insanity.
For those readers who missed that report, then maybe they saw an
example of what the report was all about.
The Detroit News coverage of the grand opening of the new upper,
upper ale . n Marcus store way out in suburbia showed the
first person in line was an African American woman from Detroit.
AOO, she was not alone as the other News pictures revealed.
What is so awful is, the people who carry their money to other
communities are betraying their own children. And like the drug
dealers they are in pursuit of the quick fix.
Putting fashion over future, style over substance, want over need,
they pursue the latest, best thin tQey s�w flashed at them qn televi
sion. An� they Ant to purchase i\ in t most luxurious ,ots�ttings.
Li�'tIte'd I " these hoppers are destrdymg-tll
I children. HI m. I"J V .)J.J • ..,U I. , t I -
Not shopping in their own community, they cut off the creation of
opportunities for their kids and their neighbor's kids.
It is a total contradiction to invest in a child's education and not
invest time or money in creating any opportunity in the community
for that child to return to.
Educated and frustrated, our grown children have to search outside
the community for jobs. They find only what those other communities
want to share. Many of our youth see from their grade school desks
the limited future offered them by the community and end up on the
street comers, and for too many, the morgue.
By robbing OUf own communities of jobs and tax base, these short
sighted shoppers who run to the suburbs, are killing the children;
destroying the future.
Another side of the same coin was reported by Michigan Citizen
reporter Patricial L. Colbert, who in last week's paper told about the
filthy conditions in a store on Livernois in Detroit.
She is working on aoother report of similar conditions elsewhere.
in the city, in an area considered among the best in Detroit. Again,
rather than taking the time and energy to clean up what is at hand,
Detroiters will run to the suburbs.
It is time to stop blaiming others when we do ourselves in. Taking
our dollars to others, putting up with les than human conditions in
neighborhood stores is suicidal. '
It's time to realize that we create our own community. We must
tum to each other. It may take forsaking the latest fashion, forgoing
the luxuries of suburbia, but doing without those things now can help
create some kind of future for the kids.
. (