IN THE p'rocess of advanc­
ing "African centered" educa­
tion, the entire field of hJ&her
education advancca. It will be
interesting to ICe where the
majority of African America
educators (and othen) align
themselves with regards to
African centered education
(aka; Afrocentricity).
It is also my· belief tbat
"African centered" education
will be around for a long �
mainly becaUIC it ba always
been around. Today tbe
circle/family is expmting
It is also my bellef that just
as multi-culturalism has been
cnticized, African centered
ICbolarsbip will also continue to
be attacked and questioned
pubUcly and in the pages of
some oftbis nation's most pres­
tigious education jOurnals. .
The title of Dr. Camille
Cosby's, Univ. of Mas­
sachusetts dissertation was
"The Influence of Television
Imagery on Selected African
American Yoq Adul ' Self­
Perceptiom."
It seems feasible tbat an en­
tire liberal arts college's.mis­
sion and curriculum could
emerge from Dr. Colby's re-
1e8rCh, interest and vision.
THE' IDEA OF having
something along the liDcs of a
"Casby College: for the Study
of African World Imagery" or
"Cosby College: for the Study
of African Americans & Or­
ganizational Development"
sounds promising. lucrative and.
IDIIketable.
Will or should this institu­
tion become established? Not
only should it be'supported and
encouraged, but HILTON:
mGHER EDUCATION also
proposes the establishment of
Arthur Ashe College and Vir­
gina-: . svy College as well.
IDUON: IDGHER 6/)UCKIfON
"-..-l"""" wiIJs coIk,._
worW,...,.. �Q"" �
1M tWftIiNy 1tDI"" III �
LIt',... (714) 899-()6S0.
VIEWS OPINIONS
Dr. Mallllill, Marable is
Pro/essDl' of Polltktll ScJ.« tIIfIl
History, Ulliver6lty 01 Colortldo.
-Along 1M Color LIM- '$ ill
over 250 publicaliolU, alUl Lr
broadcast by more tItM SO rlldlo
tIItions�.
•
I
I by tb
t Bl c libe 1
politici ere lar ly respo ·ble
for th "riot. " . in rpre tion
advanced by the conservative
joumali t Rowland Bv nand
Robe ov
Thcy criticized Lo Angele
M yor Tom Br dley for bis
condemnation of the jury' decision
in the brutal beating case of Rodney
King. Evans and ov attacked
Rep. Maxine Waters for her ccurate
description of the recent unrest an
urban II' WTCCtion."
African-American politicians
and civil rights leaders ere wrong
to give "rioters revolutionary ta ,"
Ev and ovak whinncd. "They
wandered from one televl ion
channel to another deploring bat
the King verdict bad brought, but
they were not seen on the streets
imploring the mob to go bome."
The third conservative reaction to
the Lo Angel uprising was the
effort to place blame on the so-<:alled
absence of "morality" and "family
values· among innercity
African-Americans.
" 0 eli r
been p ved by co lve popular
culture, educationation I f Ilure,
moral and piritual depletion and
bre kdown of our mo t cri tical
i titution-the family."
Bennett oppo any in in
federal pending to crea jo for
the unemployed, and rejected out of
b nd ugge tion that poverty
contributed to our urb n crisis.
"Cultural problem ," Bennett
insisted," demand cultural
olutio ."
American conservative love
implistic slogans, rather than dng
bard truths.
Republican social policy
"experts," joumalis and poUtid
ren't Hling or able to
acknowledge the buic re liti
behind the massive socioeconomic
destruction of this nation's
innercities. The· American Dream"
for million of Hispanics,
Afdcan-AmerlClDl, the UDelDployed
In an effort to prevent the
recurrence of tragedies like the
Rodney King verdict, the NAACP
Legal Defense and Educational
�d��pro�a"rl ofa
major legal reforms designed to
restore America's faitb in its
crimlDal j tiee Jltem.
Responding not only to the King
verdict, but to numerous other
egregious cases, Legal Defense
Fund Director-Counsel Julius L
Cbambell pointed to a recent poll
sbowing that 81 percent of African
Americans believe the judicial
system is l'ICially biased, and said:
"Armed with an undcrstandiJ)g of
this astonishing verdict aDd the
judicial sy tem that Jnad .,it
pos Ible, America m e
concrete tep to remove race
discrimination from our legal
system. "
LDF's proposals are folio :
TaJce steps to DId acbuion of
AfricllII AmeriaI1Is frOlll st_ GIld
r
o
for
r
b11llality agaillst JH!OPM of color
IIIl1St kcome a 1UJtioMl priority.
CODllPunities sbould insist on
civilian review of comp1alml of
pollce miscoDduct IDd the acd�
independent prosecution of
legitimate daima of police abUle.
Police dcpartments must take
responsibility for appropriate
training and re-trainlng of their
officers. And the Justice
Department must become more
aggressive in its enforcement of
crimiDal civil rights la •
We IrIILSt DId rocuu t:Ii.sptIrltiG
in IDllDlCing, whida a 1990 rtpOl'1
Irom Ihe Gelleral Acco .. ntUa,
OffICe 10fIIIII. to exist throutJtout 1M
COIUIIry. African A.rMriCIDI are
punished more severely than
whites for identical aimca, aDd the
perpetrators of crime a,abut
African AmedCIDI are p,miSbt.d
I verely than the perpetratoll
of aimes against wbi .' ,
Leal lation Cln remedy tbiJ
problem in tbe part of tile atmt-,
ju nee Iy tem here raciallJ
dispuate IeIltalciDa is pedaIlJ
pl'ODOUDCed: the admhUtration of
capital puniahmenL Yet, for tbe
put two yeam, Coupaa faUocl
to p lePlation which uld
req1Jim state of!ldall to show dIIt
tbe death penalty was not
admtniatered in a cUIcrimiDatory
IIlIDDCr. .
We """' r� 1M _,lea of
our iIIM!' cilia by 1M /etlual
� tIIfIl by ,. buiIta6
CDIIIIfUIIIlty. Man y Africaa
AJDtncan younpa. beU Ibelr
U haft DO val. aDd, tbOIefOIe.
see DO value in 1be law. It is time
DOW to reDOW inveItme iD 0
inner citiCl, to start buildiD a
lOdety in bich tbc dlilcIIa. of
South Central Lot I
the same opportuDlty to oJ
coUDtry's bounty the childml in
Simi Valley or Kamebuakport.
•
I
It!deral jlUlicuu JHASts. Because the
judiciary is nearly lily-white,
African Americans bold little
confidence in the capacity of courts
to dispense color-blind justice,
��ro�statenxnlOf�
nearly 12,000 full-time tate court .
judges across the country, only 46S
. were African American in 1991.ln
Georgia, only nine of175 trial court
judges are African American; in
New York, only 71 of 1,129 judges
are African American. Only four
percent of the federal judiciary is
African American, only three
percent' Hispanic and I than
one percent is Asian American.
State that elect judges must
bolilh electoral schemes that deny
African Amcdcaus a fair cbaDce to
elect tbeir judicial officell. 1be
federal penment and states that
appoint j dges must tate
affirmative tep to put more
people of color on the bench.
giVt!1l Q1I t!qUJl oppot1UlliJy to setW
as jurors. In many cases,
throughout the country, people of
color continue to be struck because
of their race by proeecutors from
juries. For example, in Alabama, it
is not un ual to lee prosecutors
use more than 20 strltea 10 remove
all African AmeriCIDI from juries'
in death penalty cases. LawmakeJl
must pass statutes allowing the
removal of jurors only for
case-related I'CUODI.
111 racially-charged cases,
cllangu o/� 1IUUt not IuJve 1M
t!/!«t of acllulbag peop� 01 color
from 1M jlUlicitU process. Cases
should be moved ODly wbcn it
clearly bOwn that the move 11
ueceswy to ensure a fair mal, and
only to communities witb
comparable ethnic or racial
clwactaistics. � problem can
be ad4reaed throU&b legisl tion.
AlrictJII AlllericallS IIIIUI be
Tlte elllllillatioll 01 pollce