EDITORAL
, I
VIEWS/OPINIONS
There is in fact n tiona! "drug
crisis. " Crack, cocaine, heroin and
other drug are more prevalent in
1992 than in 1972. The n gative
health impact attribut d n tionally to
the drug epidemic.alone h co t thi
society billions of dollars.
, But b yond the deva tation on the
national economy is the devastation
on millions of human lives. Entire
families have been wiped out du to
drug addiction. Importing,
distributing, and selling drugs is big
business in the United States. This
multi-billion dollar illegal enterprise
, is thriving today with impunity.
r on dru
r on Dru "h
become only orro ful 0 t
i given voice to . fy political
e pediency. Pre ident Bu b '
record of e of thi brl ted term
b need to review.
The ew Yor Times did n
y i 0 th P ident' record on
"fighting" th o-called dru ar.
Reporter ]0 eph T ter ob erved,
"Mr B h oft n poken of the
valu of education, treatment and
prevention programs to taunch the
de ire for drug .
But di reg rding th
ne r-un nimou dvice of
indep ndent experts as well ome
White House aid who y the e are
th mo t effective weapons, Mr.
Bush has consistently subordinated
heal th and education to law
enforcement. These tatic have
ometime been proven to be quick,
vi ible and politically useful ... but the
bene fi t have u ually been
eph meral at best."
Remember President Bush
ordered the invasion of Panama in
1989 as part of the war on drugs. It
w only later to be revealed that
General Manuel Noriega was
Lester's World@1992KDGwc.
re le ming what
many umed to be true, and that .
the active involvement of police
of cers in many of the large clti
with th upport of drug trafficking
under th color of the law. Sadly all
of thi lead to an indirect
nctioning of the de truction of
millions of lives through drug ab e.
The official policy of tre ing
"law enforcement" over treatment,
education, and prevention of drug
abuse is a policy that has miserably
failed.
Current public poll ,however, do
not show that the nation's drug crisis
is a high priority during this
presidential campaign. We believe
that the issue of the eradication of
drug abuse should be a top priority
i ue in this election year.
Am ric n
..,.,u.",-wOO ...... ,r con erv -
teen.
Add to the BI cess, looming height, heavy build,
physical conditioning. You'd expect the three young men
to be snatched up almo t immediately by tho local
uthoritie .
But not 0, when we're in the twisted world of sports.
Three young BI ck males did rrive in Holland last
wee end, but the City of Tulips welcomed them with open
rm . And while you might wish that en e of common
hum nity had eized the notoriously raci t west Michigan
community, inspiring them to invite the young men to help
on a common cause, it was not so. It was in fact, another
chapter in the on-going sag of sports prostitution that
corrupts our young people. The athletes were there simply
because they are money generating machines. '
Three basketball players from the University of
Michigan-Chris Webber, Jalen Ro e and Eric Riley
participated in a fund-raiser. The three young men were'
used as a drawing card to raise money for a four-year old
in Holland in need of funds for an ear operation. In
exchange for their participation judging a slam-dunk con
test, signing autographs and giving some talks, the three I
were paid $300 each to cover expenses.
Now the NCAA is trying 10 figure out whether the $300
is "for work performed at the going rate or simply because
they are athletes." While the NCAA and U-M officials nit
pick their way through the rules to explain away- the situa
tion, everyone in America realizes that without the glamor
of the prime time, national-title contending basketball
'careers of the three young men, that west Michigan hotbed
of racism would no more want three Black male teens in
their midst than an AIDS epidemic. ,
The entire episode exposes how sports, as practiced in
America, corrupts our young. Teaches them prostitution,
early on and well. ,
Weare idealistic enough to believe that the parents,
coach s, the young men themselves should be willing to
donal n afternoon for a cau e if they believe-in tbe c us .
Why hould they, or anyone, be paid to raise money for a
needy kid?
Obviously, the whole thing was arranged through the
college. How else would Weber and Rose, who live in
Detroit, even know about a kid clear across the state who
needs ear surgery? The athletes arrived in a limo. They
were 'supposed' to stay until 3 p.m., and an argument with
the organizer over his demand that they stay until 5 p.m
without additional expense money led to the public revela
tion of the deal.
If the details sicken you, they are not isolated events.
In the proces of recruitment, media hype, nationally
televised games and big bucks for the colleges, young Black
athletes are being taught everything has a price; that noth
ing but money has value.
Just as these three were used in the Holland incident,
so all star athletes spend their college careers, living apart
from the student body in special townhouses; using cars
supplied them; taking 'jobs' for pay that aren't jobs.
Athletic stars learn early and young that there is a
double standard. Rules are in place for appearances, not
because they are a standard of behavior.
, If there were a standard of behavior, a moral standard,
then the athletes would share in the millions they earn for
the colleges. The young men would be free to make ap
pearances at charitable events when they were motivated
- not paid or pressured - to attend. The young people
would be expected to do good, not offered money for
appearing to do good.
If the colleges were about educating rather than ex
ploiting the athletes, then the young men would develop
and not forget their own humanity. They would become
something more that a marketable piece ,of meat for sale
to the' highest bidder, learning to put a price on every
thinleven charitable causes.
�he Holland incident helps us realize why Black ath
letes turn their backs on the community. They've learned
their college lessons well. You do it for money.
Q
Campaign to con erve
in an age of change
CIVIL
HT
JOUR AL
, I
I
IJ
Yet, e ow th t thi i ue
ould be viewed not olely a
political camp . gn i u but 0
fundamental moral i u f cin the
nation. The profitability of illicit
dru e m t be ch Henged by
removing the economic
vulnerabilitie of millions of persons
ho re literally hut out of the
national economy.
Our ociety cannot afford t� be
tri ed by false rhetoric concerning
ar on drugs that never exi ted.
Altern tively we call upon every
person in every community to take
greater respo ibility in playing a
direct role in comb ting drug abuse.
ITISAnational and international
problem, but until we mobilize,
around this issue at the grassroo
and community level, it will be
increasingly difficult to stem thi
huge tide.
The struggle against drug abuse
has to engender our support in the
ame manner our struggle against
raci m because these two evils are
inextricably linked, both in history
and in our present realities.
.�vbl n G&� IVI. .,' .' fJ: 'Ii: .
NOW REMEMBER SON, THINGS AREN'T ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEM.
. ,
As presidential campaign fever
begins to die down, and the season
comes to a close, the national mood
is clearly one of emptiness and
ennui.
,. In this post-Watergate age, the
term "politicians" remains a nasty
slur, a taint that politicians are ever
eager to rid themselves of.
There has ari sen the
anti-politician-politician, who claim
that as "outsiders," they can cleanse
the system.
That was much of Reagan's
appeal, and of Carter's, but the
ystem remains besmirched, and
more people opt to forego the 4-year
electio meaningless.
Tb.e councils of govemmen t,
comprised of two heads of one party
(Democans? Republicrats?), are
perceived as toadies to the rich, who
could care I about the burdens on
, the working cl , or the poor.
INCREASINGLY, the
campaign has acquired a
conservative cast, in an age aching
for fundamental change.
In essence, both major parties are
but agents of U.S. corporate power,
and the man named as an "outsider,"
a Texas computer magnate and
multi-billionaire, would merely
substitute himself, as a de facto
bu i nessman, for those elected
previously to do the bidding of big
busines .
The growing degradation of the
environmenf the soiling of the seas,
the poisoning of the air, the growing
ozone depletion, the waste plaguing
Mother Earth, the widening chasm
between rich and poor, class and
class, race and race, tribe and tribe
beckons for the most urgent change,
not the crippling status quo of
conservatism.
As in the not-so-great Depression
of the '30s, millions are aware that
the system simply does not work, or,
if at all, only for � privileged few.
The solution? A third party?
The most nearly analogous
German experience is not promising
on that score.
SEVERAL yEARs ago, the
Green Party, an offshoot of the
environmental movement of the
'80s, emerged as a force in the
German Parliament, taking several
seats in government.
, After years of the political
process however, battling for
ystemic respect and incl ion into
the halls of political power, the
Greens are "in", but business goes
on, as the Black Forest continues to
choke to death in a sulphuric mist.
They have "won" � the game of
political power and parliamentary
compromise, but not achieving its
program.
'FROM
DEATH
ROW
MUMIA
'ABU
JAMAL
Government may be able to
regulate busines (and that, only very
sparingly) but it cannot stop the
inj urious effect and enormou
profits of industry.
Indeed, futurist theorist Alvin
Tomer (The Third Wave) notes
today's multinational' corporations
are more powerful, more widely
dispersed, and possess more
resources, than mere governments.
The global forces of the market
leads governments, not the other way
around.
Witness the ex-Soviet Union'
genuflection to the power of the
dollar, the pound, the almighty yen.
The sy tem itself cannot save
itself, when it i , itself the problem.
., .