VIEWS/OPINIONS
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EDITORIAL· .
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E TILL must help eep th
pr ure on. We upport th efto
Bill Clinton is wolf in beep's clothing. He appears to
be so much be ter than the leadership America has had for
th last 12 years, we might overlook how much he is really
like the folks now in charge.
Clinton, candidate for the highest office in the land, is
running a dangerous tv commercial in the metro Detroit
area.
The ad starts by saying
that we have a new era of th
Democratic Party. This i a
party, the ad goes on to ay,
that supports welfare reform
and the death penalty.
Now, most of the -polling
we've seen in this election
year shows, that voters are
concerned primarily about
jobs and health care reform
- not welfare queens and
Willie Hortons. But here we
go again. Now' it is the new
era Democrats playing those
racial codes in their appeal to
... -::.. n 'Qemo�ta �:_
. tti se b anar � hbi "0 t
· fled the Cihes in Ithe 60's tnd 10's to regroup in suburban
ghettos of fear and ignorance.
Republicans have held onto the president's office by
playing to the fears of these folk, fine tuning racial politics
'along the way.
Bill Clinton has listened well, learned the tune and sings
in perfect harmony.
First welfare reform. Despite all the tatistics that how
there are more' white pe pie than African on the welfare
rolls, most Americans believe welfare is a Black thang. This
percept" on exi-, s thanks to the media and the race politic
of the recent past. lint n' focu on welfare reform i to
show suburbanites he is ready to deal with "them."
, arne with crime. To push the death penalty is to be
anti-poor and anti-Black, because that is who sits on death
row. Rich folks don't end up there.
For Bill linton to devise commercials on these subjects
and run them in a market as racially divided and hostile as
metro Detroit is playing the race card with the twist of
Oxford-perfected subtlety. \
The picture is even bleaker when you consider, Clinton
has frequently visited those suburban ghettos of ignorance,
trying desperately to woo back those voters who deserted
the Democrats for the race-baiting Republicans. By the
same token, Clinton has studiously steered away from urban
settings. .
For the few times Clinton did visit a major African
American group during this campaign, it is as if 'he were
talking past the audience, to reassure that wider group of
reactionaries out there in Republican land that he, Clinton,
knows how to talk tough to "those people."
When Clinton addressed the Rainbow Coalition he in-
ulted ister ouljah and his hosts. When Clinton stood
before the Black Bapti 1 preachers in Atlanta, the large t
group of African Americans in the land, he talked not ab ut
jobs or health care, the real concerns of Black pastors, but
about crime.
The real Bill Clinton seems to be trying to get out. This
is the Bill Clinton who plays golf at all-white country clubs
and has not pushed an affirmative action plan or civil rights
bill for his state.
We urge African Americans to vote. Don't do like we did
in the la t governor's race and stay home. African
Americans don't get anything out of the electoral process
by staying home.
Go to the polls and choose any of the other candidates
for president: Lenora Fulani or the Socialist, candidate. I
Write in a candidate for president or make a tatement by I
voting for every other spot on the ballot except president. IfJ
you stay home, you don't exist.
Just don't be blown away by the huff and the puff of a
wolf in sheep's clothing: Vote your interests.
. - __ 0____________ _
of civil right nd-I bor leader
Cleve! nd Robinson, and others who
re working h d to po or the
upcoming national conference in
olidarity with th African ational
Con nd th democratic fo
in South Africa.
Who ever wins the election for
th PI ident of th UnH d Stat in
ovember of thi year needs to hear
the loud demand for change from
the immoral policy of "constructive
engagement with South Africa. "
Thus far in the 1992 Presidential
Campaign, there been too little
mention of Africa in general and
South Africa in particular. Our
re ponsibility here is to remain'
vocal, vigilant and clive in our
upport of elson Mandela and the
Africa National Congre and not to
be fooled by the games that De Kler
and hi partner, Buthelezi, are
playing.
THEY ARE'NT AFRAID OF.
A BROTHER "'11TH A GUN .. ,
World @1992
BECAUSE THEY HAVE A· •
WHOLE LOT-OF GUNS.
I
BUT A BROTHER WITH A BRAIN AND SOME EDUCATION .. ,
D
mba Diop fr
The Mauritanian expatriate
Demba Diop, who feared
deportation back to his West African
homeland and threatened with
liquidation as an exrebcl fighter, is
, now free.
In a col umn wri tten cvcral weeks
ago ("Death Wait for Dlop")
mention was made of the erious
threats to both hi health and
freedom, c pecially if he was
extradited ba k into the hand of the
military ovcrnrncnt of Mauritania.
Radical paper .• c p cially
Angehorigcn Info (Families of
Political PrL oner New paper 'of
Frankfurt, Germany) printed the
Diop article and more importantly,
readers wrote in letters protesting
Diop' treatment and promoting his
freedom. The government of
Germany gave Diop four weeks to
"voluntarily" leave th country, but
������������������������� didn't,luckily,deporth�.
, I
I
I
I
Diop', a cadre of the FLAM
(Forces de Liberation Africaine de
Mauritanie) faced severe, and
perhaps fatal reprecussions had he
been returned to the whim of the
military government.
BY THE TIME you read this,
Diop should be in French exile,
working on behalf of the freedom
and well-bing of political pri oners
worldwide. a 'I ndicated in .the
followi ng exc rpts from hi letter;
"16th April 1992.
"First many thanks for your help.
I've been relca ed ye terday and I
have now 4 weeks to leave
"voluntarily" Germany. Your
report, publi hed in 'Angehorigcn
Info' has really een a very big help
for me.
My prison official wanted
unconditionally to make me be killed
by the Mauritanian government.
was really in a very dangerous
situation. In some weeks I'll go to
, France, first, where I intend to
(work) with comrade Annelyse
Benoit, the editor of 'Rebelles'
(=Rebels).
You know surely that 'Rebelles '
publishes very often reports about
you and other incarcerate MOVE
members... Stay trong.
Venceremos. "Your Bro. Demba
Diop." '
For thi victory on Diop's behalf,
my thanks to all the papers which
published the column, and especially
all the readers who responded to it.
I'll K ALSO to Pri ners'
Legal New (p.O. Box 1684, Lake
Worth, FL 33460) for alerting its
reader, to Diop' threatened
deportation and poor treatment in
MUMIA
ABU
JAMAL
FROM
DEATH
ROW
Rheinbach Prison, Germany.
In this age of apparent capitalist
triumphalism, people often feel
helpless in the face of the serious and
seemingly insurmountable problems
we face.
To those witha will to resist, there
will always be a way to manifest
it-to demonstrate one' positions
against empire. '
In the Diop case, people just like
you, took a few moments to write, to
call, to protest, to proclaim--and
Diop is free-c-Irce to help others.
People' power at work.