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Readers Write
ovember S, 1992
day that will ch n e the
Detroit police department hi -
tory once gain .. .It f ed
new nd higher level of trug
gle initiated by ven police .
. officer th t p rticip ted
directly and indirectly in the
bru I beating d th of lice
Green.
Detroit got rude w en
ing: police brutality, terror
and murder. Shoe cd out of
their lumber, city offici I nd
politiclans, community nd
religious le der wiftly began
to put into place opportuni m,
liberalism and faci m to chill
the pontaneous re ponse of
our alienated and im
poverl hed Si ten and nd
Brothers who have been con
fronted nd will continue to be
confronted with Police Ter
rorism.
We understand that the law
of thi land is exploitation and
oppre sion ... a legal system
that defends and advocates
property rights and personal
interest over human rights. A
legal system de igned to
protect the social and
economic reality that - by
definition - excludes poor
people in particular and the
working class in general.
We are going to expo e the
hypocrisy of this system that
says on one hand, that America
is a Democracy and on the
other institutionalies hi-tech
Nazi police tactics against us.
We are going to expose and
isolate those bankrupt hustling
preachers, bootlicking
politicians and Urban League
povertician-types who calion
us to pray and have faith in the
executive, legislative and
jurisdictional branches of
government through the legal
and justice ystem.
It is clear by the'!
and groveling to .�-�
the power structure that they
have no analysis of what is
happening and no objective
program to move us forward
and stop the poUce brutality,
terror and murder on us.
Their only concern is to
po ition themselves to receive
wh t comes out of the tail of a
donkey or' an elephant or to
desperately catch the crumbs
from their master's tables.
In spite of the daily process
of dehumanization, the Nation
looks on in anticipation, unity
and resistance ... By any Means
Necessary!
We have no faith in a sys
tem that for 500 years has al
ways schemed on a global
scales. And we - especially
our youth - are not afraid to
fight for revolutionary change ! �
Justice for Malice Green
Coalition meets every Wed
nesday - 6 P:M.
Yunu. Collin.
Every ucce ful merle n
pre identi I c ndid te ee
"mand " for hi polici , d 100
to hi popular nd electo I vote
total to j ti hi future objecti
Yet on of th enuin gedi
in th 1992 presidenti I election w
failure of Clinton d B h I
to really ddre ho t of critical
public policy decisions.
For example, neith r Clinton nor
Bush di cus ed n w law taking
effect in December, 1992, which
would require the Feder I
Government to seize control of many
financially troubled or b nkrupt
bank . Total cleanup co t could
reach $100 billion-yet bec use
Republican nd Democrat ere
equally responsible for the mes , no
one wa willing to di cu the
problem.
On urban policy, both major
candidate were silent. Bu h
muzzled his Housing Secretary, Jac
Kemp, from discus ing new
antipoverty initiatives," because
one ource explained, the President
didn't want to "rai e expectations
that could not be met and help
mobilize constituencies that
typically vote Democratic."
Although more than two million
rican vot rs, Clinton crificed
ny coherent reform progr m in
f vor of t ctic I m neuver to
achieve electoral victory. On can
b t view Clinton' dilemma from
the vantage point of recent American
history.
"mand te." Clinton con t nUy
preached "change", but few knew
w t kind of change we could e peel
victory i t Democratic Party .
m t perm nently repudiat it
im ge being too concerned" bout
African ri tin I bor,
th unemployed d th poor.
ew Yor Tim reporter Steven
Holmes 0 :rved, millio of hi
" ee Demoaa king them to
p y-either through t xe or by
giving up a job or promotion - for
programs to compe te for history
of di crimination th t they had
nothing to do with." White liberal
guilt I dead. The Democratic Party
of Clinton-Gore i eager to please the
white middle cl t the expe of
:Bl c ,labor and other traditionally
Democratic con tituencie . And
what lies cad i fundamental
conflict to define the genda of the
next four years. .
TV OU time during th
campaign, Clinton emb ced "free
trade", nd then criticized th recent
orth American trade ccord; he
called for middle cl cu nd
e pan ion in ocial program ,
without dequately explaining how
"more" could be provided. with
"le s"; he appealed for universal
health insurance, but hi propo fell
far short of the progre ive,
ingle-payer healthcare y tem used
in Canada, and which the United
States hould also adopt, Behind th
attractive call for "change", Clinton'
real quest was the pursuit of power.
Bush' frequently-repeated warnings
that a Clinton presidency would be
like the unpopular admini tration of
Democrat Jimmy Carter from
1977-1981 could easily become true.
Neither Carter in 1976 nor Clinton in
1992 consolidated coherent
program for government-and
Carter never achieved a national
conscns around any of his best
policies.
The major lesson which could
easily be duwn from Clinton's
In 1964, the victory of
Democratic Pre ident Lyndon
John on wa interpreted by the
electorate a "mandate" for a et of
coherent policie : civil rights and
racial integration, Medicare, federal
initiatives for public job , housing
and education, nd a domestic "War
on Poverty." When Ronald
Reagan wa elected in 1980,
everyone realized what his victory
repre ented: lower taxes for
corpora tions and wealthy
individuals, governmental
deregula tion, opposition to
affirmative action, women's rights
and civil rights laws, extreme
anti-Communism, anti-labor
policie , and sharp- reductio in the
welfare state. Both Johnson and
Reagan were "succe ful" in
establishing a clear policy agenda
even before they assumed office.
Clinton's failure is that his victory
does not translate into any ort of
G ,more than
on hundred m mbers of the Hous
of Representative were fie hmen.
The nation i plagued by doubt,
yearning for effective solutions.
About one hundred thou and
Americans are now losing their
health insurance coverage and
benefits every month. R ganomics
spelled di aster for millions of
wor ing cla people, and they
desperately want new leadership.
Clinton a tutely poke to this
profound desire for new initiatives in
government, by orienting his entire
campaign effort around the theme of
"change." But in his effort to hift his
party away from "tax-and-spend"
liberalism, renouncing close links
wi th trade union and African
Dr. Manning Marable is
Professor of Political Science and
History, University of Colorado
Boulder. "Along the Color LiM
appears in over 250 publications,
and is broadcast by more than 60
radio stations intenuJtionally.
T's Squa e
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Sup r f l e l eI
BLACK SUPE�HE. 0
Comics
GUirclIdeed Thought Of Before
CoIectOl 5 Items of the 9()Is
..
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BI�ckCops
Continued from A·1
Newsome relying on second-hand
accounts, said that four youths were
punched, cursed and choked while
they followed the victim in an am
bulance to Tulsa Regional Medical
Center.
A 240-page internal affairs inves
tigation found no evidence of police
misconduct.
in whit
r
Newsome was disciplined for
violating department policy by going By JAMES E. ALSBROOK
to the media with his a�unt before For many months I have been
Palmer, who.becamechiefinAugust, wondering what goes into the
ha� enough time to examine the com-· thinking of Black people who voted
plaint, . . for Richard Nixon Ronald Reagan
He also was disciplined for im- and rge Bush. ' ,
pedi�g th� department's oper_ation by Th ame people seem to be the
uttering mOammatory public state- ones who a plauded the nomination
ments, inc��ding �fe�g to T� of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme
officers as terro�ts With badges. Court. Some have said Civil Rights
Palmer said he viewed Laws' are not necessary and that
Newsome 's a�tio� as nothing more segregated schools are always better.
tha? a clear Violation of department One such person is a teacher and
policy, high school counselor. Although I
"It's obvious to me that everyone have known her for many years, only
won't like everything I do. I have to recently did she tell. me that she
live with myself on these issues, and would never be seen socially with a
I think I made the right decision,' , he man whose skin was "darker than a
said. , brown paper bag" because she would
"The discipline given to Officer know that he had no white blood.
New orne was not a message of up- Amazed as I was, I questioned her
port (of police brutality).lt is wrong further and she sal white blood has
to say that is the issue. It' more on been needed "to lighten the race" and
to make Blac �eople "more
Black Co.,., Page A·10
his wife' o�ections.
She would simply go to the
professor' home and begin doing
house work. When she went back
"down home" for a weekend, she
would return to the professor's home
with cakes, pies, cookies or other
sweets made by her or her mother.
When this woman received her
degree, her parents were on hand and
had dinner with thi good professor
and his wife. I was invited. While we
ate, the father said, "where I come
from, you go with the flow. " Then he
grinned at the professor and hi wife,
saying, "I trained my daughter not to
make any trouble for white folks. She
reall y is a good girl." The
"daughter-girl"! 45 years old. ,
Another Black person I know
uffer from white uperiority
delu ion . He apparently owns
several pitiably mall and unkept
stores and calls them a chain. It
barely urvives, but thi fellow struts
could lighten up the race."
She looked around the room and
said, "Old massa done made several
trips to the slave quarters." Some
laughed politely, but others did not
like the comment.
Another person in that group of
graduate-degree teachers said
Booker T. Washington evldently
agreed with this college president's
wife because "Booker T. wa
half-white, had two wives and both
looked whi te."
around identifying himself with the •
Vanderbilts, the R fellers, and .
other rich "persons, He constantly
laments "government Interference in
business," spouts the latest squeals of
the multi-millionaire barons of
greed, and sounds like a deranged
far-right demagogue with
extravagant delusions of grandeur.
All of these persons are Blac
Republicans.
I realize that some Blacks vote
Republican locally becau e of
long-time per onal or family
connections with job patronage. But
I cannot unde land why a Black
person would support any national
ticket that for 24 years bas tried to kill
civil rights laws that protect 'voting
right, equal educational
opportuni ty, equal employment
opportuni ty, equal housing and other
measure that guarantee first-cl
citizenship for all.
intelligent. "
WHEN I ASKED her about the
million of low-achieving white
people - those blue-collar workers,
marginally existing laborers and
welfare recipients, she said those
people had "wasted white skin" -
white skin that gave them no
advantage: "But a little bit of white i
better than nooe," she added.
"My grandfather was a white
man, " he aid. "Whatever brains I
have I got- through him, a lawyer.
African ancestors gave me nothing."
I wondered how much be had
damaged the thousands of students
who had been in her classroom or in
her counseling office over the years.
Later, I heard similar comments
from the wife of the president of a
Black COllege. At reception in the
president' home, be jokingly but
eriously told a group that "Some of
us would look a little better if we
.
LATER, I taught at a
predominantly white �versity that
offered doctoral programs. One
candidate for an advanced degree
came to the school, worked hard and
made good grades. Soon, however,
she gravitated to the kitchen of her
dvisor' wife and in effect became
an unpaid maid.
The kind advisor did not want her
doing this, but be laughed off his and
I
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