o
Dr. K.
Hilton
T, Ml HT be wonderin who I am referring to when
I use th t rm African, rather than Black or African Ameri an. I us the
term African to d note on of the tronge t bond that bind any people
together anti that bond i culture and laoo
Africa i our place of original origin. Wh ther you were born or ive
in the U.S., Jamaica, Brazil, or Zaire, you are African or rson 0
African descent.
As part of realizing that r lationship to the motherland, we must think
o ourselves if) a much larger, global context, thus as Africans. We must
alway be concerned about the situation in Afnca because it will affect
us, where ever we are.
We must continue to seek knowledge about ourselves, ur past, ur
people, and our homeland. It is through this quest for knowledge that we
gain insight into who we really are and what our purpo e i .
Once you begin the quest, you will find that your sense of responsi
bility or commitment to work for the betterment of our people will
naturally grow and increase.
In working for the betterment of our people, as I have di covered, it
is nee ary to be careful and thoughtful, to be critical and analytical.
These kills are neces ary in order to be a long distance runner, in order
to make ure that you don't get burned out and that you fini h the ra e.
You will find, as I have, that working for our peopl i one of the
hardest things you can do. The main reason, is because our people cern
to fightu every step 0 the way. Many African will tively work
against you, including orne African profc ors and admini trators. I am
ure I don't have to mention what the non-African prof 0 and
administrators will do.
den ts trace their ethnici ty to the
native population of th island prior
to European Ionization.
, M . H 1 HAW 1-
favor the complete inde
pendence of tb ir i 'lands from th
U.S., which parallel imilar inde
pendence movement in Puerto
among
1 perc nt
high r than the ta ' average. Only
on in twelve ethni Hawaiians po -
a university d gree, V • one
fifth of all adult r id nts in t h t te
overall.
The basic i u at stake in Hawaii
is related to the unequal status of
ethnic and racial minorities tbrough
out th United States
Another example of tbi i fouoo
in the re nt debate in Georgia con
cerning Governor Zell Miller' pro
posal to aboli h the Confederate
symbol in the Georgia tate flag.
The controversy really began
As AJabama tate representative
Alvin Holmes explains: "When I
walk up the Capitol ste,Ps, Irstead of
eeing the American flag, the flag
that I served under when I was in th
U.S. Anny I ee a flag that repr ent
treason, edition, lavery and op-
Lesier's World
'A plan, of action, a
statement at-mission'
By Todd Burroughs
WA HINGTON, DC- I came
acro something the other day that
at times over the years, I would find
and lose again, "The Black Leader
ship Family Plan: for the e Unity,
Survival and Progress of Black PeO
ple. "
The plan was first published in
February 1982 by the National Black
Leadership Round table, a coalition
of African American civil rights, hu
man rights political and fraternal
groups. The theme of the round table
plan is thisr"lt' not the man, it' the
plan; it's not the rap, it' the map."
The plan was written in response
to a call the acclaimed actor and
Black cultural living legend Ozzie
Davis gave in hi keynote address at
the first dinner of the Congre slonal
Black Caucus in 1971.
At the event, according to the in- '
side page of the document, Davis
aid: "Give us a plan of a tion ... a 10
Black Commandment; simple,
strong, that we can carry in our
hearts, and in our memorie no mat
ter where we re and reach out and
touch and feel the r urance that
there is behi nd ev rything we do a
lmple, moral, intellfgent plan that
must be fulfilled in the course of time
even if all of our leaders one by one
fall in battle, omebody will rise and
say, 'Brother! Our leader died while
we were pn Nge three of th plan.
ow that the funeral i over, let us
proceed proceed to page four.
THE PIA GIV "Operation
Instructions" to all BI k organiza
tions, including th media. The fol
lowing are excerpts .from it media
ction. They are pr nted in th
hope that young BI ck journali ts
reading thi column will get me
idea what th ir role i in thi busi-
" tl n: You hall be the pn-
mary ouree or urate, reliable
and complet info tion on i u
o con ern to BI k people. You
hall monitor and rev iew major me
dia releases and expo all di tor
tion , misrepre entation and
omi ions ...
"Make public announcement
and editorial comment on major
media stories that are not factual and
are mi represented
"Editorialize the negative expo
sure of Blacks on prime-time pro
gram .
"Insure that" Black performers
writers and produce receive maxi
mum exposure in programming to
offset control of media by adversary
organizations.
Ensure TV coverage of KKK and
American Nazi party activiti ..
"Search out and maintain alterna
tive sources for new print and other
upport material . Do not depend on
one ource for admini trauvc up
pli . Contact and market actively
Black busin and institutions for
upport.
The round table plan i just one of
many plan Black people have writ
ten ince our arrival on the hore of
Nort America. Hopefully, w will
tart utilizingg what i valuable in all
of them for our media empower
ment. May thi column erve a
bulletin for tho e who wish t work
towards that end.
Todd Buroughs, a professional
journalist and graduate tud nt; is
the recipient of the J 92-93 Public
Affair Reportin Fellowship at th
Univ rsity of Maryland at oil gc
Park.
Fault re
Like Hill: YQu
'Stand On our
Own nd Talk
About Tho e Of'
Other People.
('''1''",111 1')" t..,rn I)� i n \;P'"P I" .
\', itll,:hl Re en('cI
"Ya' better quit while you're ahead suqar. it doesn't get any better than this."
READERS WRITE
r r fl ct
a r dot 00 many"
II
gres ive persons are individual,
also, but not individualistic, which.is
in accordance with the larger capital
istic white society's personality.
It i a fact that the majority of our
BI k people have been brai n
washed by white upretnaci t. There-
fore justifying a.1 conscio
pinion of our dilemma in Americ
Th re are orne people who hav
bett r grasp of our ituation in
Amen a, me BI k people d n't
want to b Bla k, and are full of If
hatred, whi h they m y not realize.
The way whit k ep Bl- from
-unifying and having a common goal
are these constant arguments about
individuality. A ain, I' y the m � r
ity 0 rica in America have' a
I
Thi comment i in response to a
letter ubmitted to the Michigan, and
printed February 26, 1993, entitled
"How Black?"
.I am t director of the Malcolm
X Center for elf-Determiniation,
who po ored t forum on BI k
Talk R di and I al 0 was the mod
erator. I ked the opening que tion
for the reason 0 promoting dialogu ,
not to qu non th Bla kn f any
one.
Eurocentric viewpoi nt and mind et,
therefore, have no de Ire to increase
their information out themselves
or their people.'
Mo t people ay they love eing
Bl k and who they are, ut want to
be America J which ian die
tion. Self-hatred i deeply imbed
ded in the y h , that mo. t of w
can't admit it 1 t. Pie my peo
ple, come to np With your lin'
f inf nority, r '1I.l what Amenca
h done to you • nd work on the c
p bl ms so that A rican p oplc can
ri again t th ir on mal r tn
Anema.haun Bomanl
Olr etor, alcolm X C nter for
S 11-0 rm nlatlon
ALONGTH
COLOR
LINE
y mbol really repr nt mor fun
damentally th qu tion 0 whether
peopl of color - indi en Ha
waii , African-Am ricans, ative
Americans, Pu rto Ricans, Chica
no , and others - will be accepted
as "equal partners" within th cul
ture, economi y m and poli tical
institutions of the whit majority 0-
ciety.
B ause "int gration" is not just a
question of tiooing new pa for
nonwhites within the yste - it
should require t rm tion of
all ymbols and structures to accom
modat div rsi ty and the belief 0,
everyone.
Multicultural pluralistic d moe
racy m ans rewri ting the textb k,
aoo red igning th Oa that all
members of t ulture can p rti i
pate full and freely. And i we can
not tak part in th ciety equal
members, the voi� for elf -d ter
mination and separati m ameeg rni
noritie will continue to find
receptive audiences.
..
READERS
WRITE
There's more
than one
game in town
Dear Editor:
Whil li tcni ng t
talk radio meon lied the Joan
Watson how and di cus ed th im
portan e of havi ng a new paper that
dealt with the problems of the inner
cities.
The caller unded v ry inccre
in her appeal. Shewentonto y, that
is was a ham that African Arncri
�ns had t In h or pini n de nd .
on a bi media that d iubl .
tandard when reporting n BI' k
ure, that mo. t would
M ichi an hronicl n 10 way
b compared to the Michi an iti-;
zen. It has m re new on It' front
pa than the Michigan Chronicle
has in it', entire paper.
- .
you to r d th
that you Will b
Calvin acre
Inkster, ichlgan,