Ameri ."
Salley' ranking ar ure-fire fod-
d r or hot nvcrsations among
Bla k at dinner parti ,variou
nd in u 1 conversa-
n
ri .
- Richard I n and Ab alom
Jon , "founders th first Blac
. upport organization" and early
ehurch leaders (A.M.E.fouooers);
- PriIU Hall, "children' advo­
cate," anti-slavery protest leader,
and fraternal order organizer among
Bla
litionist;
- atTum r, lav r olt I r
and h ro;
- J Fort n merchant who
d vi ed bet r method 0 m ing
and handling ail for hip, em­
ployed 40 to 50 men and mad
fortune while prot ting I ery;
- Harriet Tubman "condu tor"
of t hi torically famous "Und -
ground Railro d";
- Martin Delaney, Bl- a tivi t
00 poli ticall der;
- Henry H. Gmt t ologi n­
bolitionis t;
- Sojourner Truth, th women'
sutfragi t le der and anti- lavery ad­
voca ;
- Benjamin Bann ker, th "ac­
tivist-inventor" and "probably the
best-koown egro in early United
States history," astronomer, mathe­
matician, and assi tant urveyor of
Washington, D.C.;
- Crispus Attuc , evolution­
ary War seaman and first killed in
Bos ton Mas acre;
Africa movement
years ago.
J.1J'U"lUL"'-"HALL i
ranked o.22on Salley Ii tinbi
new book. The I' t i interesting aIX1
contains names of perso validly
important in Blac bi tory. But I do
not think each of th abov persons
had an impact great r than t t of
Thurgood M hall.
MaIShall's legal talent tied with
the emotional fervor and outrage
provo ed by Dr. King' marches,
speeches and ufferings brought on
mul ti tude of chain reactions econd
only to tbe freeing of the laves after
the Civil War.
The Civil Rights laws of the six­
ties aoo thereafter flow from legal
precedents gained by Marshall.
oryl
of he race' and for h
J WORK IN A
·DEPNITMENT
STORE
:NAFTA A
pact made in' hell
Much has been aid and
written on NAFfA - The
North American Free Trade
Agreement, and before it i fi­
nally ratified, much more will
be aid.
As the econ my lurches into
rere ion after rece ion, me
are lling AFT A as th "be­
all.""end-all"--a olution to the
increasing cycl of bad eco­
nomic times.
Econbmics - an intimidat­
ing. confounding cien ifever
th w s one - doe follow ertain principles, among th rn, that
pital follow the profit margin- always. Alway.
The NAFf A - ba kers claim the pact will provide many new jo
because of new busin opportunitie in Mexico and el ewhere.
MUMIA
ABU
JAMAL
lac
FROM
DEATH
ROW
Now that Black History Month is
over, perhap it would be useful to
reflect On the real value of the study
of Black Hi tory.
Carter G. Wood on, the father of
Black Hi t ry Month, clearly aw
the rudy of Black History as a
weapon to break th, shackles of
Eurocentric education that bound the
mind of rican p ple.
It w Wood n who argued that
as long as Bl k mind were the cap­
tive of Eurocentric education, then
the sy tern of white upremacy
would be afe. The Black victims of
white upremacy would knowingly
or unknowingly, act to maintain and
protect the intere t Of the y tern as
oppo ed to acting in their ownint r-
est oppr sed P pIe.
For Carter. G. W od on, there-­
fore, the rudy of Bl k History was
not simply an annual ritual. In hi
view the rudy of BI ck Hi tory was
integral to the proce of liberating
Bla k minds to t in th inte t of
Afri an p ple.
TH Y BE job but they will pay a bare pittance, and the
b ines es that remain behind will bludgeon their workers with the
threat of relocation to the low-paying vi tas- outhofthe border. Indeed
it i alre dy happening.
Capital' trek to below th Rio Grande has created an cean of
maquiladores hugging the B.S. border, where good are produced by
Mexican workers paid the barest peso only to be hipped north for ale
to orteamcricano at "regular" price. meaning, ultimately, a bigger
margin of profit for the manufa turer, with les for laborers.
NAFr A means an intensification 0 thi trend.
NAFT A means lower wage for workers.
AFTA i a political creation of U.S. nd multinational capit I and
thus d igned to provide corporate int rests with a larger pool for
produ tion (which Mexico obviously offers) with lower wages (ditto)
and al 0 with dramatically lessened environmental regulations.
Trunk 0 it thi way: If you were a busines produ ing widge and
had an opportunity to produce them by non-union, bargain-b ernent­
low-p id workers, with no social ecurity, no worker's cornp, no OSHA
(such it i ), no EPA ( uch as it is), and till could ell your wid et at
the arne or even hi her price - would you do it?
I '1" pondered, by many a mana er, board
member an director of.U .S. busin tod y and in the h h world f
the economy, it i a for e greater to capital than gravity 1 I.
NAFr pulls the plug out of the tub, and quickens th econ rru
who h d wn th drain for U.S. Labor. To be ure, rnaquiladores
repr nt ub tantial inv trnen and job opportunitie or Mexi n
worke ,wh are quite willin to work for meager (by U.S. tandard )
wag provided by U.S. usiness, but Mexico' gain will mean U.S.
1
Even given the far-fetched po ibility that the U.S. Congres will
reject A, the in xorabl� oulhem flow will not end for no
Congr nor any other purely political entity, can (or will) bl ck the
drive of the capital for i highest r tum - a better bottom line.
Consider any politician' tand on NAFTA and you will know
wh ther he upports the righ of tho e who labor, or of th e who b
(and p it ro ) labor.
advocated th
tudy 0 hi tory in general and Black
Hi tory in P rticular.
It was Malcolm' contenti n that
by looking at the p t we would
come to unde tand the current tatus
of African people in the world today
or as the late hanc 11 r William
oft n asked how did we 0 "from the
pyramids to the pr ject ?"
Malcolm al tr ed another
point. By analyzing the truggl of
other oppres ed people and eein
Hi
AFRIC
P OPL MU Tbe
•
o
how they were able to win their lib­
eration, African people could learn
valuable les ons to be utilized in th
contemporary truggle for African
liberation.
The study of Black History,
therefore, should be een as a crucial
component of the truggle for libera­
tion.
DR. J URNER of
Cornell University puts it, African
people must learn to be "of the race
and [or the race." ,
The taggering crises confronting
rican people in the U.S. and
around the globe demand something
far more than bathing in our BI k-
ness. ,
The triumphs of African people
from the origins 0 f humanki nd, to the
marvelous contributions of ancient
pt to the emergence of t pow­
erful Sudanic Kingdoms hould cer­
tainly be a source of pride and
inspiration. However, It is t tra ic
legacy of slavery colonialism, n 0-
coloniali m and the ever-present
manifestations of raci m which Af­
rican people the world over are now
forced to contend.
Our id ntification wi th self there­
fore is not merely an oteric e er­
ci e. The call to be of the race and for
the rae is to orge th conscio -
nes comrni tm nt, the mov ments,
organizations and institutions to lib­
erate African p ple from racist op­
pres ion, colonial' m,
neo-colonialism and all f rms of
domination.
conscious of who we are as a basis
for steeling our resolve that "never
again' will African people be the vic­
tims of a holocaus t.
Our history must force us to face
the imperatjve to organize to end the
ongoing genocide that plagues Afri­
can people throughout the world.
To study African history i to
come away serio ly devoted to de­
fine and defend African interest, and
to work rclentl sly to build the
movements, organizations and insti­
tutions required to insure our sur-
. vival and liberation.
Finally, to be of the ra e and for
the race is not a narrow nationalist
ag nda. For African people nati nal-'
ism' and humanism are interrelated
aspects of th African personali ty.
We must see to end racl m, sexism,
bigotry and di crimination wherever
they exist
For African people freed m, lib­
eration democracy and human
rights cannot co-e 'st wi th domina­
tion, exploitation, and tyranny.
H RI P ..
must tand Iorthright f r the libera-
tion of all 0PP ed pI
To create a world wh there i
no exploitation of hwnan ings by
human bein is the high t aspir -
tionoJth Africanpers n lity.
,
Being 0 th ra and for th r
imply groun African people in tli
common sense axioms of "love thy
neighbor as thyself," and, "chari ty
•
rae
RON­
DANIELS
VANTAGE
POINT
begins at home and preads abroad."
The study of Black History, in­
cluding the celebration of Black His­
tory Month, m t serve a vital
function in the struggle to liberate
African people and oppressed hu­
manity.
As Carter G. Woodson, Malcolm
X and 0 many of our African ances­
tors ought to teach us, Black Hi tory
. mus t b a weapon of truggJe.
African people mus t be of the
rae and for th race we eek to
define and defend our interest and
fight for the liberation of oppres ed
humanity. '
"Of all ourstudi , history is most
qualified to i ward all research."
Ron Daniels erv as Pre ident
of til Institute for Community Or­
ganization and D v lopm nt in
Young town, Ohio. He may be con-
I ted at (216) 746-5747. '