community.
"Th NAA P' upport of Th
Brady Bill i a r flection of a bro der
understand! ng of civi J rights advo
cacy in the 1 � s," aid Wade Hen
derson. director of the NAACP'
W hington Bureau.
"One In every 28
Black males born
In 1987 is likely to
be murdered. For
white males the
ratio is one in 205."
"WEURGECONG� to act
quickly and to en t the Brady Bill
as epa rate legi lation. We want to
avoid th problem encountered last
year, when the Brady Bill was incor
porated into an omnibus crime con
trol legislation. Thi measure is
simply too important to be· held ho -
tage to the ill i of comprehensive
'crime control."
Henderson said of Congres ' han
dling of the legi lation, firearm are
now involved in one of every four
deaths among person age 15 to 24.
The NAACP ay that its Youth and
College Divi ion will playa key rule
in the campaign to reduce gun vio
lence. The campaign will emph ize
to the young adult population that
they hold one of the most important
keys to political power, and that their
collective involvement In the
Do you know
where your money
is going?
By OLIVER WHITE
Reprint from Insight New. _ _ _ _ ._ _ __
I am not an economi I.. yet I am aware that one of the reasons the
'BI' k community suffers economically is because industries and enter
prises that once flourished in the central cities, have in recent decades,
followed the European Americans to the affluent uburb .
Much trauma i left in the wake of the "white flight" and the media
i quick to illu trate the very worst that it brings out in the Black
community. Apparently, many believe what' been said and hown in
the media, which had led to painful repri als.
1 pr ent thi example: If after having taken your car to a Black
mechanic and omething goe wrong with it, are you likely to criticize
the mechanic because he Ish' i Black, and therefore, incompetent?
Would we judg a white mechanic incompetent simply because
he/ he i whi te? '
I'm neith rap ychologi t-ye't I am aware the intracultural racism
caus h tility, trife, and economic hard hip. And as far as I'm
concerned, that kind of hard hip raise a moral question.
J called my fri nd, Jim, a Black economic professor for an answer.
Jim, wh live in the inner city of D troit, which i almo t exclu
uvely BI k, gave me a true to life par ble. He had watched ince last
winter, the n trucuon f a Whit Castl Restaurant. The restaurant
w bern built s veral hI' from wh re he lived and taught eeonom-
• ic .
.. It W' insane man," h aid. "Every la t one of the construction
work rs w r white. The elc tri ians, the brick layers, the carpenters,
the con rete pourers, and machine operators and even the caterer who
br ught th m brcakfar t and lunch!"
"111at' ot to quite dis turbing ... nght in the middl of the Black
community." I added.
"Yeah, m n. th uropean Am n ans drove in here at sunri e,
cranked up th If machmes , banged their hammers, played John Denver
music, and the they lcft.ijus: like that," aid Jim.
"You kn w what they had th nerve to do?" Jim addcd. "While the
;estaurant w und r construction, they conducted a big advertisement
camp Ign throu bout t11<; mmunity. T y promi ed alloons, clowns
and el bntics. .
"Th Y adv rt d that they were buuding the biggest Whi C tle
R taurant 10 th country! Get it man ... n ht in the middle of the Black
comrnurnty.
"N w I'm no idiot Oliver. Whil I am aware that Black people are
popular �ustom rs of Whi t CURe taurants, I'v� never failed to
forget that th Wrutc Car tl R taurant, In '. 1 build owned and
operated by Eum n Am ri am." See, MO EY page B5
IWA
REED
AACP' Br dy Bill c mp i n
could mad . iv difference on
one i ue that directly affects them.
Hend rson y, "It b n u -
g ted that in m a ofthecoun-
try, it i now mor likely for a Black
m I b tw n hi 15th nd 25th birth
day to die from homicide than it w
for a U.S, oldier to have b n killed
in Vietnam."
Gun viol nee i a priority i ue
for African Am ricans. Researoh
data reveal that, over 600,000
Americans are victimized in hand
gun crim each year, and people of
color are harde t hit.
ONE IN EV RY 28 Black
males born in 1987 i likely to b
murdered. For white males the ratio
i one in 205.
William Gibson. chairman of th
NAACP Board of Directors. tates:
"We are especially, troubled by the
(impact ot) gun-related violence on
our youth. Firearm deaths of young
Black mal h reached crisi pro
portions. African Americans have an
important take in ending gun-re
lated violence." Prompt p age of
the bil] is a NAACP priority.
The NAACP' po ition on the
Brady Bill al 0 helps to keep that
organization in the forefront of civil
rights as it goe through an organiza
tional transitition. Its leaders have
figured out that gun control i one of
the major Is UC1 to confront the Af
rican American community in recent
years.
Some Blacks are terrified of the
violence and want fewer guns on the
treet, a change they feel' wil] de
crease their probability of being
killed. In contrast, other Blacks who
want guns to defend themselves be
cause they are fed up with thesy tern
that they say does not combat crime.
Sarah: Brady, chairwom of .t.,
Handgun Control, Inc, . nd t wi e
o President Reagan' former press
secretary who w hot during an
as a ination attempt on Reagan,
says. "It i fitting that the NAACP
hould take the lead on this i ue, for
no other group suffers from random
gun violence a much as does the
African American community. It is
unconscionable that in thi great land
a Black man born in Harlem is I�
I ikely to reach the age of 40 than their
counterparts in Bangladesh."
By J.me . AI.broo
With a tudent' car radio loudly
reminding m p by that Dr.
King died 25 years 0, on whit
Ohio University coed ked, "Dr.
King wanted America to do thin
for hi peopl ,but what did hi peo
ple do for America?"
Although th loud qu tion w
not po en to me, I w t mpted to
y, "We want nothing more than
other Americans want, impl jus
tice, fair play aoo equali ty."
As I walked farth r away from the
group, I realized the coed considered
BI ck people an append e to r
ica. not a part of Am rica, but a tol
era ted li iii ty, a burden.
So I walked around' th campus
atxJ asked two white tud nts, "Do
you know anythingaboutDr. W.E.B.
DuBois?" Both looked at me wi th
blank stares and suggested that I 100
in the faculty directory for his name
and office number.
o
WITHT CPatacro -
ro ,tJying to plot a n course,
aoo with J e J on t cro
ro , ttying to plot a new course,
these two could join forces to win the
common goal of educating America,
i Black nd its whi people
about the real contributions Blac
have made.
If thi information were t ught
nationwide in public boo I wi th
good textboo and dedicated
teaches, a new day of overdue re- .
pect for Blac would dawn in
Am rica.
n
.,
::I
e
f'I
WI
tii·
=
C'}
.,
o
c
"='
c:
Black Business is Dying to TeH Y0U Something.
R flection
from
o Angele
While much has been written in
the public print in regard to the social
stability or instability in the City of
Los Angeles during the recent trial of
the four police officers that were ac
cused of brutality beating Rodney
King, not that much has been written
about the life and th I ivi ng condi
tions of the African American com
munity in' South Central Lo
Angeles, in particular that famous
area known as Watts.
It is al 0 interesting now that
much of the media attention bas
moved away from Los Angeles after
the verdict was rendered with two of
the pol ice officers being found guil ty
of violating the rights of Rodney
King and two of the officers being
found not guil ty .
Yet, some ,of the fundamental
problems that have ri en in South
Central Lo Angeles can be traced
back to the aftermath of the 1965
Watts upri ing.
The purp e of thi reflection
however i to share with you some of
the reality of taying in the "Hood"
during that critical week while we
waited for th jury to announce the
verdict. We tayed in Imperial
Court and J rdan Dow u iog
projects in outh Central Ange-
les.
Tl'" 1 Aracially discrimina-
tory myth and stereotyp about th
character of persons who live in Im
perial Courts and Jordan Downs. The
myth is that residents of public hous-
ing projects are es entially lazy, non-
.trustworthy and violence prone. We
found from firsthand ob ervation
that thi myth is certainly untrue par
ticularly in South Central Lo Ange
les.
The truth is we found a profound
ense of elf-r pect, self-reliance,
and basic hones ty was well as both
individual and community integrity
in the public housing projects of Im
perial Courts and Jordan Downs lo
cated in the heart of the "Ho d" in th
Watts ection of South Central Los
Angeles.
We witnes ed women, men and
children with limited financial re-'
ources working together for th
common good of the community.
While thousand of oJdiers from
the California National Guard were
in the proces of being stationed tra
tegically in certain areas of 1..0 An
geles, tens of thou ands of i ters and
brothers were busy attempting to im
prove their overalJ quality f life.
D pite the popularized view, there
was no one planning a riot. There
was no one encouraging further vio
lence.
To the contrary of the rches
trated public opinion about Watt
and th oth r ections of Lo Ange
les, the demand for "justice and
pe "among th r idcnt was
nearly universally arnculated.
The Local President of th . Watt
Branch of the NAACP i 72 years
old. I t was a great ight to wi tn
Mr. Davi Rodgers as a eniorcitizen
gain the ongoing confidence of the
thousand of young residents who
live in th public housing projects in
Watts.
T
CON TANT
RAIN
I WALKED FARTHER into the
Campus Green and stopped several
white students to ask, "Do you know
about Dr. George W. Carver or
James Weldon Johnson?" Again,
that we heard during our stay. in
Watts was "We want job ... health
care ... child care .' .. education ...
and an end to crime and violence."
Of course these are not revolu
tionary demand; rather these de
mand are fundamentally i ues that
alJ Americans hold dear to being a
priority. The difference i that the
people who live in public housing
projects throughout the nation are
" acri ficed" on the nation' alter of
racial discrimination and economic
exploitation.
Thus, we left Watt encouraged
and reinvigorated. Th re is good
new from the "Ho d."
Gan related violence i begin
nin to omewhat decrease. The in
itiative taken by young gang
members in Los Angeles to declare a
"truce" i on' of th mo t igni fi cant
acts of th 20th Century. Now that
the "truce" has held for more than
on year in Lo Angel ,there arc
other "tru e" movem nt evolving in
the other largest citi in the United
Stat. v
MR. RED WILLIA ' and his
Cro Colors' Foundation b ed in
Los An el have joined in the
DR.
BENJAMIN
CHAVIS
CIVIL
RIGHTS
JOURNAL
struggle to transform and improv
the social condition 0 th African
American community.
While others wait for the next trial
and uspense to oc ur in Lo Ange
les, we will be working wi th i ters
aod broth rs at the g roots level
to ensure j tice, peace and eco
nomic empowerment.
A��tr�Oi'
�� �amOl
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