T�C��rfurD� �n�l
recently r port d that African­
American mal are h t to d th
AAJA convention _et for Augu t
AAJA tand for' the Asian
Ameri an' J urnali ts As ciati n.
Thi important journalism ocia­
tion will having its ixth annual
nati nal nvention Au t I -21 10
Lo An I ,
Asian Latino and Native American
owned med i a as wel I -as repre­
entatives who work for the alterna­
tive media
To have discus ions about unity
in the field ofjoumalism with key
players n t at the table i potentially
n n rat btl w productive.
It is akin to having an African
American tudent leadership confer­
en e that is only open to tudent
fr m college uch Georgetown,
the Uruv rsity of Hawaii, Stanford
and orthwcstern and not allovJm
part) ipan n [rom the tudent leader-
hlp of H ward Hampt n, Tc as
u them or Harri -St we.
The second r n that we
point d out the a vc w� because
the Ian m ncan, auv Am n­
can, Afncan American and Lauro
Amencan owned pres ( ) have
'rnu h to bring to the tabl ,but have
n t nsi tently t pp d forward.
C n cqu ntly, many ian
Amenc nj-xumali ts a forth
v rkm at n n ethnic cd organi-
zauon m y feel abandon d or ahcn­
atcd by th v ry instituu ns that arc
m t, urt d to nurture tern.
J TilE L , run, the National
s tall n of B1 k J urnal isu will
'only be a.') strong ,b � n or anization
uch a! the ationaJ ew paper Pub­
I' he. Association (NNP A), but th
A will never reach its fullest
potential unti' 1L h wcas i out-
n an. tanding journalists-placin them
I I
I I
W�at W�� �V�· t� � t�� ��ate ��ari� �
en root.
Our r ponse to "ra ial fund
m ntali m" oncoUeg camp and
throughout very BI k community
m t begin with a I ar vi ion f
empowenn nt nd 011 .ctive prid ,
without fa minto t dangero
trap 0 ali nation and ch uvini m
a ainst others.
As Blac femini t Bell HooKs
tells us, "we can bear witn for our
wn ca e, (or what we b licv in,
with ut denigratin others."
To b lie th t literally all whit
are our en mi i: Just dan erous
and erroneous the argurn nt that
all Blac have the b t inte f
the African-Ameri 'an community at
d to ov r
h
Clarence Thorn may be cl Iy
mple, but politically
nd culturally 'on of "whit-
t" m n in America. If w cl
ut who w a peopl am
what i in our own inte , we
hould b abl to wor wi th anyone
for our empow rm nt.
Dr. Mafllling Marab14 is Profi
History and PolilicQ/ ci ce, andDir
th� I flSluUl./or R ear in AfrjC4ll·��1111
Stu die , Co"�," 'a Uni I'$il)'. N� YoriCity.
-MOlt 1M Color Li • is]. r din owr 2j()
p"biicotioflS and is bro« ast by "'ON tit. 60
,tJdiO latioIU ml.".atu",Q/Iy.
I I I
residen .no candida sponsored by the Blae com ..
munity ever won during the period when the county
used winner-take-all, at-large election .
When the -large election y tern struck
down by � era) court intentionally di nrruna­
lay, the county adopted acwnu-
lative y tern in which eech voter
v v to fill the
ven commis ion .W
I cwnulaliv:yoWl 0
so wen is that voter who feels
trongly bout a candidate can
give that candidate more than
on vote. So if Voter A really
wants candidate Z to win, he can
throw all ven of her votes be­
hind him. On the other hand, if
VoterB feels tronglyaboutmore
than on candidate, h can spread
out hi vote . It' up to h voter
to choose fo himself or herself
the trategy that be t serves his or
her intere .
111i is not minority rule;
it's dem racy fair play. Th re ..
ults of cumulative voting in
I was fore d to r - Chilton County have been quite
t encouraging. re ult of the
y tem, the first Bl ck commis­
ionerin th count y's history w
elected. an other group (like Re-
publican ) also elected represen­
tative for the first tim . This
mean that the commi Ion bet­
ter rcfl ts th view and priori­
tie of the county' citizens, and
the . diver reprcs ntativescan
build coaliti n and alliances on
efore President Clinton withdrew my
nomination to be assistant attorney gen­
eral for civil rights, I though a great
deal about what I would tell the Senate
Judi iary Committee atmy confinna­
tion he r-
r over a m nth I had
entsinthe
p«cffii�r��gmywo�
��"""j ... 'J I w
7
KEITH
HILTON
for ed to remain ilent, my
opponents concocted a men­
acing, counterfeit Lani
Guinier that was a photo­
graphic negati ve of every­
thing I have-ever t.ood for.
�ye�pcrienceduring
the nomination proces drove
home the point I've been
m ing in my litigation of
my . .holar hip over the past
2 year . African Americans
and many other minorities
till don't get to peak for
them elve at lcgi 1�1 i lie
hearing vcr how thi coun­
try i ovemed.
So what would I have .
told the Senat , and the
American peopl ,about my
view? I would have ap­
plauded with th m 'the tre­
mend u: trid Ameri aha
made in e 19 , but I would
ha shown them the V ling
-RI rhts A 't h not yet com­
pletely uc .ccd d in giving
all Ameri an an equally cf-
f uvc vie in their govern­
ment
, Lani Guinier
Whil
main sil nt, my oppon
concoct d a menancing,
count rfi t ani Guini r
that wa a photographi
n gativ of v rything I
ver stood for.
hay
ial C alition
s
, ·aUINIER A8
/1
HIGHER
EDUCATION
, .
HILTON: HIGHER EDUCA­
TIO i. d igncd (0 dialoeu with
col leg and world r ader , Educa­
tum is ongoi!J(1iim c rtainl not lim­
ited to clas room tudy. L t's I lk.
(909) , 99-06 '0.
