"
o
o
o
to
d to b 0
t em,
T ducat d man ould
b 0 tiv to th
condition around htm that
it hi chief
ndeavor to Improve tho e
condition for the good o.f
all.
- KWAME NKRUMAH, ap ch giv n at the
Institute of African Stud a, 25 October 1963
Who in the hell
.. is this attorney?
By Darell Banks
Have you visited your local
courtroom or wo been a par- A
. cipant in II dimit1al'c9.ge. If you . ttor
live in a metropolitan commu- At
nity you have observed an audi­
ence of Black victims and a Law
holding cell full of Black defen­
dants. In some cities the judge
andJury may also be Black. But,
hen you stare at the attorneys,
you will rarely see a Black
praJeCUtor or defense attorney.
Why?
In the Detroit Metropolitan rommunity there are many Black
attorneys. A criminal lawyer receives clients in two manners by
retainer or by appointment. If an attorney is well known he works
by retainer. But, most attorneys receive criminal assignments to
supplement their practice.
Tbeee attomeys are appointed by the Circuit \ Recorders Court
Judges. In Wayne County attorheys are required to attend six
certification clasees per year to receive criminal assignments. The
criminal assignments are distributed based on the number of.
arrests that occur in the city. As we all know hundreds of arrests
occur everyday on felony charges ranging from assaults to mur­
ders.
So going back to my first point, why don't you see a significant
number of Black attorneys in the oourt room. Why, if you are a
defendant, is the person standing next to you a white attorney.
Judges aren't allowed to assign an attorney based on raes or sex.
Judges can appoint an attorney based on their knowledge of the
attorneys sk:ills,friendship or other factors.: In Detroit, a signifi­
cant number of the judges are Black. They earn a substantial
living and are re-elected without any political challenge. But, do
these judges support the vaat majority of Black attorneys that
k criminal assignments or do they perpetrate a system of
economic apartheid?
AFTER SPEAKING WITH several attorneys I have learned
how Black at attorneys have been denigrated by Black judges,
How they have sat in courtrooms with white attorneys and
watched as the assignments were given to these attorneyS. When
the Black attorney approached the Black judge's clerk he was
informed that all criminal assignments had been distnbuted. This
ituation' analogous to the field nigger and the house nigger.
Many Black attorneys note that unl you oooperate as a
house nigger you will forever receive the crumbs. I have been told
that Blac attorneys are often lambasted by Black judges before
their clients. That Black attorneys in civil and criminal cases are
often called upon to defend their position regardl as to whom
has to prove the legal issUES. .
Is it not a wonder that ouryoungrnales do not respect the justice
system. The system is not curtailed by Blackjudges that we have
elected. In addition the judges that ha been elected fail to
support those who maintain offices or residencee in their electoral
district.
But when we point the finger at our Blackjudges we must also
100 within oursel . We as a oommunity fail to support our own
Black attorneys. We will f§> to Sam or Bob or Larry before we even
consider our own.
This drains the economic base of our oommunity and perpe­
trates the myth of the inoompetency of the Black attorney. It used
to be that Black attorneys were restricted to family law, criminal
law and traffic case. Nigger law. While many of my esteemed
colleagues practice in a corporate ting their power is limited.
Black attorneys are a small percentage of the major firms in the
United States. There are very few Black prosecutors. If we want
to change and this problem we must lift. th mantle of,
discontent and ize the power of the ballot.
. If we don't we will continue to perpetrate a system that elects
Blackjud to eviscerate our oommunity. Even worse we will fall
victim to the system that they k to maintain
THE PEOPLE u
in th democratic principl of
oe and th right of all peopl
and nation throughout th
orId to If-determination, the
right to choose their own leadera
and forms of government.
Yet our country leads the
world in launching military in­
vasions against leaders and gav-
d Cu
10 C, DeCil UII
t t country'. 1
W. prop up corrupt uthorl·
ta n rep and indi y fl·
na rror, pe nd murd
the Third World, perpetu.
ting social conflict am r
ion t t oft poo
and m t opp peopl
earth
We believe deeply t t our
nation' greatest trength· the
colorful mosaic of its ethnic di­
versity yet our government ac-
tively seek to curt ail
immigration from most
non-European countri , and
brutally rejects and imprisons
refugees from countries such 88
Haiti. In short, we the people
believe in expanding democracy
to include greater rights for all
Americans.
Those who exercise real
power in our system actively
seek to curtail our voices, to limit
our choices, to block and to elimi­
nate genuine alternatives in
politics. Our current political
p , designed two centuries
ago, must be reformed in order
to reflect the new and deeply
democratic aspirations of the
majority of American people.
THUS OUR challenge is to
reconcile our democratic dreams
with our undemocratic realities.
We must transform our society
to end the hypocrisy and elitism
which fosters alienation and
ration among voters.
We must reb for the begin-
nings of a new democratic move­
ment in American society. And
the people who are most op­
pressed - African-Americans,
Latinos, andother people of color
- have a unique opportunity to
lead in that democratic renewal.
We must go beyond a politics of
the "lesser evil" toward a politi­
cal strategy which opens the
process and empowers all of
. those who have been silenced
and disillusioned. We must re­
make the democratic dream for
America, as we enter the twenty­
first century.
Dr. Manning Mamble ill Prof. or of
History and Political Science, and Direo­
rorof the Afriam-Americnn. Studies 1 ruti­
tute; Columbia University, New Yo'"
City. "Along the Color lineappeu» in ooer
250 publication and u broadcast by 75
-----------------------------------------------------------------------�---- �w rotwn8 �u�t the Unum
State» and in�mation.ally.
Ion'
Colo
Lin
By J antes E. Alsbrook
Have Black entertainers,
novelists and playwrights hin­
dered Black race progress ever
since emancipation -by sending
the wrong signals to white em­
ployers, to Black youth and to
the nation?
Increasing crescendos of a
loud "yes" are being voiced from
Columbus, Mississippi; Colum­
bus, Ohio; New York City; Wash­
ington, D.C., and across the
nation.
In Columbus, Miss., a ·minis­
ter and NAACP leader is asking
the Federal Communications
Commission to put "In Living
Color" off the air on char that
it is vulgar and "violates commu-
. nity standards."
In Columbus, Ohio, th State
Fair officials complain that the
performance of the rock and roll
group "H-Town" simulated the
sex act on a stage with an unsus­
pectingyoung girl from the audi­
ence and shouted lyrics that,
were "obscene and vulgar. "
or be forced to meet regulations
designed by Congress.
Basis of these complaints is
the belief that public perform­
ances, and especially television,
are effective tolls for teaching
and learning, and th refore tend
either to reinforce or to destroy
values and Standards that-safe­
guard the American home, fam­
ily and way of life.
Research has shown that
teenage sex and pregnancy, vio­
lence in the home and on th
street, and oth r ads of immor­
ality and dishonesty shown on
. television strongly affect th at­
titudes, opinions, beliefs and ac­
tions of most viewers -
especially the young who are in
their formative yea .
E pecially strong has been
Black r action against Black
"rappers" who call Black women
"bitch "and "whores" in live
performances onstage. They glo­
rify getting "high," using crack
and other drugs, and "doing in"
enemies by hooting th m.
BLACK LEADER else­
where are .. complaining about
other performan th tare
called, "Filthy and ind cent."
In Washington, D.C., Con­
gress has told the el vision in­
dustry to "clean up i own act"
D WSPAPER re-
port that records mad by th
rappers are sold not only in th
innercities but also in the ub­
ur to whi ho think Black
youth n r lly r ch ra -
terized by the profane lyrics and
crude speech patterns on these
"rap" records and that Black
people generally are immoral,
superficial, ignorant and repug­
nant.
The psychological damages of
Black slavery and racial dis­
crimination in America have
been disastrously ruinous and
contagious, for they have pro­
duced an ugly birth of absurdi­
ti , distortions and behavioral
monstrositi . Some of these
monstrosities include acts of
self-niggerization like those re­
vealed by Black Dr. Kennth
Clar in the Black vs. white doll
preferen and self-esteem ex­
periment and used by Thurgood
Ma hall so effectively inplead­
ing th 1954 Brown vs. Topeka
desegregation case.
The innocent Bla children
Dr. Clark interviewed in his his­
tory-making experiment ex­
pre s d self-niggerization by
rejecting Black dolls that looked
like themselves and selecting
white dolls because the contami­
nated American environment
taught that white skin color
made whi p tti r, more in­
t lligent, rno desirabl thanall
othe
1 k doll rnbling th
Black children were emphati­
cally rejected by these Black
children.
LIKE MANNER, the re­
jection, degradation and self­
niggerization of Blacks by
Blacks has been shown by the
following:
Black school children
taught by Black teaches to dep­
recate themselves by singing
"Mammy Moon" to entertain
white folks.
Public reci of Dunbar's
"Liza, Liza, bl de lawd" and'
other manifestations of lowli­
n and inadequacy, to enter­
tain white folks.
Adult Black women reciting
cotton-patch dialect and playing
pickaninny gam to entertain
white folks.
Gospel-shouting Black
choir members in robes and do­
ing th "funky chicken" for tele­
vision cameras.
Blac actors acting dope
dealers and prostitutes in pro­
ductions like "Porgy and B .•
Other Black efforts 'to vali­
d . white u riority.
Th ctio gave whites a
false f ling of superiority and a
phony se of justification for
ra di crimination.
I
"