P 01
PO •
, Dinki n really
paign of political
due tion nd mobiliz tion
within his core constitu Dey -
union mem , African-Ameri
ca nd m t ti , and low
income people - to explain the
reaao for th citY economic
and social crisis. He never in-
pired them to fight back, or ar
ticulated a viable alternative for
a multicultural agenda of urban
empowerment. One measure of
this failure is the fact that th re
are one halfmillion unregistered
black voters in New Yor City_:_'
and that if only one-ninth of that
group had been voters, that
Dinkins would still be mayor.
The mayoral victories of Gi
uliani in New Yor and censer
vative businessman Richard
Riordan in Los Angeles earlier
ight of le der I y
ier to under t nd the
WE REMEMBER THE vi
cious slaying of Eleanor Bum
pur , the ixty-si year old
--------- - --- ----------�
By J ames E. Alsbrook
Colin Powell a Black man as president of the United States?
Now that this charismatic and beloved former Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff has retired from the U.S. Armed Forces,
various polls show that he, like Eisenhower, gained admira
tion so widespread that he would be a formidable candidate for
the office of U.S. President. He is only 56 years old and has at
least 14 to 16 "good" years remaining.
Powell's political possibilities have been reported exten
sively in recent issues of various media including the New York
Times and U.S. News, and a very supportive book on him was
published a few months ago. These white writers agree unan
imously that Powell could be the first Black President of the
U ni States because people generally agree that he brought
new respect for the U.S. military forces after the humiliating
defeat from Vietnam. , .
, Powell is the author of military plans that were highly
regarded and taught in military schools. .
Powell's' published thinking on military tactics, strategies,
and maneuvers came to the attention to top defense officials
in the Reagan administration.
ADMm. G POWELL' MILITARY concepts and ad
vanced thinking, they brought him to Washington in the
Defense Department. Amid the pr ures and wranglings of
the Cold War, Reagan swallowed his usual anti-Black policies
to get the best advice from the most talented source and on
November 5, 1987, named Powell as his National Security
Advisor.
Bush named him Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on
October 1, 1989.
When war with Iraq was definite on Jan. 23, .1991, Po�ell
on television told the world his plans for the Iraqi army: "First,
we are going to cut it off. And then we are going to kill it." This
bluntness h ked people, but Powell did exactly what he said.
Clinton clearly intends to become a candidate again in 1996
and (}Q is urely fixed as his running mate.
IF GORE no major blunders, he would not step
aside for Pow 11 in 1996, u Gore wants to be President
after Clin on has served two terms - in the year 2000.
But if Powell decides that he should be a Republican, the
picture chan dramatically. Polls show that Powell today
has a higher approval rating than either Clinton or Dole and
that Dole would run far behind Powell.
Dole definitely wants to run in 1996 and then his competi
tion pro ably would Jack Kemp, Dan Quayle, Sen: Graham
of Texas or some unexpected entrant whose hat is not yet near
the ring. one of th e now has hown the charisma, the clout,
or the mass ap I to win the 1996 p idency against Clinton
or Powell.
If and when Powell decid to run, Black people must
consider th facts:
Clinton is a prov n fri nd to Black people as shown by his
numerou B ck appoin and by his liberal racial polici .
Pow 11 pr ident or vice-pr ident would soften
much anti-Black prejudice, be a good role model for Black
youth, chan millions of minds bout the ceilings and the
"pla "of Black peopl in Am rican iety, �te � new
image of BI ck pl and improve th psychological climate
in which Afri n-Am rica liv and work. A new level of
respect for I ck pi would follow
Along t
Color �
in
Dr. Manning Marable is Prcf. fiorof
History and Political Science, and Direo
tDrofthe Afriro.n-Amerimn. Studie 1 nsti
lute, Columbia University, New York
City. "Along the Color Line" appears in
over 250 publication and is broadca by
75 radio stations internationally.
",
-
Lester's
World
'_
-.� ..
"
," '
By
urn. · a Abu -J amal
The Russian White House,
once home to the Russian Con
gress of People's Deputies, may
best be called the Black House,
what with the facade of dark soot
that now covers the building, the
result of hours of bombardment
by tanks under orders of Rus
sian President Boris Yeltsin
In the most ferocious rebel
lion since the Oct. 1917 Revolu
tion, forces loyal to the People's
Deputies Vice President Ale -
sandr Ruts oi and Parliamen
tary Speaker Ruslan
Khasbulatov, struck out at th
state and government media
represented by P ident Yelt
sin, on Oct. 3, 1993.
Well-organized units of rebels
hit crucial TV broadcast nters,
the M cow Mayor's Office and
related targets, after Yeltsin
. banned the Russian Congress,
surrounded the Parliament
building wi h troops and barbed
wire, 'demanding th ir ouster.
Yeltsin's banning of Parlia
ment violated the Russian Con
stitution,and was thus, illegal.
Imagine an American lawyer
and constitutional scholar then,
applauding the banning and
lauding Yeltsin's admittedly un
lawful act!
THAT LAWYER that
scholar was U.S. President Wm.
. J. Clinton, Esquire. The U.S.,
and other GATT 7 capitalist
po we have unanimously ap
plauded and supported Yeltsin's
banning of Parliament as well as
his armed strike at parliamen
tary re Is, regardless of consti
tutionality, prai ing him as a
"democra t. "
Only in Russia could a "d me
crat" shr d th Constitution,
ban Parliament, shut down op
position newspapers, unl ash
tank fire on Congress, remove
provincial gov rno nd impose
dusk to dawn curfe
The Great" mocrat," Czar
Boris I, owes his power, not to
the Russian people, but to the
loyalty of th generals and to
Western "good" will.
The W rn corporate media
• j
_- � _- - ��-------- - - - ---------...- -
condemned members of Parlia
ment as oldline Communists,
rightwingers and monarchists,
raising Yeltsin as Russia's great
est hope.
By the West's coronation of
Czar Boris as "democrat" they
actually meant "most open to
Western Capital Investment."
They opposed the Rut
skoi/Khasbulatov Parliament
because both men, especially
Khasbulatov, strenuously op
posed the direction whe R -
sia was headed economically.
DE .,1 92, Khasbulatov,
speaking at the 7th s ion of
Congress, at ed th "Ameri
canization" of th R ian n
omy calling instead for a
"socially oriented market" simi
lar to those found to be success
ful as in Europe, Canada and
China. One scholar report
Kbasbulatov's comments ere
"warmly received" (Prof. S.
White, "Russia: Yeltsin' King
dom or Parliament's Play
ground?," Current History,
From
Death
Row
19 3).
Sur ly, neither Y ltain nor
G 'fT 7 his ords too
warmly.
o tomiz is Russian oci
ety from th re nt poli ica1,.eco
nomic and social uph aval in
th ir coun ry, tha poll ng
"who ruled Russia?" turn up:
the Mafia (21.8lJl); no on at all
(9.3%); Yeltsin (9.7Cft); th gov
ernm nt (3.9lJl); Par li m nt
(0.2%); and alcoholi (0.29l).
To sure, capi lism i com-
ing to Ru i, nd with it pov-
rty, cl trife hnic h
blood, nihili and ali n ion.