7
c () /\ I, I 'I' I () N
1
W
101 : onditionin t au t· and ur '." It i not about
uBI k-on-Black viol n ". though that i on dim n Ion. Will the pr
1'0 only on th "where " - i.e., th analy i of th und rlying moral,
oci I and economic u ; or will th y J cov r our th ref or t_
i. ., th refore job, urb n policy, an end to r m?
Dr. Martin Luther lng, Jr. said that "th chojcel not.betw n
violence and non-violence, but bet n non-vlo nee and non xi en e,"
In 1990. handguns were used to murder 10 people in Au tralia, 13 in
Sweden, 22 in Great Britain, 68 in Canada, 87 in Japan, 91 in Switzerland
and 10,567 In t United tat In 1992. 2,829 juvenil wert arr ted
for murder in the United Statu, roughly 2 112 time more than were
anuted for the ame crime in 1984.
Violence thr t ns our mo b Ie ciyil right - the right to
llve, To live, but live in a tate of terror and far, or liv und r r pr iv
law and an incre ingly repre ive police state i not much better, Unl
the " tate of fear" can b removed, however, an incre d "fear of the
tate" - i.e., government anctioned institutional violence - i virtually
in vi tab I . Human natur prefe ord r and tability to civil rights and
justi when frightened.
The danger of e alating in titutional and per on I viol nc
not inevitable. It' not too late to chang dir ction and make new choi
but we cannot 10Qk for omeone else to ve . The victim mu·t b
r pon Ible for Initiating change. � ither D mocrats nor Republi ns
ended gregation. Th victim of gregation had to take th inltiatlv with
d termination �d courage, draft the law with march and d monstrations,
revi them in blood, eventually see them p d in controversy and lgn d
with ink.
Obviously. there are under!!!:.! oclal and economic cau 0
crime and violence that mu be addr . A comprehensive sclutlcn must
have a balance between moral and 50Clai obligation; between Individual
ethic I respon Iblllty, and government and prlv te Industry oelal
and economic respon blllty. See VIOLENCE, A8
READERS WRITE
• •
OUS
1
During the pest two decades
I have been an activist in the
campaign for school finance re­
form in Michigan. Now it is my
pleasure to give out the humor­
ous Vandermolen Golden
Hornswoggle Awards designed
to poke fun of groups who sought
to deceive taxpayers and cor­
rupted the public mind during
the campaign.
Not surprisingly the top
hornswoggle award goes to the
membe of the Michigan Edu­
cation Association who at­
tempted to foist upon the public
a petition drive to return to the
property tax I,lS a major source of
funding for the public schools.
Those poor misguided souls mis­
understood the strong move­
ment. for change, buried their
r aads in the sand, and adopted
k.nee-jerk reactionary solutions
for the problems.
Another major hornswoggle
award goes to a small group of
selflsh state senators who bam­
boozled the public by huffing
and puffing about tate budget
cuts while our kids were held
hostage for several weeks. They
should be tarred and feathered
in November.
Running close behind is a
small group of state repre­
sentatives who voted against all
tax increases under the pretense
of satisfying their constituents.
OBVIOU LY, THEY ex­
pected replacement revenues to
flow as manna from heaven or as
free gifts from Santa Engler.
They have been drinking a
strong brew and inhaling fumes
from the hemp plant during
their rly celebration of the
holidays.
However, the highes
hornswoggle award to th
entire legislature for th ir adop­
tion of a weak reform proposal
before th y slinked off into the
night to celebra Chri mas.
Their hallow rhe oric ooz d
fr m Lansing as they provided a
plethora of excuses for avoiding
true reform.
When all is said, and done
they will have given us a spoon­
ful of sugar to make the medi­
cine go down Voters are wise
enough to know who was
naughty and nice. '
Larry D. Vandermolen, Ph.D.
, Muskegon
y
cans.
�lJ�,a. ..... C MU tone, re-
pent and repairlh and dam-
ages done to African people
under a . t, capitalist system
of opp ion. There is nothing
wrong with the African eommu­
nity in the U.S. that reparatio
ould not cure!
In a recent article I called for
a mas ive boycott of -Whit
Christmas- ifreparatio in not
on the -Am rican A da" by
1999. It i my oonviction that
"ne)
PUfTHAT
BLACK (9H'!!1
UNOO'RTHE
JAIL II
By -James E. Alsbrook
i-
o to
daughte and n of Afri
during lavery? Who
responsibility for
your nam , for t cul­
tural ion, th long n
oflegalizedlynching, th institu­
tional racism and ruthl
ploi tion hich plagu
African community to this
moment in our history?
America . ping the bitter
ha t of its own past and pre-
t polio , customs nd prac-
of inj ti . . the old
fol to y in the Bla com-
munity: "God don't li e ugly"
America does not deserve to
have peace until this nation has
atoned for all of the crim and
atrocities committed in the
struggle to tablish and. main­
tain a new European! bite na­
tion in this hemi phere: the
conquest and capture of this
land from the indigene people
and the genocide committed
lifetime ppointm nt ince 1981
as Reynolds Prof r of Ameri­
can Studi at Wake Fo . t U ni­
ve ity, .C;-
I A DOVE
wn
RR
editor, nd
Prize and others in 1987.
The followingsnippe of data
may be helpful t.<> harried and
hurried perso expecting to be
guests, hosts or .participan in
the upcoming wirl of holiday
dinners, parti nd other
tivities.
Point
m t mph ti lly
i of laming I
condition an opp
( . currently in vogue
many I in t B com-
munity).
An oppr i U.S. go m-
ment and society m t be our
target. pour libations dur­
ing K anzaa nd at 0 her cul­
tural-political ceremoni and
cel brations our an tors must
be overcom by nger by our
apathy and inaction on th m
important item on the agenda to
ore the raoe - reparations.
They must be king, did we
tntggle, uffer, bl and die in
vain? What this generation of
African freedom fighters m
take responsibility for' leading
African people out of the hell
created by American society.
Our battle cry must be reps­
ratio or e ... Th e of who
are erioua about the restoration
of the raoe m redouble our
effort to educate, mobilize and
organize the of African
people to compel the U.S. gov­
ernment to pay a meaningful
portion of the trillions of dollars
legitimately owed to African
people for the centuri of
labor that built this nation. And,
America must pay for the physi­
. cal, cultural and spiritual dam-
ages done to our people during
the long and tragic travail of
slavery.
o :x� be.(\ j
reparatio or ... boysntts, ,
strikes, civil disobedience, dis­
ruption, ·any means necessary-
to achieve justice for Africans in
America.
"Truth crushed to earth will
rise again. - It is our sacred duty
to rise up in memory of our an­
cestors and as a sacred obliga­
tion to those who uffer now; to
rise up to vindiCate the life and
'legacy of all of those who strug­
gled before us so that we might
ha ve a new African future and a
genuine new world order.
There must be no peace, no
reoonciliation until America is
forced to meet our righteous de­
mand for justice. Our battle cry
must be reparatio or else ...
America must fall. ".
For information about the
reparations movement contact:
The National Committe for
Reparations for Blacks in Amer-
. ica (NCOBRA), 202-635-6272.
Roo Daniels TV a Pr uimto(the
Institute (or Community Orgwuzauon.
and Development In Youn Mown, hio.
He may be contaaed tu (�16) 746-5747.
Readers Write
J c on
d Catholic
pri t
See JACKSON, A8