READERS WRITE
Community must
not cut otT those
incarcerated'
My name is Thomas Hamilton and I am 28 years of ��. I
was born and raised in Detroit, Mi., but I am currently residing
in the state of Pennsylvania. McKean Federal Correctional
Institution hSH been my residence since July, 1992.'This year
marks the beginning of my fourth consecutive year. I'm serving
ten-year entence for drug related charges stemming from
Detroit .:
I recently subscribed .to the Michigan Citizen for � period of
six months. The Citizen was brought to my attention by my
mother who's en a resident of Detroit for over 30 years. I
found the paper informative and inter ting. The cover story
on Kwanzaa for our children (by Marian Wright Edelman)
r lly enlightend me .on. a serious p.iece of African American
history. I found it enriching to my mindl
The Michigan Citiz ri newspa�r has gr�t potential to be.a
source of healing for the community, to provide healthy media
coverage to our p ple, about our people, enlighten�ng t�em on
If, history, accomplishments, etc. There are certain things we
as a people need to change in order to transform ourselves back
to our original te of beingl "We must l�rn to �re for and
love on another again." Kwanzaa (not Christmas) IS'a perfect
start in doing away with American tradition and customs that
have changed us all in a drastic way.
It's like doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. "Think about it. - I w_as
just an inti nt during he sixties and I can remember the stones
from my mother, grs!1dmother, father, and school, on t�e8ix1:ies
. d eventies, of how BI ck IJ:OOPI were together 10 unity,
trong familie - the whole run -yards. 1994, what the hell
happened? . .. ..
I hope to develop a working relationship With the Michigan
Citizen. I � 1 tha th Black C?m�unity sh�uld n.ot b� �t off
from their long lost bro hers inside corr ional institutions,
We mad sam mi kes against ourselv and our people, but
that doesn't mean we're unable 0 change. I'� m�t b�thers
here from all ov r th United Sta of AmerIca;. intelligent,
talent d, conf d, humbl ,etc ... from all walks o�hfe who have
10 to hr. We look forward to the opportunity to mak a
contribution to th Michigan. itizeri nd our people.
Thorn H mllton,104134-030
P.O. Box 8000, Br dford, PA 16701-0980
- =�-,..--�---- �� _=----==-
country.
The years of tyranny and op-
p ion that followed nd con-
tinu today on the ex- la
and their offsprings, created by
the institution of a cruel lavery
by the American people of the
U.S.A."
Not merely content to accept
the payment of cash as full -
titution for slavery, Mr. Ander
son went further to " ... demand
of'the U.S.A. Government a suit
able territory, a apart of the
U nited States, not some distant
land over the , but the U.S.A.
The land, every inch of which is
hallowed by the blood of the Ne
gro, hed in the upbuilding of
this mpire."
. Anderson suggested that the
plight of Africans in the U.S. be
taken before the World Court at
Bill
h 0
mule did th Con , it
w v toedbyP id ntAnd w
Joh n.
In ffi A ri
'\VI re m de citiz ns nd granted
"political- righ without - ial"
righ .
Th former la w re freed
without any m ningful provi-
ion for u tantial economic
b to undergird their political
freedom. H nc th former
slav we often compelled to
return to the v ry plantations
they were forced to work on dur
ing slavery.
This time th y would b sub
jected to new form of slav
ery/peonage as shar roppers,
tenant farmers and agricultural
laborers.
The political freedom of the
former slaves was Iso chal
lenged as white racist nd ter
rorist organizations like the
White Brotherhood, the Knights
of the White Camellia and the
Ku Klux Klan unleashed a rein
of terror designed to drive Afri
cans from the ballot box and po-
sitions of power� during the Re
construction period.
The cri w fa today
Africa in America directly
ttributable to th African Holo
caust and lavery: the d true
tion of African nation and
communiti ; the nocidal d -
truction of African people on an
unimaginable Ie; and cul-
tural a ion, th calcul
attemp to de-Africanize African
people in order to retard our
ability to maintain functional
African eommuniti .
The crisis we face Africans
in American will never be com
pletely overoome until the dam
ages done by lavery are
repaired.
Reparations, restitution for
the centurie of forced labor
which built this nation, is a cor
rective and a major ingredient in
the prescription to heal our peo
ple.
To this point in history the
U.S. has refused to acknowledge
its moral obligation to make res
titution for the damages done to
African people by slavery.
AFTER THE CIVIL War
African captive were simply
"freed" and made citizens
through the 13th, 14th and 15th
Amendments to the Constitu
tion.
But there was no formal apol
ogy for the crimes of capturing
and enslaving African people.
And there was no 40 acres and a
mule, no granting of property or
capital as compensation for the
long and tragic travail of slav
ery.
A RI ID TEM of apart-
heid was also installed enforced
by massive lynchings, brutality
and terror. Thus the status of
the new "citiz ns" of the U.S.
was one of d pendency, insecu
rity nd continued oppression.
There hav lways n Afri-
V n
Point
tp Hagu if th deman for
indemnification were not m .
For the 1 t f w decad it
w Qu n Mother Moor , a
brilliant warrior woman with
roo in th Garvey Movement,
who relentles ly preached,
taught and p the crusade
for reparations.
Queen Mother Moore' n-
tial m ge has been that Afri
can people in the U.S. can never
achieve real freedom and If
determination until we have
been paid rep rations com
pensation for the loss of our in
heritance - the damage
resulting from slavery must be
repaired.
Heeding the teachings of
Queen Mother Moore and other
freedom fighte , the National
Coalition of Blacks for Repara
tions in America (N'COBRA),
has been spearheading the cam
paign for reparations in recent
years. The critical focal point of
N'COBRA's work has been to
mobilize upport for a repara
tions Bill which has been intro
duced in the U.S. Congress by
Congressman John Conye of
Michigan.
H.R. 40, as the Reparations
Bill is d ignated, w<?uld estab
lish a commission to study th
social and economic impact of
the institution of slavery on M
rican-Americans and their de-
cendan ts and make
recommendations for appropri
ate remedies."
In the face of mounting sup
port for reparations in the Mri
can American community,
hearings on H.R. 40 are sched
uled in February, 1994, before
the, Civil and Constitutional
Rights Sub-Committee of the
House Judiciary Committee.
These hearings are an initial
step in what is likely to be a
protracted and difficult struggle
to win reparations. But, as Con
gressman Conyers notes in a let
ter to his colleagues in the
House, "It is past time for the
Congress to acknowledge the in
justice and inhumanity of slav
ery:
-'
r •
Ron Daniels D'VU04 PraidtmtoftM
Institution: of Community Or/lMization
and Deu lopment ill Young6town.. Ohio.
He may be contacud at (216) 746-6747.
. '
By Munrla Abu-J8.II1al
What the biggest trend in
American media today? You got
it - Crime, with a capital -C:
Every channel, each front page
is awash in crime news, a rein
forcement of the notion that the
nation is in the grip of a growing
crime wave. Well, one may
rightly ask, isn't that a fact? Isn't
America experiencing a mns
sive, growing crim wav? It
would seem, based on what
we've n, read or h ard in th
media, that this was an obvious,
undeniable fact.
But, as we shall ,what
seems obvious' n't always so.
The Bureau of Justire Statis
tics Bulletin on Crime and the
Nation's Households, 1992 re
ports that th latest statistics
available (for 1992) reveal a drop
in virtually all class of viol nt
crim from th previous y r.
The same can be said for sta
tistics on violent crime from
1975 - a fall.
Consider t following tats
from BJS on raj, .... , robbery, as
sault, personal and household
theft, burglary and motor ve i ,
cle theft, from 1975 to 1992 in
p rcentage chan , as measured
by the N tiona} Crim Victimi-
zation Survey V).
The NCVS statisti , spon-
ored annually by th BJ S nd
th U.S. p m nt of Justi "
began in 1972 an is b on
rates of crime reported to the
police and those not' reported.
The BJS conducts ongoing sur
veys at six month intervals of
occupants over 12 years of age,
in about 49,000 housing units to
gen rate statistical data.
YOU WILL OTICE that
homicides aren't measured by
the NCVS, (because t victim
can't be interviewed), but even if
factored into NCVS tats, the
o rall findings ould not ha
han by more than 0.05%.
Oth r areas not m asured re
comm rcial crimes.
Why is this report little
known?
Why isn't it "news" that over
all I vels of household crim ,
a down from 1975 lev Is? -
f m 1991 levels.
Simpl .
Such news doesn't sell pa
rs, it doesn't hype TV viewing,
it d n't get politicians elected,
nor does it support t ruling
cl trend to erect a police state.
Using "crime" (or more accu
rately, the perception of crim )
From
Death
Row
as a tool to amass mor 18
power is nothing n w.
In thi Culture of F r that
cover America lik a dark
shroud, th is no Communist
bo yman on th nti r ny
longer, one must e
dom tically, an "enemy" to fo
cu national en rgies upon.
What r than the dr ded
"Criminal" (in a By m born in
crim )?
For mON! information wn ill.
Clearin house, P.O. Box 17 , Dept.
&15236, An.napol"Jun.ctwn, MD 2070 1·
0179; or call toll-free 00-732-3277; ask
for rime and tM Nation' HOIl hold,
1992, sco. 1432 ,9/93.