01 0
,
•
clin in African-American vo
participation within the political
proc 0 r the past twenty
ye . In 1992, barely 45 pe nt
of th Amam-American regis
t red vote ballo for the
p idency.
In e York City, th re are
hund of thousands of unreg
istered Black vote , and nearly
one-h If million regi tered
BI c vot ho failed to up
port David Dinkins last Novem
ber. Million of
African-Americans f I that the
el ctoral system has no mean
ingful impact upon their lives.
Fifth, th re is a clear schism
between African- American pol
icy makers and black intellectu
als. Black Studies Programs at
hundreds of white universities
failed to move toward policy
analysis, leadership training, or
social and eonomic planning.
Mor often than we would like to
drnit, Black mayors would have
the ability to gain their offi at
the polls, but once in power
wouldn't have a clue as to what
to do next. Th re was no er
voir of nalysis at their disposal
which could be implem nt d
into innovati polici .
y .
Third, we have no tudi
ystematically th model of ef
f ive municipal empowerment
and co Iit.ion-building which
have developed in Bla politics
since 1980. How did th multira
cial, multiclass coalition of
Harold W hington gain power
in Chicago in 1983, and hy did
it collapse so swiftly after his
death? Have black elected offi
cials who run "deracial ized"
campaigns - without any ex
plicit referen or connections
to African American interests -
made a significant difference to
local Black oommuniti ?
SECOND, there was an ab- Fourth, there was a sharp de-
BLACK ELECTED
offi i Is also failed to bring into
th ir administrations bright and
talent d young African-Ameri
cans trained in public adminl- . ,
s fa tion, social policy and
onomic development. They
often elected individuals on the
b is of "loyalty" rather than tal
ent or bility. Or worse, they re
lied on the repres ntatives ofth
"permanent government" -
con rvative bureaucrats and
civil ervants of previous ad
ministrations - to direct their
progr ms. These middle-level
bur aucrats inevitably sabo
taged Black reformist admini
strations.
The road to Black empower
ment begins with an honest,
frank criticism of our immediate
past. It is no longer enough for
us to elect African-Americans
into high public office. We must
thoughtfully and critically move
toward th next stage, the strug
gle for genuine power.
r
ver
Readers Write
a
an
ByT�RIKA X
There are two types of people: the quick and the dead. The
quick are th living, human generation. They can move. The
dead are the ancestors, whose culture, tradition and history we
oontinue. The dead are history. The quick can make history;
th y can .hange the world.
A philosopher once said, "philosophers have interpreted the
world; tb thing is to change it." The thing isfor the quick to
change th wo ld, to make h.istory.
Revolutio he
critical qui
really lively,
Doctor charges WSU-is
experimenting on Blacks
To THE EDITOR:
The medicaid system has fallen into oomplete disarray with
non payment to physicians who render service.
This, by plan, forces poor patients into the clinics of Wayne
State University Medical School There they are operated on,
and used for financial gain in the name of teaching and research
by medical students and physicians in training, without proper'
supervision.
The bureaucracy of medicaid must be taught that human
living must be given more respect.
Edward T. Turner, Jr., M.D.
Southfield
By JERYL BAR GIN EAR .
Michl n Cit/an
It is always admirable when
someone, white or Black, at
tempts to discuss racism in
America. Being the sensitive
subject that
it is, race re
quires much
deliberation
if indeed we,
the human
race, are
ever to re
sol ve our dif
ferences.
However,
there's an )JINCENT
appropriate
way to say
anything. In fact, some things
are better left unscud.
Detroit F Press oolumnist
Charlie Vincent (in an articl
printed in the Jan 27 sports edi
tion) seems to oondon t wav
ing of the Conf erate flag on
Super Bowl Sunday. He ys,"It
is their heritage. " .
Vincent thinks that Blacks
"define onf eracy strictly by
lavery." The flag its If d n'
so much symbolize la ry it
does white upremacy, th Ku
Klux Klan, or the strange fruit
that hung from southern t
an antebellum attitude still
smoldering from having lost both
the slaves and the war. Then for
Vincent to recount the fractional .
equivalence of Blacks ["a black
was equal to three-fifths of a
white person"] as unne ary,
in poo! taste, and offensive.
.0
8Y PROfESSOR �"ARRJS-H
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NTS (I
WOULDMR. VINCENTpa
rade into a Jewish synagogue
waving a flag imprinted with a
wastika emblem? Does he ex
pect Native Americans to kneel
and pray in the name of Gen.
George Armstrong Custer?
Perhaps if Mr. Vincent were
Black: he'd hold a more compas
sionate view. Unfortunately, he
is not, but at least he's true to his
color.
And if every Black player that
p rticipated in Super Bowl
XXVIll had been true to theirs by
r fusing to suit-up for the game
until this flagrant flag cam flut
tering down, it would have sent
a resounding m age through
out the world that we refuse to M
anything I than "four-fourth"
men, that we no longer yield to
r cia} intimidation, no longer are
w la bought at a pri , and
that we demand the respect of I���.
"Our" heritage. .
De
trator out ide the G orgi Dome prate ting gain t the Georgia t te flag, which contal
Vic DoLuc fTh N Yol1< Tlmea
the Conted rate battle embl m.