To y Lev ly (' 'fa
ou pe with nthusiasm and splendor
The confidenc of an African Qu n
Rev alin your his toric purpo and responsibility
o your own spirit of African love
A cr tiveness engulfs your personality
you h your lov of art and humanity
A beautiful relationship of human spirit
So needed in our struggle for FREEDOM
Yes indeed, you are a sparkling angel
A wonderful experience I have witnessed
Giving proof of the royal greatness
Of the divineness of African Woman
Power to you, African Sister
,
,
By MUMIA ABU.JAMAL
When I hear politicians bellow
about "getting tough on crime"
and barking out "three trik
yer out" rhetoric, veral ima
corne to mind.
I think of how quickly the tune
changes when the politician is on
the receiving end of some of that
"tuffne "after having fall n
from grace.
I am reminded of powerful
tate appellate judge, who, once
caught in an intricate bizarre
web of criminal conduct, changed
his long- tanding opinion re
garding the efficacy of the insan
ity defense, a option he once
ridiculed.
� It r vea'} ,i n' II 0' h how
illu ory nd r ns itory pow r
and sta u can be, and how we
ar 11 fter all, human.
I 0 THI K of a young
man I met in pri on who w one
of the first wave ofp ple impri -
oned back in the '70s under new,
tougher youth certification tat
utes, where teenage are en
tenced as adults.
The man, whom I'll call Rab
bani, was a tall, husky 15 year
old when he was arrested in
southeastern Pennsylvani for
a rrned rob ry.
The pros cuter moved that he
be judicially certified an dult,
and th Court agreed. .
Tried n adult, Rab ani
w tried nd convicted of 11
charges, and enten to 15-to-
30 years in prison; for an alleged
"robbery" with a C02 air pi tol.
HI FIR T
a' ds" I ""� ,.
re s of ousands of others
have been, that is to say, ware
housed, in a vat that sears the c
very oul. �
He has never held a woman as
1\1a e or lov r;
H has never held a newborn ....
0-
in hi palm, its heart athump C\
with new life; �I
t
HE N'T EE T the sun �
ri e, nor moon glow, in almost 15 t:;
years;
For a rob ry," rmed" with a
pellet gun, at 15 y ars old.
When I hear such easy,
catchy, mindl logans like "3
trikes - You're Out," I think of
men lik Rabbani, who had one
trik (if not one "foul"!) and are,
for all attempts and purposes,
already out ide of any game
worth playing.
y 0
BUT PERHAPS THE most
important dimension of the dy-
namic new direction by Dr.
Chavis has been a n openn
to reaching out to all ctors of
the National African American
includ in t
50.000
l'Oit b ncb of t
t branch in
AalIIOCLIltion), among t
ndi t' historic m DB
Dr. Conrad Wonill. Chair
man of th N tion I BI c
United Front; Ch rl n
tchell, Co-Chairpereon of the
ti Am-nee Against Ra
ciam aDd Political Rep ion;
Dr. Maul Karenga, Chair
man oftha US CRganization and
t tor. of K anz ; Cornel
W t, Vice Ch inn n, Demo
cr tic Soci Ii t of America;
Gw n Patton, Director, South
ern Rainbow Education Project;
Adjoa Aiyetoro, Director, Na
tional Conference of Black Law
y raj nd Dr. Leonard Jeffries,
Chairman of th Black Studi
Dept. t CUNY.
The m ting wa an over-
!ming uocess. It is a tribute
to th I de hip of Dr. Chavis
that leaders who would not have
come to a meeting convened by
the NAACP a year ago sat
Lester's World
SCRUB-A-OUB
mm£ooo
!N
o
oft
w
round th table together to dis
cuss ways and means of orking
collaboratively to rope with the
crisis in th Black oommunity.
Black leaders who in som
ca had eriou differen
with each other agreed to
ide their differen to explore
creating operational unity for
the sake of th greater good of
the Black N tion.
It has been thi kind of new
direction and bold new leader-
hip which has been like a
breath of fresh air revitalizing
our oldest and largest civil rights
organization
During last year the member
ship of the NAACP dramatically
increased from 490,000 to
650,000 as Black people from
across the nation have taken a
new look at the NAACP.
More than 60 percent of these
new NAACP members are under
30 years old. Dr. Chavis's tenure
at the helm has not been without
difficulties, however.
o E WITHI T E
AACP who were/ate comfort
abl with th old NAACP have I
consistently resisted the new di
rection charted by Dr. Chavis.
And certain elemen of the me
dia, particularly the New York
Times, have been severely criti
cal of Dr. Chavis in an obvious
attempt to discredit him and his
top associates,
Dr. Chavis'refusal to distance
himself from Farrakhan and the
Detroit meeting with national
ist, pan-africanist and progres
sives are. particularly
troublesome to his detractors in
side and outside of the NAACP.
Joe Madison, a board member
who has emerged as a major
critic of Dr. Chavis, described
the inclusion of Farrakhan in
the call for the Summit as an
"extreme move" and labeled the
leaders who attended the De
troit meeting as a group of
"washed up radicals from the
p st ..
Ind od, th D troit m ting
h S caus such ncern among
om of th B ard members that
r. Chavi may b in rious
j opardy.
From my v: nt point. s a
lif tim m mb r of NAA 'P, it's
time 0 RALLY AR UND BE
CHAVI !
Too man
have h d th
for Black ple hav fallen prey
to fo ext mal to the BI ck
community and their apologi ts
inside the Black community.
Ron Duruels nI. a. Pr ident of t]:
lnstitut» ((lr Cum muruty Or muzalwn
arul /)..'1 -lapru en t Ifl Youn .101 n, Ohm
/I ma. b (,(IIIIIIC/{'d at (216) i4 574i
.
_ .. ,
o
o
estatto
c
Some Black columnists com
pete for publication in big, con-
ervative, daily n wspapers by
blaming BI ck people entirely
for th i r own probl ms in Amer
i . And this bl ming th victim
rtain Black
nt nd hat I v ry, 1
1 crimin tion, nd
ra
By -James E. Alsbrook
enforced segregation in Africa those "darki "in Africa cap
and America have produced tured your great-grandparen
these examples of psychological , and knowingty sold them to th .
damage, twisted mindsets and white man for lavery? They ar
brainwashing. gue further that "those African
• Why did a Black woman kings who sold their own people
buy all of the old Amos en' Andy were just 'typical Negroes. '"
ta she could find, invite her Some African-Americans argue
white friends to lunch and enter- that since the slaveholders paid
tain them with th stereotype- for the slaves, the slaves legally
perpetuating travestie? and properly belonged to the
(Comment: Was thi woman as- lave buyers,
sociating other Black people Why did a well-known
wi th bu ffoonery . beca use she Black preacher in pest years say
wanted to identify he lfas su- he thanked the Lord for making
perior to Black people generally his ancesto la ,subjecting
and belonging in me class with them to the whip and chain for
h r white friends?) "discipline," and giving them the
Why did Zulu Chief Bible so he could Itt rn -that
Butheleze in South Africa coop- Blac should be sla and for
erat with the azi-like white ever "hewers of wood and draw
Afrikaners who want to preserve e1'S of water."
Apartheid and white superiority • Why did an old lave who
in that land and block elections died in the 1940s tell the Associ
n ed to establish racial equal- ted Pr that Black people
ity and democracy? (Comment: were "natural" slaves, were
Was he trying to preserve long- wrong to want civil rights and
h ld special privile for him- hould never have been emanci-
I fat th expense of demOcracy pated?
nd equality for millions of other Why during sla ry days
Bl cks?) did ome Black men eagerly be-
Why do some A frican come "whippers," the persons
deans gJeefully argue that who horsewhipped other Black
people when the slave master
wanted to punish someon be
cause he was angry or dis
pleased.
Why did some Black slaves
report to the slaveown rs when
they learned other slaves were
planning to escape or revolt? All
slaves were warned that the
punishment for attempted es
cape was deformation of some
kind, amputation, severe horse
whipping or death.
Select one or more of the an
swers below and apply them to
th above questions:
• Greed , anticipated personal
gain.
• No regard or concern for
other Black people.
Belief in the notion' of in-
nate inferiority of Black ple.
Belief in the notion of in
nate superiority of whit people.
Self-hatred g nerating
from inability to identify ith
those assumed to b "su nor"
Suffering from th Cia nce
Thom.i disorder. (EI borat on
t his.i
{Add 'our own an' w or
explan.u ion.)