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nationali n imen
Africa in Ameri .
Against t b
re t oontroversv
Minister Loui F rrakhan oft
N tion of I lam, the urvey
found that 62 percent of B
Americans belie that Farrak­
han rep en a "positi vie­
point ithin the BI ck
community," 68 percent con­
tended that Blacks should con­
trol th government in Black
communiti ,74 percent favored
Black control over the economy
in Black communiti , 55 per­
cent " upport participation in
mac -only institution," and
more than half of those polled
"back the formation of a Black
political party."
While I am intrigued by the
results of tbis survey in general,
Oil
ip tion in til r ent outh
yilt the U.S .• w rank near
bottom in ot r parti ip tion on in . liz d mocr i with
sll htly more thAn �O% of the eligibl voters otina? Is it eoetic or
systemic? Th differen is clearly s.) emic:·looted in political will and
ovemment polici ! ',.:
Sli htly mor than ntury II 0 the I W no ch thin ot r
re istratlon. People who were eligible to by II e. citizenship d
idency were allowed to vote on election dav. What undemocratic politics
ChM this democratic policy? - • .
A century o, th r. . w primarily h\rlll. The emerging industrial
re olution, howev r. was ChM in that dramatically, Urbanized industry
w attrecting lar numbers of. primarily. E\iropun ethnic immigrents to
job in the cities. uch growing m migration to the cities WM II direct
threat to R AL POWER which. at that time, dominated both the U.S.
Congr and state legislatures. At the same' time. the women's suffra
movement was growing. fi lly corning to friiltion with " Constitution&l
Amendment in 1919; while the recently freed laves (1 63) were emer in
a political force. omethin had to IH don,·1D tymi. th. po�ntilll
poliJical power of workers, worn n and BID . ThIlS, voter r'gilJraJion
M'as introduced as a IHIrrUr and obsltJcl. ID mllU democraJic ptJTticipation.
Alon with voter registretion, especially in the South. came additional
barriers-s-early cut-off dat for registration, votin on a work-day, roll
purges, gerrymandered political lines. poll taxes, literacy tests. {trlUldfather
clauses and, of course. violence.
What maw politics 0 important?· The political order is the
distribution stem for the economic Older. Politics determines who, gets
what, when, where and how. ThIlS, it i neither an accident nor apathy
that leads Americans OT to J,'O�. Vested economic and political interests
at the IDp have worked long and hm'd, and i';'. ophisticated ways, to kup
those at th« bottom from voting! ".
Whftt. then. are some of th SYSTh'\l� differences that took place
in the South African election as.compared to U, . elections?
1, The first difference between South African and U.S. democracy
is that in South Africa the government INTE ED for the messes of their
people to participate in the democratic process. .In the U.S. our government
NDS for the masses of the Amencan people OT to participate in the
democratic process. How do we know thftt? ':
, 1. Good "intentions" Me tr8Ilslft� into good and effective
government policies and procedures. The sOtM, African government spent
70 million ($35 million from the U.S.) on', oter education and voting
procedures for 40 million people and 23 milli� eligible voters. A imilar
program for 260 million Americans and 180 tpillion eligible voters in the
U. . would cost $500 million. In South Africa. the day prior to official
voting, the' government took the polls to th� infirm in bospltals. to the
incarcerated in jail and to soldiers in the miliWy. In the U.S .. th initiation
for voting i left totally up to the indi vidual. It-
In South Africa. the election was conducted over two days, which
national hoUday .. and everyone was eff from work. They even
extended it into ft third day in the middle of . e election to accommodate
ev non wh \ anted to vote. The U.S. election i
hlos u ) "ft. 'or a�. tween 6 . J d 7
P:\1.· hi: i r llv '" aristocrati notion, att� over
t'r In another (\r�:. which- ill has the &ff ,t 0.1'
eli propor t ionat l� d isenfr anchi in g �,·orkcr .
minori ic and th poor. To simplify votif\� for the
I edu cared. outh Afric n voters simply �lftced an
"X" n xt t the PI n-RE. not just the name, on th
ballot for the candidate of their choice=-technically.
in South Africa. they actually voted for the.;arty.
South Afri a had same-day. on-site .. universel
voting. The) could vote anywhere in the ¢.ountry by
ju t showing up at an election poll on the d�s) of the
election. Fraud was prevented by dippin!\", voter's
thumb in invi ible ink which would not w8S1.off for a
\\' ek. rltra,·iol t light would reyeal whethtf one had
voted before or not. In the U. ,. the problew of voter
fraud i oven\.'helmingly rela ed to those \\)ho RUN
A. D CO. -TR THE V011 TG Y ft f. not
L'\ l\'IDl' L \ ·ho ch at. espite the fact at voter
in r st ri.' the el e ion approaches. \ylth voter
int r t I inJ.! hinh t Il !cetion da�. in.th -
\ () r r r-i. tnl iOll i' <.:ut-off in different stat . t\V n
I �nd -l� c1.)\ 'I' re an cl i011.
Fill�!". in South Africa. th \ -hit'· minorit\
\\ as pro 't d: : par't� tha got 5 % or n re of th�
,·ote \ '�1 includ 1 in th government in pro)!Ortion to
th ir '·ote total. Thus. almost e"en'o h8d ftn
Tho"TER T in YOting, In the •... the· w' . er takes
all. Buthelezi got 5% and Klerk got 20 -0 and they
\. re includ d in the cabinet and as Vice esident
r sp eti\ 1y. "en though. fandela got 6�% o� the
vot . In rh ., .. Clinton got 43% Md he.'�on It all
\ 'i h no (politi al) obligation to the 57% ., ho voted
f r me n el , It is n t a haroo pOl r "'vin­
win" � r \' RYO. E. but a "winner-take '11" and ft
"\ in-f r- ome. La -FOR-.I0 Y' siruatit,m. The
l'oo·. 5ntem i5 a difincentil'e to mass partt/;f.palion.
. . R :\o.l.·D TIO�: 0110\\ ing
It 11 d(I�. 7 � . I ci:, 1I� m \'6 ijlg .Righ
- Ilr. R \ .T s. L.r �ek n 111 \ 1 h . on e»� (, ncr,,) c:t:
r,m t R 'no lind 111,1c1 th 1'0110'\ 1110 r COlllll� dation:
(a) I t i nil! el ;t i 11 ould held on • aturdays Z
\' i poll it g 01 n fro III 6 All to 12 Ii ight� (l»
th� Pre ident lin on should educate the 'Public on 0
th thr iI of ha\\ \ .. Reno to minorit) righ(s: (c) that
th f ( ral g.o,· mill nt monitor the at 'to make
sur that th � p and implement the ·atio Voting I--'
Ri ts ct of 1993 (e.g .. ,most of th sou�m states
\: 'e vi ited had not even introduced such le'fislAtion. r
much 1 pas d it): (d) that the next stell·m voting
1 gi la ion would be to pass sftme-dlIy .... on-site. -<
uni\· r al ,ot r regi tration: (e) that th 3:5 million
hi . 'h I nior come ftcros the ftg �h year a
r.1(hitl I n \ ith ,1 diploma in one hMd s� plbolizing
'11 \ I, d ,U1(\ i dom. I\nd E\ \'0 er regis rNion c�rd
itl h ('h r . � Illl olizin . 1 \\ r .1n 1 respppsibjlit�:
nd n htH h L se IIp.1 l..ol11l1li ion 0 S ld� h
(1 ,\j rt\..t111 1 ion. "nd 11l�' r eOlllll'rer dation
n 0\ �lct'.(\.eilllilllpro\" it \oin S�Silll,
m be in the vangu rd of th
rusgle to t form this nation
nd .create a ne society.
iN OP 0, n itb r
th Democratic or Republican
P ie can be counted on to
rh d t kind radical re-
co ruction oftb America's po­
litical and economic system
whidt is required to end th op-
p ion of the of Bla
people, people of color and poor
an6' orking people,
'the Republican Party ha
historically been unabashedly
committed to t inte t of big
busin and the thy.
The Democratic Party histori­
cally has been much more pron
to support reforms to benefit mi­
norities and poor and working
people. However, the Demo­
cratic Party has always had its
"Dixiecrats" and conservative
rightwing which in ence is lit­
tl different than the Republi­
ca .
With the election of Bill Clin­
ton, a "new Democrat" who con­
sciously mo to the right to
attract white suburban voters,
ca cen-
ter-light coalition led by Repub­
licrats.
I AI.. 0 SERVED
tiona! Co-Chairperson oft a­
tional Blac Independ nt
Political Party (NBIPP) hich
was founded in Philadelphia in
1980.
In 1987, I was the Executive
Director of J Jackson' N -
',oll) You 'Wt'n
CR�ATE.: JoB� ...
CLINTO S SUPPORT of
th pro-big busines North
American Free Trade Agree-
me .... t (NAFr A) and the pro-big
insurance company managed
competition health care scheme
shows that there is litle differ­
enoe between the Democrats
and the Republicans. And, those
dift1 rences are incremental not
fun�enta1.
In addition, racism can al­
ways be used to confuse white
pro, and working people and th
mi dIe class by employing
stl'8tegies of divide and con­
qu.r/exploit whenever it ap­
peEIts that Black People, People
of color and white poor and
wo king people might unite to
p<:l8p a threat to the existing or­
der. Therefore both est b­
lisl:pnent parties feel secure in
t . r monopoly of pOwer in the
t of America's ruling elite.
o act·vi
to g t
By J8.IIles E. Alsbrook
•
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own grave. They are not properly
educated because illiteracy is
high and they have not devel­
oped adequate schools a�r 200
years of freedom, ,
They have been satisfied
with the most meager existence,
surviving on minimum diets and
failing to prepare themselves for
lives of affiuence and progress.
They have practically no
skills that would enable them to
find wor and support them­
selves in America, They would
be forced to go on' welfare and
burden the taxpayers even more,
just as the Mexican immigrants
have done. They would b
no bing to help America. pe�p 1
They would or en the p .
plight of Blacks already in Amer- Afn
ica, for their high illiteracy, la rh
of knowledge of basic American
values, prioriti and tandards
would reinforce already negative
ima of American Bl pe0-
ple and increase racial conflict
and prejudice. They are an em­
barrassment to America Blacks.
On the other hand Robinson
and the- pro-Haitian immigra­
tion and military intervention
people argue t t:
got his political fee wet as an
administrative assistant to for­
mer Michigan Congre sman
CharI Diggs who assigned him
to matters concerning Africa.
TransMrica resulted from this
ignment in 1977 with Robin­
son as its leader.
The organization-has about
20,000 membe and 13 chapters
and is expanding.
Should a Black upper-middle­
class pro-Africa activist endan­
ger his health and life by fasting
on water and orange juice in an
attempt to persuade President
Clinton to chan� his policy to-
ward Haiti? '
The fasti ng person is Randall
Robinson, founder and E cu­
.tive Director of TransAfrica, the
research and lobbying group
dedicated to th improvement of
African Bla living generally
below the Saraba and on th
Carib n Islands.
The changes desired by R0-
binson and TransAfrica are (a) to
tighten the existing blocade
against Haiti and cause hard­
ships precipitating a popular up­
rising and ousting oftbe p nt
military dictatorship (b) to have
Haiti a admitt to the United
States just as all other foreign
.people are, and (3)-to tore the
popularly elected President J n
Bertrad Aristide as head of the
Haitian go rnme� ,
binson is not a headline­
seeker and his name is no a
household word. He was born 52
years ago in Richmond, Va.,
graduated from Vi�nia Union
Unive 'ty, and from t Har­
vard University Law chool. He
BILL . CO BY G VE
430,000 to' TrabsAfrica. Sugar
Ray Leonard gave 250,000 and
other prominent figures have
contribu ted. Arthur Ashe de­
voted time and effort to the or­
ga 'zation, and Bryant Gumbel
has participated in its activities.
I reh and persuasion are
dedicated to the improvement of
Black people th world over.
The qu tion of wheth r R0-
binson hould continue his fJ t
has drawn fire from those who
agree and those ho disagree.
Th Black people who say R0-
binson should not fast contend
that:
Th Haitians, whod cend-'
ed from W t, Africa brought to
Haiti 88 1 are no a pro
si people and have dug t ir
CONNECT WITH US
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