Views / Opinions
1
y 0
D TETHE "progress" of
the Civil Rights Movement,
nearly on half of Black children
now live in poverty. About 0
third of the Black rommunity is
gainst the enormity of the
As Dr. Chavis remarked, "just
holding a m ting of this nature
w a victory." The participants
overwhelmingly agreed to meet
again in 1 te August to roncre
tize the numerous recommenda
tions which flowed from the
discussions and there was a call
for local Summits all across the
nation.
Future Summits will also
take up the question of working
relations with groups external to
the Black community. No doubt
the issue of nti-semitism and
the strains between Blacks and
Jews will be a critical part of
these discussions.
At the first Summit, however,
the major preoccupation was in
stitutional racism, the State of
Emergency in the Black eommu-
�-- nityand the need for Black lead-
ers to devise effective strategies
to overcome the death and de
struction in th 'Black commu
nity.
Ego needs, personal ambi-
I tions, ideological differen and
conflicts were set aside in the
intere t of focusing on the mas
sive crisis in the total Black com
munity. That was/is historic!
THOUGH MUCH of the me
dia downplayed the outcome of
the Summit, I belie that the
results of th Summit were very
ignificant hen mea ured
,
cry
.�
o .r M . R.:
I believe' that I hould write a column that h Ips men and
women understand the d p- ted emotional n that each
of us has.
I feel that you should replace your entment with nsitiv-
ity and respect. Perhaps your boyfri nd was f ling the very
deepest sense of sentimentality and lov for you. H was releas
ing every ounce of emotion and lowering all inhibitions. Few
people lower their inhibitions, even when they have been mar
ried for years.
This behavior of your boyfriend repres nted his trust in you
- trust that you would und rstand that his t 1'9 meant that
he wanted to expose the depth of his emotions to you. He had
no fear that you would reject him. His tears indicated an
opening of the door to his heart. He allowed you to r inside
of him. He placed his emotional happin in your hands. H
gave over control of his feel.ngs to you He trust you totally.
�.
A WE ATTENDED the
mass meeting and town hall
m ting which were a part of the
Summit and as our busses rolled
through the neighborhoods of
Baltimore, we saw excitement in
the eyes and faces of Black peo
ple.
In my view, despite the critics
and nay say rs, the Summit has
ignited a spark of hope in Black
America. If that hope can gal
vanized into a new mobiliza
tion/movem nt for social justice,
then th vision of Dr. Benjamin
F. Chavis and th bold new di- .
rection charted by the NAACP in
calling for the Summit will be
vindicated.
Ron Dan tel. seru as E utioe Dr
r tor 0,' the enter for Con tuutional
R1shts LIl New York tty. H may be
reached (71 ) 98·3753.
o
y
By DR. CHARLES W. FAULKNER
De.r Dr. Faulkner:
You have written many Columns bout male-fern I I tion
ships. Maybe you should tell men that they hould not cry in
front of grown women. My boyfriend and I w r Ion in my
apartment enjoying a quiet evening at home. There was soft
music playing that created a generally ntim ntal mood.
) Suddenly, m boyfriend put hi arms around me and h
started cryi . m-n down' in '
I couldn't to ra it and push him away. I w bam Ift.&.. ..............
have a boyfriend who was 0 childish that he h d to) t his lady
see him crying. To me, this wa a weak act and I lost a lot of my
respect for him.
When I told my girlfriends about his behavior, h y almost
laughed at me for having uch a i y a boyfriend. I don't
even want to invite him to my apartment again. I think that
you need to write a column to tell men to stop crying nd acting
lik babies around their women. M . R., Atlanta
o
See REAL, A7
t
I • J '.
,
beneficiari of the ANC govern
ment.
Bu about four fifths of th
Black population is incredibly
oppressed and marginalized.
This group includes unskilled
and illiterate workers, farm la
bor rs, domestic workers and
millions of alienated young pe0-
ple. About half of the Black labor
faulted on their loans have re
fused to leave their homes and
have forcibly stopped local police
from seizing their personal prop
erty.
Mandela has been very care
ful not to alienate whites who
benefited from and who sup
ported apartheid for decades. He
has declared, "we have to be very
careful and not crea the fear
that th (Black) majority is goin
to be used for tb purpos of co-
rcing minoriti ."
racy.
Support
Our
A dvcrtisers
The electoral victory of Nel-
on Mandela and th African
National Congress earlier this
year was widely cel brated as a
triumph for dem racy. pit
the killing of 21 people and
cores who we wounded in th
Johannesburg area alone during
the k of the el ion, and evi
dence of vote tam ring by th
conservative Inkatha F om
Party in Zulu a , most of th
voting aero th country w
judged to be free and fair.
In theaftermathofth eupho
ria of Mandela's ele ion as th
country' first Black p ident, it
is important that w 'hon tly
-and critically what h
. actually happen d in outh Af
rica. First, we must be clear tha
in no ay has the d . ive power
of that nation' corporate and
capitalist class been transf rred
to the Black majority Th vast
majority of busin , th land
and great economic wealth of
South Africa will rem in in
hite hands.
Within the national govern
ment, th re is in eff a partn r-
By Dr. Manning Marable - Along The Color Line
AM R
force is either unemployed or
works within the "informal" or
"underground economy".
ABOUT ONE BLACK fam
ily out of five is a squatter or
lives in a shac without running
water, toilets or electricity. '1\'10-
thirds of all Blacks' homes are'
without electricity and 70 per- ,
cent lack running water. .Ex
perts state that South Africa
would need 300,000 housing
units per yea: just to meet th
current needs of th poor Black
population; currently, th gov
ernment has been building
barely one-tenth that number.
The most oppressed Blacks
will not be patient with Mandela
and the ANC government; they
expect solutions to their prob
lems immediately. In Soweto
township near Johannesburg
about 20 percent ofth impover
ished residents have refused to
pay their utility bills for at least
two years.
Thousands of hou eho lds '
have initiated rent strikes.
Black families which have de-