•
.,
te t
nity.
Bec u e Chavis included
Louis Fa rrakhan , leader of the
Nation of lam, at the B lti
more summit, a number of black
elected officials refused to at
tend. Rapidly, a torm of criti
cism gan to urround Chavis.
Leaders from organized labor
ere negative toward the
NAACP I der because of his
previous position on th North
American Free Trade Agree
ment.
Environmentalist were nega
tive toward the NAACP leader
The current media and politi
cal campaign to oust Chavis is
reminiscent of previous ults :
against prominent bla lead-"
ers. We recall the political
fire torm against Andrew'
Young, tt'1 United Nations am
b ador under Jimmy Carter,
which culminated in his firing.
More recently, progressive
scholar Johnetta Cole, p ident
of Spelman College, fell victim to :
a media smear Campaign, block- ·
ing her from consideration for a :
cabinet appointment in the Clin- '
ton administration.
THERE I 0 doubt that
Chavi made serious errors of
judgment in this matter. But we
must also honestly examine
whether Chavis's mistakes are
at the heart of this journalistic
and political assault against
him.
For wee ,information from
the NAACP's office fil in Balti
more has been circulated and
distributed to prominent white
critics of Chavis. Blacks who
''; rding to
ople h v
WE MUST ASK the ques- .
tion: Who really controls black
leadership in America? Is the :
real reason that Chavis is under •
fire is because he attempted to •
bring together black repre
sentatives from a wide spectrum •
of views and interests to work •
together for a common � use?
The pending removal of :
Chavis as head ofth NAACP, if :
. successful, will ultimately back- I
fire. For all of hi erro , havis
represented the spirit of hope
and renewed activism for mil- ·
lions of African-Americans. '
Like the firingofW.E.B. Du Bois
in 1948, the departure of Chavis
could push the NAACP back
ward against the rising tide of
militancy and resistance among
the most oppressed and alien- ,
ated people in this country.
Dr. Man.nin.g Marable is Prcfe or of •
H urory and Political Science, and Direc
fer of the I nstitute for Research in. Afri
can-American Studies, Columbia
University. "Along the Color Line" ap
pear in ouer 250 publications and is
broadcast by 75 radio station: mt:r!ma
tioaaliy.
I
intens lobby ing against the bill b. th �R --th �
oppose: ihe bun un u isauh weapons=und an obsu u .uonist Re publicun
leader hip \J. ho s id that the bill ,\ a' oft on puni rhme nt and � ddition 1
police.
It i clear that thi bill i raciallv motiv ted. driven emotional I v
y the fear of crime-vportreyed a Bla ·k--and a feeling that more ops
and jails will olve the (violent Black. crime) problem.
What wa even more interesting, how ver. wa the Pre ident's
t hi \ gi lative defeat. .\1 ore
De) 0 rat. t a B me mb r voted again ·t th
President. More Roman atholic legislators voted
again t the Pre iident than did Blacks. .lJor�
moderate Democratic Leadership Council (DLC)
memb rs--th organization that Bill Clinton helped
to torjn=voted against him. Did he invite. David
Wilhelm. Chairman of the D�C. to the White
House and urge him to whip up grassroots
D mocrats against Democratic legislators'? Noooh,
Did he go to a Roman Catholic Church and call
priests to the 'N hite House to end a me sage to
Roman Cathol ic legislators? Noooh . Did he call
Al rom In. xecutiv Director of the DLC. to the
Whi e H us nd sic him on the DLC memb r
'. ho aband ned his ship: .\ooolr. Then what did
h e do?
President Clinton decided to pit Black
preachers gainst lOB lack politicians. He went
after Hinck peo] le through the Black churche and
B I ck lergv in order to put political pres ure and
\\ hip th strayed "sheep" in the CBC back into the
fold. First. he went to.e Black church in the DC
metrop litan area and "preached." In his rmon,
he raised passage of the cri me bill to. a higher
, v I. clai ming it was "the will of God" that it be
passed. H invited the nation' mini ters to come
forw ard and . upport it. Second. he invited 25
Atrican . m ri an clergy to the White Hou and
c rn m issi ned them to go forth and preach the
.osp I of rime in an attempt to undermine the
\lOR L OPPO ITIO. 1 and CO. rSCIESTIOL
OBJECT/OX of 10 m mb rs of the CBC.
Til ��R.C joi u w itli these 10 CBC
me I . c r<.; in 11 cons' i ntious obj ction to the current.
crime hill. T D. r. call your represemarives in
Con are � at 2(J2-22.J-3121 and the President at
202-.J56-111 J to xpr s your oppo ition!
I
READERS WRITE
c
o
By Bernice Powell Jackson
drinking water caused by lead
solder and pipes. Buildings built
before 1950 are likely to contain
paint with high concentrations
of lead while those built after
1980 have virtually no .lead
paint. .
Childhood lead poisoning is a
preventable disease. It is also
th number one environmental
health threat to children in the
United States. We can eradicate
lead poisoning in children, just
as we have rid our country of
small pox and polio.
would provide not only the dol- •
lars for such clean up, but would
also provide much-needed ·jobs
in the nation's cities through ,
training workers to do lead '
abatement. But with all of th
jockeying for passage of a health
-care bill even as this is being
written, there's no telling
whether the Lead Abatement
Trust Fund will still a part of
th final, heal th care reform bill.
The reality is that there is an
enormous cost in not eradicating
this terribl condi ion in our
childr n ..
It i tim t that ev ry dol
lar inv sted in abating lead haz
ards produc about $1.80 in
benefits realized in reduced
medical nd cial education
co of infant mor-
tality, nd in r d rnm
and pr u ivity. Th fa i that
Americans - 11 of us - h a
moral r ponsibili do every
thing possible to stop th poi on
ing of our children.
There' m thing we can 11
do about lead poisoning of Amer
ica's childr n. Pa n can I rn .
about potential ources of I ad •
ur and step to take to •
th ir children by calling
-FYI
of most American children.
The health of two million
American children is at risk.
Two million American children
are at risk of having lower IQ's,'
shortened attention spans, hy
peractivity, aggressive behavior,
reading disabilities and behav
ior problems. Some of them even
face the possibility of mental re
tardation, coma, convulsions
and death
All of these health problems
are related to the fact that two
million American children still
ha ve dangerous levels of lead
poisoning. And African Ameri
can and Latino/Latina children
face lead poisoning lev I which
are much higher than those of .
whit . Indeed, African Ameri
can children are more tha n twi
as likely to suffer from lead poi-
oning as white children.
New data from the Cent rs
for Dis e Control and re n
tion publish in th Journal of
the American Medical Associa
tion how that we have made
much progr ss in the fight
against lead poi oning of Am ri
can children over the p t dec
ade.
Th removal of lead from
gasoline, food cans and new r i
dential paint is ponsible for
the d in blood 1 d levels
BUT THERE ARE still
nearly 4 million homes and
apartments occupied by families
with young children in the U.S.
which contain hazardous lead.
Thus, almost one in every 'ten
preschoolers is still lead poi-
oned. In some communitie
more than half of young children
are uffering from poisoning by
lead,
For instance, in Chicago 38
percent of children t ted were
lead poisoned, in St. Louis 47
percent of the children scr n d
were lead poisoned, in Baltimore
40 percent, in East St. Louis 53
per nt. Rural children are not
immun either - a new Univer
sity of orth Carolina study
found h t 22 percent of rural
childr n t ed in 1 93 had _1 -
vat 1 v Is oflead.
The old r, more dilapidated
th building, the more likely the
child is to lead poison
Poor child n and children of
color are more likely to ide in
such hou ing nd, thu, to eat
I deb paint chips or mh Ie
ust contaminated y 1 d
paint. Old buildings al 0 oft n
have high levels of lead in th
V017NG RIGH� UPDA'TE·
Yeo terday. thr Texas majority-minority
. t 'J. 0 B lac k and on Latino-vCraig
\\' ashington's soon-to-be Sheila Jackson Lee's (19-
D).. dpi Bernice John on (D-30) and Gene
rre n's (29- D) re sp cti ve ly---w r declared
u �Qn�t ituii n I b.\' jud Dllpginrcd b� p.I iQenT�
Re an and Bush. The judge said the districts
"be r the di 1I') i rnprint of racial apartheid .... The."
v, re <.; .ientific ll� d signed to mu ter a minimum
I r ntag f th favor d minority or ethnic.group:
minoritv numbers are virtuallv all that matter din
th 'hap f tho di tri t ."- Follow th court'
I g.ic-- e ne Green i a U'hitt Democrat!
UT oruyha�
pen if th re i the political will
and financial ability to clean up
our housing stock. The cost of
ttingrid of lead-based paint in
old buildings is urely greater
than low-income privat home
own ,day-car provid rs and
tate nd local governments can
b r.
A provision in the House
Ways and Means Committee's
health care r form bill would de.
d this n by providing a
d di ated source of funds for
cleaning up uch hazards in
housing nd d y care n ers.
C 11 d th L ad A atement
Trust Fund, thi provision
CONNECT WITH US
.. ational Rainbow Coalition
me of the Field Director
I 700 K tr t.: . v..r. It 00
Wa s hington, 20006
\ ('II .. :
_0_ 72� - J I.
Icl
1f I ") - J ()2
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