c (.) J\ I, I . I' I (.) �
" treet Life " __ A n "" magazine cov ring national and
internat�onal n ws frorr an African-Ameri an p r p tive. Pr u er
Delm ne Cobb has be II told pri ately by PB insiders tha; her .how ii
"too '61 ' .' (Delmaric Cobb wa Jesse Jackson' pr .' cretar v for
hi 19 pr sid nti 1 cam palsnr. . .
iitJtJ,.. \. "'L.1 • .I1 VJ .J • ..-,,' ...
"The Fire This Time"-- documents
tracing the roots of the 1992 uprising (around
Rodney King) back to FBI and police sabotage of
community empowerment programs-vprogrems
organized by the Black Panther Party and other
community activists in respon to the Watts Riot.
PBS claimed it "already covered" the uprising in
one 90-mlnute documentary on "Frontline" that
never mentioned the issues explored in this film.
"Passin+It On "--A ,documentary about
Black Panther leader Doruba Bin Wahid, including
the real political program of the Panthers in the
1960s, the police- tate war against the Panth rs
that put him in jail for 19 years, and the struggle
that eventually freed hi m to pass the torch to a new
generation. It was rejected by PBS for prime-time
public affairs broadcast, and eventually shown in
th summer schedule of "P.O.V.," the underfunded
ries pejoratively labelled as poss ssing a "Point
Of View," in contrast to PBS's "objective
programming. "
Finally, ther ar program whose
concern disproportionately affect minority
communities: "We Do The Work"--a half-hour
monthly program focusing on the lives of American
workers, and "America's Defense Monitor"--a
broad-minded approach so national security that
actually includes people's well-being. With Cold
War military budgets largely intact, as our inner
cities continue to decay, this show is a must--and
PBS i a bust.
. �u� invisibility is �ot total. In the adding­
insult-to-injury department: PBS has just spent
$1.5 million to produce a full season of "Think
Twice," a half-hour quiz show. The "good news"
for minorities? As reported in the New York Times
(September 12, 1994), its host is a Black stand-up
comic hired "in an effort to add cultural diversity"
to PBS programming. .
MEDIA FIGHT: laxFax included this
reprint from the "Coalition vs. PBS Censorship, "
P.O. Box 48$, Santa Monica, CA 90406-048$,
Phone 310-288-6693, FAX 310-260-9$17 as
background and in preparation for DIRECT
TIO r to be taken by the Rainbow Coalition
(and others) against PBS if they do not change
their employment and opportunities policies. _
. If you are interested in organizing a
DIRECT ACTIO campaign around the media
in your community please contact Pierre R.
Baroleue at the NRC at 202-728-1180. We want
to identify Rainbow activists and organizers in
7$-to-100 cities, educate them with our six step
process, coordinate our efforts, 'and ACT
TOGETHER with pickets on a date certain!
CONNECT WITH US
ational Rainbow Coalition
Office of the Field Director
1700 K Street, .W. # 00
Wa hington, D 20006
Voic:
20_ 72 -11 °
opyript 199J
Kern De.lan Inc,
All Rlpt. Re .. r .... d
ON
DUTY·
THE IMPO TA CE
t . demonstrat
a inglefad. In 1990, there e
t 1 million Bl Ii ving in
113 hite-majority Congre -
ional di trict in th 1 ven
tat of the old confederacy, yet
every ingle r pr entative
elected from t e district
hite. Even today, the only
Southern Congre ional dis­
tricts rep ented by African­
Americans are districts with a
Black majority. Elimination of
Black-majority di trict in these
eleven states would purge
Blacks from Southern Congres­
sional delegations as effectively
as Plessy v. Ferguson, the Su­
preme Court' 1896 "separate
but equal" ruling, excluded
Blacks from Southern railroad
cars.
\OFFl
�
THE LOUI I A and
Texa decisions by contra t,
fashion an a enal of weapons
for eradicating Black-majority
districts. Districts that are, ay,.
55 percent Blac are labeled
" egregated," while district with
a white majority of 55 percent
Black are labeled "integrated"
According to these decisions,
a state cannot enact a Black­
majority district merely because
it believes in good faith that the
Voting Rights Act requires that
results, or in compliance with a
Justice Department determina­
tion under the act. Rather, they
hold, the equal protection clause
of the 14th Amendment effec­
tively requires states to chal­
lenge that determination rather
than obey it. Resistance to Fed­
erallaw, once considered a Con­
stitutional imperative.
Several of these cases are al­
ready on appeal to the Supreme
Court, which will certainly de­
cided one or more of them in the
term beginning in October. The
Court's decision will quite liter­
ally affect the complexion of
American politics for genera­
tions to come.
At the end of the Civil War,
the nation enacted the 14th and
15th Amendments to give
Blacks an equal opportunity to
elect candidates of their choice.
The Texas and Louisiana deci­
sions pervert these amend­
ments into a Con titutional
guarantee of an electoral system
that will enable whites to pre­
vent the election of Black offi-
cials.
DIDYOU�OW?
"Gee" .. sometimes it's really hard to distinguish between the two."
1M
Thr inter-racial ex stories
have grabbed big h adlines
lately. But th y really are much
ado about nothing, becaus
yelpingra puris are running
to lock th bam door after th
hors ha gon .
Th stories (1) th .J.
impson trial th t h the na­
tion drooling ov revery tidbi of
its juicy go ip and fantasy; (2)
th Micha I J ck on w dding 0
Elvis P sley' daught r - an­
other sh k r to t unch deci­
pI s ofth rae purity myth, and
(3) t he urning of R ndolph
County High ch I in Alabama
nd its r n wing focu on the
princip I who id racially
mix d m rriag and its off-
spring w "a mis k."
If this mixed-ra t nager is
. "a mistak ," school principal
Humphries should vi it the
grav of Dixi lav hold r
who liv d Iom 1619 forward,
wa Conti der te fl above
their tomb on and rattle
their fornicating 'bones with
condemnation and repri­
mand.
S x- tarved white ailors
nd th ir captains on slave
hip h bi ually r p d thou-
nd of "rip ," t Black
girls being shipped to America,
J
• Today, Black college gradv
-...Ii�L..j"----------------__" ates earn 90 percent asmuch a
comparable whites.
• Elijah McCoy was grante
over 72 patents in his lifetime.
itymyth ba
By JB:JIles E. Alsbrook
as was told in Alex Haley's
"Roots" and other narratives.
. FURTHER "MIXING" was
done on plantations by slave­
owners and overseers who ran­
domly and forcibly impregnated
Black females, frequently be­
fore the eyes of their helpless
parents and siblings.
Sometimes the mulatto off­
springs were us d as house ser­
vants, bu t more oft n these
wh'it.e-Iook ing Black women
were "rented" or sold by their
fath rs for big money to "work"
in houses of pro titution in New
Orleans or other "good time" cit-
ie . .
Some mulatto daughters re­
tained as house servants were
used sexually as surrogate
wives when the slaveholders'
original but h lpless wives
passed the m nopa se or be­
came ill. These men became
both fathers nd grandfathers
of h ir own children. Th y had
imported from Europe many
hush- hush but traditional evils
of feudalism with its absolute
white male domination and cor­
ruption.
Anthropologist e timated
30 years ago that approximately
80 to 90 percent of Black Ameri-
cans were mixed with either
Ca ucasian or Native American
'(Indian) blood, Also, some aid
that millions of white-looking
Black people hav "passed" in 0
th white race and hav chil­
dren and grandchildren who
think they are pur ly white.
One of the most shocking i n­
cidents of my life came long ago
when as a youngster I w my
grandmoth r ' 91-y r-old
fri nd, "Aunt D lphia," show
the whipping marks on her up­
per back. ·My mother unbut­
toned the back of "Auntie's"
dre from the neck down about
eight n inches. Th n w we
shocked to s rais , di colored
welt marks made many years
earlier. Aunt D lphia said they
were caused by a horsewhip
used on her when h as at n-
r repeatedly refus d to have
ex with th son of th plan -
tion own r in the rly 1 60s.
THO E DAY , he said,
white sons of slaveholders tradi­
tionally learned about sex by
forcibly using slav girls who
frequently became pregnant.
Some of thes girl killed th m­
selves or th ir b bi by poison­
ing or otherwi
In r nt y a , however, at
least three irreversible changes
have shattered th crumbling
bastions of alleged white raeia
purity.
Fi t, inillions of young, sex
loving American servicemen 0
all colors fought in Asia. Just 8J
officers and crewmen on slav.
ships impregnated Black femah
captive for at least 200 years
so did th se hardy G.1. 's impreg
nate A i n women in Korea, Vi
etnam, the Philippines, -Japai
and elsewhere with hundreds (J
thousands ,of half-American ba
bies, many of whom have com
to America.
Second, th Women's Lib ra
tion Movement and increase
sexual equality have freed mil
lions of white women from whit
male domination. This is show
by the marriage ofO.J. Simpso
and of Michael Jackson to Elvi
Presley' South rn-bred daugl
ter.
Third, most Americans seer
to like and sympathize Simpso
personally. Many white me
think that if he really killed, h
was merely defending the r4
spect and honor due a good ma
and husband.