Page 4-Sunday, September 9, 1979-The Michigan Daily
e .

4


t ttil

Blacks have taken a role
in American f oreign policy

Ninety Years of Editorial Freedom

Vol. LXXXX, No.4

News Phone: 764-0552

Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan


A summer of small
changes for MSA

VJHEN HENRY Johnson, University
vice-president for student serv-
:es, assumed control of the Michigan
tudent Assembly's funds last May, he
rd MSA representatives decided it was
ecessary to come up with more
tringent guidelines governing the way
tudent government allocates its money
> various groups.
But after four months of discussions,
ery little has changed.
Johnson was given control when the
Jniversity's Board of Regents suspec-
ed that the students weren't managing
heir budget responsibly. University
dministrators still monitor MSA fun-.
s-$50,004 of which went to student
roups last year-and will continue to
o so until the allocation process is

their mistakes and be willing to reverse
their decision.
In theory, the appeals process is
beneficial because it provides a last
chance for any group that feels it has
been mistreated and deserves-
allocations from the Assembly. But in
practice, it doesn't seem realistic that
Assembly members would suddenly
have a change in heart.
The fund allocation process has not
really changed but a lot of valuable
time has been lost. A summer that
could have been spent on so many other
useful ideas was wasted trying to revise
an allocation system that didn't need a
major shake-up. More time should have
been used to find out what went wrong
with last April's elections.
Why were candidates operating

WASHINGTON, D.C., - Not
since the Rev. Martin Luther
King got the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference in hot,
water by opposing the Vietnam
War has the black civil rights
movement been as far in the
forefront of U.S. foreign policy as
it is today.
UN Ambassador Andrew.
Young's forced resignation from
the center stage of the inter-
national diplomatic theater has
served to i broaden and solidify a
new and unprecendented global
consciousness among blacks. In
time, and with direction from a
number of black leaders who view
socialissues in international ter-
ms, this consciousness could
coalese into a foreign lobby to
equal the influence of the power-
ful Jewish lobby;
THIS BLACK sense of an
America enmeshed in the world
has evolved directly from the
black community's African con-
sciousness movement of 20 years
ago.
But it was not until 1967 that
Stokeley Carmichael's call for
"black, power" really persuaded
the civil rights movement to look
toward Africa as the black
homeland and as a source of ad-
vancementforAmerican blacks.
Today, black business and
political leaders travel from New
York to Lagos almost as routinely
as Martin Luther King traveled
from Atlanta to Chicago. And in-
stead of bringing back just
African artifacts and a sprinkling
of 'Swahili, they now take to Africa
valuable technical expertise and
ofter return with lucrative trade
deals.
AS AN EXAMPLE of how far
things have progressed, consider
the lawyer who represented
OPEC at its latest price-setting
meeting. His name if Khalid Ab-
dulla. Tarig al-Mansur, but he is
not an Arab oil sheik. He, is a
black San Franciscan who'
organized black ghettos in
California with Ron Karenga back
in 1966. Today, his first African-
Arabian Corporation . Igsvthree
Saudi princes on its board of
directors, and it represents Arab
interests, not American clients.
The Concerned Black
Americans In Support of Africa
and the Middle East, which he
heads, has filed an amicus brief

on behalf of OPEC in the current
court case in which OPEC is
being sued by a U.S. trade union.
Similarly, the election last year
of Marion Barry as mayor of
Washington, D.C. has thrust that
basically Afro-American city onto
the world stage as something
more than just the seat of the U.S.
government.
WHEN BARRY PAID an of-
ficial visit to Tanzania in July, for
example, his greeting was
described as "Fit for a head of
state," by the Washington'Post.
Barry visited five African
capitals and met with the heads of
government in each, as well as
others at the Organization of
African Unity conference.
"The gap between those of us
living in the U.S. and those on the
mainland of Africa is closing
rapidly," he said.
As mayor of the city that houses
the World Bank, the IMF, and the
U.S. federal government, Barry
plans to make Washington the
"premiere city for international
business and tourism."~

By Askia Muhammad


THIS BUDDING international
consciousness among American
blacks has been developing
gradually through many chan-
nels, says Randall Robinson,
director of Trans Africa, a
Washington-based African lobby
group.
"Without a doubt, the role of
African Americans is increasing
in African affairs," he says. "You
have my organization working on
a full time basis to win for Africa
a more progressive foreign,
policy. You have other
organizations such as Africare,
which for eight years has been
doing tremendous work delivering
resources and goods to Africa.
And you have virtually the entire
black leadership involved to some
degree in Africa questions now.
''All who understand the inter-
dependence of countries in the
modern world understand the
degree to which to U.S. is growing
progressively dependent on
Africa for raw materials.
"THE EXTENT TO which
Africa is strong," he said, "is the

dle East or south Georgis."
Jackson proved that: himself
when he accepted a South African
government-approved invitation
from that country's Council of
Churches to visit and speak there.
He spent 17 days in South Africa
saying things in public that would
have landed any South African
black in jail.
Jackson believes black
Americans are now beginning to
cuiltivate seeds of African con-
sciousness planted by black
leaders from Marcus Garvey to
Martin Luther King. "I think
we're now looking at the buds on
the trees of African con-
sciousness, within the black
community," he said, "and it's
going to intensify."
SOME AFRICAN support
groups, meanwhile, are concer-
ned about keeping the'focus of
black pressure on this side of the
Atlantic. Sylvia Hill, director of
the Southern Africa Support
Project, says "there is a growing
number of people who are begin-
ning to understand that it is this
nation which must be radically
altered in order to fully support
the struggles of southern Africa.
Hill's group organizes com-
munity support in Washington
and solicits school and medical
supplies which it sends to refugee
camps in frontine countries bor-
dering Zimbabwe-Rhodesia.
"Let us understand that Africa
is not a retreat for us," she says.
"Africa has very serious
problems. It can certainly use the
skills we have, but it is not our lit-
tle escape."
BUT JESSE Jackson says the
increased consciousness of Africa
has already helped blacks escape
in one way-mentally. "Tarzan
and Jane and Boy are dead," he
says. "We used to pull for Tarzan
and Jane, we're' now pulling for
the Africans in those movies. Our
mind has changed.
"That's the most significant
thing that has happened in the en-
tire scheme of things. Our mind
has changed, and there is nothing
more powerful in the entire world
than a changed mind."

After a long-and often polling places? Why were polling sites
ustrating-summer, MSA represen- closed before the scheduled times? Why
tives' and members of the ad- were the ballot instructions so com-
inistration have drawn up a new plex? Those problems must be an-
location system but it differs very lit- swered so that next year's electons will
e from the past. The proposed beheld responsibly.
ranges will be presented by the tmsberebrdthtiwa
ssembly's president Jim Alland at its thetRgents who voted that Johnson nd
rst meeting Tuesday. If MSA approves teRgnswovtdta ono n
e plan, Johnson said he is ready to MSA come up with a better allocation
turn control over the budgeting plan. It was the Regents who again took
ocess back to the students. control of the Assembly and ordered
The major new elements of the plan this apparently futile search for a dif-
clude the decision to establish an ap- ferent system.
eals process for student groups It was the Regents whose efforts to
ssatisfied with their allocations and a keep power away from the students
an to reserve half the seats on MSA's allowed four months-which could have
udget Priorities Committee-which been used for long-term planning-to be
commends allocations to the full bogged down in looking for a better
sembly-for non-MSA members. allocation plan.,
At .first glance,. it emt htite sp. But it could have heen 4much worse.,
els'rocess is a signifdd§htrevisioII. If Alland and Johnsoncould have come up'
-ganizations are upset by, either being with a system making it much harder
enied any funds or receiving less than for groups to get the funds they so
squested, they could under this desperately need. At least that
-oposal appeal to the MSA steering possibility seemed very large when the
)mmittee. That committee would Regents gave Johnson authority.over
raluate the organization's proposal, the budget process in May.
erhaps giving even more time and During the discussions to find a new
iergy than the regular Assembly ever system, it was stated that groups such
>ul devote. as the Washtenaw County Coalition
But there is one minor problem. That Against Apartheid may have trouble

But it was not until 1967 that
Stokeley Carmichael's call for
"black power" really persuaded
the civil rights movement to look
toward Africa as the black
homeland and as a source of ad-
vancement for American blacks.

TWO WEEKS AFTER his Afr-
tican visit, Barry played host to
Guinea's Sekou Tours at a
Washington luncheon attended by
Army Secretary Clifford Alexan-
der, several members of the
congressional Black Caucus and a
few African ambassadors.
"If majority rule can work in
the federal capital," Toure told
Barry, "where the white people
are, not denied their privileges;
the same principles can be ap-
plied to South Africa."
Prominent among Toure's
other stops during his American
tour were visits to Howard
University and a trip to "see my
people" in Harlem.

same extent to which African
Americans work to cultivate that
strength."
The base of black international
involvement has broadened to in-
clude mainstream civil rights ac-
tivists, especially since Young's
resignation. "It's a whole body of
people who are protesting Andy's
forced resignation, " says
Operation Push president Jesse
Packson. "They have concluded
thatiblacks must now enter global
politics as a part of our respon-
sibility as human beings. No
longer is there any place in the
world where America has an in-
terest that is off limits to blacks,
whether in South Africa, the Mid-




Askia Muhammad writes
regularly for the Chicago
Defender, The Nation and
other publications, and repor-
tsfor Pacifica radio.

''1

eering committee is-comprised solely
individuals who will also make the
riginal decision on the funding since
tey are members of MSA. In other
ords, the 'MSA members making
p the steering committee would
ready have voted on the budget
aquest at an earlier time in the
rocess. Would they change their min-
'?9
If the steering committee decided to
)nsider the case, it would then hold a
earing to determine if the allocation
iould be raised. And even if they
ecide the entire Assembly was unfair
Y its decision on the original request,
[SA's initial decision can only be over-'
irned if the Assembly changes its
rind. It is not very likely that the
epresentatives would suddenly notice

receiving future funds if a more
stringent system was established.
Regent Deane Baker (R-Ann A bor) of-
ten said that group didn't deserve
student funds and for a while it ap-
peared that the Regent's opinion could
become fact.
So while the new system has changed
little from last year's plan, its changes
in semantics allow Johnson to claim
that the process has indeed been
changed and give control of allocations
back in the hands of MSA.
It also gives the appearance that the
Regents have acomplished their objec-
tive of disciplining MSA by making it
come up with a new system. The Regen-
ts have showed their muscle.
But groups should not worry. Very lit-
tle has changed.
HAVE YOU GUYS BC-EKJ IOARDINj
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DEPA1RMENT 0F e1 JEG'.
ACF, ANALYST IHERE! ,'

ID cards are too breakable

r


__ -

_.. -
; - --

To the Daily:
I realize that the subject of this
letter does not rank as one of the
major issues of our time. To those
readers who turn to this page
seeking enlightenment on such
weighty subjects as apartheid in
South Africa, the boat people in
Southeast Asia, or the general
lack of sex everywhere, I sin-
cerely apologize. Not every in-
justice in the world is important
enough to incite disruptions of
meetings of the Board of Regen-
ts.
Nevertheless, there are petty
iniustices in the world that try

Furthermore, I have noticed that
I am not alone in my struggle to
maintain a useable ID card. In-
deed, I have come to the con-
clusion that rare is the oft used ID
card which has not been taped,
glued, or otherwise repaired by
its owner in an attempt to prolong
its life.
It would be foolish of me to
declare that University students
need ID cards capable of sur-
viving a nuclear holocaust. An ID
card that could last through a
typical four years of college
holocaust would be more than
satisfactory. Surely this is not an
unrealistic goal. After, all, the

a-Cause for Unbreakable ID Car-
ds. The requirement for ad-
mission to the group will be one
cracked or broken ID card.
-Barry A. Petersen
AA TA
To the Daily:
Having successfully slashed
Ann Arbor's bus service this fall,
Ann Arbor Transportation
Authority (AATA) management
is taking the same meat-ax ap-
proach toward the Transpor-
tation Employees Union (TEU).
TEU is a public service union.
Our only defense is sustained

and a threat of termination, in
violation of contractual
procedures.
Two ,TEU members were
recently terminated, even though
a clear precedent for suspension
had been set for similar infrac-
tions. This type of unreasonable
disciplinary action is being selec-
tively applied to employees
targeted for dismissal by AATA.
Breaking a six-year precedent,
AATA has forced an
unauthorized bid extension upon
us, disrupting the lives of
working parents (and their
children), students, and other
members of our work force who

--.. ,c.
--- ;.

EVIPENCE TO SLUPPOiRT SUCHl
CHA RG a AGANST OIL COMPANIES,
CC',? ti,4

y FEARte5e Fay PICK
6TFRIKES AL~AIN