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Lenora Fulani,
Ph.D.: Presidential
Candidate
April Death
by Nyewusi Askari
Applause, and there stood —
tall, proud — the Black Prince of
Peace. His eyes: the lightning’s
flash. His voice: the thunder’s roll.
Looking out at members of the
congregation who had come to
hear him speak, he flashed a
knowing smile, a vision smile, a
dream smile, a smile that set the
stage for the penetrating, shock
ing words that followed.
. I don’t know what w ill hap
pen now. We have got d ifficu lt
days ahead. But It doesn’t matter
with me because I've been to the
mountain top. Like anyone else, I
would like to live a long time. But
I'm not concerned w ith that. I just
want to do God’s will, and he has
allowed me to go up the mountain
•»
A deep chill went through the
congregation. They had not heard
him talk like this before. There
was something strangely diffe
rent about the way he moved in
front of the podium; something
chilling about the way he chose
his words, and something reveal
ing about the way he stared into
the faces of his followers. An old
Black women sitting in the back
of the room said it reminded her of
Jesus and his Disciples at the
Last Supper.
The Black Prince of Peace
cleared his throat. The light in the
room revealed tears in his eyes,
but no tear did he shed. Instead,
he smiled and said, “ I see the pro
mise land. I may not get there with
you, but I want you to know to
night that we as a people w ill get
to the promise land. I am happy to
night that I am not worried about
anything. I am not fearing any
man. Mine eyes have seen the glo
ry of the coming of the L o rd . . . ”
Members of the congregation
were stunned. They couldn’t be
lieve they had just heard Martin
predict his own death. And Mar
tin, he just stood there — tall,
proud — a Black Prince of Peace.
His eyes: the lightning’s flash. His
voice: the thunder’s roll. His smile
fading slowspeed.
. Our world is as a neigh
borhood. We must all learn to live
together as brothers, or we w ill all
perish as fools. There are two
challenges to America. The chal
lenges are racism and poverty. In
a few weeks a few of us are com
ing to Washington to see If the
w ill to meet those challenges still
lives among us. We’re not coming
to engage in any historic action.
We are not coming to tear up
Washington. We are coming to
engage in dramatic non-violent
action. We are coming, and we
w ill stay as long as we have to. We
w ill suffer and die if we have to.
For I submit, nothing w ill be done
until people put their bodies and
soul into t h is ..
The old Black woman sitting at
the back of the room wiped tears
from her eyes and with shaking
hands she wrote the following
note to herself: "The Prince of
Peace w ill never die.” April 3,
1968, Memphis, Tennessee.
On A p ril 4, 1968, It was
Springtime throughout the South.
W in e tim e . S p rin g tim e . Seed
p la n tin g tim e . F a m ily tim e .
School time. Nice like sugar and
spice wrapped around thoughts
of fun and sun and rhythmic
April 6, 1988
“ The Eyes and Ears of the Community
Volume XVIIIr Number 21
January 15,1929
chants of precious things.
“ I love you in the summer. I love
you In the fall. I love you, love you,
knock knees and all.”
But on this day in Memphis,
Tennessee love had taken a holi
day and was replaced by the
sounds of BOOM! BOOM! the tra
gic sounds of a southern after
noon. Gray skies. Black smoke
and screams of "Oh, God, No!
Somebody done shot Dr. Martin
Luther King dead. Done shot the
brother in the head! It happened
so quick — like the lightning’s
flash.
... In a little white church sitting
on a Louisiana hillside a Black
preacher bowed his head to sing
and pray. He had just heard the
news and couldn't stop his body
from shaking like a storm blown
tree. He had intended his prayer to
say, "God forgive them for they
know not what they just did,' but
other words poured from his
mouth.
“ They crucified our King and he
never said a mumblin word. They
nailed him to the tree and he never
said a m umblin word. Not a word.
Not a word. They pierced him in
the side and he never said a
mumblin word. The blood came
twinklin down and he never said a
mumblin word . . . "
In another part of the south, a
loud chant could be heard.
"Free at last, free at last, we thank
God he’s free at last. On this day
bright and fair, Martin gon meet
April 4,1968
our Jesus way up in the middle of
the air. We thank God he’s free at
la s t. . . ”
The skies over America turned
black. Sounds turned silent, ex
cept for willows that weeped and
fish that swam upstream, confus
ed about why the rivers were star
ting to boil. A Black mother, on her
way to a grocery store in Franklin
ton, Louisiana, stopped in the
middle of the street and began to
scream at the pavement.
"R ight now, I vision God stan
ding on the heights of heaven,
throwing the killer of our King like
a burning torch over the gulf into
the valleys of hell. I vision God
wringing a storm from the heavens;
rocking the killer’s soul like an
earthquake, blazing his eyes with
a trail of fire! I vision God snat
ching the killer’s heart out of its
s o cke t. . . ”
. . . Snap, crackle and pop went
the buildings as they buckled
from the heat of the fire that raged
across America on this day. And
riding ontop of the fires was the
voice of Martin — speaking loud
and clear.
"Every now and then I guess we
all think realistically about the day
when we w ill be victimized with
what is life’s final common deno
minator — that something we call
death.
"If any of you are around when I
have to meet my day, I don't want
a long funeral. And if you get
somebody to deliver the eulogy,
tell him not to talk too long . . . I'd
like somebody to mention that
day that Martin Luther King, Jr.,
tried to give his life serving others.
I want you to say that I tried to be
right on the war question. I want
you to be able to say that day that I
did try to feed the hungry. I want
you to say that day that I did try In
my life to clothe those who were
naked. I want you to say on that
day that I did try in my life to visit
those who were in prison. And I
want you to say that I tried to love
and serve hum anity. . . ”
On that day, April 4, 1988,1 felt
rage. I felt hatred. My insides were
Lenora Fulani, Ph.D., is an inde
pendent candidate for President
in the 1988 general election. She
is an Executive Board member
and the national spokeperson of
the New Alliance Parly — the only
nationwide progressive electoral
party. She is seeking the nomina
tion of the party, which is com m it
ted to running an independent
Black Presidential candidate in all
50 states and the District of Col
umbia in the general election of
1988.
The only Black woman to ever
run for Governor of New York
State, her 1986 independent Gu
bernatorial run made front-page
headlines when she refused to
repudiate Nation of Islam leader
Minister Louis Farrakhan. She
garnered 25,000 votes, more than
any independent progressive for
that office in over 30 years.
Fulani is known as the “ Inde
pendent Mayor of Harlem” in re
cognition of her 1985 indepen
dent Mayoral campaign in New
York City.
A developmental psychologist
who practices in Harlem, she is
the Director of the Community
Clinic of the Institute for Social
Therapy and Research, an inde
pendent community-based medi
cal and mental health network.
An a c tiv is t in the B a ptist
Church during her youth in Che
ster, Pennsylvania, Fulani, now
38, graduated from Hofstra Uni
versity. Receiving her M.A. in Edu
cation Psychology from Colum
bia University Teacher’s College,
burning from the presence of an
ger and frustration. I no longer felt
the need to care, to be loving, to
be kind, to be understanding and
as I stood on a Louisiana street
corner holding a book of strike-
any-where matches in my hand,
an elderly Black woman put her
arm around my shoulders and
whispered gently, “ I know you lov
ed Dr. King. We all did. We re all
hurting. And, we all would like to
show our anger in a violent way,
but do you remember what the
good King said? He said one day
we’ve got to sit down at the table
of brotherhood, and when we truly
believe in the sacredness of the
human personality, we won’t ex
ploit people, we won’t trample
over people with the iron fist of
oppression, we won't kill any
body. If you strike that match and
set fire to anything, you may kill
somebody. If you do strike that
match, you just might be setting
fire to Dr. King’s dream.”
This story took place 20 years
ago, but I remember it as if it hap
pened yesterday. I was a young
man approaching age 23. Now at
almost 43 years of age and with
two beautiful sons of my own, “ I
believe that peoples everywhere
can have three meals a day for
their bodies; education and cul
ture for their minds; and dignity,
equality and freedom for their
spirits."
I owe much of my strength, cou
rage, and dreams to Dr. King and I
shall always honor, remember
and be appreciative of him — A
Black Prince of Peace. His eyes:
the lightning’s flash. His voice:
the thunder’s roll.
LENORA FULANI, Ph.D.
1988 Independent Presidential Candidate
she went on to get her Ph.D. in
developmental psychology from
the City University of New York in
1984, with a focus on theories of
cognitive development in child
ren.
Fulani has taught at numerous
colleges in the New York City
m etropolitan area and was a
guest investigator at Rockefeller
University. In 1983, she founded
the Jackson/Luxemborg School
at the Institute for Social Therapy
and Research.
She currently lives in Manhat
tan with her two children.
Julius Evans Named DBE/EEO
Officer for Tri-Met
T ri-M et has named J u liu s
Evans its Disadvantaged Busi
ness Enterprise/Equal Employ
ment Opportunity (DBE/EEO) Of
ficer. Evans, who began work with
Tri-Met on March 21st, is charged
with setting DBE/EEO goals and
ensuring Tri-Met’s com pliance
with federal DBE and EEO require
ments.
Prior to hiring Evans, Tri-Met
consolidated two agency func
tions — assisting and certifying
minority- and women-owned busi
nesses and guaranteeing non
discrim ination in hiring and pro
motion policies — into a single
job description as part of admini
strative streamlining.
“ Tri-Met is fortunate to acquire
Evans with his decade of exper
ience at high levels of federal and
state government to help us con
tinue the agency's outstanding
record of contracting with dis
advantaged businesses and pro
moting equal employment oppor
tunities,” said Executive Director
of Public Services Doug Capps.
Evans came to Tri-Met from the
C ivil R ights D ivision of the
Oregon Bureau of Labor and In
dustries in Portland where he was
a senior civil rights field repre
sentative. He worked in the Bu
reau after serving as a staff assi
stant in the Governor’s Affirm a
tive Action Office.
Before that, he managed the
technical and administrative as
pects of employment discrimina
tion investigations for Nero and
Associates of Portland in the
firm ’s contract with the federal
Department of Agriculture.
Evans also probed employment
discrim ination complaints in the
Washington, D.C. area for the
federal General Services Adm ini
stration and for the Omega Group,
Inc. which handled EEO com
plaints for federal agencies.
Evans, a Washington, D.C. na
tive, resides in S.W. Portland and
holds a bachelor’s degree in poli
tical science from Clark College
in Atlanta. He attended North
Carolina
Central
U niversity
School of Law