Page 2 Portland Observer JUNE 1, 1989
EDiTÖRiÄL 7
Vantage point
Running for a change
By Ron Daniels
1990 - The Year Of Malcom X
“ No sell o u t... M alcolm X .” These words from a popular R & B rap song
are taking on new meaning and relevance as a new wave o f African-
American consciousness rises to confront the continuing reality o f racism,
racial oppression and economic exploitation on these hostile American
shores. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer even
w ithin the African-Am erican comm unity. The illusion o f progress is being
shattered in the face o f the raw naked evidence which abounds in the poverty
stricken, drug infested, cnme afflicted ghettoes and barrios in these United
Stales. There are an abundance o f Black faces in high places everywhere,
but there has been no significant change in the plight o f the masses o f
African-Am ericans. Somebody has been selling out. And the people know
it.
But there is one man who is rising up like a phoenix out o f the ashes to
symbolize the possibilities for liberation o f a downtrodden and oppressed
people. No government sanctioned national, state or local holiday or
celebrations mark his memory. In fact among the power structure o f this
nation he is persona non grata. Even the African-Am erican elite barely
utters his name. The image makers and m ind moulders have tried to bury
him , to obliterate him from our collective consciousness. The true believers
and devotees o f the man and his philosophy never forgot. They have been
remembering his life and legacy in memorial observances and birthday
commemorations for more than two decades. They know that truth
crushed to earth w ill rise again” .
El Hajj M a lik el Shabazz - M alcolm X is on the rise. A ll across country
there is a surging interest in M alcolm X, the man America wishes A frican-
Americans would forget. They can's suppress Malcolm s irrepressible
spirit. Book stores can’ t keep his books and phamplets on the shelves.
Records o f M alcolm ’ s speeches are in high demand, as are film s and video
cassettes about his life. Rap groups like Public Enemy sing his praises.
Poets are crafting new pieces enshrining his contribution in poetry and
prose. Artists are fram ing fresh images depicting his character, courage and
vision. Students on the march again against background and reactionary ad
ministrations move forw ard in his name. M alcolm X is on the rise.
On February 21, o f this year a group o f progressive nationalists issued a
call to for the African-Am erican Nation to proclaim May 19, M alcolm X ’ s
birthday an African-Am erican Holiday. Momentum is building to bring
M alcolm out o f the closet and to place him up front where he properly
belongs. Tw enty-Five years after his assassination in 1965 and in the year
o f his 65th birthday, we as African-Am ericans are going to proclaim a
I loliday fo r “ Our Shining Black Prince’ ’ . 1990 w ill be the year o f M alcolm
X!
Countless communities, north and south, east and west, have already
been on the case. Others are just beginning to clim b on board. For 18 years
in Washington, D.C. Charles Stevenson, M a lik Edwards and Sherry Browr.
have spearheaded what has come to be the largest M alcolm X Day
celebration in America. This year the D.C. Committee is sponsoring an
entire week o f cultural educational and political activities culm inating w idi
a huge celebration in Anacastia Park on M ay 21. The celebration is
expected to draw upwards to 70,000 people. In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Andrea Brown and a dedicated group o f African-Am erican women called
Sisters Remember M alcolm w ill be holding their 6th M alcolm X. Day
osbervance. Their tenacity is paying o ff. This year there w ill be no less than
4 M alcolm X Day celebrations in Philadelphia.
In Cleveland, Ohio the Black C oalition under the leadership o f Omar A li
Bey w ill be holding a day long series o f activities in honor o f M alcolm X on
May 19 and Dr. Maulana Karenga’ s Kawaida network w ill be sponsoring
Kuzaliva’s (birthday celebrations) in several cities. Preston W ilco x o f
A .F.R .A .M . in Harlem has formed a M alcolm X Lovers Network. Dr.
Edward Crosby o f the Department o f Pan-African Studies at Kent State
University has taken time to urge all Black Studies Departments to raise
M alcolm X up this year. And Dr.James Turner, Chairman Emeritius o f the
Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell U niversity is co-ordinating
a m ajor Symposium on the life and contributions o f M alcolm X on May 20,
at Harlem ’ s renowned Schomburg Museum.
Dr. Turner has also agreed to chair the National M alcolm X Day Holiday
Commission which is in formation. Todate such notable African-Am erican
leaders as Richard Hatcher, General Chairman o f the African-Am erican
Summit, A rthur O. Eave, Deputy Speaker o f the New Y ork State Assembly,
Haki Madhabuti o f the Institute fo r Positive Education, Charshee M cIntyre,
President o f the African Heritage Studies Association, Rep. David Richardson,
President o f the National Conference o f Black State Legislators and scholar
activists B ill Strickland, Ron Walters and Manning Marable have endorsed
the effort. The list o f endorsees is expected to grow rapidly in the coming
months. M alcolm X is on the rise.
The tenor o f the times dictate that we reclaim and resurrect a leader who
was an outspoken c ritic o f Am erica’ s system o f oppression and an uncom
promising champion for the liberation o f the African-Am erican masses. His
example o f unflinching courage and commitment even in the face o f death
is a source o f inspiration which needs to be held high. M alcolm X is on the
rise. 1990 w ill be the year o f M alcolm X !
For further informauon on the M alcolm X Day Holiday Commission
contact Dr. James Turner (607) 255-4625.
OPINION
by D r. Lenora Fulani
September 12 is primary day in
New Y ork C ity. Most o f our people
w ill not bother going to the p o lls -
not because they are “ apathetic’ but
because, w hile we may have the right
to vote, in most cases we s till don’ t
have a reason to vote.
The current lineup o f major party
contenders vying to move into Gra
d e Mansion next January says why.
The seven aspirants fo r the job o f
mayor o f New Y o rk —w ith one ex
ception they are all w ell-to-do white
m en-are not an impressive group
(speaking asa psychologist, the word
that comes to m ind is ‘ ‘depressive” ).
That is why I have decided to run
for mayor o f New Y o rk on the inde
pendent New Alliance Party line in
November. I am supporting Manhat
tan Borough President David D in k
ins’ bid fo r the Democratic Party’ s
mayoral nomination because I be
lieve that an African American mayor
w ith a history as a reformer would be
a vast improvement over a racist
bully like the incumbent, Ed Koch,
and preferable by far to any o f the
other m ajor party candidates. I f Mr.
D inkins wins, I w ill put all o f my
resources into helping him become
th next m a y o r- something Dave
Dinkins, first and foremost a loyal
party man, has already said he w ill
and that w ithin the system it is the
Democratic Party and only the
Democratic Party which is “ ours” —
the party o f the people.
Both o f Reverend Jesse Jackson’s
Presidential campaigns played a very
important role in re-educating our
people to the realities o f the two-
party system and o f the Democratic
Party. An A frican Am erican progres
sive, campaigning on an e xp licitly
pro-w orking class platform , in the
heart o f the Am erican p olitical proc-
ess-a Presidential election-seemed
to embody every democratic prom
ise ever held out to us. You see, the
system seemed to be saying, what
did we te ll you! We are fair, we are
inclusive, there is room fo r you, you
are welcome. But then we a ll saw,
w ith our own eyes, that it was a lie.
There was no fairness; there was no
inclusion, there was no room fo r us,
we W EREN’T welcome. They treated
Reverend Jesse Jackson like a dog!
And they made it clear that they
did n ’ t care i f we knew it! They went
further. They rubbed our noses in
their racism.
But in 1988 there was an inde
pendent o p tio n -a serious, viable
alternative to an arrogantly racist party
that fo r h a lf a century has taken the
Black vote fo r granted, a party that
we as Black people have taken fo r
granted as the only party we could
vote for.
And on election day the A frican
American electorate staged a small
but highly significant rebellion at the
do.
This “ inside-outside” p la n -su p
porting the most progressive candi
date in the Democratic party prim ary
w hile preparing to run as an inde
pendent in the general election i f he
is denied the party’ s n om in a tion -is
not a gim m ick. And i t ’ s not rhetoric.
Independent politics is a weapon and
a tool to empower our people.
W hy independent politics? Be
cause w hile a handful o f our sisters
and brothers may have “ made i t ”
into the m iddle class, the notion that
the Democratic party is a vehicle
which can carry the vast m ajority o f
our people into the economic, p o liti
polls against a p olitical party that has
rejected the Black Agenda for social
and economic justice, a party that
ignores our com m unity and insults
our leaders. Despite the efforts o f
some Black elected officials to dis
parage my history-making campaign,
two percent o f the national Black
vote went to me-an independent Black
woman who is not beholden to white
corporate Am erica and so is free, as
the m ajor party politicians are not, to
speak out and stand up and fig ht for
cal and cultural mainstream now stands
exposed by the experience o f the last
25 years for what it is -a myth. The
truth is that the Democratic Party has
brought our people to a dead end.
That painful but important lesson
has been very hard to learn. The con-
troversiality o f my Presidential cam
paign, o f the New Alliance Party and
o f independent politics in general
has everything to do w ith the pro
found miseducation—I believe it
amounts to brain w ash ing -o f the
American people on the subject o f
democracy means the two party sys
tem and only the two-party system.
the Black Agenda.
The independent new leaders who
are b uilding the C oalition fo r a Pro
gressive New Y o rk that is coming
together around my mayoral cam
paign represent the m illions o f people
in our city who get le ft out when the
m ajor party bosses cut their deals:
rank and file labor; the black and
Puerto Rican communities; lesbians
and gays; students. These leaders are
stepping into the vacuum le ft by the
establishment leadership; together we
are w orking to push open the doors o f
political power for our people to come
through.
To the Editor:
This letter is concerning your last issue Volum e X IX , Number 19, dated
May 18,1989. On the front page isasalute to one o f Portland’ s best student
athletes.
This is a nice gesture by the Portland Observer. However, you have made
one large error.
Bosco A niA n ab il Kante is indeed a very talented young man. You did
record and list many o f his accomplishments which included his academic
achievements, scholarships, and extra-curricular activities. However,
Bosco has attended Grant High School N O T Jefferson for four years. Our
school is very proud o f this young man and would like to set the record
straighL He does have two music classes at Jefferson this year only. He is
a Grant student, soon to be a Grant gtaduate, on his way to the U niversity o f
Sourthem C alifornia.
„
Brenda G. Bennet, Counselor
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CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL
RACE AND
VIOLENCE
by John E. Jacob
The horrible attack on a young
woman jogger in New Y o rk ’s Cen
tral Park made headlines a ll over the
country, and the story continues to be
played out in terms that shed ligh t on
some o f the nastier sides o f our na
tional life.
The nastiest, o f course, is the at
tack its e lf- a vicious assault on a de
fenseless person by a gang o f kids
bent on destruction and pursuing their
twisted notions o f “ fun.”
The firs t - and lasting - impres
sion was that this was a racial attack.
The young woman is white; the teen
agers, Black and Hispanic.
But the same gang is alleged to
have attacked African Americans and
Hispanics who crossed their path that
fateful night, and we know that black-
on-black crim e is among the A frican
American com m unity’ s most urgent
problems. So w hile no one can say
what went on in those kids’ minds,
there's no evidence to suggest the
ones who get slandered, disregarded
and terribly damaged by the m ind
less generalities in w hich the rest o f
us insist on discussing episodes such
as that in Central Park.”
It is instructive too, that sim ilar
instances o f rape and attempted m ur
ders directed against A frican A m e ri
can women do not get much atten
tion. In one case, a woman attacked
and thrown o ff a rooftop was saved
by catching on to a cable w ire - just
the kind o f story the press feeds on.
But since this was a black-on-black
crim e, it was largely ignored. One
has to wonder whether the Central
Park story w ould have got o ff the
back pages i f the vic tim had been
black.
That double-standard suggests that
racism is alive and w ell in Am erica’ s
newsrooms and in the p u b lic ’ s mind.
And it also suggests that the lives and
dignity o f A frica n Am erican women
are devalued in those same newsrooms
and minds.
Feminists have pointed out that
rather than being a black-w hite trag
edy, the Central Park assault typ ified
anti-female violence, and many A f
assault was racial.
But that’ s how the public per
ceived it, which tells us a lot more
about racist stereotypes and assump
tions than it tells us about what actu
ally happened.
Those racist stereotypes were re
inforced by aspects o f the way the
media handled the story. Headlines
about “ w o lf packs” sent coded sig
nals to equate young black males
w ith animals. W e d id n ’ t read about
“ w o lf packs” when white youths in
Howard Beach assaulted three black
men who wandered into their neigh
borhood, leading to the death o f one
o f them.
In her Newsweek Magazine c o l
umn, Meg Greeenfield put her finger
on the way such racial stereotyping
creates other victim s.
She writes o f “ a whole other class
o f innocent victim s. These are the
poor black youths and their fa m i
lies... who do not com m it crimes,
who are liv in g honest and hardwork
ing lives against tremendous (and
unfair) disadvantage. They are the
rican Am erican women agree.
What is clear is that in our society,
the dignity o f women, and especially
o f black women, is at risk. Too many
men have macho notions o f what
“ manhood” consists of, and teen
agers often absorb attitudes that
devalue the d ig nity o f women.
There can be no positives from
this terrible crim e, but we can sal
vage something from it — i f it causes
us to re-examine racial attitudes,
makes people understand the conse
quences o f dehumanizing young black
men as “ animals” and “ w o lf packs,”
and focuses our attention on the out
rageous attitudes that make women
more vulnerable to bodily violence.
M ost o f a ll, there’ s a clear mes
sage to every parent in the country -
to in still in our kids the values and
controls that enable them to reject
violence and in flic tin g pain on oth
ers. And the message to the nation is
to give our young men something
positive to look, forward to -- jobs,
careers and programs to get them
into the mainstream.
Straight talk
By A. W a li Muham m ad
Grand Solutions
Haven’t Worked
‘ * Get right down to the real n itty ”
is an approach generally ignored in
our attempts at problem -solving in
the Black comm unity.
Accepted Black leadership has a
tendency toward grand,, all encom
passing solutions which require the
federal government to do some thing,
or spend some money. To date, these
grand schemes have yet to solve the
ond o f the two great commandments.
The drug/violence/murdcr contin
uum is fillin g ja ils and prisons w ith
our youth, but that is not the prob
lem. Eighty percent o f births in the
Black com m unity are to unwed
mothers, but that is not the problem.
The Black fa m ily is on the verge o f
dissolution, but that is not the prob
lem.
A ll o f these conditions are effects,
not causes. The cause, as the H onor
able Elijah Muhammad and now M in
ister Louis Farrakhan, and others,
have been shouting is that Black people
“ problem .”
as individuals have been robbed o f a
Integration was one such solu healthy self-esteem based on a know l
tion, the Voting Rights Act, forced edge o f themselves.
busing and housing, welfare, all were
A ny solutions not directed at re
grand solutions aimed at solving the constructing a positive and healthy
“ problem” suffered by Black people Black psyche w ill prove ineffective.
in Am erica.
W ith the evident failure o f that
approach to problem -solving as e vi
denced by the deteriorating Black
condition in 1989, leadership now
must come to grips w ith properly de
fining the “ problem ” and chart a
course fo r the Black com m unity in
line w ith that clearer definition.
A t the A frican Am erica Summit
'89, M inister Louis Farrakhan de
clared that “ Time dictates agenda.
I f you know the time, then you w ill
adopt the right agenda.”
In the May 13-19 edition o f the
Economist magazine, published in
London, an ad fo r Rolex watches
feaured Dr. Richard Leakey, Direc
tor o f Kenya’ s National Museums,
claiming that he and Rolex were linked
by ‘ a reverence for the majesty o f
time.
The advertisement credited Dr.
Leakey w ith redefining the origins o f
modem humanity through his dis
covery in Kenya o f fossils o f the ear
liest remains o f man. Leakey proved
true the tenet which the Honorable
Elijah Muhammad laid as a corner
stone for Black self-improvement,
that Black people were the “ o rig i
n al” people, the father and mother o f
But to accomplish this, personal so
lutions aimed at the ind ivid ua l suf
fering from these effects must be im
plemented, not solutions aimed gen
erally at the effects, and the effects o f
the effects.
To dismantle the increasingly
complex drug networks, for example,
the youth operating this not-so-undcr-
grand empire must be presented w ith
some viable alternatives to attaining
the “ Am erican D ream ” fed to them
via mass media. They are taught that
their personal value is measured by
the gold they wear and the car they
drive; that’ s the Am erican way.
To begin integrating their own
disjointed personalities, Black people,
especially our youth, must gain a
’ ‘ reverence for the majesty o f tim e,”
know ing that they arc the fathers and
mothers o f c iv iliz a io n , as old as lim e
itself, and that they have unlim ited
potential transferable to good-pay
ing jobs, fines homes, nice cars, all
earned through honest hard work.
The over $200 b illio n in aggregate
Black personal income could serve
to finanacc the creation o f cm plom -
cnt.
The tim e fo r community-based
personalized
solutions has arrived.
all races.
L
et's
“
get
rig
ht down to the real
This truth alone can serve as a
catalyst for self-development “ Know n itty g ritty ” before it is too late.
M r. Muhammad is the editor-in-
thy s e lf ’ ancient pyram id w ritings
ch
ie
f o f the Final C all newspaper,
instructed; “ Love thy neighbor as
published
by the Nation o f Islam.)
thyself, - Jesus identified as the sec