Page 2 Portland Observer JULY 20, 1989
“E D IT Ö R IA L /Ö P IN IO N
TO BE EQUAL
COURT DAMAGED RIGHTS
byjohn E. Jacob
That noise you may have heard at
the beginning o f July was probably
the collectiveive sigh o f re lie f that
the Supreme C o u rt’s term ended. A t
least the Justices w on ’t be able to do
any more damage to the flim sy fabric
o fc iv il rights u ntil the fall term starts.
N ot that they did n ’t do enough
damage already. The term just ended
was the most disastrous in memory.
Just look at some o f the more
devastating rulings it came up w ith:
The C ourt rolled back local gov
ernment setaside programs designed
to encourage minority businesses and
to compensate fo r past discrim ina
tion.
It allowed w hite male employees
to sue to overturn court-approved a f
firm ative action programs that rem
edy historic discrim ination against
blacks. But in another case, it refused
that same rig ht to women employees
seeking to challenge discrim inatory
seniority programs.
It lowered an employers’ burden
o f p ro of to the weakest possible stan
dard in cases alleging promotion dis
crim ination.
It made it far more d iffic u lt fo r
employees to win discrimination cases
by lim itin g use o f statistics that show
disparities in jobs held by white men
and those held by women and m i
norities.
It overturned use o f an 1866 c iv il
rights law in cases charging racial
harassment and discrim ination, fo rc
ing victim s to use o th e r, more d if f i
c u lt standards.
It weakened the rights o f accused
persons by d ilu tin g the so-called M i
randa rules,letting stand a conviction
where the accused was denied legal
representation at the tim e o f arrest.
It approved the death penalty fo r
minors and retarded persons, over
turning long-held precepts that such
a penalty represents “ cruel and un
usual punishm ent
And it narrowed privacy rights
and the rig ht o f women to make their
own reproductive decisions by up
holding a M issouri law restricting
the right o f abortion.
This latter case, Webster v. Re
productive Services, is the prelude to
forthcoming cases in w hich the Court
appears lik e ly to reverse the 1973
Roe v. Wade decision that estab
lished the constitutional rig ht to
abortion.
The decision w ill unleash a bitter,
d ivisive battle in state legislatures as
the anti-abortion movement w ill fight
to push state laws to the other lim it o f
what is constitutionally permissible.
And it ’ s going to poison A m e ri
can politics fo r years to come as the
m ilita nt anti-abortionists w ill make
allegiance to their position the only
electoral test fo r politicians seeking
office. W e may ju s t w ind up an e f
fective ban on abortions and w ith
government deciding whether a
woman w ill bear a child.
Whatever one’ s personal attitude
toward abortion, since 1973 there
have been strict constitutional lim its
that preserve both a wom an’ s rig h t to
control her own body and the state’ s
legitimate interest in preserving life.
The C ourt is now launching our
society into a bitter battle over a
social issue that had been settled in a
satisfactory manner fo r a ll but a
■ ,
Along the Color Line "Do the Right
Thing’*
Dr. Manning Marble
Spike Lee’s latest film , “ Do the
Right T h in g ," has provoked the
greatest political debate and contro
versy since the polemics surround
ing the film version o f Alice W alker’s
‘ ‘The C olo r purple. ” As in the previ
ous controversy, critics and defend
ers alike have focused less on the
relative merits and weaknesses o f the
film as a w ork o f art, and have fo
cused instead on the m ovie as a cu l
tural litm us test on race relations and
the question o f p olitical powerless
ness w ith in African-Am erican com
munities. What’s required at this point
is to separate an analysis o f Lee’s
film from the charges in d counter
charges engendered by the m ovie, in
order to shed ligh t upon the broader
p olitical and social significance o f
the issues raised by the debate.
“ D o the R ight T h in g ” was w rit
ten, produced and directed by Spike
Lee, a 32 year old A frican Am erican
film m aker, who has previously done
tw o movies on Black-oriented top
ics. Lee’ s m otivation fo r developing
the film was sparked by the death o f
M ichael Stewart, a g ra ffiti artist who
was k ille d by transit authority o ffi
cers in New Y o rk for allegedly re
sisting arrest. The events o f Howard
Beach, New Y ork, in which Black
men were assaulted and one k ille d by
a gang o f w hite racists, further crys-
talized Lee ’ s concerns about the state
o f race relations in Am erica’ s largest
m in ority o f zealots.
The immediate effect o f the
Webster decision w ill be to sharply
lim it poor people’ s a b ility to term i city.
The essential storyline o f the film
nate unwanted pregnancies, since it
allows public facilities to refuse treat is as fo llo w s: Based in a Black and
ment. M eanwhile, the affluent can Hispanic neighborhood in New Y ork’s
get abortions at w ill in private estab Bedford Stuyvesant area, the events
lishments.
take place during one hot day during
A ll, in a ll, this Supreme Court the summer on one c ity block. Lee
term has been a disaster fo r human presents a series o f characterizations
rights advocates, and we must look o f Black low income people, undere
to the President, Congress, and state ducated and jobless, but w ith a real
legislatures to remedy the damage sense o f d ignity and humanity. The
characters include tw o Black elders,
done to rights by the C ourt.”
excellently portrayed by Ossie Davis
and Ruby Dee; Bugging Out (Gian
carlo Esposito), the local neighbor
hood’s activist who is upset by the
lack o f Black-ownership in the com
m unity; Radio Raheem (B ill Nunn),
a huge young man w ith an equally
large ghettoblaster; Sm iley (Roger
Sm ith), a young man w ith a speech
W hitney Houston sings “ I believe the children are our future. Treat them
defect who nevertheless represents
w ell and let them show the w ay” .The future o f African-Am ericans is in
the most p o litic a lly advanced char
jeopardy because B L A C K Y O U T H A R E A N E N D A N G E R E D SPECIES.
acter in the entire film by his advo
W e ll like everything else in the African-Am erican com m unity, it de
cacy o f the ideas o f M alcolm X and
pends on your vantage point. I f you are among the more fortunate w ith in our
M artin Luther K ing, Jr.; and M ookie,
com m unity, the top 20% whose incomes increased dram atically in the last
played by Lee him self, an unmarried
decade, then perhaps your young sons and daughters are not at risk. But the
father who works at an Italian A m e ri
sons and daughters o f a vast number o f A frican-Am ericans are in serious
can-owned pizzeria in the heart o f
crisis. This is particularly true o f those who struggle to survive amongst the
the Black com m unity.
abandoned ghetto class; those who are locked out, le ft out, neglected and
The central antagonism develops
locked up.
when Bugging Out complains to the
Because some African-Am ericans are now doing quite w ell, Am erica,
owner o f the pizzeria that there should
and indeed even some African-Am ericans suffer from an illusion o f prog
be photographs o f prominent A f r i
ress. In reality there is an explosive tim e bomb ticking away in the depths
can Am erican artists, athletes and
o f the Black comm unity,and at the bottom o f A m erica’ s economic pyramid.
political leaders in the shop almost
African-A m erican youth, particularly Black males are being destroyed by
exclusively patronized by Blacks and
in fe rio r education, staggering unemployment, drugs, violence, aimlessness
Hispanics. When the owner refuses,
and frustration.Am erica doesn’ t seem to care. And jud gin g by the lack o f
bugging Out organizes a small b oy
urgency in our actions the African-A m erican com m unity is complacent,
cott w hich leads to a confrontation.
unconcerned or too busy enjoying the “ good life ” to pay attention to the
Radio Raheem’ s ghettoblaseter is
wholesale destruction o f Black youth in our midst.
smashed by Sal, the owner, and a
Despite progress in race relations over the last 25 years, racism remains
fig h t ensues. The police are called
a m ajor contributing factor in the devastating crisis confronting A frica n-
and
in typical fashion respond by
Am erican youth. In 1986 unemployment among young Black males stood
choking
Radio Raheem to death.
at 74% as compared w ith 52% fo r young w hite males. In fact the last tw o
M
ookie
leads
the outraged residents
decades have failed to produce significant gains in terms o f Black youth
to
attack
and
destroy
the pizzeria.
employment. In the m id -fifties Black and w hite teenage em ploym ent rates
L e t’ s focus first on the main ele
were about the same, 52%. By 1989 however. Black teen employm ent had
ments or themes w hich Lee is at
declined drastically to 27%. W hite teen em ploym ent remained at about the
tempting to explore here. Metaphors
same level.
abound in the movie. U nintention-
In an alarm ing development, there is a large and increasing segment o f
CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL
THE CRISIS OF BLACK YOUTH
a lly, by projecting Sm iley as a stut
terer w ho sells photos o f M alcolm
and M artin, the film seems to say to
us that the legitim ate voices o f resis
tance and activism in our com m uni
ties are frequently held down or deni
grated. There’ s a dialectical tension
underscoring the whole film from
beginning to end between a hope fo r
interracial peace and nonviolent
change vs. the need fo r group so li
darity, empowerment and an advo
cacy o f armed self defense against
racist brutality. This is reason fo r
Lee’ s uses o f Public Enem y’ s “ Fight
the Pow er” and the National Black
Anthem , “ L if t Every Voice and
S ing ” , at the opening o f the film , and
the quotations from M alcolm and
M artin at the conclusion.
Politics and power are at the heart
o f the film . W e are shown black men
and women w ho are out o f w ork or
marginally employed, living in neigh
borhoods w hich are controlled eco-
nom ically by nonblacks. The police
treat A frica n Americans w ith con-
tempt, functioning like an occupying
army in enemy territory. One is struck
by contemporary parallels to Pales
tine or perhaps the bantustans o f South
A frica. To ensure the property, busi
nesses and lives o f white occupiers,
the police make selective examples
o f nonwhites through the utilization
o f extreme coercion. Thus Radio
Raheem’ s execution is not acciden
tal, but typical o f a larger question o f
white political combination and Black
oppression.
“ D o the R ight T h in g ” also pres
ents the contradictions o f Black-white
relations by exam ining the personal
am biguity between the w hite store-
owner Sal (Danny A ie llo ), his two
sons and M ookie. The film graphi
cally depicts the extreme racism o f
one son w ho defines Blacks as ani
mals, yet Sal is proud o f his estab
lishm ent and his cordial relationship
w ith most patrons. M ookie initiates
the looting o f the store after Radio
Raheem’s death, yet the morning after
Sal is prepared to pay his form er
employees tw ice what he is owed.
The reason that the film strikes a
responsive chord here is because race
relations are complex, not sim plis
tic. W hites w ho are profoundly racist
frequently can hate an entire group
o f people yet make exceptions in
their relations w ith individuals. Sal’ s
failure isn’ t personal, its p olitical.
Bugging O ut doesn’ t want to marry
Sal’ s daughter, or to force him to sell
the pizzeria. He o nly wants M a l
c o lm ’ s and M a rtin ’s pictures on the
pizzeria’ s w all as sym bolic o f recog
nizing the heritage and humanity o f
the patrons. Sal’ s refusal is funda
m entally the refusal o f w hite racism
to recognize that human rights go
beyond property rights.
A number o f confused critics. Black
and w hite, have attacked Lee fo r
m aking a film which supposedly
advocates violence. Journalist Juan
W illia m s complains that the m ovie
lacks “ v is io n ” and promotes racial
confrontation, i f W illiam s, etal. really
lived in the innercity they’d under
stand that Lee’ s film actually under
states, i f a n y th in g , the race and class
tensions in contemporary Am erica.
“ D o the R ight T h in g ” provides a
com plex and dynamic examination
o f Am erican racism.
Black youth who are passing into adulthood w itho ut any jo b experience
whatsoever. They are a part o f an expanding economic underclass. W ithout
a jo b it is d iffic u lt to develop a sense o f pride and self-esteem in the middle
o f an affluent, acquisitive, m aterialistic society. W ithout a legitim ate job its
easy to turn to the illic it street economy o f drugs, crim e, vice, violence and
death.
An angry dispossessed class o f A frican-Am erican youth are now lashing
out against society. They are the victim s o f genocidal governmental policies
which invest in star wars, exotic bombers, spacecraft, and a variety o f
missiles w hile neglecting to invest in education, housing, health care, and
jobs fo r our young people. They are the victim s o f Reagan’ s “ voo-doo
economics” which worked magic fo r the wealthy and created devastation
and misery for the masses o f African-Am ericans imprisoned in Am erica’ s
urban ghettos.
The most tragic casualty o f this blatant neglect, however, has been the
deterioration o f V A L U E S , the weakening o f Black fam ilies, and the
shredding o f the fabric o f the African-A m erican com m unity. Black youth
are self-destructing in the face o f Am erica’ s genocide and we as A frican-
Americans seem incapable o f caring enough to rescue, nurture, and develop
our future. O ur youth are rampaging out o f control, on their own.
Those who H A V E w ithin the African-Am erican com m unity are either
embarrassed by our youth, disdainful o f them or blame them for the
problem. The H A V E NOTS w ithin our com m unity are im m obilized by the
sheer struggle to survive, or terrorized into inaction.
Am erica has a huge time bomb on its hand. The National A frican-
American com m unity has a monumental crisis which it must squarely face
or risk an uncertain future. The crisis facing Black youth must be solved or
W E RE H E A D E D FOR SE LF-D ESTR U C TIO N .
P O R TLA N D -OBSERVER
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PORTLAND OBSERVER
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ï r i t î i ? i.
INSTITUTIONS FOR BLACK
EMPOWERMENT: THE BLACK
UNITED FUND
W e as Black people tend to pay
fo r what we want and beg fo r what
we need. As African-Am ericans we
have yet to learn the wisdom o f har
nessing our own resources to de
velop our own communities. W hile
it is true that we have vast numbers o f
our people (perhaps 30%) who live
in poverty, co lle ctively we do have
resources. Considered as an A frican
nation in Am erica, A fric a n -A m e ri
cans have a gross annual income o f
more than 250 b illio n dollars a year.
In that context we w ould be consid
ered one o f the most prosperous de
veloping nations in the w orld. T o re
iterate, the problem is that African-
Americans have not internalized the
concept o f using our dollars fo r our
own developm ent
This is not a new found revela
tion. Throughout our history there
have been a stream o f African- Am eri
can leaders who have sought to teach
the value o f self-help, self-support,
and self-development. M artin R. De
laney, Bishop Henry M . Turner,
Booker T. Washington, Madame C.J.
Walker, W E .B . Dubois, Marcus Gar
vey, M ary M cC loud Bethune, The
Honorable E lijah Muhammad, M a l
colm X and M artin Luther K in g are
but a few o f our distinguished leaders
who have appealed to us to take
seriously the need to invest our re
sources in our own self-development.
Though one can argue w ith some
m erit that African-Am ericans have
gotten somewhat better at self-sup
port since the sixties, our com m it
ment to self-help s till falls far short
o f what is required to make us a
strong, viable and effective national
com m unity. O ur m ajor c iv il-rig h ts
organizations and institutions o f higher
learning from the N .A .A .C J*. and
Urban League to the U nited Negro
College Fund are p rin c ip a lly sup
ported by labor, corporations, or
individual white donors. M ost o f our
com m unity based organizations and
agencies would not survive w ithout
white good w ill and philanthropy.
The shaping o f a pattern o f institu
tions fo r black empowerment w ill
require massive support in terms o f
dollars from Black people. I f we seek
to achieve power to enhance the de
velopment o f our com m unities then
we must kic k the habit o f paying fo r
what we want and begging fo r what
we need.
Every African-Am erican commu
nity in the United States should have
a United African-A m erican Appeal,
a United Black Fund, or a Black
United Fund. In every com m unity
public and private sectors are strate
gies which can greatly expand the
impact o f resources raised w ith in A f
rican-American community is o ff and
rolling.
Fortunately due to the pioneering
w ork o f people like Jim Joseph, the
late W alter Bremond, and C alvin
Rolark, there are Black U nited Funds
or United Black Funds in a number
there should be an institution which o f cities including New Y o rk C ity,
functions fo r the African-Am erican
D etroit, Washington D.C., Houston,
com m unity in the same manner that Atlanta and Los Angeles. However
the United W ay functions fo r the none o f these funds enjoy the w ide
com m unity in the same manner that spread and massive support that is
the United W ay functions fo r the required fo r them to have m ajor
com m unity in general. A frican-
impact. Indeed some o f them require
Americans need to provide the p ri grants from w hite foundations or the
mary funding bases fo r our c iv il-
United W ay fo r their very survival.
rights organizations, c iv ic associa
In the final analysis institution fo r
tions, cultural, educational, economic
Black empowerment cannot be b u ilt
and p o litic a l development projects
and maintained unless we as A f r i
and programs.
can-Am erican are com m itted to
A Black United Fund is sim ply a support these institutions w ith our
broad based com m unity e ffo rt to
own d ollars.lt is s till true that “ he
harness some o f the b illion s o f d ol
who pays the piper picks the tune” .
lars that flo w though our com m uni
O ur institutions cannot play the kind
ties every year to support our own in
o f liberating tunes we need unless we
stitutions and our own com m unity
ante-up. The vital importance o f self-
development. Individual donations,
help fo r self-development is a key
fund-raising projects, corporate and
cultural value and ideological tenet
institutional contributions a id pay- [i which we must continue to drive into
ro ll check-off are among the means
the hearts and minds o f our people.
which can be used to provide a pool
“ No one else w ill save us, but us” .
o f capital fo r the Black United Fund.
United Funds are an indispensable
Long term investments, developing
institution fo r Black empowerment.
endowments and leveraging existing
We as African-Am ericans must pay
resources to receive grants in the
the price fo r our own liberation.
BLACK/JAPANESE RECONCILI
ATION - A MOVE TOWARD
SOLIDARITY
by Mark Goss
T okyo, Japan on Saturday June 24, 1989, The W o rld R ally o f Black
A ctivists (W R B A ) convened its preparatory meeting. The W R B A is the
brainchild o f M r. Ryosuke M A R S U U R A , a prominent Japanese human
rights activist. “ Insensitive, Reckless and irresponsible” statements were
made by two top Japanese politicians regarding African-Americans. Matsuura
and other responsible Japanese feel that the statements were an insult not
only to A frica n Am ericans, but to the entire Black W orld.
M r. A . Akbar M uham mad/epresentative o f the Nation o f Islam , d e liv
ered the keynote address, said that, Nakasone, Watanage and an unnamed
Japanese manufacturer who recreated a ‘ sambo’ d oll, must have received
their inform ation from their contact w ith W hite Am erica. I don’ t honestly
believe that they hired a Black consulting firm , or sent Japanese researchers
to the Black comm unities in Am erica to ju s tify their reckless and unfounded
statements.”
M r. Seiho T A J IR I, a Japanese business man liv in g in Am erica, attended
the conference. He has worked fo r twenty years w ith various A frican-
Am erican organizations in attempt to strengthen business relationships
between Japan and Black Am erica. T a jiri revealed to those in attendance
that there is a tendency fo r some American Tour Agents to discourage
Japanese visits to Black Communities.
The honorable Rossie Douglas, M P from the Island o f D om inica in the
Caribbean, urged the Japanese to review the method by which monetary aid
is given to T hird W orld Nations. T raditionally, aid is given through form er
C olonial Masters.
Keba B. Cisse, Ambassador from Senegal and Faustin P. Maganga,
Student and Q R B A C oordinator from Tanzania stress that it is im portant
that Japan develops a “ proper” relationship w ith A frica. Japan is an Island
nation o f nearly 150 m illio n people and w ill need vital resources from A frica
going into the next century.
Spartacus R., musician and D irector o f the C ultural Awareness Program
in London spoke on the need for proper recognition o f A fric a and her
cultural, philosophical and scientific contributions to w orld c iviliza tio n .
M r. Matsuura plans to build an international organization based on mutal
respect, human d ig nity and w orld peace. Plans are now underway fo r five
regional plenary sessions fo r the W R B A . The first meeting w ill be held in
the Caribbean - September 1989; United Suites - October 1989; Europe -
December 1989; East and West A frica - January 1990. These meetings w ill
be concluded w ith a W orld R ally o f Black A ctivists to be held in B ra zil in
1990. A t the conclusion o f the Conference, The Tokyo Declaration o f the
W R B A fo r W orld Peace and Human D ign ity was read and accepted by
conference attenders and w ill be sent to Black Newspapers and organiza-
lions around the world.