Page 7 Portland Observer AUGUST 24, 1989
The Voice of our People must be Heard!
Lenora Fulani
E arlier this month the Village
V o ic e -N e w Y ork C ity ’s most w ell
known liberal newspaper-printed a
cover story attacking M inister Louis
Farrakhan. The author o f the nine-
page article, entitled " W h o ’s listen­
ing to Louis Farrakhn? couldn’ t un­
derstand why so many African Am eri­
cans support the leader o f the Nation
o f Islam.
T w o reporters from the National
A lliance, an independent weekly
newspaper that is also published in
New Y o rk, came up to Harlem to
hear what the sisters and brothers on
the street had to say about M inister
Farrakhan, the Voice’s attack on him,
and the refusal o f Manhattan B or­
ough President David D in kin s -N e w
Y o rk ’s senior Black elected o ffic ia l
who is seeking the Democratic Party’s
mayoral nomination—to condemn the
attack. Their comments were so right­
eous and rig ht on that 1 wanted to
share them w ith you. Here is a small
sample:
“ A Black leader should tell the
truth, no matter who it hurts, Black
or w h ite .”
“ Black people follow him because
he has a message. There haven’ t been
a lot o f other so-called Black leaders
who come out and really explain
w h a t’ s happening
to blacks
today...They’ re attacking him for the
same reason that they have attacked
[R everend A l] Sharpton and
Fulani...they 're just not going to side
with a brother who’s telling the truth.”
"M a lc o lm always said that libe r­
als were very two-faced and tricky in
that they appear to be on your side,
but really they have ju s t as many
racist undertones as the racists from
M ississippi. So I think this is nothing
new. I t ’ s a facade they create to give
the appearance that they are really
for you, but they’re not.”
" I t ’ s strange that when Black
people stand behind each other, i t ’s
called racism ...It’s unfortunate that
Blacks feel afraid to stand behind
each other. They need to do that,
sim ply put, and stop being so sensi­
tive to the w hite w orld as far as
thinking that any controversy is going
to hurt u s -in this case the D inkins
campaign,”
“ The V illag e Voice attacks inde­
pendent Black leaders to discourage
people...if Farrakhan in 1985...I f
you’re going to call yourself a leader,
you should stand up and give your
voice to the issues. Having said that,
I think the Black com m unity should
vote fo r h im ."
" I don’ t agree w ith everything
Farrakhan says, but when he says
that we need economic and p olitical
control he’ s rig h t.If Farrakhan has
the strength to take these attacks, then
he wants to weather them too. You
have to ask yourself i f a paper is so
biased and attacks independent black
leaders, how liberal is it? ”
" F o r a black leader to think they
can’ t stand up fo r Farrakhan is
wrong...All those Black leaders we’re
supposed to look up t o - i f they can’ t
speak up, the Black com m unity can’ t
speak up.”
I couldn’ t have said it better
m yself! I am running as an independ­
ent candidate fo r mayor o f New Y ork
C ity on the New alliance Party line to
give our people a voice in the up­
coming election. Although I am sup­
porting M r. D in k in s ’ prim ary bid,
and have pledged that i f he wins his
party’ s nom ination I w ill w ork to see
that he is elected mayor, i f he loses I
am not prepared to put the life and
death issues o f our people on a back
burner in the interests o f a Demo­
cratic Party victory.
One o f those crucial and contro­
versial issues is M inister Louis Far­
rakhan, an independent Black leader
who has been v ilifie d in the white
corporate m edia-including "lib e ra l”
publications like the Village V o ic e -
just because he is independent. One
reason the Voice thought it could get
away w ith attacking M inister Farra­
khan is that establishment Black
leaders like David D inkins (the " i n ­
siders” ) w on’ t stand up to defend
independent Black leaders (the ones
on the "frin g e ” who are far from the
center o f power and, therefore, clos­
est to the Black masses) fo r fear o f
jeopardizing the privileges they de­
rive from their status as the " le g iti­
mate’ ’ Black leaders-m eaning those
acceptable to the w hite Powers That
Be.
When our o ffic ia l Black leaders
stand silently by w hile an independ­
ent leader such as m inister Farrakhan
is trashed by the likes o f the V illage
Voice, they are participating in an
attack on democracy and on the Black
com m unity itself. A nd they must be
held accountable fo r that crim e o f
silence.
Dr. Fulani is chairperson of the New Alliance Party. Her
comments do not reflect the views of the Portland
Observer
VIOLENT
CLASH OF
JEWISH
GROUPS NOT
REPORTED
Police said Levy has a perm it fo r
a semi-automatic rifle , two shotguns
and four rifle s, but not fo r the Ruger.
Yet, in 1981, Levy was arrested on
charges o f bom bing the car o f a
Nigerian diplom at near the Soviet
United Nations missions.
Form erly a member o f the JD L,
Levy bolted from the group after
fighting w ith Rubin over who w ould
lead the group after the departure o f
the J D L ’s founder M e ir Kahane, now
a member o f the Israel Knesset.
THE RED, BLACK AND GREEN: WHAT
DOES IT MEAN
Run Daniels
In the last year or so suddenly we
have begun to see a flo u ris h o f red
black and green ornaments and attire
being worn and otherwise displayed
by African-Am ericans, particularly
Black youth. O f course this is not the
first lime that these colors have gained
prominence and popularity. In the
sixties and seventies,the era o f Black
consciousness, Black Power, nation­
alism and pan-africanism it was quite
customary to see the red, black and
green in great abundance. These colors
have tremendous significance to
African-Am ericans. The question is
how many A frican- Americans have
even the slightest idea what the red,
black and green means?
Since values, images and symbols
are so terribly im portant to a devel­
oping people,then it is crucial that
we coastantly teach those values which
w ill help us to survive and develop
and learn about and project those
afro-centric images and symbols
which w ill reinforce positive values
and further inspire our people to strive
towards fu ll freedom and develop­
ment as a part o f the human fam ily.
It was Marcus Garvey who came
forth w ith the red, black and green as
the colors to symbolize the history
and aspirations o f Africans in Am er­
ica. To paraphrase him, he once asked.
Black man where is your govern­
ment, your flag, your men o f big af­
fairs? Garvey proceeded to provide
answers fo r all o f those questions.
Based on his research into an ancient
African K ing, and his keen percep­
tion o f what the psychological and
cultural needs o f Black people in
America were, Garvey offered A f r i­
can-Americans a flag, O U R F LA G
W ITH THE COLORS RED, B L A C K
A N D GREEN.
RED symbolizes the B LO O D and
SUFFERING o f our people through
slavery, colonialism, segregation, dis­
crim ination, and economic exploita­
tion; B L A C K is for the people, A F ­
R IC A N PEOPLE, our culture and
our history o f triumphs and achieve­
ments; and GREEN is for the L A N D ,
our homeland, mother A frica which
serves as a source o f strength, inspi­
ration and a potential base o f power
and development for people o f A f r i­
can descent everyone. Marcus G ar­
vey and the U .N .I.A . popularized the
colors and the flag and left them as
legacies for future generations to pick
up and properly propogate.
So beyond the fad, fashion and
fleeting fancy o f the moment the red,
black and green has meaning and
significance to us which we should
never loose., L ike the Black National
Anthem, every African-Am erican
should know the history, significance
and meaning o f the the red, black and
green and our flag. The colors should
be displayed in African-Am erican
churches, institutions, agencies and
in our homes. Ornaments w ith the
colors from beads, medallions, neck­
laces etc. should also be w om w ith
pride. In terms o f the appropriate
manner o f displaying the colors, they
should always appear in order red,
black and green from top to bottom
or from left to right. When someone
inquires about the meaning o f the
colors, we should be knowledgeable
enough to give an intelligent answer.
H opefully the popular rap groups
like Public Enemy, the Statasonics
and other artists and entertainers w ill
devote more tim e in their lyrics, raps
and videos to leaching the meaning
o f the red,black and green. The A f r i­
can-American com m unity is deeply
indebted to those young people who
have picked up the legacy o f Garvey
and are spreading it in our time. They
need to keep on pushing it. Thank
god for some "C o lo rs ” that have a
real message and meaning fo r the
National African-Am erican Commu­
nity!
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5001 N.E. Martin Luther King Blvd.
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by A. Wali Muhammad
When unarmed members o f the
Nation o f Islam threw to the ground
an apparent drug dealer w ielding a
shotgun at the outset o f the
Dopcbusters drug program in Wash­
ington, D.C. in A p ril, the images
poppped up on television sets in liv ­
ing rooms throughout America.
Nevertheless, when a highly vis­
ible Jewish " m ilita n t” went to a
rooftop in the East V illag e o f M an­
hattan, New Y o rk C ity on august 10
w ith a high-powered rifle and shot a
69-ycar-old bystander, then held the
neighborhood under siege fo r nearly
tw o hours, very little national cover­
age was given to the incident.
" I t doesn’t sound a ll that major to
me, “ responded an editor on the na­
tional desk o f the Chicago Tribune
when asked why that paper, ranked
fifth in the nation, had not covered
the story.
[When asked his name, the editor
hung up the phone. The paper’ s
managing editor, F. Richard Ciccone,
later apologized fo r that editor’ s
behavior, but still said choices had to
be made about what stories would
run, and that story was not selected.]
A n ironic tw ist to the story is that
the Jewish " m ilita n t” is Mordechai
L evy, head o f the Jewish Defense
Organization (JDO),which advocates
violence and offers weapons training
to Jews, and called for the "d e a th ”
o f M inister Louis Farrakhan.
Levy and Irv Rubin o f the Jewish
Defense Lcaguc(JDL),both involved
in the incident, are responsible fo r
Black student
unions having to spend tens o f
thousands o f dollars in extra security
expenses because these Jewish " t e r ­
rorists” have alleged that M inister
Farrakhan is violent.
Even more ironic. Levy, 27, was
fleeing from Rubin when Levy ran to
the rooftop w ith a Ruger M ini-14
rifle and fired a burst o f shots toward
the street below. One bullet struck
C om inic Spinelli, 69, in the left knee,
as he sat in his com pany’s van, ac­
cording to the New York Daily News.
The incident began when Rubin
and three others attempted to serve
Levy w ith c iv il court papers con­
cerning a libel suit Rubin filed against
Levy.
Levy told police, after they had
talked him into surrendering nearly
two hours later, "T h e y came to my
building with guns...They were going
lo k ill me,” the D aily News reported.
Levy would probably face at­
tempted murder charges, according
to Chief o f Department Robert Johnson
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