March 21,1990 • Portland Observer • Page J
NATIONAL FORUM
Civil Rights Journal
The New Color Line:
Part Two of a Two Part Series
In the United States, people of color are
frequently classified as “ m inorities." But
dynamics of the new color line are rapidly
changing the demographic position of
nonwhites, which will create new political
realities.
African-Americans are currently the
largest single group of people of color. In
the 1990 Census, Blacks should exceed 30
million people. Two-thirds of this popula
tion is located in only ten states: New York,
2.4 million people (as of 1980); California,
1.8 million; Texas, 1.7 million; Illinois, 1.7
million, followed by Georgia, Florida, North
Carolina, Louisiana, Michigan and Ohio.
Significantly, the most recent growth trends
indicate, that Black Americans by increas
ing numbers are returning to the South,
especially metropolitan areas such as At
lanta, Houston, New Orleans, Charlotte
and Birmingham. As of 1988,56 percent of
all African-Americans resided in the South,
a gain of nearly 3 million over the 52
percent who lived in the region in 1980.
Most of the Black who are moving into the
South are younger, in their twenties and
thirties; many are white collar profession
als and skilled workers. The strongest areas
for Black economic growth are also in the
Sunbelt, the Southern states, California and
the southwest.
Hispanics represent the fastest-grow
ing population within the new color line. In
1980, the Census counted nearly 15 million
Cuban-Americans, Mexican-Americans,
Puerto Ricans, and other citizens of His
panic descent. By 1990, the Census should
count at least 21 million Hispanics. Before
the year 2010, less than twenty years, His
panics will surpass African-Americans as
the largest single minority group. Like Black-
Americans, the Latino population is heav
ily concentrated in certain cities and states.
Three-fourths of the total Latino popula
tion is located in only five states. California
had 4.5 million Hispanics as of 1980, fol
lowed by Texas with 3 million; New York,
1.7 million; Florida, 900,000; and Illinois,
650,000 Latinos. Like African-Americans,
Hispanics have developed a series of politi
cal formations which advocate civil rights
and empowerment. The League of United
Latin American Citizens, established in
1928,and theG .I.Forum ,founded in 1948,
parallel the N.A.A.C.P. and Urban League
as mainstream, liberal organizations. La
Raza Unida Party and other local activist
formations represent more nationalist-ori
ented and radical viewpoints.
Asian-Americans represent the most
ethnically diverse of the four major groups
of people of color. Like Blacks and Hispan
ics, Asian-Americans have experienced
racism and legal discrimination. During
World War II, thousands of Japanese-
Americans were forced into internment camps
and their property was seized. By 1980,
there 5w ere 3.3 million Asian-Americans in
ing wage deductions made by an increas
the U.S. The major groups included the
ingly nonwhite labor force. Keep in mind
Chinese-Americans, numbering about
that the average Black man now dies about
800,000; Filipinos, 800,000; Japanese-
one year before age sixty five, and thus
Americans, 720,000; and Korean-Ameri-
before he collects Social Security.
cars, 380,000.
In the 1990s and well into the next
Native Americans have historically
century, it will be imperative for Black
experienced the greatest form of oppres
politicians, community leaders and activ
sion--genocide. They have a unique status
ists to grasp the significance of these demo
among all other people of color, in that the
graphic shifts and the rise of the new color
Indian tribes represent unique legal enti
line. We must forge a long-term, strategic
ties, with the power to levy taxes and to
alliance with the vast majority of these
regulate the usage o f lands. The Indian
groups of people of color, particularly those
population is also heavily concentrated
populations such as Mexican-Americans
geographically, with more than half of the
and Puerto Ricans which already stand at
total located in six states: California, with
the edge of achieving numerical majorities
more than 200,000 Indians in 1980; fol
in a number of cities and even states. By a
lowed in population by Oklahoma, Ari
strategic alliance, I do not mean a casual
zona, New Mexico, North Carolina and
coalition rooted in convenience and narrow
Washington state.
self-interests. What is required is a coher
What is the significance of these demo
ent understanding of our collective com
graphic patterns of people of color across
mon interests, economically, socially,
the U.S.? Before the end of the 1990s, one
educationally, and politically. We all bene
third of the entire American labor force will
fit when we increase the number of non
consist of Blacks, Hispanics, and other
white elected officials, government em
people o f color. By 2000, the majority of
ployees and administrators, who can in turn
California’s population will be nonwhite.
reallocate resources to our communities.
By 2020, the majorities of many state
We all benefit when we increase the num
populations, especially in the Sunbelt, will
ber of nonwhite elected officials, govern
consist of people of color. Between 2050
ment employees and administrators, who
and 2070, the majority of the entire U.S.
• can in turn reallocate resources to our
population will be nonwhite. The color line
communities, we all benefit when we rein
will be transformed. The majority will become
force the economic base inside the cities,
am inority; the minorities will be the major
creating opportunities for minority-owned
ity.
businesses, cooperatives, and other enter
The economic significance of this new
prises. we can all benefit when affirmative
color line and its demographic transforma
action programs are effectively enforced
tion by the middle o f the twenty first cen
within the public sector. We need to seize
tury is fundamental.
upon those areas of commonality and agree
For example, when Social Security was
ment, which speak to the practical, day-to-
established, the ratio of productive workers
day necessities of non white working people,
who contributed to the pension system
and develop a progressive agenda which
compared to recipients was seventeen to
places the interests of people ahead of
one. By the end of this decade, the ratio
private profit. We must mobilize around
declines to 3 to 1. By 2030, the ratio will be
the color line, reaching to all nonwhites and
2 to 1. Increasingly, there will be a retired,
to those progressive, anti-racist whites who
leisure class over age 65 which will be
share our vision of democracy, to create a
almost totally white, subsidized by grow
new American society.
by Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.
American Apartheid in Alabama
2
Racist apartheid should not be toler
¡lied in South Africa nor in Alabama. We
have just recently returned from commemo
rating the twenty-fifth anniversary o f the
Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March.
Twenty-five years ago, Hosea Williams
and John Lewis along with many others
were brutally beaten by local and state
police officers because they dared to march
over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma,
Alabama toward Montgomery, the state
capitol. The issue then was voting rights for
African-Americans who had been system
atically excluded from the electoral proc
ess in a geographical area that is predomi
nantly African-American. Days later, Martin
Luther King, Jr., led the successful march
to Montgomery.
When we arrived in Selma a week ago,
we were dismayed to find that while some
progress toward the fulfillment of political
empowerment for the African-American
community has been made, the reality is
that another form of apartheid has been
instituted. In the local schools, a racial
tracking system has been in place for over
two decades which has excluded thousands
of African-American students from having
the chance to receive a quality education.
$%
African-American students are dispro
portionately lodged into the lowest aca
demic level 3 ,” while white students are
disproportionately lodged into the highest
academic “ level 1.” This tracking begins
as early as the first and second grades. The
method which the schools have admini
stered prevented African-American chil
dren from changing their assigned aca
demic level. We interviewed many A fri
can-American high school seniors who stated
that they were forced to stay in “ level 3”
the entire twelve years of their education in
the Selma school system. As a result, these
students were not permitted to take basic
algebra or mathematics classes because
these subjects are reserved for “ level 1”
students.
In a school system that is 80 percent
African-American, it is a crime against
humanity for these students to be tracked
away from minimum academic competence.
Generations of African American youth from
Selma have been denied entrance into col
lege not because they lack intelligence or
ability but directly because of the deliber
ate racial discrimination they have suffered
in the school system.
+
Nation of Islam Leader
Stirs Nation’s Capitol
That is why when Selma’s first Afri
can-American school superintendent. Dr.
Norward Roussell, attempted to change the
tracking system, he was fired by the school
board. Incidentally, the school board, in a
city that is predominantly African-Ameri
can is comprised of six whites and five
African-Americans. The school board is
appointed by the predominantly white city
council which is controlled by long-time
Mayor Joe Smitherman. M ayor Smither-
man was the mayor of Selma twenty-five
years ago when “ Bloody Sunday" occurred
across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The school
board has determined that six members
constitute a quorum and therefore the white
members of the school board effectively
maintain the racial tracking system.
A renowned psychologist, Dr. Bobby
Wright, once said that to systematically
destroy or to prevent the development of a
person's mind is to commit a form of
genocide which he termed “ mentacide.”
Twenty-five years ago the issue was the
right to vote without racial discrimination
and intimidation. Today the issue in Selma,
Alabama is the right to education without
racial tracking, discrimination and intimi
dation.
The children of Selma are paying a
heavy price. Please do not see this as just a
local issue. We are now receiving calls
daily from many different communities
throughout the country attesting that a similar
racial tracking is occurring in their schools.
Let the word go out that we shall challenge
this form of American apartheid. Yes, a
mind is a terrible thing to waste, and we
cannot allow the minds of children in Selma
or anywhere else to be tracked and de
stroyed.
WASHINGTON--The Nation’s capi
Mrs. Frances Murphy, publisher and
tol had never seen anything like it before. In
editor of the Washington Afro-American,
just two days. Minister Louis Farrakhan,
hosted a press conference with members of
leader of the Nation of Islam, blew into this
the Black press on Feb. 28.
city like a quiet hurricane, met with the
publishers, senior editors and reporters of
the two major newspapers as well as the
Black press, and left the city - from the
White House to the halls of Congress to the
Articles and Essays by Ron Daniels
college campuses and basketball courts of
the Black community - buzzing over his
v isit
Just the opposite of the month of March,
Minister Farrakhan was in like a lamb and
out like a lion, with the words of his visits
treated in both papers with deference usu
ally reserved for presidents and prime
ministers.
Greeted by Amaud de Borchgrave,
Frantz Fanon, the Algerian revolution
The point o f this series of articles on
Editor-in-Chief of the Washington Times
ary, pointed out in his book THE
Pan-Africanism has been to argue that the
at their plant on W ashington's northeast
WRETCHED OF THE EARTH, that there
need for African people to act based on the
is no such thing as common or single Afri
side on Feb. 27, Minister Farrakhan was
ideal of Pan-Africanism remains crucial to
taken to Mr. Borchgrave's private office,
can national culture which binds all Afri
our growth and development. Changing
where he met briefly with Wesley Pruden,
cans together. Beyond the variety of Black
world conditions dictate that now more
managing editor, and Josette Shiner, dep
skin color, Africans ’ ’ are, in fact, as diverse
than ever it is o f the utmost priority that we
uty managing editor, before going to “ the
as “ Europeans.” Though traditional Afri
as African people get our collective act
Green Room” where 13 other Washington
can communalism may have produced some
together. The ever-present reality of ra
Times staffers were poised for the luncheon
generalized characteristics which might be
cism, and Euro-American world domina
session.
defined as the “ African personality,” that
tion and supremacy demand that African
The Washington Times, published by
personality manifests itself in a multiplic
people struggle to devise and implement a
ity of specific and identifiable cultures,
the Unification Church of Rev. Sun My ung
strategy for political and economic em
language groups, ethnic groups and nations
Moon, has carved a niche for itself in the
powerment and development. The founda
Washington market since its inception nearly
across the African continent and the world.
tions of such a strategy should be based on
eight years ago.
the positive common threads of racial iden
After a brief opening statement, the
tity, our common African ancestry, the
Hence the idea of Pan-Africanism
Muslim leader fielded a wide range of
virtues and values o f the African personal
confronts the reality of cultural, language,
questions during a lively exchange. Nota
ity and the continuing reality of our subju
etJinic and national differences and distinc
bly absent from both the Times and the Post
gation and domination by Europe and
tions. Skin color alone has not been suffi
sessions were religious editors.
America.
cient to bridge these distinctions. Indeed,
A front-page news article in the Feb.
In practical terms Pan-Africanism must
these distinctions have often been the source
28, Washington Times,"Leader urges Black
translate into determined efforts to forge
of ethnic and national tensions, rivalries,
exodus, ’ gave details of the visit accompa
regional agreements for economic coop
conflicts and wars among African people.
nied by extensive direct quotations from
eration
in West Africa, East Africa and the
These differences and distinctions there
priated donations to the NYM from major
the lengthy interview on page eight.
invigoration of the Southern African De
fore,
constitute
barriers
to
unity
which
cannot
corporations including CBS, Coca Cola,
On the following morning, Washing
velopm ent Coordination Conference
be underestimated by those of us who be
Polygram, Warner Communications, from
ton Post publisher Donald Graham, son of
(S ADCC). The Cambean nations must also
lieve
in
the
Pan-African
ideal.
Donald Trump (the big time New York City
rise above their differences to create a
owner Katherine Graham, met Minister
real estate developer) and from boxing
Farrakhan at the entrance to the Post build
Carribean common market. Africans in
Historically a series of circumstance.s
promoter Don King. Mr. Maddox plans to
ing and escorted the delegation to the meeting
America can play a decisive role in the
however,
combined
to
render
the
power
of
subpoena all these bigwigs to testify for the
effective implementation of Pan-African
room at the Washington Post Building,
the Pan-African idea very compelling. The
defense.
ism. However, it is imperative that African-
around the comer from the White House,
European conquest of Africa, the initiation
He has already subpoenaed New York
where 17 Post staffers had gathered for a
Americans internalize an Afro-centric
of
the
trans-Atlantic
slave
trade
and
the
City Mayor David Dinkins—the lawyer who
breakfast meeting.
worldview and ideology. It is vitally impor
elaboration of systems of racism, discrimi
was hired by the young Reverend Al in
Post staffers-including noted colum
tant
that African-Americans come to under
nation,
segregation
and
subordinate
status
1971 to incorporate the National Youth
nists William Raspberry, Dorothy Gilliam,
proceeded with absolutely no regard for
stand that our SELF DEVELOPMENT
Movement. David has tried to get the sub
David Broder and Richard Cohen, as well
African cultural, language, ethnic or na
nationally and internationally is the key of
poena quashed. “ It is said that a lawyer
as assistant Managing Editor Milton Cole
tional
distinctions.
All
Black
people
were
the race.
paid to represent a young man would not be
m an-again probed the calm Muslim m in
subject
to
economic
exploitation
and
po
Africans in America must marshal the
eager to come forward and defend his client
ister. The media alleged that Minister Far
litical domination irrespective to these dif
resources to provide technical assistance
when he is being charged with irregulari
rakhan had threatened Coleman’s life dur
ferences. In fact cultural aggression or
and material support for a range of educa
ties,” says Mr. Maddox. “ In 1971 Rever
ing the 1984 campaign of Rev. Jesse Jackson
imperialism,
the
effort
to
de-Africanize
all
tional
social and economic projects in Africa
end Sharpton paid Mr. Dinkins $4,000 to
when Coleman turned over to a fellow
Africans,
was
an
integral
component
of
and
the
Carribean. We must also foster
incorporate the National Youth Movement.
reporter off-the-record statements of Rev.
Europe’s strategy of domination and ex
Black investment in Africa and the Car
Mr. Dinkins' income was $20,000 that year,
Jackson.
ploitation.
ribean. Within the political arena, African-
Reverend Sharpton was his biggest fish!”
Minister Farrakhan took the opportu
Americans must provide massive and sus
But now David has other fish to fry; the
Given this fact of cultural aggression/
nity to greet Coleman, and to chastise Post
tained
political support for appropriate forms
last thing in the world this dyed-in-the-
imperialism, it is quite understandable that
staffers who advised Coleman not to meet
of U.S. aid and technical assistance for
wool Democrat wants is to be forced, under
the concept of Pan-Africanism first emerged
with Minister Farrakhan during the contro
Africa and the Carribean. We must be at
oath, to tell the truth about Reverend Al.
among the alienated Africans in the dis-
versy, even after the Minister used an ABC
least
as conscientious as the Irish are about
The case itself is a farce, and everyone
aspora. Delaney, Blyden, Sylvester W il
Nightline television appearance todiscount
Ireland,
the Polish about Poland and Jews
involved knows it. It is the latest move in
liams, Dubois and Garvey yearned for a
charges that he had called for Coleman's
about Israel. The U.S. government will
the political establishment's effort to si
psychological, cultural and in some cases
death.
respond to the Pan-African world in direct
lence an outspoken Black leader who is
physical,
return to mother Africa. The a
At times intense, the exchanges were
proportion
to the quality and intensity of
deeply loved and respected in the Black
quest to rediscover Africa, to affirm the
the first face-to-face opportunity for some
the
political
demands of Africans in Amer
community because he has courageously
greatness of African history and the vitality
of the best-known and most widely re
ica.
and steadfastly refused to keep silent about
of the "African personality,” plus the fierce
spected journalists in Washington to hear
Finally, the focus on the essential
injustice. We are going to see to it that this
desire
to resist white European world su
for themselves the views and proposals of a
questions
of economic survival and devel
case backfires; they are about to find out
premacy and domination became the driv
man the Black community increasingly is
opment
can
serve as a basis for meaningful
that we will defend our own!
ing elements of the Pan African ideal. These
hailing as their "leader.”
discussions regarding the larger goal of
were the elements which the early fathers
greater political consolidation and unity in
of Pan-Africanism hoped would serve as
CREED OF THE BLACK PRESS
the Pan African world. Dubois correctly
The Black Press believes that America can best lead the world away from social and
the overarching framework tor African
defined the “ color lin e" as the "problem
national antagonisms when It accords to every person, regardless of race, color, or
cooperation, unity and action; framework
of the twentieth century.” Making Pan-
creed, full human and legal rights. Hating no person, fearing no person, the Rlack
which could unify Africans despite differ
Press strives to help every person In the firm belief that all are hu rt as long as anyone
Africism work as a strategy to overcome
ences of culture, language, ethnicity and
Is held back.
that problem will be the challenge for Afri
national origin.
cans in the twenty-first century.
V antage P oint
Beyond Romanticism:
The Problems and
Prospects of Pan-Africanism
T his W ay F or B lack E mpowerment
/»i Dr. I cuora ! uliini
IVe Will Defend Our Own!
,1a lane™
There is a very valuable
lesson to be
learned from the election results in Nicara
gua. It is that revolutionary struggles in the
so-called Third World, regardless of how
much popular support they may have, can
not really succeed unless and until there is
fundamental social change here. Why? For
the plain and simple reason that white cor
porate America w on't allow i t
That is why black-led independent
politics is so significant. Those o f us who
are committed to this new brand of progres
sive politics are shaping the social motion
boiling up in the streets of America into a
multi-racial, working class-wide movement
that is already causing the profoundly cor
rupt and anti democratic political estab
lishment to panic. A case in point: the
kangaroo court proceedings that have been
mounted against Reverend A1 Sharpton for
the “ crim e” o f having stood up to defend
Taw ana B ra wley, a 15 -year old B lack child
no one else would listen to when she said
she had been gang-raped.
Reverend Sharpton is a dearly loved
hero in the working class Black communi
ties of New York who--for that very rea-
son--has been under sustained attack from
the state's judicial and political establish
ment. On March 19 he will be tried in New
York City on charges of stealing $250,000
in charitable funds donated to the National
Youth Movement, an organization which
he founded when he himself was only 16. A
related trial for tax evasion is scheduled to
begin in the capital city of Albany, New
York on May 1.
“ This case has been brought against
Reverend Sharpton because the Tawana
Brawley matter was never resolved and the
attorney general and the governor of this
state [Mario Cuomo), who has Presidential
ambitions, were publicly em barrassed,"
charges Reverend Sharpton's attorney Al-
--------------------------------------------------------
"This case has been brought
against Rev. Sharpton because
the Tawana Brawley matter
was never resolved and the
attorney general and the gover
nor o f this state, who has
Presidential ambitions, were
publicly embarrassed."
ton Maddox, who also stood up with the
Brawley family and thereby incurred the
wrath of those same powers that be who
hate Reverend Al; they are Crying to get Mr.
Maddox disbarred.
In the wake of the Brawley case, G ov
ernor Cuomo and Attorney General Abrams
and their underlings, aided and abetted by
the white corporate media, did everything
they could to destroy Al Sharpton .. .just as
they and their kind have tried to destroy
Minister Louis Farrakhan, another inde
pendent Black leader who is a hero to the
black masses. The powers that be haven’t
succeeded in burying Louis Farrakhan. They
didn’t bury Reverend Sharpton. And when
16 year old Yusuf Hawkins was beaten to
death by a mob of white hooligans in the
lily-white Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn
last August, it was Minister Farrakhan who
delivered the service at his funeral; and it
was Reverend Al who sat with the Hawkins
family while the “ responsible” (meaning
mealy-mouthed) Black leaders were kept
outside with the rest of the politicians . . .
where they belonged.
Reverend Sharpton is eager for the
fraud trial to get underway--he promises it
will be the biggest trial of the decade! The
government, charging Reverend Sharpton
with 67 counts of fraud, alleges that this
militant defender of Black youth misappro
s
«
i ■