Page 2...The Portland Observer ...November 18,1992
CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL
A long T he C olor L ine
D r M a n n in g M a ra b le
By Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.
Why Clinton Has No “ Mandate” For Change
Every successful American presi
dential candidate seeks a “m andate" tor
his policies and looks to his popular and
electoral vote totals to justify his future
objecuves. Yet one of the genuine trag-
edies in the 1992 presidential election
was the failure o f Clinton and Bush
alike to really address a host of critical
public policy decisions. For example,
neither Clinton nor Bush discussed a
new law taking effect in December,
1992 which would require the Federal
G overnm ent to seize control of many
financially troubled or bankrupt banks.
Total cleanup costs could reach $100
billion-yet because Republicans and
Democrats were equally responsible
for the mess, no one was willing to
discuss the problem. On urban policy,
both major candidates were silent. Bush
muzzled his Housing Secretary, Jack
Kemp, from discussing new anti-pov
erty initiatives, because as one source
explained, the President d id n 't want to
“raise expectations that could not be
m et and help mobilize constituencies
that typically vote Dem ocratic.” A l
though more than two million Ameri
cans were homeless, neither Clinton
nor Bush made specific proposals on
this issue.
But the seeds of defeat are also
found within C linton’s “victory.” 1992
m arks a fundam ental, generational
change in the composition o f the elected
leadership of the entire country. In state
legislatures, approximately one-third
of all members will be first-time legis
lators. In the Congress, more than one
hundred members of the House o f Rep
resentatives were freshmen. The nation
is plagued by doubt, yearning for effec
tive solutions. About one hundred thou
sand Americans are now losing their
health insurance coverage and benefits
every month. Reaganomics spelled di
saster for million of working class
people, and they desperately want new
leadership.
Clinton astutely spoke to this pro
found desire for new initiatives in gov
ernment by orienting his entire cam
paign effo rt around the them e of
“change.” But in his effort to shift his
party away from “tax-and-spend” lib
eralism, renouncing close links with
trade unions and African-American vot
ers, Clinton sacrificed any coherent
reform program in favor of tactical
maneuvers to achieve electoral victory.
One can best view C linton’s dilemma
from the vantage point of recent A m eri
can history. In 1964, the victory ol
Democratic President Lyndon Johnson
was interpreted by the electorate as a
“mandate" for a set of coherent poli
cies: civil rights and racial integration;
Medicare; federal initiatives for public
jobs; housing and education; and a do
mestic “W ar on Poverty.” When R o
nald Reagan was elected in 1980, ev
eryone realized what his victory repre
sented: low er taxes for corporations
and wealthy individuals; governmental
deregulation; opposition to affirmative
action, w om en’s rights and civil rights
laws; extreme anti-Communism; anti
labor policies; and sharp reductions in
the welfare slate. Both Johnson and
Reagan were “ successful” in establish
ing a clear policy agenda even before
they assumed office.
C linton’s failure is that his victory
does not translate into any sort of “ man
date.”
C lin to n c o n s ta n tly p re a c h e d
“change,” but few knew what kind o f
change we could expect. At various
The Agony Of Somalia Rises
times during the cam paign, Clinton
embraced “free trade” and then criti
cized the recent North American trade
accord; he called for middle class tax
cuts and expansions in social programs
w ithout adequately explaining how
“ more” could be provided with “less”;
he appealed for universal health insur
ance, but his proposal fell far short o f
the progressive, single-payer health care
system used in Canada and which the
United States should also adopt. Be
hind the attractive call for “change,”
Clinton’s real quest was the pursuit o f
pow er. B u sh ’s frequently-repeated
w arnings that a Clinton presidency
would be like the unpopular adm inis
tration of Democrat Jimmy Carter from
1977-1981 could easily become true.
Neither Carter in 1976 nor Clinton in
1992 consolidated a coherent program
for governm ent, and C arter never
achieved a national consensus around
any o f his best policies.
The major lesson which could eas
ily be drawn from C linton’s victory is
that the Democratic Parly must perm a
nently repudiate its image as being “too
concerned” about African-Americans,
Latinos, labor, the unemployed and the
poor. As New York Times reporter
Steven A. Holmes observed, "millions
of whites" see Democrats as asking
them to pay, either through taxes or by
giving up a job or a prom otion, for
programs to compensate for a history of
discrimination that they had nothing to
do with.” W hite liberal guilt is dead.
The Democratic Party of Clinton-Gore
is eager to please the white middle class
at the expense of Blacks, labor and
other traditionally Democratic constitu
encies. And what lies ahead is a funda
mental conflict to define the agenda of
the next four years.
The rising agony, suffering and
needless death in Somalia simply can
not be tolerated. Over a m illion persons
are certain to die if something more is
not done immediately. The United N a
tions has not done enough! The O rgani
zation o f African Unity has not done
enough! The United States had not done
enough! And yes, the African Ameri
can community here in the United States
has not done enough!
The fact that public attention, dur
ing the last several months has been
focused primarily on the U.S. presiden
tial election is no excuse for inadequate
action on the crisis in the nation of
Somalia. To be sure, the situation has
deteriorated during the last weeks due
to the increase in the senseless fratri
cidal warfare between armed Somalia
parties fighting to control the country.
To see women and children dying as
they crawl helplessly on the ground
begging for a few crumbs of food is an
awful sight to behold. Yet, the world
community seems incapable or unw ill
ing to intervene in Som alia on the side
o f the oppressed people o f Somalia who
are being forced into irreversible star
vation. genocide cannot be tolerated
anywhere in the world.
W hen ethnic factions of a nation
are supplied with weapons o f mass death
and destruction by the so-called civi
lized western nations, the resulting hor
rors o f fratricide and induced-famine
are ultimately to be the shared blame of
the suppliers of the arms as well as the
perpetrators of the internecine blood
shed.
___ -u that
.. nothing
Therefore the excuse
more can be done to help Somalia until
the civil w ar stops is totally unaccept
able.
The civil rights and human rights
community inside the United States must
make this issue a priority even during all
of the euphoria over the 1992 elections.
As we have reminded our constituenc ies
in the past, the fact is that Somalia up
until 1991 was a staunch ally of U.S.
foreign interests in northern Africa
throughout the Reagan-Bush era. Most
of the weapons now in Somalia were
made in the United States. But this is not
the first time that this nation has hid its
hand of com plicity in the suffering of
others, particularly in Africa.
O f the first order, however, we
would be remiss if we did not say di
rectly and clearly to General Mohammed
Farah Aidid and Mr. M ohammed Siad
Herse M organ, “Stop the fratricide in
Somalia! Your inability to resolve your
conflicts peacefully as Somalians only
aids and abets the evolving genocide of
your own people whom you claim to
represent...stop the bloodshed now!”
In the small ;town o f Bardera in
southern Somalia, it is reported that
more than 3,000 have died from starva
tion in less than two weeks. All of those
lives could have been saved because
tons of food had been stored less than 30
minutes flying time away from Bardera.
Sources have said the armed conflict in
the area around Bardera prevented the
relief efforts from reaching those starv
ing.
The history of the African Ameri-
can ,-„mmiinitv
community has
has alw
alw ays
ays been
been rel:
rela
tively strong on the issues of charity and
relief. Yet, given the current socioeco
nomic crisis confronting many in the
com m unity, there has been an unusually
slow response to the tragedy of Somalia.
O f course, there are significant excep
tions, but in general there is a growing
feeling o f helplessness among many
African Americans who think that noth
ing more can be done. We disagree with
such a fatalistic approach to Somalia. If
the African American com m unity does
not rally across the nation to demand
action on Somalia then this tragedy will
get worse.
Next, the United Nations should
have a contingent large enough in
Somalia to deal with the m agnitude of
the logistical and security problems.
The 500 or more U.N. troops from Paki
stan cannot begin to meet the challenge.
Why is the U.S. so slow to see that its
response to Somalia is insufficient? The
U.S. contingent should be tenfold its
present size.
O nly w hen A fric a u n ite s, as
Nkurmah has said, in both spirit and
body will these situations of suffering
really end. The Organization o f African
Uni ty has to of fer a vision and a strategic
plan to unify the continent econom i
cally, politically, culturally and most
importantly, spiritually.
Africa needs a spiritual unity strong
enough to defy the historic “divide and
conquer” schemes o f the forces o f op
pression. If the agony of Somalia does
not bring together the continent, what
will?
Now The Democrats Have To Put Up Or Shut Up
BY DR. LENORA FULANI
The presidential election last Tues
day may have been the most important
election of the second half of this cen
tury. The American people “just said
No” to the nakedly anti-poor, pro-Big
Business economics of right-wing R e
publicanism and put a Democrat in the
White House for the first time in 12
years. But the voters have gotten smart;
they w eren’t simply counting on the
Democratic party to come through for
them: o f the 65 % who said No! to right-
wing Republicanism, 20 million voters
said Yes! to Ross Perot, to me, to Andre
Marrou, to Dr. John Hagelin and other
independents. It was the largest inde
pendent vote in U.S. history.
This was a landmark election. The
American people made it clear that they
won’t be taken in again by a self-serv
ing Democratic Party whose leaders
have nothing against the spoils system
as long as they get their “ fair share” of
the spoils! There’s a new force in U.S.
politics-the American people-who have
proven that they are ready, willing and
able to create and hold on to some politi
cal leverage for themselves, even while
giv ing a mandate for change to the Demo
crats. The American people figured out
how to put pressure on the Democrats,
not by relying on the Republican party,
but by voting independent Term limita
tions initiatives passed overwhelmingly
in 14 states despite hard-core opposition
form the Democratic Parly. Now the
Democrats have to put up or shut up.
This new “third force” was so po
tent that, in response to the profound
voter dissatisfaction which made itself
felt in the beginning o f the primary
season, BillClinton,acenter-ri ghtDemo-
crat, presented him self to the electorate
as the candidate o f change. He took this
third force so seriously that a theme o f
his victory speech was the need to re
structure the political process itself,
(Tije ^Jnrtlanb (Ii)b surlier
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which he acknowledged he had learned
about from Ross Perot. The people of
this country had used independent poli
tics to exert leverage on the Democratic
Party-a lesson I have been teaching ev
ery chance I get for the last ten years.
Most people who voted for Clinton
did so out o f a serious desire for change.
People always seek the shortest route to
change-that’s natural. And Clinton ran a
f rst-rate campaign as the man who would
turn the country in a new direction away
from Reaganomics and the politics of
meanness. But in my opinion, the Dem o
cratic Party isn’t structurally capable of,
nor is it politically interested in frin g in g
about the fundamental econom ic and
social change that the American people
have said they want. Only a new political
movement, one which is independent,
has the capacity and the political will to
effect that kind of change.
The American people demonstrated
that they had learned a very important
r —
!
lesson-one which I have been working
very hard to teach wherever I go. It is that
simply voting for a winner is a throw
away vote; votes can be used to build
something new whose presence rear
ranges and restructures the old. With
almost 20% of the electorate voting
yesterday for an independent presiden
tial candidate who had no chance of
winning, independent politics took a
giant leap forward.
There have been many such victo
ries in this astonishing year. The most
dramatic one-cxcept for the election it-
self-was the presence of Ross Perot in
the nationally televised debates last
month. Since 1988, my attorneys have
been fighting in court after court for my
right to participate in the debates-but to
no avail. This year the bipartisan Com
mission on Presidential Debates ju sti
fied my exclusion and the exclusion of
other significant independents, such as
John Hagelin of the Natural Law Party
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us thathis administration wants the same
thing. But people voted for him because
they want a profound change in the
economy and in the political process.
The conditions for our people are very
grave, and no one is going to be willing
to wait very long for some results. T hat’s
why the independent vote is so key;
because it gives the American people-
including the Black community, 7% of
whom went for Perot-leverage with the
Clinton government and over politics in
general.
It’s great that Bush is out. But we
need to be very concerned about how
much Clinton is actually willing to do for
the American people in general and the
African-American community in par
ticular. The ball is in the D em ocrats’
court. They have to com e up with some
real change-or else; and the stronger the
independent m ovem ent, the more p res
sure we can put on the D em ocrats to
come through for the people.
p e r s p e c tiv e s
n
J
and Andre Marrou of the Libertarian
Party, on the grounds that only possible
winners could participate. But in spite
of that criterion, the ground swell of
support for Perot forced the CPD to
admit him anyway. My point has been
made. The independent political move
ment that erupted this year has perma-
nendy altered the American (and inter
national) landscape. My role is to make
sure that the Black community, which is
the base o f the New Alliance Party and
its allies in the Latino com m unity, the
lesbian and gay com m unity, and among
rank-and-file labor and women, will be
a vital force in that m ovem ent as it is
further defined.
Clinton has already told the A m eri
can people that he doesn’t want a lot of
constituencies and com m unities show
ing up to put their agendas on the table.
As he said during the cam paign, above
all else he wants to prom ote unity in the
Democratic party. Now he is instructing
a
T hank Y ou F or R eading !
T he P ortland O bserver j
l —_ _ ------------------------- j
Well, I am happy to return to my
primary mission in writing thiscolum n,
keeping abreast o f the education scene
in general and in particular for the
northeast community. It’s been aw hile
s o l invoke “ M urphy’s Second Law ” as
an excuse, “ Everything takes longer
than expected”.
Before anything else, let me pro
vide a few citations of books and m ate
rials that can prove quite useful in the
education o f your child or youth (even
you). I usually do this at the end o f an
article, but I wish to get your immediate
attention for the Christmas season is
approaching and the m ails will be
clogged soon. Order these catalogs to
day (I notice that the Multnomah County
Library orders books on the basis o f my
referrals [and Bcaverton|. Publishers
w rite me to that effect).
Edmund Scientific Com pany, 101
East G loucester Pike, Barrington, N.J.
08007-1380. phone 1(609) 547-8880,
Fax 1(609) 573-6295. Their catalog
cites every imaginable kit or model for
science education -at school or home,
primary grades through college: O p
tics, electricity, biology, physics, chcm -
istry, weather, hydraulics, mineralogy,
astronom y, etc. For both science and
general coverage (including A frica/
E g y p t,) D over P u b lic a tio n s, Inc.,
Mineola, N.Y 11501,(516)294-7000.
For those acclaim ed publications
of African American author, Dr. Ivan
Van Sertima, write for price list (sole
source): Ivan Van Sertima, Editor, Jour
nal of African Civilization, Black Stud
ies Dept., Becki Hall, Rutgers U niver
sity, New Brunswick, N.J., 08903. If
you’re deep in African and/or Black
History, get a catalog from ECA A sso
ciates, P.O. Box 15004, G reat Bridge
Station, Cheasapeake, Virginia, 23320.
For publisher’s closeouts that can
not be obtained elsew here, on every
subject in the world and priced from
$ 1.95 to $ 10.95, get a huge free catalog
from Edward R. Hamilton, Bookseller,
Falls Village, C T .06031-5000. Get a
com pact, w ell-organized manual d e
scribing the functions o f congress, its
com m ittees and support offices, bio on
each congress person, also Executive
Branch and Supreme Court, and “Think
Tank” information. Send for the 1992
U.S. Congress Handbook, $9.95 from
C-SPA N , 400 North Capital Street,
N.W ., Suite 650, W ashington, D.C.
20001 (or reserve an “election update”)
$9.95.
An “absolute must m ission” is a
trip to the U.S. Federal Bookstore, 1305
S.W. First Ave., Portland, O R ,97201.
Here, you will find economical cover
age ofany area imaginable. (Two good
ies arc “General Information Conccm -
ing Patents, $2.00 and “ Basic Facts
About Tradem arks,”$ 1.75). Directions
for “copyrights,” ask!
And everyone (and 1 do mean “ev
eryone”) should have a copy of * ‘Rogcts ’
International Thesaurus, Fourth Edi
tion”. Gel this book at your favorite
bookstore whether a student, writer,
speaker or you just enjoy re a d in g and
w riting”; a score of different ways to
say alm ost anything and to say it better
and more meaningful. Goes far beyond
a dictionary of “synonyms and ant
onym s” . This adds class to your prose,
reports or letters. About $12.95.
Many northeast residents do not
realize yet that we again have a “ Black
Bookstore” in our area. Try Donnie’s
Accessories at 925 N.E. Broadway.
They have added this to their regular
line of African and African American
Jewelry, art and art-facts. The phone is
249-7204 and they open at 11 a.m.
daily, including Saturdays.
W ell, I didn’t get to the m eat o f the
educational scene, did I? But the pre
ceding seemed very important to trans
mit. Next week, we will indeed bring
you “ up to dale” and carry right on from
there. The educational scene is as vola
tile as ever and dem ands our close
attention for our children 's sake. I ’ve
got excellent programs going m yself
now.