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Environmental Racism Is Alive And Well
by
B ernice P owell J ackson
N MANY PLACES AN
ADDRESS TELLS A LOT
ABOUT A PERSON.
Having a Beverly Hills address
or a Scarsdale address has been seen
by some as a way o f showing status
and income, lor exam ple. W ell, in
East Si. Louis, Illinois, a Trendley
Avenue address might mean som e­
thing quite different. It m ight mean
you are facing an early death from
cancer.
Trendley Avenue is directly be­
hind the Lanson C hem ical plant,
where 6,000 gallons o f toxic wastes
were dum ped into the ground follow ­
ing a fire at the plant. In the past few
years at least 25 residents of Trendley
Avenue have died from cancer and
other are living with the disease. In­
deed, very few homes on Trendley
Avenue have not been touche by can­
cer. The residents, some o f whom
have lived in their w ell-m aintained
hom es since the late 1950’s, are un­
derstandably very frightened and an­
gry-
The m ost disturbing fact is that
Trendley Avenue is only one o f 23
toxic waste sites already identified in
east St. Louis,a city o f some 40,000
residents, 99 percent o f whom are
African A merican. “W e have reason
to believe there are least another 18
sits and possibly 23 toxic waste sites
not yet identified by the E nvironm en­
tal Protection Agency (E PA ),” said
Rev. Buck Jones, Executive Director
o f Project HOPE, which has worked
in East St. Louis for the past 234
years.
East S t. Louis in many ways sym-
bolizes environm ental racism at its
worse. Located across the M ississippi
J
River from St. Louis, this African
American city has an overw helm ing
number of problems to overcome. The
city itself has bene alm ost bankrupt
for m any years, 52 percent o f the
population is officially unemployed,
and the only revenue bases which the
city has arc property taxes and in­
come from the new casino gambling
boats which are docked there. There
are an estim ated 3,000 abandoned
buildings in East St. Louis, raw sew ­
age often backs up into one o f the
large public housing developments.
Even last month the high school had
to close when sewage backed up into
the cafeteria’s kitchen once again.
And then there are the environm ental
problem s.The giant chem ical plants
o f M onsanto, Big R iver Zinc and
other chem ical and waste incinera­
tion plants loom m enacingly only a
few feet beyond the borders o f East St.
Louis. There have been so many em is­
sions from som e o f the plants through
the years that they have had to install
a public warning system to inform
nearby residents when such accidents
occur. Meanwhile, an enormous metal
shredding com pany shreds not only
cars, causing explosions when the
unrem oved gasoline tanks rupture,
but also scrap metal and refrigerated
box cars, probably releasing toxic
wastes into the air. In another part o f
tow n, 40 shipm ents o f hazardous
m aterials travel by rail everyday, in­
cluding missile fuel for Trident sub­
marines. The rail yard is only a few
blocks from hom es and children play­
ing in the street.
Y es, there are children in east St.
Louis. The children playing on the
playground o f the M iles Davis el-
ementary school are probably unaware
o f the lead poisoning which many o f
them may have, som etim es causing
perm anent brain dam age and other
disorders. The children are the real
victims of the neglect, the greed and
the racism which are the causes of the
problems o f East St. Louis.
B uteven in the m idst o f the many
problems o f E ast St Louis there is
hope. Project HOPE, which has a l­
ready built 8 Habitat for Humanity
homes there, is building 8 new ones.
Sponsored by the Della Sigm a Theta
Sorority, which has raised funds from
several corporations along with their
members’ donations, these homes will
all be located on one street and serve
as tangible proof that people o f East
St. Louis have not been totally aban­
doned by the rest of the world.
East St. L ouis’ new m ayor, G or­
don Bush, feels that the federal gov­
ernm ent is also show ing signs that it
has not abandoned E ast St. Louis
e ith e r. “ W e a re re c e iv in g re a l c o ­
o p e ra tio n from the fe d e ra l g o v ­
e rn m e n t n o w ,” he sa id re c e n tly ,
p o in tin g to a m illio n d o lla r g ra n t
for new p o lic e o ffic e rs and to a
re d u c tio n in the a m o u n t w h ich
the c ity o w e s to the in te rn a l R e v ­
e n u e S e rv ic e fo r b a c k p a y ro ll
taxes.
Across the M ississippi River,
only a few hundred yards aw ay, the
Gateway Arch and the skyline o f the
city o f St. Louis rise like the fabled
city o f Oz. But there are no em erald-
colored glasses for the people of East
St. Louis. T o visit East St. Louis is to
feel our abandonm ent o f the cities. To
visit East St. Louis is to see our
country’s contem porary form o f rac­
ism. This country can do better. W e
must.
N Ä ¿1 I G
1 A 1 Ì «B O W
■ ( ) A
1 . I T I O W |
1965 Voting Rights Act
Legal Implications: “Undermining Equal Representation'
S haw V. R eno
HENSAWV.RENOWAS
DECIDED, TOO MANY IN
THE VOTING RIGHTS
COMMUNITY INITIALLY SOUGHT
TO C H A R A C TER IZE IT AS A
NARROW DECISION W HICH,.
WHILE POTENTIALLY DAMAGING,
WAS NOT AN ATTACK ON THE
FUNDAM ENTAL
C O N STITU ­
TIO N A LITY OF THE VOTING
RIGHTS ACT OF 1965.
The NRC, from the beginning,
was very concerned about this opin­
ion because we viewed it as a signal
that it would encourage those op­
posed to the Voting Rights A ct to
challenge it everyw here. That is ex ­
actly w hat has happened following
Shaw.
Voting rights, and the LAW pro­
tecting those rights, w ere one o f the
few areas to em erge largely intact
following theRcagan/Bush onslaught.
In 1980, the Suprem e C ourt ruled in
City o f M obile v. Bolden that plain­
tiffs in voting rights cases m ust first
prove intentional discrim ination on
the part o f the state to succeed in a
Voting Rights Act case, Congress
Disagreed W ith The Suprem e C ourt’s
ruling in Bolden and in 1982 amended
the Voting Rights A ct to specifically
overrule that decision. In fact. C on­
gress strengthened the Voting Rights
Act on a bipartisan basis to make it
plain that discrim ination against m i­
nority voters continued to persist and
that the im portant test was not “in­
tent”, which is often difficult to prove,
but instead was the “effect” on m inor­
ity voters. In 1986,thcSuprem eC ourt
upheld the constitutionality o f the
1982 am endm ents in Thornburg v.
G ingles, and it was against this back­
ground that state legislatures deter­
mined that the C onstitution required
that m ajority-m inority districts be
drawn to avoid violating the LAW .
(Ebe ^lorilnttb (Dbsemer
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Portland and Vancouver
The Shaw decision has resur­
rected the “intent” question by turn­
ing the Voting Rights A ct on its head
in order to recognize the right o f
white plaintiffs to challenge districts
that were intended in the first place to
lead to greater m inority representa­
tion. Shaw, like City o f Richm ond v.
Croson (the econom ic setaside case),
ignores the historical fact o f racial
d isc rim in a tio n in o rd e r to g iv e
w h ite p la in tif f s s ta n d in g to c h a l­
len g e d is tric ts d e sig n e d to o v e r­
com e c e n tu rie s o f p rio r d is c r im i­
n a tio n in p o litic a l re p re s e n ta tio n .
T he 5th C irc u it d e c is io n in H ayes
v. L o u isia n a seek s to a p p ly Shaw
to a n sw e r th e q u e s tio n . “ Is th e re a
c o m p e llin g sta te in te r e s t in d e ­
sig n in g C D s--u sin g ra c e a s o n e o f
many c rite ria -so that racial m inori­
ties have an equal opportunity o f w in­
ning?” The court in Hayes concluded
that the Louisiana plan (and Rep.
C leo Field’s 4th CD in particular)
was not narrowly tailored to further a
com pelling state interest.
Hayes is troubling for a number
o f reasons. T o recognize the standing
o f white citizens to attack majority-
minority districts, the court cites Re­
gents of the U. o f C alifornia v. Bakke
(1978), in addition to Shaw and
Croson. Thus, the “fact” o f a “color
blind” constitution and country has
been elevated by Hayes to strike down
the Louisiana plan. The H ayes court
relied on a 1964 decision, W right v.
R ockefeller-decided Before the Vot­
ing Rights Act o f 1 9 6 5 -to define a
racially gerrym andered distracting
plan as one th a t“ intentionally” draws
one or more districts along racial
lines plan as one that “ intentionally”
draws one or more districts along
racial lines or otherw ise segregates
citizens into voting districts based on
their race. The court also c ites Bolden
in support o f this point. T he Hayes
court seems to have ignored the fact
that the 1982 A m endm ents over­
turned Bolden. The only citation the
court makes of those Am endm ents is
to assert that Section 2 expressly de­
clares that proportional representa­
tion is not required.
That Health Care Agenda Continued
ET US TAKE A DIFFERENT
APPROACH THIS WEEK
__ i , AND EXPLORE SOME
ELEMENTS OFHEALTH CARE NOT
USUALLY GIVEN TO THE PUBLIC
PURVIEW.
A s in the
case o f most gov­
e rn m e n t p r o ­
grams impacting
the
A fric a n
Am erican C om ­
m unity, it is the
participation of
blacks at the grassroots level that is
key to success or failure.
Now, I got involved in this pro-
cessquitca while back,exaedy twenty
years ago when I solicited and ob­
tained a hundred thousand dollar grant
to involve and direct minority college
students in the health sciences. The
scope was quite broad, involving
workstudy type placem ents with hos­
pitals, clinics, nursing schools, labo­
ratories, social agencies and sim ilar
components of the delivery system.
They received salary and such am eni­
ties as transportation, school supplies
and m entorship.
I am citing this 90% successful
program for several reasons. As you
might have guessed, I have been w ork­
ing on the developm ent o f a much
bigger and more com prehensive pro­
gram to m eet today’s needs - to be
fully structured and financed by the
end o f the year. In the m anner I have
repeatedly used to successfully secure
grants for program s to benefit this
com m unity, I first ran several dem on­
stration projects initiated and financed
by no one but myself.
This ‘m odel’ was developed at
Providence M edical C enter where I
gained the assistance o f the adm inis­
tration and personnel o f the various
departm ents which would supervise
the high school students I selected for
work study. But it is im portant to
em phasize that I first gained the re ­
spect and com m itm ent o f the institu­
tion by putting in hundreds o f hours
as a volunteer in every phase o f the
medical delivery system. My reason
for describing these techniques will
become obvious next week as we de­
scribe some o f the inept or greedy
hustlers who exploit the social pro­
gram scene (and block the unsuspcct-
ing) as with some Minority Business
Program s.
Since there was alm ost a twenty
year hiatus between my 1974 federal
health program (M etropolitan Steer­
ing Com m ittee um brella) and my
P ro v id e n c e p r o ­
gram there was a
need to run a small
program to evalu­
rTOfßSSQT
a te
c o m m u n ity
Mckinley
n e e d s and r e ­
Burt
sponses. A nd, o f
course, it was nec­
essary to determ ine the contemporary
attitude o f the m edical com m unity -
form practitioners to insurers. In 1974
there was no aid, assistance or recog­
nition from either real or self-styled
com m unity leaders or activists. In
that earlier program I recruited stu­
dents from the classes (unrelated) I
taught at the university and I would
ride the bus to contact youth whom it
would be difficult to engage other­
wise (I got a lot o f derisive comments
about that from alleged leaders or
activists, too cute and too sophisti­
cated to interact with the people -- for
som e, it is still that way).
O ther preconditioning occurs
when one seeks to elicit the support o f
legislative and congressional repre­
sentatives. In the design o f this most
recent effort I sought the input of
several o f these people. Now, I had
been forewarned o f some possible
problem s in this area, because at the
O bserver Newspaper we get African
A m erican papers from all over the
nation. Tim e and again we read bitter
com plaints that som e D em ocratic
politicians, w hite or black, show a
degree o f a neglect or a I’ve-got-it-
made attitude tow ard their black con­
stituency. Like, “w ho else you gonna
vote for, sucker?”
N ow , I d o n ’t w o rk w ith o u t
friends, contacts and supporters - a
constituency o f my own if you will. In
my organization, the A ssociation o f
O regon Industries, there is as in most
organizations-a tendency for small,
regional, informal groups to evolve
around mutual interests or purely so­
cial cohesions. I frequendy discuss
my health care intentions or designs
with this constituency o f business­
men and executives (all white, since
there is only one other black member
in the state o f Oregon - Coast Indus­
tries).
I geta very attentive reception for
two reasons. First, my enterprises are
about the ‘real w orld’ and have been
demonstrated to work. Second, many
members are sons and daughters of
my business accounting and federal
tax court clients of the late 1940s and
early 1950s; contractors, car dealers,
retailers, ect. They have inherited and
expanded the corporations and are
interested in urban and socioeconomic
affairs.
N ow , in resp ect to D em o cratic
p o litic ia n s , I a n n o u n c e d a t o n e o f
o u r little ro u n d ta b le m e e tin g s last
year th a t I fe lt ra th e r u p b e a t a b o u t
my new h e a lth p ro g ram b e c a u se I
had a good talk w ith o u r D e m o ­
c ra tic re p re se n ta tiv e (so m e tim e s
c a lle d “ M r H ealth C a re ” ) an d he
had a ssu re d me th e c o o p e ra tio n
o f his sta ff in my e n d e a v o rs. I w as
fo re c a stin g e x c e lle n t re su lt, sin ce
as a y o ung m an the c o n g re ssm a n
in q u e stio n w as on the s ta f f o f
S en ato r W ayne M orse w hose d e d i­
c a tio n to “ the p e o p le ” w as le g ­
en d . U n fo rtu n a te ly , I had to r e ­
p o rt a t o u r la st m e e tin g th a t in the
in te rv e n in g m o n th s I h a v e r e ­
c e iv e d e x a c tly Z ilc h - n o th in g .
Back in 1968 and 1969 the staff
o f Senator M orse had the m ailman
walking bowlcgged from the weight
o f all those patents o f black inven­
tions and other research that m ade it
possible for me to impact the nation
with African American contribution.
In 1970 and 1971, Republican Sena­
tor Bob Packwood opened up the doors
o f every federal agency in W ashing­
ton remotely related to my endeavors
and I went from his office to the
length and breadth o f Pennsylvania
Avenue. Agency heads directed me to
resources.
O ne o f th e lo cal b u sin e ssm e n
p o se d an in te re stin g an d ‘lo a d e d ’
q u e stio n . H e w anted to know w ere
th e re any b la c k s on th e D e m o ­
c ra ts sta ff? S eem s he w as on the
b o a rd o f a local fo u n d a tio n an d
had d isc o v e re d th at som e b la c k s
b e lo n g to little in c e stu o u s g ro u p s
th a t try to c o n tro l th e c o m m u n ity
by in te r p o s in g th e m s e lv e s b e ­
tw e e n o th e r b la c k s an d th e w h ite
e s ta b lis h m e n t. Sham e!
THIS WAY FOR BLACK EMPOWERMENT
Farrakhan Speaks Out On Independent Politics
by
D r . L enora F ulani
“
WAS HONORED ON FEB­
RUARY 27 TO BE A GUEST
ATTHENATIONOFISLAM’S
1
SAVIOR’S DAY CELEBRATION IN
CHICAGO.
M inister Louis Farrakhan’s ad ­
dress at the event was heard by more
than 10,000 people at the Pavilion at
the University o f Illinois, and by hun­
dreds o f thousands o f others through­
out the United Suites, the C aribbean
and W est Africa via satellite trans­
mission.
This was the first Savior’s Day
since the w hite establishm ent con-
c c d c d -e v e r so rclu ctan tly -th at M in­
ister Farrakhan is the m ost popular
Black leader in America. “This is not
a ’ m inistry o f rag e,” ’ Farrakhan told
the world, referring to the title o f the
Time magazine cover story about him,
which had hit the new sstands a few
days earlier. “This is a m inistry of
love and divine truth. Why don’t you
tell the truth?... W hat got you enraged
is that Farrakhan is becom ing the
rage o f B lack people, that B lack people
arc lifting their hearts to this brother.”
T he next m orning M inister Far­
rakhan joined me on the popular
morning talk show hosted by C liff
Kelly on W V O N , C hicago’s leading
Black radio station, to discuss inde­
pendent politics. I believe it was a
very im portant program because it
gave the M inister, who is prim arily a
religious leader, a chance to peak out
on independent p o litic s-lh c cutting-
edge political issue of our times.
I kicked off the show by uilking
about the prospects for our working
with Ross Perot’s base of independent
white voters in the em erging inde­
pendent m ovem ent, and the necessity
of breaking with the Democrats and
voting independent.
I pointed to a study by Michael
Dawson o f the University o f Chicago,
which found that over half the Black
com m unity supports the idea o f an
independent Black political party.
W hen you put that together with a
Tim c/CN N poll which reveals that
70% o f the African A merican com ­
munity views M inister Farrakhan as
“som eone who says things the coun­
try should hear,” with 67% calling
him an “effective leader” and 62%
calling him “good for the Black com ­
m unity,” it indicates that there is a
m ajor shift underw ay in the political
attitudes o f our people.
“I watched Ross Perot,” Farra­
khan told our W VON radio audience.
“ He tapped into the vein o f the great
dissatisfaction in the w hite American
voter. W hen it was election time, I
watched them [the politicians] going
to Perot like M uslim pilgrim s go to
M ecca. They all sought his support. I
d o n ’t know w hat deals w ent down,
but he could leverage the millions [of
voters] that he had for some conces­
sions from the D emocratic Party, the
parly that was to be in pow er.”
M inister Farrakhan then called
on the African A m erican people to
consider the exam ple o f the Perot
voters: “ If the Democratic Party w on’t
speak to the needs o f our people and
the Republican Party w on’t, then I
d o n ’t sec any reason why Black people
shouldn’t form a third party. We get
m ost o f these whites elected. W c arc
the balance of pow er in many of these
elections. I am not a political expert at
all, in fact I’m a litdc out o f my field
to even address this, but I believe a
third party united could leverage its
w eight in the big elections to extract
from the main parties what wc could
never get by just voting for the dem o­
cratic Parly.
“The Reverend Jackson brought’
more new voters into the Democratic
Party than any other votcrgcllcr in
their history,” M inister Farrakhan
pointed out. “So the Reverend Jack-
son could be a key player in a move
» *
like that, if he would. If he did, instead
o f getting to give a speech on the floor
o f the convention, maybe we could
wring out o f that party som e real
concessions that would be beneficial
to the advancement o f Black people.”
W hat is a already, tremendously
beneficial totheadvanccm entofBlack
people is M inister Farrakhan’s in­
creasing w illingness to shoulder the
burden of political leadership. The
escalating attacks on the M inister in
recent months have taken place pre­
cisely because he has em erged as a
political power. It’s not a role he has
sought. H e’s a spiritual leader. But
the Democratic Party has taken us for
granted and disrespected us for nearly
two decades now and the political
fight is being forced on the Black
com m unity, and therefore on the
Minister, by th o sc-B lack and white-
-who benefit from the status quo.
As I told our radio listeners: There
is growing support in the African
American community for indepen­
dent Black leadership as opposed to
the Black cstablishment. T hat’s a very
critical developm ent. Independent
Black leadership in A m erica is very
diverse. Obviously M inister Farra­
khan and I arc very different. Rever­
end A1 Sharpton and I are very differ­
ent. But with all our diversity, w e’ve
been able to work together; that, I
think, is our strength. W e’ve each
taken the independent ro ad -in d ep en ­
dent o f the Democrats, independent
o f the Republicans, independent of
the Anti-Defamation League and cor­
porate America. This is a moment
when our people can use that inde­
pendence to reapall k in d so f benefits.
Just how M inister Farrakhan
chooses to use his increasing political
pow er will have a trem endous impact
not only on the African American
community, not only on Black-Jcw-
ish relations, but on the course of
American history.