P age A 2
S eptember 21, 1994 «T he P orti , and O bserver
ä
B y R everend J esse L. J ackson
Marion Barry's election could
only occur in a dem ocracy-in
an open, free and fair election.
Marion Barry's election could
only occur in a country where
the law, and equal protection
under the law, is the standard.
In one sense, the victory of
Marion Barry symbolizes that a
revolution can take place Within
The Law.
The DC. mayoral election de
fied the conventional political wis
dom and the “expert" media pundits.
Even though this was a Democratic
primary race, Marion Barry's elec
tion is the political lesson most in the
Democratic Party have failed to learn
and have consciously ignored--that
the way Democrats can win is to
broaden the pool of historically
locked-out voters through voter reg
istration, not recycle Republican and
Perot voters and call them "New
Democrats."
There are as many people in this
country who don’t vote as do. Demo
crats ignore these voters (and Re
publicans act like they don’t know
they exist) because they are mostly
minorities, or poor, uneducated,
young and ill-prepared for the world
of work. The experts based their pre
diction on a specific pool of voters,
but failed to realize that Barry added
more water to the pool by registering
nearly 12,000 new voters. If they did
know it, they did not believe these
newly registered voters would vote-
-but they did—and he won six of eight
wards!
Marion Barry's victory symbol
izes hope for the young, the poor,
those in trouble with the judicial sys-
Ä ?
:
deem ed and make it.
M any, m aybe even a m ajor
ity living in D C., identified with
the strength of M airon Barry. The
m ajority o f us have com e in co n
tact with the law and the ju d icial
sy stem , if not d ire c tly , then
through fam ily m em bers, rela
tives or friends. In the nation
there are now 1.3 m illion Ameri
cans in jail (including 583,000
Black m ales—B lacks are im pris
oned at six tim es the rate o f
w hites), 519 per 100,000, the
largest num ber of persons incar
cerated in any country except
Russia. In ju st the past five years
there has been a 22% increase in
the jail population. The result? A
tern, and the unempowered. It shows
sically M arion Barry got him
decrease in crim e? No! A reduc
that there is hope beyond prison and
self. He got him self because there
tion in violence? No! Yet, T u es
that there can be a resurrection and
were weak and neglected areas in
day th e P r e s id e n t s ig n e d a
life beyond the crucifixion.
his private life that made him
draconian crim e bill that will d ra
Marion Barry’s victory was won,
vulnerable to the la w -a n d for
m atically increase this record
not with fingerpointing, fighting or
that he paid a heavy personal and
number. An election appeal? Yes!
violence, but with the power of the
public price.
A political ploy? Yes!
ballot over the bullet. Thousands of
S till o th ers w ill say that
Our com m unity had a deep,
previously unregistered and
M arion B arry’s election doom s
deep longing, not for the “co m e
unempowered people, many of them
statehood for D.C. That is an
back kid, but for the prodigal
young and restless, saw a great light
excuse! The 600,000 d isen fran
son to com e hom e—and he did. A
of hope—in Marion, yes—but mostly
chised residents in the n atio n ’s
spirit of redem ption resonated
within themselves. If they continue
capitol should not be persecuted
throughout the D.C. com m unity
to vote, to act and to agitate for a
because M arion Barry was pros
for Marion B a rry -a s it does when
morally sound agenda of jobs and
ecuted. If good feelings and good
a child com es home after wasting
justice, they cannot be ignored.
relations with the m ayor o f D.C.
their life and treasure on rav en
Some will say, "M arion got
was the m issing link to statehood,
ous living, and the fam ily w el
away with it." That is not true.
then we would have had state
com es her or him home.
He did not get away with any
hood in the first year o f the Sha
We can only pray that the
thing. He was caught, hum iliated,
ron Pratt-K elly A dm inistration.
hopes inspired by this election
dethroned, tried, convicted and
Through all of his trials and
will not be dashed by those b ro th
jailed . He did not get away with
trib u la tio n s , M ario n B a rr y ’s
ers and sisters who now resent
it! He served his time and paid
spirit was not broken. M arion
the fact that the prodigal son came
his debt to society under the law.
Barry taught those o f us who live
home. The race for m ayor (in the
Others will say “they” got
in broken com m unities, com e
general e le c tio n ) is still very
him. That is not true either. While
from broken hom es, and struggle
mush an uphill battle, and will be
the governm ent may have been
with broken dream s that you can
another very real test for D em o
overzealous in its approach, ba-
still overcom e, rebound, be re-
crats and the D em ocratic Party.
I NATIONAL
C O A L IT IO N
Marion Barry’s D.C.
Mayoral Victory
Shelter 'Ce>' T~hc (3t.,Pp, vr
Send your letters to the Editor to:
Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208
Health Reform Needed Now
• .
hen o p p o n e n ts of
health care reform say,
we have the best health
care system in the world, they
are not taking into account the
millions of people who can’t
afford health insurance.
Just like the saying goes that
we are one pay check away from
V
the poor house, we are also one
jo b aw ay from no insurance.
Heaven forbid that one should be
in need of medical help under
those circum stances.
Some people still feel that if
youcan t afford it you d o n 't need
it. L e t's face it, we are under the
mercy o f the insurance com pa
X - ...
J r
So Many Of Our Children Are Going Astray
An Open Letter To Rosa Parks
V
B ernice P owell J ackson
Dear Mrs. Parks:
by
Those were your words to us
after you were beaten up and robbed
in your own home last week. “...We
still have a long way to go and so
many of our children are going
astray. You so eloquently captured
in words the state of our people to
day, just as you so eloquently cap
tured in action the state of our people
that day in Montgomery nearly 40
years ago.
You need to know, dear Mrs.
Parks, how I felt last week and how I
suspect millions of others ofusfeltas
well. I felt personally violated, as I
too. had been mugged. I felt a physi
cal and spiritual pain too deep to
name for you and for our people.
You see. Mrs. Parks, your neigh
bors said they see you as a communal
grandmother. I see you as a hero of
maybe shero would be a better word
I see you as the conscience of our
people. On that cold day in 1955 you
refused to give up your seat not be
cause it would make you a legend or
a leader, but because it was the right
thing to do. And your dignity and
your rightness launched a movement
and the career of more than one civil
rights leader. You proved that one
person can make a difference.
You have been my hero for a
long time, but that's not the only
reason for this lamentation, for the
sadness I feel deep inside me. You
see. in the back of my mind. I always
imagined that if Jesus were to come
back to earth now. it would be as
someone like you. As a wise and
«
can't have your own doctor, who is
going to pay for it? and of course the
cartoons... We can't afford not to
reform our health care as it works
now. How many of you retired people
have had changes in your insurance
coverage? Now is the time and I urge
you to support health care reform
Edward R. Alcantar, Grants Pass
Civil Rights Journal
. r *
■'•r
nies. How many o f you have ca r
ried a policy that later proved not
to give you the coverage you
thought you had? Why do you
think the medical and insurance pro
fessions are spending millions of
dollars to scare the American pub
lic? Buzz words are hard to ignore:
Socialism, government control, you
dignified and elderly black woman,
as one who knew life's suffering and
sorrows as well as life’s joy. And I
keep remembering Jesus' words
about as you do unto the least of
these, you do unto me.
Look what we have done to you,
Mrs. Parks. Look what we have done
to the thousands of nameless African
American grandmothers who also
sleep in fear in their own homes. I am
so glad the people of Detroit have
rallied to your aid and are finding
you a home where you will feel safe.
But there are tens of thousands of
others who don't have that option,
who remain prisoners in their own
homes. Tens of thousands of elders
of our community are afraid of their
own people, sometimes afraid of their
own children and grandchildren.
Once we were a people who
treasured our elders, who valued your
wisdom and experience. Now we are
a people who treasure only the al
mighty dollar and who stoop to any
and everything to get it, including
beating up old people, selling dope
to children and supplying guns to
young people.
Once we were a people of prin
ciple, who served as the conscience
of this nation. That's why the whole
world stopped for a moment on that
day when you wouldn't give up your
seat on the bus to a white man. Be
cause they know that you were right
and the system was wrong. Because
you were willing to confront that
injustice that day, black people in
Montgomery were willing to walk to
work day alter day, month after
month. And people of good faith
around the world came to our side.
own nuclear family isn’t in jeopardy
Once we were a people who
that there's really no problem. We
valued our children and who would
can continue to blame white people,
go to the very ends of the earth to foreign people, rich people, poor
ensure that they had a better life than
people, conservative people or lib
we did. We believed that knowledge
eral people. We can continue to spend
and education and service and re our own money for the here and now,
spect were the keystones of our com at fancy conventions and meetings,
munity and that we as adults had a at soirees and parties instead of on
responsibility to pass those values on
our children and on our future.
to the next generation.
Or we can choose life for our
Now, Mrs. Parks, I believe we
people, a nurturing life of commu
are a people struggling for our very
nity where our elders are safe and
souls. Your mugging is but the vis able to share their wisdom, their guid
ible and very sad evidence of that
ance, their experience. A community
struggle. The brief life, and death, of
where our children are safe and loved
II-year-old Robert Sandifer is an and educated and able to achieve
other tangible evidence of it. A child
their potential in this society. A com
not yet five feet tall who murdered
munity where men and women live in
another child and who was murdered,
equality and respect and commit
in turn, by other children An 11-
ment.
year-old who was abused and ne
All we must do to choose life,
glected by the time he was only three
Mrs. Parks, is to follow your ex
months old. A troubled child arrested
ample and refuse to give up our seats
28 times in his 132 months of life. A on the bus. AI we have to do is take
child whose parents, whose commu charge of our own destiny and know
nity, whose public officials had failed.
that in rightness we will prevail. All
A child, like thousands of others, for
we must do is do something positive
whose souls we as a people are strug
with our young people in our own
gling.
communities. All we must do is take
My prayer, Mrs. Parks, is that
on those whose only answer is to
once again, by your story, we as a
build prisons. All we must do is stand
people will be ignited. That we will
for what is right and others will join
be ignited to do something about our
us. But we must lake that first step
fate. Because the choice is rally quite
like you did - alone and in faith.
simple, isn’t it? We can choose life or
You taught us that, Mrs. Parks.
we can choose death.
May we be strong enough and brave
We can choose death for our
enough to once more follow your
people. We can continue to allow
lead. May God grant you peace and
other people to decide our future We
a feeling of safety and comfort and
can continue to let drugs and guns be
may God grant us the courage to help
sold to our children We can con
"so many of our children who are
tinue to pretend that just because our
going astray.”
p e r s p e c tiv e
Immigration: Race,
Money And Power, II
“My grandfather arrived in
this country with .25 cent in
his pocket, Fortunately, he
had $50,000 sewed in the
lining of his coat.”
citation o f the book o f these
records).
These facts are very im p o r
tant because they fit a pattern
where historians alw ays have
m aintained that it has been n ec
Sign over a
essary (even
bar in B rooklyn,
to m o d e rn
New York.
tim e s )
to
E qually im
b rin g
in
p o rta n t tie s o f
white im m i
im m igrants to the
g r a n ts
t<5
“old co u n try ”, as
properly d e
they used to call
v e lo p
an d
it, has been the two-way traffic
m anage technology--and to ex
o f m oney betw een Europe and
ploit the labor o f a ‘less-than-
A m eric a--an d in th ese later
co m p eten t’ black. E specially in
years, between Asia and A m eri
the last thirty years we have
can. No isolated and segregated
heard this lie from various fed
race on the Am erican m ainland,
eral agencies and think tan k s’
such as A frican A m erican s,
concerned with m anpow er p ro
could possibly m aintain a p o si
jectio n s. Way late in the gam e,
tion o f econom ic equality un
after im portation o f Germ an and
der these circum stances. In fact
S candinavian M ach in ists and
their condition could only turn
tool m akers, it was finally d e
for the w orse--and it did!
term ined that blacks with these
The “em ig ratio n ” o f m on
s k ills e x is te d , o r c o u ld be
ies to A m erica began with the
trained.
financing o f the colonies, and
For an ex cellen t ‘e sta b lish
from the b eg in n in g was in
m en t’ history of A m erican, im
vested in enterprise which de
m igration policy, see “The A n
pended upon the slavery and
nals O f The A m erican A cad
cruel ex p lo itatio n o f blacks.
emy O f P olitical And Social
T h is 'im p o rt’ was paralleled by
S cience, 1966; Im m ig ra tio n ’
an inflow o f ad m inistrative and
(This is one o f the four p u b lica
m anagem ent types to supervise
tions that year). T his covers the
the rap id ly ex p an d in g in fra
field from inception to that date;
s tru c tu re . So m any A frican
for more recent developm ents
slaves were brought in to o p er
there are ex cellen t m aterials at
ate the plantations, farm s, c o t
the library. As you will co n
ton gins and m olasses m ills that
tinue to see in my series here,
it becam e expedient to speed
these stan d ard re n d itio n s of
up E uropean im m igration to
A m erican social and econom ic
prevent a “dangerous ra tio ” of
history reveal only the tip o f a
blacks to w hites.
cruel and frig h ten in g history.
It is interesting to note that
Returning to that early period
as late as the 1970’s the m edia
ofwhite immigrant versus the black j
was reporting that the B ritish
slave or newly emancipated “Ne
Royal Fam ily still held substan
gro” as he was called, I shall quote
tial in terest in several large
from such documented books as,
cotton p lan tatio n s. But it is
“Follow ing The Color line” by Ray
im portant to note that the ta l
Stannard Baker (1905), “Ameri
ents o f the A frican Slaves were
can Immigrant Leaders” by Victor
equally applied to the operation of
R. Greene, "Going To America”,
IRON PLANTATIONS’. From
by Terry Coleman, "Immigration
Saugus, M assachusetts down to
Policy And The American Labor
the C h e a s e p e a k e Bay a re a ,
Force by Vernon M. Briggs Jr
there were over 235 o f these
(1984), etc.
h ig h -sk ill o p eratio n s run by
I am sure that there will be a
com plem ents of A frican, men,
number of raised eyebrows at the
wom en, and 'c h ild re n '.
accounts of the turn-of-the-century
The iron ingots they p ro
SALES OF COCAINE to the black
duced were shipped to England
southern masses by the same greedy
and returned to A m erica in the
and immoral white merchants who
form of finished goods that were
also grossly overcharged them for
sold at exorbitant prices. F o r
food and medicine. These second
tunately for a truthful rendition
generation immigrants, desperate
o f history and not the d en ig ra
to finally escape their poverty and
tion o f black technical ab ilities
hopefully rank with the southern
practiced by A m erican sch o l
genteel classes, “sold a certain
ars, The B ritish C olonial O f
patent catarrh medicine with is
fice kept m eticulous records o f
nearly all cocaine...ten cents for
the daily operations. We know
wholly irresponsible acts.” The
the nam e, age, sex and daily
habit, of course, was taken north
production o f every w orker (I
during the great migrations.
will later provide you with a
(C o n tin u ed )
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