P age A2
J une 5, 1995 • T he P ortland O bserver
Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily
Reflect Or Represent The Views O f
The JJortlanb ©bscruer
V a n ta g e P o in t:
by
R on JD aniels
have recently returned
from leading an African
v
American fact finding
delegation to Haiti.
What we witnessed and learned
should be a source o f inspiration to
Africans In Am erica and the op
pressed everywhere. Few people have
suffered under White supremacy
slavery, colonialism and neo-colo-
nialism like the people o f Haiti. Yet
despite this long history o f oppres
sion, what we found was a people
whose wtll is unbroken; a people
determ ined to achieve democracy and
development inspite o f the devious
designs o f the U S. government; a
people on a mission to finally fulfill
the Revolution o f 1804 which estab
lished the first Black Republic in this
Hemisphere
Haiti is often described as the
poorest nation in the Western Hemi
sphere and one o f the most destitute
nations in the world. To the degree
that Haiti is near the bottom o f the
ladder in terms o f development, how
ever, it is a consequences o f a long
history o f intervention, occupation
and interference in the affairs o f a
“ free” nation by the U.S. and its
European allies. 1, is as ifEurope and
the United States have conspired for
nearly two centuries to punish the
former enslaved Africans ofH aiti for
shattering the myth o f White superi-
ority/invincibility. The decimation
and defeat o f the mighty army o f
The Will Of The Haitian People Is Unbroken
Napoleon by the Haitian legions o f
Dessalines was a humbling experi
ence for the "master race.’
France and the United States
never intended to respect the sover
eignty and right to self-determina
tion o f the Haitian people. Indeed, in
1836 Europe and the United States
colluded to force Haiti, the victor, to
pay France, the vanquished, millions
o f dollars in reparations as a condi
tion to recognize H aiti’s indepen
dence and sovereignty.” Hence Haiti
was straddled with a huge debt which
severely stymied the prospects o f
development for decades. And, un
der the Monroe Doctrine, the United
States increasingly saw Haiti, like all
nations in the region, as a source of
profit for U.S. corporations.
The U.S. invasion and occupa
tion o fH a iti from 1915 to 1934 was
designed to "pacify” the population
and ensure that Haiti would forever
be a safe haven for U.S. business
interests. After brutally crushing a
fierce resistance, the U.S. “trained” t
and left in place a new Haitian army
that would become the tool o f tyran
ny and oppression in the hands o f a
tiny, corrupt, se lf serving elite; an
elite that would become the w illing
instrument o f the U.S. in exploiting
the resources o f the country and ruth
lessly oppressing the Haitian mass
es. The heinous regime o f the infa
mous Papa Doc Duvalier with the
dread Ton Ton Macoutes was char
acteristic o f this unsavory conspira
Civil Rights Journal:
BY
Bl KYK I Pow HI J,\(
kson
From what they tell me, my fa
ther was a very special human being.
Intelligent, articulate, great sense of
humor, committed to his family. For
a black man during those days pre
ceding World War II, he had a good
job - working in the post office.
Indeed, because o f segregation, the
best ofthe black community worked
in the post office, often while they
were studying law or architecture or
medicine.
My father even became one o f
the first black postal inspectors and
during the war he supervised the post
office at the now-famous Tuskegee
air base, where the black pilots
trained. After the war he continued
his work and by 1956 he was in
charge o f the post office of the U .S
State Department. But when he died
suddenly that year at age 54, he had
gone about as far as he could as a
black man. I am told that had he been
white, he would have been paid more
dollars for the same job
cy.
The Haitian masses, however,
have never ceased to resist the mach-
inations of the U.S. and the Haitian
elite, never surrendered in the face o f
terrible oppression, never relented in
their pursuit o f democracy and de
velopment. The stunning election to
the presidency o f “the little priest,”
father Jean Bertrand Aristide in 1990
was a remarkable testimony to the
resolve ofthe Haitian masses to break
the back o f U.S. sponsored tyranny.
Uncomfortable with the outcome o f
the elections and fearful that the new
people based dem ocracy would
threaten U.S. business interests, the
U.S. government acquiesced to the
coup that overthrew the regime ofthe
firs, popularly elected President in
Haiti. Once again the Haitian masses
would suffer the brunt o f rape, tor
ture, terror, intimidation and mass
murder a, the hands o f yet another
regime o f tyrants seeking to make
Haiti safe for U.S. business interests
and themselves.
What our delegation discovered,
however, is that even under the illicit
regime o f Cedras, Francois and
Biamby, the resistance continued.
I he p ro -d em o cracy m ovem ent
through its popular organizations o f
peasants, workers, wemen and youth
fought back despite incredible op
pression. And, now that President
Aristide has been reluctantly returned
to power by a government which has
never wanted to see genuine democ
racy and development in Haiti, the
Haitian people are clear about U.S.
intentions and determined to restore
real democracy despite the designs
o f the U .S. government.
The Haitian people are laboring
under a new form o f occupation, the
I S. dominated U.N. peacekeeping
force, but they are taking advantage
oi the space created by the dislodg
ing o f the coup leaders and the return
of President Aristide to repair and
rebuild the pro-democracy move
ment Everywhere we went in Haiti
we observed the unspeakable pover
ty and misery o f the Haitian masses
and heard dreadful testimonies about
the suffering o f the people under the
coup.
What we also saw was a people
who are clear about their identity as
African people, clear about a culture
which has been and continues to be
the foundation o f the people’s resis
tance to domination and a people
mobilizing/organizing to finish a rev
olution initiated with the blood o f
theirancestors - Boukman, T oussaint,
Dessalines, Christophe and count
less thousands o f rebellious enslaved
Africans who refused to be bound by
White supremacy. What we wit
nessed in Haiti is a people, and A fri
can people whose will is unbroken, a
people whose struggle for democra
cy and development must be seen as
integral part o f the global Pan A fri
can struggle for liberation and self
determination.
The Strangling Of Affirmative Action
That is no, long-ago history. It is
the story o f one black man forty years
ago. I know lots ofothersjust like it.
The story o f my mother, for one.
Stories o f black men and women
who, but for segregation, would have
achieved far beyond where society
allowed them to go.
Affirm ative Action was one way
this country acknowledged that an
entire group o t people had been dis
criminated against. Affirm ative ac
tion was one way this country tried to
make amends for a wrong it had
committed. Affirm ative Action was
one way this country tried to ensure
that future generations might have a
fighting chance to compete with the
old boy networks, with fam ily con
nections, with insider knowledge and
privileges that jus, having white skin
brings to those who have it.
Affirm ative Action allowed me
to attend a very fine predominantly
white private college and probably
allowed me to get into graduate
school. It certainly has allowed me to
better
get two or three jobs in my lifetime.
I, allowed Colin Powell to become a
general. It has allowed 40,000 black
police officers and nearly 30,000
black electricians to enter the work
force. Without affirmative action,
Clarence Thomas might never have
left Pinpoint, Georgia and certainly
would not be on the Supreme Court.
Most historians trace affirmative
action back to the days o f Lyndon
Johnson, who was seeking “not just
equality as a right and a theory, but
equality as a fact and equality as a
result.” Those were his words at a
Howard University commencement
address 30 years ago. Equality not just
as a theory1, but equality as a result.
There is some evidence that af
firmative action was beginning to do
ju s, that - make equality a result.
Today’s African American middle
class is larger than any in our nation’s
history. And women, who were add
ed to affirmative action laws, have
made great strides in the work force.
More women own their own busi
nesses and their businesses and those
owned by people o f color were be
ginning to be able to compete, often
because o f affirmative action.
There are some who argue that
President Johnson’s War on Poverty
did not succeed because the rug was
pulled out from under it too soon.
Just when the War on Poverty began
to make changes in the lives o f the
people it was targeted to help, its
flaws and problems were highly pub
licized, its successes weren’t and in
stead o f making the needed correc
tions, the w hole program was
scrapped. The nation decided it had
done enough for poor people and
moved on.
For some of us, that’s the way
this latest Supreme Court ruling and
the accompanying public mood, feels
as well. Just as affirmative action
was beginning to succeed, i, seems it
is slowly being strangled to death.
Affirm ative action is about ending
the legacies o f slavery. But it is also
about my father and it is about me.
rClte (SLditor
p 6 /
Have A Good Summer Of Inspiring Reading
31
It seems that the full
story of the African
v
American scientist,
astronom er, inventor and
s u r v e y o r --B e n ja m in
Banneker— and his exper
iences with Thomas Jefferson
(described as a “founding
father") was quite a rehalation
to some of our readers. I was
delighted to be able to
enlighten them with the usual
th oroug hly docum en ted
material.
S in c e
so
m any o f our
young people are
out o f school for
the summer, with
lots o f time on
their hands, we
thought it might be good to suggest
some very interesting and highly
motivational reading. We think that
parents, grandparents, older siblings
might do well to use this method to
provide role models and inspira
tional messages. It is a proven meth
od o f beneficial instruction without
preaching.
F irs t, let me recom m end
Queen Bess: Daredevil Aviator” ,
by Doris L. Rich Smithsonian Insti
tution press, 1993. This is the story
o f “ Bessie Coleman”, bom in 1892
in a Texas sharecropper’s cabin
this strong and vivacious female
went on to become the first African
American to earn an international
pilots license arid the First Black
Woman In The World to Fly An
Airplane!
This fascinating story is for all
ages and races as it traces a fantastic
career o f overcoming barriers o f
race and sex on three continents.
And o f course exhibiting remark
able skill and courage -- especially
considering the state o f the art and
the equipment in the 1920’s. The
book concludes with a touching
afterward’ by Ms Mae Jemison,
the first and only B lack woman
astronaut. How wonderful and cou
rageous our sisters are. Get this
one, its a must (Excellent Photos).
Smithsonian Institution Press,
M arke tin g D epartm ent, 470
’Enfant Plaza, Suite 7100, Wash
ington, D .C. 20560.
A second book I wish to rec
ommend is for m iddle school
through college, whether science-
minded or not—ju s, be proud, curi
ous or ambitious (try all three). The
©be
©
No one believes in no, punish
ing illegal drug distribution. Howev
er, that punishment should fit the
crime and those guilty o f the same
crime, regardless o f race or color,
should be punished equally.
I m yself do not fall under the
crack cocaine sentencing guidelines,
nor am I an African-American, but I
cannot with a clear conscience al low
this injustice to continue within the
prison system. I would like to remain
anonymous during the course o f this
letter, no, because I am embarrassed
o f my crime, but rather out o f respect
for the privacy o f my parents. I w ill
tell you that I am a non-violen, first-
time offender sentenced to six years
for the importation o f hashish (a
marijuana substance), with a gradu
ate degree from the University o f
Washington’s School o f Internation
al Business Hopefully by the time I
complete my sentence, I w ill have a
foundation to fall back upon, along
with the support o f my family.
Since I have been incarcerated,
I have come to realized Am erica’s
dirty little secret, where first-time
non-violen, offenders are being in
carcerated for 10,20, and 30 years o f
their lives due to federal minimum
mandatory sentencing for non-vio-
lent offenders. Even more disgust
ing one unit o f cocaine as equivalent
ingly, people o f the African-Am eri
to 100 units o f crack for sentencing
can race are bein g sentenced
purpose. The only difference between
prejudiciously, whether intended or
crack cocaine and cocaine itself, is
not, under the current 100-to-l ratio
the baking soda that is added as the
penalty for crack cocaine as com
cutting agent. The reality is that crack
pared to powder cocaine.
cocaine is actually less pure than
Currently, the federal guideline
powder because it has been cut with
system penalizes crimes involving
baking soda to cook into crack.
crack cocaine 100 times more se
It is worth noting that Congress
verely than crimes involving powder
w ill change federal guidelines for
cocaine. Asaresult, harsher sentenc
drug offenses when they are shown
es are imposed on Afro-Am erican
to be unfair. In fact, Congress saw in
defendants 30 times more often than
1993 that their existed sim ilar types
on Caucasians. Whereas, the major
o f unfairness with the L S D drug sen
ity o f powder cocaine sentences are
tences, o f which 97% affected Cau-
Caucasian related, Afro-A TTicricsns
v a a i u t i a , u i i m I i n u u g i i v i i u i v i i u i i G C C i T i -
arc sentenced in 96% o f the crack
munity pressure, lowered the sen
cocaine cases In passing the existing
tencing and incarceration time for
federal guidelines for non-violent
these people. You must do the same
drug offenses. Congress decided ar
for your own people. We are not
bitrarily that only crack cocaine cas
try ing to divide the people by races,
es should be punished a hundred
but the reality is that a complete
times more than powder cocaine cas
generation o f people o f color, whom
es.
were non-violent are being wiped-
Congress has stated that crack
out and forgotten, and that is wrong.
penalties were enhanced because o f
Crack cocaine and powder co
the potency and intensity o f addic
caine are essentially the same sub
tion, more than that o f all the other
stance in different forms Since crack
drugs such as powder cocaine, hero
cocaine is cheaper than powder co
in, and methamphetamine, which
caine, Afro-Am ericans and Hispan
Afro-Am ericans are less likely to
ics distribute it more than Cauca
distribute than Caucasians. 1 his idea
sians. Federal Judgesareoverwhelm-
that crack cocaine is more addictive
ingly against these mandatory mini
or potent than all these other drugs is
mum sentences for non-violen, of
irrational and simply not true. D oc
fenders and have seen the injustice of
tors who have testified said there was
this policy, and a few have refused to
no pharmacological difference be
go along, either departing from the
tween powder cocaine and crack co
100-to I ratio difference or declaring
caine and no scientific basis for treat
the law unconstitutional on equal
protection or cruel and unusual pun
ishment grounds. The faster and sim
pler way to fix this situation, is for
Congress to change this racially dis
criminating law to a equal (I-to -1 )
basis o f powder cocaine, as they did
the L S D law in 1993.
Yo u r younger generation is beg
ging for your help. We need you to
write a letter o f support endorsing
this issue, and if you do no, endorse
it, please state why you do not. We
would also appreciate that you pub
lish an editorial to this effect. Con
gress and the U.S. Sentencing Com
mission heard the issue on March o f
1995. Thus, we need your editorial
and letter o f support. It is extremely
important that the general public be
comes aware o f this issue.
Too many young A fro-A m eri
can and Hispanics have been de
prived o f a childhood, an education
and any chance o f life other than
crime and prison. There are more
black men in ja il today than there
were slaves when theCivil War start
ed. Please, we need your help. An
entire generation o f young people o f
color w ill lose their lives in prisons
as a result o f these discriminatory
laws.
Yo u r leadership w ill hopefully
bring fairness and justice to a clearly
unjust situation. We cannot allow
another generation o f talented, young
people o f color to fall victim to un
just policies which do nothing to
rehabilitate them. We must keep the
truly violen, o ff the streets.
book is “Created Equal: The Lives
and Ideas o f B lack American Inno
vators” , James Michael Brodie,
Q rill, W illiam Morrow Publishers
1993.
This interesting account o f A f
rican American contributions to the
industrial age and technology be
gins with documented inventions o f
slaves, cites innovations through the
C iv il War and The Reconstruction
period and on into the modern era.
Especially interesting is the first
chapter, “ Slave
Inventors” . One
can only weep at
ßy
the loss o f this
Professor i n f o r m a t i o n
Mckinley
which, revealed,
Burt
w ould
have
made it impossi-
ble for the racists to denigrate A fri
cans as dumb, brutish beings, fit
only for “ involuntary servitude
Witness the excerpt below, p.23
“Ned was a slave on the planta
tion o f Oscar J. E. Stuart in Pike
County, M ississippi, who on Au
gust 25,1857, wrote to Secretary of
the Interior Jacob Thompson re
garding a cotton scraper Ned had
invented. The device required one
person and two horses and could do
the work o f four people, four hors
es, two scrapers, and two plows
Stuart argued in his letter to Thomp
son that ownership ofthe machine
was rightfully his, explaining that
“the master is the owner o f the fruits
ofthe labor ofthe slave both intel
lectual [sio] and manual.”
The patent application was de
nied though the Confederacy passed
laws during the C iv il War stating
that "all inventions o f slaves shall
become the property o f the mas
ters.” After the war all restriction
against slave patents were over
turned by the 13th and 14 amend
ments (equal protection).
Also, many readers may re
member my information here from
the former “ British Colonial O f
fice” : accurate records o f the iron
ingot production o f “ Iron Planta
tions” run solely by complements o f
African, men, women and children,
bringing their skills from the West
Coast o f Africa where iron-working
had been done for over a thousand
years.
Be sure to add both o f these
books to your library so that the
entire family may have a good sum
mer’s reading.
(©bseruer
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Dear Editor,
ur children need your
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blatant examples of
discrimination is the current
penalty for possession of crack
cocaine in the federal system.
s p e c t 1 res
Joyce Washington-Publisher
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