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V cm + age P o in t:
R on D aniels
have recently returned
,
from leading an African
<
American fact finding
delegation to Haiti.
What we witnessed and learned
should be a source of inspiration to
Africans In America and the op
pressed everywhere. Few people have
suffered under White supremacy -
slavery, colonialism and neo-colo
nialism like the people of Haiti. Yet
despite this long history of oppres
sion, what we found was a people
whose will is unbroken; a people
determined to achieve democracy and
development inspite of the devious
designs of the U.S. government; a
people on a mission to finally fulfill
the Revolution of 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 of the most destitute
nations in the world. To the degree
that Haiti is near the bottom of the
ladder in terms of development, how
ever, it is a consequences of a long
history of intervention, occupation
and interference in the affairs of a
"free" nation by the U.S. and its
European allies. It is as if Europe and
the United States have conspired for
nearly two centuries to punish the
former enslaved Afr ¡cans of Haiti for
shattering the myth of White superi-
ority/invincibility. The decimation
and defeat of the mighty army of
bv
31
The Will Of The Haitian People Is Unbroken
Napoleon by the Haitian legions of
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 of the Haitian people. Indeed, in
1836 Europe and the United States
colluded to force Haiti, the victor, to
pay France, the vanquished, millions
of dollars in reparations as a condi
tion to recognize Haiti's indepen
dence and sovereignty.” Hence Haiti
was straddled with a huge debt which
severely stymied the prospects of
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 of Haiti 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”
and left in place a new Haitian army
that would become the tool of tyran
ny and oppression in the hands of a
tiny, corrupt, self serving elite; an
elite that would become the willing
instrument o f the U.S. in exploiting
the resources of the country and ruth
lessly oppressing the Haitian mass
es. The heinous regime of the infa
mous Papa Doc Duvalier with the
dread Ton Ton Macoutes was char
acteristic of this unsavory conspira-
Civil Rights Journal:
B ernice P owell J ackson _
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 of segregation, the
best of the black community worked
in the post office, often while they
were study ng law or architecture or
medicine.
My father even became one of
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 of 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.
by
i
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 of
terrible oppression, never relented in
their pursuit o f democracy and de
velopment The stunning election to
the presidency of "the little priest,”
father Jean Bertrand Aristide in 1990
was a remarkable testimony to the
resolve of the Haitian masses to break
the back of U .S. sponsored tyranny.
Uncomfortable with the outcome of
the elections and fearful that the new
people based democracy would
threaten U.S business interests, the
U.S. government acquiesced to the
coup that overthrew the regime ofthe
first popularly elected President in
Haiti. Once again the Haitian masses
would suffer the brunt of rape, tor
ture, terror, intimidation and mass
murder at the hands of yet another
regime of 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.
The pro-dem ocracy m ovem ent
through its popular organizations of
peasants, workers, women 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
ofthe U.S. government.
The Haitian people are laboring
under a new form of occupation, the
U.S. dominated U N. peacekeeping
force, but they are taking advantage
of the space created by the dislodg
ing of the coup leaders and the return
of President Aristide to repair and
rebuild the pro-democracy move
ment. Every where we went in Haiti
we observed the unspeakable pover
ty and misery of the Haitian masses
and heard dreadful testimonies about
the suffering of 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 of the people’s resis
tance to domination and a people
mobilizing/organizing to finish a rev
olution initiated with the blood of
their ancestors - Boukman, Toussaint,
Dessalines, Christophe and count
less thousands of rebellious enslaved
Africans who refused to be bound by
White supremacy. What we wit
nessed in Haiti is a people, and Afri
can people whose will is unbroken, a
people whose struggle for democra
cy and development must be seen as
integral part of the global Pan Afri
can struggle for liberation and self
determination.
The Strangling Of Affirmative Action
That is not long-ago history. It is
the story of one black man forty years
ago. I know lots of others just like it.
The story of my mother, for one.
Stories of black men and women
who, but for segregation, would have
achieved far beyond where society
allowed them to go.
Affirmative Action was one way
this country acknowledged that an
entire group oT people had been dis
criminated against. Affirmative ac
tion was one way this country tried to
make amends for a wrong it had
committed. Affirmative Action was
one way this country tried to ensure
that future generations might have a
fighting chance to compete w ith the
old boy networks, with family con
nections, with insider knowledge and
privileges that just having white skin
brings to those who have it.
Affirmative 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
get two or three jobs in my lifetime.
It 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 of 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 theory , but equality as a result.
There is some evidence that af
firmative action was beginning to do
just 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 of color were be
ginning to be able to compete, often
because of 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 of the
people it was targeted to help, its
flaws and problems were highly pub
licized, its successes weren’t and in
stead of making the needed correc
tions, the whole 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 accompany ing public mood, feels
as well. Just as affirmative action
was beginning to succeed, it seems it
is slowly being strangled to death.
Affirmative action is about ending
the legacies of slavery . But it is also
about my father and it is about me.
better Tfo ffhe (SLditór
Send your letters to the Editor to:
Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208
Dear Editor,
ur children need your
help. One of the most
blatant examples of
discrimination is the current
penalty for possession of crack
cocaine in the federal system.
No one believes in not punish
ing illegal drug distribution. Howev
er, that punishment should fit the
crime and those guilty of the same
crime, regardless of race or color,
should be punished equally.
I myself do not fall under the
crack cocaine sentenc ing guidelines,
nor am I an African-American, but I
cannot with a clear conscience allow
this injustice to continue within the
prison system. I would like to remain
anonymous during the course of this
letter, not because I am embarrassed
of my crime, but rather out of respect
for the privacy of my parents. I will
tell you that I am a non-violent first
time offender sentenced to six years
for the importation of hashish (a
marijuana substance), with a gradu
ate degree from the University of
Washington’s School of Internation
al Business Hopefully by the time I
complete my sentence, I will have a
foundation to fall back upon, along
with the support of my family.
Since I have been incarcerated.
I have come to realized America's
dirty little secret, where first-time
non-violent offenders are being in
carcerated for 10,20, and 30 years of
their lives due to federal minimum
mandatory sentencing for non-vio
©
lent offenders. Even more disgust
ingly, people o f the African-Ameri
can race are being sentenced
prejudiciously. whether intended or
not, under the current 100-to-1 ratio
penalty for crack cocaine as com
pared to powder cocaine.
Currently, the federal guideline
system penalizes crimes involving
crack cocaine 100 times more se
verely than crimes involving powder
cocaine. As a result, harsher sentenc
es are imposed on Afro-American
defendants 30 times more often than
on Caucasians. Whereas, the major
ity of powder cocaine sentences are
Caucasian related, Afro-Americans
are sentenced in 96% of the crack
cocaine cases. In passing the existing
federal guidelines for non-violent
drug offenses. Congress decided ar
bitrarily that only crack cocaine cas
es should be punished a hundred
times more than powder coca ine cas
es.
Congress has stated that crack
penalties were enhanced because of
the potency and intensity of addic
tion, more than that of all the other
drugs such as powder cocaine, hero
in, and methamphetamine, which
Afro-Americans are less likely to
distribute than Caucasians. This idea
that crack cocaine is more addictive
or potent than all these other drugs is
irrational and simply not true Doc
tors who have testified said there was
no pharmacological difference be
tween powder cocaine and crack co
caine and no scientific basis for treat
ing one unit o f cocaine as equivalent
to 100 units of crack for sentencing
purpose. The only difference between
crack cocaine and cocaine itself, is
the baking soda that is added as the
cutting agent. The reality is that crack
cocaine is actually less pure than
powder because it has been cut with
baking soda to cook into crack.
It is worth noting that Congress
will change federal guidelines for
drug offenses when they are shown
to be unfair. In fact, Congress saw in
1993 that their existed similar types
of unfairness w ith the LSD drug sen
tences, of which 97% affected Cau
casians, and through church and com
munity pressure, lowered the sen
tencing and incarceration time for
these people. You must do the same
for your own people. We are not
trying to divide the people by races,
but the reality is that a complete
generation of people of color, whom
were non-violent are being wiped-
out and forgotten, and that is wrong.
Crack cocaine and powder co
caine are essentially the same sub
stance in different forms. Since crack
cocaine is cheaper than powder co
caine, Afro-Americans and Hispan
ics distribute it more than Cauca
sians. Federal Judges are overw helm-
ingly against these mandatory mini
mum sentences for non-violent of
fenders and have seen the injustice of
this policy, and a few have refused to
go along, either departing from the
100-to I ratio difference or declaring
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 (1-to-l)
basis of powder cocaine, as they did
the LSD law in 1993.
Youryoungergeneration isbeg-
ging for your help. We need you to
write a letter of support endorsing
this issue, and if you do not 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 of
1995. Thus, we need your editorial
and letter of support. It is extremely
important that the general public be
comes aware of this issue.
Too many young Afro-Ameri
can and Hispanics have been de
prived of a childhood, an education
and any chance of life other than
crime and prison. There are more
black men in jail today than there
were slaves when the Civil War start
ed Please, we need your help. An
entire generation of young people of
color will lose their lives in prisons
as a result of these discriminatory
laws.
Your leadership will hopefully
bring fairness and justice to a clearly
unjust situation. We cannot allow
another generation of talented, young
people of color to fall victim to un
just policies which do nothing to
rehabilitate them We must keep the
truly violent off the streets.
p e r s p e c t i res
Have A Good Summer Of Inspiring Reading
"54
J |
It seems that the full
story of the African
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
d e lig h ted to be able to
enlighten them with the usual
th o ro u g h ly d o cu m en ted
material.
Since
so
many o f our
young people are
out of 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 of beneficial instruction without
preaching.
F irst, let me recom m end
“Queen Bess; Daredevil Aviator”,
by Doris L. Rich Smithsonian Insti
tution press, 1993. This is the story
of “Bessie Coleman”, born 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 and 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 of overcoming barriers of
race and sex on three continents.
And of course exhibiting remark
able skill and courage -- especially
considering the state of the art and
the equipment in the 1920’s. The
book concludes with a touching
‘afterward’ by Ms Mae Jemison,
the first and only Black woman
astronaut. How wonderful and cou
rageous our sisters are. Ge, this
one, its a must (Excellent Photos).
Smithsonian Institution Press.
M arketing D epartm ent, 470
L’Enfant Plaza, Suite 7100, Wash
ington, D.C. 20560.
A second book I wish to rec
ommend is for middle school
through college, whether science-
minded or not-just be proud, curi
ous or ambitious (try all three). The
book is "Created Equal; The Lives
and Ideas o f Black American Inno
vators”. James Michael Brodie,
Qrill, William Morrow Publishers
1993.
This interesting account of Af
rican American contributions to the
industrial age and technology be
gins with documented inventions oi
slaves, c ites innovations through the
Civil War and The Reconstruction
period and on into the modern era.
Especially interesting is the first
chapter, “Slave
Inventors”. One
can only weep at
the loss of this
in fo rm a tio n
which, revealed
w ould
have
made it impossi
ble for the racists to denigrate Afri
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, Mississippi, 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 of four people, four hors
es, two scrapers, and two plows
Stuart argued in his letter to Thomp
son that ownership o f the machine
was rightfully his, explaining that
"the master is the owner ofthe fruits
of the labor of the slave both intel
lectual (sioj and manual.”
The patent application was de
nied though the Confederacy passed
laws during the Civil War stating
that "all inventions of slaves shall
become the property of 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 Of
fice”: accurate records of the iron
ingot production of "Iron Planta
tions” run solely by complements of
African, men, women and children
bringing their skills from the West
Coast of Africa where iron-working
had been done for over a thousand
years.
Be sure to add both of these
books to your library so that the
entire family may have a good sum
mer’s reading.
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