January 5,2000
Page A4
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E d it o r
P
C h ie f ,
in
u b l is h e r
C h a rles H. W a sh in g to n
E d i
to r
L arry J. J a c k so n , Sr.
I
iie
I am aw are that the new millennium
technically starts in 2 0 0 1, but for the
vast majority o f the billions o f people
around the w orld, 2000 m arks the
beginning o f the millennium. For most
o f us, this is a crossing over period,
a tim e when w e are pausing to assess
ou r own lives and those o f our
co m m u n ities an d o u r w o rld . In
ordinary years, w e m ake resolutions
to lose w eight o r stop sm oking or
w ork harder in school. But this is no
ordinary year.
Thus, my resolution is not an
ordinary resolution. It is a resolution
to w ork ever harder for justice and
reconciliation, not ju st for one year
but for all th e years o f the new
m illennium that I am allow ed to live.
M y resolution is to w ork ever harder
forjustiee in the new millennium. First,
to work harder for racial justice. While
w e surely have m ade progress as a
nation on racial inequities, we have
m uch yet to do. A s long as there are
hate crim es b ased on race, as long as
u s in e s s
M
anager
G ary A nn T aylor
C
opy
E
d it o r
Joy R am os
C
r e a t iv e
D
ir e c t o r
S h aw n S trah an
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there are system ic discrepancies in
health care, education, housing, and
em ploym ent we will have work to do.
A s long as there are more black or
Latino men in the crim inal justice
system in this nation than in college,
w e will have work to do. As long as
toxic w astes are m ore apt to be
dum ped in com m unities o f color or as
long as people o f color are targets for
police brutality and harassm ent, we
w ill have w ork to do.
But justice is more than racial justice
to d a y . O u r w o rld crie s o ut for
econom ic justice w here nochild goes
hungry or with out shelter or clothes.
O ur world cries out for econom ic
justice where all people earn fairwages
for their labor, w here child labor is
abolished and w here there are no
sw eatshops or unsafe w orkplaces.
O ur w orld cries out for w omen to be
paid com parable w ages for the sam e
w ork and in this nation for safe,
affordable, quality child care.
Justice is more than economic justice
as well. It is justice for those w ith
disabilities, many ofw hom would like
to work, but are never offered the
options o f jobs. It is justice for those
who are gay or lesbian and who too
often are denied basic rights and find
them selves victims o f hate crim es
across this nation.
Itisjusticeform illionsofw om enw ho
are victim s o f domestic violence and
for m illions o f children who see
violence as a normal part o ftheir lives
in their homes.
T here’s plenty for me - and you - to
be busy with in the next millennium.
But part o f our justice work must
in c lu d e
w o rk in g
to w a rd
reconciliation. In the native Hawaiian
culture I am told there is a concept
called pono - o f making things right,
resto rin g right relatio n s. In the
A frican cultures o f the southern part
o f the continent there is a concept
called ubuntu - the idea that a person
is a person in the context o f the
com m unity. I have com e to believe
that there can be no reconciliation
w ithout justice, but 1 am also com ing
to believe that there can be no real
justice w ithout reconciliation. Only
when the victims, only when the
com m unity, only when nations work
A Dialogue Between Generations
eor T iie
B
P oke land O bserveh
P ortland O bseryer
Several w eeks ago I attended and
spoke at a conference on race w hich
w as organized at Stanford University.
A fterdeliv erin g m y lecture, I w alked
d o w n the step s from the stage.
C lustered around the steps w ere
several m ale and female graduate
students. O ne young black man,
about 25 years old, handsom e and
confident, began to raise a series o f
questions. I quickly apologized, and
e x p la in e d th a t I h ad to le a v e
im m ediately to be transported by car
to the San Jose airport, to catch the
red-eye evening flight back to New
Y ork. The students expressed the
desire to continue our conversation
on foot, and would even help carry
m y suitcase. 1 agreed. W e w alked
across the large cam pus at a quick
pace, as I was peppered with queries.
T he young black man wanted to know
ifl still considered myselfademocratic
socialist, and if so, why?
I started to talk about the rich tradition
o f b la ck A m eric an le ad e rs and
s c h o la r s
p u b lic ly
id e n tif ie d
them selves as “socialists,” including
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I
W.E.B. Du Bois, A. Philip Randolph,
Paul Robeson, A ngela Y D avis,
Bayard Rustin, A udre Lorde, June
Jordan and Cornel West. At the end
o f their lives, both M alcolm and
M artin had increasingly com e to
believe that capital ism as a social and
e c o n o m ic sy ste m c o u ld n e v e r
em pow er the overw helm ing majority
o f black people inside this country as
w ell as worldwide.
“ But w hat makes you think socialism
can be relevant or even m ake sense to
black people, when everyw here its
been tried it has failed?” the young
black man asked sincerely. “W hat
so c ia lis t s o c ie tie s can se rv e as
realistic m odels for us today?”
W ell yes. 1 replied, the concept o f
socialism has been discredited largely
d u e to th e c o lla p s e o f S o v ie t
C om m unism , as w ell as the retreat o f
European Social D em ocratic Parties
into neoliberalism . But despite their
problem s, socialist econom ies did
deliver m any real benefits, such as
free education, universal health care,
low cost housing and pensions, far
better than market societies.
M arkets are engines o f inequality, I
asserted. W hen a group o f people
sits down to play poker, at the end o f
the gam e everyone d o esn ’t go hom e
with m ore money than they cam e
with. It’s a zero-sum gam e, with
winners and losers. And in a racist
society, the econom y designed to
en su re that A frican A m eric an s,
Latinos, w orking class and poor
people are almost alw ays perm anent
“losers.”
“ M a y b e y o u ’re w ro n g a b o u t
h isto r y ,” th e y o u n g b la ck m an
countered, as we walked to the parking
lot, looking around for the car to take
me to the airport. “ Look at the
econom ic prosperity o f the 1990s.
Even poor people in the U.S. have a
much higher standard o f living than
anyone in the Third W orld.”
That fact is little com fort to the 44
m illion Am ericans w ho d o n ’t have
medical insurance, I replied. In 1999,
more than 500,000 A m ericans will go
to hospital em ergency rooms and will
be turned aw ay because they have
no health insurance. A black man
bom and raised in Central Harlem has
life expectancy o f 49 years o f age,
lo w er th a n m an y T h ird W o rld
countries. How can any o f this be
justified?
from a comm itment to reconci 1 iat ion
can we achieve true justice and peace.
My resolution for the m illennium .
then, is to w ork for ju stic e and
reconciliation. May m illions o fo th er
resolve to do the same.
January 4 through January 18,2000.
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...And a resolution for the new millennium