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War is Always Evil
What has happened to our
country and our world?
by
B ernice P o w e u . J ackson
“War may sometimes be a
necessary evil, but no matter
how necessary, it is always evil,
never good. We will not learn
how to live together in peace by
killing each other’s children.”
Those were the words of Presi
dent Jimmy Carter in his accep
tance speech for the Nobel
Peace Prize. Must we learn
that anew in every generation?
The pictures of the abuse and
to rtu re
con
ducted by U.S.
troops and pri
vate contractors
turn my stomach
and those of mil
lions of Ameri
can s.
T hey
threaten the lives
o f A m erican
troopsstillinlraq
and they may threaten any pos
sibility of good will by many
Iraqis and many in the Arab
world in the future.
But we should not be sur
prised. War is always evil and
sometimes even good people do
evil things during war. Should
we be surprised?
Those pictures were horrible
and Congress and the Ameri
can people, not to mention the
Iraqi people, rightly demand jus
tice. But, I wonder, where were
our cries o f outrage when pic
tures surfaced of the children
injured in the siege of Fallujah
and other Iraqi cities? Are not
the broken bodies of Iraqi chil
dren just as horrible?
M a y 19. 2 0 0 4
tured Iraqis. Did we stop to
think about what the image of
U.S. troops holding prisoners
in Abu Ghraib would say?
Did we care?
And then I was struck with
three little words in the state
ment of Army Maj. Gen. An
tonio M. Taguba, “two pri
vate contractors.” It seems
that there may have been pri
vate contractors— a.k.a. m er
cenaries involved in some of
the abuses at this prison. It’s
one thing to talk about private
contractors providing supplies
for our armed forces, but it’s
As I looked at the pictures
and saw the woman soldier
standing above the naked bod
ies of the Iraqi prisoners, I won
dered to myself, is this what so
many of us who have fought for
equal rights for women worked
for? What could she have been
thinking?
As I looked at the pictures of
the hooded prisoner standing with
wires extending from his arms,
I thought about the 2,805 docu
’ Are these new pictures
from the Abu Ghraib
prison a remnant o f the
racism o f our past?
— Bernice Powell Jackson
mented cases o f lynching of
African Americans in this na
tion. And I w asn’t the only
one— others, including both Af
rican A m ericans and Arab
Americans, are remembering
those horrible picture postcards
of black men, women and chil
dren hanging from trees, some
times with crowds of white fami
lies having lunch nearby.
So I have to ask, are these
new pictures from the Abu
Ghraib prison a remnant of the
racism o f our past?
And, speaking o f the Abu
Ghraib prison, what were we
even doing there? It was an
in fa m o u s p ris o n , w h e re
Saddam Hussein’s soldiers tor
another thing altogether to
talk about private contrac
tors doing the actual work of
the armed forces. How do
we hold them accountable for
what may be considered war
crim es?
War is evil. We need to say
that. We need to apologize to
those who were tortured and
abused and to the people of
Iraq. We need to hold not only
our military accountable, but
those civilian leaders of the
military as well. We need to
question the role of private mili
tary contractors and we need
to search into our souls about
what has happened toourcoun-
try and our world.
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African A m erican H ealth Coalition, Inc.
Presents for your health,
Wellness W ithin REACH Activity Calendar
Aerobic?
Pilate?
Mallory Ave. Christian Church
Matt Dishman
Mon, Wed, Fn, 6-7am, Pierce • 5:30-6:20pm,
Granville • 6:30-7:30pm, Hickerson
Mon, 12:15-1:15pm, Jenkins
Humboldt Elementary
Stretching/Body Sculpting
Tue, Thu, 6-7pm, Keller
(Class courtesy o f Hatt Dishman)
Low Impact Aerobics
Daniel’s Memorial Church
lue, Thu, 7-8am, Lois
Tue, 7 :15 -8:15pm, Granville
Walking Group
Peninsula Park
W ater A erobic? ( C o n t a c t A A H C )
Salvation Army
Matt Dishman
Sat, 12:30pm, Woods
African Dance
Tue, Thu, 9 -1 Oam. Hasan
Matt Dishman
Weight Mgnt./Conditioning
U. of Portland Indoor Track
Matt Dishman
Sat, 10-1 lam , Addo
Yoga
W ild Oats Market
Body Conditioning
W ild Oats Market
Tue, Thu, 7:3O-8:3Opm, O'Rourke
Sat, 9:3O-IO:3Oam, Nickerson
This court has gotten involved in deciding political
issues when it appears to benefit Republicans, but
seems to use the shield o f nonpartisanship when it
comes to enforcing the voting rights o f African
Americans.
- judge Greg Mathis
Supreme Court Fails
on Voting Rights
by
J udge G reg M athis
Nearly four years af
ter the U.S. Supreme
Court decided to engage
in partisan politics and
the majority Republican-
appointed Justices se
lected Bush as Presi
dent, the high court re
cently ruled against an
important voting rights
case.
In a 5 to 4 vote the justices
ruled against a democratic chal
lenge to an unfair Pennsylvania
redistricting map. The case in
volved efforts by the Republi
can controlled Pennsylvania leg
islature to redistrict their con
gressional maps in a manner
that would reduce the political
power of democrats and mi
norities, resulting in less minor
ity political power in the U.S.
Congress.
The practice of Congressional
redistricting to reduce political
power of a party or minority
group is as old as politics itself.
Gerrymandering, the name given
to this practice, occurs when
the political
party, which
has control of
the state leg
islature, re
d raw s the
voting maps
and dissects
n e ig h b o r
hoods to cre
ate a voting
district that
the party in control knows they
will win.
In past years, the U.S. Su
preme Court has struck down
this practice as a violation o f the
“one man, one vote” standard
of American democracy. In the
1960s, the court was active in
outlawing this practice because
it was frequently used to dilute
the voting bloc of African Ameri
cans who were fighting for po
litical empowerment.
The current Republican domi
nated U.S. Supreme Court in an
opinion written by Justice Scalia,
reversed the courts usual pro
tection of voting rights and Scalia
even stated that such cases
should never have been heard
by the court because it involves
political issues beyond the courts
jurisdiction.
This same Supreme Court,
which in this current case of
Vieth vs. Jubelirer allowed Re
publican gerrymandering, has
repeatedly invalidated black-
majority districts. In other words,
this court has gotten involved in
deciding political issues when it
appears to benefit Republicans,
but seems to use the shield of
nonpartisanship when it comes
to enforcing the voting rights of
African Americans and other
minorities.
On the eve of a hot and heavi ly
contested summer campaign for
the presidency, both candidates
must be challenged on whether
they will be sure to appoint Su
preme Court Justices that will
ensure voting rights.
Judge Greg Mathis is chair
man o f the Rainbow PUSH-
Excel Board and a national
board member o f the South
ern Christian Leadership Con
fe re n c e .
Uninsured Numbers are Staggering
African Americans among hardest hit
Editor’s note: The following
is from Cover the Uninsured
Week, a diverse group o f orga
nizations representing thou
sands o f individuals, business
owners, union members, edu
cators, students, health con
sumers, hospitals, health insur
ers, physicians, nurses, faith
leaders and many others:
One in five-orapproximately
7.3 million - African Ameri
cans in the U.S. are uninsured.
More than one-third do not have
a regu lar doctor’s office or health
center at which they can get the
medical attention they need,
despite their heightened risk for
certain chronic conditions such
as diabetes and hypertension.
Being uninsured means Afri
can Americans go without medi
cal care when it is needed. It
means minor illnesses become
major ones because care is de
layed. In fact, the Institute of
Medicine estimates 18,000 adults
in America die each year be
cause they are uninsured and
can’t get proper care.
Many African A m ericans
age and are placing insurance
out o f the reach of millions of
working Americans.
That’s why Presidents Ford
and Carter and national cam
paign spokesperson, TV star
Noah Wyle, the National Medi-
Many African Americans who
currently have private health
coverage through their jobs are
at risk o f becoming uninsured, i
whocurrently have private health
coverage through their jobs are
at risk of becoming uninsured.
Rising costs are making health
coverage unaffordable for busi
ness owners who would like to
provide their employees with
affordable health care cover
cal Association, the National
Council of Negro Women and
some of the most influential or
ganizations in the United States
in sponsoring Cover the Unin
sured W eek - to encourage
Americans nationwide to join
together to help find a solution.
Letters to the Editor
Travesty of Justice
Daniel's Memorial Church, 1234 NE Killingsworth
Matt Dishman. 77 NE Knott
(12th 4 Kdlmgsworth)
HunboWt Elementary, 4915 N Gantenbein
Peninsula Park. 700 N Portland
Salvation Army. 5325 N Williams
Malory Avenue Christian Churdi (Gym), 126 ME
U. of Portland Indoor Trade, 500 N Willamette
Alberta
Wild Oats Market. 3535 NE 15th
"M u st be 21 or older to participate Please contact AAHC before showing up to the first class and for
more information at 503-413-1850 or kdempsey@aahc portland.org. Please receive approval from your
doctor before beginning exercise class.
The tragedy of the police kill
ings of (often) innocent victims
is not only the death of human
beings, hut also the death of
human justice.
The prime witness cannot
testify against the police or de
fend his or hers own integrity. If
a police officer professes fear
Contact AAHC at 503-413-1150 or visit our web site at wwwaahc-portland.org
ond, through weeding out para
noid, em otionally unstable po
lice recruits, and finally, by
instituting a more positive phi
losophy of criminal justice that
re s to re s , ra th e r th an c o n
dem ns.
Charles E. Long
Northeast Portland
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Racial anB Ethnic Approach«, to C o m m u n ity H e a lt h
A Program nl llip A fro in A u ro ra n Mmllh Coalition. Inc
Sponwrad by Itie C ro w n 1er OWeaw Control and Proventi«, (COC)
and possesses a vivid imagina
tion of impending violence, the
officers may shoot to kill with
impunity, knowing the grand jury
will exonerate the slayer based
upon “self-defense.”
This travesty o f justice must
com e to an end. First, through
the Oregon Legislature, sec-
ül"
rt lattò (iDhscrucr
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