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August 18. 2004
Opinion articles do not
necessarily reflect or represent the
views of The Portland Observer
O pinion
New Blood fo r the GOP?
Voters want leaders of
varied backgrounds,
complexions
by
M arc H. M oriai .
Hie catalyst for this stunning turn of events has
been Barack Obama, a 42-year-old Illinois state
senator from Chicago who swept a crowded
Democratic primary field to capture the party’s
Senate nomination.
O bam a's rising political star— he was already
heavily favored in Illinois to win the General
Election— shot across the national political land
scape when he was picked to give a major speech
at the Democratic National Convention and elec
trified not only the convention delegates but a
national audience as well.
One product of O bam a’s star-turn was the
quick decision of the Illinois G OP to appoint a
black candidate to oppose him: Alan Keyes.
True, G OP officials dutifully declared that
Keyes' race was no, a factor in his selection.
According to a Chicago Sun-Times report, one
spring, to choose Keyes. The second is that
Keyes, a prom inent conservative activist w ho’s
tw ice run for president, has never lived in
Illinois. He lives in M aryland, where in the
1980s and 1990s he twice ran for U.S. Senate,
gamering only 29 and 38 percent of the vote,
respectively. K eyes’ non-residency in Illinois is
legal. In fact, he doesn’t have to move into Illinois
until election day.
I welcome the Illinois G O P’s move, because it
underscores what Barack O bam a's achievements
thus far have illuminated: that many voters in
Illinois and elsewhere are entirely open to appeals
to think about and act on more than their own
bread-and-butter issues, and to recognize that
those qualified to represent them can come from
all sorts o f backgrounds and bear all sorts of
complexions.
O bam a’s appeal is so refresh
ing precisely because he’s inte
grated his diverse ethnic heritage,
his civic involvement and record
of service in office, and his posi
tions on issues o f concern to
voters into a formidable political
persona.
Will the GOP, no, just in Illi-
v nois, but across the country, get
the message? Has it finally awo
ken to the fact that it needs to act forcefully on its
rhetoric about inclusion— that there’s political hay
to be made from it? Does importing the highly-
visible Alan Keyes to Illinois represent, as some
suspect, a cynical sacrificiaTlamb maneuver? Or
is it evidence that Republicans really recognize
their political need for new blood?
Who would have thought
that amid the great spectacle
o f the presidential election
another fascinating contest
for national office would sud
denly develop?
Who would have thought
that when issues that revolve
around race appeared firmly set on the back
burner of the season's political discourse, the
issue o f race would take center-stage in unusual
ways? And be grounded in the state that was the
I
home of Abraham Lincoln, the “Great Emancipa
tor?”
And who would have thought that that state’s
Republican Party, which, like its counterparts
everywhere has continually publicly bemoaned its
inability to field viable black candidates for virtu
ally any office, would act in a way that guaranteed
its selecting a high-profile one?
O f course I’m referring to the contest for the
U. S, Senate in Illinois— a contest which, barring
a completely unforeseen development, will pro top state party official said, “It just turned out to
duce only the third African American to sit in the be that way. We don’t look at color the way the
U.S. Senate in the last 100 years and only the fifth Democrats do. We look at the candidates and
since the end o f the Civil War.
where they stand on the issues.”
Because both the Democratic and Republican
M edia editorial reaction to such com m ents
candidates are African Americans— the first time for the most part has ranged from incredulity to
this has happened in a race for the U.S. Senate in scorn. One reason was that state G O P leaders
American history— it is important in unusual and bypassed nearly a dozen w hite candidates, some
potentially expansive ways.
of whom had run in the R epublican prim ary this
H
Because both the Democratic
and Republican candidates are
African Americans it is important
in unusual and potentially
expansive ways.
Marc H. Moriai is president and chief execu
tive officer of the National Urban League.
Where is Today’s Muhammad Ali?
by
J udge G reg M athis
From athletic shoes to sports drinks, today’s
major athletes can and do, hawk everything
under the sun. Unfortunately, when it comes to
political and social issues, these celebrities are
uncharacteristically silent.
It was not always the case
that sports figures collected
m ajor endorsem ent pay-
checks and remained silent
on other issues. Muhammad
Ali changed his name from
Cassius Clay in an act of
social and political conscious
ness. His outspokenness cost
him much in his career, yet
he continued to speak out.
His bravery and conviction is missing from the
great majority of current sports stars.
Not all entertainers fall victim to the slave
mentality of “take the money and shut up.”
Musicians and actors alike speak out in the
media. Danny Glover has been recognized by
numerous organizations for his humanitarianism
and activism. Sean “P. Diddy” Combs has
launched a “Vote or Die” media blitz in an effort
to reinforce the importance of voting with young
people. Russell Simmons isa highly vocal politi
cal and social activist. With musicians and
dunk, home run and touch down. All one has to
do is be politically aware and socially conscious.
In this election year, there is much to de
bate: the economy, the real reasons behind
the war in Iraq, genocide in African nations,
—
-------------------------------------------------------
— education and so forth.
These are issues that af
fect and impact our com
munity. Remembering the
brave
legacy
of
Muhammad Ali, a man
who was stripped of his
boxing title because of his
stand against the Vietnam
W ar, to d a y ’s a th le te s
f t should be empowered to
take similar stands against
actors actively speaking out on social and politi the major issues of the day. This is not just the
cal issues, one cannot help but to look at profes right thing to do, it the essential thing for these
sional athletes and wonder why they are so athletes to do.
silent.
Judge Greg Mathis is chairman o f the
One does not have to be the “greatest of all Rainbow PUSH-Excel Board and a national
time” in order to speak out and help influence board member o f the Southern Christian
those who watch, praise and cheer every slam Leadership Conference.
A ll one has to do
is be politically
aware and socially
conscious.
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A Word from
the World
Our global village
is in pain
by
B ernice P owell J ackson
I have just returned from an
international meeting of church
leaders from around the world -
from Africa, Asia, Latin America,
the Pacific as well as Europe
and North America. As so of
ten happens, they have a different message for us
than the one we read in the newspapers or see on
television. Their message is that security is indeed
a problem for the rest of the world - bu, for most of
the world security means whether families will have
food to eat, clean water to drink, control of their own
natural resources, a clean environment as well as
the right to choose their own governments. And for
most of the rest of the world, the U.S. right now is
seen as a threat to that security.
That’s a pretty sobering message. But there are
reasons for it and it would be wise of us to listen
closely to them.
Security to the rest of the world, especially the
developing world, is tied to economic justice.
We heard many stories about how their people
are suffering greater gaps between the wealthy few
and the many poor. In some of these cases, church
leaders traced their nations’ participation in World
Bank re-financings and development schemes which
required, for example, poor nations to use multi
national corporations and accounting firms to priva
tize water and other public service, thereby costing
the people much more to just buy water. They
pointed to the fact that many developing nations
have been required by the World Bank and others
to downsize their governmental payrolls, thereby
increasing the number of unemployed in nations
struggling to create jobs. They pointed to the fact
that public education, health care and social secu
rity are collapsing in many of these nations, as they
struggle to pay off even the interest payments on
debts incurred.
The global village is in pain and our ears seem to
be deaf to that pain.
Our meeting took place in Africa, where HIV and
deaths from AIDS imperil the Sub-Saharan conti
nent. There are some 42 million people with the
disease and 35 million of them are Africans. Most of
them are women.
President Bush promised $15 billion in U.S. aid
for HIV/AIDS work in Africa, but closer examination
reveals that the pledge was not for new dollars and
nowhere near that amount has yet reached Africa.
The message for us is that security for the rest of
the world means that we must find ways to under
stand that our responsibility as the world’s super
power is to be peacemakers. We cannot turn our .
backs on the fact that most of the world, including
ourclosest allies, now look warily at the U.S. and are
fearful of what the future holds for the world if we
remain on our present course.
Security for the rest of the world is tied to finding
ways to live peacefully in a multi-faith world. It is
imperative that leaders of all faiths around the world
work together for peace with justice in a world where
there seems to be too little of both.
The people of the world have a message for us.
The question is do we want to hear it.
Bernice Powell Jackson is executive minister
for Justice and Witness Ministries for the United
Church o f Christ.
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