Ælîe |Jo rtla n ò (©bseruer
Page A4
A p rii 12. 2006
Opinion articles do not
necessarily reflect or represent the
views o f The Portland Observer
O pinion
Along the Color Line:
Crisis of Leadership in America Today
by
I)«. M anning M arable
There is a crisis o f leadership in
A merican public life today. Presi­
dent G eorge W. Bush’s opinion-
poll num bers are at an all-tim e low.
due in large m easure to his insane
and com pletely unjustifiable war in
Iraq.
C ongress, dom inated by con­
servative Republicans, is caught in
corruption, scandals, and seems
totally out o f touch with the needs
o f the A merican people. The mo­
guls o f corporate Am erica receive
astronom ically high salaries and
benefits packages, w hile millions
o f A m ericans are losing their pen­
sions and health care coverage.
W here is the leadership we need
that possesses a vision o f what
American democracy could be, a
dem ocracy without war and rac­
ism?
The place to begin is to recon­
sid e r past ex a m p le s like Paul
R obeson, the m ost co u rag eo u s
model o f civic leadership that the
A frican -A m erican people have
produced.
Bom in 1898, Robeson was an
all-A m erican athlete in college and
received a law degree from C olum ­
bia University. A lm ost by accident
he becam e involved in the theater
and within a few years had become
one o f the best know n actors in the
country. His extraordinary singing
voice also won him international
popularity.
ATT E N T lO
Where is the leadership we need
that possesses a vision o f what
American democracy could be, a
democracy without war and racism?
Between the G reat Depression
until the late 1940s, he tirelessly
supported trade union activism and
III
■ ■■
C A L LIN G T H E JEFFE R SO N H IG H SC H O O L C O M M U N IT Y
FA M ILY !!!
T h e J H S C o m m u n ity G overning B oard P ro je c t C ore T e a m
W ill be having a
CO M M UNITY MEETING
A pril 15, 2 0 0 6
9 :0 0 am - 1 :0 0 pm
in th e J e ffe rs o n High S choo l C a fe te ria
cam paigned for Third W orld inde­
pendence. In 1938, he defended the
Spanish Republic in its unsuccess­
ful w ar against fascism.
R obeson’s advocacy for civil
rights and trade union struggles
led the FBI to place him under sur­
veillance. W ith the onset o f the
“Cold W ar” between the United
States and the Soviet Union, he
courageously understood that in­
ternational peace was essential to
the interests o f black and brown
people, both within the U.S. as well
as Africa, A sia and the Caribbean.
In 1949, at the W orld Peace C on­
ference in Paris, Robeson declared,
“ It is unthinkable that A m erican
Negroes will go to w ar on behalf o f
those w ho have oppressed us for
g e n e ra tio n s ...a g a in st a co u n try
|the Soviet Union] w hich in one
generation has raised our people to
the full dignity o f m ankind.” The
A m erican press distorted this quo­
tation, claim ing that R obeson had
stated th at A frican A m erican s
w ould never fight for the U nited
States. Several prom inent African
American leaders including Harlem
c o n g r e s s m a n A d am C la y to n
Powell, Jr., NA ACPNational Secre-
A B O U T C O M M U N IT Y G O VER N A N C E!
M A K E Y O U R V O IC E K N O W N A B O U T TH E FU T U R E OF
C O M M U N IT Y G O V E R N A N C E A T JEFFER SO N H IG H !
COM E! G E T IN FO R M E D ! S P E A K O U T!
Y O U R A T T E N D A N C E IS C R U C IA L - Y O U R IN P U T IS V IT A L !
PLAN TO BE THERE!!!
S p a n ish L a n g u a g e In te r p r e ta tio n W ill B e A v a ila b le
F o r m o re in fo rm a tio n , p le a s e c o n ta c t (3 0 3 )2 4 9 -1 7 2 1 x 2 4 1
SEASONS
M A R K E T
Dr. Manning Mitrable is profes­
sor o f public affairs, history and
African-American studies at Co­
lumbia University in New York.
Another Arms Sale to
a Militant Dictator
by J im
CO M E A N D F IN D O U T
W H A T TH E C O M M IT T E E ’S R ESEA RC H H AS FO U N D O U T
tary W alter W hite, and baseball
star Jackie Robinson, issued public
sta te m e n ts h a rsh ly c ritic a l o f
Robeson.
In 1950, Robeson was banned
from appearances on television,
radio, and at concert halls. Subpoe­
naed by the House U n-Am erican
A ctivities C om m ittee in 1956, he
defiantly refused to give nam es o f
A m erican com m unists and chal­
lenged the com m ittee m em bers
about their racism.
But the pressures o f political
harassm ent took their toll. In 1961
Robeson suffered a physical break­
dow n, and by the m id -1960s he had
largely w ithdraw n from public life.
He died in 1976.
Yet for the B lack Freedom M ove­
ment o f the 1960s and 1970s, Paul
Robeson continued to be the living
em bodim ent o f their political ide­
als. By rem em bering his fearless
example, we might restore the demo­
cratic vision and political ideals o f
peace and freedom he lived for in
our own time.
H ightower
H ere’s a question for Bush &
Com pany: Can any o f you even
spell h-y-p-o-c-r-i-s-y?
I'm prom pted to ask because of
back-to-back news item s I saw re­
garding D onald R um sfeld's recent
jau n t to M oscow . At a press con­
ference, our Pentagon honcho ex ­
pressed concern about Russian
arm s sales around the world - sales
that the Pentagon calls "disruptive
weapons technologies.”
Then, the very next day. Rummy
was in A lgeria, meeting with the
c o u n try ’s stro n g m an p resid en t,
Abdelaziz Bouteflika. O ur Penta­
gon ch ief was again talking about
arm s sales - but rather than co n ­
dem ning them , he was trying to
make some! “They have things they
desire and we have things we can
be helpful w ith,” Rum sfeld said
about a possible arm s deal with the
Algerian military. Among the high-
tech w eaponry they w ant are night-
vision goggles, helicopters, and
fighter planes to help them crack
down on antigovem m ent rebels in
the co untry’s southern desert.
If R um sfeld's salesm anship has
a vague deja vu ring to it, th at’s
because the most infamous instance
o f his peddling U.S. firepow er to
the ruler o f a desert nation was in
1983. He had been sent to Iraq as a
sp e cia l em issa ry from R onald
Reagan to assure Saddam Hussein
that we w ould supply him with so­
phisticated w eaponry and help him
build up Iraq’s military. That d id n ’t
w ork out too well for America.
Oh, say the Bushites, this is dif­
ferent, for Bouteflika is our ally
against global Islamic terrorism.
Hello... Saddam w asourally in 1983.
And Bouteflika, who essentially
seized pow er with military backing
seven years ago, has a less-than
stellar record on human rights and
dem ocracy. O nce again, Rum sfeld
is siding America with powerelites...
and arm ing them! Indeed, the arms
we provide to Bouteflika would be
used against his own people and
possibly against A lgeria’s smaller
Islam ic neighbors.
H ow exactly is this helping
A m erica win the hearts and minds
o f the Islamic w orld?
Jim Hightower is the best-sell­
ing author o f “Thieves In High
Places: They 've Stolen Our Coun­
try And It's Time To Take It Back.
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