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October 26, 2011
Intervening in Africa is Smart Security Move
Obama responds to
acts of genocide
J udge G reg M athis
President Obama, taking a
much different approach to Afri
can unrest than his predeces
sors, recently sent a small team
of armed forces into central Af
rica to aide in the fight against the Lord's
Resistance Army (LRA), a militant group
that has been waging war against the offi
cial Ugandan government and local resi
dents for over 20 years.
U.S. troops were also dispatched to South
Sudan, the Central African Republic and
the Democratic Republic o f Congo, where
the LRA is believed to have set up camps.
The total number of troops sent to Africa
is small but the decision to send them is a
bold statement by the president.
In the past, the U.S. government turned
by
a blind eye to wars on the African continent, pean nation of Croatia, which was fighting
letting citizens fall victim to a variety of war for its independence from Yugoslavia.
crimes and human rights violations. Though any loss of life should be mourned,
By getting involved in Uganda, it would be negligent to not point out that
Obama is showing the world that Croatia only suffered a fraction of the
the U.S. is indeed concerned with casualties that Rwanda did. Yet, Croatia
what happens in Africa and that, as received assistance from the U.S. and many
long as our nation is able, we will not observers were left wondering if the U.S.
tolerate campaigns of murder, rape even cared about the continent of Africa.
and genocide against innocent
To be sure, Obama's attention to Africa
people.
is a smart security move for our nation.
Perhaps by sending troops to Uganda, Making sure unrest doesn't boil over, espe
President Obama hopes to avoid a repeat of cially with uprisings in nearby parts of the
the 1994 tragedies in Rwanda. In that year, world becoming more frequent, protects
over the course of 100 days, over half a America's political interests.
million people were killed. The mass mur
However, it also shows that, at least with
ders were the culmination of decades long this president, Africa will finally get the
tension between two of the nation's largest same support that Europe has received for
ethnic groups. The U.S., under former Presi generations.
dent Clinton, never officially sent troops to
Greg Mathis is a longtime advocate
Rwanda during this time.
for equal justice. His life story’ o f a street
By contrast, the U.S. did provide military youth who rose from jail to judge has
support during this same period to the Euro provided hope to millions.
Honoring Dr. King by Fighting for Jobs
Standing up in the
struggle for justice
M arc H. M orial
The spirit of Dr. M artin
Luther King Jr. was resur
rected this month in W ashing
ton, D.C. The new M artin
Luther King Memorial, a pow
erful, granite symbol of Dr.
King’s dream of equal oppor
tunity and racial reconciliation, was offi
cially dedicated on Oct. 16 before a crowd
of thousands on the National Mall.
In his keynote speech, President Obama
reminded the audience and the nation that
even though, “We have a right to savor the
slow, but certain progress” Dr. King made
possible, “Our work. Dr. King’s work, is not
com plete.”
The President called upon the nation to
“draw from the strength of those earlier
struggles,” to confront the crises of unem
ployment, poverty, inequality and division
that still plague us today.
A day earlier, I served as co-chair of a
rally and March for Jobs and Justice that
was organized by Rev. A1 Sharpton’s Na
by
(ri?e Jlnrtlanb (Dhseruer
tional Action Network. Thousands of citi
We should not forget that Dr. King was
zens and dozens of civil rights, human rights, assassinated in 1968 while leading non
and labor leaders joined us in a call for violent demonstrations to secure dignity
concrete action during a march from the and living wages for black sanitation work
Washington Monument to the new ers in Memphis. He was also planning a
King Memorial.
new nationwide campaign for jobs and
We marched for the 14 million opportunity that would involve citizen pro
Americans who remain out of work. tests in cities and rural districts across the
We m arched for a jo b s bill. We country and culminate with another historic
marched in solidarity with citizens who march on Washington.
feel left out by corporate interests, let
Like the nation’s founders, Dr. King
down by their political leaders and left understood the power of “We, the people”
behind by the econom ic recovery. We to build a more perfect union. He relied on
m arched for w orker rig h ts...fo r voter groups like the National Urban League,
rights...for equal justice under the law. SCLC and the NAACP to mobilize, orga
And we marched to the beat of a constant nize and empower the foot soldiers of the
refrain: “What do we want? Jobs! When movement. And he inspired us to press on
do we want it?” Now!”
in the face of barriers and setbacks.
The common thread tying together the
Dr. King’s life has been a guiding light in
march and memorial dedication is the re- my own career in public service. While I am
emergence today of the same kind of bold, proud of the new memorial on the National
grassroots action that Dr. King so coura Mall, I can think of no better way to honor
geously used in his fight for civil rights and his legacy than to stand with groups like the
economic justice.
National Action Network and millions of
With overall unemployment at 9.1 per Americans in the on-going struggle for jobs
cent and the African American rate at 16 and justice.
percent, it is time for the rising voices of the
Marc H. Morial is president and chief
people — from Wall Street to W ashington - executive officer o f the National Urban
- to be heard.
League.
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