MT..JAHI)MtM.13S2 THECMSUSATISSJ-17
U.S. Africa '
Ethiopians, Eritreans Put On Notice
AN An estimated
' 2,000 to 3,000 Ethio-.
pians and Eritreans ' in
the United States ace
possible deportation as a -result
of a new State
.Department ruling.
U.S. officials have ter
minated "voluntary
departure: status" for:
4 this group, - explaining
: ; the move as a response to
'? the stabilizing . political
' situation in - Ethiopia.
Some ' observers,
however, see the move as
part of a strategy to
Counter Soviet influence i
in the Horn
A sense that (he U.S.
government is tightening
visa' controls in general
has been growing in re-'
cent months among
Africans f rom various
countries residing here.
"It's become very dif
ficult for Africans to
change from student
visas to regular , visas,
and most pocple feel
there is discrimination,
although it is difficult to
prove in each individual
case," .says Howard
University's Professor of
African Studies
Nzongola Ntalaja.
But Ethiopia is a
special case. Since the
revolution against
Emperor Haile Selassie
began in 1974, the U.S.
has allowed automatic
one-year, extensions of,
all visas for Ethiopians
(including those from
Eritrea, the territory -nexed
by Ethiopia ifl"
1962 and the scene of a.
bitter independence
war).
1 Then, after extensive
dissussions in the early
months of 1981, the
State Department advis
ed the Immigration and
Naturalization Service
(INS) of the Department
of Justice that it wanted
a change. According to
an official explanation
issued earlier this month,
the Stale Department
concluded "that current
conditions in Ethiopia
are not" comparable to
the seven years previous
and continuing granting .
. 6l blanket .;..voJMta0 j.
departure status could
no longer be justified."
In an August 8 letter,
Deputy Secretary of
State William P. Clark,
who became President
Reagan's national securi
ty advisor on January 8,
notified the ' INS of'
State's new position.
The days of "bloody
red terror" that followed
the ouster of Emperor
Selassie and the ensuing
widespread and random
violence had ended, the
department concluded.
and therefore the handl
ing of visa applications
- from Ethiopians should
be regularized.' Even so,
conditions continued to
be such in Ethiopia, that
"there may be Ethiopian
. asylum applicants in the
United States as well as
Ethiopian 1 1 applicants
. elsewhere in the world
: who can demonstrate a
.'well-founded fear of
persecution if they were
to return "home, park
stated. ."These applica
tions should continue to
be granted asylum or
refugee status," he ad
. vised. : ;
' Following this
notification, Ethiopians
began to receive letters
from INS telling them to
prepare to go home as
their one-year extensions
expired. As word of the
change spread in the
Ethiopian community in
the U.S., Africa News
asked the State Depart
ment for an explanation.
One informed official,
interviewed in
December, said the ac
tion was sparked by a
"gross level of abuse" of
the voluntary departure
status. "They may not
like living .in Ethiopia,
but that is not sufficient
grounds for political
asylum," he argued.
In a January 4 column
that drew public atten
tion to the issue. The
New York Times' An
thony Lewis argued that
the, action reflected
'particular political
callousness" and
"hypocrisy" on the part
X)f the Reagan ad
ministration. "Last October, 2.
Jeanne Kirkpat'rick,
United States Am
bassador to the United
Nations, spoke in the
UN General Assembly
about what she called the
'savagery' of the Marxist
regime in Ethiopia," -Lewis
wrote, "In graphic
terms she V denounced
assaults on human rights
that have occurred since'
Col. Mengistu Haile
Mariam took over in the
revolutiaa of, i
- "Xfter ' idimm
" Kirkpatrick , quotes,
Lewis - continued:
"Powerful words, But at
about the same time
Mrs., Kirkpatrick spoke
them',' , Reagan ad
ministration officials
were preparing action to
send 20,000 or 30,000
Ethiopian refugees in
this country back to
Ethiopia."
Those figures are ap
parently exaggerated.
Sources in both the
Ethiopian community
and the . INS put the
number affected at bet
ween 2,000 and 3,000.
The 1 INS . reports that
during the first ten mon
ths of 1981, 1,271 re-
. quests for " asylum were
: received from Ethiopians
resident in the U.Sk The
U.S. approved sixteen
requests and denied. 24
during that period.
Another 4,600 re-
quests from Ethiopians
abroad were received,
and 3,500 of those were
'given 're fugee status,
- allowing them to enter
and live in the VS. as
permanent alien'
residents. (Aliens already
inside the U.S. cannot
apply for refugee status.)
With the voluntary
departure status now
abolished for Ethiopians
it is in effect currently
for Polish refugees .
the only way most can
remain in the U.S. is by
obtaining political
asylum. The INS and the
State Department expect
only a small number of
those affected to qualify.
In his column, Lewis
argues "there is every
reason in common sense
for the ' Ethiopian
refugees here to expect
trouble if they return
home now. They arc
Westernized. highly
educated, many of them
children of officials in
the Haile Selassie
government overthrown
by Col. Mengistu."
Berckct Habte
Selassie, a former Ethio
pian altorncy general
now on the faculty at
Howard University (and
no relation to the former
emperor), says many of
those affected "are
students who were very
active during the early
and mid-1970s in the op
position to the emperor,
andihe majority of them
supported the EPRP (a
party which advocated a
civilian rather than
military revolutionary
. government) and part
cipated in demonstra
tions against the military
regime."
Jlereket .believes -.-the-
visa change Is pari of a
larger U.S. policy in
itiative. He argues that
the State Department, by
declaring that conditions
are stabilizing, may be
trying to improve the at
mosphere of relations
with Ethiopia. Chester
Crocker, Assistant
Secretary of State for
African Affairs,
"believes that eventually
Mengistu and the faction
that supports him will
either kick the Soviets
out or considerably
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Historian Advocates Black
Emahcipat
ion
By Henry Du vail
v It was ; 1919 when . a
" young black faculty
member of Howard
University : named
Charles H. Wesley called
for a "second emancipa
tion" of black people
a "self-emancipation."
He was addressing the
congregation ' - , - of
Washington s
Metropolitan - AME
Ch u rch wh o, Wesley
recalls, reacted with
shock and then applause.
The' noted historian
and educator recently
celebrated his 90th birth
day anniversary. Mayor
Marion Barry of
Washington, D.C., pro
claimed his birthdate,
December 2, 1981, as
"Charles Wesley Day,"
and this month his
fraternity, Alpha Phi
Alpha, paid tribute to
him at a ceremony at
Howard. '
His concept of self
emancipation was
perceived as a radical
idea in 1919;
nonetheless, Wesley con
tinued to share his
reduce their presence,"
Berckct maintains.
In spite of a vociferous
ami-Soviet and anti
Cuban , foreign policy
and the large representa
tion by both those coun
tries in Ethiopia, the ad
ministration has limited
its denunciations of the
Mengistu regime to occa
sional statements like
Kirkpatrick's.
message through public
appearances in the '30s
and '40s. Today, Wesley
Relieves that the concept
fa second emancipa-
.on is still relevant.
Noting that the gains
of black leadership have
slipped a bit in recent
. years, . he observes that1
emancipation must be
. continuous. "Some have
-' broken away from this
idea, but it must be con
tinued." It's a call for
. black leadership.
According to Wesley,
the first emancipation of
blacks was the proclama
tion of the white . man,
and the second was the
burden of blacks to lead
themselves and control
their own destinies.
Wesley says that blacks
have to earn this leader.
ship through education.
The concept of self
emancipation, was not
meant to lead to
separatism between the
races, Wesley ' em
phasizes. ' Blacks and
whites ' should work
together, "but blacks
shouldn't be following."
In earlier years, there
'were those blacks who
continued to follow
white leadership. Wesley
notes, adding that some
still do. He warns that if
black people aren't
careful, they will return
to the "acceptance of
white leadership."
"The leadership today
black and white
must go back to the
basics of what's right
(Continued on Page 16)
r ' 9 ' 1
l J
I . J VS l
Vl yi 1
: J.t ...It 1 . ii Hl..nr I-.l.r - . ,.-
Alphas Pay Tribute To Dr. Wesley
Dr. Charles H. Wesley, right, ninety year old historian and former college president, is greeted by Dr.
James E. Cheek, president of Howard University, at a recent Alpha Phi Alpha tribute to Dr. Wesley. His
wife, Mrs. Dorothy Wesley, looks on.
VK V
iynjniLB.ack
America's past has been ne
glected. Its present, complex and
explosive. Its future direction,
uncertain.
There are myths to be ex
amined. Issues to be confronted.
Questions to be answered. And
fully. No whitewash.
The way Tony Brown has
done it. With hard-r-n
hitting, thought- 1
provoking pro
grams that have
made Tony Brown's
Journal the most
watched Black-
I
with a host of provocative new
programs. Programs like "Crisis:
Blacks Killing Each Other." An
in-depth look at the social phen
omenon of Black on-Black
crime. And "Black Women: New
Directions." A report on the re
cent emergencof Black women
rjotoi
work force. Will they replace the
traditionally male-dominated
leadership of Black
America?
In this day of political
earners of the media,
r
IS i W 1
show on television.
Programs like 'Trouble In
Paradise," an investigation into a
report that Harvard University's
Black students were intellectually
inferiorlo its White. And "Black
Revolt In the '80s',' an exploration
into the possibility of a major
Black uprising during the pre
sent decade.
And now, in his twelfth
year on national television, Tony
is aiming just as high, probing
just as deep, with the same re
spect for fairness and commit
ment to the truth that has made
this program the longest-running,
syndicated Black-Affairs series
in television history.
Beginning February 6,
Tony Brown's Journal will be
moving to public television (PBS)
where words
take on double meanings and
people's stands on issues tend to
blur and jumble, the truth can
be quite refreshing. To Tony
Brown, there is no such thing
as almost-truths. No such thing
as leaving a little out or putting
ahttlein.Nowhite
wash.ToTony ,
Brown, there is
nnlv the truth
Sponsored by
Pepsi-Cola Company.
I Please send me an issue of the Tony
Brown's Journal magazine, containing
(copies of program transcripts and infor
mation. I am enclosing $ 1 .50 for postage
I and handling.
(Hf.w Prinll
4
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City-
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fmMMawiK I
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' V.- . f. rj: -skj
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. 9
STATION
WUNC-TV
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CHANNEL NUMBER DAY DATE TIME
CHANNEL 4
TUES.
FEB. 9