Forum
'Peace at last'
rtji persons ?i Aincan aescent In particular, the President of
throughout the Jiorld, and all per- Angola, H.E. Jose Eduardo Dos
sons who are committed to justice Santos, should be congratulated for
and peace, are celebrating the fact his successful and courageous lead
that the struggle fbr peace in Ango- ership. During the signing of the
la has finally beei) won. The people. Peace Accords, President Dos San
and government* of The Peoples tos stated, "This is an occasion of
Republic of Angola are to be salut- great joy and emotion because the
ed for their valiant and long-lasting formal signing of these Accords
' ~ ~ ? ? ? - . . ?
CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL
By BENJAMIN F. CHAVIS JR.
and in cities and towns throughout
the country. The joy of peace is
now being translated into a "democ
ratization process." It is our hope
that finally the people of Angola
will secure this strategic African
nation so that greater empowerment
and stability will come to the entire
southern African region?_
We are aware that there are still
some outside political, economic,
and military powers which are
prone to continue to attempt to
interfere in the internal affairs of
Angola against the interest of the
Angolan people and government.
For those of us who live here in the
United States, we must continue to
raise our voices and energies in sup
port of Angola's right to choose its
own future without intimidation
from the West or the East
The victory of the people of
Angola is a victory for peace and
justice for all of the peoples of the
world. The international community
must now respond to the economic
developmental needs of Angola.
This nation not only has the poten
tial to be "the bread basket" for all
of southern Africa, but also Angola
has the potential, in spite of the
devastation of war, to be one of the
leading African economic forces of
the 21st century.
Elections do not automatically
bring democracy. The new spirit of
peace with respect, dignity, and.
sovereignty in Angola today is the
fundamental formula from which
Angolan democracy and prosperity
will continue to evolve. We must do
all that we can to help out sisters'
and brothers in Angola because
their struggle continues to be our.
struggle.
sacrifices to achieve a lasting peace enshrines the beginning Of a new
without compromising their nation- era of peace and concord in Angola,
al sovereignty and right to self- I am sure that sentiments, which are
determination. being experienced by all Angolans,
After throwing off 500 years of are shared by the international com
Portuguese colonialism in 1975, the munity as a whole, which believes
people and the government of in the fundamental values of
Angola have had to endure 16 years humanity."
of brutal attacks from separate and President Dos Santos further
combined armed forces of the racist emphasized, "At this solemn hour
apartheid regime in South Africa as we pay a heartfelt tribute to the
well as attack^ from so-called memory of those who sacrificed
Unita rebel unitsMed by Jonas Sav- their lives so that the country could
imbi who is a client of the United remain an integral entity, and the
States.. dignity and independence of the
On May 31, 1991, in Lisbon, Angolan people could be upheld.
Portugal, Peace Accords were Thanks to their example, we have
signed between the government of overcome many domestic and
Angola and-Uni ta. The U n i ted _ external obstacles. We have brought
States and the Soviet Union served together diverse goals and emotions
as observers and encouragers of the and adopted a general strategy
peace process. which led us to placing the Angolan
The government of Portugal case within the context of the exist
seryed as the mediator. As of this ing southern African conflict."
date, the peace process appears to When news of the Peace
be holding and the cessation of war- Accords reached Angola, tens of
fare in and on Angola has been thousands of Angolans danced in
halted. the streets of the capital city Luanda
Prejudice, bias need monitoring
Not long ago, as temporary
' "ho?t and guide C&a group of seven
or eight West African journalists
~r (air nYen) visitiilg the United
States, I took them on a tour of
approximately 200 miles along
Florida's Gulf Coast.
We stopped for lunch in the
small town of Carrabelle, and
when wc entered the restaurant, I
rQC9gnized it immediately as one
irt ^Hich blackjp would not have
l>b?n welcome just a few years ago.
But on this day, everyone was very
down-home, pleasant, courteous,
. and patient. In fact, they pampered
- us.
* As wc were placing* our
orders, one asked for wine, which
the restaurant did not serve. How
ever, the manager told my guests
that they were welcome to buy
wine at the liquor store across the
street and bring it back to the
restaurant. Two went for wine and
returned shortly with a supermar
ket-type grocery bag with what I
thought was enough wine for a
large reception. It amounted to
abouttwo bottles (fifths) for each.
And while we waited for our
food, these men, all in their 20s
and with three to four wine bottles
on cach of our four tables, attract
ed much attention from the other
?c
curious restaurant patrons, all ot he was right. There was at least
whom were white. They^ere very one church within every half mile
fluent in English, but when talking we traveled, and they were just the
among themselves they spoke in ones alohg the roadside. I knew
their native Portuguese, and in there were many others we could
against the grain
By ROOSEVELT WILSON
addition to loud, lively conversa
tion and boisterous laughter at each
table, mine was the only one at
which English was spoken, occa
sionally.
I never saw such drinking in
my life, and frankly, being a teeto
taler in addition to knowing how
blacks have been stereotyped, I
was embarrassed and just wanted
to disappear under my table.
I got no consolation when one
told me that where they were
from, drinking wine and having
good clean fun at mealtime was a
custom. Later, when we were con
tinuing our drive, one asked me,
"Why do you have so many
churches? I see one on almost
every corner."
I hadn't thought about it, but
not see. Our having so many
churches was just as strange to
them as their behavior in. the
restaurant was to me.
- And I got embarrassed all over
again . . . and a bit upset, but this
time with myself for having felt
embarrassed in the restaurant.
I was upset because I realized
that I had been thinking just like a
hard core racist; I had not been
rational. I had permitted myself to
be blinded to the simple truth that
these men were just different, and
differences ? be they in custom,
culture, race, or religion are just
that; differences, and the term
implies neither good nor bad, bet
ter nor worse . . . unless we, as I
had done, let our prejudices and
biases replace our common sense. -
How white quotas work for the rich
The Democratic version of the
1991 Civil Rights Bill, which
passed by the House without
enough votes to override a certain
veto, is a sadly watered-down piece
of legislation aimed at women, reli
themselves from blacks. The con
cern about protecting blacks is
such a low ebb that black concerns,'
once the lynchpin for civil rights, is
now a political pothole in Congress.
The focus of this year's civil rights
TONY BROWN
Syndicated Columnist
gious minorities, and the disabled
and blacks.
What has become even more
apparent is that a viable anti-dis
crimination bill needs to be
designed to protect the rights of
blacks. It is also becoming increas
ingly apparcirt how the hated quotas
work for whites.
Both President George Bush
and the Democrats have launched
anti-quota campaigns to distance
is "mainstream white women,"
according the D.C. Del. Eleanor
Holmes Norton.
"The average white American
believes civil rights legislation is
preference legislation, not fairness
legislation," said Rep. Vin Weber,
(Rep.-Minn.). There's no longer "a
substantial downside to voting
against civil rights," he boasts.
This is largely true because of
the use of quotas to hire more
blacks through affirmative action
programs. Quotas are on everyone's
hit list because, unlike goals and
timetables, they set a specific num
ber, often hiring the unqualified and
even fixing the progress of the pre
ferred group to a fixed number.
Rep. Weber's convert message
is that there is no longer a political
"downside" to being against prefer
ence programs for blacks. Further
more, it has gotten so bad that even
the govevnment is ignoring laws
already on the books to help blacks.
A two-year law specifying the
use of black and Hispanic firms in
managing the billions of dollars in
assets seized from the failed savings
and loans has been almost com
pletely ignored.
The Resolution Trust Corpora
tion, the agency in charge of imple
menting this bailout legislation and
rescuing some of the billions of dol
lars of taxpayer's money in the S&L
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