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PuDMUwr* *,?? petition
UL Conference
to mark a
Civil Rights
Crossroads
In 1903 when the scholar and civil rights leader W.E.B.
DuBois predicted that "the probiem of the 20<h century will
be the problem of the color line," African-Americans had
every reason to agree.
Marc
Mortal
Guest
Columnist
Seven years earlier, in a
case originating in my home
state of Louisiana, segrega
tion and the since discredited
doctrine, of '?separate but
equal" were legalized in the
Supreme Court's infamous
Plessy v. Ferguson decision.
That outrageous decision set
the stage for the civil rights
struggles of the last century. It also helped give birth to two
of the greatest defenders of equality in our nation's history -
the NAACP. which was founded in 1909, and the National
Urban League, which came into existence in 1910.
One hundred years later, both the NAACP and the
National Urban League are still opening the doors of free
dom. insisting on full admittance for the descendants of
slaves. But. because of the leadership of these two organiza
tions and countless others over the last century, many of the
legal barriers to equality have fallen.
DuBois would he astonished
to see that at the beginning of
the 2 1 st century. America
elected its first African
American President. The
election of Barack
Obama was a watershed
moment in America's
oldest and most difficult
internal struggle.
It indicated how far we
have come since the1 Supreme
Court agreed with the State of
Louisiana that a Black man could be jailed for sitting in the
"Whites Only" section of a rail car. And for the National
Urban League, it signals an important shift in both our mis
sion and our message.
Incidents like the expulsion of Black children from a
swimming pool in Philadelphia and the wide disparities in
education, criminal justice and health make it clear that the
civil rights struggle is not over.
But, we have reached a crossroads. The big challenges
now facing our communities are increasingly the same as
those facing the rest of the country. While African
Americans continue to suffer disproportionately from the
lack of universal health care, the epidemic of housing fore
closures, and the current economic meltdown, we are not
alone.
These are challenges that affect every American and they
require that we combine personal responsibility with sensi
ble public policies to make the American Dream real for
everyone who is willing to work for it.
That is the over-riding theme of this week's National
Urban League Annual Conference in Chicago July 28
through Aug. I. In one of the most comprehensive line-ups
of workshops and speakers ever assembled, we will empha
size that our path to power in the 21st century requires that
we lead beyond the narrow confines of traditional civil rights
for African Americans to speak for every American - Black,
White, Hispanic, Asian American . Native American - who
shares our vision of equality and justice for all.
As the great Urban League leader Whitney M. Young Jr.
once said, "every man is dur brother, and every man's bur
den is our own. Where poverty exists, all are poorer. Where
hate flourishes, all are corrupted. Where injustice reins, all
are unequal.''
To find out more about our Chicago conference and to
register, log on to www.nul.org.
Marc Mortal is president and CEO of the National Urban
League,
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Letters to the Editor
Atkins Class
of '52 reunion
To The Editor:
I would like to take this
opportunity to thank the
Rev. Rueben Gilliam, our
president, and Dorothy
I Gly nip. inn vii^i president.
, for being such great leaders
in guiding the Class of 1952
through a successful reunion
on July 17 and 18. 2009. We
had two classmates to come
from California, one from
Florida and one from South
Carolina.
I would also like to thank
Annie Hairston. Vera
Covater Cooper Hillian and
Georgianna Page McCoy for
adding their professional
touch to our reunion. Juanita
Hoover Pitts, her historic
prophetic, Robert Carter, his
photographic talents. Doris
Carter Williams, catering
talents. Donald Foster our
treasurer for caring for our
money. Elliott Brown and
Alphonso Amos their frank
ness. Blodelia Tucker for her
unusually humorous ways
and all of my other class
mates for supporting us in
our 57 years of loving each
other.
1 want to thank Richard
Gottieb. President & CEO of
Senior Services, Dinner by
G.E.M. in the Kitchen and
Othesha Creative Arts
Ensemble Dancers, a nation
ally recognized company of
African trained drummers
vommmmh
WISE IATINA WOMAN
WOOLDREAcH ABETTER
CoNCIUSIONIUANA
XWHlTeMAl??
and dancers based in
Winston-Salem.
Thank you AKA's for the
use of Ivy Arms.
With much love,
Beaufort Bailey
Thanks for helping
fire victims
To the Editor:
As a former resident of
Alder's Point Apartments.
I'd like to thank Dr. Sir
Walter Mack for his inter
vention and advocacy on our
behalf. Without Dr. Mack's
involvement, our situation
would be very, very different
today. Although 95 of us
were not members of his
church, he lived up to the
rhetorical question "What
would Jesus do?" Half of us
would be homeless and
many others confused and
uncertain about our future.
Joycelyn Johnson, the
city's East Ward councilper
son. also went beyond the
call of duty. While some
high elected officials
were conspicuous by their
absence. Ms. Johnson spent
all day. every day with us in
the hot. sweaty gym at the
Sims Recreation Center.
12th District Congressman
Mel Watt aslo met with us
on Saturday.
While many others obvi
ously helped us, these peo
ple were the prime movers
in helping Correct a terrible
situation.
Your efforts will be
remembered.
Claude Carter
Invite Pookie for a beer!
Julian no
Malveaux
Guest
Columnist
I just happened to be
reading Dr. Price Cobbs'
autobiography as commen
tary swirled about
Cambridge happenings and
the President's involvement
in them.
Dr. Skip Gates was
arrested in his own front
yard for disorderly conduct
by police officer James
Crowley, who apparently
didn't like being called a
racist by Gates. President
Obama correctly said the
arrest was stupid (if you
can't be disorderly anyplace
else, you ought to get a pass
in your own front yard"), and
then he backpedaled a bit
and invited Gates and
Crowley to the White House
for a beer. Gates accepted,
but there is no word from
Crowley.
What does this have to do
with Dr. Price Cobbs'
Cobbs, an octogenarian San
Francisco-based psychiatrist,
is one of the wisest men 1
know. He wrote the book,
"Black Rage." in 1968, to
attempt to explain the anger
that so many African
Americans were feeling then
about the slights they had
swallowed personally and
historically.
In his new book, "My
American Life: From Rage
to Entitlement." Cobbs
examines his own life and its
race matters in context,
examining the anger,
expressed and swallowed,
that so many African
Americans felt. 1 wasn t on
the porch with Skip Gates
and James Crowley, so I
don't know exactly what was
said. And as a veteran ol
police encounters (I could
tell you about the time a
White man tried to break into
my home in DC and because
I was "bellicose" and would
not settle down, the police
tried to arrest ME), my sym
pathy lies squarely with
Gates. .
If he raised his voice, and
he says he did not, it is cer
tainly understandable. And
^ - ? I
PBS Photo
Professor Henry Louis Gales
obviously, officer Crowley is
an arrogant White man who
had the discretionary power
to arrest Gates because he
didn't like his attitude.
Somebody so fully disagreed
with his decision that
charges were dropped
before, not after arraign
ment.
The Newsweek journalist
Ellis Cose updated Price
Cobbs' work with a 1993
book. The Rage of a
Privileged Class. He wrote
about the Black folk who
were literally seething at the
micro inequities they experi
enced, the racial slights they
encountered as a matter of
course.
Going to work on a
Saturday and being chal
lenged by*n security guard.
Hearing locks turn as an
expensive store is
approached. Being followed
as you shop. Being accosted,
rudely, by a White police
officer on your own-self
porch after returning home
from an international flight
and simply wanting peace;
Dr. Gates said he didn't yell,
but I wouldn't blame him if
he did.
Class is written all over
this encounter. Years ago,
there was a Washington DC
statistic that more than a
third of all Black men had
been stopped will driving.
Driving while Black is an
occupational hazard for too
many African-Americans.
If you scratch a brother
you will find some kind of a
police encounter. Being
made to get out of the new
Porsche on one's knees and
White shirt while the tags are
run. Having a car torn up.
supposedly in a search tor
drugs and then not reassem
bled when nothing is found
and there is no apology,
either. Being spoken harshly
to, disparagingly to. in front
of one's spouse. Remember
the movie "Crash ?
My nephew. Anyi Malik
Howell, a budding journalist
at Youth Radio, spent a May
weekend in jail because he
"resembled" a robber whose
description was simple
Black and over 6 feet.
The robber's footprint
revealed a man with a size 1 0
shoe. Anyi wears a size 16 or
17. No matter. He spent the
weekend in jail, no apology,
because he "resembled."
In another instance, he
was stopped because his
1986 Cadillac (don't ask)
was mistaken for a stolen
1996 Toyota - the police
officer entered the license
plate incorrectly and stopped
him at an Oakland BART
station, accused him of theft,
pulled a gun on him, and had
him in tears on his knees in
front of his coworkers.
After one of his friends
pleaded for the officer to
check the plate number
again, he did, and abruptly
said, it's not the car.
Again, no apology.
Skip Gates has access to
the White House by virtue of
his position at Harvard. Anyi
and Pookie and tens of thou
sands like them don't have
access, and nobody wants to
hear what happened to them.
President Obama was right
on time when he suggested
the arrest was stupid, and
then he reverted to his cho
sen role as conciliator when
he invited Gates and
Crowley for a beer. If he
really wants to have a beer to
talk about the many ways
police misuse their discre
tion and then refuse to apol
ogize when found wrong, he
should reach out to Anyi. Or
Pookie. Or a brother who
?lives a stone's throw from
the White House and just got
pulled over in his new car
because race still matters
way too much in matters of
so-called law enforcement.
Dr. Julianne Malveaux is
president of Bennett College
for Women.