6A
NEWS/ The Charlotte Post
Thursday, August 14, 1997
Rep. John Conyers hasn’t given up the reparations fight
By Linn Washington, Jr.
THE PHILADELPHIA TRIBUNE
Those who think that racism is
no longer a real problem for
blacks in America “are either
naive or they’re charlatans” says
Rep. John Conyers, (D-Mich).
A long-time advocate of equal
rights, Conyers is the congress
man who has fought since 1989
for the estabhshment of a nation
al commission to study the feasi-
bihty of paying reparations to
blacks as an equitable remedy for
the legacy of slavery and post-
slavery segregation. Each year,
the bill gets bottled up in commit
tee.
President Clinton has estab
lished a commission to study
racism in America, and some
white members of Congress are
advocating the issuance of an
apology to blacks for slavery.
Conyers feels the presidential
commission and the
Congressional apology are steps
in the right chrection; but, stand
ing alone, these well-meaning
efforts will fall short of what is
needed to really attack the rav
ages of racism.
“The president is honest
enough to say we have a problem.
There is a problem with racism in
this coimtry. Gcxrd night! Just
look at the FBI hate crimes sta
tistics which are on the rise. Look
at the burnings of black church
es,” said Conyers during a tele
phone interview.
While offering praise for the
new initiatives, Conyers is clear
on what he thinks is required to
meemingfully address the prob
lems spawned and sustained by
racism.
“You can’t remedy racism with
out programs,” he said.
“Individuals are insulated by fed
eral laws barring discrimination
in areas like housing and educa-
tion...but we still have the prob
lem. We still have ghettos in
every major city and many small
cities, and we’ve had these for a
long time.
“The conditions in these ghet
tos create crime and the need for
welfare,” Conyers continued. “We
all end up paying for the prob
lems created by these conditions.”
While crediting Clinton,
Conyers condemns the stance of
House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
The Repubhcan leader is oppos
ing the budding bipartisan effort
to apologize for slavery and he is
supporting an effort hy
Congressional Repubhcans to
eliminate all federal affirmative
action programs.
“The president has asked for a
dialogue. He wants a lowering of
voices on the race issue,” Conyers
said. “Newt Gingrich laughs at
this. He is working night and day
to eliminate any programs to help
heal the woimds of racism. He is
supporting efforts to strip away
what is left of (federal) affirmative
action. If he succeeds, these
efforts will be copied by state and
local governments.”
Gingrich has termed the pro
posed slavery apology “emotional
symbolism,” contending it will not
solve problems. He says he would
rather see efforts to improve edu
cation.
Conyers said Gingrich’s pos
ture is hypocritical because he
really opposes both mechanisms
that would help individuals
affected by racial discrimination
and broader group solutions to
problems arising from racism.
“They say they want to help
individuals and not groups. They
want to help individuals go to
medical school, for example. But
if you’re discriminated against in
a medical school admission, you
need to get a lawyer. But
Gingrich and the Repubhcans
make sure we underfund federal
agencies that provide lawyers to
fight discrimination cases.”
'The legacy of racism, begin
ning with slavery, must be
addressed, Conyers says.
“Slavery is a problem. The dis
tinction bom in slavery of Afncan
Americans (being different from
the rest of the country) continues
today. This distinction continues
despite actions like amendments
to the Constitution, civil rights
laws, and voting rights laws. All
of these actions still have not
eliminated the question of race,”
Conyers said.
One “obvious” example of the
continued existence of racism,
Conyers stresses, is in the way
African Americans are “locked
up.
The National Criminal Justice
Commission's 1996 report stated
"racial discrimination...penahzes
African Americans at almost
every juncture in the criminal jus
tice system.” This report cited
racism in arrests, bail decisions,
severity of charges, prosecutions,
sentencing, rates of imprison
ment, and imposition of the death
penalty.
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WAREHOUSE - BLOWOUT
Poll; Affirmative action hot topic
By David Williamson.
SPECIAL TO THE POST
CHAPEL HILL - Three-
fourths of North Carolinians
believe that discrimination
remains common, according to
a new poll, but they disagree
strongly on whether affirma
tive action should be scrapped.
The survey, conducted at the
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, involved telephone
interviews with 723 randomly
selected adult state residents.
“The races disagree sharply
about whether affirmative
action should be continued,”
said Beverly Wiggins, associate
director for research develop
ment at UNC’s Institute for
Research in Social Science.
“Sixty-two percent of blacks
say it should be continued,
compared to 26 percent of
whites.”
Respondents were asked to
choose from among three state
ments the one that best repre
sented their views on affirma
tive action.
Slightly less than half of
whites felt affirmative action
“has gone on too long,” com
pared to 19 percent of blacks,
Wiggins said.
Overall, about a third of
respondents agreed with the
statement “We need to contin
ue affirmative action because
discrimination is still com
mon.” Forty-three percent sup
ported the idea that
“Discrimination is still com
mon, but affirmative action has
simply gone on too long.”
Fifteen percent agreed that
“Affirmative action is no longer
needed because discrimination
has been largely eliminated.”
About 10 percent had no opin
ion or said none of the state
ments reflected their views.
Thirty-seven percent of
women, compared to 24 per
cent of men thought hiring
preferences for minorities
should continue, while 41 per
cent of women and 47 percent
of men said they have outlast
ed their usefulness.
“Small, but essentially equal
proportions of blacks and
whites take the position that
discrimination has been mostly
eliminated, but men are almost
twice as likely as women to feel
this way,” Wiggins said.
She found that result some
what surprising.
“Both blacks and women are
targets of discrimination, so I
expected that blacks would be
less likely than whites and
women would be less likely
than men to say that discrimi
nation has been largely elimi
nated. We found the expected
result for women, but not for
blacks. The survey doesn’t tell
us why this is so.”
A possible reason is that
political correctness may apply
more to race than to gender,
she said. In other words, some
whites may believe that dis
crimination has been nearly
eliminated, but be hesitant to
say so for fear that they will
appear prejudiced.
“The age group least likely to
feel that the problem of dis
crimination has been solved is
the youngest - 18- to 24-year-
olds,” Wiggins said. “Only 4
percent of that group, com
pared to 14 percent of 25-to 44-
year-olds and 20 percent of
those 65 and older said that
affirmative action is no longer
needed because discrimination
has been largely eliminated.”
African answers needed
for continent’s problems
By Tansa Musa
INTERNATIONAL PRESS SERVICE
YAOUNDE, Cameroon -
Afnca continues to look to others
for solutions to its problems, but
the answers are right on its own
doorstep, said a group of experts
who gathered recently in
Cameroon to discuss the refugee
crisis that is gripping the conti
nent.
“The people of Africa must
find their own solutions” and dis
continue the syndrome of overde
pendence on extemeil assistance,
said Carlton Karpeh, Liberia’s
ambassador to Cameroon, who
participated in the roimd table
discussion. “But we cannot find
any solutions if we do not sum
mon the courage to admit the
real cause of the problem.”
Although the roots of Africa’s
refugee crisis are in the post-colo
nial power struggles, the situa
tion took a different turn when
countries became independent,
because the new governments
sparked more conflict and unrest
with their quest to hold onto
power, Karpeh said.
African leaders “must accept
this (new) reahty as the root
cause for the new crises that
have sent thousands fanning
across the continent away from
their home countries,” said the
Liberism ambassador, who is the
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dean of the diplomatic corps
here.
Alluding to the conflict in the
Congo, Karpeh asked, “Why do
two people, one a former presi
dent and the other the incum
bent president, fight each other
in their own country?”
Forces of President Pascal
Lissouba and his predecessor
Denis Sassou Nguesso have been
battling each other since June 5
in the Congolese capital of
Brazzaville.
Lissouba has asked the coun
try’s Constitutional Council to
extend his presidential term,
which ends in August, by three
months. But Sassou Nguesso,
who was to have been his main
rival at elections that were set
for July 27 but are now post
poned indefinitely, is demanding
a government of national unity
over a two-year transitional peri
od.
The fighting has disrupted the
lives of the Congolese people,
sending thousands into other
parts of the country and across
the border. Karpeh also squarely
laid the blame for the crisis in
Liberia on Charles Taylor’s thirst
for power. “Why does a man come
to a country that is 140 years old
and force 667,000 to flee their
covmtry in his ruthless quest for
See AFRICA on page 7A
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