Forum
Leadership summit set for Oct. 24-27
African-American, Native
American, Hispanic-American, and
Asian-American delegates from
every state in the nation will attend
the historic "First National People
of Color Leadership Summit" on
Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.,
October 24-27. These sisters and
brothers will be joined by other del
egates from Puerto Rico, Central
CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL
By BENJAMIN F. CHAVIS JR.
and South America, Africa and
South Pacific.
The problem of environmental
racism is both a national and an
international crisis. People of color
communities arc deliberately being
targeted for toxic pollution, dump
ing, and a vast array of different
types of environmental injustices.
As a direct response and chal
lenge to this growing problem, the
Commission for Racial Justice of
the United Church of Christ is
sponsoring this important leader
ship gathering.
The process to plan and devel
op the coordination of the "Sum
mit" is itself a testimony to the via-~
bility of multiracial and multicultur
al struggle and "movement-build
ing" forums as effective future
strategies to confront institutional
racism. The Gulf Coast Tenants
Association, the Southwest Orga
nizing Project and a host of other
national and regional organizations
have joined in the support of the
summit.
For the first lime in the history
of this nation, grassroots and
national leaders fr^m the Native
American, African-American, His
panic-American, and Asian-Ameri
can communities, who are actively
involved in the struggle for environ
mental justice, will have the oppor
tunity to be together in the same
place to discuss, debate, reach con
sensus, and to agree on a national
plan of action.
The successful convening of
the "Leadership Summit" comes in
the wake of many attempts to
"divide and conquer" people of
color communities in the United
States. A racial injustice anywhere
is a threat to racial injustice every
where. The issue of the "environ
ment" may be the one issue that
allows for the broadest possible
multiracial approach to building a
renewed national social justice
movement.
TJie major goals of The First
National People of Color Environ
mental Leadership Summit arc: (1)
To facilitate an ongoing proccss for
people of color leaders to strength
en their national, regional, and local
organizations and communities
which are involved in challenging
environmental injustice; (2) To pro
vide an opportunity to initiate dia
logue between people of color lead
ers and the heads of the national
environmental organizations; (3) to
idenuty k6y environmental policy
questions from the perspective of
people of color leadership; and (4)
to impact the decision-malang pro
cess in public policy in the interests
of environmental justice at the fed
eral, state, and municipal levels.
The "Leadership Summit" will
also adopt a set of "Principles of
_ Environmental Justice" which will
help guide the strengthening of the
future movement. The draft of one
of the principles states, "Environ
mental policy must be based on jus
tice for all without discrimination
due to race, ethnicity, gender,
nationality, religion, or culture."
Dr. Robert Bullard of the Uni
versity of California at Riverside
stated, "Persons of color who live in
waste site areas are often victims of
a "double whammy" in that they are
exposed to elevated risks associated
with living in polluted environ
ments at the same time they have
problems getting access to health
and medical facilities."
Environmental racism is racial
discrimination in environmental
policy making. It is an institutional
ized form of racism that seeks to
camouflage itself while causing
untold destruction and severe risks
for people of color communities.
It is our hope that the results of
the Summit will make a positive
difference for environmental justice
for all.
Thomas vs. Hill more than harassment
I watchcd spellbound and with
sadness as University of Oklahoma
law professor Anita Hill painfully
detailed to the world accounts of
encounters with Clarence Thomas in
the workplace? Whdre she says he
displayed improper, unwanted,
AGAINST THE GRAIN
By ROOSEVELT WILSON
embarrassing and disgusting sexual
behavior toward her when she
worked for him at the U.S. Depart
ment of Education and the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commis
sion.
It was just as painful watching
Thomas vehemently deny every
allegation by Hill and say such alle
gations have robbed him of every
thing he has worked for for all his
43 years.
Thomas said his confirmation
as an associate justice to the U.S.
Supreme Court became secondary
to salvaging Jiis name and reputa
tion. Hill said she was a reluctant
witness and the last thing she want
ed to do was deal with the issue
publicly.
U.S. Senate Judiciary Commit
tee members used the public forum
to try to score political points and at
the same time, members wondered
aloud why Hill, who said she was
harassed at the Department of Edu
cation, followed Thomas to the
EEOC.
On the surface the question
seems to have some merit, but the
? reality is that serial harassment is_
neither the real issue nor the prob
lem.
The Senate Judiciary Commit
tee itself - not the process as some
of the senators and even Thomas
say - is the problem. That august
body of 14 white men represents
what's wrong with America today.
While it would not be fair to so label
them individually, each is a member
of an institution that is part of a sys
tem designed by and for affluent
white males, a system in which
everyone else, including white
women, is of less consequence.
a system in which women
are subservient, despite the laws,
and in which claims of sexual
harassment, even rape, suddenly
transforms the woman into the
defendant by automatically chal
lenging the credibility of any
woman who dares to file a com
plaint.
Despite strong rules at the
Department of Education arid EEOC
against harassment, the enforcement
of anti-harassment laws during the
early 1980s when Hill said she was
harassed, hardly encouraged women
to step forward. Further, many
women, still conditioned to believe
that it is their fault if they are mis
treated by men, are condemning
Anita Hill for reporting what she
says happened. ^
Did Clarence Thomas harass
Anita Hill? Perhaps no one other
than the two of them will ever know
thftfftfriiniUi.
The real issue, however, is an
atmosphere of intimidation and a
mentality men have created in
women that make women tolerate
harassment, rape, brutality and other
forms of abuse.. .and a mentality in
men that they, the perpetrators, not
women, the victims can best define
harassment
I'm not making a case against
Garence Thomas but l am trying to
make one for Anita Hill and all
other women who have to suffer at
the hands of uncaring and insensi
tive men.
. . . And 1 guess I'm trying to
make the biggest case for those
women who need it most ? the
ones who are being mistreated and
don't know it, or who know it and
deplore it, yet accept it because
"that's just the way men are."
Census Bureau reports poverty rising
What we've all known is now
official. The Census Bureau reports
a sharp rise in poverty in 1990,
along with a drop in median house
hold income.
>9
BE EQUAL
By JOHN E. JACOB
Sincc those fignres reflect a
recession that didn't get under way
until midyear and still continues,
it's safe to predict that the 1991 fig
ures will show more of the same.
While our leaders boast of
America's number one status and its
leadership of a "new world order,"
more and more Americans are find
ing it hard to hold a job and raise a
family.
Some say not to worry; that
things are always worse during
recessions, and thcyT get better
once the economy pu ks up later
this year... or next ... or the year
after.
Yes, recessions always mean an
upuck in the poverty rate and in
unemployment. But this one's dif
ferent. .
There is every indication that
what is happening today is not a
cyclical downturn with short-term
pain, but part of a long-term phe
nomenon.
While poverty has been slowly
moving downward slowly since
1984, it has remained at historically
high level throughout the decade. In
1978 there were about nine million
fewer poor people than in 1990.
Black poverty is about where it
was in 1982 and a lot worse than it
was in the 1970s.
And the poor arc poorer, too.
Time was when more of the poor
were bunched near the poverty line;
today, they arc likely to be far
below that line.
The poverty line itself is unre
alistically low. First designed to
estimate the minimum income
needed by a family in an emergen
Please see page A7
# ? imin
ARB THERB ANVMORE
questions ? ^
The attempted assassination
of Judge Clarence Thomas
America has just witnessed the attempted assas
sination of an Associate Supreme Court Justice. This
attempt was not the work of a lone gunman, but was
a conspiracy. The conspirators were the modern
American Left, its lunatic fringe (welfare state "civil
rights" groups, femi-nazis, homosexual lobbyists),
corrupt labor union leaders and corrupt big city
Democratic machine bosses. That's right, those who
control the modern national Democratic party.
Every conspiracy has its patsy. Although Ms.
Hill was a particularly useful one, she was one nev
ertheless.
GUEST COLUMN
By VERNON ROBINSON
The hitmen of the Democratic Party Senators
Sanford, Kennedy, and Simon among others shot
their best shot against Judge Thomas and failed.
Though they failed, I am not in a forgiving or chari
table mood.
These assassins must be held to account for their
actions.
I am not alone in lhat demand. H seems, that
Black Democrats in Raleigh hav&bccn calling the
State Republican Headquarters. These Democrats are
disgusted by the Democratic Party's complicity and
have decided to hold the guilty parly to account by
- switching their voting affiliation to Republican. The)
no doubt were disgusted by their former party's
hypocrisy as they choked watching the Democratic
moral leader, Ted Kennedy.
Local left wing preachers and politicians both
black and white who distorted and lied about Judge
Thomas' record as they Jied about Ally son Duncan a
year ago must also be held to account. Their lies cre
ated the environment that encouraged the assassina
tion attempt.
These same leaders are the ones who continue to
support the victimization of black people to fund the
welfare state.
A welfare state slowly but surely squeezing the
life out of our community. It is high time that they
were removed. Their failure over the last 30 years
can be tolerated no longer.
The welfare state and its afty, failed public
schools, are the new slavery. Its overseers crawled
out of their dark holes during the Thomas nomina
tion hearing for all to see.
Their attempt at making the mere accusation
sufficient to convict is a dangerous precedent. How
I many black Democratic leaders would survive if that
were the tesL If that were the test, then wc could
dispense with the trial of Larry Womble and Pat
Hairston because the charge of wrong doing is all
T that is required.
Well, most black Americans, if not black Demo
crat leadership, were stunned by those above who
claim to represent the weak and the helpless but only
represent themselves.
It is past time for a great political crusadc to
remove this failed leadership at the polls. It is time
for a Republican offensive in black communities
across the nation to bring black America home lo
the Great Opportunity Party. It is time to beat tlic
> welfare slate supporters and other political assassins
in the 1992 election. Its time to replace the failed
policies of those-assassins with those that stabilize
i the black family, empower parents to control their
children's education and create real economic devel
opment.
It is with great zeal that I pick up a 44 inch -?
broadsword and join who fight for a better America.
The battle to defeat the Left and the new slavery
begins anew today. ^
Fallout of Clarence Thomas
nomination ... far and wide
^The Clirence Thomas Supreme Court nomina
tion split the black community into at least two
-separate camps.
Those in favor of his being on the Supreme
Court argue these and other points:
(1) Thomas is opposed to welfare dependency.
He pulled himrelf up "by his own bootstraps" and
deserves a cha ice to "make a name for himself."
(Fact: The NA ACP along with most blacks oppose
welfare dependency and most blacks who have
succeeded have pulled themselves up "by their
own bootstraps." This includes most of the black
professionals who oppose Thomas. The "boot
straps" argument misses the point.)
(2) Thomas is black and for that reason alone
black people should support him just as whites
have supported whites simply because they were
white. (Fact: Look at this Dixiecrat record. Blacks
should not support Uncle Toms but officials who
want to correct wrongs and'develop a world in
which black people and their children can develop
and prosper. Some blacks ? like some whites ?
are not good.)
(3) Although Thomas "made a few mistakes"
that worked against black people, he will "come to
his senses" and "see the light." (Fact: Thomas
knew what he was doing. The risk is too much to
take. Blacks should suspect any black person who
was approved by Ronald Reagan and is supported
by Senators Thurman, Simpson, Helms and
Hatch.)
(4) If Thomas is not approved, Bush will sim
ply appoint another conservative ? probably a
Latin-American or another white man. (Fact: Prob
ably true. But if Thomas is defeated, blacks will
not be "stabbed in the back" by a member of their
own race. More importam* however, w thai a black
will not be rewarded for being a Traitor to his Own
people. Greedy and sell -centered blacks would not
ape Thomas as a role model ? as a person honored
because he put personal greed above the well being
of his own people.)
(5) Thomas is a Real black man. He looks like
me. (Fact: Shallow thinking. His record and his
behavior -T^fT^TK^kin color ? are what count.
He has sided with people who oppose civil rights
laws, equal educational opportunities and equal
employment opportunity. He has questioned the
1954 Brown v. Topeka decision.
Those who oppose Thomas poinfcout that he
used affirmative action to help himself get a good
education and a good job and then helped the Rea
gan and Bush people in efforts to destroy these
same advantages he used.
His mere questioning of the Brown v. Topeka
GUEST COLUMN
By JAMES E. ALSBROOK
Decision implies tinkering with and attempting to
destroy the foundation of race-based, quality-guar
anteeing laws, ideals and goals established since
1954. He has kowtowed to the racists in order to
feather his own nest.
One of the tragedies of this affair is that some
blacks expressed preference for Thomas over Thur
good Marshall because Thomas is dark-skinned
and "looks more like me." Marshall, like these
blacks, had no control over his natural skin color. "
He helped all blacks and never turned against
tjlem, as Thomas did.
But regardless of the Thomas decision, the
sexual harassment allegations of Law Professor
Anita Hill have brought into the spotlight a gigan
tic factor with national implication*:
Bachelors looking for "clean colored as
"cooks" and "maids" along with professional men,
business tycoons, politicians and others associating
with working women must consider anew the po s
sible long-^rm consequences of dabbling in a titil
lating but repulsive exercise of sexual harassment.