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OPINION
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The Chronicle
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Ernest H. Pitt Publisher! Co-Founder
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Elaine Pitt Business Manager
fannie Henderson Advertising Manager
jeri young Managing Editor
steven Moore Production Manager
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Holmes-Martin fiasco
business as usual for arts
It's no secret that racism and segregation exist in the
arts community.
Talk with any African American playwright, author
or visual artist and they'll talk about how many times
doors have been slammed in their face simply because
they bring a different image and perspective to a rela
tively closed community. ?
Locally, the same holds true.
It's hard for most African Americans, no matter bow
; talented, to find a space at the table.
You can count on two fingers the number of African
Americans that head major arts groups in the area and
now that select group is minus one.
" For almost two years, Roslyn Holmes-Martin served
as interim executive director of The Children's Theatre.
The group is special in that its mission was to introduce
children to theatre. Holmes-Martin's mere presence was
a message to those impressionable youths, as well as
many adults - both black and white- that it was possible
in this town to work your way up in the arts world.
Now, that message has changed and it's business as
usual in the world of the arts.
After dedicating years of her life to The Children's
Theatre, Holmes-Martin, whose love of theatre began as
a child seeing plays produced by the group she Would
Eventually lead, finds herself in the cold. And even
worse, The Children's Theatre, Wtflch once boasted a rel
atively diverse board of directg% finds itself minus its
black members who disagreed^pfth the process used to
hire Holmes-Martin's replacemtm.
Last week, several of the boaftft members said a vote
taken last Monday determined that Holmes-Martin was
out. Last Tuesday, the board's chair claimed the position
had not been filled, despite Monday's vote.
By Friday, despite the controversy over whether a vote
had even been taken, Holmes-Martin was told a new
interim director had been hired.
In response, Holmes-Martin tendered her resignation.
Closer scrutiny needs to given to the diversity of
groups that receive public money - as The Children's
Theatre does through The Arts Council. The Arts Coun
cil was nifty in its side-stepping of the controversy,
' claiming it doesn't interfere with the running of the
organizations to which it gives money.
But the fact remains that The Children's Theatre,
through The Arts Council, received money from taxpay
ers - both black and white - and the group needs to be
held accountable when it comes to diversity.
How many black groups receive funding from The
Arts Council each year? And how diverse are the pre
dominantly white groups that year after year count on
the Council for funding?
Those are questions many taxpayers are asking after
the Holmes-Martin fiasco.
And those are questions that our African American
elefcted officials should be asking.
i
Why Kosovo?
Each time I look at the cover
age of Kosovo and its suffering
refugees, I can't help but wonder
what would have happened if the
media had cared about the victims
of the Rwandan slaughter.
What if the cameras had shown
us tears and families and let us
know about the dreams for the
future that had been interrupted
^ by machetes
fmmgm in the hands
of mass
butchers? What if we knew the
names of the victims, the kinds of
food they ate, the kinds of jobs
they held? '
Instead, most often what we
saw of the genocide in Rwanda
were fleeting images of bloated
bodies going over Victoria Falls,
but never did the media humanize
the African story in the way it is
doing minute by minute in Eastern
Europe.
The difference between how the
media and the Clinton White
House treated Rwanda vs. Kosovo
presents a nagging question. Are
U.S. foreign policy makers blinded
by race?
. In April 1994, 300 people
were killed every hour for 100 days
and between 500,000 and one mil
lion died in the space of only three
months. Yet the response from the
United States, the Organization of
African Unity, the United Nations
and the Catholic Church, which is
deeply involved in the affairs of
Rwanda, was not to help prevent
the massacre of hundreds of thou
sands of Tutsis and moderate
Hutus.
' If, however, the "global cops"
can intervene in Europe, why
couldn't they help Rwanda? And
why aren't the news media publicly
agonizing over this terrible omis
sion and heeding the warnings that
another carnage could happen
there all over again?
Ironically the genocide in
Rwanda took place about 50 years
after the Holocaust. Yet the very
U.N. that was created in part to
ensure that it would never happen
again, did not try to stop it when it
did.
I wonder if the international
community will get away with sit
ting on its hands, supporting a
non-intervention policy after inter
vening in Kosovo.
Barbara Reynolds is a con
tributing columnist for the National
Newspaper Publishers Association.
She recently published "No, I Won't
Shut Up: 30 Years of Telling it Like
It Is "
Hatred fueled brutal killings
Earl Ofari
Hutchinson
Guest
Columnist
"I hate Niggers."
These chilling words were spit
out by one of the two mass killers
as he pumped bullets into the head
of a black student in the second
floor library at Columbine High
School in Littleton, Colo.
According to an eyewitness, the
killer then stepped back and
laughed about his murderous
handiwork.
The slain black student was one
of 15 killed by Dylan Klebokl and
Eric Harris in the worst high
school massacre in U.S. history To
explain their rampage much of the
"media and public officials quickly
dragged out the standard "bad
kids, bad homes" line. But this is
far too easy.
The murders were hate crimes
driven by hatred of blacks. Latinos
and Jews. The killers made
absolutely no secret of this. For
weeks they and their pals defiantly
displayed Hitler idolatry, pranced
around the campus with Nazi-style
paraphernalia, boasted about play
ing mock war games and took
every chance they could to try and
intimidate and harass students,
especially minority students.
When students repeatedly
warned authorities and police that
Harris and Klebold were a men
ace, they did nothing. And even
after police publicly stated that the
two probably had Jielp from other
students in their murderous
onslaught, school authorities still
remain tight-lipped about these
"other" students.
But the bigger danger is that
neo-Nazi, Aryan Nation and Skin
head groups, through books, pam
phlets, and legions of Internet web
sites, haVe deeply infected thou
sands of young white males like
Klebold and Harris with their
hate-filled message. The over
whelming majorjty of the more
than 8,000 hate crimes reported in
the United States in 1997 were
committed by young white males.
The examples of recent hate
motivated carnage are the murders
of Sherrice Iverson, James Byrd,
Matthew Sheppard and Billy Jack
Gaither. There have been deadly
assaults on gays and minorities in
Washington, Oregon, North Car
olina, California and Colorado. In
all cases the perpetrators were
young white males.
r"A repent survey taken by MTV
revealed that more than 90 percent
of young people aged 12-24 con
sidered hate crimes a "very seri
ous" or a "somewhat serious"
national problem.
One out of five young people
said that they knew someone who
had been the victim of a hate
crime.
The response of state and fed
eral officials and police agencies to
the hate violence threat from men
such as Klebold and Harris still
wildly varies.
Under the Hate Crimes Act, 12
states submitted no data to the
FBI on hate crimes in 1997, and a
dozen states still have no laws on
the books targeting racially moti
vated hate crimes. Some states per
mit the prosecution of hate crimes
only if they are committed in con
junction with another crime. Also,
only a handful of states permit
judges to increase penalties when
racial bias is proven as the motive
for the crime.
Even more disturbing, more
than half of all police agencies still
have no hate task fofce units or
specific procedures for dealing
with hate crimes. *
Littleton is a classic example of
this. Police and public officials
there still refuse to call the
Columbine High School massacre
a hate crime.'
The proposed Hate Crimes Act
of 1999 is supposed to make it
much easier to crack down on vio
lent or potentially violent hate
mongers. It would increase the
types of hate crimes prosecuted
and the penalties for them. It has
been stalled for months in the Sen
ate Judiciary Committee.
Despite the clear evidence that
hate violence ignited the
Columbine massacre, the measure
still isn't likely to budge from there
any time soon. Instead Congress is
going in the exact opposite direc
tion and proposing knee-jerk dra
conian laws that criminalize all
teens. /! ?
Meanwhile Clinton requests
that the Departments of Educa
tion and Justice compile an annual
"report card" on school safety and
hate crimes on school campuses.
There is no word when or whether
they will comply. Even though
Clinton expressed worry about the
racist remarks reportedly made by
Klebold and Harris, he advised
parents to talk to their children
about the gruesome violence but
not about how racial, religious of
gender hate triggers it.
Klebold and Harris killed
themselves in what police call a
"suicide mission."
But their deaths are no substi
tute for prompt reporting by
school officials of hate crimes and
tough enforcement by police of
hate crime laws.
This is the best way to ensure
that what happened at Columbine
High School does not happen
again.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is the
author of "The Crisis in Black and
Black."
His e-mail address is
ehutchi344@aol. cont
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TO FSOM THE COMMUNITY...
The Colorado high school shootings have captured the attention of the nation and have
once again brought up the issue of safety in schools. They are the latest in a long spree of
school shootings that have stretched across the country. We asked local parents and grand
parents if the shootings have made them fearful of sending their children to school.
Cdith Whithert
"I would he scared, especially jf I
had small children They are sup
posed to go to school to learn, not to
he scared."
iamms Bryant
"It might spread here The way
kids are brought up today, it's hard to
tell nhat they are plotting My cousin
came home the other day and said a
student said he was going to shoot the
teacher in the forehead What is that
going to make us parents feel like
when we send our kids to school?"
Ken McCollum
"I'm more afraid because it
seems like it is safer to keep your kids
at home. And the publicity it is get
ting is not helping. I think it is giving
other kids ideas about doing things
like this."
Mamim O. frown
"I'm not only frightened for my grand
son. who is at Speas Elementary School,
but for every mother's and father's child
because we cannot feel completely safe
unless they are completely living in Jesus.
And also parents need to lake responsibil
ity for their children's actions and know of
their whereabouts and activities. Strict
gun restrictions also should be put into
? place."
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Do>i? Joitmi
"/ /wve three (grandchildren) in
South Carolina and others in New
York. It makes me a little nervous
when they go to school, hut I leave in
the hands of the good Lord "
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