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5A OPINIONS/ The Charlotte Post January 18,1996 Who will challenge King Richard? D.G. Martin What is going to happen in North Carolina's Secretary of State's race next fall? Ordinarily that question would draw a big yawn this time of year—even from the most committed political junkies. Members of the Council of State (like the Secretary of State, Commissioner of Agriculture, etc.) are some of our most interesting, colorful, and talented political figures. But elections to those offices usually don't stir up a lot of interest. This year it is different. Why? First, Richard Petty is racing. The "King" of stock car racing is running for Secretary of State as a Republican. He is popu lar. He has a loyal — some would say fanatical- -following. Any other politician would give any thing to have so many fans. Maybe your memory is better than mine, but I can't remember when such a popular sports or entertainment figure was running for state wide office in North Carohna. So, the question on the table is, how will Petty's star quality translate into votes at the polls in November? More about this later. The second factor that makes this year's con test interesting is that the current Secretary of State, Democrat Rufus Edmisten, is not run ning. If Edmisten had run, the election would interesting enough. He would have given the "King" a good battle. He has a wide and loyal following. It might not be as large or passion ate as Petty's. But Edmisten's group is much more experienced politically. Edmisten has run j several state wide races — and lost only one. Jim Martin beat him in the 1984 governor's election, ' With those two j strong candidates I running, it would ; be a hard fought, * classic battle. But, Edmisten's unanticipated withdrawal makes the selec tion of Democratic can didate for Secretary of State as the second most interesting state-wide contest in the upcoming May primary. The first, of course, is the race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. If you could make the call for the Democrats, who would you recruit to run against Petty? Some other popular race car driver? Or maybe another popular sports or entertain ment figure. Andy Griffin. Michael Jordan. Coach Dean Smith. Nice thoughts, but beheve me, none of them is going to trade what they are doing for the fun of trudging from one county barbecue to another and spending mil lions of dollars. The Democratic seers are saying their party needs to run somebody who is strong in areas where Petty might be per ceived as weak. If the Democratic candidate were a strong experienced manager with financial and legal experi ence, he would have an edge on Petty, whose strength is in other areas. This Democratic candidate would then try to convince the public that managing the state's records and an over seeing the state's regulation of business processes and financing required a solid profes sional - rather than a popular but, arguably, inexperienced star attraction. Another desirable quality for a Democratic candidate: being a woman. Then, those voters who think women should be better represented in the statewide offices might have a good rea son to pass by the popular Petty. (Other than judges, none of the existing statewide elected officials are women.) How would a professional woman with good managerial experience do agadnst the popular Petty? It is fun to speculate. But, honestly, I don't know. As interesting and exciting as the race between Petty and the Democratic candidate will be, and as much as we discuss it, the final result will be determined mostly by the success of the candidate's political party in November -just like the other Council of State races. If there is a Republican landslide this fall. Petty will probably be Secretary of State even if the Democratic candidate is well-qualified, attractive, and runs a great race. And if the Democrats get out a big vote. Petty will probably lose even if the Democratic candi date is not a "perfect" one. DG MARTIN is vice president for public affairs for the University of North Carolina sys tem. Nigerian executions: Justice or tyranny? Nigerian executions: Justice or t}rranny? —By Askla Muliamniad NATIONAL NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIA TION An intense international political storm is swirling around the military-led gov ernment of Nigeria, because it carried out death sentences on nine activists, members of the minority Ogoni people from the oil-rich Rivers State on Nov. 10. Despite condemnation, bans, expulsions, calls for interna tional sanctions and a boycott of Nigerian oil exports, gov ernment officials are stead fast, and relatives of the men whose deaths were allegedly ordered by writer Ken Saro- Wiwa, defend the gov ernment's action. He and eight others were hanged at a prison in Port Harcourt, in Ogoniland, in the Southwest region of the country. South African President Nelson Mandela, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, British Prime Minister John Major, and U.S. President Bill Clinton have been joined by several other world leaders, as well as by Amnesty International, in con demning the executions of the nine, who were not allowed to appeal their death sentences. Nigeria has withdrawn its ambassadors from the U.S. and most European capitals, which quickly withdrew their own representa tives following the exe cutions. "I support, 100 percent, the decision of the government of Nigeria to dispense punish ment quickly for its justified decision," Desmond Orage said recently at a S3rmposium on Nigeria at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His father. Chief Samuel Orage, his uncle, Theophilus Orage, as well as Chief Edward Kobani and Albert Badey were murdered and their bodies were inciner ated May 21,1994 by a mob allegedly instigated by Mr. Saro-Wiwa, an internationally respected writer. Mr. Saro-Wiwa, "was not arrested for any crusade in favor of environmental protec tion," Zubair Kazaure, Nigeria's Ambassador to the U.S. told reporters at a press conference the day of the exe cutions. "Nor was he censored for promoting the legitimate interests of the Ogoni people. (He) was arrested, fairly tried, and duly convicted for his proven involvement in the premeditated, brutal, and cold-blooded murder of four Ogoni leaders who dared to oppose his violent confronta tion agEiinst" the government. Beginning in 1993, Mr. Saro- Wiwa organized a militant cadre within the originally non-violent Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). That faction vio lently opposed the June 12, 1993 presidential election, burning and looting the homes of other Ogoni who did not comply, eventually sparking riots throughout the region and the destruction of a $30 million oil facility; and it insti gated bloody wars with the neighboring Andoni, Ndoki, "I support, 100 percent, the decision of the govern ment of Nigeria to dis pense punishment quickly for its justified decision” -Desmond Orage and Asa peoples. Several of MOSOP's found ing elders objected to Mr. Saro-Wiwa's growing personal ambitions and to his secret business arrangements with oil companies. They also objected to the increasingly violent tactics of his militant National Youth Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP). The tensions erupted in October, 1993 following a three-day Ogoni-Andoni "peace conference." After attending and actively partici pating in three-days of negoti ations, Mr. Saro Wiwa myste riously disappeared from the meeting, reportedly through a bathroom window, just when the accord was to be signed. He later denounced the agree ment, and accused his fellow members of the Ogoni delega tion of selling out by putting their personal "prejudices" ahead of their commitment to the "triumph of Ogoni." Originally, 15 people were charged with the four counts of murder. The public tri bunal, which was monitored by Amnesty International, Greenpeace, the United Nations and other organiza tions, found six of the defen dants not guilty. At the trial, five eyewitnesses (19 witness es total) testified that immedi ately before the slayings, Mr. Saro-Wiwa, in a rage, told thousands of supporters at a rally to "deal with the vul tures," specifically naming the victims and others he charged with accepting money from Shell and Chevron oil compa nies and from the federal gov ernment. Several Ogoni had already been named vultures in previous death warrants, cartoons, and a "news flash." The victims were gath ered at a well-pubhcized Council of Ogoni Elders, nearby. Eyewitness accounts indicate that a mob of 2,000 attacked the meeting where the victims were beaten with clubs and machetes, and that all who were listed on Mr. Saro-Wiwa's "news flash" received fatal blows, while others at the meeting who had not been marked for death were released, some unharmed, others sim ply assaulted. The three- member Court, com posed of two civilian jus tices and one military person, "I flew to Nigeria after hundreds of phone calls from my home in Los Angeles to family mem bers in Nigeria," to investigate the killings on his own, Mr. Orage said. Despite death threats he and his wife received in this country unless he abandoned his investiga tion, he persisted. "I came out believing that Ken Saro-Wiwa was responsible for the mas sacre of my father. We believe justice was served.” Other Rivers State neigh bors of the Ogoni also criti cized Mr. Saro-Wiwa's vio lence-prone leadership. "Ken Saro-Wiwa has a hidden agen da,” Joseph Okere, President of the Ndoki and Asa National Congress said in a newspaper advertisement accusing him of trjdng to destroy the Nigerian federal union last August. "He is dreaming of an Eldorado empire called Ogoni Kingdom where he will be the head of State. This is why MOSOP has been involved in expan sionist aggression to annex other oil producing communi ties around Ogoni. We wish to state that Ken Saro-Wiwa-led Generating our own grits and groceries By William Reed j NATIONAL NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION ' Are white people in a conspiratorial effort to keep us down? Or, is it possible that we each have our collective destinies in our own hands, or, at least, in each of our pocketbooks. Who among us can deny that if we really want to break the effects of racism and discrimination, we could eas ily do it via our economic power? If we started off 1996 in a new economic mind set and looked at what minority groups like Jews and Asians have done with their collective actions and stop think ing of ourselves as "poor" and "minority," we will all recognize what it mews to say that our $400 billion annual income is higher that the gross national product of 94 percent of the world's industrialized and developing countries. But if black people really want financial inde pendence and economic development, we are going to have to taike collective action. When we understand that our present situation can be. traced to choices we made in the past, we can use this knowledge to position ourselves to make the choices that guarantee a promising future. It's not as if we each don't know what the real problem is, rather it is refusing to take responsibility for our own actions. It is easier for us to blame the white man for our situation than it is to take up our own cross and carry it. From Chicago's West Side to South Central Los Angeles, we prefer to "diss" white, Arab, Asian and Jewish merchants for dis respecting us because it is easier than taking col lective actions through our churches and clubs and build our own shopping centers and commer cial strips. Each and every African American, from Boston to Bakersfield, knows that we are going to have to improve our financial and eco nomic presence in the American, and world, com munity or we all will continue, like lemmings, to sink into the sea of decay. White people have a right to feel they've done as much "affirmative action" as they should when they look around their offices and factory floors and see numerous black faces. What they don't see are the other two-thirds of African Americans still looking for jobs, housing and career opportu nities. What they do see are our self-appointed poverty pimp leaders continually asking them for another handout to "help us lift our boats off the bottom" of the country's economic rungs. Structures such as a display of black collective economic development will manifest itself to the world when we own state-of-the-art shopping cen ters. We need retail and wholesale distribution processes that are owned by numerous groups, organizations and individuals among us, and a presence in the revenue stream that bring cars, clothing, computers, com flakes and other items into black households. But the problem with blacks who've reached middle-class status, as well as those of us who're not been as economically for tunate, is that we are individuals who collectively don’t see the need to be a part of any collective of black economics. Even though a larger segment of Black America, than any other group, is collectively at the bottom of the nation's economic barrel, with all of its problems of crime, violence and lack of basic First World facilities, we manifest our collective con sumer power and lack of unity of purpose like crabs in a barrel as "independent" consumers. As a group, we spend 95 percent of our income out side our communities. Asians, less than 10 per cent of our size, spend almost 90 percent of their income with each other. As a people, if we are to survive into the 21st century, we must do a better job of laying a solid economic foundation for gen erations of our kind to come. Judges can fall victim to injudicious behavior By Walter R. Mears THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON - By title, job description, the solemnity of the black robe, the authority of the gavel, judges are cast as figures a step beyond everyday behavior. But they aren't immune from job stress that can build to the point of angry outbursts from the bench. “Bench stress," the American Bar Association Journal calls it in an account suggesting a growing recognition of the problem and the need to redress it when it happens. The marathon trial and acquittal of O.J. Simpson have put a focus on what's happening in American courtrooms. Compared with conduct described in the ABA study. Judge Lance Ito was a judicial saint. In the study, Pamela Coyle tells of an angry Philadelphia judge who threw a glass of water at a lawyer and one in Louisiana who told a witness that in his courtroom he was God. A Long Island judge sent unsigned letters and faxes ridiculing and at times threatening an attorney with whom he'd had political dif ferences. With confidence in the judicial system shak en even before the Simpson trial, conduct described as “black robe fever" by the presi dent of the National Judicial College in Reno, Nev., can only worsen the problem. “This whole area of demeanor is so impor tant," Judge V. Robert Payant told Coyle. “There is a growing recognition by the judicia ry that if we are going to improve the image of justice ... one group of major players is going to have to be judges.” Another may be a growing movement to watch the way judges act, and to open lines for complaints about their conduct, with peo ple who are neither lawyers nor judges play ing an increasing role. While the number of formal complaints has been growing, there still are relatively few, in part because lawyers and the people they rep resent are wary of retaliation from the bench, Coyle reports in the ABA Journal. She is a reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and was a fellow in legal journalism at Yale University. There was a 40 percent increase in the num ber of complaints lodged against federal judges between 1990 and 1993, with a similar trend in the states. At least 90 percent of the complaints ultimately are dismissed, as unfounded or due to the difficulty of differen tiating between cases in which the losing side is griping and those in which there really has been iivjudicious conduct. With caseloads increasing while staffs are not, there can be extra pressure on judges. The stress is heightened by the fact that they are always on duty, their words recorded, con duct and even moods closely observed. The trappings of judgeship can add to the mix: “A few people think ‘your honor' means them rather than their office," Payant observed. There is a reverse side to all this. “There are judges who behave impeccably in the court room and issue dreadful decisions," said Lynn Hecht Schafran of the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund in New York. In another appraisal of courtroom conduct and confidence, an academic adviser to the American Enterprise Institute suggests that American judges ought to have more authori ty. James Q. Wilson of the University of California, Los Angeles, suggests the English model as an answer, saying judges there have retained control over their courtrooms while many U.S. judges have lost it. English judges select jurors, often question witnesses, and summarize and evaluate evi- ■ dence, Wilson said. “American judges typical ly let the lawyers choose the jurors and do all of the talking." He said American criminal trials should be simpler and less adversarial, not lengthy, j lawyer-dominated soap operas in which the search for truth has been subordinated to the * manipulation of procedures." In contrast to the English system in which a prosecutor in one case can represent the defense in the next, high-profile American tri als have become “mortal combat" between prosecutors and defense attorneys whose roles do not change. “The rewards can be great," Wilson writes, “Votes, money, prestige and book contracts." Much of that was on display during and after the nine-month spectacle of the Simpson trial. And it has at least raised the level of discussion and the exchange of ideas on the long-building problem of confidence in the courts. WALTER R. MEARS, vice president and columnist for The Associated Press, has reported on Washington and national politics for more than 30 years.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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