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4A EDITORIAL AND OPINION/ Cliarlotte Thursday, April 26, 2007 tlTIje Cljarlotte The Voice of the Block Community 1531 Comden Rood Charlotte, N.C. 28203 Gerald O. Johnson ceo/publisher Robert L Johnson co-publisher/general manager Herbert L White editor in chief Published weekly by The Charlotte Post Publishing Company Inc. Subscription rate: $40 per year. Periodicals postage paid at Charlotte, NC. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Charlotte Post. PO Box 30144. Charlotte. NC 28230 OPINIONS When violent chickens come home to roost Making the Chinese Connection By Carl E. Briscoe Ph.D, SPECIAL TO THE POST The tragedy at Virginia Tech, was just that: a terrible tragedy. Similarly, the deaths on September 11, 2000 were tragic. Senseless death is always despicable regardless of where it takes place or whom it involves. On the day of each of these terrible events, approximately 180,000 people died in our world. Most of these people were poor, exploited, people of color, and many of their deaths were avoidable. President Bush cre ated a political spectacle of this tragedy in the same way he did with 9-11. He immediately took advantage of the nation’s grief inciting emotional reactionary policy as a remedy. The problem, as I see it. is precisely in the model that we follow. In this situation we have a criminal, a liar and a murderer, a man with absolutely no conscience, speaking to the con sciousness of the nation. How is it possible that we are surprised by such tragedies? This is the most violent country in the world. We kill and steal whenever it sustains our advantage, and we have done this all over the world. We murdered well over a million men, women and children in North Vietnam - senseless killings, which had nothing to do with the outcome of the conflict, but did create enormous wealth for American bomb and airplane manufac turers. Right now American troops are assigned ail over Africa, not to help with water or infrastructure, but to kill any native attempting to interfere with American corporate develop ment. America's policy after the 1991 Gulf War was murder ous, and killed well over 300,000 innocent children of Iraqi citizens. The current insurgency by corporate interests has murdered well over 60,000 Iraqi civilians. American policy, formulated by government elites, spon sored genocide against American natives; likewise this was done with natives in South America in the interests of the American Fruit Company and other corporate thieves. While 1 wouldn't dare blame slavery on the United States; America’s “peculiar” institution was particularly emasculating and dev astating to the slave and the progeny of those enslaved. The effects were so thorough; many of their offspring still prefer the “plantation” to freedom. There were a little over 16,000 homicides last year in this country. Between 1950 and 2006 this rate vacillated between 7,000 and 22, 000. Most homicides are committed on people who were acquainted with each other; often relatives, friends or associ ates - not strangers or pathological killers - as the TV media would have us believe. The current news frenzy regarding Virginia Tech deploys scare tactics obscuring the reality of systemic violence implicit in America’s social history. The point to all this is that there are social and political rea sons for these tragedies. The case of 9-11 was a case of the "chickens coming home to roost.” America had been financ ing death and destruction and participation in internee wars for corporate or business interests for the last 50 years. These actions almost always kill and murder innocent native popu lations. Clinton’s bombing of a Sudanese pharmacy and an Afghanistan village, killed hundred of innocent civilians. The reason we call murder for political interests collateral damage is because it obliterates the responsibility of human agents and legitimizes murder. Virginia Tech wasn’t an isolated event, and while this is of no consolation to the loved ones of those killed or wounded, what we need to do is look at our leaders and the retail agents for the wealthy: our legislators. More gun laws, more prohibitions, and better surveillance apparatuses (they work two ways) will not stop the violence so endemic in this country. As a black m^ living in America my biggest fear is not the criminal but the local police. The biggest killers in America are the police, and they love to kill “negroes" (look at the com parative statistics, between whites and blacks on arrest rates for identical crimes, capital punishment by race, and shoot ings by race). There is no way to prevent another Virginia Tech incident. Implementing stricter gun laws, restrictions on college entrances, psychological screening, restrictions on Asians, or the continued search for a criminal genetic code, will not solve the problem. The problem is with our examples, the people we follow and the culture promulgated in the institu tions designed to maintain this autocracy. CARL E. BRISCOE Ph.D. writes on crime, policy, international relations, social movements, and politics. Virginia Tech wasn't an isolated event, and while this Is of no conciliation to the loved ones of fhose killed or wounded, whaf we need fo do is look af our leaders and fhe refail agenfs for the wealthy: our legislators. More gun laws, more prohibitions, and better surveillance apparatuses (they work two ways) will not stop the violence so endemic inthis country. Connect with tljc ^oj(t Send letters to The Charlotte Post, P.O. Box 30144 Charlotte, NC 28230 or e-mail editorial@thecharlot- tepost.com. We edit for grammar, darity and space. Include your name and daytime phone number. Letters and photos will not be returned by mail unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Let me get this straight. We have a Chinese furniture company labeling one of its sofas ”[N-Word] Brown.” We hav£ a Chinese sculptor being carving the MLK stone, his Chinese brethren will con tinue carving out a large piece of Africa by develop ing the land, purchasing the oil, and selling Africans everything they want and need. What’s wrong with this picture? To most black folks in America, it seems the answer is obvious:- Nothing. ■ The sofa issue could be mitigated by the possibility that in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, from where the sofa was shipped, the N- wofd could be just an effort on their part to emulate a colloquial U.S. expression. The Chinese are capitalists; they want the money. 1 can’t believe they would inten tionally do something to alienate what might be the largest consumer group in the world in terms of dis posable income. I don’t know; they may have thought the N-Word was a term of endearment; some black folks do. Nonetheless, the “’N-word Brown” sofa fiasco will have a brief shelf life and will soon fade into the annals of “shock news" stories. Purchases from China will go on and we will be back to business as usuai in a month or so. Whatever the case, i can give the Chinese furniture label a free ghetto pass this time. Now if the coior of the MLK memorial is done in lush tones of N- word Brown, I will definitely have a problem. Nice segue. Let’s talk about this MLK memorial. I don’t know if you saw the article written by one of the country’s most renowned artists. Gilbert Young. The article, titled, “A Chinese Martin Luther King?!” (http://www.kingisours.co m) expresses Young’s out rage at the lack of a black designer (The Roma Group, http://www.roma.com, was selected for that) and a black sculptor to complete the project (Lei Yixin was elect ed for that $10 million honor). As a result. Gilbert Young says, "So let’s see,” that leaves the digging and haul ing, which in some folks’ eyes may be appropriate because this nation was built on the backs of blacks. I, for one, am not willing to bob my head and grin over the fact that some Black subcontractor will be employed to move the dirt. Nor am I willing to allow my children’s children to visit a memorial that will not reflect African American art and culture and artistry.” Black people are always busy trying to be "inclu sive” with our projects while, at the sapie time, we are being "excluded" from projects controlled by oth ers. I don’t know what’s up with those in charge of the MLK Memorial, but I gotta go with Gilbert Young on this one. He questioned the travesty of justice in having the "national treasure of China,” Lei Yixin, that’s Communist China, sculpt the center piece of the most important African-American monument, in recognition of the most important African-American move ment in the history of the United States. A movement that never could have taken place in China. Maybe they should put the memorial in China, especially since some of the quotes to be inscribed on it speak directly to the oppression in that country. 1 must be missing some thing here, because it just does not make sense. Uh oh, I thought of something Booker T. said, “Beneath everything lies economics.” Could this be about the money? Of course, it could. Another nice segue. China boasts the world’s second- largest cache of foreign exchange behind oniy Japan; it is on pace to see its reserves soon climb past $ 1 trillion. China virtually con trols the U.S. and has made significant economic head way in Africa, especially during the past 25 years. Consider the trade deficit with China, the rise of the Euro and the fall of the Dollar, the manipulation of the Yuan by the Chinese, the escalating oil consumption by China, and the sheer power ensconced in China’s 1.3 billion consumers. They tell me even the stone for the MLK Memorial will be imported from China! Since China ioves black folks, according to Yang Zhou, a hotel manager in Sierra Leone, who said, "Africa is a good environ ment for Chinese invest ment, because it’s not too competitive,” and when you consider the economic impact of doing deals with China, especially among the heavy-hitters who have already donated millions to the MLK Memorial, the dots get connected. But let’s get back to black folks. If we want to make a Chinese Connection, then let’s do it, but let’s do it with some leverage. To simply channel profits to them at the expense of black artists, designers, ail in the name of inclusion and the flimsy rationale of Dr. King being "international" in his reach and in his message, will not give us the ieverage we need to build our ovyn Chinese connection, one that will benefit our children prior to benefiting everyone else’s. When I saw Andrew Young and Jesse Jackson crying alligator tears at the ground breaking of the MLK Memorial I thought it was in remembrance of MLK and what he did for us. Maybe I was wrong; could their tears have been in response to the most of the funds being col lected for the memorial going to China rather than to biack folks? As usual, black folks get to participate in the emotional side of things, putting shov- • els in the ground, making speeches, and crying, while other folks stay in the back ground waiting for the money to start rolling out. We get excited about the sizzle, and they dine on the steak. Stop the madness and Bring Back Black! (www.bringbackblack.org) JAMES CUNGMAN is a syn dicated columnist. Will environmental justice be left to just us? Clean air without limiting growth in communities When it comes to environ mental man agement dis- c u s s i 0 n s become con- fusing, accusatory and usually end up with no conclu sion. It is good that the sub ject of global climate change is entering the national debate for the upcoming presidential election. This time both parties will ele vate the importance of the matter and, perhaps, we can start to make a noticeable change in how we treat Mother Earth and the air we breathe. It is imperative the costs are shared equitably and that no group, nation or race pays the big price while oth ers slide by. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is busy at work drafting a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would consider adopting a new, more strin gent National Ambient Air Quality Standard for Ozone. But first, let’s not get con fused. We are not talking about global warming that is often the first fanatical thing one thinks of lately when you mention the word Ozone. Here we are talking about smog that in part is created from combustion sources such as factories and vehicles and other daily human activities. EPA is under a court order to issue the Proposed Rule by June 20, 2007. So what happens if EPA sets a more stringent stan dard for Ozone and more over, who should care? Well, a lot of things happen that can and probably will impede growth and eco nomic development. All small and minority, espe cially black-owned busi nesses, should care most of all. We are on the upstart. We have the fastest rate of growth in the number of businesses and dollar sales. Finally, we are getting it together and it appears that outside sources such as environmental hysteria is going to challenge our new growth. The last time EPA lowered the Ozone standard many areas of the country were classified as non-attain ment, thereby triggering a process requiring states to develop emission control strategies to bring areas into attainment by a certain date. The emission control strategies required to make such a demonstration of compliance 'will impact the economies of local commu nities by limiting growth and economic expansion, redevelopment and rebuild ing, and by raising the cost of goods and services used in our everyday lives. For example, the rebuild ing of New Orleans could come to a halt or be drasti cally reduced. This would be tragic! The economic empowerment driven by small and minority and black-owned businesses is at risk, as is the health and welfare of those low and fixed income families that can least afford it. Air is not the only thing that impacts the health of those that live in areas that are designated as non attainment for Ozone. Without good jobs driven by economic growth, how does one pay for healthcare and a decent standard of living? The air is clean and is get ting cleaner all the time. EPA has been instrumental over the years in ensuring cleaner air for all Americans. Oh, how I remember those awful smoggy days in the Los Angeles basin. Our lungs burning and eyes watering non-stop. For example, between 1970 and 2005, total emis sions of the six principal air pollutants dropped by 53 percent. Moreover, the ozone levels have dropped 20 percent since 1980. But one can argue that we are approaching the crossroads of diminishing returns. How clean is clean and at what price? We can no longer tolerate a “regulate and punish” mentality dri ven by a "lower is better” theory of environmental activism that goes well beyond protecting public health with an adequate margin of safety. Science based on what is “potential ly harmful” is dangerous. EPA is obligated to dis charge its duties under the Clean Air Act to ensure that the Nation’s air quality stan dards are protective of pub lic health. In that spirit, we should support EPA’s deci sion to include policy options in the Proposed Rule that consider a more stringent Ozone standard. But we should also insist that EPA include among the range of policy options to be considered in the proposed rule an option to retain the current Ozone standard. To do otherwise would pre judge the issue of whether revision of that NAAQS for Ozone is appropriate at this time. When EPA issues the pro posed rule, it will formally frame the debate for the public comment process. If it doesn’t include considera tion of the current standard as a policy option, the opportunity to do so wiii be forever lost and the burden of compliance with a more stringent standard will fall to the local communities and the smail and minority and black-owned business es that operate and provide livelihoods within them. If EPA forgoes this oppor tunity, it will not be envi ronmental justice, it will be left to just us. HARRY ALFORD is co founder, President/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, Inc. Website: WWW. nationaibcc. org.
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