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An Education Summit With Substance
BY REP. AUGUSTUS HAWKINS
Guest Editorial
Less than two months ago,
President Bush convened a na
tional summit on education. It
was an excellent opportunity for
the administration and state
leaders to dicususs cost-effective
and exemplary programs, which
could be repeated throughout our
nation’s schools. Unfortunately,
the education summit can only be
termed as an exercise of wasted
opportunities.
In a sense, the president’s
desire to stage a summit was
commendable, because I believe
he is earnest in wanting to im
prove education. But the summit
turned into more of a public rela
tions extravaganza, rather than a
braintrust which could lead to
solutions. Fear of being identified
with spending money on educa
tion blinded many of the par
ticipants and doomed any con
structive effort from the start.
The Bush summit’s conclusions
became mired in generalities, lof
ty goals without requiring
resources, and the same tired ex
hortations about education.
Because of the disappointing
result of the Bush summit, I have
begun to mobilize the beginning of
an; effort, which will lead to a real
education summit. This past
week, I held an education sym
posium on Capitol Hill to discuss
th'e future of education in
America. Unlike the politicized
education carnival held by the
president, this was an
information-gathering process,
wjth a high degree of substance,
that may lead to a larger summit
like meeting of the minds,
possibly next year. It basically
helped my Committee on Educa
tion and Labor to assess if our na
tion is on the right track, relative
to education reform.
Only a week before my sym
posium, the administration was
rattled by a group of business
leaders who suggested that the
White House was on the wrong
track regarding education fun
ding issues. The president’s
domestic policy advisor, Roger B.
Porter, addressed a number of
business leaders on the subject of
education. He recanted those
same Bush themes that school im
provement can be achieved
without spending more money.
This statement ignited a strong
reaction from the crowd of
business leaders, including Owen
Butler, board chairman of the
Committee for Economic
Development, an organization
comprised of more than 200
business executives and
educators. He stated, "The ad
ministration is saying: We won’t
give more money to education,
but we don’t mind if you do.’ This
is not the kind of federal leader
ship we need.’’
Butler was one of the prominent
participants at my education
symposium, where he once again
expressed the importance of in
vesting more money in cost
effective federal education pro
grams. Other participants includ
ed a number of education associa
tion officials, researchers, and ad
vocates, who support a significant
federal role in education.
What we need at the next educa
tion summit is something closer to
the education symposium, and the
annual National Conference on
Educating Black Children, which
has been held in Hunt Valley, Md.
the past four years. These are
working, results-oriented ses
sions, involving peoplewho are not
only advocates for education, but
are fanatics. They care deeply
about the future of our children.
That is what we need at the next
education summit—more ad
vocates, and fewer grand
standers. American education,
and the children of this nation,,
will be the ultimate winners from
this team effort.
Rewave Tax Blanket
: There is an old tale about the
young pioneer who was ready to
earn his place among the elders,
taking only the clothes on his
back, his knife and blanket, his
test was to successfully carve a
life in the wilderness for one year.
Living off the land, the boy grew
tEikto a man. Soon, his blanket
fetched only to his chest. Since
ras long enough on the bottom,
reasoned, he could cut off six
and sew it to the top.
Drtunately, some tax
i are employing this same
reasoning as they search
ew revenues to cover
rning deficits or fund new
»in federal, state and local
a. This year, new taxes or
icreases are being con
id by Congress, state
tures, county commissions
y councils.
,-opui what types of taxes should
K implemented to address the
fiscal demands, and who will bear
■ burden? These should be the
questions in any serious con
'ation of new tax initiatives,
te Tax Foundation in
hington, D.C. recently releas
"Tax Burden By Income
IM647”
report found that the
1 tax system is roughly pro
ud—the percentage of in
iccountedfor by taxes is ap
aately the same for all in
come levels—except for familes
in the lowest (less than $10,000)
and highest (over $90,000) income
brackets. These families pay a
disproportionately larger percen
tage of their income in taxes, but
for different reasons.
Federal taxes, levied mainly on
the individual and corporate in
come and on payroll, place a
heavier burden on the highest in
come group, the study showed.
State and local government col
lections tend to rely primarily on
general sales, consumer excise
and property taxes and place a
heavier burden on the lowest in
come families.
The Tax Foundation study
points out that consumer excose
taxes on tobacco products and
alcoholic beverages, for example,
jdace an extremely dispropor
tionate burden on the Jowest
income families. The harden im
posed by the alcoholic beverage
excise tax is almost five times
greater and the tobacco products
tax burden over 22 times greater
for the lowest-income class than
for the highest. With sale; and
gasoline taxes, these four taxes
alone absorb almost lOpercdnt of
the Income of the lowest Income
families but less than two percent
of the highest income class.
Tax analysts agree that excise
taxes are regressive, yet they re
main a popular revenue source
because they are easier to pass.
But is it good policy?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
kw procwdcd
quickly. It la a miscarriage
of Juatica that the atate
to drag out this
Giveo tfca nlatlva agaa tt
tha Stoto, by dragging
laf ?!*«-?! 1
Good Sport!
A NOBLE
NNPA FEATURE
COPING
by
DrCharles^V^FaulWner
IKE MISUSE OF RELIGION
Jim and Tammy Bakker are not the
only people who abuse religion. At the trial
of Oliver North, months ago, an in
teresting, though not unusual, abuse of
religion was made.
Here Is the situation. The trial, which
was held In Washington, O.C., had a jury of
IS African-American men and women. At
the end of the trial, when the prosecuting
attorney and the defense attorney made
their final arguments, both attorneys
began their arguments with an unusual
emotional appear! to the jury. They quoted
words from the Bible. When the trial was
completed and the verdict was in, the jury
foreman said that she knew that the two at
torneys, both white, were trying to
manipulate the jurors by appealing to
their emotional feelings about God. The at
torneys seemed to believe that the black
jurors were “brainwashed” by religion.
The attorneys obviously believed that
the religiously inspired jurors would find a
guilty man innocent simply because the
jurors believed deeply in religion—even if
he was guilty. The fact is that this tactic
actually works, often. Advertisers regular
ly use a biblical symbol, such as a cross, to
convince people to buy a certain product.
If a milk company puts the picture of a
cross on its mitt; cartons, they will sell far
more cartons of mitt than will the com
pany that does not use the symbol of the
cross in its advertisements.
Religion, like other ilmtlar endeavor*,
he* the capability of brainwaahing people
and causing them to sometimes make irra
tional decisions. They might think, “If It
has God’s approval, It must be okay.” The
symbol of the Cross Implies that God ap
proves of the product or, even, wants peo
ple to buy it. Thus, blacks are often used
simply because of their deep feelings for
religion.
"God will make a way, somehow.” This
very popular expression is often inter
preted to mean that Giod is like a super
parent who protects His children no mat
ter what troubles they encounter. The rela
tionship of most people to God is parent
child. With the individual being the child.
On the surface, this relationship seems
okay. However, in practice, it tends to
make people become dependent upon a
supernatural spirit. A childlike adult is not
likely to make it in this tough society.
Some people even plan, in advance, to
commit a sin “knowing” that they can ask
the Lord for forgiveness later.
When people expect God to plan their
lives for them, and protect them, they tend
to loee their motivation to guide and con
trol their own lives.
A Mend once said, “What goes around,
comes around,” God will punish the
evildoers. I said to him, “Don’t hold your
breath and expect someone else to do your
dirty work. If you want someone to be
punished, you had better do it yourself.”
Vantage Point
BY RON DANIELS
JACKSON’S PRESIDENTIAL BIDS
PAVE THE WAY FOR VICTORIES ON
NOV. 7
As the election returns rolled in on
Tuesday, Nov. 7, it became clear that
African-American politicians were posting
unprecedented victories in cities like New
York, New Haven, Durham, Seattle and in
the state of Virginia. David Dinkins would
be elected the first African-American
mayor of the nation’s largest city and
Doug Wilder would become the first
elected black governor in American
history.
But while the air
was filled euphoria,
particularly among
African-Americans,
a curious
phenomenon was un
folding. Numerous
journalists, analysts,
opinion molders and i I
party pundits were (1
having a different
celebration. They DANIELS
were hailing what they perceived to be the
demise of Jeose L. Jackson as the pre
eminent black political leader on the na
tional scene. Jesse Jackson was declared
the “big loser” on Nov. 7.
Commentators virtually rejoiced in the
victories of Norman Rice of Seattle, John
Daniels of New Haven and of course
Dinkins and Wilder. They were anointed
the “new breed” of “moderate" and
responsible “mainstream” black politi
cians who could appeal to and gain
substantial white votes. Their elevation to
public office, so some analysts reasoned,
meant the inevitable decline of the liberal
progressive style and substance of the
Jackson factor in American politics. What
this gleeful exercise in wishful thinking ig
nored, however, was the fact that the
Jackson factor contributed mightily to the
impressive reeults on Nov. 7. Far from
<«mtiiisMng Jackson's stature, the election
results enhanced Jesee Jackson’s standing
as a pioneer who paved the way and open
ed the door to broader dimensions of
.political power and influence.
In both the 1M4 and IMS campaigns,
Jesse Jackson repeatedly stated that one
of the goals of his presidential bids was to
increase voter registration and to inspire
Increasing numbers of African-Americans
to seek public office at all levels. Jackson
put forth the vision of a Rainbow Coalition
I on
i to vic
tory!
And I-- 5-™
in '84 as a rainbow with only one stripe, by
1968 there was no question but that rain
bow politics nau arrived.
The 'M campaign set the tone, staked
out die issue*, and helped to create a mir J
set that it is i
candidates to receive substantial support
among white voters. It is useful to recall
that of the nearly seven million votes
which Jesse Jackson won in 1988, nearly
three million were white votes. Jackson
did extremely well in Iowa, Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Washington state, Oregon and
Idaho. He scored victroies in Michigan and
Vermont, the whitest state in the nation.
Jesse Jackson clearly demonstrated that it
was possible for a black candidate to
receive sizeable support in areas with
minuscule black and minority populations.
Jesse Jackson also won the state of
Virginia and the city of New York, thereby
strengthening the prospects for Dinkins
and Wilder in 1MB. Especially in New York
City, it was Jesse Jackson’s '88 campaign
which provided the cement which bound
together the coalition which would even
tually carry David Dinkins to victory.
After a demoralizing failure in IBM, it
was Jesse Jackson who urged blacks and
Latinos to forget their put differences and
join with labor, the Irish and other ethnic
groups to forge a formidable coalition for
change. When Jackson carried New York
City during the '88 Democratic primary,
he made believers out of disbelievers. It
was on that night that the coalition wu
convinced that it wu possible to dump
Koch and win the office of mayor.
These reminders are important, not
because it is necesury to glorify the ac
complishments of Jesse Jackson, but
because there are always forces within the
media, the party establishment and the
power structure which seek to separate us
from our history. Much of tbs media is
hostils to Jesse Jackson because he won
big in IBM despite their persistent negative
predictions to the contrary. And there are
forces within the Democratic Party, par
ticularly the Southern-based Democratic
Leadership Conference, who fear
Jackson’s brand of liberal-progressive
politics. These forces would like a more
moderate and mild-mannered type of
mainstresm black ludarship to emerge.
Jeau Jackson refuses to be sufficiently ac
commodating.
So while African-American* can
legitimately applaud the outcome of tbs
Nov. 7 election, we need to guard against
the dangers of media manipulation, divide
and conquer and the old game of we’ll pick
your leaders for you. When we decide to
demote Jesse Jackson we’ll let America
know. For now, let's give him his propers.
Jeau Jackson’s campaigns paved the way
' forthe successes on Nov. 7.
tfatchTVWHh
Your Children
* -xdi :%£.z
i
Bible Thought
It a man love me, he will keep my words: and my father
will love him, and we will come unto him, and make out M,
abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my eayA •;
Inga: and the word which ye hear ia not mine, but the •.
Father’s which sent me. These things have I spoken unto Vl
you, being yet preeent with you. But the Comforter, which, ^
li the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, '
he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your ,
remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
John 14:33-26
©(BDoaomm
SUCCESS AND ETHICS ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS
In this column, I’m going to philosophically disagree
with a good friend who is black, a Journalist and Just as
committed to the advancements black people as I am.
Therefore, I want to preeent my argument in as palatable a
manner as possible.
Our difference revolver
specifically around die role that
Bryant Gumbel plays (or does not
play) in black community activi
ties. He is reported to pride
himself on being “colorless” and
is widely perceived by blacks like
me as a “reluctant African
American" and absent from any
meaningful role in our struggle.
“On the racial issue, Bryant
Gumbel works mightily at being
non-threatening to whites and
barely recognisable to blacks,”
wrote Les Payne, Pull tier Prise BROWN
winner and an editor at New York Nowaday.
One can certainly take exception to that statement by
pointing out that he does his Job well. As a matter of fact,
my Journalist friend wrote, "He is commanding, informed
and prodigious. That to me is a black standard.”
That to me is a white standard. For a successful black
person to focus on no more than success as defined by a
people and a society that, for example, brag when only 70
percent of white do not vote (meaning that only 30 percent
did) for a black candidate and believes that blacks fall
because they are lasy is a failure of personal ethics.
Let’s suppose that a black person becomes the most
famous black person and the highest-paid person ever ($10
million a year) and refuses to support the institutions that
provide a survival foundation for blacks—black colleges,
churches, social, cultural, civic and youth groups.
Instead, his allegiance is to a “colorless” persona, like,
for example, a 24-year-old black man who wrote in the New
York Times that he had a white girlfriend, spoke like white
people, liked country music and had no affinity for the
plight of the black community.
Suppose, assuming that his success is the black stan
dard of success as my friend suggests, 100 other blacks
became “successful" and made $10 million each. And they
all remained physically and psychologically separated
from black people.
What would change? One hundred black people would
be better off and their resources would be used to spiritual
ly and financially support everyone tpit black people.
Eventually, they would even destroy themselves.
Black separatism from other blacks is a delusion—the
same delusion the black man in the Times suffers from and
the same one that drives a “colorless” Bryant Gumbel. No,
my friend, one Gumbel ia too many and his standard of
"color” is a fatal dose.
*
And how "colorless” do you think Bryant Gumbel will
be on the streets of Bensonhurst or Howard Beach? Do you
believe that his salary or exposure to five million people
every morning or his multimillion-dollar salary will make
him “colorless" to a lynch mob or stop a sick bigot (a
redundant expression) from pulling the trigger on the first
black face he sees?
The black community can, and will, prosper without
benign Negroes-it always has. But let’s not confuse an
absence of ethical values with success.
“Tony Brown’s Journal” TV series can be seen on
public television Saturday on Channel 4 at 1:30 p.m. Please
consult listings..
A Different Voice
BY DOROTHY 8HAW-TH0MP8ON
Parent* tod concerned citizens often ask how it la possi
ble (or African-American children to ait in the classroom*
of America (where they believe equality of opportunity is
oresent) and not do as well as children of other races. Why,
theyask, are our kids more likely to fall, more likely to be
placed in special classes, mere likely to be suspended or
mpeUed than otter children? Could It be Quit «r children
SstowerTmore behaviorally handicapped, etc.? It must
be tbs parents'fault. _
Of course you know by now what my answer is: a ve
t~mding sol Am I slow, do I have difficulty reading the
statistics? Or am I Just a stubborn person who refuses to
accept theobvtous? Neither of the above. The truth is that I
havobesa privileged to experience life at a time when
education was segregated. I also have been privileged to be
born into a race of people who havestartedand sustained
civilisation wherever we have been present, deepits what
appears to he insurmountable odds. In addition, I have
beenprivUsgod to have u role models and supporters in
iffOSSSSTSSXVffSt
I to complexities in my Ute and In the lives of
I also ha ve been blessed with an educational ex
perience in irauuna ...T? .
dividuals, social systems and epiritual and nomspiritual
llfUS» classrooms of America do not operate in isolation
from the larger society. Adults and young people enter
classrooms witMbe astern sf the world echoing In thoir
brains. A society that does not value a people because of
their skin QQtavAcooomio category and cultural perspec
tive doe* not change because classroom doors art Aut.
When children of African descent enter ctaseroonuthey
ere viewed with a different psnpecttvs than chUdrsn <*
other races. If they don’t know their ABCs on the first day
of school or if they can't add that cue and one are two^ttey
ere psroeived to be slow, possibly handicapped, etc. Many
of these kids teU their first experience la school not
IBWW 0Ut vmimuBm w ■7,
■ivw. nawni even if they learn those “required facts
it Is still recommended that they* retained/'because
after all it took them a year.” Doesn’t that prove
r Nollt the children who knew their ABCs and
arable personaUtte
retarded by our 1
adults It is said that Nelson Rockefeller
StM1
-Yloofc” to be true.
if they
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