1991_02 The Daily Collegian February 1991

              /
African People's History Month
Uhuru Na Umoja * February 1, 1991
Doing Our Patriotic Duty?
The exploitation of our brothers and sisters in the Persian Gulf War
By J. Scott Walker
MANAGING EDITOR,
UHURU
"My country tis of thee, sweet land of
liberty, for thee I sing. Land where my
fathers died...from every mountainside ,
let freedom ring." What do these words
mean and how do they apply to Afri¬
can-Americans? They couldn't have
meant too much because years later
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was still
demanding that freedom ring. And to
datef freedom's ring has been inau¬
dible. Yeteverystepoftheway weare
to believe that we share in the "Ameri¬
can Dream." We African-Americans
have indeed shared in a dream, but
ours has been of a much more funda¬
mental nature; that of equality and the
freedom to live a life in which we are
allowed (without hinderess) to pros¬
per and define our own collect!veand
individual realities.
Although African-Americans have
been victims of grave injustices since
being imported to this country, when¬
ever this country took up arms; we
were right there in the forefront
We all by now know the story of
Chrispus Attucks, the first man killed
in the Revolutionary War. His killing
would later stand as a marking post—
as throughout the years that would
follow in our history in this country;
much of our blood would be spilled
for the White man to maintain a stan¬
dard of living.
Attucks' killing would prove to bear
no positive fruit for the masses of our
people remained in slavery. The stan¬
dard of living for African-Americans
didn't increase by any percentile; if
anything, the slave masters began to
clamp down harder.
Then came the Civil War. The nation
in danger of being split—not over
slavery—but over the almighty dol¬
lar. Abraham Lincoln, erroneously
dubbed "The Great Emancipator",
himself at the time said that, "My in¬
tention is neither to abolish or save
slavery, but to save the Union. If I
could save the Union without freeing
one slave, 1 would." When the nation
finally did split and the Civil War
brokeout, Colored troops (as we were
dubbed) were assembled to help the
North battle the South. Men "volun¬
teered" to fight in these troops on a
promise of freedom from slavery if the
North would happen to win. And
even in the trenches of war, the Blacks
were segregated from the Whites. The
Colored troops were equipped lastly
with the most meager of supplies.
Many times, the soldiers went with¬
out proper outfitting and gear; but
were still led to believe they were fight¬
ing for the freedom of all black people.
The Colored troops finally saw com¬
bat, and on some scale were celebrated
fortheirsuccess. Casualties were high;
and the scales of our involvement in
the armed forces were tilted for many,
many years.
Vietnam saw a nation split about the
United States' involvement in a war.
Many people didn't and to this day
still do not understand why we got
involved in the Vietnam Conflict.
Many of the nation's children were
being sent off toa faraway land to do
battle over something that at the least
seemed immoral. And visibly, a large
proportion of the peoplegoing to fight
were Black folks, many of which were
drafted.
This stood out in every corner of the
United States as African-Americans
found themselves bitterly embroiled
in a battle for human rights here in this
country—how could they dare send
us half way across the world to fight
for someone else?
Leaders like Martin Luther King
became very vocal about the evil of
this war and how we as African-
Americans, suffering so much at the
hands of our oppressors in this coun¬
try everyday, being forced to fight this
war—someoneelseswar—was outra¬
geous. TheBlackPanherPartyforSelf
Defense, in defining the philosophies
of its organization; ielt that all Afri¬
can-Americans should be exempted
from the service because of the injus-
See EXPLOITATION on page 7
Community Activists Make
Education a Priority
UHURU Staff
Due to the current recall of the first
and only African-American toeversit
on the Fresno Unified School District
(FUSD) School Board, African-
Americans and Chicanos have united
around legislation that will guarantee
more effective representation.
Measure A, which will appear on the
November ballot, will be the catalyst
in bringing about equitable
representation theSchool Board by
requiring candidates to reside in the
district they will be representing.
Currently, in a time of severe budget
" ...proper education of our
children will always remain
our primary concern..."
Kehinde Solwazi, Pres.
Black Political Consel
the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP),andotherorganizationsare
regularly attending the school board
meetings to ensure that the neccesities
of our communities are notoverlooked
or misrepresented by the current board.
Kehinde Solwazi, President of the
Black Political Consul and professor
of African-American studies a t Fresno
City College, has been with this fight
from the beginning. "The proper
education of our people is the primary
concerninourcommunity. Wecannot
stand idly by and allow it to be handled
incorrectly."
For more information on Measure A
and what you can do to get involved
contact Stacey Green 266-4135/278-
6053 or Ed Castro 432-1921.
cuts from the state, the areas where
students of color are predominant are
at risk of losing substantial funds.
Measure A will offer more protection
to areas where there are gross
inequities in resources and
representation.
liie African-American Advocates for
Education in the lidftcm'High School
area, the Mexican-American Political
Association (MAPA deValle), the
Fresno .Rainbow Coalition, the Frjesno_
chapterof theNational Associationfor
VOTERS
ON
MEASURE
A
FRESNO
PRIVATE
INDUSTRY
COUNCIL
"TRAINING
FOR BUSINESS"
Investing in
Tomorrow's Work
Force.. .Our Youth!
We work with the following organizations:
Central Labor Council - 228-8591
Fresno Co. Economics Commission — 263-1000
Fresno County Probation Department - 488-3576
Older Americans Organization - 233-0831
Proteus - 298-1008
Service Employment Redevelopment,
Jobs for Progress - 237-5555 (SER)
Vocational Management Services - 486-0834
CALL US AT (209) 266-3742
1900 Mariposa, Suite 280 • Fresno, CA 94721