The AC Phoenix: More than a Newspaper, a Community Institution -- Issue No. 2015, September 2014

Page 12 September 2014 The AC Phoenix
Ferguson Is Reminiscent
of Some of
This Country’s Worst
Moments
By Clarence B. Jones
Clarence B. Jones
No, no! My smart TV is playing a visual
trick on me.
Am I actually watching, in real time,
military-garbed police in Ferguson, MO,
pointing their weapons at persons in that
community who have peacefully assembled?
People who gathered to express
their outrage over the recent shooting by
an unidentified police officer of 18-yearold
Michael Brown, Jr., an African-American
believed to have been unarmed?
Relations between police and African-
American communities across our country
may be at its worst since the 1960s.
What do public officials in the police department
in Ferguson fear?
When the shooting of Mr. Brown by
a white police officer occurred, word
spread. There was some limited violence
and rioting, which was quickly contained
by leaders and others in Ferguson. The
demonstrations on national TV Wednesday
evening were initially peaceful and
disciplined. Police subsequently fired tear
gas and rubber bullets into them -- that
is when some acts of retaliatory violence
occurred.
Ferguson is reminiscent of some of the
worst confrontations between the African-American
communities and police
nationwide. I tremble for my country
when I reflect that God is just; that his justice
cannot sleep forever.
Moreover, events in Ferguson are occurring
during the second term of Barack
Obama, America’s first African-American
president. Ironically, they occurred also
on the same evening when he is being
celebrated at Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard.
Oak Bluffs is the vacation venue of
America’s Black bourgeoisie and those
who genuinely believe that they have
become, in our 21st century, significant
participants in white America’s economic
power structure.
In 1968, at the request of President Lyndon
Johnson, a commission was created
to examine the causes of riots that had
occurred in several urban communities.
These included Newark and New Brunswick,
NJ, Detroit and several other cities.
Named after its Chairman, Otto Kerner,
then Governor of Illinois, the “1968 Kerner
Commission Report concluded that the
nation was “moving toward two societies,
one black, one white -- separate and
unequal.”
The Report noted at the time that:
“A new mood has sprung up among Negroes,
particularly among the young, in
whom self-esteem and enhanced racial
pride are replacing apathy and submission
to “the system.”
“The abrasive relationship between
the police and the minority communities
has been a major-and explosive-source
of grievance, tension and disorder. The
blame must be shared by the total society.”
The Report concluded that:
“To some Negroes, police have come
to symbolize white power, white racism
and white repression. And the fact is that
many police do reflect and express these
white attitudes. The atmosphere of hostility
and cynicism is reinforced by a widespread
belief among Negroes in the existence
of police brutality and in a “double
standard” of justice and protection -- one
for Negroes and one for whites.”
Professor Michelle Alexander’s book, The
New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in a
Color Blind America may be the best 21st
century update “Report” about the police
and African-American communities since
the 1968 Kerner Commission Report.
But we don’t need any more commissions,
books or studies about African-American
young men and the police across America.
It is apparently open season to shoot
or apply otherwise deadly force with impunity
upon black men -- an unspoken
“license to kill.”
In 1962 the African-American author
James Baldwin wrote “The Fire Next Time.”
It was an open letter to his nephew on
the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of
President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
Baldwin wrote:
“You were born where you were born
and faced the future you faced because
you were black and for no other reason.
The limits of your ambition were thus,
were expected to be set forever. You
were born into a society, which spelled
out with brutal clarity, and in as many
ways possible that you were a worthless
human being. You were not expected to
aspire to excellence: you were expected
to make peace with mediocrity...the symbols
of your life have been constructed to
make you believe what white people say
about you.”
“God gave Noah the rainbow sign, No
more water, the fire next time.”
President Obama has held press conferences
on Iraq, the “refugee crisis” on our
southern borders, Putin and the Ukraine,
etc. A thoughtful, well-intended message
to the Holmes family from him and First
Lady Michelle is not enough. We have a
crisis between the police in our country
and young black men. National presidential
leadership and action is required
to address this. We don’t need another
Commission. We need immediate presidential
executive action and leadership
to resolve this crisis
An Evening and Book
Signing With Dr.
Howard Fuller
GREENSBORO – In the late 1960s and early
70s, the city of Greensboro held great
promise for Dr. Howard Fuller.
He was then known as Owusu Sadaukai,
which means “one who clears the way for
others” and “one who gathers strength
from his ancestors to lead his people.”
Fuller was also known as one of the most
dangerous men in North Carolina for his
efforts to help poor, black communities
organize and petition local governments
for better living and working conditions.
He also helped black students organize for
academic experiences that reflected the
diverse richness of American life.
It was in a modest building at 708 Asheboro
Street in Greensboro that Fuller, along
with a cadre of committed activists, educators
and students opened the Malcolm X
Liberation University. Its goal was simple:
train students who would be willing to go
to Africa and help those nations obtain
their independence and rebuild.
Nearly 45 years after the university opened
its doors on October 5, 1970, Fuller will
return to Greensboro on Tuesday, October
14, 2014 to promote his new book No
Struggle No Progress: A Warrior’s Life from
Black Power to Education Reform.
The book chronicles his remarkable journey
from his Louisiana roots, to preventing
a race riot in North Carolina after the
assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, to
the jungles of Africa with freedom fighters
to the frontlines of the school choice
movement.
Sponsored by Partners for Educational
Freedom in North Carolina, the event will
be held from 6 to 9 p.m. at the International
Civil Rights Museum & Center. Dr. Fuller
will engage with the audience through a
Q&A session about his extraordinary life
experiences and the lessons he’s learned
along the way.
For more information, go to https://drfullergreensboro.eventbrite.com.
NC Turtle Stew And
Family Reunions
Revisited
[continued from page 1]
He holds a BA from Wake Forest in History,
a MS from North Carolina State A & T
University in Education (Secondary Social
Studies), and has just finished his add-on
licensure for school administration from
the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
His passion for history led him to
create and sponsor the History Club at his
school. His students have been exposed to
college professors, historical movies, and
history themed trips to local, state, and
national sites. This past Spring, the History
Club hosted the Slave Dwelling Project on
the Old McCollum Farm in Madison, NC for
an overnight stay and brought together
descendants of the original plantation
owners and the original slaves for a family
reunion.
You can register for the conference by following
this link:
http://slavedwellingproject.org/registration-is-now-open-for-the-slave-dwellingproject-conference-2014/