Project 21: New Visions

Is President Clinton above the law? I keep asking myself that question as I listen to the impeachment proceedings. I've heard both the White House's excuses and the accusations of the Office of Independent Counsel, and I don't have a problem sorting through this mess. While not admitting all the facts, President Clinton says his answers to specific questions asked of him during his grand jury testimony were legally accurate. Since he said he was sorry and asked our forgiveness, everything is okay again and we are back to page one. I think not. While my wife and I spent ...
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When a political party goes on public record to establish a foundational principle, that declaration should be studiously upheld and its members should hold one another accountable for its violation. Many Republicans and conservatives remember the phrase "to assure that the Republican Party is open and accessible to all" as being part of the last sentence in the preamble of the Republican National Convention's (RNC) "Rules of the Republican Party," adopted on August 12, 1996. The party of Lincoln is now called into question by news reports that prominent Republicans have spoken before or are members of the Council of ...
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A New Visions Commentary paper published February 1999 by The National Center for Public Policy Research, 501 Capitol Ct., N.E., Washington, DC 20002, 202/543-4110, Fax 202-543-5975, E-Mail [email protected], Web http://www.nationalcenter.org. Reprints permitted provided source is credited. I worked hard during the Martin Luther King Holiday. I always try very hard to be busy on that day. Unlike other holidays, it is not the time for bar-b-ques and family picnics; it is a time for reflection and motivation. I understand that the struggle of the civil rights era was out of love for the next generation. It was not a struggle ...
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President Clinton's announcement in his January State of the Union speech that he supports investing Social Security funds in the stock market was a half-step in the right direction for saving Social Security. Unfortunately, the President's prescription did nothing to end a pervasive problem with the current system: As currently structured, Social Security is unfair to many Americans, particularly, blacks and other minorities. The President needs to take another step in the right direction, and allow individuals to privately invest all or part of the money they currently pay to the government in Social Security taxes. The Social Security system ...
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A New Visions Commentary paper published January 1999 by The National Center for Public Policy Research, 501 Capitol Court, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002, 202/543-4110, Fax (202) 543-5975, E-Mail [email protected], Web http://www.nationalcenter.org. Reprints permitted provided source is credited. It's the rule of law, stupid. The fundamental principle that holds together our multiracial and multiethnic democracy seems to have gotten lost in the partisan din surrounding the impeachment drama in Washington. African Americans, who are President Bill Clinton's staunchest supporters, should be especially vigilant in ensuring the primacy of the rule of law. It is we, after all, who were denied equal ...
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It has been said that there is a crisis in black leadership. I agree. But as a black woman, more and more, I find myself questioning the term "black leader." Who really is a black leader? Is it Al Sharpton at his most outrageous? Is it Khalid Abdul Muhammad when he's spewing hateful insults at Jews and other races? Or is it Kweisi Mfume at his most extravagant? Is the rapper/actor Ice-T or Sister Souljah a leader? Was the late, wildly-talented and charismatic Tupac Shakur a leader? Frankly, I believe that many black public figures are simply crowned as leaders ...
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Lots of good news was broadcast over the nation's airwaves during the past few months. Drug use among young people decreased. More young adults are discovering the joys of marriage. The number of out-of-wedlock births is also trending downward. Of the three, the social custom of marriage becoming increasingly "acceptable" shows that the social engineers, Washington think-tankers and liberal supporters of free sex without esponsibility were given a major black eye yet again. No government programs are responsible for booming marriage rates. No filibusters occurred on the floor of the U.S. Senate to make this achievement possible. No proclamations from ...
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In recently donating $100 million to allow 50,000 needy children to attend private school, investment banker Ted Forstmann and Wal-Mart executive John Walton will do far more to improve the education of inner-city youths than philanthropist Walter Annenberg's much-vaunted $500 million gift to public schools could ever do. To understand why is to understand the corrosive problem at the root of America's education policy. In the age of instant gratification and inflated self-esteems, the cultural mantra of "bigger, better, faster, more" has guided government's approach to education. Per-pupil spending has increased five-fold since the 1950s, yet every quantifiable measure shows ...
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One of the more frequent comments made during the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal is that black people are solidly in the President's corner. Polls show as many as 85% of us support Bill Clinton. I'm one who's not so sure about that. Polls are not are the final word. I don't recall anyone calling my friends or me to ask our opinions. Jesse Jackson and the Congressional Black Caucus will surely defend Clinton to the bitter end, but many blacks are wondering why. Why should black congressmen - or any Black American - be passionate about Bill Clinton's tarnished presidency? It is ...
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We have heard a lot of talk about the youth of today. We have heard how "unreliable" or "unrespectful" they can be toward adult authority. Yet, how many of us "old folks" have actually taken the time to sit down with our youth to find out what makes them tick? How many of us find out about their dreams, hopes and ambitions? It's easy to ship our kids off to a social worker, job training center or recreation program for fun and activities, yet we miss out on getting the chance to know them. Many of us in the African-American ...
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Past persecution of African-Americans by our own government and the bull's-eyes historically painted on our leaders plays a significant role in the African-American community's unyielding support and affinity for President Clinton. "They're out to get him," is the mantra, "just like they were out to get Huey, Malcolm, Martin," etc. It is beyond dispute that many of us relate to Clinton in an unprecedented way. Just as African-Americans' love affair with JFK began with his simple telephone call to Coretta Scott King convincing us that he cared, we now believe Clinton is speaking to us directly when he says "I ...
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In 1996 and 1997, I predicted on the radio show I host that Bill Clinton would be brought down by actions committed before he moved to Washington. I was right. The Paula Jones lawsuit, concerning actions Clinton took while he was governor of Arkansas, led to Monica Lewinsky. The President's affair with Monica Lewinsky, and the lies he told to cover up the affair, now fuel the current calls for his resignation. I also wrote in 1997 that the real concern should be why the American people still accept and defend Clinton. I remember interviewing Clinton's schoolmates and former legal ...
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As a recently re-married African-American woman who was a single mom for about twenty years, I strongly believe our private sex lives do matter. I believe they have an indirect but significant impact on many of the economic, educational, health, racial and criminal justice problems in this country. Our inability, as individuals and as a nation, to confront sexual behavior in a straightforward, honest and credible way only pushes the problem toward the point of no return. Let's consider a society that decides people's sex lives are no one else's business. If one believes they can randomly have sex with ...
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Author and commentator Clarence Mason Weaver has a message for Black America: It's OK to Leave the Plantation. That's the title of his new book, and the sum of his message. Some people might wonder just what Weaver means. After all, the classic plantation system was destroyed at the end of the Civil War. But if you are of the mind that all Blacks must automatically vote for one particular political party or if you accept the notion that all Blacks must hold certain views with no room for dissension, then you are in a state of mental bondage. If ...
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As a teacher preparing to enter my 11th year at the front of the classroom, I feel the need to comment about the weight placed on standardized test scores. It's not about improving the students. Instead, it is all about getting more money. A standardized test has little to do with curriculum. Its authors work for a testing company, not any school district. The test is based on whatever textbook(s) the writers follow, regardless of the actual classroom usage of those texts. Herein lies the problem. Textbooks are written by people in the education field. Since there is no national ...
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On May 21, 1998, Marion Barry announced to the world that he would not be a candidate for a fifth term as mayor of Washington, D.C. I hardly know whether to laugh or cry. Marion and the city of Washington have been locked in a long and sometimes torturous embrace for more than 16 years. In his heyday, he cast a long, dark shadow over this town. The first thing a visitor to the District of Columbia sees is Marion Barry. His name is everywhere you look. It's on the city's welcome signs, the Reeves Municipal Center and on every ...
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I recently saw a very interesting and funny video entitled "Afros and Bellbottoms." It featured the well-known African-American comic and television talk show host Sinbad. I'll admit I was a bit skeptical. With many comics making fortunes by tossing around jokes about bodily functions, four-letter words and sexual situations like they were leaves falling from trees, I hoped Sinbad's video would be a welcome departure from this valley of filth and profanity. Much to my surprise, the 74-minute presentation was squeaky clean by modern standards. Sinbad's performance was a romp through the 70's -- from plastic-covered furniture to two-parent families ...
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Spike Lee has done the right thing again! His new movie "He Got Game" touches almost every nerve and fiber of the African-American contemporary experience. More importantly, Lee provides a valid metaphorical perspective on that experience. If you want a starting point for discussing the economic, political, social, educational or entertainment experiences of African-Americans, "He Got Game" is your movie. However, because the African-American experience is enmeshed in the American experience, the movie's relevance cannot be restricted to ethnic grounds. The two main story lines are simple enough: (1) A father's attempt to reunite with his son after a long ...
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Dead men tell no tales, but the questions they inspire can be immortal. This is true for James Earl Ray, Dr. Martin Luther King's convicted assassin who died in prison April 23 of liver failure at age 70. Alive and well, Earl Caldwell still wonders what really happened on April 4, 1968 in Memphis. He thought he heard a bomb. The then-New York Times correspondent dashed from his room at the Lorraine Motel. He saw a man arise from a crouched position in the bushes across the street. Facing the balcony above Caldwell, with their backs to those bushes, Andrew ...
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For many people, The Black Man's Guide to Working in a White Man's World is going to be hard to read. This is not because it is a dry, scholarly tome, but because it will make quite a few readers squirm with discomfort. The Guide's author, E. LeMay Lathan, hits hard and speaks plainly. To those who come to this book looking for a mishmash of theory and finger-pointing at whites, Lathan offers hard truth instead. It comes as a splash of cold water: to those readers who approach it with open minds, this book will be as refreshing as ...
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