Page 4-A Sunday, February 7, 2010

Editorial

Alito insulted Obama and every American

Associate Justice Samuel Alito?s how of partisanship during Presient Obama?s State of the Union ddress stands as one more piece of vidence that conservatives believe he American government belongs o them, not the people of the Unitd States. With the echoes of U.S. Rep. Joe ilson?s ?You lie? barely still, Alito?s ead-wagging, lip-mouthing ?Not rue? in response to Obama?s claim hat a recent Supreme Court deciion allowing corporations to spend n political campaign ads overurned a century of precedents and pened the floodgates to special nterests went way past poor decoum. Traditionally, the justices, like the oint Chiefs of Staff of the military, how no partiality during the State f the Union address. Some might say this, like Wilson?s rude utterance, is an example of a acial challenge to Obama?s authorty as president, and it might be. But, o question, it was the typical righting dogma that can be found up The news media are fascinated ith anniversaries, especially those nding in round numbers. Therefore, t came as no surprise that the 50th nniversary of the Greensboro lunch ounter sit-ins was celebrated this eek. On Feb. 1, 1960, four students rom North Carolina A&T University Ezell A. Blair, Jr., David L. Richond, Joseph A. McNeil and ranklin E. McCain ? initiated a sucessful effort to desegregate the lunch ounter at the downtown Woolorth?s store. Although the four college students re hailed for taking a seat in order to tand up for their rights, it is important o remember that they were not alone. n fact, after they were refused service, hey returned the following day with ore than two dozen students. The umbers continued to swell, reaching 00 on Feb. 5, four days after the initial and down the radio dial and on Fox News. Many say Obama was rude to criticize the decision publicly in the Supreme Court?s presence, but just as Alito is a constitutional scholar from Yale, the president is a constitutional scholar from Harvard, and thus had a right to disagree with the decision just as some of his less educated predecessors had. President Ronald Reagan, in his 1984 State of the Union address, criticized the court for Roe v. Wade, 1973. Alito, like Chief Justice John Roberts, is a staunch advocate of corporate personhood, a contrivance that popped up in the late 19th century (Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, 1886) and has been a bane to basic human rights ever since. It was this kind of unfettered, predatory corporatism that nearly brought the country to its knees in the fall of 2008. The decision doesn?t give corpo- protest. Among the protesters were students from Bennett College, the all-female Black college in Greensboro, and Dudley High, the school that African-American students attended under segregation. Coming six years after the Supreme Court?s landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision outlawing segregated public schools and five years after the tragic murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till near Money, Miss., the Greensboro sit-in movement sparked similar movements in other cities, including Durham, Nashville, Atlanta, Little Rock and Miami. rations equal rights with citizens; it gives them superior rights. A corporation can use money for speech fearlessly, yet, as an employee, a person cannot speak negatively to a CEO without getting fired. Is it slavery when corporations own other corporations? People can?t own other people. If a person kills someone, he/she goes to jail and can receive a death penalty. A corporation can only be sued or fined, and some, like the Alitos and Robertses of the world, want limitations on that. Thousands died after Wyeth- Ayerst Laboratories unleashed its ?miracle? diet drug, Fen-phen in the late 1990s. Nobody went to jail. The state put nobody to death by lethal injection. Wyeth paid out over $3.75 billion in damages, but that?s as far as the law can go when corporations kill. Obama was well within his rights and Alito, though he has a right to his opinion, was just rude. This was three years before the March on Washington, five years before the Selma-to-Montgomery March in Alabama, four years before passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and five years before the Voting Rights Act. Today, we don?t think twice about whether we?ll be served if we enter any downtown restaurant. But that hasn?t always been so. In the case of Greensboro, African-American shoppers were encouraged to spend their money at such stores as Woolworth?s, a five-and-dime discount retail chain. However, they weren?t allowed to try on clothes before taking them home, were relegated to separate toilets and certainly weren?t allowed to sit next to whites at lunch counters. In Greensboro, as was the case in other cities across the South, Blacks were not allowed to sit at all. The Woolworth?s It is time to take another Census, as we Americans do every 10 years, which means it is time again to argue about the Census. If the Census is designed to take a snapshot of our nation, the initial reaction looks like a family feud. In the upper heartland we have U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, who has called for a boycott of the Census unless it includes a question about resident status. The Minnesota Republican has backed off that a tad, perhaps because the Census determines how many members the House of Representatives will have. A low Census response could cost Minnesota a congressional seat ? like hers. Besides, too many illegal immigrants already avoid the Census precisely because they suspect that it is looking for the illegals that Bachmann wishes it really was looking for. If illegal immigrants were willing to respond truthfully to a straight-up question such as the one she suggests, we could have a Census every year and put an end to illegal immigration. Dream on. More recently Bachmann has backed up a bit. She urges her supporters to respond to the Census but disclose no more information than the number of people living in their household. By her reading, that?s all the Constitution requires. ?Enough is enough? to ?government intrusion,? she said, on Glenn Beck?s Fox News show, where she also observed that the Census was an early step in the process that led to internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II. Maybe so, if you also think of ship- store in Greensboro had four counter seats for whites. African Americans, at least prior to the protest, had to eat while standing on their feet. As we begin our annual celebration of Black History Month, it is important to celebrate the thousands of nameless and faceless brave men, women and children who formed the nucleus of the modern civil rights movement yet never received the acclaim of the four students who led the Greensboro protest. Their names are not in the history books, they gave no speeches about their dreams, and their graves are not enshrined with markers listing their brave accomplishments. Yet, they are at least as important as Martin Luther King, Roy Wilkins, John Lewis or Whitney Young. It?s great to celebrate the epic moments of the Civil Rights Move- building as an early step to the slave trade. As you might be able to tell from her anxieties, Bachmann is the sort of conservative who asks you to trust her in our government because she doesn?t trust government. But the tea-party right is hardly alone when it comes to beating up on the Census. There are Black activists and intellectuals, for example, who are upset that the form includes ?Negro? among the choices for one?s race, along with ?Black? and ?African American.? I am confident that none of those complaints are coming from the National Council of Negro Women or the United Negro College Fund ? and I seriously doubt many objections are being voiced by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, either. Besides, if they think ?Negro? sounds odd, consider this: a century ago, the classifications still included ?mulatto,? ?quadroon? and ?octoroon.? Times and labels can change faster than the Census can keep up. In fact, race labels have changed in every Census for the past century, making it all the more difficult for social scientists and demographers to compare one decade to the next. The form?s categories are determined by the federal Office of Management and Budget, which makes ment, but it is even greater to realize that Blacks have always struggled against oppression in this country. Many of the protests that are among the most celebrated were predated by similar protests that, for some reason, did not capture the national imagination of later movements. For example, before there was a Greensboro sit-in protest in 1960, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) had organized sit-ins in Chicago (1942), St. Louis (1949) and Baltimore (1952). Greensboro wasn?t the first sit-in site in North Carolina. On June 23, 1957, seven students were arrested in Durham at the Royal Ice Cream Shop for staging a sit-in in the ?Whites Only? section. They were convicted and the U.S. Supreme Court later refused to take up their appeal. The 1955 Montgomery bus boycott launched the career of a young Bap- sense (because) it is intimately concerned with allocating government resources to people and places where they will do the most good. People in need of government help, you might think, would care more about how they?re being served than what they?re being labeled. But they still care a lot. In the 2000 Census, for example, about 19 million people checked ?Some other race? on the Census form because they were not satisfied with the five categories offered. The vast majority were people of Hispanic origin, Census officials say, who preferred to write-in more nationalistic labels such as ?Mexican? or ?Puerto Rican.? Census officials re-categorized as many of those race write-ins as possible into one of the five categories. In government nose-counting, it appears, those who try to deny race will have one ? or more ? thrust upon them. Such confusion and contradictions at the edge of our racial frontiers has led some to call for doing away with racial categories on the Census. Many of these folks are conservatives looking for a backdoor way to undermine affirmative action-type programs. Their complaint is legitimate, but as long as we really care about racial progress in this country we need yardsticks to measure it. Even if we stopped counting by race, it would not mean that race doesn?t count. E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@tribune.com, or write to him c/o Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, NY 14207.

Many who struggled for rights go unsung

It has been 50 years since four young North Carolina A&T State University students sat in at a segregated Woolworth?s lunch counter for a cup of coffee, 50 years since their action triggered a movement that challenged, and ultimately changed a nation. While a gala and concert were snowed out, thousands will line the streets of Greensboro to celebrate the museum?s opening. The International Civil Rights Museum is an absorbing exploration of our nation?s past. There are poll tax receipts, photos of some of those arrested, and the actual lunch counter where the four young men ? Ezell A. Blair (now known as Jibreel Khazan), Joseph McNeil, David Richmond and Franklin McCain ? sat down on Feb. 1, 1960. There are also photo- graphs ? of Emeitt Till in his casket, of lynching, of segregated classrooms, of slaves working. A visit to the museum is a reminder of how far our nation has come in 50 years, but also a reminder of how much more work we have to do before we reach the goal of social and economic justice. The Rev. Jesse Jackson was among those on a panel that attempted to place the sit-in movement in contemporary context. He talked about the arc of history, and the many ways each generation stands on the shoulders of the previous generation. He was the absolute right person to make this point, given that his two races for president of the United States undeniably laid the groundwork for President Barack Obama?s historic win in November 2008. These times, they are a-changing. The signs no longer say ?white? or ?colored.? The question is not whether one rides at the back of the bus, but whether one has bus fare, can own a bus company or zone one, or decide whether bus parts should be manufactured domestically or imported. There are no segregated lunch counters anymore, but don?t sit down if you can?t afford that cup of coffee. In some neighborhoods, there are no segregated lunch counters; there aren?t even grocery stores. It is not clear that the tactics of the sit-in movement would bring affordable and healthy food to the ?hood, where often fresh fruit is scarcer than antiquarian bookstores. In honor of the A&T Four, each of us must ask a question of ourselves. What would you sit in for? What would make you juggle the many emotions that the A&T Four experienced ? audacity, anger, fear, trepidation, anticipation and righteousness ? and choose to make a stand? Would you sit in for the environment? To stop the spread of AIDS? To increase wages? To stop foreclosures? What would make you risk everything to make a point, to take a stand? Or has complacency so invaded our consciousness that there is nothing that would make us want to sit in? In his State of the Union address, President Obama placed priority emphasis on job creation. It is one of the most pressing concerns in our nation, with more than 15 million people out of work, half of them for more than half a year. He can?t do anything about employment, though, without action from the Congress. The House seems willing, but the Senate is dragging, with some of them suggesting that a balanced budget is far more important than job creation. They ought to ask the people who aren?t working how they feel about that! How many of the unemployed would be willing to stand or sit outside the Senate until those august tist minister named Martin Luther King and made Rosa Parks a household name. Two years earlier, the Rev. T.J. Jemison, pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, La., had organized a successful bus boycott that served as the template for Montgomery. Volunteer drivers, traveling on routes normally traversed by city buses, picked up passengers and drove to their normal bus stops. To avoid being prosecuted for operating as an unlicensed taxi or bus, drivers did not charge riders. ? (NNPA) George E. Curry, former editor-inchief of Emerge magazine and the NNPA News Service, is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach. He can be reached through his Web site, www.georgecurry.com You can also follow him at www.twitter.com/currygeorge.

What cause would lead you to stage a sit-in?

Each February, we take time to honor our ommunity?s great leaders, both past and resent. Many, like Martin Luther King, Jr., vercame great obstacles and adversity to chieve their dreams. Today, we cannot coninue to let our health be one of those obstales. This month, take some time out to honor our body by taking steps to manage and preent chronic conditions that could lead to ore serious illnesses such as kidney disease. According to the National Kidney Foundaion, one in nine Americans has kidney disase, a condition that damages your kidneys nd keeps them from performing normal unctions. Kidney disease and several chronc conditions are interrelated: for example, high blood pressure and diabetes can lead to kidney disease and complicate it further. With 3.7 million African Americans age 20 years or older living with diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we must be more aware of the dangers of this condition. Even one of my favorite basketball stars, Alonzo Mourning of the Miami Heat, wasn?t aware he had kidney disease until he became very ill. Alonzo had to quit the NBA to receive a life-saving kidney transplant. After receiving the proper treatment, he is living a healthy life today and educating others on the dangers of this disease. Kidney disease often progresses so slowly that many of those who have it, like Alonzo, are unaware of it until the condition is in its advanced stages. However, there are several minor symptoms people with kidney disease might notice before they are diagnosed. They may feel tired, have trouble sleeping or have to urinate more often than others, particularly at night. They may also notice swollen feet or ankles and muscle-cramping at night. Kidney disease can happen any age, making it vital for children, teens and adults to take care of themselves and fight against risk factors. With kidney disease being the ninth leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the CDC, everyone should take the time to look at the risk factors and see where they stand. Thankfully, there are several steps you can

Does the Census affect you? Yes, it really does

take to prevent kidney disease. And, many of these help you fight off related conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes, which is all the more reason to take action! Get plenty of regular exercise to maintain a healthy weight and avoid alcohol and cigarettes. Also, be sure to get your blood pressure and cholesterol levels checked regularly and follow-up with your doctor if any of these levels are high since you may need additional tests. Finally, be sure to take any blood pressure or diabetes medication your doctor prescribes for you. Blood pressure and diabetes medication can be a life saver for those who need it to prevent kidney disease and related conditions, but medicine such as this means noth- representatives take action on job creation? President Obama has asked that $30 billion be set aside for job creation initiatives, but the Senate is balking, perhaps emboldened by the election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts. What would we sit in for now? If you need to have your fire for justice rekindled, a good place to start is with a visit to the International Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro. Kudos to Amelia Parker, and to-founders Skip Alston and Earl Jones, for their work in memorializing such an important part of our nation?s history. ? (NNPA) Julianne Malveaux is president of Bennett College for Women in Greenboro, N.C.

Letter to the Editor

Take care of your health, be strong for whatever lies ahead

ing if those who need it most can?t afford it. Patients who need help accessing prescriptions can turn to the Partnership for Prescription Assistance, which has connected 6 million patients in need to programs that provide free or nearly free medicines. For more information, patients can call 1-(888)-4PPA-NOW or visit www.pparx.org. As we reflect on our great leaders during Black History Month, be a leader in your family and community by keeping yourself healthy and spreading the word for others to do the same. Larry Lucas Vice president for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America

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