Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 October 2000 — Page 7
O' FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2000 THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER PAGE A7
Not all elected positions carry the same power
By MMOJA AJABU 1 October 16,2000 the world will see the unfolding of the Million Family March. This date is Five years to the day after the convening of the Million Man March. The Million Man March Mission Statement pledged: “The Million Man March and Day of Absence can only have lasting value if we continue to work and struggle beyond this day.” The National Agenda 2000-2008 has the goal to transform the political system by practicing the principle of coalition-building and by affirming a God-centered, spirit-filled, mass movement for social transfonnation and empowerment. Even though this is the national goal, we must understand that all politics are local. To that end I want to advance a local strategy that can be spread on the national level. This strategy is not necessarily to take the place of any other strategy; however, it definitely should be strongly considered as a supplement. . When we do our political* research we find that some offices are more powerful than others.
COMMENTARY
Even though we can have several people elected to congress, city-county councils, state legislatures, etc., all of the people on these political bodies must work with others in order to advance our agenda. Even a mayor must work with a legislative body in order to implement most decisions. However, the person who is elected as prosecutor can make decisions without forming coalitions. These decisions can determine whether a person lives or dies. We can stop the implementation of the death penalty by electing someone who is sensitive to this racist practice being stopped. The overwhelming number of people on death row are African American. The prosecutor initiated the decision that put them there. The prosecutor is the person in this system that decides whether the penalty is filed or not. If the police arrest African Americans because of being Black, the prosecutor can neutralize the practice by not tiling charges against the person arrested. Now, the prosecutor can’t stop police
brutality that results in death, but even in that situation he can charge the police officer with murder. The prosecutor can stop someone from going to court or, can cause someone to go to court. Hecan make this decision whether the person is innocent or not. The prosecutor can even charge the mayor, and cause him all kinds of legal headaches. Therefore, the person who holds the office of prosecutor can hold all other office holders, and citizens in check. By taking over this office we can leverage justice from all other offices in this society. We can catapult African Americans to equal participating citizens by casting a vote and taking over this office. We can have impact on a national level by moving locally. I say that the Million Family March is a righteous forum to highlight and inform our people about this strategy. This way we rely on what we do, instead of relying on others to do for us. We must do for self. This strategy will march a million families and more toward our rightful place in the world order of things.
International News
Spain finally releases ish city of Banyoles. ‘bushman’ for burial in El Negro is said to have left Botswana Banyoles in a cloak of secrecy as GABORONE, Botswana the mayor of the town and the cu(PANA) — The controversial rator of the museum were only ‘bushman’ from Africa, which has those who reportedly witnessed its been lying in a Spanish museum d e P ar t ure - since 1880 was returned to the con- aca demic from the German tinent last week to be buried in Historical Museum in Berlin was Botswana, the government con- a hle to shoot the last pictures of the firmed in Gaborone. bushman after surmounting a maze The permanent secretary in the bureaucratic hurdles, ministry of foreign affairs, Ernest Despite doubts about its exact Mpofu, made the announcement or 'gi ns > the Botswana government about the return of El Negro as the ^ backing of the Organizabushman is known, but gave no ^i 00 Afri can Unity has claimed details about the burial. El Negro. Yet it has not been proved Media sources in Botswana t i iat ^ body was that of a claimed that the body of El Negro Botswana, left the DarderMuseum in the Span- Historians from the University
of Botswana have argued that El Negro was merely a Tswana speaking Motlhaping from the Northern Cape of South Africa. But another school of thought claims that the body was stolen by a group of Frenchmen from Lehututu in the Kgalagadi District of Botswana. This happens to be the position that Botswana government is using to claim El Negro. El Negro has drawn a lot of interest and controversy in Spain and beyond. There is wide belief that Spain has only agreed to release the body because of negative publicity about pockets of racism in its backyard.
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