Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 March 2004 — Page 6

PAGE A6

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 2004

EDITORIAL

Someone like John Kerry should be elected

By SHANNON WILLIAMS Rtcordcr Editor

m

“I think

this

recent

attack in Spain is one of the

many things

that won’t get Bush re-elected this fall.”

G«orq* P. Stewart Foundtr-Editor-Publishtr 1895-1924

Marcus C. Stewart Sr. Editor-Publisher 1925-1983

Eunice Trotter Edltor-ln-Chlel Publisher 1988-1990

William G. Mays Publisher 1990-present

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As I keep abreast with the latest news developments, I am deeply saddened by what I see taking place in our world to-

day.

One such subject that has been in the public’s eye recently is last week’s train bombing in Madrid, Spain. The bombing, which killed 201 people and injured 1,500 is believed by many to have been a retaliation effort due in part to Spain’s support to the war on terrorism. The Span-

ish government recently arrested three men from Morocco who are

suspects in the bombing.

Many Spanish people are so adamant about their soldiers not participating in the war in Iraq that they elected Socialist Jose Luis Rodiguez Zapatero to serve as prime minister. During his campaign, Zapatero promised if he got elected that he would remove Spaniards from Iraq. Thus far Zapatero has been true to his word as

he has rejected President George W. Bush’s recent appeal to stand by the United

States.

I think this recent attack in Spain is one of the many things that won’t get Bush re-elected this fall. I hope that people will remember why the war really was unnecessary and how these random acts of terror will persist as a result of it. Now it seems as if we are all in a Catch-22 situation with the war because even if the war on terrorism ended, at this point, I think the attacks would still persist. So what do we do? I guess the best response at this point would be to get a qualified individual in office that will be able to effectively guide us in the right direction without trying to strong-arm other countries. With that said, John Kerry gets my

vote.

Another story that has dominated the airwaves recently is the apparent “cultlike” mass killings of nine people in Fresno, Calif.

Marcus Wesson, the 57-year-old man who shot all nine victims in the same manner is currently in jail with a $9 million bail. All of the victims were believed to be his children. Before surrendering, Wesson was in a two-hour standoff with police. Once he gave up, authorities entered the home to find a stack of bodies so intertwined with clothing and stacked together that it took hours to confirm the

actual number of victims.

While Wesson remained pretty much to himself, neighbors did notice strange behavior such as the women, dressed all in black clothing walking with their heads bowed behind Wesson and never speaking in his presence. There were also instances where neighbors smelled really foul odors when the family cooked. I guess the important thing is to always pay attention to the signs. At this point the motive hasn’t been confirmed, but it is suspected to be some sort of cult ritual. Perhaps if neighbors had complained of the foul smells coming from the house, authorities may have taken notice. Another indicator would have been the fact that Wesson purchased 10 caskets from an antique shop. When police searched the home, all 10 caskets were in the living room of the

home.

These are very sad and scary times we live in today. There are so many mentally disturbed people that don’t mind hurting othersjust for the heck of it. These are the times that we really need to rely on our faith to get us through. We also have to educate ourselves and look deeper than what appears on the surface... by doing so; we will probably be much better off.

INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER DIREQORY

JUST TELLIN' IT Our AWOL NAACP isn’t around to fight suburban school racism

By AMOS BROWN III Last month’s criticism by Rev. Jeffrey Johnson of racial insensitivity and the paucity of minority teachers and administrators in the Hamilton Southeastern (Fishers) school district touched a raw nerve among African Americans. On Rev. Johnson’s Saturday afternoon WTLC-AM1310 program and my weekday radio talk show, we both heard horror stories from African-Ameri-can parents about their children’s’ treatment in suburban school districts. When busing from IPS to the townships began here in 1981, there were horror stories about how Black students were mistreated by white teachers, administrators and students in those township schools. It took years for the township schools to hire African-American faculty and staff; institute diversity training and reduce the instances of institutional, overt and covert racism. In the past three weeks, I’ve heard new horrid horror stories from parents of Black students in Hamilton, Hendricks and Hancock counties. There was the Black parent of a child in the Avon Community school district who told my radio audience that a Confederate flag was displayed in her child’s classroom. A week ago, I had a heartrending conversation with a mother of four students in the Mt. Vernon Community

Schools in Hancock County. This woman had bought a new home in a subdivision on 56th Street just east of Marion County. But after a couple of years of “stress dealing with the Mt. Vernon schools,” she’s put her new home up for sale. This mother’s grievances included: Black children coerced by white students to sit in the back of the school bus, while bus drivers do nothing to intervene. Black children hearingthe“n-word”and other racial pejoratives used by other white students and occasionally teachers. This parent complained to top Mt. Vernon school administrators, who promised change; but there was no change. In a district that’s gone from one Black student four years ago to 132 Blacks today, there are no Black administrators or staff. Joe Slash, president of the Indianapolis Urban League, has built bridges to some suburban school districts, but not to Hamilton Southeastern, which has the largest African-American enrollment of any suburban school district. After my inquiry, Slash promises hell reach out to Hamilton Southeastern and Mt. Vernon school officials. But, the Urban League can’t do it alone. The rapid increase in Black suburban school enrollment is emblematic of strong Black population growth in the nine suburban counties of the Indianapolis metro area. Indianapolis AfricanAmerican leaders must think metropolitan and be prepared to stand up for Black families whose children are in the suburban school districts with the highest Black enrollments - Avon, Brownsburg, Carmel, Hamilton

Southeastern and Mt. Vernon. In October 1999, some 379 African-American students were enrolled in those five districts. Five years later, in October 2003 that number had grown to 1,329; an increase of 350.7 percent. These rapidly growing numbers of students attend schools with lily-white staffs. Our township schools on the Southside - Decatur, Franklin and Perry - have better faculty and staff racial diversity than the suburban schools. The one major organization that could bring these suburban school districts to account and make them conform to acceptable standards of racial diversity and civility would be the NAACP. But, the Indianapolis NAACP is an empty shell. The one organization of our Black community, by our Black community and for our Black community, has been reduced to a cipher! Impotent, ineffective, inactive, invisible, irrelevant ! At a time when our growing African-American community faces a myriad of problems, when Black children are perhaps being victimized in suburban schools, we need an active and engaged Indianapolis NAACP. * Instead of a NAACP that’s gone AWOL. What I’m hearing in the streets New Indiana State Museum President John Herbst must immediately deal with the museum’s latest insult to African-American Hbosiers. Indiana has twice as many African Americans (556,000) than Hispanics (236,000). Currently, the museum is showcasing a major exhibit on Hispanic culture.

Included in the Hispanic exhibit, is a small display depicting Indianapolis’ one-year-old Hispanic TV station WIIH/Channel 11. But in the museum’s three years, they’ve never featured a major exhibit on African-Ameri-can culture. It’s great the museum is showcasing Hoosier Hispanic broadcasting. But, while the Indiana State Museum features numerous displays, exhibits and artifactson Indiana’s Black newspapers, but there’s nothing depicting Indiana’s Black owned, or formatted radio and TV stations. Media that’s been around some four decades. * * * * * I didn’t know the late Gov. Robert D. Orr as well as former Gov. Evan Bayh, the late Gov. Frank O’Bannon or Gov. Joe Kernan. But Bob Orr always struck me as a decent man who put Hoosiers first. As lieutenant governor and later as governor, he was visible at Indiana Black Expo. Orr exhibited guts raising taxes to balance the budget, something the next governor must do. And Orr did push Indiana into modern times with his “A-Plus” education reforms. I last saw Bob Orr at this year’s State of the State speech in January. He looked frail, but he gained strength when introduced he stood and accepted the ovation of respect and honor from legislators and state officials. Bob Orr deserved that because he served Indiana well. May he rest in eternal peace. See ‘ya next week. Amos Brown s opinions are not necessarily those of the Indianapolis Recorder. You can contact him at (317) 221-0915 or email him at [email protected].

Florida is fired up

By RON WALTERS For NNPA

Being in Florida and talking to people for several days recently, it was clear to me that Black folks, white folks, Haitian folks and others are still apprehensive about how or whether their vote will count in Florida in November. The recent primary election in Florida was won handilyby John Kerry and George Bush on the Democratic and Republican sides respectively. But more than 50 percent of Democratic voters told the exit pollsters that Kerry should pick John Edward as his running mate over Florida favorite son, Sen. Bob Graham, who polled just 20 percent as the prospective vice presidential pick. Edwards picked up 10 percent of the vote, even though he has stopped his campaign. And despite the fact that the voting seemed to go well, there is still some anxiety over the new process. Because of what had happened in the 2000 election, Gov. Jeb Bush made the first proposals to his Legislature to begin to reform the electoral system of any state. Legislation was quickly formulated, with the input of the Florida Black Legislative Caucus, passed and signed into law by the governor. The only question then was whether Jeb Bush would provide the money for the new machines. The initial money from the state was important because the federal law that was subsequently passed (Help America Vote Act) provided money to states on a dollar-for-dollar matching basis. In short, the money came, the machines were purchased, but there were still problems. In Broward County, for example, in the 2002 off-year elections, there were still big problems with missing or moved polling places, machines that did not work right, long lines and the like. In the most recent primaries on March 9, however, voters used the new touch-screen voting machines in several places and the process seemingly went off without much of a problem. Now the biggest problem observed by most reform advocates is that the machines don’t give you a receipt to show that you voted. So, you could vote, but your vote still not be counted because of an error or purposeful change of the result. This is possible because the code that programs the

paper ballots. Broward County Mqyor Ilene Lieberman said that she wanted a receipt for voting for, ’’the same reason I don’t put cash in the ATM without asking for a receipt.’’ However, the new Jeb Bush appointee, Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood, was defensive about the criticism, saying that paper receipts are unnecessary because the machines can print out an audit at the end of election day. Aiid she says that you can’t trust receipts because whatever mistake you put in is what you get back. Well, that’s the point. If a mistake, there is a record of it. In fact, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler has sued state election officials alleging that the machines lack the ability to provide a paper trail that is needed for a recount. Furthermore, the Florida machines are programmed to allow voters to use either English or Spanish, but they are not programmed to allow voters to use Creole, the language commonly spoken by Haitian immigrants. There are many recent immigrants from Haiti whose command of English is not very good. But the use of Creole would capture most of that population, since they are bilingual. Empowering the Haitian community to vote accurately will be important because many in that community, a taxicab driver

said, are angry with the Bush administration for sitting on their hands and letting Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide be driven from power. So, they are eager to have the opportunity to drive Bush from power with the ballot. Getting all of this right is important because there were signs that Kerry is preparing to engage Bush in a big way over Florida’s electoral votes. Florida now has two more votes that it had in 2000, now 27 and makes it an even bigger prize. Florida is winnable because that increase in electoral votes reflects an increase in population and while not many more Cubans have come in, immigrants from other Latin American countries, less conservative than Cubans, have entered since the 2000 election. In 1992, Clinton pulled his troops out of Florida and lost it, but in 1996 he won it. The fact that Gore probably won the popular vote in Florida as he did in the rest of the country should give Kerry confidence that Florida is winnable. Ron Walters is the Distinguished Leadership Scholar, director of the African American Leadership Institute in the Academy of Leadership and professor of government and politics at the University of Man land-Col-Icgc Park.

(317) 924-5143

* cials and the district supervisors. M

P.0. Box 18499, IndlaiMpolls, IN 46218-0499

Ironically, electronic voting could make . . fM

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it much easier to steal an election than with