Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 2 December 2005 — Page 9

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2005

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

PAGE A9

CELEBRITIES SEEK CLEMENCY FOR LA. GANG CO-FOUNDER Stanley Tookie' Williams deserves mercy, stars argue

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

By LYNN ELBER

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Jamie

Foxx stepped into the spotlight at his latest movie premiere with more than

the usual publicity drill in mind. Don’t let it happen, the actor urged

- don’t let the state of California execute Stanley “Tookie” Williams, the convicted murderer and Crips gang co-founder who’s been recast behind

bars in the role of peacemaker. Foxx is not alone. An unusually

varied collection of Hollywood stars

and other famous names is trying to persuade Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that Williams - who has become a celebrity in his own right - can do more

for society alive than dead.

Williams’ supporters range from the holy (Archbishop Desmond Tutu) to the street-wise (rapper Snoop Dogg, himself once a Crip). Whether a movie-star governor is more inclined to consider their pleas for clemency is debatable. But the chorus is only growing louder as Williams’ Dec. 13 execution by lethal injection approaches. His supporters cite Williams’ efforts to curb youth gang violence, including nine children’s books and an online project linking teen-agers in America and abroad. A Swiss legislator, college professors and others have submitted his name for Nobel peace and literature prizes. Last weekend, Snoop Dogg told about 1,000 people rallying outside San Quentin State Prison that Williams’ activism has touched him. “His voice needs to be heard,” said the musician, whose new song, “Real Soon,” touts Williams’ anti-

gang efforts.

On Monday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Bianca Jagger, former wife of rocker Mick Jagger, visited San Quentin. Jackson said he prayed with Williams, promising, “We are going to fight for you, and we

are going to win.”

Foxx, who played Williams in “Redemption,” a 2004 movie which brought the Death Row inmate’s story to a wider audience, used the New York premiere of “Jarhead” to issue his plea. In ajailhouse interview last week, Williams said he is unimpressed by his prominent supporters and relies on his attorneys

to evaluate the benefit of efforts on his behalf. Hollywood’s political and social activism has been known to provoke criticism. But Williams said he is unconcerned his famous boosters could create a backlash that might sway Schwarzenegger

against him.

“In the position I’m in, I don’t see how anybody can hurt. The truth is the truth, no matter where

it comes from.”

Williams, 51, who saw the notorious gang he cofounded with a childhood friend spawn copycats worldwide, denies committing the 1979 murders that put him on Death Row. He was convicted of killing a convenience store worker and, days later, killing two motel owners and their daughter dur-

ing a robbery.

The crimes Williams is accused of were “heinous,” said former “M*A*S*H” star Mike Farrell, a longtime death penalty opponent. But Williams has made “an extraordinary transformation,” said Farrell, who’s lobbied for him for several years. In apparent recognition of the power of the proWilliams movement, the California Department of Corrections launched an unusual counterattack questioning the inmate’s sincerity and alleging he remains involved with the Crips. Lora Owens, stepmother of victim Albert Ow-

ens, opposes clemency and resents the celebrity involvement. “I think most of them are abusing their popularity and their access to the media,” she said. “It’s an agenda. If they looked at the facts, then they’d realize Williams has not done anything to deserve clemency.” Williams’ link to the entertainment world was cemented with the biographical movie. Several of those involved in “Redemption,” including Foxx and co-star Lynn Whitfield, have become backers. “If Stan ‘Tookie’Williams had been born in Connecticut in the same type of situation, and was a white man, he would have been running a company,” Foxx told the AP when the film aired last year on FX. “But, born a Black man who has the capability of having brute strength and the capability of being smart in the ways of the world, he’s going to get into what he gets into.” Williams’ support is particularly deep among Blacks but extends much further, said Farrell. Working with Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Farrell gathered signatures from more than 100 religious leaders, lawmakers and others of prominence for a clemency request that went to the governor Monday. Among those whose names are attached: NAACP Chairman Julian Bond; U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa; Harry Belafonte; Bonnie Raitt and Russell Crowe. Is there reason to think that Schwarzenegger’s Hollywood ties might make him more receptive to celebrity pleas? “No,” Farrell said flatly. “One would hope that because he comes out of an industry beyond the political world that he’s less subject to the pressures of politics, but unfortunately, his career hasn’t demonstrated that.” Schwarzenegger has agreed to a rare clemency hearing on Dec. 8.

Stanley 'Tookie' Williams

EDUCATION DOES MAHER Atmosphere tense for African Americans on some college campuses

By LEROY ROBINSON

From the recent news reports that are coming into the mainstream media, the atmosphere on a few college campuses seems to be a little tense for alarge number of African-American students. It makes one wonder about the reports of racial harassment that has not made it into the mainstream press. Two of the most publicized events happened within the last few weeks. One occurred a few miles down the road at Ball State University in Muncie, and the other occurred on one of the oldest college campuses in America, the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville. And for good measure, on Indiana University’s Bloomington campus, Afri-can-American President Adam Herbert has come under fire about his leadership abilities, from a strong contingent of IU faculty members, while the Indiana University Black Faculty and Staff Council were publicly and vehemently supporting Herbert. Is the message being sent on these university campuses that African Americans are not welcome as students...or as leaders? Many African-American students at Ball State University have reported being harassed by white drivers who have been riding through campus in their vehicles and shouting racial insults at them. Derick Virgil, director of Ball State’s Multicultural Center, said he has had at least five reports of drive-by harassment since the end of October. One of the comments reportedly shouted at one Ball State student was, “Go back to the plantations where you belong.” Two different freshman students have also been affected by racial harassment. Erica Wright was shot in the face with a water gun aimed by a white passenger in a black sport-utility vehicle, and Brandie Smiley was on her way to an on-campus social event, when three white men inside a black car stopped the vehicle and yelled a racial slur at her. At the historic University of Virginia, in the academically talented area known as the “Lawn,” the words “NIGGER” and “I HATE JESUS” were written on the message board outside the dorm room of gifted marketing and management African-American student Phil Jackson. There have been at least six such incidents in one week on the campus founded by the author of the Declaration of Independence and slave owner Thomas Jefferson (who ironically used his slaves to build the prestigious university). Other University of Virginia AfricanAmerican students have also reported racial slurs and insults shouted at them

from passing vehicles and one racial slur was written on a birthday card that was attached to a student’s apartment door. And finally, one of the few AfricanAmerican university presidents, on a majority white campus, is catching heat from his majority white faculty and staff. Indiana University’s first African-Ameri-can President Adam Herbert has come under fire during his short tenure there and this scrutiny has galvanized many of the African-American faculty and staff on campus. One supportive African-American faculty member, law professor Kevin Brown, stated in an open letter to other faculty members, that these criticisms of the schools first African-American president “can easily be interpreted as the white faculty attacking the Black president.” In the open letter sent by the IU Black Faculty & Staff Council, the council concludes that the majority white faculty members “have not included enough details in complaints about Adam Herbert.” Instead, it says in the letter, “they make general comments saying he lacks vision, leadership and accessibility.” As the Indiana University faculty members meet to discuss and vote on the future leadership of President Herbert, the perception that race plays a role in one’s job performance, especially in such a highly visible position, continues to surface. These Indiana University faculty and staff members who are questioning the leadership of their president must believe the African-American public is very naive to think that the color of Herbert’s skin does not distort the view of many of their colleagues. In America, many in the mainstream media and those in the other “majority” group circles would have you believe that these race hating tactics are a thing of the past or these are merely isolated incidents . They would have you think there is no longer a need for the implementation of affirmative action programs, hate crime legislation, or diversity and sensitivity training. But the very moment we give up on our fight for freedom, justice, and equality, we hear reports and are reminded that African-American college students are not “free” on their own campus, the cowardly race-haters very rarely are ever brought to “justice,” and African-Ameri-can university presidents on majority white campuses will never be viewed as “equal.” For education workshops, lectures, panel discussions, or speaking engagements, contact Robinson at: educationd [email protected] or write: 9701 E. 63rd St, Indianapolis, IN. 46236. For questions or comments, call (317) 502-0272.

Study verifies impact of tax cuts on Blacks

By HENRY ALLEN HURST Special to the NNPA From the Afro Newspapers “’The Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 will deliver substantial tax relief to 136 million American taxpayers by ensuring that Americans have more to spend, to save and to invest. This legislation is adding fuel to an economic recovery. We have taken aggressive action to strengthen the foundation of our economy that every American who wants to work will be able to find a job.” - President George W. Bush, May 28, 2003 WASHINGTON (NNPA) — A recent study conducted by United for a Fair Economy, a Boston, Mass.-based economic policy group, reports that many Americans won’t have much to be thankful for this holiday season because of tax cuts that favor the wealthiest Americans. ‘As the nation prepared for our annual feast of bounty and thanksgiving, many U.S. families will not be participating,” said Anisha Desai, UFE’s program director and a co-author of the report. "This is because the multiple breadwinners each family needs these days don’t all have jobs. Of those that do, many are not making enough money to pay for turkey and trimmings for everybody in the family.” The nonprofit organization’s 2005 study, "Nothing to Be Thankful For: Tax Cuts and the Deteriorating U.S. Job Market,” asserts that the president’s prediction that the 2001 tax cut would translate into more than 5.5 million jobs has fallen short of its goal. The organization also says the jobs created after the enactment of the cuts are not "quality jobs” paying at least $16 per hour. "President Bush’s Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of2003, far from delivering on the promises made to create 5.5 million new jobs, has carved out a new low in job recovery after a recession,” said Scott Klinger, who also co-authored the report and is director of UFE’s tax policy group. "The president’s taxcutting policy is a failure in this regard, and we need to recognize it as such.”

UFE also reports that changes in tax rates have no "discernible effect” on employment, which can be proven when cuts proposed by any administration in the past 60 years are examined. Instead, UFE says, tax cuts are the least of many variables that determine job growth. For example, the group says, economic trends such as strides in computer technology create some jobs and eliminate others. "A lot of jobs that are lost each year are manufacturing jobs,” said Liz Stanton, director of research at UFE and co-author of the report. "As these technologies develop, a computer or robot can replace people.” The group does charge, however, that there is considerable evidence that tax cuts increase budget deficits. UFE says that the tax cuts lack so much merit that the current weakness in job creation is unprecedented since World War II era. According to the report, Black employment is at 89.6 percent, compared to 95.2 percent for whites and Latino workers average more than $10,000 per year less in earnings than whites. "No workers have really benefited from President Bush’s tax policies, but Blacks and Latinos have suffered disproportionately,” said Gloribell Mota, a bilingual education specialist at UFE. UFE also holds tax education programs and says that participants are not only overwhelmingly unknowledgeable about Bush’s tax cut package, but they lack information on taxes overall. "When it comes to Bush’s tax cuts,” said Mota, "people don’t connect it with how it will benefit them in the long run. To alot of people, a tax cut always sounds good. People don’t think about public services like police, fire departments, emergency medical and public schools. "These things are going to cost more to maintain, and places where there’s a lot of poverty and not a lot of tax revenue are going to feel it more. Tax cuts have to come from somewhere, and it’s going to come out of your pocket.”

IBE official urges pride in our community Recently, I made the decision after working many years in the corporate and advertising worlds to take all of the training I had received in the mainstream work force and join Indiana Black Expo Inc., as vice president of marketing and sales. Interestingly enough, although I received a lot of support and congratulatory messages from friends and colleagues, I was amazed at how many people questioned my judgment, my sanity and my willingness to “throw away my corporate career” and work for a nonprofit organization. Amazingly, these are the same people who have served the organization as independent contractors, received free tickets to every event the organization has hosted, and have standing invitations at all IBE functions. It was interesting though, because the people who questioned my decision the most were of course - those that have at some point benefited from the events, programs and initiatives of IBE. Well, it’s been two months now and I can tell you it has been a wonderful experience. The staff and leadership are outstanding and there are many unsung heroes who have made numerous sacrifices to elevate the appreciation and respect of our AfricanAmerican community on a local and national level. I am humbled by their commitment, their loyalty and their support. I am in awe of their love for IBE, their loyalty to the legacy of Rev. Charles Williams and their trailblazing efforts. The staff and leadership of IBE have made a commitment to lead and to serve - what an awesome responsibility. Many of us are called to lead and many of us are called to serve. Imagine being called to do both - how many of us can say we have been given that honor? Imagine what Indianapolis would be like without the leadership that has brought us Summer Celebration or Circle City Classic. What would we do to celebrate ourselves? Would we go to Detroit, Chicago, Cincinnati, or Louisville? Would we feel the same sense of investment in the events and programs ifwe didn’t know the people that made it all happen? We need to take pride in our own African-American community and celebrate our accomplishments and our opportunities. We need to encourage and support our current and rising Afri-can-American leadership. If we see an opportunity to improve something we need to jump in and help, because ultimately, what is done for the community, reflects the community. What are we doing to make sure that we as African Americans are given the recognition we deserve across all walks of life? Thank you for the opportunity to serve this community in such a unique and inspiring way. I look forward to experiencing the path we will walk down together! Sincerely, Denise Herd Vice President of Marketing and Sales Indiana Black Expo Inc.

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