[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 109 (Friday, June 30, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1383-E1384]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    EDITORIAL ON AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

                                 ______


                            HON. BOB FILNER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 30, 1995
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, I want to share with you the 
insights of John E. Warren, editor and publisher of the San Diego Voice 
& Viewpoint, an African-American newspaper published in my hometown.
  In a recent editorial, Warren wrote:

       As America appears to be gearing up to make affirmative 
     action the new symbol for the age old attack on the idea of 
     equality and fairness for Blacks in this country, first, then 
     all other groups but White males, it is extremely important 
     that the Black response be one of reason, power, and direct 
     results.
       While it is fine to pen letters and speeches of response to 
     the Pete Wilsons who would ride the horse of bigotry and 
     racism into the U.S. Presidency if permitted, those letters 
     and speeches must not become substitutes for direct action. 
     The well known question is then asked: ``What can African-
     Americans do to reach the moral conscious of an increasingly 
     White America that appears to think it has done too much for 
     too many who said things were not fair and now think that 
     fairness is becoming an inconvenience as times get harder in 
     a changing economy?''
       Perhaps the key can be found in the paraphrase of a very 
     old proverb ``he who controls himself is better than he who 
     controls nations.''
       Blacks continue to spend billions of dollars in every facet 
     of the American economy with no economic demand for returns 
     on our investments. We spend $300 billion dollars a year 
     collectively and we are begging a nation and its leaders to 
     treat us ``morally right'' when we have not assumed the 
     ``moral responsibility'' for ourselves.
       African-Americans must remember that this country is now 
     following a contract on America instead of the U.S. 
     Constitution which Wade Henderson of the NAACP rightly called 
     ``our contract with America.''
       Consider that African-Americans have a vote, but most won't 
     bother to use it. We have disposable income for clothes, too 
     many of which are designed for our youth as gang attire, but 
     we don't make these clothes. We buy new cars all over San 
     Diego--many of which are the same as the ones sold by our one 
     Black owned car dealership, but purchased from people who 
     neither care for us or our communities.
       We buy liquor, cigarettes, potato chips, butter and toilet 
     tissue in larger numbers than any other ethnic group and make 
     no demands in return. Some of those very people who benefit 
     from our care-free spending habits use those same dollars to 
     buy political votes across this nation that are now focused 
     against our common good--the right to a job based on fairness 
     and merit, the right to social insurance in time of need, the 
     right to food, shelter and education, not based on the 

[[Page E1384]]
     color of our skin but the status of our birth as American citizens.
       Perhaps if we went on a selective spending spree where we 
     truly examine how much we spend and what we spend it for, 
     America might rediscover that the issue is not affirmative 
     action after all but one of spending our dollars in such a 
     way that our adversaries will be glad to support us.
       We have almost 300 Black owned newspapers in America, yet 
     too many of us would rather get our news from CSPAN or USA 
     Today.
       The San Diego Voice & Viewpoint believes that when we 
     harness our votes, the Pete Wilsons of the nation will be 
     closed out of Presidential politics, no matter how much money 
     and bigotry they have. When we harness our dollars, companies 
     that don't hire us or advertise in our newspapers will be 
     forced to make decisions about whether they need our market 
     share.
       When we harness our spending, and make our styles the 
     internal commitment to ourselves and our people rather than 
     external fashions, we will affect the American economy. When 
     we harness ourselves the NAACP will have enough money in one, 
     five, ten, twenty and fifty dollar donations to move in 30 
     days to the position of a financially debt free and 
     sufficient organization to fight for ``colored people.''
       When we harness our ability to focus beyond knee jerk 
     reactions to things we hear, we will turn off the vulgar 
     television and radio and CD sounds daily bombarding our very 
     souls and return to the God of our silent tears and of our 
     parents' weary years to find new hope not in what they call 
     us or say about us, but in what we do for ourselves and each 
     other.
       Yes, there is a backlash against affirmative action that 
     now reaches to the Supreme Court, but by the power of God 
     almighty, we have not even begun to use our powers of reason, 
     our available economic response and the identification of 
     desired results. Our future is in our hands. The real 
     question is: ``African-Americans, what will you personally do 
     as a response to this latest attack?''
     

                          ____________________