[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 160 (Tuesday, October 17, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H10135-H10142]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           STATE OF EMERGENCY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gutknecht). Under a previous order of 
the House, the gentleman from New York [Mr. Owens] is recognized for 60 
minutes.
  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, the state of emergency continues. You have 
just heard some of the brightest and most decent human beings in the 
Congress make a long statement about Medicare and health care funding, 
and neither one of them admitted that Medicaid will cease to be an 
entitlement under their bill. Millions of Americans who are now covered 
right now by Medicaid will no longer be covered as a result of the 
legislation that they want to pass.
  They have not admitted that we are the only industrialized nation, we 
are the only industrialized nation other than South Africa that does 
not have universal health care coverage of some kind, are not moving in 
that direction. We were moving in that direction with Medicaid coverage 
for the poor, but they are going to take away the Medicaid entitlement. 
They say that we are going to be happy when we see the package. 
Americans will be happy when they see that less people are covered as a 
result of this legislation than were covered before. We are going 
backward and we should be happy.
  There is a state of emergency that ought to be recognized here. 
Nearly half a million dedicated troops were here in Washington 
yesterday. Unfortunately, they had no commanders to tell them about the 
state of emergency. Unfortunately, no one told them to concentrate on 
the place where the real battles are being fought. They do not 
understand were the real battles are taking place. They do not 
understand that the state of emergency directly impacts on their lives.
  They came, they are engaged, and I hope they will remain so. I want 
to discuss tonight how they must be energized and informed and directed 
to become a part of defending themselves 

[[Page H 10136]]
against the big guns that are aimed at them and their way of life.
  Nearly half a million dedicated troops were in Washington yesterday. 
Nearly half a million young black males marched yesterday. But they 
were not told the nature of the war they are in and the danger they 
face, and they were not told how best to engage the enemy.
  I want to talk about how they must engage the enemy.
  First I want to just describe what happened yesterday. I want to use 
the language of some of the editorials and columnists who have 
commented on it. In the Daily News of New York City, the Daily News 
language I think was very sensitive to what happened. I quote from the 
Daily News editorial of today, October 17:

       The pain of generations of hope denied brought a sea of 
     seekers to Washington. They came seeking solutions to the 
     problems that divide them from the rest of the nation and 
     from themselves. From the cold of early morning to the 
     setting of the sun over the Nation's Capitol, they stood 
     patiently, admirably, listening, waiting for words to heal 
     them, to inspire them. Most waited in vain. But the power of 
     their presence was so strong that it captured the attention 
     of a nation. The power of their presence was so strong that 
     it captured the attention of the nation.

  I think it is important to note that these dedicated young men who 
came, according to one poll that has been taken, came for many 
different reasons. Unfortunately, too few of them came to Washington, 
the capital of power, and understood that not only could they capture 
the attention of the Nation but they could do more.
  They could have focused in on some of the emergencies that exist 
right here in this legislative hall. We are going to have a vote this 
Thursday on Medicare, Medicaid. Nobody talks about Medicaid very much, 
but Medicaid is part of the package, too. There is going to be a huge 
cut in Medicare. That is horrible. We want to stop that cut. I do not 
think we have the votes. It is going to pass the House with that huge 
$270 billion cut over a 7-year period. More than $180 billion will be 
cut from Medicaid. And Medicaid will no longer be an entitlement. Right 
now it is an entitlement.
  In case people do not know what entitlement is, entitlement, in 
summary, is the Federal Government saying that you as a citizen of the 
United States have a right to this particular benefit if you qualify 
for it. It is a means-tested entitlement. It is not like the farm 
subsidies or cash subsidies in the farm program. No matter how rich you 
are, you are entitled to your cash subsidy for the growth of tobacco or 
peanuts or whatever.
  Medicaid is a means-tested entitlement. You have to profess you are 
poor. You have to prove you have great need before you can qualify for 
Medicaid. And Medicaid is as close as we have gotten in this country to 
coverage of the poorest people with some kind of health care plan.

  We are like South Africa in that we do not have any effort going 
forward to move toward universal coverage. So, even that which exists 
already under Medicaid will be taken away. And the only hope that is 
being held out is in the Senate where the great debate in the Senate 
is, they will leave the entitlement in place for pregnant women and 
children. They will leave the entitlement in place for pregnant women 
and children. They can get Medicaid. But the young black males and all 
the other poor males of America, you will not be entitled to Medicaid, 
no matter how you qualify.
  If you have an accident on your job, the likelihood is that you will 
be in a situation where you do not have health care coverage because so 
many of the kinds of jobs that these young black males will have or 
young males entering the work force are not jobs where you have a 
health plan. There is no health plan. So young males are in jeopardy in 
terms of not only accidents on the job, which there might be some 
relief in terms of workmen's compensation, but they are in jeopardy in 
terms of other kinds of illnesses.
  They are certainly in jeopardy in terms of the violence that takes 
place and I have seen by visiting some hospitals where they have 
convalescing people who are receiving therapy, large numbers of young 
men who are the victims of gun shots, gun play, and other kinds of 
violence that have partially disabled them, not only black men but 
white men also. Violence often causes young men to need a great deal of 
health care, very expensive health care, also, health care for people 
with great disabilities.
  So they have the guns aimed at them. Speaker Gingrich has said that 
politics is war without blood. So I do not hesitate to use the analogy 
of guns. Politics is war without blood. While we dillydally these few 
days, it is very slow around here, not much happened on the floor 
today. We had a few votes, we had a few suspensions discussed, but the 
guns are being maneuvered into position. Those guns will be aimed at 
the programs that have been put in place over the last 50 years, 
programs which are compassionate and programs which seek to help poor 
people, people who qualify because they are poor and they need help.

                              {time}  2030

  We have all kinds of programs in America which help people. We have 
programs that help people that have been victimized by earthquakes, and 
they do not have to have means tests, does not matter who it is. People 
have been victimized by floods. There is no means test necessary to get 
government assistance. There are those victimized by drought or by 
hurricanes. There are ways to get help without means tests. So we have 
a humane society in many ways that extends help, but we are saying for 
people who are in dire need of help because their health is a problem, 
``We are going to cut it off. We are not going to have the Federal 
Government stand behind that. We are going to dump it off on the 
States.'' And the States have already made it quite clear that there is 
a minimum amount that they are going to offer in terms of additional 
help beyond what the Federal Government provides at present.
  The big guns are aimed at the young men who were here yesterday. The 
earned income tax credit benefits poor families. It is a way to benefit 
working families. It is a way to reward people for working. We say we 
want people to go to work, and the earned income tax is one idea that 
brings to life the notion that people should be rewarded for work, but 
that is going to be cut, too. The gun is aimed at the earned income tax 
credit.
  The guns are aimed at job training. We understand there are a lot of 
people being thrown out of work. There is a change in the industrial 
situation, and companies are changing in terms of technology. 
Downsizing, streamlining is taking place. I have talked about this 
before, and the only answer to it is in this transition period maximize 
the amount of education and job training so that people can recycle 
themselves, be helped to recycle themselves, but job training has been 
cut, too. Job training has been cut by $5 billion by this Republican-
controlled Congress. Job training programs cut, education programs have 
been cut, by $4 billion.
  The guns are aimed at the young persons who were here yesterday, and 
they did not hear anybody really focus on how important it was for them 
to understand and to rise up in very concrete, nonviolent, political 
ways to defend themselves.
  Summer youth employment; many of the youngest youngsters there 
qualify for a summer youth employment program which has existed since 
the Great Society programs were created by Lyndon Johnson. Every summer 
minimum-wage jobs are available for 25 to 30 hours, and youngsters who 
are given those jobs and given some kind of training and prepare for 
the world of work as well as help to earn, allowed to earn, some money 
to go back to school, and I know from direct experience many of them 
end up contributing to their very poor families from the meager amounts 
of money they make in the summer youth employment program. That is 
zeroed out. The summer youth employment program, it is not just for 
men. It is for women, too, for females, too. That is zeroed out. It 
will exist no more as a result of legislation passed by this 
Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
  The Senate, I think, have pretty much followed suit. I do not know of 
any effort to revitalize it. Title I, direct education program, Federal 
money flowing into the schools which have the younger sisters and 
brothers of the males who came here yesterday. Their nephews and nieces 
and their children 

[[Page H 10137]]
are in those schools. Title I is the only Federal program that helps 
elementary and secondary schools all across the Nation, and we have cut 
that by $1.1 billion, which is one-seventh of the total amount.

  Those young men and their families are targeted by the guns that are 
aimed at them, and they did not realize it. We must get to them and 
make them understand that there is a state of emergency and they must 
be involved in the fight to reverse this state of emergency. Their 
survival is at stake.
  The crime prevention programs that were passed in the last Congress 
are on the chopping block. There is no more crime prevention of any 
significance in the bills that were passed by the Republican-controlled 
Congress. There are more prisons in greater amounts, and there are 
harsh regulations which force prisons to focus primarily on punishment 
and not on rehabilitation, but the young men who were here yesterday 
were not told about these changes.
  Drug treatment is out of the window. Nothing of significance is going 
to happen with respect to drug treatment. The funding is no longer 
there.
  One in three black males now are somewhere in the criminal justice 
system, either in prison, on parole, or probation, or under some kind 
of court supervision, one in three black males in America. A few years 
ago it was one in four. When these statistics came out, everybody was 
shocked. One in four black males in America are in the criminal justice 
system somewhere. Now it is one in three. In a few years will it be one 
in two? There is nothing to stop us from moving in that direction. But 
not much discussion of that took place yesterday either. We have to 
deal with the one in three right here.
  There are bills on the floor in the next 2 weeks dealing with the 
prison system directly. The Sentencing Commission has recommended that 
we stop the discrepancy between the sentencing for people that have 
crack cocaine and those who have powdered cocaine because large numbers 
of blacks, females, and males, are being imprisoned for the possession 
of crack cocaine when more expensive and larger amounts of powdered 
cocaine, which are generally the choice of richer people, more affluent 
people, middle-class people, more white people; those persons are not 
sentenced in the same harsh way that those who have crack cocaine are. 
The Sentencing Commission has recommended a change, but the Republican-
controlled majority does not want to allow that change to take place. 
The Sentencing Commission sees it as being the only just way to go, but 
that kind of justice is not accepted by the Republican majority control 
in this House.
  The men who came yesterday are in serious trouble. They are in 
jeopardy, and they had some sense of the fact that they are in 
jeopardy. But men everywhere are in trouble, and too often they do not 
know it. Large numbers of men are in trouble, large numbers of families 
are in trouble, and I hate to continue to be repetitive and quote this 
article by Lester Thurow, but it is the best summary. It drives 
straight to the heart of the matter that you are going to find 
anywhere. Lester Thurow's article that I quoted several times in the 
past month is an article which appeared September 3, in the Sunday, New 
York Times just before Labor Day, and he was talking about the state of 
the working man in the world, not just in America. That article began 
with a statement that no country without a revolution or military 
defeat and subsequent occupation has ever experienced such a sharp 
shift in the distribution of earnings as America has in the last 
generation. At no other time have median wages of men fallen for more 
than two decades. Never before have a majority of American workers 
suffered real wage reductions while the per capita domestic product was 
advancing.

  I read it because it needs to be read over, and over, and other 
again.
  Now here is some parts I have not read and emphasized before. Let me 
just tell you how Lester Thurow brings this all together and focuses on 
families and focuses on males. Quote another paragraph that I have not 
read before although I have entered this entire article into the 
Record:

       Wages of white men are falling slightly faster than those 
     of black men, and the young have been clobbered. Wages are 
     down 25 percent for men 25 to 34 years of age. Median wages 
     for women didn't start to fall until 1989, but are now 
     falling for every group except college-educated women. The 
     pace of decline seems to have doubled in 1994 and early 1995.

  This is Lester Thurow, professor of economics at the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology, a recognized expert in this area of manpower, 
the economy, technology, et cetera. He has testified innumerable times 
before Congress in various committees. Let me just quote two more 
paragraphs:
  Thiry-two percent of all men between 25 and 34 years of age earn less 
than the amount necessary to keep a family of four above the poverty 
line. Thirty-two percent of all men between 25 and 34 years of age earn 
less than the amount necessary to keep a family of four above the 
poverty line.
  Now he is not talking about black males, just black men. He is 
talking about American men, 34 percent of all American men, black and 
white. To continue quoting Lester Thurow:
  Using the language of capitalism in today's economy children have 
shifted from being profit centers to being cost centers. To support 
them parents have to be willing to make large economic sacrifices.
  Now listen closely. Men have a strong economic incentive to bail out 
of family responsibility since, when they do, their real standard of 
living rises 73 percent, although that of the family left behind falls 
42 percent.
  Listen carefully. I will repeat it. He is not talking about black 
males or black men only. Men have a strong economic incentive to bail 
out of family responsibility since, when they do so, their real 
standard of living rises 73 percent, although that of the family left 
behind falls 42 percent.
  To continue Lester Thurow, I quote:
  ``Whether it is fathering a family without being willing to be a 
father, whether it is divorce and being unwilling to pay alimony or 
child support, or whether it is being an immigrant from the Third World 
and after a time failing to send payments to the family back home, men 
all around the world are opting out. The Japanese seems to be the only 
exception,'' quoting Lester Thurow. Men all over the world are opting 
out under the pressure of not having enough wages to take care of 
families.
  Let me just repeat the last paragraph. Whether it is fathering a 
family without being willing to be a father, whether it is divorce and 
being unwilling to pay alimony or child support, whether it is being an 
immigrant from the Third World and after a time failing to send payment 
to the family back home, men all around the world are opting out. The 
Japanese seem to be the only exception.
  The men who came here yesterday came, and it was advertised as a day 
of atonement. From the very first this march, called by Louis 
Farrakhan, it was Farrakhan's march, spoke of a day of atonement for 
the sins that have been committed against black women and families, a 
day of atonement for the sins that have been committed. The men came to 
deal with taking personal responsibility, and that is very important. 
That is very important. Nobody should minimize the importance of men 
and women, human beings, taking personal responsibility.
  The problem is that in this world there is a government 
responsibility that is also very much tied to what happens to 
individuals and what happens to families, and to oversimplify, not 
understand, that you must change the way your government operates in 
order to be able to take care of your family, that it is child neglect 
not to be involved in the political process, it is child neglect and 
family neglect not to exercise your responsibilities as a citizen and 
try to change the policies of your government.

                              {time}  2045

  That has to be understood. Medicare and Medicaid are not individual 
responsibilities, except the way they utilized, and the way individuals 
pay taxes into a system which helps to support Medicare and Medicaid. 
But you cannot have your family taken care of properly, with respect to 
health care, by yourself, no matter how much you reform and change your 
own lifestyle, which is highly desirable in many 

[[Page H 10138]]
cases, and I am told that the men who came yesterday, the police have 
remarked that rarely have they seen such an orderly group, such a 
purposeful group, such a group that was intent on making a good 
impression, so great things will happen as a result of those 
individuals who came yesterday. I expect there will be personal changes 
that are very important.
  However, to ignore the Medicare emergency, ignore the Medicaid 
emergency, to have the leaders not really focus more on the earned 
income tax credit, the job training, the summer youth employment, the 
title I cuts, the crime prevention cuts, the drug treatment cuts, to 
not understand that the economy is shaped by forces that are beyond the 
control of individuals and families, and to not address the fact that 
Government policies at this point are at the root of the problems being 
faced by families and their inability to cope, in many cases.
  My evaluation of the Million Man March is mixed. Many people will 
wonder why I am going out in praise of the young men who came. I agree 
with the sensitivity expressed by the Daily News editorial, that their 
intent was magnificent and they came for good reasons. The overall 
impression is a good one, that made a Martin Luther King on the 
conscience of America.
  I am one of the people who did not support the march. I did not 
endorse the march. I did not participate. Today, after proclaiming that 
it made a good impression on the conscience of America, I still have no 
apologies for not participating. The young men who came, came for 
various reasons. I know, because I have talked to dozens of them over 
and over again, over the past 3 months. They have told me.
  I would summarize by saying the greatest percentage of them came in 
order to be a part of the positive energy of so many black males 
gathered in one place. They wanted to be a part of the positive energy. 
They wanted to bond with their black brothers. They did not have a 
political agenda, unfortunately. They also did not have an agenda to 
support Minister Louis Farrakhan in his endeavors. They were not 
interested in a philosophy of isolationism. They were not interested in 
a separatist philosophy. They were not interested in anti-Semitism. The 
great majority of them did not have that as an agenda.

  As a member of the leadership, I could not participate because I knew 
very well the danger of supporting an activity which is led by a 
minister, Louis Farrakhan, who refuses, basically, to change his 
agenda. Let it be clearly understood that I am pleasantly surprised and 
quite happy and optimistic about the fact that there was a moderate 
statement made, a moderating statement, a conciliatory statement made, 
about moving toward unity, about sitting down with people that the 
Nation of Islam has had differences with, about sitting down with the 
Jewish community. I think all of that should be applauded. I think it 
is a great step forward. Blessed are the peacemakers. All of us should 
look forward to wanting to move through those kinds of hurdles and get 
over bigotry, racism, and any kind of religious condemnation or anti-
Semitism. We should all want to do that. I applaud that, and am happy 
that it happened.
  We have to see, however, how it develops. I did not support the 
Million Man March, but I respect those leaders who did participate. I 
consider myself a follower of Martin Luther King, who has taken a 
totally opposite approach to Minister Louis Farrakhan. Martin Luther 
King preached integration, not isolation, not segregation. Martin 
Luther King preached love, Martin Luther King preached moving forward 
in a positive way to overcome the difficulties of this society. Yet, 
when he died, he was planning a poor people's march on Washington, so 
economics was also a concern of Martin Luther King.
  That agenda that he had was awesome. Segregation was the major 
problem. He had gotten around, on to economics, and dealing with a 
change in the way America does business and the way it treats people, 
black people in particular, economically, only because he had had to go 
through such a rigorous agenda on segregation and the violation of 
civil rights, so it was not because Martin Luther King did not 
understand the need to address basic problems such as jobs, businesses, 
and sharing in the great American economy.
  I am a follower of Martin Luther King, the way of Martin Luther King, 
not a way of isolationism or hate or bigotry. There were others who 
were also followers of Martin Luther King who chose to join the march 
and participate, other leaders. I certainly think all the young people 
who participated are not in one category, and there is no question 
about their choice.
  I think the leaders who participated, there is a slight philosophical 
difference between me and them in terms of those who are followers of 
Martin Luther King and felt they had to participate and feel that there 
is a danger in following an isolationist leader, a leader who preaches 
hate, segregation, et cetera. I respect them, and I do not consider 
myself as having a monopoly on wisdom.
  I went through several stages in reaching the decision that I should 
not participate in the Million Man March. The Congressional Black 
Caucus considered whether it should endorse the Million Man March. At 
that time I led the opposition. I was in favor of issuing a statement 
by the Caucus which said:

       We welcome all marchers. We certainly want to encourage 
     maximum participation in this political process. We welcome 
     more letter writing to Congressmen, we welcome lobbying, we 
     welcome more petitioning, and above all we welcome more 
     demonstrations and marches.

  The Caucus would issue that agenda. For that reason we developed an 
11-point program. I offered to the caucus an 11-point program which 
summarized what is going on here in Washington that all black people 
ought to be concerned about, which part of this war without blood 
affects them, which part of this effort to remake America impacts on 
black people. If you look at the list that I drew up, the 11 points, I 
think it is pretty well covered there.
  I made that argument and I lost. The overwhelming percentage of 
Caucus Members voted to endorse the march. We do not deal with the 
numbers and that and so forth, but suffice it to say an overwhelming 
percentage endorsed the march, and I felt I had to respect that 
decision. I certainly was not going to go out and campaign against a 
decision in the Caucus when I had participated in the debate, in the 
process, but I did tell people that I was not going to participate.
  When I was confronted with numerous young people who wanted to 
participate and other people who wanted to participate, I listened to 
their arguments and I came to the conclusion that the best 
recommendation was, to those people who wanted to participate and who 
had reasons for participating which had nothing to do with a day of 
atonement for the sins committed against black women and their children 
or families, they wanted to go for other reasons, of the dozens that I 
talked to, at least one-quarter of them wanted to go for religious 
reasons, and they identified with the Nation of Islam's religious 
agenda.

  Another one-quarter did have some political agenda. They understood 
that Medicare was under attack, that Medicaid was under attack. They 
understood that programs which had benefited the black community for 
years were about to be destroyed. They wanted to be a part of the march 
in order to protest that. At least half of them had no agenda, 
politically or religious. They wanted to bond with the million men who 
came. They wanted to be a part of the positive energy.
  Given that agenda, I respected it. I told everybody that if they go, 
they should go and carry their own banner, to say what they are in the 
march for, give out their own leaflets. I even offered leaflets to 
people which had the Congressional Black Caucus 11-point agenda. I came 
to that conclusion, and verbally made that statement to individuals who 
asked me. I made the same statement to many press people who called.
  However, it became obvious that the march was too big, the issues 
were too great, to just make verbal statements. I prepared a draft of a 
written statement, and was about to issue that draft last Thursday when 
several new developments took place that made me revise the draft. My 
draft, first draft, said that I understood from talking to young black 
males in my community, I understood from talking to black males in 
general, that large numbers of people would come and large numbers 

[[Page H 10139]]
of people who could not come to the Million Man March yesterday wanted 
to come.
  I understood their sentiments, and I hoped that with the momentum of 
the occasion, I hoped that having that many young black males who felt 
that strongly about their presence being important in Washington, would 
make Minister Farrakhan rise to the occasion. I said in that statement 
that I hoped that he would renounce all anti-Semitism, all isolatonism 
and hostility toward the idea of one world, and the fact that the black 
community cannot exist alone.

  I hoped that he would abandon the philosophy which endangers the 
black community, that philosophy which makes it appear that somehow 
blacks can exist alone; no other group has attempted to exist alone, 
but somehow blacks can go it alone and be hostile toward traditional 
allies. We do not need allies. History hear clearly shown, a number of 
studies have shown, that minorities above all need allies. In order for 
minorities to survive, they must have allies.
  Studies have shown that no matter how good a minority may be in terms 
of measuring up to the standards of the majority, the majority will 
inevitably, if the minority does not have some protection, turn on the 
minority. It is not a matter of how good you are and how you measure up 
to the standards that are set by the majority, the minority is always 
in danger. The Jews in Germany excelled in many fields, so envy took 
over and they were in danger, as they were in the inquisition in Spain. 
There were a number of occasions where the excelling and the measuring 
up to the standards of a given society did not please the majority. 
They found some other excuse.
  There are blacks who think that what you have to do is measure up to 
the standards set by whites, get an education, raise your moral 
standards, do all the things that middle-class America says its values, 
and automatically the race problem will go away, automatically being a 
minority will no longer be a problem. That is not what history bears 
out. If you do that, you will be an object of envy, and the same racism 
will be there, because majorities behave in that way toward minorities, 
usually. Usually there is some demagogue who comes along and takes 
advantage of the fact that there is a minority, and they can use that 
minority and the persecution of that minority to galvanize the 
majority.
  Minorities are always vulnerable, for that reason. Either you are 
condemned and treated with contempt and labeled as inferior, as the 
Bell Curve does, and a number of other respectable scientists and 
philosophers are attempting to do, and that is the excuse for the 
oppression of the minority, or you are too rich, too talented, and 
taking too much of the resources, and therefore, you must be 
persecuted, so minorities are always in danger.
  Only a philosophy which says we are going to continually reach out 
for allies, we are going to continually try to be less of a minority, 
and continue to integrate into a larger society of what I call the 
caring majority. There are people in the world of all colors that we 
want to identify with, people in the world of all religions that we 
want to identify with. They label themselves. They become a kind of 
caring majority that must be joined.

  I have used the word ``barbarian'' here many times, and I have had 
people here recently tell, me ``You are as hostile and militant and 
uncompromising as some of the people you criticize.'' I use the word 
``barbarian'' and I have defined it every time I use it. I say there 
are high-technology barbarians running the majority here. They are in 
control. I have defined it, not as the Romans defined barbarian. The 
Romans defined barbarian as anybody who was not a Roman. I have not 
defined barbarians in that way. That is a racist definition.
  I defined clearly, barbarians are people who have no compassion. They 
cannot empathize. They have no feeling for anyone except those in their 
immediate family or their immediate friends, but they cannot feel or 
have compassion for other people. That is a barbarian. I have defined 
high-technology barbarians as people who are very bright, people who 
know how to use communications, modern communications media, people who 
have computers and know how to use computers, people who have gone to 
the best colleges. Those are the people who I call the high-technology 
barbarians.
  It has nothing to do with color. There are black high-technology 
barbarians, there are white high-technology barbarians, there are 
Jewish high-technology barbarians, there are Protestant, Catholic high-
technology barbarians. I define people by conditions they have control 
over.

                              {time}  2100

  We are not born a barbarian. We can become a barbarian as a result of 
our own actions and our own attitudes or our own philosophy. Nobody is 
a barbarian because of the color of their skin or the religion they 
happen to have adopted. They are barbarians because of their attitudes. 
When they are public officials and in powerful places, they are 
dangerous barbarians.
  So Mr. Speaker, I want to make it clear that my use of the term is 
not a racist definition of everybody who is not black, or everybody who 
is not a Baptist, a Protestant, a Christian. I clearly label barbarians 
as those who have no compassion, those who would sit and make policies 
which disenfranchise from health care millions of people and not have 
any feeling or any compassion in the process. Those are barbarians.
  Let me just continue, Mr. Speaker. My first draft appealed to 
Minister Farrakhan to rise above his own prejudices, his own past 
agenda of isolationism, and segregationist strategies. I said in that 
draft that I hoped that he would do that. And then, 3 days before the 
reports began to come out about the charge of bloodsuckers; that Jews 
were called bloodsuckers. And when an explanation was sought, it was 
expanded to not only Jews but Koreans and Arabs and everybody in the 
black community who takes money out of the black community are 
bloodsuckers. It looked as if there would be no opportunity to have 
Minister Farrakhan on the podium rising above the occasion, so I 
rewrote my draft and did not make an appeal that would look stupid.
  I want to enter the entire statement for the record, Mr. Speaker. The 
statement is labeled ``Statement of Congressman Major Owens on the 
October 16 Million Man March sponsored by the Nation of Islam''. The 
statement was issued on Monday morning, October 16, 1995. It has an 
attachment, which is called ``The fight for the CBC and caring majority 
agenda''.
  The 11 points that I talked about before, in which I said the 
Congressional Black Caucus should put out as reasons to march, are 
attached, and I want to enter the statement in its entirety, but let me 
just read from the statement in a few areas to clarify what I have just 
said.
  My statement on the Million Man March begins as follows:

       In my activist bones there is something that makes me 
     always yearn to support a demonstration or a march. 
     Certainly, given the vicious unrelenting attack on public 
     policies which benefit the majority of Blacks, there is an 
     urge to applaud any non-violent action that makes the 
     Gingrich hi-tech barbarians a target. As a manifestation of 
     massive people empowerment a march on Washington by the 
     Caring Majority could be very much in order and long overdue.
       But the October 16th march is not a Caring Majority march. 
     Is Minister Louis Farrakhan's march focused on the current 
     outrages of the Washington Republican majority? Is the anger 
     of this march targeted at the pending legislation which will 
     eradicate the entitlement of all poor children, including 
     Black children, to receive Aid For Families with Dependent 
     Children? Are the voices of the organizers denouncing the 
     proposals to eradicate the entitlement for Medicaid? Are the 
     idealistic youth headed for Washington being told that they 
     should vent their rage on those who have cut billions of 
     dollars from low-income housing, job training, education and 
     other vital programs? Unfortunately in most march organizing 
     circles the answer to these questions is ``No''.
       Despite my activist instincts I refuse to participate in 
     the October 16th Million Man March because the agenda of the 
     March is purposefully shrouded in contradictions and 
     conflicting messages. As a leader and elected member of 
     Congress I can not endorse and engage in an activity which 
     has leaders who loudly call for ecumenical and united action, 
     but who thrive on autocratic planning and decision-making. I 
     can not agree to blind and unconditional unity with those 
     slogans and platforms have consistently been reckless and 
     divisive. I cannot support a major statement by a group whose 
     continuing isolationist posture and separatist strategy pose 
     a long-term threat to the survival of the African American 
     community.

[[Page H 10140]]

       Those who want to participate should not be denounced or 
     even discouraged. I have talked to several dozen young men 
     who are planning to join the March. One quarter of them 
     clearly see the March as a religious affirmation experience. 
     Approximately one half see it as an opportunity to ``bond'' 
     with males and be a part of a massive generation of 
     ``positive energy''. One fourth state that they are going in 
     order to personally protest the ``political situation''.
       Given this obvious intense desire to participate, my advice 
     to these young men has been: If you go carry your own banner 
     and give out your own leaflets to state the reason you are 
     there.
       This March is a golden opportunity to send a powerful 
     message to America. But this March is Minister Louis 
     Farrakhan's March. His picture has been on every recruitment 
     poster. Farrakhan will determine who speaks and for how long 
     on the program in Washington. This assemblage in Washington 
     could have been Farrakhan's golden opportunity.

  It could have been a golden opportunity. I did not know at that time 
what would happen. Fortunately, nothing terrible happened in 
Farrakhan's speech, buy nothing was done to eradicate some of the 
policies that have been clearly set forth in the past. I am optimistic. 
I am willing to wait. I hope that the few things that were said in the 
spirit of conciliation will go forward.
  In another part of this statement I say that one problem that is a 
major problem relates to the fact that as the march progressed, I am 
quoting from the statement, ``As the march progressed,'' and this 
happened at a church in Brooklyn. The speech was made by this 
gentleman. ``As the march progressed, Khalid Muhammed continued to view 
the march as primarily a religious march with the date chosen to be as 
near the birthdate of the Honorable Elijah Muhammed as possible. For 
him this march is still primarily ``a day of atonement for the sins of 
black men against black women and their families.''
  This was taken from a newspaper article which quoted a speech made by 
Mr. Khalid Muhammed in a church in Brooklyn.

       Leadership by an unrepentant Khalid Muhammed emphasizing 
     the presence of Black men in Washington for the purpose of 
     ``atoning'' for their sins is the one certain way to 
     guarantee a dangerous and harmful message from this massive 
     March. Speaker Gingrich and his hi-tech barbarians will 
     welcome such a ``confession'' by Black men. This ``atoning'' 
     validates the repeated Republican attacks on the Black 
     community.
       If the sins of Black men are the problem, then 232 years of 
     slavery and a hundred years of brutal oppression after 
     slavery are not part of the problem. If the collective sins 
     of Black men are the major problem, then government policies 
     which have denied economic development to the great cities 
     and generated long-term unemployment for Blacks are not a 
     significant part of the problem.
       If the collective sins of Black men are the primary 
     problem, then there is no need to fight the eradication of 
     the entitlement of public assistance for poor children. There 
     is no need to fight the proposals to end the entitlement to 
     health care through medicaid. If sin is the primary problem 
     then government policies and actions have almost no role to 
     play in the struggle to rebuild African American Communities. 
     Sin is the province and responsibility of religions, 
     ministers, churches, mosques, synagogues, temples and other 
     similar groupings. Government only causes confusion and 
     division when it mixes with religion.
       Not sin, but public policies, government laws, rules, 
     regulations and actions must be the primary concerns of 
     elected officials and other secular lenders. No one should 
     ever underestimate the role of personal morality in human 
     affairs. We know that individuals are ultimately the masters 
     of their own fates. But it is the duty of government to 
     facilitate human and family positive development. Government 
     and public policies must always strive to remove as many 
     obstacles to ``life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness'' 
     as possible. The Nation of Islam should not oversimplify the 
     problems of our complex society and allow those in power to 
     wash their hands and forget the problems they have created.
       Instead of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsing a 
     primarily religious march which had a planning process and an 
     agenda which the Caucus could not influence, I urged the 
     members of the CBC to issue its own agenda for action and 
     invite all interested groups to march and fight for this 
     Caring Majority Agenda.
       In the final analysis time, intellect and energy spent 
     denouncing the actions of others represent resources not 
     being most effectively used. Let us leave the Nation of Islam 
     to crusade with its religious focus on sin.
       It is for us, the Caring Majority, to define ourselves not 
     merely with words but the mass actions. From coast to coast, 
     throughout this nation, Manifestations of Empowerment must be 
     organized by the Caring Majority with high visibility, and a 
     powerful focus. With representatives from both sexes, all 
     races and ethnic groups, all religions and creeds; in unison 
     with all who care about the expansion of freedom, jobs, 
     justice, and health care, the Caring Majority must move 
     beyond October 16th and seize the initiative. And, as a 
     climactic statement to those in Washington who want to 
     ``remake America'' for the convenience of an oppressive elite 
     minority, the Caring Majority must convene its own assembly 
     of one million persons on the mall in Washington. We shall 
     overcome!

  The important thing is now that almost a half million young black 
males were engaged. I hope they stay engaged. There were some positive 
things that were recommended by Minister Farrakhan. He told them to go 
back and join organizations, join churches, adopt one person in jail, 
register eight voters, pledge not to commit violence themselves against 
anyone, pledge not to strike women, pledge not to dishonor women.
  Mr. Speaker, I think those were agendas for returning that are 
important. The most important agendas, however, have still to be 
supplied. Elected officials, whether Congressmen or city councilmen, 
assembly persons, State Senators must supply that agenda. We must enter 
the battle for the minds of our young males. They are engaged, we must 
guarantee that they remain engaged in a constructive way. We must 
guarantee they understand that a state of emergency exists. It is a 
political problem, and they must step forward to deal with that 
problem.
  The full text of the statement is as follows:

 Statement of Congressman Major R. Owens on the October 16 Million Man 
                 March Sponsored by the Nation of Islam

       In my activist bones there is something that makes me 
     always yearn to support a demonstration or a march. 
     Certainly, given the vicious unrelenting attack on public 
     policies which benefit the majority of Blacks, there is an 
     urge to applaud any non-violent action that makes the 
     Gingrich hi-tech barbarians a target. As a manifestation of 
     massive people empowerment a march on Washington by the 
     Caring Majority could be very much in order and long overdue.
       But the October 16th march is not a Caring Majority march. 
     Is Minister Louis Farrakhan's march focused on the current 
     outrages of the Washington Republican majority? Is the anger 
     of this march targeted at the pending legislation which will 
     eradicate the entitlement of all poor children, including 
     Black children, to receive Aid For Families with Dependent 
     Children? Are the voices of the organizers denouncing the 
     proposals to eradicate the entitlement for Medicaid? Are the 
     idealistic youth headed for Washington being told that they 
     should vent their rage on those who have cut billions of 
     dollars from low-income housing, job training, education and 
     other vital programs? Unfortunately in most march organizing 
     circles the answer to these questions is ``NO''.
       Despite my activist instincts I refuse to participate in 
     the October 16th Million Man March because the agenda of the 
     March is purposefully shrouded in contradictions and 
     conflicting messages. As a leader and elected member of 
     Congress I can not endorse and engage in an activity which 
     has leaders who loudly call for ecumenical and united action, 
     but who thrive on autocratic planning and decision-making. I 
     can not agree to blind and unconditional unity with those 
     whose slogans and platforms have consistently been reckless 
     and divisive. I cannot support a major statement by a group 
     whose continuing isolationist posture and separatist strategy 
     pose a long-term threat to the survival of the African 
     American community.
       Those who want to participate should not be denounced or 
     even discouraged. I have talked to several dozen young men 
     who are planning to join the March. One quarter of them 
     clearly see the March as a religious affirmation experience. 
     Approximately one half see it as an opportunity to ``bond'' 
     with males and be a part of a massive generation of 
     ``positive energy''. One fourth state that they are going in 
     order to personally protest the ``political situation''.
       Given this obvious intense desire to participate, my advice 
     to these young men has been: If you go carry your own banner 
     and give out your own leaflets to state the reason you are 
     there.
       This March is a golden opportunity to send a powerful 
     message to America. But this March is Minister Louis 
     Farrakhan's March. His picture has been on every recruitment 
     poster. Farrakhan will determine who speaks and for how long 
     on the program in Washington. This assemblage in Washington 
     could have been Farrakhan's golden opportunity.
       Minister Farrakhan could have used this platform to truly 
     unify Black America by endorsing the ideals and principles 
     which place the African American community on the very 
     highest moral ground. Farrakhan could have wiped out the past 
     and taken a great leap forward by following the example of 
     Nelson Mandela and denouncing all racism, sexism, anti-
     semitism and other religious bigotry, homophobia, prejudice, 
     immigrant bashing and oppression of the poor.
       A pledge to cleanse anti-semitism from the Nation of 
     Islam's literature, videos, radio and television scripts 
     would have constituted 

[[Page H 10141]]
     a dramatic first step toward the rising of a new sun of unity in the 
     firmament of the Black community. The doors would have been 
     opened wide for the full embracing of our allies among all 
     ethnic, religious, national and economic groups. The Nation 
     of Islam, in unison with the African American Community, 
     would have been able to assume its rightful place as a 
     critical part of the greater Caring Majority.
       This March offered a golden opportunity for Minister 
     Farrakhan. But the speeches within the last forty eight hours 
     have indicated that he has chosen to trample on this option 
     for conciliation. Basic steps to establish an environment 
     which rejects bigotry and anti-semitism have been rejected. 
     Farrakhan's speeches trumpeting the charge of 
     ``bloodsuckers'' has grown more shrill. At the same time that 
     Black college professors are working to prepare a more 
     detailed political manifesto, Minister Khalid Muhammad, one 
     of the nation's crudest and most notorious anti-semites, has 
     been given the pivotal role of instructing the young 
     Marchers.
       As the march progressed, Khalid Muhammed continued to view 
     this March as primarily a religious one with the date chosen 
     to be as near the birthdate of the Honorable Elijah Muhammed 
     as possible. For him the March is still primarily ``a day of 
     atonement for the sins of Black men against Black women and 
     their families''.
       Leadership by an unrepentant Khalid Muhammed emphasizing 
     the presence of Black men in Washington for the purpose of 
     ``atoning'' for their sins is the one way to guarantee a 
     dangerous and harmful message from this massive March. 
     Speaker Gingrich and his hi-tech barbarians will welcome such 
     a ``confession'' by Black men. This ``atoning'' validates the 
     repeated Republican attacks on the Black community.
       If the sins of Black men are the problem, then 232 years of 
     slavery and a hundred years of brutal oppression after 
     slavery are not part of the problem. If the collective 
     sins of Black men are the major problem, then government 
     policies which have denied economic development in the 
     great cities and generated long-term unemployment for 
     Blacks are not a significant part of the problem.
       If the collective sins of Black men are the primary 
     problem, then there is no need to fight the eradication of 
     the entitlement to public assistance for poor children. There 
     is no need to fight the proposals to end the entitlement to 
     health care through medicaid. If sin is the primary problem 
     then government policies and actions have almost no role to 
     play in the struggle to rebuild African American Communities. 
     Sin is the province and responsibility of religions, 
     ministers, churches, mosques, synagogues, temples and other 
     similar groupings. Government only causes confusion and 
     division when it mixes with religion.
       Not sin, but public policies, government laws, rules, 
     regulations and actions must be the primary concerns of 
     elected officials and other secular leaders. No one should 
     ever underestimate the role of personal morality in human 
     affairs. We know that individuals are ultimately the masters 
     of their own fates. But it is the duty of government to 
     facilitate human and family positive development. Government 
     and public policies must always strive to remove as many 
     obstacles to ``life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness'' 
     as possible. The Nation of Islam should not oversimplify the 
     problems of our complex society and allow those in power to 
     wash their hands and forget the problems they have created.
       Instead of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsing a 
     primarily religious march which had a planning process and an 
     agenda which the Caucus could not influence, I urged the 
     members of the CBC to issue its own agenda for action and 
     invite all interested groups to march and fight for this 
     Caring Majority Agenda. (See Attached) For the sake of our 
     families and our communities we must never engage in actions 
     that are wasteful and counterproductive. But all Americans 
     must understand that these are desperate times. The 
     oppressive forces in control of the Congress have created a 
     political state of emergency. In support of a Caring Majority 
     Agenda all concerned groups must lobby, write letters, 
     petition, demonstrate, and march!
       In the final analysis time, intellect and energy spent 
     denouncing the actions of others represent resources not 
     being most effectively used. Let us leave the Nation of Islam 
     to crusade with its religious focus on sin.
       It is for us, the Caring Majority, to define ourselves not 
     merely with words but with mass actions. From coast to coast, 
     throughout this nation, Manifestations of Empowerment must be 
     organized by the Caring Majority with high visibility, and a 
     powerful focus. With representatives from both sexes, all 
     races and ethnic groups, all religions and creeds; in unison 
     with all who care about the expansion of freedom, jobs, 
     justice, and health care, the Caring Majority must move 
     beyond October 16th and seize the initiative. And, as a 
     climactic statement to those in Washington who want to 
     ``remake America'' for the convenience of an oppressive elite 
     minority, the Caring Majority, in the Spring of 1996, must 
     convene its own ``Tianamen Square'' assembly of one million 
     persons on the mall in Washington. We shall overcome!

  Attachment Congressman Major R. Owens' Statement on the Million Man 
                                 March


              fight for the cbc and caring majority agenda

       In support of the Congressional Black Caucus and Caring 
     Majority Agenda we strongly urge all concerned groups to 
     lobby, demonstrate, petition, write letters and march in 
     these critical days ahead when the President will be 
     negotiating with the Republican controlled Congress to save 
     the nation from devastating budget cuts.
       Fight Aggressive Racist Attacks in All Forms: the attacks 
     on affirmative action, school desegregation, set asides and 
     the voting rights act. Fight government and unofficial acts 
     which encourage sexism, anti-semitism, homophobia, immigrant 
     persecution or denial of basic rights to any group.
       Fight for Education as a national priority. The CBC 
     Alternative Budget demands a 25 per cent increase in funding 
     for education. President Clinton is also proposing a large 
     increase for education. The Summer Youth Employment Program 
     must also be funded. The Republicans have voted zero for next 
     years Summer Youth Employment Programs.
       Fight to stop all cuts in Medicaid as well as Medicare. 
     This nation still needs a National Health Insurance Program 
     with universal coverage.
       Fight to end the monstrous cuts in HUD programs for low 
     income housing. More than seven billion dollars have already 
     been cut. That is already too much taken from the poorest 
     families in the nation and the homeless.
       Fight to support the retention of adequate wages and 
     pensions for the military, federal workers and other public 
     service workers.
       Fight to increase the minimum wage, to guarantee the right 
     to organize unions, to end striker replacement and to 
     maintain safe and healthy conditions in the workplace.
       Fight to balance the nation's tax burden lowering taxes on 
     families and individuals while forcing corporations to pay 
     their fair share. At present corporations cover only 11 per 
     cent of the tax burden while individuals and families 
     shoulder 44 per cent of the tax load.
       Fight for cuts in defense which downsize the CIA, the 
     overseas bases and wasteful weapons.
       Fight for an increase in foreign aid to Africa, the 
     Caribbean, Haiti and other third world nations to assist with 
     vital health and education needs.
       Fight for increase in funding for youth crime prevention 
     programs and for a decrease in the billions being voted to 
     build prisons.
       Fight and unite with the Caring Majority for the retention 
     of Social Security as it is now. Stop moving the age 
     requirement back and stop tampering with the COLAS.
       Fight for ourselves--fight for America
  Mr. Speaker, I want to close with a quote from the New York Times 
again. Columnist Russell Baker, a white man, felt very strongly about 
what happened yesterday. Columnist Russell Baker spoke his mind and I 
want to quote. I am going to enter the entire article in the Record, 
but I want to quote columnist Russell Baker from the New York Times' 
October 17 issue in the Record.

       So it was left to Louis Farrakhan to act. It is hard to say 
     why without speaking realistically of the state of American 
     politics, which has less and less to do with anything of 
     consequence.
       Surely somebody of stature, Democrat or Republican, ought 
     to have felt obliged to act long ago. It is hardly a secret 
     that one of the country's most dangerous problems is the 
     increasingly desperate situation of its young black male 
     citizens.
       The portrait of a nation in trouble is etched in the 
     statistics on black unemployment rates, black school 
     dropouts, rising imprisonment of young blacks and killings of 
     black youngsters by black youngsters.
       When a large portion of a nation's youth is being thrown 
     away, or hustled into prisons, or lowered into graves, it 
     takes a remarkable capacity for indifference to say that, 
     well, it's a pity, but it's not our problem, it's a problem 
     for the black community, black churches, black neighborhood 
     leaders.
       It is hard to see how a multiracial nation can avoid damage 
     if its leaders refuse to deal with its gravest problems on 
     ground that they are distinctively problems of race.

                              {time}  2115

  I am quoting from Russell Baker's article in the New York Times 
today.

       Everybody now knows about the problem of the young black 
     male, and nobody with power has done anything about it. To be 
     sure, President Clinton has gone into the occasional black 
     church and made the correct sounds, but where is the 
     highpowered, bipartisan, interracial Presidential commission 
     empowered to recommend executive and legislative action?
       Have the leaders of the black community put pressure on 
     White House and Congress to wake up? If so, the pressure has 
     been as that of a feather pillow on the pyramid of Cheops.
       Who are the leaders of this black community, anyhow? Are 
     there any, or are they just fictional creations of the media? 
     Maybe the ``black community'' is fictional, too. Why 
     shouldn't it be? After all, there is no such thing as a 
     ``white community,'' no group who can sensibly be called 
     ``white leaders.''
       Maybe it is tired old racist thinking to keep talking about 
     a ``black community'' complete with ``black leaders.'' Maybe 
     it makes more sense nowadays to drop all that 

[[Page H 10142]]
     separatist language and say, ``There's nobody here but us Americans.''
       The Clinton administration was not the first to do nothing 
     about the desperate situation of the young black American. 
     Doing nothing about it has been the unswerving policy of 
     Presidents back as far as Richard Nixon.
       Not incidentally, it was Mr. Nixon's so-called southern 
     strategy that rebuilt the Republican party on white hostility 
     to the Democratic record on civil rights. Nor are the dynamic 
     Newt Gingrich conservatives engaged with the problem. The 
     Contract With America may ask us to assume this its blessings 
     will lead one of these days to more secure childhoods, better 
     schooling, better jobs, and a full dinner pail for young 
     black men. But in the meantime, the Contract With America is 
     explicit about the need to cut welfare.
       If a single Republican presidential candidate has spoken on 
     the matter that produced the Million Man March, it has been a 
     pianissimo performance. Let's not forget, either, that some 
     kind of action is overdue. Some kind of action was overdue. 
     There was a vacuum to be filled. Politics has declined into a 
     game for overgrown boys and their high-tech toys. You win by 
     finessing reality.
       So, finally it was left for Louis Farrakhan to act. It made 
     a lot of people so mad they could spit. That often happens 
     when good people have done nothing.

  End of quote by columnist Russell Baker, a white man commenting on 
the Million Man March.
  The full text of the article is as follows:

                  [The New York Times, Oct. 17, 1995]

                           He Filled a Vacuum

                           (By Russell Baker)

       So it was left to Louis Farrakhan to act. It is hard to say 
     why without speaking realistically of the state of American 
     politics, which has less and less to do with anything of 
     consequence.
       Surely somebody of stature, Democrat or Republican, ought 
     to have felt obliged to act long ago. It is hardly a secret 
     that one of the country's most dangerous problems is the 
     increasingly desperate situation of its young black male 
     citizens.
       The portrait of a nation in trouble is etched in the 
     statistics on black unemployment rates, black school 
     dropouts, rising imprisonment of young blacks and killings of 
     black youngsters by black youngsters.
       When a large portion of a nation's youth is being thrown 
     away, or hustled into prisons, or lowered into graves, it 
     takes a remarkable capacity for indifference to say that, 
     well, it's a pity, but it's not our problem, it's a problem 
     for the black community, black churches, black neighborhood 
     leaders.
       It is hard to see how a multiracial nation can avoid damage 
     if its leaders refuse to deal with its gravest problems on 
     ground that they are distinctively problems of race.
       This mistake was made by President Eisenhower 40 years ago 
     and swiftly regretted, for Eisenhower was a serious man, 
     serious about government's duties. He tried to avoid the 
     multiracial reality of America in the Arkansas school 
     desegregation crisis by arguing that race passions resided in 
     the human heart, which could not be changed by government 
     action.
       When Arkansas's white Governor Faubus proposed to let the 
     white human heart express itself by defying a court 
     desegregation order, however, Eisenhower used the Army to 
     preserve government by law.
       Everybody now knows about the problem of the young black 
     male, and nobody with power has done anything about it. To be 
     sure, President Clinton has gone into the occasional black 
     church and made the correct sounds, but where is the high-
     powered, bipartisan, interracial Presidential commission 
     empowered to recommend executive and legislative action?
       Have the leaders of the black community put pressure on 
     White House and Congress to wake up? If so, the pressure has 
     been as that of a feather pillow on the pyramid of Cheops.
       Who are the leaders of this black community, anyhow? Are 
     there any, or are they just fictional creations of the media? 
     Maybe the ``black community'' is fictional, too. Why 
     shouldn't it be? After all, there is no such thing as a 
     ``white community,'' no group who can sensibly be called 
     ``white leaders.''
       Maybe it is tired old racist thinking to keep talking about 
     a ``black community'' complete with ``black leaders.'' Maybe 
     it makes more sense nowadays to drop all that separatist 
     language and say, ``There's nobody here but us Americans.''
       The Clinton Administration is not the first to do nothing 
     about the desperate situation of the young black American. 
     Doing nothing about it has been the unswerving policy of 
     Presidents back as far as Richard Nixon. Not incidentally, it 
     was Mr. Nixon's so-called ``Southern strategy'' that rebuilt 
     the Republican Party on white hostility to the Democratic 
     record on civil rights.
       Nor are the dynamic new Gingrich conservatives engaged with 
     the problem. The Contract With America may ask us to assume 
     that its blessings will lead, one of these days, to more 
     secure childhoods, better schooling, better jobs and a full 
     dinner pail for young black men, but in the meantime it is 
     explicit about the need to cut welfare.
       If a single Republican Presidential candidate has spoken of 
     the matter that produced the Million Man March, it has been a 
     pianissimo performance.
       Let's not forget, either, the fierce and forbidding 
     tetchiness of many black people, which discourages whites 
     from discussing the problem. It is understandable that a 
     politician might ignore the subject entirely when he fears 
     that getting involved may earn him the epithet of``racist.''
       Some kind of action was overdue. There was a vacuum to be 
     filled. Politics has declined into a game for overgrown boys 
     and their high-tech toys. You win by finessing reality. So 
     finally it was left for Louis Farrakhan to act. It made a lot 
     of people so mad they could spit. That often happens when 
     good people have done nothing.

                          ____________________