[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 41 (Tuesday, March 16, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E444-E445]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            EXPOSING RACISM

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 16, 1999

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, racism is a cancer that is 
ravenously devouring its way through the threads of liberty, unity and 
equality that hold America together. Unfortunately, the damage being 
done to our nation has primarily gone unnoticed. Although a dragging 
death, the sadistic beating of a Marine, and an indefensible, racist 
comment made by a radio shock jock have left their indelible marks on 
the American conscience, these incidents have not been enough to 
facilitate the serious, introspective discussion about race our country 
so desperately needs.

[[Page E445]]

  That is why I have decided to submit the following articles exposing 
racism and racist activities into the Congressional Record. It is my 
hope that the tacit and conspicuous acceptance of bigotry will not go 
unnoticed by future generations. By documenting these cases for all the 
world to see, maybe, it will finally force Americans to take stock of 
the atrocities that are being perpetrated against our friends and 
neighbors.
  It is my intention to drop these articles into the Congressional 
Record at the end of every week, and I challenge Members and the rest 
of America to take a long hard look at them. I defy any American who is 
genuinely concerned about the future of this great nation to look at 
these articles and to tell me that racism does not exist, or that it is 
not a problem.
  The American legacy is a shared legacy. African Americans have served 
in every war in which America has fought. Blacks and whites have stood 
side by side in everything from driving the British from American soil 
to taming the west. Harmony and equality are our destiny. No matter how 
hard we fight it or try to deny it, one day we will all stand together 
as ``one nation, under God, indivisible.''
  I would like to close with a quotation from George Santayana. ``Those 
who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.'' Hopefully, 
this effort will make it impossible for future Americans to forget our 
Nation's less than honorable days.

            Racial Beating Case Judge Receives Death Threat

              (By Mike Robinson, Associated Press Writer)

       Chicago (AP)--A judge who sentenced a white youth to prison 
     for an attack on a 13-year-old black boy has received an 
     apparent death threat and now is under round-the-clock police 
     protection.
       Circuit Judge Daniel Locallo says he won't be intimidated 
     by the threat, which was apparently made last month.
       ``I'm going to continue to do the job that I was elected to 
     do,'' Locallo said Tuesday in a telephone interview with The 
     Associated Press.
       He sentenced Frank Caruso, 19, to eight years in prison for 
     the March 1997 beating that left Lenard Clark in a coma. The 
     youngster, who was bicycling in a white neighborhood at the 
     time of the beating, continues to suffer brain damage as a 
     result of the attack.
       Prosecutors say race was the sole motive. President Clinton 
     condemned the beating in a national address.
       Caruso was found guilty of aggravated battery after a 
     trial. Two others arrested for the attack were placed on 
     probation under plea bargains.
       The existence of the death threat was reported Monday night 
     by Channel 7 News in Chicago and in Tuesday's editions of the 
     Chicago Tribune.
       The FBI said in a statement that ``during January 1999 
     information was received . . . which indicated that a 
     possible threat had been made against the life of Cook County 
     Circuit Court Judge Daniel Locallo.''
       The FBI is continuing to investigate the alleged threat.


       
                                  ____
      Business & Race: Samplers and Getaways Help Push Black Books

            (Via AP by Leon Wynter, The Wall Street Journal)

       To promote books to an African-American audience, some 
     experienced authors and publishers recommend finding a 
     gimmick because traditional marketing tactics often miss the 
     mark.
       Denene Millner and her husband, Nick Chiles, plan to push 
     their new book, ``What Brothers Think, What Sistahs Know,'' 
     published by William Morrow & Co., with a multicity series of 
     parties starting this month in New York. They figure black 
     singles and couples will mingle, play games like ``The Dating 
     Game'' and talk about relationships with them.
       The two believe reaching the young professional black 
     ``grapevine'' is the most efficient route to the 
     ``Blackboard,'' a list of top-selling black-oriented books 
     that appears in Essence magazine and usually generates 
     additional sales. ``We're trying to draw people who might not 
     necessarily go to a signing or a book store but will go to a 
     party,'' Mr. Chiles says.
       To boost ``Just Between Girlfriends,'' a celebration of 
     black female friendships published by Simon & Schuster, 
     author Chrisena Coleman organized a getaway weekend in the 
     Bahamas for ``200 of my closet girlfriends'' with backing 
     from such corporate sponsors as Tommy Hilfiger.
       One World Books distributed more than 10,000 ``samplers'' 
     of book chapters to a list of over 1,000 black beauty parlors 
     to pump the romantic novels ``Waiting in Vain'' and 
     ``Gingersnaps'' last summer. Cheryl Woodruff, associate 
     publisher of the Ballantine African-American imprint, was 
     responsible for the approach. She cites a recent Gallup 
     survey that found African-Americans buy 39.7 million books a 
     quarter and tend to be college-educated women. Waiting in 
     Vain has now sold 25,000 copies in hardcover. Gingersnaps has 
     sold 22,000 and recently made the ``Blackboard'' list.
       Ms. Millner experienced the shortcomings of traditional 
     marketing when she was promoting her first book, a semi-
     satirical romance guide for African-American women called 
     ``The Sistahs' Rules.'' Last Valentine's Day, she recalls, 
     she was booked ``on a radio show with a woman who thought she 
     was the female Howard Stern'' and spent the segment making 
     anatomy jokes and eliciting Ms. Millner's feelings about O.J. 
     Simpson and white women.
       ``I was just infuriated,'' Ms. Millner says. ``It was 
     obvious these people had no idea what I'd written.'' Though 
     her book eventually sold a respectable 70,000 trade-paperback 
     copies, she believes it would have done better if her 
     publisher had paid more attention to details like booking her 
     on the black-oriented New York station WBLS on Valentine's 
     Day to talk about real relationships.
       Mr. Chiles says he realizes that authors of all colors are 
     left on their own, and everyone has a tough time getting an 
     audience for traditional book promotions. But, he says, 
     ``what works for white authors won't necessarily work for us. 
     You have to make sure they aren't putting you on radio shows 
     where you hear the Beach Boys playing before the interview 
     starts.''


           Dreadlocks, Oil Explorer Herald New Race Policies

       To show they are now ``walking the walk,'' two recent 
     corporate diversity pariahs are ``talking the talk'' on 
     diversity with strikingly different television commercials.
       In one of a series of ads launched by Denny's Restaurants 
     last month, a dreadlocked black man stares into the camera 
     and says ``Let me let you in on a little secret: I'm black . 
     . . Noticing somebody's color doesn't make you a racist; 
     acting like it matters does.'' The tag line, ``Diversity. 
     It's about all of us,'' appears with the Denny's logo.
       In 1994, Denny's paid $45.7 million to settle a 
     discrimination lawsuit filed by black customers. The chain 
     now operates under a negotiated anti-discrimination regimen 
     so strict that toll-free numbers for the U.S. Justice 
     Department are posted in every restaurant so customers can 
     call to complain about any instances of bias.
       The commercials should remind Denny's 40,000 employees that 
     ``we have a strict policy: `If you discriminate, I'm gonna 
     fire you, ' '' says James Adamson, chief executive officer of 
     Denny's parent, Advantica Restaurant Group. But he concedes 
     that ``at the end of the day I hire America, and America 
     discriminates.''
       Mr. Adamson says his main goal with the commercials is to 
     spark a national dialogue on race. The starkness of the ads 
     prompted initial rejections by Fox and ABC, according to 
     Denny's spokesmen. ``I hope it does spur some controversy and 
     get people willing to talk,'' Mr. Adamson says, ``because I'm 
     genuinely frightened at how polarized this country is 
     becoming.''
       In Texaco Inc.'s ads, a black petroleum explorer leads a 
     team through a sandstorm, mounts a dune, whips out a pocket 
     computer and shouts with a chortle, ``This is it; we are 
     here!'' Later, setting up camp, he leaves viewers with the 
     tag line, ``Don't you just love this job?''
       In November 1996, Texaco settled a race-discrimination suit 
     for a record $176 million after one of its former executives 
     released tape-recorded conversations of Texaco officials 
     making disparaging remarks about blacks.
       The company's new focus on racial diversity was a conscious 
     subtext for its first-ever corporate-image campaign, says 
     Mary Moran, director of corporate advertising. An image of 
     diversity is ``critically important'' for recruitment, she 
     says, ``not just to say that we value it, but so that we will 
     be perceived as a more agile, younger and forward thinking 
     company.''

     

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