Black News - Freedom Archives

WHO WILL RESCUE
SOUTHERN AFRICA'S
REFUGEES?
Are we being exterminated in South Africa?
Will African-Americans sit idly by in our
comfortable homes and gas-guzzling cars waiting
and worrying about what number is coming out
next, while the numbers bankers invest- millions -
of dollars in the rape of our motherland, and the
-~rmination of African people?
f'es is the answer for many African-Americans
who don't understand the consequences of losing
the battle that is going on in South Africa . Yes is
also the answer to the question about the
extermination of our people in the Union of
South Africa (U .S .A .) as well as the United
States of America (U .S.A .) What are we doing
about it?
Among the small percentage of African-
Americans who are conscious of and doing
something about the situation in South Africa is
the D .C .-based Southern Africa Support
Project, and the Commission for Racial Justice
of the United Church of Christ .
On Tuesday, January 23, at 11 :30 a .m ., a
special presentation was made to Mr . John Kelly,
Regional Representative of the United Nations'
High Commissioner for Refugees . The
presentation, which was made at United Nations
Headquarters in New York, was a gift of $10,500
representing proceeds from a benefit program
"An Evening in Solidarity with Zimbabwe and
the Wilmington 10 ."
The donation will be used to buy medical
supplies for Zimbabwean refugees (over 100,000
in population and increasing at the rate of 2,000
per week - most of whom are women and
children) who have been forced to leave their
country as a result of the policies of the illegal
Ian Smith regime . In addition, $7,500 worth of
essential medications and surgical supplies have
been raised in a related campaign by the
Southern Africa Support Project . These items
will also be shipped to the Zimbabwean refugees,
who are in desperate need of medicine, food, and
shelter .
The Solidarity Evening was held on November
11, 1978, both the 3rd anniversary of the
People's Republic of Angola and the 13th year of
the illegal unilateral declaration of independence
Smith's "Rhodesian" settlers. Over 1,500
)ple were in attendance .
The program included entertainment by Jamey
Baldwin, Ntozake Shange (of " . . .Colored
Girls .' : fame), Singer Novella Nelson, and jazz
trumpeter Hannibal (Marvin Peterson) .
Comments on the struggle were made by Edgar
Tekere, Secretary General of ZANU/Patriotic
Front, and Callistus Ndlovu, ZAPU
representative to the United Nations .
Bashiri B . Imhotep
ENEMIES : The Clash of Races
HAKI MADHUBUTI
by Aminisha Weusi
On Saturday, January 27th, the EAST hostea
a Book Party in honor of Haki Madhubuti
(Don L . Lee) . Brother Haki is a writer, poet,
lecturer, and is presently the director of The
Institute of Positive Education in Chicago .
Having authored From Plan to Planet a few
years back, Haki was introducing his latest book
of essays Enemies : The Clash of Races .
He delivered a powerful lecture, quietly, void
of emotions and stage antics . We (the audience)
were placed in the unique position of having
nothing else to do but listen and absorb the
unemotional truth - accepting the facts of our
(Black folks') concrete reality in the world . That
reality is not a pleasant one . Haki explained that
the decision-making elements in the western
world are the politicians, businessmen, -military,
and scientists - men who que§tion the known. ~s_
well as the . unknown . Black leadership has
traditionally been concentrated in the ministry .
Religious doctrines usually justify and give
credibility to man's lack of knowledge by saying
that a supernatural/supreme being knows all,
therefore man only needs to relate to the supreme
being, and not concern himself with an agressive
search for knowledge (at least religious d(I'ctrines
interpreted for Black people has these
connotations) . So Black people come into the
arena of struggle lacking the tools necessary to
deal with the enemy on equal grounds . As a
result of this inequality, we usually find ourselves
being tossed around in a violent sea of
frustration . This frustration reduces our
movements to disorganized, undirected activities
which keep us very busy . We must seriously ask
if we are moving any closer to liberation .
Although Black people have been
continuously oppressed, exploited, denied/