European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 20, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 a the stars and stripes Colum Sandrew j. Glass Mandela can give Blacks new racial Pride Nelson Mandela carries a firm Agenda to our shores. He wants president Bush to keep turning the economic screws against his country a White rulers a at least until real change occurs. He wants to raise millions to fund Black empowerment in his native land. He wants a celebrity struck press to focus More sharply on racial injustice in South Africa. How will Mandela pay us Back for All that he wants the answer 1 believe lies in helping reinstall a much needed sense of racial Pride among american Blacks. Although that Pride surged briefly in 1984 and in 1988, when the Rev. Jesse l. Jackson sought the presidency much of it has ebbed since the great strides of the 1960s civil rights revolution. The murder of or. Martin Luther King or. In 1968 proved a turning Point Mandela who carries the Aura of a living Martyr has the Means to bring it Back. The Mandela tour could evoke similar emotions to those stirred by pol ish bom Pope John Paul ii when he visited Poland while that country was still under the communist Yoke. After authorities raised hurdles against mass rallies poles shed their fears and organized them anyway. Such efforts helped spawn Solidarity and paved the Way for the eventual overthrow of the entire system. No such police state obstacles stand in the Way of Mandela rallies at Yankee stadium or at Grant Field in Atlanta. But these events and others like them could provide a positive inspiration for american Blacks at a troubled time in . Race relations. Indeed one widely admired Black Leader gov. Douglas l. Wilder of Virginia says our nation appears headed toward a racial Crossroads. We Are he told me awash in a publicity seekers who feed on a sense of cynicism among Blacks a that is creeping across the meantime he says a Calm voices have been a Little too Tom Wicker Bor or in Ilia Wooldr thu like to be mayor of Wasylk filth a. A a. A a t Jat they re victims of a i a a a on the one hand he notes a there has been great Progress for Blacks in the last 20 but on the other a a there a a deep frustration that is difficult to express a except to say that we Are not moving in sum the governor observed we have built a a semipermeable membrane for african americans a some get through and some this dichotomy extends to Black attitudes toward the president. Blacks give George Bush the highest approval ratings of any Republican Leader in 30 years. But surveys also reveal that Black support stems largely from feelings of Relief that his predecessor has left the White House. Ronald Reagan would engage in spontaneous acts of Charity toward strangers a including Blacks. He would regularly mail personal checks to destitute families disguising their source to ensure they would be cashed without fanfare. But Reagan also thought that most civil rights leaders had no use for solving the problems they raised a because solutions would put them out of business. A sometimes i wonder a he said shortly before leaving office a if they really want what they say they want. Because some of these leaders Are doing very Well leading organizations based on keeping herein lies the True Power of Nelson Mandela on the american psyche. For the wrongs he cites Are manifestly genuine. If some of us feel a sense of moral ambiguity toward our own racial situation then at least the issues facing South Africa As seen from across an Ocean appear Clear enough. Starting with president Bush americans can do a great Deal to assist Mandela a cause. But in doing so americans of All races should not lose sight of what he can do for us. C co news service americans should Challenge outrage in Panama As indications of brutal . Overkill in the illegal invasion of Panama keep turning up the Bush administration is mounting Only a weak Case against the invasions prime target the alleged drug Kingpin Manuel Antonio Noriega. This is a Case the administration can to afford to lose president Bush needs a Noriega conviction to bring some faint color of legitimacy to an invasion that resulted in at least four times More panamanian civilians killed than panamanian soldiers. Yet the evidence against Noriega is so weak it now appears that government prosecutors May be resorting to dubious if not unconstitutional tactics to get a guilty verdict. Even if they get it the general May be convicted Only of relatively minor drug charges scarcely validating the use of 24,000 . Troops 26 dead More than 300 wounded against a Sovereign country in order to capture one Man. . Officials have seized Noriega a assets totalling about $20 million alleging that All were illegally gained hence can properly be defense lawyers maintain that $11 million a a sum disputed by the prosecution a was honestly earned including Cia and other . Payments. The defense argues that the general therefore cannot pay for a fair Legal defense a estimated to Cost $5 million. Judge William Hoeveler agreeing that the government in effect is depriving Noriega of his right to counsel has ordered officials to justify seizure of his assets by proving that All were illegally earned. Defense attorneys claim moreover that prosecutors have not granted them Access to All the general a papers that were seized during the invasion and they charge that documents possibly showing . Complicity with Noriega in some of his dealings might have been a a sanitized or destroyed. The military and the prosecution deny both charges but officials concede that some papers might have been lost during the fighting. A hearing on Noriega a Frozen assets is scheduled for today. Meanwhile James Lemoyne of the new York times has reported that officials have found few documents or other evidence proving the general to be a major drug trafficker. A a we be found no smoking gun in the documents a one of the searchers told Lemoyne. Others suggested it was a a possible that a conviction could be obtained Only for a relatively Small scale drug dealings Between 1982 and 1984, five years before the invasion last december. At the political level Secretary of defense Dick Cheney has refused on a National Security Quot grounds to release to rep. Charles Rangel of new York a set of videotapes shot from Apache helicopters during the fighting in Panama. Rangel said some panamanian residents had complained that the apaches did most of the damage to residential apartment buildings. Not Only were apaches used in the assault so was the new stealth bomber though organized resistance was so feeble that Only about 50 panamanian military personnel were killed. At least 202 civilians died by . Admission though Many estimates a including those of the Catholic and episcopal churches a put the toll substantially higher some in the thousands. A total of 422 bombs fell on Panama City in 13 hours a something like a bomb every two minutes. In Chorrilla a Barrio of wooden structures where . Tanks rolled through the streets a the invasion hit like a Little Hiroshima a Raul leis wrote in the april Issue of report on the americas a publication of the North american Congress on latin America. A there were no shelters no civil defense. The invading troops were concerned Only with minimizing their own losses a reported leis the director of the panamanian Center for research and social action. He said the total of civilian deaths would be hard to establish because a bodies were buried in alleys and patios and information has been intentionally so far the Bush administration has been mostly celebrated at Home for an invasion that violated International Law and the charter of the organization of american states earned the opprobrium of All latin governments and 75 members of the United nations ,40 others abstaining for which no compelling justification has been offered before or since and which resulted in the indiscriminate killing of unnumbered civilians. If Noriega goes free or can Only be proved to have been a minor drug figure will the american people at last stand up and speak out against this outrage done in their name c new York times
