European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 23, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 a a a to tars and stripes sunday december 23, 1990 alumns George will it is altogether appropriate that the grandstanding by the civil rights lobby and the of the White House regarding racially exclusive scholarships began in connection with big time College football on entertain ment Industry based in no Small measure on the exploitation of Young Black men. The fiesta bowl occurs in Tempo next door to Phoenix. Both cities have Martin Luther Kingjr a holidays but arizonans recently voted against a state Holiday bowl officials As penance for the sin of playing there pledged $100,000 to both competing schools for scholarships exclusively for minorities. This is a perverse homage to King whose dream was an America where people a would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the Contento their enter Michael Williams lie is 37, Black the enforcer of civil Rigits Laws for the department of education and George Bush s Nightmare a a Man who thinks Little about politics and who thinks or thought that Bush Means what he says Williams notified bowl officials that race exclusive scholarships Are illegally discriminatory. Naturally the civil rights lobbies went ballistic. Interestingly Liberal democrats did not. There is no Rush to defend racially exclusive entitlements for the country really does Honor King really does aspire to Cosof blindness. But the Bush administration is staffed by Beltway solipsist nothing beyond the Beltway exists. Furthermore the administration is marked by a constitutional flippancy. By endorsing term limits the president has brought to five the number of constitutional amende mints he has at one time or another endorsed and the administration believes that in Domestic policy nothing except a capital gains tax Cut is fundamentally important. \ the White House response to Williams honest Law enforcement was panic Retreat and this ruling schools can award racially exclusive scholarships that Are funded privately. In retreating the president committed three affronts to the Rule of the Law. He ignored a Law the 1964 civil rights acts title i and regulations. He revised a Law the 1987 civil rights restoration a Grove City act which stipulates that ail parts of a University arc subject to civil rights Laws if any part receives Federal funds. And he ignored the Constitution notably the guarantee of a equal his position is that the Constitution is not for him to interpret. Bear that in mind when next he interprets the War Powers clause. Williams an honest Man sent out to announce the administration s intellectual corruption said truthfully that he had been Correct about the Law but had been politically naive. Therefore he said the Law shall be hot construed differently the William Safi re a perverse to King \ n truth is the truth but shall be irrelevant to suit White House dictates. Liberals rejoiced at this Triumph of expediency Over legality. Bush has been deprived by events and his own actions of the three Core Republican issues a Ahti communism balanced budgets opposition to tax increases. Until last week he had a fourth opposition to race based actions. Now that too has been fumbled away. It beggars belief but its True some Bush aides say his Retreat regarding race exclusive scholarships builds moral capita for when he opposes the 1991 version of the 1990 civil rights Bill. In october Bush vetoed the 1990 Bill because it was he rightly said a a a quota Bill. Democrats should Send him a duplicate of the 1990 Bill and invite him to Square his october principles with those of december. Two important values collide in this controversy the quest for color blindness and the goal of expanding the Black Middle class by improving Access to the professions but conservatives believe color blindness is hot just one among Many competing values it is a constitutional imperative and race exclusive scholarships Are not necessary for expanding Black enrolments. Scholarships targeted to financially needy and culturally Dis advantaged Young people will go disproportionately to minorities. The civil rights lobby to which Bush has surrendered understands this. But that lobby also understands that the Legal thread that Michael Williams tugged would if pulled seriously unravel the entire racial spoils system the expansion of which is the sole remaining rationale for today s civil fights lobby. Thus the lobby furiously opposes policies that recognize this fact the successes of the civil rights movement a generation ago transformed the problems of Blacks from caste problems to class problems. Mental inertia and institutional self interest cause Many Black leaders to cling to the politics of caste. Michael Williams gave the nation and especially conservatives a tantalizing glimpse of what a Republican administration would be in the 1990s if it were headed by a conservative. This episode revealed redundantly the nature of this doughnut administration there is Fine Materia in the outer circles but a Hole at the Center a. A a a a a a a a. C washing Len Post writers group the fifties cry out for women to take the Lead London a the w or photo showed a couple of blurred male faces in the background Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev in their funereal dark suits and ties a while in the a forefront sushi Uma Latoya 37, a Deputy elected by the angry citizens of chechen Inrush a Bright knitted jacket on her Broad shoulders lashed into the Man at the top a you do not have the right to Lead the country a she said. A you brought devastation hunger cold blood the defiant woman from the the soviet leaders demand for dictatorial Powers with her own Call for a vote of no Confidence. But Only one fourth of the 2,001 delegates in the Congress of Peoples Pep duties a mostly mate apparatchiks a voted with her Gorbachev ominously promising a discipline Quot prevailed the putdown of a Malatou was symbolic the decade of the �?T90s has begun badly for women in politics All around the world. You May retort what about Mary Robinson first woman president of ire land and vigdis Finnboga Dottie Iceland a head of state and Violeta Barrios de Chamorro who Defeated the Sugdinis a tas to become president of Nicaragua and Hasni to Corazon Aquino managed to hang on in the Philippines that a about it for women in Power. In Pakistan Binazir Bhutto was driven from elective office in Eastern Europe Only one woman Kazimiere Prunskiene chairwoman of Lithuania a Council of ministers Rose to the top in Japan the nascent women a movement was squelched in China old men Are determined to pass Power to Middle aged men. Here in Britain the woman who stood alone among mule world leaders was turned out in a party coup. When her tory successor John major announced his new Cabinet it was remarked by the male leaders of the labor opposition that not one member w As a woman. Of course Margaret Thatcher had no woman in her Cabinet either never a feminist she did not think to provide High level Opportunity for members of her sex. A. The Arab world forget it. Even in Israel where Tough minded Gilda Meir graced the prime ministers office the a four princes Quot in i Kudo a successor generation have no place fora Princess. A but what of the Lund of equal Opportunity where the us. Mint can t get rid of its Susan a Anthony dollars in closely watched Senate races in California Illinois and Rhode Island the women lost All three one of the losing candidates rep. Lynn Martin has been appointed labor Secretary. The Low percentage of women with real political Power in the United states is an offence to democratic ticket balancing. To o senators out of a Hundred three gov enters out of 50 6 percent of the seats in the House and in cities with populations Over 30,000, according to the Center for the american woman and politics Only one mayor in six is female. If you re looking for a Ray of Light that showing in cities is up front a pitiful one mayoralty in 25 cities 15 years ago and a similar Rise from a Low base is reflected in state Legislatures. Every administration in Washington boasts that it has appointed More women than Ever before and presumably political appointments encourage candidacies to elective office. But Progress is Antuch too slow because women of every political Stripe a at Home and around the world Are letting Down their own sexual Side by not de my suing More pan dilates find by not supporting them when they run. Granted Universal suffrage came to politics late yes women who Are activists often turn off a activists sure sex is not the main qualification for office but now is now women Are voting and not enough w Omen Are candidates and too few of those Are winning. Why the Power of incumbency is an excuse As is the tug of tradition and the demands of rearing children. The reason however is a dismaying Lack of assertiveness of group identity a vote As you shot rallied veterans a a he a one of our own pulled out ethnic and minority support Quot no quotas attracts Whites All other things on issues being roughly equal women should strongly support women As women until some parity is reached. Then secure in a system in balance they can throw the rascals out regardless of sex. A. A a i used to look at the papers a says an 88ryear-old English woman of whom i have Long been fond a and see Maggie right there a splash of color in the Middle of a Bunch of men. Now All i see is a Gray Bunch of men.�?�. A. A c new York times
