European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 11, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Monday May 11, 1992 the stars and stripes a Page 13 Sydney h. Schanber president does t understand racial tension commentary it is possible that never in this country a history have we had a president who has so determinedly demonstrated his irrelevance More than George Herbert Walker Bush. A terrible trauma has happened to los Angeles. But it could have happened to any City for it grows out of the failure of our White dominated society to look clearly fairly and without wincing at americans very real racial problems. And what does Bush do he flounders and casts about for ways to look presidential to have his picture taken with Black leaders to appear to have a clue about the racial Issue. It is painfully obvious even to his fellow republicans that there a Only one thing filling his mind a How to get re elected. He ponders Over what political spin he should put on the killing and burning and looting that followed the acquittal of four Whites in the videotaped police beating a Black Man. And the Best he can come up with is to blame the social welfare programs of Lyndon Johnson a great society for sapping self initiative out of the Black Community. Those great society policies some of which worked and some of which did no to came into being 25 years ago. Bush a party has ruled the White House for most of the time since. In particular he and Ronald Reagan have spent nearly 12 years decimating Many of those social programs by draining away the bulk of the Federal funding. If Johnson took the spine out of the Black Community then by now Reagan and Bush should have re infused it with the highest possible level of Reliance upon itself a since its been at least a decade since the poor Black or White could look to Washington for the least possible sign of a helping hand. On thursday after taking a week to plan the political strategy of his visit Bush toured the riot scarred sections of los Angeles and was met by crowds who jeered him shouting a go to hell you hypocritical our National mannequin pretending to be oblivious to the hostile reaction smiled and waved at the angry Blacks and hispanics who gathered along the route of his walking tour. It May be that the country will choose fear and insulation in the los Angeles aftermath and huddle for reassurance around Bush and give him a second term. If so we will be running away from our racial troubles from our growing poverty from unrest and frustration that Are hardly confined to the poor. And we will be defining ourselves As the followers of a hollow Man. This is a Man who bought and lived on property in Midland Texas whose deed contained a restrictive racial covenant meaning Blacks could not buy or live there. That was in the 1950s. Later after he became vice president in 1981, he and his wife bought an undeveloped lot in Houston for a possible retirement Home. That property too had a restrictive covenant that said the land could not be a sold leased or rented to any person other than of the caucasian the supreme court ruled in 1948 that such covenants were unenforceable but in Texas they were still being enforced Well into the 1960s. The particular restriction on Bush a Houston lot expired in 1985. The neighbourhood is still All White. When these exclusionary documents were uncovered by the press in 1987, As Bush was preparing his Campaign for the presidency an aide said Bush had not known about the racial restrictions and considered such covenants a personally How could he not have known Why did he buy property in such neighbourhoods Why docs he plan to retire there and one More question Why does this Man whose Pedigree and record Are Barren of any connection to the Labouring classes and who travels and Hunts and fishes Only with the country club caste expect poor Black or latino people to believe he has the slightest inkling of their troubles my guess is that he no longer has any such expectation if he Ever did. Which Means we can fully expect from his 1992 Campaign some tactic reminiscent of 1988�?Ts Willie Horton a that will seek to stir fear among White americans about the threat posed to their Tranquillity and lifestyle by Quot those c nowadays William f. Buckley there is a link with great society things Are getting hot outside South Central los Angeles. We have a very Bright and conscientious attorney general William Barr who said recently that the great society was substantially responsible for the deterioration that gave Rise to the riots in los Angeles. To this remark we heard from sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan who is a distinguished thinker and stylist in language he d have hesitated to use against the soviet ambassador Back in 1975 at the United nations. The attorney general a statement the new York Democrat said on the Senate floor is a one of the most depraved statements i have Ever heard from an american official. It is an untruth a Moynihan recently wrote a Long essay in which he spoke Dol fully of the huge increase in the rate of illegitimate births during the past 20 years a during the years since the great society was born. He spoke of that social development As perhaps the greatest problem facing us. The question is fair to ask is there a relationship Between the great society and All its deeds and the deterioration we now speak of the great society is associated with permissiveness with the relaxation of standards with Aid to families with de pendent children that has gone to mothers provided there Isnit a Man in the House. It is associated by responsible men including Barr with the deterioration of the ethos of personal responsibility and an adherence to standards. Here is an eloquent letter from a stranger a policeman who happened to pick up a Book i wrote about my experiences m running for mayor of new York in 1965. He writes a i thought you would be interested to hear that people Are still throwing garbage out of the windows. They now also use the elevators As Mobile bathrooms. A i left the 28th precinct in november 1988 to work in the Manhattan court Section. Before i left i worked a foot Post on 8th Avenue Between 118th-120th streets. On 118th Street is a methadone clinic to a help heroin addicts. Part of my responsibilities As the foot patrolman were to observe the clinic to help prevent the practice among addicts of spitting their Medicine Back into a bottle and Selling it on the Street. A by constantly stepping in 1 became Friendly with the Hospital Security men one of whom told me matter of factly one Day that aids testing had been done at this clinic and All of the others in impoverished areas of the City resulting in a positive result of 88 percent among those tested a most shocking revelation to me the government tells us about 40-50 percent of in drug users Are infected. A the second development is the level of violence. This has remained constantly High. The 28th precinct recorded Over 100 homicides in 1972, the first nyc police precinct to do so. That number the number of homicides is Down because 40 percent of our building Stock was burned out in the 1970s and never replaced reducing the population quite substantially. What i found rather troubling though was the level of violence facing the Street cop today. In addition to the aids problem we now have to worry about High tech automatic weapons. A in particular i remember coming in to work one morning and observing four men under arrest with a table full of guns and a police scanner radio on the evidence table. Particularly disturbing was the sight of an Uzi machine pistol and the presence of a $1,500 30-06 semiautomatic assault Rifle convertible to automatic with telescopic Lens on a tripod that looked fresh out of the factory. A what these Low level drug dealers planned to do with that item is anybody a guess but it was mounted on the tripod by their apartment v. Window on West 115th Street pointed Down toward 8th Avenue where a foot patrolman could often be found. A the easy Access by Street hoods to these weapons was a great Shock to me but is Only the beginning. The last time i had a training Day in 1988 i was told that the Fri is coming to the conclusion that parts of the City Are becoming beyond the scope of regular Law enforcement to control anymore. A i shudder to think what is going to happen the next time the violence of the Black Panther types becomes fashionable again. Ill have to read it in the papers though. I resigned and took a police Job on the North Shore of Long Island in june 1991.�?� since 1965, with the Advent of the great society we have spent $2.6 trillion in welfare. And the situation has evolved As above. Moynihan a Brilliant mind should concretely recommend measures to Cope with the developments described Here by a Street cop. C Universal Presa Syndicate the opinion apr Aazaad in the column and cartoon on Thea Pagar pro no Thoa of the author and a in no Way lob con id re car or Antler it a the Tawa of the Star and strip or the United stat a gov Amman
