LAST WEEK's EDITION
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| Event #138: Visual Triggers
LAST WEEK's EDITION |
Should we stay or should we go? Is it best to stand on principle and take our dollars elsewhere or should we permit our carefully constructed coalitions with the Native American, Asian and Latino journalist organizations to shatter into splinters? Make no mistake my colleagues: Abandon UNITY `99 and any notion of a UNITY 2004 is dead and gone.
Let's face the cold, hard, political truth. Affirmative action programs are on the endangered species list. The conservative wave of thinking that dominates American political dynamics is in direct opposition to many issues Blacks cherish. Boycotting Seattle will do nothing to stem this tide. What it will do is drive a wedge between NABJ and our UNITY partners that will be difficult to repair.
While I agree that NABJ should stand for its principles, the price we will pay in abandoning UNITY `99 is very high and transcends mere dollars and cents. As Black Americans we have always comforted ourselves with the belief that despite the fact our opponents have outnumbered and outspent us, WE held the high moral ground.
Can we say with the same certainty that pulling out of Seattle is holding the high moral ground?
If NABJ is going to stay out of every state in the country that holds views in opposition to our own it will be back to holding meetings in living rooms and patios. Is it the position of those who say NABJ should dump Seattle that the organization should punish any state that displeases us? Then should we never consider Charlotte a suitable city because North Carolina is represented in the U.S. Senate by Jesse Helms and Lauch Faircloth? What about states that hold "incorrect" views on abortion, the environment, the death penalty or any other issue?
In 1995 NABJ was faced with the dilemma of taking a stance on Mumia Abu-Jamal. It was not one of NABJ's proudest moments. At that time there were certain voices that cautioned that journalists should avoid getting caught up in political controversies. Here we go again. This matter is not a trivial one, but it is certainly less important than the life-and-death issues that swirled around Abu-Jamal. I recall several of the officers that today call for a hard line against going to Seattle wished the matter of Mumia had never come to light in Philadelphia.
In my less than humble opinion, boycotting Seattle is a empty gesture. To abandon our Washington State brothers and sisters, thumb our noses at the UNITY partnership and expose the organization to serious financial hardship, and accomplish nothing in the process, is foolish. This is a feel-good gesture that will destroy bridges; not build them. It is far more difficult to go to Seattle and demonstrate that what unites us outweighs what divides us.
The easy thing to do is to cut and run to somewhere we can feel comfortable. The hard thing to do is go where the battle is going on.
While it might be more fun to hold a separate convention in a friendlier climate, doing the right thing frequently calls for some sacrifice and much discomfort. As it is popular to compare this dilemma to Civil Rights struggles of an earlier time, consider this one fact. When things got hot in Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma, Martin Luther King didn't cut out to Aspen or Miami Beach.
Can we do any less and be worthy purveyors of Dr. King's legacy?
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