The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“EXPOSING RACISM” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E444-E445 on March 16, 1999.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
EXPOSING RACISM
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HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON
of mississippi
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, March 16, 1999
Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, racism is a cancer that is ravenously devouring its way through the threads of liberty, unity and equality that hold America together. Unfortunately, the damage being done to our nation has primarily gone unnoticed. Although a dragging death, the sadistic beating of a Marine, and an indefensible, racist comment made by a radio shock jock have left their indelible marks on the American conscience, these incidents have not been enough to facilitate the serious, introspective discussion about race our country so desperately needs.
That is why I have decided to submit the following articles exposing racism and racist activities into the Congressional Record. It is my hope that the tacit and conspicuous acceptance of bigotry will not go unnoticed by future generations. By documenting these cases for all the world to see, maybe, it will finally force Americans to take stock of the atrocities that are being perpetrated against our friends and neighbors.
It is my intention to drop these articles into the Congressional Record at the end of every week, and I challenge Members and the rest of America to take a long hard look at them. I defy any American who is genuinely concerned about the future of this great nation to look at these articles and to tell me that racism does not exist, or that it is not a problem.
The American legacy is a shared legacy. African Americans have served in every war in which America has fought. Blacks and whites have stood side by side in everything from driving the British from American soil to taming the west. Harmony and equality are our destiny. No matter how hard we fight it or try to deny it, one day we will all stand together as ``one nation, under God, indivisible.''
I would like to close with a quotation from George Santayana. ``Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.'' Hopefully, this effort will make it impossible for future Americans to forget our Nation's less than honorable days.
Racial Beating Case Judge Receives Death Threat
(By Mike Robinson, Associated Press Writer)
Chicago (AP)--A judge who sentenced a white youth to prison for an attack on a 13-year-old black boy has received an apparent death threat and now is under round-the-clock police protection.
Circuit Judge Daniel Locallo says he won't be intimidated by the threat, which was apparently made last month.
``I'm going to continue to do the job that I was elected to do,'' Locallo said Tuesday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
He sentenced Frank Caruso, 19, to eight years in prison for the March 1997 beating that left Lenard Clark in a coma. The youngster, who was bicycling in a white neighborhood at the time of the beating, continues to suffer brain damage as a result of the attack.
Prosecutors say race was the sole motive. President Clinton condemned the beating in a national address.
Caruso was found guilty of aggravated battery after a trial. Two others arrested for the attack were placed on probation under plea bargains.
The existence of the death threat was reported Monday night by Channel 7 News in Chicago and in Tuesday's editions of the Chicago Tribune.
The FBI said in a statement that ``during January 1999 information was received . . . which indicated that a possible threat had been made against the life of Cook County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Locallo.''
The FBI is continuing to investigate the alleged threat.
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Business & Race: Samplers and Getaways Help Push Black Books
(Via AP by Leon Wynter, The Wall Street Journal)
To promote books to an African-American audience, some experienced authors and publishers recommend finding a gimmick because traditional marketing tactics often miss the mark.
Denene Millner and her husband, Nick Chiles, plan to push their new book, ``What Brothers Think, What Sistahs Know,'' published by William Morrow & Co., with a multicity series of parties starting this month in New York. They figure black singles and couples will mingle, play games like ``The Dating Game'' and talk about relationships with them.
The two believe reaching the young professional black
``grapevine'' is the most efficient route to the
``Blackboard,'' a list of top-selling black-oriented books that appears in Essence magazine and usually generates additional sales. ``We're trying to draw people who might not necessarily go to a signing or a book store but will go to a party,'' Mr. Chiles says.
To boost ``Just Between Girlfriends,'' a celebration of black female friendships published by Simon & Schuster, author Chrisena Coleman organized a getaway weekend in the Bahamas for ``200 of my closet girlfriends'' with backing from such corporate sponsors as Tommy Hilfiger.
One World Books distributed more than 10,000 ``samplers'' of book chapters to a list of over 1,000 black beauty parlors to pump the romantic novels ``Waiting in Vain'' and
``Gingersnaps'' last summer. Cheryl Woodruff, associate publisher of the Ballantine African-American imprint, was responsible for the approach. She cites a recent Gallup survey that found African-Americans buy 39.7 million books a quarter and tend to be college-educated women. Waiting in Vain has now sold 25,000 copies in hardcover. Gingersnaps has sold 22,000 and recently made the ``Blackboard'' list.
Ms. Millner experienced the shortcomings of traditional marketing when she was promoting her first book, a semi-satirical romance guide for African-American women called
``The Sistahs' Rules.'' Last Valentine's Day, she recalls, she was booked ``on a radio show with a woman who thought she was the female Howard Stern'' and spent the segment making anatomy jokes and eliciting Ms. Millner's feelings about O.J. Simpson and white women.
``I was just infuriated,'' Ms. Millner says. ``It was obvious these people had no idea what I'd written.'' Though her book eventually sold a respectable 70,000 trade-paperback copies, she believes it would have done better if her publisher had paid more attention to details like booking her on the black-oriented New York station WBLS on Valentine's Day to talk about real relationships.
Mr. Chiles says he realizes that authors of all colors are left on their own, and everyone has a tough time getting an audience for traditional book promotions. But, he says,
``what works for white authors won't necessarily work for us. You have to make sure they aren't putting you on radio shows where you hear the Beach Boys playing before the interview starts.''
Dreadlocks, Oil Explorer Herald New Race Policies
To show they are now ``walking the walk,'' two recent corporate diversity pariahs are ``talking the talk'' on diversity with strikingly different television commercials.
In one of a series of ads launched by Denny's Restaurants last month, a dreadlocked black man stares into the camera and says ``Let me let you in on a little secret: I'm black .
. . Noticing somebody's color doesn't make you a racist; acting like it matters does.'' The tag line, ``Diversity. It's about all of us,'' appears with the Denny's logo.
In 1994, Denny's paid $45.7 million to settle a discrimination lawsuit filed by black customers. The chain now operates under a negotiated anti-discrimination regimen so strict that toll-free numbers for the U.S. Justice Department are posted in every restaurant so customers can call to complain about any instances of bias.
The commercials should remind Denny's 40,000 employees that
``we have a strict policy: `If you discriminate, I'm gonna fire you, ' '' says James Adamson, chief executive officer of Denny's parent, Advantica Restaurant Group. But he concedes that ``at the end of the day I hire America, and America discriminates.''
Mr. Adamson says his main goal with the commercials is to spark a national dialogue on race. The starkness of the ads prompted initial rejections by Fox and ABC, according to Denny's spokesmen. ``I hope it does spur some controversy and get people willing to talk,'' Mr. Adamson says, ``because I'm genuinely frightened at how polarized this country is becoming.''
In Texaco Inc.'s ads, a black petroleum explorer leads a team through a sandstorm, mounts a dune, whips out a pocket computer and shouts with a chortle, ``This is it; we are here!'' Later, setting up camp, he leaves viewers with the tag line, ``Don't you just love this job?''
In November 1996, Texaco settled a race-discrimination suit for a record $176 million after one of its former executives released tape-recorded conversations of Texaco officials making disparaging remarks about blacks.
The company's new focus on racial diversity was a conscious subtext for its first-ever corporate-image campaign, says Mary Moran, director of corporate advertising. An image of diversity is ``critically important'' for recruitment, she says, ``not just to say that we value it, but so that we will be perceived as a more agile, younger and forward thinking company.''
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