Appointment of Thomas no gain for Black rights This layer has more in common with

Scan page 7

Black to serve on the U.S. Supreme Thomas digh boreta story he sena ests of the great majority of Blacks or conference of Black conservatives other working people. He will be about bis sister, who once was on welanother cog in the wheel of injustice. fare. "She gets mad when the mailman His performance before the Senate is late with the welfare check,"

Judiciary Committee hearings in Thomas told that group. "That's how September made this clear. Thomas dependent she is "

represents the rightist views of the and poor Blacks who "make it" out of Bush government and the anti-Black, poverty and into the middle class, foranti-worker policies of the employers. gets his roots. Thomas and his It is Thomas' views on affirmative fellow-travelers now identify more action, abortion rights, "states" rights, with the oppressor, not their former and the prerogatives of the employing class. The system that put them in class versus those of the working class poverty is let off the hook.

racists-support Thomas. Consider While claiming support for the right Senator Strom Thurmond of South of privacy, Thomas said he had no Carolina, who had nothing but praise opinion if that right should apply to a for Thomas before and during the hear- woman's right to an abortion. He said ings! he had no position on the landmark Opponents of Thomas' confirmation Roe v. Wade case granting woman that erties organizations-including the Yet Thomas stressed his view that NAACP and the National Organization "natural law" was key to interpreting for Women--as well as the AFL-CIO. the Constitution. By natural law, he What are some of Thomas' views? including the Bill of Rights. Thomas Although he tried to retreat on some of bad praised an article claiming that the his more right-wing positions during right to abortion was a violation of opposition to affirmative action-even Natural law is usually used by rightthough he personally benefitted from wing forces to defend the status Thomas, while head of the Equal Dred Scott case), Jim Crow in the Employment Opportunity Commission 1900s, or sex discrimination today. (EEOC) during the Reagan presidency, That's why the Constitution has been actively opposed class-action suits to amended under social pressure to Clarence Thomas fight discrimination. The BEOC under explicitly include such basic rights as his command prioritized cases of indi- freedom of speech, formal equality for but favored his appointment to the rejected Thomas in spite of the color of vidual discrimination. The onus was Blacks, and the right of women to court. The argument was simple: since his skin shows the growing political Bush will pick a conservative, at least sophistication in the Black communihe (no Black woman was on the list) ty. It indicates that the nationalism of Thomas made clear his class bias Divided loyalties among Blacks should be Black. too. He told the senators the story of Because Thomas is Black, the Black This divided loyalty of the Black than the bourgeois nationalism of the his poor upbringing in rural Georgia to community became divided over community reflects a deeper political Black middle class. The future lies in "prove" he understands discrimination, whether to back his confirmation. A issue. Thomas is not an aberration (or their hands, not in those of the and would show empathy for the poor. majority disagreed with Thomas' views simply an opportunist being used by Clarence Thomases.

Clarence Thomas will be the second of effort.

Court. Yet he will not serve the interwill sit on the highest court because he that explains why conservatives and reactionaries-including a few outright included all major liberal and civil-lib- right.

Anti-worker bias the hearings, Thomas reaffirmed his natural law.

such a program at Yale University.

on the Black or woman to prove dis- vote.

crimination, not the employer.

...Boston campaign (continued from preceding page)

ing the Democratic Party. This is incompatible with the Rainbow strategy of trying to broaden the base of the Democrats.

The Democrats are locked in at the top to the banks and businesses. The Vault, the key business leaders' group, screen politicians for acceptability. Significantly, Mel King met privately with them when he ran for mayor in 1983. The Vault makes sure that power is in their hands and serves the interests of profit. But instead of organizing against the Vault, the Rev. Ellis-Hagler speaks of "enticing" it to help the Black community.

It is not enough to talk about a patronage system. There must be a crusade for affirmative action. Initially, Ellis-Hagler projected a slogan of "Boston jobs for Boston people" as a community-control issue of jobs in the Black community. This was linked to the Greater Roxbury Workers' Association drive for affirmative action in construction.

But now the Ellis-Hagler has backtracked to the point where he is voicing support for "community jobs" for South Boston, a key white patronage area. In effect, he is echoing Mayor Flynn's "neighborhood mayor" rhetoric. He no longer is campaigning for the Black The he poor say posted he vice Thomas, like many working-class Natural law and abortion and other conservatives mean a "higher" law than the written Constitution, quo-be it slavery in the 1800s (the community and against the special oppression of Blacks.

In fact, Ellis-Hagler has now stated that he agrees with Boston Teachers Union President Ed Doherty, also a candidate for mayor, that busing for integrated schools has not been productive. Ellis-Hagler noted that many potential gains of busing had been sabotaged. Yet he did not point a finger at people like Ray Flynn, who goaded the racist mobs and promoted white flight from Boston public schools.

Busing has been a key Black community issue for almost two decades. Giving credence to Ed Doherty on this is backing down on a fundamental question. Ellis-Hagler also stated that he would "consider" cutting the fire department budget. This means laying off firefighters, with the likely result that the Black community would suffer the major loss of firefighting services.

To take another example, Mayor Flynn has won widespread labor support. But unionists will think twice about voting for him when they are reminded that he spent $600,000 of taxpayers' money on police duty to herd scabs for Greyhound last year.

Unfortunately, Ellis-Hagler rejected such hard-hitting pro labor exposés to run his "unity" campaign. Supporters who were attracted to his campaign because of his record as a fighter have been disappointed by his vague talk of change and his reluctance to challenge Martin H. Simon powerful interests.

The overall response to the Rev. EllisHagler's campaign has been low-key. Part of this is due to the attack from the Flynn forces.

For example, Flynn was able to enlist prominent Black leaders, such as Minister Don Muhammed of the Nation of Islam, into backing his cancellation of the elected school board and have it appointed by himself.

When Ellis-Hagler stood up for the large majority of the Black community that supported the elected school board, he was almost alone among the city's Black leadership.

Close supporters of Ellis-Hagler risk working person. Thomas genuinely believes what he says, and many other Blacks of the professions agree with him, whether they call themselves Republicans or Democrats.

Yet his appointment is no gain for the Black community, It is not an advance toward Black equality, not even a blow against institutional racism. It is not "better" to have a Black reactionary instead of a white reactionary on the Supreme Court. It serves no one's interests but the racist state to have more Black professionals integrated into the highest governmental, military, and corporate bodies.

Black workers

The condition of life for most Blacks is not that of Clarence Thomas. The average Black is more like his sistertrying to survive in a society where institutional racism is used to keep Blacks as second-class citizens and to deepen divisions among Black and white workers fighting for a better life.

A few statistics prove this point. A new federal study based on the U.S. Census Bureau shows that the Black middle class grew significantly since the 1960s. The number of Black families with annual earnings over $50,000 has more than doubled since 1970 About 14 percent of Black families make that kind of money today, compared with just 6 percent in 1970.

Yet 31 percent of all Blacks were at the poverty level in 1989, about the same as in 1979 and 1969. The gap between the better-off and the poor in the Black nationality therefore is widening. And the wage gap among Blacks and whites in all categories (for men, women, college educated, etc also remains significant.

The fact that so many Blacks finally Black working people is much stronger It is the building of real struggles and the involvement of people in these struggles that will make a difference, not another"progressive" candidacy. But instead of taking his campaign on a new political road, Ellis-Hagler has provided a pale copy of Mel King's "Rainbow"

campaign in 1983.

The fact that a fighter for the Black community like the Rev. Ellis-Hagler would backtrack this way testifies to the tremendous pressure of and by the Democratic Party and its tentacles in the Black community. A break toward independent still needs to be made.