JINN MAGAZINE

PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE

Issue No. 3.05

02/24/97 - 03/09/97

CONTENTS

VOICES: First-Person Essays Linking the Private to the Public

Only Half
By Cornelia Ravenal

What does it mean to be a hyphenated person -- half this or half that, when one half is acceptable, almost invisible, and the other an occasional object of unreasoning hatred? For one woman who grew up in a family half thoroughly assimilated Jewish, half thoroughly modern Protestant, Madeleine Albright's silence about her own parentage is more than understandable. PNS commentator Cornelia Ravenal has settled on being "only half," but the choice is not a comfortable one.

A Botched Robbery or a Successful Suicide? -- An Ex-Bank Robber Explains the Exhileration of the Heist
By J. S. Loya

Los Angeles, a city the FBI calls the "bank robbery capital of the world," was shocked last week by a deadly shootout and manhunt following the robbery of a North Hollywood bank. Televised live, the episode prompted an ex-bank-robber-turned-writer to examine America's love affair with the outlaw -- and the outlaw's romance with a kamakazi mission that might make the thin blue line bleed red. PNS associate editor J.S. Loya lives in Southern California.

Now It's DWB -- New Supreme Court Ruling a Hot Topic in the Hood
By Michael Datcher

A recent Supreme Court ruling, little noticed in the mainstream press, is the topic of intense concern in inner city neighborhoods, where relations with law enforcement have long been marred by deep suspicion. These feelings are based on a pattern of personal experience that seems to have touched the lives of almost everyone in the community. PNS commentator Michael Datcher is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and co-editor of "Tough Love: The Life and Death of Tupac Shakur."

"Rosewood" Chooses Tragedy Over Triumph -- Half a Story Not Necessarily Better Than None
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson

A new movie about the destruction of a mostly-black Florida town of Rosewood in 1923 provides a horrifying view of an incident all too common at that time. But for some reason, the filmmakers chose not to show the part of the Rosewood story that makes it unique -- the victory of a determined band of survivors who, after more than 70 years, won a full apology and compensation from those who should have protected them.

HERESIES: Thinking the Unthinkable About the Future

Not Who, But Why? Flap Over Retrial of King's Assassin Offers a Chance for Reassessment
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson

News that James Earl Ray, convicted of murdering Martin Luther King, Jr., was near death in a prison hospital has renewed speculation about possible government involvement in the assassination, with King's widow, among others, asking for a new trial. But the important -- and still unanswered -- questions connected with that crime cannot be resolved without a look at the now-sealed FBI files detailing the agency's illegal campaign against King, a campaign that certainly helped create a climate that made Ray's action possible. PNS correspondent Earl Ofari Hutchinson is the author of "Beyond OJ: Race. Sex and Class Lessons for America." His e-mail address is <ehutchi344@aol.com>.

South Asian Superpower Running Out of Power
By Andrew Robinson

No less a figure than Microsoft chief Bill Gates has officially welcomed India to the 21st Century as a potential "software superpower." Speaking in Delhi, he did note this would require some "investment in basic infrastructure." Under the circumstances, writes PNS correspondent Andrew Robinson from New Delhi, where every house has a supply of candles, this may be something of an understatement. Robinson is a writer who has lived in India and Bangladesh for the last five years. See also the sidebar, "INDIA'S BEARABLE DARKNESS OF BEING"

VECTORS: A Regular Column on the Ideas and Directions Behind Today's News

Approaching Invisibility? The Incredible Lightness of Industry May Have Weighty Consequences
By Walter Truett Anderson

Things are getting lighter, lighter all the time -- more and more, items of value weigh less and less. This includes not only such obvious everyday paraphernalia as radios but software and hair-size fibers that can carry thousands of phone conversations simultaneously. All this is here and now but some items on the market or just around the corner suggest there is even less to come. PNS associate editor Walter Truett Anderson's most recent book is "Evolution Isn't What It Used To Be" (W.H. Freeman).

THE AMERICAS: The Growing Enmeshment of the U.S. and Latin Worlds

Mexico and the U.S. -- Well-Suited Neighbors
By Richard Rodriguez

For all America's moral grandstanding about Mexico's corruption, the two neighbors are perfectly matched. Mexicans blame America's drug appetite for corrupting Mexico; Americans are too busy pointing out Mexico's excesses to acknowledge their own role. Ironically, Americans are becoming as cynical as Mexicans when it comes to any idea of reform. PNS editor Richard Rodriguez, author of "Days of Obligation: An Argument with my Mexican Father" (Viking-Penguin), is a contributing editor of Harper's and the Los Angeles Sunday Times.

CALIFORNIA COLLAGE: California as Trendsetter for the Country and the World

26-Year Wait -- Former Panther Leader's Charges of FBI-Police Frame-Up May Finally See the Light in a Courtroom
By Reginald Major

In the ground between today's newspapers and the history books, it is sometimes possible to lose the thread of stories, causes, ideas as the world moves by. But for 26 years, Elmer Geronimo Pratt, charged with a murder he says he did not commit, and convicted on evidence that has more and more been revealed as tainted, has held firmly to his request for a new trial. Now it looks as if his day may finally come. PNS commentator Reginald Major is the author of numerous books including "The Panther is a Black Cat," on the origins of the Black Panther Party.

YOUTH OUTLOOK: The World Through Young People's Eyes

I am Not a Cockroach! Tough Lessons of a First (and Nearly Last) Job
By Stanley Joseph

With all the talk about burger market share and burger competition, speedier burger service and lower burger prices, it's easy to forget that human beings cook, flip, salt, cover, wrap and bag the burgers. A veteran of the burger service wars provides a first-person account of what it's like behind the smiles.

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