Voices

FIRST-PERSON ESSAYS LINKING THE PRIVATE TO THE PUBLIC

November, 1995 through December, 1996

Click here for most recent Voices articles.

Black English -- An Issue of Pain and Pride
By Michael Datcher
Date: 12-27-96
Black English exists -- it is fluid and various, with meanings that shift quickly from time to time and place to place, and this, argues PNS associate editor Michael Datcher, is why it does not belong in a formal school setting. The issue is crucial because black children must master standard English without losing the vibrant language of their own culture. Datcher is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and co-editor of "Tough Love: The Life and Death of Tupac Shakur".
Black Paranoia -- Or Common Sense
By Vincent Schiraldi
Date: 12-18-96
Pundits are alarmed by what some describe as black America's susceptibility to "bizarre rumors and myths" -- like the CIA's alleged support of crack cocaine sales to South Central Los Angeles. But one veteran analyst of the criminal justice system says arrest and incarceration data offer ample reason why African Americans view the war on drugs as a war on blacks. PNS commentator Vincent Schiraldi is executive director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, a public policy organization located in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco.
Networking is Key to Getting a Job -- But How Do You Get Into the Network?
By Joseph Simon
Date: 12-17-96
Networking is how most job seekers find jobs -- especially in San Francisco which is home to the mother of all networks, cyberspace. But what do you do if none of the networks that are changing the world ever crosses your path? PNS commentator Joseph Simon, recently downsized after 16 years of steady employment, was born and raised in an inner-city neighborhood of San Francisco.
Don't Worry Be Happy -- On Film, On the Tube, African Americans are Our Favorite Cheeleaders
By Michael Datcher
Date: 12-13-96
These are volatile times for Black Americans, but TV and film viewers around the world get not a hint of that. Instead, music-loving, good-hearted, inoffensive African-Americans fill the screens -- almost as if they were an antidote to the reality of the news pages. PNS correspondent Michael Datcher is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and co-editor of "Tough Love: The Life and Death of Tupac Shakur".
A Parolee's First Days of Freedom -- Racing the 90-Day Phantom
By Joe Salazar
Date: 11-22-96
Close to 80 percent of all prisoners released on parole return to prison, and more than half return within the first 90 days. Far from feeling exuberant, the released inmate often finds him or herself feeling weighted down by a stultifying oppression, unable to adjust to the pace and overtaken, finally, by the 90-day phantom. PNS commentator Joe Salazar was recently released from federal prison and is working in southern California.
Towards A Nuclear Weapons Free World
By Dietrich Fischer
Date: 11-19-96
President Clinton's desire to make a mark on history together with recent moves by international bodies may improve chances for a world free of nuclear weapons. Arguments for maintaining a nuclear arsenal have not stood the test of time, PNS contributor Dietrich Fischer argues, but abolition will require a strong popular movement. Fischer, a Professor at Pace University, is Co-director of TRANSCEND, an International Network for Creative Conflict Transformation by Peaceful Means.
Mario Savio -- The Death of a Radical
By Jonah Raskin
Date: 11-11-96
Mario Savio, unlike other radical activists of the 1960s, was a shy man, wary of the media and fully aware of the dangers of celebrity. The adulation he received as a leader of the Free Speech Movement took its toll, but he put his life back together and returned to public life to promote the causes that mattered to him. PNS commentator Jonah Raskin chairs the Communication Studies Department at Sonoma State University and is the author of "For the Hell of It: The Life and Times of Abbie Hoffman."
Lessons of 209 -- Time to Move Beyond Zero-Sum Approach to Race Relations
By Joan Walsh
Date: 11-06-96
The victory of California's Proposition 209, abolishing affirmative action programs, shows how badly the nation needs to move beyond zero-sum solutions to racial inequity as the next century approaches. PNS associate editor Joan Walsh is a writer specializing on issues of urban poverty.
Blacks Should Avoid the Conspiracy Theory Trap
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson
Date: 10-30-96
By exaggerating the findings of the recent San Jose Mercury News report linking CIA-backed Nicaraguan Contras to black drug dealers, black activists are shooting themselves in both feet. They not only sidestep the issue of black culpability; they give the media and politicians an excuse to downplay the drug issue as a black problem or ridicule it as yet another case of "black paranoia." PNS commentator Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a Los Angeles-based writer and scholar whose books include "The Mugging of Black America."
The John Huang Controversy -- A Wake-up Call for Asian-American Activists
By Ling-Chi Wang
Date: 10-23-96
A veteran Asian American activist sees the controversy over Democratic Party fund raiser John Huang as a wake-up call for Asian Americans. Scapegoating Huang for doing what other fund raisers have done for decades symbolizes the depth of anti-Asian sentiment in the public class. But rather than defending Huang, Asian Americans need to look to the growing influence of moneyed politics in their own communities. PNS commentator Ling-chi Wang teaches Asian American studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
Real Losers of This Year's Presidential Campaign -- America's Poor
By David Bacon
Date: 10-02-96
The irony of this year's election campaign is that poor people -- both immigrant and native-born -- would have been far better off had it never taken place. As both parties joined forces to pass the two most far-reaching anti-poor bills in 50 years, the poor have already emerged as this year's campaign losers. PNS associate editor David Bacon writes on labor and immigration.
A High Quad Defends Quality of Life -- Kevorkian Argues I Would be Better Off Dead Than Alive
By Mark O'Brien
Date: 10-01-96
In defending his participation in the suicides of some 41 people, Dr. Jack Kevorkian has asked his critics to consider the quality of life for high quads living on ventilators. Mark O'Brien offers his own evaluation as a quadriplegic who spends all but one or two hours a week in an iron lung. O'Brien is a poet and freelance writer living in Berkeley, Ca.
Tupac -- A Malcolm X Turned into a Malcolm Little
By Kevin Weston
Date: 09-18-96
Tupac Shakur's death could be symbolic of the death of an entire generation's revolutionary potential. PNS associate editor Kevin Weston writes about the forces that transpired to turn the son of a revolutionary into a fake gangsta. Weston writes for Bay Times, a weekly serving the Bay View-Hunters Point community of San Francisco.
THE MORNING AFTER THE CURE
BY RICHARD RODRIGUEZ, PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE
Date: 09-10-96
In San Francisco's Castro District, one of the world's most famous homosexual addresses, the mood is optimistic amidst reports about new medical treatments for AIDS -- even the possibility of a cure. But even if the disease were to disappear tomorrow, AIDS has forever changed homosexual America. PNS editor Richard Rodriguez, author of "Days of Obligation" (Viking-Penguin), is an essayist for PBS's The News Hour with Jim Lehrer and a contributing editor of Harper's.
A FUTURE WITHOUT IMMIGRANTS IS A FUTURE TO FEAR
BY RICHARD RODRIGUEZ, PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE
Date: 09-03-96
After all the speeches, the disagreement between the Democratic and Republican parties comes down to this: One candidate invokes America's past, the other speaks of the future. Neither politician, however, conveys a heroic sense of the country, because neither man argues for the central role of immigrants in our national life. PNS editor Richard Rodriguez, author of "Days of Obligation: An Argument with My Mexican Father" (Viking-Penguin), writes regularly for the Los Angeles Times Sunday Opinion section and is an essayist for The News Hour with Jim Lehrer.
Veteran Farmworker -- An Archivist of California's Voiceless
By Josefina Flores
Date: 08-28-96
Driving through the Pajaro Valley around Watsonville, where the United Farm Workers is mounting an effort to organize California's $650 million strawberry industry, Josefina Flores stops from time to time to speak with workers. Now in her sixties, she is strong but a little weather-beaten, the result of her life spent in the sun. In a spiral notebook she carefully writes down the name of every worker, what each one says about their wages and their lives. In part this is for organizing purposes, for the union. But it is also a way of recording who passes through these fields. Once an illiterate farmworker, Josefina has become an archivist of the voiceless, even as she explains the history of a movement she believes can change their lives. Compared to her own generation, Josefina says, the young people she meets today -- mainly teenage migrants from Mexico -- have higher expectations. Those expectations are the focal point now for her hopes that the movement will survive. Josefina Flores talks about a life spent working for the union. Her narrative was recorded and edited by PNS associate editor David Bacon. (Second of two parts).
Bob Dole's Name-Calling No Way to Reform U.N.
By Mamoun Fandy
Date: 08-22-96
In an era of internationalism, poking fun at foreign sounding names is no way to conduct a campaign to reform the United Nations. Yet that's the level on which American politicians -- especially Bob Dole -- are operating, His sarcastic rendition of U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali's name appeals to the worst instincts of American society. PNS commentator Mamoun Fandy, a professor of politics at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University, just returned from two months in Egypt.
Remembering Abbie Hoffman -- A Yippie Script for Chicago '96
By Jonah Raskin
Date: 08-16-96
Abbie Hoffman -- one-time leader of the Yippies and perhaps the last genuine American radical of the 20th century -- died by his own hand in April 1989, but not before he had left his imprint on a generation of protesters. As Democrats return to Chicago for the first time since the 1968 National Convention, there's no question that Abbie would be out there on the streets once again -- leading in-your-face demonstrations. PNS commentator Jonah Raskin was Minister of Education of the Yippies. His book "For the Hell of It: The Life and Times of Abbie Hoffman" will be published later this year.
A Meditation on Mars -- The Final Frontier is the Human Soul
By Andrew Lam
Date: 08-14-96
Science chips away at our ancient myths only to reveal even greater mysteries. For a Vietnamese whose cherished moon goddess was dethroned by American astronauts when he was a small child, news about the possibility of life on Mars confirmed what he always knew. PNS editor Andrew Lam is a San Francisco based writer of short stories and essays.
The Life of a Maquiladora Worker
By Maria Ibarra with David Bacon
Date: 07-26-96
Amidst a mounting controversy over working conditions in foreign owned sweatshops in the Third World ("maquiladoras" in Spanish), the voices of workers themselves are rarely heard. An extended interview with a woman in a Tijuana-based assembly plant confirms critics' allegations -- low wages, bad working conditions, oppressive fear. But it also highlights one aspect rarely mentioned in the debate -- the desperate desire of workers to keep their families together in seemingly hopeless living conditions. This is the first of an occasional series of "voices" -- pieces based on extensive interviews by PNS editors with people who address global issues from their direct life experience. Photographs illustrating the interviewee in this article are available on request from Pacific News Service.
Other Voices -- Saudi Bomb Attack an Act of Despair
By Abdelrahman Munif
Date: 07-02-96
Despair fueled the bomb attack on U.S. soldiers in Dhahran, writes one of the Arab world's foremost novelists -- a despair born of a profoundly unequal relationship between America and the countries of the Arabian Peninsula. Unless that imbalance is remedied, fundamentalism will spread and turn violent. PNS commentator Abdelrahman Munif, author of the "Cities of Salt" trilogy, was stripped of his Saudi citizenship for political reasons. Former director of planning for the Syrian Oil Company, he lives in Damascus. This article was translated from Arabic by Peter Theroux, author of "Sandstorms" (W.W. Norton).
Victor Hugo's Message -- The Ache in America Comes From Loss of Social Ties
By Sandy Close
Date: 06-27-96
Talk about a Jane Austen revival! Victor Hugo's classic novels about the dispossessed are drawing crowds to movies as well as plays in theaters these days. The key insight Hugo offers into the American calamity is that suffering comes not just from impoverishment but from being totally alone, and redemption lies in reconnecting to other people's lives. PNS editor Sandy Close also works with YO!, a newspaper by and about teenagers published by Pacific News Service.
A Labor Party's More Than Pie-in-the-Sky
By David Bacon
Date: 06-18-96
When eight unions representing more than a million and a half workers met in Cleveland to found a Labor Party early in May, they signaled the start of formal divorce proceedings between the Democratic Party and a good chunk of American labor. While delegates decided not to run their own Labor Party candidates this year, for the first time the potential exists for working people to have their own voice in the political system. PNS associate editor David Bacon, a veteran labor organizer, writes about labor and immigration.
Advice to Alternative Weeklies -- Read Your Sex Ads
By Sandy Close
Date: 06-05-96
America's alternative newsweeklies -- among the healthiest branch of the print media -- have grown increasingly out of touch with the grassroots cultures that birthed them. What they need to do is take a cue from the optimism and curiosity about "the other" exemplified by their own sex ads. Commentator Sandy Close is executive editor of Pacific News Service.
Conversation with Luis Palau -- Argentinean Evangelist Views Latinos as Agents of U.S. Salvation
By Andres Tapia
Date: 05-29-96
For thirty years the Argentinean evangelist Luis Palau -- often touted as Billy Graham's successor -- has been preaching the gospel to millions in Asia, Europe and Latin America. But with the close this week of a two-month crusade in Chicago, he has set his sights on the U.S. where he believes Latinos have a special mission to bring about the country's spiritual transformation. PNS associate editor Andres Tapia is a Chicago-based writer who writes regularly for Christianity Today, and author of "Haunted Marriage: Overcoming the Ghosts of Your Spouse's Childhood Abuse" (I.V.P., 1995).
The New Columbus May be Asian American
By Andrew Lam
Date: 05-17-96
In the blink of an eye, the exotic has gone mainstream; the private culture of Little Saigon has become the shopping mall. Asian Americans who once resigned themselves to leading half their lives in the dark now find themselves able to imagine the East and West as whole. PNS editor Andrew Lam is a Vietnamese-born short story writer and a journalist who lives in San Francisco.
Where are the Criminals? Lessons of the Hague War Crimes Trial
By Thi Lam
Date: 05-07-96
As happened after Cambodia's killing fields and the slaughter of Hutus in Rwanda, the chief perpetrators of "ethnic cleansing" in the former Yugoslavia are emerging unscathed, despite the convening of war crimes trials in The Hague. This is in marked contrast to post World War II trials and convictions of top German and Japanese political and military leaders by tribunals in Nuremberg and Tokyo. PNS commentator Thi Lam, a former general in the South Vietnamese army and now a writer in San Jose, Calif., looks at the lessons to be drawn.
New Breed of Rock Band Lures Babyboomers Out of Musical Exile
By Andrew Reding
Date: 04-29-96
Babyboomers who've wandered in musical exile for the last 25 years are flocking to alternative and punk rock bands like "self" -- and they're not alone. This new breed of rock band currently holds four of the top ten slots on MTV's video Countdown. In his other life, PNS associate editor Andrew Reding is a senior fellow of the World Policy Institute, and an international affairs expert for the Department of Justice.
Jackie and Andy -- Sotherby's Sale Highlights America's Love Affair with Celebrity
By Richard Rodriguez
Date: 04-23-96
Not since Andy Warhol's property was put on sale has Sotheby's auction house in New York attracted so much interest as this week, when it auctions off property from the estate of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Jackie and Andy, the pop artist and the most famous woman in the world, make an odd pair. Together they have much to tell us about America's love affair with celebrity. PNS editor Richard Rodriguez, author of "Days of Obligation: An Argument with My Mexican Father," is a regular essayist for the PBS show "News Hour with Jim Lehrer."
Unabomber Suspect's Penpal -- Even the Most Self-Reliant (Read Loneliest) American Needed an Immigrant
By Debbie Nathan
Date: 04-15-96
For seven years Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski -- an arch hermit who had divested himself of all communal and familial ties -- turned for solace to an immigrant. The story is an ironic twist to the national campaign to rid Americans of their "useless burden" -- immigrants. PNS commentator Debbie Nathan is a Texas-based writer and author of "Satan's Silence: Ritual Abuse - Making of the Modern American Witch Hunt."
Prom Night -- A Ritual of Exclusion
By Neera Sohoni
Date: 04-11-96
What young people need most as they approach adulthood is a rite of passage that makes them feel included. What they get, instead, is prom night -- a ritual of exclusion. For an immigrant mother of three daughters, prom night is the very opposite of the kind of experience she wants her children to have. PNS commentator Neera Sohoni is a freelance writer and an affiliated scholar at Stanford University's Institute for Research on Women and Gender.
Turning the Lens on Ourselves -- Why Latino Activists Must Go Beyond Defensive Mode
By Gregory Rodriguez
Date: 04-05-96
The savage beating of undocumented immigrants by sheriff's deputies in Southern California has triggered protests by Latino and civil rights activists across California. But defensive mode politics belongs to an old era when Latinos were a beleaguered minority. As the burgeoning majority in Los Angeles, for example, Latinos need to focus less on how others treat them and more on how they treat each other. PNS associate editor Gregory Rodriguez is a fellow of the Alto California Research Center and the Pepperdine Institute for Public Policy.
Legalizing Drugs a Death Knell for Black America
By Michael Datcher
Date: 04-01-96
Most proponents of legalizing drugs emphasize the urgency of cutting the spiraling costs of criminal justice while taking the profits out of the drug trade. Others stress freeing up the disproportionate number of young black men currently incarcerated on drug-related charges. Largely ignored is the impact drug legalization would have on the street, where some activists worry it will simply favor the corporate pusher over the local dealer and cripple whole communities. PNS commentator Michael Datcher is a Los Angeles-based writer and reporter for the L.A. Sentinel.
A Fast to End Cuban Embargo
By David Bacon
Date: 03-20-96
For more than three weeks the Rev. Lucius Walker and four companions have staged a hunger strike at the world's busiest border crossing aimed at ending the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba. The demonstrators are part of a larger group, Pastors for Peace, that aims to reshape U.S. foreign policy through people-to-people diplomacy. PNS associate editor David Bacon writes on labor and immigration.
Free Speech Movement of the 90s -- Cyberprotestors Fight Their Own Culture War
By Sandy Close and Nick Montfort
Date: 02-20-96
A new generation of cyberprotestors is emerging to protect free speech on the Internet. Like their counterparts in the Free Speech Movement of the 1960s, they draw their inspiration from a moral repugnance of governmental authority and a utopian faith in the transformative power of the counter-culture they are building. PNS editor Sandy Close writes on youth issues; Nick Montfort, a former editor of the University of Texas student newspaper, is a freelance reporter and longtime denizen of the Internet.
Three Strikers -- Lepers of the Prison Community
By Jed Miller
Date: 02-02-96
Most voters who support "three-strikes you're out" laws assume that only criminals convicted of violent offenses wind up serving life terms under the law. Prisoners know otherwise. Behind bars, being a three striker is an embarrassment -- you're a loser too stupid to avoid being sent up for life for a petty crime. PNS commentator Jed Miller is a third-striker serving three concurrent life sentences for auto theft and bicycle theft at Pelican Bay Prison in Crescent City.
Myths Marginalizing Meaning of Dr. King
By Linn Washington Jr.
Date: 01-09-96
A mythology now shrouds Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s career which, while well-meaning, marginalizes the continuing import of his message. King is seen as a champion of civil rights but his core concern was with the attainment of "silver rights." PNS contributing editor Linn Washington Jr. is a graduate of the Yale Law Journalism Fellowship program who writes frequently on race relations. Washington is author of "Black Judges On Justice" (New Press, 1995).
De Polizontes Pasan A Delincuentes
Por Joe S. Loya
Date: 08-25-97
Los presos notan un cambio curioso en las expresiones inocentes de los guardias novatos, idealistas a veces, recién llegados a trabajar en las penitenciarías. Después de un tiempo los guardias comienzan a parecerse, casi siempre deliberadamente, a los reos. Para el guardia es inconcebible pensar que un delincuente pueda trastornar a un hombre que se rige por la ley, mucho menos a un policía. Sin embargo el caso es crítico, argumenta el editor asociado de PNS Joe Loya, para responder a la pregunta del alcalde de la ciudad de Nueva York, Rudolph Giuliani, mientras su ciudad lidia con el asunto de un detenido torturado por la policía: ¿Cómo pueden policías comportarse como delincuentes? Loya, escritor independiente de Los Angeles, actualmente está escribiendo un libro sobre sus vivencias en la cárcel.
Una Obrera Guatemalteca de 15 Años Explica "Porqué No Puedo Perder Mi Empleo
By Myra Esperanza Mejía, Relatado a Mary Jo McConahay
Date: 04-29-97
Queda prohibido emplear obreras menores de 15 años, dice un nuevo reglamento de conducta que se ha diseñado para disminuir los abusos en las maquilas de la industria del vestido. Sin embargo, para Myra Esperanza Mejía, que empezó a trabajar a los 13 años, el perder su empleo hubiera significado que su familia se quedara sin casa ni comida. De lo que más se queja ella es de que a las menores de 15 se les paga menos que a las mujeres mayores, así trabajen lo mismo. La editora asociada de PNS Mary Jo McConahay compiló el siguiente ensayo a raíz de tres prolongadas conversaciones con Myra Esperanza Mejía, costurera de 15 años en la ciudad de Guatemala. PNS TIENE FOTOGRAFIAS DISPONIBLES.
Un Brujo Admite Que El Futuro Está Demasiado Tenebroso Para Predecirlo
By Joe Loya
Date: 04-01-97
Al cundir el temor en las comunidades de inmigrantes en Los Angeles, en vísperas de cambios drásticos en las leyes de asistencia social (Welfare) e inmigración, un escritor recurre a un hechicero. El adivino admite que sus poderes han disminuído, pero sabe que el futuro es peor del otro lado de la frontera, y que la discriminación va en aumento dondequiera. Joe Loya, editor asociado de PNS, es un escritor que vive en Los Angeles y que hace poco salió de la cárcel, donde estuvo por asaltar un banco. (Este es el segundo escrito de una serie esporádica sobre hechiceros, brujos y adivinos y sus presentimientos del futuro.)
Cuando Socorrer Marca La Diferencia Entre La Vida Y La Muerte-- Cómo Establecer la División Entre Familia Y Extraños
By S. W. Omamo
Date: 02-11-97
No tan sólo en Africa sino en un creciente número de regiones del mundo donde las políticas de apertura económica han tomado cauce, el individuo que tiene ingresos dignos se ve forzado a decidir sobre la vida o la muerte de otros al atender sus súplicas de socorro. El comentarista de PNS Steven W. Omamo es escritor y economista agrónomo radicado en Nairobi. Es miembro investigador de ciencias sociales de la Fundación Rockefeller en el Instituto de Investigaciones Agronómicas de Kenia.
Rose Bowl Reflections -- Lessons About Winning and Losing From Northwestern's Unlikely Success
By Andres Tapia
Date: 12-27-95
Until this year Northwestern University's one claim to football fame was having broken the record for the most games lost among college teams in 1981. Now that the team has made it to the Rose Bowl, renegade fans that once rebelled against the whole ethos of winning are embracing the thrill of winning. PNS associate editor Andres Tapia graduated from Northwestern in 1983. While there he earned a varsity letter playing on NU's Big Ten soccer team.
Not Just a Black Christmas -- Kwanzaa and the Million Man March
By Linn Washington Jr.
Date: 12-20-95
A black writer who still remembers his shock as a child seeing his first black Santa Claus ponders the spiritual significance of Kwanzaa. This year, he writes, the Afrocentric holiday founded by Ron Karenga in 1966 will assume greater significance in the wake of the Million Man March, whose core principles Karenga also authored. PNS commentator Linn Washington Jr. is author of "Black Judges on Justice" (New Press 1995).
South Africans Plagued by a Different State of War -- Crime
By Donatus Bonde
Date: 11-27-95
Many cash-strapped Zimbabweans travel to South Africa in search of bargains they cannot afford to buy at home. For the editor of a weekly Zimbabwean magazine, who traveled the back roads of South Africa in search of a second-hand car, the real discovery was the state of lawlessness that many black South Africans appear to accept as an inevitable part of life. PNS correspondent Donatus Bonde edits Moto Magazine in Gweru, Zimbabwe.
Jews Must Not Be Blind to the Shadows of Our History
By Todd Gitlin
Date: 11-21-95
One question haunts Jews in the wake of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination -- how could a Jew slaughter another Jew? But the real surprise is why Jews would find such an act surprising. PNS commentator Todd Gitlin, a professor of sociology at the University of California at Berkeley and author of "The Sixties -- Years of Hope, Days of Rage" (Bantam Books), writes a bi-weekly column for The New York Observer.
Why Ken Saro-Wiwa Had to Hang
By A.R.M. Babu
Date: 11-16-95
Coups and counter-coups in Nigeria are exclusively a function of the army -- outsiders are not tolerated. That was the message of the execution of playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa and his eight colleagues. Nor is it likely in the short term that his sacrifice will jeopardize the collusion of multinational corporations and a corrupt military junta. PNS associate editor A.R.M. Babu, former economic development minister of Tanzania, is a noted commentator on African affairs.
California's Colony: Love of Land Unites Erstwhile Enemies in Nevada
By Franz Schurmann
Date: 11-08-95
Nevadans worry as never before that they are doomed to remain a colony of wealthy, populous neighboring California. But a strange new drama is unfolding in the state as a love of the harsh, moody land unites long-time foes. PNS editor Franz Schurmann, a professor emeritus of history and sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, is working on a book on social capital.
Race in America: What Do We Mean By "Race" Anyway?
By Gregory Stephens
Date: 10-25-95
Scholars of all colors agree today that "race" is a cultural construct -- that as a way of classifying people by color it has no biological justification. Our American dilemma is not "race" per se, but our history of treating "race" as a marker of intelligence or full citizenship. PNS Gregory Stephens, a doctoral candidate at the University of California-San Diego, writes widely on issues of race and culture.
One Year After 187: The Paradox of the Immigrant Backlash
By Ruben Martinez
Date: 10-19-95
While anti-immigrant politicians preach apocalypse, immigrants believe that they've found the promised land -- and many are willing to fight for it. The optimism of the immigrants, however, contrast with the growing reluctance of many Latino organizations to stand up for the undocumented. PNS editor Ruben Martinez, author of "The Other Side," is a Los Angeles-based writer and performance artist.
The Million Man March: Woodstock With a Difference
By Sandy Close
Date: 10-18-95
Twenty six years after white American youth celebrated their vision of a counter-culture at Woodstock, black America held a Woodstock of its own on the Washington Mall. But while the Woodstock vision overdosed on Haight Street, black America's Woodstock discovered a different moral high. PNS executive editor Sandy Close has written about youth and racial politics for three decades.
America's Fault Lines: Black Men March to Reclaim a Moral Purpose to Their Lives
By Sandy Close
Date: 10-13-95
Until very recently, the Million Man March in Washington D.C. on October 16 was barely mentioned by the mainstream news media, let alone by political leaders. The call to march had come from the single most unpopular public figure in the country. How, then, to explain the enormous groundswell of interest and enthusiasm for the march from black America? In an interview with PNS executive editor Sandy Close, Professor Cobie Harris, chair of Afro-American Studies at San Jose State University, shared his perspectives on the march.
America's Fault Lines: Black Americans Weigh the Costs of O.J.'s Victory
By Michael Datcher
Date: 10-09-95
Political victories don't come cheap, and the fact that black Americans have now laid claim to equal standing in court rooms throughout America is generating a backlash among non-blacks. Cries of "reform the system" abound. And blacks, now viewed as winners, are being denied the moral cachet they had as victims. PNS associate editor Michael Datcher is a Los Angeles-based writer and reporter for the L.A. Sentinel.
After O.J.: The Death of the Athlete Hero
By Richard Rodriguez
Date: 10-02-95
The ancient Greeks believed that the athlete must also be a great hero; his elegance of form and grace reflected a moral inner life. Long before the O.J. Simpson trial, Americans had already begun to view athletes the way the Romans did -- unpretty combatants who go at each other until submission. PNS editor Richard Rodriguez, author of "Days of Obligation: An Argument with my Mexican Father" (Viking-Penguin), is a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times and an essayist for the MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour.
A View From the Underworld: Life After Three Strikes
By Dannie Martin
Date: 09-13-95
California's widely touted three-strikes-you're-out law is credited with having put more habitual offenders behind bars and scared others away from violence. But according to one ex-convict with seven felonies on his record, the law has done little to deter professional criminals from their paths. It has merely driven them deeper underground and prompted some to resort to greater violence. PNS commentator Dannie Martin is a San Francisco-based author whose latest book is "The Dish Washer" (W.W. Norton). This is the first of an occasional series looking at the impact of three strikes from the vantage point of second-strikers.
The Beijing Conference on Women: Conversation With a Maya Indian Woman -- No Room For Our Point of View at Beijing Conference
By Mary Jo McConahay
Date: 09-01-95
Calixta Gabriel, 39, is a Cakchiquel Maya, one of six to seven million indigenous people who make up the majority of Guatemala's 10 million population. Nevertheless she won't be represented at the United Nations International Women's Conference in Beijing which is now daily fare in the capital's newspapers. A social worker by profession, Gabriel has more education than most Maya -- especially women -- who have long been invisible in government offices and social and economic planning efforts that address indigenous problems. She is also a Mayan priest -- there is no gender impediment among those chosen to perform ceremonies and pray for others. Her life typifies a generation who survived three decades of civil war during which small villages were erased or depopulated by the government's anti-insurgency campaign and over 100,000 persons (including several of her relatives) were killed. Now as the war wanes, these survivors are digging in to reconstruct their personal and community lives. PNS Central America editor Mary Jo McConahay interviewed Calixta Gabriel in Guatemala City to find out how women like herself see the relevance of the Beijing Conference to their lives.
The War in Bosnia: Serbs Find Comfort in 19th Century Prophecy
By Branko Dimitrovitch
Date: 06-02-95
A century after they were recorded by a priest, the prophecies of two illiterate Serbian peasants are offering a hope and a vision of redemption to Serbs. PNS commentator Branko Dimitrovitch, one of Belgrade's leading playwrights and directors in the 1970s and early 80s, has lived in exile in the United States.

Pacific News Service, 660 Market Street, Room 210, San Francisco, CA 94104, tel: (415) 438-4755.
Jinn Magazine: <http://www.pacificnews.org/jinn/>
Email: <pacificnews@pacificnews.org>

Copyright © 1997 Pacific News Service. All Rights Reserved.
Please do not reprint our stories without our permission.
Our articles are available for reprint. For rates and information, call (415) 438-4755 or send e-mail to <pacificnews@pacificnews.org>