FROM DEATH ROW, MUMIA COMMENTS
On Clinton's 'poverty tour'
By Mumia
Abu-Jamal
As summer bakes the land, American President Clinton began
his poverty tour, the first of his presidency into the poorest
pockets of American life, where American dreams sour into grim
nightmares. The president of the wealthiest nation on earth
visited the Appalachians, the southern California neighborhood
of Watts, and, among other poor and depressed areas, the Pine
Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, home of the Oglala Sioux
Nation.
For most commentators, the Clinton trip was proof of his
compassion for the poor, as his tour attracted intense media
attention to some of the nation's poorest communities. For
others, it is striking that a man who ran his first
presidential campaign using the line, "I feel your pain," took
almost eight years to show that he knew such places as Pine
Ridge Reservation, Watts and the Appalachians even
existed.
Perhaps the "pain" he felt was that of the bulls and bears of
Wall Street.
Further, other than one day's media fascination, of what use
is the attention of a lame duck president who has less than 20
months in his office left? What will he do to these depressed
and ailing communities of red, black and poor white folks to
bring them up to scale? What does he propose to do that will
transform the 75 percent unemployment among the Lakota people
on Pine Ridge?
In a word, nothing.
His effort was little more than a White House photo op, and
an appeal to U.S. business to exploit the natural and human
capital of the areas. But this is also the president of the
NAFTA agreement, the international trade pact that opened the
door to capital flight south of the border, where labor is
cheap and plentiful. Would business choose labor that must be
paid minimum wage, or opt for those who will accept only
pennies to work?
There is another reason why this a-day-with-the-poor tour
was a travesty. The trip to Pine Ridge was made by an American
president, and nary a word was said about its most famous
former resident, Native American political prisoner Leonard
Peltier.
Were it not for his fervent supporters, who shouted from the
periphery, the proud name of one of the Lakotas' bravest
warriors, Leonard Peltier, would not have been mentioned.
For Clinton, the president in search of a legacy, a simple
signature on a piece of paper setting Peltier free would have
been an act that spoke for generations. Instead, ever the
politician, he issued words and walked away, ever in search of
another handshake, another crowd, and yet another photo op.
Column written 7/9/99, (c) 1999 Mumia
Abu-Jamal
This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
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