Black leader offers views on politics

African American cultural pride flowed freely from the lips of 1992 presidential candidate Ron Daniels last week at the W.E.B. DuBois College House. The speech was the second of five events planned for African Holocaust Memorial Week, also known as MAAFA. Eleven students gathered to hear Daniels' speech, which was entitled "Getting Past Our Differences." According to MAAFA Committee member and College junior Nina Johnson, the purpose of the lecture was to "raise the issues of the African Holocaust." "The Holocaust consists of the suffering and death of all our ancestors," Johnson said. "It took place during the Middle Passage, slavery and current oppression of all African Americans around the world." Daniels spoke on several facets of current African American issues -- including unity, economics, politics and education. He said Africans have always been "family people, both in the nuclear and extended family sense but always communal." Daniels continued by explaining that in traditional African society, the entire community suffers for an individual's mistake. "To Africans, religion, culture and spirituality are one," he said. "Africans in other places are still brothers and sisters -- we must still unite with them." With regard to economics, Daniels noted that African Americans spend a total of $400 billion in the consumer market each year. He explained that if one-third of these people could group together toward a common cause, strong messages would be sent purely by strength of consumer dollars. "Unless we unite, we cannot overcome our economic struggles," he said. Next, Daniels expressed the need for achieving "generational unity" through education. He spoke of transforming the public school system into one with more independent schools, which he believes would help children adopt their own culture. But Daniels said in any type of schooling, the teachers are still divided into those who make change and care about education and those who "just want their paychecks." During the final portion of Daniels' speech, he spoke of his own political efforts. "I didn't want to win," he said. "My campaign was meant to be an educational vehicle." His comments spurred discussion about the effectiveness of "in" politics from a government position -- as opposed to "out" politics like public demonstrations by citizens. Daniels said the discussion's main purpose was to "create for the students a unified vision of change in the U.S., and through this vision to assist all oppressed people.