
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 28, 1994                    TAG: 9406240031 
SECTION: FRONT                     PAGE: A14    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: Short 
DATELINE: 940628                                 LENGTH:

NAACP SEEKS AFRICAN-AMERICAN UNITY

{LEAD} The issues concerning African-Americans no longer dwell as strongly on racism as the issue that has plagued our streets for the past decade: black on black crime.

Discrimination has laws, futile as they may be, to aid in its control. But there are no laws to govern self-imposed genocide.

{REST} Unity has been the key to any progress African-Americans have achieved - accomplishments that are being overshadowed by the escalating violence, not in posh neighborhoods but in the hard-knock cites in which I and millions of other African-Americans grew up and currently reside.

The NAACP's invitation to Louis Farrakan should be seen as a beacon seeking to unite a troubled nation. Although I do not agree with his anti-semitism or racist beliefs, one thing stands clear: Farrakan is the Nation of Islam's leader - a nation that contains a good 20 percent to 25 percent of the African-American population.

If Farrakan, along with the Rev. Benjamin Chavis and others, brings a cease-fire on our city streets, then so be it.

We live in a country whose government has the likes of U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina aiding in the making of the laws of this land. Now tell me whose morality is being trashed.

We are African-Americans - African by heritage, Americans by nationality. Because of the centuries of oppression and depression, our heritage and ancestry are our greatest possessions. It takes unity to maintain these possession.

KEVIN L. ALLEN

Portsmouth, June 20, 1994

by CNB