Apartheid. USA 1988

February 14, 1987:

New York City's first black Police Commissioner, Benjamin Ward (60) talked with reporters for the first time in eight months. He felt that racially and ethnically motivated

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attacks against blacks, Jews, Asians and other groups were on the rise, both in New York City and nation-wide. Still, he felt that the black-white issue was played up more by the press than it should be. Why incidents of racial bias were on the rise in America at this time the police commissioner didn't know. He expressed frustration over criticism by some in the black community, since these verbal attacks have made it very difficult for the department to recruit black applicants.^48.

The Times reports that there are 10 000 homeless people in Washington, DC ‘perhaps more’. ‘Here in the capital of the nation, as in every American city, men and women without homes live in streets and parks, out of garbage cans, on heat grates and off change from people who pass them. But here, unlike anywhere else, they survive in the shadows of the monument and great buildings that are symbols of the richest country on earth...’, the paper reported. Also, the Associated Press announced that President Ronald Reagan had signed emergency legislation providing 50 million dollars to help the homeless.^49.

A report published by the Klanwatch Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama found that in 1985 and 1986 there were hundreds of acts of vandalism, intimidation and other incidents directed at members of minority groups who had moved into predominantly white areas. The phenomenon had worsened as middle-class blacks and other minority group members sought housing in previously all-white neighborhoods. Scores of cases of arson and cross-burnings have been reported over the past two years. Among the incidents chronicled was the fire-bombing of the home of 66-year-old black Mrs Mabel Gant. She had lived for two years in the mostly white neighborhood and was killed in the fire. The day after the attack, another black family, that had moved into a nearby area received a newspaper clipping of the fire-bombing inscribed

48. The New York Times, from a report by Todd S Purdum

49. The cost of about a fighter plane for the Air Force

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with the message, ‘You are next’. Although most racially motivated attacks are perpetuated by whites against minority group members, in some cases the reverse is true, the report found. In Philadelphia, for example, black residents of Powelton Village, a predominantly black community on the city's western section, harassed and intimidated Asians who were moving into the area.^50.

50. The New York Times, from a report by Lena Williams