Where is Mr. Clinton?

Where is Mr. Clinton?

When White House Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey joined the Rev. Jesse Jackson for a brief Sept. 14 press conference at the Chicago headquarters of Operation PUSH, he gave a predictable, weak answer when asked about revelations of Central Intelligence Agency ties to gangs and the 1980s explosion of crack cocaine in the ghettoes of America.

The allegations need to be looked into, he said. "But we don't believe there is any soundness to them," said Gen. McCaffrey, regarding a series of articles by the San Jose Mercury News that trace how CIA operatives supplied tons of cocaine to gangs and used the profits to fund the Contra War against Nicaragua's Sandinista government.

Gen. McCaffrey, as if no reassure reporters asking questions, said he talked with CIA Director John Deutsch and was told the CIA had investigated itself and found nothing wrong. Then, he added, an investigation is called for to determine the truth.

Rev. Jackson, the Congressional Black Caucus, activists and other leaders have called for a full federal investigation of the CIA-crack link.

But that is not enough. President Clinton needs to speak up and speak now about what he plans to do in the face of these revelations.

The New Democrat from Arkansas is supposed to be a friend of the Black community and the cocaine trafficking didn't occur under his watch. But the question again, is Mr. Clinton better than those who came before him?

Is he willing to pull the covers off the wickedness of the government or will he hide the truth?

The crack cocaine epidemic and resulting sentencing fueled the prison rates of the 1980s.

Whole neighborhoods have been destroyed, crack babies have been born, drug-starved prostitutes roam streets trading sex for drugs, children have been abused and fratricidal feuds over drug turf are still fought.

The crack trade introduced a deadly product and deadly weapons into the Black community and left parents burying children and gave funeral parlors booming business.

Mr. Clinton signed laws that made penalties for selling crack harsher than punishment for selling powder cocaine. Mr. Clinton has spoken out against gangs and violence, vowing to stop them.

What punishment will he suggest for those who helped put the entire process in motion? Too many babies have died and too many mothers have cried for this horror to be ignored, forgotten or hushed up.

The White House switchboard should be lit up with Black callers asking: Mr. President what do you intend to do?

Promising an investigation by the Justice Department is not enough. The Nicaraguan who supplied the tons of cocaine is a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) informant, has been paid over $500,000 and is living a life of luxury. The Justice Department has also said their preliminary probe found the charges were not valid.

To say that the media--meaning the white-owned media that has largely ignored the case--should have all related documents is not enough.

To call for a congressional investigation is not enough. Jack Blum, the former chief counsel to the Senate subcommittee that probed cocaine trafficking by the Contras told a reporter: "The Justice Department flipped out to prevent us from getting to people, records--anything that would help us find out about it. It was one of the most frustrating exercises that I can ever recall."

Any investigation can only be credible if credible Black leaders, activists and organizations are sifting the evidence, digging out leads, looking at documents, asking questions and demanding answers.

Those who have lost loved ones, held dying children, watched blood run in the streets and don't care about politics, reputations or America's image are those fit to examine the evidence and render a judgment.

With the blood of Black people, particularly youth spilled daily, political considerations or fall-out in a "election" year don't mean a thing. What kind of friend do Black folks have if their friend, won't fight for them and give justice?

We don't want a white-wash, a white-out or any wasted time. Some 5,000 people, buoyed by a call for 10,000 from WOL-AM, a Black-owned radio station in Washington, D.C., turned out for a Sept. 12 Congressional Black Caucus legislative weekend forum on "Cocaine, Contras and the CIA: How the CIA Introduced Crack in Black Neighborhoods."

The forum was hosted by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who has demanded hearings and forwarded a formal request for an investigation to Mr. Clinton. "They have made fools out of us. Nancy Reagan ran around here and told us that there was a war on drugs. There has not been a war on drugs, but there's about to be one. We're going to create a war on drugs whether they come from Managua, South East Asia or the CIA. ...You have killed our children," she said.

No self-respecting people could, should or would allow the murders of their children to go free. Only a cowardly people would refuse to demand justice, reparations and the truth if the face of deadly betrayal. Black America must show self-respect and courage by demanding justice, reparations and the truth.