WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com)�Continued airport alerts, positive testing of anthrax poisoning and reported evacuations of post offices, office buildings and media outlets have increased the collective panic in America. The near paranoia is coupled with FBI alerts, a plunging economy, joblessness and a potential threat of Constitutional rights�all related to the Sept.11 attack on America that continues to paralyze the nation.

The question beckons: Can the world�s greatest superpower survive the anxieties of terror as the emotional, psychological and mental drain on her citizens continue to grow? And what does it mean for Blacks whose collective suffering in America, prior to Sept. 11, still remain and are now coupled with the most recent tragedies?

"It is not being emphasized in the national discussion. As I listen to mainstream media talk, it is a first trauma for many people," said Dr. Lorraine Blackman, associate professor at Indiana University School of Social Work. "They (American whites) have lived lives in relative comfort and relative safety and now they feel like that is gone; they never dreamed that such a thing could happen to them.

"On the other hand," she continued, "trauma is a part of our history from antiquity. Every trauma reactivates old traumas. So, for those of us who have experienced murder in our family, community violence, fires�these kinds of traumas that we perhaps were starting to heal from have now reopened," she told The Final Call. (See related article on page 6.)

Demonstrating the increased anxiety in the country, more Americans are taking anti-anxiety drugs in the aftermath of the terrist attacks, according to NDCHealth, a private company that provides information to the health care industry.

Figures for prescription drugs used commonly for treating anxiety showed a suddent jump in the weeks following the attack, the company reported.

According to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 42 percent of Americans said they were depressed, 21 percent described difficulty concentrating on work and 18 percent reported having insomnia.

A spokesman at the Washington Hospital Center said admissions to the hospital�s psychiatric unit are estimated at a 20 percent increase and outpatient visits have jumped 10 percent.

Reported cases of Anthrax contamination also alarmed the public as nine confirmed cases of exposure and 1,000 employees of American Media, Inc., were tested in Boca Raton, Fla. As a result of exposure, one of the employees died.

At Final Call press time, a letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) tested positive for anthrax. And, a 7-month-old child of an ABC News employee has tasted positive for anthrax. The ABC office was among several in New York, Nevada and Florida to receive anthrax-laced mail. Also, several plane groundings occurred throughout the nation as a public�s paranoia increased over the possibility of "bio-war" or germ warfare.

"I understand that many Americans are feeling uneasy. But all Americans should be assured: We are taking strong precautions, we are vigilant, we are determined, the country is alert, and the great power of the American nation will be felt," said Pres. Bush during his radio remarks to the nation.

"What Sept.11 showed the world was America�s un-preparedness against attack and that her main national defense strategy was a mental one," stated researcher, activist Steve Cokely. "So the confidence of the American people has been shattered."

Mr. Cokely told The Final Call that the opportunity for Blacks to challenge America on issues she was not willing to entertain before the attack now exist. "For example, America walked out on the World Conference Against Racism and ignored the appeal of Blacks for an executive order against racial profiling. Maybe now she will listen," he said.

A concern for media professionals such as Black talk-show host Cliff Kelly of WVON radio in Chicago is the threat to constitutional rights, including freedom of the press.

Referring to the recent outreach by the Bush administration to networks not to air live or unedited statements by Mr. bin Laden, Mr. Kelly said: "The secretary of state�s son Michael Powell is the one who runs the committee that determined whether they will have a license or not. He�s the head of the FCC [Federal Communication Commission]. It�s intimidation."

Mr. Kelly also said the dilemma for Blacks and other "true patriots" is their attempt to criticize the government without being attacked as anti-American.

Further evidence of encroachment on the Constitution, observers say, is the recently passage by the U.S. House of Representatives of its version of the Patriot Act of 2001. The legislation will expand the powers of government agencies to wiretap, search, share information with other agencies and detain individuals.

"Most Americans do not recognize that Congress has just passed a bill that would give the government expanded power to invade our privacy, imprison people without due process and punish dissent," said American Civil Liberties Washington Director Laura W. Murphy. "In rushing through its legislation, the Administration has undercut any attempt at good faith negotiation with Democrats, the American public and even members of its own party," she said.

"The terrorists didn�t attack the Statue of Liberty in New York, the Constitution or Bill of Rights in Washington, D.C., or the Declaration of Independence in Pennsylvania. They attacked the symbols of our economic and military power in the world. It is the supporters of this bill who are really attacking the American liberties that are contained in our most sacred historical documents," said Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.).

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, retail sales fell 2.4 percent in September. It was the nation�s biggest plunge in nine years. Economists predict that when the full impact of this attack is felt, the overall unemployment rate will skyrocket.

A recent estimate offered by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies shows that up to 1.5 million jobs were temporarily lost as a result of the attack. Factoring that figure in with the 500,000 jobs already reported lost since March changes America�s job forecast from gloomy to morbid. Some estimate the overall unemployment rate to be as high as six percent at the beginning of 2002 and even higher by mid-spring.

But for Blacks, the stress of unemployment is not a new phenomenon.

"In April, we immediately took note of the dramatic spike in the rate of unemployment for Blacks juxtaposed to that of their white counterparts," commented economic and political analyst Cedric Muhammad of Blackelectorate.com, one of Black America�s leading political and economic watchdogs on the Internet. "At the time, unemployment had dramatically jumped from 7.5 percent to 8.6 percent for Blacks while remaining at 3.7 for whites. Last month it was announced that the unemployment rate for whites held steady at 4.3 percent while moving up to 9.1 percent for Blacks. It is now October and our warning, regarding the Black economy, is even more intense in light of the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attack," he said, citing also the lackluster U.S. consumer confidence and its monetary deflation as troublesome.

He said the economic stimulus package being formulated by Congress and President Bush shows little promise for Black America as it places its emphasis and billions of dollars on corporate bailouts in the transportation sector with an enormous influx of cash into the military industrial complex.

"The extra billions will save jobs for some Blacks such as airline attendants, airport service employees, and construction workers but won�t have any major effect on the broader Black economy," he said.

"Racism under the guise of security will now become legitimized," said Julia Hare, executive director of San Francisco-based Black Think Tank. "The way it will happen is through racial profiling. With a volunteering military, many of the colleges and universities will re-institute their ROTC programs. So when white men go to war, they will go as officers while Blacks will have to go on the frontlines.

"We already have that history from World Wars II and I," she said.

Dr. Hare pointed out that when Arab-looking passengers were recently profiled and removed off a commercial airline, Blacks in Oklahoma wondered why. "When people got on the plane and looked like Timothy McVeigh, the plane went on. In spite of all of this patriotism, Blacks do not see that their position in America has changed and after all of the �my country, tis of thee� singing, we want to know are we still returning to the back of the bus?" she said.

Dr. Hare said Black lawmakers must protect Black interests and make sure the handling of Blacks in the military is equitable. Black legislators also must confront America in her "rush" to aid, rebuild and counsel while none of this existed when Africa was bombed and Ebola and AIDS engulfed Africa.

"In the long range, these unfortunate incidents are a good opportunity for the collective will of professionals to rally around a common agenda regarding how best to provide our own expertise that gives support to our youth, children, families and communities," said Dr. Leonard Dunston of the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW). "We need a plan of action that will best reflect the will of Black people here in America, Africa and the Diaspora. It is incumbent upon Africans here in America and those who have very unique skills to provide their expertise in a collective way to rebuild and strengthen our communities as well as deal with the recent traumas some of us had to experience," he said.

Mr. Dunston told The Final Call that three local chapters of the NABSW (Westchester County, New York City and Nassau-Suffolk County) have established counseling sessions for families who suffer in the aftermath of the attacks.

"One has to closely examine the day-to-day existence of Africans in America. Unfortunately, the masses of our people face conditions that are almost comparable to the kinds of fears and anxieties that the nation as a whole is experiencing," he said. "A number of our communities, if not the majority, have such unrest and instability that it leads to traumatic and other kinds of social disorders that make life very painful on a day-to-day basis.

"Our children daily are exposed to substandard housing, escalating violence from gang wars�sometimes revolving around drugs; poor educations and homelessness. Children and families on a whole are severely traumatized when they have inadequate housing or no homes that they can call their own. All this (attack) has done is added another layer of trauma to our community," he said.