by Saeed Shabazz
and Nisa I. Muhammad

(FinalCall.com)--The election of George W. Bush and the Florida vote fiasco has sparked efforts of mobilization in the Black community that could ignite a revival of the civil rights movement spirit, political, grassroots and spiritual leaders interviewed by The Final Call agree.

One such leader, the Rev. Walter Fauntroy, has tapped Jan. 4 to convene a National Emergency Summit to shape a response to the reports of voting rights violations in Florida and other states. But other issues�unity, reparations, education�also top priority lists of leaders as the nation enters a new year.

"I think the primary issue African Americans must be concerned with is the protection of our voting rights," Rev. Fauntroy told The Final Call. "Some of us fear that the events of November 7, 2000 may signal the beginning of a sophisticated 21st century Rutherford B. Hayes era of voting rights denial for African Americans. We are determined to respond collectively with programmatic actions that say to the nation and the world on our behalf, �Never again.� "

The retired member of Congress will host such leaders as Dr. Hugh Price of the National Urban League; Martin Luther King III of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Attorney Johnnie L. Cochran; Melanie L. Campbell, executive director of the National Coalition of Black Civic Participation and Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network at the Summit to be held on the campus of Howard University.

The NAACP will report on findings from its hearings on alleged voting rights violations in Florida and complaints registered with the organization from across the country. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, the National Bar Association and others will make presentations.

"We are armed with affidavits from African American voters and a team of voting rights lawyers at our disposal to take court action to punish those responsible for the abuse of our voting rights. This is why I called the National Emergency Summit, to address all these issues and more," Rev. Fauntroy said.

Former Republican Party activist Faye Anderson, now a New York-based political commentator and writer, agreed that Blacks must resolve to never forget what happened to voters in Florida and do something about it. "Republican Party operatives have been saying publicly that Black people should stop the protesting and put the election behind us. But that�s not an option we can entertain," she said. "We must make sure that we reap contracts for new voting equipment and whatever other economic opportunities are earmarked for our communities because of our disenfranchisement. The year 2000 was a turning point in Black political participation," she said.

Meanwhile, syndicated columnist and talk-show host Armstrong Williams argued that Blacks�who delivered more than 90 percent of their vote to the Democratic Party�must learn to leverage their vote with both parties. Blacks need to increase participation in the Republican Party 20-30 percent, he said.

"We need to get beyond what party you�re in," said Rev. Imagene Stewart, founder of the House of Imagene, a women�s shelter. "If we�re for our people, we need to look for the ones that are going to help us."

"We must begin to vote our interests and not just for party," added political historian Cora Masters Barry, Washington, D.C.�s former first lady. "We weren�t always Democrats. We used to be with the party of Lincoln, the Republicans."

Ishmael Muhammad, assistant minister at the Nation of Islam�s Mosque Maryam, noted that a comprehensive agenda addressing issues that speak to all who make up the nation was presented at the Oct. 16, 2000 Million Family March.

"Now that we know who will lead the country, we�re being forced to come up with a program that speaks to our basic interests," he argued. "Our greatest challenge is to effectively organize as a people into a force and power to, if not neutralize those who oppress us, at least make them concede to some of our demands. We now realize that the power needed to force those oppressive forces to concede to our demands is in our unity. We must work very, very hard to tear down the walls of division among ourselves," he said.

Min. Muhammad noted there must be greater unity among the three dominant faiths to solve the moral problems of the country. Spiritual leaders must come to the forefront, he said, "if we are to save America from the ugly fate of ancient Rome and Babylon. They fell from within."

The burden of individual debt is a priority for Rev. Joe Hill, pastor and founder of the Power Circle Congregation in Chicago. He argued that Blacks should get out of the "catch-up mode" to pay bills, particularly high-interest credit card debt.

"Credit card debt is just like being on Mr. Bodie�s plantation," he said. "If you don�t have the cash flow and we don�t control our own cash flow, then don�t buy it. We�re always in catch-up mode."

Kermit Eadie, founder and director of the Harlem-based United Black Fund, took the argument further: "We need to develop economic institutions that allow us to employ Black people. We must begin in 2001 to think independently of white money. We have to be about the business of doing and get away from rhetoric."

Reparations can go a long way to help correct the wrong of the past, others argued. Viola Plummer of the December 12th Movement, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in New York, will take her arguments to the 2001 UN Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa, in August.

"It�s imperative that our resolution be to establish that the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was a crime against humanity, therefore, we demand reparations," she said. "We must organize to keep the Racism Conference in focus, making our voices heard in South Africa."

Howard University Law Professor Nkechi Taifa shares Ms. Plummer�s view on reparations, adding that Blacks must use the reparations platform to call attention to Black political prisoners and the criminal justice system. "We must make a resolution to not forget in 2001 Sundiata Okoli, co-defendant with Asata Shakur; Leonard Peltier; Mumia Abu Jamal; Mutula Shakur and the New York Three, Black Panthers jailed since the 1970s. We must resolve to do more to gain their freedom," she said.

Comedian/activist Dick Gregory noted that if you don�t have good health, then all else will be difficult to achieve. "We must construct resolutions that address the health issues in the Black community. Black men comprise four percent of the American population, but 83 percent of cancer-related illnesses affect Black men. We must make resolutions to exercise more, to stop eating greasy foods and to just simply take care of our health. We have suffered too much as a people to have pain inflicted on us because of our health.

"Secondly we must make a resolution to work in this millennium to connect better with each other, organizationally and individually," he said.

Police brutality, youth and building strong families through more active fathers also were issues of concern. "We must resolve to step in and help young Black people that we will succeed when we learn to love each other and cooperate with each other to make things better," said Mamie Till-Mobley, mother of Emmett Till, who was slain in 1955 by white men while he was visiting his grandmother in Mississippi.

Ms. Till, 79, who heads a foundation to help youth, caused the world to pay attention to racism in America when she insisted that Jet magazine put the photo of her mutilated son on its cover.

"We must have good, loving, compassionate and secure men who are married," said Charles Ballard, CEO and founder of the Institute for Responsible Fatherhood and Family Revitalization. "If we can put that into place we can develop good communities without governmental assistance."

Armstrong Williams, the talk show host, adds: "We need to focus on having two-parent families in the New Year. This is critical, considering that 75 percent of Black children are born out of wedlock."