WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com)�Black America is on the front line of the war on terrorism, whether it wants to be or not.

The U.S. Post Office, a major employer of Blacks, is the main target of an anthrax attack that has gripped the American public by the throat. Two Black postal employees are dead as a result. There have been four anthrax-related deaths to date.

Also, activists increasingly are concerned about Blacks in the military as the call for sending ground troops into Afghanistan to capture accused terrorist Osama bin Laden grows louder. The disproportionate number of Black ground troops might result in an equally disproportionate number of body bags returning, activists fear.

And the record number of layoffs last month as a result of the Sept. 11 attack on America has sent the Black unemployment rate�already double the national average�racing toward the ceiling.

Rep. Danny K. Davis put it best, turning a phrase: "When America gets a cold, Black America gets the whooping cough."

There were 415,000 people laid off in October, the highest number in 21 years, according to statistics. And at 5.4 percent, the unemployment rate rose to the highest level since December 1996, according to a Nov. 2 U.S. Department of Labor report. Activists put the Black unemployment rate near 10 percent.

The figures come as President Bush pushed through the House Ways and Means Committee an economic stimulus package that was described as an affront to Blacks and the working class.

The Bush administration�s plan would repeal the alternative minimum tax, which requires hugely profitable corporations to pay at least some tax, no matter how many loopholes they can use. Activists are even more outraged that the repeal is not just for next year, but it�s "retroactive for 15 years. So IBM will get $1.4 billion, General Motors $833 million, General Electric $671 million, etc.," reports the Campaign for America�s Future, a group founded by more than 100 prominent American activists and policy experts.

"It�s so outrageous to give cuts to the richest in America while stiffing workers who are in distress," said Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign. "What we need is an extension of unemployment to those who have lost jobs, healthcare, and the strengthening of our homeland defense and schools. But none of these elements are there," he said.

Rev. Jesse Jackson proposed a three-point stimulus package alternative: 1) $1,000 travel vouchers in a "Bring American Families Together Program," to get people traveling again; 2) A fund to help small entrepreneurs who have gone out of business to start new businesses; 3) Support for workers who have lost jobs through extended unemployment and health insurance.

"The poorest paid workers�the janitors, waiters, cab drivers, dishwashers�are losing their jobs. It is time to act boldly to rebuild the economy from the bottom up," he said.

Cornelius Montgomery, a Riverside, Calif.-based chapter coordinator for the National Business League, cited the bail out package to the airlines as an indication that "trickle down" doesn�t work.

"Some [airline employees] are complaining that they have been laid off but have not received any compensation. What [the bail out] did was help those companies who had bills to pay. They did what it took to keep their planes in the air first, and then they deal with the [former employees] later," he said.

Anthrax and the Post Office

When the government closed down because anthrax was discovered in the Senate Building and House of Representatives, Black postal employees were outraged, and rightfully so.

The anthrax that ended up on Capitol Hill first passed through their hands, but there was no shutdown of their building. Post Office top brass argued that it took time to determine where the anthrax came from, but it has not eased the pain of postal workers.

"How do they think the mail got to Capitol Hill?" asked Rev. Graylan Scott-Hagler of Plymouth Congregational Church in D.C. during a Nov. 2 rally and candlelight vigil held at the Brookland Post Office in Washington in memory of the workers. "Somebody had to move the mail and get it there. It seems like if you were going to close Congress you immediately would have employed ways to protect those who handle the mail, but they were the last thought. We say they are our first thought."

"Part of the problem � is that the federal government is used to dictating as opposed to collaborating," said D.C.�s Ward 7 Councilman Kevin Chavous. "Even when our health department officials called them and said they could help at the Brentwood postal facility, they said no, because �we are the federal government and we are on top of it.� Later, when it was discovered there was a problem, that is when they called in D.C. officials and asked can we help."

The government subsequently shut down several post offices and initiated a protection plan for postal employees. Still, with the anthrax attacks beginning at media outlets and spreading to one of the nation�s top employers of Blacks and minorities, even the government is suggesting the anthrax scare is home grown terrorism. And, to many, that means white supremacist groups who would target Blacks and minorities as well as government symbols.

"Of course, there are people who hate Black people and every time there is an opportunity to demonstrate that hate, they will do so," offered Rep. Davis. "Do I think that is really the origin of all that we are experiencing now? No, I do not."

One solution to protect postal employees was offered by Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush (D), who called for a moratorium on hiring of private contractors, arguing that the same training and guidelines observed by U.S. postal service employees may not be required by private contractors.

"The U.S. Postal Workers� motto � speaks to their work ethic and their determination to provide dependable service to the people of this nation. Now, they need help from their government. So, I am just as determined to get them assistance as they are at delivering our mail," he said, standing with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).

Blacks speak out

Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, both Black, are two high level advisers to Pres. Bush. Secretary Powell, at one point viewed as the odd man out prior to the Sept. 11 attacks, has emerged at the forefront of the strategy to prosecute the war.

Ms. Rice, a foreign policy specialist who served under Pres. George Bush, the father, has been cited as a major behind the scenes influence to Pres. Bush, the son.

But they have been challenged by equally outspoken members of the Congressional Black Caucus like Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.). Also, activists like former F.B.I. agent and counter-terrorism expert Tyrone Powers warns of another, perhaps unexpected fallout from high level Blacks in the Bush administration explaining war policy.

"We�ve always believed that Black faces in high places would serve us well," said Mr. Powers. "But, unfortunately, those people who oppose the United States, when they see Black faces in high places talking the same war talk as the white faces, they now do not discern and separate us from those who they would attack."

He said oppressed peoples abroad believed that Black Americans�because they understood oppression and repression�would help them in their battle to deliver the message that Palestinians must not be oppressed and bring fairness to situations in countries where there are people of color.

"When they hear these words [of the Bush administration] coming from Black people, they make a clear connection that Black people in America, except for Minister Farrakhan, are part of the problem, that we have completely assimilated and there is no reason to differentiate us from the others," Mr. Powers said. (See related interview on page 6.)

Dr. David Bositis, senior fellow at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, told The Final Call that a major source of racial tension in America is because white people generally don�t listen to Black people.

"That doesn�t mean people like Jesse Jackson and others don�t appear on television and give their views," he said. "But a lot of the white population doesn�t listen to what they say or is very dismissive of what they say. And those people who have an opposing view ridicule what Black leaders have to say or they accuse Black leaders of being racist or anti-Semitic, or out of touch.

"There�s a distinction to be made," he continued. "When I mention Black leaders, I mean Blacks who have substantial Black constituents. I�m not talking about people like General Powell. Black people are not his prime constituency."