The struggle of Black America for freedom, justice and equality puts those Blacks who attain prominent government positions in a precarious position. They must parrot the government�s foreign and domestic policies, whether they agree with them or not.

That�s the position Secretary of State Colin Powell, a descendant of African slaves, finds himself in today. After being told that he could not participate in the UN World Conference Against Racism being held Aug. 31-Sept. 7 in Durban, South Africa, Mr. Powell himself, we are told, on Sept. 3 pulled the low-level delegation sent to the conference to observe only.

Frustrated that many delegates persisted in pointing out the aggression of the Israeli government against Palestinians, some of whom wanted to equate Zionism with racism, Mr. Powell issued a statement calling the delegation home.

Consider the irony. A man whose forefathers were shackled, killed and worked to death for no pay to build this hemisphere for European domination, is now in the position that he must call home a delegation at a world conference called to discuss ways of redressing the oppression his people have suffered.

The problem with representing a government as a member of the oppressed is that if you disagree with the position you are either pulled in line, or you are kicked out of the administration, and possibly hounded out of elective office.

Mr. Powell had a brush with the Bush administration with what he deemed a sensible approach to a problem, only to find out that the boss didn�t feel the same.

Last February, while at the UN headquarters in New York, Mr. Powell was holding out the possibility of diplomatic solutions to problems between the U.S. and Iraq. He voiced support for a meeting between Iraqi and UN officials, saying talking was always good and expressing hope that Iraq would show a willingness to comply with UN mandates. There was also a hint of a possible move toward ending U.S.-led sanctions against Iraq. Mr. Powell was at the United Nations talking peace and diplomacy Feb. 14. Two days later, the U.S. dropped bombs on Iraq. Mr. Powell had to backpedal away from the diplomatic talk and was facing formidable anger just before a planned visit to the Middle East.

Still like a good soldier, he moved ahead with the Bush administration�s battle plan for the Middle East.

The U.S. pullout from the UN conference has enraged many people, including Black activists from the United States. Many of them feel, including us, that the U.S. pull-out, while revealing to the world the blind eye the U.S. government shows to Israeli injustice to Palestinians, is really meant to pull the U.S. government away from any discussion about giving Blacks in America reparations.

In preliminary discussions leading up to the conference, the U.S. denounced activists and African governments who brought up the issue of paying for the slave trade. The U.S. said it had worked out that issue just before the conference started, but surprisingly now the issue of Israelis discrimination against Palestinians is an issue she can�t bear to discuss.

We don�t think so.

Secretary of State Colin Powell had to carry the government�s position on the African Union. While that position outwardly was supportive of what our brothers and sisters on the continent are trying to do, we can never be sure of this government�s motives or statements.

Secretary Powell could have bucked the administration and insisted that the U.S. must participate in a conference that will set the agenda for addressing racism and discrimination.

But if he did, he would no longer be secretary of state.

He made his decision.