|       BEBE MOORE-CAMPBELL:  "The NRA is out to make us a divided and
| crazy people.  Never mind that the powerful gun lobbyists are
| getting involved with anti-crime legislation without mentioning gun
| control.  That's not surprising.  It's their tactics that ought to
| be shot down.  In a time of acute racial polarization, to aim an
| anti-crime message toward Asians while ignoring other races who
| have been victimized by crime, helps to widen a pernicious ethnic
| rift and sends a clear and erroneous message that some groups,
| Asians for example, are innocent and others, blacks for example,
| are criminal.  In effect, NRA is saying to Koreans 'We will protect
| you from them.'  There are many in the African-American community
| who have long held the contention that the NRA's acronym really
| stands for 'Negro Removal Association.'  Many believe that one of
| the conservative organization's reasons for supporting a sixteen
| year old boys right to carry an Uzi is because of the likelihood
| that weapon will kill someone who is black.  The NRA's recent
| overtures to Asian-American merchants does little to dispel such
| rumors.  If people can be made to believe that all the criminals
| are black, then guns become less a factor in crime than skin color. 
| But murders are committed with guns, not skin color.  Criminals
| shouldn't be coddled because of their race but when Americans begin
| to think of criminals as a color, we are all in trouble.  Certainly
| the overwhelming majority of law abiding black males will be at
| greater jeopardy for police harassment and brutality and will not
| be given the benefit of the doubt at crucial times.  But other
| groups are at greater risk for something a lot more
| subtle....paranoia.  The old story about Eddie Murphy and three
| body guards getting on the elevator with a very nervous white woman
| comes to mind.  Eddie supposedly says to one of the men, 'Hit the
| floor', meaning, press the elevator button, and the white lady
| stretches out by their feet.  When you relinquish your ability to
| reason and discern, when any black man is a scary monster, paranoia
| has got a hold of you.  The American public is beginning to reject
| the NRA's pro-gun message.  Reasonable people will spurn their
| racial stereotyping as well.  Sane men and women arm themselves
| with the truth.  The truth is simple: some of the criminals are
| black, but most blacks aren't criminals."
| 
|      Commentator:  "The comments of BeBe Moore-Campbell, the author
| of Your Blues Ain't Like Mine."  (Music)