Word: plight
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Such scenes of slaughter, a tragedy overlooked for years, are at last forcing their way into the public consciousness. Reports of the elephant's plight are now stirring outrage in every part of the world. This week delegates from a hundred nations are gathering in Lausanne, Switzerland, to consider how to save the giant of beasts. They represent the countries that have signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the treaty that regulates the trade in ivory and other products from threatened animals. The delegates must decide whether to declare the elephant an endangered species, an action...
Many of the first black mayors, like Stokes and Hatcher, were charismatic veterans of the civil rights movement who became national spokesmen for the plight of the inner cities. For their constituencies, long denied access to political power, the mere election of one of their own to offices from which they had long been excluded was a reward in itself. "Early on, black voters' expectations were not necessarily tied to material gains," says William G. Boone, a political scientist at Atlanta's Morehouse College. "It was more of a psychological gain...
Russians often see this as an attempt to kick them out of the homes they have inhabited for generations. So they have been hitting back with strikes that, if they persist, could wreck the economies of some republics. And in Moscow, Communist conservatives have seized on the Russians' plight to justify a crackdown on the nationalist movements. News reports in the capital deliver a crude subtext: ethnic Russians are the victims of nationalist extremists. Politburo members like Victor Chebrikov, former KGB chief, thunder that those whipping up ethnic strife "should not go unpunished, no matter what flags they raise...
Estonian nationalists contend that Russians are exaggerating their plight and playing into the hands of Gorbachev's opponents. "It comes down to the question of who is for perestroika and who is against it," said Rein Kaarapere, an economist with the republic's Council of Ministers. He may have a point. Early this month delegates from Intermovement, which claims to represent 100,000 Russians in Estonia, joined members of similar groups across the country to found the United Front of Workers of Russia. The front is dedicated to battling nationalist movements, but it also expressed opposition to Gorbachev's plans...
...that which Spike Lee has attempted to generate with his latest film Do the Right Thing, has got to be pursued now more than ever. Otherwise, today's subtler version of white racism will continue to go unnoticed, and more poor, uneducated Blacks will respond to their economic plight with the much publicized alternative that seems the easiest way out--turning to drugs...