From: Steve Zielinski 
Subject: Re: Why The NFB
Harvey,
	I can't see the leadership apologizing to Jamal.  Of course they 
should, but that would imply they made a mistake in what they did.  You 
can't admit to a mistake when you want to make sure you keep all your 
power.  It may not even be a calculated decision to not apologize, though 
I think that may have been discussed when they talked about his case 
while considering accepting his membership.  Rather, I think the idea of 
an apology may even offen some of the board since they cannot consider 
the possibility that they may be in the wrong.
On Thu, 16 Apr 1998, Harvey Heagy wrote:
> 
> 
> That's the dangerous thing about absolute power.  At some point
> any well intentioned leadership becomes too powerful and begins
> to feed the power structure.  I too hope that Jamal is sincere
> about working with the organization and will not attempt to
> further his agenda about joining co-elisions and such as that
> has already been proven to be a failure for blind people.  There
> is an important difference between joining them and working along
> side them when possible.
> 
> Also, remember that at the A.C.B.'s Greensboro Convention, I
> believe, Jamal unsuccessfully ran for second vice-president of the
> A.C.B. only a year before returning to the N.F.B.  But according to
> a friend of mine who belongs to the A.C.B., the A.C.B. was cautious
> remembering that they thought they had a blue chip in Robert Acosta
> and found out later what a disaster it had to deal with much to its
> chagrin and financial losses in the hundreds of
> thousands of dollars.  So I hope his is a sincere effort, but I
> still feel the national leadership should have apologized to him
> for violating its own procedure in the expulsion process.  I am
> not opposed to expulsion when warranted, but I regard it as a very
> serious issue not to be taken lightly.  No matter what a person
> may be guilty of, he or she still deserves a fair and proper
> hearing.
> 
> Harvey
> 
> 
> 
+----------------------------+
|  Steve Zielinski  (N8UJS)  |
|      stevez@ripco.com      |
+----------------------------+
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