tional sovereignty. As I write thesernwords, a U.N. human rights official isrncompleting an investigation of America’srnuse of the death penalty. The U.N. investigator,rnwho has traveled throughoutrnthe United States collecting data, visitingrnprisons, and interviewing law enforcementrnofficials, believes that the U.S. hasrnexpanded its use of the death penalty beyondrnthe bounds set by the InternationalrnCovenant on Civil and Political Rights,rnwhich the U.S. signed in 1992. Meanwhile,rnseveral U.S. parks and wildernessrnareas have been added to a U.N. list ofrnunique and valuable natural or culturalrnsites. On the surface, such internationalrndesignations may seem harmless. However,rnthey limit public land-use optionsrnand negatively affect the value of adjoiningrnprivate property.rnThe United Nations has outlivedrnmuch of its usefulness and overreachedrnits bounds. Unless drastic changes arerninstituted at the U.N. and the UnitedrnStates revamps its relationship with therninternational organization, other concernedrnmembers of Congress and I willrncontinue to use our constitutional privilegesrnto chasten the wayward world bodyrnand defend our national sovereignty.rn—Congressman Don ManzullornR U B Y RIDGE and Waco are twornnightmares now slowly fading from thernpublic mind, but not because some lawrnenforcement officials have learned anything.rnIn Roby, Illinois, a 51-year-oldrnwidow named Shirley Ann Allen was orderedrnby a local judge to submit to a psychologicalrnprofile after her relatives expressedrnconcern about her behavior.rnWlien the police came to take her away,rnMrs. Allen would have none of it. Shernmet the arresting officers at the door withrnshotgun in hand, pumped off a couple ofrnshells into the air, and graciously declinedrnto come out.rnTwelve days later, she was still declining,rnbut so were the police who had laidrnsiege to her house. On the first day of thernsiege—dubbed “Roby Ridge” by a localrnwag—state troopers surrounded her residence,rnturned off the power, closed uprnher well, flooded the place with searchlights,rncalled in relatives to beg her torncome out, fired beanbag bullets at her,rnand—was she to be spared nothing?—rnplayed Barry Manilow music around thernclock. Still she didn’t budge, to therndismay of the cops. “We’d like her tornstart going about business as usual,”rnpolice spokesman Mark McDonaldrnannounced to an alarmed public. “Irnthink most people would seek helprnbefore they die of starvation or lack ofrnwater.” Whom exactly does Mr. McDonaldrnexpect Mrs. Allen to contact?rnThe police, perhaps?rnAround the same hme, a white separatistrnand his family were also decliningrnto come out of their home in La Verkin,rnUtah. Out there, however, there were nornbullhorns, searchlights, or Manilow music,rnbut only a lone county sheriff with arnlittle common sense.rn”Sure, we could go surround the placernwith SWAT teams and yell for him torncome on out with his hands up,” saidrnSheriff Glenwood Humphries of the effortrnto serve an arrest warrant on JohnnyrnBangerter. “But I’m not going to get arndeputy or anybody killed over somethingrnas minor as a failure-to-appear warrant.rnThe last thing I want is the federal governmentrnto come in here and pull anotherrnWaco. Johnny hasn’t done anythingrnthat the feds would be interested in, andrneven if they were, the local sheriff shouldrnbe the one to handle it.”rnMeanwhile, back in Roby, Mrs. Allenrnremained at large and the crisis of the untakenrnmental tests continued, but evenrnthe police were starting to doubt thatrnthey handled the situation correctly.rn”Has the police presence aggravated herrnsituation?” asked Illinois State PolicernDirector Terrance Gainer. “Commonrnsense would tell you that it might.”rn”TTie frustration is,” Gainer expandedrnphilosophically, “we seem to have as arnsociety so little faith in judges … and lawrnenforcement. We’re first to concludernthere’s mendacity involved.” Why isrnthat, chief?rn—Samuel FrancisrnLITTLE ROCK, Arkansas, is still a potentrnsymbol 40 years after the forcible integrahonrnof Central High School. That’srnwhy President Clinton chose CentralrnHigh as the site of a speech in laternSeptember, one of many that he intendsrnto deliver on race relations over the comingrnyear. Paralyzed by the numerousrnscandals that he has brought upon hisrnown administrahon, Clinton has abandonedrnthe constitutional responsibilihesrnof his office to act as a personal mediatorrnbetween the races.rnBiting his lip and looking concerned,rnthe President told the crowd gathered inrnLittle Rock, “Today, children of everyrnrace walk through the same door, butrnthen they often walk down different hallsrn… they eat at different tables. They evenrnsit in different parts of the bleachers atrnthe football game. Far too many communitiesrnare all white, all black, all Latino,rnall Asian.”rnLest anyone object that the picturernthat he had just painted looks a lot likernmulticulturalism and diversity, Clintonrnwent on to say that “we have to rememberrn. . . the painful lessons of the civilrnwars and the ethnic cleansing aroundrnthe world.” He summed up almost halfrna century of social engineering with arnmonumentally irrelevant play on words;rn”The alternative to integration is not isolationrnor a new separate but equal, it isrndisintegration.”rnClinton’s speech illustrates the growingrngulf between those who wield powerrnin this country and the average man,rnwhite or black. Forty-three years afterrnBrown v. Board of Education, Americanrncities are returning to neighborhoodrnschools (or, in Clinton’s words, “resegregating”).rnIndeed, a few days before Clinton’srnspeech, the school board in LittlernRock took the first steps towards returningrnto neighborhood schools.rnIn Cleveland, an all-black schoolrnboard, frustrated with declining testrnscores and federal control of the city’s educationalrnsystem, has thrown its supportrnbehind neighborhood schools. And inrnOklahoma City, which Clinton has visitedrnnumerous times since the bombing ofrnthe Murrah federal building, black parents,rndistiaught over poor academic standardsrnat integrated institutions, joined togetherrnand demanded a return tornneighborhood schools. Within months,rntest scores began to climb, even thoughrnthe schools in black neighborhoods apparentlyrnreceive less funding than thosernin white neighborhoods.rnIn 1954, America’s public schoolsrnwere among the best in the world; today,rnAmerican students consistently rankrnnear the bottom in math and science.rnColleges and universities have beenrnforced to offer an increasing number ofrnremedial courses, not only in math andrnscience, but in writing and reading.rnHere in Rockford, children as young asrnfive years old stand on street corners atrn6:00 A.M., waiting for a bus to take themrnto a school across town, even thoughrnthey could walk to the school down thernblock.rn”There are still people who can’t getrnover it, who can’t let it go, who can’trnDECEMBER 1997/7rnrnrn