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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (April 21, 1995)
ju st o u t ▼ aprii 2 1 . 1 9 0 9 ▼ 9 local news First they came for us Oregon has joined the growing effort to eliminate affirmative action and mandate discrimination against immigrants ▼ by Inga Sorensen believe it. I tell them, ‘No, I think affirmative ay men and lesbians in Oregon know action is necessary.’ ” what it’s like to be the target of "I’m afraid to say that there is a growing discriminatory initiatives. All along, hostility out there about affirmative action,” says opponents of the measures targeting William Lunch, a political analyst for Oregon gay men and lesbians have put forth Broadcasting and a political science pro the notion that these campaigns were Public just the fessor at Oregon State University. He believes beginning of a conservative effort to scale back that if a vote were held tomorrow asking citizens the rights of women, people of color, the poor and whether they wanted to maintain or abolish the immigrants. The growing anti-affirmative action state’s affirmative action policy, the latter would and anti-immigrant sentiment currently sweeping win hands down. the nation, they say, proves their point. “I have a copy of the Oregon Citizens “I really do think a lot of this goes back to the ending of the Cold War. Like so many Americans, Alliance’s training manual, which flat-out says I never thought I would live to see the Berlin Wall the group is opposed to affirmative action. It’s come down. The Cold War gave Americans an right there,” says LaVeme Lewis, executive di external target to focus on. That threat has been rector of the Lesbian Community Project. ‘‘We’ve been saying all along that the OCA’s attack on removed, and now we’re targeting minorities and gays and lesbians was just the tip of the iceberg, women, gays and immigrants. It’s a very nasty climate out there,” he says, adding, "It’s not like but nobody has been listening.” Like gay and lesbian rights in the early 1990s, there weren’t people like Lon Mabon and Pat affirmative action and immigration have become this year’s hot-button electoral issues. Several initiatives and legislative measures designed to eliminate affirmative action programs and crack down on illegal immigrants are being considered by federal and state lawmakers. On a federal level, House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole have called for hear ings on affirmative action, and reports say conser vative policy experts are working with party lead ers to eliminate funds for the 160 affirmative action provisions in federal law, killing them off by eliminating their funding. Federal affirmative action policies, which were established in the 1960s, are designed to mitigate past and present discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, age, gender, veteran status or disabilities. This is done through govern mental, corporate and college guidelines which require that qualified women and people of color be hired and promoted in order to create equity in the workplace and educational institutions. Oregon law, meanwhile, requires that all branches of state government and its contractors engage in affirmative action to offer “fair and equal opportunities for employment and advance ment in programs and services and in the award ing of contracts.” State Rep. Bob Tieman (R-Lake Oswego) introduced a bill this session that would have repealed provisions in existing state law that review or encourage affirmative action. House Buchanan parading around before the end of the Bill 3394 would have also prohibited the state and Cold War. There were. But now they’ve got a its political subdivisions from “utilizing affirma much broader audience listening to their rheto- tive action in employment, contracting or provi sion of public services.” While the bill is considered all but dead, the ased on that rhetoric, one would think white issue remains very much alive. A group called men were being discriminated against in Oregonians for Equal Rights, which drafted the droves. That doesn’t seem to be the case, language for HB 3394, has already filed papers however. Consider the following: The U.S. Labor with the state to place an initiative on the ballot Department has reviewed discrimination opin that would do exactly what HB 3394 would have ions by U.S. district courts and courts of appeal between 1990 and 1994. It found fewer than 100 done. reverse-discrimination judgments among the more And don’t think the anti-affirmative action mentality is limited to Republicans and conserva than 3,000 cases. Another new study concluded tives. "Those feelings definitely cross party lines,” that an estimated 95 percent of senior manage says state Rep. George Eighmey (D-Portland). ment positions in major companies are held by white men. Eighmey, who is a strong supporter of affirmative action, says a handful of his Democratic col Bias is not only found in the workplace. Edwin leagues have secretly professed their support for J. Peterson, a former Oregon Supreme Court the growing anti-affirmative action movement. justice, recently spoke before the Portland City "They’ve come up to me and said, ‘I’m really Club about a report on racial and ethnic issues in glad the Republicans are doing this. We never the judicial system. The 65-year-old Peterson told could have done that when we were in the major the crowd that the courts are racially biased against nonwhites. (More than a dozen bills have been ity,’ ” he recounts. "They say, ‘Come on, George, you know you feel the same way.’ And I just can’t introduced this session that address the problem.) G B Statewide, Johnnie Bell, administrator for the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries civil rights division, which investigates discrimination claims, says in her 16 years with the bureau she knows of “only two or three” discrimination com plaints brought by white men saying they had been the victim of racial discrimination. ‘T ake a look at the faces of senior and middle management. Take a look at the faces of those people who are getting public works contracts. The vast majority are white men,” she says. “I agree it’s important for us to take the time and evaluate how well affirmative action pro grams are working. That just hasn’t happened,” says Prince Washington, Gov. John Kitzhaber’s acting director of affirmative action. Washington estimates a little more than half of the state gov ernment work force is made up of women; less than 2 percent of the work force is African Ameri can. Though there are no statistics detailing how many illegal immigrants are in Oregon. Markham has contended that undocumented immigrants are a primary cause of the state’s economic and crime problems. After Markham introduced his bill, there was loud outcry on the part of many Latino/a organi zations, and Kitzhaber vowed to veto the mea sure. Tieman, chairman of the House General Government and Regulatory Reform Committee, has said he will not schedule a hearing on HB 2933, virtually ensuring its demise. Two other measures, however, have been introduced that would have a similar effect. They are HB 3284, which would require proof of citizenship or legal immigration status in order to receive a driver’s license, and Senate Bill 999, which would in crease criminal penalties for making false immi gration documents. “Illegal immigrants just aren’t the problem in Oregon that they may be in California. I think some lawmakers here are trying to milk the issue for what they think it’s worth,” says Bradley Maier, immigration coordinator for Sponsors Organized to Assist Refugees, an organization of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, which repre sents 17 denominations and 2,000 congregations statewide. “What’s really ironic about this whole thing, though, is that historically the United States has encouraged immigrants to come here so that there is a cheap and abundant labor pool.” For example, says Maier, in 1981 the federal govern ment granted special status to illegal immigrants so agri-business would have an inexpensive labor source. Much like anti-sexual-minority-rights efforts, Maier believes there is a national organization fueling the anti-immigration campaigns that have ignited in many states. He specifically cites the work of the Washington, D.C.-based Federation for American Immigration Reform. "It’s the OCA of immigration issues,” he says. L ike affirmative action, Oregonians may be voting on an anti-immigrant initiative in the near future— Markham has publicly threat ened to turn to the initiative process to push his plan. "I think all of this shows how important it is for PHOTO BY LINDA KUEWEH the liberal left to begin to work together,” says Dave Farber, chair of the Harmony Committee, a broad coalition of individuals and organizations “I’ve been told the governor plans to conduct including the Lesbian Community Project, the a state study exploring whether minorities and American Jewish Committee, Blacks in Govern women hit a glass ceiling,” says Washington, ment, Cascade AIDS Project, the U S West Foun who is also president of the Black Networking dation, US Bank and many others. Association. "We need to begin to assess what’s The committee meets on a regular basis to what, rather than making knee-jerk assumptions.” network and discuss human-rights-related issues. Both Bell and Washington say their respective Most recently it hosted a meeting which focused offices plan to conduct a series of public forums on the growing white supremacist activity in the to help separate the rhetoric from the reality. That Pacific Northwest. strategy will also be employed by the national “I think citizens are tired of being misled by American Association for Affirmative Action, government, so they’re listening to other sources. which met two weeks ago in Portland for its The right has done a very effective job in making annual conference. themselves a source. We have to do the same,” says Farber. mmigrant rights are also the focus of heated debate. Earlier this session, state Rep. Bill “There could very likely be three initiatives on the ballot next time: one that is anti-gay, one that is Markham (R-Riddle) introduced a bill mod eled after California’s Proposition 187, a ballot anti-affirmative action, and one that is anti-immi grant. I think this clearly shows why it’s important measure approved by voters last year. Like that that a group like the Harmony Committee be initiative, Markham’s HB 2933 sought to prohibit active. It allows us the chance to educate each other undocumented immigrants from obtaining public about our respective communities,” adds LCP’s education, social services and health care. It would Lewis. "We are many groups coming together to have required public schools to verify the immi fight the common threat of oppression.” gration status of students and would have forced police to check the status of all people arrested. I