Page 2
Portland/Obscrver
Thursday, February 21. 1974
Priorities for Blacks
by Bayard Rustin
WE SEE THE WORLD
ALFRED L. HENDERSON
E d itor/P ub lish er
THROUGH BLACK EYES
EDITORIAL
FOCUS
b
Not sorry now
Brotherhood Week
»
»
R epresentatives Edith G reen a nd W e n d e ll W vatt
have in d ica te d th a t th ey w ill no lo n g e r serve in the
House o f R epresentatives w h e n th e ir current term s
end.
W e n d e ll W ya tt has e arn e d th e respect o f the
n a tio n .
He has served his state and his district
w e ll. A lth o u g h o fte n w e do not a gree w ith him ,
his decisions a re based on his co nse rva tive
p o litic a l p h ilo so p h y and w e fe e l he is a m an o f
in te g rity .
W ya tt's constituents w ill fe e l the loss
w h e n this m an leaves Congress.
W e c a n n o t say that w e are sorry to see Edith
G reen go.
Black p e o p le across the n a tio n are
re jo ic in g as th e y see this p o w e rfu l o p p o n e n t o f
e q u a l rig hts le a ve Congress. Mrs. G reen, w h o has
been la b e le d a lib e ra l, has consistently jo in e d w ith
Southern C ongressm en and o th e r co nservatives to
fig h t pro gram s th a t w o u ld assist Blacks a nd the
poor. She has fo u g h t the b using o f school ch ild re n
to p ro m o te d e se g re g a tio n w ith a venom that is
unusual fo r o ne w h o represents a state w ith so fe w
Blacks.
She has been one o f the strongest o p
ponents o f the W ar on Poverty program s a nd has
e ven opposed such program s as the extension of
b e n e fits to th e u n e m p lo ye d .
Mrs. G reen w as fo r a tim e in the e a rly 60 s
c a lle d a " fr ie n d to B la cks" -
but this so -called
frie n d s h ip e nd ed w h e n she sold o ut the M ississippi
Freedom D em ocratic Party, a nd w h e n she becam e
a le a d e r in th e m ove to oust A d a m C layton P ow ell
fro m his seat in th e House a nd his c h a irm a n s h ip o f
the House Education C om m itte e , o f w h ich Mrs.
G reen then b eca m e ch airm a n.
Mrs. G reen w ill lo n g be re m e m b e re d as one
w h o w as a ctive in the p ro m o tio n o f fe d e ra l a id to
e d u ca tio n and o th e r e d u c a tio n a l program s. H o w
e ver, her re p u ta tio n in the fie ld o f e d u ca tio n is
ta rn ish e d by her o p p o sitio n to e q u a l e d u c a tio n a l
o p p o rtu n itie s fo r Black c h ild re n .
N o, w e ca nn ot say w e a re sorry to see Mrs.
G reen go. W e can o n ly w o rk to insure th a t her
re p la c e m e n t w ill have a se n sitivity to the needs o f
m in o ritie s and the poor o f the District.
Let's hope Mrs. G reen e njoys a q u ie t re tire m e n t
and re fra in s fro m ru n n in g fo r a local o ffic e .
Campaigns begin
As February d ra w s to a close a nd the p rim a ry
races b e g in to ta ke shape, w e ca u tio n Blacks w ho
a re co n sid e rin g ru n n in g fo r p u b lic o ffic e to a n
n ou n ce th e ir in te n tio n s e arly.
So fa r o n ly G ladys M cCoy, cu rre n t school board
m e m b e r, and A tto rn e y John Toran, c a n d id a te fo r
the state senate, h ave a n n o u n c e d ; and w e assume
B ill M cC oy w ill seek re -e le ctio n to th e State Legis
la tu re .
O thers a re ta lk in g a b o u t the city and
co u n ty com m ission a nd le g is la tiv e seats, but none
h ave m ade th e ir in te n tio n s p u b lic.
A successful e le ctio n c a m p a ig n in vo lve s m ore
th a n a g oo d ca n d id a te . It re q u ire s m oney, v o lu n
te er h e lp , and e nd orsem en t o f w e ll-k n o w n and
respected citizens a n d groups. Those w h o w a it too
lo n g w ill fin d th e ir p o te n tia l supporters have
a lre a d y endorsed a nd p le g e d th e ir assistance to
o the r candidates. M a n y persons w h o w o u ld o th e r
w ise support a Black ca n d id a te w ill be o b lig a te d to
honor co m m itm e n ts m ade b e fo re the Black's
interest was kn o w n . W ith n um bers o f ca nd id ates
ru n n in g fo r a v a rie ty o f im p o rta n t o ffice s , the
m oney w ill a lre a d y h ave been p le d g e d e lse w h e re .
It also fakes tim e fo r a ca n d id a te to reach a ll o f
the p e o p le o f th e d istrict — to m ake his p la tfo rm
kn ow n to the a v e ra g e voter. A lon g a nd active
ca m p a ig n is e s p e c ia lly im p o rta n t to those w h o do
not a lre a d y have n am e fa m ilia rity th ro u g h o u t the
district.
A n o th e r d a n g e r o f the last m in u te ca m p a ig n is
that w e o fte n have several g o o d Black c a n d i
dates — as w e ll as several w h ite s — ru n n in g
fo r the same positions.
Since pro spe ctive c a n d i
dates must consider th e ir o p p o sitio n , an e a rly
a n n o u n ce m e n t a nd som e sh ow o f support w ill
o fte n keep the o p p o sitio n to a m in im u m .
It is
im p o rta n t that the best Black ca ndidates not
e lim in a te each o the r, and th a t w e m ake an e ffo rt
in a ll areas
Support
YOUR ADVERTISERS
This is B ro the rh o od W e e k, a w e e k set aside to
re m in d us th a t a ll m en a re brothers.
D uring
B ro the rh o od W eek C hristians in v ite Jews to th e ir
luncheons, Black m inisters a re asked to speak in
w h ite churches, a nd school c h ild re n see m ovies
a b o u t m in o ritie s .
Everyone pauses to e x te n d a
han d o f frie n d s h ip — or to le ra n c e
-- fo r one
w e e k in the year.
Then w h e n B ro the rh o od W eek ends, e v e ry th in g
goes back to n o rm a l. The o ld hatreds surface, the
b ig o try co ntinues, the w h ite n e ig h b o rs resum e th e ir
stru g g le to ke ep Blacks o ut o f th e ir schools, the
p erson ne l d irectors re ie ct m in o rity a pp lica nts, the
prices g o up a n d the q u a lity d o w n in poor n e ig h
borhoods, th e w orke rs scorn th e w e lfa re m others,
the g ro w e rs m isuse C hicano fa rm w o rk e rs , the
p o litic ia n s d e p lo re " g iv e a w a y " program s.
W o u ld n 't it be a p p ro p ria te if som e year, d u rin g
B ro the rh o od W eek, a rea l ch an ge was m ade
if the President w o u ld propose h um an istic le g is la
tio n to p ro v id e fo r the basic physical a nd m ed ica l
needs o f a ll o f the p e o p le ; if Congress a nd the
State Legislatures w o u ld a p p ro p ria te a d e q u a te
fu n d s fo r w e lfa re and e d u c a tio n a n d |ob tra in in g ;
if c o rp o ra tio n s w o u ld co nside r the custom ers
d e p e n d e n t on them ra th e r th a n |ust th e ir p ro fits
It
w o u ld be a rea l B ro the rh o od W eek if actions w e re
ta ken to end racism a nd oppression in the U nited
States.
But none o f these th ing s w e re d o n e d u rin g this
B ro the rh o od W eek.
W e h ave a p re s id e n tia l a d
m in is tra tio n steeped in c o rru p tio n , shortages that
d is p o rtio n a te ly e ffe c t the p oo r, a nd an e con om ic
system d e s ig n e d to oppress.
So w e d o n 't have m uch fa ith in B ro the rh o od
W eek, a n d c a n 't b e lie v e th a t m ost o f th e gestures
m ad e d u rin g this w e e k are sincere
■
! Oregon
N ewspaper
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Association - Founded 1885
Published every Thursday by Exie Publishing Company.
2201 North Killingsworth. Portland. Oregon 97217. Mailing
address: P.O. Box 3137, Portland. Oregon 97208. Telephone:
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The Portland Observer s official position is expressed only
in it's Publishers Column iWe See The World Through
Wack Evesl. Any other material throughout Ih • paper is the
opinion ol the individual writer or submitter and does not
necessarily reflect the opinion ol th< Portland Observer.
What are the most serious
problems Black people face?
If asked this question a few
years ago, many w hites
w ould d o u b tle s s ly have
answered that the problems
confronting the Negroes were
measurably different front
the problems confronting the
rest of society.
Whereas poor people and
the working class have tradi
tionally suffered from uneni
ployment, bad housing, lack
of access to education, run
down, crime infested neigh
borhoods and other inequities
built into the economic order,
Blacks, it was felt, suffered
above all else from the racist
attitudes of individual whites.
The belief that personal
attitudes were more impor
tant than economic injustice
was reflected in the reaction
to the Kerner Commission
Report. Despite its explicit
condemnation of the racist
behavior of institutions
as opposed to the racist
sentiments of individuals
the report was widely in
terpreted as a call for whites
to look inward. Unhappily,
the Commission findings were
made public at precisely the
moment when America could
least afford to indulge in self
analysis.
Ghettoes were
burning, and the country was
traumatized by racial dis
order.
Black people were
intensely disillusioned
not
so much because of the per
sistence of individual pre
judice
but because gov
ernment was failing to follow
through on its promises to
remake our economic and
social structure
Now the New York Times
has published a study which,
while not exploring racial
problems as comprehensively
as the Kerner Commission,
presents a more accurate re
flection of what Black people
want. Its significance lies in
its findings that the prob
lems of Blacks and the prob
lems of white"«, are basically
the same ana iporeover, that
these problems have almost
nothing to do with attitudes
or prejudices.
Both Blacks and whites,
for instance, were more con
cerned about crime than any
other social ill; Blacks, if
anything. w<,rc more em
phatic in their^ feelings about
law and order. Both agreed
that the othyj most impor
tant problems, were housing,
drug addiction and trans
portation.
They were jn agreement
that the rich, the corpora
tions, landlords and organized
crime received preferential
treatment from government.
And while about one of
every five Blacks acknow
ledged to having been vic
timized by discrim ination,
almost none listed racial bias
as the most important prob
lem they faced.
In only one respect did the
survey find strong racial dif
ferences. This was govern
ment programs
such as
busing or the placement of
low income housing in middle
Lyman 5. Parw
Former Mayor oFCL’veland.Ohio
Grand Rapida, Michigan
Chapel Hill, North Caroima
Robert L. Burton,^.
L. J. Tvw man
Springfield Ohio
Glasgow, hentucty
Colem an A.Young
income neighborhoods
to
further integration. Other
wise, Blacks and whiles ex
pressed very much the same
attitudes towards social prob
lems, institutions, and what
ought to be the priorities of
government.
What has been written
here is in no way meant to
minimize the awful spiritual
and psychological toll which
prejudice exacts from our
society. Nor is it my inten
tion to deny that racist at
titudes can and certainly do
determine the policies of gov
ernment and the functioning
of institutions.
But the answer to Ameri
ca's racial problems is econo
mic and political. not psy
chological. Blacks recognize
this. The challenge, there
fore, is to drive the point
home, as emphatically and
often as possible, to all
Americans who are con
cerned about inequality.
If we have learned any
thing from recent experience,
it is that social myths can
infect the entire political
system. As long as racism
was the principle enemy,
concerted, interracial political
action was impossible. And
to the degree that the nation
turned inward, the more
likely it was to believe that
"government programs make
any difference."
We would be much better
off today if we had attacked
the basic social problems
about which the majority of
Americans are concerned.
For in the mobilization of a
coalition of the majority of
Americans who need social
change lies the solution to
polarization and hate. And
in the resolution of these
problems lies the ultimate
answer to racism.
Howard Lee
C a rl B. S tones
Detroit. Michigan
Mavnand H.Jackton
v
Richard Hatcher
Edward Bivens,Jr
Gary, Indiana
Mister. Michigan
■ v .i?
Attanta Georgia
C \y ô c Foster
Tnana, Alabama
Lelia Foley
Taft, OMahoma
James E.Lowry
William b. H a rt
Lincoln Height a,Ohio
E ast Orange,New Jersey
James E.Williams
'U
E a st St Louis. Hliaam
James H. McGee
7-
*z
Gay ton, Ohio
w<-..
CharlcsEvers
F a y e tte ,M n u u s w
Robert Blackwell
,
Highland Park. Michigan
MAYORS OFFICE
Kenneth Gibson
Hermarije Fauntleroy Jr
Newark, New Jersey
Doris Davie
Petersburg/irgima
Compron, California
E arl 5. Lucas
Thomas Bradley
h . ¿C ooperar.
LOS Angele», California
Pnchard Alabama
Matthew Carter
Walter Washington
Montclair, New Jersey
Mound Qoyou m is v w p i
Bennie T Woodard
Grambling, L oulaianj
=
H
tarded if the criteria for
judging mentally retarded
were fair and just and not
based upon one's ability to
I feel that on the concept succeed in a chaotic society,
of sterilization for the men or one's agressiveness, or
tally retarded and poor in one's com p etitiven ess, or
that order, as stated by the one's p erspective employ
people who support it, is an ment; but based on one's
insult and a slap in the fare ability to show traits such as
of the people of this country. compassion and love and an
For so long now, the words ability to survive, under
that echoed in the ear of the stand and learn. This society
poor have been words that can't stand anything or any
support the upper classes body flowing in the opposite
like Phases I, II. III, and IV': direction. The mentally re
soaring food prices; energy tarded flow in a different
crisis; crime in a high office direction so they must be
controlled.
On the other
that would have sent a com
moner to prison. Things that hand, this country must main
really show and force the tain the illusion that every
privileged few out of hiding one, regardless of race, creed
and separate them for the or religion, can ascend to the
whole world to see. With
highest class of them all
most people concentrating on "the elite"
the upper
how to succeed in something class, if they (the people)
falling faster than they are, work
____ for it.
Too many
people are a direct threat to
they fail to see exactly what
that illusion because in this
is meant by sterilization.
society someone has to be
First off, the mentally re
tarded is not the question but
poor and the affluent aren't
only used in this text as some
making w im at the top.
thing to take the pressure
In order not to have to
off the other
"the poor".
share the pie of America
with the growing masses
We should be for the sterili
which are straining the limits
zation of the mentally re
TO
of capitalism, the poor aie
reduced by manipulation of
their growth and big brother
grows steadily. We should
oppose economical restric
tions on life for the poor who
are not able to afford off
spring; neither do they con
trol their means of employ
ment and therefore those
who control em ploym ent
(capitalist corporations) can
also control life in its basic
form. Check out the issue
and determine who profits
from it.
It has been said that the
masses of the people are the
leeches of society. Living off
the wealthy, sucking them
dry. But sterilization points
out the true nature of the
real vampire that eases its
way close to its victim by
offering them eternal life in
the future in exchange for a
little sacrifice now.
The
people should see through all
the schemes used to divide
and control even in their
future working classes . ..
soon we'll be bred just for
labor!
=
Washington, DC.
Blacks do care!
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