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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 3, 1980)
Page 2 Portland Observer January 3. 1960 Old 'St. Nick' and the Black Kid EDITORIAL/OPINION By N. Fungai Kumbula The Year of the Child Throughout the world 19/9 was celebrated as "The Year of the Child", the twentieth anniver sary of the Bill of Rights for Children. 1979 was also the 25th Anniversary of the Brown Decision, which made racial segregation in public schools illegal and promised a more equitable education system and educational opportunity for Black children. Yet as 1979 has ended, the cond ition of children in the United States, and especially of Black children, is appauling. Public and school officials continue to discrminate with impunity against children of racial minorities, children of poor families, children who are physically, men tally or emotionally disabled, children who do not speak English, children who are too smart or not smart enough, and children who have problems adjusting to an unfair system. Children are denied proper housing, medical care, day care, education, and suffer in a repressive juvenile justice system. Black children suffer these abuses in greater degree. Black women receive less prenatal care and receive it later in their pregnancies than white women. At every stage of pregnancy, twice as many Black women lack prenatal care. Prenatal care has been demonstrated to be one of the most important factors influencing infant mortality and health. One out of every 43 non white infants dies each year. A Black baby today has almost twice the chance of dying within the first year of life as a white baby. - Black children and teenagers die from illnesses at rates 25 per cent or higher than the rates for white children and teenagers. - Black children are twice as likely to have no regular source of medical care as are w hite children. Of those Black children who do have regular medical care, they are five times more likely to depend on hospital outpatient emergen cy room services than white children. - A Black child is twice as likely to grow up in a family whose head did not finish high school as is a white child. A Black child's chance of having a college graduate as a parent is only one fourth that of a white child. A young Black college graduate has the same chance of being unemployed as a white high school dropout; a young Black high school graduate has the game chance of being unem ployed as a white grade school dropout. Many Black and other minority group children, as well as poor white children, are denied the basic ingredients to a healthy and productive life. What if just for one decade all of this nation's resources were targeted toward enabling each child to reach his maximum potential? What if every fam ily and child were guaranteed a reasonable income, decent housing, adequate health care, an excellent education, and oppor tu n ity for productive and rew arding em ployment? To be equal By Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. The legal and judcial process of defining a ffirm a tiv e action con tinues. t he Supreme Court will rule this term on the case of Fullilove V Kreps, which deals with m inority set-asides in federal procurement. Hound One in the affirmative ac tion fight was the Bakke case I hat one ended in a draw, with the judges taking refuge in an ambiguous ruling W hile Bakke barred outright racial quotas, it did sanction race as a consideration in drawing up special programs. Round Two, the Weber case, was decided last June. That one ended with a clear victory for affirmative action. The Court's decision was handed down by Justice Brennan, who ar ticulated three basic standards an af firmative action program must meet. I hey included: An affirmative action plan must be designed to "break down old patter ns An affirmative action plan must be designed to "break down old pat terns ol racial segregation and hier- archy” -that is, it must reflect a benign favoritism that makes up for past discrimination. - It must not "unnecessarily trammel the interests” of whites. - It must be a temporary measure ‘ ‘ not intended to m aintain racial balance, but simply to eliminate a manifest racial imbalance." That set the stage fo r Round Three, the Fullilove case. And by Justice Brennan’s three standards the outlook appears bright for another victory. The plan under challenge is the 1977 Public W orks Employment Act, a counter-recession measure that appropriated $4 billion for an accelerated public works program. Congressman Parren Mitchell got an amendment through that man dated ten percent o f the cost of the public works projects under the Act go to minority firms. W hite contractors, unused to Black competition, went to court to overthrow the amendment, fu llilo v e , representing New York State contractors, lost in the lower courts and appealed to the Supreme Court. But some other challenges to the amendment were upheld in some- lower courts. In one sense, the case is over since all the money under the Act has been spent. But the constitutional issues remain and have great implications lor Blacks in particular, and for all minority business. By the standards o f the W e b e r decision, the court upheld the minority set-aside program. F irst, it is clearly aimed at breaking down old patterns o f segre gation. Black business gets less than one percent o f federal purchase dollars. The complex bidding requirements and other impediments ot previous public works programs effectively shut Blacks out o f that lucrative-market. Clearly, Congress has the right and the duty to remedy that situation. Second, the Set-asides do not “ un necessarily trammel the interests" of whites. White firms, which once had almost 100 percent o f the federal public works dollar, now got 90 per- cent-hardly a hardship. T hird, the set-aside amendment was clearly temporary; in fact it has now expired. It was aimed at eliminating “ a manifest racial im balance" and it succeeded. The Court will also have to con sider whether the nature o f the set- aside program was clearly related to the national interests, as defined by the Congress. Here again, the answer is clear. When the Act was passed the nation was in a recession. Unemployment was high and construction activity dormant. Hardest hit were Black contractors, many o f whom were threatened w ith the loss o f their business due to the high cost o f borrow ing and the business slowdown. Black unemployment then as now is climbing fast, and Congress wisely decided that a set-aside program giving a shot in the arm to Black con tractors would also boost Black em ployment. Finally, there was the documented experience o f earlier public works programs that were tilted away from the Black community. Black firms were often discriminated against and predominately white towns got most o f the grants. Blacks got dispropor tio na tely fewer benefits from programs designed to deal w ith recession and unemployment, from which they suffered more. So my scorecard suggests that af firm a tiv e action w ill win Round Three decisively. But this Court is unpredictable and the stakes are too high for complacency. PORTLAND OBSERVER 1st Place Community Service ONPA 1973 The Portland Observer (USPS 969 6801 it pubhshed every Thurs day by E«,e Publishing Company. Inc 2201 North Killmgaworth P o ^ n d Oregon 97217, Pott Office Bo« 3137. Portland Oregon 97208 Second class postage pa»d at Portland. Oregon 1 st Place Best Ad Results ONPA 1973 Subscriptions »7 50 per year in Tri County area $8 00 per year outside Tn County area P os tm as te r Send address changes to the Portland Observer. P 0 Box 3137, Portland, Oregon 97208 5th Place Best Editorial ONPA 1973 The Portland Observer » official position ,s expressed only in its Editorial column Any other material throughout the paper is the opinion of the individual writer or submitter and does not neces sanly reflect the opinion of the Portland Observer Honorable Mention Herrick Editorial Avvard NNA 1973 283 2486 ALFRED L HENDERSON Editor/Publisher Öt\ N a tio n a l A d vertising R ep re s e n ta tiv e A m a lg a m a te d Publishers, Inc N e w York 2nd Place Best Editorial 3rd Place Community Leadership ONPA 1975 Sii, « O r e g o n B ■ N t l f p A L per a ■ a k MB P t u - b w lish .( e un-' rs ■ Association ■ fowndad f * M ■ ■ » • 'A s s o c ia tio n IB 3rd Place Community Leadership ONPA 1978 At the break o f dawn on Christ mas morning, Harold almost broke a leg racing his little sister. Heather, to the Christm as tree to open the presents. N either c h ild had slept much the night before, each hoping to hear the sound o f Santa sliding down the chimney and, perchance, maybe even to see him. “ Oh Mommy, Daddy, look what Santa brought me!” they shouted in unison, Harold holding up the “ Six M illion Dollar M an" and Heather a Farah Fawcett doll. There were also books, roller skates and bicycles and, each time one lifted up one o f the presents, they gave thanks to Santa. I have always wondered what it does to a Black child to grow up believing that all these "w o n d e rfu l" Christmas presents came from some old white man whom he/she has never met. Both H a ro ld ’ s parents had to take on extra jobs in order to afford Christmas presents for their children and even then, it will be a long lime before they finish paying for Ihein. This society has so con ditioned people into believing that Christmas is not Christinas unless you give. C onsidering how hard most people strive in order to afford presents for their families during the Yuletide season, it is all the more paradoxical that they would give credit to some m ythical old while man who probably couldn’ t care less for a Heather or a Harold. Why tell the lie? W hy not just come out and tell the kids that Mom and Dad bought the presents fo r them? Do the parents ever consider the damage this lie might cause lo children at such a young and im pressionable age? O bviously, they will look up to the good while man in the red suit and while beard. He is going to seem a lot more important than grandpa. This w ill affect the way they relate to Black and white people for quite some time to eotne. The toys that most parents buy for their children also merit some com ment. A casual look ai the toys Black kids got shows a preponderance o f Ihe aforem entioned ‘ ‘ Six M illio n D ollar M a n ", the Farah Fawcett dolls, Threepios, Artoo Deloos and other such sci-fi characters. O f course virtually all o f ihese charact er, the heroes particularly, are white. Again, the erroneous idea that white is good and Black bad is reinforced in these young minds. Most o f the toys are fine, ihey are a lot o f fun but they have no relevance ai all lo the average Black child. Under such cir cumstances, the Black child grows up feeling less than adequate, feeling deprived. There just are no real Black heroes or positive characters that he can try to imitate or emulate. There could be no greater sin than this cu ltu ra l d e p riva tio n o f our children. That Christmas has come to be a colossal comtnerical rip o ff nobody disputes any more. By now just about everyone is sick o f the slogans: "B uy this. Buy that.” "T he Perfect G ift" . “ She will love you for it . " If she "lo v e s ” you because you boughl some gift for her then it ’ s time to tell her to start w alking. W hile the little people are com plaining about how light money is, the merchants are reporting record profits again. T raffic fatalities and injuries - all the way from the permanently disabling to minor scratches - have come to be accepted as part ol the holiday season. Homicides and other serious offenses seem to go up ac cordingly also. Year before Iasi, a friend o f mine was gunned down in Eos Angeles simply because someone fancied his w rislw atch. This past year, another friend was shot and k ille d when he co nfron te d the burglar who had made o ff with his stereo system. And yet everywhere you go, you cannot seem to escape the “ Peace on earth, goodwill to all men” Yuletide melodies. Over the past several years a growing number o f people have been turning to K W A N Z A A instead. Is Kwanzaa an alternative to C hrist mas? The answer is an emphatic NO. The only connection, if it can be called that at all, is that they fall w ithin ihe same time o f the year. Christmas is celebrated on December 25th and the New Year on January 1st. On ihe other hand, Kwanzaa is a seven day celebration starting on December 26th and concluding on January 1st. Kwanzaa is an African festival and literally means ‘ ‘ First F ru its ". At this time o f the year, families in West A fric a , p a rtic u la rly , would get together to celebrate Ihe harvesting o f Ihe first crops, to give thanks for the cohesiveness and cooperation of the community, for the family unit and to prepare for the coming year. Each o f the seven days represents one o f the "N g u /o Saba" or seven principles. The purpose celebrated on the first day is •‘ Umoja” (Unity), the second is "Kujichagulia” (Self- determ ination), then "U jim a a (Collective work and responsibility), “ U j a m a a ’ (Cooperative econom ics), "N ia ” (Purpose), ‘ ‘ Kuurnba” (Creativity) and the seventh and last one is "Iin a n i” (Faith). The Nguzo Saba form the basis of the African community. Kwanzaa, therefore, d iffers m arkedly from Christinas because the emphasis is not on fo oling ch ild re n, buying presents to " le i someone know I care” , or partying and killing each other off. The emphasis, instead, is on looking inward to the people around oneself and, in essence, saying: “ Thank you for being you," What could be more relevant lo the Black family? Is there anything w rong w ith celebrating Christmas? Not really since everybody is free to do as they choose. What cannot be condoned, however, is the “ holiday madness" that accompanies every "h o lid a y season" (p a rtic u la rly Christm as) now. With this much food for thought, yours truly wishes you all a Very Happy New Year. May il he a year o f Enlightenment, a year o f Awareness and, above all, a year of Wisdom. Development meeting set (Continued from page I eol. 3) Studies Departm ent and In te r national Education O ffic e ; the W orld A ffairs Council o f Oregon; the Y M C A ; and PSU's A fric a n Women’ s Association. The symposium will be held in the th ird -flo o r b allroom in Smith Memorial Center on the PSU cam pus. Sessions run from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. both days, with registra tio n beginnTng at 8:30 a.m. on January 10th. The public- is invited to attend free o f charge. For in fo r m ation or lunch reservations call 229-4003. r I I I I I I I I I I Subscribe Today $7.50 per year—Tri-county $8.00 per year —Other N A M E ________________________________ ADDRESS _______________________ - Z CITY__________________S T A T E ______ i ¿ip Portland Observer Box 3137 Portland. Oregon 97208
