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
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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.
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