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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 9, 1980)
Portland Observar October 9.1980 Page 3 Marable speaks in Portland D r. M anning M arablc, Black historian and activist who writes a weekly column “ From the Grass roots,” (see below) in many Black newspapers including the Observer, w ill speak at “ The Red Rose School” Friday Forum on October 24th at 7:30 p.m. Dr. Marable is a professor at Cornell University. He w ill speak on “ Beyond the C ivil Rights Movement.” The forums will be held at 4312 S.E. Stark. The school is sponsored by the New American Movement. Call 239-0181 for information. Governor seeks nominees Linda Jo h n so n speaks to m e e tin g called by the B lack U n ite d Front to o rg anize a g ain st re c e n t cuts in w e lfa re a llo tm e n ts vo te d by th e le g is la tu re in a reactio n to a d e fic it in e x p e c te d funds. (P hoto: R ichard B ro w n ) From the grassroots By Dr. Manning Marable W h a t is fre e d o fn 7 Back in the 195O’ s and 60’s there was the ever-present question that white reporters and politicians, cor porate executives and so-called in tellectuals always asked the Black community: “ What does the Negro want?” Our reply to this question was always the same, and it was only one word: Freedom. Frederick Douglass was about ffreedom. That is why he escaped fro m the b ru ta l clutches o f his slaveowner, and followed the North Star tow ard freedom . Dr. W.E.B.DuBois, the founding father o f the N .A .A .C .P ., was about freedom. That is why he left the ivory tower o f scholasticism and became the editor o f The Crisis, the in itia to r o f the modern Pan- Africanist Movement, and the ad vocate o f world peace. The Reverend M a rtin Luther King, J r., was about freedom. Martin devoted his life in the battle to uproot and overthrow the terrible system o f racial segregation, A m erica's version o f apartheid. M alcom X was about freedom. Malcom told us to be proud o f our selves and our heritage. Martin and Malcom both gave their lives in that pursuit o f freedom. Today, we must ask ourselves what freedom should mean fo r Black and other oppressed people. A ll too often, we think o f freedom as the absence o f oppression. We think o f freedom in negative terms, rather than positive terms. A ll o f us are against Jim Crow and the system o f de jure and de fac to segregation. But does our op position to Jim Crow per se’ mean that we are furthering the cause o f freedom? We are against inferior schools that miseducate our children. We are against the Bakke decision that attacked the principle o f a ffirm a tiv e action in higher education. We are against the racist attacks o f policemen w ith in the Black community, and we oppose the reemergence o f the KKK. We are against the high rate of unemployment fo r Black people, and particularly the alarming rate o f joblessness among the youth. We i are against the political cutbacks o f the Carter Administration in health care, in welfare, in education and in all social and human service areas. Now we must ask ourselves, “ What are we for?” We know what the absence o f freedom looks like. Now we must address the positive side o f the equation; what are we prepared to stand for, to affirm in our hearts and in our minds, at the voting booth and in street demon strations, to further the freedom struggle? What are we for? We must be f o r the things that are needed to make human life worth living — the prerequisites o f human development -- in all economic, social, c u ltu ra l and p o litic a l relations. We are for a national health care program, that places the lives o f people ahead of the selfish private p ro fits o f the Am erican Medical Association, the hospitals and pharamaceutical corporations, its obligations to its employees, that it should be forced by law to remain — either under jo in t management between the employers and em ployees, or directly financed and operated by w orking folks them selves. We are for economic equality and an expansion o f p o litic a l democracy inside the factories, shops, warehouses and clerical o f fices o f the nation. We are for a free people, not fo r an irresponsibly free enterprise - because the excesses o f an unrestricted free enterprise have come to mean an unfree existence for the majority o f our people. What are we for? We are for the self determination of all the world’ s oppressed and peoples o f color, whether in Iran or Afghanistan, South Korea or South Africa, or our own com m unity. We are fo r the existence o f safeguard to protect the Constitutional rights o f women, and for an equal rights amendment to extend and preserve those rights. We are fo r an independent strategy in our political programs and practices. We are for peace, the reduction o f international tensions, the a b o litio n o f both nuclear weapons and nuclear power. We are for a decent social and cultural en vironment for our children, and for their children, and all successive generations. We are f o r freedom. \r G overnor V ic to r A tiyeh w ill establish a Commission on Blacks and a Commission on Hispanics ad is seeking nominees for both com missions. Persons who are interested in serving, or who w ould like to suggest nominees, should call Kay Toran, state affirm ative action o f ficer, at 229-5700 extension 6868 or 378-6868 (Salem). 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