Portland Observer October 18,1980 Pago 3
PSU professor compares Blacks, Africans
By Nathaniel Scott
Portland State University's Black
Studies program has a number o f
professors and assistant professors
who are specialists in their fields.
Assistant professor Malaku Lakew
is one such person.
Lakew was born in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia in 1945. After completing
high school, he came to America on
an Ehtiopian scholarship and began
his studies in pursuit o f a doctorate
in economics at the University o f
C alifornia at Riverside. He has a
master’s degree in economics and is
writing his thesis for his Ph.D. His
area of teaching at PSU is economic
relationship o f the African and the
A fro-A m erican. M arried and the
lather o f one child, he is concerned
about the plight o f the African and
the Afro-Am erican. In this inter
view, the Observer posed a number
o f questions to him, relating to the
A fro-A m ericans and the A fric a n
Black.
Observer: What are your obser
vations o f the economic status o f
the Blacks in Portland?
Lakew : I am a new a rriv a l to
P ortland, Oregon and I haven’ t
studied the Black economic
situation specifically, but generally
speaking, what applies in another
state might reflect here in Portland
as well. The Black econom ic
situation is always subserviant to
that o f the economic performance
o f the nation. To put it clearly, the
Blacks are always the firs t to be
fired and the last to be hired. They
are also at the lower rung on the
ladder o f income groups within the
nation.
Observer: Compare and contrast
the Afro-American and the African
Black.
Lakew: A comparison between
the Afro-American and the African
Black is essential, because the
Blacks in Africa seem to have what
we call constitutional independence.
Yet their dependant relationship
with that o f the advanced countries,
puts them in a similar position as
that o f Blacks here in America. The
Black people in A m erica have
always been subjected to white
economic dom inance and their
community has physically depended
on the economic performance, or
the business man’ s decision to invest
in the community and create jobs.
The same thing applies to the Blacks
in Africa. The Blacks have yet not
established an economic base that
would make them self-sufficient.
Therefore, they are dependent on
what we call a m u lti-n a tio n a l
cooperation, who come w ith the
finances and invest in the most
profitable areas, disregarding the in
terest o f the population o f the area.
Disregarding the general interest o f
the Black people in Africa and as a
consequence, the m u lti-n a tio n a l
cooperation w ill get the most profit
at the expense o f the Black country.
Basically the situation is the same.
Compare and contrast the
educational system o f the two.
Lakew: Comparison o f the two
educational systems is very hard to
make. But to give a general remark,
I w ould like to start w ith the
education that is provided in Africa
in a general form at, compared to
the education here in the Black
community.
In Africa the education seems to
be much more p ro fo u n d . The
educational system is meant to
produce well rounded students that
can understand what they learn
more substantially. In America my
observations are that much o f the
education is mass p ro d u ctio n .
Student learning is not well
established or what is required o f
them. The student who finishes high
school in Africa is equivalent to the
student who finishes a junior college
in America; as for as their capacity
for thinking and their capacity for
creative advancement are concer
ned.
Observer:
What
necessary
changes are needed in the com
munity and the educational system ?
Lakew: My area is economic, but
I don’ t see economics divorced from
the other disciplines. Every
discipline seems to be related to one
another. First we have to see the
community by-and-large.
What does the community lack?
What composition o f people live in
the community? Would they be able
to get the necessary requirements
for making the education effective
fo r their off-spring? And further
more, we have to ask the question,
can the Black com m unity be self-
s u ffic ie n t by itself? We have to
create our own identity. We have to
be creative enough to be imitated,
rather than imitating someone else.
The com m unity has to take the
quality o f education in its hands,
rather than leaving it in the hands o f
someone else. In general these types
questions need to be raised, it we
have to tackle the problem o f
education here in the Black com
munities o f America.
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