P«0« 4 Section I Portland Observer, June 6. 1964
EDITORIAL/OPINION
Recognize African contribution
The mass m edia’ s nostalgic spotlight is on
W orld W ar I I and the 40th anniversary o f the
allies* invasion o f N o rm an d y and the sub
sequent victories it created.
However, this media beam has not focused on
the in te rn a tio n a l, n atio n al and local con
trib u tio n o f A fric a and A fro -A m erican s in
W W II.
Internationally, these Western European allies
exploited the resources and people o f Africa to
repay military loans and keep their war machine
oiled. Raw materials were shipped from British
and French colonies to their creditors. The rest
o f A fric a supplied a wide range o f products,
both mineral and agricultural. Had it not been
for the criminal hold on A frica’s resources, the
allies, even with the help o f the Marshall Plan
(International W elfare), would have not been
able to build itself back up to the point o f
looking down on the very group it used as step
ping stones.
N a tio n a lly , the A fro -A m e ric a n soldiers in
W W II overcame tremendous discrimination at
home and ab ro ad , to make great and
unacknowledged contributions to many impor
tant victories won by white-officered armies.
Like their Vietnam sons, they came back with
medals to wear in “ Colored only” restrooms
and on the unemployment lines.
Locally, a labor drain occurred in factories,
shipyards and on the railroads in the Pacific
Northwest. These industries sent out an S.O.S.
throughout the South fo r Black lab o r. O u r
grandparents provided the factors o f produc
tion which aided the war effort while providing
a foundation for Portland’s Black community.
As praise is being distributed for W W II, we
need to stand up and demand recognition for the
souls in Africa that were sucked dry to finance
the allies’ war effort.
We need a twenty-one gun salute to remember
the unknown Black soldiers whose contributions
should not be overshadowed or undergraded.
And let’s remember how many of our neigh
bors got here. They sweated and toiled, fulfilling
defense contracts, while building a community
and making a home for their children.
Jackson's issues should rise
In the interest o f party unity, the national
Democratic party is urging state parties to in
clude Jesse Jackson supporters among the
delegates they send to the convention in San
Francisco, July 16-19.
Although Jackson’s presidential campaign
has been criticized for fracturing that unity this
election year, W a ite ' M o n d a le ’s inability to
wrap up the nomination prior to the convention,
and, therefore, dampen Gary H a rt’s hopes, is
now the real cause of disharmony.
By the time this editorial is printed, however,
results o f another “ Super Tuesday” — this one
June Sth— w ill have either handed M o n d ale
enough delegates to w alk in with the
nomination, July 16th or muddied the waters
sufficiently that H a r t’s delegates could make
choosing the nominee a lo n g -draw n-out
business.
D uring the Oregon p rim ary, M ay 15th,
Jackson did not receive the 15% he needed in
one congressional district to allot him a delegate
to the convention. Jackson campaign supporters
are nevertheless seeking minority representation
on the state’s 50 member delegation and have
met with H art campaign co-chair Tom Mason
and Democratic party chair Dick Celsi, to work
out the details.
Meanwhile, Democratic National Committee
chair Charles Manatt has asked state parties to
include "concern for the Jackson issue” in their
delegate selection process. Knowing Jackson’s
constant exam ination o f U .S . foreign policy,
economic policy and treatment of the poor and
other oppressed minorities is gaining support
among a Rainbow C o alitio n o f voters, party
leaders are anxious to avoid the confrontation
shutting these constituencies out of the conven
tion would create.
A lthough including Jackson supporters
among the delegates might help unite the party,
a more long-term solution would be to insist the
D em ocratic presidential nominee begin
discussing the issues Jackson has raised.
Black fam ilies hit hard by economy
by Dr. Manning Marable
"From The Grassroots"
(Continuedfrom last week)
Probably the most concrete
economic benefit o f the Black ex
tended family vs. the white nuclear
family structure was that the former
had more potential income earners
per fam ily member. In 1967, for
example, only 10.2 percent o f all
Black families had no income ear
ners. Almost six out o f ten Black
fam ilies had two or more income
earners, and 16.4 percent had three
workers or m ore— a much higher
rate than among white fam ilies.
About 80 percent of all Black males
between the ages of 16-24 years who
w eren't in school had jobs, and
those who worked full time earned
76 percent o f what Black men 2$
and older earned. W ith the struc
tural crisis o f capitalism , several
m illio n Black workers have been
pushed into joblessness and
marginal employment in the 1970's
and early 1980's. The economic im
pact upon Black fam ilies con
sequently has been in many respects
as severe as the Great Depression of
the 1930's. By 1977, 17.2 percent of
all Black families had no wage ear
ners; the percent o f families with
three workers or more dropped to
11.9 percent, and the average num
ber of earners per family declined to
1.5, slightly below that of whites. By
1983, Black young adults were ex
periencing unemployment rates of
about 50 percent—and their ratio of
earnings compared to Black adults
fell to 66 percent.
Spiraling unemployment must be
seen as a fundamental factor in the
contem porary crisis confronting
Black fam ilies. As Tom Joe and
Peter Yu, researchers of the Center
for the Study of Social Policy noted
recently in the N ew York Times,
twenty percent o f all working age
Black men— nearly two million per
sons— were out of the labor force in
1982, a three fold increase since
1960.“ Almost half, or 46 percent
o f all Black male adults are
jobless—either “ unemployed, not
participating in the labor force, or
simply unaccounted for. The com
parable figure for white men is 22
percent.” Joe and Yu suggest that
the “ chronic deterioration of the
employment status o f Black men
leaves millions of them incapable of
heading a household. Researchers
and policymakers may therefore be
treating the symptoms o f poverty
rather than the causes."
The U.S. economy’ s crisis set in
motion the destruction o f Black
households, and the Reagan A d
m i n i s t r a t i o n 's r e a c t io n a r y
socioeconomic policies simply ac
celerated the process in the 1980's.
The National Urban League's Slate
o f Black America, ¡984, has listed
only part o f the economic
devastation which impacts Blacks.
Black family income is only 55 per
cent of white fam ily income— the
largest gap recorded in over two
decades. Over 70 percent of Black
families with female householders
and two or more children live below
the poverty level. Over half of all
Black children under three years live
in poverty. Black women who have
full-time employment earn 47 cents
to every dollar earned by males for
jobs of comparable worth. To this
dire situation, Reagan has slashed
Aid to Families with Dependent
Children by 13 percent, a program
whose recipients are 45 percent
Black and 98 percent women and
children. W ith school lunch
programs cut 28 percent since 1981,
over 3 m illion children— largely
Black, L atin o and poor w h i t e -
have lost perhaps their only
nutritious meal each day. H ealth
care reductions have meant that six
out of ten Black preschool children
are currently not immunized against
polio.
The U.S. government has respon
ded to the crisis of Black social in
stability by imposing its own “ struc
ture” on Blacks Poor Blacks are
far more likely to be termed “ men
tally i l l , " fo r example, than are
whites. Black male teenagers are
admitted to state and county mental
hospitals at a rate of 2.62 times that
of white male teenagers; for male
adults aged 25 44 years, the rale of
mental hospital admissions is 2.96
times higher for Blacks. Another
mode of institutionalization is the
armed forces, which is increasingly
presented to Blacks as the " e m
ployer o f last re s o rt." In 1972,
Black first term reenlistments in the
army were only 20.4 percent. By
1976, the figure reached 42.2 per
cent; in 1982, Black reenlistments
were 71 percent, compared to 49.9
percent for whites. The destruction
of Black families today is not due to
internal problems, in short: it is the
logical product o f instutional
racism, poverty, legal discrim in
ation, and Reaganism.
WE'RE FIG H TIN G FO R
YO UR LIFE
0
American Heart
Association
in Oregon
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Letters to the Editor
Racist scapegoat
To the Editor:
The plight of Mexican workers in
the U.S. needs investigation and at
tention. T herefo re, I looked fo r
ward to the April Oregonian series,
“ Crossing the Border.” However,
reading it filled me with conster
nation.
The entire series focused on
Mexican immigrants who allegedly
enter this country to rip o ff jobs and
social services. No mention was
made that the Southwest, where
many Mexicanos settle, is actually
Mexican te rrito ry , ripped o ff by
land-greedy Anglos.
In the 1800’s, thousands of illegal
Anglos settled in this area despite
Mexican government protests.
Eventually, these whites— with help
from the American army— annexed
the whole o f what is now the
Southwestern U .S . The Mexican
•At
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[O regon
New spaper
P u b lis h e rs
Association
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inhabitants, stripped o f their land
and transformed intocaptive U .S.
citizens, found their skills used to
form the backbone of the ranching,
farming and mining empires built in
the Southwest.
For centuries, Mexican workers
have been an integral part o f the
labor force. They have contributed
far more than they ever received.
Articles like "Crossing the Border”
are little
more than
racist
scapegoating when the plight o f
Mexican workers is seen in its
historical context. More balanced
press coverage should be focused on
their situation.
to say that Z too am happy about the
unity. The difference is that I am
white. The purpose of (his letter is
to clearly state that if any ethnic
group wants to have unity and har
mony among themselves and the
rest of the community and achieve
positive results fo r all people, there
should not be statements like, "the
white system in this c ity " , or any
other color. Such a feeling will truly
destroy the intent of unity in District
»18 and any other district, regard
less o f the ethnic “ m a k e -u p ".
District »18 voters won what was
wanted and needed— like in fo o t
ball, take the ball and run with it.
Fran Ariniello
Madelyn Elder
Real unity needed
To the Editor:
Referring to Vesia DeWeese-
Loving's letter about the District
»18 outcome in the primary, I want
The Observer welcomes Letters to
the Editor. Letters should be short,
and must contain the writer's name
and address (addresses are not print
ed). The Observer reserves the right
to edit fo r length.
Portland Observer
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