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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 18, 1984)
Page 4 Portland Observer. July 18. 1984 EDITORIAL/OPINION The (••»«B Candidates’Chorus « np r-M 9 "** " b MTHE c Ô u ^ A ê HÄVt GOURTBD I 1 0 THE- » a ? RIVALS'STANDS l*M • ihv Vn« < V E R E W CUR VIEWS FOR « NEWS ANO HAVE BELLOWED ’'WHERE'S, WHILE m SAT " C alifornia ' EACH AND y / B W ® IT ALL. SINGING OUT:”HAILTO ^ T L tC H ffT - / DATE: S a t u r d a y , TIM E , A ugust 4, 1984 D IS T R IBUTION ITEM S: P r o c e s s e d Cheese: B u tte r: H oney: M.ONTHLY _J '. E L IG IB IL IT Y R EO U IR E M C N TS Y o u a r e e l i g i b l e t o r e > c i v i •.:.<■••• f o o d i t e m s i f y o u r m o n th ly :..;o m a i s e q u a l t o , o r l e s s t h a n , t .‘:< fo llo w in g g u id e lin e s : 4 .........................................$1105 5 .........................................$1294 6 .........................................$1482 3 .................................................. $ WHERE TO PICK UP CHEESE ME 917 PICKUP FOR A FRIEND OR RELATIVE i f you kn -w aoneon* who needs th e s e fo o d i t e w s b u t i s u n a b le t o g o t o th e s i t e . . . b r i n g p r o o f o f t h e i r ad d re s s .»nd » w r i t t e n no te^T ro rt t h a t p e rs o n to th e a p p r o p r ia t e s i t e . - - D r i v e r 's L ic e n s e - - P h o t o ID w i t h a d d r e s s - - V o t e r R e g i s t r a t i o n C a rd --R c C c n t u t i l i t y b i l l w ith - - S o c i a l S e c u r i t y C a rd - - F o o d S ta m p C a r d - - M e d i c a l Card • S t . V in c e n t d e P a u l w i l l a g a i n d e l i v e r c h e e s e t o t h o s e who r e c e i v e d i t l a s t M arch . T hose c u r r e n tly r e c e i v i n g M e a ls -o n -W h e e la w i l l a l s o re c e iv e c h e e se . THERE IS NO NEED TO CALL. ‘ B r in g These sites will give che«“ . « * o n l y • f i . j - » - ' . • a bag to ■ z'«j »n tr <» ic . <jn«itcd Z * “ Code afe-i-.__ IF Y O U L ive IN G O TO NORTH PORTLAND 9720 J 9 7 2 1 7 W. o f 1-5 97229 9723 1 ROOSEVELT HIGH SCHOOL 6941 N . C e n t r a l NORTHWEST 9 7 2 0 9 W. o f 1-405 9 2 X 0 FIRST BB1ANUO. LITHEMAN CHURCH Nw 1 8 t h fc I r v i n g DOWNTOWN 9 7 2 0 1 N. o f PSU 97204 97205 NW PILO T PROJECT 1 0 3 0 SW 3 r d 97 2 <? 9 E . o f 1-405 BALONEY JO ES 313 E . B u r n s i d e SOUTHWEST 9 7 2 0 1 S . o f PSU 97219 972. 1 NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE, IN C . 7 7 8 0 SW C a p i t o l Hwy. SOUTHEAST 97202 97214 97215 CLEVELAND HIGH SCHOOL SE P o w e l l t 2 6 t h 97206 97266 WOODSTOCK SCHOOL 5 6 0 1 SE 5 0 t h 97211 9 7 2 1 7 « . o f 1-5 97227 JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL 5 2 1 0 N. K e r b y 97212 97213 97218 9 7 2 32 GRANT HIGH SCHOOL 2 2 4 5 NE 3 6 th 97216 97220 97230 97233 97236 SAVAGE MEMORIAL CHURCH SE 1 3 9 t h 6 M i l l NORTHEAST EAST COUNTY CORBETT M ID DLE SCHOOL 15800 E . CROWN PO INT HWY. 9 7 f6 n r o f Sandy R iv e r Portland Observer •« MS« • * " * ’ *«. 'Æ fe S M S ,' The P o rtla n d O b \ r r \ r r fU S P S 9 59 6801 i t published every Thursday by E»ie Publishing Company. Inc 2201 North Killings worth Portland. Oregon 97217. Post Office Bos 3137. Portland. Oregon 97?()8 Second class postage paid el Portland Oregon The P o rtla n d MEMBER O b tr r v e r Association • Foundad 1995 PORTLAND OBSERVER was established m 1970 »15 «or one vast □ *25 «or two veers Bo* 3137 Portland OR 97028 I I M •\*«»«S Subscriptions 115 00 per year in the Tri County area P ost m a s te r Send address changes io the P o rtla n d O b w w , P 0 Bos 3137 Portland. Oregon 97208 A lfred I Henderson. Editor/Publisher A l Williams. General Manager 283 2486 N atio n a l A d v e rtis in g R ep resentative A m a lg a m a te d Publishers Inc N e w York SLLJLP $ <3J o o “e - I - I m < o c s 3 io 1 " 3 j Stieel C ITY 2 SQ * ÍZ) -I r 3J Apt STATE ZIP Double standards cloud ideals The Dem ocratic party projects itse lf as the party o f great diversity, representative o f all o f Am erica’ s ethnic and social groups. San Fran cisco has a similarly egalitarian image as the city on the move; a city where politicians speak o f their tolerance fo r “ divergent lifestyles.” Underneath these glow ing images, though, exists both a c ity and a p a rty where b la ta n t inequality continues to exist. Delegates to the Democratic National C on vention roughly reflect the racial breakdown o f A m erican society. W h ile this is a laudable achievement, it is the only point on which the delegates can be said to be representative. W hile the fa m ily income o f the average American is roughly $20,(XX), seventy-three per cent o f the Democratic delegates say th e ir’ s is over $30,000 per year. Only five percent o f the X > > Democrats characterize themselves as “ blue collar’ ’ . And even as the convention proceeded with speeches on the need for greater fairness, Mayor Feinstein’ s police arrested protestors (who had committed no crimes) on the felony charge o f conspiring to commit a misdemeanor. The move was clearly intended to keep the protestors o ff the streets, and away from the media limelight. So, too, are the daily round-ups o f the homeless throughout the convention area. Progress has clearly been made by both the Democrats and the C ity o f San Francisco, but party rules locking out society’s long shots, and the use o f police power to do the same, must end. Much, much more progress remains to be made before the glossy images accurately reflect our American reality. lacks still media outsiders by Joel Dreyfuss GRESHAM SENIOR CENTER 97024 50 NE E LL IO T . GRESHAM 97030 9 7 0 6 0 W. o f Sandy R iv e r 97008 97010 97019 acquiesce to the dem ands o f the N a tio n a l O rganization o f Women. This is not the first tim e w h ite women have benefited fro m the stuggle started by Black people in America. Following a decline in activity after winning the rig h t to vote in 1920, the w om en’ s movement re-emerged in the 1960’s only after the c o n fro n ta tio n a l n o n -v io le n t d e m o n strations o f the C iv il Rights movement which incorporated the Equal Rights Amendment in to its agenda. But the women’ s movement has not alw ays been sensitive to the p lig h t o f Blacks in Am erica or the struggles o f women o f color. Both N .O .W . and the Mondale forces ignored co nside ra tion o f Black women as vice- presidential candidates, even when the only serious previous m inority presidential candidate was Shirley Chisolm. True equality for women can only be realized with equality for all. Jesse Jackson has opened the Democratic door fo r Ferraro to go in. We hope she thanks Jackson as she goes through, keeping the door open—and not just cracking it slightly— for him. 3 pounds F AMILY S I Z E To r e c e i v e t h e s e fo o d ite m :» , y o u m u st p r e s e n t p r o o f o f y o u r c u r r e n t a d d re ss. ACCEPTABLE f o r m s o f ID : For the first time in the 208-year history o f American politics a woman has been named as a major party vice presidential candidate. The door through which women pass to take their rig h tfu l place as fu ll partners in the electoral process has been s w iftly and p e rm a n e n tly opened. As we a p p la u d th is h is to ric ch o ice , o u r know ledge o f h is to ry and p o litic a l analysis dem ands a “ th a n k y o u “ , fro m G e ra ld in e F e rra ro , to Jesse Jackson and the R ainbow C oalition. Serious discussion o f a female vice-president was considered only a fter the challenge o f a s tro n g Black male fo r the p residency. T h ro u g h o u t a ll levels o f the cam paign, the Rainbow C oalition advocated for political and economic equality fo r women. It was Jackson w ho fits t made a co m m itm ent to choose a female running mate should he be nominated. L o g ic w o u ld te ll us tha t F e rra ro was nom inated fo r the num ber-tw o spot because her male counterparts had their political party reclaim ed and e le c trifie d by Jesse Jackson. M o n d a le fo u n d it p o litic a lly necessary to 2 pounds 1 ........................................ S 540 2 ........................................ $ 728 PROOF OF ADDRESS 5 pounds Ferraro should thank Jackson P A C IF IC N EW S SEP W C£-Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign could prove as upsetting to the racial status quo in the news media as it has been to national politics. Though news executives say coverage of Jackson's campaign is fair and im partial. Blacks have had quite a different response— and this disagreement raises some issues about the news media that go far beyond presidential politics. M any white journalists have praised Black W ashington Post reporter M ilton Coleman for repeating Jackson's off-the-record reference to Jews as "H y m ies .” But many Blacks, including some jo u r nalists, have publicly criticized both Coleman and media coverage of Jackson's campaign Some news executives dismiss such protests as knee-jerk reactions, but they actually reflect long standing animosities. Through much o f American history. Blacks have viewed the news media as the enemy. From the end of the Civil W ar to the civil rights era, many newspapers in the South instigated mob violence and urged that Blacks "b e put in their place.” Coverage of Blacks improved for a w hile in the 19 6 0 's — the c iv il rights movement was "the story” of the decade, and many news outlets assigned their best reporters to cover it. The moral pressures o f the movement—and the hostility of Black militants— also led some organizations to seek out and hire Black journalists, many of whom covered the changes then taking place in Black communities all over the country. But white editors soon turned elsewhere— to Vietnam, Watergate, •n d then the self-indulgence o f the late 1970’s. Younger reporters, Black and white, were urged to put their energies into " M o re important topics” than Blacks or Black issues New, more fashionable minorities were discovered; Hispanics, the Vietnamese. But, like the Blacks before them, they were covered as anomalies, to be dealt with in one story or a series, then forgotten. Of course, a number of newspapers and local stations have worked vigorously to desegregate their news coverage, but they are notable exceptions. In too many large city papers, the only Black faces which appear are those of criminal suspects and athletes. Efforts to cover the political emergence of Blacks reveal these shortcomings. For example, many journalists credit the Black political surge to Jackson, while it actually Analysis started well before he announced his candidacy. And when Jackson ap peared at the United Nations with African ambassadors and Black leaders, many white reporters could not distinguish the former from the latter. This limited perspective can be found all over big-city newspapers; not just in the failure to grasp the breadth of the Black political awakening, but in something that may seem as trivial as a Sunday feature article about poets and springtime that features white male poets only. It reflects, in part, the fact that Black politicians them selves usually lack the close social contacts prominent whites have with media executives. Coverage o f minority com munities, while well-intentioned, is often paternalistic, with quotes from white experts and a few well- known Blacks who are treated as authorities on all aspects o f Black life. At the root of this ignorance is the co n tin u ed segregation o f new s rooms a ll over the co u n try . A c cording to one study, 70 percent of the newspapers in this country have no minority journalists on their staffs. Television stations have placed a number of Blacks in visible positions, but few work in newsrooms, and non-whites in decision-making roles are virtually nonexistent. These employment practices un dermine arguments by media in stitutions that they can deal fairly with minorities. It may also help ex plain why questions have been raised about the impartiality of Black journalists, hut not about ex government officials covering the agencies they used to work for, or Jewish journalists covering Israel. It is not surprising, then, that most Blacks feel excluded from the public the media supposedly serves. Minorities are covered from a white perspective— the question is, what •re “ they” up to? Rarely do minority readers or viewers see their point o f view used as the basis for reporting a story. Nor is it surprising that many Blacks view white-owned media as preservers o f the racial status quo. This creates the dilemma that faced M ilton Coleman: Black journalists who are seen as too committed to their employers are accused of par ticipating in this repression. Yet Black-owned media rarely have the resources to reach as many Blacks as white-owned outlets. O f course, wrongdoing by leaders and elected officials, regardless of race, should be routinely reported. But when the perception in the minority community is that such reporting is done selectively, and when the selection is seen as color- coded, news organizations lose their credibility. News executives must make a new commitment to bring in minority talent and to place experienced minority journalists in positions where their perspectives have real impact. Otherwise, minorities will have to conclude that these in stitutions have no intention of ac commodating to the changes in American society.
