Page 4, Portland Observer, July 17,1986
The housing crisis. .
EDITORIAL/OPINION
Along the C o lo r Line by D r M anning M arab le
Veto shallow, superficial
Governor Victor A tiyeh’s veto o f House Bill
2001 — Oregon’s divestment bill — rubber-
stamps oppression abroad and highlights A ti­
yeh’s narrowness, racism and insensitivity here
at home.
The Atiyeh administrtion is notoriously anti-
low-income, anti-fam ily, anti-small business and
just plain regressive. His refusal to aggressively
and effectively assist and save Oregon’s timber
industry plunged our state into a depression.
So why should we expect a governor who cut
welfare assistance to two-parent families under­
stand the institutional destruction o f Black fam ­
ilies in South A frica who suffer daily under the
oppression o f apartheid?
Like a bully picking on a small, defenseless
child, Atiyeh cut Aid to Dependent Children on
a statewide basis while Reagan was reducing
resources on a federal level.
Atiyeh has spent thousands of our tax dollars
in a bankrupt attempt to attract overseas dollars
to Oregon. But he failed and brouight in pennies
while small businesses were ignored and folded.
Atiyeh’s reasons for keeping Oregon in the
M iddle Ages and ignoring the wishes o f a signif­
icant sector o f Oregonians is shallow and super­
ficial. His decision to veto H B 2001 appeases the
“ old boys’’ in the old boy network and leaves
the status quo intact. In South Africa, the status
.Part Two
quo represents death, oppression and exploita­
tion financed by Oregon taxpayers.
The state treasurer deployed a ruthless and
insidious scare tactic by claiming divestment
would threaten the financial stability o f the Pub­
lic Employees’ Retirement Fund.
This couldn’t be further from the truth and
proponents o f divestment provided evidence
and research to counter the state’s contrived
misconceptions. W ould Atiyeh invest Oregon
funds in Nazi Germany? According to this latest
veto, he would.
Throughout this struggle, Representatives
Carter, Burton and H ill all showed us commit­
ment combined with courage as they saw this
legislation through. The Oregon Rainbow O r­
ganizing Committee, Portlanders Organized for
Southern African Freedom, American Friends
Service Committee and the Black United Front
should be commended for their effective grass-
root lobbying and educating the public about
the legalized slavery in South Africa.
I t ’s a good thing he’s a lame duck governor,
because this veto quacks with oppression, racism
and colonialism. Atiyeh has demonstrated that
he has the backbone o f a chocolate bar, a lim it­
ed (and all-white) vision o f the world and an
imperialistic attitude in regard to international
affairs.
US. AIP FOR THE CONTRAS,..
In New York C ity, there are usual­
ly anywhere from 35,000 to 60,000
people who sleep in the streets, alleys,
and shelters o f the city on any given
night. Earlier this year officials con­
servatively pegged the number of
homeless people in New York state
at 87,000, with over three-fourths o f
this number living in the New York
metropolitan area Despite the so-
called economic recovery o f 1983-85,
the crisis in providing shelter for the
homeless is becoming more severe.
A 1984 report by the Department o f
Housing and Urban Development
claimed that there were less than
350,000 people in the U.S. without a
home. But most experts place the
figure at two million. Poo- people
and low-income workers — especially
Blacks, Hispanics, the permanently
unemployed, female-headed house­
holds — rarely make the headlines
But their housing crisis is ten times
more severe than the spectre o f fore­
closure on the millions o f white, afflu ­
ent suburban families whose mort
gage payments now exceed their dis­
posable incomes.
Why are several million Americans
living in sewers, subway passages, and
alleys, and millions more living as
renters in decaying and collapsing
apartment buildings? The real roots
of the problem consist o f Federal
apathy, repressive tax laws, the profit-
motives o f landlords, and gentrifica­
tion. The Reagan Administration's
hostility towards the goal of decent,
affordable shelter for all Americans
has always been apparent. Once in
office, Reagan destroyed the Co-op
Bank, and orders major cuts in the
Community
Development
Block
Grant Program When the President
appointed a “ Housing Commission”
to study the problem o f urban shelter,
26 out o f 27 commissioners were
white, and moat represented con­
struction firms, financial and insur­
ance institutions. In 1981, the Fed­
eral housing budget amounted to
$29 billion; four years later, the total
came to under $10 billion. Funds were
slashed which gave the poor enough
subsidies to pay for their housing.
This had a devastating impact on
low income people in every city. For
example, during Carter's administra­
tion, New York City received funds
to rebuild or construct 4,000 units
under Section 8 of the Federal Hous­
ing Act. Today this program does
not exist. In 1980, New York obtained
funds to provide rent subsidies to
7,000 new households annually. By
1985, only enough money for 3,500
new families is available.
The lax laws have always favored
property holders over the interests of
renters, which also contributes to
the housing crisis A total of $40 bil­
lion in tax deductions for interest on
mortgage payments goes to the mid­
dle and upper classes annually. Rent­
ers — the majority of Blacks, His­
panics, people with less than a high
school education, and roughly one-
third o f all white families — essential­
ly pay the property taxes of their land
lords, who in turn receive all the
benefits.
But the fundamental factor in the
housing shortage for the poor rests
with the landlords. In New York City,
50,000 landlords were offered bo­
nuses of several thousand dollars for
each homeless family they secured as
renters. The city’s strategy was sim­
ple The number of homeless fam
dies who had been evicted from their
apartments and who were placed in
low-cost hotels at the city's expense
had soared from 1,400 in January
1983 to nearly 3,300 in late 1984 The
bonuses would serve as an incentive to
landlords to accept the families, while
reducing the city’s public housing
costs. Yet after 18 months, only 200
families had received new apartments.
lauidlords refused to accept poor
families partially because o f the
"ris k ” that they would not obtain
rent. But behind this objection was
another fiscal consideration. As tens
o f thousands o f young professionals
move back into the urban centers,
tenements abandoned long ago could
be obtained for peanuts, renovated,
and rented to “ yuppies" at $1,000 a
month. Realtors and speculators do
not invest in housing secton where
profit margins are low.
The only resolution to the housing
crisis of the poor is a political strategy
which presumes the nght to safe,
clean shelter as an inalienable right.
This would include a massive Federal
effort to subsidize cooperative hous­
ing programs, tenant controlled hous-
. ing, and other basic reforms. We can­
not leave the private sector’s “ initita-
tives" to dictate the approach toward
a national housing strategy. Decent
housing is a human right for all.
Healthwatch
by Steven Hailey, N .D and
MILITARY
AIP
Conclusion o f Quackery and l.ung
Cancer:
HUMANITARIAN
A IP
FIRST AIP
KOOLAIP
Letters to the Editor
The Observer welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be typed or neatly printed and signed
with the author's name and address (addresses are not published) We reserve the right to edit f o r
length. M a il to: Portland Observer, P. O. Box 3137, Portland, O R 97206
To the Editor,
To the Editor,
To the Editor,
I am writing this note as a concerned
community member who was among
tune ot tiers attending the funeral of
Roberta Tate on July 11, 1985.
I don't feel this number of nine at­
tending the funeral was as significant as
the number, I honestly believe, should
have been there to pay last respects, con­
sole the family or just “ come out of cur-
MBty" as they do at other funerals.
Where were the remorseful, sorrowful
or canng others? Among the numbers
giving testimony, raising questions re­
garding the untimely death of Ms Tate
at King School the night before, where
were they at the time of the funeral?
Need I say more? I feel she died and
was put away in a disgraceful manner
M A R IA H A. T A YLO R
To the Editor,
Dee Armstrong is something else!
Have been following with interest her
Religion Updates. They have been ex­
cellent Keep up the good work! And
make a visit to our Center a priority
on your agenda. Would love to meet
you.
Appreciated your article on Educa
tion by Nathaniel Scott. He is so
right and said it so “ drastically,** but
I remember saying to him about the
article he wrote about us and he said,
"Sometimes you have to get drastic
to arouse the people.”
Hopefully this article will awaken
people, especially our youth. I am
reading excerpts to my staff. I liked
the emphasis on “ scholarship."
As I read “ A Poem of Remem­
brance,” I never expected Nathaniel
Scott's name at the end I could hard­
ly believe it I
Even though I may not ways ap­
prove o f the way it is said, keep on
saying it!
E V E L Y N C O L L IN S
Director
Grace Collins M em orial Center
Appreciated your article on Stan
Peterson. I, for one, did not know he
was on the City Payroll. I do not feel
we, as citizens, are under obligation to
pay any union officials as such. They
are working for the union and not
Portland citizens!
As citizens, we have every right to
question the actions o f any depart­
ment o f our city. We as citizens pay
the bilLs and as long as we pay the bills
we need to know what is being done
with our money.
Yes, the $16,281 should be used to
fund the Police Internal Investiga­
tions Auditing Committee.
Chief Penny Harrington is not per­
fect, but I feel she is trying. The un­
fortunate recent police incidents were
done in spite of her. not because o f
her.
E V E L Y N M C O L L IN S
Support our
advertisers
S***
Over the past two weeks I have
written about the dismal record of
lung cancer treatment programs,
and the ironic thrust o f orthodox
medical groups to purge the American
public o f “ nutritional quacks'* and
other unproven expensive frauds
rhese groups sit in quiet acquiescence
and tolerance o f their many ques­
tionable treatment programs, sur­
geries, and prescriptions, yet find the
need and time to single out alterna­
tive health care as the major health
fraud issue o f our time.
I chose lung cancer as an exemplary
case of unproven, expensive treat­
ment programs within American
medicine. Recent articles (see July 3
Healthwatch) have revealed "zero”
improvement due to chemical, surgi
cal and radiation therapies. In spite of
continued documentation o f the in­
effectiveness of these therapies, we
continue to expend enormous sums of
money on these treatments. W hy has
this happened, and why does this son
o f “ quackery” exist while our medi­
cal establishment pursues such a zea­
lous course in opposition to many
alternatives?
The fight against lung cancer has
been an extremely expensive battle
with costs in the billions, and millions
of animals sacrificed in the effort to
find a “ cure." But is a "cure" to be
found in the area of drug-therapy? Is
a degenerative condition closely asso­
ciated with tobacco intake and other
exposures to carcinogenic substances
likely to respond to drugs which re­
tard cell reproduction and further
burden the normal health of the
body? I think now, yet this battle
shows clearly how Americans have
suffered in the medical industries self-
interest in new drug patents and m ir­
acle cures.
W hile this is the year o f nutrition
against cancer in the ACS's (Ameri-
ill
1 Oregon
N e w ip jp e r
Publishers
Association
1
\sAo
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MEMBER
MW A
w m
tene (green and orange vegetables)
will provide protection against the
development o f lung cancer inde­
pendent o f tobacco intake. W H ile
A C S has chosen to use the carrot as
a symbol o f this year's fight against
cancer, it was only three decades ago
that cancer pioneer M ax Gerson
M .D . (whose raw juice program
against cancer had shown remarkable
results) lost all ACS, N H I funding.
Similarly, Linus Pauling PhD, has
lost funding for his work in Vitamin
C research. H ow can we explore nu­
trition and support programs if vested
interests direct research dollars into
drug, and associated late stage treat-
-ments?
We have come a tremendous dis­
tance in nutritional awareness over
the past 30 years. W hile I have books
dating back to 1858 which link white
flour, low fiber diet to colon cancer,
now in 1985 the ACS has accepted the
data and agrees to this logical under­
standing. Let us hope that the next
decade provides additional reverence
for whole foods, reduction o f simple
sugar and fat, a well as an under­
standing o f the need to limit additives,
unnecessary medications and the over
use o f chemicals in agro business. Let
us also hope that our regulatory
bodies purge themselves o f self-inter­
est groups and become "true protec­
tors o f public safety.” W e have the
potential to create a tremendous na
tional health system if we avoid the
trap of self-interest greed dictating
research grants and development. Let
us objectively appraise our tools of
medicine and accept the benefits while
letting go o f the "tried and failed"
therapies o f the past century. And
finally, let us hope that the next con­
ference sponsored by our local hos­
pitals, the O M A , etc., is not one on
the "quackery” o f alternatives, but
on improved health through exercise,
proper dietary habits, and avoidance
o f stimulants and drugs.
PORTLAND
E V E L Y N C O L L IN S
Director
Grace Collins M em orial Center
•>» MR» »
can Cancer Society) public relations,
there has been an obvious avoidance
of nutritional research over the past
decades. I mentioned last week that
the ACS is governed by a board made
up primarily by representatives o f the
pharmaceutical, insurance and bank­
ing industries, with the majority o f re­
search dollars returning to the inter­
ests of the board members. Histor­
ically, the ACS has placed well under
one percent o f its research dollars into
nutritional approaches to cancer.
Another important aspect in the
battle against lung cancer is the U.S.
policy of tobacco support. A recent
conference in Canada on smoking re­
vealed some important statistics on
smoking habits. First the number of
cigarettes consumed per person (per
day) is inversely related to the cost. In
non-subsidized countries where cig­
arette costs reflect production costs,
people average 4 to 6 cigarettes per
day. In America we average at least
seven times this amount. The second
statistic o f note is that lung cancer
rates are related to cigarette intake.
Thus while cigarettes are not solely re­
sponsible for lung cancer, we by vir­
tue o f tobacco subsidies are indirect­
ly leading to thousands o f deaths each
year. W hile ex-President C arter’s
Secretary o f Agriculture felt that
ending subsidies would be an unac­
ceptable hardship on the nearly 1,000
tobacco growers in America, Presi­
dent Reagan's Agriculture Secretary
feels little remorse toward the tens o f
thousands o f wheat, corn, soy, etc.,
farmers whose un-subsidized (non-
carcinogemc) products have failed to
provide the return necessary to avoid
bankruptcy. Maybe part o f the
"cure” of lung cancer is to end tobac­
co subsidies.
While ending tobacco subsidies will
go a long way toward fighting lung
cancer, another nutritional factor
deserves recognition. A recent study
by General Electric showed that die­
tary intake o f food high in beta caro­
Adam I .add, N .D .
N a tio n a l A d v e rtis in g R ep re s e n ta tiv e
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