Page 4, Portland Observer, July 24, 1906
EDITORIAL/OPINION
Patients' rights,
patients' wrong
The Dammasch Bed Reeducation project is a
total failure. Not only did it lower the quality o f
life fo r the chronically mentally ill but also for
the community in which they were discharged.
When the 1981 legislature passed the local
Mental Health Service A ct, state funding was
restricted to the mentally ill who were at imme­
diate risk fo r hospitalization. Common sense
w ill tell you those at immediate risk should not
be out in the community. The Core Service
Agencies, such as N orth/N ortheast Mental
Health, misrepresented their ability to control,
m onitor and medicate this severely disabled
population. And in the middle o f this state,
county and private non-profit fragmentation
and lack o f an infrastructure were Tommy
Graves, Mrs. Alberta Tate, the Portland Police
and the Northeast community.
Graves was the mentally ill adult whose
psychotic episode resulted in his death and the
death o f an 86-year-old woman whom he regarded
as a grandmother. The Graves/Tate deaths il­
lustrate the miscommunication, mismanage­
ment and misjudgment o f Core Service Agen­
cies and the police.
It was crim inal that the police did not have
the foresight to develop a policy dealing with the
city ’s newly discharged mentally ill population,
especially considering how often the police
brought involuntary commitment proceedings
against form er clients from Dammasch State
Hospital.
It is as equally insane that officials, manag­
ers and board members o f Core Service Agen­
cies never drafted policies for police to follow .
Nor did they communicate to the community
that the clients they now serve are severely men­
tally ill.
The community, especially the inner city, was
the last to know, as we saw, mentally ill adults
engaged in a variety o f irrational behavior. We
experienced the end result o f some residential
care facilities which took money and food
stamps from the mentally ill, thus leaving many
to roam the streets, eating out o f garbage cans.
The failure o f the bed reduction project is an­
other example o f the "p ie in the sky” liberal
attitude which turned "patients’ rights” into
"patient wrongs.”
While Core Service Agencies had to terminate
clients who could benefit from their services —
such as children and those not as severely men­
tally ill — these private non-profits are forced to
serve a population they have very little control
over. Once patients are out o f the State Hospital,
they have the right to refuse their medication.
And it ’s their medication that controls them.
Failure to continue taking these drugs is one o f
the primary reasons for re-hospitalization.
As a private non-profit entity, N o rth /N orth -
eas, Mental Health needs to file a Chapter 11
bankruptcy because the center is part o f a sys­
tem which cannot do the job. And if you can’ t
control, medicate or care for this severely men­
tally ill population, then don’ t discharge them
into the community.
As low-income, inner city residents we have
enough to worry about without adding the fa il­
ures o f the Dammash Bed Reduction project.
South Africa's Homeland policy
Laws passed in South A frica in
1913, 1927, and 1936 restricted own­
ership o f land to whites, but reserved
areas designated as Tribal Home­
lands for each o f the ten tribal/ethnic
or linguistic groups that make up
South A frica's Black population.
The areas chosen fo r the homelands
are for the most part barren lands
unwanted and undeveloped by whites
and are scattered in many small non­
contiguous parcels across the South
African landscape. Over 70 percent o f
South A frica's population is Black,
yet all together the homelands consti­
tute only 13 percent o f the total land
mass, with the remaining 87 percent
owned or controlled by whites who
represent only 25 percent o f the pop­
ulation.
By the terms o f the Homelands
Policy, only those Black South A fr i­
cans who are employed in white areas
may live outside the homelands. A ll
others, w ith rare exceptions, must
live w ithin their homeland bounda­
ries. However, a substantial number
o f people, mostly women and chil­
dren, violate the law and risk im pris­
onment and even death to live in il­
legal “ squatter camps" in order to be
near their working husbands and fa­
thers who live in either Black tow n­
ships or single-sex hostels located
adjacent to cities and industrial
centers.
The long range goals o f the Home­
lands Policy are to: I) Maintain reser­
voirs o f cheap Black labor to serve the
convenience o f the white economy;
2) Clear South A frica o f "black
spots," a term coined by the govern­
ment to describe areas o f land owned
by Black South Africans prior to
passage o f the 1913 law that banned
such ownership; 3) Eventually de­
clare each homeland an "independent
national state,” stripping its citizens
o f their South African citizenship,
forcing upon them involuntary c iti­
zenship in an artifically created coun­
try, and thereby freeing the South
Afncan government o f responsibility
for the physical, social, and political
welfare o f it* Black population, (that
this is the ultimate goal o f the policy
citizens o f the homelands.
While there is no specific timetable
for "independence," to date lour
homelands have been declared inde­
pendent by the South African govern­
ment: the I ranskei, the Ciskei, Boph-
uthaTswana, and Venda. (Not a
single nation besides South Africa
recognizes these states as independ­
ent ) A ll lour rely heavily on the
South African government for eco­
nomic support, and only Bophutha-
Tswana currently has any potential
for a viable independent economy
thanks to rich mineral and metal de­
posits, and to the famous Sun City
gambling resort where U.S. and Euro­
pean entertainers perform for huge
lees in spite o f the United Nations
sanctioned cultural and athletic boy­
cott against South Africa.
Gross corruption and political
repression arc the hallmarks o f the
South African-appointed adminis­
trations o f the four "independent"
homelands. None have the popular
support o f the people (the administra­
tion o f Venda was installed despite
the fact that 80 percent o f the popula­
tion voted against it in elections pro­
vided for under their new constitu­
tion!). The South African Security
Forces are poised at the ready should
“ civil unrest" erupt in any o f these
"sovereign” states.
Even such a brief overview o f the
Tribal Homelands Policy as this
points up what a diabolically efficient
solution the forces o f apartheid have
dev ised for what they like to call their
“ excess population problem ." Family
life is all but destroyed; the Black
population is both geographically and
culturally fragmented to prevent
revolutionary conspiracy; the threat
o f starvation in the homelands forces
Blacks to labor for wages that are
on the average one-sixth o f that
earned by their white counterparts;
and, finally, when there is no longer
any need for Black labor, Black
South Africans will be sent to slowly
die o f hunger away in the homelands,
out o f the sight and conscience of
their murderers.
was made unapologetically clear
when, during a debate o f the issue in
1978, C. P. Mulder, then Minister
o f Plural Relations and Development
declared, '* . . .if our policy is taken to
its full and logical conclusion as far as
Black people are concerned, there will
not be one Black man with South
African citizenship I say this sincerely
because it is the idea behind it. Why
should I try to hide it? This is our
policy. . . ” )
Since I960 the government has
forcibly — sometimes at gunpoint —
uprooted over 3.5 m illion Black
South Africans from their true ances­
tral homelands o f many generations
and dumped them onto desolate
patches o f homeland, often without
shelter or even the materials to build
shelter Survival is a constant struggle
for the desperate women, children,
and sick, injured, or old men who
must live there. Serious soil erosion
and other environmental problems
coupled with inadequate water deliv­
ery systems and lack o f agricultural
equipment make even subsistence
farming an exercise in fu tility; and,
since there is little or no local industry
in the homelands, employment is ex­
tremely scarce. Those without in­
come from relatives in the outside
workforce or from old-age pensions
are helplessly dependent on the pite­
ously stingy social services provided
by the South African government.
(Xie to inadequate food and medical
care, people are dying from hunger
and untreated disease far more often
than from old age; and in some rural
areas the infant m ortality rate is ap­
proaching 50 percent.
The m ajority o f Black South A fri­
cans currently live outside the home­
lands, but only because the wheels o f
South African agriculture and indus­
try still turn on human labor. W ith
continuing advances in industrial
and farming technologies, however,
the economy is becoming decreasing^
labor-intensive, and it is only a matter
o f time before, as a tool o f produc­
tion, Black South Africans become
obsolete, and virtually all Blacks
w ill be forced to become permanent
Portland Observer
M l WK» •
Th* P lvil»nd O h v rv rr IU S P S 9W 0 8D I • puNwZw, M ' S
Thufidav by t« w PiiWwb»sg Company. Inc . 1463 N t K *n g »
worth Portland Oragon 97211. Poat OThca Bo« 3137. Portland.
Oragon 97208 Sacond clay» poataga paid at Portland Oragon
F h a P i u h m l O b w r v e r w a s a s ta h h s b a d
< fcW
O . * '*•*
MEMBER
kJ» •
lMi I «81
m 1970
SutNcnphon* »15 00 par year m lha Tn County »ra» Poat
m a tta r Sand addraa» changea Io lha Portland O tvim er. P O
288 0033
Boa 3137. Portland, Oragon 97208
NHWA pep
A u o c itt'o n ■ fournSeil ’ MS
Alfred I.. Henderson, Editor/Publisher
A l Williams. General Manager
V
OH
’ :'
'*
N a tio n a l A d v ertis in g R ep resentative
A m a lg a m a te d Publishers. Inc
N a w Yorh
?zsr
Black Political Power: Illusion and Reality
A long the C o lo r Line by Dr. M anning Marable
Nearly twenty years «g°. the V ot­
ing Rights Act o f 1965 was passed by
Congress and signed into law by Pres­
ident Johnson. “ 1 pledge we w ill not
delay or we w ill not hesitate, or w ill
not turn aside until Americans o f ev­
ery race and color and origin have the
same rights as all others to share in
the process o f democracy,” Johnson
declared Federal examiners were sent
into the South to protect the voting
rights o f Black Americans, and w ith­
in several years the number o f Black
elected officials began to increase.
What is the balance sheet to date in
the pursuit o f fu ll democracy for
Black Americans? Several weeks
ago, researchers at the Joint Center
for Political Studies released some
important statistics. Between January
1984 and January 1985, the total
number o f Black officials increased
from 5,700 to 6,056, up 6.2 percent.
The number o f Black mayors in­
creased by 31, up to 286 nationwide.
Two key areas show the greatest im ­
provement. First, there are now 1,358
Black women holding public office,
an increase o f 99 in one year. Black
women currently total 22.4 percent o f
all Afro-Am erican officials. The
second sector o f growth is in the
South. About 85 percent o f all the
newly elected Blacks in 1984 won o f­
fices in the South Alabama recorded
a net increase o f 61 Black officials,
followed by South Carolina, 47;
Cieorgia, 39; and Louisiana, 37.
I M r arc other indications of Bias k
political power. There are twenty
members o f the Congressional Black
Caucus, five times the number when
the Voting Rights Act went into ef­
fect. Blacks now chair five o f the 22
standing committees in the House o f
Representatives. W illiam Gray (D-
Penn.) is the head o f the House Budg­
et Committee; August Hawkins (D-
California) heads the House Educa­
tion and la b o r Committee; Ronald
Dellums (D -C alifornia) chairs the
District o f Columbia Committee;
Parren Mitchell (D-Maryland) chairs
the Small Business Committee; and
Louis Stokes (D-Ohio) heads the
Standards o f O fficial Conduct C om ­
mittee. Black mayors currently con­
trol most major cities — Chicago, Los
Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington,
D.C., Atlanta, Newark and Detroit.
Ernest M orial, mayor o f New O r­
leans. was named president o f the
U.S. Conference o f Mayors this Jan­
uary.
These numbers seemingly incidate
Black empowerment within the sys­
tem. But the reality o f the situation is
more complex than most observers
admit. O f the 6,056 Black elected
officials, 1,368 (22.6 percent) are only
members o f local school boards.
Another 2,189 ( 36.1 percent) are
members o f municipal governments
or councils. Blacks comprise only
1.2 percent o f the 490,800 elective o f­
fices in the nation; they arc grossly
underrepresented in federal, state,
and regional bodies. Only four state
administrators, ninety state senators,
and eight judges on state courts o f
last resort are Afro-Americans.
If democracy really functioned in
this country. Blacks should have
roughly a proportional share o f po­
litical power. Afro-Americans ac­
count fo r 12 percent o f the popula­
tion, which translates into 58,900
elective positions — not 6,056 offices
which are currently held. Blacks com­
prise substantial voting blocs in A la ­
bama (23 percent o f the voting age
population). Arkansas (14 percent),
Florida ( I I percent), Georgia (24
percent), Louisiana (27 percent),
North Carolina (20 percent), and
South Carolina (27 percent) — but
not one Black person is currently in
Congress from these states.
The great illusion o f the A m eri­
can political system is that each voting
bloc and social class has an "equal
opportunity” to express its views
at the polls, and to elevate its repre­
sentatives into public office. After
twenty long years, Blacks have begun
to exercise our democratic rights,
but the barriers to full proportional
representation still exist at the fed­
eral, state and county levels. The im ­
mediate task ahead is to develop
strong coalitions o f progressive voters
who share our goals — fu ll employ­
ment, civil rights, affirm ative action,
universal health care and decend
housing — and to build a political
movement which w ill redefine the
structures o f democracy. This de­
mands a conscious effort to increase
the numbers o f Black elected officials
who have a genuine commitment to
the aims and aspirations o f the Black
community.
Healthwatch
bv Steven Hailey, N. D. and
Two months ago I wrote a short ar­
ticle on the new “ life card" developed
fix Blue Cross/Blue Shield o f Mary
land. In this article I acknowledged
the value o f immediately available
records on medication, drug sensitiv­
ity, blood type, etc., but voiced my
concern that this card might allow
privileged information such as abor
lion, sexually transmitted disease and
other non-essential information to be
disclosed to general staff members
who have access to the "line. "
To my complete surprise I got a call
from Blue Cross o f Maryland recent
ly, letting me know that the creator of
the card, Mr. IXiuglas Becker, had
read the "hcalthwatch" article and felt
the criticisms were well taken and
that he was looking into correcting
them. The Observer has a much
bonder audience than I ever imagined
Thank you. Blue Cross, for your
concern in the above matters.
On N u tra sw eet:
When Senator Moynihan recently
rescaled that Nutra-sweet was allowed
to reach the American marketplace
with sub-standard safety testing (not
in compliance with F .D .A standards
on food safety), I thought that the
food industries would take a giant
step backwards and wait for govern­
ment approval before aggressively
substituting it for other sweeteners
Instead, Coca Cola came out with
their new cola about two weeks later,
and other food industries seem equal­
ly anxious to inundate the market
with Nutra-sweet products. Well, the
evidence is beginning to come in trom
the safety studies initiated by the
Moynihan committee. Some early
studies have shown increased num­
bers o f birth defects in animals fed
Nutra-sweet.
How is it that the F .D .A . allows so
many drugs and foods on the market
without adequate testing? Part o f the
reason is the tremendous number o f
new products that must be reviewed.
This volume alone provides a monu­
mental task to test for human safety
and individual sensitivities. A second
factor is the close relationship be­
tween the F.D .A. and the food indus­
tries and pharmaceutical companies.
This unbred nature o f our regulatory
body is not new, in fact the first head
o f the F.D .A . (Dr Wiley) was re­
moved from office amid his criticism
tliat the I D A. was serving the inter­
ests o f the food and drug industries
rather than those o f the American
public (this was in the early teens
of this century).
A final problem with the testing o f
food and drug products is the base
o f reasoning that believes all humans
are identical and that animal studies
can be extrapolated as identical to
human response. The unique nature
o f the human individual has shown
itself in numerous failures such as the
sulfite sensitivity and other drugs
that manifest individual reactions
such as penicillin, codein, etc. A n i­
mal models have shown themselves as
inaccurate
(benedictine,
acutane,
D.E.S., etc.), time consuming and in­
humane. The Gianelli Labs at the
University o f Pennsylvania are a
prime example o f wasteful, and un­
Adam Ladd, N. D.
scientific, research that not only re­
mains intact with federal lunds, but
threatens public safety through inac­
curate conclusions.
How do we change the way the sys­
tem runs, to prevent the D.E.S.s of
the future? W rite your Senator, Con­
gressman, etc., to break up the self-
serving base o f our national F.D .A .
and Research groups to allow lay
persons, victims’ rights groups and
objective members to set policy for
N IH , the F D A and other governing
bodies. It is very d ifficu lt to criticize
research design if it means that you
might put yourself out o f a job, and
that is exactly the dilemma we have
placed many o f these individuals in.
As a consumer one can stay away
from “ new products" on the market.
The rule "there is no free lunch"
should apply to your eating habits.
Try less simple sugar rather than
trying a sugar substitute. The body
evolved with natural sugars as a form
o f energy, not with saccann and
aspartate as natural sweeteners. Eat
whole gains and red labels; even
breads labeled as "n o preservatives”
w ill often have moisture enhancers,
enrichers, etc., that look quite similar
to preservatives yet are excluded from
the federal requirement o f listing as a
preservative. A ll o f these chemicals
have to exit from your body in some
fashion, and while they may not show
themselves as dangerous in their safe­
ty studies, the accumulative effect o f
all these chemicals (over 16 pounds
per year per person) cannot be ac­
curately investigated.
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 fo r
length. Mail to: Portland Observer, P. O. Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208.
To the Editor,
M y name is Jerry Lawrence and I ’d
like to present an article in your paper
explaining my situation and that o f
about 1«) others whom are Black.
I am 18 years old and I ’ m presently
incarcerated in Multnomah C ounty
Detention Center for alleged Robbery
111, which I did not commit, but to
stop the pressure I was forced to
plead guilty. I am also charged with
unauthorized use o f a vehicle, for
which I received one year local time,
including the robbery charge.
And now after being sent to the re­
lease center in Troutdale, I ’ m faced
with another charge: Escape 11. That
charge was given me because I was a
little late from a pass. However,
Blacks are the only ones being
charged and sent to prison for Escape
II, a charge that no law is formed
around How can I escape when I am
allowed to go home for 12 hours? I
simply failed to return at a given time
Surely that is no escape. White in­
mates here do the same thing all the
time, and they rarely get charged
with it and when they do, they get, at
the most, six months.
I'm saying we Black men and wo­
men here are receiving no justice at
all, and being Black from the com­
munity we need help. We need this
and other situations focused on. They
arc openly using the sleeper hold on
us. also.
For instance: there was a young
man (Black) here who was attacked
by officers, choked and beaten When
the smoke cleared the unconscious
man was charged with assault! How
absurd. . .2 0 to I.
Make no bones about it, any coun­
sel will tell you the reason they treat
us different is we're Black from a
• .
•
••
■
■
rising crime area, so the chances are
there has been other deviant behavior
— we just never got caught before.
Now to top it all o ff, they (the sys­
tem, the courts) arc ready to sentence
me to eight years in prison with a 2 '/i
year m inim um, saying that 1 have a
drug problem simply because I told
them I smoke weed.
What can people in the community
do? They can focus some attention
on the injustice inflicted on us. They
can stop this system from using such
sentencing practices as " I ’ m sending
you to prison because you're a threat
to the com m unity.” They can get
some people to interview Blacks so
that they can clearly see and hear
the injustice, because tom orrow YOU
could be here, the way the system is.
Thank you fo r listening.
JERRY L iW R E N C E
j,
--
•
•
4
,