Pag© 2, Portland Observer, April 30. 1986
EDITORIAL/OPINION
U.S. Senate Vote, Bad Decision
The U.S Senate's vote to terminate next year’ s
$4 6 billion revenue sharing program was a bad
decision.
Revenue sharing provides cities, towns and
counties with funds to help pay for police protec
tion, road repairs and other basic services.
Thanks to Senators Mark Hatfield and Bob
Packwood (who voted against continuing the prog
ram), Oregon cities w ill jo in other cities nation
wide that w ill be foccd to cut back vital services to
its citizens.
Die action by the Senate was irresponsible.
Many cities across the Nation are in urgent need o f
funds This is due to an eroding tax base as a result
o f President Reagan’ s tax cut.
Eliminating the revenue sharing program w ill
force local governments to increase property and
sales tax in most states. This is an unfair burden to
put on local officials and citizens. Especially when
this country gives billions o f dollars a year in
loreign aid Most o f it in the form o f weapons o f
death.
rhe U S. Senate should be concerned about the
liva b ility o f our cities Judging by their vote to
eliminate revenue sharing, this is not their concern
Voters should remember this on election day.
Attack on Black Educator
Along The Color Line by D r Manning Marable
What do Black parents expect from a teacher or
professor in the field o f Black Studies? We would
expect, foremost, excellence as a classroom in
structor and an ability to spark in students the
desire to perform at full potential We would want
an individual who is well-read, who is engaged in
scholarly research and related activities, and who
exhibits a deep commitment to the intellectual and
social growth o f our children More than almost
any other professor I have encountered over the
years. Dr. Mary Hrxiver o f California State
University-Long Beach fills these qualities
Dr. Hoover received her B A degree from
Howard University and her Ph D in Educational
Linguistics from Stanford University in 1975 Dur
ing Dr. Hoover’ s career, she has published over 20
scholarly articles and two txxiks on literacy educa
tion Professor Htxiver has served as a professor at
University o f Pennsylvania, Edward Waters C o l
lege, and in 1984 was appointed chairperson o f the
Black Studies Department and Associate Professor
at Cal State. Professor Hoover combines the rare
characteristics o f being both politically and
academically involved. Professor Htxivcr is a
member o f the national N AACP's testing advisory
board, and has been active in anti-apartheid de
monstrations.
Cal State Long Beach was truly fortunate to
recruit Dr Hoover. Instead, she has been made a
victim o f one o f the most incredible vendettas I
have witnessed in higher education in recent years
When Professor Hoover became chairperson o f
Black Studies, (he department and Black academic
community had been under attack for some lime
An external review committee reviewing the de
partment states that based on the number o f stu
dents served. Black Studies should have I I to 15
faculty. Instead, the administration had hired only
six teachers Between the spring o f 1984 and early
1985, Black Studies classes were cut back by one-
fifth . Overall Black enrollment at the Long Beach
campus also fell from 2.400 in 1981 to 1,800 four
years later Only one in eight Black students at Cal
State cams a degree after five years
Hoover pressed the administration to make long
overdue changes. Im m ediately, the white
academic hierarchy criticized her w ork. and started
a campaign o f harassment against the Department
o f Black Studies. Last year, the Cal State administ
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Oregon 972OB S e c o n d d e e a poataga paid al Portland. Oregon
The Portland C fe x rrw r wee aatafaHahad n 1*70
MEMBER
M Auoe M
M IPER
ioMon - rounded
IM S
I
sufficient development or ihe ability to
exercise political influence io protec I
their social interests or even their lives
Ghetto schools are institutionalized
agencies for the perpetuation of ignor
nice The conditions in big City Black
Colonies is a classical reflection that
Blacks have become the great surplus
o f labor There has been a vital shift in
the dynamics o f our situation from the
economics o f exploitation to the
economics o f uselessness which poses
crucial questions o f survival The de
stiny o f Black people has always heen
tied lo our value o f Amerika as a
profit making investment The modem
urban dwelling Afnkan population is
rapidly outliving its usefulness as a
source o f cheap industrial labor. and.
furthermore, corporate capitalism is not
w illing lo train Blacks for productive
use This is a dangerous situation
Black leaders shovld know. that
wiihout control over land, resources
and production, there can he no self-
determination for a people Every
Black person in Kirtland should read,
"T he Choice:” The Issue o f Black
Survival in Amenka by Samuel Yelle
The works o f Erantz Eanon, should he a
must in reading for all Black High
School and College Students He de
plored a European culture that was im-
perahstic in its economic, social, and
psychological relations with the col
onized people o f the world Eanon
criticized psychoanalysis in Ihe process
o f acknowledging lhal il substituted an
ontogenetic
perspective
fo r a
phylogenetic one. when the reality o f
colonial oppression necessitated a
"socio-diagnostic," or in cssen.se, a
sociogenic perspective
Di Jamil Cherovee
Letters to the Editor
-■ ■ ■
i < o co o i o
2 & * m c/>
ClTV
There is a kind o f development,
throughout Amenkan history. Blacks
were neven given access to large
amounts ol land, rural or urban Ihe
essential social relatiixvs heiween a col
onial people and a metropolitan people
preclude Ihe development o f the colo
nial people until the relationship is rup
lured, since the colonial people do not
receive enough goods, services, educa
tion. health resources, elc , to produce
and reproduce Ihemselves in a fashion
that conduces to an accumulation o f
wealth within the colony In fact, the
separation o f the people o f A trika from
their territory, the separation o f a whole
people from the means o f production
makes Black people in this country ihe
Archetype O f A Colonial Society
I ’ m inclined to believe. Oppression
can occur in one's homeland or in the
homeland of Ihe taller has been suf fered
only by Iwo great people — the Jews
and ihe Amenkan Blacks The most
conspicuous and significant historical
factor relating to the system of exclu
sion and exploitation o f Black people
has been (he calculated design to main
tain them exclusively in a property-less
status in such a position. Black peop-
pie have always had Io turn Io and dc
pend upon caucasoid people for every
single one of their needs This situation
confirms the colonial captive position
of Ihe Black population Without con
trol over any significant portion o f ihe
Area they occupy, and not having own
ership o f any capital instruments or
means of production. Black people are
not simply oppressed bui are the vic
tims o f super exploitation The lack of
command over land left them without
any hasic resources essential for self-
AIDS Update
Bo> 31 37 Porti»™» 0 «
SfrWf
" A better word to use than separa-
txm is independence This word separa
turn is misused The thirteen colonies
separated from England but they called
it the Declaration o f Independence,
They don't call it the Declaration of
Separation, .
When you're indepen
dent o f someone you separate from
them If you can't separate from them it
means you're not independent of them
Malcolm X
In any analysis or discussion of the
urban cnsis in Amerika. our point o f
reference must he the inherent
economic and political contradictions
caused by race and class oppression and
exploitation o f Afrikan people in the
U S For the dialectic o f these con
tradiction* hase moved Black people
(Xi the Elast Coast to a struggle to con
front the specific social and economic
relationships on which the Amenkan
political structure and economic system
is based The history o f racism in
Amenkan life reveals ihai there has
been an elaborate conspiracy Io deprive
Afnkan people in this country of politi
cal rights and economic security
through (he control ot land
In reconstructing and defining (he na
ture o f the Black man's condition in
Amenka, the U S must he seen as a
colonial oppressor and Blacks, as a col
onial people w ithin the territorial con
fines o f the most powerful capitalist
country in the world However, in order
Io understand the silualion ol the A fn
kan colony in ihis country , today, it is
necessary to understand the nature of
colonialism I'm using the term colo
nial people rather than colonial lemlory
since lemlory may he developed while
the people become less developed
Healthwatch
Portland Observer!
I
I
“The Archetype Of A Colonial Society’’
ration removed Hoover from her post. Inexplica
bly, the university dean appointed a new chairper
son of Black Studies without the department’ s
formal vote during the summer absence o f the
faculty One Black Studies faculty member. Amen
Rahh, termed the move ’ ’ the most unprofessional
posture that could be employed. It was reminiscent
o f slavery . . . we’ re under attack by the white,
right wing o f the Cal State system.” One student
publication noted that Dr. H»x»ver “ had majority
support o f the faculty, but she was passed over for
someone who would not rock the boat.” By w rit
ing anti-racist articles and engaging in anti-
apartheid demonstrations. Professor Hoover was
“ not endeared (by) the administration.”
Dr Mary Hoover’ s next "m istakes” concern
bf Steven Bailey N. D.
ing her role as Director o f the Language Skills
program at Cal State, where she designed language
skills courses and assisted students to study for
their writing proficiency exams. Under her gui
dance, Black students in the Language Skills prog
Last week’ s New England Journal o f Medicine
transmission from AIDS is under 1%. In other
ram performed better than white students in En
vol. 314 #17 A pril 24. 1986 featured a special
words fewer than I in 100 healthy people who
glish classes Instead o f being praised, she was
report "Occupational Risk o f Acquired Immune
accidentally expose themselves to the AIDS virus
demoted from the directorship The reason? White
Deficiency Among Health Care W orkers" by
w ill test positive for the H T L V III
administrators claimed Dr Hoover has an "a rro g
Eugene McCray M D. from the center for Disease
This is a comforting rate o f transmission, espe
ant” attitude! Perhaps they are upset because white
Control, Atlanta, Georgia I was particularly in cially in light o f recent studies that suggest the
students failed to match the standards o f Black
terested in this article as I had recently given a
H T L V i l l virus can survive for long periods out
undergraduates trained by Dr Hoover.
lecture to the St. Paul srxiety on the contageous-
side of the body What has shown in this study is
The assault against Black students and Black
ness ot AIDS and had down played the risk o f
again the tact that a disturbed immune system is an
Studies at Cal State has become worse Dr Htxivcr
contacting AIDS within Ihe health care industry.
initial risk for susceptability to viral infections
stated recently that white administrators “ are try
This article goes far to aleveate the fears o f w ork
The study suggests that health care workers still
ing to keep outspoken, political. Black-conscious
ing with AIDS patients
use extreme caution in working with AIDS pa
faculty out of lo n g Beach.” Several "controver
tients.
ihe study also goes far to substantiate the
AIDS has been shown to he a disease which is
sial” Black professors were not rehired, despite
still
predominate
theory that casual contact with
transmitted via intimate contact, either through
the fact that they had “ the largest attendance in
AIDS
patients
is
an
extrem ely low risk situation
intercourse or by sharing needles in street drug use
classes.
New strict admission requirements
I
he
extremist
views
that we need to quarantine
This is similar to the method o f transfer o f hepatitis
which w ill take effect in 1988 w ill result in severe
B virus infection But this report offers a substan AIDS patients appears to be w ithout any scientific
reductions in the total number o f Black students.
tial
support to the theory that it is extremely d if base, and is founded more on fears and prejudice
Protesting the institutional racist attack at Cal
than fact.
ficult to contract the ?\IDS condition
State-long Beach is absolutely necessary, but not
We as general public must look at this like other
enough by itself, because similar situations are
Where as 19-27 percent o f health workers who diseases We must refrain from unsafe sex (use o f
occuring all over the nation If we value Black
accidentally contaminate themselves with needle condoms, and decrease in promiscuity), avoid
scholarship, teaching and service to students, we
or serum from positive Hepatitis B carriers w ill
sharing needles and maintain sane hejlth practices,
cannot afford to sacrifice any o f our best teachers
come down with the disease, the rate o f similar so we do not individually become more at risk
or programs in Black Studies and higher education
1
generally.
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EDITORIAL/COMMENTARY
SuOacrtpnora 115 00 par year n the Tn County area P e e l
m aata» Sand adrXeaa changaa IO tfra A v r le r d Oftarrw r. 7 .0 .
Box 3137. Portland. Oregon 9 7305
Alfred L. Henderson, Editor/Publisher
A! Williams. Genera! Manager
288-0033
N a tio n a l A d v e rtis in g R e p re s e n ta tiv e
A m a lg a m a te d PubNehera. Inc
N a w Y ork
Dear M r Henderson,
We are in the process of getting a
pelilion to change Ihe dislrihulion of
34% of ihe lottery funds from economic
development lo primary and secondary
school support, as an offset lo property
(axes The money, including interest,
would he distributed according to
schiMil district per capita, and would he
in addition to the basic school support
allocated lo ihe school districts by the
stale legislature and administered by
the Stale Board o f Education
We tecl that this change would help
support Ihe schools, as well as give
property tax relief, which in lum,
should help existing Oregon businesses
and draw new businesses into our stale
We realize this is noi the complete
answer lo Ihe major problem o f sch<Ni|
support, hui it is a beginning Many
people have told us they would buy
lottery tickets if the money was going
for school support, others have said
they would buy mote tickets
The initiative petition has been sent
lo Ihe Attorney General for a ballot t i
tle After lhal, there is a period of ten
days that written opposition can he sent
lo the Secretary o f Slate W'e were ad
vised by the legislative council that it
would he to our benefit to write an ar
gument in favor o f ihe initiative. W’e are
asking anyone who agrees with what
we are doing to send a written comment
telling why they favor Ihe initiative lo
Ihe Secretary o f Slate. Barbara Roberts
The address is: 141 State Capitol.
Salem. Oregon 97.310-0722
Time to attain S3.361 eligible signa
tures is going to he limned To pul the
initiative on ihe November General
............................
Election, we must have the signatures
in Salem by July 3rd Not knowing
exactly how king ihe government pro
cess w ill take, and because lime is of
the essence, we are compiling a list of
names and addresses o f persons who
are w illing to circulate the petitions so
that we can rush ihe petitions into circu
lation just as stxin as we can legally
begin getting signatures
W'e do not plan fund raising for ad
vertisement so we are depending on
word by mouth and/or letters It's im
portant (hat you tell anyone who w ill
listen about this If you know any per
son or group that might he iniercsted in
helping circulate the petitions, please
ask them to contact us
Any suggestions or ideas on anything
you feel we could do lo further our
cause would he gratefully accepted'
Thank you,
Marian Owens
6126 Azalea Glen
Glendale. OR 97442
Ph 832-2182
Janette Kirkland
544 Fir Point Lane
Glendale, OR 97442
Ph 832-2183 or 832-3252
Lisa Kirkland
270 Fir Point Lane
Glendale. OR 97442
Ph 832-2483 evenings
Dear Editor:
May I means many things to many
people To me it brings happy personal
memories
■
/
First, o f my mother helping us ch il
dren to make little paper baskets, and
then candy for them On May Day she
took us into Ihe woods gathering yellow
violets lo top our baskets
which we
hung on friends' door*.
So. when my husband to-he and 1
announced our engagement, naturally
we hung little May baskets on ihe doors
o f college friends!
Historically, May Day is a very old
people's holiday — greeting the Spring
— in Western Europe and the British
Isles Celebrated by great country fairs,
with music, dancing and feasting
Happy memories o f May Day were
brought lo our country by many Euro
peans in Ihe 1800s. along with their
trade union traditions By the 1880s ihe
16-hour day had mostly been brought
down lo 12 hours — two shifts a day in
the steel mills
In the 1870s the American Federa
tion o f Labor grew from the old Knights
o f Labor A main concern o f the mem
bers was a shorter working day. So they
chose May Day in 1886 — 100 years
ago — to "dow n tool*" and march to
start their campaign for an eight-hour
day.
A few years later a world conference
adopted the "made in-the-U.S A .”
holiday. May I, lo work for the eight-
hour day They called il International
Workers Day — Ihe gift o f the people of
our country lo the world
Your* very truly,
Violet On
78700 Bryson Sears Rd.
Cottage Grove, OR 97424