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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 21, 1986)
Page 2. Portland Observer, May 21, 1986 “ Needed: A Black-Hispanic Alliance. EDITORIAL/OPINION City Officials Should Use Court Decision Recently the U S Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that cities could restrict the placement o f adult movie (heaters as long as cities had some reason for lim it ing sex film s, such as fear o f crime or falling property values The court's decision was a good one, for it enables city officials throughout the nation to re move sex establishments out o f residential com munities We feel such facilities contribute to the increase in crime, decrease property value, and are harmful to the moral development o f children Mayor Bud Clark and the Portland City Council should take advantage of the high court ruling and pass ordinance to remove sex theaters, such as the Walnut Park Theatre, from the community Residents living in Northeast have complained for years about the theater, only to be told that nothing could be done about it by city officials. The sex theater, which is located near homes, a church, and a grade school, is a draw ing attraction lor drug dealers, pimps, prostitutes and their cus tomers Patrons o f the theater (who often live outside o f the community ) contribute to the crime problem in the area A fter viewing sexual explicit movies, many venture along Union Avenue to solicit the service of prostitutes Having their sexual needs performed in Northeast neighborhixxls, in parked cars, in church parking hits, and on many occa sions in plain view o f families The Supreme Court ruling could also be used to eradicate nude taverns out o f residential neighbor hoods Nude taverns have been increasing in communities at an alarming rate in recen, years Restricting adult theaters and nude bars away Irom residential and high crime areas, w ill be the first step in the right direction in rev italizing depre ssed sections of Northeast Portland. Equally im portant, by restricting the zoning o f these sex estab lishments in the community, w ill ensure that c h il dren w ill not be harmed by them Letters to the Editor Ihe Observer welcomes tetters to the editor. Letters should he typed or neatly printed and signed with the author's name and address taddresses are not usually published). He reserve the right to edit for length Mail to: Portland Observer. P.O. Box 3137. Portland, OH 972BB. To the Editor In |UK4 I attended a seminar ai Marylhurst College I he guest speaker was Norma Paulus I hiring the question and answer |>eiind. I asked llus question ol Ms Paulus With so much waste taking pl.Ke in government, such as Swill toilet seals. $100 screwdrivers, and a $20 m illion wing on a capital building, when w ill a politician present lo the voter a plan lo cut this waste, leading lo culling laves, rather than al ways asking lor more ' ' ' Ms Paulus' response was, ” 1 agree, there is waste in government, but not in my o il ice nor the office ol the Governor We have noi had an increase in budget oi stall Hui live kind ol waste lhal bothers me is paying a man like Mall Prophet $72.000 a year lo run a school district Now I lind lhal interesting A person running lo ro llic e o n I heir 25 year polii ical track recoril, and the only example they can relate is ihe one black person receiving a reasonable return on my lax money in the form ol salary George Rankins IX U N W keel I incoln City. OK 97,b7 lo the Id ilo r I w ill noi attempt io |udgc Die k Gray. but I have vivid memories undei the lollowiug circumstances 1 Dick used lo leleree football Ihe firs, game we worked together. Dick's introduction lo ihe black cap tains ol ihe Xdains High School leant went something like this " I have heard about (he crap you guys pull in games. Iry il in my game and I'll kick you o u l " I asked Dick it this was the same introduction he made to non black schools’ lie chose lo ignore Ihe question 2 I Ins is ihe same Dick Gray lhal at tempted lo lake ihe stale basketball championship away Irom Jefferson High School because some ol ihe Jelleison (Mayers did noi have some earned credits recorded 3 I w ill nevei know it my son might have been a basketball player He couldn I stand being lit D ick's pre sence the two years he attended Henson 4 Somewhere in the O icgonitiii his lory, you w ill Imd Dick quoted Richard Washington wasn't the best basketball player I have coached " Did that even need to he said long alter Richard had lell Ihe team* (ieorge Rankins IS H N W keel I incoln C ity . OK 97367 Institutionalized Racism So called Christian caucasoid tear, hatred and sell guilt w ill be with us as long as ignorance reigns Many ol us in Ihe Black Community ol N I Portland are really concerned about Two articles in the Portland Observer dated 4 J,V Kb "Racism, the cause ol conflict bei ween Ihe Police aixl Hlack Commun it y , " and "Relations between Ihe Hlack Community and Police Still Tense A Year After Stevenson's Death " In Portland, events like ihe senseless murder ol Stevenson, a Hl.ii k veteran by Police officers are regarded as unimportant precipitating events We see a historical pattern ot excessive use of force by Police against minority communities aruun-t this nation In Portland, we see rage and frustration in Ihe Black Community, a feeling of dc spair and hopelessness arises from the inroterahie high levels o f unemploy ux.*nt There is a sense ot outrage to ward double standard ot criminal jus tice There is bitterness over ihe lack ol significant political (lower Ihe past pattern ol Police violence is noi easily forgotten I here seem lo be an insen sitiviiy on the par, ot Ihe entire criminal justice system toward Hlack residents ot Northeast Portland In tael. Police violence is the worst type ol crime be cause il leads lo Ihe general breakdown o f law. often carries o fficial sanction, and is ihe Inggerol massive racial vio lencc lhal devástale whole com munilics Untold millions ol dollars arc being paid out o f taxpayers' pockets to settle Police brutality claims around this nation If you were an insurance agent, and your client cost you inuny times in sel dements than he paid in premiums, and this sort ot situation goes on year alter year, would you believe that there was no pattern ol culpability ’ Around this violent nation, billions o f dollars ol trade is reportedly conducted annually in illegal transactions involving gambl mg. drugs, aixl prostitution Relatively few arrests are made I vidence shows lhal a pattern ol police violence makes a city prone lo a riot And clearly, mule mably, and uncquivocahly, evidence shows lhal police brutality precipítales riots We must work together to help Portland develop strategies to elimínale police violence We can elimínale police violence We can elimínale un lustified police shootings and the tin necessary use ol deadly torce The re suit w ill be greater respect lor die law and a criminal justice system in ihe city of Portland based on fairness and yes. |u slice I he portray al ot our racist police sys tem in those two articles adds up lo an indictment I'm actually more con cerned about lhal caucasoid maturity in Portland who are completely unin (erected in today's problems Criticism even hostility is belter than in d if ference No one knows belter than our so-called or establishment appointed leaders what's wrong with law en forcement Our so-called leaders can not save lace by citing Police brutality as the cause ol unrest in Portland Did the Police create segregation, unequal education, inadequate housing, un employment aixl ihe sundry other injus tices lhal relegated Black people lo second class citizenship’ Isn’ t it true lhal Ihe altitude ol Ihe Police in a given community reflects the over all attitude ol lhal Community ’ It the Police arc crude, disrespectful or brutal to mem hers ot minority groups, it is because Ihe Community lhal employs them has condoned this conduct or even encour aged il The city should find ways lo attract lop quality recruits lo law en forvemeni Because, like il or not, law enforcement is a vital part ol this soci ety I or some reason, every tragedy such as the murder ol Brother Stevenson. Dr Martin Luther King. Jr . or Mai eolm X, is met with an inevliable dc luge ot piety and prayer W ill men never learn the (utility o f placing their hopes for a belter world in divine inter venlion in human atta irs’ Throughout recorded history, men have been pray ing in hundreds o f languages to all manner ot (tods tor every thing imagin able Ye, evil persists in the form of violence, poverty, disease and ignor anee A perusal of any daily news,taper around this nation should be enough to convince one lhal even if the pennons ot the la ilh lu l are heard by some deny, his answers can't be depended upon hollowing Dr King s murder, a cler gyman told a group ot city officials gathered lor prayer that he didn't llunk all lhal piety was a lilting monunx'nl lo ihe man He was ughi Martin I uiher King was iiixloubtedly a prayerful man himself, bul he w ill lx- lemembered no, lor lhal ta il bul because lie was a man whose hie embodied his Principles, like the Prophet Jesus, who worked lo magnify ihe good lhal lies wuhin ihe heart ol eac h man and lo diminish I lx- ill w ill that may he harbored therein -Mier Ihe Iasi eloquent expression of praise lor Hroihci Stevenson has been voiced, w ill we once again return lo ihe type of six icly lhal makes the Iasi six words out Pledge ol Mlegiance. "W ith I ib- erty and Justice lor A ll. " a hollow promise instead ol a fact ’ Dr Jamil Cherovee IX-ar Sirs I attended Ihe meeting Iasi week when Ihe In Mel board discussed how lo solve Us budget problems I don't know how many people living in our area ol llx* community realize lhal ihe decision was to avoid placing a small income lax on ihe people who can at lord i l . and lo instead cul ihe bus serv ice loi many who cannot Most ol the set vice cuts w ill eliminate Iasi nighl and weekeixl buses, so lhal people whose fobs keep them oul al night, in security or cleaning or restaurant work, w ill now need loow n automobiles. because ihe buses won't he running al all I also wonder about Ihe many people ol li imied income who depend on weekend service to visit then families, or ihe zixi, or lor recreation Can they all al lord lo pay llx* cos, ol gasoline, o il. and insurance Some ot llx- In Mei directors said they didn't teel right about increasing taxes I'n til a family cams more than $15.(KM, each year. Ihe lax is almost nothing, and then it's only a lew (x*n lues each day I wonder it those direc tors have ever known or have heard from those ot us whose whole income depends upon gelling lo and Iron, our jobs in an allonlable way ’ I think it's lime that more ot Ihe North Portland community lei I'n Mel know how we leel They have meetings a, least once each week, bul nolxxly representing this area seems to allend I urge Ihe leadership ol this community lo gel involved in this issue before it's tixilate I he next discussion ol whether or not lo back a large service cul or a small income lax w ill be on Tuesday, May 27th at It) a in in the Portland Building I hope with some organization we can turn this decision around Nobody is hxiking oul lor Ihe interests ol those who depend upon Ihe buses for their limited prosperity Isn't this |usi another example of those who have being concerned only w uh themselves ’ In -M e t is supposed to serve all ol us. not |usl those who happen to hold a seal on its board Sincerely yours, Raymond Williams Along the Color Line by Dr Manning Marable Las, month’ s founding convention o f the Na tional Rainbow Coalition, held in Washington. D C , was a tremendous victory for Black and progressive politics More than 750 o fficia l dele- ates and hundreds o f supporters established the asis for a practical, progressive agenda, and also se, the foundations for a second presidential cam paign by Jesse Jackson in 19X8 Jackson himself termed the coalition "a new political movement, dedicated to healing the nation by implementing a rogram ol human priorities at home and peace and uman rights abroad, seeking to achieve social, political and economic justice.” Many political observers suggested that the principle reason for Jackson’ s "lim ite d ” success at the polls in 19X4 w as his inability to appeal to the white electorate Statistically, his electoral totals in that year’ s Democratic presidential primaries were often low: two percent o f the white electorate in Florida. 3 percent in Georgia. 4 percent in Pennsylvania; and less than I percent in Alabama But as the campaign progressed. Jackson began to overcome the negative media and racial stereotyp ing ol his candidacy, and the totals for white voters unproved — ID percent in California, for instance Actually, given the profound depths o f racism in American political culture, and the stampede to the right o f the politicul spectrum by both parties, it is highly unlikely that the Rainbow Coalition w ill attract any significant numbers o f w hites, beyond the levels ol roughly ten to twenty percent Some white constituencies w ill be more likely to join a multiracial coalition than others, such as anti nuclear arms activists, feminists, small farmers, militant labor union leaders, and left-liberals. At the Rainbow Coalition’ s convention las, month, forexamplc, were Texas Agriculture Secretary Jim Hightower. Jane Grunennaum o f the Nuclear freeze campaign, environmentalist Barry Com moner. and Machinist president W illiam Win- pisinger I he immediate priority of the Rainbow , beyond developing a coherent national administrative dangers ol exceeding the RDA (recommended daily allowance) in vitam in and m ineral supplementation la st weeks P/>v</,<•/ had |ust such an article, as well as KO IN evening news reporting on May 5th that "those in the know " say that no one needs more than the RDA o f vita m ins" llu s is pure ignorance Maybe* those phar maceuticals whose drugs account lor 3D.ODD deaths annually want to extoll the "dangers" ol vitamins, or maybe* those who wish to present Americans as well nourished benefit from this stance, but there is massive research to indicate lhal the RDA's are inadequate to maintain op timum health There are a number ol ways to evaluate "id e a l” oi "o p tim u m " levels o f nutriture. yet the avoi dance ol major single substance deficiencies such as beri beri. pellagra, scurvy etc is not reflective ot optimum nutrition We have a society w hose hie expectancy is rising, yet whose quality-ot life is degenerating with an ever increasing incidence ol chrome diseases We do not have massive cases ot pellagra or other RDA related diseases, but the relationship ol nutrition with the development/ prevention ol cancer, c.trdeov.iscular disease and other chronic maladies is well documented To begin with the RDA assumes that all people have the exact same metabolic needs and absorp lion rates This is no, true Dr Roger W illiam s, who received the Nobel Prize in medicine lor his isolation o f the first B vitamin, and helped initiate the enrichment with bread and m ilk has written extensively on the role ol "b iikh e m ica l individual iiy ” regarding nutritional needs One ol his most revealing findings was that in "identical tats" (genetically hybred lor research) there exised 2D told differences in the amounts o f certain nutrients that were needed to perform base metabolic func tions Certainly if hybred research animals show this great an individuality the assumption that hu mans with great genetic differences can be served by the same RDA is absurd! One o f the basic problems with the research on vitamins has been the testing o f a single substance for its relationship w ith disease As most vitamins have multiple functions and interact with other •At M » t • structure, is to appeal to other people ol color. I he key constituency lor which Afro-Americans should begin extensive discussions are Hispanic Americans Earlier this year, the U S Bureau of the Census published new statistics on the growth o f (he la tin o population Between 19X0 and 19X5, the Mexican American population increased Irom 8.7 m illion to i i i t m illion The Puerto Rican population in the mainland U S was up from 2 m illion to 2.6 m illion; and the Cuban Americans, X(X),(XX)io I m illion I here are also approximately 1.7 m illion Spanish-speakers in the U S . from Central and South America II one also counts the 3.3 m illion people liv ing in Puerto Rico, there are over 2D m illion Hispanics in the U S . over X 5 percent o f the total population The parallels between Black Americans and Hispanics in economics, education, and other so cial categories are striking In 19X4, 25 percent ot all Hispanics lived in poverty, compared to ID percent of all whites and 36 3 percent ot all Blacks Notably. 42 percent ot all Puerto Ricans were below the poverty line In terms o f median family income. Hispanics earned an average of only $18,800, compared to SI5.000 lor Blacks and $27.(MX) lor white Americans Educationally , only 42 percent ol all Mexican Americans were high school graduates, and barely 5.5 percent graduated from college Blacks and Hispanics share a com mon racial and economic discrimination. Other than Cuban-Americans, the vast majority ol Blacks and Hispanics share common economic, political and social interests A ll Rainbow C oali tion literature must be bilingual, and advocate is sues which have special appeal to Latino voters lo c a l coalitions should be initiated for municipal elections which bring together Latino and Black community activists and leaders The hear, o f the Rainbow Coalition must be the principled, con structive unity between the two largest national minorities in the U S Zìi \l,t u n in g H io n illo n . M .m th lr I f a i h a in tin ti a l u h i n l i ' p a l ( o l i a l e ( rn i \ r i \ i l \ V> thi ( ••hu I m i appear* /«»»»</ / 4 0 t /M p r r t in rrrn a n o a a ll\ single substance research has been unable to eluci date many ot the cooperative roles o f vitamins. The idea o f an optimum supplementation is not de veloped with this type of research model Ideal supplementation would not only prevent single relationship diseases bul would also provide good energy, strong resistance to infection, and a lessor incidence o f degenerative diseases How can we formulate ideal levels of supplementation ’ As per previous discussion, this must ultimately in corporate the individual needs, and may require subjective testing o f the vitamins One ol the ways that optimum allowance o f vitamin C has been proposed is through the obser vation ol healthy primitive cultures intake o f vita min C Research has show n these groups consume ID -15 grams ot dietary C per day Animals who produce their own vitamin C produce a similar daily level (when factored to equal weigh, as a human) Dogs, per equal weigh,, produce around 15 grams a day. ye, our RDA is 45 mg or l/3(X)th ol what is found in optimum whole food nutrition While we don't exhibit scurvey at 45mg a day. we certainly lim it the bodies other vitamin C related functions (immune integrity, reduction ol vitamin E lor waste removal, e tc.) with only 45 mg a day. Intake o f 15 grams ot C a day has shown some incidence o f calcium oxalate stones in between I and 3r f o f individuals, yet this can be monitored with a 24 hour urinary calcium oxylate test Ihe individual sensitivity to vitamin C at this dose is not shown at levels o f 1-4 grams a day. and most people w ill not develop stones with even higher levels than 15 grams daily So my recommended optimum dose o f C would be I 3.(XX) mg a day Whole lixxl intake ot fish, citrus, pepper, rose family (strawberries, raspberries etc.) is the op timum source o f C Yet most Americans are li mited m these Itxtds on a regular basis There certainly are dangers with excessive levels o f fat soluble vitamins, especially A and D. and with minerals An educated source should be contacted before you begin large doses o f these vitamins, bul the constant media statements that the RDA is adequate lor everyone does a tremend ous dis service to our public, and probably helps maintain our high level o f chronic disease Portland Observer o«»' «I»I. The P o o le d Z Z ta m rr (U SPS 9G»«B0t a pubtNhed asar, Thuraday by E m PubkaTvng Company, Inc . 1483 N E . K * n g i worth. PnrtWnd Oregon 87211. P o « Ortica Bon 3137. Portland Oregon 9 7208 Second cUm poetaga pax, a, Prxtiarxl Oregon fc N Ci >1 Tha pstriletut (M urreer waa aatatwahad ai 1970 H e reserve the right to edit f o r length. M a il to: Portland observer. P.O. B a x 3137. Portland. O R 9720». C £■» Ok. MEMBER N IW /U AaaoctaN O rt - F o u n U M I B M SoOacnptiona 1 ,8 00 p « y a « in lha Tn County araa Poal m a a ta . Sand addtaaa changaa to tha Pnolewd O tw m rr. P 0 B o i 3137. Portland. O a g o n 9720R A lfre d L. Henderson, E d ilo r/P ub lisher A I Williams, G eneral M anager T 2884X03 N a tio n a l A d v a rtte tn g R e p re a e n ta tlv a A m a lg a m a te d P u b lla h e ra In c . N a w V o .k
