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
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