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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 20, 1986)
Page 2, Portland Observer, August 20, 198b EDITORIAL/OPINION tirns in 25 percent of the cases claim that the attacker was an African American. African Americans suffer unduly from vio lent crime. Murder is the leading cause of death among African American males 24 to 34. (For white males in that age group, it is car and motorcycle acceidents.) African American men are eight times as likely to die in a homicide as are white men. a disease, it would be called a national epi demic. Every ten seconds a house is burgled; every seven minutes a woman is raped. Violent crime can be found throughout the nation; in urban areas, in the suburbs, and the rural countryside. There can be no blinking away the fact that African Americans are dis proportionately involved in violent crime — both as offenders and victims. The typical violent crime involves two young African American males who know each other and get into trivial altercations, which lead to serious injury or death, because they both have weapons. Although African Americans constitute only 13% of the total U.S population, they make up 48 percent of the national prison popula tion. (Some of this is due to racism in the judi cial system.) Black on Black crime has reached such crisis proportions that African-American lea ders have begun to discuss the issue in public forum. At last year's NAACP state convention held in Jessup, MD , a speaker told delegates that it "is up to African Americans to do something about Black on Black crim e." However, the facts are clear. In violent crimes committed by a single person, the vic- Letters to the Editor T H A N K YOU I ant writing this letter to express my appreciation for a letter that I was fortunate enough to have pub lished in the July 30th edition of your paper concerning die views I hold in regards to the role of teachers in the classroom. There was a follow up response from Ms Mackie Fay Hill, Ph D., Director of Learning Support Services and Minority Programming. Linfield College I also received a letter of appreciation and agreeance from Ms Rayko Hashimoto, Early Childhood Specialist. Head Start Training Office. Portland State University I also received a letter from Ms Fran Gardner, who is the Forum Editoi of The Oregonian, informing me that the concerns I expressed in my letter did not meet The Oregonian s needs at this time I guess we know whose priorities are where Hats off to The Skanner, the Portland Observer and educators such as Ms Hill and Ms Hashimoto As long as we have dedicated and concerned people such as you. we shall overcome Keep on pushing Appreciatively, Curley Massey Letter to M s. Fran G ardner, Forum E ditor For The O regonian Dear Ms Gardner: as far as the education or non education of our young is concerned, we are all in the same boat The Portland Observer, The Skanner, and two pro minent educators in our city and state felt I had hit the itai' on the head, so to speak Enclosed find copies of * their responses, which Tin sura are melevant and do not meet your needs Off the top of my head two cases come to mind that get to the heait of Ifie matter and place my concerns into proper perspective 111 The recent death of basket ball star Lynn Bias He died from an overdose of cocaine but to compound the situation, we find out that he was allowed to continue living on campus and to play basketball, even though he had dropped or com pletely failed several classes 12) The tragic case of Billy ray Bates, who was a Portland Trailblazer basket ball player at one time He had played high school and college basketball We learned later on that he could hardly read or write Someone has to say enough is enough and demand that every child be given the best possible education That's a moral obligation that we all are obligated to take responsibility for. I am writing this lettei in response to a reply from you regarding a letter I wrote to the editor of your paper I appreciate the fact that you were courteous enough to return my letter and inform me that the contents or the view that I was espousing "djd not meet your need at this time " I assumed that when one takes into account the number of illiterates, the rate of high school drop outs, the astronomically high unemployment rate among minority and poor children, the rising crime rate, the overcrowding of our prisons, these problems would meet the concerns and needs of any concerned indivi dual in our society, whether they are a butcher, baker. candlestick maker, language arts teacher or editor of the Forum Page for The Oregonian But I guess that relates to the fact that we all have different priorities I don't ob|ect to not having my letter published on your Forum Page, but I certainly take offense to your state ment that my point of view didn’t meet your needs It is my contention that the education of our young people should be high on our list of priorities, whether they be white, red, yellow, black, brown, rich or poor. Our ancestors might have come over on different ships, but Sincerely, Curley Massey Response to July 30 Letter to Editor Printed in Portland Observer M y A ppreciation ’ Dear Mr Massey I want to express my appreciation for your Letter to the Editor which appeared in the July 30 Portland Observer I believe that you have presented very cogently and persuasively the very crucial role that teachers must play in moeting the educational and social/emotional Does N ot needs of young children Thank you for you past efforts I hope that the com mg school year will be very productive and satisfying for you and your students Sincerely, Rayko Hashimoto Early Childhood Education Specialist M e e t The O regonian Thank you for your submission We are sorry, but it does not meet our needs at this time Needs W e appiedate your interest in The Oregonian Sincerely. J p ORTMND OBSERVER 115 to« txt« $25 to« two H u. 3117 Rortteort OH 9/JUH I I Fran Gardner Forum Editor S ül ILP $ "3 o O 5 Mes» -I -I m < Q 0, 0 X o Sl-aai cn -f > X Apt statf fts ZIP Portland Observer •• Mei -• the Puntam i U tn rr< ft IUSRS 9BB6BDI • publeheri • * * ! Th.ovt«» iv tx n /w x i uompony Inc 1«O N E Kemp« « o riti R urH nd Oregon 97711 Ron OFSre So« 3117 Rondarvi O egon 97X R S e t<w i clew (« ^tage p«d »I Rivtler d O egon «a -« - i. »»a. Tb« H a ila a d t t p T r r r r we« MiahW lred n 1970 S u b ac ip io n * ttSO O par «ear xi the To County area Poet m eeter Sand addraaa i hange« lo the Portland (U n m a r. P 0 Boa 3117 Rondarvi Oregon 9 7 3 « AttociaMoe - Founded IB M A lfrtd I Hendrrson, Editor/Publishpr A l Williams, (¡tntra! M anaitr 0« Mann,ng M elatila a p r o le **.* ot aocxHcgy and puHtical Scianca al Rurdue Un. » e in t, Along the Color Law appear« ,n ovai ISO ’x h n V M * '» >ntern«tion«l»v intolerance in Education" Black-on-Black Crime At Crisis Level Violent crime in the U.S. has reached a level unprecedented in the history of our nation. Every 24 minutes, a murder is committed in the U.S. (18,000 murders occur in the U.S. each year.) If so many people were dying from Along the Color Line by Dr Manning Marable 288 0033 N a tio n a l A d v e rtis in g R ep re s e n ta tiv e A m a lg a m a te d R u b lith e t« Inc N a w Y orb The New Right and many religious funda rnentalists distinguish themselves from an ear her generation of American conservatives by their zealous advocacy of anti-intellectualism and educational intolerance of cultural and ideological diversity Rightwing leader Phyllis Schlafly, for instance, has condemned what she terms "descriptive classroom discussions of fornication, homosexuality, contraceptives and abortion as though they were normal and acceptable practices." The New Right de mands that social history reverse itself —that any discussion of contemporary social prob lems and issues should be banned, especially in the public schools —and that the sterile, white male dominated culture of the early twentieth century should be firmly restored. In the Moral Majority Report, Schlafly has called for a restoration of the male dominated workplace "It should certainly not be our so cial policy to move wives into the labor force ...W ho then is going to raise the children? The Reverend Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority, extends this traditional sexist logic to embrace a reactionary social policy which looks backward in all educational, eco nomic and political areas. "It is easy for peo pie today who are violating God's law and man's law to ridicule those who oppose them by simply saying, 'That fellow's repressive; he is suggesting a return to where America was fifty years ago, m orally," Falwell states. "That is exactly what I am proposing, m orally." The logical culmination of this intellectual rigidity and social backwardness was on dis play several weeks ago in a federal district court in Greeneville, Tennessee, where seven families sued a local school board for teaching "disrespect" for parents, the "theory of evo lu tion", "magic" and other "un-Christian" themes. One self proclaimed, "Born Again Christian" plaintiff, Vicki Frost, specifically cri ticized a textbook which discussed Renais sance art. The objectionable sentence in the text was the following: "a central idea of the Renaissance was a belief in the dignity and worth of human beings." Frost claimed that that her passage was a form of un Christ tan "hum anism " which "specifically denies God as the Creator." Frost then attacked texts for their desciption of the global nature of air and water as a form of dangerous "inter nationalism " She condemned a story about a boy who cooked at home as a negative sex role reversal, and termed a simple picture of "Jack and Jill" dancing as a possible depic tion of "Satanic rites." Frost also refused to accept the presentation of non Christian "re li gious views" in class textbooks, on an "equal (basis) to our o w n " religion. Finally, she echoed Shlafly and Falwell, in spirit if not in words: "O ur children's imaginations have to be bounded." There is no guarantee that academic free dom and intellectual integrity will prevail in this controversial case. Testifying on behalf of the local school board, Professor Robert Farr of Indiana University stated that he did not "be lieve there are any of the public school readers which would be acceptable to the plaintiffs " The textbooks are being defended by several prominent lawyers, including Tennessee's /^d vocate General William H Farmer However, the fundamentalist parents have the legal sup port of "Concerned Women of America," a Washington, D C based organization estab lished by Beverly LeHaye, wife of right wing television evangelist Tim LeHaye. If Frost and other plaintiffs win, what next? It is only a short step to widescale book ban nings and burnings, and perhaps the attemp ted purge from public schools and universities of faculty and administrators who do not ad here to narrow, fundamentalist beliefs. Throughout the country, Waldenbooks stores recently laid out displays of books which have been censored or banned during the past few years. Among the books are "Uncle Tom's Cabin", "Brave New W orld", and believe it or not, the "Living Bible." The new Bible trans lation was burned in Gastonia, North Carolina, in 1981 because it was allegedly a "perverted commentary on the King James version." The intellectual poverty of the radical and religious Right is only surpassed by its intoler ance of pluralism. The debate over cultural freedom in our public schools and indeed, in society as a whole, distinguishes those of us who are committed to real democracy from those social forces which wish to return to the Dark Ages. Healthwatch by Steven Bailey. N D A year ago I wrote on the potential dangers of the artificial sweetener "NutraSweet" I reported that U S Senator Moynahan had found that the F D A had not done complete studies on human safety prior to relea sing this product on the American market In the past year Americans have consumed over 400,000 tons of this product 15.8 lbs per person), and the reports of wide spread health problems are coming in. NutraSweet, the "free lunch" of low calorie sweet eners, claims to be a safe way to have your cake and eat it, too But for many people, the absent calories have been replaced with health concerns such as head aches, menstrual problems, seizures, hyperactivity in children as well as a number of other problems being reported by NutraSweet consumers across the country While it is difficult to directly connect the onset of these symptoms with the use of NutraSweet, the absence of symptoms upon removal of the sweetener has convin cerf thousands that tfieir problems were due solely to the use of this product. NutraSweet is a combination of three chemicals phenylalanine and aspartic acid (both amino acids found in natural proteins) and m ethanol (methyl alcohol). While there exists a disease of individual sen sitivity to phenylalanine called Phenylketonunia or PKU, its incidence is too rare to account for the numerous complaints associated with NutraSweet The combi nation of the three substances and the effects of meth anol on the human system are probably to blame for the high levol of reactivity to the artificial sweetener Woodrow Monte. Ph D , R.D.. assistant professor of food science and director of the Food Science and Nu trition Laboratories of Arizona State University, has Joined with a number of consumer groups to ask for a temporary restraining order to prohibit the F D A. from continuing to allow the use of Aspartame (NutraSweet) as a food additive Dr. Monte said, "W e have documented numerous complaints from consumers who feel their consumption of Aspartame containing products has done them harm These complaints include seizures of a grand mal type, suicidal deep depressions, severe headaches. mental disorientation, loss of egualibnum, speech im pairment. menses Imenstrual) changes mimicking early onset of menopause visual impairment, dizziness and even a possibility of brain abscesses, and fetal (unborn) abnormalities " He goes on to charge that: "Given what is known, the authorization by FDA of Aspar tame is a regulatory license to employ American con sumers as test animals."* What is known about NutraSweet is considerable In a study by the manufacturer of NutraSweet called "Long Term Tolerance of Aspartame by Normal Adults (E 60) a double blind study found "no product related side effects" but went on to note that A There were more than three times the perten tage of women complaining of menstrual cramps in the Apartame (NutraSweet) group than the placebo B The placebo group had less than half the per centage of complaints about mensus changes and general swelling than the women in ttie Aspartame group. C. While none of the women in the placebo group reported being tired or having headaches, al most 30 percent of those women consuming Aspartame reported suffering from these symp toms A long term study of Aspartame intake in primates conducted by the manufacturer indicated that all ani mals fed medium and large doses of Aspartame devel oped grand mal type seizures While many consumers are suffering no observable side effects from Aspartame consumption, it is clear that this product does present some dangers to indivi dual consumers. If you have noticed changes in your health or your children's health since consuming Nutra Sweet, you should consider ceasing your intake of this artificial sweetener Cut down on your consumption of simple sugars and remember the old cliche, "There is no free lunch", for the true cost of sugar substitutes may be youi long term health. ’ Quota taken horn Health Freedom Naw«, Vol 5 No 7. p 76
