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
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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