Page 2, Portland Observer, September 17, 1986
editorial / opiimion
Grass R o o ts "'
U.S. Senate Should Reject Rehnquist's
Nom ination as Chief Justice
The U.S. Senate should reject President
Reagan's nominee William H. Rehnquist for
Chief Justice of the United States Supreme
Court.
Rehnquist, who was appointed to the
nation's high court by former president
Richard M. Nixon in 1970, is totally unfit to
serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Throughout his tenure as a jurist on the high
court, Rehnquist has repeatedly demonstrated
that he is ' an extremist” with a long record of
opposition to individual rights.
Mr. Rehnquist's views are narrowly guided
by tw o basic propositions: conflicts between
state and federal authority should be resolved
in favor of the states; conflicts between the
individual and the government should be resol­
ved against the individual.
Rehnquist has written several opinions that
overturned broad remedial orders issued by
lower courts to correct problems, such as mis
treatment of civilians by the police, abuse of
the institutionalized retarded and overcrowd­
ing in the federal prisons.
Equally important, Rehnquist has dissented
from most of the court's decisions affirming
various remedies for racial discrimination,
from affirmative action to busing. Rehnquist
was the lone dissenter in the 1983 case that
upheld the federal government's policy deny­
ing a federal tax deduction for Bob Jones Uni­
versity, a school that adhered to racially dis­
criminatory policies.
Justice Rehnquist's insensitivity to the
aspirations of minorities is evident. During
the 1960's, Rehnquist harassed and intim i­
dated Hispanic and African-American voters
in Phoenix, Arizona when he was a poll-
watcher.
As a Supreme Court law clerk,
Rehnquist wrote a memo saying that the 1896
decision in Plessy vs. Ferguson, which upheld
separate but equal facilities for blacks and
whites, was correct.
A person who is a judicial activist for a
reactionary viewpoint, an enemy of civil rights,
and views African Americans and other m inor­
ities as chattel at the mercy of white males,
shouldn't sit on this nation's highest court, let
alone be nominated as Chief Justice.
Along the Color Line
by Dr Manning Marable
Dr
Manning Marabie it profow o* of sociology and politicai actanca
at Purdua Unrvaiaity
Along the Color Im a
jel
Al A
'Oregon
Newspaper
P u l. l. s t ...... .
Asso« uiton
I
both the law and gender relations to the Washington
Post's editorial board
Robertson insisted that as president, he would only
enforce those Supreme Court decisions in which he was
in agreement Robertson asserted that Biblical teach
ings require all wives to be submissive to their hus
bands in all aspects of life
He also claimed that "the
concept of separation of church and state' does not
really appear in the U.S Constitution, but "is an essen
tial part of the Soviet Constitution.'’ Such rhetoric,
if implemented by any president, would lead to legal
anarchy, at best GOP officials, including many ultra
rightists, shudder privately at the prospect of Robertson
at the head of their 1988 ticket
If Bush falters in 1987. as many expect, look for Kan
sas Senator Robert Dole to pick up most of his follow
ers Dole has some obvious strengths As Senate ma
jority leader, he has media visibility, he has directed the
Reagan administration's reactionary agenda through
Congress Dole also acquired some national campaign
experience back in 1976 as the GOP Vice Presidential
candidate Some Democrats are more fearful of Dole s
potential candidacy than that of any other Republican,
because of his reputation as a “ compassionate con­
servative
But this reputation is more illusion than
reality Last month, for example, Dole wanted to sup
port a liberal amendment which would have given $62
million in unexpended Pentagon money to senior citi­
zens programs But when the roll call showed a narrow
vote, Dole shelved his principles by voting no. The
necessity to be viewed as heartless in the search for a
Great White Hope was more important than the mater
ial needs of the elderly
But if all of the above run into difficulties, other
Republicans are waiting hungrily in the wings. In late
August, Reagamtes in the western states met in Oregon
to plot the presidential campaign of conservative Re
publican Senator Paul Laxalt of Nevada. Other lesser
Reagan epitomes with presidential ambitions include
Delaware Govsmor Pete du Pont, former Defense Sec­
retary Donald Rumsfeld, former Senator Howard Baker
of Tennessee, and Colorado Senator William Arm
strong All desperately want the opportunity to become
America's next Great White Hope
Portland Observer
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5 P O R T M N D OBSERNER
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Boa 3137 Portterul OR 9 7206
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288-0033
N a tio n a l A d v e rt,a ln g R ep ra a e n ta tlv a
A m a lg a m a i ad P ub liahera Inc
N a w York
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s 520 3
The in itia l p art of th is act reads:
Be I, Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon
SECTION 1 Section 2 of this Ac, is added to and
made a part of the Insurance Code
SECTION 2.
Whenever any individual or group
health insurance policy provides for payment or re
imbursemen, for any service tha, is within the lawful
scope of service of any health practitioner licensed
under state law:
(11 The insured under the policy shall be free to select
and shall have direct access to the appropriate health
practitioner licensed under ______________ without
supervision or referral by any other health practitioner
(2) The insured under the policy shall be entitled to
have payment or reimbursement made to the insured or
on the insured's behalf for the services performed
Such payment or reimbursement shall be in accordance
with the benefits provided in the policy and shall be the
same regardless of which licensed health practitioner
rendered the service
As you can see. this ac, does no, require any addi
tional coverage by the insurance company, bu, only
allows the consumer unobstructed choice of which
licensed provider they choose for their personal health
care With no new mandated services being required in
this act, there should be no additional costs to the pro
viders or the consumers and should, as in the case of
free market systems, actually decrease the total costs
of health care
While this may seem like a logical and appropriate
change in Oregon law, there has been much opposition
to similar changes in the pas, As one of fewer than 10
states tha, still permits this form of consumer descrimi-
nation, the power of self serving lobbying interests in
Salem becomes all too clear. Now is the time to make
a change
Contact the coalition a, P 0 . Box 10943,
Portland, Oregon 97210 for a copy of the act, informa
tion and time of the next meeting. All are welcome to
these open meetings. Find ou, how your legislative
candidates feel on this issue. While many races in Ore­
gon have opposing candidates who both support this
legislation, you may find a clear choice between can
didates in your individual districts.
Letters to the Editor
BUF A n d O thers Are C o m m u n ity 's G reatest Assets
"The Great W hite Hope for 1988"
This year's Great White Hope rituals include a large
number of would be candidates Last month's precinct
delegate races in Michigan were projecled as an impor
tant early showdown between the leading GOP candi
d a te s -V ic e President George Bush, New York Con
gressman Jack Kemp, and television evangelist Pat
Robertson. Instead of clarifying matters, all three men
were wounded in the political fray. Bush, the acknow
ledged frontrunner, was forced to spend over »1 million
to maintain the lead. Reaganite conservatives have
never forgiven him for running against the old patriarch
of their cult back in 1980, and are desperately looking
for alternatives But Kemp polled poorly in Michigan,
despite lobbying in the state for over one year
Al
though Robertson did better than many expected, no
one seriously believed that his rigid evangelical base is
broad enough to capture the presidential nomination.
Moreover, Reverend Robertson disturbed many political
experts recently by revealing some extremist views on
The Oregon Health Care Coalition is undertaking a
task which is long overdue in Oregon. This "grass
roots coalition of private individuals and numerous
public interest groups is attempting to end insurance
discrimination in Oregon
While we often pride our
selves as having a progressive state, Oregon ,s in the
extreme minority as still allowing private insurance com­
panies the right to refuse reimbursement to licensed
providers of services covered in their policies In other
words while you have an insurance policy that covers
laboratory test "x ’, your company may require you to
pay out of pocket for this test if you have it performed
by a state licensed provider whose profession is not
covered in the language of the policy
The fuel for this coalition has come out of years of
descriminatory practice in Oregon
Consumers have
cound time and again that while they though, they were
fully covered for their choice of care, they had to pay
out-of pocket when seeing a chosen specialist in a
given area such as optometry, chiropractic and naturo
pathic medicine, podiatry, psychotherapy, hypnosis,
etc Now tha, the Oregon Health Care Coalition has
emerged, there is a constructive avenue of redress avail
able to all Oregonians This avenue is the coalition's
support and endorsement of Legislative Counsel (LC)
draft 556. which is a recently drafted Bill for an Ac,
which would revise the Insurance Code of Oregon to
eliminate descnmination.
appears m ova* 140
nawapapa*» intarnationalfy
Every (our years about this time, a bizarre political
spectacle begins to unfold.
A strange white tribe,
speaking gibberish few can comprehend, roams the
countryside seemingly without reason. Tribal members
make promises to strangers which they knowingly can
not keep. They distribute strange, poster like images of
their highly touted political demigods. They collect
millions of dollars from corporate heads and affluent
special interest groups
But cultural anthropologists
have no reason to study this primitive and cult like
phenomenon. It's only the beginnings of the Repub
Means' search for a Presidential cand date for 1968
As always, the culmination of this process will pro
duce a candidate with three essential characteristics
which are required by the tribe's ancient traditions:
a white male who is ideologically conservative In short,
a "Great White Hope” for the American political system
is required, a politician tough enough to keep Blacks.
Hispanics, the unemployed and women in their codec
ttve subordinate places while perpetuating the grand
illusion of political equality and democracy. An anti
Communist demagogue who is insane enough to bring
us all to the very brink of world war, but astute enough
to espouse the rhetoric of peace
Healthwatch
by Steven Bailey, N.D
I, is unfortunate tha, individuals such as Mr Paul
McCoy, who call for "unity and cooperation' "for the
cheap shots in the press and back stabbing to stop",
would use these very tactics to promote then own per
spective and agenda The behavior should solicit ques­
tions from thoughtful persons What was the real ob
jective of Paul McCoy's vicious attack on three pro­
minent Black activists, and on one of the most impor
tan, and valuable Black organizations in the Portland
community, the Black United Front 7 We are giving him
the benefit of the doubt and assuming tha, this violent
and wrongful attack on BUF, Ron Herndon, Reverend
John Jackson and Herb Cawthorne, in a letter to the
editor two weeks ago was merely "an emotional re
action to the fact thai the Black Leadership Confer
ence did no, endorse his mother, Gladys McCoy, in her
current bid for the Chair of the Multnomah County
Commission sea,
In his youthful zeal to defend his
mother, he made petty and vindictive attacks on every
prominent individual and organization which he under
stood to be affiliated with the Black Leadership Con
ference
The Black Leadership Conference is far more diverse
than BUF. or the Urban League, or the Albina Mini
s,erial Alliance are singularly. It is a combination of
these forces and many others such as the Northeast
Business Boosters and State Representative Margaret
Carter's Office I, is a cross section of community acti
vis,s, business people, social scientists, non profit and
government employees, people who are concerned
about the “challenge of activism and community mobili
za,ion," and more importantly about the lack of a uni
fied approach on issues affecting the Black community.
Ironically, the Black Leadership Conference did
exactly wha, young McCoy charges community organi
rations to do: there were no stabs a, his mother in the
press, no attempt to drag ou, the dirty laundry and re
hash i, at a time tha, would be inappropriate there was
a simple reporting of the fact tha, the Leadership Con
ference as a body could no, agree upon an endorse
men,: a painful position for the Conference to find it­
self in bu, one which had integrity and was represen
tative of the body tha, debated the issue among them
self for two and a half hours before making a decision
Paul McCoy and any other individuals who believe tha,
this decision was merely an extension of some long
standing vendetta against Gladys McCoy for pas, policy
disagreements could have learned something about
community process and consensus building by obser
ving the , houghful and balanced debate the body wen,
through before ever taking a vote on the McCoy en
dorsemen, issue
I, is far too simple minded to assume tha, the Black
Leadership Conference is merely another name for
BUF.
Ron Herndon doesn’t need another vehicle
J_rtkoa«Sr«tt
rz m rm x v x v i
»
through which to express his valuable political views; he
already has one
Herb Cawthorne doesn't need an
organization such as the Leadership Conference as a
mouthpiece, he already has a platform from which to
promote his unique vision for the community. And
Reverend Jackson can promote his ideas regarding
community activism in front of his congregation every
Sunday.
The history of the Black Leadership Conference is
simple and straight forward I, was organized to pro
vide a forum where the diverse approaches and strate­
gies for solving the problems of the Black community
and its representation could be debated, and a unified
agenda could be developed Some seventy-five people
representing a variety of interests, organizations, and
political persuasions within the community hammered
ou, position papers this pas, winter on issues such as
economic development, youth, education, housing,
health and welfare, and crime
These papers were
in turn used in interviews with the gubernatorial can
didates to provide a unified agenda to these candidates
of wha, the Black community's concerns and priorities
were for the next four years
Dozens of concerned
community members and activists were invited to par
ticipate in this process
I, is obvious to most tha, no single organization
speaks for the entire Black community. W e commend
those community organizations such as BUF, and those
Black leaders such as Ron Herndon, John Jackson, and
Herb Cawthorne, who have dared to be part of some
thing bigger than their own agendas W e are proud to
have the benefit of their unique experience and fore­
sight in support of our efforts. They already have
demonstrated their commitment to the notion of a uni
fied Black political base by daring to subjugate their
valuable personal perspectives and objectives to the will
of a more representative body. Each deserves a great
deal of praise from all who profess to be interested in
the development of the community. The find of petty
mud slinging and disrespect represented by Mr.
McCoy's response to one action of the Leadership Con­
ference is an unfortunate example of why we often
make very slow progress on the political front
Our challenge to young Paul McCoy, Calvin Henry,
and all others who like to loosely throw around the rhe
tone about "unity and cooperation," is next time we
disagree on some issue, let's no, make small minded
attempts a, destroying the credibility of others in the
interest of trying to make ourselves look better
In­
stead, le, us move forward, keeping our eyes open for
the next opportunity tha, might allow us to work to­
gether cooperatively for the betterment of our com­
munity.
Black Leadership
Conference
W finn«» I
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