2, Portland Observer, December 31, 1986
EDITORIAL/OPINION
Reflections
I once reed that in a bullfight there comae a time
when, after being brutalized while making innumerable
charges at the movement of the cape, the bull finally
turns and faces his adversary, with the only movement
being his heaving, bloody sides It is believed for the
first time he really sees the 'Matador", and hie final
confrontation is known as "the moment of truth". And
as we know, for the bull this moment of recognition
comes too late.
The experience of Black people all over the world
presents an analogous situation. For hundreds of years
we have been charging at the banners that are held by
the European Matadors And those banners have been
represented by such concepts as democracy, capital
ism, marxism, religion and education.
I believe that now is indeed Black people's moment
of truth, and it is time for us to look at the Matador and
our situation.
In looking at the Matador, I recently read of the Pre
sident's concern for the Contra "freedom fighters" and
of his fight with Congress to add just another ♦ 100 mil
lion dollars to the fat tab of the Contras to assist them
in militarily overthrowing the government of Nicaragua
After reading that article. I thought, if the President
of the United States is that concerned about people
having freedom and democracy, perhaps we Black
Americans ought to stand and be counted as suppor
ting some type of military aid to our struggling Brothers
and Sisters in South Africa. I mean, here we are (some
of us. anyway) marching around embassies and corpor
ation offices shouting. "You should be ashamed,"
while Botha and his gang of thugs are murdering inno
cent Black men, women and children.
I recall when the Arabs and Jews went to war, the
United States immediately sent jet fighter planes and
other assorted toys of destruction and death because
the Jewish American community demanded such for
their kind. And I don’t recall any protesting outrage
when the OPEC oil nations began buying "reality w ea
pons" to defend their kind.
So here we are, just like the bull, charging at some
jive talk lip service cloaked in the cape of destruction,
while Europeans and (white) corporate America con
tinues to take care of business while killing off our kind.
During World War II, the Asian Americans, particu
larly the Japanese Americans, were happy and proud to
be a part of the great American democratic dream —
until they woke up to a nightmare when the American
government suspended all of their rights and locked
them in concentration camps because they were still
"Japanese"
Yes, it was racisml Don’t you dare fix your mouth to
say it wasn't. They didn’t round up and incarcerate
German Americans and all those others from the mix of
hostile regions of Europe. And. oh yeah, in the eyes of
most Americans, Black loyalty was still shaky during
World War II. so we worked mostly in the kitchen and
behind the lines, etc.
We have to understand that our liberation and those
of our Brothers and Sisters around the world must
come from within ourselves
And if our relatives in
South Africa need weapons, we must find the wey to
provide them W e owe it to our ancestors, forefathers,
ourselves and our children. For sure we can’t demand
that the rulers in Washington. D C. (look alike relatives
to the English and South African invaders) send some
"tangible aid" to our people, such as M 16’s, Mac 10’s
and I l ’s, armored assault vehicles, tanks, etc. If we
A
Otd, I do believe that they would immediately begin
work to repeal the 13th, 14th and 16th Amendments to
the United States Constitution. Now, for those of you
who don’t know, the 13th Amendment allegedly abo
lished slavery; the 14th allegedly guaranteed us equal
protection and due process of law under the law; the
15th, the right to vote. All three of these amendments
can be repealed by Congresa at any moment or declared
unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
So, check it out. Oh, I know you ain’t ready for this,
but if Congress repealed the three amendments, or the
Supreme Court declared them unconstitutional, by the
time the news was released at 6 p m ., we’d be sur
rounded by the United State Army, Marines. Delta
Forces, Satelites. National Guards. State Police, Port
land Police Department, KKK and all other paramili
tary units of every shade but Black W hat’d you say?
The Brothers in the military gom do what? No, Brothers
and Sisters, they done had their weapons taken at
5 p.m., and placed in the brigs, stockades and Leaven
worth.
After we are all surrounded and beat up, the other
army, as proven by history, would ap p e a r-th e Cap
tains of Religion and Lieutenants of Education, telling
us to be cool and non-violent
Some of those from
Religion would remind us that "the Lord works in
strange waysl"
Moving right along, just about everywhere one finds
Blacks and Whites in close proximity, it seems that
Whites are always in control Be it in Portland. Oregon;
Seattle. Washington or South Africa. And the real
strange thing is that Black people (collectively) never
seem to question this imbalance. We have Brothers
and Sisters who become "highly offended and down
right mad" if you even voice this question, and are
quick to say, "W e shouldn t be racist and treat them the
way they treat us." Well, for those who think this way.
I say "that to be a racist, you must be in a position to
oppress and exploit others because of their race."
Have you ever wondered about the lack of conflict
between the White races' religion and racial discrimina
tion? History teaches that they (Caucasians) have
oppressed, exploited and murdered Black people all in
the name of Jesus Christi And with the blessing and
sanctions of their churches Ask yourself, if the Jews
can build centers to honor those of their race who have
suffered tragedy, should not we also honor those of our
race who have been murdered as a result of racism?
Should we allow ourselves and the next generation to
forget that the "Pope" "then" blessed the African slave
trade and the money it generated for the church coffers,
and recently blessed every Italian pilot and plane on
their way to bomb Ethiopian men, women and children
The lesson learned from the 60 s is that white liberals
give lip service to Black liberation and all the while ob
jecting that we want too much, too fast Remember the
CBS 60 Minutes expose on the political machine of
Howard Hughes? The man spent megabucks to sup
press our freedom advances, and you better believe
that, though he is dead and gone, his brothers are see
ing to it that our road to liberation is blocked at every
turn. The struggle, of course, isn’t over, and because
of our high visibility, Black Americans cannot separate
ourselves from it. So, beware that "if they got me last
night, it going to be all about coming for you in the
morning" unless we act as a people against the present
genocidal
Charles A. Williams
Uhuru Sa Sa Member
A long the C olor Line
The Rainbow Coalition
vs.
The Democrats
The strangest sideshow during the revela
tions about the Iran Contra arms conspiracy
has been the bizarre behavior of leading
Democrats. Most are stumbling all over them
selves trying to act as "responsible'' critics of
President Reagan and his cowboy aides.
When Reaganite ideologue Patrick Buchanan
claimed that NSC member Oliver North should
be compared to the "abolitionists" in their jus
tifiable violations of slavery laws, most Demo
crats failed to attack such rightwing lunacy.
The reason for this failure is clear. Since
1984, both major parties have become "Rea
ganized." Liberals in the Republican Party
have virtually ceased to exist. The Democratic
Party under national chairman Paul Kirk has
moved swiftly to the right on most public
policy issues. Instead of focusing on the pro
blems of traditional constituents — Blacks. His
panics. feminists, trade unionists, the unem
ployed and the elderly, Kirk insists that Demo
crats must concentrate on the "broad national
audience.”
Kirk warns that prospective
Democratic presidential candidates must avoid
engaging in "negative, polarizing and party
bashing campaigns."
And he also urges
Democrats not to insist upon "narrow litmus-
Oregon Scholars: An Old-Fashioned'Idea
test demands" that candidates must support.
This Reaganized strategy is a recipe for disa
ster, of course, because the Democratic Party
lost the majority of support among white mid
die class voters in general elections three de
cades ago, and they'll never recover it. Its
only hope for long term growth lies in the
direction of the Rainbow Coalition. But it re
fuses to move in that direction, because the
mass mobilization of millions of minority and
low income voters would radically change the
political character and leadership of the Demo
cratic Party.
Kirk's biggest headache in this scenario is
Jesse Jackson, who understands exactly
what's at stake. "The rightward drift is not
only coming from the elephant, but the Demo
cratic donkey," Jackson recently stated. The
leading Democratic conservatives, including
former Virginian Governor Charles Robb, Tex
as Senator Lloyd Bentsen, Florida Senator
Bob Graham, and Senator Sam Nunn of Geor
gia, as well as others, are essentially "political
schizophrenics,” Jackson explains. "They are
looking like Kennedy and behaving like Rea
gan."
Despite the continued attacks against Jack-
by William E. Davis
Here's an idea that's as all-American as the
free enterprise system, and as down to earth
as old fashioned hard work.
The idea: Grant scholarships to top high
school graduates to study in Oregon's colleges
and universities.
You, like many Oregonians, may be sur
prised we aren't doing it already.
In fact, until the early 1960s, scholarships
that rewarded students' high achievement and
hard work were common in this country. In
deed, people held "scholarship students" in
high regard.
Today, by contrast, all state and federal
scholarship aid for Oregon students is based
on financial need.
We must continue to help students who
need it. But we also must begin actively
sending a message to our youth that scholar
ship will be recognized and hard work en
couraged.
An Oregon Scholars proposal will be sub
mitted to the 1987 Oregon Legislature in Jan
uary. Already attracting support from busi
ness leaders, educators and other citizens, it
would work like this:
• Oregon high school students graduating
in the top 5 percent statewide would receive
$1,500 to apply toward tuition and fees.
• The grants would be good at any accredi
ted two or four year Oregon college or univer
sity, public or private.
• The $1,500 could be renewed annually for
up to four years for students who maintain a
" B " average in their college studies.
• The program would cost an estimated
$2 3 million annually during the first biennium,
and $3 5 million to $4 5 million in the second
biennium to pay costs of renewable grants
As a special provision, we have recom
mended that scholarships also be awarded to
son, the civil rights leader remains the most
charismatic and visible of all leading Demo
crats, Black or white. According to a poll con
ducted by the Washington, D C. based Joint
Center for Political Studies, Jackson's name is
instantly recognized by 97 percent of all Blacks
and 90 percent of whites. By contrast, presi
dential contender Gary Hart is recognized by
only 62 percent of all Blacks and 79 percent
of whites. Sixty nine percent of all Blacks and
22 percent of whites polled want Jackson to
challenge Hart, Mario Cuomo, and other white
candidates in the 1988 Democratic primaries
Almost two thirds of all Blacks want Jackson
to win his party's presidential nomination.
This represents a large electoral bloc commit
ted to progressive policies, which the Reaga
nized Democrats are now dismissing as irrele
vant. But Jackson constantly reminds these
new converts to conservatism: "W hen you
combine all of those who have been rejected
by Reaganomics, you get the majority of the
American people."
The Rainbow Coalition now faces its great
est test, which will probably determine the
future of civil rights and progressive politics
for the next generation. Jackson and many
Rainbow leaders assume that their strategy
must be to pressure the majority of Democrats
back to liberalism, while not jeopardizing
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the top 5 percent of blacks, Hispanics and
Native Americans graduating from Oregon
high schools. These students now are under
represented: The percentage of students from
these m inority groups going on to college is
not much more than half that of Caucasian
students.
Such scholarships can be powerful m oti
vators to students, not only to excel in high
school to win the scholarship, but also to con
tinue to work hard in college to keep it.
Oregonians also have to worry about the
growing number of students who indicate an
interest in going out of state to school; for the
first time, the percentage of Oregon's top high
school students indicating an interest in out-
of state colleges exceeds that of those inter
ested in Oregon's public, four-year colleges
and universities.
When our "best and brightest" leave Ore
gon, many never return. Yet these students
often become the kind of business, education
al and political leaders every state needs.
When I was a university president in New
Mexico, we had a privately financed merit-
scholarship program. Consistently, when we
asked students if these scholarships made a
difference, half said they stayed in New Mexi
so because of them.
Oregon Scholars grants should have that
effect in our state, as well. In fact, Washing
ton, Colorado and at least 13 other states al
ready offer merit scholarships to top students.
Perhaps more important, these grants will
send a message to our youth that we put a
premium on hard work and high achievement.
These grants also will send a clear message
nationwide that Oregon is serious about aca
demic excellence in both our secondary
schools and in our colleges and universities.
(William E. Davis is chancellor of the Oregon State
System of Higher Education.)
either Cuomo's or Hart's (the probable presi
dential nominees) chances against George
Bush or some other Republican challenger in
the 1988 general election. Four more years
of Reaganism, they reason, would destroy
more human needs programs; set back civil
rights, education, and health care; and gua
rantee an even more reactionary Supreme
Court But this strategy is based on the now
questionable assumption that the Democratic
Party, once in power, would implement a
modest version of Great Society-traditional
liberalism, and not the lukewarm version of
Reaganism of the 1980s Unfortunately, even
if a Democratic candidate emerges victorious
in 1988, the odds are that he would pursue a
domestic and foreign policy agenda which in
many respects would be hardly distinguish
able from that of Bush, Robert Dole, Howard
Baker, etc.
So perhaps the real issue is not whether
Jackson should run in the Democratic pri
maries. We ought to carefully explore the pos
sibility of a Rainbow presidential campaign
in the general elections, and the sooner, the
better. We might be better off building a
strong social protest movement against the
Reaganism of both major parties, than endor
sing another Reaganized Democrat in the
general election.
Portland Observer
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