m MM y rtdH
Page 2 ’
aland Observer, July 22, 1987
Along the Color Line
by D i
M a n n in g M a ra b le
Dr Manning M able is professor of sociology and political science
at Purdue U n ivnsity
Along the Color Line appears in over 140
newspapers internationally
Racial Conflict in Europe
Part III of a Three Part Series
Last month's election in the United Kingdom repre
sented two historical turning points. The first, which
has up to this point dominated all political discourse in
the international media, was Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher's unprecedented victory over her rivals in both
the British Labour Party and the Liberal-Social Demo
cratic Alliance. Thatcher's Conservative Party won by a
smaller margin than four years ago, but nevertheless
dominated the seats in southern and eastern England,
the country's most populous and economically-pros-
perous regions. No Prime Minister in this country has
previously won three consecutive elections, and the tri
umph of Thatcher is being interpreted as a victory for
the Reagan-like policies of economic austerity and
social reaction.
But from here in London, Thatcher's so-called tri
umph is far less than impressive. Although she con
trols Parliament, her Conservative Party won only 44
percent of the electorate. The voters cast ballots
against the Labour Party for its failure to advance a
coherent social and economic policy alternative to That
cherism.
The second, and by all odds more substantial victory
was the election of four Black and Asian members of
Parliament—Bernie Grant, Keith Vaz, Paul Boateng,
and Diane Abbott —all elected as left-wing activists
within the British Labour Party. Given that there are
still no Black judges in any British court, and only one
Black mayor in the whole country, this electoral triumph
marks the culmination of thirty years' antiracist strug
gle.
The full meaning of the election of four nonwhites
into the British Parliament cannot be comprehended
outside of an analysis of the recent currents of Black
political and social protest throughout the country. As
West Indians and Asians began to emigrate into the
United Kingdom during the 1950s, the first form of pro
test was advanced in the area of journalism. Claudia
Jones, a brilliant Black radical who had been forcibly
deported from the U.S. during the McCarthy era, led
the way by establishing the progressive monthly, the
West Indian Gazette. Other militant publications fol
lowed, and are still in wide circulation, including the
Marxist-oriented Race Today and Black Voice.
Protests were manifested in popular culture, as the
sons and daughters of West Indian immigrants began
to be influenced by reggae music and the spiritual-politi
cal movement of the Rastafari. Although freqently dis
torted as a religious cult, Rasta contains a dynamic mix
of anti-colonial, anti-racist ideologies which reinforce
the capacity of people of African descent to resist cul
tural genocide in the context of Western societies. In
the U.K., Rastas established a branch of the "Ethiopian
World Federation" in London, and became active in
local anti-racist campaigns. The British police respon
ded to this cultural threat with unprincipled brutality.
Rastas' homes were raided without warrants; their
characteristic "dreadlocks" hair was forcibly cut off; the
media dubbed them "criminals". Rastas and non-Rasta
Blacks were increasingly subjected to police harassment
and imprisonment. By 1980, Blacks comprised barely
3 percent of the U.S.'s total population but account for
one out of six prisoners. Some Rasta leaders are even
cynically diagnosed as "schizophrenic" by white psych
iatrists and are forcibly placed into mental hospitals.
In the 1980s, the Black struggle has assumed an
oveitly electoral form, as the 2.5 million nonwhites are
seeking to influence the political system in their behalf.
Two general and conflicting perspectives are being ex
pressed on this strategy for Black empowerment. One
minority tendency of Asian and West Indian activists,
including the journals Race Today and the Black Voice,
has rejected Black participation inside the Labour Party,
and opposes the use of voting as a means to address
basic grievances. These militants fear that the small
nonwhite middle class may be coopted into the liberal
political establishment, thus severing any links between
prominent Black spokespersons and their poor and
working lass constituents.
The majority of Black activists strongly disagree,
and advocate the creation of so-called "Black Sections"
inside the Labour Party which would serve as perman
ent caucuses and pressure groups. So far, the white
moderate Socialists have adamantly rejected these de
mands for Black Sections, despite the fact that there
are currently "Jew ish", "W om en's" and even "Law
yer's Sections"! Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock calls
Black Sections "reverse racism", ignoring his own
silence on vigilantism and rampant police brutality
against nonwhites. As newly elected Member of Parlia
ment Paul Boateng states: "Blacks have a critical role
to play . . . We are not concerned with tokenism."
by William E. Davis
Chancellor of the Oregon
« ' O'/v
Higher-Education Investment Reaps Dividends
You don't have to read Forbes magazine to know
that some investments really pay off.
Two years ago, the Oregon Legislature was wrestling
with where it could invest lottery revenues for the big
gest economic dividends.
As lawmakers debated putting $30.5 million into high
er education, we made a pledge. If they voted that
money, we told them, we would match it.
But we were wrong. We did not match those lottery
dollars just once.
No, instead we have matched them more than three
times.
Since the session adjourned in June, 1985, the Ore
gon State System of Higher Education has received
$99.27 million in federal and private gifts and grants.
This is in addition to about $120 million that State
System schools receive annually for research.
These lottery dollars are building an advanced-
sciences complex at the University of Oregon, a new
college of engineering facility at Oregon State Univer
sity, a building for the business school and International
Trade Institute at Portland State University, and a high-
tech classroom-lab building at Oregon Institute of Tech
nology.
No question about it These projects are good for
Oregon's construction industry, which puts the money
back into the economy where it turns over several
times.
These projects will continue to attract top-flight facul
ty to teach and to perform research.
These projects will be instrumental in drawing still
more top students.
These projects should serve as a magnet for industry
seeking sites near campuses that are not only under
taking cutting-edge research but also graduating top
students.
No one claims that all of that $99.27 million resulted
from Oregon lawmakers' bold decision to invest in high
er education; but we do know a significant portion did
result from their action.
HEALTH WATCH
1 hese are examples of those outside dollars:
• $31.1 million in federal funds for the UO science
complex, Eugene's largest construction project;
• $16.5 million in federal funds for hospital renova
tion and an eye center at Oregon Health Sciences Uni
versity;
• $8.6 million in federal dollars for OSU ocean engi
neering;
• $2-million-plus in computer equipment donated by
Control Data, Hewlett-Packard, Tektronix, Apollo, Intel
and Fujitsu.
• $79,500 in federal funds to use telecommunications
technology to help industry researchers share new
knowledge with Oregon higher-education faculty; no
other state has done this.
• $329,400 over three years from the Fred Meyer
Charitable Trust to the Advanced Science and Techno
logy Institute, created to make OSU and UO research
more accessible to corporations.
• $687,000 from the Tektronix Foundation for electri
cal-engineering faculty and research at Portland State
University.
In addition, contributions from generous individuals
and corporations financed the recently completed $3.2 :
million Earle A. Chiles Business Center at the U of 0 and j
the $425,000 Schneider Museum of Art at Southern
Oregon State College.
There are those who claim putting lottery dollars into •,
higher-education buildings in Eugene, Corvallis, Port
land and Klamath Falls was not economic development.
I know of no better response than to point to a tripling
of the people's investment in Oregon public higher edu
cation.
b
Unless it is that these new higher-education facilities,
and the faculty who work in them, will continue to at
tract hundreds of millions of research dollars for genera- -
tionstocom e.
Ci
When Oregonians think of economic development,
I believe this is what they have in mind.
William E. Davis is chancellor of the Oregon State System of Higher
Education.
'*
CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL
BY Steven Bailey, N.D.
A NEW S SERVICE
OF THE U N IT E D C H U R C H OF CHRIST
Legislative Evaluation
I wrote an earlier article commenting on
the specific actions of House and Senate
committees on Human Resources and Labor.
This week's article will be my attempt to give
a rating to all 92 members of the past legisla
ture. My evaluation will focus on the areas of
health, labor, handicapped issues, environ
ment and other social and personal concerns.
W hile it is difficult to produce an entirely ob
jective scale for evaluation, I have encorpo-
rated my own records as well as conversations
w ith lobbyists for public interest groups.
Starting w ith a high of Plus Two to a low
of Minus One, my ratings are as follows:
THE SENATE:
Plus Tw o:
Senator Bradbury: especially strong in
workers' issues and alternative choice.
Senator Cease: strongest in women's
issues.
Senator Cohen: strong in women's, en
vironment, and social areas.
Senator Larry Hill: strong in handicapped
and labor issues.
Senator Kerans: women's, labor and
social issues.
Senator McCoy: strong in nearly all areas.
Senator Roberts: with Senator McCoy,
one of the strongest over all Senators
in all social areas.
Plus 1: (This is a good rating but reflects
th at these Senators didn't actively
push social issues.)
Senators: Dukes, Frye, Hamby, Jim Hill,
Kitzhaber, Otto, Ryles, Trow and
Wyers.
Neutral: (Nothing to be proud of, but did
not lead m ajor obstructionist
legislation.)
Senators: Brenneman, Brockman, Han
non (strong on handicapped issues),
Houck, Jernstedt, Kennemer (strong in
health care issues), Kintigh, Meeker,
Monroe,
Simmons,
Thorne
and
Timms; also Senator Ryles' replace
ment, Senator Bloom.
M inus 1:
Senators: Olson (while a good record in
handicapped issues, this could not pull
the Senator out of his negative work in
women's, environment, personal choice
and alternative health care); Yih (Al
bany has its own breed of Democrat.
Senator Yih seems to think that all pro
blems can be solved by "getting a job"
and votes against most social issues.)
THE HOUSE:
Plus 2:
Representatives: Bauman (all areas), Car
ter, Cease, Dix, Eachus, Gold, McTea-
gue, Peterson, Springer
Plus 1:
Representatives: Barilla, Bunn (strong on
solar, environment and women's is
sues, weak in alternative health care),
Burton, Dwyer, Fawbush, Ford, Ham-
merstadt and Hooley, Hanlon, Hosti-
cka, Hugo, Mason, McCarty, Sowa,
VanVIiet and Katz
Neutral:
Representatives: Agrons, Brogoitti, But-
sch, Campbell, French, Gilman, Gil-
mour, Hanneman, Hayden, Johnson
(good handicapped, terrible labor), Jo
hn, Jones, Jones, Kopetski, Markham,
Miller, Minnis (good handicapped and
alternative health care, poor most other
areas of social legislation), Norris, Par-
kenson, Phillips, Pickard, Roberts, Say-
ler, Schroeder, Shiprack (very poor
labor), Sides, Trahern, Van Leeuwen
(excellent handicapped), W hitty and
Young.
COMMISSION FOR RACIAL JUSTICE
The Robertson Story
"No one should have to live like this." That's what
Mrs. Robertson kept saying. It explains why she and
her family kept fighting the racist element on her block
in the Flatlands section of Brooklyn, New York. It also
explains why that block has begun to change.
The Robertsons' story is the story of a family that
wouldn't give up. Even when the bureaucracy wouldn't
work. Even when the Robertsons felt like they were
living through World War III. '
We told you in a previous commentary about some of
the racist violence to which the Robertsons were sub
jected. We told only part of that story. We mentioned,
for example, that one of the Robertsons' sons—Dario,
who was 13 at the tim e—was the victim of police bruta
lity. He was running to an after-school program when
he was halted at gunpoint by white police officers.
When his teachers tried to intervene, the officers cursed
them. The false charges against the young man were
soon dropped.
What we didn't mention then, however, was that the
Robertsons filed a compaint with New York City’s Civi
lian Complaint Review Board against the police. They
did so even though one officer openly told Mrs. Robert
son that their complaint would only "cause trouble".
What became of their complaint? Nothing. Oh, the
Robertsons received a letter, all right. The letter said
the complaint had been referred to a commanding o f
ficer who would investigate the case. The commander
was to then submit his findings to the review board and
the family would be contacted. In other words, a police
officer would investigate his fellow officers on a police
brutality charge and then present a supposedly unbias
ed finding. If you believe that. I've got a bridge I'd like
to sell you. But, that doesn’t really matter because no
one ever contacted the Robertsons again. That was
back in 1981. Maybe the Review Board is still investiga
ting.
Then, when the family moved into their present
home, 7 years ago, they became the target of constant
Minus 1:
Representatives: Anderson, Bellamy, Ca-
louri, Katulski (almost created a Nega
tive 2 catagory), Schoon.
While some of my profession's best fri
ends are rated as neutral, this reflects an eval
uation based on a much broader range of
votes. Legislators may have strong points in
areas outside of labor and social concerns
which would not be indicated in the above
rating.
Part
racist violence. They were the first African American
family on the block.
And the violence continues. Recently the school bus
used to transport racial and ethnic students to a pre
viously all-white junior high was attacked. Four van
loads of young white men ambushed the bus and began
smashing it with bricks and bats. Ruti, the Robertsons
13-year-old son, was on that bus. A few weeks later,
a racial blow-up at a nearby school—which Ruti will
attend in September —made the headlines.
But even in the midst of this racist environment, the
buds of change are beginning to bloom. Two months
ago Mrs. Robertson, with her 2-year-old in her arms,
began going house to house. Many of the older, more
racist neighbors had moved away. In addition, some
racial and ethnic families had begun to move in. Mrs.
Robertson began to organize. She told her neighbors
that they needed a new block association —one that
would work for everyone. One that would really im
prove the block. She also reminded them that the old
block association was not active. At the first meeting
of this new association over 100 people showed up.
The group was equally mixed: black and brown and
white. They discussed how to make their block better.
They volunteered to be block captains. And then they
elected Mrs. Robertson president of the new block
association — unanimously.
Nothing will ever stop the Robertsons from remaining
vigilant. They know the battle is not yet won. As Mrs.
Robertson says, "There can be no compromise on the
wrongs that were done to my family.” But the Robert
sons ancj all those who came to the meeting of the new
block association are tired of things the way they were.
It all started because the Robertson family made up
its mind, as they said, that, "It just isn't right. No one
should have to live this way." And then they deter
mined to work to change things.___________________
This is Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. of the United Church of Christ for ,
the Civil Rights Journal
Portland Observer
■ MM. .
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