Page 2, Portland Observer, November 4, 1987
EDITORIAL/OPINION
Along the Color Line
by I b M.I'HUIK] M.tf ’blr
The Crash of 1987
Last month's panic-driven collapse of the stock market has been much
discussed, but little understood. When the Dow Jones Industrial Average
plummeted in one day over 508 points, or more than 22 percent, it repre
sented the greatest single-day loss on record. More than $500 billion in
losses occurred. For investors large and small alike, it was as if the financial
sky was falling.
Compouding the sense of impending crisis were the signals out of
Washington, D.C. Like scurrying rats on a sinking ship, politicians were
trying to interpret everts which they had indirectly created but no longer
controlled. Officials from the Reagan administration, the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Reserve Board caucused at
the White House, but had no coherent suggestions. SEC Chairman David
Ruder voiced the fear that a temporary suspension of trading might be
necessary if the market fell too much. In response, one White House aide
virtually shrieked, "That's a crazy thing for the chairman of the SEC to
ever talk about."
Reagan was the worst of all. A charitable interpretation would be that
the President lacked the analytical capacity to fathom what was occurring
all around him. His statements ware marked by apparent confusion and
characteristic banalities. In the end, Reagan basically imitated Herbert
Hoover: "Everyone is a little puzzled . . . there is nothing wrong with the
economy."
The financial panic quickly spread abroad. The London and Tokyo
stock exchanges listed their biggest losses on record. Across the world,
stocks dropped more than $1 trillion in value in a twenty-four hour period.
The following day the Federal Reserve and several large banks took action
to roll back interest rates. This welcome news pushed the market up by
200 points. In several hours, however, the Dow fell again, this time by 215
points. In the closing hours the Dow was up again, closing at 102 points -
a one-day record. In the following days, despite some gains, the market
was characterized by extreme instability.
But contrary to Reagan's opinion, the current chaos in the stock mar
ket was easily predictable. For the past decade, consumers have been
spending income which they don't have, stimulating both the economy as a
whole and the stock market specifically. As of this August, for instance,
the personal savings rate dropped to only 1.8 percent of disposal income
— well below the 6 percent norm. Families relying more and more on credit
cards to cover normal household expenditures created the potential in the
long run for bankruptcies and economic retrenchment.
There were additonal warning signs that the economy was moving
toward trouble. In August, housing starts declined by 1.5 percent, to the
lowest level since early 1983. Inflation rose at an annual rate of 6 percent
that same month. Banks sharply increased interest rates several times in
September and early October. And from the White House, there was abso
lutely no sign that the administration was going to initiate realistic proposals
to reduce federal deficits while protecting human-needs programs. Taken
together, these separate elements combined to generate an atmosphere of
fear and uncertainty for the future.
The mass panic and roller coaster-type activity of the stock market
illustrates graphically the bankruptcy of Reaganomics — the tax cuts for
the wealthy as a means to promote investment and savings, the President's
ir r a t i o n a l
copp
irrational opposition to any type of protective legislation to cut the record
trade deificits, and so forth. The market plunge will clearly hurt millions
of middle class, small investors, most of whom voted for Reagan and
placed their faith in a system which has absolutely no guarantees. But
many millions who hold absolutely no stock are also hurt as well. Busi
nesses will reduce spending because raising capital by selling new issues of
stock becomes much more expensive. So fewer jobs will be created, and
many jobs will be eliminated to save costs. The elderly who have placed
their funds in Individual Retirement Accounts in mutual funds will have
lost precious resources upon which they had depended.
The Crash of 1987 is the first decisive signal that Reagan's economic
agenda leads to a dead end. The market may recover, temporarily. But
the severe economic recession caused largely by Reaganomics may be just
around the corner.
though the average stay for homeless families is 12-13 months. And
remember, these monies were already restricted — they can only be used
for temporary shelter. They cannot be used to assist families with apart
ment rents or to build permanent housing. And now, if the Reagan Admini
stration has its way, these families will be put out on the street after one
month. In New York City alone some 4,600 families and over 11,000 child
ren will be affected.
While we are at it, let's talk about why so many families are homeless
in the first place. Once upon a time our cities had more low and moderate-
income housing. Not anymore. Why? For one thing, during the first six
years of the Reagan Administration federal housing funds for construction
of public housing and renovation of abandoned buildings has been slashed
from $31 billion to a mere $8 billion - a $23 billion dollar cut.
Then, to make matters worse, the administration deregulated thou
sands of apartments all over the country which were previously covered by
federal rents subsidies. This means that the owners of these buildings —
many of them located in prime metropolitan areas — are now free to charge
whatever the market will bear as the neighborhood is gentrified. This also
means that many of the present low and moderate income tenants of these
buildings may soon be joining the burgeoning ranks of the homeless.
In California alone it is estimated that as many as 70,000 units will no
longer be subsidized. Nationally, thousands of tenants have already been
pushed out to make way for those who could afford the new astonomical
rents. As a Chicago tenants union organizer noted, "W e think this is the
beginning of a wave of dislocations."
We see here an example of the double-whammy. First the Reagan
Administration refuses to adequately fund construction of low and moder
ate income housing. Then it brutally slashes funding for emergency shel
ters and cuts needed housing subsidies. Of course, this kind of policy is to
be expected from a man who suggested the homeless were sleeping on
city grates "by choice."
The Reagan Administration has carried out a conspiracy against the
homeless and against low-income families as well. The homeless are not
homeless "by choice." Many have been pushed into it by the callous and
inhumane policies initiated by this administration.
We in the church and civil rights communities must speak out against
this insidious conspiracy. Buy beyond that, we must also embrace the
homeless, by helping to stop Reagan's evil policies.
______________ _________
Dr. Manning Marable is Chairperson of the Black Studies Department, Ohio State University,
Columbus. Ohio. ’Along the Color Line” appears in over 140 newspapers internationally.
CIVIL L.. RIGHTS
JOURNAL
C
|r CvaniifiuQ PT I r A C t O r
a . « ■
by Benjam in F. C havis.
Jr., Executive D irector
N1WS S fR V IC I
A
§
8
t
Of
THE U N IT E D C H U R C H O f CHRIST
*
C O M M IS S IO N FOR RACIAL |USTICE
y
fi
K
I*
—
Reagan's Conspiracy Against
the Homeless
FREEDOM
&
SOCIAL JUSTICE
BY
ALEXANDER R JONES
Director of Minority and Third World Affairs for
The Church of Scientology x International
America Hurts
Earlier this year the CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C., aired "America
Hurts: The Drug Epidemic", a chilling television documentary on the drug
epidemic that is destroying young and old alike. It covered the destruction
of lives, the disruption of families, the violence, the crime and the guilt left
in the wake of American drug abuse.
The program quoted Dr. Carleton Turner, former White House advisor
on drug abuse policy, who unequivocally placed a major share of the
responsibility for our current drug problems with psychiatry and psycho
logy-
"I think that . . . the psychologists” . Dr. Turner charged, "that took
a 'let's teach kids how to use drugs recreationally, let's make them respon
sible in their drug use, let's define drugs, soft drugs, hard drugs . . .' I think
those people bear, as a group, the major responsibility for our society
having the problem that it has today. And the psychiatrists and psycho
logists that said marijuana and cocaine were innocuous drugs were ignorant
of history. But more importantly, they were ignorant of what the father of
their profession said. They didn't bother to go back and read F'eud and I
can never forgive them for that . . . If they had, they would have read that
Freud concluded that cocaine is a very hazardous drug. It will kill you and
don't fool with it."
Indeed, there are startling examples of the mental health industry ac
tually PROMOTING THE SAFETY OF COCAINE. For example, the docu
mentary cited an article on cocaine appearing in the March 1977 issue of
"Psychology Today" which concluded "fo r work that requires wakeful
ness, or the suppression of boredom and fatigue . . . it Icocainel can be
helpful."
Dr. Mark Gold, another expert interviewed during the program,
pointed out "The premier textbook of psychiatry, in the 1980 edition, said,
to the effect, that cocaine could be used many times a week without nega
tive effects."
So when you read about a young man dying from cocaine overdose,
or you see a teenager's grades plummit because of drug abuse, or you see
a group of eight year olds passing a joint in an alley, remember you have
drug-pushing psychiatrists and psychologists to thank for this affliction.
President Reagan mouths easy platitudes about the sanctity of the
family. The actions of his administration, however, tell a completely dif
ferent story, particularly when we examine the latest attack against home
less families.
We have all seen the evidence of increasing homelessness: family
after family packed in city shelters like sardines; young children roaming
our streets at one and two o'clock in the morning. This terrible devastation
will soon get even worse if proposed new federal regulations are allowed
to go into effect.
The Reagan Administration has decreed that federal emergency sup-
Letters to the Editor
will air on Sunday, November 22nd from 6-7 p.m. The kids that partici
pated painted a very clear picture of what life is like on the streets. It s
worth seeing!
Again, thank you Mr. Williams, for being aware of the importance of
this issue.
Sincerely,
Mary Fetsch
Senior Producer
Town Hall
EDITORIAL
Anti-Drug Plan
by Nyewusi Askari
On Friday, October 30, the Regional Drug Initiative Task Force unfold
ed a five-year plan to combat and reduce illegal drug use in the Portland
metropolitan area. Comprised of representatives from churches, schools,
business, government and law enforcement agencies, the task force spent
the last year investigating drug use in Portland. Some of the findings were:
73 percent of the inmates in jail in Multnomah County are drug users; and
drug-related prosecutions increased by more than 100 percent in 1986 in
Multnomah County.
Alarmed by its findings, the task force asked for immediate adoption
of the goals set forth in the plan which calls for the elimination of an esti
mated 1,000 drug houses that operate in the Portland metropolitan area;
the establishment of a public information anti-drug campaign targeted at
youth; and increased coordination among schools, citizens, agencies, busi
ness and government._____________ ___________ ___________________
□ "E fforts" commended b u t.
While we commend the task force for the important work it has done,
we also urge its members not to forget that for a very long time Black resi
dents and neighborhood associations have been urging city and state o ffi
cials to take more specific actions to reduce the threats of robbery, theft,
prostitution and burglary in their communities. Their efforts have led to
long-term neighborhood watches, marches against prostitution, and effec
tive neighborhood policies. They have been joined by churches, television
stations, radio stations, social agencies, some schools, performing arts
groups, theaters, and newspapers.
u
Resources" not forthcoming
Even so, it has not been enough, because the resources needed to
make the Black community and city neighborhoods safe from drug abuse
and crime have not been forthcoming. Nonetheless, if the task force is as
serious as it claims, many communities, including the Black community,
will be called upon soon to provide members of the Regional Drug Initiative
with specific proposals and strategies which will serve in their best interest.
It would serve the task force well not to overlook any individual agency,
institution or group in the Black community, or elsewhere, that is currently
involved in combating the problems of crime. Most citizens are serious
about wanting to reduce crime in their neighborhoods, and, if given access
to needed resources, they could and will play a major role in changing the
social climate of drug-crippled communities throughout the State of
Oregon.
□ Black Community must examine plan
It would serve the Black community well to examine and anaylze the
Regional Drug Initiative plan before making a final decision on what its
response will be. Questions should be asked: Will the plan make our com
munity a safer place to live? Will the plan change social attitudes regarding
drug abuse in the Black community? Will the plan provide an attractive
climate for economic development in the Black community? Will the plan
increase coordination between the Black community, city government,
schools, business and social providers? Will the plan direct needed re
sources to the Black community? If so, how will it be done? And, by
whom?
To answer these questions and others, a blueprint for change must be
forthcoming. It must address the special needs of each specific community
and not ignore the diversity of culture and heritage. If such a plan can be
agreed upon and put into place, many Oregon communities can look for
ward to a safer and healthier social climate.
sbop
-
C u re rà Open fire.
Ä v Ä . '. . . . . n
Letters to the Editor
Can't Thank You Enough
Dear Mr. Al Williams,
I can't thank you or the Portland Observer enough for publishing the
Town Hall "Street Life" press release recently. It's a serious problem to
day, and your running the notice on the front page hopefully alerted the
community to the problem of street kids.
This program was taped at the Burnside Projects Youth Shelter, and
W W *
w
'5
p U il IU I IIU lllu ic o o la m in o o « . . .
At
— M
4 a
I fc BB,
M
HI
O re g o n
New
P u b lis h e rs
A s s o c ia tio n
Portland Observer
=2
■
g
The Portland O b u n o IUSPS 969 6801 « pubMhPd p w n ThuiwMy by E..e Publ,«h,n«
Company 1 «
SOU N E
26th »<«
OH«.» Bo.
Onyon
Portland O-dpoc 97211 Po«l
Ponl»od O.eçon 97208 Second d m o c t . « . » ■ < « Portland
>,(««,» a p i a
,
ri*4
The Portland Obeerve» wee established m 1970
288 0033
»is
S u M c -P -o n .
OC pm WP, - 1M T o County
P o .O o .. - .- Sood « 1 d .m
e M n « M IO lb . Pool.od ObM.y.1 P 0 Bo. 3137 Po.1l.nd 0 -w o n 97208
MEMBER
Alfred L. Henderson, Editor/Publisher
Founded
3137
■PORTLAND OBSERVER
w
u
seswM»«»
t fcrt, PuNo*<M C» •
At.OCr.fr'Ort -
*• * i .
nahoea»
N ational Advertising Repreeantativa
A m alg a m a te d Publisher*. Inc
N e w York
1995
L
•' .
î J î â
SM s 'è. ’ I
,
■ ?‘;fí
$15 for one year
$25 for tw o years