EDITORIAL/OPINION
FREEDOM
&
SOCIAL JUSTICE
BY
ALEXANDER R JONES
□•rector of M inority and Third World Affairs for
The C hurch of S c ie n to lo g y * International
Billions for Death
Psychiatry has proven itself to be the biggest hoax of the 20th Cen
tury, and is costing the American taxpayer billions of dollars for unworkable
programs that create violence, crime, drug abuse, and death.
An examination of psychiatric funding trends reveals that between
I960 and 1985, government funding for psychiatric institutions increased
591%. For psychiatric research, it was 828%. In 1980 alone, the expen
ditures for psychiatry were over $19.9 billion, more than the 1980 federal
budget for education!
In 1963, psychiatric drugs were introduced into our schools, marshal
ling in an era of declining test scores and increased drug abuse among stu
dents. And is it any wonder? What kind of message does a child get when
his parents and psychiatrist tell him that taking a drug will solve his pro
blems and make him a better student? Some psychiatrists and psycholo
gists even went so far as to use well-respected publications to promote
that the use of drugs like cocaine, saying they were safe and could produce
beneficial results!
Fortunately, the damage done by the resultant drug abuse can be un
done by programs like the Purification Program developed by world renown
philosopher L. Ron Hubbard or by programs like RAP, Inc. in Washington,
D.C.
Änd what of the effectiveness of psychiatric hospitals? From 1964 to
1967, more Americans died in U.S. psychiatric hospitals than were killed
in the Revolutionary War, the Way of 1812, the Spanish American War, the
Korean War and the Vietnam War COMBINED. Chances for death for a
person in a psychiatric hospital from 1964 to 1973 were some 15 times
greater than being killed in battle in Vietnam.
A random sampling from 1964 to 1987 of violent crimes committed by
255 persons, who had received psychiatric treatment prior to the commis
sion of their crimes, revealed some startling facts. There were 780 innocent
victims of these violent crimes, including 410 murders, 106 of which also
included sexual assault. Further, the overwhelming majority of those com
mitting these crimes, some 76%, had no record of violent crime PRIOR to
psychiatric treatment.
There is hardly one infamous mass murderer or assassin in the past 20
years who hadn't undergone psychiatric treatment before his bloody
assault on an unsuspecting public. Mark Chapman, John Lennon’s mur
derer, and John Hinckley, Jr., would-be assassin of President Reagan, are
prime examples of this trend.
The damning evidence goes on and on. It is time we awakened and
stopped funding our own demise.
Along the Color Line
by D i M , in n in g M a ra b le
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.
Bork and Bush: Two Opportunists
Reaganites are in the dumps these days, for obvious reasons. The
stock market is in chaos, and millions of Americans are convinced that a
severe recession is just around the corner. Reagan's economic policies
and the massive deficits created by wasteful and dangerous military spend
ing are the root causes.
Adding to the Reaganites' misery were the unanticipated difficulties
of Robert Bork, the President's conservative nominee for membership on
the Supreme Court. Three months ago, Bork's nomination seemed all but
assured. Senator Ted Kennedy's early warning that Bork's appointment
would lead to "back-alley abortions" and "segregated lunch counters" was
generally interpreted as political over-kill, an indication that the liberals were
on the defensive.
But White House lieutenants made several major errors in political
judgement. First, they underestimated the depths of opposition Bork s
nomination would generate from civil rights groups. Bork had opposed the
Supreme Court's agruments for striking down discriminatory poll taxes,
and was hostile to the legislative achievements gained by Black Americans.
Women's rights and civil liberties groups also were outraged by Bork s trun
cated and narrow interpretation of Constitutional rights. The intensive
national mobilization of such organizations caught the far Right unpre
pared, as Americans began to turn against Bork’s pending appointment.
Even in the conservative, law-and-order South, public opinion polls by early
October showed that nearly two out of three voters were against Bork.
' Secondly, Bork and his White House managers tried to "repackage"
his ultraright wing credentials. Outgoing Supreme Court Justice Lewis
Powell had been originally nominated by Richard Nixon, and he was no
moderate-to-liberal jurist by any stretch of the imagination. But neither was
Powell the ideological prisoner of conservative dogmas, as is Bork. Never
theless, during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, Bork pretended
to espouse moderate, centrist beliefs, placing himself as close to Powell
as possible. Reserving his crude statements on a number of legal issues,
from privacy rights to freedom of speech, Bork discouraged and disillu
sioned his pals on the far Right. Bork's life-long ambition, to be a member
of the Supreme Court, persuaded him to distort his real beliefs. Oppor
tunism took charge, and Bork became its chief victim, rejected by a vote of
58 42 in the Senate.
The Reaganites fussed and fumed over the Bork defeat, by the largest
margin in U.S. history; President Reagan bitterly charged that his enemies
were "politicizing our court system", and that Bork's opponents were "a
lynch mob." Strange talk, indeed, from a man whose brutal social and
economic policies are responsible for many "corpses" among Black, His
panics and the poor.
Bork isn't the only opportunist who's creating discomfort among con
servatives. Vice President George Bush's recent announcement that he
will seek the Republican Party's Presidential nomination was a "non-event"
which managed to capture some media attention. On paper, Bush seems
a most formidable challenger: former two-term Congressman, Ambassador
to China, United Nations Ambassador, head of the Republican Party, direc
tor of the C.I.A. and vice president. Bush should easily win the GOP nomi
nation, given his massive lead in money, organization and endorsements.
But many political observers sense something shaky about his prospects,
even if he does manage to reach the general election.
Bush is basically an opportunist. He has no political credo whatsoever,
other than his own selfish political advancement. For all of Reagan's
massive errors, at least he is driven by a clearcut if sterile ideology, which
makes it relatively easy to predict what he will do.
On the other hand, Bush goes along with the crowd, no matter where
it is going. Back in 1964, for instance, Bush ran for Congress in Texas by
denouncing the Civil Rights Act and the cause of racial desegregation.
Four years later, when he began planning a national career and needed
some credibility among Texas' Black voters, he supported the open
housing act. Expediency, not political principle, dictated his behavior.
Already, most voters are uneasy with Bush's transparent opportunism.
In one recent Newsweek poll, 42 percent said that Bush does not have a
well-defined p r o g r a m 51 percent said he had a serious image problem ,
and 44 percent stated "he is too comitted to Reagan's point of view." It is
too soon to tell whether Bush's opportunism will follow the trail of Bork,
but the odds are probable.
X
*
C o m p in y
Publishers
C O M M IS S IO N FOR RACIA1 JUSTICE
Beware of Children's Self-Denial
In the 1940 s, Dr. Kenneth Clark and his wife, Mamie Clark, revealed
some very disturbing findings. In landmark studies they found that most
Black children, when asked to identify with a Black doll, would refuse to do
so. The children would often become emotional, sometimes even running
from the room, rather than identify with a doll they considered "bad". The
results of the Clark studies helped bring about the 1954 Supreme Court
school desegregation decision.
Now, almost 50 years later, their tests have been replicated in two
recent studies. The results of these new studies tell us that, unfortunately,
African American chilldren still have a negative perception of themselves.
But the test also tell us something even more significant — that we can re
verse this negative self-image through concerted efforts in the home, in the
schools, and in the churches.
In studies done by Dr. Darlene Powell-Hopson and by Dr. Sharon
McNicholl, Black dolls were still overwhelmingly rejected by both Black and
White pre-school children. In other words, Black and White children, even
as young as three and four years old, have already learned the lessons
taught by this society that Black is "bad" and white is "good."
In Dr. Powell-Hopson's study, when children were asked to choose the
doll that "looks good” and that "you want to be w ith ," the majority of both
Black children and White children chose the white doll. In a follow up
study by Dr. McNicholl, children both in New York and Trinidad were
tested. Amazingly, she found similar results. Even in the Caribbean nation
of Trinidad, three-quarters of the Black children chose the white doll over
the Black doll.
Both studies point to the immense influence of the media on our child
ren. As Dr.. Powell-Hopson said when we questioned her, "Society has a
powerful impact on children's perception of themselves and others. In the
media — and particularly on television — in books and in movies, the
people our children perceive as beautiful and in positions of power are
generally w hite." The same is true throughout the world. As Dr. McNicholl
added, "The media in Trinidad is highly European and North American.
The same TV programs shown in the United States are also shown in Trini
dad. The White actors of "Dynasty" are better known and more accessible
to the children of Trinidad than their own political leaders.'
But, yet, there is also hope. For the studies show that when the doc
tors intervened and validated the worth of the Black dolls, the attitudes of
the children changed. Dr. Powell-Hopson's intervention strategy proved to
be successful in increasing the percentage of children who then chose
Black dolls. And this after a test which lasted only 40 minutes. Imagine
what could be done over a more extended period of time! In our next
commentary we will discuss more fully the kind of cultural reinforcement
we should instill in our children.
We must move to counter the denigration of African American culture
and worth that our children see around them every day. And it can be
done. African American children, particularly, must see — in their homes,
in their schools, in their churches — people who look like them, people who
are contributors to society. To do otherwise is to continue the psycholo
gical destruction of our children.
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Voice My Concerns
I have waited patiently to no avail. At this time, I feel it necessary to
voice my concerns as a citizen and member of the Urban League of Port
land.
My concern is that of the secretive selection process for the permanent
appointment of Executive Director of the Urban League of Portland.
It is apparent that the Executive Board and Selection Committee have
elected not to inform the community or Urban League members about the
following: 1) Candidate, 2) Criteria, 3) Selection Process, 4) Qualifications
of Selection Committee, 5) How were the Selection Committee Members
chosen?
To my knowledge, I am unaware nor is anyone else aware of the objec
tivity and fairness of this process. Were any outside individuals with exper
tise in the personnel field involved in this process? I am sure Mr. John
Woods, City Personnel Director or Mr. Robert Phillips, Multnomah County
Affirmative Action Officer would have been willing to provide assistance
to the Selection Committee. Has the Selection Committee consulted with
any community or religious leaders? I think not . . . Where is the oppor
tunity for community involvement?
Signed a Concerned Member of
The Urban League of Portland
cc: Executive Board, Urban League
Selection Committee, Urban League
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Bo« 3137 Portland OR 97208
1 Street
1
1
C ity
Apt
state
1
Less cruel than Newgate, more antiseptic than Bedlam and not quite
as dank as the Bastille, the country's prisons for juveniles and youthful
offenders are nevertheless an accurate reflection of a harsh and unremit
ting temper and mood now rampant in adult Amerika Isicl. English county
names as Spofford and Callagy Hall, the dungeons for puberty in New York
City, recall the cruelties of the sixties when Southern sheriffs herded Black
children into makeshift corrals.
Victims of incest, sometimes by the age of five; called criminals for
truancy as they flee teachers who do not teach; pictured as riotous, fun
loving and violently destructive in Black exploitation films such as Cooley
High; the butt of such benign neglect (as Patrick Moynihan might put it) as
murder at the hands of caucasoid police officers; targets of a lusting adult
census to expose them to the same inhumane tortures and penalties as men
of full age; reviled and viciously caricatured by such educational pro
grams as the nationally-seen Sesame Street, where the Roosevelt Franklin
Elementary School" is a chaos of "darky accents and racist stereotypes,
abused and stoned in centers of culture and learning such as Boston;
goaded to suicide while held in durance vile, because as children of the
streets, they happen not to have $1,500 handy for bail; treated in a custo
dial manner in schools which habitually abuse them with brutal corporal
punishment; and suffering from the instant image-making of a bad press
and the livingroom libel of garish television coverage, the Black youth of
Amerika Isicl are as condemned, isolated and alienated as a leper colony.
Examination of some of these insults to youthful humanity will demon
strate that the only thing new is the constant flow of young victims to be
swallowed up by a neanderthal society, avid in its theme and variations on
a socio-legal cannibalism which devours so many of our young.
The fact that Haywood Burns could brood on whether it was possible
for a Black man to get a fair trial in Amerika Isicl and author a bitterly accu
rate article entitled "Black People and the Tyranny of American Law," <
shows the modern linkage with ancient and murderous Amerikan Isicl folk
ways. The 1857 doctrine of the Dred Scott case, which added another
official datum to Amerika's Isicl ceaseless racism, continues to hang over
Amerikan Isicl jurisprudence like a dirty atomic fall-out, polluting both jus
tice and those who administer it. All of this accumulated racist fury now
seems directed, point blank, at the young Blacks. It seems as though so-
called Christian caucasoid society trembles in fear at the though that these
young "bucks" may grow up to haunt its fantasies and anxieties about
the ultimate insurrection of the Blacks, seeking vengeance for the multi
plicity of death and enslavement inflicted through the centuries.
For the poor, the dilemma of poverty and Blackness was, perhaps,
touched upon by Schiller in his essay, "On the Aesthetic Education of
Man." There he said, with sad prophecy, that "The greater part of human
ity is too much harassed and fatigued by the struggle with want, to rally
itself for a new sterner struggle with error.” And hungry people, it has been
said, know no law. With the built-in desperation and hopelessness among
Black youth, it is amazing that they have not united under some latter-day
Fagin of villainy to be tutored in the more subtle criminality of their elders
of the caucasoid White Collar and those nationally practiced by White
House conspirators.
For years in Amerikan Isicl cities and elsewhere, it was believed with
religious fervor that only Black youth were addicted to smoking marijuana.
Penalties were severe. And then, the middle-class caucasoid suburbs were
found to have thoudands of their young smoking "grass." Almost imme
diately, the severe penalties for possession of marijuana were lessened,
and now, committees all over the country are recommending that the pos
session of this "dru g " should be decriminalized.
I'm inclined to believe that greatest goad to Blacks to take up the law
as a career is found in a Constitution which makes no promises to groups
or classes, but only to individuals. The base acts of the law are distinct and
different from the ideals of justice. Under slavery, we had law but no just
ice. Under a police state which, like an edict from ancient Kings, says that
our young must be wiped out, it becomes an honor to be a part of a strug
gle for change. If there is justification for a Black Children's Crusade, there
is even more justification for their parents to give them a noble precedent.
Dr. Jamil Cherovee
Mrs
Ms
Mass
I
f
Our Youth Are Being Swallowed Up
by a Neanderthal Society
IS PORTLAND OBSERVER
Port Ortica B o. 313?
A sso cia tio n
< t o r PsMiAin» ( o , l«r " * *
by Benjam in F. Chavis, Jr.. Executive D irector
A St WS SI R\ It I
OF THE U N IT E D ( H U R Í H OF CHRIST
Th« Portland Obaaryer IU S P S 989 8801 d pubM hed ava-y Thursday by E ne Publrth.np
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N ew spaper
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