November 18, 1987, Portland Observer. Page 1
Continued from Page 1
Dr. M arable Speaks in P o rtla n d ------------- -
Three young students came in: they were about 15 or 16 years old, much
taller than I. This young Brother came up to the front and said, "Yo, is this
where the Martin Luther King thang is?" I looked at the young Brother and
said, "Yes, Brother, that's right. This is where the Martin Luther King thang
is." And he said, "Is that King?" pointing to the portrait. I said, "Yes, that s
right. That's Martin." You know what he said? "W ell, is he coming?
That's no joke. And you know what I said? "I hope not, but if you see him,
let me know."
Story number two: I teach a course on Black political movements and
political theory. And in the class, we cover everything from Frederick Doug­
lass through the Civil Rights movement to Black power. The very first lec­
ture I gave was on Frederick Douglass, and I asked the class if there were any
questions. A young woman in the back row raised her hand and said, "You
know, Dr. Marable, this discussion of Frederick Douglass is absolutely fas­
cinating, 'cuz I never heard of the Brother before, but I have a question.
What is this Civil War you keep talking about?" She started taking notes;
this was new information for her. I said to myself, "Marable, make this stu­
dent a project and by the end of this class make an awareness emerge in this
person." And I began to see a change. At the start of class, the student
was sitting at the back of the class; by the time the class ended, she was sit­
ting at the front of the class.
Why is this so important? Why do we dwell on the past? My grand­
mother put it quite clearly when she would say, " If you don't know where
you are going, any road will get you there." The same thing is true for politi­
cal and social struggle. If you don't have a sense rooted in the past, if you
don't ha», a a sense of the patterns, the texture processes of exploitation that
comes from inequality within a class system, how can you ever hope to build
an economic program for freedom? If you don't have a sense of political
institutions and how they are related to your oppression in the past, if you
can't see how they relate to the present, then how can you possibly devise
a strategy for political empowerment in the future? So it’s imperative to
think historically.
When you think about the conditions, economically and politically, of
African people who are involved in revolutionary change, instantly we think
of South Africa. Now, outside of South Africa, the world's leading defender
of the apartheid regime, unquestionably, is the President of the United
States, Ronald Reagan. In 1981, the Reagan Administration asked Congress
to repeal the Clark Amendment prohibiting covert military aid to Angolean
terrorists; authorized the U.S. training of South Africa's Coastguard and
vetoed a UN Security Council Resolution condemning South Africa's illegal
invasion of Angola. In 1982, the Reagan Administration rescinded control
on non-lethal exports to aparteid military and police, and voted for a 1.1 million
dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund for South Africa. In 1984,
the Reagan Administration established offices in downtown Johannesburg
to promote accelerated corporate investment from the U.S. and granted a
license for U.S. firms to service South Africa's covert nuclear power plant.
How do we explain all of this in the context of our struggle here in the
U.S.? What can we learn from foreign policy abroad, and how they echo
into domestic policies at home on race class issues?
In August of 1980, Reagan gave his first campaign address after winning
the Republican Party nomination. In a small town called Philadelphia, Missis­
sippi, at a large gathering of about 6,000 people, many who were waving
confederate flags, Reagan got up and spoke these words: "I have always
been and I will always be for states rights.”
Question: What does "states rights" mean in the context of the Missis­
sippi Delta? Given the political culture and history and the economic environ­
ment, it means white supremacy. The crowd knew that. Reagan s speech
writers understood that.
.......................
Question two: What happened in the town of Philadelphia, Mississippi,
during the summer of 1964? Answer: Three civil rights workers were brutally
murdered, two whites and one Black. The crowd understood that. When
the President of the United States defends states rights in a place where
civil rights workers were murdered, what is the message that is going out to
the crowd?
We can see so many parallels between Reagan's America and the nature
of race/class oppression inside South Africa. All of us know that inside of
South Africa that racism is at the heart of the criminal justice system. Let
me give you an example. The Internal Security Act of 1982 allows for the
indefinite detention, without trial, of political protesters; the outlawing of
Black and progressive organizations; the prohibition of any public gathering
Stress:
Myth or Migraine?
Stress disability claims are a growing phenomenon. Former Portland
Police Chief Penny Harrington's recent stress claim propelled this once-
quiet issue into the spotlight. Oregon has acquired a reputation for being
the most liberal state in the nation when it comes to dispensing stress dis­
ability awards. The number of mental stress benefits awarded in Oregon
has more than tripled since 1980. Five claims are filed for every one that
is accepted I The average cost of a mental stress award is nearly triple the
average for workers' compensation claims in general.
Some professionals claim that since you can't see or feel stress, it
doesn't exist! They say if you accept the job, you also accept its strains.
Is stress a myth? If so, why the rapid rise in claims? Is it for the pot of
gold"? Or do these people have legitimate illnesses and complaints?
Should companies be financially liable for creating a stressful work climate?
Or is "job stress" a cop out for those unable to handle their jobs? How can
we know whether a job, or the employee, is responsible for the stress?
How can we protect against frivolous claims, while also protecting the men­
tal health of employees? What do YOU think? Join Jack Faust and his
guests for the taping of this discussion on Sunday, November 22nd from
6-7 p.m. Guests need to arrive at KATU (21st and NE Sandy Blvd.) bet­
ween 5-5:15 p.m. Please call Mary Fetsch, Frank Mungeam or Janice Rich-
koff at 231-4620 for seat reservations. The public is welcome. This pro­
gram will be broadcast on Sunday, November 29th from 6-7 p.m.
or meetings of individuals or groups that criticize the apartheid regime, the
prohibition of the printing and publication and dissemination of any Black
or anti-aparteid newspaper, journal or magazine. And it sanctions random
police searches without warrants.
Racism is also at the heart of the American political system. We talk
in this country about having political freedoms. Do we have political free­
dom? Let's take a look at the relationship between criminal justice or injus­
tice and African-American people.
Every year in this country, over 2.2 million arrests of African-Americans
occur. Every single yearl There are currently over 350,000 Black men and
women currently incarcerated in federal and state penitentiaries. At least
one-half of all Black prisoners are 29 years old or less. About 3,000 Black
prisoners are not even old enough to vote. Most Black prisoners earn less
than $8,000 annual income in the year prior to their arrest. And 45% of all
Black prisoners were unemployed in the year prior to their arrest.
So what is the relationship between economic inequality and the crimi­
nal justice system? Former director of the National Conference of Black
Lawyers said, "Someone Black and poor tried for stealing a few hundred
dollars has a 90% chance of being convicted of robbery with a sentence
averaging between 84 to 134 months. A white corporate executive who
embezzles millions of dollars from his firm has only a 20% chance of con­
viction and a sentence averaging about 20 to 48 months. In short, justice is
not color-blind when Blacks are the accused in this country. And there is a
direct relationship between incarceration patterns, imprisonment patterns,
social class and race patterns.
So many people have focused on the fight involving Bork, Ginsberg and
now Kennedy. But what people fail to understand is that the Supreme Court
decides only about 150 cases a year. The Federal District Courts and the
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year decided nearly 300,000 cases. Rea­
gan's judicial strategy to perpetuate political inequality and economic oppres­
sion has been quite simple.
What Reagan has tried to do is to pack the federal district courts and the
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals with white, conservative, racist, elitist males.
By 1989, January 20th, Reagan will have appointed roughly 400 federal jud­
ges, more than one-half the total number of 744 judgeships throughout the
country. It is these white conservatives, and not the Supreme Court, that
will be decisive in deciding most legal questions that will affect you and your
children over the next half century.
Under Jimmy Carter, as ineffective as he was, 14% of the appointments
to the Federal District Courts were African-American, 7% were Hispanics.
During Reagan's first term of office, from '81 to '85, Reagan’s appointments
to the Federal Courts for Black and Hispanics together was less than 1 %.
In the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Carter had 56 appointees. This
included 11 women, 10 Blacks, 2 Hispanics and 1 Asian-American. Reagan's
appointments have been somewhat different. In the first four years, 1
woman, 1 Black and 1 Hispanic.
Let me turn to the issue of education. What about students who are
planning to go into teaching as a profession, whether college or secondary
education? It's critical to recognize the role of institutional racism in the
underdevelopment of African-American children and African-American peo­
ple. Let me give you three very frightening statistics. First, the percentages
in the patterns of Black college and university enrollment has decreased in
the last five years. From 1900 to 1981, education was the one constant suc­
cess story in the Black freedom struggle. Because Black parents understood
that the college door, the college schoolhouse represented the door of
opportunity through which their young women and men could move into
positions in the economic mainstream of society, and could advance the
political goals of the Black freedom movement. In 1981, 1.3 million African-
American students were enrolled in colleges and universities at all levels
across the country. Did you know that since 1981, the percentage of Blacks
enrolled in college has declined morethdri 20% ?
As a people united, we have lived through many processes. We know
what it's like to be excluded by signs that said "w hite only", "fo r colored
only." We know what it's like to live in fear of violating the laws of segrega­
tion. The definition of democracy was expanded, deepened and broadened;
we understand through that process of sacrifice and struggle we can change
the boudaries of democracy in a more fair and just manner. But, unless we
link that to the task ahead, for economic democracy, for economic justice,
the political process of democracy will always be compromised . . .
C o m e celebrate the
the
Grand Opening
Spirit!
o f the Y W C A 's
5630 N .E. U n io n A ve n u e
/ * *
December 3
Í prcci
3- 7 p m .
282-0003
Starting
Monday,
Northwest
Natural Gas will send special red
envelopes with their bills to solicit
tax-deductible donations to the Gas
Assistance Program (GAP), which
helps the less fortunate stay warm
in the winter.
Each year, the company's custo­
mers, employees and shareholders
contribute to GAP. which helps the
elderly, handicapped and less for­
tunate pay their heating bills. Dona­
tions are used to help those living
in all communities served by the gas
company.
"Helping our less fortunate neigh­
bors in the community is a good
way to get into the holiday spirit,"
said Phil Griffin, coordinator of the
GAP campaign and Customers Of­
fice manager of Northwest Natural
Gas. "Because of the generosity of
our customers, we were able to help
2,202 families and individuals last
year."
Northwest Natural Gas share­
holders are contributing funds to
match donations up to a total of
$75,000. During last year's cam­
paign, a total of $188,020 was raised
including a shareholder contribution
of $75,000 and the $14,926 raised
from the company's Spring Classic
8-kilometer road run held last April.
Contributions are sent directly to
United Way/GAP and are then dis­
tributed to the needy by the state’s
community action agencies. Each
individual or family is screened by a
community agency to determine
eligibility.
Those requiring assis­
tance should contact their local
community action agency or the
United Way.
Send
all
contributions
to
UW/GAP, 718 W. Burnside, Port­
land, Oregon 97209.
Local Truck Diving School is
Endorsed by the
Oregon Trucking Association
The school's corporate offices and training facilities are located off
Highway 212 at 15828 S.E. 114th in Clackamas, Oregon. I.I.T.R. has
branch campuses at Chicago, Illinois and Detroit, Michigan.
___
For informatino about the school, call Dan Simpson at (503) 657-8225.
Free children's c lo th in g was available Saturday at the O B,
W illia m s C onvention Center, 220 N.E. Beech St. The c lo th in g is
the result o f a "C h ild re n Helping C hildren" drive th a t was spon­
sored by KGW (Channel 8), Children's W orld Centers and the
Low Incom e Families Emergency Center (LIFE). C lothing is
available during business hours fro m L I F E. Center, 2746 Union
a V6
Photo by Richard J. Brown
SINCE 1905
SPORTSWORID
lo ¡Ü°*
v«*6\
i l l
V \ \
behind
center
• largest selection in Northwest!
• Lowest Prices in Town!
• Gift Certificate Available!
YWCA
Gas Assistance Program U nderw ay
the Salem area 399-5756.
V
P rogram 5:30 p.m.
°
1988.
u
,
The Committee members will serve as a speakers bureau on the Dele­
gate Selection Plan and will be working on the delegate selection process.
Mrs. Stranahan has been a national convention delegate and is active in
the Multnomah County Central Committee. She is presently an alternate
to the State Central Committee.
Mr. Beihl has been active in the Multnomah County Democratic
Central Committee and is an alternate to the State Central Committee.
He is also an active member of his union.
Mrs. Greenlick who recently moved from Salem to Portland is active
in the Jewish Community.
Mr. Meyer has been active in the Multnomah County Democratic Cen­
tral Committee and at present is a delegate to the State Central Commit­
tee representing the First Congressional District.
Other Committee members include: Senator Jim Hill, Salem, Chair
of the Committee; Peggy Sato, Salem, Lobbyist for Georgia Pacific Corpor­
ation; Anne Bunnenberg, Attorney, Eugene; Harold Bock, Retired Teacher,
Myrtle Creek; Diane McDonald, Legal Secretary, Madras; and Elnathan
Davis, Retired Log Scaler. Klamath Falls.
in December.
Applications must send a completed application and two letters of
recommendation. One of the letters must be from a high school official.
In addition, the applicants must send a list of extracurricular activities, a
one-page essay detailing their interest in receiving a nomination, a copy of
their high school transcript, and a copy of either their SAT or ACT scores.
For more information, please contact Congressman Smith s Salem
office at P.O. Box 13089, Salem, OR 97309; or call 1-800-452-7889 or in
j
Thursday
Committee".
This Committee has been charged with the task of assuring adequate
implementation of the provisions of the Delegate Selection Plan for the
1988 Democratic Presidential Convention to be held in Atlanta, Ga. in July,
Young men and women who are residents of the 5th Congressional
District and are interested in applying for a nomination to one of the U.S.
service academies have until November 30, 1987 to get their completed
applications into Congressman Denny Smith's office.
Each year, Congressman Smith is allowed to nominate 10 individuals
between the ages of 17 and 22 to each academy. The nominations are
made by the Congressman's Academy Nominations Advisory Committee
r
NORTHEAST CENTER ,
Chairwoman Judy Carnahan, of the Democratic Party of Oregon,
has announced the appointment of Frank Biehl, 30, a Portland millworker
and lobbyist for the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers; Bob­
bie Greelick, 42, a Portland teacher of learning disabled children; Richard
Meyer, 35, Director of the Burnside Community Council of Portland; and
Lois Stranahan, 58, of Portland, a retired Communications Worker and
Union Activist, to the Democratic Party of Oregon's Affirmative Action
D e a d lin e fo r A c a d e m y
Applications Nears
The International Institute of Transportation Resource Inc., (I.I.T.R.),
a vocational truck driving school in Clackamas, Oregon, has been endorsed
by the Board of Directors of the Safety Management Council of Oregon
Trucking Association.
Catch
Oregon Democratic ’
Party Announces
Affirmative Action
Committee
Si
• Free Parking with $15 Purchase1
82 YEARS SPECIALIZED
I 625 S.W 4th & Morrison
Downtown, Portland ’•
(503) 226-6467
'
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