Page 2, Portland Observer. December 2. 1987
EDITORIAL
/
O P IN IO N
Along the Color Line
Benjamin F. Chavis Jr.
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.
“We Shall
Overcome”
Harold won against the
odds. He died of an en
larged heart, not a broken
heart. It was enlarged by
three, because he had to
have a big heart to make
room for all of Chicago.
Jesse Jackson
Harold Washington
1922 - 1987
Civil Rights Journal
Justice for Native Americans
also felt the cold, gripping hands of
racism and oppression. The plight
of Native Americans in the United
States continues to expose this na-
The struggle for African Ameri
can freedom and justice should
never be seen in isolation from the
struggles of other peoples who have
BSERVER
PORTLfi
OREGON'S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLICATION
Established in 1970
A lfre d L. Henderson/Publisher
Leon L. Harris/Editor
PORTLAND OBSERVER
is published weekly by Exie Publishing Company, Inc.
5011 N.E. 26th Ave.
Portland, Oregon 97211
P.O. Box 3137
Portland, Oregon 97208
Phone Number: (503) 288-0033
Leon L. Harris
General Manager/Controller
Gary Ann Garnett
Business Manager
Nyewusi Askari
Writer
Mattie Ann Callier-Spears
Religion Editor
Leslie V. White
Art Director/Sales
Rebecca Robinson
T ypesetter /Production
tion's reluctance to be fair and just
with indiginous Indian peoples.
In the church we are taught that
what we do unto the least of those
who are powerless, we do also unto
God. Too often, though, the reality
is different. The powerful maintain
their status without even a hint of
desire to change the historic power
dynamics that undergird domestic
social policy in this nation.
Once again, during this Thanks
giving season, there should be a na
tional re-evaluation of governmental
policies toward Native Americans.
Deeply embedded in the "Pilgrim
tradition" is the notion of repen
tance. Yet, judging from the pre
sent policies of the Reagan Admini
stration toward Native Americans
— in the cities, on the reservations
and in rural areas off the reserva
tion — there is an arrogant, non-
repentant
"cow boy"
mentality
which causes Indian people to suf
fer more.
While increasing military spend
ing, the Reagan Administration has
also proposed drastic cuts to pro
grams that serve Native peoples.
For example, the Administration
wishes to slash $22.8 million for
Native American housing and irri
gation projects. Eight out of nine
Native America families now live
below the poverty line. And, in
many urban areas the unemploy
ment rate has skyrocketed to as
high as 80%.
As Dr. Norman W. Jackson,
Executive Director of the Council
for American Indian Ministry has
stated, "Being at the bottom of
most social indices of measure
ment, for example, health, income
and education, Indian people some
times feel too powerless to raise the
justice question. But, these ques
tions shout for recognition, for ac
tion, for intervention, and demand
a change."
We must not allow the cries for
justice of our Native American sis
ters and brothers to continue to
echo and reverberate against a
stone wall of injustice and insensi
tivity. The continued unjust im
prisonment of Leonard Peltier, a
leader of the American Indian
Movement, is another example of
the nation's vindictiveness toward
Native Americans, especially when
they dare to struggle for an end to
their oppression.
If we want Good News here, it
must be in the form of our addres
sing this national disgrace with can
dor, confession and change.
Richard J. Brown
Photographer
Kendel Bryan Covington
Entertainment Editor
Letters to the Editor
Vivian E. Richardson
Sales Representative
Lonnie Wells
Distribution
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Prisoner Says Thanks
Dear Editor:
It gives me great pleasure to write
this letter of appreciation for what
the Portland Observer has done!
It was done from the heart for us
as well as the Black community and
the State of Oregon.
First allow me to congratulate
Mr. Richard Brown for the photos
that covered the front page.
George A. Gaines and I truly would
like to send him our personal
thanks. Second we would like to
thank Mr. Nyewusi Askari for keep
ing his faith in his Black Brothers
and bringing forth the real truth
about the present situation at hand.
This past Friday evening, our
community members:
A. Halim
Rahsaan, bart jenxtns, and a re
presentative from the Black United
Front, plus a host of others, came
down to the Black Culture meeting
to pledge their support in helping
us get these people to follow the
law.
For that I as well as the
rest of the minority population will
be forever grateful to you, Ms. Gary
Ann Garnett, because without your
help and concern, it might have
been impossible to bring about the
needed change.
Inclusion to be totally honest,
mere words cannot express the true
feelings of everyone concerned. So
I shall close this off with an old
cliche’, and tears, and I say "thank
you all very much from the bottom
of my heart."
Always and Forever
John Dudley Leftridge III
My Hat’s Off
Dear Sir:
Firstly, please allow me to take
my hat off to whomever is respon
sible for the hiring ot my dear friend
and Brother Mr. Askari as a fact
finder for this newspaper. I have
read, with heightened interest,
every article he has printed. I espe
Black Politicians
and the Pursuit of
Power
Black politicians are rapidly
reaching something of an ideologi
cal and strategic deadend all over
the country. Last month's elections
were widely interpreted as a general
success story for Blacks running for
public office. Philadelphia mayor
Wilson Goode narrowly defeated
rightwing Republican Frank Rizzo.
Kurt Schmoke, a 37-year-old Demo
crat who serves as Baltimore's chief
prosecutor, became the first popu
larly elected Black mayor of the city.
And in Hartford, Connecticut, Car
rie Saxon Perry became the first
Black woman to be elected mayor
of a major New England city. But
despite these and other gains, there
are other indications that a deep
crisis in the future direction of Black
politics is in the making.
Several distinct lessons can be
drawn from the recent elections.
First, it remains evident that white
American voters are far more "race
conscious" in their evaluation and
selection of candidates for public
office than Black or Latino voters
are. This might surprise whites who
assume that the fundamental rea
son for Jesse Jackson's popularity
among the masses of white voters is
due to the "Country Preacher's"
racial identity. This is not true.
Black voters overwhelmingly en
dorse Jackson because he is the
only presidential candidate who is
elevating policy issues which object
ively advance the material, social
and political interests of the Black
community. The same cannot be
said of the majority of white voters,
unfortunately, who continue to vote
for conservative candidates who are
at odds with their own interests.
In Charlotte, North Carolina,
Black Democrat Harvey Gantt was
elected mayor several years ago by
building a coalition of Blacks and
middle income whites. Gantt never
succeeded in winning the electoral
support of the majority of white
voters, but he still tended to mini
mize any discussion of policy issues
which raised the question of race.
When challenged this fall by Sue
Myrick, a white Republican adver
tising executive who criticized the
mayor on urban traffic issues, Gantt
perhaps took his Black constituency
for granted. As a result, two thirds
of all whites still voted against
Gantt, the Black turnout was too
low to make up this difference —
and Gantt was defeated. Whites
will frequently vote against other
whites if they are perceived as being
"too liberal" on racial issues. One
good example is provided by Bos
ton, where former anti-bussing ad-
vocate-turned-populist Ray Flynn
was just re-elected as mayor. Flynn
our beloved Brother McKinley Burt,
who has always been in the fore
front of Black awareness for as long
as I can remember.
But the main reason I have
written is to talk about the most
recent article by Brother Askari re
lating to the Brothers in Salem be
hind bars.
I know what it's like to be con
fined, and finally began to under
stand why. And I think if we all
look at what is truly taking place,
we see that the criminal justice sys
tem will never change the way it
operates; for to do so would put
hundreds of people out of work,
Salem's welfare would suffer great
ly, maybe even collapse, without
the monies earned by the guards
and other officials who run the sys'
tern
1 he system does not intent to
ever make a program work that
would keep one from returning to
jail. If the making of the plates for
our cars was contracted to the labor
force outside the prison system, it
would create jobs for those who in
some instances want to work. As
long as the Brothers that are con-
won strong majorities throughout
the city by running on a liberal plat
form, which included the integra
tion of public housing. But in his
own all-white neighborhood of
South Boston, a majority of the
electorate voted against Flynn.
Second, Blacks continue to be
a potential "balance of power" in
many gubernatorial and mayoral
elections. In Mississippi guberna
torial race, for example, whites
voted for reactionary Republican
businessman Jack Reed by a three-
to-two margin over white moderate
Democrat Ray Mabus. However,
Mabus carried 90 percent of the
Black vote, and was narrowly elec
ted Governor. In Philadelphia, 80
percent of the white voters rejected
Wilson Goode. The incumbent was
able to survive only by recording
a 98 percent majority from the Black
electorate.
In these situations
where candidates obtain office sole
ly on the basis of monolithic Black
support, the Black community must
develop a coherent set of policy
demands and a list of key personnel
to be appointed to sensitive posi
tions. We have to engage in tough
bargaining to obtain well-deserved
concessions
even
from
our
"friends," much less than from our
political opponents.
Third, and most significantly,
Blacks need to rethink the connec
tion between the advancement of
individual Black politicians inside
the electoral process vs. the need
to maximize Black power within the
system. All too often, our elected
officials have an "individualistic"
notion of politics, the idea that they
owe their electoral advancement to
their innate abilities rather than to
the collective strength of Black
voters. Power in American society,
however, is achieved through con
scious, collective actions, not
through isolated activity.
Indivi
duals may exercise "influence," but
only groups wield power.
In their fast pursuit of the Ameri
can electoral dream, few Black o ffi
cials are asking themselves how
their personal successes are linked
to the resolution of the long-term,
structural problems of poverty, un
employment, poor education and
healthcare inside our communities.
Instead of simply pleading for votes
every other year. Black politicians
should be advancing a coherent,
progressive social policy vision
which can challenge the "Reagan-
ism" of both major parties. We
should expect those who theoreti
cally represent us inside the politi
cal process to be able to communi
cate this policy vision to a mass
audience, while developing strate
gies to increase the political clout
of Black working people.
Black
elected officials all too often have
not been in the forefront of move
ments which advance the pursuit
of power.
if you will, to change, they will con
tinue to return.
The dependency that is created
by waiting to be told what to do is
subtly insuring their return. I would
ask those Brothers to re-think their
positions and work on a plan to stay
out once they get out.
I believe that there are less than
one percent of the people who are
locked up in the justice system who
are first timers, no matter what
their color. The other 99-plus per
cent have been locked away by the
system on at least one other occa
sion.
I see a relationship between peo
ple who create and produce, as best
they can, the things they require.
Since we, as Black people, do not
create most of the things we re
quire, we are at the mercy, if you
will, of others to create it for us.
Should this ever change, our condi
tions in the society will change, and
we will find fewer Brothers behind
bars.
Please excuse this lengthy letter.
It's my way of saying thanks to your
newspaper for its timely articles.
James Bush
Portland, Oregon