Page 2, Portland Observer, January 27, 1988
EDITORIAL
/
OPINION
Civil Rights Journal
EDITORIAL
One very noticable aspect of community meetings is the absence of
young Black teenagers, the Black male, and the Black college student. This
is especially true for meetings on matters of crime, teen pregnancy, drug and
alcohol abuse/addiction, unemployment, neighborhood development, and
personal growth.
Most community meetings are attended by seasoned, front-line war
riors. These warriors are involved, concerned citizens who seem to have
been around forever. However, during the past several years, their ranks
have dwindled and their replacements have been slow to emerge.
Many front-liners suggest that the absence and lack of involvement of
younger Blacks is due in part to a depressed Oregon economy. Others say
it's because of a lack of cultural/social identity. And still others say it s be
cause younger Blacks are joining the "M E” generation: a generation that
believes status, materialism and individualism are more important than help
ing others who are less fortunate.
Whatever the reason, it is important and necessary that young Black
students and young Black adults become involved in every aspect of commu
nity development.
Increasingly, young people are the target of community concern. But
the message is not reaching them. More and more, teenagers and young
adults are falling victim to drug and alcohol addiction, unwanted preg
nancies, homelessness, prostitution, anger, social barriers and hopelessness.
The key word here is hopelessness.
Many young people, especially those who've grown up during the Rea
gan years, believe they have no reason to be stimulated or encouraged about
the past and current conditions that now exist in this country. Many of the
messages they receive tend to strongly suggest that "they are the problem."
Truthfully, many are treated as "problems."
The Black community cannot afford to fall into this trap. Black youth
must be treated as part of the solution.
The Black community cannot merely hope that young Blacks will get
involved with community development. It must make sure.
One way to make sure is to reorganize our cultural resources. The Black
community has many respected and nationally recognized Black artist, musi
Beniamin F. Chavis Jr.
cians, speakers, activists, educators, writers, business persons, and histor
ians. Individually, they continue to achieve, but as a functionally visible
group that is dedicated to influencing and encouraging young Blacks, they
are as fragmented as broken glass.
It is a known fact that Black youth are influenced by those they look up
to. Historically, the Black artist, the Black educator, the Black activist, the
Black business person, etc., have always played a big part in the personal
growth and development of younq Blacks.
When you ask some young Blacks why they don't attend community
meetings, they often say, "W e don't feel welcomed. Besides, you guys
aren’t getting anything done." This perception is fueled by our inability to
solve the problems of racism, unemployment, crime and the abundance of
other problems that pop up on a daily basis.
We need our young people as much as they need us. We must now
learn how to convey this message very clearly. If we don't, we stand a
chance of losing an entire generation to ignorance of basic, important issues
that will determine the direction in which their lives will go. Under these con
ditions, they will lose the right and the ability to control what is happening to
and with them. Such an attitude will almost guarantee that their children
will carry on the same tradition — a tradition of non-community involvement
and a lack of knowledge of the real issues.
We must let Black college students know that they stand at the front of
this movement. They will be next in line to replace those who have kept our
community in a constant state of positive political, social, cultural and eco
nomic evolution. We must stress responsibility and bestow upon them the
tools and techniques they'll need to meet the challenge.
In the future, organizations in the community should make it a goal to
recruit a certain number of young Black, white, Asian, Hispanic and Native
American youth to attend meetings, social gatherings, and any other gather
ing of importance.
If we make these young people feel important, wanted, needed and
secure in their effort to join forces with the older generation, then we can
rest assured that we have a bright future ahead.
Letters to the Editor
Legislators are in agreement with
the request to postpone conversion
activity.
The Chancellor's office has as
sured the Board and the Education
Sub-Committee of Ways & Means
that there are no costs involved in
switching to semesters. That is a
very flawed claim. There has to be
tremendous expense involved, both
in budget dollars, and in lost teach
ing time, as the Professors com
pletely rewrite ever/ course by this
June.
Most community colleges are not
planning to convert to the seme
ster system for various reasons in
cluding costs. Yet the 1987 Legi
Dear Editor:
How many people are aware that
the State Board of Higher Educa
tion has ordered all seven state uni
versities and colleges (OSU, OIT,
etc.) to convert from the traditional
school year of three terms to a two
semester system starting in late Au
gust of 1989?
I appeared in person before the
Board at its December 18 meeting
and requested that they call a halt to
all semester conversion activity until
June 30, 1989. There has been
limited input accepted from faculty
and students. No public hearings
were held by the board. At the pre
sent time, I know that at least 31
slature was assured that the conver
sion to semesters would only be
done in cooperation with commu
nity colleges.
The fall semester
beginning in last August will have a
very adverse effect on students who
need to earn their college money by
working in tourism/recreation, agri-
culture/food processing, timber and
construction related activities. Not
only will the students be adversely
affected, so will the natural resour
ces related businesses who have
need of employees only for the sum
mer season which extends beyond
Labor Day.
The 11 members of the State
Board of Higher Education should
reconsider their position. There is
no conclusive evidence that chang
ing to semesters will improve the
quality of education. It will reduce
by at least one-third the number of
courses a student can take in a four-
year period. There will be complica
tions and costs galore if the con
version is allowed to proceed.
If you are concerned about the
change, or want more information,
please write me at 27070 Irish Bend
Loop, Halsey, OR 97348.
Liz Van Leeuwen
State Representative
D is tric t 37
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Concerning "Heroine Angered
Over Media Coverage," 1-20-88, by
Nyewusi Askari: It's a shame the
caucasoid news media would at
tempt to criticize Ms. Catherine
O'Hara. Our so-called democratic
society is mortally imperiled by rac
ism _ a cancerous disease which
will destroy not only an individual,
but also, if allowed to metastasize
without radical surgery, a great na
tion. The Black masses are now
threatened with the most grievous
form of ignominy — the most cut
ting form of racism — that of
"nobodyness."
One need only consider the enor
mous quantities of newspaper,
periodicals, radio and television pro
grams operating in the United
States today to see the fundamental
relationship of the media to state
power. Creating and transforming
consciousness, the "mainstream"
media in present day Amerika [sic]
operate in monopoly fashion, like all
the other centers of capitalist
power. While the material mono
poly of electronic giants such as
ABC, CBS and NBC is deplorable,
even worse is the monopoly and
uniformity of content that they have
established; and in similar fashion,
the giants of the printed world —
Times, Newsweek, and the Hearst
chain.
The New York Times,
Scripps-Howard, Knight, etc., or
ganize, conceptualize and report the
same information in almost identical
fashion.
Contrary to its own rhetoric, the
function of racist bourgeois media
is not to provide information and
the free flow of ideas, but to indoc
trinate the reading public in perpe
tual affirmation of established
values.
The Portland Observer must
continue to present the Black cri
tique of Amerikan [sic] and world
events. It is to the examples of
John Russwurm, Martin Delany,
Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. Du-
Bois as publishers, editors and jour
nalists, that we must aspire. It is
incumbent upon the Black media to
exercise its strength to the end re
sult of expanding the communities'
consciousness and political power.
In a nation so vast, communica
tions — written, audio and audio
visual — are the matrix which can
either unite us as a people or, if
misused by the majority group,
can encourage and propagate insti
tution racism, both overt and co
vert.
Why didn't they tell the
mother to have her son checked
because Sister Catherine might
have AIDS? I'm inclined to believe
the printed media or the daily news
papers, radio and TV of Amerika
[sic] are the most racist of all forms
of communication.
Prostitution and the Law — C on't fro m
motels along Interstate Avenue are
involved in allowing criminal acti
vity, but a great number of them
are.
Potter said it is estimated,
by people who work with the pro
stitutes along Interstate, that any
where between 80 and 90 percent of
the business of the motels comes
from prostitution and drug dealing.
He said a meeting with motel own
ers and citizens from the Overlook
neighborhood produced positive re
commendations, in particular (1)
that a sign be placed in motel rooms
that say all occupants of a room
Victory in Keysville, Georgia
Victory is sweet. Just ask the
African American community of
Keysville, Georgia. Against strong
opposition from the white commu
nity which controls the town, Afri
can Americans, on January 4th,
elected an African American mayor
and four African American council-
members.
After we discussed the upcoming
election in an earlier commentary,
a number of callers, including seve
ral media organizations, asked us
for further information. They be
came interested not only because
Keysville's majority Black popula
tion had no sewage system, no run
ning water, no indoor plumbing and
no control over the affairs of the
town, while the white residents had
all of the above.
Rather, what was of greater inter
est was the fact that the January
4th election was the first time that
African Americans had ever voted in
a local election since administration
of the town had been remanded to
the county in 1933. This was an his
toric election with national implica
tions. And it came about because
the African American community of
Keysville decided that if they reacti
vated incorporation of the town,
they would be able to tax residents
and, thus, attain essential services
which they do not enjoy at this time.
The white community, fearing a
change in the traditional power re
lationship, fought the election.
Black voter turn-out would be
crucial — and turn out they did On
Election Day, over 85% of the Afri
can American electorate voted.
This tremendous voter participation
was no accident, however. It came
about through prolonged and inten
sive voter mobilization activities.
For the past year-and-a-half
Ashaki Binta, a seasoned organizer
from the Christie Institute, a public
interest law firm, has been based in
Keysville. She worked in and with
the community day after day, to
plan strategy and to organize the
voter mobilization and registration
campaign. Working with her were
local residents like Mrs. Turetha
Neely, the African American super
intendent of elections.
As Mrs. Emma Gresham, a retired
teacher and the new mayor of Keys
ville, asserted, "W e met every Mon
day night since 1985. Even if we
didn't have but four people in the
room, we never stopped meeting.
And then the meetings started get
ting bigger and bigger. Before you
could have had them in my living
room. Now we have to hold them in
the community center."
Mrs. Gresham also talked about
the voter education marches held
every Saturday by Rep. Tyrone
Brooks, the African American state
representative from their district.
She also talked about the assistance
of the Southern Christian Leader
ship Conference, particularly their
youth members and their Executive
Director, Dr. Joseph Lowry. She
spoke with pride of the serious com
mitment of local youth, saying,
"They are truly our hope for tomor
row and our hope for today, to o ."
Campaign workers left nothing to
chance. Under Ms. Binta's direc
tion they gathered the names of
every potential voter and canvassed
door-to-door. On Election Day they
instituted a sophisticated car pool
and had babysitters and hot food
available for the voters.
Their organization paid off. The
entire Concerned Citizens' slate
won, with the exception of one
write-in candidate who lost by only
two votes. At the joyous rally which
was held in an overflow African
American church on election night,
Mrs. Gresham warmly thanked the
people of Keysville for their sup
port and their hard work. She also
thanked God, saying, "God truly
has a timetable and this is Keys
ville's tim e."
However, not everyone under
stands that. The white slate is chal
lenging the election in the courts.
But, as Mrs. Gresham says, "This
court challenge is just a little hurdle
because the people of Keysville
have already spoken."
The Civil Rights Journal, written by Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., is a publication of the United
Church of Christ.
-------------------- ------------------- ----------------- ------ ---------------
The Black press, since the found
ing of Freedom's Journal 161 years
ago, has been the only spokesman
for the teeming millions of Blacks
in Amerika [sic], the only light to
open the broad highways of hope so
that our children's children may live
fruitful lives. Every man at some
moment must discover that he has a
cross to bear. The cross that the
Black press has borne proudly over
the years is proclaiming the evils
of racism. The insensitivity of the
establishment is such that, while the
Black press is dealing with the pro
blem of racism, the caucasoid press
has been ignoring it.
And caucasoid corporate Amer
ika [sic] seems to conspire against
the Black press by withholding ad
vertising, without which no press in
this country can survive. The Black
press must light torches, even bon
fires, to expose the misery, the de
privation, the crimes against the
Amerikan [sic] creed. We must
never be satisfied with cursing the
darkness, alone. But if we proclaim
to the world the one-ness of
45,000,000 Blacks, wandering in
Diaspora, we shall be worthy of our
heritage, knowing we have sustain
ed the fabric and the matrix of our
most previous survival asset — as
we proclaim that Blacks have, and
belong to, each other; and, because
of this indivisible circumstance,
have a common fate.
As I close, let us make a covenant
among ourselves: That we shall
invest in the common welfare of our
Brother man, to tell it like it is, w ith
out fear or favor. We must stop
talking about men like Jesus Christ,
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., The
Honorable Elijah Mohammad, and
live by the principles those great
men layed down. Men and women
of good will must keep pounding
on the citadels of an insensitive,
avaricious establishment, demand
ing the equal control of the news
print and the airwaves, as a first
step toward freedom and self-deter
mination, until that good day when
there are no longer domestic colon
ials but neighbors dwelling side by
side, willing to save a life, like
Sister Catherine — a family of peo
ples.
I would like to remind that female
reporter that Dante has warned:
"The hottest places in Hell are re
served for those who in times of
great moral crisis do nothing.
Dr. Jam il Charovea
haviors defined as enticing, solici
ting, or procuring. The courts have
struct down, as unconstitutional,
many statutes that were designed to
punish people for lewd behavior, or
behavior that's provocative or be
havior that interferes. The ACLU
said the problem occurs because no
one understands what such words
mean.
It was apparent during the ques
tion and answer session that many
citizens are still taking a wait-and-
see attitude when it comes to police
handling of prostitution/drug enfor-
cement. Many say the Portland
crime wave of 1987 has convinced
them that words and statistics, no
matter who speaks them, are not
crimestoppers.
However, this wait-and-see atti
tude did not interfere with citizens'
opinion that the forum served its
purpose.
Said one satisfied participant,
"This is what it's going to take to
deal with the problem — getting to
gether like this and showing that we
all are determined to work together
to solve these terrible problems."
Page 1
must be registered with the motel
and (2) that all persons not register
ed with the motel will be subject
for arrest for tresspassing. How
ever, Potter said, they had received
information that very few of the
motels were implementing the re
commendations.
The ACLU explained the legal
aspects of prostitution. According
to the ACLU, citizens have the right
to challenge statutes that they con
sider unfair or unconstitutional, and
that police departments have to be
careful when trying to interpret be