March 30, 1988, Portland Observer, Page 3
NATIONAL NEWS UPDATE
Reconstruction and Reaction
Jesse Jackson on INF Treaty and Education
mination.
I believe we need to invest in
children from the start. We need
to restore and expand programs
for fam ily security, such as
mother and infant health care,
nutrition and food assistance,
family counseling and teen pa
renting services, and adult edu
cation and literacy campaigns.
We must ensure that stim ulating
preschool education and child
care are available for all fam ilies.
Special a tte n tio n m ust be
given to the problems facing
teens and young adults. Pro
grams to address drug and alco
hol abuse, sexual responsibility,
and dropout prevention should
be expanded.
We also need to invest in
teachers. Teachers need more
pay and more say in constructing
better schools. Federal funds
Invest in Children
can underwrite new state efforts.
and Teachers
We need a massive national pro
gram to recruit tom orrow’s tea
We need full funding for com
chers — especially from m inority
pensatory, bilingual, and special
stu d e n ts — through co lle g e
education programs so that all
scholarships and college-bound
students eligible can benefit
programs.
from them. The federal govern
Finally, we must open the
m ent supplied federal funds
doors to higher eucation. We
where the need is greatest. A
need to help get many more
system w ith funding levels that
children to college and through
range from $5,000 per pupil in
college by restoring and expan
upper-income d istricts to $1,500
ding college grants and loans.
per pupil in lower-income dis
We can restore productive liveli
tricts is bound to promote failure.
hoods to unemployed and d is
On top f that, the Justice Depart
placed workers by funding adult
ment should be put back to work
education, college entry, and
enforcing the laws against edu
vocational retraining programs.
cational segregation and d iscri
cent reduction is a good starting
point.
We must not increase our con
ventional forces in Europe be
cause of some perceived threat
resulting from the INF agree
ment. Real security for Europe
does not depend on a conven
tional force buildup. Western
European countries have twice
the GNP of the USSR. Trade and
travel between East and West
have increased since World War
II and borders have been settled.
There is a real chance to bring the
m ilitary situation in line with the
p o litic a l re a lity . We sh o u ld
follow up on INF by responding
to Warsaw Pact proposals for
substantial troop reductions. We
should also encourage European
efforts to establish nuclear and
chemical weapons-free zones.
Needed: More Significant
Arms Reductions
W ith the Intermediate Nuclear
Forces (INF) as an icebreaker in
the Cold War freeze of the past
decade, we can hopefully work
toward significant arms reduc
tions with the Soviets. A next
step would be a moratorium on
nuclear weapons and an end to
the constant “ m odernization”
that drives the arms race. With a
mutual halt to the arms race we
can sit down w ith the Soviets to
negotiate mutual and verifiable
agreements for deep cuts. The
Reagan-Gorbachev
proposal
made in Reykjavik for a 50 per
Tri-Met wants to
do Business
w ith you !
Our new “Bid & Proposal
Hotline” can keep you informed
of contracting opportunities with
Tri-Met. This recorded message
lists all projects out for bid or
proposal and is updated weekly.
Call the Hotline number at (503)
239-6486.
Is your firm certified by the State
of Oregon as a DBE/WBE? If so,
please call us at (503) 239-6466 for
information about how to get on
our vendor list.
The defeat of the southern
states which com prised the
Confederacy brought an end to
the Civil War. The war also pro
duced the Emancipation Procla
mation and freedom for slaves.
What the war did not change
was the attitude of most white
Americans, North and South,
toward Americans of African
ancestry.
When Black men first attem p
ted to enlist in the Union Army,
they were rejected. It was not
until 1862 when the Union Army
and President Lincoln were des
perate for fresh troops that
Black men were prem itted to
serve in segregated units called
Blacks in P o litics
the “ United States Colored
Troops."
Not until 1864, did
these men receh e the same pay
as white soldiers. A total of
186,000 Black men served in the
Union Army. T M ir valiant ser
vice meant victory for Lincoln
and the United States of Am eri
ca. There was, however, pre
cious little gratitude.
At the tim e of the Emancipa
tion Proclamation there were bit
ter signs of racial hatred and un
rest. Rioting occurred in C incin
nati in 1862, when Black and
Irish men competed for jobs on
the riverboats. Riots also occur
red in places like Newark, New
Jersey and Buffalo, New York,
when white opposition to Blacks
getting jobs could not be con
trolled or contained.
In New
York City 34 Black people were
killed by mobs of whites who ob
jected to being drafted into the
Union Army and losing their jobs
to Black men.
Yet even in the face of bitter
racial hatred Black Americans
were full of hope. The Civil War
had ended slavery. The 13th,
14th and 15th Amendments to
the Constitution were adopted,
giving citizenship rights, the
vote and the promise of equality
to Americans of African des
cent.
There was reason for hope. In
a matter of months Black men
whose humanity has been de
nied were being elected to high
offices and making public po
licy. A former slave, Blanche
Kelso Bruce, was representing
M ississippi in the United States
Senate. Pinckney B.S. Pinch-
back was serving as Governor of
Louisiana.
In three southern
states Black men served as
lieutenant governors. A Black
man served on the State Sup
reme Court in South Carolina.
It is a fact that life was hard
for the former slave. Despite the
great political strides made by
the former slaves, the Recon
struction era was a period of
considerable challenge to the
four m illion newly freed men and
women. The two biggest chal
lenges facing the nation after
the Civil War, were the problem
of rebuilding the South along
with restoring it to the union,
and what to do with the eman
cipated Black popu'ation.
After the war many former
slaves werer homeless and job
less. They were unable to read
and write and were defenseless
against their former masters.
Many died of hunger and
disease. There as a growing
despair about this “ freedom ”
and what it meant.
In March, 1865 Congress
created the Freedmen’s Bureau
which was the firs t social
welfare program ever created by
the Federal Government and the
first indication that the Federal
Government felt a real obliga
tion to the Freedmen.
The Freedmen’s Bureau pro
vided citical assistance to the
former slaves.
It set up 46
hospitals. It also helped Blacks
resettle in other parts of the
country. However, its most im
portant contribution was in pro
vid; '.g education to the Black
masses that yearned for it. The
Bureau set up all kinds of
schools. Among the colleges
assisted by this agency were
Howard, Fisk, Hampton and
Atlanta Universities.
Teachers came down from the
North in large numbers. In 1870,
the Bureau had 4,329 schools
providing instruction to thou
sands of Black men and women.
It was during those days that
Black literacy became a fact of
life.
The Reconstruction period is
very much m isi nderstood to
day. Racism in America has per
mitted the creation of the idea
that R e c o n s tru c tio n m eant
“ negro rule" by ignorant and vul
gar former slaves. There is no
appreciation of the crucial role
played by Black people in the
building of America, of the mo
ral issues involved in the abo
lition of slavery and the re
lation which Reconstruction had
to democratic government and
economic justice.
Dr. BuDois wrote in his book
“ Black R econstruction” that,
“ white historians have ascribed
the faults and failures of Recon
struction to Negro ignorance
and corruption. But the Negro
insists that is was Negro loyal
ty and the Negro vote alone that
restored the South to the Union;
established the new democracy,
both for white and black, and
instituted the public schools.
As soon as Southern whites
took an oath of loyalty to the
Federal Government and return
ed to political activity, they
sought to relegate Black people
to an inferior position.
Dis
enfranchisement was the first
step. Blacks who defied the Ku
Klux Kian and tried to vote
faced an array of obstacles. If
that wasn’t enough discourage
ment, there was always the
threat of physical violence.
In many Southern states the
voter registration procedures
were changed so as to bar any
Black person who could not
read, understand and interpret
the Constitution. Some state
c o n s titu tio n s provided that
those who failed the tests could
vote anyway if their grandfathers
had voted. Clearly no former
slave had a grandfatner who had
voted.
In 1896, the total number of
Black registered voters in Lou
isiana was 130,000. Four years
later, after revising the voter
registration procedures in the
state the total number of Black
voters was reduced to 5,000.
Louisiana was not an exception.
The theft of the ballot from
Black people was carried out in
every Southern state.
When the United States Sup
reme Court, in 1883, declared
the Civil Rights Act of 1875 un
constitutional, Southern states
began to enact laws to separate
and segregate races. In 1896,
the Supreme Court in Plessy v.
Ferguson approved “ separate
but equal” facilities; it was then
that segregaton became an
established fact of life, by law as
well as custom.
Black people found them
selves in separate cars on trains,
with separate hospitals, schools
and even separate cemeteries.
This segregation always meant
discrim ination.
The separate
was never equal. On trains all
Black people, including those
with first-class tickets, had to sit
with the baggage.
In public
buildings Blacks had to use
freight elevators. Black teach
ers were paid less than their
white counterparts.
At the close of the nineteenth
century the African-American
population in the United States
had its status reduced to that
which was just a little better
than that of the slave. Racism
was the order of the day and it
seemed that it would always be
so.
1-800-GC-BUIIT
1-8OO-632-FISH
1-800-423-W W
1-8OO-852-SAFE
1-800-SEVnME
1-8OO-443-FUMP
1-800-722-WffR
spell help in some
very Z unusual ways.
For instance,
the number above that ends in PUMP puts you m /t o u c h with
all kinds of information on heat pumps. The number that ends in SAFE yields informa
tion on outdoor lighting. The number that ends in WAIR covers electric water heaters
And the number that ends in WARM is for weatherization.
Fact is, we have a direct line for virtually every one of our services - so we don t
waste your time switching you from line to line. To call, simply look us up in your local
TRI-MET
PORTLAND OBSERVER
"The Eyes and Ears of the Com m unity”
288-0033
telephone directory.
There, help is spelled just like youd expect Tbrtland General Electnc.
) R
' n n
g f : n f r
/