Page 2, Portland Observer, June 1, 1988
EDITORIAL /
OPINION
Perspectives
EDITORIAL
“ Fight Drugs
OPINION
by Dr. Jamil Cherovee
by Professor McKinley Burt
Racism: At Home And Abroad
PART I
ple to dependence on dangerous
substances, and prevents normal
functioning in our society
Advocates of legalization ought
to tell us how many new addicts
will be created by easier availabili­
ty of drugs and the abandonment
of legal penalties against their
use.
Do they want addicts to regis­
ter and get their dosage from gov­
ernment drug clinics? If so, what
will they do about the illegal black
market that’s bound to spring up
alongside the legal one? Britain’s
experim ent w ith dispensing
There are growing signs that
the war on drugs may end in un­
conditional surrender. We re hear­
ing support for legalizing drugs,
and some big city mayors,
frustrated at the drug-induced
escalating crime rate, are joining
the bandwagon.
They’re concerned about the
costs of fighting drugs, the toll
the battle takes on drug-saturated
communities, and the apparent
inability of enforcement authori­
ties to stem the flood of drugs in­
to the country.
But surrender is no way to fight
a war. And the costs of control­
ling drugs are smaller than the
social costs of making drugs
readily available.
Calls for legalization claim that
taking the profit out of drugs
would reduce violence. It’s also
said that legalizing drugs would
yield huge tax revenues to the
government, providing resources
to expand anti-drug education ef­
forts.
That sounds strange to me —
making dangerous substances
legal so they could be taxed in
order to provide funds to con­
vince people not to take them.
The essential point the advo­
cates seem to be missing is that
drug abuse is wrong. Period.
They destroy the abuser’s
reasoning powers, debilitate his
health, and enforce a dependency
that requires ever larger amounts
of the drug to fulfill.
t Legalizing drugs in effect tells
people that it’s all right to use
spch mind-destroying and per­
sonality-altering substances. It
says it’s OK to become hooked
on a habit that takes away in­
dividual autonomy, reduces peo­
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drugs to addicts just led to a
black market and a wider heroin
problem.
And how would they discour­
age young kids from experiment­
ing with addictive drugs? It's hard
enough with the law on our side;
if it’s legal, you can bet that kids
will have easier access to drugs
and fewer qualms about taking
them.
Instead of giving up the fight
against drugs in despair, we
should step up international ef­
forts to stop drug imports and im­
plem ent all-out enforcem ent
measures against dealers, along
with a massive education and
treatment program to cut de­
mand.
We've talked a good war on
drugs, but haven’t waged one.
While the government tells
people to just say NO, it cuts
resources available to neighbor­
hood drug treatment centers.
Thousands of people who have
become addicted to drugs can’t
get treated for their illness
because of lack of funds.
by John Jacob, president,
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National Urban League
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OREGON'S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLICATION
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Education
5 5
hile in Alabama, I was
in v ite d to sp e a k at
The Sierra Club advertisement
Chappie
James Hall. The
ot only is racism alive and
waxes expansively— you may
dents
insisted
that
I cut the lec­
well in these United States,
even forget that the minerals
ture
short,
that
they
may have
but the African-American is fur­
beneath the Safari trail are those
more
time
to
ask
questions.
ther devastated by the continu­
absolutely essential to SPACE
Tuskegee University, located in
ous export of this infamous sys­
AND NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY,
Tuskegee,
Alabama, was founded
tem of genocide. From last
“ You’ll live in the wilderness
by
Booker
T. Washington in 1881
week’s ‘National Geographic Spe­
-right among the animals ...
as
a
"center
for learning and
cial' on public television, we
elephants, hippos, rhinos, the
service,”
according
to the Uni­
quote a white American speaking
hoofed beasts, zebras, giraffes,
versity
catalog.
W
ashington’s
from central Africa, “ The day will
impalas, wild beasts, buffalos ...
philosophy called on Blacks to
come when we can return to the
lions, leopards, cheetahs ...
“
cast down your buckets where
GORILLAS the land we took from
TRIBESMEN AS NATURAL AND
you
are,” to learn the trade, crafts,
THEM” . Here we have the African
EXOTIC AS THE WILDLIFE”
and
agriculture in order to come
equivalent of the American situa­
Again, the indigenous Black will
to
economic
empowerment as a
tion Ralph Ellison described so
be harnessed to the corporate
first
step
toward
the uplift of
well in his novel, 'The Invisible
ventures and vagaries of institu­
Blacks
in
Amerika.
I’m
inclined to
Man’.
tions based in New York, London,
believe,
‘History
Makes
Men’. The
While in this country racism
Antwerp, Tokyo, Israel and South
study
of
history
is
important
for
deprives the American Black of
Africa. He will betold by the World
the
students
because
when
you
valuable land and commercial
Bank and the Agency for Interna­
know what was, you can see bet­
sites through the mechanisms of
tional Development that since he
ter what is, and you are more pre­
financial red lining, gentrification
has not yet demonstrated the
pared to see what is yet to come;
and other forms of URBAN RE­
ability to develop an integrated
and
to change the reality of the
MOVAL (include Northeast Port­
economy, “ the most we can do is
present
to make a better future.
land). he now faces an escalating
finance some ‘cash crops' for
When
you
don’t know who you
effort abroad to deprive him of all
you." However, lil brother, we will
are,
then
you
don’t have any idea
of his antecedents — geograph­
keep control of the ‘Commodity
of
what
you
can become. Be­
ical, historical and cultural. South
Exchanges' in London, New York,
cause
Black
students
are cut off
Africa's Apartheid is just the tip of
and Chicago.” Isn’t this what hap­
from
their
history,
they
are like a
the iceberg of an international
pened to U.S. cotton farmers?
ship without a rudder, because
conspiracy ("EVIL EMPIRE’’).
Prior to the National Geograph­
they don’t have a guiding princi­
How many of you have read, ‘How
ic Special, we were exposed to a
ple embedded in them. Education
Europe Underdeveloped Africa’?
miserable televised account of
should be preparation for service
Those of us rendered naive by
the “ difficulty in maintaining an
to humanity.
nature, or by brainwash, fail to
ELEPHANT PARK in East Africa.”
Education is no better than the
perceive the full ramification of
The 'natives’ in Kenya had to be
philosophy that guides it. And
this concept, AFRICA, THE ZOO.
forcibly restrained by armed
since the world is based on ex­
Before me is an ad from ‘Smithso­
rangers from shooting rampaging
altation of Caucasians, the philo­
nian Magazine' which appeals to
elephants which were destroying
sophical underpinnings of every
the white middie class, “ East
their farm crops and the equip
discipline is to support the basic
Africa Field Trips: Auspices of the
ment and buildings they had
premise that Caucasoids are
Sierra Club” . It is typical of a large
worked so hard to develop for
superior to Blacks ... This poison
scale marketing push which ap­
their survival. Screaming women
perm eates every d is c ip lin e .
peals to the ‘cultural dominance'
and hungry, weeping children
Therefore, education must be “ re­
syndrome of this nation, the
were not to be comforted by their
examined.” Since Black people
‘Great White Hunter Types - Join
men folk. Let me remind you here
have been mis-educated under a
a Safari!' Ill-disguised by such
of the full title of Charles Darwin's
system of caucasoid supremacy,
petulant euphemisms as, "Save
famous work on Evolution; "The
Blacks need to be retrained so we
the last natural environment for
origin of the species by means of
may be of service to our people
the animals,” or “ Preserve this
natural selection, or the PRESER­
species from extinction," ... What
and to ourselves and humanity.
VATION OF THE FAVOURED
During slavery, Blacks were de­
this is really about is an all out ef­
‘RACES' OF MANKIND." Any
prived of the right to know, which
fort to implement the total ex­
wonder that the full title is
made them able to be used as "a
ploitation of the most mineral-rich
seldom quoted in American
tool and a slave,” and which has
land in the world. To accomplish
texts? Recently, the press has
caused us to reject our own
that you need the underdeve­
reacquainted us with Stalin s car­
teachers. We accept tutelage
loped countryside and economy
riage in the Ukraine of Russia.
from caucasoid scholars and
which makes cheap, docile labor
Genocide is genocide; it differs
possible. Sounds like South
thinkers from the past without
only in technique and locale.
Africa all over again, doesn’t it?
judging It for its real value.
Today’s education should teach
us to think, to analyze, to critique.
Our students must perfect what
Africa The Zoo'
McKinley Burt. 1988 All
W
N
they are studying, rather than ac­
cepting it as it is. Black students
should
not be a slave to yester­
stu­
day’s knowledge.
I applaud Washington’s call for
technical and agricultural train­
ing. Farming is the engine of life
itself. Delving into and comparing
the principles of Booker T.
Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, and
Marcus Garvey, I attempted to
show how today a synthesis of
these great thinker’s programs
was needed.
Before ending my lecture, I
scrutinized the role of woman in
society, and the proper relation­
ship and respect that should exist
between man and woman. The
Supreme Architect (God) of the
Universe did not create you
(woman to be a plaything for men.
Instead, woman is actually a co­
creator with God, and through a
woman will come men and wo­
men who will bring about heaven
on earth. When a woman has
thoughts of rejecting the child
during pregnancy, those thoughts
affect the development of that
child. That’s why you have pro­
duced children today that hate
theirselves and are prone to sui­
cide, because you rejected it
while it was in the womb, and you
wished it dead ... so you have
created children that will murder
you today-cold and heartless. We
must lift up the honor of our
women, if we want to make a bet­
ter world, that better world is
coming from the womb of a wo­
man. This is definitely needed
around this nation, particularly
the aspect of bringing up the
Black male to a certain level of
consciousness so he knows how
to treat the Black woman.
An impromptu question and
answer session was arranged on
the next day at the Alumni House
where students were able to pose
questions to me in an informal
setting. The level of questioning,
was impressive. I told the stu­
dents I felt confident in our future
after hearing their probing ques­
tions.
Hand shakes and hugs was an
em otional moment, a fittin g
conclusion to this historic visit to
the lands once trod by the great
institution builder, Booker T.
Washington
Rights Reserved, is the title of a book to be
published this winter
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A new Oregon Department of
Education publication charts the
changes in the education,
employment and economic status
of Oregon women. The report,
‘ Oregon Women," provides infor­
mation policymakers can use when
making decisions that affect the
lives of the nearly 1.4 million
women in Oregon.
The report was directed by Hilda
Thompson, state vocational educa­
tion equity specialist. Here are
some highlights from the report:
—The number of percentage of
births to unwed teenage mothers
doubled between 1970 and 1985.
— Females, who take fewer
high-level math courses than
males, are consistently outscored
by males on the math portion of the
Scholastic Aptitude Test.
—The percentage of women
with some post-secondary educa­
tion doubled in two generations.
—The state s marriage rates are
consistently lower than the U S.
rate, while its divorce rates are
consistently higher.
- The female labor force has
grown nearly twice as fast as that
’nr males since 1970 Women
r< -pn the ages of 25 to 44
trade bill just said that companies
have to give notice to workers and
to local governments 60 days
before they close a plant.
And there are plenty of
loopholes. They wouldn’t have to
give that notice if the plant clos­
ing is due to unforeseeable
business reasons; if it is the
result of strikes or lockouts; if it’s
due to the sale of a business or
consolidations within the area if
drastic and disrupting as a plant
closing.
ometimes it seems that we
Regulations vary from country
Americans get into the big­
gest fights over issues that come to country, but most require
anywhere from one to 16 weeks
down to simple fairness and
advance notice, depending on the
justice — something other people
case. Germany and Japan, our
recognize and accommodate, but
toughest competitors, have such
we decide to resist.
laws and it doesn’t seem to have
A good example is the provi­
hurt them.
sion of the trade bill passed by
In fact, some of our biggest
Congress that provides for ad­
c o rp o ra tio n s operate under
vance notification of plant clos­
advance-notice provisions in their
ings.
union contracts, w hile their
That provision was the key
overseas subsidiaries abide by
obstacle on which the bill ran
local advance-notification laws.
aground The Administration bas­
Some opponents of advance-
ed its veto pledge on a provision
notification say they are for the
that looks fair to me and to most
concept but opposed to adding
other Americans.
yet another piece of government
The plant dosing part of the
represent more than one-third of
the workforce.
—In 1979 women employed
full-time year-round earned only 57
cents, on the average, for each
dollar earned by men.
Fighting Over
Fairness
S
re g u la tio n
and
fe d e ra lly -
mandated activity onto business.
But that’s not much of a reason
to oppose som ething th a t’s
universally followed outside of
the U.S. and has been found by
the Administration’s Task Force
on Economic Adjustment and
Worker Dislocation to be good in­
dustrial practice.
People have the right to know
what’s in store for them, and an
advance-notification law would
ensure that they do know.
It’s simple fairness and justice,
so what’s the fight about? It w ill
become the law of the land
sooner or later, just as it is now
com m o n p ra c tic e in many
unionized plants.
by John Jacob, president,
National Urban League
PORTLAND OBSERVER
"The Eyes and Ears of the Community"
288-0033
7
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