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September 1, 1988, Portland Observer, Page 3
C O M M U N ITY FORUM
Perspectives
C I V I L R IG H T S J O U R N A L
The
O t h e r S id e
A City
Out Of Control
by Harold C. Williams
n Northeast Portland there are
three great friendships in the
Black community that I feel are
important for the community to
know about. These friendships go
back to childhood. They span well
over 30 years.
The first friendship is between
Mr. Theotis Cason and Mr. Joe
Smith. These two gentlemen have
been friends since childhood and
are now in business together and
making a very positive statement
in the business community.
They own Cason’s Fine Foods,
a meat market in our community
which all of us should patronize
(and, by the way, the barbeque is
excellent). Theotis and Joe work
long hours, sometimes 12 to 14
hours per day. Their store repre­
sents the positiveness that our
children should get to know. Their
long hours are paying off and they
reflect what friendship is about:
commitment, understanding, and
hard work.
The second great friendship is
between Mr. Ray Leary and Mr.
Tony Hopson. These gentlemen
have been friends since child­
hood as well. They were great
athletes in their youth and are
committed to educational ex­
cellence. They have made posi­
tive contributions to the youth in
our community. They invested
their own funds and knocked on
many doors to expand the friend­
ship that they have between
themselves to others in our com­
munity. Ray Leary and Tony Hop-
son are a class act. These
gentlemen showcase the positive
image that every young Black
male should emulate. This great
friendship between Ray Leary and
Tony Hopson is community born
and bred and now they are pass­
ing the baton to the future.
The third great friendship is
between myself, Harold Williaims,
my buddy and my friend, James
Cason. Our friendship goes back
to 1951 and we have struggled to
make a difference. We happen to
be businessmen in the communi-
I
*
ty. We own Pen-Nor, Inc., a
mechanical contracting firm. We
have fought hard to employ peo­
ple in our business from inr er
Northeast. Our friendship is one
of absolute commitment. We
know the price we must pay in
maintaining the friendship and
commitment to one another, but
we also carry the dreams of 26
people in our employment. To
make their dreams a reality, we
have to meet a payroll every Fri­
day and I assure you the battles
between he and I sometimes are
vicious.
We differ in approach and style:
he direct, me a little subtle. But
when there is a war in our com-
Life long friends Ray Leary and Tony
Hopson.
munity that will give hope and op­
portunity to youth, employment
and dreams to parents, I would
ask for no other person to be in
the trench with me than my
friend, James Cason. We struggle
daily with our lives on the line
with everything we possess to
keep our business afloat. The
game of life that we are com m it­
ted to in our friendship is build a
foundation that will last genera­
tions after we are gone. And I
would assure you that is the
dream and the commitment of
Theotis and Joe, Ray and Tony.
So, this way, I tell you of three
great friendships. And by the way
we are Black men committed to
the community dream.
Racial Oppression
In America
by Dr. Jamil Cherovee
internal colony in so-called Chris­
o better understand racism,
tian caucasoid Amerika, subject
one should read “ Racial Op­
pression In America,” by Robert to the same degree — if not in
form, in substance — of political
Blauner. Blauner’s book is most
and economic rule by alien cauca­
appropriately contrasted with an
soids. In contrast to Marxist
earlier classic work on race rela­
theory about the caucasoid
tions by Gunnar Myrdal.
worker’s racism being a manifes­
In Myrdal’s book “ An American
tation of false class conscious­
Dilemma,” he put forth the prem­
ness, Blauner asserts that the
ise that Amerikan so-called Chris­
caucasoid proletariat is objective­
tian caucasoids were troubled by
ly, and consciously, aware that it
the contradiction between their
has gained much from the op­
egalitarian creed and the treat­
pression of Blacks and stands to
ment accorded Afro-Amerikans.
lose something by its elimination.
The Blauner thesis is that the
They
gain by the status differen­
racial oppression to which Blacks
tials
based on race since any
are subjected represents a micro-
caucasoid
in superior in status to
cosmic pattern of internal colon­
any
Black.
Economically, they
ialism that provides caucasoids
gain
since
a
colonial
society will
with certain status and economic
usually
fill
the
lowest
hardest
and
gains which are integral elements
dirtiest
jobs
from
the
Third
World
in the functioning of racial
population. Any job primarily as­
capitalism.
sociated with being Black usually
This book should be read be­
pays less than those occupations
cause while it is a refreshing
dominated by caucasoids.
departure from most sociological
We only get a broad outline of
texts on race relations, it still re­
the
dynamics of internal col­
tains its scientific character.
onialism
in this book. Blauner
Although Blauner’s work is not
originally
wrote most of the
the first one to apply the internal
chapters
as
separate articles
colonialism model, to Amerikan
which
were
published
elsewhere.
race relations, it is, to date, the
He
does
not,
for
instance,
detail
most theoretically sophisticated
how
colonialism
operates
in
work produced on the topic. The
specific areas such as crime,
internal colonialism approach
politics or education. Yet, he
takes much of what is relevant In
has accomplished a masterful
Marxist theory and uses It to ex­
task in delineating the true cause
plain the dynamics of a social
of racial oppression. His analysis
order based on political and
may aid us in seeking relevant
economic exploitation in which
solutions to Amerika’s real dilem­
racism is an in dispensable
ma: To continue to retain its gains
element.
based on racism or risk the ulti­
•'R a c ia l
O p p re s s io n
In
mate social confrontation and
America” illustrates how the
Black community represents an
lose everything.
A Rose Is A Rose
by Professor McKinley Burt
by Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.
he situation in Yonkers, New
a nice home by getting a check
York is getting out of hand.
from welfare.”
One thing we have learned from Mrs. Regina Pellegrino, one
three decades of the Civil Rights
particularly vocal Yonkers resi­
Movement is that whenever rac­
dent, says, “ We didn’t move from
ism occurs, no matter what
the Bronx for this. Look at this
place. We mow the lawn, keep it
its form, it must be challenged.
clean.” She then adds that she ex­
There have been numerous ac­
pects drug use, garbage and unru­
counts of increased racially
ly children to accompany the new
motivated violence during the last
middle income housing. As the
several years across the state of
New York Times concludes,
New York. In fact, I have just
“ when [opponents] visualize their
finished serving as a member of
prospective neighbors, it is
Gov. Cuomo’s Task Force on
undeniable they see black
Bias-Related Violence. Many New
people.”
,
Yorkers were gratified to see Gov.
But
support
for
the city’s op­
Cuomo at least speak out against
position
has
not
just
come from
the rise of this type of racism. The
local
residents.
Letters
of support
situation in Yonkers is an oppor­
for
the
racist
stand
which
Yonk­
tunity for the governor to also
ers
is
taking
have
come
in
from
speak out against another form of
all
over
the
nation.
racism: institutionalized racism in
Yet, Gov. Cuomo states that
the area of housing.
this
is not a racial dispute, claim­
Yet, the governor appears to
ing
he
is “ absolutely convinced it
have joined the ranks of those
is
one
of
class.”
who would apologize for racism
That’s
just like saying that
rather than seek to challenge it.
Michael
Griffith
was beaten to
After years of litigation, the city
death
in
Howard
Beach, Queens
of Yonkers has finally come to its
not
because
he
was
Black, but
last legal stand in its attempts to
because
he
was
poor.
prevent needed middle income
Judge Sand noted in court that
housing from being built in pre­
Cuomo,
as governor, had the
dominantly white, middle class
power
to
remove local elected of­
areas of Yonkers. U.S. Federal
ficials
who
broke the law and sug­
Judge Leonard Sand has now
gested
that
Cuomo remove the
Issued fines of hundreds of
Yonkers
council
members. Thus
dollars a day against the city for
far,
Mr.
Cuomo
has refused to
its refusal to abide by the federal
challenge
the
racist
actions of the
court order to build the housing.
city
council,
but,
instead,
has add­
Statements by local residents
ed
his
voice
and
the
integrity
of
point up vividly the racist basis of
his
office
to
offer
what
he
says
is,
their opposition. One woman
“ a compromise.”
stated, “ I shouldn’t be saying this,
Mr. Cuomo, you cannot — and
but let those blacks learn to
you
should not — compromise
respect what they have first. Let
with
racism.
them earn it and not expect to get
T
LABOR DAY
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T
is such a variety of ‘names’, titles
and symbols for the very same
concept — whether dealing with
arithmetic, algebra, computer pro­
grams or science — that the child
often becomes confused or lost
in the maze of substitutions and
manipulations required for a solu­
tion.
My approach was simply to use
everyday objects as ‘symbols’
(codes) and place them in point-
to-point correspondence with the
Number Line: Tomato = 1, Pota­
to = 2, and Orange = 4. Here,
one has not only provoked imag­
ination, but has established a
viable retention by using the
‘familiar’. Now, we may say,
“ What's in a word?” Try it with
your child as follows:
After lining up these objects
before the class, each beneath its
number-equivalent, I would dem­
onstrate that no matter how we
manipulated the ‘order’ (se­
quence) of the objects, they
would always retain their original
identity; tomato is always one,
potato is always two, and so on.
Being taught that the values in
our number system are based
upon ‘order of appearance’, the
children soon perceived that a
m a n ip u la tio n w h ich placed
potato (2) before tomato (1)
represented a value of 21, or that
apple (3), followed by an orange
(4), yielded 34.
Being brighter than we think,
these fiv e -to nine-year-o lds
figured out on their own that you
ought to be able to subtract a
potato from an orange and get
two for a remainder, or multiply an
apple by an orange and get 12.
The next week, you could fire up
their im aginations by telling
Slab of Ribs
Beef & Pork
them, "We have moved to a New
hat line from a poem by Ger­
Planet where ‘clothing’ is the
trude Stein is a teaching tool
par excellence — any grade, any­ name of the game. Now, the same
numbers are represented by the
time, anywhere. At least I have al­
symbols, ‘hat,’ ‘shoe,’ ‘tie’ and
ways found it to be so, especially
glove’.” Was it the dormouse that
when reinforced by Shake­
told Alice In Wonderland, “Things
speare's, “ What's in a name?”
are what I say they are?”
When I was a volunteer teacher
We need to get our children
at the Black Educational Center
ready for a ‘learning experience’
(K1 to K4), my lesson plans in­
where they must constantly mani­
cluded a mathematics exercise
pulate symbols and words whose
now copyrighted for national dis­
values change to fit the occasion
tribution. It recognizes that there
or discipline — the computer pro­
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PORTLAND OBSERVER
“ The Eyes and Ears of the Com m unity”
gram for a particular accounting
system may employ the exact
same logic and relationships as a
system that accounts for energy
distribution in a mechanical pro­
cess. The side or hypotenuse of a
triangle may, in fact, represent
the values of an electrical system,
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