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Paqe 2 • Portland Observer • Decembers, 1988
EDITORIAL
G UEST ED ITO R IA L:
Union.
Congressman Flake said that Congressman Michel's bizarre
enjoyment of imitations and caricatures that are directly dem eaning to
Black people is insidious and dangerous.
"H as Congressman Michel forgotten the roots of blackface
minstrel shows? Can he not see that they display and promote bigotry?”
Congressm an Flake said.
“ Nostalgia for racism is scary any way you look at it,” he
continued. “ If Congressm an Michel is latently racist, he should not be in
Congress. And if he is so obtuse that he cannot see the harm in racist
entertainment, he should go back to grade school history class.
"it is clear from Congressm an M ichel’s statements that he
doesn’t understand that stereotypes, jests and derogatory names are
harmful in and of themselves. They do more than reflect established
prejudice, they cause new prejudice on their own,” Congressm an Flake
said.
Congressman Flake went on to say that there has been a
dram atic increase in race-related violence in the past several years, and
that some of the blam e for this must be placed on the bigoted comments
of elected officials and public figures.
“ Al Campanis, Jimmy the Greek and Congressman Michel make
bigoted statements and racial slurs more acceptable when they use them
in public,” he said. “ They also contribute to the racial violence which is
a consequence of these types of statem ents.”
Congressman Flake said that Congressman M ichel’s apology to
those who were offended by his remarks was not good enough.
“ Congressman Michel should resign his position to dem onstrate
to everyone that there is no place in our country for supposedly humorous
caricatures and racial slurs which maliciously insult a specific group of
people, and which promote racial disharmony, alienation and bigotry,’’ he
concluded.
The
Miracle Family
By:
Harold C. W illiams
In these days and times with the To give birth to the spiritual voice of
identity crisis, economic turmoil, and . Mahalia Jackson, to give hope to the
total confusion in our society, it is a dream of Martin Luther King, Jr., to
miracle that the Black family is together open the halls of politics of Barbara
at all. The thing that has kept us Jordan, and to give the '80s a new
together is love, caring, and prayer. vision through Jesse Jackson, we are
The basic foundation in which the a great family.
There is none like the Black family
Black family gets is substance for
to walk the face of this earth and it is
e ^ te n c e is the church.
The Biack family has come to tim e that the Black family move away
understand that we must never forget from its ills and applaud its strengths.
that we are the most ethical people in Truly the Black family is the soul of
existence. The Black family is revered the human race and from that soul all
because it is a miracle that the Black that is positive has come forward. We
family exist at all when genocide has are in season and we cannot be
been practiced on the Black family stopped. This holiday season lets
applaud the dream because the Black
since slavery.
During this holiday season, the Black family is headed to the mountaintop.
family must embrace itself, hug itself, To all mothers and fathers in the
kiss itself for the fact that is still here. struggle, we love you. Happy Holiday!
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O P IN IO N
Perspectives
Congressman Flake Blasts
Congressman Michel’s Racial Statements
Congressman Floyd H. Flake (D-NY) said Congressm an Robert
Michel (R-III) should consider stepping down from his position as Minority
Leaderofthe House of Representatives becauseofthe racial insensitivity
he demonstrated by demoaning the dem ise of minstrel shows and
bigoted song lyrics in a (ecent interview.
“ Congressm an Michel's callous racial comments, and attitude
which makes them possible, are a serious danger to us all, and he should
step down because of this," Congressman Flake said.
Congressm an Michel said in a television interview that he used
to love to imitate Kingfish and Amos ‘n’ Andy. He said that he never
thought of this as disparaging, but that it was just part of life, and fun.
Congressman Michel actually imitated these characters during
the interview, in which he also compared the removal of racially offensive
language from spirituals to the rewriting of history books in the Soviet
/
Don't Let Them
Put You Down
PARTI
Professor McKinley Burt
“ It was a dark and stormy night -
Black Monday on the New York
Stock Exchange - His heart was as
black as sin - A soul as black as evil
itself.”
The
c a re fu lly
c o n triv e d
literatures and histories put forth by
the establishment are filled with
thousands of sim ilar pejorative
(degrading) putdowns of the black
races. Nor do our contemporary
n e w sp a p e rs, m a g a zin e s and
television formats shy away from
this racist syntax. It is interesting
that early on (in the south of Europe,
in Africa, Arabia, Mesopotamia,
India, and in the New World)
religious paintings, statues and
other icons depicted the Black as
representing the highest order of
spirituality and good’ - including the
Black Madonnas and Child.
It is even more interesting to find
that several French anthropologist
at the turn of the century reported on
ancient fears of the Saxon tribes in
respect to Blacks. These fears were
generated 4,000 years earlier when
as shown on their maps the Africans
sailed as far north as the British Isles
to mine Zin for the production of
bronze. Obviously, they left their
genetic imprint as is the case in
many parts of Ireland. Egyptian
descriptions of these expeditions
described the inhabitants as “ white,
skin-wearing creatures who fled into
the woods and peered at the
newcomers from behind trees
(Diop, African Origin of Civilization).
Here, probably, was the origin of the
first ‘Cargo C ults,’ nautical style.
There are many other attempts
to Put Down Blacks - by the reversal
of historic roles, done by authors
who think that Blacks don’t or w on’t
read. We have the racist distortions
of books like Tim Newarks, The
Barbarians: W arriors and Wars.,.oi
the Dark A aes. The ‘revisionist
dares to lump the culture-bearing
Moors - predominantly Black, North
African Moslems - with the looting,
raping Mongols, Vikings, Franks,
Huns and Visgoths “ w ho swept
through Europe and struck fear into
the saul of civilization." Of all the
racist Put Downs against Black
people, this is one of the easiest to
counter with docum entation. Yet,
It was the Moors (Shakespeare’s
Othello) whose religious, cultural
and scientific revival of Europe (1 Oth
and 11th centuries) brought about
the R e naissan ce, ending the
century-long period of the Dark
Aaes of Ignorance, turm oil and
savagery. These African/Arabian
s c h o la rs ,
a s tro n o m e rs ,
mathem aticians, architects and
poets revitalized a Europe left
intellectually, spiritually and morally
bankrupt by the disintegration of the
Roman Em pire.
It is Hogben in his book,
M athem atics In the Making (p. 72Ï.
who describes Rome as “ The same
‘g a n g s te r ’ w h ic h
b u tc h e re d
Archim edes, destroyed the first
library of Alexandria (Alexander The
G re a t),
in s titu tio n a liz e d
th e
gladiatorial contest and the public
crucification of slaves" - and of
course, C hrist. And it is against this
backdrop of a degenerate culture
which fed human beings to wild
animals for public entertainm ent
(and enslaved the Jews) that we can
well appreciate the “ Fall of the
Roman Em pire” . Strange that so
m any
A m e ric a n s
of
th e
‘Establishm ent’ practically worship
this Evil Empire as the epitome of
W estern Civilization.
So it is, then, that when ‘they’ try
the Put D ow n, remind them that the
Moors are the ones who rescued
Europe from its tra g ic pitiful
condition by reviving and translating
the great works in astronomy,
m a th e m a tic s ,
m e d ic in e
and
literature developed a thousand
years earlier by their forbearers in
Northern Africa (many of w hom bore
‘G reek'nam es. Let all know that you
are awa.
th a t it w as th e
astronom ical talents of the Moore,
and their schools of navigation In
Spain and Italy, that made possible
the exploration of ‘unknow n’ parts of
the world (unknown to Europeans,
that is viz a viz Magellan and
Columbus). Asin Ireland, the Moors
left their genetic imprint here - all the
way to the middle of France and
Germany.
(Continued Next Week)
Along the Color Line
Dr. Manning Marable
The Demise Of Liberalism
(Part 1)
The recent victory of George
Bush over Michael Dukakis in the
1988 presidential election has been
interpreted as a victory of the
R e p u b lic a n
P a rty o v e r th e
Democrats. The Republicans have
w on five out of six recent
presidential elections, and seven
out of ten national contests since
1952.
But m ore accurately,
Dukakis’s defeat represents the
political deadend of liberalism, and
more generally, the public policies
w hich m ost Black Am ericans
support.
The American political system is
becoming increasingly stratified by
race.
In 1984, for example, 66
percent of all whites voted for the
reelection of Ronald Reagan as
president. This year, roughly 60
percent of all whites nationally, and
approximately 70 percent of all
Southern whites, cast ballots for
George Bush. In contrast, nearly
nine out of ten Black voters
supported Dukakis. Since 1964, the
Black vote for the Democratic
p re s id e n tia l
c a n d id a te
has
a v e ra g e d
a p p ro x im a te ly
88
percent.
Dukakis recognized that he had
to win a larger percentage of the
middle class white electorate than
either Mondale or Carter if he was to
have any hope of capturing the
W hile House. To do this, Dukakis
decided to distance him self from
Black issues in general, and from
Jesse Jackson in particular. He
didn't cam paign in a Black church or
a major Black com m unity until only
several weeks before the general
election. He blandly assum ed that
blacks would vote for him, because
with Bush as the alternative, they
had no where else to go. But Blacks
w ere so disgruntled w ith the
M assachusetts D em ocrat that
thousands simply stayed home on
election day, producing significantly
lowerturnout rates and dam aging all
other Democrats on the ballot.
B la cks d is tru s te d
D u ka kis
because, unlike Mondale, he lacked
any political credentials in civil rights
activism or support. But they also
sensed a degree of political
opportunism in his refusal to identify
himself as a “ liberal” throughout
most of the presidential race. For
th e v a s t m a jo rity of B la c k
Americans, “ liberalism " is a political
te rm in o lo g y
w h ic h
has
o v e rw h e lm in g ly
p o s itiv e
c o n n o ta tio n s :
The
institutionalization of civil rights
legislation, the creation of job
tra in in g a nd s o c ia l w e lfa re
programs, the im plem entation of
a ffir m a tiv e
a c tio n ,
m in o rity
econom ic set-asides, and public
education programs
IVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL
Help Free
South Africa
by Benjamin F. Chavis Jr.
W e all should be aware of the
tricks and disguises of the racist
apartheid regime of South Africa.
Yes, there have been some recent
but reluctant indications in South
Africa that som e changes may soon
occur. The fact that South Africa
has not tentatively signed an accord
with Angola and Cuba, regarding
withdrawal of South Africa’s armed
forces from Angolan and Namibian
territories, is a welcom ed event.
The fact that South Africa has
recently released several political
prisoners who have been unjustly
held for many years is another
welcom ed signal.
Yet, these
w e lc o m e d
a c tio n s
by
th e
governm ent of South Africa should
not disguise the determ ination of
racist forces in South Africa to stay
in power.
Thus,
th e
a n ti-a p a rth e id
m ovem ent in the United States
should accelerate efforts to ensure
the passage of the Dellum s-
C ra n s lo n
C o m p re h e n s iv e
Sanctions Bill In the next session of
Congress. Nelson Mandela and
th o u s a n d s of o th e r p o litic a l
prisoners are still being unjustly held
in the custody of the apartheid
regime.
M o b il O il a n d S h e ll O il
Companies, based here in the
United States, continue to fuel the
death pumps of apartheid. While
most of the established news media
in the nation have stopped giving
consistent news coverage about the
unfolding situation in South Africa,
we should be aware that the social
and political clim ate in South Africa
has deteriorated.
Fascism is on the rise in South
Africa to the point that, within the last
several days, a m em ber of a white
neo-fascist group based in Pretoria
opened gunfire on a group of
unarmed Black South Africans. In
this incident, three people were
killed and at least ten were
wounded. These incidents continue
to escalatethroughout South Africa.
The perpetrator of this violence was
a fo rm e r p o lic e m a n , B arend
Strydom, who is a m em ber of the
Afrikaner Resistance Movement, a
neo-fascist, swastika w earing group
Africans.
As we approach the Christmas
season which stresses good will and
peace on earth, let us rem em ber our
responsibility to help free South
Africa from the tyranny of apartheid.
The new Bush Adm inistration needs
to be pressured by the African
American community along with the
growing anti-apartheid movement
to s to p th e U n ite d S ta te s ’
“ destructive engag em ent” and
support of South Africa.
Fighting Crime
In Our Communities
by John E. Jacob
Crim e is a problem that the black
com m unity must begin to provide
the leadership to deal with. So long
as crime is perceived as being a
problem confined to the black
community, the broader society will
continue to ignore it or follow
narrow, self-defeating policies.
I go into com m unities and I see
16 and 17-year-old kids with
beepers on their hips, driving
$30,000 cars while living in the
projects. I know their mothers didn’t
give them the money.
And I know that if they paid cash,
they did n ’t work to get it. At least not
in legal jobs. That ought to be
obvious to everyone, but as long as
such conditions are confined to the
black com m unity, the broader
society shows no interest.
Three decades ago, the prisons
did not have majority minority
populations. All of this is a new
developm ent. During some of the
most oppressive times for black
people, we were not the ones who
populated the jails. Something has
happened over the last two to three
decades in our neighborhoods.
So the black community must
begin to put in place programs that
address crim e. W e run a major
crim e prevention program in the
National Urban League. We call it:
“ Crime is not a part of our black
heritage.”
That program is based on the
need to do several things. W e have
to insist that black people in our
com m unity live by our traditional
value system that says we will not
kill each other; that we will not steal
from each other. W e will not have
drugs in our com m unity and have
kids afraid to go to bed at night
because of the gunshots outside
their windows, or old people unable
to go out of their apartm ents
because somebody is going to take
their Social Security checks.
We have to instill and reinstill in
our com m unity that value system
that says we must care for each
other and protect each other.
Today, comm itted people are
organizing neighborhoods and
communities saying, “ Let's tell the
They’re demanding that the
police protect black neighborhoods
with the same concern with which
they protect white neighborhoods.
And they’re bringing that message
to
h o u s in g
p ro je c ts
and
homeowners, young people and
family heads.
At the same time, w e ’ve got to
keep up the pressure to provide our
young people with clear alternatives
to self-destructive behavior. It’s a
double-edged problem - getting
to ugh on th o s e w ho v io la te
community standards w ill work if
there are incentives that pull kids
away from the street.
That means draw ing young
people into tenant’s patrols and
other anti-crime activities, while
providing athletic and recreational
activities for them that channel
energies into fun, not destruction.
And it means fighting even
harder for the social changes, better
e d u c a tio n
and
tra in in g
opportunities, and m ore human
policies that give kids a better
chance in life.
Clearly those are responsibilities
of the larger society, but whatever
society’s unmet responsibilities, we
can’t allow our com m unities to be
ravaged by predators preying on
their neighbors.
We should not and do not have to
tolerate crim e and drugs in our
neighborhoods.
Letters To The Editor:
Dear Editor:
minority owned newspapers like the
Observer is certainly encouraging
I have just received a copy of the
O ctober 20th Portland Observer.
Your w arm welcom e to the City of
Portland and the thanks for the role
o f B la c k Law E n fo rc e m e n t
Executives in the Criminal Justice
System is greatly appreciated by
me, and I am sure all of the other
black executives and their spouses
who visited your lovely city.
fo r in d iv id u a ls
in th e
enforcement profession.
This type o, positive journalism trom
law
Good luck to you and I hope that
your paper will continue to prosper.
Sincerely,
HAROLD L. HURTT
Assistant Police Chief
Special Operations Division
CITY OF PHOENIX