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Page 2 Portland Observer March 2, 1989
EDITORIAL /
OPINION
ABORTION ISSUE HEATS UP
COMMENTARY;
AFRICAN AM ERICANS!!
BOGGLING THE FEATHERS IN
THE WINGS OF LOVE
By John E. Jacob
The Supreme Court will soon decide whether to revise its 1973 decision in Roe v.
W ade, which provided constitutional protection for abortion. The abortion issue
has also surfaced in the highly publicized raids on family planning clinics by anti
abortion zealots.
If the C ourt overturns Roe v. W ade, abortion would not stop. The issue would
simply be turned over to the states, and there would be fifty different state abortion
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Abortion would then be a privilege o f the wealthy who could travel to other states
or even foreign countries to have abortions, w hile the poor would do what they did
before 1973 - go to illegal back-alley abortionists.
W hatever one’s personal beliefs regarding the propriety o f abortion, it would be
a disastrous mistake to rescind constitutional protection tor it, especially since the
energies of the anti-abortionists are directed at restricting the rights of women, and
especially poor women.
The anti-abortionists’ Operation Rescue demonstrations employ civil disobedience
to try to close down family planning clinics, but at tim es the anti-abortionists have
turned violent, bombing clinics and assaulting people.
I find it offensive that they com pare their efforts to the civil rights m ovem ent ot
the 1960s. T hat movement sought to extend constitutional rights ol all Americans,
not to deny women their constitutional right to freedom ol choice. 1 he civil rights
m ovem ent was non-violent, but the right-to-life zealots harrass doctors, nurses
and patients, and threaten women who have decided to term inate unwanted
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Recently Com m issioner Dick Bogle made one o f his rare official visits
I io the lower Northeast Sector when he created a media event by marching in with j
¡television cameras, new spaper reporters and chief building inspectors to witness
¡th e padlocking of T he W ines of L ove, a shelter for the hom eless located at 100
¡N o rth Killingsworth here in Portland. The reason given for this action was based
I on the allegation that the edifice was unsuitable for human habitation. Complaints
I of that nature had been alleged by form er residents. That evening and the next day,
¡th e usual tw o minute television excerpts informed the com m unity along with
¡graphic displays of w hat had occurred. For several days, the local daily newspaper
I also described the events in great detail along with accom panying pictures.
On Tuesday of this week, the good com m issioner made a return trip to the
I W ings of Love followed by the same retinue of the press corp and building
I inspectors. This time, he had come to remove the padlock, em brace Mrs. Alezine
¡M ayes, Director of the house and to pledge her the full support o f his office.
I
W hy the sudden change o f heart? None o f the m ajor violations had been
¡corrected. On closer inspection, it was found that the W in e s v f
was a
¡paradise com pared with T h e O p e n H e a r t or BalftneY .I w ’S- Even the chief
¡housing inspector adm its that these two shelters would have a difficult tim e '
¡passing a rigorous inspection.
Then why give so much attention to this
¡establishm ent that has been in business for more than seven years, operating just
¡aseffectively as the others without help from any governm ental agency? Only Mr.
I Bogle can answ er that question.
I
O n the other hand, it would appear that he made several blunders with regard
I to due process of the law, sensitivity to the needs of the low er Northeast Sector and
¡exercising good judgm ent as an elected official of all the people of Portland. Even
¡ if he thought he was acting in an official capacity, Mr. Bogle certainly did not have
pregnancies.
Their actions resemble those o f the segregationists who taunted African American
children trying to enter public schoolroom s, not the dignified civil rights marchers
who fought to enlarge people’s opportunities and rights.
Another big difference: the civil rights marchers o f the 1960s reflected a national
consensus that segregation was wrong; the anti-abortion lorccs ot today are
opposed to the general American consensus that women have the right to choose
to have an abortion.
And the right-to-lifers are suspiciously absent when it com es to what happens to
children after they are bom. T h ey ’re not out in the streets dem onstrating to assure
that poor children and teenage mothers get skills, education, decent health care,
and housing opportunities.
1 have yet to see right-to-lifers exhibit concern about the quality o f life lor poor
children, for pregnant women who want to end their pregnancies lor health,
econom ic, or other reasons, or for the consequences for A m erica’s poor people ol
banning abortions. And they’ve been silent about the kids who are abused,
m istreated, warehoused in inadequate institutional settings, and subjected to
neglect.
Political leaders ought to recognize the consequences ot playing up to the rignt-
to-lifers, too. They need to understand that banning abortion means shitting
decisions about a w om an’s body from the woman herself to politicians and
by Benjamin F, Chavis. J l
For the more than 30 million descendants
of African slaves who are citizens o f the
United States, an interesting debate is
now unfolding on how we choose to
define ourselves. This self-definition
and re definition has been a struggle in
and o f itself. The system o f racism and
oppression in this nation has been very
effective in attempting to deny the
fundamental right to self-determination.
Through the years we have been called
and we have called ourselves “ colored,”
“ N egro,”
“ A fro-A m erican,” and
“ Black A m erican.” Since the days of
slavery there have been attem pts to
unify descendants of Africa around a
com m on nomenclature. Yet the forces
o f racial oppression have always been
opposed to any name that would exude
dignity and self-respect to the people of
African d escen t
Now, in 1989, twenty years after the
Black Pow er and Black consciousness-
raising era, there is a movement afloat
to once again achieve a consensus on
one terminology. Recently Reverend
Jesse Jackson and other civil rights leaders
posited that the appropriate term should
be African-American. “ This is deeper
than just name recognition,” said Rev.
Jackson, adding, “ Black tells you about
skin color and what side of town you
live on.
African-American evokes
discussion o f the w orld.” There are
many African American newspapers
and radio stations throughout the nation
that have already been using this term
for more than 10 years. W e encourage
the use o f the term African American as
an appropriate self-affirm ation and
definition o f the descendants o f African
slaves who are struggling to have
citizenship with dignity in this nation.
W hile there are some who disagree
with this usage, we believe the current
debate is a healthy one because it focuses
on history, culture and the responsibility
of human self-definition. W e join,
however, with the com m ent o f Mary
Frances Berry, professor o f history at
the University o f Pennsylvania, that
“ thisdoesn’tm ean that everything will
be wonderful and all the poor people
will be taken care of.” It is our hope
that this new consensus will translate to
the vast majority o f African Americans
in the U nited States doing more
collectively toward elim inating some
of the real problems that confront our
communities.
Finally, it is our belief that to call
ourselves African Americans will send
a m essage to our African sisters and
brothers on the continent and throughout
the D iaspora that we intend to be a part
of the global com m unity, placing a
priority on our common African heritage.
The future also holds a mutual
responsibility for us to be less tolerant
of racial injustice in the United States
and in Africa, particularly in southern
Africa. If the name change does not
affect our actions in the struggle for
justice and freedom, then it will be
another hollow intellectual exercise.
PORTLAND OBSERVER
bureaucrats.
And they need to understand that banning abortions will only drive them
underground, increase public health problems, and result in countless personal
‘‘T he E y e s a n d E ars of th e C o m m u n ity ”
tragedies.
Opponents of abortion are perfectly free to air their views and to try to convince
the rest of us. But they shouldn’t bully us into giving up constitutionally protected
Perspectives
I the right to breach the peace and tranquility of a private institution with an invasion
¡o f television cameras and new spaper reporters. He is quite fortunate that Mrs.
¡M ayes is not a vengeful person. She certainly has every right to seek legal redress.
¡Such an action would probably cost the city so much in damages that the W ings
lo f Love never again would be faced with impecuniousness . There is a lesson to
Ib e learned from this shameful usurpation of authority.
J: S’
CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL
288-0033
rights to satisfy their personal beliefs.
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By Harold W illiams
On Sept. 16,1872 A colored labor
convention assembled in Richard,
Virginia, with delegates from several
districts in the state. The object o f this
meeting was to secure for Black workers
better and more uniform pay. W hile the
national labor orgaizations had passed
into the hands o f the politicians, the
local unions were still regarded as effective
organizations and their efforts were often
successful.
There were Black newspapers which
were interested in labor questions, and
discussions and advices to laborers. The
manes o f several of these papers which
were active in labor discussions were:
The Elevator, San Francisco, California,
“ edited by a Black m an,” circulation
2,300 The Pacific appeal, published by
Blacks, The New Orleans Tribune - A
daily and weekly, each issue 10,000 copies,
managed and edited by Blacks, The South
Carolina Leader, circulation mearly 1,000
copies, primed and partly edited by Blacks,
The True com m unicator - Baltimore,
edited by G eorge T. Cook.
Several o f these papers were pre
eminently labor organs. As the prospectus
of The Colored Citizen published by J.P.
Sampson and P.H. M urray, there were
these words concerning the mission of
the paper. It shall advocate labor reform,
both in the adjustm ent o f the relations
between capital and labor, and in that the
colored citizen shall have a lair chance
in the mechanical industry ol the country.
Editorials frequently appeared in The
New National Era concerning labor. This
paper was the organ of the National
Labor Union and its special interest was
the laborqueslion. According to its point
of view, labor was to the nation the
foundation of wealth , prosperity and
greatness. As one o f its editorials it was
stated that the first step in the solution of
the labor question was the abolition of
slavery, but that the question would not
bee settled until ignorance, passion,
am bitions, selfishness and demagoguery
were destroyed. A national com m ittee
for the investigation of wages, hours of
labor, division of profits, and condition
o f labor, was advocated. O ther editorials
on
la b o r
in c lu d e d
“ In d u stria l
Partnership,” True Labor Reform,” ‘‘The
Eight Hour m ovem ent,” Labor in Iron
M anufactories,” Labor and T ariff,”
“ Labor Unions and W orkingm en” .
These papers were fa'quendy the teachers
of those who were reader, concerning
the measure of usefulness which Blacks
should exert in their com m unities. They
were told dial their usefulness depended
upon the character o f their labor and that
the road to com fort was to be found only
through constant and patient toil. That is
the usage to Black com m unity from the
Black Press today. Lor the b a " 'c to plain
our fair share is still an important issue
o f concern today.
Last week this w riter presented services. So it can be seen that this type
“ The African Presence in Classical of modem infrastructure did not originate
C ivilization - G reece and R om e’ ’ in the in either G reece or Rome but in Black
Reed College Auditorium. The material Africa. It also is found that the tax
included many of the facts cited in this c o lle c to rs u sed very a d v a n c e d
colum n during the past months. The m athematics to determ ine the quantity
audience was very receptive and of grain stored in such odd-shaped
following the lecture there was a very structures such as tetrahedrons and
informative exchange o f ideas with the pyramids as indicated in the Rhind
group. They were made up o f students, papyrus.
professors, staff and visitors. Many of
In contradition to the horror stories
them insisted that the material needed
of slave labor in Egypt and the Sudan,
to be published which always has been
recent excavations reveal extensive,
my intention.
quality urban housing next to the vast
An interesting facet in the technique
building projects o f pyram id, tem ple or
o f presenting new dim ensions of Black
canal. W orkers’ quarters w ere m ulti
or African-American history is the fact
room with kitchen and bathroom. The
the one m ust fist light the stage. You
form an’s residence would even have a
cannot, I repeat cannot just present the
patio and garden. Com pare with the
facts and the documentation as white
facilities given A m erica’s Black slaves
historians do. If such is attem pted, the
4000 years later (or compare with some
presenter will be m et with absolute
of the urban squalor-or homelessness-
disbelief. He will be assailed from
found in this country’s innercities).
every quarter from media to academia.
Such a reaction is observed despite the
Adm inistrative records on stone or
fact that so much of the w ritten record
papyri show that the workers had unions
had been
and that they called strikes to protest
pay issues (including bonuses due for
chisled in stone or etched in papyri. A
offerings to be made to the gods). Graffiti
case in point is a “ They Came Before
colum bus,’’ written by the African
found on quarry slabs show that the
workers had a lively sense o f hum or and
American professor, Ivan van Serlima
of Rutgers University . t was not accepted
that a great deal o f goodnatured kidding
by the American establishm ent until it
went on between different work gangs
had been hailed by the Europeans.
and between shifts. G angs m ight be
One of the techniques used in my
named “ the high-risers,” or “ the lazy
lectures and also in more detailed articles
ones,” and some graffiti might complain
which cannot be accom m odated by a
that the swing shift did not clean up
new spaper column is to establish that
after their work.
there exists within our society a general
cultural and intellectual capacity for
N EXT W EEK : More about Culture
making significant contributions. This
and Administration
type o f approach makes it much easier
Erratum: The last article published in
to introduce specific African American
this scries slated incorrectly that Howard
innovations, the kind that otherwise
Latim er, inventor o f the incandescent
would provoke shock and misbelief.
light bulb filam ent died in 1976. The
For an example, 4,000 years ago we
article should have stated that David
find that many important schools and
Crosthwait, the world’s foremost heating
libraries existed in Egypt, the Sudan
and air conditioning engineer died on
and Ethiopia. They were supported by
that date.
Both o f these African
endowment funds and elaborate income
Americans made great contributions to
lax structures. Each year a certain
the advancem ent of the w orld’s
percentage of the farm ers’ harvest was
technology. It is very fitting that they
taxed for the support of these institutions
be rem em bered and honored by all
as well as to finance other governmental
mankind.
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