Page 2 Portland Observer April 6, 1989
O P IN IO N
EDITORIAL
CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL-
RIPPING OFF HOMELESS
CHILDREN
by Benjam in F. Chavis, Jr.
W hat kind of person or group would
deliberately ‘rip -o ff a benefit for
homeless children. Well, it now appears
that the answer to this question can be
found in New York City?
Recently, the Commission for Racial
Justice of the U nited Church o f Christ
sponsored a “ Rap A rtists’ Benefit for
Project H otel,” at the Beacon Theater
located in M anhattan. This project is
being sponsored by the Com m ission to
provide sum m er cam p opportunities,
a fter-sch o o l tutorial and college-prep
counselling as well as other program s
for some of the thousands of homeless
children who live in New Y ork’s
infamous “ welfare hotels” . During
the last two years, the Com m ission has
been very successful in soliciting the
support of African American ‘rap’ artists
to aid Project Hotel through performances
at the Apollo Theatre located in Harlem.
To our shock and dismay the event at
the Beacon Theatre exposed the ‘behind-
the-scenes’ contradictions involved in
the promotion and m anagem ent o f rap
artists. Specifically, Rush Productions,
a M a n h a tta n -b a se d ra p a r tis ts ’
m anagem ent firm was retained by the
Commission for Racial Justice to provide
rap artists for the Beacon Theatre concert.
Rush Productions m anages som e o f the
top African A merican rap artists, for
exam ple Run D .M .C., Public Enem y,
Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince, De La
Soul, and Slick Rick. A lthough the
Commission had a good working
relationship with Rush Productions prior
to the Beacon Theatre concert, it soon
becam e clear that Mr. Lyor Cohen is
now the key decision-m aker at Rush
Productions and his influence concerning
this concert made it im possible for the
benefit to be successful.
It is ironic that Rush Productions is
ow ned by Mr. Russell Sim m ons, an
African American who has struggle hard
to provide m anagem ent services for the
lucrative rap artists’ industry. It is
evident, however, that Mr. Lyor Cohen
has been making decisions that are not
in keeping w ith the principle of
c o n stitu e n c y a c c o u n ta b ility n o r
responsible business ethics. The New
York Daily News published a very critical
article about this concert stating, “ Calling
Friday’s rap benefit concert for Project
Hotel a “ r i p - o f f w ould be polite.”
N ot only w ere p rom ises broken
concerning the financial arrangem ents,
but also the concert was plagued with
poor managem ent due to Mr. Cohen s
negative interventions. It appeared that
Mr. Cohen was only interested in getting
money directly in his pocket at the
expense o f the reputation of Slick Rick
and De La Soul two o f the groups who
attempted to perform under great duress.
It also appeared that Mr. Cohen had no
interest or real concern for the plight of
the homeless children whom the benefit
was supposed to give aid.
One moral of this drama is that African
Americans who are fortunate enough to
ow n com panies and businesses, should
not allow the m anagem ent o f these
companies to be put into hands o f greedy,
avaricious hustlers. It rem ains to be
seen whether or not Rush Productions
or Mr. Cohen will “ repent” for their
sin. And it rem ains to be seen w hether
or not Mr. Russell Simmons is really in
charge o f Rush Productions!
DYMALLY
SECURES
PASSAGE OF
FOREIGN
SERVICE
RETURN TO THE SOURCE
THE MISSION OF THE YOUNG
GENERATION
by Ron Daniels
President o f the Institute for Com m unity Organization and Development in
Youngstown, Ohio
Amilcar Cabral, the brilliant theoretician and leader of the struggle for
independence in G uinea-Bissau in W est Africa, argued that students,
intellectuals, and the middle class were key to sparking the struggle for
change among oppressed people. Cabral observed that the petite bourgeosie
had three principal tendencies: some tend to “ w anabe” like the rulers and
oppressors and take the side of the oppressor against the masses, another
sector, perhaps, the majority simply vacillate, are indecisive and tend to
play it safe; but another sector chooses to com m it “ class suicide,” by
deciding to “ return to the source” to merge their interests with that ol the
m asses o f the oppressed workers, peasants, and the poor to tight tor
fundam ental change. Though the masses are decisive in ultimately making
change, this return to the source or return to the people, ones own people, is
a crucial elem ent in crystallizing the struggle for reform or revolution.
The Howard University student revolt is illustrative of this tendency of
som e am ong the student - intellectual - middle class sector to sacrifice sell-
interest in order to struggle for a change in the condition of disadvantaged
and oppressed people. Cabral pointed out that it is only natural for those who
are relatively well off to aspire for more, particularly within agreed oriented
and m aterialist society. To risk com fort, security and the future in the
interest o f those who are less well off than you is unusual; its like com mitting
suicide - class suicide! But it is precisely this risk, this act o f com m itting
class suicide which is required to m ove an oppressed people to liberate
them selves. As Frederick Douglass put it “ power conceded nothing
w ithout a dem and, it never has and it never w ill” .
The students at Howard, like their predecessors in the sixties, risk
suspension, expulsion, arrest and the sacrifice of their own education in the
interests o f the collective good of African-Am ericans students and the
national A frican-A m erican community. They retused to accept the insult to
Black people that Lee A tw ater’s appointm ent to the Howard University
Board of Trustees symbolized. But beyond the Atwater aftair, the students
w ere challenging the adm inistration to cease and desist in having the
university function as a virtual neo-colony of the government and more
particularly the Reagan-Bush administrations. The university, they protested
m ust be more sensitive to the needs o f students and to the African-American
com m unity.
In making these dem ans, the Howard students also threw down the
gaunlet to the A frican-A m erican Nation. Black people should provide a
greater share o f the resources, o f the money to aid in the developm ent ot
predom inantly Black colleges and universities thereby enabling these
institutions to more freely and effectively serve the interests ot the principal
constituency they were created to serve - African-Americans. 1 his challenge
is well put, for he who pays the piper picks the tune!
In the sixties, African-American students who engaged in the “ movement”
had a cam pus and a com m unity agenda. O n cam pus there was constant
pressure for open adm ission and substantial student aid programs to enable
disadvantaged Black students to gain access to higher education. Students
also fought to create African-Am erican.
Studies Program s as vehicles to provide both an ideology and the skills
to equip students to provide service to their comm unities. Anti-Vietnam
protests, the anti-apartheid movem ent, and the ongoing struggle against
racism also em erged as key focal points of Black student activism.
In the com m unity A frican-A m erican students joined picket lines, boycotts
and protest dem onstrations around issues of concern to the local community
or national Black community. They created alternative educational institutions,
liberation academ ies and youth program s. They organized co-ops and
community economic development projects, and spread Afro-centric ideology
and culture in the com m unity. The m ovem ent moved in the sixties because
students in m assive num bers returned to the source.
Hopefully the Howard student revolt marks a turning point which will
inspire large numbers o f the young generation to com m it itselt to return to
the com m unity to serve the people, to aid, assist and lead the oppressec
National A frican-A m erican in the quest to achieve liberation.
Support O ur Advertisers!
Say You Saw It In The
PortlandObserver!
OREGON’S OLDEST AFRICAN-AMERICAN PUBLICATION
Established In 1970
A lfred L. Hendereon/Pubiisher
Gary Ann Garnett
Business Manager
Lonnie Wells
Circulation Manager
L e o n H arrls/G eneral Manager
Joyce Washington
Sales/Marketing Director
Marie Deculr
Photographer
INTERNSHIP
W ashington, D.C. - During its
consideration o f the Foreign Relations
Authorization Act, the House Foreign
Affairs Com m ittee voted unanimously
to approve H.R. 1488, a bill introduced
by Representative M ervyn M. Dymally
(D-CA), which would establish a Foreign
Service Internship Program within the
U.S; D epartm ent o f State.
The first internship, which will be
held in W ashington, D.C. at the
D epartment o f State, will focus on the
study o f International Relations, the
functions o f the D epartm ent o f State
and other agencies that use the Foreign
Service system , and the nature o f the
Foreign Service.
PORTLAND OBSERVER
is published weekly by
Exie Publishing Company, Inc.
525 N.E. Klllingsworth St.
Portland, Oregon 97211
P O. Box 3137
Portland, Oregon 97208
(503) 288-0033 (O ffic e )
Deadlines for all submitted materials:
Articles: Monday, 5 p.m.: Ads: Tuesday, 5 p.m.
Th* PORTLAND OBSERVER welcomes freelance »ubmiMion». M enutcrpH end photographs should be clearly
td ^ ie d and will ba returned if accompanied by a »all-addrassad envelop« All created designed display ads
become the sole property d thia newspaper and can not be used in other publications or personal usage, without
t h e written consent of the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition ot such ad. 1909
PORTLANO OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT
PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED.
Subscriptions: $20 00 per year in the Tri-County area.
The PORTLANO OBSERVER - Oregon's oldest African American Publication n a m e m b e r of The National
Newspaper Association - Founded in 1885, The Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association, and The National
Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers. Inc , New Yorti.
Dear Editor:
A llow me to co m m en d the
PORTLAND OBSERVER for the recent
article, “ Minority Business Enterprise
in Oregon, Part V:
A Curious
Entrepreneurial Advocacy,” by Stephen
F. McPherson (March 23,1989).
As former staff to State Representative
M argaret L. Carter (D istrict 18), I can
attest to the struggle to bring public
attention to minority contracting issues.
Since 1985, State Representative
Margaret Carter has worked endless
hours to bring reform and focus to the
Oregon M BE/W BE Program.
You are providing a much needed
public service in raising community
issues before all Oregonians.
Sincerely,
Jon Christenson
Portland Observer
The article by John E. Jacob was
highly offensive to all African Americans
who love babies.
Abortion is simply killing our babies
before they are bom . No one who has
seen these infants (as in the enclosed
photo) can deny that they are human
beings. Because it’s the law o f this land
does not make it right. Segregation was
the law at one time too.
Make no mistake about it, this law
was designed to help eliminate African
American babies to keep our members
down while the abortion industry gets
rich. Abortionists don’tcare about poor
women, they w ant money.
I have been receiving the O bserver
for a year and have yet to see articles on
prolife.
There are many African
Americans in this m ovem ent but none
arc reported on. I challenge the Observer
to start giving us both sides o f the issue.
G. M orris
6555 SW 207 ave.
Aloha, OR 97007
P.S. How about some west side coverage
of A.A.
TO BE EQUAL
HIKE THE MINIMUM WAGE
by
John E. Jacob
Every year Congress considers raising the minimum wage, and every
year the notion is put back in storage. But this year looks d ifferen t
O ne big reason is the Bush A dm inistration’s support for a minimum wage
hike, accompanied by a so-called lower “ training wage for new, inexperienced
workers.
That’s a welcome shift from the previous Administration’s firm opposition
to any increase in a minimum wage so low that a full-time w orker at the legal
minimum earns a yearly income below the poverty level.
Behind the new consensus for raising the minimum wage is a new regard
for fairness. The principle that work is the route to independence and self-
respect is undermined when wages are too low to provide much o f either.
The minimum wage was established back in 1938 in the belief that work
should be adequately rewarded. Since then, the minimum has usually been
set at about half o f the average hourly earnings o f non-supervisory workers.
But now, the minimum o f $3.35 an hour has sunk to only about a third of
those average earnings. The last increase came in 1981, and inflation has
reduced the buying pow er of the minimum wage far below the point o f
fairness.
T hat’s led to a second reason behind the new consensus:
a higher
minimum wage will have less effect on em ployment.
Opponents of a higher minimum always claim ed that raising the wage floor
would mean losing jobs, since em ployers would not hire unskilled workers
at a higher minimum. But now, many states have their ow n minimum wage
laws, set higher than the federal level. And many em ployers routinely pay
new hires a dollar or more above the federal minimum.
That puts into question the need for a lower training wage. Small
em ployers are already exempted in the current law, and no one has m ade a
convincing case that jobs would actually be lo st
But there is a strong case for a higher minimum to help the w orking poor.
O pponents of a higher minimum say that it ju st helps teenagers pick up extra
money after school. But over a fourth of all m inim um -w age workers are
heads o f households. And m ost o f those needed another wage earner or
public aid to survive.
H alf o f all heads o f poor families work at least part-tim e. A lm ost one
m illion work full-time, year-round. And about three m illion children live
in poor fam ilies in which one of the parents is a full-tim e worker.
So a higher minimum is long overdue, and a lower “ training w age” would
be a mistake - it’s a way to perpetuate poverty for workers.
As a last resort - and only if it is politically necessary to secure a higher
minimum wage - the basic minimum should be raised across the board and,
to determ ine its effect on new entrants to the labor force, a low er training
wage could be tested in a handful o f selected cities.
After a year or two, the results would be studied and reported to the
Congress. If indeed that lower training w age proved to expand job
opportunities, it could be extended nationwide. If not, there would be no
need for it.
T hat’s better than imposing a tw o-tier minimum wage right off the bat,
and it’s better than losing this opportunity to bring fairness and higher w ages
to the working poor.
by McKinley Burt
Portland State University Campus, and for Newton, arriving at a strained version.
see pictures of the old ‘Egyptian Theatre’. o f the O ld Testam ent verse (I K ings (
VIL23) that yielded a value o f Pi; a t 3 l / ,
Look about! A frica is all around you.
Much o f the theology and most of 7 in the Tabernacle Structure. The actual _
verse, however, leads to the contradiction,
the icons o f the Christian Church are
that Pi equals 3, “ A lso, he m ade q
docum ented as African in origin.
molten sea ten cubits from brim to ,
Exam ine the doors o f the A M E Zion
)rim, round in com pass, and five cubits ,
C h u rc h at North Vancouver Avenue
and Skidmore; then, reflect upon the the height thereof; and a line o f thirty
23rd Psalm s, verse 4, “ ...thy ro d and cubits did com pass it round about.”
They say that “ when in doubL g o to
thy staff, they com fort m e.” If you saw
the
source” . O ver 2,000 years before
the
K
ing
T
u
t
E
x
hibit
in
Seattle,
you
There arc many, many exam ples of
this feeble attem pt to establish the ex act :
know
that
this
pair
of
religious
icons
African architecture and urban design
value o f Pi, the A fricans had already-
in the city of Portland (and m ost others originated in A frica as the C rook a n d
accom plished the task by incorporating;
in the world). In the past two w eeks I flail o f the beneficent god of harvest,
into the great Stonegate o f the Tem ple!
O
siris
(and
portrayed
today
by
the
have presented some basic contributions.
of K a rn a k a value o f 3.1416, c o rre c t;
establishm
ent
as
the
ubiquitous
“
Jolly
This includes last w eek’s citation of
to four decim al places. This is to be;
P o rtla n d ’s L a d d ’s A d d itio n as Green G iant’ ’).
seen yet today, indelible in its stone-
From
“
Never
at
R
est”
:
Biography
incorporating basic elem ents o f the
W ashington, D.C. designs o f African- o f Isaac Newton (p. 346) we have — testim ony to genius. This tem ple ii;
“ The tabernacle o f ‘M oses’ and the located on the N ile at the site o f the!
A m erican
su rv e y o r
B e n ja m in
two
tem ples of Solom on a n d Ezekiel, ancient city of Thebes which was extolled
B anneker.
The Africans pioneered the concept Newton decided, had all been built to by the G reek poet and oral historian,
Homer, as ‘ ‘M any-Gated Thebis (100),'
of building in stone (Ethiopia, Nubia the same plan” . Here, again, we have
and Egypt), and invented both the Newton searching for the exact value of the most w ondrous spectacle in the
functional and decorative ‘colum n’ as that original and basic African constant w orld” . O f the “ Seven W onders o f thq
A ncient W orld” , four w ere located id
supporting structures. “ The main branch o f mensuration, the c u b it -necessary
Africa: T hebes, th e P y ra m id s, th e
o f the United States National Bank of to his adoption o f the G re a t P y ram id
Colossi, an d the L a b y rin th s. T hebes
Oregon, 321 SW Sixth Avenue, is for the geodesic standards of his’Theory
was a state capitol a thousand yeará
considered by architectural historians o f U niversal G ra v ita tio n .
In 1837, astronom er John Greaves, before Rome.
to be P o rtlan d s finest example of
The m onarchy at Thebes lasted á
classical arc h ite c tu re ” says The who actually went to Africa and
phenomenal
1,000 years (2,160-1,100
O regonian for April 29, 1989, p. U2. personally m easured the Pyramid for
B.C.) and from here at various tim ei
And, well, it m ight be for the interior Newton, included in his publications
scores o f Ethiopian Kings and Queen?
Newton’s
first
book,
“
Dissertation
Upon
and exterior photographs feature the
ru le d th e know n w o rld ’ as fa r aw ay
the
Sacred
Cubit
of
the
Jews
and
the
same style magnificent colum ns as seen
as the E u p h ra te s, Palestine, Syria and
Cubit
o
f
Several
N
ations”
.
But,
what
in National Geographic articles or in
the “ Tim e-Life Scries: E gypt” , or in we see to have happened(as did Newton) Asia (see, pp. 126, etc., D ubois, “ The
W orld And A frica” ). In the temple®
Baroca’s, “ Monuments of Civilization: is that m uch w as lost in tra n sla tio n
here (as in King T u t’s Tom b), w e find
when
the
Hebrews
of
the
Exodus
brought
E gypt” . Also, take a look at the lobby
another African icon that left w ith thè
out
what
astronomy
and
mathematics
o f the Dckum Building, 519 SW Third
Exodus: The A rk o f th e C o v en an t;" 1
they
had
learned
in
Africa.
This
is
Avenue. The style is unmistakable.
understandable, as we have Anta Diop EXODUS XXV, an oblong chest erf
The Scientific American magazine
Shi turn (acaci wood), 2 1 /2 cubits long,
for December, 1985 tells it all in an stating in his “ African Origin oi
by 11/2 broad and d eep ” . Smith in his
Civilization”
,
pp.
5-9,
“
Having
entered
article titled, “ The Construction Plans
“ Dictionary of the Bible” and Wilkinson
Egypt
as
70
shepherds
grouped
in
12
for the Tem ple o f Apollo;...in order to
in “ Ancient Egypt” cite their illustrations
patriarchal
families,
nomads
w
ithout
achieve such perfection, the Greeks used
o
f the Ark, "E g y p tia n ” . The Africans
in d u stry o r c u ltu re , the Jewish people
techniques that were not significantly
not
only used sim ilar ships for
left there 400 years later, 600,000 strong-
different from those em ployed e a rlie r
explorations
and military conquests, but
by the E gyptian arc h ite c ts; and that after acquiring from it (Africa) all the
built
replicas
‘for transport o f the soufe
were used later by the R om ans and still elements of its future traditions, including
of
the
deadT
m onotheism ” .
later by builders in the m iddle Ages
Nchemiah, a Rabbi (150 A.D.), was
O f course, the G reeks didn’t just follow
the best model in the world, they followed the author of “ M ishnat-ha-M iddet” ,
the only model in the world. Check out the earliest H ebrew G eom etry known
to us--and he too made things difficult
the B lackstone A p a rtm e n ts on the
PERSPECTIVES
URBAN
INNOVATIONS
FROM AFRICA;
PART II