Page 2 Portland Observer AUGUST 1 7 ,19K9
EDITORIAL 7 OPINION
Guest E d ito ria l
CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL
KBMS In Chaos
Civil Disobedience In South Africa
By Anthony Martin
By Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.
The problems o f Portland’ s first and only 24-hour African Am erican
radio station can be easily traced to one source.station owner Christopher H.
Bennett.M r Bennett, from day one has steadfastly refused to a llow KB M S
(1480 A M ) to obtain the success it was destined for in May, 1988, and
despite his bungling efforts can s till obtain in the near future-but only w ith
new direction.
M r. Bennett's constant and direct interference w ith the performance o f
every employee at K B M S created an atmosphere o f total confusion ,
suspicion, disappointment, and eventually, as we witnessed last Saturday,
total chaos.
The rebellion at K B M S by key personnel was ju stifie d as far back as July,
1988. For it had become apparent after o nly tw o months, that this was an
entrepreneur dead set on a mission o f self destruction.
M r. Bennett made it perfectly clear to a ll o f his employees that KB M S
had but one super star - Chris Bennett!
He also made it perfectly clear that he must have total control - and he did.
M r. Bennett made a lot o f promises to this com m unity when he asked fo r
acceptance and support upon opening the station. M r. Bennett got what he
asked for. This com m unity welcomed K B M S and M r. Bennett, and
rig h tfu lly so because M r. Bennett gave this com m unity something that it
longed fo r - good music and another A frica n Am erican media o u tle t
So for M r. Bennett to say that he never had the support o f the NE
com m unity is wrong. But to say that he doesn’ t have it now is correct.
Some A frican American Businesses can not pay cash in advance for
advertising.
Some employees are worth more then $5.00 per Hour fo r a six hour shift.
This is especially true i f they are discouraged from w orking a second job.
A nd also, some employees w ould like to w ork fo r more than straight sales
commission. This is especially true also i f there is client infringement by
management.
This com m unity needs K B M S . This com m unity w ill support KBM S.
B ut only i f the station owner honors his promise to be reciprocal.
This com m unity extends to M r. Bennett both hands. One holds an olive
branch, the other a p ink slip.
W h ic h hand shall he choose?
Talk Is Cheap At KBMS
by W arren C. Johnson
I am w ritin g to support those many black brothers and sisters who have
been victim ized employees o f K B M s radio. As a listener, I have enjoyed
some o f the music and other program m ing, however I do not believe that
anyone should be treated as bad as what was fin a lly disclosed on the air last
Saturday, when an employee “ told a ll” then shut the station o ff the air.
I w ould hope that owner, Chris Bennett w ill imm ediately realize that he
cannot use or abuse Portlanders, especially Blacks, for financial gain.
U nlike the old K Q IV o f the 70’ s K B M S has not received the status,
recognition and ratings in overall greater Portland area, but at least the disc
jockeys are trying to make a positive message and impact in the black
com m unity.
W hile most local black owned businesses are starting to jo in forces w ith
each other, I am curious to know why M r. Bennett feels that he is above
everybody else and does not want to e ffectively w ork w ith the black com ­
m unity, other than getting money out o f them.
The lack o f com m unity and business support for M r. Bennett is apparent
since his self professed “ Soul Festival” scheduled fo r Labor Day was
canceled.
U nfortunately, the com m unity suffers and the employees, past piesent
and future suffer because o f the “ do it my way or h it the highw ay” attitude
that appears to be exhibited by K B M S owners.
I had no idea that K B M S only paid their announcers a b it more than
m inim um wage, w ith no benefits. This is d efin itely not an encouragement
fo r our young people who may be looking for a career in broadcasting.
I f K B M S expects m y support and that o f the com m unity, I suggest that
M r. Bennett and any o f the other decision makers show us that they are
w orthy o f our respect by them respecting the black com m unity and their
own employees and showing a positive image in the area. U ntil then, I and
m y friends do not plan to patronize any o f the K B M S advertisers and
encourage others to do the same.
You can ruin
a life in one stroke.
PORTLAMtJ'b^ERVER
OREGON'S OLDEST AFRICAN-AMERICAN PUBLICATION
Established in 1970
Leon Harrts/Qeneral Manager
Alfred L. Hendaraon/Pubiisher
Jo yce W a sh in g to n
Sales/Marketing Director
Gary Ann Garnett
Business Manager
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THE BLACK CORRE­
SPONDENTS, PRO­
DUCERS AND RE­
APARTHEID!
SEARCHERS OF ABC
NEWS WILL DE­
VELOP AND LAUNCH
PERSPECTIVES
DOCUMENTAL EX­
by McKinley Burt
AMINING THE
WORLD OF BLACK
Today, we continue as promised
AMERICA
w ith an emphasis on economic de­
BAN
What is it like to grow up and live
as a black in Am erica? The black
I correspondents, producers and re­
searchers o f A B C News w ill under­
take to answer this question in a
unique, one-hour documentary on the
w orld o f Black Am erica, to be pre­
sented this fa ll, it was announced by
Roone Arledge, President o f A B C
News.
“ We at A B C News are proud to
have a wealth o f talented black cor­
respondents and producers to develop
and launch this project. It is im p or­
tant fo r all o f us to understand the
racial diversity o f our country, and
this program, unique in network news,
w ill give viewers the opportunity to
see that there is not one voice today
in Black Am erica, but that there are
m any,” said M r. Arledge.
AB C News Senior Correspondent
and “ W orld Next Saturday” anchor
Carole Simpson, A B C News M edi­
cal Correspondent George Strait and
A B C News Correspondent Charles
Thomas w ill be the principal report­
ers. In the broadcast, through video
portraits, they w ill take a searching
look at blacks at a ll stages o f their
lives-form birth through adulthood
and old age. W ith their producers,
they w ill illum inate the diversity ,
both social and economic, within each
age group.
Rather than a history lesson the
documentary w ill offer what for many
w ill be a rare glimpse o f what every­
day liv in g is like as a black person in
a white-dominate society. The con­
tinuing struggle fo r c iv il rights w ill
be discussed only as it relates to the
struggle fo r everyday existence.
Ray Nunn is the Executive Pro­
ducer o f the documentary. Claudia
Pryor is the Senior Broadcast Pro­
ducer. Callie Crossley and Paul Mason
are the Senior Producers.
By Dr. Lenora Fulani
Delegates to the National Organization for W om en’s national conven­
tion in C incinnati, Ohio last month unanimously approved a resolution
We are a ll w ell aware o f how Dr. M artin Luther K ing, Jr. used the tactic
o f c iv il disobedience as an effective means o f challenging the racism o f
Am erican society. Dr. King taught that it was im m oral to be obedient to
racial discrim ination and other forms o f racial injustice. Thus, A frican
Americans as w ell as others were encouraged to participate in non-violent
c iv il disobedience. Now in South A frica , there appears to be a growing use
o f the tactic o f c iv il disobedience to challenge openly the apartheid regime.
There are some historians who make a comparison between the c iv il
rights movement o f the 1960’s in the United Slates and the anti-apartheid
movement o f the 1980’ s in South A frica. There are some sim ilarities, but
there are vastly more dissim ilarities. Dr. K ing and the c iv il rights movement
leaders were able to appeal to the Congress o f the United States fo r
legislative social change.
This is not the case in South A fric a today. Apartheid, that is racism, is
the law o f the land in South A frica . Apartheid is the ju d ic ia l and legislative
fram ework for the present government o f South A frica. A frican Americans
were and remain a quantitative m in ority in the United States, w hile black
South Africans are a quantitative m ajority in South Africa.
The point here is that i f a quantitative m inority o f persons can w ork and
struggle to change the U nited States past policies o f racial segregation, then
there is a great likelihood that a quantitative m ajority o f persons can work
and struggle to change the present policies o f racial segregation in South
A frica.
But, a word o f caution is appropriate in this analogy. Apartheid in South
A frica is unprecedented in human history because o f its totality o f brutality,
inhum anity and wanton disregard o f all standards o f m orality. It is a mistake
for Americans to translate as a carbon copy the experiences o f the 1960’ s in
the US A onto the dreadful drama continuing to unfold in racist South Africa.
The good news is that our sisters and brothers in South A frica are waging
a struggle against apartheid on many fronts utilizing many different strategies.
The recent news from Jonannesburg that black South Africans are now
routinely confronting the all white health and hospital care systems o f South
Africa with forms o f c iv il disobedience is another indication o f the expansion
o f Lhe anti-apartheid campaign w ithin South A frica.
Jay Naidoo, general secretary o f the Congress o f South A frica n Trade
Unions, “ This is just another beginning o f our defiance campaign. This
campaign w ill be taken to every comer and every section o f society until
apartheid is unw orkable.” O f course, we are aware o f the courage and
determination o f South Africans struggling to dismantle apartheid and this
should serve to encourage those o f us in the United States to do whatever we
can to assisL
Thus, we believe that in particular one additional act o f solidarity
herewith the struggle in South A frica , should be the medical com m unity
here to openly support this latest strategy against racist health care in South
Africa. We recall that the firs t successful heart transplant surgery took place
in South Africa. We also recall the recipient o f the black South A frica n heart
was a white South A frican. Today, black South A fricans s till systematically
are denied access to fu ll health care. W e all should be outraged and in
particular the medical com m unity and health care industry in the United
States needs to be confronted about its general silence to the genocide o f
apartheid.
T he U nique, O n e -H o u r P rogram
W ill Be Presented in the F all
NOW IS THE TIME TO DIVORCE
THE DEMOCRATS!
velopm ent in the com m unity. First,
however, let me request o f an angry
reader, d o n ’ t shoot the messenger.
I f M r. Crosth w ait, the Black inventor
from Detroit, fe lt that he had been let
down by the Black elected o fficials
w ho voiced so much more rhetoric
than concrete assistance, then I was
comfortable w ith the detailed assess­
ments he made in support o f his po­
sition.
Readers o f m y column the past
tw o years are aware that 1 have pre­
sented several analyses o f local
minority-owned business failures and
successes. For brevity, and to make a
point, I w ill sim ply say that several
failures were P ro gram M onsters-
too big, too many chiefs, as w e ll as
including such usual deficiencies as
an untrained w ork force, inadequate
accounting and a grass roots co m ­
m u n ity board o f d ire c to rs w ithout
the vaguest notion o f duties or corpo­
rate responsibilities. It is to be noted
that after the fact-billions down the
drain-the federal o ffice o f Economic
O pportunity ran around the country
attempting to train community people
to function as corporate directors.
One local m in ority enterprise
stands out in particular. The A lbina
Corporation, a m ulti m illio n dollar
metal manufacturing plant. It was
based upon the Kelso T w o -F a c to r
Plan a concept conceived by a white
attorney as a vehicle to place Blacks,
Hispanics and displaced white plant
workers in the main-stream o f Am eri­
can enterprise; the tw o “ factors”
were federal seed money and w orker
earned corporate shares, respectively.
Big, unw ieldy, and to be p rim a rily
understood by law yers-Yes!, and this
brings me closer to the point 1 wish to
make.
I would define this firm as an
economic social program, not as a
business-with its federal and private
largesse, grants, gifts, non-negoti-
ated contracts and other non com ­
calling for N O W ’ s leaders to explore the form ation o f a new, pro-woman,
independent third party. “ They don’ t want to fool around w ith the [m ajor]
parties anymore. They’re fed up,” explained the president o f N O W , M o lly
Yard.
1 say R IG H T O N ! Like the African American com m unity and other
oppressed peoples o f color, like rank and file labor, the lesbian and gay
com m unity, and the elderly , women have been abused and abandoned by
a party that only pretends to be concerned w ith our issues in order to get our
votes. But when the time comes to stand up and fig ht lo r us and our tainilies
the Democrats—who are no better than their Republican friends—have no
tim e fo r us.
The leadership o f the mostly white and m iddle class women s movement
has fo r many years been locked in a bad marriage w ith the Dem ocratic Party,
taking care o f the party’ s business, doing its dirty w ork, and making
Democrats look good on election day. In return a handful ot women have
gotten good jobs w ith good pay, and they’ ve been allowed to travel in the
same circles as the political wheelers and dealers. But the masses o f
w om en -pa rticu larly poor women o f color—and our children never get
included in the deals. We have nothing to show fo r our loyalty to a party that,
like a selfish husband, refuses to keep its promises or live up to its
responsibilities; it just takes, lakes, takes a ll the lime and expects us to be
grateful fo r it. YES, W O M E N A R E FED UP! And many o f us arc smart
enough and strong enough to say that it is high tim e to divorce the
Democrats.
But N O W ’ s leaders were much less enthusiastic. They even went so far
as to prevent that resolution from coming to the flo or o f the convention Ms
Yard and her predecessor, Eleanor Smeal, were forced to move w ith the
grassroots, who are tired o f being told once more that women have to give
the Republicans and Democrats “ one more chance. These sisters know
know that the recent Supreme Court decision which struck a deadly blow to
the rig h t o f women to choose a safe abortion can’ t be blamed ju s t on Ronald
Reagan’s rig ht w ing appointees, but is the responsibility o f liberal
Democrats who d id n ’ t have the gumption to stand up fo r women s rights
when the tim e came to approve those appointments. And now the chickens
are coming home to roosL
As soon as the news o f N O W ’s pro-independent resolution h it the news,
all the friends o f the Democratic Party fam ily came craw ling out o f the
w oodw ork to call the women o f NOW dumb, crazy, e v il extremists lor
even thinking about form ing an independent party! Even the executive
_ director o f the National Abortion Rights Action League (N A R A L ) charged
that the resolution threatened to alienate the triends o f the abortion rights
„ movement.
You see,independent, pro-woman politics, which challenges the system
created by and fo r wealthy white men to keep women, poor and working
people and people o f color “ in our place” (in the background and at the
bottom ) is far from dumb, crazy or evil. It is the wave o f the future! And the
Black com m unity is in the forefront o f that movement.
M o lly Yard told reporters that NOW w ill not back down.
I support her 100%. I hope she w ill continue to fo llo w the leadership o f
her members, and step out in an independent direction. That is the road I am
taking, and I welcome her to jo in us. But whether she comes along or not,
the Black-led, m ulti-racial and m ilita ntly pro-woman independent political
movement that I am proud to lead is on its way! I invite you to come w ith
us.
Dr. Fulani is chairperson of the New Alliance Party. Her
comments do not reflect the views of the Portland
Observer
petitive structures. This was true, o f
course, w ith these type enterprises
around the country, several o f which
I visited during 1969 and 1970, and
even later. Successful and unsuccess­
fu l instances included the Bedford
Stuyvesant Restoration Corp, in
B rooklyn, N .Y . (founded 1966),O p­
eration Bootstrap in Watts, C a lifo r­
nia (Shindana D olls), and others. The
most successful was the Progress
Enterprises o f Philadelphia, founded
by the Rev. Leon Sullivan in 1962.
And here is my point, I w ill never be
disabused o f the notion that w ith o u t
an investm ent by the p a rtic ip a n t,
no e nte rp rise is going to succeed.
Let us look at the Sullivan Opera­
tion, which can be modeled to scale
fo r any size church or city. The o r­
ganization was based on a 10-36 plan.
Under this plan, an individual con­
tributed $10 a month for 36 months
toward a program o f com m unity
economic development. The first 16
payments went to the Z ion N on­
p ro fit C h a rita b le T ru s t where the
funds were used for social services,
health and education. The remaining
20 payments were used to purchase
shares in Z ion Investm ent Associ­
ates, a profit-m aking holding corpo­
ration. Readers, please note the sepa­
ration o f w elfare fro m business.
The program began in 1962 w ith
227 members, expanding to 400
churches in the Philadelphia area. By
1972 there were 7000 members apart­
ment buildings, Progress Plaza, a
modern shopping plaza(How about
a Fred M eye r o r M a rtin L u th e r
K in g
P la za ,
up
th e re
on
U nion?).A lso there was a chain o f
convenience stores called our M ar­
kets, and a garment manufacturing,
and an electronics plant, where expe­
rienced local talent was not a vail­
able, B lack expertise was brought in
from the South. N ow , there is a real
Christian commitment to the breth-
cm , 1 would say! M r. Sullivan said it
“ went right along w ith the singing,
and praying and the collection plate.”
Real missionary work.
Now , we do have churches here,
don’ t we? I'v e seen them. I became
pointedly aware o f Portland’ s Black
churches in the early 1970’ s, when I
was awarded a contract to furnish
financial management services for
four o f the m ajor m u lti-m illio n d ol­
lar Model Cities programs. Included
was a T ra n s p o rta tio n P rogram and
the principal Day C are C enter at the
M ulti-Services B uilding on Vancou­
ver Ave.The “ Transportation Pro­
gram ” involved the transport o f the
elderly in the com m unity to expedite
such activities as shopping, visits to
clinics and so forth. Also, a great
amount o f vehicular operation cen­
tered around the transport o f small
children to and from the Day Care
Centers operated by the churches.
In itia lly , the lia b ility premiums
charged per van by the local insur­
ance agencies was ridiculous. By going
directly to the insurance underwriter
in Chicago, I was able to get m onthly
rates reduced from as high as fo u r
figures per m onth to three. Because
o f my background in industry, I was
able to perceive and im plcm entother
substantive charges. When Model
Cities was phased out by the govern­
ment, I took copies o f a ll the books
and operating procedures to the o f­
fices o f the Albina M inisterial Asso­
ciation on Union office. Never being
able to get to sec the headman, I left
information pointing out that this was
the inform ation they needed to main­
tain their contracts and salaries in a
new ball game.
I also pointed out as I had to
M odel Cities Adm inistration (to no
avail), that the Van-leasing compo­
nent was a natural for a new Black
business enterprise, w ith a b u ilt in
market o f customers. There were other
economically significant suggestions,
but I am yet to hear from them and
that was fifteen years ago. However,
a downtown church pastured by one
of my form er white students wants
me to design a comprehensive eco­
nomic program for them. Perhaps I
can embarrass some group intyo action
in the Northeast section .N ext week
we w ill look at some p ro m ising en­
terprises.