Page 2 Portland Observer DECEMBER 6, 1989 E ditorial / O pinion Civil ‘Rights Journal by Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. Articles and Essays by Ron Daniels W h e n Is E n o u g h Not E nough? by Professor McKinley Burl The readers of this colum n are quite a* are by now how events at home or abroad im pact upon the economic and social condition of urban b lack s-lo cal, regional, national, and, how, international. If submarine w arfarc World War I had not cut off European im migration in 1914, Blacks would had soon been displaced to reservations right along with the indains (has our vast drug- besieged and incarcerated underclass fared any better ’). It has m ade equally obvious that it is education and workplace that comprise the urban stage for scenarios that can match any Shakcspearan tragedy. But is it all the fault of that middle class which Black essayist Shelby Steele says should get rid of its victim focused Black identity ... our real problem is lack of ability to take responsibility and seize opportunities"? And, is that w hat D ann Scott m eant when he told a standing-room only audience at the University of Southern California last month, "We (Blacks) are the first group in m odem history to see those who follow behind us have few eropportuunities and rockier road ta travel than we did"? 1 wonder about the validity of these statem ents when 1 look back through my filesa which are 35 years compendium o f activism and observation. Beginning with my ten-year sojourn in Los Angeles (1954 1964), I find that, supported by an equally- com ited peer group, there was an intensive involvement in every aspect of a history -making upw ardly mobile decade. These were precedent-shattering times and there were breakthroughs on m ajor fronts: Employment opportunity, housing and school desegregation and public access. All o f us were heavily involved in the the NAACP, Urban League and Black Press, and given o u r professional careers. It was also about how to utilize a 70 hour week effectively. If there was any concensus among us at all, it was that the rest of the tribe would move right in behind us, clim bing the runds of the ladders we built; it had always worked that way before, hadn't it? C ertainly, in Portland immediately after W orld W ar II this was the case. The marching, picketing, striking, pushing and screaming of the new im migrant Black population carried the city past the period when there were no Black retail clerks, banktellers, busdrivers, long shoremen, supervisors in industry or a public agency, and only a handful of teachers or postal workers. The opportunities for m inorities burgeoned-to a point. But, today, as we begin the last decade of the 20th century, Blacks rail at whites, the establishm ent, and the world in general, "We are still far behind in jobs and prom otions-and in education dropouts are accelerating and enrollm ent in higher education has dropped precipitously since 1980. And on top o f this we exclaim, we have developed a huge body o f individuals euphemistically described as the underclass or disadvantaged. Now, think about it, aren't these the very same people who would m ore right in behind us, climbing the rungs of the ladders we built?" Wha' happen? Is Shelby Steele right about a "lack o f ability to take responsibility and seize opportunities?" I could run through a vast litany o f "what happened" type recitations. That Black upw ardly-m obile middle class moved to suburbia taking with it theeconomic and political skills necessary to m aintain an urban infrastructure of viable housing and school systems, or even retail stores and shops. The neighborhoods o f the rung climbers rapidly degenerated and the absentee landlords and developers moved in, utilizing every device from Urban Renewal (Removal) and eminent domain to more sophisticated forms of gentrification. Today, we look at television programs like "Tony Brown's Journal" and we see groups o f the black middle class managers and executives lam enting their difficulties and alienation. "We have titles but we are on soft money in industry, we are on staff, not in line positions--W e have no path to the top, and in these days of reorganizations and frequent buyouts we are more insecure than ever. We try to spin out and set up businesses but the banks have no money for us (nevermind the loudly heralded franchise purchases in sports--also 80% of those auto franchises failed)." These television programs are a sad sight indeed, so many brains, so many degrees, so many silk suits, so many M ercedes in the parking lot and so much estrangem ent fgrom reality, did we do this to our children and ourselves? N ext week: W here to go from here? Black Politics At The Crossroads The recent election may mark a critical crossroad for Black politics in America. Nov. 7 was being heralded as the day that a ‘‘new Black politics” was bom ; the com ­ ing of age o f a group of African-Am erican politicians who won public office by pro­ moting “ m ainstream " values and project­ ing strong appeals to white voters. The great significance of Nov. 7 is that large num bers of white voters in the state of Virginia and the cities o f New York, New Haven, Durham, Cleveland and Seattle decisively dem onstrated a willingness to vote for Black candidates. What we are witnessing, according to some analysts, is a trend whereby white voters are likely to be increasingly willing to crossover to vote for "m ain stream ” and "m o d erate" African- A m erican politicians. The obvious question which this new trend poses for the future of Black politics is what will be the cost of white voter support or what price will Black politicians have to pay to form Black-white coalitions, particularly in those circum stances where a majority o f white votes may be required to gain election? The medias ’ heavy emphasis on “ m ain stream " and “ m oderate” som e­ how suggests that crucial items on the African-American agenda such full-employ­ m ent, decent wages, affordable housing, health care, education, the right to organize unions, education, civil-rights, and affuma- tive action are outside o f the m ainstream. The im plication is that the Black Agenda m ust be set aside or soft peddled in order to address real mainstream issues. In this context "m ain stream ” may simply com e to be a code word for that which is saleable to and acceptable to moderate, white, middle America. A frican-Am ericans will need to pro­ ceed very cautiously in this new era of new Black politics. The mainstream may be very murky water for African-Am erican concerns and interests. By and large the principal goal of Black politics has been in eradicate the barriers of racial discrim ina­ tion, economic injustice and to overcom e racist violence and oppression. At its best Black protest politics and electorial politics has been at the cutting edge o f the struggle to transform A m erica into a new society free o f racism , sexism, religious bigotry and econom ic exploitation. Far from rely­ ing on a " m o d e ra te " or “ conservative” agenda. Black politics has o f necessity challenged the status-quo, and put forth a liberal progressive vision and program for change. I bis Way For Black Empowerment b\ D r I c h u iii titillili Where Are Black Students At? On Nov. 15 1 went down to the court­ house in Virginia Beach, VA to stand up with the Black college students who had been arrested there over the Labor Day weekend, when local police and state troop­ ers went on a rampage against them. I am working to make clear that the New Alliance Party will support anyone who asks for it. But we ca n 't "p lay it safe" by responding to such attacks on a case by case basis; if we do, then we’ll be doing that no n -sto p . . . forever. The ' ‘new rapproche­ m en t" which has brought the Democratic Party and Republican Party closer and closer together--and further and further to the political rig h t-h a s created a climate in which no one is representing the working class African American community, or other oppressed working class comm unities, and the right wing is taking advantage of that to com e down very hard on our people. That ' s why we need an ongoing tool, a w eapon of our own, to fight back with. T h at's when students at Howard U ni­ versity in W ashington, D.C. turned to me. The demonstration eventually took place on Nov. 18, the day that several students w ent to trial. I ’m g la d l was there a n d l’ll go on being there for the students. We saw it in the case of the V irginia Beach police wilding; the Black establish­ m ent was terrified that a protest by the students would endanger Doug W ilder’s chances of becoming America's first elected Black governor. A conservative Democrat, W ilder him self publicly sided with the city governm ent against the young people. A ERVER PO R TLA OREGON’S OLDEST AFRICAN-AMERICAN PUBLICATION Established In 1970 A llr e d L HendereorVPubUsher Leon Harris/Q oneral Manager Gary Ann Garnatt Joyce Washington Business Manager Sales/Marketing Director PORTLAND OBSERVER It publljhed weekly by E ik Publishing Company, I k . «747 N.E. M .L .K . Rl»d. Portland. Oregon 97211 P.O. Box Î1J7 Portland. Oregon r 2M (503) 288-0033 (Oftlca) Deadlines lor alt submined materials: Ai tides : Monday, 5 p.m.; Ads: Tuesday, 5 p.m, T h . RORTIANO OBSERVER «»«xxnto Irw lanc* iuto m m on . Manure» (Mi end p toiog.w to ahouU to d a * * r and » 4 t o rehanad I u m W ' t l t>r a aad addretaad amatapa Ml creeled davgnad d » p » r ad« bacon» lb . t o » prepertr at Iha rewepaper and can no! to utad » other pubK aton. or pereonal u• • r r w r tw «t T M National Ma. Aaaooahon - Founded io TMS. T M O açon Nawxpapar PubimMr» Aixooation, and T M NafaxuJ 1 = Ad»ortrervç R apt •••m a in a Anmlgarwad PubhaMn. ine.. Now YaA. Septem ber 30 dem onstration in Virginia Beach planned by the Concerned Black Awareness Council, a coalition o f students from several colleges founded in response not only to V irginia Beach but to the rising tide o f police violence against our people throughout the country, was stopped dead in its tracks by the national N A A CP and senior Black elected officials. W here are the students at? They are at an “ awkward ag e” - n o t for any psycho­ logical or biological reasons, but because a fight is going on between the Black Demo­ cratic Party establishm ent and progressive independents for the political soul of this new generation. It isn 't clear where they will go. A t schools like Howard University in W ashington and Moorehouse college in Atlanta, they are being groomed to take their place among the Black middle class. A young M oorehouse student who is trying to arrange for me to speak there in January says that most o f the young men “ are concerned w ith how much money they can m ake, rather than doing something more substantial--helping the com m unity." O r exercise any power. As Virginia Beach revealed, in 1989--two and a half decades after the C ivil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act were enactcd-B lack people, including students with cars and com puters and credit cards, are being ar­ rested on trum ped up charges, beaten up and hounded out o f town for the crime of being Black in white America. I urged the students to go back to Virginia Beach as new young leaders of N A P -to make clear that they’re willing to do w hatever needs to be done, to line up with whoever is fighting for them and their com m unities. They chose not to make that statem ent this time around. I had told them that either way I'd support them, and I will continue to do so. NAP is a very crucial weapon in this fight. I have been building it for ten years, and I am offering it to anyone who wants to use it. I have been there and I will go on being there for the new genera­ tion of Black leaders. The question is, where are they at? We may now be forced to confront a scenario where the powers that be within the ruling elite in A m erica, the two major political parties and the m edia offer us up "m oderate" and “ mainstream" Black faces as a means o f m aintaining cultural, eco­ nomic and political dom ination and con­ trol. Faced with the prospect of this kind o f strategy o f cooptation, we as African- Americans must ask ourselves whether we are simply seeking to replace white faces with Black faces in old places, or whether our politics are fundam entally about the liberation of the masses o f the Black poor, working people and other oppressed na­ tionalities. If our politics is simply dictated by a desire to get a Black face into public office then what is to prevent us from perpetuating our own oppression by falling for a Ronald Reagan in blackface? The basic desire of the vast majority of African-Am ericans is to support and vote for B lack candidates because we want a CHA NG E in the condition o f our people. That’s our mainstream agenda. That agenda may well be at odds with others who have a different definition o f m ainstream and are only willing to support our candidates on terms which mean that the Black Agenda is submerged. A frican-Am ericans m ust become in­ creasingly aware the electing Black people to public office does not automatically trans­ late into political empowerment or a change in the condition o f the Black masses. For one thing, there are structural barriers within the system at all levels w hich severely constrain the capacity of even the m ost well meaning Black elected officials to deliver on the expectation o f a change in the quality of life for our people. W hen these con­ straints are coupled with the election of African-Am ericans to office who are not pledged to the Black Agenda, or candidates who feel a necessity to de-em phasis our agenda in pursuit o f the white mainstream, then the interests of African-Am ericans will surely be stuck at the very bottom of the river. Racial Tensions Increase In Miami During the 1989 Advent season across the nation there are many who are looking toward the traditional holidays as a time for reflection. In the wake o f the recent dra­ matic victories o f African-American, Latin- American and other racial and etfinic candi­ dates for elected office at the state and m u­ nicipal levels, there appears to be growing ground for the im provem ent o f race rela­ tions in some sections of the nation. Yet, in the city o f M iami, Florida race relations are not improving. In fact, local elected officials and law enforcem ent per­ sonnel are now predicting and preparing for further racial unrest. One of the primary contributing factors to the tense situation in M iami has been the continued incidents of racially-m otivated police brutality and misconduct. Early in the year, Miami exploded after a M iami police officer killed tw o unarmed A frican-Am ericans who were riding a m otorcycle through an African-Am erican section o f M iami. Now that the trial of M iami police officer, W illiam Lozano, has begun there are increasing fears that if Lozano is found not guilty in the killing of Clem ent Floyd and Allan Blanchard, then another riot will erupt. Ironically, the C hief o f Police o f M i­ ami is an A frican-Am erican named Perry Anderson. The tensions in M iami are complex. There is a growing antagonism between M iam i’s African-Am erican com ­ munity and the expanding immigrant comm unity in Miami from Central and South America. The trial of Officer Lozano, a thirty-year old C olom bian immigrant, has heightened tensions betw een the African- American and Colom bian American com ­ munities in Miami. Spanish-language ra ­ dio stations in the city have launched fun­ draising radiothons to help Lozano finance his legal defense. All of this coupled with this city 's long legacy of racial discrim ina­ tion against the African American commu nity has now caused M iami to reach the boiling point again. We caution against the self-fulfilling prophecy attitude of M iami officials in­ cluding that o f Chiel Anderson. W hen the police abuse citizens o f any city in Am er­ ica, the situation should be challenged. We believe that there are some forces in Miami, namely in the Miami police departm ent, who are deliberately polarizing the racial situation in hopes that O fficer Lozano will be vindicated in the courts as a backlash to the expressed rage of the African A m eri­ can community. We are alarmed that given all of the poverty and homelessness in the city of Miami that officials have spent nearly one hundred thousand dollars in preparing for what they believe is " a possibility of acivil disturbance." $72,000 reportedly has now been spent on a rush order for 700 gas masks for the Miami police department. Chief Anderson has appealed to the judge of the Lozano trial to delay the announce­ ment o f the trial verdict until the Miami police departm ent is able to deply two ar­ mored personnel carriers and police offi­ cers around the perim eter of the African- American community. The New York Times reported that C hief Anderson stated, " I f a group of indi­ viduals plans on having a riot, we will be read y ." Racial riots are not planned, they never have been and history show s most riots could have been prevented. Riots do have causative factors. O ne o f the main causative factors to riots specifically in Miami has been the gross insensitivity and racist acts ol the Miami police departm ent against the African American conuiiunity. Rather i ll an arm the (>ol ice departm ent w uh more and more weapons o f death and de­ struction, the people of M iami need to w ork harder at easing tensions not just preparing for more explosions. The Repentant Racist by Joel B re shin "Before I can serve God and go on with my life, I have io clear up my past.’’ —David Waughtal On a Friday morning in m id-Septem ­ ber, a young man stood before a judge in a Scottsdale, AZ, City courtroom and heard him self sentenced to 12 months probation and the assignm ent o f reading Treblinka, a book about the Holocaust death camp. This unusual sentence m arked the end of a saga for David W aughtal, 24 . . . one that saw him change from an avowed white suprem acist who idolized A dolf Hitler and launched a one-m an hate cam paign against Jews, to a man who has renounced his racist views in favor o f religion. Ironically, one o f the first targets of W aughtal’s hate cam p aig n -th e A nti-D efa­ m ation L eague-played a key role in help­ ing W aughtal find his new life. The story began in July 1987. During a typically hot Arizona w eekend, harassing telephone calls started to com e into our regional office in Phoenix. W hen I picked up the phone, I would hear the voice o f a young man, stridently proclaim ing; “ De Partie es Hitler. Deutschland es D eutsch­ land. You Jews are no longer welcome in Phocni x. You are s w ine. You are the seed of Satan. G et out before you c a n 't." Sim ilar c a lls - some 75 o f th em -w ere made to two synagogues in the area and to the home o f a rabbi. As the days passed, other Jewish agencies contacted ADL to com plain o f harassing calls with Hitler-like messages. Some of the calls appeared to be playing recordings of Hitler’s actual speeches before a roaring crowd. In all, 12 Jewish agencies in the Phoenix, Scottsdale and Sun City areas received 200 calls spewing hate and venom. I immediately contacted the police departments in those municipalities. In order to allay fears in the Jewish com m unity and to keep the various Jew ish institutions apprised of developm ents, I arranged a meeting between the victim s and the po­ lice. Phoenix Police captain Irwin Bankin, a member of ADL’s Arizona regional board, who chaired the meeting, assured the as­ sem bled group that the identification and capture of the perpetrator was a major police priority. At subsequent meetings with ADL, police reported narrowing the field of sus­ pects to one pcrso n -D av id W aughtal. Then 21 and an unemployed landscaper, W augh­ tal was known in the com m unity fordistrib- utmg the neo-Nazi newspaper WAR (White Aryan Resistance) on the lawns of Central Phoenix homes. I told the police that he had contacted me some months earlier in a cynical attempt to learn what the Anti- Defamation League would do about the forthcoming appearance on a Phoenix cable TV station of Tom M etzger's "R ace and R eason" program, spreading M etzger’s W hite Aryan Resistance propaganda. Sub­ sequently I learned that W aughtal and his brother, G len, and a third individual were the distributors o f “ Race and R eason” in Phoenix. In an effort to obtain evidence linking Waughtal to the anti-Semitic telephone calls, we organized the Jewish comm unity to work with the M ountain Bell Telephone Com pany w hich placed traces on the tele­ phone lines o f several Jew ish institutions, including the ADL office. During the second week of telephone surveillance, the police received the infor­ mation they had been waiting for. The telephone company had identified the source o f the calls-D av id W aughtal’s home. D e­ tectives from the Scottsdale Police D epart­ ment arrested W aughtal on tw o counts of telephone harassment. Later, the Maricopa County S h e riff s D epartm ent arrested him on four sim ilar counts. Following arraign­ ment in these tw o cases law enforcement officials were to turn him over to the Phoe­ nix Police, who wanted him in connection with the calls m ade to the ADL office. W hen questioned about his motivation for the calls, W aughtal said he did it be­ cause " Jews control the m edia in Phoenix ’ ’ which, he claim ed, prevented him from exercising his right of free speech. W hen the day arrived for his arraign­ ment, I was in court along with representa­ tives of other Jew ish groups but there was no W aughtal. He had fled the night before. As a measure to prevent further such incidents, I filed a petition on behalf of ADL for an injunction against harassment, naming David and Glen W aughtal as well as the W hite Aryan Resistance and other individuals know n to be associates of W aughtal. The harassm ent ended with Waugh- tal's disappearance and the story seem ed to have ended there, too. That is w hat I thought until last July when I received a call from a m inister in Eugene, OR, who told me that David W aughtal was a m em ber of his congrega­ tion, that he had become very religious, repentant, and that he wanted to return to Arizona to face the charges against him. The minister, the Rev. Allen Stensvad asked if I would assist in arraigning his surrender to authorities in Arizona. We agreed that W aughtal would turn him self in to the Scottsdale City Court on July 18. I m et him beforehand and we discussed his crim es of two years earlier. W aughtal told me that this inspiration to enter the white supremacy movement came after hearing a talk show on Phoenix radio station K FI Y in the m id-1980s fcatur ing Glen M iller, a white supremacist and Ku Klux Kian leader in North Carolina. " I began to read all of M iller's w rit­ ings that 1 could find," he said. "1 didn't believe in the K ian,’ he went on, "b u t Nazism and the teachings o f A dolf Hitler appealed to me. I believed that Jews con­ trolled everything.” “ 1 wanted to get back at them (Jews) in some w ay,' he said “ Harrassm ent on the telephone was kind of like a needle in the giant’s sid e." When he fled Arizona to avoid his arraignm ent, W aughtal told me he went to O regon where he worked at a lum ber mill. He gradually began to read the bible and listen to religious programs on the radio. He joined Pastor Slevsvad’s Bcrcan Baptist Church in Eugene and told the m inister of hispast. Rev. Stensvad, who said W aughtal has become an active participant in church programs, encouraged him to return to Arizona to face charges. ' ‘Before 1 can serve God and go on with my life, I have to clear up my past,’' Waughtal said. “ W hat I did was real d u m b . a stupid thing. I am sorry for those I offended. There is no way to take back what 1 said. I am not looking for leniency. I just want to go on with my life." I was im pressed with his statements of rem orse and told him I would help him Because he was charged in several m unici­ palities, W aughtal had to make appear­ ances in each. In Scottsdale, he was re ­ manded for sentencing until Septem ber. He appeared in Peoria, AZ, as a fugitive from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department and received a sentence of six m onths pro­ bation and 96 hours of comm unity service. In Phoenix, where he pleaded guilty to the charges, he paid a fine and was released. When he was sentenced in Scottsdale, the prosecutor asked that an exam ple be made of Waughtal to discourage others. Judge George Preston sjxrke forcefully about the evils o f Nazism and anti-Sem i­ tism. Before passing die unusual sentence, the judge noted W aughtal's repentance, the fact that he had returned voluntarily and his subsequent enrollment at Southwestern College, an American Baptist Bible School. Since his return to A rizona, Waughtal has spoken openly to the press and on the radio against white supremacy. ADL hopes to arrange speaking engagem ents for him so that he- like other reformed white su­ premacists such as Font M artinez, the for­ mer Ku Klux Klansmaii who blew the whistle on The O rder (ADI. Bulletin, June, 1988 What Else 11 earned About the Jew s")-- ean serve as a role model for the young people who are so often the target! for recruitm ent b\ today's hate mongers.