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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 20, 1989)
Page 2 Portland Observer DECEMBER 20, 1989 E ditorial I O pinion 4 ^ “Post-Black Politics? The Election Of Wilder And Dinkins” Part One of a Two Part Series More Ways To Go by Professor McKinley Burt Well, here we are at the end of another busy and interesting year, but I am not about winding down here. Last week I spoke of the community's talent bank we had available--the many college graduates, professionals and others who could (and should) be busy at countering the "shrill assault of denigrating media images "which can only stultify and impede the activism and remedial responses of the community to its problems. We are certainly compelled to con gratulate those newly-energized groups of Black men and women who have moved on the issues of youth and gangs, drugs illiter acy, teenage mothers, and family m ainte nance. But, these are just the initial-albeit scattered-responses to the emotional im- mediaces prescribed by the establishment media. What is really needed among this new class of Black activists is a specific structuring which will enable them to fully utilize their skills and background in a facile and effective manner. It is important that even before determining goals and objectives, there should come a clear de lineation of the playing field. Then, a per son or organization is enabled to select areas of participation relevant to specific skills and/or areas of interest. What kind o f a ' ‘Playing Field’ ’ are we looking at here? There is housing/home- lessness, education/lileracy, employment/ job development, health/safety, consumer protection, media monitoring, anti-defa mation. Now, just for my own writings and manuscripts (and w ith no staff), I am able to maintain a fairly current and organized information base corresponding to the cate gories just cited. Therefore it is base corre sponding to the categories just cited. There fore it is no big leap for me to project the idea of a Black-operated u rb an Inform a tion center structured along the same lines- computerized and with printouts from the data base available on demand to any and every resident or organization in the com munity. How else could they intelligently or effectively serve themselves or their constituency? Given today’s level of awareness and demonstrated commitment shown in this community, I cannot see that there should be much difficulty in securing the volun teers required to man such a center. It occurs that, with proper supervision, a number of high school and college students can be used in clipping, sorting and collating media material in preparation for data entry. I would contemplate that the modicum of expense required for rent, utilities and computer/peripheral rentals could be fi nanced through monthly assessments of individuals and organizations. It may even be possible to have the premises donated; the same with some of the other costs. I have reservations about accepting help from many of the governmental agencies; this is because I have found through experience that most of what they describe as a m oni toring or reporting process is in reality a control function. Now, in any system which is designed to collect information that is to be used in an applications environment, it will soon become apparent that there are informational needs beyond the naked data. You must have manuals and reference books to guide you in the effective application of the data to the specific area of relevancy. Otherwise the information is like an unsorted hand of cards; you must have a lib rary . Let me provide you with a model. In the early 1970’s I maintained an office where, under contract to Model Cities (Charles Jordan) and the Albina Contractors Association, I provided fiscal management and business assistance services to large and small community corporations -the total cash flow was close to a quarter-million dollars a month. Because of my establishm ent, real world experience I had available the type of lib ra ry necessary to conduct procedures in a productive and accurate manner. To my surprise and consternation, though, I found that I was being besieged by the personnel (and clients) of neighboring Black-operated programs who were trying to operate without libraries. Since I was dealing with every type of business and social enterprise, my shelves were crowded with hundreds of volumes pertaining to the operation of the entire spectrum of these entities. Not only were there the standard texts, but I had materials from wet and dry leasing of vehicles to the various industrial classification manuals and four types of Dictionaries of Occupational Titles. There was also the individual T rade o r Profes sional Association material. I was not a carpenter without tools. The same applies today if Blacks are to be able to use the data bases made available to them. That is if there is going to be an effective process of improving our quality of life in the afore mentioned areas of housing, health, educa tion and so forth; old Massa is not going to do it for us. That has been made evident. Last month’s elections of Douglas Wilder as Governor of Virginia and David Dinkins as Mayor of New York City represent a turning point in national Black political history. In the quarter century since the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed, most Black elected officials have gained office from Congressional or state legisla tive districts which are predominately Afri can-American. Few Blacks seeking office ever earned more than 25 percent of the white electorate’s vote. An “ invisible ceil ing" within the electoral system limited the mobility of talented women and men, seemingly denying them access to effective positions of power within the larger soci ety. Although W ilder” s margin of victory was far smaller than polls had indicated, and Dinkins failed to win majorities in white, traditionally Democratic constitu encies, the two politicians successfully broke through the invisible ceiling. By reviewing their political histories, its possible to understand the reasons for their respective victories, as well as the problems each will encounter immediately upon assuming office. David Dinkins and Douglas Wilder are the products of the civil rights era, entering politics during the maelstrom o f change initiated by the mass desegregation cam paigns across the South in the 1960s. Wilder was a liberal Democratic attorney who made a living defending the poor and victims o f police brutality. In his initial campaign for the Virginia State Senate twenty years ago, he had an Afro hairstyle and employed the political rhetoric of Black Power. Dinkins was also a liberal ideologically and politi-. cally, developing close relations with the city’s powerful public employees unions, the liberal-left intelligentsia, and Black middle class reformers in Harlem and throughout the city. And from the beginning, Dinkins culti vated cordial links with New York’s influ ential Jewish community, lending his back ing to Jewish causes, speaking out against anti-semitism, and defending the federal government's financial and political sup port for Israel. Dinkins took pains to de nounce Black nationalist leader Louis Far- rakhan, and repeatedly took the initiative to resolve tensions between the African- American community and an upper middle class Jewish constituency which was grow ing increasingly conservative politically. Like many politicians with extensive ties to organized labor and Democratic urban organizations, Dinkins was not with out flaws. Almost two decades ago, Dink ins failed to file his income tax returns for several years, which he eventually paid. There were questions concerning the value of communications company stock he sold to his son to avoid conflict of interest' charges when he was elected Manhattan Borough President. But compared to most of the politicians who had emerged from the city ’s corrupt institutions, Dinkins’s personal history and professional record was better than average. W ilder” s record of personal conduct, by contrast, was largely unblemished. However, he had a very different problem. During the 1970s, W ilder’s political ambi tions began to target the then-unlikely goal of achieving the state's governorship. To do so. W ilder recognized he would have to remake him self into the traditional image of the classical. Southern patriarch - con servative, button-down, pro-business, anti crime, and abundantly safe. He couldn't cross the color line personally, but he would do so in terms of his political image. Wilder sought to become a Southern version of Los Angeles M ayor Thomas Bradley, a moder ately conservative politician who was “post- B lack "—beyond identification with race. Wilder reversed his opposition to the death penalty. He backed away from his earlier advocacy of granting the District of Colum bia full statehood rights, which in effect would place two African-Americans into the U.S. Senate. Hoving away form liberal Keynesianism in economic policy, Wilder opposed any changes in Virginia’s rigid "right to w ork” laws, which prohibit compulsory membership in unions within individual businesses. After four terms in Virginia's Senate, Wilder was successfully elected Lieuten ant Governor, the state's second highest office in 1985. Almost immediately specu lation began concerning W ilder’ ’s chances for election as governor, since Virginia prohibits incumbent governors from seek ing re-election. One of W ilder’s chief dif ficulties was maintaining his natural base among the African-American electorate, which had strongly supported the insurgent presidential campaigns o f Jesse Jackson in both 1984 and 1988, while reassuring white voters that he was just as conservative and pro-business as any Southern white politi cian. W ilder placed each foot within tow dramatically divergent political cultures, recognizing that both were necessary for him to achieve his goal. He praised Jackson personally, but took pains to distinguish the charismatic campaigner's liberal-left agenda from his own. He diffused the critics by suggesting, somewhat falsely, that Jackson’s electoral mobilization represented symbol ism without substance. “ Jesse runs to in spire,” W ilder observed, " I run to win.” There was a fundamental difference between the Wilder and Dinkins campaigns vs. the dynam ic electoral mobilization of Harold Washington in Chicago in 1983 and 1987. In the later case, African-Americans used the electoral process to reject the ‘ 'plantation-style politics” of acorrupt and racist Democratic Machine. They used the system to protest against institutional ra cism, economic discrimination and politi cal powerlessness. But in the Wilder-Dink ins strategy, the agenda of African-Ameri cans was not on central stage. Both candi dates, especially Wilder, ran “ post-black" campaigns, recognizing that the African- American electorate had no where else to go to express its political objectives. Both politicians had recognized years ago that their Black electorates were too small to provide the entire core for success ful bids to high office. Over a decade, they cultivated political records which would place them well within the moderate main streams of their respective political cul tures in order to appeal to white liberal-to- centrist constituencies. Rather than deny ing race, both sought to "transcend” the color line, offering generous platitudes of how racism had supposedly declined in significance during the 1980s. The problem with this perspective is that all the evidence suggests that white voters still remain highly race conscious far more so than African- Americans or Latinos. In hundreds of elec tions across the U.S., when white Demo cratic voters have been faced with a choice between a Black Democrat who espouses their views and class interests. Articles and Essays by Ron Daniels Peace On Earth Goodwill Towards Humanity December and January are months filled with religious and spiritual holidays and celebrations which tend to cause us to pause to contemplate the current circumstance and destiny of humanity. From Ramadan to Hanukkah from Christmas to Kwanzaa this is a season of celebration and reflection on the planet earth. With a world tom by strife and turmoil this season is generally marked by a momentary calming of conflict and a temporary reduction of tensions. It is difficult to imagine that somehow deep down inside the bosoms of the vast majority of human beings there is not a hunger for peace. From Northern Ireland, to the middle East from Central America to South Africa, from Bensonhurst to Miami most human beings are decent people who yearn for stability, quietude and peace. Most follow a religions or creeds which upholds moral values like love, justice, devotion to family and respect for human ity dignity. Why then is the world in such a tumul tuous state? The problem seems to be the difficult leap from belief to practice, from lip service to daily living - translating ideas into a living, breathing and meaningful reality. Peace and prejudice are incompat ible. Extremes of wealth and poverty, vast disparities in peoples access to opportu nity, surrender to racism, sexism, religious bigotry and cultural chauvinism all breed tension, hatred, violence and war. As we pause to celebrate and reflect during this season we need to recognize that there can be no permanent peace without justice. The ultimate vision of an “ age of Aquarius” is not possible unless we re solve to heed the admonition to feed the hungry, to cloth the naked, to loose the prisoners, to turn swords into ploughshares. The recent meeting of Bush and Gor bachev at the Malta Summit seem to hold out new promise that a world which has been burdened by the adverse effects of a cold war and a maddening, insane arms race may now be on the brink of a new era where the resources of the great powers can now be used to convert guns into butter. The prospect and promise of such an era can only be realized if the overwhelming m a jority of the citizens of our global village our committed to the triumph of good over evil. What Albert Schweitzer called the spiritual and ethical forces of progress must come to guide and lead the material forces of progress. This is essentially the message that the “ Prince of Peace” came to bring a strife tom world nearly 2,000 years ago. Our world is still waiting for us to convert our basic instincts of decency and kindness into a daily ethic that can rescue humanity from misery and turmoil. The relative interlude of tranquility during this season is a great source of optimism. For it suggests that peace is attainable. We must keep striving and strug gling to bring it to fruition. If we listen, leam and live out the multiple meanings of the positive messages of this season then indeed peace on earth good will towards humanity is possible. Be Equal by John E. Jacob Southern Conference Movement: 50 Years of Struggle Christmas, 1989 PORTI ERVER OREGON’S OLDEST AFRICAN-AMERICAN PUBLICATION Established In 1970 Alfred u HendereorVPubUsher Gary Ann Garnett Qusinew Manager Laen Harrls/Goneral Manager Joyce Washington Sales/Marketlng Director PORTLAND OBSERVER Is publish«! weekly by Esle Publishing Company, Inc. 4747 N.E. M .L .K . Bled. Portland, Oregon 97211 P.O. B os J137 Portland, Oregon 9 7 2 « • ••• *• Me *•••*• (503) 288-0033 (Ottico) Deadlines tor alt submitted materials : Articles: Monday, 5 p jn .;A d s : Tuesday, 5 p.m. n » PO RTIA M O 0S S E R V E R «M tconw ItOTtanca tutoiTmion». M a n u w R I* and phologcapha abouU ba d a * y la M a d and w<ll ba rabanad > aocompanJad by a aad ad d m a a d am aiep . AA craalad daai«nad daptay ad* baooma M» »ola ptaparty U M a r a n p * p ir and can noi ba utsd in olhar publcalran* w panonal u»*g*. w tih e v i M a w.man aonaonl al Iha (onorai n<ana(ar. unlaaa Iha dami h a * p u rc h a a a d Ih o conpwition al *uch ad. IM O PORTIAMO OSSERVER A l t RW H TS RESERVEO. REPROOUCTON IN W H O .E OR IN PAflT WITHOUT PE R M IS S O N 13 PHOHBITED. S«boari(«ona: 120.00 par yaar In Iha TilCaanly aroa. Tho PO RTIA M O OSSCRVER - Oragon'* aWaal Mrioan A nw lcan Publlcaiion-i* a mondrar al Tha National Naanpapar AaaodaUon - Foandad in 1SS5. Tho Oregon Nompapor Pubirahor* AaMoMion. and Tho Na|ronal e-a - - ■ 4 . aS, V I aO., fa aa OOa w W * * Uar^nS » ^ - ^O a «« i^ O w -ai-k C^Sfm 1 - Christmas is the season to set aside the troubles of daily life and dwell on the good things that we can be thankful for while praying for the strength to overcome the bad. But it should be more than th a t And it should be more than a binge of consumer ism and gift-giving that is too often just a mindless display of wealth and restless ness. Christmas should be a time of rededi cation to the ideals that must motivate us all year round-ideals like peace on earth, universal brotherhood and ending poverty. For while we count our blessings, we must also remember those who have too few blessings to count. We live in a nation that includes over 30 million people, most of them children, who are poor. We live in a world in which nearly a billion people go to bed hungry every night. Surely, the Christmas message means caring for those who have less, for those whose lives have not been blessed with the fruits of our society, for those who need help to climb up to more fulfilling lives. At every family gathering in this sea son of celebration, there are ghosts at the table reminding us that all is not well in America today and that we need to tran scend personal concerns by rededicating ourselves to the ideals of the Christmas message. I ’m thinking of such reminders of the need to act as the many homeless for whom Christmas is not a day of celebration but another day of humiliation and struggle for survival. I’m thinking of poor children for whom Christmas is not a day of unwrapping ex pensive gifts, but of wondering why they are cold and hungry. And I’m thing of the many others so often ignored by our society, such as AIDS sufferers, the jobless, the uneducated who can 't compete in this economy any more. We need to make them part of our Christmas, too, for the meaning of the season is that we all one, and that what hurts one hurts all. It's a meaning based on religious and moral principles that have stood the test of time and of the ages, but it is also an expression of the truth that we are all vul nerable. Each of us may become ill, lose a job, be shattered by crime, by drugs, or other scourges of our society. And most assuredly, each of us will become vulnerable to the inroads of age. This season also witnesses the inspir ing revolution sweeping across the com munist world, as people are rising up against their rulers and demanding the rights we Americans have so long taken for granted. That too, is an apt reminder of the blessings we enjoy. No matter how hard our condition, no matter how harmed we are by the effects of bad public policies and evil discrimination, we live in a land where we can freely protest and can organize to change conditions for the better. And that too, is an indispensable part of what I call rededicating ourselves to the Christmas spirit of brotherhood and the oneness of humanity. For redidication is not simply saying " is n ’t it a sham e” when confronted with the inequalities and injustices in our soci ety . It is a resolve to do something to change them, and to help our society to overcome the poverty and racism that are sins against the spirit of the Christ whose birth we celebrate. May you have a joyous Christmas and may you share your blessings with others and work to make our society the shining light it can be. 4 December 1989 marked the 51st anni versary of the founding of the “ Southern Conference M ovem ent" for racial and economic justice which was initiated in Birmingham, Alabama. The history of the freedom and justice movements in this nation is extremely important. We must not allow this history to get lost. It was in 1938 that 1,500 people from across the South, African-American and Anglo-American, dared to come to the heart of Dixieland to form a multi-racial social action, regional organization known as the Southern Conference for Human Welfare (SCHW). At the time of this meeting, Bir mingham was a literal racist police state which forbade under the law African- Americans and Anglo-American form even being in the same room together no matter what the purpose or auspices of the gather ing. There were many labor organizers who also dared to attend the founding meeting of Southern Conference for Human W el fare. This organization mobilized around the quest for a true democracy in the South by challenging the vestiges of Jim Crow racism. Out of the Southern Conference for Human Welfare movement, grew the South ern Conference Educational Fund (SCEF) in 1948 which worked for over 25 years in the deep South to bring movement activists together to support “ people’s movements" in the South for racial, labor and human rights. One of the important historical understandings of the freedom movement in this country has been the "continuity" of the evolution of multi-racial coalitions known by many different names, but main taining the basic principle of "grass roots organizing as the fundamental means of challenging and transforming American I — e * O + » ‘ ? < 1 M «■ 7 V “ ftft * society for social, racial and economic justice.” When the Student Nonviolent Coordi nating Committee (SNCC) was established in Raleigh, North Carolina in the 1960s, the Southern Conference Educational Fund was one of the main Southwide multi-racial coalitions that openly supported SNCC financially and politically. Names of lead ers like Joe Gelders, Jim Dombrowski, Aubrey Williams, Carl and Anne Braden, and Fred Shuttleworth were important farces that forged an essential part of the founda tion of the evolution o f the Southern free dom movement. Recently, in Birmingham, Ossie Davis rendered an emotional and captivating trib ute ceremony to all of those who had worked hard during the last 50 years in the South to keep the movement alive. From Ella Baker to Rose Parks, from Martin Luther King, Jr., to Fannie Lou Hamer to Mojeska Simp kins to Virginia Derr and from many, many others the legacy of the struggle in the South is one of caring and sacrifice, of joy and struggle and of winning people’s victo ries for justice and human freedom. While the list of all of the names of the persons who have given themselves to the struggle in the South is much too long to mention here, it is important that we pause to salute the thousands pf named and un named persons who have participated in the various struggles in the Southland of this nation. If there is to be a new South and if there is to be a new nation where economic and racial justice are realities for all citi zens then the one thing we have already learned is that the struggle must continue. And the struggle can only continue effec tively to the extent to which multi-racial and multi-generational grass roots move ments are organized, maintained and mobi lized. i *• !W