^>»4 • Portland Observer • March 14, 1994)
N ews A round T own
Will The "New" Immigration Destroy Blacks . . .
Certainly, we are able to detect a sense
of urgency in those who are increasingly
concerned over the devastating effect the
“ New Im m igration" may have upon an
already-disadvantaged mass of African
American citizens. But, almost ten years
ago I wrote the following for a national
publication, "T he Front Page“ , a news
organ of the Black United Front. Our
history has always held the key to both
an ticip atin g and formulating structured
challenged in respect to the economic prob
lems which for some reason or another
seem to catch so many of us by surprise.
“ N othing changes but the nam e o f the
g am e,’’ as we see here:
(excerpted from ' ‘Blacks and the New
Im m igrants", by McKinley Burt)
by use of restrictive covenants, mortgage
discrimination, disinvestment and violence,
Blacks have been forced into central city
ghettoes across the nation. Within these
‘Bantustans’ only whites (for the most part
first and second generation immigrants)
could obtain bank loans to finance business
Japanese
BLACKS AND THE
NEW IMMIGRANTS
During the past year there has appeared
in the Black press a rash of articles citing
the negative economic impact of Southeast
Asian and Caribbean emigration to the urban
centers of this country. The authors per
ceive as quite real the possibility that these
immigrants of color will cause the further
disintegration of an already precarious Black
economic situation.
Their concerns range from the compe
tition for increasingly fewer jobs at the
unskilled and semi-skilled level (a cate
gory where the bulk of our under 25 age
group is to be found)—to the rapid acquisi
tion of ‘small businesses' in Black neigh
borhoods (where the bulk of Black en
trepreneurship is found). If the prognosis is
correct. Blacks are facing the greatest
economic disaster of their post-slavery
experience. But it has happened before and
with almost point-to-point correspondence
with certain historical ‘Immigration Bench
m arks’ which I shall cite here.
Something has been said, I believe,
about the fate of ‘ ‘people who learn nothing
from history.” There may be readers who
think they are not threatened because of
their civil service or union status. But cer
tainly a number of economic events occur
ring under this administration should dis
abuse them of this false sense of security.
Daily media reports of layoffs, cutbacks
and outright abolition of large public agen
cies reveal that neither civil service or
union seniority qualifies as a “ safety net.”
It has been said that if white European
immigration had not been cut off by subma
rine warfare during the First World War
(1914-1918), Blacks wouldhave long since
joined the Indians on reservations. Already,
for the most part, were blacks granted fran
chises or distributorships for consumer goods
ranging from appliances to clothing, from
buggies/automobiles to hardware or jew
elry. These ‘perks’ were reserved by the
financial and industrial establishment for
the immigrants, and, through quotas and
blood line preferences, for successive gen
erations o f their relatives.
As a prologue and companion piece to
this scenario - the new slavery - we find
that with the period highlighted by the
257). We quote below:
"T h e demand for industrial labor, the
opening up of the west, and the disorgani
zation of the labor system of the South, all
led to official as well as unofficial efforts to
encourage immigration. Most Southern Stales
attempted to attract immigrants to take the
place of the negro worker, but uniformly
without success. In South Carolina a state
commissioner of agriculture was created
and a pamphlet advertising the attractions
of the stale published in several languages
and distributed widely throughout northern
Europe. See, FJ3. Simkins and R.H. Woody,
South Carolina During Reconstruction, p.
243 ff.
But the disclaimer, given above, " , . .
uniformly without success" is obviously
pure fiction as we know from experience
and the quote below from the "Shell
M anifesto” January 23, 1890 (Charleton
News and Courier).
"T h e peculiar situation now existing
in the state, requiring the united efforts of
every true white man to preserve white
supremacy and our very civilization even
has tended to ‘make permanent’ the condi
tion which existed before the war. Fear of a
division among us and consequent return of
a ‘negro rule has kept the people q u ie t. . . ”
The ‘immigration caper’ did not end
here. No sooner did the black Ninth and
Tenth Cavalry assist in "protecting’ west
ern railroad building from the Indians, than
we find the Union Pacific and other rail
roads establishing "Im m igration Offices”
in the key port cities of northern Europe.
They advertised for whites of “ good stock”
to come to America to occupy at little or no
cost the bountiful lands astride the new
transcontinental railroads-none for the
"B uffalo Soldiers.
It would seem a matter of the utmost
urgency that our leaders and national social
agencies address the current economic
problem before history indeed repeats it
self. A solution is far beyond the reach of
any ‘Affirmative Action’ plans, or similar
palliatives-and the Small Business Ad
ministration is fast on the way out. The only
thing that will help is massive economic
planning (and implementation, for a change)
by Blacks, for Blacks, and with Blacks.
That “ capitalization of Black buying power”
But this cruel and divisive American
social phenomenon did not begin here, but
was institutionalized by government be
ginning with the “ South Carolina Immi
gration Bill of 1866” (Commager, Docu
ments of American History, Document No.
we have always talked about will have to be
done; or else we may face in the new future
a poverty unforeseen in modem limes. There
was not room here to detail the more recent
course of American immigration policy. It
is not that good in th racial sense. For the
interested reader a very good overview is to
be gained from reading the September.
1966 issue of ‘The Annals of the American
Academy of Political and Social Science:
The New Immigration. Find at your public
or university library.
¡End o f article]
There are some very great dangers at
hand, in that Black America has been so late
(lax?) in addressing the present situation
with viable challenges and structured re-
sponses-not rhetoric! In addition to “ New
Immigration,” African-Americans are al
ready reeling under the assaults upon Af
firmative Action and Small Business set-
asides. And, generally, there is a rising tide
of racism on a nationwide scale. Disregard
ing all the documented evidence o f a con
tinued devastation inflicted by previous
wares of quota-directed immigration upon
a population that thought it was about to
enter the m elting pot of the good life -th e
PayLess/OCADA Distribute
Anti-Drug Books to Schools
Nearly 150,000 school children in
Oregon will soon be receiving valuable
instruction on how to say “ N O ” to drugs,
courtesy o f PayLess Drug Stores, the O re
gon Council on Alcoholism and Drug
Addiction (OCADA), and the Oregon
Department of Education.
In conjunction with National Drug
Awareness Week, March 4-10, every O re
gon public school student from kindergar
ten through third grade will receive a crea
tivity book with a strong anti-drug m es
sage. The book, created by PayLess, fea
tures the friendly dinosaur. Blue, who helps
children develop alternatives to drug use.
Harold P. Freeman, M.D., Immediate
Past-President of the American Cancer
Society, is Director of Surgery, Harlem
Hospital Center, New York City, and Pro
fessor o f Clinical Surgery, Columbia Uni
versity College of Physicians & Surgeons,
New York City.
Dr. Freeman will be in Portland on
March 15 and 16,1990. He will address the
Semi-Annual Board meeting of the Oregon
Division of the American Cancer Society at
6:30 p.m., on March 16, at the Oregon
Medical Association Building, 5210 SW
Corbett, Portland. Dr. Freeman will also
take a walking tour of some local health
care facilities that provide services for poor
Oregonians.
A native of Washington, D.C., Dr.
Freeman’s undergraduate and medical
PUBLIC NOTICE
The Portland Observer newspaper is owned
and operated solely by the Exie Publishing
Company of Portland, Oregon. Exie
Publishing Company has no affiliation with
any other publication in Oregon and the
public should be aware that any notices or
statements by parties or individuals claim
ing such affiliation is unauthorized.
Questions pertaining to the aforementioned
should be directed to the business office of
the Observer at 4747 N.E. Martin Luther
King Jr. Blvd., Portland, Oregon, 97211.
Telephone (503) 288-0033 or
FAX (503) 288-0015.
lems. The youth line numbers are (503)
233-1113 o r i (800)621-1646.
“ We liked the booklet,” commentea
Peggy Holstedt, Health Education and
Promotion Specialist for the Oregon De
partment of Education, “ because ¡(doesn't
just tell kids to say ‘no*. It also provides
skills on how to say no.”
The March distribution is a coopera
tive effort. PayLess is providing the books
and posters, OCADA is supplying teaching
aids, and the Oregon Department of Educa
tion is providing a listing of schools and
funding distribution of the materials.
roc
I
"W e have always been committed to
anti-drug education for all ages,” stated
PayLess Senior Vice President Doug McKee.
“ Considering how popular dinosaurs are
with young children, we felt this would be
an excellent vehicle for getting that mes
sage across.”
Others agree with his evaluation. “ The
book’s emphasis is on developing self-
awareness, self-responsibility, self-esteem
and problem solving skills in the context of
learning how to say no to alcohol and other
dangerous drugs,” stated Dr. Judith Albert,
Executive Director o f OCADA.
OCADA, a non-profit organization,
operates a statewide youth line, staffed by
youth so that young people can talk with
their peers about drug and alcohol prob-
PORTLAND
DEVELOPMENT
COMMISSION
Commission M eeting
Date: March 21,1990
Place: Portland Building
1120 SW Fifth Ave., 11th FI.
Portland, OR
Time: 9:30 a.m.
Commission meetings are open to
the public. A complete agenda is
available at PDC. Call 796-5300.
PDC is the City of Portland's urban
renewal and economic development
agency.
Congressman AuCoin
Accepting Academy
Applications for the four military service academies are now available
from the district office of Congressman Les AuCoin. AuCoin said that young
men and women desiring to attend the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy,
the Military Academy or the Merchant Marine Academy for the class that
enters July 1991 should complete applications now.
“ In the past I ’ve interviewed some top-notch men and women for these
nominations. ’' AuCoin said, ‘ ‘Oregon has much to be proudof in these talented
young nominees.”
Potential applicants should contact the Congressman’s office at 2701
NW Vaughn, Suite 860, Portland, OR 97210. Call 326-2901 or 1 (800) 422-
4003 for further questions.
majority populace is declaring “ you’ve
had too much assistance already! Q uotas
are wrong(?).” We note, too, that many of
the new immigrants are demanding their
share of quotas for scholarships and for
seats in the institutions o f higher learning.
/Save this article, the exam ination o f
this issue will be continued next week.]
Cancer Expert To
Appear In Portland
Chinese
(“ separate but equal” ) there came about a
very rapid loss of the few gains Blacks had
made since the Civil War. A case in point is
that where Blacks had begun to make some
gains in the skilled trades (Dubois, Fran
klin, Rudwick, Meier, et al), by the turn of
the century, the craft unions, burgeoning
with poor white Europeans, now voted the
blacks out, (Metal Trades, Plumbers, O per
ating Engineers and Northern Building
Trades). And with the advent of the A.F.L.—
American Federation of Labor-lhere came
the exclusionary clause in these unions:
“ For White Males O nly.”
(Continued from Front Page)
Try-Me Cleaners
806 N.E. Dekum
289-1885
degrees were both earned in that city. His
undergraduate degree (A.aB.) is from The
Catholic University of America. He studied
medicine at Howard University Medical
School and he took his internship andsurgi-
cal residency at the Howard University
Hospital. Then he spent three years as Senior
resident in Surgery at Memorial Sloan-
Kettering Hospital in New York City.
Since 1977, Dr. Freeman has been active
in both the New York City Division of the
American Cancer Society and the national
organization. He has served on the national
level as Chair of the National Advisory
Committee on Cancer in the Socioecon
omically Disadvantaged, Chair of th M edi
cal andScicntific Executive Committee, and
a member of the Executive Committee of
the Board of Directors.
OMSl Brings
“Amazing
Whales” To
Boise/Eliot
Elementary
On Monday, March 26, 1990-OMSI
Outreach staff will present the traveling
programs Kiddie Chemistry, from 9:00 to
10:00 a.m., and Amazing Whales from
10:00 to 11:00 a.m. to second and third
grade students at Boise/Eliot Elementary,
620 N. Fremont in Portland.
In Kiddie chemistry students perform
actual experiments as they study mixtures,
compounds, and chemical reactions involv
ing changes in color, temperature, and states
of matter.
“ Amazing W hales" takes a close look
at whales, porpoises, and dolphins. Stu
dents examine and touch a whale skull and
baleen; compare their size to that of three
different whales; learn to identify species
found along the West Coast; and discuss
communication, feeding, behavior, and
population status of these amazing m am
mals. T hey'll have an opportunity to step
inside O M SI's life-size, blowup whale!
OMSl Outreach lakes programs through
out the Northwest, ranging from overnight
field experiences and camps to exciting
classroom lectures and demonstrations to
adult education and teacher training, ful
filling O M SI's commitment to providing
science enrichment to Oregon and the en
tire region.
Boise/Eliot Elementary in Portland hosts
OMSl Outreach on Monday, March 26,
beginning at 9:00 a m For further inform a
tion on Outreach programs, call OMSl at
(503) 222-2828
Professional Alteration
& Dry Cleaning
(Prompt, Courteous Service W ith SI Smile!!
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NORTHEAST PORTLAND
Maranatha Church
4222 N.E. 12th
(Enter on Skidmore)
Temple Baptist Church
Sat 9:30 a.m.
1319 N.E. 17th
NORTH PORTLAND
Rlvergate Community Church
4737 N. Lombard St.
T ubs . 7:00 p.m.
Fireside Room
Tillamook Park Bldg.
Tuesday 12:00 Noon
2108 N.E. 41st Ave.
(Brown Bag Lunch Class)
Mon. 7:00 p.m.
Tues. 7:00 p.m.
Wed. 9:30 a.m. A 5:00 p.m.
Thurs. 7:00 p.m.
Fri. 9:30 a m.
University of Portland
5000 N. Willamette Blvd.
Columbia Hall
(Enter frobi Portsmouth)
Wed. 5:00 p.m.
W K H i ir r W A T C H E M S Isa registered trade mark o f W eight Watchers Internatlustal. Itse.
C 1«9t) Weight W atrhere International, Inc. 21*90-100
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