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Page 2-- The Portland Observer-November 7,1990
IM Il
SENATE SUSTAINING CIVIL
RIGHTS VETO
By Professor McKinley Burt
BY PROFESSOR MCKINLEY BURT
"Good Faith
Efforts":
There Are
Some!
For awhile there I thought I
might be coming down too hard on some
of our leaders and organizations who,
embarrassingly, have not provided their
black constituents with that level of
competency in the communications and
record-keeping interface delivered by
many establishment organizations-who
have had no more monies or member­
ship to “ play” with.
On the other hand, I will say
that the top five black magazine pub­
lishers have demonstrated a more than
“ good faith” effort to utilize the most
modem and efficient electronic systems
available to service their readership. A
thought may occur to y o u -if they don’t
perform their tasks in an effective man­
ner, they will lose their subscribers and
their business. Is this what is happening
in the “ social marketplace” where mem-
bership in some o f our most hallowed
organizations has either fallen dramati­
cally, or has failed to increase propor­
tionally with population? Has it become
too difficult to deal with them--even
locally?
We know for a fact from per­
sonal experience that many of our na­
tional black social organizations (and
local) do not provide us with many of
the contemporary amenities that are
currently generated by computer and
data processing systems: various ac­
knowledgements, forms and advices for
address changes, standard “ change no­
tices” for meetings, seminars and the
like-not to mention “ financial reports” .
When 1 open my mail (or don’t get any),
the first thing I think is, man, even with
my limited resources 1 do better than
this. What in the heck is their excuse?
I reflect upon this lack of struc­
ture (caring?) when 1 visit the business
section of the public library. I’m still
trying to learn as much as possible about
a difficult and increasingly technical
world. But, here, you will find very few
blacks-and on some given days, NONE
AT ALL! What you will find there, in
addition to the usual number of whites,
is a host of energetic ethnics busily
exploring, examining and assessing every
facet of commerce and communication.
Though busy pushing my own learning
curve, I always find time to talk with
people. The patrons range from stu­
dents, housewives planning a business
venture to successful executives and
owners from both the private and public
sectors-all trying to increase the viabil­
ity of their enterprise.
Now, given these FREE data
banks of vital information found in every
major city in the country, what, possi­
bly, could be the excuse of those of us
who are still failing to effectively com ­
municate and interface in this modem
world? O f equal moment is the growing
trend in communications toward “ en­
hancement of the image” ,GRAPHICS!
As with our newspaper, the marketing
presentation (advertisement or text)
increasingly employs the computer to
add eye-catching excitement to the pres­
entation. Do you still get those dull so-
so communications from your social or­
ganization, predicating your interest upon
loyalty-or upon long lists of names pref­
aced by so manypHDs you’d think you
were dealing with a hospital.
We hope things get better. For
the enhancement of my educational
products, trademarks, packaging and so
forth, I’ve engaged the services of a
young graphic design firm that is mak­
ing its mark. I can ’t afford not to -n o r do
I think that others can fail to do so. For
the same reason I am upscaling my
video presentations and shopping local
independent television studios for the
best-appointed facilities for tele-confer­
ence hookups, local or to Eastern School
Districts. Again, readers who are deter­
mined to upscale their business opera­
tions should get down to that public
library for a start.
I S Ä ® « «
Upcoming Community Events/Meetings
MEETINGS
November 12-Humboldt Neighborhood
Association. 7:30 p.m., Humboldt School,
4906 N. Gantenbein.
November 12-Eliot Neighborhood As-
sociation. 7:00 p.m., Eliot Energy
House, 3116 N. Williams.
November 20-Northeast Coalition of
Ncighborhoods. 7:00 p.m., King Facil-
ity, 4815 NE 7th.
November 26-Sabin Neighborhood As-
sociation. 7:30 p.m., Sabin School,
4013 NE 18th.
EVENT
November 27-King Improvement As-
sociation. 7:00 p.m„ King Facility, 4815
NE 7th.
November 29-PiedmontNeighborhood
Association. 7:30p.m ., Holy Redeemer
School, 127 N. Portland Blvd.
November 29-Vernon Neighborhood As-
sociation. 7:30 p.m. Vernon School,
2044 NE Killingsworth.
November 29-Grant Park Neighborhood
Association. 7:30 p.m„ Femwood Middle
School, 1915 NE 33rd.
BPN Helps Unite Community with
’’First Friday” at Lyon’s
tX
Black Professional Network is proud to bring to Portland First Friday, an
opportunity for Portland’s Black Community to come together after work and
network with each other. This Friday, November second, first Friday will be held
at Lyon’s Restaurant, 1215 N.E. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., from 5 to 7:30 p.m.
Come on down and meet your peers and bring plenty of business cards.
Further, there will be special donation collection to benefit the Black United Fund
o f Oregon.
Remember, starting with the first Friday in November, every first Friday
of the Month, will be Networking Night afterwork at Lyon’s Restaurants.
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CREED OF THE BLACK PRESS
Tbe Black Press believes that America can best lead the world away from social and
naUunai antagonisms when It accords to every person, regardless of race, color, or
creed, full human and legal rights. Hating no person, fearing no person, the Black
Press strives to help every person In the firm belief that all arc hurt as long as anyone
Is held back.
PRINCE HALL GRAND
CHAPTER O.E.S.
BAKE SALE
Masonic Hall 116 N.E. Russell St.
Portland
Saturday, November 10, 1990.
From 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Pound cakes, Coconut cakes, Sweet Potato
pies. Lemon pies, E.T.C. Apple Pies
and all kinds of breads
J.M. Hastings Chairperson.
roc
PORTIANI)
lÆVFJ/lPMfNT
Commission Meeting
Date: November 14, 1990
Place: Portland Building
1120 SW Fifth Ave., 11th FI.
Portland, OR
Time: 930 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.
Natural Gas
Rates Drop
P O R TL
ERVER
(USPS 959-680)
OREGON'S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLICATION
Established in 1970
Alfred L. Henderson
Publisher
Gary Ann Garnett
Business Manager
Joyce Washington
Operations Manager
Leon Harris
Editorial Manager
The PORTLAND OBSERVER is
published weekly by
Exie Publishing Company, Inc.
4747 N.E. M.L.K., Jr. Blvd.
Portland, Oregon 97211
P.O. Box 3137
Portland, Oregon 97208
(503) 288-0033 (Office)
FAX#: (503) 288-0015
Deadlines for all submitted materials:
Articles: Monday, 5 p.m. -- Ads: Tuesday, 5p.m.
PO STM ASTER: Sand Addraaa C h an g «* to: P o rtland Observer, P.O. Box 3137,
Portland, OR 97208. Second class postage paid at Portland, Oregon
The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions Manuscripts and photo­
graphs should be clearly labled and will be returned if accompanied by a seif addressed
envelope All created design display ads become the sole property of this newspaper and
can not be used in other publications or personal usage, without the written consent of the
general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition ot such ad 1990
PO RTLAND O BSERVER ALL RIG H TS RESERVED, REPRO DUCTION IN WHOLE
O R IN PART W ITH O U T PERM ISSIO N IS PROHIBITED
Subscriptions: $20 00 per year in the Tri-Countyarea; $ 25 00 all other areas
The Portland Observer-- Oregon's Oldest African-American Publication - is a member
of The National Newspaper Association - Founded in 1885, and The National Advertis­
ing Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc., New York. NY
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The Oregon Public Utility
Commission's approval of Northwest
Natural Gas Company’s rate decrease
signals that residential and commercial
natural gas rates arc not subject to wild
price increases and should remain stable
for the foreseeable future.
Northwest Natural’s residential
rates dropped about 1.6 percent on Nov.
1, for a savings of about 68 cents per
month for the average hearing customer.
Commercial rates will decrease about
2.2. percent. The decrease is due to
changes in the cost of natural gas and
technical rate adjustments.
“ The importance of this rare
decrease is it demonstrates that natural
gas prices continue to be stable,” said
Doug Yocom, spokesman for northwest
Natural Gas. “ There were some who
thought natural gas would rise at the
same rate as oil prices and that has not
been the case."
Northwest Natural’s rates cur­
rently are as low as they were in 1982.
Since that time, rates have remained
fairly flat, Yocom explained. The latest
rate decrease is primarily due to the net
impact of pipeline refunds, prior years’
gas cost savings, and costs associated
with the transition of the company’s
piplcline supplier to pcn-acccss trans­
portation since 1988.
Yocum said that the utility’s
new gas supply agreements will ensure
low rates throughout the coming heating
season.
The fact that the effort to override
President Bush’s veto of the Civil Rights
Act of 1990 failed by only one vote,
clearly indicates the overwhelming sup­
port he measure has in Congress.
This was a sad day for our nation
and its professed principles. For the first
time in our history an American Presi­
dent, vetoed a major civil rights bill, and
Congress sustained that veto.
With our young men and women,
many of them African American, at risk
in the Persian Gulf; with our budget
process in a shambles, and with david
Duke undoubtedly gloating in the Senate
gallery as he watched the vote, what type
of message have we sent to the rest of the
world that looks to us for moral leader­
ship?
How ironic it is, that when the
monumental civil rights acts of the 1960s
were enacted, Southern Democrats were
the principal stumbling blocks and many
Republicans were on the side of right
Now, all of the Democrats, from
whatever state, voted for this civil rights
act, while only 11 Republicans out of 45
chose to stand with fairness and justice.
We are disappointed, but this is far
from being a closed issue. When the new
Congress convenes in January, the Civil
Rights Act will be back and so will we.
More African-Americans will be the
victims of the drug crisis in our cities in
the next decade than the total number of
Americans killed during the war in
Vietnam. An epidemic of violence and
death is literally wiping out an entire
geneation o f young Black people. To
understand this massive destruction of
humanity, we have to understand the
historical evolution of drugs in the Black
community, and the political and social
factors behind the crack crisis.
Before th 1970s, drugs such asd heroin
and marijuana had been widely avail­
able in the African-American commu­
nity. No law enforcement pressure to
check this traffic occurred, because its
victims were not white or middle class.
As cocaine was introduced and mar­
keted, it evolved as the drug of choice
for wealthier addicts, and soon became
prevalent among upper class whites. By
the early 1980s, most researchers esti­
mated that the num berof drug addicts in
the U.S. was one half million. About 40
percent of this number were african-
Amcricans.
The narcotics problem intensified with
the introduction and marketing of the
cocaine product “ crack” , which was
created by the domestic and interna­
tional drug cartels to reach lower in­
come people. It was inexpensive to
obtain, usually less than five dollars per
“ rock” , smokable and an efficient
method of cocaine consumption. Physi­
cally, its impact upon consumers was
highly addictive. Characteristics of
habitual crack users include hyperactiv­
ity, paranoia, psychotic and extremely
violent behavior. Crack addicts neglected
family responsibilities, would steal prop­
erty and money form neighbors and
friends, or engage in overtly criminal
activities, in order to maintain their crack
dependency.
The full social costs o f the crack explo­
sion are still difficult to measure. The
majority of cocaine consumers were
middle class whites, not racial minori­
ties. However, the consequences of
drug dependency for the more privi­
leged social classes are far less severe
than for people of color. Health care
programs for professionalsd routinely
provide drug treatment facilities and
programs, often on an outpatient basis,
permitting recovering assicts to main­
tain their regular employmenL The legal
system emphasizes rehabilitation rather
than punishment for white, middle class
first offenders.
Conversely, the elaborate, paternalistic
social infrastructure for the majority of
whites ceses to exist for African-Ameri­
cans, Latinos, and poor white people.
Crack addiction to them means unem­
ployment, the loss of one’s savings and
personal property, and social disrup­
tion. In New York City alone, for in­
stance, there were only 35,000 rsiden-
tial treatment openings last year for an
estimated 250,000 intravenous drug users
in the city. Between 1986 and 1988, the
number of newborn infants testing posi­
The U.S. Small Business Admini­
stration and the service corps of retired
executives (SCORE) are jointly present­
ing “ A Beginning Business Workshop”
on Thursday, November 15,1990 (8:30
am to 4:30 pm). It is especially recom­
mended for those thinking o f starting
their own business, or those new in busi­
ness. The workshop will be held at the
World Trade Center Auditorium, (WTC
II) 25 S.W. Salmon Avenue-downtown
Portland. Pre-registration is required. Fee:
$20.00. Please Call (503) 326-5211.
The theme of the workshop is
“ Getting Started Right” . It is taught by
a lineup of practicing CPA ’s and At-
tomies, business consultants and SBA
staff. You get their input on success and
failure factors, marketing, record keep­
ing, making your business plan, sales
promotion/advertising, point of sale sell­
ing, SBA loans, and selecting the right
legal structure for your business. A ques­
tion and answer period follows each
presentation. Participants geta free busi­
ness information kit.
Come learn with the experts at the
least cost in time and money. You get the
most useable information for getting
started right.
tive for drugs increased 400 percent;
more than two thirds of New Y ork City’s
child neglect and abuse reports involved
adults who were drug users.
The most destructive byproduct o f the
crack crisis in the Black community,
however, is violence. The marketing
and distribution of crack cocaine was
seized largely by urban youth gangs,
which were attracted by the drug’s high
profitability. To ensure control over
local markets, the gangs became aggres­
sive, purchasing large amounts of weap­
ons, eliminating potential rival gangs,
recruiting children to sell drugs in school
grounds to their peers.
Why, despite the allocation of billions
of dollars, haven’t law enforcement
agencies made a real dent in the crack
explosion? Maybe the answer to this
question is so obvious that no one wants
to admit it. The drug explosion could
not occur in most cities without the
participation of key elements of the white
business, legal and criminal justice sys­
tem. As of 1989, the drug economy
within the U.S. was estimated at $150
billion. Banks have been involved in
laundering drug money; hundreds of white
attorneys have become wealthy by de­
fending drug dealers on a regular basis.
The drug traffic has become a method of
justifying police misconduct and rou­
tine violations of civil rights within the
Black community. The drug explosion
won’t stop unless we examine its rela­
tionship with the most powerful elites of
our society.
NEARLY ONE-THIRD OF ALL BLACK AMERICANS WHO
DIED IN ’87 WOULD HAVE SURVIVED IF THEY HAD
SAME HEALTH CARE AS WHITES, NEW DATA REVEALS
Nearly one-third of ail black Ameri­
cans who died in 1987 would have sur­
vived if they “ lived under the same
health conditions as whites,’' reveal new
calculations done for AMERICAN
HEALTH magazine working with the
National Center For Health Statistics
(NCHS).
Harold Freeman, M.D., who co-
authored a study of black mortality rates
in Harlem, agrees. He adds in a special
report in the current (November) issue of
AMERICAN HEALTH, ‘ ‘And that’s on
top of the fact that some of the white
deaths shouldn’t occur, because there
are a lot of poor white people who are
dying as well.’’
The following data, indicating the
degree by which the death rate for blacks
exceeds that of whites for several lead­
ing causes of death, was prepared by
AMERICAN HEALTH working the
NCHS:
Accidents...24%
higher
higher
Stroke...82%
Cancer...32%
higher
Diabetes...132%
higher
Heart Disease...38%
higher
higher
Kidney failure... 176%
higher
liver disease...77%
Homicidc/policc...5(X)% higher
W hat’s killing the black population
in such numbers? The report notes the
“ hazards of drugs and violence take an
awful toll on the young...The chief killer
of young black men nationwide is gun­
fire. But these killers arc more than
matched by the fact that cancer, cardio­
vascular disease, diabetes and just about
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History has taught us that at times we
must be patient, and in this instance we
will mix patience with a fresh resolve to
make this measure veto-proof in the next
Congress.
We know that President Bush was
ill served by those advisors who coun­
seled him to veto this measure. They
manufactured the myth that this was a
quota bill, which it was not. In so doing,
they were guilty o f implying that this
measure would benefit only blacks, when
in truth the bill covered a wide spectrum
of people, the majority o f whom are
women.
This is even more paradoxical given
that every major black advisor coun­
seled President Bush to sign the meas­
ure.
This was a bill that would protect
the rights of all people in the workplace.
It was a bill for all Americans. Its defeat
must raise some doubt as to the Admini­
stration’s commitment to live up to its
pledge of “ kinder, gentler” nation.
Gn behalf of the NAACP, I will be
in immediate contact with a wide range
of groups, to determine how best to express
our outrage at the veto. Our discussions
will most assuredly include the possibil­
ity of a major demonstration in Wash­
ington.
A SBA/SCORE
WORKSHOP ON HOW
TO START YOUR OWN
BUSINESS
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every other disease you can think of hits things: First, we can point out the dispar­
blacks much harder than whites."
ity to our colleagues, and caution doctors
In addition to the great cost in human to be aware of the problem. Second, we
suffering, this “ glaring failure in one need to reform the Medicaid system, to
part of our health care system ultimately ensure appropriate and necessary care
affects the amount we all pay for medi­ for all. And third, the AMA is trying to
cal care,: states the special report. “ A design parameters of care for various
man with untreated hypertension who specialties that will be applicable to all
ends up on dialysis; a low-birth-weight patients.”
baby placed in the neonatal intensive
care unit; a woman with poorly con­
Dr. Uwc Reinhardt, a political econo­
trolled diabetes who becomes blind-all mist at Princeton University’s Woodrow
represent a great cost...in health care Wilson School o f Public and Interna­
dollars.”
tional Affairs, believes providing decent
Before you can look for solutions, health care for all Americans * * would be
states Dr. Freeman, the director of sur­ child’s play. The AMA itself now be­
gery for Harlem Hospital, “ It’s critical moans a growing surplus of physicians,
to separate the meaning of race, culture and our hospitals run at an average occu­
and class.” He believes very little of the pancy rate of 65%. Thus, the needed real
excess black mortality rate is due to resources are already in place,” and are
genetic racial factors. However, he points largely financed by insured patients.
out, “ People of the same race tend to
have a different diet, and a different
Dr. Lonnie Bristow, who was the
tendency to seek medical help." Then first black president of the American
there’s class. “ One-third of black Ameri­ Society of Internal Medicine and is now
cans are poor, and one-third of Ameri­ a trustee of the AMA, calls for “ a three­
cans who are poor arc black,” says Free­ pronged effort. We need more minority
man. “ Poor people tend to be less edu­ physicians, well, trained, to provide health
cated, have higher unemployment, live care in minority communities...The
in substandard conditions. Race is a factor, benefits of such a program are obvious.
but the strongest indicator of high mor­ Second we need to improve efforts that
tality and premature death is poverty.” strengthened minority families and
Dr. Richard McMurray, chairman communities. “ Finally,” he tells AMERI­
of the American medical Association CAN HEALTH, ‘ ‘we need to make health
(AMA) Council on Ethical and Judicial care more affordable for more Ameri­
Affairs, notes, * ‘Surveys of black Ameri­ cans.” The federal government, he be­
cans indicate that they feel they have lieves, should extend Medicaid programs
more difficulty entering the health care to cover all people below the poverty
system. We, as physicians, can do three level.
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