a8e -
I he Portland Observer-August 21,1991
Launching an Independent Campaign for
President: The Road Ahead
In order io reach a final decision
about an independent campaign for
President there are a number o f critical
tasks w hich remain on the road ahead.
W e m ust continue to consolidate our
base in the A frica n American commu­
n ity w hile simultaneously intensifying
the essential outreach to a range o f
constituencies outside o f the Black
com m unity. As it relates to the African
Am erican base, 1 am supporting the
ca ll fo r a national conference on inde­
pendent Black politics. Tentatively
scheduled fo r November 22-24, 1991
in W ashington D C., this conference is
designed to achieve a consensus on an
independent strategy fo r '92 including
an assessment o f a Black led independ­
ent presidential campaign. A resolu­
tion to support the Campaign for a New
Tom orrow coming out o f this confer­
ence w ould be a ma.ior boost fo r a Ron
Daniels for President independent
campaign in 1992.
D uring the Exploratory phase
(October 1991 - March 1992), we w ill
intensify the drive to incorporate a broad
range o f constituencies into this effort.
The equitable inclusion o f people o f
color is the first p rio rity - Native
Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans,
Arab Americans and other people o f
color. Each community o f color w ill
have the right to form their own caucus.
Each com m unity w ill also be repre­
sented in the leadership structure o f the
Exploratory Committee. Women, youth,
lesbian and gay, environmentalist, peace
activist, and labor w ill also be incorpo-
. -rated into the structure w ith the right to
; form caucuses. The objective is to build
a pow erful coalition which reflects the
interests and agendas o f the masses o f
poor and w orking people and the pro­
gressive movement in this country. The
Campaign fo r a New Tom orrow must
be seen as the foundation for the third
force (Independent p olitical organiza­
tion) which w ill emerge as an out­
growth o f the independent presidential
campaign.
Orgam zing/building a strong base
o f locatystate Exploratory Committee
structures w ill also be a critical task
during this phase, fifteen states have
been targeted as priority states to be o r­
ganized by March o f ’92 - Massachu­
setts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl­
vania. Mary land, D istrict o f Columbia,
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida,
Louisiana, M issouri, C alifornia, I l l i ­
nois, Michigan, and Ohio. The second
level o f targeted states includes V ir ­
ginia, North Carolina, M ississippi,
Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, and
possibly Alabama. We w ill utilize our
lim ited resources to concentrate on the
p rio rity states first and then broaden
the organizing to develop structures in
the second tier o f targeted states and
other states as the interest develops.
Local/state organizations w ill be
responsible for collecting the neces­
sary signatures to secure ballot status,
outreach to constituencies and recruit­
ment, leadership training and develop­
ment, voter registration and voter edu­
cation, indentifying critical local/state
issues and developing local/state or­
ganizations must also decisively dem­
onstrate the capacity to raise the basic
financial resources required to mount
an effective campaign. W ithout the
capacity to muster the human and f i ­
nancial resources it w ill be impossible
to move forward.
When we have satisfactorily dealt
with these vital tasks then we w ill know
that it is feasibility to run a independent
presidential campaign. The current
timetable is to make a form al declara­
tion o f candidacy in March o f ’ 92 to
coincide w ith the 20th Anniversary o f
the historic Gary National Black P o liti­
PIVOT Teen Parent Graduation
On July 26, eight teen parents
graduated from PIVOT: NEW CHANCE
at its second graduation ceremony at
Monroe School, 2508 N.E. E verett
P IV O T is a comprehensive job
training program dedicated to empow­
ering teen parents w ith personal and
professional development skills to aid
¡in breaking the welfare cycle.
Eight teen parents, ages 17-21
graduated as program completers in the
Business and Clerical occupation. Seven
!graduated as GED completers this quar-
;ter.
Both moms and babies were adorned
jn graduation hats to celebrate their
¡achievements. Families, friends and
com m un ity supporters were invited.
;
P IV O T ’ S firs t graduation was held
«April 30. O f those 13, four were en­
ro lle d in college fu ll time and seven
were employed or have employer com ­
mitments. “ I am very proud o f all my
students,” said Street, Project D irec­
tor. “ I would rather work in partner­
ship with others to make a difference
today than w ait until tomorrow...and, I
would much rather have my students
standing in a graduation line rather
than an employment line.” P IV O T ’ s
committed staff is determined to help
their students make a difference in
their lives and the lives o f their c h il­
dren.
PIV O T is one o f 17 demonstration
sites around the county implementing
the New Chance M odel as developed
by Manpower Demonstration Research
Corporation. Other funding partners
include Job Corps, the Oregon Depart­
ment o f Human Resources, Meyer
M em orial Trust, Multnomah County
Youth Program O ffice and the Oregon
Student Retention Initiative.
cal Convention.
It is im portant to note here that the
Campaign for a New Tom orrow w ill
be a campaign/crusade unlike any cam­
paign conducted in recent history. First
o f all we envision a Native American
woman as our Vice President and run­
ning mate. There w ill aiso be a Pro­
gressive Cabinet as an integral compo­
nent o f the campaign. Leading pro­
gressive activists w ill f ill posts in the
Cabinet, eg. Housing and Urban De­
velopment, Health and Human Serv­
ices, Environmental Protection, La­
bor, etc. and articulate the position o f
the campaign in their respective cabin
areas. The concept here is to focus on
a movement, not just the presidential
and vice-presidential candidates.
Finally, the Campaign for a New
Tom orrow w ill convene a National
Progressive Convention in August o f
1992 after the Democratic and Repub­
lican National Conventions. The Pro­
gressive Convention w ill lay out a
analysis o f the current crises in the
U.S. and offer our vision o f a new
America. And the convention w ill adopt
a platform designed to move the nation
towards that vision o f the new Am er­
ica. Delegates to the convention w ill
be elected from the local/states organi­
zations w ithin the Campaign for a New
Tomorrow w ith allowances for repre­
sentation from local, state, and na­
tional progressive organizations and
agencies.
The Campaign fo r a New Tom or­
row has the potential to ignite a mass
movement to fig ht fo r fundamental
change and new society in the U.S. It is
time fo r the masses o f Black people,
other people o f color and poor and
w orking people to amass the power to
fu lfill the u n fu lfille d American revo­
lution, to finish the unfinished democ­
racy.
T A.
A . ak V A
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Foster Grandparent
Program
Host Annual Picnic
The Foster Grandparent Program,
part o f M etropolitan Fam ily Service’ s
Senior Opportunities D ivision, a non­
p ro fit agency, matches older adults on
limited incomes with special needs chil­
dren throughout the tri-county area public
schools, day care centers and hospital
settings. Foster grandparents help chroni­
cally i ll infants, disabled school age
children and teen parents. Benefits for
their caring efforts include a tax free
stipend, transportation costs and a daily
meal. Futhermore, foster grandparents
throughout the year are recognized for
their achievements w ith children such
as through an annual picnic.
The annual picnic this year w ill
feature American Indian cultural dances
and food, a way to “ B uild Better
Bridges” in our comm unity.
The picnic w ill begin at 10:00 am
and lasts u ntil 3:00 pm at Laurelhurst
Park, Section B, August 23,1991.
Reading, Writing And Rapping
As the 1991-92 school year ap­
proaches, a number o f us w ill be ex­
pressing concern about the abilities o f
our youth to either express or record
their thoughts - or to interpret the
thoughts o f others as the w ritten word.
This holds true for parents and teachers
alike, not to mention many o f the youth
themselves.
I do not know how many readers
remember that some years ago, I wrote
that " A L L IS L A N G U A G E - novels,
poetry, texts, speech, and even M A T H E ­
M ATIC S and SCIENCES like C H E M ­
ISTRY, but, it has been held, too, that
V IS U A L IM AG E S are also a language,
and we would not deny that as we re­
flect upon the current m odifications o f
our culture through television. We also
have the 'two-stage' process where those
who are extremely gifted with words
are seen to use them to create powerful
‘ visual images’ in the minds o f the
reader or listener. We include the black
poets, preachers, and ‘ rappers’ .
The African and the African Am eri­
can have shown through the m illenium s
that they have special g ifts fo r all these
modes o f expression. What I wish to
convey today is a reassurance to those I
spoke o f in the first paragraph - parent,
teacher, student -- that we can win this
struggle to secure an effective educa­
tion process for our children. But in
order to do this we are going to have to
EDUCATE OURSELVES! Specifically,
we need to deal w ith some m odifica­
tions o f the learning process that have
occurred since W orld W ar II. Today I
have selected an example which may
Alfred L. Henderson
Joyce Washington
Publisher
Operations Manager
Gary Ann Garnett
Business Manager
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mg Representative Amalgamated Publishers. In c , New York, NY.
violence.
Sincerely,
Robert Phillips
Chair, Oregon Commision
on Black A ffairs
We call for s w ift and immediate
police action at a ll levels to stop the
violence in N.E. Portland, we call upon
all com m unity and religious leaders to
come together fo r the purpose o f ad­
dressing this long term problem, and
we o ffe r the fu ll support o f our O ffice
to coordinate and to act as a conduit
towards bringing the gang problem in
this c ity to an end.
The violence caused by black males
against each other must stop, and we
call fo r the immediate ending o f the
Among birds, only the owl can de­
tect the color blue, experts say
United Airlines
PORTL
4
Are • The • Proud • Sponsors • Of
Reinvestments
Community
Education is Top Priority
KANSAS CITY, MO — The
National School Boards Asso­
ciation today called upon the
Republican Party to give “ the
highest” priority to education
in its 1988 national Platform.
In testimony before the Re­
publican Platform Committee in
Kansas City, Mo., NSBA Presi­
dent Leonard Rovins declared
that "education is the key to
our progress as a nation and as
a free people.” He warned that
the "world is quickly becoming
more technological and more
competitive.” This results in
"a much more dangerous and
precarious position for any na­
tion that fails to value and build
Ils commitment to the next gen­
eration of citizens,” he said.
To safeguard democracy, en­
sure individual achievement and
strengthen the nation from with­
in, Rovins said, requires a
"national commitment to pro­
vide full educational opportunity
for all citizens, regardless of
race, sex, or ethnic back­
ground.”
To achieve these goals, the
NSBA president urged that the
federal government increase Its
support for elementary and sec­
ondary education In eight major
areas, as follows:
• International competition —
Provide resources for the full
Integration of technology into
education, generously support
curriculum improvement In
areas needed for international
Wyden and FBI Hold
Briefing on the
Growing Problem of
Asian Gangs and
Organized Crime
Congressman Wyden and Danny
Coulson, head o f Portland’ s FBI office,
w ill hold a press briefing at the local
FBI headquarters, 1500 SW First, on
August 16 at 10:30 a.m „ to discuss how
Asian organized crime is a major factor
behind the alarming increase o f crime
and gang violence in Portland’ s Asian
community.
The F B I has seen evidence o f in ­
creased immigration o f organized crime
members from Hong Kong and Taiwan
to the West Coast. Recent reports have
shown that crimes such as extortion,
illegal gam bling, prostitution, violent
home invasions, physical assault and
murder have victim ized the Asian
com m unity and are on the rise.
Coulson and Wyden w ill outline
steps that the federal government w ill
be putting into place in Portland to
combat the problem.
A lso jo in in g them w ill be Paul
Duong, refugee coordinator for the C ity
o f Portland, and Assistant C hief Wayne
Inman from the Portland Police Bu­
reau.
A question and answer session w ill
follow .
/ \
} I
competition, and invest In the
w orkforce through 'second
chance' programs for young
people and Increased adult
literacy programs.
• Equal opportunity — Provide
adequate funding to carry out
federal mandates in providing
equal educational opportunities,
and concentrate research and
policy efforts on goals that
benefit all students.
• Technology — Underwrite and
evaluate software development
In the schools, conduct re­
search on the effects of tech­
nology on classroom instruc­
tion, support a satellite-based
education service, and support
teacher training and model pro­
grams In the use6 of Instruc­
tional technology.
• Teachers — Establish Incen­
tive programs to attract teachers
to schools with the most severe
staffing problems, help improve
teacher training especially in
critical subject areas, and sup­
plement reward programs for
outsfanding teachers.
• At-risk students — Increase
federal funding for programs tar­
geted 'at students with special
needs, Initiate literacy programs
for at-risk youth and their par­
ents, and develop new programs
for dropouts and youth with
limited English-speaking ability.
• Rural education — Provide
federal funding tor an expanded
curriculum in vocational educa­
tion, Drovlde lor qreater inter-
agency coordination, and sup­
port research In Innovative uses
of technology in rural areas.
• Urban .education — Expand
early childhood education for
the neediest, provide funding
for expanded use of school
buildings by urban families, and
develop policies that encourage
intergovernmental support.
• F ederal
le a d e rs h ip —
Strengthen federal research and
dissemination of research find­
ings, provide resources to im­
prove school instruction and
teacher training in critical sub­
ject areas, and provide supple­
mental funding for needed
capital improvements.
Rovins, who is a school board
member In Westport, Conn.,
said the school board associa­
tion's recommendations would
require "a minimum federal in­
vestment of $25 billion a year."
Bu, he said that Is a modest
amount compared to the "com ­
pelling" needs. He pointed out
that federal expenditures for ed­
ucation between 1981 and 1987
increased only $2 billion, or just
one-half of one percent.
The NSBA president also re­
quested that "the next President
appoint a White House coun­
selor for education, who can
help establish education as a
high priority and who can help
the Secretary ol Education co­
ordinate federal education
policies and agencies.
"Reinvestments in the Community" is a weekly column appearing
in API publications through out the USA
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We are told o f knowledge not only
as “ datum, knowhow, pedantry, art,
study, discipline, e rudition” and the
like (all w ith appropriate subtext), but
we are moved through the ‘ pages’ into
related ideas in the same format;
‘ ‘Thought, Idea, Reasoning, In tu itio n ”
and so forth. We are told o f the “ intel­
lectual, the well-learned, the classicist,
and the b ib lio p h ile .” And we learn o f
‘ ‘ innermost thoughts, train o f thoughts,
pensive, cogitate, meditate, peruse,
ponder, logic (Aristotelean, Sym bolic,
Boolean), premise, proposition and
deduction.”
In other words, here we fin d the
pursuit o f a word or concept leads to a
wondrous journey and learning experi­
ence. Where previously you m ight have
written a sentence or two on some sub­
ject, you now regret that there is not
enough space for your surging thoughts
and comprehension o f the subject at
hand. Just think o f how the m ind o f the
student would be expanded as he per­
ceives what he previously took to be a
simple (or dull) concept to actually consist
o f a whole sphere o f related ideas w ith
ram ifications extending throughout
human experience. He (or she) could
very w ell be put on the road to becom­
ing a scholar, ‘ ‘poet, preacher or rap­
per.”
Next week there w ill be more on
this ‘good book’ . Again, the title is
‘ ‘Roget’s International Thesaurus, Fourth
E dition.” It can be obtained at the L o o k­
ing Glass Bookstore, 318 S.W. Taylor,
227-4760; or at Daltons, $10.95. Go for
it, it ’ s a treat.
Black on Black Killings
Dear Editor:
The Oregon Commission on Black
A ffairs denounces the actions on the
part o f gang members which resulted in
the senseless death o f an innocent child
and continues to disrupt the stability o f
comunities in Northeast Portland.
The Commission calls upon all
young black males to end the violence
against each other, and to come to­
gether to build and not distroy the dream
o f those who gave their lives for c iv il
rights.
k V A T & ▼ A T A V A
(USPS 959-680)
OREGON’S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN fUBUCATION
Established in 1970
seem somewhat sim plistic at first but I
think the idea w ill grow on you.
Am ong the ‘quick fixe s’ that have
been introduced by the new breed o f
academics has been the practice o f
“ w riting down” (watering down) the
texts and curriculum . Many o f us have
realized this and have vigorously pro­
tested. However, some have missed a
parallel assault upon previously accepted
standards for acheiving a decent level o f
literacy for our stu *cnts. W ho, we may
ask, came up w ith the bright idea o f
convening ROGET’S THESAURUS into
a g lo rifie d dictionary? Was it someone
in the sales department o f the publisher?
A t their advertising agency? O r was it
one o f the “ new breed o f academics”
described above? C O N V E N IE N C E is
not a suitable substitute fo r the develop­
ment o f the thinking processes (cogni­
tion).
Let us take ihe word KNOWLEDGE,
for instance. I f we look it up in the
‘ dictionary' we have only versions o f
the accepted and conventional d e fin i­
tions, “ fa m ilia rity gained through ex­
perience or association -- the range o f
one’ s understanding o f a science, art or
technique - inform ation, etc.” Nothing
earthshaking here, and i f you move to
the new ‘convenient’ dictionary form o f
the Thesaurus, things do not get much
better. A h, but i f we turn to page 357 o f
“ RO G ET’ S IN T E R N A T IO N A L T H E ­
SAU R U S,” we are turned on to an
entire universe o f inform ation and com ­
prehension concerning “ K N O W L ­
EDGE,’ ’ not to mention metaphor, simile,
hyperbole, etc.
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