t
9
p e r s p e c tiv e s
Page 2...Ì he Portland Observer...March 4, 1992
• •
*
A
BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT
>y James Posey
> by Professor McKinley Burt
▼
▼
▼ ▼
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
Construction Opportunities:
A Most Gifted Healer
That was a very gratifying response
lo least week’s column, “A Dropout
Makes Medical History.” We are de­
lighted that so many African American
students and parents view medicine as
a viable and rewarding career.
Though we will lop o ff this week’s
article with the presentation of one of
the most thon'ughly trained young black
doctors ever (Ben Carson), we do not
wish to avoid the significance of a
NON-ACADEMIC BACKGROUND
like that of “Vivien T. Thomas” who
was described last week as “ a Louisi­
ana high school graduate who became
the top Cardiac Surgical Technician in
America.” In these times of a highly
uncertain education process it is ex­
tremely important that there be “more
than one road to Rome.”
Specifically, it may be necessary
to DELAY (and in a few cases
FOREGO) the more formal or rigorous
aspects of preparation for a highly tech­
nical career. It is for this reason that I
am elated that the education establish­
ment (Oregon and elsewhere) is belat­
edly pushing the unique opportunities
offered by the COMMUNITY COL­
LEGE SYS TE M—albeit a necessity as
the lead tune and the fin an cial
wherewithall for attaining that vaunted
“Workforce 2000” shrink daily. The
present modifications suggested for
American pedagogy is simply a con­
frontation w ith the reality of preparing
a highly technical, world competitive,
workforce by the turn of the century.
We will need a lot of those “Associate
Degrees.”
This shrinkage of educational as­
sets and opportunities is a fact of life I
had to deal with during my teaching
stintatPo
’.ersitv Dailv
(1971-1981), I dealt with a situation
where it was necessary to repackage
dreams and aspirations as many of both
minority and white students foundered
amid the economic and emotional trau­
mas brouglh on by poverty and/or famly
disintegration-not to mention sheer
academic inadequacy as a result of the
instructional and disciplinary disabili­
ties in the elementary and high schools.
Now, we must look at such an
impairment of the educational process
as not just the burden of an individual
instructor, but as a major and general
impediment to the nation’s parity in a
highly technological world. I will re­
turn to this theme in weeks to come but,
today, let us return to our black medical
pioneers. Not yet 40 years of age, Dr.
Ben Carson, perhaps the world’s most
renowned neurosurgeon, has been the
subject of many a talk show, documen­
tary orother presentation in recent years.
The story of this most remarkable young
black physician is best told in a book by
Cecil Murphey, “Gifted Hands: The
Ben Carson Story” (Zondervan Books
1990 or Looking Glass Bookstore on
S.W. Taylor, Portland). He has been
described as “the remarkable man who
gives dying children a second chance at
life.”
There have been other poignant
perceptions; “Nicknamed Gentle Ben
by his colleagues, C arson’s calm
demeaner defies the stereotype of the
arrogant surgeon.” And we have this
statem en t by the R ev. Jesse
Jackson;“One of Dr. Carson’s greatest
achievements is his incredible skill in
the operating room. But of equal value
is the time he spends talking to kids,
teaching them how to set goals, how to
avoid drugs and other harmful habits,
Is It An Avenue To
Realizing King’s Dream
how to rise above bad famlily situa­
tions, and how to use their God-given
abilities to be the very best they can be.
He is a model to all the youth of today."
The publication, Black Collegian, has
this to say; “Aunique contribution to
not only Black history, but also to
American history and to the history of
science.”
This man who in 1987 gained
worldwide recognition for his part in
the first successful separation of S iamese
Twins joined at the back of the head,
was raised in inner-city Detroit by a
mother with a third-grade education.
The determined mother simply over­
powered the environment, the lack of
motivation, the terrible grades and a
pathological temper. As I have often
reiterated here, not only our race but the
nation and the world is indebted to the
perseverance and commitment of the
black woman to a degree beyond any
compense. Within this context, Ben­
jamin Carson rallied his belief in his
own capababilities, and his trust in
divine power — moving from failing
grades to the top of his class.
He won a full scholarship to Yale
and graduated from the University of
Michigan Medical School. AT THE
AGE OF 33 HE BECAME DIREC­
TOR OF PEDIATRIC NEUROSUR­
GERY AT JOHN S HOPKINS
HOPITAL. B en’s wife, Candy, also a
Yale graduate, has a master’s in busi­
ness and is an accomplished violinist.
They reside with their three children in
West Friendship, Maryland and con­
tinue to inspire both youth and parents
around the world.
More next week including a pio­
neering African American female phy­
sician.
CONTINUED FROM FEBRUARY 19,1992 ISSUE
BY JAMES POSEY
As mentioned in the last article,
opinions expressed in this review of
programs are entirely bias and not nec­
essarily supported by current data. Nev­
ertheless I hope it serve to give insights
and encourage others to demand from
agencies and organizations with re­
sources historically charged with the
responsibility of keeping the commu­
nity informed, to get on their JOB.
There is no way to over emphasize the
need for creditable, acc urate and timely
information in a format that we can all
understand. We need serious factual
data and relevant assessments to make
informed decisions about how to best
improveour economic well being. Again
borrowing from the spiritual context
“you shall know the truth and the truth
shall set you free”. This is not a mystical
notion, but an established imperative
vital to our economic salvation. We can
thank people like Tony Brown who is
willing to call a spade a spade and has
the courage to challenge traditional in­
stitutions and leaders about their ap­
proaches to issues effecting the African
American community. He accomplishes
this by telling the truth and asking for
relevant answers.
After recognizing the shear num­
ber of programs, one wonders why as a
community we continue to have such a
high rate of unemployment, very few
big business interest, and constant small
business failures. The answer in part
will become increasingly clear as we
attempt to inspect and analyze the listed
The Drama Of Black History
BY PRCh MCKINLEY BURT
It is t die close of the month of
February each year that many in the
nation experience an inexplicable up­
lift and buoyancy of spirit - seem sur­
rounded by a sparkling new aura of
genial self image. Being reinforced in
who you are for the first time - or the
nth time can do that for you. Hear me!
As a lot of us have learned since
school days, history is not (and was not)
just a boring account of the long dead
saints and sinners of a yesteryear, to be
stamped upon the unwilling psyche of
generations of school children. But,
rather, a living play or theatre, if you
will, where a skillful storyteller is able
to raise the curtain on an act or series of
acts - achievemen or adventure, com­
edy or tragedy — in such a manner that
your attention is focused to the extant
that you lecom e part of the play.
In the particular instance where we
have a race whose past has sooften been
denied, denigrated or refuted, it should
not be surprising that the importance
and impact of Black History Month
increases with each passing year. It is
ever so criticial in an era of disintegrat­
ing urban structures and demographics
that the essential being and nature of a
people be held intact against all the
exigencies o fa hostile world. The truth
and essence of who the African Ameri­
can is lives and shines forth from his
history - in story, ballad,poetry, pic­
ture, portrait, elegy, troubador, enter­
tainer, folktale, joke, spiritual and reli­
gion.
Each year, here in the “Portland
Observer,” we strive to draw the curtain
even further back to reveal even more of
that stage where those who came before
us can perform in their superb and semi­
nal way. Writers, authors, musicians,
inventors, scientists, teachers statesmen/
women, physciains, politicians, gener­
als, and all others who have moved and
shaken this vale of tears. As I said
earlier, in the right hands “you become
part of the play.” Wouldn’t it be won­
derful if we could identify each of the
iJJorihmfr Ohseriier
(USPS 959-680)
OREGON’S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLICATION
Established in 1970
A similar kind of situation is occur­
ring on the employment side. A minor­
ity is a minority. There is no distinction
between African Americans, Hispanics
and other minority group representa­
tion, regardless of their respective num­
bers in the work force and regardless of
their respective numbers in the work
force and regardless of their skill level.
Related to this, is the perception that if
acontractor has hired a significant num­
ber of women, which almost invariably
turns out to be white women, other
employment discrim ¡nation sins are for­
given. High paying construction jobs
seem to be eluding minority males. For
example, even the lower paying jobs
such as flagging pays on the average of
$15.00 per hour and may be as high as
$20.00 per hour with added benefits.
However even these jobs are typically
filled by white women. Examine the
pay scale. For fear of painting too rosy
a picture, one needs to understand that
these flagging jobs are seasonal and
have very little career development
value except getting your foot in the
door. Nevertheless, these are good
paying jobs while they last and could
make a difference for minority males
who are often not able to take advan­
tage of welfare support programs and
have limited options of obtaining alter­
native income. Granted, the wages
may notcomparc to a highly successful
drug dealing operation, but they are a
dam n site better than slaving at
McDonalds for $4.00 an hour. This
issue is not about demeaning those who
w ork at M cD onalds, because
McDonalds is a good company and it's
honest work. But, people of color have
more than their share of jobs in the
lower paying service industry and de­
serve to make a living wage in the
construction industry. And it's notabout
pitting minorities against white women.
It is allocating opportunities and re­
sources based on need and fairness.
Please don't take my word about
who is represented in the industry. As
point-to-pointcorrespondences between
a historical revelation and A SPECIFIC
INSPIRED ACT OR ACCOMPLISH­
M ENT THAT WAS BRO UGHT
ABOUT?
But we do know that there are many
such fortunate, even auspicious conse­
quences, don’t we? As for myself, I
cannot begin to list the many surges of
ambition, hope or direction that have
resulted from listening to or reading
inspirational accounts of Africans and
African Americans who have excelled
in every field known to man— and
against all odds. It is absolutely critical
that we continue (and expand) our AF­
RICAN THEATRE OF HISTORY un­
til all of us, all o f our children, and all of
the world knows (and can face up to) the
documented truth of our heritage.
S ubscribe
ftU p ^ t r r lla n h (P bserlier
Publisher
C o n trib u tin g W riters
McKinley Burt
Bill Barber
Sharon Camarda
Mattie Ann Callier-Spears
Alfred Henderson
Operations Manager
Joyce Washington
Accounting Mana jer
Gary Ann Garnett
Production Staff
Dean Babb
Sharon Camarda
Gary Ann Garnett
Jennifer Johnson
Public Relations
T he P ortland O bserver
CAN BE SENT DIRECTLY TO
YOUR HOME ONLY
$25.00
PER YEAR.
Chuck Washington
Sales & Promotions
P lease
Tony Washington
fill out ,
ENCLOSE CHECK OR
The PORTLAND OBSERVER is
published weekly by
Exie Publishing Company, Inc.
4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
Portland, Oregon 97211
503-288-0033 • Fax 288-0015
Deadline for all submitted materials:
Articles: Monday, 5:00 pm-Ads: Tuesday, noon
POSTMASTER: Send A ddress C hanges to : P ortland O bserver, P.O. Box
MONEY ORDER,
and
M ail
to :
S ubscriptions
PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED.
Subscriptions:$25.00 per year.
The Portland Observer-Oregon’s Oldest African-American Publication-is a member
of the National Newspaper Association-Founded in 1885, and The National
Advertisii q Representative Amalgamated Publishers. Inc., New York, NY.
Name
Address______________________ .
city, State______________________ ■
zip-code
«
T hank Y ou F or R eading !
T he P ortland O bserver ]
— _ — — — — —
program and associated organizations
more closely.
At this point it would be helpful to
describe one specific issue in construc­
tion that prevents, to a large degree the
participation of African Americans and
other minorities. Starting with a pro­
gram that 1 am most familiar, let’s look
a bit at the Oregon Department of the
Transportation’s Disadvantage Business
Program .This program has been around
at least since early 1970s. It was estab­
lished by law under what was then
called Surface Transportation Act with
the expressed purpose of increasing the
number viable minority and women
owned businesses in the highway con­
struction industry. While there has been
a lot of problems with this programs, in
recent years the single most damaging
factor has been the 1987 change in the
Act that allowed combining of set aside
goals. Prior to that time there were two
distinct goals, 10 percent for minorities
and a negotiated goal for women. Cur­
rently the two goals ate combined at
10%. This means that if they chose to,
prime contractors could meet their DBE
goal exclusively with women. Guess
what? Highway construction contrac­
tors have in fact been meeting their
disadvantage business goals primarily
with white women. This is a volatile
point which has served to promote con­
flict between these two groups when in
fact they should be working together.
What does the white male contractor
get out of this arrangement. He in fact
will take advantage of the set aside pie
you travel around the state and particu­
larly in the Portland Metro area, see if
you can disprove my contention that
there are very few people of color on
construction job sites. In a relative
sense there are also very few women
with exception of the highly visible
construction flagging jobs which are
almost exclusively comprised of white
women.
One would think that the simple
answer is to get more prime contractors
to h ire m inority males and women of all
races at all levels in the industry. That
is true, but don’t hold your breath. There
is a bigger problem that has to do with
how the deck is stacked against power­
less people. For example, the federal
law that compels contractors to pay
higher wages on federal contracts is
called the Davis Beacon Act. This law
in theory is for all workers employed on
federal contracts but has the effect of
primarily protecting the wages of skilled
workers already in the industry. Guess
what the racial and gender make up is of
the majority of skilled workers already
in the industry? Yes, you guessed it.
Believe me, the unions and other con­
spirators, including federal and state
agencies, continue to play an elaborate
shell game to maintain this status quo.
But, wait there's more. This abysmal
employment picture has a direct rela­
tionship to the absence of viable minor­
ity contractors. One negative circum­
stance perpetuates the other. If the
construction industry included signifi­
cant numbers of minority contractors
then the assumption is that these con­
tractors would most likely hire minor­
ity workers at higher wage. Further­
more, it is assumed that these same
contractors most likely would contrib­
ute in other ways to the economies of
their respective ethnic communities.
To carry this scenario a little further,
these same contractors would demand
that unions include people of color and
exercise political clout to force other
reforms benefiting minority interest
that has shrunk from 10% plus to only
10%. In combining the set aside pie to
include both groups a destructive com­
petitive atmosphere has been created
and there is an increased incentive to
circumvent the intent of the program.
Its has become abundantly clear that
the majority of the 10% set aside and
most of the associated crumbs will not
reach minority communities. More than
likely it well go to majority contractor’s
wives, sisters, mothers, girlfriends and
concubines (all in the family.) After all,
women make up 50% of the population
and white females at least 80% of the
women in this country. In all fairness to
a few white male contractors, some are
equally appalled that many white fe­
males who are clearly not disadvan­
taged can and have taken advantage of
this program. The same might hold true
for some minorities who always seem
to come out ahead. The next time you
see Senators Hatfield and Packwood
and Congressman Wyden and AuCoin
ask them why they passed a 1991 trans­
portation bill that would have this ef­
fect. I would be surprised if they'd tell
you that in contrast to white women.
Black people and other minorities are
not well informed and exercise little
political clout when it counts.
If 1 haven’t' made the point yet,
please wake up and understand that
Black males entering construction after
1987 with exception of a few well
placed "TOMS", have been effectively
shut out.
throughout the industry. That's how it
should be, but right now Blacks and
other minorities are not getting into the
industry at significant levels as business
persons or as employees.
What does this all mean to people
ofcolor and the majority culture? Does
this mean the majority culture ain't giv­
ing up nothing and that people of color
are presenting themselves as too power­
less to take what rightfully belongs to
them? Yes, but this impasse will even­
tually be disastrous to both groups. And
what will be the consequences as the
economy continues to falter?
What to do about this?
We know about the federal budget
deficit, but before it's too late, we should
scream aloud about the human develop­
ment and economic resource deficit in
communities of people of color. We
need to work while there is still a little
daylight left because the night will surely
come. You should write and call your
federal and state representatives, local
commissioners and officials and ask
them, "What's up with this." In my
mind, there is a direct relationship be­
tween what is cited above and the con­
troversy over the House of Umoja.
It's not that the House of Umoja is
without fault, but if the Willamette
Week wants to call programs into ac­
count, they need to start with the many
federal, state, and private sector pro­
grams administered primarily by ma­
jority culture proponents that waste
millions of dollars and perpetuate the
need for artificially imagined programs
like the House of Umoja. They also
need to chastise the motives of corpo­
rate funders who go for the quick fix
rather than contributing seven fold to
meaningful economic actions that get
at the heart of the underlining causes for
crime and violence in the African Ameri­
can community.
In our next article, there is a lot
more to say about the Oregon Depart­
ment of Transportation's Disadvantaged
Business Enterprise program.
House May Vote on Tax Package Tomorrow
T he P ortland O bserver
PO Box 31 3 7
P ortland , O regon 9 72 08
3137, Pc rtland, OR 97208 Second class postage paid at Portland Oregon.
The Pc ‘‘and Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and
photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a
self addressed envelope All created design display ads become the sole property
of the ne wspaper and can not be used in other publications or personal usage,
without '•>« written consent of the general manager, unless the client has
purchased the composition of such ad. © 1991 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER.
ALL RIGHT S RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT
Jr
Oregon Congressman Les AuCoin
today proposed adding a $5000 lax
credit for first-time homebuyers to the
economic recovery plan being written
by Congress. In testimony before the
House Rules Committee, AuCoin said
the tax credit would allow nearly
500,000 families to purchase their first
homes, and put thousands of construc­
tion workers back on the job
“This credit will make the differ­
ence for hundreds of thousands of work­
ing families that right now can’t afford
to buy theirown homes. When you start
putting families in homes, it creates a
ripplccflcct through the entire economy.
First of all, it’s aquick way to put nearly
halfa million construction workers back
on the job across the country,” AuCoin
told a key House committee.
“If we’re really serious about eco­
nomic growth, and about putting unem­
ployed Americans back to v ork in good,
high-paying jobs, then we must include
this tax credit in the economic growth
bill we take up tomorrow.”
The first-time homebuyers lax
credit would apply only to homes pur­
chased between February 1 and the end
of this year, jump-starting the sluggish
economy this year. “The housing in­
dustry has led our cconom y out of every
recession since the Second World War,”
AuCoin said. “Il should be counted on
again this year."
AuCoin asked the House Rules
Committee for permission to offer the
tax credit as an amendment to the eco­
nomic recovery package tomorrow,
because it was not part of the tax pack­
age released by the key House tax-
writing committee last week. “The tax
bill we’re voting on tomorrow is a great
improvement over the President’s pack­
age, but we’re missing a great opportu­
nity for economic growth if this tax
credit for first-time homebuyers isn’t
included,” he said.