March 4 , 1992...The Portland Observer...Page 5 Back To The Ranch; If It’s Still There BY PROF MCKINLEY BURT As many o f us, black, while and other, spin out o f Black History M onth, we find that some have “ renewed their roots, reinforced their psyche or paid their respects to m inorities for another year.” Others are just glad to get their classrooms and assembly halls “ back to basics.” Now, where is the “ Portland Observer” in this scheme o f things? Where should it be? The establishment media is not going to be o f much help, not w ith its flu rry o f m ixed, misleading and emo tional signals. “ Abu Dhabi to settle some BC C I Claim s,” or how about “ C linton tells Black voters H e’ s The M ost Q ualified.” The ones I really like are the updates on President Bush’ s H O M E IN T A X -F R E E T E X A S , Suite 271 in the Houstonian Hotel. Though he only spent three nights there in 1991, the M aine People’ s Alliance says the scam is “ not illegal, but we think i t ’ s sleazy.” Bear w ith me now, somewhere in this potpourri o f a media m ix are the substantive issues that need to be ad dressed by A frican Americans. Now several weeks ago I dealt w ith the de railm ent o r m odification o f two key national programs designed to place this nation in a lead position in science and technology by the tum o f the cen tury: “ Education 2000andW ork Force 2000.” There w ill be much more to come on these. Anticipate some dis- cussion on the fo llo w in g announce ment: “ Higher Education B ill Passes; Pell Grants w ill now have a $42,000 maximum fam ily income lim it and in dividual grants w ill top out at $4800." In addition schools whose students have had a serious repayment problem w ill becut from the program. Itoccursm ost imm ediately that there are a number o f constraints other than financial upon a number o f youth who would form erly be considered college bound. There is the declining economic situation o f the state systems o f higher education, as in Oregon where enrollm ent has been capped or reduced. A dditonally, when the cold waves o f reality fin a lly washed over the avid proponents o f Omnibus education and w ork force “ 2000” projects, these mis sionaries were abruptly faced w ith the fact that the only technological learn ing structure which could deal w ith youth at the math and language literacy level o f our kids was the C O M M U N IT Y C O LLEG E SYSTEM . Even here there is a mountain o f remedial w ork to be done until science and math are sufficiendy integrated into the lower grades (That alone w ill take u ntil the tum o f the century--that magic dale o f 2000 forecast by dreamers or charla tans fo r the U.S. to gain international technical leadership). There is much that can be done to further an improved educational pro cess, an effort that w ill require several McMurphy's Appliance Center Washer fit Dryer S19 9 - Refrigerators From $ 1 2 9 - decades o f concentrated effort and com- m itm cnl. It is d iffic u lt to understand why we s till have so many educated (and uneducated) who conform to a H oly G rail that everyone must pursue a straitlaced, unbroken educational path from Head Start to Pomp and C ircum stance at about age 22 or 23. And who believe any deviation from the process constitutes a failure o f cither the in d i vidual or the system. A concerned American industry (Associated Oregon Industries included) has made it quite clear that they are first concentrating on obtaining a vastly improved H IG H SCHOOL G R A D U A T E and then C om m unity College products w ith Technol ogy Certificates (2 years) or who have completed R E TR A IN IN G . In the 1970’s, coming from indus try to a teaching poistion at Portland State U niversity, I was able to see the handwriting on the w all quite early on. I was able to quite successfully adopt and m odify the educational time line o f many students, white and black, who were in consequence enabled to survive econom ically and e m o tio n a lly -a n d , eventually, gain their higher degree, all w ithin the context o f R E A L IT Y . As a matter o f fact I am on the Board o f Directors o f a Beaverton Corporation whose CEO is a former student from this period. I w ill continue w ith this important concept next week. Si A long One o f the central tenets o f the struggle for freedom in A frica n-A m eri can history was the idea that what was politically necessary also had to be m o ra lly u p liftin g . From Frederick Douglass to Malcolm X , the ends never justified the means. Ethical behavior toward each other was an important feature o f the African-Am erican com munity. The violenceof Black vs. Black crime and the peddling o f drugs to innocent children were denounced as socially destructive behaviors which have to be expelled from the Black community, i f it is to survive. However, during the recent rape trial o f former heavyweight champion M ike Tyson, disturbing trends devel oped within the national African-Am eri can c o m m u n ity . Some com pared Tyson’ s prosecution unfavorably to the acquittal o f W illia m Kennedy Smith in last year’ s controversial rape trial. O th ers complained that the behavior and m otivesofTyson’s victim were “ highly questionable.” W hy w ould Desiree Washington, an intelligent woman who had been crudely propositioned by Tyson earlier in the day, w illin g ly go back to his hotel room in the middle o f the night? Black Baptist ministers clus tered and prayed fo r the Black pugilist in his hour o f need. W ith Tyson’ s conviction, some o f these sentiments assumed ugly dim en sions. A Black student newspaper in New York C ity declared that the young woman raped by Tyson “ w illin g ly went to his hotel room to w in his fame and fortune, but realized that a one night ■ALTERATION: C e re A bout Y o u r Im a g o t We 6800 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Open Mon.-Fri. 9:00 om to 5:00 pm Saturday 10:00 am to 2:00 pm Professional and Quality Dry Cleaning & Laundry Is Assured By Our Courteous New Manager Marva Mitchell Sunday Closed C olor L ine Mike Tyson vs. The Morals Of Our Movement BY DR. MANNING MARABLE For Best Results Advertise in the Observer ^/VOOW^aNERS Ranges From $ 1 2 9 - the stand would not have been enough.” Tyson’ s conviction was “ a grave injus tice to the whole Black comm unity,” because the “ loss o f another Black role model means the imprisonment and death o f many o f our Black youth.” A t some Black radio stations, tele phone calls ran at least five to one in favor o f Tyson and against the woman he had raped. M any o f the callers sup- portingTyson wereBlack women. Some argued that the woman’ s decision to enter a man ’ s bedroom voided any right she held to claim that she had been sexually violated. The same attitude could be observed on the streets. In Los Angeles several days ago, I witnessed Black young a dulls-m ale and female alike-w earing sweatshirts which pro tested the Tyson rape conviction in bold letters. In vulgar, sexist language, the shirts proclaims: “ The b-— set me up!” Enough is enough. On this issue, we must draw a line. To stand w ith M ike Tyson is to stand fo r everything B la ck freedom struggle has been against. No man has a right to rape any woman, no matter what the situation or context. When people argue that the woman shouldn’ t have gone to his hotel room , our response m ust be “ So What?” People who use poor judgement de serve to be raped? There are no excuses for crim inal behavior and the evidence indicates that Tyson was indeed guilty o f rape. W ithin the African-American com munity, we need to discuss the social destructiveness against the Black male w ithin society. Our young men are bom barded by values and images o f v io lence, vulgarity and self-hatred w ithin the popular culture. In rap music, Black women are ro u tin e ly described as “ bitches” and “ ho’s.” On N W A albums, there are titles such as “ Findum, F -u m , and Flee.” Given this social condition ing and sexism, is it surprising that too many young males make the connec tion between violence and sexuality? We must challenge the glamoriza- tion o f male brutality, the concept that males w ith status, money and power o f whatever race can act in ways w hich are destructive to women. By placing Tyson on a pedestal, by ignoring the evidence and accepting this brutality against one o f our sisters, we are embracing that same violence against our daughters, mothers and ourselves. Instead o f pro jecting a vision o f humanity which en riches the spirit, we devalue and de grade ourselves. No doubt, Black men suffer dis proportionately from the violence and discrimination o f the political and crim i nal justice system. Racism is alive and w ell, lim itin g Black males’ economic opportunities. But the pain o f oppres sion doesn’ t ju s tify violence against another person. Tyson is g uilty, and fo r the sake o f our own hum anity, we must draw the line. Dr. Manning Marable is Professor o f Political Science and H istory, U n i versity o f Colorado, Boulder. “ Along the Color L in e ” appears in over 220 publications internationally and a radio version is broadcast by more than 50 stations. .n*,*'- f t 'C Ì »•J** • • • •• • ’■(/ tu,' : < 8 ' . •K* f ¿ < * • • M 'Í íí %« c f? »X t . - ' i r ¿.LV/. ¿V-; y Magazines Seeks information on Black Art Galleries Black Spots, aseven-year-old Black culture magazine, is com piling a direc tory o f Black-owned art galleries and seeks information. “ W e’re looking fo r historical and contemporary data about Black-owned art galleries including the firs t one founded, and the oldest continuously operated one,” says publisher Cynthia E. G riffin . G riffin adds that galleries included in the directory can feature the works o f artists o f local, regional, national or international note and must be more than a retail art outlet. “ We want galleries that mount ex hibits at least tw o times a year in their own space or at another location. They should also be a place where people can buy or just look” stresses G riffin , add ing that the galleries must be at least 50 percent Black owned. Gallery owners interested in being included in the directory should send the name, address, phone number, hours o f operation, the number o f exhibits held each year and a b rie f description o f the works featured, says G riffin . Also include the year the gallery opened. March 15 is the deadline to submit inform ation to: Black Spots at 1283 S. La Brea Ave., Suite 304, Los Angeles, C A 90019. Fax to: (213) 296-5399. 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