P ag e 2 ...T h e P o rtla n d O b s e rv e r...A p r il 8. 1992
BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT UNE
by James Posey
4lfe;
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I p e r s I p e c t i v e s
by Professor
inley
by Professor
M cK in M le cK
y B
u rt
▼ ▼
Free At Last! Free At Last! Free At Last!
Where is the Black
Leadership?
C E R T IF IC A T IO N - D B E Highway Related Businesses
January 1991 • December 1991
ETHNICITY
JAN 91
DEC 91
% OF CHANGE
JAN 91
DEC 91
% OF CHANGE
AFRICAN AMERICAN
52
30
-42.31%
5
5
0.00%
HISPANIC
39
54
38.46%
5
9
80.00%
NATIVE AMERICAN
25
36
44.00%
3
4
33.33%
ASIAN AMERICAN
27
25
-7.41%
10
3
-70.00%
ASIAN INDIAN
7
12
71.43%
0
1
100.00%
WHITE
0
0
0.00%
149
179
20.13%
TOTAL DBE
150
157
4.67%
172
201
16.86%
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Before we discuss issues related to
leadership, politics and construction
let’s say a few more words in conclu
sion about the Oregon Department of
Transportation. Here is an excerpt from
the Department’s 1991 Civil Rights
report:”
Problem Area: The involvement
o f and retention o f Black Americans
within the highway construction pro
gram. A steady decline in the partici
pation o f Black American males con
tinues to occur unabated. We are not
certain o f the reasons why. A review of
the statistical information supports our
concerns o f a decline in the participa
tion specifically o f Black males in the
DBE Program.”
If this is a not self-incriminating
statement, I’ve never heard one. The
following numbers speak for them
selves. Now the question is who will
step forward and address this issue.
Where is the Black leadership? Most of
them have known about this situation
for years.
While few would disagree that the
current Black leadership picture in Port
land and in Oregon is pathetic, there is
much speculation as to why. But before
attempting to answer this question we
should reiterate why the issue of leader
ship is so crucial to African Americans
at this particular time. Hopefully there
is no need to repeat the litany of ali
ments afflicting the African American
community, but one affliction deserves
special attention. It’s infamously called
the “grab syndrome.” Recently, one of
the candidates for mayor in a meeting
asked politely in relationship to eco
nomic development and business why
there seems to be this lack of cohesion
on the part of the Black community. My
interpretation o f the question was “why
can ’ t y ou black folks work together and
stop bickering among yourselves and
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putting and pulling each otherdown.’Tt
will certainly take more than this one
article to even begin to address this
issue; however, let’s look at an over
view of possible reasons:
T he p re va le n ce o f the in te g ra tio n is t
vs. s e p a ra tis t a p p ro a ch e s:
There are prominent Black people
who think and act just as many whites
do. They materially reject Black cul
ture and its value system in favor of the
majority culture’s value system. Every
action is based on the white standard of
value. They believe that Black people
can survive only when they abandon
their “ Blackness,” subscribe to and in
corporate the majority culture’s busi
ness and political prerequisites. Con
versely, there are African Americans
who can’t stand the thought of accept
ing any values identified predominately
with the majority culture. Consequently,
the extremes become polarized and
rarely intersect.
S u b s c rib in g to the “ M e , M y , a n d I ”
n o tio n s o f success:
I got mine, you get yours! What’s
in it for me? The only color or value I ’m
concerned about is greenbacks! - and
so on. African Americans’ culture, his
torically noted for communal sharing
and caring, is under attack from the
forces of greed, sleaze and selfishness
which is relentless in the larger culture
and gaining a foothold in the African
American community. Therearecitings
of community members who would sell
their mothers down the road for a few
extra dollars. While this example is
extreme, consider the relationship be
tween how effective our leaders are in
relationship to how they are being com
pensated or how they arc pegging their
future career opportunities.
D iv is iv e P ro g ra m m in g :
We have watched program after
program setupmechanisms forproduc-
ing divisiveness in the community.
Administrators sometimes intentionally
and unintentionally design programs
that will create dissension and compe
tition among African American respon
dents. They know that most of the re
spondents are not more than a paycheck
from the poorhouse or the soup line. Yet
when they issue a request for proposals
(RFP) (which are in most cases really
scraps for the while folks table, bones if
you will) rather than structuring them
to require cooperation, collaboration,
and accommodation, it is wholly divi
sive. Excuse me - this is not a black
folks phenomenon. We have learned
well from the larger society how to act
like crabs in barrel.
These are only a few possible rea
son as to why we are perceived as
having a “grab syndrome.” So what
does this have to do with real black
leadership?
Not.since the activism of Rev. John
Garlington have we in Portland had a
black or white leader who could tran
scend his or her own ego, personal or
group self-interest. Not since the Rev.
Garlington have we had a leader who
was confident, self-assured, respected
enough to work across artificial barriers
to bring Black people together on one
accord. He was a leader that could give
a vision and hope for shared prosperity,
diversity of ideas, and resources. But
more importantly, he demonstrated he
was willing to not only to “talk the
talk," but also consistently "walk the
walk.” While granted this is a horren
dous feat, it is the most glaring major
failure of African American leaders in
Oregon and Portland today.
In our next article we look at this
issue more closely in terms of a particu
lar program area that we should all be
concerned about.
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American SLAVES-but their genius
did not free them, only enriched their
masters. The only exception I know of is
thatof the slave instructor/inventorwho
taught at the U.S. Naval Academy at
Annapolis, Maryland early last century.
A Maryland newspaper at the time re
ported that he was “a genius at both
learning and instructing according to
the basic laws that govern nature” - and
that he was “able to devise working
models of steam-driven engines and
other machinery.” (I will furnish the
precise citation on request).
The news article went on to state
that “the negro is purchasing his free
dom in installments out of the remain
der of a sum paid to his master, who
deducts room, board and clothing.” I
cite this travesty upon the human condi
tion because as stated I found so many
parallels to a “plantation” in our urban
education system. Where one might
expect a long-term success and prolif
eration of my curriculum innovations
mentioned last week, there must be
another point-to-point reference to the
plantation system; not only are there the
roadblocks and barriers put up by the
masters but one encounters blocking
and manipulation on the part of DRIV
ERS AND STRAW BOSSES drawn
from the ranks of the slaves (Both black
and white, the most ludricous being
those who never realized, until too late,
that they were on SOFT MONEY).
I opened today’s essay by recount
ing a luncheon conversation with agroup
of peers from a wide spectrum of back
grounds in the Portland (and stale) school
systems. We found ourselves in agree
ment that cur respective standards and
pedagogical approach to educating ur
ban students bore the prime responsibil
ity for our being FENCED OUT OF
THE SYSTEM by the aforementioned
“Drivers and Straw Bosses.” We were
also in agreement that these types are
found on both sides of the equation in
this masked ball; loudly for or loudly
against the system. It further seemed to
us that neither group would have profes
sional careers (or television exposure)
except for P o rtlan d ’s educational
trauma.
But not to worry, this week’s title,
“FREE AT LAST!’, represents the
consensus of all four of us that we have
finally shaken off the fetters of that
“ALICE IN WONDERLAND” Port
land School System, both administra
tors and straw bosses, and are doing a
good job of reaching students, parents
and the more competent administrators
DIRECTLY. Two recent and lengthy
articles in the Oregonian did not shake
us up at all as they would have two
decades age. “SKIRMISHES END IN
AN UNEASY PEACE” (3/26/92), and
a later article on the infamous “BASE
LINE ESSAYS.”
Like many others, I found it useful
and necessary to return to industry to get
the job done, to circumvent the inept
and the “STR AWBOSSES.” That Bea
verton area industry I write about, where
the CEO is a former student of mine and
I am on the board of directors, trans
ports a bus load of innercity kids to their
plant several limes each month where I
supervise their interaction withchildren
of the plant workforce and executives
(math, science and hands-on electronic
instrument interface). This is my up
dated design of that prize-winning “The
Dalles Oregon Project” of 26 years ago.
I have been invited to reprise that exer
cise also this fall and have already con
tacted the prim e movers in the district.
What makes me so angry, despite
the fact it’s great to escape the plantation
and the inept, is these“new” mathemat
ics and science lesson plans that were
offered locally and rejected or pooh-
poohed almost two decades age. Now,
after thousands of our intercity students
have gone down the drain (gangs and
death), I am getting a belated recogni
tion in industry and overseas. As I said
almost thirty years ago in The Dalles,
four to eight-year olds can understand
much algebra and geometry and combi
nations thereof. I said and demonstrated
the same concept twenty years ago at the
Lake Oswego Montessori.
Next week, lets take a new look at
those“Baseline Essays" and why a num-
berof educators from eastern and south
ern cities will be here in Beaverton for
my redesign of the science and math
com ponents to relate to a REAL
WORLD -th e kind of package I de
signed originally for the process, and
was rejected. Now three national corpo- ’
rations have joined me in escaping the
plantation.
Portland Observer encourages our readers to write
lettera to the editor in response to any articles
we publish’d' •
.... '
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A long the C olor L ine
D r . M a n n in g M a r a b le
P u b lis h e r
* r
This past week I had some interest
ing discussions with several other
EMANCIPATED EDUCATORS who
also had escaped that frustrating tread
mill encountered when one is trying to
deliver a better educational product;
last week’s column: “THIS IS WHERE
I CAME IN (on this bad movie!).”
1 had served a 26 year stint on the
pedagogic plantation and like my
friends from the teaching fraternity,
realized that we were the ones who had
been educated. While a thrcc-hour lunch
brought on the realization that the four
of us represented over a hundred years
of classroom experiencc-from pre
school to graduate instruction-we were
not satisfied that we had managed to
deliver, that idealized product that all
neophytes envision of their careers.
Throughout last week’s article I
described some rather innovative tech
nology and curriculum I brought to the
process in an attempt to overcome what
I perceived to be the routine inertia and
legarthy found in any entrenched bu
reaucratic system. Therefore, it was
logical that I bring to bear the same
tools, training and intuitions developed
from years o f experience in business
and industry. Not to be! The urban
educational structures in this nation
resemble nothing quite so much as
URBAN PLANTATIONS - with all the
social concommitants, customs, behav
iors, mores and traditions of the origi
nal slave culture (nevermind all the
professional nomenclature).
Shocked? you would not be if,
fortuitously, you had brought to this
process a perspective developed both
within and without die system. At the
same time that I was making the transi
tion from industry to education, 1 also
had a role in the administration and
accounting for SOCIAL PROGRAMS.
This diversity of vantage points enables
one to gain an insight not privileged to
a person solely within one system or the
other. But, as I said earlier, “frustra
tion” can be the principal achievement
no matter how many innovative learn
ing paradigms arc brought to the pro
cess (“Year 2000" indeed, try year
2020).
Those who have read my book,
Black Inventors of America, or heard
my relevant television lectures know of
the main fantastic inventions of African
Why Voters Are Angry
C o n trib u tin g W rite rs
t. »<
,
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
The Portland Observer-Oregon's Oldest African-American Publication-is a member
of the National Newspaper Association-Founded in 1885, and The National
Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc., New York, NY.
Name
Address
T hank Y ou F or R eading
T he P ortland O bserver
The disclosure last month that hun
dreds of members of Congress wrote
thousands of bad checks struck an emo
tional cord of outrage across the coun
try. Transcending ideological and par
tisan parly boundaries, citizens felt
deeply betrayed by their elected offi
cials. The mediadubbed this latest scan
dal “Rubbergate,” and newspaper edi
torials denounced the entire affair.
A Newsweek poll revealed that 78
perccntof Americans interviewed would
be unlikely to re-elect their members of
Congress if they were among the worst
offenders. From the vantagepoint of
African-American politics, several of
the worst offenders were prominent
Black politicians: Harold E. Ford of
Tennessee, with 388 checks; William
Clay of Missouri, 329 checks , and John
Conyers of Michigan with 329 checks.
The worst African-American offender
was Chicago Congressman Charles
Hayes. Despite his long and admirable
record as a defender of trade union and
progressive interests, Hayes was dis
covered to have written 7 Io overdrafts
in less than two years. Hayes was nar
rowly defeated by former Black Pan
ther and southside alderman Bobby
Rush, who used the check bouncing
issue to his advantage.
There are many different reasons
why millions ol Americans believe that
their political system no longer works.
Three factors are central to the current
public mood ol pessimism.
First, most Americans have lost
confidence in the politicians of both
parlies within Congress. Throughout
much of the past decade. Congress’
“job rating" in public opinion [Hills was
about one-third negative. But in the
past four years, the political system
suffered through a series of scandals
and shocks. Congress hiked its salaries
during an economic recession; Demo
cratic Congressional leaders Jim Wright
amt Tony Coelho were forced to resign;
Senators were implicated in the mas
sive savings and loan scandal, costing
taxpayers billions of dollars. Finally,
the public fiasco of the Clarence Tho
mas hearings outraged many liberals,
because it illustrated the Senate as an
exclusively white, overwhelmingly
male establishment completely out of
touch with women’s rights issues. Con
gress’ negative ratings soared abov e 70
percent.
Second, voters are alienated be
cause the middle class, the bedrock of
the American electoral system, is in
social economic crisis. About 63 per
cent of all U.S. families of four earn
betvv eenS18,500and$74,300, which is
the group which perceives itself as the
“ middle class.” Since the mid-1970s,
the real incomes of most of these fami
lies have leveled off, while some have
fallen sharply. Families are able to gel
by only because millions of spouses
who useil to slay home have now en
tered the labor market, bringing home
extra income. Others have fallen into
the ranks of the working poor, and even
the homeless.
Millions feel an acute sense of
contusion and betrayal. The system
which had once been perceived as the
victor over the “Evil Empire" was now
revealed as hollow and helpless. Thirty
seven million \m ericans lack medical
care: millions go to bed hungry every
night; millions of manufacturing jobs
have disappeared, w hile the Bush ad
ministration does nothing to halt the
economic decline in living standards.
Third, the electorate is angry be
cause the gap between the economic
and political leadership and ruling class
and the vast majority of American work
ers is expanding. During the Reagan-
Bush years, die upper one perccntof all
households saw their average incomes
soar to nearly 5550,000 annually. This
top one percent pocketed sixty percent
of all income growth in the 1980s.
While poor children starved and the
indigent froze in vacant buildings,
America's "rich and shameless” made
billions, due to the 1981 Reagan tax cut.
In Japan, the gap in the salaries of
executives and workers is much less
than m die United Stales, Last year,
while Chry sler lost millions of dollars,
Lee lacocca was paid 54.8 million!
Profits are going to tat executives’ sala
ries. rather than being invested back
into new technologies and machinery
for jobs.
Foday soutrage against the politi
cians and the gov eminent may mean an
end to the polities of conformity char
acterizing the Reagan years. Whether
this political anger y ields constructive
and progressiv e c hanges w ithin the sys
tem, however, still remains to be seen.
Dr. Manning Marable is Professor
ol Political Science and history. Uni
versity ol Colorado, Boulder. “Along
I lie Color lane appears in over 230
new spapers internationally, and a radio
version is broadcast by over 5 0 stations
throughout North America.
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