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Page 2...The Portland Observer...July 15, 1992
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CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL
By Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.
by Professor McKinley Burt
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Kente Cloth Justice
Education Update: Conclusion
O f course, we know that we can
never “conclude” such an essential ap
proach to im proving our situation in the
fuzzy scheme of things. But, rest as
sured that we will keep our readers as
well advised in the area of education as
we do in other fields critical to our
community.
Throughout this series we have
highlighted the special situation of the
African American w oman; not that many
o f the problems cited do not apply
equally to males. But, as we have em
phasized, there has been a quite serious
gender gap when it com es to providing
females with challenging curriculum
and academic guidance. In addition to
an improved educational support mode,
we have suggested such activities as
community programs for young black
girls in the same mode as we provide for
“endangered black m ales’.
Reader response to my July 1 ar
ticle on the SAT (scholastic Aptitude
Test) indicate that 1 need to repeat my
1989 series on “l.Q. T ests”. This is
because racists (and the simply naive)
are again using the same faulty and
denigrating logic to postulate inferior
intelligence of minorities when assess
ing the results of either test(s). And,
unbelievably, ten years alter the classic
rebuttal o f “scientific racism ” by Ste
phen Jay G ould in his book, “The
M ismeasure of M an’ the enemy has
risen from the ashes; at the Massachu-
C lark’s action was racially motivated.
As to his supposed reason for taking the
b u re a u -to “centralize planning for a
new Emergency Com m unications Cen
ter”—I say, that’s ridiculous.
In the first place, he did not have to
take the bureau away to achieve his
stated aim. BOEC and the 9-1-1 levy
projectare two separate entities. It’s the
levy project, not the bureau, that he
claims he needs in his portfolio.
The real reason for his action is that
I was in the process of forcing Gary
Schrader, the director of BOEC, to face
up to his miserable performance in hir
ing and retaining minorities.
On Monday of this week, I in
formed Schrader that I had asked Rob
j/s
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ert Phillips, the city ’s affirm ative ac
tion officer, to conduct an affirmative
action evaluation of BOEC.
A t the sam e tim e, I d irected
Schrader to provide cultural sensitivity
training for all personnel at BOEC,
including management. I gave him un
til July 17th to com e up with a written
training program outline and training
schedule.
The following day (Tuesday, July
w inning book (Norton publishers, 1981)
had buned forever the garbage of rac
ists like Jensen and Shockley, the char
latans who got reams o f media (and
academic attention) with the claim that
blacks, Asians and Indians were geneti
cally inferior in terms of a “ innate intel
ligence” . But, now, researchers at MIT
and the Salk Institute claimed several
weeks ago in the respected journal “Sci
ence” that they have discovered A Gene
Essential To Learning!
Predictably, the national m edia
(Portland included) almost without fail
used a bold black headline like “R e
search Links Gene to Process O f L eam -
mg” ’ and only in a sub-headline (if at
all) noted that their experim ents were
per formed on MICE! Now, a well-
rounded idiot can see where this is
going to lead. You do n ’t have to be a
neuroscientist—just have the mother wit
o f any minority who has had to mature
in this vale of tears. As I always say,
“eternal vigilance is the price of our
survival”.
Let me round out this series with
some com m ents and advices I may not
have had space forin particular articles.
I did recom m end the Urban L eague’s
Whitney Young Program as a place
where parents could secure tutorial aid
for their children. Additionally, 1 would
suggest; as a specific case, involvement
in the Boise-Elliot Second G rade Sum
mer School. It is a parent-child reading
randum to Schrader, scoring him for his
failure to establish a recruitm ent and
examination structure consistent with
my agenda for an enhanced affirm ative
action process.
I ordered him to take specific steps
to correct that failure.
I concluded by writing: “This is my
highest priority and my strongest com
mitment. I am ordering you to effect
these directives im m ediately.”
Early Thursday (July 9), I form al
ized the appointm ent o f a personnel
officer at BOEC to see to it that my
orders were carried out.
At 2:30 p.m., in the middle o f a
hearing on a liquor license application,
the mayor s executive assistant,D avid
Kish, brought a m emo to my office
informing me of the m ayor’s action.
My executive assistant carried it to
council chambers.
The action was retroactive to 8
a.m. In other words, my appointm ent of
the personnel officer was null and void.
Racism is no longer a “W hile’s
O nly” sign in a store window. It takes a
more subtle form in this day and age. It
can surface in adecision which appears
ment and encourage school and com
munity parent-child reading involve
m ent.” Hopefully, this structure can be
modified for year-round sessions, and
that the program will proliferate com
munity wide.
More on that “C hoice” game; Sev
eral weeks a go I revealed that a curious
new organization had sprung up in Los
Angeles and Chicago backing small
groups of black parents in filing civil
suits against the school systems in an
effort to force immediate granting o f
“Choice Voucher” which would enable
them to immediately withdraw their
children from neighborhood schools
and attend one o f the parents “Choice”.
Naturally, a prorate share of monies
would also be withdrawn from the origi
nal financially-strapped ghetto school,
leading to further deterioration of the
inner-city education process.
As suspected, this turns out to be a
back door game of the Bush Adminis
tration. A leading conservative, Clint
Bolick, has organized the “ Institute For
Justice” to carry out this attack and big
time Right W ing money is funding the
program (will Portland be next?). Un
fortunately, A black woman appointee
o f the Bush Administration is backing
this program. (Assistant Secretary of
Education,Carolyn Reid-W allace). On
a network prog ram she said, “I’m quali
fied to support this. I’ve got a PHD in
English’^ ? ). Both Jesse Jackson and
I am not calling M ayor Clark a
racist. By his own admission, he failed
to discuss the situation with me prior to
jum ping in with both feel. He was
misled by bureaucrats--white males
who pay lip service to equal opportu
nity, but whose “good old boy” m ental
ity serves to drive minorities from the
work place.
The hostile atmosphere at BOEC
prompted my action. Blacks, especially
women, have left because they felt
unw elcom e-and worse, overtly dis
criminated against.
At present, there arc only two
blacks among the 125 employees at
BOEC. There arc nine others who
qualify as minorities. If the pattern
holds, many of these can be expected to
leave.
Mayor Clark told me during a
break in T hursday’s hearing that my
“personnel actions” had prompted him
to pull the bureau that day.
If he denies there is a racial moti
vation behind his action, he is basing
that denial on his ignorance o f what is
going on under his nose, in his own
office.
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still wearing the Kente cloth stole. Scott
claim ed that if there were A frican
Americans on the jury, a fact com m on
in W ashington, D.C. because it is a
predominantly African American city,
then those jurors would be influenced
by the sightof Attorney Harvey’s Kente
cloth in the courtroom . That was indeed
bizarre reasoning on the part o f Judge
Scott, but it is also very revealing.
Why do non-African American
judges fear African American culture?
Is this judge trying to say that African
Americans lose their sense o f honesty
or objectivity whenever they arc in the
presence of or the sight o f something
related to African American culture?
Judge Scott’s ruling is an insidious af
fro n t to the A fric a n A m e ric a n
community. Judge Scott is the one who
needs to be removed from the court
room.
Yet, this incident is only sym ptom
atic of the kind of prejudice and racial
inequities that African Americans and
other people of color have had to endure
for a long time. The good news is that
lawyers like Attorney Harvey are not
going to be submissive to this form of
racial discrimination. We say to Brother
Harvey, “Keep the faith! Continue to
stand for justice!”
Finally, we wonder aloud: “W hat
is the color of the robe that Judge Scott
wears when he is off the bench?”
to wear the Kente cloth stole in his
courtroom. It was clear at a hearing
earlier this year that Judge Scott was
predisposed to be in contempt of any
African American lawyer who would
dare to cross the threshold o f his court
room wearing Kente cloth. The fact that
Judge Scott knew in advance what Kente
cloth looked like is instructive to the
prior bias that Scott already maintained,.
LastFebruary Attorney Harvey ap
peared before Judge Scott to argue on
behalf o f an African American defen
dant in a felony case. Attorney Harvey
wore a Kente cloth stole around a suit
with a white shirt and tie. Even before
allowing Harvey to proceed with pre
liminary statements to the court, Judge
Scott stated to the lawyer that there
were only three options: “remove the
stole, resign from the case, or let trial be
with out a jury.” O f course, both to
defend the interests of his client and to
defend his personal dignity and integ
rity, Attorney Harvey declined to ac
cept any o f Judge Scott’s options.
Four months later Judge Scott then
takes the issue in his own hands and
summarily dismisses Attorney Harvey
from the case on a technicality because
the client has a court-appointed attor
ney arrangement. But, it was clear to
everyone present in the courtroom that
the reason why Judge Scott dismissed
Attorney Harvery was because he was
I
Black Businesses Must Support Each
Other, National Black Chamber President
Urges At Annual Conference
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5 S ubscribe
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African American lawyers are of
ten confronted with the social and racial
tensions in the “crim inal” justice sys
tem. The refusal by an Anglo American
judge in W ashington, D.C. to allow an
African American attorney to wear a
traditional African “Kente C loth” stole
part of his attire in the courtroom re
veals once again the deep seated racism
institutionalized in American courts.
Attorney John T. Harvey III is an
experienced trial layer in W ashington,
D.C. who has distinguished him self as
an effective and very com petent legal
advocate for the right o f his client be
fore the judicial bar. Harvey also is a
devoted member o f an African A m eri
can local church, Faith United Church
o f Christ, that affirms an Afro-centric
approach to the Christian faith. Leaders
and members o f Faith United Church o f
Christ are required to wear Kente cloth
as an outward expression of one’s in
ward celebration of the blessings and
gifts that one has been given by God.
This is a positive affirmation well-rooted
in the Afro-Christian tradition. It is spiri
tual as well as cultural. For the sake o f
com parison, for an African American to
wear Kente cloth is not culturally or
spiritually different from a Jew ish
American wearing a yarmulke.
Judge Robert M. Scott o f the Dis
trict of Columbia Superior Court has
ruled against allowing Attorney Harvey
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Oscar J. Coffey, right, President and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, thanks participants
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Jennings, Chairman, Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce; Norma Ruby, President, Classic
Concessions, inc. and President, Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce; Allene Roberts,
Manager, Public Programs, Philip Morris Companies Inc. and Benjamin Ruffin, Vice President, Corporate Affairs,
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Roberts and Ruffin were keynote speakers for the three day meeting. Coffey
urged the meeting of business persons to support the development and growth of Black businesses nationwide.
Publisher
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T hank Y ou F or R eading
T he P ortland O bserver |
Black businesses must patronize
other Black-owned businesses if A fri
can Americans hope to develop and
expand their economic power, Oscar
Coffey, President and CEO, National
Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC),
told a group o f more than 300 delegates
who attended the C ham ber’s 5th A n
nual Conference here recently.
“ Silver Rights - Our Em ancipa
tion” was die theme of the convention,
and for three days the delegates -- rep
resenting some 73 Black chambers of
commerce representing 15,000 m em
bers nationwide -- participated in a
variety of workshops and discussions
on topics ranging from doing business
with Africa to the problems Black busi
nesses face in attem pting to gel loans
from banks.
Coffey, who said this year’s con
ference was die C ham ber’s most suc
cessful yet, was exhilarated by the depth
of interest in, and discussion about, the
convention’s theme.
" 1 h is represents a tremendous com
ing logedier for Black businesses,'' said
Colley. "M any of us are realizing that
w e’ve got to go bac k to square one, and
share the re sp o n sib ly of supporting
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and patronizing our fellow Black busi
nesses.”
Coffey said that before the advent
o f integration, num erous A frican
American businesses provided much
of the goods and services Blacks used,
and that Black communities were o f
ten the base for largely self-contained
and successful Black businesses. “We
need more and more strong Black-
owned businesses today, and we must
support them. We all have a responsi
bility to share with each other," said
Coffey.
Allene Roberts, Manager, Public-
Programs, Philip Morris Companies,
Inc., delivered the convention’s open
ing keynote address.
She said: “Although Philip Morris
is today the w orld’s largest manufac-
turer of packaged consumer goods w e
remember what it s like to be a small
and struggling business. Almost all of
our operating companies were started
by individual entrepreneurs - people
with a dream - - j u s t like many of you
here.
“ Philip Morris, for example, was
an actual person who ran a small to
bacco store. Miller Brewing w as started
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by Frederick Miller, a Germ an immi
grant. Kraft, Birds Eye, O scar Mayer,
and Post all began as small com panies
founded by individuals who had those
names, these individuals achieved the
American dream through inspiration,
talent and old-fashioned hard work,
but they also achieved it because they
had the opportunity.
“Today we must ensure that mi
nority business owners have a similar
opportunity. We must do everything
we can to en co u rag e the future
Birdseyes, Millers, and Krafts," con
cluded Roberts.
The National Black Cham ber of
Commerce was organized in 1983 to
promote the growth and development
of Black owned businesses nationwide
and also to support statewide Black
chambers of commerce.
I lie conference was sponsored by
Philip Morris Companies, Inc., Philip
M orris C o m p a n ie s, U .S .A ., R J -
Reynolds I obacco C om pany, Ameri
can Airlines, Draft General Foods,
C oors Brew ing C om p an y , Black
Travel & New s. Miller Brew ing C om
pany and die Fort Worth Metropolitan
Black Chamber ol Commerce.