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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 5, 1992)
Page 2...The Portland Observer...August 5,1992 p e r s p e c tiv e s I Professor M c K in L y Burt N o S p a r e P a rts II In Iasi w eek's chapter I made the point that there was a direct parallel betw een the many aspects o f the economy of the developing nation ot Ghana in Africa, and the subeconomy of blacks in this country. In Ghana, the people are beginning to replace the “inappropriate technology” thrust upon them by the former colonizers with "appropriate technology" built upon many centuries of expertise in such crafts as m etallurgy-and upon social organization strategy developed over the same time period. Unfortunately, African Americans have not begun to replace the systems thrust upon them at the establishment with "appropriate technology" struc tured around a number of proven and documented technical and social skills. This heritage has been documented in books like Haber’s “Black Pioneers of Science and Invention" (Harcourt, Brace & World 1979), and in my book “Black Inventorsof America" (National Book Co., Portland 1969). There are many other sources avail ab le now , even ex h ib its at the superconservative Smithsonian Insti tution in Washington, D.C. and in the pages of this Observer Newspaper, I have written reams of documentation that blacks for over a century were inventing machines and operating tech nical enterprises without intervention and guidance from the white establish ment. I have cited the 1895 “ Atlanta Cotton States and International Exposi tion” where African Americans dis played and sold their patented machin ery, mining, locomotives, textile and logging technology, agricultural imple ments and so forth (see the Congres sional Record for August 10, 1894, House of Representatives). There were many other exposition and demonstrations Philadelphia, Co ney Island (The "Third Rail" tor sub way trains by W'oods), and even the “Paris Exposition” circa 1906). There is an immediate urge to speculate where “we went wrong” but, first, let us return to an examination of the current eco nomic scene in Ghana. As I have said, this “No Spare Parts” television docu mentary narrated by David Suzuki re minded me of my experiences in early youth around the black craftsmen in industry. W'hat happened in Ghana was that the “Cashcrop” economy of cocoa im posed upon the nation, first by the colonialists and then by the interna tional bankers, had frequent downturns that not only left the people impover ished, but left no monies to keep the vital transportation modes going. A tropical climate is hard on both vehicles and roads, and of course there was little money to import new vehicles, Alrican ingenuity, traditions, and millennium- old skills have come to the rescue. Suzuki; takes us on a tour of the Suami Magazine, “one of the biggest unplanned industrial areas in the world; a huge, informal economy has sprung up around the repair and maintenance of automobiles and trucks. Here in the open air, admist the seeming chaos, lies the hub of Ghana's industrial revolu tion; the forty thousand artisans who specialize in servicing and repairing trucks and cars, busses, and farm equip ment ply a brisk trade here “(In viewing this, 1 got a mental image of all the African Americans I’ve known, who work on their own equipment, gathered in one place). It became clear to Ghana’s Tech nological Center in the 1970’s “that high tech equipment imported from industrialized countries had little use in a developing country. Grass roots or “appropriate technology” was instituted and local blacksmiths began turning out nuts and bolts by hand. “Every bolt was individually hammered into its fa miliar hexagonal shape. Its companion nut is also made by hand and, later, both nut and bolt will be threaded manually with tap and die.” Keep in mind that these Africans on the West Coast of the continent had, by the time the slave traders arrived, developed the craft of iron smelting and blacksmithing to a very sophisticated level. There were three primary divi sions: Those who made agricultural implements, those who made cooking utensils, and the makers of weapons. It is no wonder that the British in the American colonies used these slaves to replace the German bond servants on their iron plantations-and that the American plantation owners used them as the blacksmiths who kept the planta tion machinery and transportation in repair (see Lewis, “Coal Iron and Slaves”, Greenwood 1970"). Back to today’s Ghana. The hand technology I just described achieved the desired result of familiarizing tens olihousands with tools and techniques. The people were soon prepared for the next level of “appropriate” technology they were able to B UILD THEIR OWN MACHINES FOR TURNING OUT HIGHER QUALITY PRODUCTS- cven constructing turret lathes, milling machines and the like from the motors and other parts of abandoned cars and trucks. Soon these would be put back on the road and vital transportation restored. A “ neighborhood technology” spread throughout the nation, creating jobs, plants, capital and spinoffs into agricultural machines and food pro cessing machinery. The social infra structure expanded as well, bringing new services from medical to educa tion and n u tritio n . It was E.F. Schumacher who said what the ad vanced nations have forgotten; “The logic of production [for production’s sake] is neither the logic of life nor that of society” (see his famous book,“Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered,” Harper & Row, 1973 & 1989). Since black people in this country were doing the very same thing right after slavery and up to World War I, 1915 What the hell happened to us? Has it been leadership, mostly social types, politicians and lawyers? Was Booker T. Washington right and our present economic state the result of taking a wrong turn very early on? I noted in the July 22 comments of a contributor to thispaper JamesL. Posey; “ Black solutions No Money, No Money.” He said “ Most of our leaders nationally and locally have no business or econom ic developm ent b ack ground.” And certainly no technical and science background at all! in t h e m o o t i n o 3 Concluded next week. House Urges Continued Funding Of Multnomah County Gang Intervention Project A must-pass funding bill approved by the House last night directs the Jus tice Department to keep up its past support of Multnomah County’s gang intervention program. The bill provides more than $72 million nationwide to fight youth gangs and crime, about $64 million more than President Bush rec ommended earlier this year. “This so-called ‘law-and-order’ Bush Administration has got its priori ties all wrong.” Says Congressman Les AuCoin. “What we need are more re sources to deal with the problems of youth gangs, teenage crime, and drug abuse. As a member of the committee that wrote this bill, I’m proud that we recognized that,even ifthe White House doesn’t. Last year, AuCoin helped the county secure a $500,000 federal grant to sup port its innovative anti-gang efforts. The 1993 budget for Juvenile Justice pro grams urges the Justice Department to keep funding Multnomah County’s gang intervention program at the same level Joseph E Elliott (center), president of Encyclopedia Britannica Educational Corporation, holds an oversized copy of a check for $10,000 he presented to the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) recently during the american Library Association convention in San Francisco. BCALA will use the funds for a reception for 1 000 librarians at its first annual convention in September. Accepting the check from Elliott are (from left/ Dr. John Tyson state librarian of Virginia: Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin, deputy director of the Forsythe County (N.C.) Public Library: Satia Marshall Orange, head of children's department at Forsythe County Public Library; Pubye Kyles, assistant executive director of the Columbus (Ohio) Metropolitan Library; and Dr Alex Boyd, director of the Newark (N.J.) Public Library. All are BCALA conference planners in the coming year. The anti-gang pro gram also receives strong support from the state and local governments and involves various community organiza tions. “MultnomahCounty’sprogram help kids stay out of gangs by restructuring their values systems, building positive behavior, and giving kids alternatives to crime, drugs, and gang involvement,” AuCoin said. “Building self-esteem and giving kids positive choices is one of the best ways to fight the influence of gangs.” African American Views On The Environment: Conclusion BY PROF. MCKINLEY BURT ' Publisher Alfred Henderson Production Staff Operations Manager Dean Babb Gary Ann Garnett Rea Washington Contributing Writers McKinley Burt Dan Bell Mattie Ann Callier-Spcars Bill Council John Phillips Joyce Washington Accounting Manager Gary Ann Garnett Public Relations Chuck Washington Sales & Promotions Tony Washington The PORTLAND OBSERVER is published weekly by Exie Publishing Company, Inc. 4747 NE Marlin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Portland, Oregon 97211 503-288-0033 e Fax 288-0015 Deadline for all submitted materials: Articles: Monday, 5:00pm--Ads' Tuesday, noon POSTMASTER: Send A d dre ss C hanges to : Portland O bserver, P.O. Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208 Second class postage paid at Portland Oregon. The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearty labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. All created design display ads become the sole property of the newspaper and can not be used in other publications or personal usage, without the written consent of the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition of such ad. © 1991 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. Subscriptions :$25.00 per year. The Portland Observer-Oregon's Oldest African-American Publication-is a member of the National Newspaper Assocation—Founded in 1885, and The National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc., New York, NY. 1 ! I staled in the July 22 article in this scries, “the world is indeed a Global I Village and the continents arc poison ing each other.” Today I will carry that '® I|e ^ x irtIa n h < ® b s e ru c r ] concept beyond the conventional me reports on the destruction of tropi I ■ dia cal forests in the lands of peoples of I I color. We will deal with some issues IT he P ortland O bserver that the media seem reluctant to ad [ CAN BE SENT DIRECTLY TO dress. Few Americans, yet today, realize | YOUR HOME ONLY $30.00 | that the United States is one of the chief PER YEAR. COLONIAL POWERS in the w orld- never-mind die Hawaii and Alaska are P lease fill out , now designated as “slates," certainly ENCLOSE CHECK OR the economic and political hegemony MONEY ORDER, is maintained. And in the Caribbean there is the situation of Puerto Rico and and M ail to : of the Virgin Islands. In common here, we have the economic and political control of peoples of color by Ameri S ubscriptions 1 can industry and agricultural corpora ■ T he P ortland O bserver ■ tions which arc not answerable loeilher j PO Box 3 1 3 7 | the indigenous population of American I P ortland , O regon 9 7 2 0 8 | voters. And then there is the situation in the SOUTH PACIFIC where the United I Name ■ States controls (owns) tens of thou | I sands of square miles of island territo I I ries under “ United Nation Trustee | ----------------------------- “ I ships.” Like the “country” of Panama in this hemisphere (and in reality, all of Address_____________________ | Central America and most of South America), these island territories occu erfy. State_____________ | pied by people of color have no real control over their resources or sover zip-code____________________ | eignty. Particularly, most of the Ameri cas may not negotiate treaties with ¡ T hank Y ou F or R eading European nations because of lhat“Mon- ¡T he P ortland O bserver | roc Doctrine" invoked long ago t o ’pro- tccl the strategic interests of the United h ■■ ■■ «■ »■ ■■ ■■ k A tEijg ^Bartlanh wbseriier I J (USPS 959-680) OREGON'S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLICATION Established in 1970 S ubscribe I J I I j I I J j I J j i I j /Art t - f* / « * » * A * X ‘ ¿ f a a • « States.” It is not Broadway plays and Hol lywood movies like “South Pacific” we m usi look to for an understand ing of the economic and political dynamics controlling the Pacific territories of the United States. We will take for a model the large island of Palau which in the last year has been the frequent topic of documentaries on Public Television. Most of the population looks exactly like the black residents of Northeast Portland, a fact attested to by African American naval personnel in respect of their home cities. The U.S. has a large naval pres ence here (“strategic interests”), amid increasingly vitriolic,even violcntcon- frontations with American administra tors. Of particular concern to the Palau people is the U.S. dem and that NUCLEAR POWERED SHIPS AND SUBMARINES be allowed to use the harbor facilities. A short while back the Palau people, within the limited sovereignty granted them by the United Nations, voted decisively against any such environment-threatening activity- -they now have a “NUCLEAR FREE CONSTITUTION” (Like Portland’s “Nuclear Free Declaration”). Predictably, the United Stales has reacted with anger and has been ac cused by the people of procuring vote frauds, even murder of a key politician opposing the nuclear hazard. The Americans arc pushing for a special referendum which would guaranteed storage space for nuclear bombs. The United Nations has demanded that the U.S. respect the constitution ol these people to no avail These people do not have the clout of Okinawa where two- thirds of the people want all American Naval installations closed down. The people of Palau were well rcprescntedatthat“World Conference of Indigenous Peoples On Territory, Environmentand Development” which look place just before that “World Summit on Environment” in Brazil. They expressed a well-founded con cern that if America got a foot in the door, then they might well have to face other environmental concerns. All Pa cific Islanders remember the decades of nuclear bomb testing in the area by both the French and Americans-and that the devastation (and radioactivity) may last for many centuries. It is interesting to note that under the “gentle” hand of U.S. administra tors the economy of Palau is deterio rating with high unemployment and increasing crime -this, among a people who were noted for their fine family and other soc ial relationships. The pres sure is on, and in one documentary an American administrator was inter viewed at length. It was like listening to the Dixiccrat senators, Russell or Bilbo, reincarnated; as condescending and denigrating as you would expect from an Indian agent in the old w est- not from a U.S. Navy Admiral. It is to be hoped that ALL peoples wherever and whoever are going to keep up the good fight against the environm ental desperados of this world By the way, did you know that John Audubon was black-the son of a West Indies woman and a French -ca captain? W ill they disband the “Audubon Society?"
