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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 19, 1992)
t < * » ♦ * ♦ » * V » 0 9 < ► w » ♦ Volumn XXII, Number 34 r 4 ♦ ♦ • f < 1 • *"<* • • e<<< «■#»««<«« i« « < / « *♦ ■* * * < The Eyes and Ears of the Community' W > c rt Unit ©fasmißr 250 Alcohol Use Kills One In Twenty Oregonians ?.v-; $£• is -' • »'i Adolescents Have Highest Alcohol-Related Death Rate H e a d e d io C o u r i Floy Jay The Portland Oregon Visitors A ssociation re cently filed suit against Black business entrepre neur, Roy Jay claim ing unfair trade practices. Jay, who has been a m em ber o f the visitors association since 1982 and on their board since 1988 was not the least bit surprised by the recent legal action taken against one o f his many business entities. The non-profit, taxpayer funded visitors association, better know as POVA, has filed a com plaint on A ugust 5th in M ultnomah County Circuit Court and has also requested approval for a preliminary injunction prohibiting the use o f a similar trade name, which was approved by the State o f Oregon and is exclusively owned by one o f Jay ’s business opera tions. The 45 year old Portland business entrepreneur sim ply stated “this is the Olympics of the visitor industry and w e’re going for the gold on this one”. Jay who has master minded a business and marketing strategy which has generated millions of dollars in potential convention leads and referrals to Portland area hotels, tour operators, meeting planners and small businesses over the past two years has been continually applauded for his efforts. “In a time when tax funding is short, it would appear that this type of industry should be grateful for any additional help instead o f wanting to put them out o f business” said a local business owner. Those closer to the situation, realize that the matters have been brewing for nearly 3 years. It is believed that conflicts started when Roy was told... “we allow no niggers here” as he entered a board meeting. The POVA board nor staff refused to reprimand the board member that made the com m ent in the presence o f city, county and business officials. Jay has been considered by many one T o f the most positive changes within the association. The ironic part o f this situation is that this is the same Roy Jay that was just given the POVA “President’s Aw ard” at their annual appreciation breakfast held at the Oregon C onven tion Center about one month ago. POVA applauded and recognized him for his business efforts and participation in the presence of nearly 1000 governmental and business representatives. So what seems to be the problem? - One of Jay’s operations has a registered business name similar to POVA ’ s and they feel that he is infringing on their name. Jay indicated that such is not the real issue and the underline reasons are that they want to make every attempt to put him out of business due to the continuing success o f his operation which is primarily supported by business mem bership and in fact by some of the same businesses that were formerly members of POVA, but never realized any economic benefits or other opportunities. Jay who is represented by prom inent Portland attor neys Curtis Kinsley and Patrick Butler will be filing an answer to PO V A ’s com plaint soon as well as an undis closed counter suit against the organization and others involved. In a surprise move only a few days after the suit was filed, PO V A ’s Executive Director, Charles Ahlers abruptly resigned on Monday just days after the lawsuit was filed and is headed to Southern California to take a top position in the convention and visitors bureau in Anaheim, starting in October. “ It is unfortunate that the situation has got to this point, said Jay, however some o f these people that run POVA have shown little if any respect for African A m eri cans at any level. 1 have been a victim o f racism, criticism and just about any other “ ism” that you can imagine. It is Continued on page 6 L ab or D a y is on tb e w ay P la n A b e a a More than 1.300 Oregonians die each year as a result o f alcohol use, accounting for 1 in 20 of all deaths in the state, according to a report released recently by the Oregon Health Divi sion. This estim ate, based on methods used by the National Center for Health Statistics, is four times greater than p rev io u sly e stim a te d , said D avid Fleming, M.D., state epidemiologist. “Alcohol is a contributing factor in m ore d e a th s th an w e p re v io u sly thought,” said Dr. Fleming. “Alcohol use is especially significant in deaths due to motor vehicle accidents, chronic illnesses, suicides and homicides.” O regonians drink themselves to death in many ways. The most frequent causes o f alcohol-related deaths in cluded chronic alcoholism, alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver and motor vehicle accidents involving alcohol, although the absolute number of alcohol-related deaths increases with age, the propor tion o f deaths due to alcohol use is highest for adolescents. For example, almost half o f the 49 males between 15 Clothing Drive At Saturday Market To Benefit Low-Income Children A children’s clothing drive spon sored by Low Income Family Em er gencies (LIFE) Center will be held at Saturday M arket Saturday and Sunday, August 22 and 23. People are encouraged to bring children’s clothing and usable school supplies Saturday from 10 A.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday M arket is located under the Burnside Bridge between First and Front streets. LIFE will give donated clothing and supplies to children o f low-income families at the center’s back-to-school giveaway at Peninsula Park on August 20. LlFE C enter.aU nited Way agency, has provided Portland’s low-income families with emergency aid for 25 years. and 20 years o f age killed in motor vehicleaccidentsduring 1989 had been drinking, though none was of legal drink ing age, said Dr. Fleming. Premature deaths, serious injuries and costly illnesses in Oregon occurred as a result of several common patterns of alcohol use: chronic heavy drinking, acute heavy drinking, engaging in high risk behavior while under the influence of alcohol, and drinking during preg nancy. Each month, more than 300,000 Oregonians consum e at least five alco holic drinks on a single occasion. More than h a lf o f O re g o n w om en o f childbearing age use alcohol at least occasionally. One analysis in the report showed that a baby was more than three times as likely to have a low birth weight if its mother reported drinking four or more alcoholic drinks per week than if she reported abstaining from alcohol use during pregnancy, according to Dr. Fleming. The report revealed that at least 1105 Oregonians died in 1989 from a recognized drug overdose - a rate of ¿ y ;: two deaths per week. Tw o-thirds o f these deaths were suicides, most of which involved prescription drugs. During the same year, 37 deaths oc curred as a result of an unintentional overdose of illicit drugs, according to the report. On the positive side, 88 percent of Oregonians reported either not drink ing alcoholic beverages or using them in moderation. The Oregon Bench marks, a series o f m easurable objec tives adopted by the 1991 Oregon Leg islature, call for increasing percentage of Oregonians who report drinking in moderation to 90 percent by the year 2000 and 95 percent by the year 2010. The report,’’Alcohol and Drugs in Oregon: 1989" ’ used information from 1989 birth and death certificates and other information sources, including telephone surveys o f Oregon residents, Dr. Fleming said. In Most cases the report providesonly minimal estimates because sources tend to underestimate the prevalence of alcohol or other drug involvement in disease and injuries. NAMCO To Hold Its Monthly General Meeting The National Association O f M inority Contractors O f Oregon (NAMCO) will hold its monthly gen eral meeting on Thursday, A ugust 20,1992. Special guest will include Phyliss Gaines o f Key Bank, and Dave Kish, M ayor’s Office. Tod O ’Donnell, RepresentmgPacific Air craft M aintenance Corporation, and Dave Brenneman and Gail Wilstrom o f Donald M. Drake Com pany, are also special guest. An array o f topics will be dis cussed during this two hour affair beginning at 6:00 P.M ., The annex, located at 1625 N. E. Alberta St. Gaines, head o f the newly cre ated community services department for Key Bank, will speak on two program s the bank has established under the Community Re-investment Act, which will make Ioans avail- 4 4 X •• ■ JEV-t ÿ- s- -, I .<•«. V • ’* L’.'-j i; '• / • • lk.r - able for home repairs and im prove ments in targeted areas of the city. O ’D onnell o f PA M C O and Brenneman o f Donald M Drake, will both speak on opportunities available to small subcontractors on the $50 million PAM CO Facility which recently broke ground at Port land International Airport, and the 19,000-seat sports arena that will be built near Memorial Coliseum. David Kish, Aide to Portland Mayor Bud Clark, will provide in formation on the remodeling o f the W alnut Park Fred Meyer building. H e will also com m ent on the new Oregon Arena and the citys First Source Hiring Program. Bruce W alts, CH2 A and Associates, arc also sched uled to make brief presentations. Cali 282-1190, for more inform a tion. *7^ XT# & W- ssfe' •rat. fB The Black Mainstream: Fact or Fiction BY JAMES L. POSEY There are a number o f other Black solutions that we will discuss in later articles. H ow ever today I feel the need to look at the notion o f the Black m ain stream as promoted by liberals and conservatives alike. It never ceases to amaze me to what lengths some people will go to rationalize this corporate dysfunctional behavior in A m erica called “racism .” I’m talking about this movement, this wave after wave of pseudo sociologist/economist Black and W hite who try to convince themselves and the rest of the world that Blacks in A merica have arrived. Everything is better or getting better is the threme. And those o f us who are not convinced arc labeled at best obstructionist and at worst reverse racist. They even go so far as to say “ Yaw gotta ghetto mentally which is the real reason why you have rats and roaches and can ’t pay the light bill.” These are some serious “mind trippin gam es” being played on Black people to create an illusion that has about as much believability as the talcs o f “Roger Rabbit.” The one article in the Oregonian a couple o f weeks go told the wonderful story o f how two thirds o f all Blacks arc now considered in the mainstream. The w riter went on to prove his point using a crafty definition of mainstream. He used such nebulous terms as substantial numbers of white and blue collar w ork ers as indicators o f Black progress. He also referenced statistical gains in ed u cation. Another indicator essentially boiled down to increased political power through exercising the right to vote and electing officials - things that white people take for granted like breathing air. The only economic indicator he was obliged to use was thefollow ing: In 1940, 93 percent o f Blacks and 65 percent of whites were in poverty; in 1990 the rates were 31 percent and 10 percent respectively. There is some validity in his numbers because the Urban L cague’sannually S tateof Black America clearly indicates that Blacks arc three time likely to be in poverty as W hites. Somehow these ratios d o n ’t do anything to reinforce my sense of Black progress. He also said in 1940 the m e dian num ber of years of education was seven for Blacks, and 10.7 for Whites; in 1990 12.4 and 12.7 respectively. W hat he d id n ’t say is that a Black man with a collage education typically cams less than the average white man with 8th grade education. Additionally, re cent information suggest that Black earning capacity is 62 cents to every W hites persons $1.00. I never have been very good with numbers, but you tell me - docs that means Blacks can buy, save, invest, recreate, send their kids to college, afford health care, seek higher education, and yes leverage themselves out o f the ghetto 1/3 less than W hiles? As in slavery when Blacks constitutionally were considered only two thirds of a human being; in 1992 does the 62 cents earning comparison mean that Blacks arc only two thirds as good as W hites? Despite reference to Black successes such as Bill Cosby and Collin Powell, high rates of Blacks in jai, or prison, children in poverty, homelessness, income disparity and etc., don’t give me a sense that the masses of Blacks are in the m ainstream, more like in the downstream. However, I think the argument can be made that there is danger o f Blacks perceiving themselves as helpless and dependent on the system. But one can hardly presum e as the writer does, Blacks arc waddling in their underclass situation and using it as a crutch to maintain a victimized status. Pardon me, I just don’t believe Blacks are that stupid. Next, the w riter w ent on a raging attack against Blacks who claim their African heritage. He contends that it’s divisive and distracts from the fulfill ment of the “Common Destiny” and melting pot theory o f multi-culturalism promoted by many in America. I won der if a persons is really intellectually honest when they write this kind of stuff. The reason being, is surely he knows that it was not Blacks who put of signs over the water fountains “C ol ored O nly” and sent vicious dogs to prevent Blacks from eating in public accom m odations. Blacks have only been separatist out o f the need to sur vive physically and mentally after de cades o f rejection and exclusion. Sadly, he quotes W illiam Raspberry — “The • * "» • . need is not to reach back to some cul ture we never knew, but to lay claim to the culture in which we exist.” I don’t know where W illiams been, but it ain’t as if Blacks have not gone to extremes trying assimilate or acculturate (trying to be like the m ajority culture.) For example, torturing their hair with lye to get the straight look, or ever in creasing episodes o f jungle fever, and on and on and on. But for some reason Blacks ain’t melting. The truth is many W hite people don’t w ant to be in the same pot with Black people. T hat’s why Black people need their own pot. Raspberry would be more correct if he said “reach ing forward to a culture we should have known in order to live in culture that generally refused to adm it we exist.” The sad irony is that despite ugly oppression andexploitation in America, Blacks arc as at least if not more patri otic and com m itted to dem ocratic American ideals in principle and in practice then any other segments of American society. It is not Blacks who need to acknowledge that we have a “Common D estiny.” W hites should understand that Blacks a in ’t going back to Africa or any other place. W e’ve paid our dues with blood and sweat like many other Americans. We gonna be here. Hence, it is a bold faced lie and unscrupulous to use the tactic o f blam ing the victims, inciting factionalism (pitting the success of West Indian B lacks ag ain st N on-W est Indian) • y * " ,. ' ’’ ‘ ■ !• "■ rv » ■ . r ' ■ Blacks,) did South A frica’s De Clerk learn it from America. And it just w on’t work to paint Blacks as un-American for insisting that America live up to all it’s ideals for all its citizens. It is also insidiously devious to try to impose a guilt trip on Blacks for a problems in that is largely the creation o f selfish values — a culture unrelenting, unwill ing to share the A merica with Ameri cans. Much of this is manifested by the Rcagan/Bush philosophy — Be an elit ist and sem i-racist, but put a nice face on it and call it American tradition. W hat’s scary is that the Democrats are picking up on it and incorporating into it’s philosophical model to appease threaten whites voters. Portland as well as the rest of America would do well to be about the business o f accomplishing real inclu sion, but not at the expense of cultural identity and diverity. It may be o f inter est to some readers to know that Mayor Bud Clark some months ago initiated a process called Portland Future Focus. It was to be a citizen planning process used to visualize the progress that Portlanders wanted to see in the future and put an action plan in place to make it happen. Its hard say where that pro cess is now however a major objective in the plan was to achieve citywide diversity. One strategy I encouraged was to institute and publish a diversity index. The index would quantify and qualify em ploym ent and contracting accom plishm ents across the board. The S. & Mr idea was to let the world know what com panies and organizations where making the most progress in diversify ing their work force and contract rela tionships. Conversely, it would point the finger at organizations who were slow to include minorities and women in the work force and provide contract ing opportunities. I ’m almost sure that most African Americans did not know about the plan even though the African A m erican com m unity theo retically stands to gain if the plan is im ple mented. We need to take advantage o f every opportunity to remind the m ajor ity culture that we live in a unequal racist society and that their own quality of living is jeopardized by this every present shame. More than that, we per sistently need to work together with all right minded people to change the in equalities now . And program s designed to encourage minority participation in business and employment is a good place to start. W hen we achieve some reasonable parity in these areas maybe we can agree that Blacks have entered the mainstream. m. . -V nubi«'' - ’ / ? * - .. \
