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Page 2...The Portland Observer...August 19, 1992
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How Black People Work Hard To
Fit Into American Society
by Professor McKinley Burt
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N o S p a r e P a r t s IV:
D o e s M in o r it y B u s in e s s
B e g in I n A s i a ?
Most intelligent people in the world
understand that a critical area of busi
ness development is identifying the most
profitable market for your products and
skills. None have learned this lesson
any better than the enterprising South
east Asians (Korea and Taiwan) and the
Japanese.
The key target for their export o f
capital, technology and bodies (im m i
gration) has been the United States.
There has been nothing under handed
or sinister about this, ju st good common
sense, or what you would expect from
people who can read and write. It was
also expected that those im m igrants at
the lower end o f the economic scale —
not having autom obiles or televions to
sell - would seek to get ahead by
exploiting opportunities available to
those o f the working class w hose LIFE
STYLES permitted the accum ulation
o f capital for business.
And w hat better and more lucra
tive opportunity than the 500 Billion
D ollar Black consum er Market? A fter
all, this is the gold mine exploited by
the European immigrants who came
before the Asians and who took the
money and ran How surprised and
ecstatic the new arrivals must have
been to realize that many scores o f
years later, here was a population o f 22
million blacks, apparently still inca
pable of supplying their basic needs.
And that this situation persisted though
this huge minority population contained
hundreds of thousands o f college gradu
ates and several million quite literate
skilled and semiskilled workers and
clerical types - who in 30 major cities
own a total of only Three S uper Markets
worthy o f the name.
It seems necessary that we under
stand this state o f affairs before discuss
ing those “business developm ent o p
portunities available” prom ised last
week. Though quite true, there is a little
more to the problem than the criticism s
put forth by, say, “Tony Brow n’s Jour
nal” and sim ilar critiques. W e do in
deed spend billions upon “conventions,
liquor and chicken wings that neither
p ro d u c e b u s in e s s e n te r p r is e (o r
C hicken)’” And it is equally true that
many times (in the north) blacks will
not trade with enterprises owned by
African Americans even when services
and prices are on a par with others;
prestige habit, past experience, self-
deprecation?
W hat wc need to understand is that
beginning in the early 1940’s certain
African American publishers, adver
tisin g e x e c u tiv e s and e co n o m ists
launched a massive campaign to per
suade the white m anufacturcrsof goods
and services that blacks were huge
consumers o f their products and that
therefore these corporations should
advertise heavily in black newspapers,
magazines and television. You can see
that it worked, from autos, electronics,
appliances and clothing to food, alco
hol and tobacco. W hat the Asians are
seeing is the Ultimate Consumer; the
U.S. “ Black M arket” is the m ost stud
ied, researched and exploited in the
world.
An analysis of this situation quickly
reveals that at the same time we have a
circumstance designed for maximum
exploitation by others, there is a m ag
nificent opportunity for thinking and
energetic African Americans to avail
themselves o f the very same research
and distribution techniques. Accentu
ating the positives and discarding the
negative, they can indeed build an “ap
propriate technology and econom y”
just like that o f the people o f Ghana,
Africa I described the past two weeks in
my articles,” No Spare Parts” . But we
need leaders and activists who are in
dustry experienced or oriented.
Today, blacks can use the exact
same techniques to build their own
wealth and economy as used by A m eri
can industry to profit trillions from a
“captive market” - an effort which was
designed and expedited by our “ tal
ented tenth” blacks as Dr. W .E.B.
Dubois called them. There is no reason
why we, too, cannot organize and train
the brightest o f our graduates to de
velop the vast innercily consum er base
and harness it to our own enterprises.
For the last 40 years, A m erica’s
Liquor, tobacco, soft drink and fast
foods industry has done exactly that,
using our own advertising people and
psychologists to develop the indepth
statistics and consum er profiles neces
sary to saturate the captive market. The
data is there in the texts and studies for
us to use also (if we have the sense).
W e, too, can put thousands o f our
young people on the streets of our
ghettos to sell produc is and serv ices we
develop - and wc, too, can develop
good well-designed public relation li
aisons between our enterprises and our
people. The S.B.A. a in ’t about to do
these absolutely essential tasks.
many of us will never understand
why the “ Black M arket” hustlers who
“sold” their brothers and sisters to in
dustry (including foreigners) could not
sec that with their new-found expertise
and wealth they could easily have built
the kind o f black p ro sperity and
economy that earlier comm itted blacks
could only have dreamed o f (Booker T.
W ashington, Marcus Garvey, Madame
C.E. W alker, and others). Strange that
now in four states, the Indians have
developed a quarter-billion dollars
through enterprise.
In my “Black Economic Experi
ence” classes at Portland S tale Univer
sity” ( and in my book, “Black Inven
tors o f A m erica”), 1 focused on this
problem . I gave out photo copies of ads
appearing in relevant industry m aga
zines like” Advertising Agc” and “Print
ers Ink”. Placed by the black advertis
ing agencies and publications like
“Ebony/Jet” ’ they had one clear m es
sage, “ Place your millions in advertis
ing dollars with us - We Develop And
Control Black Buying Habits ’.
In particular, 1 rem em berone huge
ad they placed in Advertising Age,
featuring a picture o f the comedian
“Redd Fox”. The caption had him say
ing something like, “ w e’ve g o t’em
baby, w e’ve got the statistics and the
researchers: automobiles, liquor, to
bacco, beer, food products, w hatever
you need”. Wc can still beat these
greedy “plantation agcnts” at theirow n
game if we c a n ’t persuade them to
come over toour side. Sec my com pan
ion article in this issue. “Real Minority
Business: Now or N ever”
Portland Community College Continues To Register Students
According to officials at Portland
Community College, there are still open
ings in many classes at the college ’ s four
campuses. PCC will continue to register
students through Sept. 21, when fall
term classes begin.
Open registration for new and re
turning students began Monday, Aug. 3.
PCC President Dan Moriarty said,
“Despite the crow ds the first day o f
registration and the fact that some classes
in popular time slots are closed, there
are still many classes available to stu
dents.”
Fall term enrollm ent figures were
unavailable. “ It’s too early,” said A ssis
tant Registrar Jeanine Lofton-Hendrix.
“All indications show we will have an
increase in our fall ’92 enrollm ent over
last fall,” she said.
WI jb ^ n rila n ò (©bseriier
Lofton-Hendrix did a data search
on Thursday, Aug. 6 and according to
registration reports, classes were still
available in transfer courses such as
W riting 121 and 122, Chemistry 104,
History and most others.
“ However, students may not be
able to take a class at exactly the lime
they want or the location they w ant,”
explained Lofton-Hendrix.
r
Publisher
McKinley Burt
Dan Bell
Mattie Ann Callier-Spears
Bill Council
John Phillips
Alfred Henderson
Operations Manager
Joyce Washington
Accounting Manager
Gary Ann Garnett
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OREGON’S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLICATION
Established in 1970
Contributing Writers
Tl
Production Staff
Dean Babb
Gary Ann G arnett
Rea W ashington
Public Relations
Chuck Washington
Sales & Promotions
Tony Washington
The PORTLAND OBSERVER is
published weekly by
Exie Publishing Company, Inc.
4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
Portland, Oregon 97211
503-288-0033 • Fax 288-0015
Deadline for all submitted materials:
Articles: Monday, 5:00 pm -Ads ■ Tuesday, noon
POSTMASTER: Send Address Changes to: Portland Observer, 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 clearly 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.
Svbscrtptions:$25.00 per year.
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.
k
Jeffrey Sims, Artist
Jeffrey Sims has this picture displayed on a billboard at S. W. 13th and Salmon downtown Portland, through the
end of August.
Jeffrey, "says the picture portrays how black people work so hard to fit into American Society, to obtain the
American Dream, yet government legislation, KKK fights to keep black people from achieving their goals.
Jeffrey will be attending Cornish College of The Arts in Seattle, Washington to obtain a Bachelor of Fine Arts
degree at the end of August. His furture goals are Black Comic Book Illustrations.
N o n -P a y m e n t O f R e n t
Times are hard. Jobs are lost. And
sometimes bills don’t get paid. But if
you’re having trouble paying rent, the
landlord c a n ’t simply toss you out into
the street. He must follow certain legal
steps that give you more time to pay,
and even the chance to fight an cv iction.
If your rent is eight days overdue,
your landlord must give you a written
72-hour (three days) notice to pay up. If
you pay your rent within that time, you
cannot be evicted. If you d o n ’t, the
landlord can have you removed through
the courts.
In most cases, you have only 72
hours to pay the rent after receiving a
written eviction notice. T heclock starts
ticking immediately after you are per
sonally handed the notice. The 72-hour
deadline also applies if your landlord
both posts the notice to your door and
mails you a copy. But he can only use
this double-pronged attack if your w rit
ten rental agreem ent says he can.
If, however, he only mails the no
tice and doesn’t post it, he must give
you an additional three days, for a total
o f six, before suing toevict you. Posting
alone is not effective service.
If the eviction deadline passes, and
you still haven’t paid the rent or moved,
the landlord must go to court to legally
kick you out. To do this, he must file a
lawsuit, called a Forcible Entry and
Detainer (FED). The deputy sheriff or
other person serving the court papers
(FED Summons and FED Complaint)
will hand them to you, or will tape them
to your d o o randdropa copy in the mail.
You normally will have to appear in
court within a week.
As soon as you get the papers,
especially if you think you’re being
ev ic te d u n fa irly , call M ultnom ah
County Legal Aid at 224-4086 and tell
the person answering the phone you
have court papers. Legal Aid can offer
advice about a possible defense to the
eviction, such as part paym ent, im
proper notice, discrim ination, retalia
tion, illegal entry or lack of repairs to
the rental. Beware, however, that Legal
Aid does not advise withholding rent to
get repairs completed.
You can also call the Tel-Law tape
library at 620-3000 and ask to listen to
tape 7016 (Rights and Duties of T en
ants) and 7017 (Rights and Duties of
Landlords).
Multnomah County Legal Aid Ser
vices provides legal advice and repre
sentation to low-income people living
in Multnomah County with landlord-
tenant problems. Appointments may be
made by cal ling our down town office at
224-4086 or our N orth/Northeasl Com -
munily Law Office (on the Portland
Community College Cascade Campus)
at 295-9494.
CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL
By Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.
War On Drugs: Made In America
R epeatedly m any have asked,
“W hat happened to the war on drugs in
the United States?” W ell, the so-called
“war on drugs” has amounted to noth
ing more than a political fabrication,
that is, it was “made in A merica” as a
rhetorical device in political campaigns,
especially during presidential cam
paigns during the last 20 years.
The huge magnitude of the pres
ence of dangerous and addictive drugs
in nearly every community in the na
tion is an indication of how pervasive
the drug problem has become. There is
in fact a national “drug crisis.” Crack,
cocaine, heroin and other drugs arc
more prevalent in 1992 than in 1972.
The negative health impact attributed
nationally to the drug epidemic alone
has cost this society billions of dollars.
But beyond the devastation on the
national economy is the devastation on
m illionsof human lives. Entire families
have been wiped out due to drug addic
tion. Importing, distribution, and sell
ing drugs is big business in the United
States. This multi billion dollar illegal
enterprise is thriving today with im pu
nity.
The reality is, there has been no
real war on drugs in this country. “W ar
on D rugs” has become only a sorrowful
slogan that is given voice to satisfy
political expediency. President Bush’s
record of use of this fabricated term
bears need o f review.
The New York Times did an analy
sis of the President’s record on “fight
ing” the so-called drug war. Reporter
Joseph Trcaster observed, “ Mr. Bush
has often spoken o f the value of educa
tion, treatm entand prevention programs
to staunch the desire for drugs. But
disregarding the near-unanimous advice
o f independent experts as well as some
White House aides who say these are the
most effective weapons, Mr. Bush has
consistently subordinated health and
education to law enforcement. These
tactics have sometimes been proven to
be q u ic k , v isib le and p o litic a lly
useful.....but the benefits have usually
been ephemeral at best.”
Remember President Bush ordered
the invasion o f Panama in 1989 as part
o f the war on drugs. It was only later to
be revealed that General Manuel Noriega
was actually working for the CIA while
Mr. Bush was head o f the CIA in the
1970’s Many innocent persons died dur
ing that invasion and the flow of drugs to
the United Suites has only increased
since the arrest of Noriega. No one has
ever answered the question o f why the
CIA has been involved in the importa
tion o f drugs into the United Stales?
Now we are learning what many
assumed to be true, and that is the active
involvement of police officers in many
of the large cities support drug traffick
ing under the color of the law. Sadly all
of this leads to an indirect sanctioning of
the destruction of millions o f lives
through drug abuse. The official policy
of stressing “law enforcem ent” over
treatment, education, and prevenlion of
drug abuse is a policy that has m iser
ably failed.
Current public opinion polls, how
ever, do not show that the nation’s drug
crisis is a high priority during this presi
dential campaign. Wc believe that the
issue of the eradication of drug abuse
should be a top priority issue in this
election year. Yet, wc know that this
issue should be viewed not solely as a
political campaign issue but also as a
lundamental moral issue facing the na
tion. The profitability o f illicit drug use
must be challenged by removing the
economic vulnerabilities of millions of
persons who are literally shut out of the
national economy.
Our society cannot afford to be
tricked by false rhetoric concerning a
war on drugs that never existed. A lter
natively wc call upon every person in
every community to take greater re
sponsibility in playing a direct role in
combating drug abuse. It is a national
and international problem, but until wc
m obilize around this issue at the
grassroots and community level, it will
be increasingly difficult to stem this
huge tide.
The struggle against drug abuse
has to engender our support in the same
manner as our struggle against racism
because these two evils are inextricably
linked, both in history and in our present
realities.
Portland Observer encourages our readers to write letters
to the editor in response to any articles we publish.
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