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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 1992)
V *' 1 * s V ■» « rv V« • « * < ♦ ♦ » * * Page 2„.The Portland Observer ...November 25, 1992 p e r s p e c tiv e s / J by Professor McKinley Burt W hat a Difference An X Makeè. t BY JAMES L. POSEY There is no question that as a result of the Malcolm X controversy, the people of Portland have gained clearer insights into the Black existence in Portland. The next question is, “Have Blacks themselves gained enough in sights into their own existence to make 6.2 percent and Hispanics by ‘2.5 per them change course?” My initial re cent. sponse is, I - don’t - think - so. If • Because of Measure 5, the state Malcolm was anything, he was a risk will carry most of the burden of school taker, which allowed him to grow and funding beginning next school year. By evolve, and some might even say, he the time the property tax limitation is became self-actualized. In other words, fully implemented in 1996, the state will he found himself. be providingovertwo-thirdsof all school Throughout most of this contro funding. versy, some of us were stressing the • Although Oregon’s student popu long-term economic implications of the lation grew by 2.9 percent, staff in issues with Act III. For example, Act III creased by only 2.4 percent, building and the entire Lloyd Center complex is administrators decreased by 2 percent sorely negligent in including employ and central administration decreased by ment and business representation of 7.1 percent. African-Americans in their operations. • The number of school districts, Why not push for at least one African- currently 295, will fall below 180by the American concessionaire and indepen 1996-97 school year because of a law dent retail store in the complex? And requiring districts to unify if they do not what about maintenance and service offer K-12 programs. Oregon teachers contracts with African-American busi average about 10 years at their current nesses? The point is, let’s break the site and 14 years experience overall long term cycle of African-Americans Their average age 43; their average roaming the Lloyd Center complex just salary is $33,913, a 5.2 percent increase spending and consuming. This is an over last year. opportunity to establish the basis for • Oregon’s low-income student including African-American retail en population, as measured by the number terprises in the complex. of children eligible for free or reduced- While some of the promoters of the rate lunches, is 19 percent of the total boycott picked up on this and eventu school population. ally broaden the issue beyond just some • Home schooling has seen a steady Blacks being able to view a movie increase since it became legal under closer to their neighborhood, it was Oregon law in school year 1985-86. clear that others were uncomfortable • Since then, the numberof students when forced to consider the broader registered for home schooling has more economic issue. The Coalition of Black than doubled, increasing from 2,671 to Men should have been especially re 5,544 in 1990-91. ceptive to this idea. For while they were • Roughly 10.5 percent of Oregon’s pushing to get Blacks hired on the Or school age students receive special edu egon Convention Center project, the cation services. Lloyd Center conduited a massive • The new Oregon Pre-kindergarten multimillion dollar remodeling project program takes a preventive approach using few Black workers and virtually combining social and health services no Black contractors. with education. Over2,200preschoolers The point is that every effort must will be served in 1992. The program, be made to turn this issue and issues like combined with federal Head Start, will this into some real economic gains for reach only 36 perccntof Oregon’s 16,261 the African-American community. We eligible three-and four-years olds. must be aware that as long as some of • Almost 42 percent of all high our so-called Black leaders are finan school juniorsand seniors were enrolled in professional-technical education pro grams. ▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼ E d u catio n U p d ate ‘92, II • - You know, so much has happened since my last in-depth session with you readers, it will take several “meetings” to get abreast of the current scene. That is quite alright, for the contemporary education stage is much the same as last year; but because it is well lit, we are able to see that the same actors are present in the perennial play. So that we remain “informed” by these discourses and not just simply “taken for a ride” by the rush of ver biage and rhetoric in this drama--be sure to examine carefully all the play acting and stagecraft reviewed. Even better, let me cite a valuable book that could usefully accompany your read ings (entertainment?) in a number of fields, “ Double-Speak,” by William Lutz 1989; From “Revenue Enhance ment” (new taxes) to “Terminal Liv ing,” How government, business, ad vertisers, and others use language to deceive you. Also try politics-educa tion. I’ll bet you won’t go 20 pages before you angrily snatch up the last newspaper or magazine you read--or, perhaps, the most recent education jour nal. Order a paperback copy from your favorite bookseller. The publisher is “Harper Perennial/’adivision of Harper Collins Publishers. At this writing, the possibility of a teacher’s strike is a distinct possibility. There is mounting concern that frustrated teachers, bar gaining with strapped districts unwill ing to settle early or for more than one or two-year contracts, may walk and bring a disintegrating educational pro cess to a grinding halt. “ Measure 5” is said to bear the blame for difficult and drawn-out negotiations. Many of the larger districts received no increases in funding for the 1992-93 year due to the state’s new equity school funding for mula. The change in process saw a legislature which could not provide enough state dollars to bring “all” dis tricts up to the highest standards. All parents are uneasy as well they should b e-an d certainly black parents r- ■ I ..*♦ - .# »? < « ♦. ■ • To The Editor: We are writing to inform other m inority owned businesses of the assis tance available to them through the Office of the Governor. We also want to commend the ef- fortsof Faye Burch,advocate,Officeof M inority/W om en/Em erging Small Businesses, for invaluable and timely assistance to Coast Industries, Inc., a 35-year-old minority-owned business located in Portland. Her office was instrumental i n ^ - • >, : * H v; .<> / •» *- € ’ The Oregon Report Card; 1992- 93 some highlights: • Enrollment is expected to con tinue its record growth the rest of the decade, hitting 535, 000 this year and climbing about 10,000 annually. The increase is fueled by a baby boomlet which began in the late 1970s. While enrollmentclimbed 2.9 percent in 1991- 92, minority enrollment increased by — m ii sisting us during the procurement pro cess which resulted in our gaining a contract in excess of $300,000 per year for custodial services at Southern Or egon State College in June 1992. In addition, she recently acted quickly on our behalf in October, helping us re solve an alleged contract performance issuearising between S .O.S .C. and C oast Industries contract representatives. Ms. Burch has been very respon sive to our requests for assistance and has been able to quickly gather perti- nent facts, assess situations,and resolve potential conflicts which helped save our $3000,000 contract. We applaud the Governors’ Office and encourage other minority businesses to contact Faye Burch at (503) 378- 5651 if they need help or an advocate for minority or woman owned businesses. Sincerely, Herman Grimes Vice President Government Contract Coast Industries, Inc. Portland Observer encourages our readers to vi/riteletters to the editor In response to any articles we publish. / *\ < *-t" •. t* '» have additional fears as they anticipate a possible axe for several badly needed special programs. Among the several very important district programs, there is one in particular we hope will not only have its structure maintained but in fact be enhanced. This is the “Alco hol and Drug Program,” based at Cleve land High School and coordinated by Ms. Claudia McDuffie (formerly of “Integration Services” at the same school). This very crucial support con cept will be more fully developed here next week as space allows. Nothing can be as important to the learning process as having the student present and ready, willing and able to learn. Much of the susceptibility to gang recruitment and other vulnerability or destructive be havior is the pathology that the “Alco hol and Drug Program” will address. There are, of course, disabilities other than drugs and alcohol that increase the “dropout” rate. All parents (and certainly this writer) will be quite pleased to note that the “ Multicultural/Multiethnic Educa tion Task Force is being revised; Herman Washington chairs the com mittee and Carolyn Leonard is coordi nator. As many of the readers know, I have a long record of interest and con tribution to this project; not only in Portland and throughout the state (Through Dept. of Agriculture), but nationally. I will have a special report soon on my new technology books and videos on black scientists—backed by industry. They were needed to pursue copyrights in Europe, China, Japan and Africa. An international specialist for merly with NIKE is helping. r. : • ~X- ■ - t '¿i (USPS 959-680) OREGON’S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLICATION Established in 1970 Publisher ■Contributing Writers McKinley Burt Dan Bell Mattie Ann Callier-Spears Bill Council John Phillips Alfred Henderson Production Staff Operations Manager Dean Babb Gary Ann Garnett Rea Washington Joyce Washington Accounting Manager Gary Ann Garnett I S ubscribe I I I ©Ip- ^krrilanù ©bserüer I I I I T he P ortland O bserver I CAN BE SENT DIRECTLY TO J YOUR HOME ONLY $25.00 Public Relations Chuck Washington Sales & Promotions Tony Washington | PER YEAR. J I P lease fill out , enclose CHECK OR MONEY ORDER, 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 238-0015 Deadline for all submitted materials: Articles: Monday, 5:00 pm-Ads- Tuesday, noon '.V r • ~ r 'r > POSTMASTER: Send Address C hanges to : P ortland O bserver, P.O. Box ' z',c ■ • i y 3 ,37 , P ortland, OR 97208 Second class postage paid at Portland Oregon. • «• ■ •• r iit’- i ’ «» *.?• ; 1.4 The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly 'abeled 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. Subscrlptions:$25.00 per year. <• • ' •{ »7 -•'■•i • , «S,A' .X The Portland Observer-Oregon’s Oldest African-American Publicatlon-is a member of the National Newspaper Association-Founded in 1885, and The National / f r . ’ V: Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc., New York, NY. \ . - ;■ ~.v'< I i I and M ail S ubscriptions T he P ortland O bserver PO Box 313 7 I P ortland , O regon 97208 I I I I Name I I I ! Address I city, State I I zip-code I I T hank Y ou F or R eading I T he P ortland O bserver I « y ? h A ' f ■ ■ f «aia* 1 to : cially controlled and unduly influenced by the while power structure, this vision will be clouded. And in spite of rhetoric to the contrary, their lack of action on economic issues makes a mockery of Malcolm’s life. If the leaders won’t lead, than Blacks in Portland who know this to be the truth ought to themselves invoke the spirit of Malcolm and chart a course of self-sufficiency, self-reliance and self-respect. But, let’s not confuse this with Black separatism, nationalism and all that. This is simply about com mon, practical sense - taking care of African-American individuals, families and the community. I only wish that Blacks who aspire to be our leaders and advocates could some how catch this vision and see the greater scheme of things. Blacks, and especially Black leaders, should exam ine themselves in light of Malcolm’s life. They should ask themselves if they measure up. This is because Malcolm’s life makes the point that we must be willing to go against our leaders when they are not willing to change and move forward in our best interest. A good case in point, as far as I’m concerned, is the Portland Urban League, which could do less talking about it’s historical role as a moderate facilitator. There ain’t nothing moderate about what Black folks are going through these days. As one who has worked with the Urban League over the years, I think it’s about time they do somechanging. Their director talks about building bridges rather than walls. But he should take it from some of us in construction who know about building real bridges. There’s a hell of a lot of foundation work that must be done first. For example, excavation of dirt and removing old walls in order to get on an even level footing. Only then can a strong lasting bridge be built. Surely the leadership at the League must know that there are many more racist walls that must come tumbling down before lasting bridges can be built. Anyhow, the Black community should insist that the Urban League, the Coalition of Black Men and other so- called Black Leadership groups stop using the bandage approach and react ing to crisis after crisis. From my stand point, we are only treating the sThp- tom sof a terrible condition that is jiytas devastating in economic terms as AIDS is in medical terms. The lack of eco nomic capacity (not just jobs) is slowly eating at the heart of the Alrican-Ameri can existence. And, if Black leaders and organizations are not willing to deal with this harsh reality, they ought get out of the way and unselfishly support those who can. This whole notion was reaffirmed by the one consistent theme expressed by those who commented on the Mal colm X-Act III controversy. That is the awareness that African-Americans in this town lack the economic capacity to determine their own destiny. So, the question becomes how many more of these incidents like Act III will it take to get Blacks to change course? The Na tional Urban League has set a course. They are promoting an economic devel opment plan called the Marshall Plan, which calls for massive public works and other projects to get the economy moving. I’m sure most Black Portlanders know little about this plan. The local Urban League, like all other local Black organizations, ought to have a similar economic development plan. We should all understand that this is not an Urban League problem or any other single Black organization’s prob lem. Lord knows we don’t want to get charged with blaming the League or other organizations for something for which we all must claim responsibility. We must accept the blame as a commu nity for not setting priorities, not being self-sacrificing, and not coming together to meet the challenge of Black eco nomic growth. One way to help change this situation is to support each other more. A good group to start working with is the Black Dollar Days Task Force. This group encourages Blacks to support Black-owned businesses. You can call Camell Crum, the executive director, at (503) 284-0322 for more information. The X does make a difference. We can use this incident to encourage all of us to do better. James Posey is a local, small busi ness owner with a background in social work and community activism. The Ultimate Stereotypes: Chrysler’s Lee lacocca “Welfare” Interview—N.Y. Cops Shoot Black Officer As A “Criminar BY PROF. MCKINLEY BURT F irst, let us ex am in e last Wednesday’s revealing, network inter view of Mr. Iococca, retiring chairman of the Chrysler Automotive Corpora tion. And in the second instance, just how much new insight is to be gained from an examination of an all too famil iar phenomenon-white policemen im mediately conclude that any black man with a drawn gun must necessarily be a criminal? Happens all the time, twenty- two shots will surely take care of the beast. The Chairman of the Board of the mighty Chrysler Corp, waxed expan sively and eloquently when given this opportunity to present his version of the American Dream. He began with poi gnant and soul-wrenching descriptions of poor, ignorant immigrant parents who with “noth ing but their two hands” built a rewarding life in a “land of opportunity.” It immediately occurred to me that immigrants are a “self-se lected” group, people who deliberately choose to come to a new land whatever the perceived odds and difficulties. There is always a carefully calculated method in their madness-why else should they come? I had just begun to register this prelude to a “Horatio Alger” motiva tional tale to end all such stories, when I thought, “Let’s compare this won drous recitation with the arrival of Af rican Americans on these shores” (those who survived the Passage); naked, whipped, degraded, cnslavcd-strippcd of language and even the dignity of connubial and other family relations.” Now, arc we to be such fools as to conclude that Mr. Iococca did not have in mind very pointed references to the descendants of those early black arriv als on these shores? Even those who arc not too swift were able to catch on when the chair man began to cut loose with all those classic “buzz words” that the establish ment substitutes for black Americans: “My parents did not go on WELFARE, Dad pulled himself up by his BOOT STRAPS”. On and on, the great Ameri can epitome of success (“Universally available through hard work’) pro ceeded to lace his interview with the Anglo Saxon code. I held my breath; at any moment I expected him to quote the famous inscription by Margaret Sanger which appears on the S tatue Of Liberty in welcome of European immigrants: “Send me your poor and oppressed...” Now, the reader may conclude that this interview was nothing less than a thinly-disguised racistdiatribcandgivcn that beauty (or ugliness) lies in the eye of the beholder, he would be right. But, this type of hypocritical denigration is a daily media event and, what I am afraid of is that we will continue to see Mr. Iococca as an honored guest at banquets or conventions of our black lcaders-or, worse yet, as one of the prime-movers from industry that presi dent-elect Clinton proposes to put on his task force for the revitalization of the inner cities. Of course, we have that other situ ation where a few very perceptive blacks are questioning Clinton’s appointment of Vernon Jordan as head of the selec tion process that will determine the key appointments in the new administra tion. As C-Span detailed, not only does Mr. Jordan bring a “prestige and com fort to the black population as former head of the National Urban Lcague”- but, as an attorney, he also represents the Phillip Morris Company through his Washington, D.C. law firm. This company is the largest pusher of to bacco in the “world,” and both in the U.S. and Africa, the principal market target is black. In Africa, of course, there is no requirement for a warning to be stamped on the packs. Well, Well! Returning to Mr. Iococca and his not-too-subtle seman ties, I would make several pertinent remarks about the time period in which his immigrant parents arrived (around 1900). These are important considerations and need to be related to the reality of black experience and opportunity at that time or any other. I have written a number of times in my “Perspectives” column about the many racist barriers thrown up against the advancem ent (boot straps) of African-Americans, as com pared with the golden opportunities provided newly-arrived, often illiter ate white immigrants. At the tim e the C h ry sler chairman’s parents arrived, Samuel Gompers, the famous union organizer, had just finished his organization of the A.F.L. craft unions. His greatest “tri umph” was to have rewritten all of the union constitutions to specify thatmem- bership would be for “While Males Only.” We do not have room to detail the economic harm done to blacks by this cruel and vicious act that was designed to pave the way for the hordes of European immigrants. Needless to say, thousands of black craftsmen lost theirjobs.and their families, their “wel fare.” In closing, let me point out another of these pivotal imtn igralion situations. I would take my urban economics stu dents downtown to the “Pillock Block Building” and show them a huge color poster in the lobby. A historic icon from the late 19th century, it featured a farmland scene with beaming white farmers reaping a bountiful harvest in mid-America. This poster appeared in most seaport towns in Europe and in vited anyone who could read ittocom e to America and, free of charge, receive land astride the Union Pacific railroad, tools and a start-up grant. But the 9th and 10th Calvary (Black Buffalo Sol diers), who defended them, never got theirs. Portland Observer encourages our readers to write letters, to the editor in response to any articles we publish; .
