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March 10, <993
‘Serving the community through cultural diversity.
Volumn XXIII, Number 10
“J l i i r t l a u f t © u
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' Ten construction crews
in teams o f five could
earn as much as
$200,000 p e r crew
annually. This, by
rough calculations,
would mean $2 million
in subsidized salaries
fo r the community.
This am ount would
generate nearly
$400,000 in various
taxes, city fees, etc.
Cult Leader Failed To
Surrender
David Koresh is still holding out against,
federal officers. Morechildren released.
Plenty o f supplies for a long seize,
taunts officers.
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Portland Has Faults
Scientists say there are at least three
faults as the) plan to study the possibil­
ity o f earthquakes here in Portland.
Barriers in place to prevent drug trafficing.
y
by James L. Posey
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Rescue O fficers Killed
In Crash
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Reserve Officers Scott Collins and Mark
Whitehead were crashed into on 1-85
by drunken driver.
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Blazers Pass
The T ra il Blazers decided to by pass the
Canadian Football League.
The Value Of Taming The Asphalt Jungle
Price O f North
Precinct A nte Goes Up
Blackmen At Work In Crack Alley
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Asphalt construction crew perform vital street repair on city sewer Pr0‘ecta
c arcnn Raker Jo e
Jimmy Anderson Roller Operator, Big Ben Thomas Volunteer Foreman, Benny Carson, Raker, Jo e
The original offer was $838,000 and is
now $ 1.3. Blumenauer is the oniy c om -
missioner against it.
Ali, Shovelman
World Trade C enter
Disaster
The bombing still under investigation-
one person arrested after trying to re­
deem $400 rental deposit on a vehicle-
others flee US. Belief o f conspiracy.
Three Oregon
T elem arketers P a rt O f
Scam
The FBI raided several telemarkets
across the nation and Oregon was in ­
cluded.
Polio Vaccine
Developer Dies
Albert Sabin the developer o f oral polio
vaccine died at 86. The vaccine was
taken on sugar cubes.
GOP Goes On W ith o u t
Packwood
The Dorchester Conference a yearly
affair that Packwood started went on
without him.
Cocaine Bust
"In an environment
where streets are
being blocked to
slow down drug
d ea lers' escape
routes and Blacks
are better knownfor
drive-by shootings
and dodging stray
bullets, the image
o f hard working
B l a c k s
repairing...sends a
strong p o sitiv e
m essa g e”.
Tim ber S ales Losing
Billy Eckstine Dies
Eckstine a crooner from the 40s and
50s died o f cardiac arrest at age 78.
Most “ youngsters” w ill remember
“ Blue Moon” or “ Fools Rush In ”
Clinton P ottpurn
Signs jobless benefits into law; to meet
w ith Boris Yeltsin in A p ril; w ill make
decision on Oregon Health Plan; diver­
sity is not in appointments according to
an analysis from The Associated Press;
O k’ s more spending cuts; expected to
ease bank lending rules.
“T h e H is to ry O f B la c k
P e o p le In B rita in
C o n c lu d e d ”
B la ck s in A m erica have been fe d a
steady diet o f the most outrageous
sytstem o f brain wash and thought
co n tro l
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be impressed that they can work to-
gether, doing a really good job and
getting paid. In an environment where
streets are being blocked to slow down
drug dealers'escape routes and Blacks
are better know n fo r d rive -b y
shootings and dodging stray bullets,
Ate image o f hard working Blacks
repairing, rather titan tearing down
streets, sends a strong positive counter
yes, accept this p itifu l circumstance,
So, to find an all-black construction
crew working for an all-Black con­
struction company in the heart o f the
Black community is sadly rare.
We know the kind o f message it sends
to have an all-white crew, working in
the middle o f an economically de­
pressed, Black community and gain­
ing competitive skills, while taking
home a good pay check. But what
kind o f message does the all-Black
crew send and what real value is it to
the community as a whole? Maybe a
few o f the many idle Blacks in the
area w ill witness their presence and
message.
A lot o f the credit for influencing
white contractors on city projects to
hire Black subcontractors, goes to
N AM C O , the National Associatioin
o f m inority Contractores o f Oregon.
Thecity is now forging ahead, spurred
on by the w ork o f a smart, and
fortunatley, sympathetic assistant city
attorney, Madelyn Wessel. Ms. Wessle
recently released a report that graphi­
cally gives many details to the initial
statistics presented to the C ity Coun­
c il by N AM C O . These figures vivdly
tell the story o f how Black construc­
tion workers and contractors have
panics and blacks were each sfigh tly
less likely to be employed in late
I I
1992 than they were a year-and-a-
half earlier. This report analyzes
labor market developments in 1992
The recent recession o fficially ended based on seasonally adjusted quar-
in early 1991, but unemployment terly averages.
rates for blacks and whites contin- EMPLOYMENT AND THE
ued to rise fo r more than a year LABOR FORCE
before declining in the second h alf Total civilian employment, at 118.0
o f 1992; the rate for Hispanics rose m illion in the fourth quarter o f 1992,
through the end o f 1992. In addi- grew by a modest 1.1 m illion over
tion, overall employment growth the year, as the labor market slowly
has been unusually slow for a recov- began to regain the ground lost dur-
ery period. The proportion o f whites mg the 1990-91 recession. Employ-
with jobs remained fairly flat over ment had declined by about 1.4 m il-
the post-recession period, while His- lion between the second quarter o f
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a seemingly rag-tag group o f Black
workers fillin g sewer holes with as-
phalt can have any positive effect on
reducing crime. The wihte ere ws, who
actually do the technical installation
o f the sewers, aree common sight in
the predominately Black area o f the
community. The reacial composition
o f these crews is the norm and even
most Blacks have come to expect, and
1990 and the third quarter o f 1991
(the peak and trough o f that particu­
lar series).
Blacks, Hispanics, and whites all
experienced relatively slow employ­
ment growth in 1992. There were
12.0 m illio n employed blacks in the
fourth quarter o f 1992, up only
slightly from 11.8 m illion a year
earlier. The percentage o f the black
population that was employed (the
employment-population ratio), at
54.1 percent in the fourth quarter o f
1992, was virtually unchanged over
the year, and remained about 3 per-
centagc points below its prerecession
high. Among Hispanics, a rapidly
rising population coupled w ith a
very small increase in the number o f
jobholders resulted in a seven-tenths
ofapercentagepoint-decline in their
employment-population ratio since
late 1991. The number o f employed
whiles also rose very slowly over the
year-by 760,000, only half the an­
nual rate o f growth in the 1980’ s-
and their employment-population
ratio,at 62.4 percent, was unchanged.
The civilian labor force rose by 1.7
m illion between the fourth quarter o f
1991 and 1992. This compares with
an increase o f just over half a m illion
in 1991. Blacks comprised about
400,000 o f the 1992 increase, their
first labor force growth since 1989
and the largest since 1987. As ,a
result, their labor force participation
rate rose 0.7 percentage point during
1992 to 63.0 percent. The Hispanic
labor force expanded by about
355,000during 1992, about the same
as in 1991. The expansion o f 1.0
m illion whites in the labor force just
kept pace w ith their population
growth.
UNEMPLOYMENT
The unemployment level for the
fourth quarter o f 1992,9.3 m illion,
and the unemployment rate, 7.3 per­
cent, were both slightly higher than
Religion
MetroLife
-T il D e a th U s D o P a r t ”
-S c ie n c e F a ir O ffe r s E d u c a tio n a l O p p o r tu n itie s ”
- F ir e In t h e S k y ”
When human life has been term i­
nated through abortion, m ercy
k illin g o r suicide, there is no way
to re p a ir the mistake
M iddle sch o o l students develop and conduct m edical research and w ill
There are accusations o f a hoax
but a ll must co n sid er the p o ssib il­
ity that the men are telling the
truth
EDITORIAL
RELIGION
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past year. But all should be reminded
that the 'Wessel' report is only the tip
o f this iceberg. Now it's rumored that
city officials have gotten cold feet
about the plan to sponsor a disparity
study that would prove past discrim i­
nation and put real teeth into future
altirm ative action contract com pli­
ance programs. The study is suppose
to cost too much. We certainly have
heard this same theme from Commis-
sionerBlumenauerwhoisn'tashamed
o f promoting his concern that making
allowances for m inority contractors
w ill be too expensive fo r the city.
Obviously he did not read the Kemer
Reprot follow ing the Watts riots in
L.A . But the truth is, any effort the
city makes to encourage the creation
o f more Black construction crews like
the one previously cited w ill actually
save the city big dollars in the long
run. An examination o f the follow ing
dollar profile shows how Black con­
struction crQwscontinued on page 2a
Entertainment
present projects at the fa ir.
-O re g o n S c h o o l B o a rd A s s o c ia tio n S u p p o rts
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O S B A members support protection students, but indicated that the b ill was
Page A5
CLASSIFIEDS
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not the vehicle to insure a c h ild 's safety
METRO-LIFE
HOUSING
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ENTERTAINMENT
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B a c k g ro u n d C h e c h s ”
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been badly "dogged" over the
Employment In Per sped tve:
Minority Workers
The largest take in the history o f O r­
egon, possibly valued at $31 m illion;
over 600 lbs.
By the time state & government takes
their’s o ff the top-the Forestry Service
doesn’t make a profit.
Maybe there’s more than a few people
noticing the work o f the all-Black
asphalt construction crew, doing their
thing in and around 9th and Emerson,
Grand, Webster and Killingsw orth
Court, also known as "Crack A lle y ” .
A ll should know that the simple ap­
pearance o f this crew may do more to
counter the acts o f drug dealing,
crim inal assault, robbery, child abuse
and most o f the other diviant behav­
iors in this area than the police and all
the other social services programs put
together can. Few programs are as
powerful agents o f change as true-to-
life role models living successfully in
their everyday surroundings. There
are too few examples o f Black folks
working together (outside o f the NBA,
NFL or other sports arenas) accom­
plishing visible, productive work. This
is particularly true in Portland where
African-Americans are too white-
world oriented and conditioned to
working against each other.
One might even ask how in the world
SPORTS
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