J une 2, 1993 • T he P ortland O bserver
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In The Beginning Was The Word III: But, You Need To S tart Early
I appreciate the interest shown in
my firs t tw o articles on “ w ords” and
speculation on th e ir o rig in (etym ol
ogy). However, as I ’ m sure you arc
aware, there are some good books at
the library w h ich explore this fasci
nating subject to a great depth.
Interestingly , readers are asking
for some specific d irection in getting
‘ a handle’ on this
w ord business in
these days o f “ in
fo rm a tio n e x p lo
sions” w hen one is
under a constant
assault o f rhetoric
(and “ B S ” ) n ig h t
and day Let me say
th is —w h e re one
really needs to begin is w ith the basic
construction o f our language. B ut the
past fo u r decades in A m erican, fo r the
most part, has seen a tragic degrada
tio n o f th is aspect o f our culture
I ’ve examined th is problem in
articles q u o tin g that 1950 book by a
C hicago priest, “ W hy Johnny C a n 't
Read” .
There are exceptions o f course,
or w lute) emphasized nothing so much
as they did English gram m ar (unless
it was mathematics) Now "W ebster”
defines gram m ar as “ the study o f the
classcsofwords. their inflections, and
th e ir functions and relations in the
some good public schools here and
there but not nearly enough I f you
want to get a better g rip on words, you
must first come to grips w ith what
your deficiencies are As a man (o r
woman) once said, "Ify o u don’t know
what you do n ’ t know , you a in ’ t going
to ever know ” . First, le t’ s look at the
wav it was: The reason I have a
modicum o fkn o w l-
edge about these
things is I attended
public schools be
fore W orld W ar II
That is, before a
great change oc-
currcd--and not for
the better (W e ’ ll
get to “ words” in a
sentence”
O u r te a ch e rs, and w h o e ve r
designed the c u rric u lu m , decided
in th e ir in fin ite wisdom that each
and every c h ild in Am erica, regard
less o f race, re lig io n , gender or
prev ious degree o f serv itudc must hav e
a thorough grasp o f the construction
o f the language i f to be enabled to
function in our s o c ie ty -A n d this B E
FORE H IG H SCH O O L where these
tools w ould be employed in the under
standing o f more sophisticated con
cepts. It is a given that no teachers
were hired unless they w ere masters o f
th is c ra ft (A n d w ereT E S T E D accord
m in u te ).
In m y tim e in the m id-south, the
institution housing grades K. to 8 was
know n as a “ gram m ar school” . T h is
name was not entirely correct, fo r
o rig in a lly (in England) this title was
given to ‘ secondary’ schools w hich
ingly).
Now, let me advise some readers
that there is no way I can furnish the
equivalent o f basic E nglish lessons in
the space allotted fo r m y articles. I
can, however, fu rth e r describe that
early process and its methodology,
emphasized Greek and L a tin H ow
ever, a po in t could be made that these
‘elem entary’ schools o f ours (ghetto
hoping you w ill be provided some
goals, and direction fo r obtaining re l
evant manuals at the library or book-
sto re -e ith e r for your ch ild or yo u r
s e lf Many o f you hav e indicated all
along that you wish to read or speak
better, improve com m unications re
lated to your jo b - o r even begin w r it
ing
O ur teachers began the w o rd ’
game in the first grade and w ith the
relations described by Webster in that
d e fin itio n o f “ grainm ar” -a n d carried
through to K 8 w ith increasing com
p le xity noun, pronoun, adjective,
adverb, preposition, conjunction, in
terjection, etc You were given to un
derstand that “ a carpenter cannot
b u ild a house unless he has the proper
tools and materials—and has a blue
p rin t to indicate the place and dim en
sion o f things
That was ju st the beginning o f
things. There was “ tense mood” and
the like: had an act already been per
formed in some past-vvas it in process
or was the action to take place in the
future. By the sixth grade you were
into some good literature from Robin
Hood to M oby D ick to The Ancient
M ariner, so you were required to se
lect out the “ metaphors” that gave
language its fla ir and beauty: “ The
salty lic k and lap o f the sea at the foot
o f every cross town street” (Y ou were
ready to go w haling. The teacher made
you smell the sea and rock w ith the
ship); “ like a painted ship upon a
painted sea” (you knew the problem o f
the poor, becalmed mariner).
So it is that 1 can remember
the lines and passages o f the poems
and stories a ll these years later—
and, above a ll, the gram m atical con
struction and why it was done that
way. This, though was only part o f it.
There was the matter o f inflection,
pronunciation, enunciation, spelling
and the lik e -n o t to m ention the hy
perbole and onomatopoeia, o r the
meaning o f certain standard prefixes
and suffixes. How on earth, indeed,
the teachers supposed in those d a ys-
how could a ch ild succeed in high
school, let alone life, w ithout this foun
dation? D id I o m it phonic, the key to
cracking the language code: Sorry
compared
ourself to the
competition
and found
something
•
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missing.
JJortlanb <®bwrutr
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about that.
DRUG TESTING: A Higher Hurdle for Black Employment?
BY JAMES L. POSEY
the struggle fo r equality and justice
and a ll that, vvhen so many B lack folks
are being thoroughly devastated by
drugs and alcohol and w ill less lik e ly
take advantage o f these hard fought
gains A ctually, this issue is more
than a notion For example, a few
vv ecks ago I was c ritic iz in g the Safeway
store at M L K and A in sw o rth fo r not
h irin g enough Blacks in more money
m aking positions It came back to me
that Safew ay had screened over a 100
Black people fo r various positions at
that store. O f that number, only 15
could pass the w ritte n test. A n d o f the
is w reaking havoc in the Black com
munity w ith dev astating consequence
beyond our best understanding The
pow erful com bination o f poor educa
tion, m ixed w ith the effects o f high
rates o f unemploy ment over long pe
riods o f tim e, reinforced by substan
dard liv ing conditions, and saturated
w ith large quantities o f drugs and
alcohol, is the ultim ate form ula for
By now i t ’ s no secret that many
employers, both those sy m pathetic to
the B lack cause and those not. believe
that drug testing has become the most
effective way o f e lim in a tin g Blacks
fro m the employm ent pools They
believe that it w ill be the single, most
lethal and d iscrim in a tin g factor a f
fecting Black employ ment To tell the
truth, some are even outw ardly gleeful a n n ihila tio n
M ore pervasive than cancer or
to know that th is w ill be an effective
race-specific screening mechanism other dreaded disease, nearly every
But, is it true that A frica n -A m e rica n s Black fam ily has experiencing in the
can’ t get jobs because they can’ t pass here and now, a love one or close
the drug test? W e ll, after ju s t one frie n d w ho has being consumed by 15, only three could pass the drug test.
experience w ading through the dope drugs and/or alcohol. And. i t ’ s not I f there is any tru th to these figures,
dealers on the way to Dawson, Unthank ju s t the so-called uneducated, lower- you can see w hy Safeway is not about
and Irv in g parks or anywhere else in class or unemployed W e've seen some to change its com plexion As I have
in n e r Northeast proper fo r that m at o f the best in the comm unity taken out said before. Safeway is probably one
ter, there should be no question in by heroin, the crack attack o r alcohol o f the better employers in the area. So
ism. losing good jobs, homes and the you can see how serious this problem
your m ind
W h ile i t ’ s no longer a front page rest O u r B la ck m iddle class has really is
But. w h a t’ s the solution9 The to l
newspaper story , usually hyping the snorted and drunk up more wealth
erance
level fo r accepting things in
stereotype about Blacks and their wan than the budgets o f some o f the w o rld ’s
this
comm
unity w ith o u t a fig h t is too
ton use o f drugs fo r the sake o f enter dev eloping countries.
high
We
let
the cigarette companies
Sometimes you have to ask your
ta in in g w hite folks, the drug and alco
come
in
and
give
away a ll the
self.
is
there
any
sense
in
continuing
hol th in g is a real serious problem It
Travel Workers
C ontradictory statements in v o lv
ing travel workers who were dismissed
fo r alleged incompetence, and Tho
mas M c L a rty. was blamed fo r the
messy travel office situation
Five o f the seven persons were re
instated because they were not the
ones responsible for w rit ing o f checks,
but they were put on indefinite adm in
INTON
OTPOURRI
istrative leave
The travel office arranges trans
portation for the press traveling w ith
the president, but the press pays for
most o f that.
C lin to n was quoted as saying, “ I
K-Baseball caps adv ertising Kool we need to challenge the churches to
cigarettes. People ought to realize that do even more because the cause is so
the ‘K ’ on those caps really stand for great.
Finally , there are a lo t o f things
“ k ille r ’’ In fact, the m arketing o f ciga
rettes is nothing but another form o f A frican-A m ericans can blame on rac
drug pushing and prom otion o f death ism, the sy stem, etc., etc. T h is issue o f
and destniction directed at this com drugs and alcohol and how it is ram
m unity. You sure d o n 't see K-caps in pant in our comm unity is no different
Lake Oswego or dow ntovv n Gresham! U n like the lack o f economic opportu
Somehow the com m unity has to nity, access to resources and the rest,
empower its e lf to be more inv ested in chemical and substance abuse is some
life and prosperity and not let death th in g Blacks can and must deal w ith
and other destructive forces come in themselves. Farrakan and the Nation
and take over. We can not continue to o f Islam has it right. B lack people
let the y oungsters deal and do dope out better do som ething awesome and
in the open w ithout any resistance quick about this problem o f drug and
from the people, let alone the police. substance abuse less we a ll be re
Equally im portant, we must hold our signed to slav ery o f the worst kind -
elected o fficia ls to a higher degree o f
self-imposed. G iven a ll the other
accountability in terms o f how they
create or perpetuate depressed eco barriers one has to overcome in order
nom ic conditions that foster drug and to get and retain a decent jo b , A frica n -
alcohol abuse. W h ile the story is to ld Americans ought to put themselv es in
that it is even d iffic u lt to recruit drug- a position o f never having to worry
fre e em ployees fr o m th e B la c k about passing a drug test.
James Posey is a local, sm all busi
churches, they rem ain the best source
ness
owner w ith a background in so
o f m oral responsibility and stability in
cial
w
o rk and com unity activism.
th is area Regardless o f their capacity,
had nothing to do w ith any decision, a part o f a plan to reduce the deficit by
except to save the taxpayers and the about $500 b illio n over the next five
press money U ltim ately, anything that years. The tax increases w ould exempt
happens in the W hite House is the most low -income people, cost m iddle-
income fam ilies perhaps $17 a month
responsibility o f the president.”
and fa ll heavily on the well-to-do.
Tax Plan
The House gave the President a
narrow w in on his proposal to see
Congress approve his deficit-reduc
tio n package. It was a 219-213 vote.
A ll o f the Republican were opposed
B oth the Republicans and the Dem o
crats were cheering fo r each th e ir
President C linton visited the V ie t
nam Veterans M em orial under protest
from some o f the w ar veterans They
felt i f the President did not participate
in the war, he d id not have the rig h t to
be at the mem orial service.
In the speech he delivered he
sides
The b ill is a com bination o f tax shared some o f his feelings: “ Let us
increases and spending restraints I t ’ s continue to disagree i f we must about
¡Hl]c ^ flu rlla u b ( ß b a c r lic r j
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The ban on permanent replace
ments not only helps the labor move-
m e n t-th e single most trustw orthy his
torical ally ofblacks for racial equality
in A m c ric a -b u t it also d isproportion
ately aids black workers
Black workers constitute more
than 15 percent o f the nation’ s u n io n
ized workforce, thus b cn cfittin g dis
proportionately from pro-labor reform
such as a ban on permanent replace
ment o f workers du rin g a legal strike
Because the vast majority ofblacks
arc w o rkin g people, we know fu ll w ell
that it is meaningless to say that em
ployers arc forbidden by law front
“ firin g " legal strikers, but they can
s till “ perm anently replace" th e ir le
g a lly -s trik in g employees. In either
case, the w orkers' liv elihood has been
stolen
Ev cn closer analy sis reveals more
benefits Em ployers arc most lik e ly to
replace unskilled o r sem i-skilled em
ployees because i t ’ s easier to tra in
replacements Because o f historical
d iscrim in a tio n , tw ice as many blacks
w o rk in unskilled or sem i-skilled oc
cupations. thus m aking blacks tw ice
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YEAR.
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^ o r t l a t i h O D b a c ru e r
the war, but let us not let it div ide us as
a people any longer
No one has come here today to
disagree about the heroism o f those
w hom we honor But the only way we
can really honor their memory is to
resolve to live and serve today and
tomorrow as best we can and to make
Am erica the best that she can be.”
President C lin to n announced that
he has ordered that a ll U.S. m ilita ry
docum ents p e rta in in g to m issin g
Americans in Indochina be declassi
fied and made publ ic by Veterans day. .
He le ft the cerem onies w ith
‘ thumbs u p ’ fro m most o f the people.
Why Black Workers Should
Support Striker Rights Bill
S ubscribe !
(USPS 959-680)
OREGON'S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLICATION
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as lik e ly to be vulnerable to the un
scrupulous use o f perm anent replace
ments and tw ice as lik e ly to benefit
from legislation that w ould ban such
action.
Freedom o f association is sim ply
the rig h t to associate and form organi
zations w ith whom ever you choose It
is the bedrock o f the trade union move
ment and crucial to ra cia l progress in
Am erica.
Blacks are concentrated in three
o f the least free sectors o f the A m e ri
can workplace: the South, the service
sector and the public sector.
In the South, so-called rig h t-to -
w ork states and an a n ti-u n io n clim ate
combine to disenfranchise many blacks
from the w orkplace democracy that
unions provide.
In the service sector, w hich is
more than 17 percent black, unions
have tra d itio n a lly encountered fierce
employer resistance and obstruction
ism.
A n d in the public sector, w hich is
a heavily black w orkforce, Am erican
workers arc frequently denied th e ir
rights to organize and bargain collec
tively, and to strike
m .;
Internationally, fu ll freedom o f
association w ould mean that workers
and trade unionists throughout the
w o rld could im prove th e ir standard o f
liv in g and contribute to the democ
racy and more egalitarian develop
ment o f th e ir societies. In A fric a and
throughout the T h ird W orld, free trade
unionism w ould mean the liberation
o f vast masses o f exploited w o rkin g
people.
International freedom o f associa
tio n w ould also mean that fewer good-
paying union jobs w ould be lost here
in A m erica due to u n fa ir trade and
w orkers’ rights practices by countries
and companies that e xp lo it a non-
unionized, fragm ented and unfree
w orkforce abroad
Support for these objectives is
crucial not only to the black com m u
nity but to the entire A m erican labor
movement
(E d ito r’ s Note: N orm an H ill is
president o f the notional A P h ilip
Randolph Institute
Contact Local:235-9444
“ W orkplace Fairness A ct”
HR5-555 is expected to come up
fo r vote in nud-Junc