J uni 23, 1993 • Tm P orti and O bserver
P age A?
the books listed may be obtained, by Lcrone Bennett J r : Afrocentrieity.
as w ell as a c a ta lo g w ith a by Modefi Keti Asante.
A frican P resence In Early
broad selection of books, mox ies and
America, by lx an Van Sertima: Black
videos.
Write "African American Images. Athena The Afroasiatic Roots O f
1909 W 95th St.. Classical Civilization. Vols I&II. by
Depl Me. Chicago. Martin Bernal; Black Women In An­
111. 60643. Phone tiquity. cd by lxan Van Sertima;
(3 12) 44 5 -0 3 2 2 . Blacks In Science, cd by Ivan Van
This catalog also Sertima; Introduction to African Civi­
ßy
has an extensive lizations. by John G Jackson; Hoxx
P r o fe s s o r
listingof children's Europe Underdcx eloped Africa, by
M c K in le y
titles and religious Walter Rodney; Iceman Inheritance,
B u rt
m aterials M uch, by Michael Bradley. Introduction To
too, c o n c e rn in g African Civilizations, by JohnG. Jack-
black women and noted personalities son; Introduction To Black Studies,
Also ax ailable are large sets of related by Maulana Karenga.
The Destruction ofBlack Cixili­
books and videos suitable for schools
and libraries. African origin of civili­ zation. by C hancellor W illiam s;
zation: My th or Reality , by Cheikth The Miseducation of The Negro, by
Anta Diop; 100 Amazing Facts About Carter G. Woodson; Stolen Legacy,
The Negro, by J. A. Rogers; before the by George G.M James; They Came
Mayflower: A history ofBlack America Before Colum bus, by Ivan Van
W ell, its th a t tu n e o f y ear
again—when I advise the multitude on
sources of some excellent African
American readings forthose long sum­
mer daxs (or nights) The books listed
h e re a re gem s
found in my own
library and 1 heart­
ily reco m m e n d
th em for c ith e r
plcasureor serious
study
I ’m advised
that ‘ Donnies On
B ro ad w ay ” , the
black cultural store here has added a
b o o k sto re , but h as m oved to
N.E. M artin L u th er K ing Blxd
(second floor o f that long-empty
former dairy building across from
the Cable Access Center). 1 also
cite here a national black-owned
catalog house from which any of
Sertima W orld’s Great Men of Color.
Vol II by J.A. Rogers; Mules And
Men. by Zora Neale Hurston; Natixe
Son. by Richard Wright; Jubilee, by
M argaret W alker. Roots by Alex
Haley; The Spook Who Sal By The
Door. By T he Door, by Sam Greenlee;
The Souls O f Black Folk, by W E B
Dubois;
What Color W as Jesus, by W il­
liam Mosley ; The Rodney King Re­
bellion. by Brenda Wall. Her Story
Black Female Rites of Passage; by
Mary Lewis; For Black Women Only
A Complete Guide To A Successful
Life-Style Change. Health. Wealth.
Love And Happiness; by Ingrid D.
Hicks; Teaching Scripture From An
African American Perspective. By
Joseph V. Crockett;'
The folloxxing titles comprise a
set of informative little books priced at
$1 99 each: A frican K ings And
By Dr. Lenora Fulani
The Guinier Wtihdrawal: Another Clinton Betrayal
Lani G uinier’s proposals
for empowering minorities in the
electoral arena have been purposely
distorted by the anti-democratic pow­
ers- thal-be and their friends in the
media and in academia. The Wall
Street Journal stooped to tabloid tac­
tics with a headline smearing her as
a “Quota Queen,” while the New
York Times made editorial space for
P rin c e to n p ro fe sso r C aro l M.
Swainh)0*0*0* imply shamelessly
and falsely that Prof. G uinicr’s pro­
posals favor segregating Blacks into
Black-majority districts.
Because she has raised rea­
sonable questions about how institu­
tionalized racism disenfranchises mi­
norities, Lani Guinier has been la­
beled “anti-majoritarian” by those
who like to flatter themselves by
thinking they represent or speak for
“the majority” of Americans.
But the fact is that we no
longer have “majoritarian rule” here
in America. President Clinton did
not win by a majority, and he has no
real program that will benefit the
majority o f Amcricans-lhough he is
desperately trying to give the ap­
pearance of pleasing everybody. But
notice who always gels sold out in
die compromises made by our cvcr-
apologclic president: women, mi­
norities, Haitians, gays, the middle
class and the working poor. In the
economic and social climate prevail­
ing today, the white corporate m i­
nority dial has always ruled America
can no longer afford to finance the
rights lawyer t, defend her record to
the Senate would be “divisive” to the
nation.
Just what was it about Prof.
G uinier’s record that doomed her
prospects of serving in the Clinton
Justice Department? Simply this: in
her academic writings she has en­
gaged the question of what struc­
tural changes might possibly be de­
veloped to overcome lingering race
discrimination and give more politi­
cal power to minority voters!
For instance, Prof. Guinier
has suggested that rather than draw
district lines in such a way as to
segregate Black voters in a single
“minority district” (as is routinely
done now, to comply with the Vot­
ing Rights Act), Black representa­
tion could be ensured by methods
such as cumulative voting. Cumula­
tive voting can be used in districts
with more than one elected repre­
sentative, where all the seats arc “at-
large” and voters are free to throw
all their votes behind one candidate,
or spread them among the different
candidates for the at-large positions.
Such a voting system leverages the
minority vote without segregating
minority citizens into political ghet­
tos. It is neither a radical nor a
hypothetical solution to inadequate
minority representation. According
to William T. Coleman, one of Prof.
G u in ic r’s d e fe n d e rs, P resid en t
Bush’s Justice Department approved
such alternative voting systems in at
least 35 different jurisdictions.
If there was one message
that American voters sent out to
their elected officials loud and clear
last November, it was this: our cur­
rent electoral system is no longer
serving us well; it is in need of
fundamental restructuring. Almost
21 million people in 14 states ap­
proved term limitations, drastically
“restructuring” the political careers
o f 36% of the congress, twelve state
legislators and six governors. Over
20 million Americans voted for an
indcpendcntcandidatc for president,
calling into question whether either
of the two major parties w ill ever
win by a majority again. While term
limits and independent politics won
wide support among white, middle-
class and working-class “moder­
ates,” these two tactics for voter
empowerment were strongly rejected
by liberal and left Democrats, in­
cluding the Democratic Parly’s most
faithful co n stitu en cies, A frican
Americans and women, in favor of
strong support for Bill Clinton.
L ast week, to the utter dis­
may of those twocommunitics, Presi­
dent Clinton dumped the African
American woman who was his nomi­
n ee for c h ie f o f the Ju stic e
Department’s civil rights division,
Lani Guinier. Professor Guinier was
abandoned by Clinton when Repub­
licans and the conservatives who
now control the Democratic parly
mounted a vicious attack against
her, “convincing” the president that
even allowing the distinguished civil
myth of majority rule. They are the
ones who arc pulling C linton’s
strings, and they arc telling us in no
uncertain terms to lower our cxpcc-
tations-not only our economic ex­
pectations, but our hopes for a more
perfect democracy as well.
To their credit, Kwcisi
Mfume (D-MD) and other members
of the Congressional Black Caucus
fought hard to save theGuiniernomi-
nation. Presumably, they supported
Prof. Guinier because she would have
worked to open die democratic pro­
cess to the African American com­
munity and other disenfranchised
people. BulasCongrcssm an Mfume
and Reverend Jesse Jackson dis­
cussed on CNN, one question raised
by the Gu in icr fight is pree i sely wha t
kind of leverage docs the CBC and
the Black com in unity have to exert
over Clinton? In my opinion, the
more steps the CBC lakes to broaden
political participation and options,
the more power we have. In fact, in
the upcoming weeks they have the
opportunity to effect a democratic
“restructuring” themselves. Three
bills intn 1 iced by Rep. Tim Penny
(DFL-MN) would make voter regis­
tration easier, and remove the anti­
democratic regulations that the two
m a jo r
(th o u g h
no
lo n g e r
majoritarian!) parties have passed
to hobble independent parties and
candidates. The CBC must take the
leadership in promoting the passage
of diis much-needed empowerment
legislation.
Queens. Black Firsts. Blacks in 1 he
Arts. Black Civil Rights Leaders.
Black Scient ts And lux entors. Black
Abolitionist Black Educators. Black
In The Federal Government Black
Pioneers. Black Women
The folloxxing are some of the
bibliographies available:
The Ben Carson Story: Gifted
Hands; Elijah Muhammad, Janies
W eldon Jo h n so n ; M alcolm X.
Frederick Douglass; Jackie Robinson:
Duke Ellington; Marcus Garvey; Nat
Turner: Slave Revolt Leader; Paul
L aw rence D unbar: Poet; M artin
Luther King Jr.. Paul Robeson: Singer
A nd A c to r, S o jo u rn e r T ru th ;
A n tislav ery
A c tiv ist; P hy llis
Wheatley : Poet; Thurgood Marshall:
Supreme Court Justice. Muhammad
Al;
Nextweek. Moregreat books from
other sources.
survey of the count ry ’ s Top 100 B lack-
oxvncd businesses, opened his chemi­
cal distributorship in 1980. Today,
Mays Chemical Company Inc. has
yearly sales of $60-million.
“We arc very excited to have
William Mays as our keynote speaker
this year.” said Oscar ColTcy, Presi­
dent and CEO. NBCC “Mr. Mays
represents the heights to which moti­
vated Black business persons can as­
cend through talent, hard work and
fortitude.”
A native "Hoosier,” Mays was
born in Evansville, Indiana on Dc-
ccnibcr4, 1945. He attended Indiana
University where he earned both his
B.S in chemistry and MBA
After graduating. Mays took a job
as a test chemist at Linkbclt in India­
napolis, then moved on to Procter and
Gamble in Ohio, working there for
three years
In 1973, he accepted a position
with Cummins Engine Company in
Columbus. Indiana as assistant to the
president, rising to a middle manage­
ment position in Corporate Planning
After four years with Cummins,
he became president ofa small chcmi-
— — — — — — — — — ■J
! S ubscribe !
J
311) e C u rtia n i) (ß b sc ru c r
b v Dr. M anning M arable
Lani Guinier is one of the
most talented, intelligent and ca­
pable scholars on civil rights law in
America. As a professor at the Uni­
versity of Pennsylvania Law School,
she has sought to bridge the racial
divisions among students. As a civil
rights litigator, she stands firmly in
the tradition of Charles Hamilton
Houston and Thurgood Marshall, as
aehatnpion forequal rights. Without
question, she would have been the
ideal choice for Assistant Attorney
General for Civil Rights. Yet Lani
Guinier was the victim of a carefully
orchestrated campaign of character
assassination by the extreme Right,
and in the moment o f truth, was
betrayed by the administration she
had sought to serve.
What were the basic charges leveled
against Guinier? In brief, conserva­
tives initiated their attacks by term­
ing Guinier the “Quota Queen”. Clint
Boliek, a protege of Reagan ’ s Assis­
tant Attomey General lorCivi I Rights
William Bradford Reynolds,claimed
in the W all Street Journal that
Guinier favored racial quotas, and
wanted to impose what he described
as a “racial spoils system” which
would “ further polarize au already
divided nation.’’ Nothing was fur­
ther from the truth. Guinier sharply
opposed strict racial quotas.
Others condemned Guinier
as an enemy of democracy and ma­
jority rule, because she had endorsed
so-called “radical’ reforms in the
political process. W hat radical re­
forms? Guinier has endorse propor­
tional représentât ion, or cumulative
voting, in certain instances in which
minorilicsarc unable to receive equal
cal distributorship in Indianapolis. access to representation within the
current political process. Cumula­
tive voting is, in fact, far more demo­
cratic than the current one-person,
one-vote system xxhich now exists
throughout the U.S. For example, in
a city with seven districts for city
council, instead of each voter hav­
ing one vote in a particular district,
he or she would have seven ballots
which could be cast in any combina­
tion for any individual candidate or
group of candidates. Such a proce­
dure would encourage multiracial
coalition-building acre' s neighbor­
hood lines, and break down the ra­
cial gerrymandering by electoral
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hank
districts which often occurs.
T hen
c o n se rv a tiv e s
charged that Guinier was “radical’
because she has argued that majority
runoff requirements in primaries may
violate the 1965 Voting rights Act.
The conservatives who criticize
Guinier on this point fail to observe
that the Bush Administration’s As­
sistant Attorney General for Civil
Rights, John Dunne, agreed with
G uinicr’s interpretation, asserting
that runoff elections in primaries are
like “electoral steroids forwhite can­
didates.”
William ! Coleman, Jr.,a
prominent black Republican and civil
rights lawyer, has observed that
“muehol llieeriticism of Ms.Guinier
is nothing more than a disagreement
with current law” on civil rights.
Many of the suggestions found in
G uinier’s writings which were dis­
missed and smeared as “ radical”,
Colemcn notes, were “adopted by
the Department of Justice in the
Reagan and Bush Administrations.”
Far from being outside o f the m ain­
stream, it was Lani G uinier’s critics
and attackers who were at the fringes
of political and intellectual legiti­
macy.
At the moment of truth, however.
President Clinton, G uinicr’s friend
of two decades, betrayed that friend­
ship and his own political principles
by pulling her nomination front the
S en ate ju d ic ia ry C o m m itte e .
Clinton’s behavior was nothing less
than weak-kneed and spineless. At
first, he proudly crowed about her
nomination to black constituents.
Then, as the rightwing assault and
mountain of lies spread, the presi­
dent became increasingly cautious,
hiding once again behind his Attor­
ney General Janet Reno. Finally,
when the "neoliberal" publications
such as the New Republic came out
against Guinier, the pressure be­
came just too much for the white
Southerner to handle.
Even reactionary and rac­
ist commentators such as Patrick
Buchanan understood that C linton’s
failure to support Guinier’s nomina­
tion was political stupidity. By aban­
doning Guinier and by not perm it­
ting her to defend herself before the
Senate subcommittee, Clinton alien­
ated his core political base, and
$
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Board To Receive Updated
Report On Racial Diversity
The Oregon State Board of Higher
Education will meet Friday. June 25.
at Portland State University, in room
327, Smith Memorial Center. A Com­
mittee of the Whole will meet at 8:30
a nt. The Board meeting will convene
at 10:00 a m or at the conclusion of
Committee of the Whole
The Board will receiv e an update
on the status of racial and ethnic di­
versity in the System The report indi­
cates the total number of minority
group students increased substantially
oxer the past decade However, the
re la tiv e ly
sm all
num ber of
underrepresented minoritx group fac­
ulty remains a concern and a chal­
lenge The report also will include a
response to SB 122, the Minoritx
Teacher Education Act
In accordance xx tilt Board policy
to rcxicxx new academic programs
approximately five years after imple­
mentation. the Board will receive re­
views on four programs at Oregon
Institute of I ethnology and two pro­
grams al Oregon State University.
On the consent agenda, the Board
will be asked to gixe final approval to
a request by the 1 (Diversity of Oregon
reestablish giaduate program sin East
Asian l anguages and Literature.
In addition, tin Board is expected
Io take action on tt request from South­
ern Oregon State College to renovate
the Student I leallh ( enter using bonds
and operating reserves
I'he O regon Stale System of
Higher Education (OSSHE) is com­
posed of eight colleges and univ ersi­
ties established to provide educational
serv ices to < Heeonians
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Y ou F or R eading
J T he P ortland O bserver
Serving Portland and Vancouver
William M ays
Under his leadership, the company's
sales increased from $300,000 to $5-
million. seeking the control and flex­
ibility of oxx ncrslup. May s established
his oxxn chemical distributorship in
1980.
Mays Chemical Company Inc.
provides ox er 300 solvents. additives
and preserx alix cs to food and pharm a­
ceutical m anufacturers, including
Kraft General Foods, Eli Lilly and
Company and Pillsbury Co.
The National Black Chamber of
Commerce was organized in 1983
to promote the groxxth and develop­
ment of Black-oxx tied businesses na­
tionwide and also to support statewide
Black chambers of commerce It is
headquartered in Oakland. Califor­
nia.
For more information regarding
the conference, please contact Tho­
mas Houston or Dx orah Evans at (214)
42l-% 200.
Bob Arum, president of Top Rank
Inc., announced that this company
xx ill insure each fighter on a Top
Rank-promoted boxing card to a limit
o f $50.000. beginning July I
The Top Rank policy currently in
effect insures each boxer to the extent
of $20.000. but Arum has obtained a
new blanket policy with the higher
limit.
“It’s apparent that a maximum
eox eiage policy o f$20,000 is no longer
adequate," said Arum "W e felt that it
xx as imperative to obtain a new policy,
greatly increasing the coverage.”
Most boxing commissions man­
date insurance for injuries sustained
by boxers, requiring amounts varying
from $5.000 to $ 10.000 in most cases,
and in some states as much as $20.000.
"The Lynching Of Lani
Guinier"
Businessman William G. Mays To Keynote National
Black Chamber Of Commerce Conference
William G. Mays. Chairman and
CEO, Mays Chemical Company Inc.
will be the keynote speaker at the
N a tio n a l B lack C h a m b e r o f
Commerce’s (NBCC) Sixth Annual
National conference to be held in
Dallas. Texas, August 25 to 29, 1993,
NBCC officials have announced
The conference, which had origi­
nally been scheduled to take place in
Indiana, will be held in Dallas at the
Radisson Hotel, 2330 West Northxvcst
Highxvay, In Dallas
Mays, whose company was ranked
number 13 in Black Enterprise’s 1992
Top Rank,
Inc.
Increases
Boxers’
Insurance
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