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Final Roundup Of Summer Reading: Enjoy
You will be happy to know that bibliographies—especially. The Black
the little treasure house of African West by William Loren Katz (Anchor
A m erican contnbutors to medicine Books)
A must for your library is the best
and inventions is now available in
paperback (el cheapo), “ Black Pio­ book about Matthew Hensen, the fas­
neers o f Science and Inventions by cinating black explorer who accom­
panied Robert E
L o u is
H aber
Peary to the North
(Harcourt, Brace &
Pole; North Pole
W o rld , p u b lis h ­
Legacy by S Allen
ers). Thisbook and
Counter
(Univer­
most o f the follow­
sity
of
M
assachu­
ing may be pur-
setts
Press)
Dr
chased/ordercd at
Counter
is
a
black
the Looking Glass
neuroscience pro­
Bookstore, 318 SW
fessor at Harvard
Taylor, 227-4760
A nd o f course there is Powells, University who retraced most o f the
route, reunited the descendants ofboth
D alto n ’s , etc.
O f course the best book ot black explorers.bringing the’ Eskimo Sides"
inventors (smiles is Black Inventors of the explorer ’s families to America
o f America, by McKinley Burt, (Na­ Wonderful book!
T here is one book in my library
tional Book Co.) so far only available
that
is a well-thumbed veteran o f al­
at Looking Glass. And there is an
most
thirty years. Not the oldest by far,
excellent 3 vol. set on Black Cow bos s
but
certainly
one of the more signifi­
at $7.95 each-1 recommend for K6-
cant
markers
along a pathway to true
K 12, Reflections of a Black Cowboy
know
ledge
of
our
planet. Silent Spring
by Robert M iller (Silver Burdett Press,
.X..V..V.
. - .................. c-
bv
Rachel
Carson.
ongi-
A division o f Simon and Schuster). n a lfru i "1961 5 H Published
w ghton M ifflin
There are some good citations in the
(“A novel o the __
life and . times of 4..«
the
Company this is the book that opened
poet”) Wavne State University Press)
the eves of the world to the dangers of Also see Pushkin A Comparative
pesticides, “elixirsof death" they were Community bv John Bay ley (Cam-
called by thispioneenngbiologistw ho bridge U. Press, 1971) Alsosee “The
sparked the modem ‘environm ental’
Captains Daughter And Other Sto-
mov ement This classic is still readily
r ie s ” by A le x a n d e r P u sh k in
available and topical
Shortly after the fall of the old (Everyman’s Library, 1992)
Speaking again of hidden Afri­
order in Russia, television brought us
can
heritages,
you w ill enjoy material
scenes of the crowds in Pushkin
on
the
greatest
naturalist that America
Square.
Moscow
where
people
were
jquutv, ltlUJVVn
------ -------
linedupforhalfam ilctopatronizethe has brought to flower, born in the
_
*
• •
a « r
T,, J . _ _
—.
«
« «a X-»« ra«a t
A fr i _
new McDonalds fast food bazaar. A West Indies to an emancipated Afri­
prominent icon scanned by the cam ­ can woman and a French sea captain
era w as a huge stature of the Russian Get, John Janies Audubon, by John
hero after w hom the square was named, Burroughs (The O verlook Press,
Alexander Pushkin, the black African 1987) This is not necessarily the best
principal poet and revolutionary who book available on the greatest ever
for almost two centuries has been the painter of birds but it provides us with
most honored and read of Russian a prime example of how ugly, racist
men of letters It is a shame that commentary can enter texts otherwise
American racists in both academia accurate and documented
Here, we find on page xxm of the
and publishing have hidden his
preface
the following first entry in a
ethnicity for the most part
‘chronology’:
“Mav 4. 1780. John
In the book. Great Black Russian
u John
jwiii Oliver ......—
—, - a ___________
bv
Killens,
black author James La Forst Audubon was born at
does an excellent job of presenting the Mandeville, Louisiana (Paucity of
humanity of the poet against at back- datesand conflicting statements make
ground of documented facts ad events it impossible to insert dates to show
a
Supreme Court Rules On
Hate Crimes
On June 10,1993 the United States
Supreme Court voted unanimously
to uphold a Wisconsin law which
strengthens penalties for criminals
w ho choose their victim s on the
basis of race, religion and sexual ori­
entation. The ruling overturned the
W isconsin Supreme C ourt’s decision
in Wisconsin v Mitchel in which a
longer sentence for a racially moti­
vated assault was ruled unconstitu­
tional.
C h ie f Ju stic e W illia m H.
Rehnquist wrote,”.. Sentencing judges
have considered a wide variety of fac­
tors in addition to evidence bearing on
guilt in determining w hat sentence to
impose... The defendant s motive for
com mitting the offense is one impor­
tant factor ”
The rulingclarifiestheRehnquist
court’s position on hate crimes legis­
lation and give civil rights advocates
a clearer tool for fighting racist. anti-
Semitic and homophobic violence
Twenty-nine states presently have
similar laws on the books
Blood Drive At
Washington Square
What: American Red Cross Blood
Drive
When: Friday, July 1 6 ,1993-9am
to 2:30pm
Where: W ashington Squarc-JC
Penny Court
Facts: Washington Square offers
an opportunity to give another birth-
day, another day at the beach, another
talk with a friend, another laugh, an-
other hug, another chance. The public
is encouraged to come to W ashington
Square and donate blood to help save
The ruling, however, does not
apply to activities such as burning
crosses and spray-painting swastikas
if the actions v iolate no existing laws.
The Supreme C ourt's 1992 decision
in R A V ./s . City of St Paul remains
intact I n thisniling, a cross burned on
the lawnof an African-American fam­
ily was ruled protected as free speech
Although Wisconsin-type laws may
cover such acts by strengthening pen­
alties under laws against trespass or lives
vandalism, they would not cover such
threats if no pre-existing law is vio­
lated A Case in point is a 1992 Se-
President Clinton’s
attle-area crossburning by neo-Nazi
Northwest Timber
skinhhead David Talley. Talley, the
Proposal
leader of Northern Aryan Skinheads,
burned a cross on this own property Is Triple Devastation
next-door to an African-American
For Oregon
family in order to terrorize the family
♦ NO jobs!
into moving. Even thought the racist Not tax revenues fo r local govern­
threat is clear in such cases, the Su­
ment and schools!
preme Court’s ruling leaves an open­
* No lumber to build homes!
ing for neo-Nazis, Kian members and
Calling this proposal "balance”
other violent racists to continue this is like calling Mt. Hood a mole hill.
kind of terror unprosccuted
The idealistic science used to create
this forest plan is like the “science”
used to create Jurassic Park. Unfortu­
nately, the results for O regonians may
be similar.
The target timber harvest rcduc-
Features news of far right and Chris-
tian Right activities in the Pacific li°n, wh,ch approaches 75 percent,
Northwest, but national and interna- exceeds the dreams of the most opti-
t.onal events arc also covered, along mistic environmentalists and the fears
with special “Focus O n...” sections o f the most pessimistic industry ana-
that provide more in-depth back- v sts
ground information.
Promisc of economic help to
Sam pleissucsarcbcingm ailedto
Northwest
communities
is nice
but it
------ «
.
. . .
activists,
journalists,
libraries
and
in-
Joes
nothing
for
the
impending
lum-
< l v t l V l u t o , J v U I 1 1 (1 1 1 0 1 0 ^ I I V I V 4 1 1 V U U B IW • • •
•
~
...
.
. ____
j te r c shortage.
h n r iiip p I t It is is a also
s o n appropriate
n n r o n n a l e Io
stitutions in Oregon.
W ashington
and
to
Idaho Those interested in subsenb- note that promises in WashingtonD.C.
ing or wishing further information arc a long way from effective delivery
should contact Jonathan Mozzochi or
te ip by governmental agencies in
Steven Gardiner at the Coalition for thc rural Northwest.
Human Dignity Research Department
The President should withdraw
bv phone at (503) 281-55823, or bv the proposal reorganize his working
mail a. P O Box 40344, Portland, team to provide balanced input and try
again.
Oregon 97240.
New Report Targets
Organized Bigotry
’ • 'i
The Coalition for Human Dignity
announced the first issue of a new bi­
weekly publication: T he Dignity
Report. Co-editor Steven Gardiner
described the new publication as
“a digest of news and analysis of
w hite suprem acist, neo-Nazi and
c n ris u a n ru
g n i organizations and
anuuiv
Christian
Right
the
social movement of which they are a
J
part
“The purpose of The Dignity Re­
port,” explained research Director
Jonathan Mozzochi,” is to provide a
common base of knowledge and lan­
guage to the wide variety of civil and
human rights activists now fighting
far right attacks on democracy ”
The bulk of The Dignity Report
^iarth in h (©bscriier
(U S P S 9 5 9 -6 0 0 )
OREGON’S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLICATION
Established In 1970 by Alfred L. Henderson
Joyce Washington
Publisher
S ubscribe
i
© j e J lu r tla n b ® b » e r U e r |
J
T he P ortland
O bserver can be sent I
DIRECTLY TO YOUR HOME
FOR ONLY
$30.00
PER
i
YEAR.
P lease
The PORTLAND OBSERVER Is located at
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
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Oregon.
fill out ,
ENCLOSE CHECK OR
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and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be relum ed 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
Name
publications or personal usage, without the written eynsent of the general
manager, unless the client has purchased the composition of such ad. ©
J} J
1 993 T H E
P O R T L A N D O B S E R V E R . ALL R IG H T S R E S E R V E D ,
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PR O H IB ITED .
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a iv, Slate
The Portland O b server-O regon's Oldest African-American Publlcatlon-
la a m em ber of the National Newspaper A ssociation-Founded In 1885,
zip-code
and The National Advertising Representative Amalgam ated Publishers,
Inc., N ew York, NY. and The W est Coast Black Publishers Association •
í* »
T hank Y ou F or R eading !
T he P ortland O bserver
Serving Portland and Vancouver
a
when
.he - r family
MOVED’ in
to C Santa
i
. ____ ; i .
-in l-i
^ a m ^ ? o of^
n
f ll
Domingo, and thence to France)
(S a n ta D om ingo, o f course, is
the present “Dominican Republic
which shares a huge Caribbean Island
is tecause
jao n series by the same
w o n d e r f d te ln .s io n r e ^
name¡.They k e c P W g c J i n e l s
the place-A>n Ed^ ° ^ ”
S’
with Haiti). And then on page 138 Discovery,
the author inserted the following where ever What is so remarkable
series in
unbelievable comment, "He had the about this long-running
_
lively mecurial temperament of the America and Europe is that it never
LA TIN RA CES from w hich he got off the ground, since it s Atncan-
sprang ”
bom Muslim creator spares no one in
The rascals never giv e updothey? portraying and telling the truth about
All this racism and denial must have both a historical and contemporary
been quite a shock to the school chil- Black Africa.
dren, students and Universities of the
M aybethatisn’tsohardtounder-
Caribbean w ho have always had great stand since the senes was originated
pride in their country man. Most of in England by the British Broadc^
hundredsofbooksandarticlesw ritten ing Corporation (BBC), and picked
about this great man do not mention u p in A m e ric a a san ’Annenberg/CP
the islands o f his African heritage. Project:” (from whom I got my copy of
The same with the famed "Audubon the book and T V. Viewers Guide). A
Society ”, O f course, we have the same Toll-Free number for obtaining mate-
situation with the noted Dumas’ fam- rial is usually flashed on screen. All
ily of France, authors of nov els, plays attempts by conservatives and racists
and operas (boasted) their African have failed in their efforts to get the
series withdrawn By the way, video
origin).
A very, very interesting book is cassettes are also available.
We will have more “bookfind” in
The Africans by Ali A. Mazrui (Little,
October
after school starts.
Brown And Company
----------
. . . , 1986). If the
a m
I
C om m unity service can me
sion, they spent an average of 10 hours
an different things to many people.
To the U n ited Wav v o lu n te e rs
named below, it means making the
tough decisions that impact the lives
of thousands in the local four-county
area.
V olunteers from the A frican
American community who partici­
pated this year include Portland resi­
dents Sandra Ford. Margaret Isaacs,
and Dorothy Stennis; plus Helen
Pittman of Gresham
T *1CV are Part ° ^ a 8rouP ol ,norc
than 110 people w ho dedicated their
time to decide United Way of the
Columbia-W illamette s funding ol
more than 180 local agency programs.
Following and initial orientation scs-
per week over the course of 12 weeks
reading up on these programs, visit­
ing some of these organizations, and
listening to presentations by agency
staff members.
Some of the eight fund distribu­
tion co m m ittees m et at various
agencies
go w on site visits before
U
g V S S V I V J to O
——
the presentations, w hich took up
to an hour for each agency involved.
Other committees made separate site
visits.
Agency programs arc reviewed
on four criteria: need, effectiveness
(inrcspondingtoneedsinthecom m u-
nitv). efficiency (in utilizing re-
sources), and inclusiveness (reaching
underserv cd groups). Once all agency
r e
/
Letter To The Editor
Oregon has much to be proud
of...especially its young people
As the coordinator for the Close
Up Foundation’s program in Oregon.
I have recently had the opportunity
to w ork w ith 460 high school
students and teachers representing
50 O regon schools who traveled
to W ashington D C., to investigate
the working of the federal govern­
ment While there, the groups had
the opportunity to sec that W ashing­
ton is more than a city of marble
facades and distant bureaucrats
The students shared their views with
m any o f these people and w ith
students from other areas of the coun­
try.
The 23 year-old Close Up Foun­
d a tio n is the n a tio n ’s la rg e st
civic education organization. With
educational programs serving thou­
sands of middle and high school stu­
dents and teachers, the Foundation
teaches the participants how democ­
racy w orks— and how to make it work
for them.
So many have helped make the
Close Up experience possible. Lead-
ingamong them are the schools, teach­
ers and parents who have demon­
strated a recognition of the impor­
tance of civic education. Many spon­
sors, including a number of local indi­
viduals and businesses which support
Close Up’s work in civic education,
helped provide fellowships for low-
income students and teachers partici­
pation.
Also, the local congressional del­
egation has been equally supportive in
helping to show all of the students that
democracy is not a spectator sport and
for it to survive, all of us must become
active participants.
To all who helped make this ex­
perience possible, I say thanks.
Sincerely,
Chrissy Brunner
Oregon Outreach coordinator
Packwood On The North American Free
Trade Agreement OK, Here’s The Deal
BY SENATOR BOB PACKWOOD
Critics of thc North American
FrecTradc Agreement complain about
the “giant sucking sound" we would
hear as U.S. jobs move to Mexico
should we approve thc Agreement
(N AFT A). If these critics were to look
at the facts, they would find that the
only sucking sound would be caused
by an enormous increase in U S ex­
ports to Mexico
Already , more than 600,000 U S.
workers arc employed making prod­
ucts. and selling them to Mexico
Under N AFT A. it is estimated that by
1995 one million Amcricansvvill owe
their jobs to exports to Mexico
N AFT A will strengthen thc Mexi­
can economy, which in turn will in­
crease M exico's demand for U S.
goods This increased demand for U S.
products and services will create
American jobs Mexico is one of thc
United States’ fastest growing export
markets. Between 1986 and 1992, US.
Exports to Mexico increased from
$ 12 4 billion to an estimated $44 bil­
lion. which is twice as fast as U.S
exports to thc rest of thc world
Thc same is true for Oregon
O regon’s economy is particularly de­
pendent on international trade Our
statcalrcady has substantial trade vv illi
Canada and Mexico Between 1987
and 1991. Oregon exports to Mexico
rose 190 percent, from $19 million to
$55 million, and Oregon exports to
Canada have doublcd-lhcy arc now
valued at $736 million A total of
, 7,100 Oregon jobs arc currently sup­
ported by exports to Mexico and
Canada NAFTA will mean greater
access to thc Mexican market through
thc removal of a whole array of Mexi­
can trade barriers, which will mean
that Oregon employment will con­
tinue to grow. Ratification of NAFTA
will mean jobs building trucks at
Frcightliner in Portland, jobs making
juices and baby foods at Saboroso
Company in Medford, and jobs manu­
facturing paper towels and tissues at
the James River Corporation mill in
Halsey.
O f course, creating a North
Amcrican Free Trade Zone wi11 not be
easy, and it will take time to adjust
But NAFTA recognizes this and en­
sures a smooth adjustment to free
trade by including long transition pe­
riods of up to 15 years for the elimina­
tion of tariffs on the most trade sensi­
tive U S. industries. In addition,
NAFTA contains strong safe-guard
mccha nisms w hich protect U. S. farm­
ers and workers against injury-or
threat or injury-froin imports from
Mexico or Canada
Environment groups and orga­
nized labor have raised legitimate
questions about their issues of con­
cern regarding Mexico, although it's
interesting to note no such concerns
were voiced when thc Canadian Free
Trade Agreement was negotiated I
support efforts by thc Administration
to negotiate side agreements to ad­
dress these concerns However, I am
keeping a watchful ey e on these nego­
tiations to ensure that thc benefits of
NAFTA remain intact
Opponents claim that because of
Mexico's cheap labor. U S compa­
nies will close operations in thc United
» z
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• . I
4.
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f
Send your letters to the Editor to:
Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 972108
1
t e
programs have been presented, each
committee meets to make its recom­
mendations for distributing United
Way funds.
"These volunteers make a tre­
mendous contribution to their com­
munity, giving more than 2,000 hours
of their time to help make this area a
better
place to live,” said Li nda Wright.
--------- ~
~
vicepresidentofpublicaffairsatU .S.
Bancorp and chair of the Community
Organization and Fund Distribution
Committee at United Way. “If they
hadn’t committed their time to this
endeav or, your donations wouldn’t be
out there helping people These vol-
unteers deserve our thanks for their
sense of responsibility to this commu-
nity.”
"TJhc <3üditór
O
e
^ h e T ia to r ^ f ^
United Way Volunteers Lead Community
School Is Out Watch For The
Children
V. • •
*./•
T-'*1
* ** ♦
J uly 7, 1993 • T he P ortland O bserver
P age A2
7 ’
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•
• • :
States, and move jobs to Mexico. My
response to them -is why haven’t these
companies already moved? There is
nothing currently preventing Ameri­
can companies from moving to Mexico
to take advantage of the cheap labor It
seem to me that most U.S. companies
that wanted to relocate to Mexico.
Rather, experts agree that NAFTA
will actually encourage more U.S.
companies to stay put in the United
States.and keep U.S. jobs here.
Putting the economic benefits of
NAFTA aside, let’s focus on the po­
litical and social reasons why NAFTA
is a good idea NAFTA will diminish
pressure for Mexican citizens to ille­
gally emigrate to the United States, by
creating new jobs and higher pay wages
for Mexicans in Mexico. In addition,
NAFTA forges a new North Ameri­
can partnership and sends important
and encouraging signals throughout
all of Latin America. Finally, NAFTA
will ensure that Mexico will continue
on a path toward free enterprise, open
m arkets and dem ocratic reform.
NAFTA will lock in thc changes that
thc Mexicans have made in recent
years, and push Mexico to go even
further These changes are in the in­
terests of thc United States.
Unlike NAFTA’s critics, I refuse
to believe that the U.S. can’, compete
head-on against Mexico--a country
whose economy is a small fraction
o f ours. M ickey K a n to r--,h c
President's Trade R epresentative-
stated it best when he said that when
it comes to NAFTA, opponents arc
looking at thc future through the rear­
view mirror
’A