S eptember 2 9 , 1993 » T he P or i land O bserver
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Minority Business In A Minority Economy
tions pro g ra m to dru g o u r financial
senses, o u r ability to perceive the
clearly obvious w as severely c u r
tailed.
W hile O re g o n ’s m inorities can
tru ly say , “ 1 w a sn ’t in it-1 d id n 't do
it-I had no pow er (even Bill N a ito )”.
the fact o f the m atter is their eco
nom ic pain is ju s t as excruciating.
A nd they are in dire need o f a ' risk
m an ag em en t’ pro g ram to ensure
an econom ic future on a p a r w ith
the rest o f the population. W h at we
a re a b o u t in this issue o f the O b
serv er N ew sp ap er is to develop a
p erspective th at w ill provide guide
lines for both analy sis and action
However, that African A m eri
can business person represents only
3% of the nation’s entrepreneurs and
less than 1% of the gross receipts.
"A place where everybody takes
in everybody else’s laundry” , th at's
the way O regon’s economy was de
scribed twenty years ago Has there
been a meaningful change or is it
business-as-usual’? O f course, it is
not really a time for hum or and we
will try to avoid more catch-phrases
than necessary Hardtim es are upon
us.
It w ould seein th a t th ro u g h the
y ears th e m edia h a s d iverted m uch
o f o u r atten tio n aw ay from su r
vival an d m e a t-a n d -p o tato issues
to perip h eral an d “ a in 't-o u r-sta te -
cu te” ex c u rsio n s into bottle bills,
salm on d erb y s, balloon races, a r
c h ite c tu ra l a w a rd s, shut-dow it-
th e - f o r e s ts ’ s o rtie s a n d b a b y -
boo m er fan tasizin g W ith the help
o f th a t 24-h o u r-a-d ay p ublic rela
W hatever specific ethnic consider
ations we develop in the expanded
study, nevertheless the minority is
compelled to operate w ithin the same
param eters and constraints as the
majority . The business climate, like
the weather, will enhance or defeat
the purposes of us all. And the most
carefully crafted economic plans of
cither black individuals or organiza
tions can break up on the rocks of
Oregons "Laundry Business” . This
reality must be thoroughly understood
T he original reference m ade
by that perceptive econom ist w as
to the fact O regon, land o f tall
tim ber, w as basically an a g ric u l
tu ral econom y and, quite n atu rally ,
the financial w elfare o f the in h ab
itants w ould be tied to the principal
crop(s). All the w hile the hundreds
the timber industry and their employ
ers and bankers seemed oblivious to
such gathering storm clouds as east
ern environmentalists and congress
men, all raisedon ’ Smokey The Bear",
cow boys and i ndians and docunieiita-
ricsextollingapristinc'G ods'sC oim -
try”
N ow , the lum ber industry w as
the only real ‘m a n u fa c tu rin g ’ base
die state h a d —unlike many stales
there is no great w ealth o f m ineral
resources like iron, coal o r co pper
to be developed into huge p ro c e ss
ing plants, nianufacturing and ship
ping goods all over the country or
w orld A nd, consequently, there
a re n ’t the secondary industries that
supply and serv ice the conglom er
ates.
G iven this com m ercial desert
and w ith successive generations
springing up and needing/dem and-
ing to be nurtured, fed and housed,
the crunch w as on It has been for
several generations but the reali
ties o f dim inishing returns (like
dw indling old grow th tim ber or
salm on runs) w ere ignored by m ag
netic leaders and politicians w ith
w hom th at "cutcy -cute m edia” had
such a long love affair, so it is the
stage w as set for a co n su ltan t to
derisively term O re g o n 's economy
as “a place w here every body takes
in every body elses la u n d ry ."
S pecifically, w hat that m eans
is despite all fire o sten tatio u s (and
m isleading) display from show y
condom inium s to flashy regional
shipping centers (they’re not ow ned
by O regonians), and herds o f a tta
Portland Federal Executive Board 1993
Minority Vendor OF The Year Award
M a rin e F ly e rs R e a d y In B o s n ia
__________—
T here’s a new warbird protect
ing safe havens in w ar-tom Bosnia-
Herzegovina: The M arine Corps F/
A-18D.
Eight “Hornets” from M arine
F ig h te r-A tta c k sq u a d ro n (AH
Weather)-533 based at Beaufort, S.C.,
arrived at Aviano Air Base, Itlay, July
22 The squadron joined the 5th Al
lied Tactical Air Force conducting
Operation Deny Flight, a mission to
enforce the no-flv zones over Bosnia
_ ........................
i
and protect United Nations ground
forces guarding safe havens for Mus
lim civilians
But w hile capable of air-to air
combat, the primary function of the F/
A -18D is to attack and destroy surface
targets, day or n ig h t under all weather
conditions.
One Navy official in Europe said
the unique M arine aircraft were
brought over to prov ide close air sup
port for United Nations ground troops,
not to guard the skies ov er Bosnia
The official also said many of the
pilots involved in the operation are
becoming increasingly frustrated ov er
their role as airborne peacekeepers
Serving aiicraft hav e violated the es
tablished no-fly zones about 52 times
since April, according to a Pentagon
spokesman. But U.N. pilots are under
such strict rules of engagement, and
cannot fire on violators unless they
fire first.
O n the ground, the Marine pilots
would face sim ilar restriction, the
official said. For instance, if one artil
«
________ i _____ « T i kt
lery L battery
fired upon a U.N. ground
force, but there were nine other iden
tifiable artillery batteries in the area,
pilots would only have the authority
to take out the battery that actually did
the firing. Similar rules were enforced
during the Vietnam War, the official
said
This is the first operational com
m itm ent for the “C heckerboard
Hawks” and the two-seater aircraft.
The squadron began receiving the
upgraded Hornet in A pril. Along with
VMFA(AW) 224, also stationed at
Beaufort, they are the Corps’ only all
weather fightcr/attack units based on
the East Coast.
“ W e’re a little unsure o f the
lineup over there, but it’s a good
opportunity to work with NATO forces
and be involv ed in a real operations,”
said Lt. Col. John Graham, opera
tions officer for M arine Air Group-
31, the squadrons parent command.
More than 260 pilots, crew men,
cooks, carpenters and military po
licemen left Beaufort for the deploy
m
o n t Thr*
riH rn n i is
ment.
The cm
squadron
essentially a
self-contained unit working out o f a
“tent city” adjacent to the air base.
Since Aviano is normally a main
tenance base. Graham said it lacked
many creature comforts.
"W e've had to fall in on a semi-
bare base, but w e’ve already got eight
cooks serv ing three hot meals a day,”
Graham said in a phone interview
from Beaufort. “ It's better than field."
The M arine are living in "hard
back" tents that have concrete floors.
The tents also have air conditioning
and electricity .
Support people from M arine
A viation L ogistics Squadron-31,
Marine W ing Support Squadron-273
and M arine W ing Control Group 28
arc keeping the camp and jets run
ning smoothly . Graham said. While
the length of the mission is indefinite,
the squadron isn’t expected home
before October
"Their mood was one of excite
ment. anticipation and curiosity,
Graham said.
che case-toting sales persons at the
city centers, N othing Is H a p p e n
ing! E very one dollar earned by a
m em ber o f the fast declining tim
ber w orkforce m ust p ass through a
score o f hands in order to su p p o rt
an cv cr-p o o rer circle o f d e p e n
dency. Unlike m any states there is
no big flow o f dollars ‘in to ’ O r
egon to pay for goods shipped o u t-
-not very much.
With so little owned by Orego
nians, and with our lottery, pension
funds and banks enthusiastically fi
nancing more eastern hustlers all the
time - and with thousands o f spotted
owls peeping out each passing day
(give us the logs back) — what docs
the future hold for any of us, black,
white, gray or grizzle!
See mv second article.
panies. The firm was nominated for
this award by the Bureau o f Land
M anagement Oregon State Office for
being a reliable and compliant source
of technical expertise, providing fair
prici ng, a nd for bei ng a valuable team
worker in providing service and as
sistance to the Bureau of Land M an
agement
Mr. Pai will be honored at the
annual Minority Enterprises Devel
opment Week luncheon to be held in
Portland on October 6, 1993 at the
O regon C onvention Center. This
vice on Federal gov em m ent procure
event is held to recognize the out
ments under $25,000 each
standing achiev ements and contribu
Business C om puter M anage
tions of our nation’s minority-owned
ment. Inc is a nine year old company
businesses. Tickets for the luncheon
that provides personal computers,
can be obtained by contacting Impact
components, and accessories to Fed
Business Consultants, Inc at (503)
eral. state, and local gov eminent agen
245-9253.
cies as well as to major priv ate com-
Joseph Pai. President, Business
Computer M anagement, Inc.. ofPort-
land, Oregon has been selected to
receive the Portland Federal Execu
tive B oard’s 1993 Minority Vendor
o f the Year Award, according to Carl
R Culham, Chair, Minority Business
Opportunity Committee.
This year the Portland Federal
Executive Board is honoring an out
standing m inority-ow ned business
whose selection is based on its supe
rior performance and custom er ser
i
T
This Way For Black Empowerment
My Letter To Yasir Arafat
By Dr. Lenora Fulani
Last week as Y asir Arafat, chair
man of the Palestine Liberation O rga
nization (PLO), and Yitzhak Rabin,
the prim e m inister o f Israel, agreed to
a peace accord under the approving
eyes o f President Bill Clinton, I sat
down and wrote a letter to Brother
Arafat.
On behalf o f the independent
New Alliance Party which I chair,
and o f the millions of people in the
United States who support the Black-
led, multi-racial independent politi
cal movement, I extended our con
gratulations to him and the Palestin
ian nation at this turning point in
their history.
Although the accord signed on
September 13 is just a first step, it
m arks the first time that Israel and its
patron, the United States government,
has recognized the legitimacy of Pal
estinian national aspirations and the
PLO as the leadership o f the Palestin
ian people. W hile the accord doesn’t
address the status o f the refugees, the
precise character that self-rule will
take, and a host of other life-and-
death issues, it is something to build
on.
B ut even as I congratulated
Brother Arafat, I also made a de
mand.
I called upon him, as the leader of
the Palestinian people, to publicly
acknowledge all of us who have sup
ported the Palestinian struggle for so
many decades. All over the world,
and especially here in the United
States, those who have supported the
PLO have been vilified in the press,
investigated by the FBI and the ADL,
beaten, jailed, even killed. The very
powerful Zionist lobby headquartered
in the U.S. saw to it that Arafat, his
people, and by association all o f us
who supported them, were made into
demons - ugly, filthy, vile carica
tures of civilized beings.
N ow th at the p o w er brokers in
W ashington have decided that it’s
n o longer in th e ir interests to d e
m onize Y asir A rafat, it’s very im
portant th at h e acknow ledge and
defend those w hose friendship has
been tested again and again. It is
fine fo r the P alestinian people to be
to ld that they n o w h av e “a friend in
the W hite H o u se,” but, as I pointed
o u t in m y letter, it’s ju s t as n e c e s
sary for th e P alestinian people to
know that they have had friends in
this country all along. N o t the fair
w eather friends w ho show ed up at
the W hite H ouse on S eptem ber 13
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(Hljc ^ I u r iiu n ir flD bscvbcr ¡i
»
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to sec and be seen, but th eir true
friends -- A m erican progressives
and in particu lar A frican A m e ri
cans -- w h o have refused to be
sham ed o r bullied into abandoning
the P alestinian people.
As I point out in my letter, it’ snot
in the interests of the Palestinian
people to forget their friends, nor is it
in the interests o f the broad masses of
the w orld’s people who have not yet
overcome (including the millions of
under-enfranchised and dispossessed
in this country). Our struggles con
tinue.
W hat 1 am calling for from
Brother Arafat is public recognition
of the very high price that we paid and
continue to pay for doing the right
thing. Even more importantly, I am
calling for an immediate end to our
demonization. Only Arafat can give
such recognition, and only he can
make the demand that the punish
ment of those o f us who have been his
friends must stop.
C learly , w e cannot ex pect Bill
C lin to n or Y itzak R abin to do e i
ther. T h e y w ill n o t speak o u t on this
issue; they are am ong the c h ie f
sp o k esm en o f the philosophy o f
“ forgive and fo rg et” : those w ho
h a v e borne the burden o f suffering
m u st forgive those w ho im posed it,
and th o se w h o cau sed it m ust be
allo w e d to forget w hat they did.
T h a t is the a ttitu d e o f W ashington
an d T el A viv to w ard the P alestin
ian d ead . T h a t is th eir a ttitu d e to
w ard th e m illions o f P alestinian
peo p le w ho have been forced to
live in exile in th eir ow n land, to
brin g up th e ir children as refugees,
a c c u sto m e d to te rro r and brutality.
In m y letter to A rafat I m a d e it
c le a r that I w as n ot, o f c o u rse ,
com plaining. T h at the w rath o f the
pow ers-that-be in this co untry has
been turned upon m e for the ‘c rim e ”
o f supporting the P alestin ian c a u se
w as to be expected. N o r w as I
asking fo r thanks for m yself, fo r
m y colleagues in the N ew A lliance
Party — m any o f w h o m are Je w s -
- or for any o f those on the A m e ri
can left w ho have been sim ilarly
attacked. G iven o u r principles as
in te rn a tio n a lis ts ,
and
as
progressives, w e have only do n e
w hat w e had to do.
As Yasir Arafat and the PLO set
forth on the path of hope, I have
simply asked that they not forget the
friends who have been with them all
along. We still have a long, long way
to go.
Lo cal S tu d e n ts C o m p le te
I P M A s s is ta n t P ro g ra m
Scouting is done with special
A local high school student has
recently completed a unique voca insect m onitoring systems dev eloped
tional education program through his by Trccc, Inc., which attract to traps
FFA chapter call 1PM Assistants, using a synthetic lure call a phero
sponsored jointly by Trccc. Inc.. Sali mone. Students count the number of
nas. California, and St Paul Feed insects and plot the results to show
key periods of pest activity.
Supply, St. Paul. Oregon.
The scout worked closely with
The program is designed to give
FFA members practical farm experi Jim Bernards, with St. Paul Feed
ence about Integrated Pest M anage Supply, who coordinated the field
ment (IPM) techniques, while pro work for the program and was the
viding farmers with scouting and field lead pest management adv isor, “The
monitoring information, according to information helps growers make de
Bill Lingrcn. president of Trcce IPM cisions regarding control programs,"
is a comprehensive approach to deal Bernards says. "In some cases, grow
ing with pests that use methods that ers w ho normally spray on a regular
are ecologically and economically schedule might skip a spray if scout
reports show little pest activity. When
effective, Lingrcn says
control
measures arc required, the
James Bcnningcr. a sophomore
pest
data
can be used to time sprays
at Newberg High School. Newberg.
more
precisely.
In either case, the
Oregon, completed the summer-long
grower
benefits
from higher effec
work experience, according to FFA
tiveness
and
lower
costs.”
leader Bob Bcckncr As an IPM As
“Insect
pest
monitoring
is an es
sistant. Bcnningcr was required to
sential
component
of
a
glow
er’s
IPM
scout fruit trees for destructive insect
p
ro
g
ram
,’
says
Bill
Lingrcn
with
pests and report his findings to grow
ers and their pest management adv i Trccc. “and insccl pheromone trap
ping systems arc probably the most
sor on a regular basis
important tool for detecting and moni
toring hidden insect inv aders before
they reach levels of economic im por
tance. Scouting reports allow grow
ers to make informed decisions based
on science, not guesswork The result
is a more effective, environmentally
sound pest m anagement program .”
I n addition to twice-weekly scout
ing of orchards and groves, IPM As
sistants attend a seminar conducted
by Trcce. Inc. and St. Paul Feed Sup
ply to learn about Integrated Pest
Ma nage me nt pract ices and pest moni -
toring techniques They are also pro-
v ided with study materials, including
pest identification guides, field charts
and background information on IPM
Trccc Inc. is a manufacturer and
international m arkctcrof pheromone-
based insect monitoring systems and
components for agriculture The com-
panv has initiated IPM Assistant pro
gram s in California. Oregon and
W ashington, with new FFA chapters
joining each year. For more informa
tion about IPM Assistant, contact
Trccc, Inc at 408-758-0204.
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