P age
D ecember
2
01,1993 • T he P ortland O bserver
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Immigration vs African American II
By Professor McKinley Burt
It is quire apparent that the esca
lating level o f new immigrants has hit
a social economic nerve of Portland
blacks as well as those in other parts ot
the nation. The only surprising thing
was the extent some had gone in evalu
ating the phenomena; Far beyond a
simple observation of numbers. And
there was a variety of com m unica
tions, phone, mail and FAX.
W hen I first introduced this sub
ject last week, it was with the know l
edge that there is always a certain
number of ‘us’ who will remain “po
litically correct” no matter what the
cost. That is there are those who no
matter the presence and em inence ot
the danger will never speak out, it the
issu e in v o lv e s a n o th e r e th n ic
groups(s). Not to worry'! In the last
few days I have received everything
from a “History of Korea” and a 1960s
classic on European Im m igration
“Going to America’’by Terry Coleman
to a chart made up by a black college
student who used Black History Month
material from the February, 1990 Port
land O bserver to draw a parallel be
tween European and Asian immigra
tion and the importation of Africans
as slaves.
A California reader of this paper
faxed some interesting projections of
the"Asian-American M anufacturers’
Association; accompanied by some
rather acid commentary on people
“ who do not understand that they are
in competition for their very survival”:
sounded like som eofiny comments on
"people who do not learn from his
tory". She also sent a May 14, 1987,
Los Angeles Sentinel, “ Black Aliens
Get Amnesty Aid Office” clipping.
This black newspaper featured an in
terview o f Roy Innis, national director
of the Congress of Racial Equality
(CORE).
Stating that not enough was be
ing done to help black illegal aliens
obtain amnesty, the director opened a
local immigration assistance office
th e “ S im p s o n - M a z z o li, cu m
rodino bill which w ould have made
it as easy for black ille g a l aliens to
obtain am nesty as for H ispanics.
“ I fought for S im p son-M azzoli,
but the black le a d e rsh ip holding
som e kind o f sym pathetic position
w ith H ispanics fo ught a g a in st it,”
Innis said.
Mr. Innis c o n tin u e d , “ U nlike
H ispanic illeg al a lie n s w ho w alk
across the U .S .-M ex ican border,
over 90% o f black illeg al aliens
a tta in th at statu s only a fte r first
en terin g leg itim ately : As students
w ho o v e rsta y th e ir v isa s a fte r
graduating or as visitors who ov er
stay their a llo tte d tim e. D om estic
c o m p r is e a th ir d s i g n i f i c a n t
g ro u p ,” He co n tin u ed his in d ic t
m ent o f the black le a d e rsh ip and
th eir failu re to a s s is t “ a m illion
blacks “ in th is cou n try --H isp an -
ics d o n ’t need an am nesty b ill” ,
he w ent on b itte rly , “ T hey have
a m n e sty --C a lifo rn ia, T e x a s, A ri
aimed primarily at serving those of
African descent (5/87). Mr. Innis, him
self a native of the Virgin Islands, said
“The amnesty outreach efforts are
concentrated exclusively of Hispanics
o f Mexico and Central America and
the legalization needs of a million
undocumented black Aliens are not
being met.”
Several offices were immediately
opened in Los Angels, Long Beach
and San Jose. The organization had
already developed;’Amnesty Assis
tance Sues’ in Miami, New York and
Chicago. According to Innis, most
black, illegal aliens from the side of
the A tlan tic are from Jam aica,
Trinidad, Guyana, Belize, Costa Rica,
St. Vincent, St. Ketts and Totala. He
speaks very positively about their tal
ents and industriousness-and charges
black leadership with a weak advo
cacy for their own.
In n is w as at odds w ith the
C o n g re ssio n a l B lack C aucus d u r
ing the c o n g re ssio n a l deb ate o f
S
V
zona—you kick them out o f any
one o f these states and they com e
back th ro u g h an o th e r o n e .”
From another article in the same
5/14/87 issue of the Los Angeles Sen
tinel, we have further indication that
many elements of our leadership fail
to anticipate events that are clearly
seen to be presaged by earlier situa
tions. Reference here is to the ethnic
patterns of destruction wrecked by the
L os A n g e le s rio te rs la st year.
“Crenshaw Merchants Launch Asian
Protest” screams a headline. Blacks
began demonstrating against Asian
m erchants operating stalls in the
middle of Crenshaw Blvd, long the
hub of a key, fashionable black owned
business district. Protesting the fur
ther “infiltration: of the district by
“Asians benefitting from “Federal
Loan Policy”, African American busi
ness people are picketing thissocalled
‘Crenshaw Swap M eet’.
A black Viet Nam war veteran
who is leading the protests, rai Is against
a conspiracy between the feds, real
estate investors and Asian developers
to take over prime African American
areas and the traditional communi
ties. This trend had started in 1963,
the year I left Los Angeles to come
back to Oregon. There is no way that
blacks, no matter how progressive and
determined, would stand up against
that combine of forces plus the lever
age o f Asian money coming in from
overseas, including, Hong Kong. Some
declared the entire debacle to be a
repeat of what happened to African
American communities in the first
half of this century-w hen European
immigration shut off black progress
as I nave recently detailed here (And
the leadership stood by).
Next week; more revelations and
do we have leadership here? (After all
the Los Angeles Leadership refused to
see the protesters 5 years ‘before’ the
riots: Mayor Tom Bradley Assembly
woman Maxine W aters, and City
Councilwoman Pat Russell).
T h e B o tto m L in e O n B o rro w in g
L arry S chwartz ,
W est O ne B ank , O regon
by
Exceptionally low interest rates
have prompted many people to bor
row money for major purchases. If
you are a first-time borrower, here is
some basic information about getting
a loan to work for you.
LOAN CRITERIA
When applying for a loan, the
application is reviewed for three
things: your character is judged by
your record of financial responsibil
ity. That is, how have you paid your
XV
bills and prior debts? Capital is mea
sured by your financial resource, in
cluding savings, investments, home
equity, autos, insurance and house
hold possessions. The lender may want
you to pledge some of these assets as
collateral for the loan. Capacity is
determined by your earning power
(now and in the future) and your
present financial obligations.
OTHER VARIABLES
The amount you may be able to
borrow also depends on other consid
erations such as the source and amount
T H IS W A Y
B y D r . L enora F leani
Reverend Jesse Jackson may
know something about being a power
broker, b u t-w ith all due resp ect-h e
doesn’t know anything about educa
tion.
If he did, or if he wanted to learn
he would have been in Brooklyn at
P.S. 156 talking to the Black and
Puerto Rican parents who took over
their children’s dilapidated school a
few weeks ago, and to me, instead of
brainstorm ing the coun try ’s high
schools telling inner city youth that
it’s “honorable” for them to snitch on
one another to the police. Reverend
Jackson isn’t putting forward a new
theory of learning. He has no analysis
o f why the schools are failing to teach
our children. W hat he’s saying has
nothing to do with education. He s
sim ply playing politics w ith our
children’s minds, and with their fu
ture.
Reverend Jackson’s new “cru
sade” against Black-on-Black vio-
lence-w hich is to be chaired by the
Single payment loans require re can be obtained by using spec ial checks
payment on demand, or after a set provided by the card issuer. The
time period, such as 30,60 or 90 days. amount of the check is added to your
These types of loans usually require billing statement and incurs a finance
charge.
some collateral.
Second mortgages, or home eq
A line of credit allows you to
uity
loans, allow you to access the
access a per-determined amount by
equity
in your home. There are sev
writing an overdraft on your check
eral
types
of home equity loans avail
ing account. Funds are advanced from
able,
but
all
have one very attractive
the line of credit into your checking
feature:
interest
charges are tax de
account in set amounts. O f course,
ductible,
in
most
cases.
your are responsible for the amount
F inding the rig h t loan for you
overdrawn as well as an overdraft fee.
Cash advances on a credit card can be co nfusing w ith so many
of your income, length of residence,
job stability, and types of accounts
you have with the lender. The lender
will also want to know the purpose of
the loan, the collateral (if any) you
can provide to secure the loan, and the
type of loan you want.
Your monthly consumer debt
payments should be kept at around 3 5
to 38 percent of gross pay. Monthly
consumer debt includes credit cards,
school loans, car loans, other per
sonal loans, and home equity loans or
mortgages.
£M PO W £R M £N T
The Politics Gf Education
actor Bill C osby-calls for inner city
youth to sign apledge which reads, in
part: “It is my moral obligation and I
therefore pledge dial if I am aware of
guns or drugs in my school, I will
convey to the proper authorities where
the weapon or drugs can be located.”
The rabidly racist New York Post
condescendingly applauded Reverend
Jackson in an editorial: “There is
m uch to be com m ended in this
message..It is an implicitcall for Black
youth to move beyond the politics of
victim ization—that politics which
encourages the inner-city poor to
blame the ills in their com m unitieson
white racism and other insidious out
side forces, real and im aginary. Jack-
son hasn’t become any sort o f conscr-
v ativ e-h e makes that clear. But he is
asking for a change in em phasis in
Black American politics that can only
be welcomed.”
Reverend Jackson’s “change in
em phasis”—a distinctly rightw ard
lu m -is certainly opportune at a time
when the resurgence of reaction is
chilling the political climate in New
York as it is in the rest of the country.
(On November 2 David Dinkins, the
c ity ’ s first B lack mayor, went do wn to
defeat at the hands o f a right-wing
Republican in a city where registered
Democrats outnumber Republicans
five to one.)
But no person of good will could
welcome the Jackson-Cosby “cru
sade”: its anti-Black, anti-poor, anti
youth strategy contains nothing new
and nothingeducational. Theassump-
tion that inner city kids are stupid and
destructive pervades public policy on
education; that political attitude fuels
the failure of the public schools to
reach our children, who are blamed,
along with their parents, for the fail
ure. Yes, all kinds of “solutions”-
some of them explicitly reactionary,
others “liberal” (but, from a scientific
vantage point, equally >nvalid)--are
put for ward from time to time. But
none o ' 'h-. 'u address the consequences
of that attitude, oi raises the question
of how children need to leant in order
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T hank Y ou F or R eading
T he P ortland O bserver ^
to live in our post modem world.
Clearly, the tradi tional Euro-cen-
tric educational model—which forces
students to compete with one another
to determine who is “smarter’ and
who is “dumber” (based on who can
reproduce '.hp most information on
tests)-is entirely ¡melevantto the lives
of inncr-city yourii (something which
they understand very well).
This is why the All Stars Talent
Show Network, the Barbara Taylor
School in Harlem, and Pregnant Pro
ductions, a brand-new teen pregnancy
prevention program in the South
Bronx, are so significant. They are
providing strong evidence that inner-
city youngsters-including those who
have been written off as “learning
disabled” and “troublemakers”-c a n
learn and develop.
The All Stars, the Barbara Tay
lor School and Pregnant Productions
are examples of a whole new ap
proach to education which is based on
the discovery that when young people
lead, they’re most likely to learn and
develop. (It’s why they’re forced to be
passive consumers of information in
environments other people create for
them that they tend to fail, and even
tually rebel.)
The new approach, which is
popularly known as “Leading to Learn,
“ is the product of some 20 years of
work on the part of psychologists,
philosophers and educators around
the world, including tw oof my closest
colleagues-D r. Fred Newman and
Dr. Lois Holzman.
This international community/
movement of scholars, teachers and
clinicians has been inspired by the
work ofLev Vygotsky, an early Soviet
psychologist whose studies of how
youngchildren acquire language pro
duced extraordinary insights into how
all human beings learn and develop.
Vygotskians argue that learning is in
fact not a private, individual behavior
butasocialactivity;thatthe“naturar
environment in which children learn
is one they actively participate in
creating together (rather than com
peting against one another), and where
they are encouraged to perform “in
advance o f ’ their development.
Imagine the impact such an ap
proach would have if it were brought
into public schools and communities
around the country!
But I don’t believe there can be
genuine educational reform unless
we have much more democracy at
every level o f government. The exclu
sion of the community from the deci
sion-making process-a case in point
being the situation at P.S. 156, where
parents were forced to take matters
into their own hands after the authori
ties displayed gross insensitivity to
their concerns for their children’s
education-m akes it highly unlikely
that new approaches, new ideas,and
new methods will be made welcome.
In the absence of parent and student
involvement in re-tooling and run
ning the decision -making process,
politicians like Reverend Jackson will
continue to play political football with
our children’s lives.
McKinley Burt’s “Perspectives”
on “ Immigration Versus The Ameri
can Black Family” sends an unfortu
nate message, that the “increasing
tide of Asian and Hispanic immigra
tion constitutes a serious threat to the
economic welfare of blacks.’
This message feeds on current
anti-im m igrant hysteria and turns
blacks against other people of color
when by rights, they should be each
others’ solid allies. A rainbow coali
tion of the dispossessed and left-out is
the only hope for for seizing political
and economic power in this white
racist society.
True, blacks arc suffering some
of the worst ever unemployment, pov
erty , and c uts in soc ial serv ices, hous
ing, education, and business loans.
But who is responsible? Who caused
the massive de-industrialization of
our major cities, the “downsizing” of
companiescm ployingblaeks.the loss
of shipyard employment here in Port
land, the disruption of black comntu-
niticsand busincssesby freeway,coli
seum and hospital expansion? W ho
controls most of the property in black
communities? Who is responsible for
fueling the tax rcvolL devastating equal
opportunity education and housing pro
grams, and smashing minority set-asides?
Big business, run by a few rich white
folks, is behind all this misery.
True, as the U.N. State of World
population report estimates, there arc
at least 100 million international
migrants living outside their own
countries, fleeing political violence
and warfare; environmental destruc
tion; or poverty and economic crisis.
But again, who is responsible? The
same big business-multi-national cor-
porations with the aid of the U.S.
m ilitary-is disrupting the lives of
Third W orld peoples. D on’t we all
have a common enemy?
C ertain ly , as B urt explains,
blacks were displaced from businesses
and jobs a century ago by European
immigrants, who were integrated in
to the dominant society within a gen
eration. However, Asian and Latino
immigrants, by in large, were and
continue to be segregated into farm
work, domestic, restaurant and other
low wage employment.
The Rand Corporation, the Heri
tage Foundation and the Urban Insti
tute all report that immigrants do no
take jobs from native workers or ad
versely affect wages and employment
opportunities.
Serious analysts across the po
litical spectrum have found that the
average immigrant family uses fewer
public services than the average na
tive-born family and their tax contri
butions exceed the cost of services
they do use.
No doubt some of the new arriv
als are being doled out a few business
loans and prime jobs, such as con
struction, which have been histori
cally closed to blacks. Divide and
conquer is nothing new. But immi
grants of color have historically fallen
on the dark side of the Black/Whitc
color line in this country.
In America’s major population
centers, wh itc conservative politicians
arc benefiting from the tragic ten
sions between blacks and immigrants.
Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago
all have lost their liberal black may
ors. Major riots have erupted between
black and immigrant communities.
In Portland, the tensions arc not yet
that extreme or violent. The alliance
of Korean grocers and Gabi ’ s Lounge
against the OLCC, the Hotel Workers
Organizing Committee, and the Rain
bow Coalition education committee
aicallexam plcsof African American
- immigrant unity to fight for power.
There must be a way.
* *' %
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• t # f • « z *.•# » 4 6
Sincerely, Jamie Partridge
SE Portland