■ F ebruary 16,1994 • T he P ortland O bserver P age A2 Two Roads: One To Hope, One To Helplessness Some years ago, when we the blacks were emerging front the rubble of reconstruction. There was set in our minds for sure. One Road. This road lead inexorably to our freedom. Free­ dom of thought, freedom to ex­ ercise our rights, our complete autonom y, and other inalienable rights. Hope was high in the breast of the black father. A smidgin of education was avail­ able, vocation schools were in a b u n d a n c e ... W e lite r a lly flo o d e d the w ork m a rk e t with availabil­ ity. A ll w ent well as long as im m e d ia te needs were met. We were looked upon as jocular fellows who eased the boredom of the workplace, and provided essential drollery to our su p erio rs. The black woman was then content to re­ main in the home, while some of them provided minimum maid service to the more wealthy citi­ zens. These m aidservants brought back to their husbands and chil­ dren, the current news of how the husband’s workmate lived. This of course created embry­ onic aspirations in the husband for a better life for his own fam­ ily. His white counterpart be­ came sick at heart after discov­ ering the blacks were not satis­ fied with things as they were. The black men were then ca­ joled, promised, lied to, threat­ ened, then buffeted into tem po­ rary submission. These» blacks started relying on “It takes time for these things to happen”. . «S In the mean time after having inflamed his passion for more, the black wife prodded her hus­ band for some kind of action. The blacks, working from a standpoint of no power, nor any executive position , used anger and retalia­ tory language to try and accom ­ plish their ends.. • Thus began the era of expul­ sion and complete emasculation of our black workforce.. Those who had imminent potential for upper level ad­ vancement were e ith e r d e lib e r­ ately held back, or were outright f ir e d __ T here w ere no r e ­ course, we had no viable repre­ sentation, in groups or otherwise. The while money controlled the NAACP, and any local or state Reps, were either impotent or had taken the, “Wait and see attitude”. The idle men became insolent, bitter, and abusive to both their wives and children, then later to themselves, and one another... The few “Token” blacks that remained in the workplace, de­ cided to distance themselves from these troublem akers. Thus a p ­ pearing in prefect conformance to their superior’s idea of what we should i.e., stay in our place”. The one road for us at that point divided..... The non working black picked up on what jobs that he scrape together from day to day. Som e­ times he did not go home after receiving his meager earnings, but hung out at the local Taverns with his other drifter buddies, and bitched about the “ Man”. Meanwhile the wife has to increase her workload to make ends meet. At evening time she drags her tired body home to complete her wifely duties. The husband is not there now for her to rag after, so she takes it out on the children. She sets up tight spending limits, cuts back on the eats, and eliminate all things pertaining to leisure activities, and demands full cooperation. And why not? Isn’t she sacrific­ ing everything for these ingrates? Fights erupt between hus­ band and wife, wife and kids, kids and husband, husband leaves hom e, som etim es for good..... Down the other road goes the “Token”, He is given m erito­ rious awards, (trinkets) for his loyalty, fine work and superior sucking up ability. He is also given enough overtime at work, and coupled along w ith his wife’s wages, he can now move out of the Ghetto.. So he moves a couple of blocks north, and this gives him the unreachable status of upper-poverty, and many invitations to “fishing par­ ties”. (Brainpicking) these are held on patios and in dens by his white counterparts. The real par­ ties are later held to assess what has been learned by all at the fishing party.. The divergence of the two roads now widens because the token negro is not only secretly en v ied by his le ft b eh in d nonworking black brother, but the token comes under suspicion as an uncle tom. The token black and the idle black stop talking to one an­ other, the feeling and meager ideology is passed down to their progeny, thus setting up two hostile camps. More to come. Fabric D epot * •• : . '• Z ' A Brand N ew Store With Over IV2 Acres o f Fabrics! (73,000 SQUARE FEET) Most C om plete Fabric Store In The West . • . „ U -:'J> V - » / X \< ; • >... fA ’ Calicos ► Jinny Buyer • Mary Ellen Hopkins • Hoffman • V.I.P. • Peter Pan • R.J.R. • And many more r-7..^ *r . 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