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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 1994)
S eptember 14, 1994 • T he P ortland O bserver P age A3 p e rsp e c tiv e s ¿Setters 'SSe sSstie ( 3 ^ iter Send your letters to the Editor to: Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208 Immigration: Race, Money And Power, I ccasio nally, I have written her about the impact of American immigration policy on both the economic and social welfare of African Americans. © But, now, this issue has be come a rather con sistent theme in discussions held by black people at many levels. The concern has been intensified by the great amount of media attention paid to “asylum re quests” from countries whose in habitants for the most part were not in the original (European) masses that fled to America. ASYLUM APPLICANTS The top 25 nationalities of asy lum applicants accounted for 88 percent of the 150,386 claims filed in fiscal 1993. The countries and the num ber of applicants: 1. G uatem ala.. ..34,681 2. El Salvador. ..15,362 3. C hina.......... . 14,354 4. Haiti............ .11,377 5. Mexico......... .6,192 6. India............ 5,902 7. Pakistan...... .4,653 8. Nicaragua.... .4,286 9. Philippines.. .4,107 10. Bangladesh.. . 3,759 11. Russia.......... .3,427 12. P eru............. .3,244 13 C uba............ 3,010 14. H onduras..... .2,836 15. Yugoslavia... .2,425 16. Nigeria......... 1,993 17. Rom ania...... 1,591 18. G hana.......... 1,572 19. Ethiopia....... 1,383 20. Colombia..... 1,315 21. Liberia......... 1,192 22. Poland.......... .1,059 23. U kraine........ 1,027 24. A rm enia....... 938 25. Syria............. .872 Many blacks feel that their con- cern is well taken, insisting that they have discerned a definite pattern to American immigration policy since a formal bureau was set up almost 200 years ago. Whereas heretofore. African American with varying de grees of success, have prepared themselves to deal with the inequi ties that flow from relationships with the descendants of those original European masses, they do not know about these new onslaughts. It is seen that these “Asylum People” w ill-as in the case of past immigrant minorities—be placed in a economic hegemony over blacks, as has happened most recently with anum berof Asian ethnics. This is in respect to housing and commercial real estate availability (location ! lo cation! location!), business oppor tunities and franchises which are not limited to the Negro variety’ of minor scale food service, janitorial enterprises and car washes. Blacks have developed skills, technology and experiences that have also equipped them to operate at higher levels-but it seems impossible to convince either banks or p ro spective land lords of that fact (G o v e rn m e n t Agencies?). So it is not ju s t G overnor Chiles of Florida who feels that he has legitimate concerns, but mil lions of blacks under the economic pressures of massive layoffs we’ve described the past few weeks. They are suspicious and filled with trepi dation when they become aware of the following activity by the federal government (Minority Business Enterprise Magazine). The U S. Office Of Manage ment and budget (OMB) is review ing the racial and ethnic categories used by federal agencies for gov ernment-wide record keeping and statistical data collection. The re view is the result of increasing criti cism that the standards no longer truly reflect the U.S. population’s diversity since they were first is sued 17 years ago. While the most commonly known use of racial and ethnic cat egories is census reporting, the cat egories are also used for evaluating public and private sector affirma tive action plans, monitoring mi norities’ access to home mortgage loans, enforcing the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and assisting firms under minority business develop ment programs. Proposed changes include: • Adding a “multi-racial” cat egory so that respondents would not be forced to deny part of their heri tage by having to choose a single category; • Adding an “other” category tor those individuals with multiracial backgrounds and those who want the option of specifically stating a unique identification; • Providing an open-ended ques tion to solicit information on race and ethnicity, or combining concepts of race, ethnicity and ancestry; Changing the category for Black to African American; • Including Native Hawaiians as a separate category or as part of Native American rather than as part of the Asian or Pacific Islander cat egories; • Including Hispanic as a racial designation rather than as a sepa rate ethnic category; and Adding a “Middle Easterner” category to the list of ethnic designations. Continued next week. (Elje IflortlatTti (©bseruer (USPS 959-6801 31 C It was great to see the news coverage on the demonstration by the Black M onday C om m ittee, o rig in a lly c o n c e iv e d by Drummer and Dream ers, a human rights group opposed to the death penalty. Hundreds of neighborhood folks on the co rn er o f N ortheast Killingsworth and Martin Luther King Blvd. leaped at the chance to Joyce Washington—Publisher The PORTLAND OBSERV ER is located at 4747 NE M artin L uther King, Jr. Blvd. P ortland, Oregon 97211 503-288-0033 * Fax 503-288-0015 Deadline fo r all submitted materials: A rticles:F riday, 5 :0 0 p m Ads: M onday Noon POSTM ASTER: Send A ddress Changes to: Portland O bserver, P.O. Box 3137, P ortland, OR 97208. Second Class postage paid at Portland. Oregon The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned. 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 publications or personal usage, without the written consent of the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition of such ad © 1994 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITH OUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. Subscriptions:$30. IX) per year. The Portland O bserver-O regon's Oldest African-American Publica tion-is a member of the National Newspaper Association-Founded in 1885, and The National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers. Inc, New York. NY. and The West Coast Black Publishers Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver m isconceptions. This dem onstra tion was against the entire crime bill. The charade that C ongress thinks has fooled the country, has fooled no one. Republicans and D em ocrats pretend to fight while uniting to pass a true porker o f a bill. Pork for construction com panies to build prisons and for cities to hire more police. The R epublicans claim that so cial service program s are pork. They are not. This billion dollar e x tra v a g a n z a o f a b ill, th at fleeces the public, is. It will not make our city streets one bit safer, but more dangerous, because it wastes our money that is needed for social program s. We say term inate the crim e bill and the death penalty. R e vive hope through a ju st d istri bution of w ealth and o p p ortu nity. Jordana Women Sardo; Radical The Death Penalty Myth am writing to express my con cern about v capital punishment, to let you know what the Black Monday Committee is doing to break the death penalty myth and to ask for your help. Capital punishment does not deter crime. In fact, the death penalty adds to the cycle of violence many communities face. The death penalty discrimi nates against people of color and the poor. The state has taken many innocent lives in the name of its citizens and continues to spend over three times the cost of a life sentence seeking a death sentence. However, many abolitionists believe the stron gest argument is a moral one; to kill is wrong. Whether it be by the state or a citizen, to kill is wrong. "Black August” is acknowl edged as a month when great strides and sacrifices were made by the Af rican American community. Appro priately, we have decided to kick off our project the last Monday of every month until Black Monday 1995. Abolitionists from all walks of life and various peace and justice organi zations are invited to gather, walk the streets and share the facts of the death penalty with our neighbors. We will meet at 10 a.m. at the Wingsot Love, 101N. Killingsworth. From there we will be heading into the inner city (North and Northeast) armed with cellular phones, litera ture and energy. We will be offering people the opportunity to call con gress and legislative representatives expressing concern about the obvi ous trend in leadership not to deal with the true roots of crime, the crime bill is but one example. Oregon is surrounded by active death penalty states: California, Washington and Idaho. Oregon cur rently has 18 men on death row. We must not wait for another death sen tence or an execution. Those op posed to capital punishment must unite in a solid coalition with a com mitment to fight against the death penalty until its abolition. The Black Monday project is a wonderful way to become involved. Please join us. We need endorsements from organizations com m unities and groups you are involved in. We need contributions of money, time and spirit. The smallest donation would be very much appreciated. We are a grassroots project inspired by frus tration, hope and energy. For more information contact Sheldah Holmes at 232-8895. Donations should be sent to 2126S.E. Brooklyn St., Port land, OR 97202. Sincerely, Sheldah Holmes, student area coordinator. Amnesty International, Northern Oregon Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, steering committee of Portland Peaceworks. In Response To Dr. Ernesto Montgomery he list is long. Amy Fisher, Tonya Harding, Jim B akker, Joey Buttofuco, Phil Keating, The Menendez brothers, Jeffery Dahlmer, (and many more that at present escape my mind) - - could it be that these are all innocent white people, castigated publicly by the media and paraded on television and in the newspapers with one pur pose in mind: so people can “con tinue to witness the humiliation of another successful member of the” Caucasian community? Dr. Montgomery, your anger and frustration was quite evident in your recent column, "The Saga of O.J. Simpson" which appeared in The Portland Observer. As I read it I thought, this man is hurting but his thinking is way off base. It’s obvious that the tragedy of OJ Simpson finds himself involved in is a shock and a disappointment to you, and that you are frustrated and hurt - but what you don’t understand is - millions of Caucasians are feeling the same way. Don' t you understand that the reason OJ is getting all of this incredible attention from the average person is not that he is black for God’s sake, but that he is one of the most loved and adored A m ericas in the land? When he was taking the long drive and it was reported that he had a gun to his head, I cried and silently begged him not to do it. “Please OJ, don’t do that, no matter what.” I am not a sports follower at all, but even I, a Caucasian female knows who OJ Simpson is. And by the way, this may come as a surprise to you, but my society was not successful it it’s goal was to teach me that because I am white, I am therefore inherently superior to this incredible man or any black man and I don’t think you can honestly state that you know Nicole Simpson felt that way either. That is just something your culture has taught you to assume about us. But I am not inferior either because I am female and of course would feel “the great est humiliation of being powerless under” any man, regardless of his race or origins. Because of your convictions it may be hard for you to accept this too: it is because everyone has al ways had respect for him, because he is a beautiful man and a caring hu man being whose closest friends had never seen a negative side to him, because he was so well known and loved all over America, that OJ Simpson’s case drew our attention like a magnet, not because he is black! I hope the courts find him inno cent, both for his sake and his children’s sake. You can certainly be angry at the mass media whodaily ruin peoples lives with their rumor-mongering and biased reporting. I am filled with rage everyday at the Rush Limbaughs and the Jerry Falwells and Pat Buchanans and the George Wills who slander and lie and make President Clinton’s life pure hell, but who can I put the blame on besides those individuals who are doing the bash ing? All America? And was Tonya Harding innocent and simply perse cuted by the media? Was all that attention to her case simply jealous men trying to bring down another successful white woman? Dr. Montgomery, you can be guilty of biased reporting yourself when you write, “as American moves to destroy a former African Ameri can Football star," a statement which includes all white Americans in this plot, poisoning the minds of your readers against all of us who do not share your skin color, accusing us all of taking joy in this beloved man’s downfall. Your statements paint a picture for those who read them of a reality that is far from the truth. Please do not use the emotion of this tragedy to create more anger and hate. As an individual who lives in a mixed com munity, I do not want to see a race war because history shows that, just as there is no such thing as an abso lutely “innocent righteous people,” there is no winner in a civil war, only more pain and loss. Think of Ireland and of course, Rwanda. Another newspaper article re cently quoted Hugh Price, new presi dent of the National Urban League who said: “We must not let ourselves fall into the paranoid trap of thinking that racism accounts for all that plagues us. ...Let’s not wallow for ever in real or perceived grievances lest we become Bosnia some day.” Mr. Price suggested we encouraged racial harmony and I, for one, heard my own hopes expressed through him and I am eager for any opportu nity to help that cause, regardless of what injustices occurred before I even arrived on the planet. P. Allison, Neighbor of North east Portland Oregon’s Judicial System, Direct Cause Of Homelessness by R. P itts If everything is black and white and no in betweens (no gray areas) there would be no need for intelligent reasoning from the courts. OREGON’S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLICATION Established in 1970 by Alfred L. Henderson demonstrate their opposition to the crime bill, with its increased death penalties, mandatory minimums and “3 strikes, you’re out” measures aimeddirectly at African Americans, other people of color, the poor, im migrants and the disenfranchised. R adical W om en was s u r prised that an O regonian article stated the dem onstration was only against the death penalty. As one o f the endorsers o f the dem on stration, we want to clarify any It is obvious Oregon has judges which exercise no ethics, morals, or intelligent reasoning in their deci sion making. Everything written on a piece of paper in black and white is not law because it is on a sheet of paper, submitted by a judge or an attorney. Rulings made in court can justifiably be reversed. Legal decisions when made under inappropriate circum stances should no, be considered etched in stone, cause hardship, nor contribute to the fall of individuals. Court rulings cannot justifiably be made and should not be based on parts or bits and pieces of the truth. Issues on appeal should not be ruled on inother courts based on issues and facts to be determined. If the law of the land is as cut and dry as two or more of the judges sitting on the bench have ruled, there is absolutely no need forjudges, con sequently, all the state does is pay judges an astronomical salary to read a piece of paper handed down from another judge and apply law based on that same paper whether right or wrong. As a result of such actions, no discretion or reasoning is applied based on circumstances, verbal ex change of information or necessary documentation needed to make a fair, just and equitable decision. Oregon presently has judges on the bench making crucial rulings concerning the lives of people ren dering them helpless and homeless. They blatantly disregard important facts, and fail to ask for opposing parties documentation of statements and rule on cases without verifica tion of important facts and all perti nent data. Judges should request, collect, and review all information; apply wisdom, discretion, and be knowledgeable of law to settle dis putes according to the law. How can judges make rulings without having reviewed and heard case law from each side before ruling on a case? Oregon even has judges applying inappropriate case law as sample cases for ruling. Current statistics show an alarm ing percentage of domestic violence increase with focus on a tremendous number of women and children in facilities for battered women or home less shelters. These people’s lives have literally been at the mercy of the court to no apparent avail. Judges mus, possess wisdom and exercise such insight from an objec tive perspective of both sides, not just one side. The law should not be applied according to which attorney the judge admires the most, befriend, play tennis, racquetball, golf, chess, sip coffee with, or any conceivable form of association which can cloud a judge’s opinion. In addition the law must not be interpreted according to which party files first, nor which attorney the judge has no personality conflict; which is a quality a particular Or- egonjudges lack. This lack of quality is an important factor in being a judge as well as the selection of judges and warrants state investigation. Invariable there is a perpetrator of all desirable and undesirable be havior. In every conflict there is al ways a person, group, city, nation, or country which act seemingly and unseemingly. The unseeming behav ior is usually to the point of abnor mality; causing havoc in the home or designated area of conflict creating an undesirable atmosphere. Oregon judges are exemplifying unseeming behavior in court. Unseeming be havior may be viewed on a serious note as corrupt government. Just as a criminal (taking the livelihoodofothcrs)commi,sacnme of robbery, murder, rape, etc. and receive statutory punishment; sodoes a man or woman who commit an unforgivable act of destroying a home and family based on vows made be tween man and woman in the eye sight of God, no, the state of Oregon. Divorce and domestic violence being among the greatest contribut ing factor to inducing homelessness and the breakdown of family struc ture, certainly warrants the selection of qualified judges. D ecisions governing individual’s lives must undoubtedly be decisions that protect the people. A government established by the people and for the people should le structured to benefit the people. I am currently aware of at least twojudges making rulings threatening the well being of women and children in par ticular, calling them personal prob lems. Persons encountering and wit nessing obvious displays of irrespon sible actions on the part of Oregon’s judiciary representatives, please con tact the Christian Homeless Corpo ration of America at (503) 249-0649. Correspondence should be directed to: 1552 N. Killingsworth, Por land, OR 97217. All persons responding to this request please be prepared to provide documentation to verify your complain, upon request.
