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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 12, 1994)
O ctober 12, 1994 • T he P ortland O bserver P age A2 T he realities of Black Am erica are alm ost invisible on PBS, the one network with a public... mandate, expressed by the Carnegie Commission for Public Television in 1967: (1) to "help us see America whole, in all its diversity"; (2) to serve "as a forum for controversy and debate:; and (3) to “provide a voice for groups in the community that may otherwise be unheard.” In its entire history, PBS has never lived up to that mandate... es pecially where America’s minonties are concerned. “Eyes on the Prize” and i ’ll Fly Away” clearly show that quality programming about minority concerns is possible at PBS — but only when dealing with the past. PBS currently carries one program ad dressing issues of the Black commu nity, "Tony Brown’s Journal."While this (well produced) show should have its voice (and views), should this be the only consistent program ming on PBS dealing with issues concerning the Black community? PBS has along history of reject ing programs that address issues of particular concern to the Black com munity - that can also serve to edu cate and inform the rest of America. For instance: "TheMakingofSunCity,”. 1986. Winner of the IDA (International Documentary Association) Annual Award about making the anti-apart heid hit record “Sun City.” PBS claimed it was really an advertise ment for the 56 musicians who vol unteered their time, talent and repu tation for this project. Just one month later. PBS bought and aired "The Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark,” about making one of Hollywood’s all-time money-makers. R ììhbd W C O A L IT IO N The Invisible Person At PBS Blackout On Black America "South Africa Now,” 1938. When South Africa’s apartheid gov ernment used press censorship to shut down worldwide coverage of the free dom struggle. South Africa Now stepped up to fill the information gap. PBS refused to fund or distrib ute this program, in effect, aiding the apartheid government in its war against truth and justice. "Mandela in America,” 1991. An award-w inning documentary cov ering Mandela’s historic visits in Boston, New York, Washington, DC, Atlanta and Lcs Angeles in 1990. Connections between racism in South Africa and racism in America were not cosmetically concealed. This pattern of exclusion con tinues unabated today. Among the missing are: “Rights & Wrongs” - The only regular TV series in the world that focuses on human rights. It is hosted by 16-year PBS veteran Charlayne Hunter-Gault. According to the LA Times (July 31, 1994), PBS claims that “human rights alone is' an insuf ficient organizing principle’ for a PBS series.” You can see it in South Africa, but not on PBS. “Street Life" — A newsmagazine covering national and international news from an African-American per spective. Producer Delmarie Cobb has been told privately by PBS insid ers that her show is "too Black.” (Delmarie Cobb was Jesse Jackson’s press secretary for his 1988 presi dential campaign). "The Fire This Time” -- A docu mentary tracing the roots of the 1992 uprising (around Rodney King) back to FBI and police sabotage of com munity empowerment programs -- programs organized by the Black Panther Party and other community activists in response to the Watts Riot. PBS claimed it “already cov ered” the uprising in one 90-minute documentary on “Frontline” that never mentioned the issues explored in this film. “Passin’ It On” - A documen tary about Black Panther leader Doruba Bin Wahid, including the real political program of the Pan thers in the 1960s, the police-state ware against the Panthers that put him in jail for 19 years, and the struggle that eventually freed him to pass the torch to a new generation. It w as rejected by PBS for prime-time public affairs broadcast, and eventu ally shown in the summer schedule of “P.O. V.,” the underfunded series pejoratively labelled as possessing a "Point Of View,” in contrast to PBS’s “objective programming.” Finally, there are program s whose concerns disproportionately affect minority communities: “We Do The Work” - a half-hour monthly program focusing on the lives of American workers, and “America’s Defense Monitor" — a broad-minded approach to national security that actually includes people’s well-be ing. With Cold War military budgets largely intact, as our inner cities con tinue to decay, this show is a must - and PBS is a bust. But invisibility is not total. In the adding-insult-to-injury de partm ent: PBS has ju st spent $1.5 m illion to produce a full season of “Think T w ice,” a half-hour quiz show. The "good new s” for m inorities? As reported by the New York Tim es (S eptem ber 12, 1994), its host is a B lack stand up com ic, hired “in an effo rt to add cultural d iv ersity ” to PBS program m ing. Media Fight: This has been printed as a background and in prepa ration for Direct Action to be taken by the Rainbow Coalition (and oth ers) against PBS if they do not change their employment and opportunities policies. If you are interested in orga nizing a Direct Action campaign around the media in your community please contact Pierre R. Barolette at the NRC at 202-728-1180. We want to identify Rainbow activists and organizers in 75-to-100 cities, edu cate them with our six step process, coordinate our efforts, and Act To gether with pickets on a certain date. Fulani: The Haiti Invasion On the first day of the Clinton administration’s “invasion” of Haiti, U.S. troops stood by while the goons of the m ilitary dictator Lieut. General Raoul Cedras beat to death demon strators. by to the ground and kicked in the stom ach.” Photos in our newspapers show U.S. brass co-mingling with the very same Haitian military bigwigs they were supposedly sent to overthrow. This is nothing new. The ties be tween the U.S. government and the Haitian military go back decades. D espite a constant underm in ing of the dem ocratic process, the H aitian people have dem on strated in extraordinary dedica tion to the cause of dem ocracy - - a dedication that has resulted in significant victories against enor D r . L enora F ulani A week later, the New York Times reported that police broke up another pro-democracy demonstra tion "with clubs and rifle butts... Four men were seen being dragged away and a pregnant woman was knocked < ‘ I, • ' • • Ï«.... • •/ . Send your letters to the Editor to: Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208 - *» • V ’• Mental Health Care Inadequate - - r 'he problem with the mentally ill people on __ 'our streets is not due to the lack of adequate funding for psychiatric programs. 1 e ■ The reason I say this that the psychiatric industry is dumping their failures on the streets and blaming the lack of funding for their failures rather than their own inability to handle the human mind. Since the early 1960s the psychiatric industry has been allocated billions of dollars in federal funds, over 18 billion in 1993 alone. During this time the prob lems with the mentally ill have only seemed to get worse. The woman that was shot in the Gresham Fred Meyer Store had been in a mental ward in Providence Medi cal Center four times in the 10 days Wages For Skilled Workers Not Higher Profits I deposed the 30-year-old dictatorship of the Duvaliers, and the military regimes of General Henri Nampy and General Prosper Avril. In 1990 a sim ilar lavalas or “avalanche” o f support swept the peo p le’s priest, F ather A ristide, into office in the fairest election in H aitian history. But each vic tory for dem ocracy won by the Haitian people has been subtly and not,,so subtly underm ii)^d:by thp U S .g o v e rn m e n t’s equivocal policies toyyard the dem ocratic, forces and its quite unequivocal and long-standing connections to the Haitian m ilitary elite. A sim ilar crisis during the preparation for the 1990 e le c tion, which eventually resulted in Father A ristid e 's The rem oval o f the m ilitary m ust com e with a p u b lic a c c o u n tin g o f o u r governm ent’s com plicity with the dictatorship throughout most of this century. betters^ 0 cChe (SLfiitor * k • * • mous odds. Through strikes, dem onstrations and other overwhelming displays ofthepopularw ill, the H a i tians have, over the past eight years*! uring the past 15 years l ve learned a lot about C T public works projects and the wages paid on them, having served as director of research for Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries and now as an attorney in private practice. * . The cost of labor on construc tion jobs is frequently 15-20 percent of the total cost By requiring all employers to pay prevailing wage, competition for work is based on management efficiency, supply ac quisition, overhead, and profit mar gin .. not on who can pay the cheap est wages to construction workers. C onstruction workers don t work year-round, they work fromjob to job and are frequently unemployed The higher the wages paid to them help make up for frequent periods of ■ HB rfsi Ä-'VJj'. if I -vi C ittì unemployment. I would rather see my tax dollars go to worker wages than to employ ers who usually invest their profits and retirement money in ways that don’t help the Oregon economy. I know that most construction workers spend their wages on goods and ser vices in their home communities, thus helping their local economy. Also, these workers are all paying taxes on the wages they receive. Prevailing wage laws protect skilled workers and provide them with the opportunity to earn a decent living. Repeal of these laws does nothing more than help m anage ment carve out a reduction in labor costs - and substantially increase profit m argins. Sincerely, Norman D. Malbin Attorney prior to her death. You would think that if psychiatrists were really doing anything that was benefiting people this woman would have been getting better. It seems pretty obvious that she was only getting worse. Which just proves my point that if the psy chiatric industry knew anything about the human mind and were able to cure people, there would be fewer mentally ill on our streets not more. I think that the dumping of psy chiatric failures onto the streets of our fine city is a travesty that must cease. We must look very closely into cleaning up the field of mental healing and find a viable way of handling the mentally ill and I don’t think subjecting them to damaging “treatments” is the answer. Scott Sulak Portland law yers can offer positive role m odels to A frican-A m erican youth as they strive to be the best in their chosen law spe cialty. Also in attendance were 17 top law firm s and g overn m ental legal departm ents. This was a very im pressive and well attended job fair for all!! As a com m unity, this fo rum p ro v id e s an opportunity to hire a p o ten The Black Law a community, we tial 20 new m i “ held have the responsibility nority lawyers SOCK and keep them its-i994BLSA to say ‘‘Enough is in the Pacific N o rth w est. As ^ h " the Guest Host/ F a ir at the Sponsor, 1 strongly salute the Portland C onference Center, efforts of local BLSA P resi Portland, Oregon. There were dent. fellow students, colleges, over 30+m inority law students and law firms in this venture to in attendance (from Lewis and stop the m igration of m inority C lark C ollege, Oregon State, law y er ca n d id a tes from the U niversity of Oregon etc.) and Pacific NorthW est. these students were very im Sincerely, pressive and articulate They James L. Moore, DWP/km- would make an excellent addi plovment Outreach Coordinator tion to any law firm in the Pa Urban leagu e o f Portland cific N o rth w est. These future T he A fric a n -A m e ric a n com m unity has been under siege by different factions of the crim inal elem ent (inside/ outside) and crim inal justice system . As a com m unity, we have the responsibility to say “Enough is enough" and take action to help change the crim i nal ju stic e system . On O c to b er 1, 1994, 44 Winners And Losers In The Education Game II Oregon is still being prom ised he education estab "the best educated citizens in lishment seems to be the nation by Year 2000 Since in a neck-and neck this announcem ent is usually race with the nation’s industry preceded by one about the issue to see which can accomplish of “C ertificates o f A dvanced the fastest and the mostest’ M astery” , one cannot help but “restructuring”. In the school w onder if the schools th em house this is referred to as selves have been issued a C er “reform”. tificate in A dvanced Puffery" Just as re In th e cently as the late minds of many 1980s, the edu A m e r ic a n s , By cational estab both trends are Professor lishment and the an in d ic a tio n Mckinley media were all that the system Burt agog over two is well on its highly ac- way to dow n- claimed additions to the pedagogic scaling the delivery of both an literature. First, Allan Bloom s education and jo b product. So Closing Of The American Mind well developed are these trends (Simon & Schuster), where Bloom that the euphem ism s have be is said to speak “provocatively and com e s ta n d a r d iz e d ; fo r the wickedly on such subjects as cul teaching profession the b u zz tural relativism’’’ Second, we had word is “refo rm ” , and for in E.D. Hirsh, Jrs Cultural literacy: dustry, the bad news is ‘restru c What Every American Needs to turing. In either case the result Know (Vintage Books), "Skill as would seem to be less of a good knowledge and knowledge as skill”. thing--m uch less. In other words that cognitive (unc Now, like m ost of us, it re tion needs to draw from a full deck ally hurts me to be taken for a of'bicycle’s. fool; especially if it is an area It’s been exactly 20 years where one has achieved a re c since I headed the M inority ognized degree of experience T e a c h e rs O rg a n iz a tio n and and expertise -- in the p artic u scared off a timid rank and file lar case, accounting, public and by trying to mount a law suit industrial. Several industry fig against the Portland School D is ures and editorial w riters have trict—for failure to deliver the been p o ntificating on the well prom ised educational product. being of the A m erican econom y This was successfully done by and no less on the com fortable parents and disaffected teach wages paid the em ployers. This ers in W ashington D C. (H obso is nothing more than sm oke and vs Board O f E ducation; I had m irrors when, actually, ‘re a l’ visited him and returned with wages have shrunk alm ost 10 all the data, briefs and ex h ib percent in the last tw enty years; its). Often our bravest-talking that is, m easured in term s of ‘re v o lu tio n is ts ’ and activ ists 1974 buying power. bug out when it com es to ch a l This state of affairs is re lenging ‘the m an' in a realistic flected by the g o v e rn m e n t’s fashion; “I d id n ’t really mean it most recent figures on the ec o boss, that was ju st for televi- nomic state of a goodly part of sio n —please d o n ’t cut me o ff our populace: 39.3 m illion of us for life, I got to educate my live below the poverty level. kids, m assa” . T h at is 15.1 p ercen t o f all I’m still asking the ed u ca Am ericans. Could there be some tional system ” what is your real relationship here betw een the problem ” , as if I d id n ’t know. shrinking of jo b s and p u rch as “ I lift my segregated southern ing power on the one hand (stan high school circa 1939 which dard o f living), and the current had a curriculum that would and accelerating rapprochent of have satisfied either Mr. Bloom ed u catio n w ith in d u stry --d e - or Mr. Hirsch: Black, white, scribed as “refo rm ” . I en co u n green, grey, or grizzle those ter them at the A ssociation of G erm ans m andated four-year Oregon, Industries. sequences. G eneral M athem at Why else would they be d e ics, A lgebra 1 & II. Geometry I& scribing such tactics as “ b lend II. Advanced Functions if you were ing academ ics with new voca bright; General Science I & II Biol tional paths that lead to further ogy I & II. Physics I & II, Chemis studies and good jo b s ” , or “S tu try I & II; English & Literature all dents taking 'A u th e n tic Routes the way through, Social Sciences To S u ccess” (W hatever h ap the same; choice of Latin or French, pened to the role of the C om m u Choir or Glee Club and, of course, nity C olleges). Looking at one Gym. I didn’t know there was any of those frequently displayed other kind of highschool until I got 'S chool Reform T im elines' I am to Oregon in 1943. rem inded that the good state of T (Lite ^ o rtla n h (©bserrier (USPS 959-680) OREGON’S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLICATION Established in 1970 by Alfred L. Henderson Joyce Washington—Publisher The PORTLAND OBSERVER is located at 4747 NE M artin L uther King, J r. Blvd. Portland. Oregon 97211 503-288-0033 * Fax 503-288-0015 Deadline fo r all submitted materials: Articles:F riday, 5 :0 0 pm Ads: M onday N oon POSTM ASTER: Send Address Changes to: Portland O bserver, P.O. Box 3137, Portland, 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:$J0.00 per year. The Portland Observcr-Oregon's Oldest African American Publica- tio n -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
