P age
N ovember
A2
30, 1994 • T he
P ortland O bserver
WEDNESDAY MORNING BLUES SONG
b \
B eknice P owell J ackson
It’s been called an earth-
quake, a revolution, a h u m
's.
cane, a tidal wave, a land
slide and probably a few other things
as well By w hatever name you use,
the elections o f 1094 mean change
for the American people For people
o f color in this country, the elections
o f 1994 may very well be a night
mare come true
^Jl
Make no mistake about it. I’m
not talking about partisanship and
blind support o f the Democratic Par
ty. In my own family my father was a
Republican w hen he died in the 1950s.
But the Republicans now in power -
Orrin Hatch, Newt Gingrich, Jesse
Helms. Strom Thurmond. Alphonse
D ’Amoto, Phil Gramm and Robert
Dole - have never been good news
for people o f color
Take, for example, their posi-
tions on the Voting Rights Act o f
1990. Everyone ofthem voted against
it. We could look at their past records
on other legislation impacting peo
ple o f color as well The records
would be similar
But ju s t im p o rtan t as past
re c o rd s are the annou n ced in te n
tio n s for the future o f the new
R ep u b lican lead ersh ip . F or e x
a m p le , t h e ir “ C o n tr a c t w ith
A m e ric a ” d e c la re s w ar on w e l
fare. T h e ir so lu tio n s to the need
for w e lfa re reform in clu d e e x
c lu d in g teen ag e un m arried m o th
ers and legal alie n s un d er age 75
from w e lfare a lto g e th e r, re q u ir
ing u n m a rrie d a d u lt m o th e rs to
get high school d ip lo m a s or face
lo sin g $75 per m onth in b e n e fits
and a life tim e lim it o f five y ears
on w e lfa re for ev e ry o n e , w ith a
tw o y e a r c o n se c u tiv e m axim um
lim it. In a d d itio n a l, th e ir plan
THIS WAY FOR BLACK EMPOWERMENT
B y D r . L enora F ulani
Crown Heights Was Not A
Pogrom. But It Could Have
Been A Bloodbath.
I first heard about the death o f
Gavin Cato while 1 was on my way
back to Manhattan from St. John’s
University in Queens, where I had
particip ated in a student protest
against the acquittal o f four young
white men who had been charged
with raping a Black student. When 1
heard that Gavin, a seven-year-old
Black child, had been run over by a
car in the entourage ofthe Lubavitcher
Grand Rebbe, 1 drove immediately
to Crown Heights.
When I got to the block where
the Cato family lived, 1 thought I had
entered a war zone. What seemed
like an army o f police officers dressed
in riot gear were staked out across the
street; some o f them were up on the
roofs, pointing sniper rifles. Outside
the building where the Catos lived.
400 or 500 Black youth armed only
with rocks and bottles faced down
the police, while crowds o f Hasidic
men milled around.
The anger o f the young Black
men was directed not at the Hasidim,
but at the police. It was an extremely
tense situation, and I realized that
there could be a bloodbath unless
someone stopped it. It turned out that
the Reverend A1 Sharpton, attorney
Alton Maddox and Sonny Carson
were inside with the Cato family. I
went around the block and asked
some o f the Black women I saw to
help me talk to the youth, but they
refused. So I went back and stood in
the middle o f the street, demanding
that the commanding officer on the
scene pull back his men so I could
have room to work with the youth,
and to persuade these enraged young
men not to give any o f the officers a
pretext for blowing their heads off.
For ten hours, I talked myself
hoarse. Eventually, the police did
pull back. The snipers were called
down from the rooftops. The kids
called me every nasty name in the
book, but they did cool down and
none o f them died that day - which
might not have been the case had the
police been provoked into showing
the kind o f force that the governor’s
special assistant on crime, Richard
Girgenti, later argued was required.
Girgenti did not interview me
for his report. He was originally as
signed by the governor only to inves
tig a te th e sta b b in g o f Y ankel
Rosenbaum and the subsequent pros
ecution and acquittal o f Lemrick
Nelson. It was not until the day after
Senator Alfonse D- Amato announced
his intention to run for governor that
Mario Cuomo - apparently concerned
to prevent conservative Jewish vot
ers' defection to D'Am ato - that he
expanded G irgenti’s mandate to in
clude an investigation o f the Crown
Heights riots and the conduct o f the
Dinkins administration in dealing
with them. When politics comes be
fore principle, even Gavin Cato and
Yankel Rosenbaum must be sacri
ficed on the altar o f political expedi
ence. Lemrick Nelson, who now fac
es charges for federal civil rights
violations, is just the latest offering.
A number o f political commen
tators have pointed out that G irgenti’s
report on Crown Heights - coming on
the eve o f the mayoral election in
New York City last year - effectively
prevented Mayor Dinkins from be
ing reelected by placing the blame
for Yankel Rosenbaum’s death on
Dinkins’ unwillingness to allow the
police to move against the Black
community w ith sufficient force. The
truth is that if the police had not acted
with some restraint in that situation,
New York City - and other cities
around the country - might well have
erupted with bloody race riots which
would have made Los Angeles seem
tame by comparison.
Recently, one o f the police com
manders 1 confronted in Crown Heights
came over to me and introduced him
self. He thanked me for the role I had
played in preventing a catastrophe,
Sgt. Kelvin Alexander, a Black police
officer who is the president of the
Guardians Association o f the Transit
Police Department (the Guardians are
a fraternal organization o f African
American police officers), and who
was also in Crown Heights in August
o f 1991, has said publicly that his
organization endorsed my recent cam
paign for governor because I am offer
ing “real solutions” to the violence
crisis.
The Crow n H eights incident
continues to be used as a political
football which opportunistic politi
cians o f both major parties toss about
for their own partisan interests. Until
we take on their racialistic opportun
ism, violence will flourish.
better rC^Che_ (SJfrtor
Send your letters to the Editor to:
Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208
What Is Acting
by
N yewlisi A skari
Recently, a very popular televi
sion host did a show about people
who preferred to act, dress and be
have differently than members o f
their own ethnic group. The panel
was split down the middle between
whites who said they wished they
had been bom black and blacks who
had adopted white styles and behav
iors. And, as you might suspect, it
turned out to be a very heated show.
What got my goat was the at
tempts by the host and black panel
members to downplay all definitions
o f “what black is.” Almost everytime
the subject o f acting black or being
black came up. black panel members
would express an ignorance o f its
true meaning. By the time the show
as h alf over, most white audience
members were in agreement that def
initions o f white n’ black were not
important; that African Americans
should get off the definition band
wagon and just look at themselves as
humans
The agreement generated hos
tile disagreement between blacks and
whites in the audience. Tragically,
the same degree o f hostility exists
betw een African A m ericans and
whites in the larger society. One cause
o f the friction has to do with how
African Americans continue to de
fine themselves.
In the minds o f many Ameri
cans, African Americans are simply
Americans, not African, not black.
The concept o f “ I see no color when
I look at you” stems from that mind
set. So does the expression, “I see
you as a human being, not a black or
A frican A m erican human being.
“Sounds good doesn’t it? The only
thing wrong is, good sounding ex
pressions about race and ethnicity
are not going to change the way in
which African A m ericans define
themselves.
Why some people fail to realize
is, “African Americans cannot es
cape from their African ethnicity or
their African ancestral roots.” Most
African Americans know this, and
more are learning it everyday.
At the foundation o f that under
standing is the realization that our
African ancestors transm itted the
genes and blood that are responsible
for the color o f our skin, the texture
o f our hair ‘n ’ skin and the physical
features we were bom with. On top of
that, our culture is an African-in-
spired culture - from the language we
speck to the dances we dance to the
many ways in which we worship God.
But quite as its kept, it’s that way in
most pockets o f America.
lack?
Germans retain their ties to Ger
man ancestry. The Irish retain their
ties to Irish ancestry. An on *n’ on it
goes. Why? Because the retention of
ancestral roots is important in ethnic,
group, racial, cultural and family
identification. It identifies a begin
ning. It defines custom, culture and
ritual. It gives shape and definition to
traditions, folklore, folktales, music,
dance and other cultural forms as
they evolve over time.
Now back to the television show.
The confusion among the black
panel members about “what is black
or African American” shouldn’t have
existed. That points to a lack of under
standing about who they are. In black
popular speech, the world “black” is
simply another term for the word “Af
rican" Thus, when I am acting “black,”
1 am acting “African.” That means I
am following the customs, rituals and
behaviors passed on me by my ances
tors and my elders.
W hether some people believe it
or not, our African ancestors and
elders passed on time-honored, time-
tested customs, rituals and behaviors
which sustained African Americans
for centuries. What has many Afri
can Americans in a panic now is the
fact that many o f those customs, rit
uals and behaviors have not been
passed on to our children!
Those customs and rituals not
only instructs how we are to treat
others, but, also, how to go about
properly raising African American
children. Most African A merican
baby boomers were exposed to those
customs and rituals, especially those
o f us who grew up in the deep South.
However, many o f us have done a
poor jo b o f passing them on, yet, we
employ them as we go about our
everyday lives.
We try to make sure we are
polite. We try to make sure we are
fair. We try to make sure we are
tolerant o f people who are different.
W e try to make sure we honor and
respect our elders. We try to make
sure we continue to respect and w ork
shop our Creator. We try to make
sure w e’re not speaking profane. We
try to make sure we put our children
first.
Being black or acting black is all
o f those things and more. It is about
coming from an established place
where honor and respect are prima
ry, social, virtues. It’s about honor
ing and respecting the best o f your
self so that you can honor and respect
the best o f others who are coming
from a different cultural space.
Because, as Brotha Marvin Gaye
told us, “Ain nothin like the real
thang!”
An Open Letter To Former Governor Neil Goldschmidt
D e a r G o v e rn o r:
We write this letter out o f con
cern for our State and all its citizens.
As you may recall, we and other
Crime Victims United members have
been close observers o f O regon's
criminal Justice System for many
years.
You can imagine our surprise
and great dismay when we heard the
Department o f Corrections announce
that the institutional capacity had
doubled during your term. When the
citizens hear that the capacity has
doubled, they expect twice as many
inmatestobe incarcerated Thatclear-
ly is not the case According to your
Task Force Study (June 1, 1988),
there were 4,610 inmates in Oregon
prisons. As a result o f “overcrowd
ing”, there were an additional 1,001
inmates on “temporary leave’ status.
If just the number who were actually
in prison had doubled, we would
have 9,220 inmates in prison How
ever, we now have approximately
6,600 in our prison system
In addition, we have included a
copy o f the capacity study survey
done by Dr. Richard Seiter, Director
o f the Ohio Department o f Correc
tions. He was selected as a consultant
to conduct a capacity survey o f the
Oregon corrections system for the
Department o f Correction and your
Task Force. This survey was includ
ed as Chapter 4, Institutional Capac
ity, in your Task Force on Correc
tions Planning Publication issued in
August 1988
With minimal adjustments such
as adding double bunks. Dr Richard
Seiter found a recommended total
capacity limit of existing facilities to
be 4985 (or 9970 if doubled.)
This must be very embarrassing
to you to be a party to such an uncon
scionable hoax on the public. Cer
tainly the intent o f the public was not
to supply inmates with more space,
but instead to incarcerate more of
fenders.
The criminals not incarcerated
(80% o f convicted felony offenders)
are obviously creating our victims.
This is not merely a political issue,
but a matter o f life and death o f
innocent people. The “doubled pris
on capacity" disinformation has been
printed and reprinted. It has been
referred to by the m edia and by Crim
inal Justice Officia Is repeatedly until
now it is accepted as concrete fact.
It is our hope that you will ad
dress this issue. This ty pe o f decep
tive misinformation is exactly why
the people have little respect for and
have lost confidence in their leaders.
Thank you for your attention.
Bob and Dee Dee Kouns
and M embers o f Crime Victims
United
d o es not give a d d itio n a l b e n e fits
to m o th ers w ho have a d d itio n a l
c h ild re n and re q u ire s m o th ers to
su b m it to drug and a lc o h o l te s t
ing and tre a tm e n t. W hile the wel
fare reform proposed in the contract
takes dollars away from mothers, it
increases funding for group homes
and orphanages, where, presumably,
children o f these unfit mothers will
be placed.
The message that many o f us
received from the elections is that
America is struggling for its very
heart and soul. As our economy
changes and many o f the old blue-
collar industrial jobs disappear, we
are tempted to care only for and
about our own. “W e’ve got it bad and
that ain’t good. T hat’s the message I
got from the elections. W e’ve a lot o f
soul searching to do. We can only
sing the blues for so long. Then w e’ve
got to do something about them.
p e r s p e c t i v e s
Portland Blacks Defend Their I.Q.s
ust like that famous
ending Count Basie
tacked on to his
rendition of “April In Paris,”
this I.Q. series seems to have
a built-in “after-life.” Thanks
for all those clippings from
the “Doonesbury” strip from
the comic section of the Nov.
13 Sunday Oregonian: “In an
information-driven economy,
society's class lines seem
increasingly determined by
knowledge and intellectual
merit!” Whatever that is.
3
I
a g re e ,
Trudeau is try
ing to tell us
something - and
a lot o f p o o r
white folks too.
I hope the rest o f
you got the point
as well, seeing through the thinly-
veiled reference: to industry dow n
turns and layoffs to come. Hear Ye,
Hear Ye, Here Ye! “More than at
any time in our history, brains, not
brawn, are key to economic suc
cess... W ill you be part o f the new
cognitive elite, will you make the
cut?” And a worried Zonker ven
tures, “ Hold it! What about those o f
us who don’t know how to use a...
oh-oh.”
You w ouldn’t need to be a
m ember o f that “cognitive elite” to
know his next word would have
been “computer.” If you’ve been
listening to all that “ Information
Electronic Highway” jargon being
developed by the “language depart
ments” o f the big advertising agen
cies on the payroll o f the supporting
hardware and software vendors and
major communication companies.
I’m sure that is how the marketing
sector o f industry operates these
days - specialists in goal-oriented
metaphors, similes and icons please
apply here. Preference given to ed
ucation, curriculum specialists mill
ing around, afraid they had outlived
their usefulness (haven't felt secure
since “the metric system” and the
“new math” went by the wayside.)
One reader reminded me o f a
1989 article in which I described
the demise o f those “big old m ulti
room (7 or 8) homes that we poor
people could afford “back then" -
when they went, the older families
went, because they could not be
accom m odated in the cute little
cracker-boxes-on-concrete slabs
m asquerading as homes. So much
for my allusion to yester-year’s ex
perienced providers to tutor and
nurture children at critical stages.
As a friend o f mine used to say,
“w e’ve got to have some mau mau
and some grandma.”
That judgem ent call on your
intellect (I.Q.) prompted by a re
sponse to a series o f questions about
nothing in particular, but which spe
cifically reveal your exposure to a
“know ledge environm ent” com
posed o f the ele
ments I cited in the
Nov. 16 article is
w hat determ ines
that fateful “quo
tient” and your en
suing place on that
“ b e ll-s h a p e d -
curve.” In that same article, I point
ed out that I revisited the childhood
“ incubator” that had stigmatized
some o f us with the “ low-I.Q.” den
igration and found that most had
achieved m agnificently in those
o c c u p a tio n s and p ro fe s s io n s
deemed to require high levels o f
cognitive skills.
In any case, let us be aware o f
what is driving this most recent
round o f attacks on African Amer
ican intelligence. The right wing,
wanting to ensure a victory by con
servatives, needed an emotional is
sue to which an increasingly inse
cure electorate would respond, vio
la! “ Blacks on welfare and too dumb
to get off.” But what about “white
welfare.” Thousand times larger:
-$ 100 mi ll ion to Sunkist, Gallo,
M E M ’s C a m p b e ll’s S o u p s,
McDonalds and others to advertise
their products abroad.
-$135.6 million to private tim
ber companies that owe taxpayers
for timber purchased but are al
lowed to default without conse
quences.
-$1 billion toContinental Grain,
Cargill, Inc. and Louis Dreyfus for
free shipping o f wheat, com and
other commodities.
Ju st the tip o f the ic e b e rg as
R e p u b lic a n s plan to cu t “ b lack
w e lfa re ,” food stam p s, school
lu n c h e s, W IC , M e d ic a re and
o th e r “w a ste .” Oh yes. S e n a to r
G ram m g o t b illio n s fo r th a t
a b a n d o n e d hole in T ex as.
Wife ;}jortlatth (©bseruer
(U SPS 959-680)
OREGON’S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLICATION
E stablished in 1970 by A lfred L. H enderson
Joyce W ashington—P u b lish er
T he PO R T L A N D O B S E R V E R is located a t
4747 NE M a rtin L u th e r K ing, J r . Blvd.
P o rtla n d , O reg o n 9 7 2 11
503-288-0033 * Fax 503-288-0015
Deadline fo r all submitted materials:
A rtic le s:F rid a y , 5 :0 0 p m
A d s: M o n d a y N o o n
PO S T M A S T E R : Send A ddress C h an g es to: P o rtla n d O b se rv e r,
P.O . Box 3137, P o rtla n d , O R 97208.
Second Class postage p a id at Portland, Oregon
The Portland O bserver welcomes freelance submissions. M anuscripts
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 o f the newspaper and can not be used in
other publications or personal usage, without the written consent o f the
general manager, unless the client has purchased the com position o f
such ad. © 1994 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN W HOLE OR IN PART W ITH
OUT PERM ISSION IS PROHIBITED.
Subscriptions $30 00 per year
The Portland O bserv er-O reg o n 's Oldest African-American Publica-
tio n -is a member o f the National N ew spaper A ssociation-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