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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 11, 1995)
• •• J anuary 11, 1995 • T he P ortland O bserver P age A2 t is bad th at Newt Gingrich's “Contract With America” and the Republicans have an agenda to set the country back. It is even worse that their agenda is going largely uncontested. The Rainbow is going to fight back. NATIONAL' This JaxFax will explore and clarify some o f w hat the Republican agenda is really all about, and who it is intended to benefit. Despite its rhetorical tlounshes, skillfully framed to identify its major "enemies” as the undeserv ing poor or some ill-defined political class, any serious review of the GOP Contract discloses that it conceals an array of special benefits for the rich and irresponsible corpo rate interests which will impact neg atively on millions of ordinary Amer ican families. New “ anti-regulation" provi sions outlined in the Contract will make it easier for corporate outlaws to pollute the water and air that mil lions o f Americans drink and breath. New “tort reform" will make it more difficult and costly for consumers to protect themselves, and make it more cost-efficient for irresponsible cor porations to take risks with the safety and health o f ordinary Americans. Massive new tax breaks in the area of capital gains will inordinately favor those earning over $200,000 per year- -and result in a further shift in the tax burden from the rich onto the backs C O A L IT IO N 31 Nuked By Newt o f working and middle-income Amer ican families. This is what the big corporate lobbyists, who poured millions o f dollars into Newt Gingrich’s politi cal action committee, are really in terested in. Newt Gingrich wants to shield these wealthy contributors and corporations. Without campaign fi nance reform, which opens the books on the money o f lobby ists, Mr. G ingrich cannot earn the publ ic trust. The GOP contract is also an assault on every working person, every senior citizen every consumer, every parent, every middle-income person, every family farmer, and any American concerned about a decent future for themselves and their fam ilies. The Rainbow’s commitment to justice will resist the mean-spirited approach o f scapegoating the poor est, weakest, least powerful, most vulnerable and defenseless groups in o u r so c ie ty . W e re je c t the unAmerican, immoral targeting o f immigrants as exemplified by Prop osition 187 in California. To use children as pawns in a political game is beneath the character and dignity o f the American promise. Gov. Pete Wilson and the California Republi can Party have joined the initiative in California to make affirmative ac tion illegal. That initiative will be aggressively challenged and resisted by progressives. The Contract focuses on AFDC, Aid to Families Dependent Children, which costs $17 billion a year to serve 14 million people, including 9 million children, but it is not the cause o f a two-decade long decline in our standard o f living. The Rainbow will focus on the real AFDC (i.e., aid for dependent corporations), which costs $224 billion. The Contract is focusing on the size o f government The issue is not size, but need. Government should be whatever size it takes to meet the need. The biggest and most central ized government program, social se curity, is the most popular. And the largest federal bureaucracy o f them all, the Pentagon, consumes l o f ev ery 5 federal dollars, makes 2/3rds o f all government purchases o f goods and services, and issues 7 out o f 10 government paychecks. The current downsizing o f government is not pri marily to make it more efficient, but to reduce government’s enforcement o f laws resisted by business -- i.e., environmental laws, worker health and safety laws, affirmative action, etc. We are neither fooled nor mis lead by the elections o f 1994. Two- thirds o f 54 seats Republicans picked up in the November 8 election were won with fewer votes than the losing GOP candidates got in those same districts two years ago. Unfortunately, the GOP Con tract, by scapegoating unpopular groups in our society, displaces at tention from many o f the real con cerns that affect million o f Ameri cans. The Rainbow must and will address them! V a n ta g e P o in t Facing A New Year Determined To Make History C? • , V1 * .J N s Summit (NAALS) which was held in Chicago recently, Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Convener of the Summit, proclaimed that 1995 should be Make Black History Year. • ' ■ " —■ • s * » • • ’ - s < r - - I V < • * • . A- ¿'•A x »4, ■ y ■ \ z ".«.'.A ? f t the third meeting of the National African American Leadership 'it • » « t 5 »n-V-vri""- - Í Against the backdrop o f the rise to power o f the radical right with its reactionary “Contract with Ameri ca,” Dr. Chavis challenged Black America to go on the offensive with renewed vigor to fight with its reac tionary “Contract with America,” Dr. Chavis challenged Black America to go on the offensive with renewed vigor to fight for social justice and social change. Toward that end the NAALS adopted an ambitious Ac tion Agenda as a part o f its Make Black History Year offensive. The Action Agenda includes a national Day o f Action on February 1, the beginning o f Black History Month, to stop the defamation of Black people; a campaign to defeat the crime bill and an all out effort to sto p th e c rim in a liz a tio n and demonization o f Black people; an African America Youth Leadership Summit and a youth and student Lib eration Summer Project; the creation o f an African American Develop ment Fund; launching a boycott against a major U.S. corporation that is not reinvesting Black dollars in the Black community; and, assisting Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Naiton o f Islam to mobilize a March o f One Million Black Men in W ash ington D.C. By adopting this ambi tious Action Agenda the NAALS is boldly asserting that the way for Black people to make history is to rekindle the Black freedom struggle. There must be a renewed will to resist rac ism and oppression and a renewed commitment to fight for fundamen tal change. But movements are comprised o f people and hence the challenge to make history must be met at the level o f individual people. It is people who make history. There can be no seri ous m ovem ent for fundam ental change without active and commit ted people. Black people (you) can not simply be passive spectators in a society, nation and world where Af rican interests and African people are being decimated by racism, eco nomic exploitation and political re pression. B lack people (you) must be a part o f the process o f saving and reconstructing the Black communi ty. Each individual Black person, family, and neighborhood/commu- nity must take up the challenge to make history be acting to restore the race. The movement to restore the race is not somewhere else. It must begin in your household, in your family, and it must extend to encom pass your block and your neighbor- hood. Making history need not be some grand project or massive movement to begin with. What is required to advance the race at this crucial mo m ent in our h isto ry is a m ultitu d e o f sm all g estu res, sm all p ro je c ts and sm all c o n trib u tio n s that you can m ake rig h t w here you live. U ltim ately a m ass m ovem ent is m ade up o f the sm all c o n trib u tio n s, both hum an and m aterial o f th o u san d s, even m illion o f in d iv id u a l p eo p le like you. So be re so lv e d and have the confidence th a t you can m ake history. You can begin the process by simply reaffirming w'ho we are as an African people, learning about our history and culture and making a decision that our history and culture will be a guide as we struggle to reclaim our destiny. Pass on the knowledge o f self and kind to your children. That know ledge dhd affir mation may be the most important ingredient in saving ouryouth. Make history by heeding Malcolm’s call to control the education, economics, politics and social life in our commu nities. We must save ourselves house hold by household, block by block and neighborhood by neighborhood. We need to organize or be in volved in associations to improve the quality o f education in^he public schools. We need to organize after school programs, Saturday schools and independent learning academies. We need to be involved in or orga nize economic development projects like buying clubs, credit unions and cooperatives, community develop ment corporations and encourage righteous Black entrepreneurship. We need to be involved in or orga nize independent political associa tions that can maximize Black polit ical participation and empowerment. We need to get in the habit o f joining with family, neighbors and friends to initiate projects and partic ipate in and/or create relevant asso ciations and organizations. We need to become conscious o f and confi dent that the power to make history, the possibility o f building a new movement for social justice and fun damental change is in our hands - is in your hands. With that conscious ness and confidence all things are possible. Stopping the defamation o f Black people is possible. Defeating/ repealing the Crime Bill is possible. Saving African American youth is possible. Bringing a major U.S. cor poration to its knees is possible. Mobilizing a March o f One Million Black Men in Washington D.C. is possible. “All things are possible if we only believe.” If we believe it, we can achieve it. As we prepare to face the new year, let us resolve to meet the challenge that 1995 can and will be Make Black History Year Blacks Reported On Way Out In Los Angeles; Could It Happen Here? T hose who have re a d and paid attention to my ‘early warn ing’signals in this new spaper should not have been surprised at relevant articles appearing in Sun day’s Oregonian Newspaper, and in the New York Times and news magazines: "But in the past decade, fed up with high housing costs, drugs and crime, blacks have been fleeing Los Angeles, not only to outlying areas but also to other states, particularly in the south.” (And that even if they don’t have roots in the area). Dr. James H. Johnson, a geog rapher at the University o f North Carolina who has written exten sively on scope o f black migration says, “We are seeing a total restruc turing o f southern C alifornians black community. In a co m m u n i ty w here you have o th e r ethnic gro u p s grow ing ra p id ly , th ese changes have en o rm o u s p o liti cal and e le c to ria l sig n ific a n c e ” . T ell me about it ! But e q u ally im p o rtan t is the e co n o m ic im pact o f lite ra lly a b a n d o n e d real e sta te e q u itie s, re lo c a tio n costs and in te rru p te d c a re e r and e d u catio n paths. that 1 began my series, “Urban Re newal: People, Politics and Plan ning", just one o f many revealing studies o f a pervasive trend toward further economic attrition o f the African American position in Amer ica. I described in detail my person al experiences both as a taxpayer and as a professional in dealing with a racist and circumscribing infrastructure. In particular, I call your attention to a subsequent se ries on the “ Los Angeles Experi ence where it was seen just how frail and vulnerable is black leader- ship and e c o nomic structure. S e v e ra l p a ra g ra p h s e a rlie r 1 cited “ C en tral A ve n u e ” as f o r m erly the c e n ter o f b lack life in Los A ngeles but now hom e to “ H isp an ic-ru n app lian ce and fu rn itu re sto re s” - the la tte r e n te rp rise s re p la c ing black m ovie th e a tre s, dance halls clu b s, barb er shops and r e s t a u r a n t s . T h e v a n is h in g blacks are being rep laced at a rate that prom pts the d e m o g ra phers to pred ict that H ispanic peo p le w ill o u tnum ber blacks in both th at neig h b o rh o o d and the county. You w ill note that the blacks d id n ’t have a p p li ance and fu rniture sto res. As I have said in these pages a num ber o f tim es, the banks d o n ’t play it th at way. R em em ber that netw ork show w here “ Fam ous A m os” d e ta ile d how the banks tu rn ed him dow n for a loan, but the fin an ce com pany let him have it at 20% in terest? And in P o rtlan d , there w ere no b lack-ow ned ap p lian ce or furn itu re sto res (o r any other except for one reco rd sto re and a haberd ash ery w ith about $500 N ot only in Los A ngeles but in a n um ber o f o th e r cities, those e sta b lish m e n t a d m o n itio n s to “get th at e d u c a tio n , tra in in g and e x p e rie n c e ” seem not to have th e ir p re v io u s v a lu e — at least not for the p a rtic u la r m e tro p o l itan a re a s(S .M .S .A .). A 45 year- old te le p h o n e c o m p an y m a n a g er w ho m oved to A tla n ta last y e a r said , “the d o o rs o f o p p o r tu n ity seem ed op en for H isp a n ic and A sian re sid e n ts but shut for b la c k s in C a lifo rn ia ” . O th ers say, “ C en tral A venue, once the c e n te r o f b lack life in Los A n g eles, now is the hom e to H isp an ic-ru n a p p lia n c e and fu r nitu re s to re s .” R em em ber “ W il liam s A v e .” Y ou m ight w ell have re a so n to. It was on August 31 o f last year w orth o f stock). And there was no A frican A m erican leadership in an e ffo rt to secure the o u t lets, fra n c h ise s and fin an cin g for the m ost basic goods and m erch an d ise w ith w hich a co m m unity is serviced. A fter “ M od el C itie s ” and o th e r “ U rban R enew al” program s dev astated P o rtla n d ’s black com m unity d e cades later, the P o rtland ghetto seem s ev ery bit as ven erab le as Los A ngeles. U nder intense fed eral p ressu re the banks are fe v erish ly o fferin g hom e loans — if you q u a lify ’. How far are we from becom ing a Los A ngeles? do we have a lead ersh ip th at is about “ o w n in g ” basic and v ia ble econom ic units? O r should we head south? co n tin u ed next w eek j i fj| n the h a u n tin g ly d e so la te , v o lcan o - created Rift Valley of eastern Africa, we find the gloriously beautiful “fire bird”, the flam in g re d -fle c k e d Lesser F la m in g o ’. When millions of the huge graceful birds take flight, seemingly at once from bubbling volcano lakes, it is easily seen how the indigenous people were to create a new -- a metaphor that has endured throughout the languages of the world. Civil Rights Journal (The ^ o rtia n h (Ohscmer A Call To Honor Martin Luther King Day OREGON’S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLICATION By Bem ice Powell Jackson It was one o f my worst night mares. When I received an envelope with a Las Vegas casino return ad dress I thought it strange since I’ve never been there and have desire to go. It was an invitation to a special Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. What a way to trivialize the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. - by gambling in Las Vegas. This time last year I was in South Africa, where a whole nation was focused on rebirth and rebuilding a just and peaceful society despite a terrible history o f war and brutality, racism and a governmental system of separation, incredible poverty and unbridled greed And despite all that. South Africans ofal 1 races and class es were proclaiming a year o f jubilee and calling for “Peace in our Land " As we pause this year to cele brate Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth day, why can ’t we do like our South African brothers and sisters and call for Peace in our Land, Peace in our Communities, Peace in our Homes? On that one day, why can't the broth ers and sisters put down the guns to honor one o f the greatest African Americans, one o f the greatest spiri tual and moral leaders o f all time? Why can't the drug dealers, the bul lies, the neighborhood terrorists drop the AK-47’s and uzis for just 24 hours? And on that one day. as we hon or the life o f Martin Luther King Jr. in our churches and mosques, why can't we open their doors and go get these young people and bring them in and really talk with them about their lives and about Dr King and non violence? Why can’t we listen to their pleas for help and caring in a world that too often is deaf to their needs'1 Why can’t we start recre ational and tutoring and after-school programs for our children"1 Why can't we make the world Dr Kingdreamed o f for his children a reality for all our children? Whey can't we adopt par ents who need help in learning how to be parents? And on that day, as we honor the life o f Martin Luther King Jr. in our schools across the country, why can't we do more than the minimum, but do the maximum for each child? Why can t educators and administrators recommit themselves to save every child, not just a precious few? Why can’t parents become involved in their chi Idren 's education? Why can't the rest o f us do something to make our schools centers o f learning and excellence? Young black men were almost 14 times more likely than any other group in this nation to be murdered during 1992. Martin Luther King spent his entire career and ultimately lost his life so that our children might be free to reach their God-given po tential He could no, have imagined a world where an 11 year old would k i 11 a 14 year old and then be ki I led by two other teenagers. He could no, have imagined a world where a 5 year old gets pushed out of a window (USPS 959-680) Established in 1970 by Alfred L. Henderson by two teens when he refused to steal. He could not have imagined a world w here children plan their own funer als because they do not expect even to live. Martin Luther King Jr. did not die for us to celebrate his birthday gambling in Las Vegas. He legacy calls for us all - children, teenagers, “yuppies,” baby boomers, senior cit izens, Christians, Muslims, Jews, sis ters and brothers, rich and middle class and poor, and African Ameri cans, white Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans. Na tive Americans - to make his dream more than a beautiful speech, bu, a beautiful reality. G am b lin g on o u r future by not g e ttin g in volved p e rso n ally is no b e tte r than gam b lin g in Las V egas on M artin L u th er K ing J r .’s birth d ay . We know that old A frican pro v erb ab o u t it tak in g an e n tire v illag e to raise a child. L e t’s sta rt living it on M artin L uther K in g ’s b irthday. *£> * fi» • r ■‘• a «í p e r s p e c ti v e s Joyce W ashington-P ublisher The PORTLAND OBSERVER is located at 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Portland, Oregon 97211 503-288-0033 * Fax 503-288-0015 Deadline for all submitted materials: Articles:Friday, 5:00 pm Ads: Monday Noon POSTMASTER: Send Address Changes to: Portland Observer, P.O. Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208. Second Class postage p a id 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 o f the new spaper 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 composition of such ad. O 1994 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 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