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p e r s p e c t i v e s\
NATIONAL’
Could It Happen Here?
History May Hold The
Answer (conclusion)
C O A L IT IO N
/T J w * few readers, only a
II
Clergy Training To Act
R everend J esse L. J v < kson
/
n January
30-31,
several hundred lead-
^¿X ¡ng African American
clergy will attend the first
meeting of the newly formed
Rainbow Public Policy Institute.
Monday (30th) at 6:30 PM. HUD
Secretary Henry Cisneros will
talk
about the
federal
government’s new empower­
ment zones and other com­
m unity projects in w hich
churches and clergy can get
involved.
!
The Republican “Contract With
America" is really a Contract On
Black America, workers, the poor,
women and other minorities. In other
words, the Rainbow constituency is
under attack and we must train an
army to fight back! As in the past,
African American clergy will be in
the forefront o f the struggle.
Unfunded Mandates, the Bal­
anced Budget Amendment, the de­
mise of the Hispanic and Congres­
sional Black Caucuses, attempts to
take awav congressional seats, to
undercut minority scholarships, to
make affirmative action illegal and
more are all serious challenges to the
progressive movement.
We must study and analyze these
policy and political attacks-but study
and analysis are not enough. We must
not become constipated through a pa­
ralysis o f analysis. We need a move­
ment. We must fight back! We must be
trained in the tired and true techniques
of old, as well as in the newer modes of
fighting in a modem technological age.
The Rainbow Public Policy Institute
will help with both.
The challenge is to go on the
moral offensive. The most authentic
independent voices, often clergy,
must speak, educate and act to pro­
tect the interests o f common people.
The real interests o f real people are
becoming marginalized as corporate
interests increasingly dominate both
parties and their leaders. Clergy must
be trained to penetrate to the moral
central, not just go with the flow of
the political center-or worse, to na­
ively go along with the religious right
or the extreme left because, in some
instances, they use familiar sounding
religious rhetoric. Clergy must learn
to navigate toward justice along the
thin line o f the “oughtness” o f reli­
gion and the “ lsness" o f politics.
Some o f the program objectives
o f the Rainbow Public Policy Insti­
tute are: (1) reduce unnecessary jail­
ing o f our youth through the Reclaim
Our Youth (ROY) program - pre­
vention, not incarceration; (2) lever­
age consumer power to create jobs
and assure fairness — jobs not jails;
(3) register one million new voters -
- the ballot not the bullet (4) urban
policy -- economic and job develop­
m ent, end red lining and begin
greenlining; (5) fight homelessness -
- particularly among children and
families; (6) affirmative action -
threatened by Republican actions in
California and lack o f defense in the
White House; (7) college athletics -
- fairness for coaches and sports ad­
ministrators; and (8) media fairness -
-jo b s and portrayals.
The plan is to leave the Rainbow
Public Policy Institute and return to
the various cities structured with 50
clergy in each o f 50 cities for the
purpose o f educating, communicat­
ing and coordinating for action.
The January 30-31 meeting will
take place in Washington, DC at the
Metropolitan Baptist Church, 1225 R
Street, NW where the Rev. H. Beecher
Hicks will be the host pastor. Rev.
Wyatt Tee Walker, Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr’s former chief o f staff and
Chairman of the NRC’s Minister's
Division, the Rev. Al Sharpton, its
Director, are among the hundreds who
will be attending. Others attending
include: Bishop; Rev. Paul Morton,
Presiding Bishop, Full Gospel Baptist
Churches of America; Bishop Huie
Rogers, Presiding Bishop, Bible Way
Churches of Jesus Christ, World-Wide;
Rev. B.W. Smith, President, Progres­
sive Baptist Convention; Rev. Henry
Lyons. President, National Baptist
Convention; Rev. Frank Higgins, Pres­
ident, Los Angeles Baptist Minister’s
Conference; Reverends Clay Evans,
Stephen Thurston, Willie Barrow &
James Meeks (Chicago), Otis Moss
(Cleveland), John Scott (New York),
Carol Aranjo (Springfield, MA) Jo­
seph Foxworth (San Diego), Amos
Brown (San Francisco), Janet Renee
Habersham (WDC), Joe Hardwick
(Los Angeles), Harold Carter (Balti­
more), E.K. Bailey (Dallas) and Bish­
op Eddie Long & Dr. Barbara King
(Atlanta).
Civil Rights Journal
Get Angry And Get Organized!
bv
P ortland O bserver
A2
i
bv
I. |995 • Tut
B ernice P ow ell J ackson
1
flU L-Z rTKtItyZ'-rnHtHI
his time they have gone
too far. It’s one thing to
talk about fiscal
responsibility, budgetcutsand
reform of welfare. It's another
thing to dismantle 50 years of
federal child and fam ily
protection policies. It’s another
thing to talk about cutting
$1,300,000,000,000. - that’s one
trillion, three hundred billion
dollars - from the federal budget
in seven years.
Il
^¿X
This time they have gone too far
and now they’ve made African Amer­
ican women angry. W e're angry be­
cause we know that the Balanced Bud­
get Amendment means that seven and
a half million children will lose school
lunches. We know it means that 6 and
a half million children will lose health
care. We know it means that 2 million
pregnant women and infant children
will lose their food and milk. We know
that it means that 200,000 children
would no longer be eligible for Head
Start and another 200,000 children
would not receive child care. W e’re
angry because it means that our chil­
dren will be hungrier, sicker and less
educated.
But African American women
are not just getting angry - w e're also
getting organized. At the behest o f
Dorothy Height, president o f the
National Council o f Negro Women
and Marian Wright Edelman, presi­
dent of the Children's Defense Fund,
thousands o f African American wom­
en are mobilizing across this country
as l write these words and you read
them. W e'regettingorganizedtostop
the Contract with America and the
Balanced Budget Amendment - and
you can help.
You can help on Wednesday,
without even leaving your I iv ing room
or your office. You can help on
Wednesday by picking up your tele­
phone and calling your senators (202)
224-312l and telling them that you
do not support the Balanced Budget
Amendment and that you want them
to vote No. African American wom­
en are organizing and each W ednes­
day during the 100 days o f the legis­
lative activity we will flood the Cap­
itol Hill switchboard with calls. Ev-
ery Wednesday we will let our elep(-
ed offic ials know that we dp vote and
that we do take names and we will
vote out those who are sacrificing the
future o f our children.
You can help during the rest o f
the week as well. Organize your
church or your mosque. Organize
your bowling league or block associ­
ation or professional association. You
can bring post cards addressed to
your senator that simply say, “Vote
No on the Balanced Budget Amend­
ment’’ and have people sign them and
then mail them right then. And, when
the next section o f the Contract with
America comes up, (w hich will prob­
ably be the Personal Responsibility
Act, which deals with welfare re­
form) send post cards about that.
In his final book nearly 30 years
ago. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote,
“This is not time for romantic illu­
sions and empty philosophical de­
bates about freedom. This is a time
for action. What is needed is a strat­
egy for change, a tactical program
that will bring the Negro into the
mainstream of American life asquick-
ly as possible... without recognizing
that we will end up with solutions
that don’t solve, answers that don’t
answer and explanations that don’t
explain...”
The Contract with America is a
solution that doesn’t solve the real
problems o f America- problems of
not enough jobs for Americans and
no vision o f what to do about that
other than build more prisons. The
Contract with America and talk o f
orphanages for ch i ldren o f poor, teen­
aged mothers is an answ er that doesn ’ t
answer the real questions o f America
- questions o f how to deal with mil­
lions o f neglected, abused, alienated,
uneducated, unemployed and vio­
lent children struggling to survive in
a world which has turned its back on
them. The Contract with America
and a mean-spirited, callous blaming
of the poor for this country’s ills is an
explanation that doesn’t explain the
real causes o f our nation’s dilemma.
This is a time for action. Call
your senator on Wednesday. Take
responsibility for getting 10 others to
call. Organize your own community.
Let’s get angry and get organized.
NOW.
I
,e w ’ took umbrage
(“resented" I love that
old word) to implications that
alack Portlanders of 50 years
ago (and of a comparable age
and economic group) had a
1 ar superior talent, ability and
commitment to community
than the current stratum. You
can argue with history and
fact if you like; not me.
In the sam e
v e in , a n o th e r
re a d e r took me
to task for “ d is ­
p a r a g i n g th e
p ra c titio n e rs o f
the ’so c ia l sc i­
e n c e s ’, a noble
p ro fe ssio n in d e e d !” I b eliev e
th at it was M ark T w ain w ho so
ably d e sc rib e d the th ree p rin c i­
pal m odes o f p re v a ric a tio n s :
L ies, dam n lies and sta tistic s!"
It is the la tte r tec h n iq u e o f c o l­
le c tin g and c o lla tin g in fo rm a ­
tion w hich is the forte o f the
p ro fe ssio n -- but w hich, in the
case o f flaw ed o r p re ju d ic e d
o b se rv a tio n s, p ro d u c e s d is to rt­
ed and d a n g e ro u s c o n c lu sio n s
ab o u t the hum an race and its
co n d itio n ( how ab o u t “ T he Bell
C u rv e ” ?).
It is in this B lack H istory
M onth o f F ebruary th a t we are
p riv ile g e d to the m ore in tim ate
th a n usual (an d b e tte r o rg a ­
n iz e d ) n a rra tiv e s th a t reco u n t
and d e ta il the v ic to rie s and tr i­
als o f a race.
T h o u g h I p ro u d ly subm it
th a t I c o n siste n tly p re se n t the
m ore a ccu rate and fa c tu a l re ­
p o rts on the p ast and p re se n t
circ u m sta n c es o f A frican A m er­
ican — as in the case o f this
se rie s - I, n ev er the less, m ust
g ru d g in g ly adm it th a t here and
th e re is a social s c ie n tist who
su rm o u n ts th e c u ltu r a lly im ­
p o sed lim ita tio n s o f his p ro fe s ­
sion.
It is in this c o n te x t th at I
cite a se c tio n o f a re c e n t book
by Dr. Q u in tard T a y lo r, black
p ro fe sso r o f h isto ry at th e U n i­
v e rsity o f O regon; “ T he F o rg ­
ing O f a B lack C o m m unity: S e ­
a t t l e 's C e n tra l D is tr ic t from
1870 to through the C ivil R ights
E ra ” . T h o u g h o b v io u s ly not
ab o u t the h isto ry o f P o rtla n d , I
w ould n e v e rth e le ss d ire c t you
to th a t se c tio n o f P a rt T w o
(p p .7 4 & 75) w hich p a ra lle ls
“the p a lp a b le fa ilu re o f A frican
A m e r ic a n b u s in e s s m e n and
w o m en ” w ith the Ja p a n e se (sub
gutter '^0 ''Che (3J)it0r
Send your letters to the Editor to;
Editor, PO Dox 3137, Portland, OR 97208
"K o re a n " for local an a ly sis).
It is a given th at m ost p a r­
tic u la rly it is the fin an cial and
com m ercial fa c to rs w hich w ill
decid e if a race o r c u ltu re is "O n
the way o u t!” as I have in tim a t­
ed. On page 74 P ro fe sso r T a y ­
lor speaks o f b lack n e ig h b o r­
hood stores “ in a c o n te st that
pitted ethnic loyalty ag ain st p e r­
c e p tio n s o f s u p e rio r se rv ic e ”
[from o ther races]. In P o rtlan d
th e re w as som e
o f th at - in re ­
sp e c t to sev eral
Ja p a n e se
ow ned m arkets
— but p rim a ri­
ly, a fte r an o ld ­
er g en eratio n o f I
am bitious and c o rp o ra te -m in d - [
ed blacks passed on, so did the
drive and a sp ira tio n .
R eaders are w ell aw are that,
for purposes o f c o m p a riso n , I
freq u en tly re fe r to an a c c o u n t­
ing clien tele o v er the years that
w as p rin c ip a lly c o m p o se d o f I
o th e r races -- and in v o lv ed the |
full spectrum o f A m erican e n ­
te rp ris e , fin a n c ia l in d u s tria l,
re ta il, w ho lesale, se rv ic e and |
m anufacturing. It is from this
purview or range th at I reach
e x p e rie n c e -b a se d c o n c lu sio n s
about the n o n -v iab ility o f a co m ­
m unity w hose m akeup is skew ed
tow ard p rogram s, e n title m e n ts,
q u a si-m e rc a n tile v e n tu re s o f a
social or a rtistic n atu re — and
w hich com p letely lacks the c a p ­
ital accretion and fin an cially c o ­
o p e ra tiv e o rg a n iz a tio n s found
am ong the m ajority p o p u la tio n
or o th e r ethnics.
1 am w e ll a w a r e th a t
th ro u g h o u t the p e rio d o f these
h isto rie s and re c ita tio n s o f the
eco n o m ic tra v a ils o f A frican
A m ericans, we w ere (as now ) I
denied the m ost basic m odes ot |
access to re a listic eco n o m ic d e ­
velopm ent — even w hen ag ain st
the odds we m anaged to a c c u ­
m ulate the n e c e ssa ry c a p ita l or
gained the n ec e ssa ry e x p e rtise
in the m ost o b v io u s p la c e , on-
th e-jo b : brand nam e re ta il fra n ­
c h ise s in c lo th in g , je w e lle ry ,
fu rn itu re, etc., or hard w are and
le a sin g /se rv ic e o u tle ts — not to
m ention the den ial o f prim e re ­
tail sites from dow ntow n lo c a ­
tio n s to the m alls.
So d u rin g th is m o n th o f I
p r o g n o s tic a tio n s by e r u d ite
sc h o la rs and e x p o u n d in g social
sc ie n tists, listen also to the p e o ­
ple -- know w hat re a lly h a p ­
pened!
Wljc ^Jortlanh (Bbserucr
(U SPS 959-680)
OREGON’S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLICATION
E stablished in 1970 by A lfred L. H enderson
Joyce W ashington—Publisher
T he PO R T L A N D O B SE R V E R is located at
4747 NE M a rtin L u th er K ing, J r . Blvd.
P o rtla n d , O regon 97211
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
Blacks May Be On Way Out In
Portland Neighrohood Group
To T he E ditor :
T his le tte r is b ein g w ritten in
agreem en t w ith the P o rtlan d O b ­
s e rv e r's " P e rs p e c tiv e s ” colum n
by P r o f M ckinley B urt, e n title d
“ B lacks On The W ay O ut? C ould
It H appen H ere?"
H ow ever, my com m ents are
from a c o m m u n ity s ta n d p o in t
with the N o rth east C o a litio n o f
N e ig h b o rh o o d s, b ein g a good
exam ple My activism w ith the
co alitio n and n eig h b o rh o o d a s­
so ciatio n s has co n tin u ed since
1981. but chan g es that have taken
place co u ld have a m onum ental
im pact on black p a rtic ip a tio n .
R ecently, the ex ecu tiv e d i­
re c to r o f the N o rth east C o alitio n
of
N e ig h b o r h o o d s ,
Edna
R o b ertso n , retired a fte r 24 years
o f se rv ic e to the co m m u n ity .
U n fo rtu n a te ly . Ms. R o b e rtso n 's
re tire m e n t w hich took place in
D ecem ber, was not announced
early enough for her to be a part
o f the se le c tio n process for her
re p la c e m en t. T his in turn gave
the c o m m issio n e r-in -c h a rg e the
o p p o rtu n ity ,0 c reate a p e rso n a l­
ly -ap p o in ted neig h b o rh o o d task
fo rc e ,th a t w ould do a study and
create changes giving him m ore
a u th o r ity o v e r th e O ffic e o f
N eig h b o rh o o d A ssociation s.
W hat I ’m saying is that the
c o m m issio n e r-in -c h a rg e is m ak ­
ing sure th a t d e c isio n -m a k in g
c o n tro ls are left up to him W hich
c re a te s the q u estion as to w h e th ­
er or not the next execu tiv e d i­
re c to r for the N o rth e a st C o a li­
tion o f N e ig h b o rh o o d s w ill be
black
C u rren tly . I am p ersonally
going through a slow p ro cess o f
elim in atio n w ithin the c o alitio n .
If these actions c o n tin u e to h a p ­
pen, P ro fesso r B u rt’s q u e stio n
and com m ents w ill in clude the
our co m m unity and N o rth e a st
C o a litio n o f N e ig h b o r h o o d s ,
since m ost o f our le a d e rs have
becom e a part o f the system m ak ­
ing m oney.
Blacks should therefore remem­
ber on election day next year when
the commissioner-in-charge is run­
ning for re-election, what decisions
and changes were made in the North­
east community
C h xri
es
F lake
N .E . P ortland c o m m i nita
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