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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 8, 1995)
M arch P age A3 / Civil Rights Journal: m B ernice Pow h i J ackson w a lk th ro u g h the B irm in g h a m C iv il C* Rights Institute is a walk through our history. This three-year old facility is a self- directed, multi-media journey which shows you everything from colored and white water fo u n ta in s to a burned out Freedom Ride bus to the prison door where Dr. King wrote his letter from a Birmingham jail. It also shows the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. “X It was 30 years ago this March that a young black activist, Jimmy Lee Jackson was murdered His kill ing prompted a 54-mile protest march sponsored by the Southern Christian Leadership C on ference (SCLC) from Selma to Montgomery. I he march ers, 1500 strong and led by Hosea Williams and John Lewis (now a U.S congressman from Atlanta), left 1 _ J ■' / i ;ä \ 1 / Brown Chapel Church that Sunday morning, but as they began to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge they could see Alabama state troopers and oth ers blocking their way. After a brief warning, the troopers rushed forw ard, as did the mounted possemen. Tear gas was shot at the unarmed march ers. Nightsticks flailing, the troopers beat many of the marchers and on lookers threw bricks and bottles at them. John Lewis was among those badly beaten. That day, March 7, 1965, became known as Bloody Sun day. The SCLC immediately planned a second attempt of the Selma to Montgomery march for March 9, which would be led by Dr. King and other national civil rights leaders. Under a federal court injunction and pressured by national and local law enforcement officials, the marchers went only across the bridge and then turned back. That evening a white cleravman from Boston, Rev. James Reeb, was fatally beaten in down town Selma. Three weeks later, on March 21, Dr. King and others led thousands of marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge and began the long trek to Montgomery . By the time they as sembled in downtown Montgomery several days later, they were 25,000 strong. Five months later the Voting Rights Act w as passed and Alabama black voters were at last guaranteed the right to vote. This March SCLC and the N ational Voting Rights Museum in Selma are sponsoring a com m em oration o f the 30th anniver sary o f Bloody Sunday and the Selm a to M ontgom ery m arch. This commemoration w ill include a w om en’s conference, honoring the "Invisible G iants" o f the civ il rights m ovem ent; a cultural ju b ilee festival, a legal co n fer ence s p o n s o re d by th e N.A.A.C P. Legal Defense Fund, an interfaith religious service and a N ational V oting R ights M use um Hall o f Fame Induction C er emony. But lifting up the past won’t be the entirety of the week. A national student and youth gathering, “Count- down2000; Setting the Black Youth Agenda" will bring together students and youth from across the country to build a civil rights agenda for the future. Many of these young people have already been actively involved in local voter registration efforts and have been organizing their local com munities against violence and com munity problems such as environ mental racism. Only 30 years ago men and w om en were viciously beaten in Selma, Alabama so that African Americans might have the right to vote. A black man and a white man lost their lives in those bloody days. Theirs is a sacrifice that we dare not forget. Are you registered to vote? Recent polling data also suggest that African Americans are increas ingly fed up with both of the estab lishment parties - the Democrats and the Republicans. According to a University o f Chicago study, more than 50% of African Americans now favor the formation of a Black inde pendent political party. Hence. Afri can Americans are more and more willing to engage in independent political action. In New York City Atty . Alton Maddox and Rev. Al Sharpton have launched the Freedom Party and in Washington. D C .. Mark Thompson (Matsi'mela) and a group o f young African American independents have achieved ballot status for the Untoja Party . Out of the Ron Daniels for President campaign in 1992. an inde pendent political organization has been formed. Campaign for a New Tomorrow, which has chapters in three cities. The National Jobs with Peace Campaign under the leader ship of Ann Wilson has consistently called for independent political ac tion to advance a progressive agen da. And. Minister Louis Farrakhan has vowed to register millions Black America. Several factors seem to be con tributing to the growing interest in independent politics in the Black community . For the past few years the Democratic Party, which has had a virtual lock on the Black vote since the era of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal, has been try ¡ng to out Republican the Republicans As the democrats have sought to com pete for the so called "Reagan Dem ocrats," They have started to look more and more like Republicrats with President Waffle Jefferson Clinton at the helm. While the two establish- better ment parties have been trying to out do each other competing for the White suburban vote and the bubba vote, the issues of vital concern to the masses of Black people have largely been ignored. Indeed, there is such a great disaffection with the Demo cratic party among African Ameri cans that huge numbers of Black voters simply sat out the fateful No vembers. 1994 election; the election which saw Gingrich-Dole and the radical right (with their racist and reactionary' "contract with America" sweep to power. The question is can African Americans create viable al ternatives to the two establishment parties? This question may well be an swered at a National Black Agenda Conference which anuntber of Black political activists from around the country' are planning to convene this fall. In my judgment, it is absolutely essential that the growing indepen dent sentiment in Black America be harnessed to build powerful inde {Ulie pendent structures and movements for fundamental change in the Black community. U nfortunately (or per haps fortunately) we will not be able to count on Rev. Jesse Jack- son. m ost prom inent elected of ficials and other notable p o liti cal leaders to accom plish this task. G ra ssro o ts a c tiv ists and leaders must forge to the fo re front to accept this challenge. Therefore, we m ust depend on all o f the brothers and sisters who participated in the N ational State o f the Race C onference (a recom m endation to convene a Black Agenda C onference was adopted in the P olitical Em pow erm ent W orkshop at the SORC), and all o f the people who sup ported the SORC to gear up to support the N ational Black Agen da C onference. Persons interested in this project shouldwrite: P.O. Box27798, Wash ington DC. 20038-7798 or call: (202) 736-1741. editor Send your letters to the Editor to: Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208 It Matters To Us n February 25, 1995 there was a committee m eeting held at the King Neighborhood Facility.To the best of my knowledge, this m e e tin g was a re s u lt of Representatives Avel Gordly and Margaret Carter's astute a tte n tio n to a p ro p o se d legislative bill, that if left as it was introduced to the Senate, would have a crippling effect on Minority teenagers, not just in Northeast Portland, but the whole state of Oregon as well. © A panel of Legislators from Sa lem, was there to hear the concerns, opinions, and recommendations from various organizations and parents, such as myself The legislation that triggered this discussion is titled. Senate Bill I (SBI). This bill if passed, would create a Department of Youth Authority (DYA) as a branch of the Children Service Division (CSD). I requested a copy of this bill from Representative Gordly's office, it contains 6 1 pages, and from my in terpretation. purposes over 50 amend ments to the Oregon Statutes This bill is every minority par ent’s worst nightmare, which was voiced by several of the organiza tions that testified before the panel. Tony Hopson. Executive Director of Self Enhancement Inc. (SEI), testi fied in a manner which every one could understand. The money this bill would require could be better spent in the community to help pre vent our youth from being incarcer ated. He also spoke of the ratio of incarceration in other countries around the world, and that of the "Land of the Free". Sadly I say, this turns out to be, the Land of the Incar ceration, with African-Americans making up the majority of those in carcerated. Mr Hopson further testified, how SEI operated, on what amount ed to pennies a day. and the opportu nities this organization provides to ourchildren. Ashe spoke I wondered if the Legislators on the panel really understood what he was say ing in relation to Senate Bill I. What I deduced from his testi mony was this; SBI is an after the act (crime) approach, that will cost mil lion of dollars and the problems that plagues our communities w ill still be here. The money can be better spent by helping organizations such as SEI, The Urban League, Northeast Res cue Plan Action Committee, as well as other state w ide community based organizations that work as a before the act (crime) approach. Others testified before the pan el. and proudly spoke of the fact that due to the continuation of Racism and Discrimination in America, Mi norities are still viewed as "thugs and muggers". This antique seems to be the driving force behind SBI. The reason I attended the meet ing was to make sure that opinion and opposition to SBI was on record. During the open microphone ses sion. I was given the opportunity to speak as a concerned parent. My testimony was short, because the oth er, African American parents that testified earlier, did a far better job then I could have, in denouncing this knee jerk reaction approach to the problems in our society. Let me now bring my opinion in line with the title of this article. The Oregonian news paper use to have a commercial that advertise the slogan “If it matters to you. It's in the Orego- nian", The (Oregonian) have stopped running this ad, and I am glad, to me what this ad meant was “If it matters to the Majority, it’s in the Oregonian” case in point, no where in the Sunday edition of The Oregonian (2-26-95) could I find any mention of the Legis lative meeting held at the King Neigh borhood Facility. This lack of informing Orego nians of the results of the meeting is just one more slap in the face to the minority community of Portland, by an institution that proclaims to have the interest of concerned citizens presented in it's publication. I would like to make a statement to the Mi nority' community of Portland, "I am proud o f you, for the turn out at the meeting, for it demonstrated to me and the Legislators there, that It Matters To Us, whether it's in the Oregonian or not, the African-Amer ican community of Northeast Port land will not set idly by and let our children's future be decided without voicing our concerns, My hopes are that SBI, which is drafted to create the DYA, be delivered DOA to the Senate. Ottis Burchfield Husband Not Treated Fairly y spouse, a young black business owner, Leum al Hentz was taken into custody Feb. 9 on a m inor violation of failing to report to his parole officer his new address. His mother passed away on Feb 22 I've called everyone that I know to call in reference to this matter from his parole officer through to the gov ernor's office With each office re ferring me to another and before I knew it. I had spoken to every office at least three times. With each call I heard "well we have no control over that mater, you need to contract No one would claim responsibility for this matter And while this occurs over and over our business gets closer and closer to being bankrupt. I feel that my husband has been discriminated against in a major way I further feel that the public has the right to know that one of the unspo ken factors that account for the over crowding situation in prisons is due to the fact that a lot of confusion exists No one seems to know exactly what they're responsible for To solve the problem, all we really need is not more tax dollars, but for competent people I mean, we have people who have repeatedly violated their parole and have major violators released in 5 to 10 to 14 days. And here you have mv husband. a minority business owner who has been a positive factor in the commu nity for one year as of Feb. 1 8, that because his former parole officer failed to input important information into his file and because his new parole officer, w ho has only met once for about I0 to 15 minutes, decided to form an opinion that he is a "threat to the community ." When in fact his only crime since his parole is in trust ing that his parole officer should do her job. P ortland O bserver -- ----- -- — e r s p c c t Remembering Bloody Sunday V c A tv tc tq e P o i n t : A National Black Agenda Conference t the highly successful National State of the Race Conference held in the Fall of 1994, there was a very strong sentiment among the conference participants in favor of independent politics. \ 8, 1995 • T he / r e s Meanwhile, Back On The Ranch! The State Of The State (Of Oregon) bv P koi . M t K islev B i rt ell, we didn’t get the conservative Repub lican Denny Smith for governor, but it turns out that he was quite right about one thing: "The State will have a lot m ore m oney than the o ffic ia l e s tim a te s ” . Now, legislators are arguing over how to spend the surplus m illio n s , m a in ly fro m corporate taxes; education, prison beds or refunds? We did get the em ergency- room physician. John K itzhaber, as governor: an a d v o c a te of abortion rights, gay rights laws and Head Start, but opposed to d o c to r- a s s is te d su ic id e and state/local anti-obscenity laws. As the author o f O reg o n 's na tionally-recognized Health Plan and a m ajor arbiter on the issue o f ’rationed-health c a re ', he is being forced to make some ac c o m m o d a tio n s to in d u s try ; small em ployers who truly ca n 't afford m edical coverage. In the general schem e o f things critical to the quality o f life for O regon citizens some issues are ju st not going to go away. Take the well being o f feathered, furry or slimy c re a tures. Though we d o n 't hear that much these days from the ad v o cates for the spotted owl, there is plenty noise com ing from the com batants in the salm on re covery controversy — and the economic fallout is going to take a bite out o f all our w allets. There is no winner in sight, only losers: we have the ad m in istra tors o f the Endangered Species Act. the N ational M arine Fish eries Service, the Fish and W ild life C om m issions o f O regon, W ash in g to n and Id ah o , the N o rth w e s t P o w e r P la n n in g C ouncil, The U S. Forest S er vice, The U.S. C orp o f Engi neers, The Alum inum Industry, the B onneville Power Agency the C olum bia R iver In ter-T rib al Fish C om m ission, the Sports F ish erm en A s s o c ia tio n , and some assorted federal judges. Now, all this high-cost ac tion by high-salaried pro tag o nists is going to cost all o f us a bundle whether we are on w el fare and food stam ps, retired, minimum wage, decent wage, IRA, 401-(C ) or buying mutual funds. All o f this strident h u lla baloo over greed-depleted fish runs has deeper cost im plica tions than the steep increases in our electric bills as water flow over the dams is tam pered with. When industry begins to pay bigger power bills you can bet that the higher costs o f p ro d u c ing goods and services will be passed on to the consum er. ________ R ig h t- j w in g , frin g e p o litic s have m o v ed to Professor J o s e p h i n e Mcklnley C ounty, O re- Surf g On ¡n fo rce —-— ------- I (G rants Pass/ Rogue River). H ighlighted by such specialist in hate as Aryan N a tio n and th e Id a h o •Survivalist’ "Bo G ritz” they are passing out racist literature and directing recruitm ent calls at young white males between 13 and 24. We find veteran Nazis and Klansemen surfacing here: like “ H illigoss” , form er head of the Church o f the C reator in Nevada which states that " re li gions are a trick by Jews to take ov erth e world". An overwhelm ing majority o f G rants Pass cit izen s has sp o k e n o u t v ery strongly against this ugly inva sio n by th e s ic k ie s and hatem ongers. Then, there is the m atter o f getting affording an education in this state. One m other was pointing out that “even if you keep them ' at home to attend Oregon institutions, you are now talking S I0,000 a year in many cases. Why, when I was in college in 1970, a little over S 10,000 would take you through the entire four years." Right! Around one’s yearly salary at the time. The state of Ore gon is in a desperate situation, that is if it really wants to grow up anc play with the big boys in terms of attracting (and keeping), affordable educational facilities for their em ployees — in other words, “compet itive”. Lottery funds, special taxa tion, consolidation, w hatever it takes to operate first class, af fordable educational institutions in the 2 1 st century -- it has to be done. Even a sales tax! ^Jortlanb (©bscruer (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 N'E Martin Lu'her King, ,lr. Blvd. Portland. Oregon 97211 503-288-0033 * Fax 503-288-0015 Deadline for all submitted materials: Articles:Friday. 5:00 pm Ads Monday Noon POSTM ASTER: Send Address Changes to; Portland Observer, P.O. Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208. Second Class postage paid at Portland (tregon 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 $30.00 per year The Portland Observer-Oregon'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 flic \\ est Coast Black Publishers Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver Sincerely, Deedra K. Hentz. ■. ê
