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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
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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
.
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Sincerely, Deedra K. Hentz.
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