M arch
P age
22, 1995 • T he
he Rainbow C oalition
II
c o n v e n e d a b ro a d
coalition of supporters
to hold a press co nfe re nce
a ffirm in g a ffirm a tive a ctio n .
The National O rganization for
Women (NOW), Congressm an
Kweisi Mfume (D-MD), form er
chairman of the Congressional
Black Caucus, Katherine Spiller
o f th e F e m in is t M a jo rity
Foundation and other sounded
th e
w a rn in g
th a t
th e
R e p u b lic a n s
are
u s in g
affirm ative action as a 1996
“ w e d g e ” is s u e to d iv id e
A m e ric a n s , and to o m a n y
D e m o c ra ts ,
in c lu d in g
P re s id e n t
C lin to n ,
are
providing a weak defense.
Recently on the Sunday news
shows both House Majority Leader
Richard "Dick'' Armey (R-TX) and
imminent presidential candidate Pat
Buchanan said affirmative action is
unnecessary and should be done away
with. Newly announced Republican
presidential candidate. Senator Phil
Gramm (R-TX), said his first act as
president w ould be to issue an exec
utive order ending affirmative ac
tion. Senate Majority Leader and
unofficial presidential candidate.
Senator Robert Dole (R-KS), called
for a "review" o f all affirmative ac
tion programs—only to be joined in
that call by President Bill Clinton.
That is like Johnnie Cochran
and Bob Shapiro saying to O.J.
Simpson, in the middle o f his trial,
that they are going to "review" his
case. In the heat o f battle, Mr.
Simpson does not need someone to
review his case, he needs to be de
fended by strong defense attorneys.
Obviously, as a general princi
ple, no one is against review ing pub
lic policies and programs. Govern
ment programs should be reviewed
IBOW
1 (All
fcNATI
C O A L IT IO N
Affirm ative Action Myths
from time to time. But for President
Clinton to suggest reviewing affir
mative action in the middle of this
political climate and at the start of the
1996 political season-with this pres
ident's lack of a moral center and a
demonstrated record o f political
wishy-washiness, especially on this
issue-it is a little unsettling, it is like
O.J. Simpson’s defense attorneys
calling for a public review of his case
in the middle of the trial.
There are those who say, "You
have to understand, the president is
under a lot of political pressure. What
do y ou want him to do?" That's sim
ple—Stand For Principle, Teach And
Lead!!
M yth#l: White males are being
hurt and discrim inate against because
of affirmative action. White males
are 33% of the population, but 80%
of tenured professors: 80° o of the
U.S. House; 90% oftlie U.S. Senate;
92° o ofthe Forbes 400; 97% of school
superintendents; 99.9° o of profes
sional athletic team owners; and
!00% ofU .S. Presidents.
Since the inception of this na
tion. white males were given prefer
ential treatment—the right to vote,
the right to own land, apply for loans
and enter institutions ofhigher learn
ing. In the late 1800s, white males
were given millions o f acres o f min
eral and soil-rich land under the
Homestead Act as a bonus to go west
and replace Native American. Such
preferential treatment has carried
over to 1995. White males are still
the most educated, the most highly
paid, the wealthiest., the most polit
ically powerful and occupy the most
prestigious positions.
Myth #2: Affirmative action cre
ates preferences for women and peo
ple of color. After 250 years o f sla
very, 100 years of apartheid and 40
y ears o f discrimination, this unbro
ken record of race and sex discrimi
nation has warranted a conservative
remedy-affirmative action (repara
tions are truer to America’s history-
-e.g.. Western Europe, Japan and
Israel). Those who have been locked
out through negative action need af
firmative action laws to protect them
from both a discriminatory legacy
and continuing discrimination. We
need not be race neutral, but racially
inclusive. We need not be color and
gender blind, but color and gender
caring.
Myth #3: Affirmative action has
hurt people o f color, women and the
nation. A ffirm ative action has
benefitted the entire nation. It has
benefitted corporations—we have the
strongest and most diversified work
force in the world It has benefitted
families-allowing two-wage earner
households. It has benefitted minor
ities (African Americans, Latinos/
Hispanics, Asians and Native Amer
icans), older Americans and the dis
abled. It has helped to create a new
middle class.
Myth #4; Affirmative action is no
longer needed. We cannot fall prey to
the insane notion that discrimination
is an evil ofthe past. It is a very painful
reality today. While affirmative action
has diversified and improved the
American workforce and its centers of
higher learning, as a nation we still
have a long way to go.
If the president conducts a Full
public review, he and the country
will find empirical proof that when
the law is removed or not enforced
we return to our old ways and our old
habits. Since the Croson decision,
minority contracting in the City of
Richmond, Virginia has gone form
35° o to 1%—i.e., to pre-affirmative
action levels.
When the president reviews
lending practices, he will find that
access to capital and credit are de
nied to women and people o f color
because lending decisions are pri
vate, subjective and arbitrary . Un
less there are laws that are strongly
enforces, with a plan that includes
goals and timetables, the traditional
ly locked-out will never gain access
to capital.
Upon completion o f his review,
we urge the president to renew his
commitment to affirmative action and
strong enforcement of the law . We
hope he will make the EEOC and the
OFCC visible agencies and forces
for good. The falsely accused need
protection, hope and opportunity, not
scapegoating, divisiveness and un
due blame.
VctiA+oge Poio+
Developing A Need New Breed Of Black Elected Officials
h a t is th e ro le o f
ele cto ra l p o litic s in
the struggle for Black
_ ip o w e rm e n t and what is the
role of Black elected o fficia ls in
the em pow erm ent process?
These may well be the most crit
ical questions issues which a Nation
al Black Agenda Conference must
address. Unfortunately, after the he
roic struggle to regain the right to
vote in the U.S., Black voter partic
ipation is far from ideal. Large num
bers of Black people are alienated
from the electoral political process.
There are more than 6 million Afri
can Americans who are not regis
tered to vote and Black voter turn
out for local and state elections is
often extremely low. Many within
the Black community, particularly
among the most oppressed sectors of
our community, see little relation
ship between voting and a change in
their life circumstances.
There is also growing disillu
sionment with Black elected offi
cials. In the 60's and 70's there was
a sense of optimism that the election
of Black people to various public
positions would lead to real empow
erment and real change for the Black
masses. Black America now has more
Black elected officials than ever be
fore. but very little has changed for
the masses o f poor and working peo
ple in the Black community. Replac
ing White faces with Black faces in
old places has not led to empower
ment or change for the Black masses
On the contrary far too many Black
elected officials have lost the vision
and fighting spirit which character
ized the movement of the 60's; a
movement which propelled Black
people into elected office in record
numbers. And. far too many Black
elected officials have become cor
rupt, self-aggrandizing tools of the
system who have been reduced to
managing the mess created by a rac
ist and oppressive system.
It is clear that Africans in Amer
ica need a dynamic new movement
for Black empowerment as we strug
gle to liberate the masses of Black
people into the Twenty-first Centu
ry. And. that movement must start
with an understanding that electoral
politics is only one dimension/aspect
of the struggle for Black empower
ment. Non-electoral forms of strug
gle i.e. mobilizing organizing around
issues, demonstrations, boycotts,
strikes, civil disobedience, rebellion
etc. are as important as electoral pol
itics in the empowerment process.
Indeed, it has been the over invest
ment in electoral politics to the ne
glect o f other forms of political strug
gle that has sty mied Black progress.
It is also important to understand that
the leaders of non-electoral forms of
struggle are every bit as legitimate as
Black elected officials. Both elements
comprise the Black political leader
ship within the African American
community.
A new movement for Black
empowerment must also produce a
new political leadership including a
new breed o f Black elected officials.
We need to elect people to public
office who are possessed with a vi
sion of social transformation. This
racist-capitalist system must be fun
damentally changed/transformed if
the masses of Africans in America
(in the world for that m atter) are
ever to experience a decent q u al
ity o f life on this planet. The goal
for progressive Black politics and
progressive Black political lead
ership must be the creation o f a
new society . Amerikkka as is sim
ply will not do.
Therefore, we need Black elect
ed officials who are willing to expose
the contradictions and hypocrisy of
this system; politicians who are ded
icated to educating the masses and
creating the mass consciousness re
quired to build a massive movement
forchange. Forexample, Blackelect-
ed officials should be stridently and
consistently attacking welfare for the
corporations and the wealthy in this
country' including the ongoing multi
billion dollar taxpay er bail-out ofthe
S&L industry. We need a new breed
of elected officials who will actively
partic ipate in the process of develop
ing progressive, people oriented
agendas; politicians who will carry
the Black Agenda with them into the
corridors o f power and fight like hell
to strain the system to benefit the
masses of Black people and the op
pressed.
We need elected officials who,
in the face of the call for cut backs,
will demand drastic reductions in the
military war budget rather than re
ductions in desperately needed so
cial programs; politicians who have
the guts to fight for reparations to
repair the damages to Africans in
America inflicted during the crimi
nal enslavement of our people; We
need a new breed of elected officials
w ho are connected to the grassroots,
who act on behalf of the grassroots
and are accountable to the grassroots;
politicians who are willing to work
with community based movements
and grassroots political leaders to
engage the struggle for Black em
powerment and Black advancement
“by any means necessary .”
A new political movement that
will impart a new understanding ot
the role of electoral politics in the
empowerment process and produce
a new breed of Black elected offi
cials will not be created by osmosis.
We must make this movement out of
the collective intelligence and com
mitted contributions of thousands,
even million of sisters and brothers
who are determined to fashion a new
future for Africans in America and
the world. The forthcoming National
Black Agenda Conference will be
one ofthe critical events in the mak
ing of a new political movement for
the empowerment of African people.
Its success will very much depend
upon your input and your involve
ment. Remember, “we are the lead
ers we've been looking for."
p e r s p e c t i res
The Education Scene, II
ba
P r o f . M< K
BA D r . Lt M IR
V F t LAM
he 10th C ongress has
| i ! been in s e s s io n fo r
nearly a m onth. In that
tim e it has enacted a handful of
dem ocracy reform s aimed at
d em onstrating that there is a
w illin gn e ss on the part of both
Dem ocrats and Republicans to
make elected o ffic ia ls more
accountable to the public.
Now Congress and the presi
dent are focusing on "issues ' I hese
include welfare reform, the federal
budget, the Mexican bail-out. and
the minimum wage But the political
situation in this country is such that
governmental approaches and solu
tions to these issues are not effective
lake the issue ol health care A
local hospital may establish a special
clinic to provide nutritional counsel
ing to pregnant mothers. This program
might be enormously effective. But
there is no evidence that such pro
grams can be generalized throughout
the health care system Look at what
happened in the last session of Con
gress when the president attempted to
initiate health care reform. Even the
most modes, attempt to reform the
health care system became so highly
politicized - caught in the crossfire
between the American Medical Asso
ciation, the pharmaceutical companies,
the health care union bureaucracy and
the political action committees - that
nothing could be done to transform the
medical industry No, to mention that
the entire dialogue never addressed
the quality ol health care I he declin
ing quality of hospital and medical
care for ordinary Americans - infants,
people with AIDS, cancer patients,
people with diabetes and heart dis
ease, our elderly - is a national trage
dy. But the bipartisan government is
unable to do anything about it
There has been a lot of discus
sion about political gridlock, about
how partisan concerns and competi
tion have made Congress and the
state legislatures unable to take ini
tiative and create workable social
and economic policy . This is certain
ly true. But when the political pun
dits expound on the pitfalls ot
gridlock, they leave out the equation
that it is our lives, our children, our
homes, our jobs, our quality ol life
which are caught in that gridlock
We pay taxes to support a govern*
ment bureaucracy that does not work
for us. We are the first generation of
Americans who cannot promise our
children that they will do better than
we have done. We have friends and
family members who are caught in
the net of drug and alcohol abuse.
We are the victims of violent crime.
Many children in this country still go
to bed hungry. Where are the solu
tions to these problems?
We have to lace the reality that
these solutions cannot be produced
by our government under the current
arrangement Government i$ too po
liticized: politics is too corrupt; and
the American people - ol all races
and religions and income levels - do
not have a voice, do not have the
power to redirect this country Until
we deal with nothing else
i m . la
B i
ri
et me in te rru p t the
flo w fo r a m oment.
C * Last W ednesday I
made one of my infrequent
a p p e a ra n c e s
on
c a b le
television, although I hope to
resume my form er level of
exposure.
W hat I ’ve
been doing is
so m e in n o v a
tiv e d e v e lo p
ment o f that na
tional talk show
fo rm a t--F ro m
My Home. Yet!
I have spoken o f this earlier, an
com m unications technology is
expanding at a trem endous pace.
I have reached audiences ot tens
o f thousands in a single radio
broadcast in cities like Houston
and Atlanta, will have a formal
studio soon, 1 hope.
In respect to that television
program (N.E. Spectrum , ‘38).
I may have given incom plete
citations o f two very important
books on African American his
tory. The first was "Staying
Power: The History o f Black
People In B ritain", by Peter
Fryer, Hum anities Press, N.J.
1984. Has extensive notes and
bibliography. Tells docum ent
ed story o f tens o f thousands of
American blacks who fought on
the side o f the British rather
than for their cruel slave mas
ters during the Am erican Revo
lution: Combat troops, calvary ,
boat captions, sailors, tailors,
cooks, etc. Prom ised their free
dom. win or lose, the British
were as good as their word.
Thousands were em barked from
southern seaports, transferred
to Canada or England where
they retired on lifetime pensions
(why w eren’t we told this?).
The other im portant book
is. “ Isaac Newton H istorian” ,
by Frank E. M anuel, Belnap
P ress (H a rv a rd U n iv ersity ),
C am bridge, 1963. One immedi
ately begins to appreciate why
Am erican w riters have d eliber
ately shied away from reveal
ing the true scope and breadth
o f this great m athem atician who
proposed the famous theory o f
“ Universal G ravitation” . While
European greats from Leibniz
to V oltaire created a tradition
in studying and evaluation o f
N ew ton’s research in historiog
raphy, religion, Egy ptology and
m etaphysics, over here you are
denied know ledge o f the real
foundation and thrust o f his
grandiose thinking that paral
leled that o f the North African
whom he studied so avidly.
d jl
I detail more inform ation in
this vein because I have had
many phone calls. Several years
ago I detailed how Isaac New
ton held up that "Theory O f
Universal G ravitation" waiting
on more accurate m easurem ents
o fth e "G reat African Pyram id"
by astronom ers John G reaves
and Tito Livio Burattoni: New-
____ ______ t o n ’s th e o ry ,
like the com
p u ta tio n s for
By
the launch o f
Professor -S p u tn ik ” into
Mckinley sp ac e by the
S ort
R u ssia n s, re-
___________ quired co o rd i
nates and geodesics that were
derived from this m eticulously
accurate structure o f the ancient
Africans. One should also read
Chapter I o f Peter T om pkin’s.
"Secrets o f The Great Pyramid",
Haper & Row, 1971, 1978 (P a
per, Colophon Books).
Now. back w ith Sir Isaac New
ton. we find that one o f his first
books-and perhaps most impor-
tant-was "A Dissertation upon the
Sacred Cubit of the Jews and the
Cubits of several nations (African):
in which, from the Dimensions of
the Greatest pyramid, as taken by
Mr. John Greaves, the ancient Cu
bit of Memphis is determined,"
What a title and what a revelation!
Further reinforcing the Israel Afri
ca connection we have the classic,
"A Dictionary Of The Bible: Com
prising The Antiquities, Biography,
Geography And Natural History” ,
by William Smith. Classical Exam
iner in the University of London.
Here we have extensive expo
sition ofthe impact upon Israel of
various African conquests and col
onizations; African icons, artifacts,
tools, artisans and many other ex
amples of technology transfer and
cultural assimilation are lavishly
illustrated and cited.
For access and reference to
overseas libraries and archives I
w ish to thank Dr. Dimitri Alexander,
the grandson of an immigrant Jew
ish engineer who was an account-
ingclientofmine, forty years ago in
Los Angeles, and Dr. Nohaud
Toulon, head of the Urban Studies
Dept. at Portland State University-
-my former boss o f mine and for
merly Minister of Housing for the
State of Egypt
Be su re to c h e c k o u t
M anuel's book on Isaac N ew
ton who nearly told it all: The
A tlas M o u n ta in s” o f N o rth
africa named after a real A fri
can ruler (made a god through
technique o f euhem erism ); Af
rican developm ent o f solid ge
ometry, discovery o f the Sphere
(m ath essen tial to N e w to n 's
‘discoveries:
Wlje ^.lortlanb (iDhscruer
(USPS 959-680)
OREGON’S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN Pl BLICATION
Established in 1970 by Allred L. Henderson
Joyce Washington—Publisher
The PORTLAND OBSERVER is located at
4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
Portland, Oregon 97211
503-288-0033 * Fax 503-288-0015
BLACK EMPOWERMENTS We’re Caught In The Gridlock
Deadline fo r all submitted materials:
Articles:Friday. 5:00 pm Ads: M onday Noon
POSTMASTER: Send Address Changes to: Portland Observer,
P.O. Box 3137, Portland. OR 97208.
Second Class postage paid at Portland, (b egan
The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions Manuscripts
and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned If
accompanied by a self addressed env elope. All created design display
ads become the sole property ot the newspaper and can not be used in
other publications or personal usage, without the written consent ofthe
general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition of
such ad i 1994 1111 POR I LAND OBSERVER A ll RIGHTS
RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN \\ HOI I OR IN |’ \R | WITH
OUT PI RMISSION IS PROIIIBIIT D
Subscriptions S30 00 per w ar
I he Portland Observer—Oregon s Oldest African-American Publica
tion—is a member ot the National Newspaper Association—Founded in
1885. and I he National Advertising Representative Amalgamated
Publishers. Inc. New York, NY. and I he West Coast Black Publishers
Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver
pi
» *
P ortland O bserver
A2
.•