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26, 1995 • T he
P ortland O bserver
Editorial Articles Do Not Neccessarily Reflect Or
Represent The Views O f The JJortlanh (©bscruer
Newspaper Or Its Staff
ormer history profes
sor and now Speaker
of th e H o u s e N ew t
Gingrich does not practice what
he teaches-history.
Responding to an affirmative ac
tion question. The Washington Post
reported. "Gingrich dismissed the ar
gument that the beneficiaries o f affir
mative action, commonly African
Americans, have been subjected to
discrimination over a period o f centu
ries "That is true of virtually every
American,' Gingrich said, noting that
the Irish were discriminated against
by the English, for example .”
Despots and other totalitarians
like to burn the books—i.e., start his
tory when they come to power, or
pervert history' for their ow n narrow
political ends. One would expect
more from a former history profes
sor, especially one originating in the
South
History is unbroken continuity,
with causes and effects, actions and
reactions, truth and consequences—
but continuous. To try to compare
the acculturation problems that other
ethnic groups had when they volun
tarily came to this country for a better
opportunity ; with 250 years o f invol
untary slavery, language, culture.
R iko W
C O A L IT IO N
Gingrich: Historian
That Denies History
families and freedom destroyed. 3/
5th human written into the constitu
tion, "no rights that a white man is
bound to respect" (Dred Scott), "sep
arate but equal" (Plessy v. Ferguson),
and ongoing discrimination, is unbe
coming o f a history professor.
To equate this history' with the
history o f the Irish, the Polish, the
Jews, the Italians or any o f the other
immigrant groups is beyond cal
loused and distorted. To erase this
history , to deny this reality , is simply
to propagate a racist myth and to
operate from a racist premise—which
is not a long distance from begin and
out-and-out racist. [The only excep
tion to this is Native Americans, a
people who experienced genocide
on their own continent ] This level o f
ignorance from the Speaker o f the
U.S. House o f Representatives, who
is just two heartbeats away from the
presidency , is dangerous.
On "Face The Nation" last week,
Bob Schieffer again asked Newt
about affirm ative action. His re
sponse? “ Well, I draw a real distinc
tion. Bob. between helping individu
als—which I thinkw eshould do...But
1 think anything which is based on a
genetic code where there’s an auto
matic set-aside, an automatic quota
where we re not dealing with you as
an individual, but w e’re now dealing
with you as some kind o f class struc
ture. 1 think is frankly un-American.
I think America is a country where
we are endowed by our creator as
individuals with certain inalienable
rights, h 's not a question o f us being
endowed as a block grant, where we
have to find out. “Who was your
grandmother? Who was your great
grandmother? How do you fill out
the forms? And I think that that’s a
big m istake'.”
Schieffer: I take it the basis o f
your preference programs, if that's
what you want to call them, would be
based on economic need. Gingrich:
Yeah, I think any American w ho’s
poor, whether they’re white, or black,
or Hispanic, or American Indian or
Asian, ifyou’re poor, we need to help
you because we want all Americans
to be in the middle class.”
Newt says he’s a revolutionary.
Until this last statement on "Face
The Nation," JaxFax had its doubts.
But this should prove it to all the
w orld-N o Poor People, No Rich
People. Only Middle Class People.
That should prove that Newt is a
genuine revolutionary!
“Along The Color Line”: The Changing Politics Of Race
Bv D r . M anning M arable
v e ry w h e re w e tu rn
to d ay, the headlines
and the media seem to
be preoccupied with the politics
of race.
Sometimes the politics o f race is
obscured in an aesopian language, in
which the victims and the predators
are half-hidden or even inverted; some
times on late-night talk shows or even
racialized films, the politics of race
which are addressed through person
alities or issues connected with the
black community come under vicious
attack or parody.
In recent weeks and months, the
politics of race has been expressed
through a variety o f issues and events:
for example, affirmative action and
minority set-aside programs are pub
licly attacked as policies promoting
"reverse discrimination"; the televised
trial o f former football superstar O.J.
Simpson continues to fascinate mil
lions o f Americans, with its burlesque
mixture o f interracial sex, double-ho
micide, spousal abuse, and police mis
conduct; welfare programs are under
new scrutiny, with calls for mandatory
work by AFDC recipients, and de
mands to outlaw support to unwed
mothers under the age of eighteen: and
new restrictions are being pushed on
nonwhite immigrants, from the denial
of access to public medical services to
the imposition o f "English Only" lan
guage requirements. "Race" thus con
tinues to be central to American poli
tics. but' its definition and meaning
are being radically transformed.
One reason for this is the massive
migration of millions o f Latin Ameri
can, Caribbean, Asian and African
people into the US, as well as in West
ern Europe, since the 1960s. The in
flux of these new minorities in Europe
has meant the break down o f older
racial identities and communities. For
example, in the United Kindom by the
1970s, immigrants from the Caribbe
an, Asian and Africa o f radically di
vergent ethnic backgrounds and lan
guages began to term themselves
“black", as a political entity. In the
US. the search for both d isaggregation
and rearticulation of group identity
and consciousness among people of
color is also occurring, although along
different lines due to distinct histori
cal experiences and backgrounds. In
the Hawaiian islands, for example,
many of the quarter million native
Hawaiians support the movement for
political sovereignty and self-deter
mination. But do native Hawaiians
have more in common culturally and
politically with American Indians or
Pacific islanders? What are the paral
lels and distinctions between the dis
crimination experienced by Mexican
Americans in the US Southwest and
African-Americans under slavery and
Jim Crow segregation? Do the more
than five million Americans o f Arab,
Kurdish, Turkish and Iranian nation
ality and descent have a socioeconom
ic experience in the Us which places
them in conflict with native-born Af
rican-Americans, or is there sufficient
common interest and social affinity
which provides the potential frame
work for principled activism?
Affirmative Action: Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, See No Evil
bv
J ames L. P osea
s the w hite backlash
a g a in s t a ffir m a tiv e
action reaches a frenz
ied pitch, you have only to
review A m erican histo ry to
u n d e rs ta n d w h y so m an y
w h ite s re fu s e to a c c e p t
u n re fu ta b le e v id e n c e th a t
racism an d d is c rim in a tio n
continue to favor white America
at the expense of nearly all other
racial groups.
Even when the evidence is obvi
ous that these programs in many cas
es favor whites more than ethnic
minorities, the attacks persist. For
som e unexplained reason, many
whites become oblivious to the facts
and reasons when the issue is race
conscious remedies. They simply
ignore the data, resist all logic, turn
the tables and become artful in blam
ing the victims.
Let me repeat it: the very pro
grams under attack have been manip
ulated to ultimately favor whites and
refutes the absurd notion of reverse
discrimination Programs ostensively
designed to lift the fortunes o f people
o f color after centuries of discrimina
tion are so thoroughly corrupted that
real economic progress for African-
Americans is barely perceptible.
Today in Oregon, Blacks and oth
er minorities, especially Hispanics, are
just as much responsible for the de
mise of affirmative action as any an
gry white man. Additionally, white
women are particularly at fault since
they receive the lion’s share o f most
contracting work or employment ad
vancements. They all have allowed
misuse and abuse in programs to exist
and persist unabated. They have all
sacrificed the integrity o f the program
for their own self interests. For exam
ple, there is a local Black trucking firm
which routinely obtains contracts and
as a minority firm and almost exclu
sively passes on the benefits of the
program to white male trucking oper
ators for a small broker's fee.
And, any reasonable observer
would be hard pressed to find a white
woman, particularly in the area o f
construction contracting, who recip
rocates the benefits o f affirmative
action programs to other women or
minorities either through subcon
tracts or by providing jobs. Further
more, project owners and affirma
tive action officials at all levels re
quire little accountability and sub
scribe to a general policy o f see no
evil, speak no evil and hear no evil.
As it was in the reconstruction
period just after slavery was abol
ished, scoundrels, both Black and
white, unscrupulously exploited the
promise o f freedom. From the begin
ning, one has to question who was
thought to deserve fairness, equality
and freedom in America. With slavery
as a backdrop, one has to wonder how
the founding fathers could emersed
themselves in so many moral plati
tudes, such as, "All men are created
equal,... endowed with certain inalien
able rights.... life, liberty and the pur-
suit of happiness." At the same time,
they had to know they were invoking
the greatest hypocrisy by preaching
democracy while practicing tyranny
and committing atrocities.
So it is with the attacks on affir
mative action today. How can Amer
ica deny if sown conscious and sense
o f humanity in the face o f persistent
and insistent racial inequities? As
national columnist William Raspber
ry and others have asserted, in this
entire debate, there is little focus on
the disease that precipitated the need
for affirmative action. Another col
umnist, Clarence Page, tried to put a
positive face on the issue by asking
readers to examine the realities o f the
argument. H is attempts to reason w ith
white America by making the case
that white males are really com pet
ing with each other for nearly all jobs
is backed up by plenty o f research.
He easily makes the point, as the data
indicates, that there is virtually no
threat from minorities and women,
particularly at the higher levels.
bv
ecently I spent a day
c a n vass in g parts of
N o rth P o rtla n d to
d e te rm in e how v o te rs feel
ab o u t the u p co m in g b allo t
measure called 26-26.
In spite o f lots o f publicity on the
subject many o f my neighbors still
do not know that the ballot measure
wi 11 secure thousands o f acres o f land
to provide open space, streams and
parks in the Metropolitan Portland
area This is especially surprising
considering the number o f parcels
that would be saved right in our own
backyard
North Portlanders stand to ben
efit greatly, as do all o f the residents
News o f your upcoming retirement from Cascade General, Inc. has
reached me in Washington. D.C. As you celebrate this occasion, I wanted
to add my congratulations to those you will no doubt be receiving from your
family, friends and colleagues.
Your 50 years o f service in the shipbuilding and ship repair industry is
truly impressive. Your long career has been tilled with many "firsts," and
you should take great pride in your manyflccomplishments. Your record o f
service to the industry and in y our union serves as a model to others, and I
applaud your commitment.
Again, congratulations on your retirement. Please know that I wish you
all o f the best in your future endeavors.
Kindest regards.
Sincerely, Murk O. Hatfield
C larice W h ite :
o f our region, by conversion o f 27
acres o f Willamette River frontage in
what we call “ Willamette Cove" to
open space for bicyclists and hikers.
With minor cleanup o f the area and
care for existing habitat and wildlife
on the site, we can convert what has
been an illegal dump site and hazard
ous play area for local youth to a
beautiful and highly usable open
space for bicycling and walking.
Furthermore, by obtaining this
particular piece o f property and clean
ing up the vacated Carey Boulevard
and converting it to the Peninsula
Crossing Trail, recreational users will
be able to travel essentially from
Cathedral Park under the St Johns
Bridge to Smith and Bybee Lakes,
then on to Kelly Point Park Right
now Carey Boulevard is heavily rut
ted by vehicles, some o f which have
dumped garbage, old furniture, cloth
ing and yard debris. There also are
signs along the path that prostitutes
and drug users enjoy the overgrow n
vegetation to cover their dirty deeds.
I live betw een the “C ove"
p ro p e rty and the p ro p o sed trail
and long for the day that the pu b
lic ow ns the re h a b ilita te d p ro p
e rtie s so that hik ers and b ic y
c lists ov erru n them ra th e r than
b la c k b e rrie s and villain s.
This is an incredibly exciting
time to live in North Portland The
Getting Help (Education) II
3B
hen I suggested last
week that “It’s Hard
To G et G o o d H elp
T h e s e D ays (In g e ttin g
Educated),” a broad cross-
section of readers agreed.
And se v e ra l
suggested in turn
that I expand fur
ther on the “a tti
tudes, support level
and long-term Com
mitment” of, “That
nebulous entity you
term industry." I plan to do just that
and in the very near future.
Several other education issues,
however, demand our more imme
diate attention. A few weeks ago I
had a very spirited dialogue with a
group o f parents who were excited
over reports in the national media
that an African American teenager
has netted herself over a quarter-
million dollars in college scholar
ships and grants. As is usually the
case under these c ircumstances, one
has to, simultaneously, keep up or
enhance the enthusiasm to achieve
a similar success—but also prepare
gung-ho enthusiasts for a less-than-
happy outcome.
In the first place, as subsequent
media accounts revealed, the girl
was an over-achiever o f the first
rank: Grades, extra-curricular ac
tivities, student offices, community
interaction and so forth. Much o f
the listed diverse and eclectic activ
ity indicated strong abilities and
traits involving com m unication
skills—as well as intense parental
support.
In em phasizing these facts,
what I was really saying to these
parents was, “hey! be sure that your
little darling and his/her family sup
port structure is up-to-snuff before
ou start building air castles that
can come crashing down and do
permanent economic and emotion
al damage”. I put an experience-
based spin on the matter as I recited
my recruitment and counseling ac
tivities while teaching at Portland
State University. I tried to get across
this should be no Mickey Mouse
affair, but a sophisticated and logi
cal approach.
Subsequently, several parents
have called me in reference to a
April 1 8 ,1995 Oregonian article by
Julie Tripp (“Managing Your Mon
ey: Comparing College Offers” ).
They reassured me that my assess
ments o f academic affairs fit in very
well with the contemporary evalua-
tions they were collecting. For in
stance Ms Tripp seems to have para
phrased some o f my most cogen:
advice: When you are comparing
several; financial aid packages
don’t be dazzled by the total amounl
o f the aid of
fered. Instead
compare whal
Sy
your family has
Professor to pay in each
Mckinley
case, and what
Burt
you have to
borrow in each
case.” There is much more good
advice but in the end, all dependents
upon the students/parent’s ability to
transmit, retrieve and process infor
mation.
Forthose who feel thaf'H igher
education" is a very'necessary build
ing block for structuring a realistic
future in the 21st-Century, the ac
tivities and pronouncements ofboth
the Oregon State Legislature and
Gov. John Kitzhaber have created
nothing but a deep concern. As the
Governor said, "How ironic, a fis
cally conservative Republican leg
islature putting the next budget out
o f balance". (Voting to give $3.55
billion in state aid to kindergarten
through the 12th grade sch o o ls-
$100 million more than he sought).
O f course, the governor is not nearly
as upset as those involved in higher
education and dependent on it for a
meaningful future-hey believe that
any over-budget legislation and en
suring shortfalls will be at the ex
pense and detriment o f Oregon’s
Colleges and Universities.
You know, looking back to
where I first became aware o f the
"pedagogic wars" as they have been
termed, I seem to remember that a
few decades ago. rushing out to buy
the latest edition o f "Lovejoys Col
lege Guide” (Circa 1465). I was
employed in administration at a large
industrial plant, and as I have recit
ed here before, there was much con
cern over the level o f competency
o f many o f the college graduates
being hired (and high school gradu
ates). O ur departm ent head was
determined that he was going to
conduct his own little investigation
o f the “ incomprehensible", procur
t
ing school catalogs, samples o f cur
riculums, etc.
/
When I left the firm in 1969 the
man was still talking to himself, and
had a vacant, bewildered stare;
"D on't these people understand that
both groups are trying to educate
the same youth?
l TTI tc ^fJortlanb
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dump has closed and is providing
funds for worthwhile projects in our
area. McCormick and Baxter and its
stench o f creosote has been replaced
by cleanup efforts. North Precinct
remained in our midst, and citizens
are working with police to under
mine crime. Work is underway to
solve many other livability concerns
here.
I hope all h o m eow ners in our
region w ill jo in me in v o tin g yes
on 26-26. It is w orth m uch m ore
to each o f us than the p ric e o f a
pizza and soft drink in annual
taxes th at it w ill cost us to save
these p re c io u s p ro p e rtie s from
dev elo p m en t
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