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J uly 26, 1995 • T he P ortland O bserver
Affirmative Action:
Good For America
F rom T he R ainbow C oalition
In an im passioned speech
reminiscent of Lyndon Johnson’s
famous 1965 affirm ative action
address at Howard U niversity,
President C linton sought to link
us with history, take us forward
by hope, and disconnect us from
the hysteria aimed at taking us
backwards through fear.
Following a prolonged, if not
profound study, the President is
sued a strong moral, legal and
practical case for racial and gen
der equality which culm inated in
the unapologetic statem ent, “Let
me be clear, affirm ative action
has been good for A m erica.”
Affirm ative action, as per
m itted by the courts, will co n
tinue under a Bill Clinton adm in
istration.
In his re v ie w , P re sid e n t
Clinton chose renewal and en
forcem ent over moral abandon
ment and retreat He concluded
that affirm ative action is work
ing and is in our national inter
est. While the speech moved in
the right direction, the real test
of this adm inistration’s com m it
ment to affirm ative action lies in
the future
If the test o f affirm ative ac
tion program s, guided by the j u
dicial branch o f governm ent, is
“strict scrutiny,” then “strict en
forcem ent” is the test we must
apply to the executive branch.
“Strict enforcem ent” will ne
cessitate more money and more
personnel. In a debate over 1996
budget priorities, the President
will have to propose and fight for
this, and C ongress must grant
approval.
Furthermore, the Civil Rights
Division of the Justice D epart
ment, the Office of Federal C on
tra c t C o m p lia n c e at L a b o r
(OFCC) and the Equal Em ploy
ment O pportunity C om m ission
(EEOC) must be more visible and
active in the future. The govern
ment must take the findings and
recom m endations of the U.S.
Civil Rights Com mission more
seriously. Only time will tell if
this will happen. In the m ean
time, we will watch and pray!
C ontinued action and prayer
are especially needed in light of
the hard facts which reveal p er
sistent race and sex discrim ina
tion: the unem ploym ent rate for
blacks remains about twice that
of whites; women still make only
72 percent as much as men; and
the average income for a Latina
woman with a college degree is
less than that of a White male
with only a high school diploma.
The Glass C eiling Report found
that women in the nation’s larg
est com panies hold less than 5
percent of senior m anagem ent
posts, and the num ber is even
lower for blacks, Latinos and
A sians, who hold less than I pet-
cent o f these positions. Hate crimes
and violence are still ugly realities in
many American lives, and in 1994
the federal government received more
than 90,000 complaints of employ
ment discrimination based on race,
ethnicity and gender.
When Newt Gingrich, Bob Dole,
Phil Gramm, Pete Wilson and others
try to eliminate affirmative action as
a remedy for such discrimination,
they often take Dr. King’s quote about
“judging people by the content of
their character, not the color of their
skin” out of context. Dr. King actu
ally said that, “He looked forward to
the day” when that would be the case.
The President’s review, and the
conclusions he reached, indicate that
such a day has not yet arrived. There
fore, the President must continue
L a st M o n t h , 1 W a lk ed
I n t o U .S . B a n k A n d
S u d d e n l y E v e r y t h in g
C a m e U p R o s e s .”
beyond his speech and educate
Americans on the issue. A step in that
direction would be to call a “White
House Conference on an Even Play
ing Field” this fall which would fo
cus on racial justice and genderequal-
ity, and ways to implement and en
force the law. Such a conference
would include corporate America,
university presidents, military gen
erals, publishers, bankers, labor lead
ers, government contractors and
judges.
The President’s immediate re
sponsibility will be to continue to
provide strong, unapologetic leader
ship for affirmative action in the face
of such opponents as presidential
wannabe, Sen. Bob Dole and black
conservative, Rep. Gary Franks.
In the Senate, Dole is planning
to introduce legislation which would
virtually eliminate all affirmative
action programs; and, in the House,
Franks is threatening to add amend
ments to appropriations bills which
would make set-aside programs ille
gal. The President must firmly com
mit to use his veto power against
such measures.
With his speech on affirmative
action, President Clinton stuck his
finger in the dike, but the floodwa
ters are rising.
From California to Illinois, from
coast to coast, efforts to eliminate or
weaken affirmative action (i.e., raise
the walls at predominately white
schools) and cut funds to historically
black schools, while building more
jails for a system that now- houses
over 6(X),(XX) African Americans, is
the trend.
Some politicians are cyniceJIy
choosing to exploit insecure voters
instead of educating them with the
truth and giving them hope for the
future. President Clinton did not go
along with this trend, and for that all
Americans should be grateful.
A n d no, we re n o t talking about (lowers. W e’re talking business. Vitur
business. H o w to keep it ru n n in g and help it grow.
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jixsji B A N K
SB FS
The Encore, Part II:
There Are Ways To Deal We're
With Things Before Its working
for you,
Too Late
B y P rof . M c K inley B urt
That was a rather mild response to that “y’all
come” appendage to last week’s article of this
series, but a number of us are betting that this will
change as the community seeks to assess or even
comprehend that volatile article in last week's
“Oregonian Newspaper” (See my Perspectives”
column, page 2A).
Several of us who consider ourselves to have
a better than average understanding of how the
Portland infrastructure works (and “has” worked
over several generations) see a pressing need to
build and launch new, innovative systems that are
based on such reality and experience. The imita
tion and replication of economic programs de
signed decades ago in the hey day of President
Johnson’s “Great Society” leave you "behind the
curve”;
Above all, “there is an additional need,” I tell
in my peer group and many others with whom we
come in contact at initial information meetings:
Share the knowledge! Lets get away from the
cliques and blocking, the envies and jealousies
that have so crippled the minority community for
so long. Early this century, blacks had a saying.
“Slaves don’t have secrets.”
When we inspect and analyze the paperwork
and processes subtending many current social and
“economic” programs, I am taken back to my
early 1970s experience as administrator/accoun-
tant for a large U.S. Department of Labor training
program designed by Washington, D C. planners
to “escalate the quality of life for the inner-city
disadvantaged.” The “maze” is still “amazing.”
Some of my industry acquaintances on the far
west side, accustomed for the most part to the
smooth-working systems and forms for produc
tion, processing and quality control, shake their
heads in disbelief. They have already learned in
their plants, for instance, that no computer in the
world can do a decent job of accounting if the
system designer wasn't an experienced accoun
tant.
And, of course, industry still has the com
plaint that I articulated here several years ago: If,
I
‘
.
in an alleged effort to save money, an economic
program is heavily loaded with recent graduates
armed only with the jargon, idioms, vernacular
and slang ol the game (and good intentions), then
the game may be lost quite early on. The economic
successes will be the office supply houses, van
leasing companies and the coin machine opera
tors. The targeted clientele will be just beginning
a long-term merry-go-round ride, as happened
during "Model City” days: from program to pro
gram.
It is important, we feel, that a community
should learn from its experiences and should
develop its own systems and paradigms for deal
ing with an exploitive world. Just as it was with
Urban Renewal/Model Cities,” the “planners”
know exactly what they are doing, and as much of
the process is designed to fail, as to succeed. They
have always worked hand-in-hand with the com
mercial interests. II not, they would never have
had their programs funded. That is the “American
Way.”
Of course my personal forte has been in the
sciencc/math mode and I have had time to update
those early designs that won the National Science
Award. There seems to be a good start on evading
the past roadblock of a less-than-innovate Port
land School System (despite protestations to the
contrary). Several education publishers and game
manufacturers have been out to monitor some
demonstrations in outlying districts - with indus
try backing. You can do it too!
Especially liked is the innovative “Science
Club" mode I started in The Dalles, Oregon
several years ago, but had been brushed off by two
former Portland school superintendents. Others
in the community have started doing their thing,
moving around the “blockers” with our encour
agement. More and more minorities with inven
tions are calling me for directions (mostly fe
male). Two of the west side plants with guest
facilities are putting up out of town visitors for us
this summer and providing a shuttle bus (educa
tors, publishers and a major foundation.)
Next week, “Real Estate."
so you're
always
connected.
Sometimes, building a successful
business means you have to do it all.
You work into the wee hours of the
morning, running those numbers
yet again, just so you can make the
most important connection—that first
soccer game or that sixth birthday
party. And one day your hard work
will pay off—for you, and for those
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