P age A2
S eptember 6, 1995 • T he P ortland O bserver
Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily
Reflect Or Represent The Views O f
The ^flortlanb © bscrucr
by
R e v . J esse
L . J a c k so n _____
city to take our 5-pint plan to insure
the success o f our young people.
Parents must take their child to school,
meet their child’s teacher, exchange
phone numbers, pick up their report
card every 9 weeks and turn o ff the
television 3 hours a night. We can get
our children o ff o f the ja il track and
put them on the fast track if we do
n
A ug.
28,
we
celebrated Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.’s spirit-
filled 1963 “I Have A Dream"
speech.
Thirty-two years later, the winds
o f hostility, hate, hurt and violence
are still blowing across our land
Homicides have become a national
lifesty le through television, videos,
movies and commercials, polluting
the atmosphere with more violence.
Thirty-two years later, we see a
growing sense of indifference to suf­
fering among our fellow human be­
ings. The gap between the very wealthy
and the very poor is increasing.
Thirty-two years later, we have
abandoned inner cities, plants are
closing on workers, hospitals are
being shut, tax bases are eroding,
jobs are leaving, families are disinte­
grating, second-rate schools are
crumbling, alienated youth are fill­
ing up the prisons, as ja ils have be­
come the number one growth indus­
try in urban America.
Thirty-two years later, drugs are
the number one source of death and
destruction. Drugs provide money
for the sub-economy and the war on
drug makers and kingpins has been
removed from the radar screen.
Thirty-two years later, econom­
ic down-sizing is the number one
problem. Earnings are up, wages are
down, major mergers, such as A B C
with D isn ey and C B S with
those five things.
32 Years Later:
The Dream Unfulfilled
Westinghouse, create more extremes
o f wealth with fewer jobs. A few
more w ill become billionaires and
they w ill be called geniuses. A few
others w ill become millionaires and
they w illb e called smart. Many more
will lose their jobs and have less
access to the major media. They will
be called unblessed, unlucky and
untrained. In the face o f this, affirma­
tive action - the quest for equal op­
portunity - has become a diversion,
race-bait and the scapegoat.
Thirty-two years later, Black
babies have a third world infant mor­
tality rate. The Black baby who lives
is more likely to live and work in
inequality and has a shorter life ex­
pectancy. When that Black child be­
comes an adult, he or she is twice as
likely to be. denied a mortgage loan.
For example, a recently study found
that the banks in San Diego had made
30,000 loans, but only 27 o f them
went to Blacks.
Thirty-two years later, there are
more Blacks in ja il than in college.
We are moving toward a generation
o f parolees rather than a generation
o f graduates. These ugly disparities
and trends must stop. They represent
a growing nightmare, not an expand­
ing dream.
We in the Rainbow Coalition
have three areas o f focus.
1. We must put forth a gallant
effort to reclaim our youth. Our Re­
claim Our Youth Crusade, along with
the Citizenship Education Fund, tar­
gets the nation’s 50 biggest cities.
Ministers and judges in each city are
joining forces to help young people
avoid unnecessary jailing. The joint
venture plans to reclaim a total of
100,000 youth across America. We
will encourage 20,000 parents in each
2. Voter registration. A revital­
ized commitment to voter registra­
tion and to opening up political op­
tions by creating more ballot access
will renew Americans’ faith in the
political process.
3. Rebuild urban America. The
“giant sucking sound” is not merely
American jobs going to N A F T A and
G A T T cheap labor zones. The giant
sucking sound is that as jobs and
education diminish, our youth are
being sucked into the ja il industrial
complex. It is now the number one
urban industry. For American E x­
press, Prudential and Smith Barney,
it’s also a new area o f investment.
We as a nation must go another
way and recommit ourselves to the
dream.
That is why I will enter the city-
vote Presidential Preference Elec­
tion this November in 18 cities. It is
part o f my continuing effort to put
urban policy, reinvestment and re­
claiming our youth on the front burn­
er o f the American agenda. It is an­
other way to give our nation a reason
to keep hope alive.
Rights Group Tackles Affirmative Action
he
hot topic
of
affirmative action will
be the subject of a
series of upcoming discus­
sions in Portland.
“ Com m unity D ialo g u e ” fo ­
rums, sponsored by the M etro ­
politan Human Rights C o m m is­
sion, are a new project to bring
about the d iscu ssio n o f im po r­
tant issues o f the day.
A cco rd in g to co m m issio n d i­
rector Helen Cheek, the groups
w ill engage in dialogue, not de­
bate.
The aim is to bring the w is ­
dom o f ord in ary people to bear
on d iffic u lt issues, Cheek said.
P rio ritie s include the presen­
tation o f accurate unbiased facts
and p ro vid in g an opportunity for
the exchange o f ideas and o p in ­
ions with the goal o f creating an
inform ed p u b lic.
T rain ed facilitato rs w ill at­
tend the sessions to hefy keep the
flow o f d iscu ssio n on track.
To prepare, participants w ill
be expected to read background
m aterial p rovided by the human
rights com m ission. The m aterial
w ill present factual inform ation
and different points o f view .
Three series o f d iscussio n s
are planned:
Com m unity D ialogue N um ­
ber One w ill meet on Tuesday,
Sept. 26 and Oct. 6 from 6:30
p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Red Cross
o ffice s at 3 13 1 N. V ancouver.
Com m unity D ialogue N um ­
ber Tw o w ill meet on W ednes­
days, Sept. 2 7 and Oct. 4, also
from 6 :30 p.m. to 8 :30 p.m. at
Ja c k s o n C o m m u n ity S c h o o l,
10625 S.W . 35th.
And C o m m u nity D ialo g u e
N um ber Three w ill meet on Sat­
urdays, Sept. 30 and Oct. 7 at
K o in o n ia House (C am pus M in is ­
try) at Portland State U n iv e rsity
at Southwest M ontgom ery and
B roadw ay from 10 a m. to noon.
The co m m issio n said p re­
registration is necessary to co n ­
trol the size o f the groups, w hich
w ill be lim ited to about 15 peo­
ple.
Fo r inform ation, c a ll 823-
5136 .
Civil Rights Journal
Summer Signs Of Hope
h \
B ehnk e P o u e i . l J ackson
m idst the te rrib le
stories of a New York
C
teenager being killed
for a quarter, of children being
killed by their mothers or baby
s itte rs , of m ore d rive -b y
shootings in neighborhoods
across the country, there are
sto ries of people doing
something about the violence.
They are signs of hope for us
all.
Glenville Hoop It Up is a bas­
ketball tournament run in Cleveland's
Glenville neighborhood. It was the
idea o f three men who are leaders at
Morning Star Baptist Church as their
way o f reaching out to the young men
in the community who often have
nothing to do and no positive, super­
vised activities.
“ After four years, we now have
850 young people - boys and girls,
from age 9 and up - involved in our
program," said Ray Reid, who acts as
director o f the program.
It is the commitment o f those
three men and a few others who vol­
unteer their time for this summer
weekend program that makes it a real
sign o f hope.
“ We believe it’s important for
these young people to see men in the
community who are positive role
models and who care what happens
to them,” said Reid. For Reid and the
two assistant directors it means giv­
ing up every weekend from June to
August. “ But the rewards are great,”
he said.
The only funds Glenville Hoop
It Up receives are $3 OOO from the
city and small grants from local
church groups to pay for the awards,
plaques and tee-shirts and the young
people receive for participating in
the program “all the money gets put
back into the kids,” Reid explained.
What ifevery community had a Hoop
It Up program?
Do Something is the name o f
another program for young people. It
is a national non-profit organization
which provides young people with
small grants to implement their cre­
ative ideas for improving their com­
munities. It also provides leadership
training for young people to build
their skills and community knowl­
edge.
The b ra in ch ild o f M ichael
Sanchez and actor Andrew Shue, Do
something was formed after both at­
tended a C l i nton ral ly where the pres­
idential candidate commented on a
button which simply said “ Do Some­
thing.” Do Something has worked
with young people in Newark, Bos­
ton and Selma, Ala.
In each case a local board o f
directors, composed o f young peo­
ple under 30 marks the decisions
about the programs to fund in their
community. For example, the Neward
Do Something Fund makes grants to
Ana Cruz, a 17-year-old who held an
environmental fair in the Ironboard
district, which faces high rates o f
lead poisoning and has several toxic
waste sites; to Markutia Simmons, a
23-year-old who wanted to set up a
junior urban service corps; and to
Samuel Sykes, a 22-year-old who
wanted to start a program to teach
kids to shoot pool, not guns in New­
ark’s Central Ward. Funds for the
program come from the corporate
sponsors, foundations and private
donations.
Do Something takes leadership
development for young people seri­
ously. It does a local leadership train­
ing programs for young people which
includes public speaking, problem
solving, constructive criticism and
fund-raising. In addition, it sponsors
a national fellows program which is
an eight-month training program and
internship for young people.
There are signs o f hope for our
youth all across the country. There
are people who care about our chil­
dren and people who are doing some­
thing in their own communities, their
own churches or mosques, even in
prisons These are my heroes and
sheroes. Let’ s give them our support.
Let’s do something ourselves. Let's
be signs o f Home.
«
KKK: America’s Legacy Of Hate
b v
drew Goodman. Bowers was acquit­
ted by an all-white male ju ry and the
Dahmer family is still trying to have
the case re-tried
Klanwatch, the project o f the
Southern Poverty Law Center which
It seems a trunk was recently
monitors the activities o f white su­
found in a Noblesville barn. Inside
premacist groups, found that even in
the trunk was a listing o f many o f the
the 1980’s the Ku K lux Kian was
town's most prominent citizens of
active in Texas, where it operated
the 1920’s, all o f whom were mem­
param i I itary camps and attacked Viet-
bers ofthe Ku K lux K Ian. A Iso packed
namese fishermen in Galvelston.
in the trunk were hoods, sashes and
K Ian watch now warns that whi le there
crosses -- the K ian ’ s well-known
is disarray in the Kian groups, with
paraphernalia.
the largest one fracturing in 1994,
The discovery ofthe Kian list in
white supremacy groups are still ac­
Noblesville has had different effects
tive across the nation.
on its citizens. Many don’t want to
Modern K K K clones might not
talk about this part o f their history at
wear white robes and bum crosses
all. Indeed, the local historical soci­
and they don’t just live in the South.
ety, which now holds the Kian list,
For example, Pennsylvania state of­
has voted to restrict access to it and
ficials say that state now has the
has required researchers to gain the
largest growth o f white supremacist
consent o f all descendants o f the
activity in the nation. And white su­
Klansmen, a nearly-impossible task
premacists are alive and well in
Some citizens are embarrassed dis­
skinhead groups and, increasingly,
gusted by their ancestors’ actions,
in the militia movement.
others try to explain away the awful
O f the nation’ s 150 m ilitia
nature o f Kian activity, insisting it
groups now operating in 22 states, at
was more o f a social group than
least 36 have ties to the white su­
anything else.
premacist movement, according to
T ry te llin g that to James
Klanwatch. Indeed, buried deep in
Cameron. In 1930, two blacks were
news stories about accused Oklaho­
lynched in Marion, Indiana, after
ma City bomber Timothy McVeigh
being dragged from ja il cells by a
have been references to his white
mob. The mob also was to lynch Mr
supremacist beliefs.
Cameron that day, but decided mo­
Skinheads, most o f whom are
ment to let him go. Mr. Cameron
young, are also a growing racist
clearly remembers the K ian’ s in­
movement. A recent National Public
volvement in his almost-lynching.
radio story focussed on skinhead
He started and now runs the Black
youth in Allentown, PA., who boast­
Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee,
ed o f beating up gay people and
which tells the stories o f the lynch­
attacking police. In that story Penn­
ings o f African Americans.
sylvania Human RightsCommission-
Try telling that to the family of
er Ann Van Dyke says that middle
Vernon Dahmer, Sr in Hattiesburg,
Americans want to believe that orga­
Mississippi, Mr. Dahmer, a NAACP
nized hate groups are disconnected
leader and store owner, was killed in
from the mainstream. But Ms. Van
1966, the day after he announced that
Dyke warns that skinheads exist be­
blacks could pay their poll taxes at
cause middle America creates an
his store so that they could vote. Mr
environment in which bigotry can
Dahmer’s accused killer was Imperi­
take hold and that they feed o ff the
al Wizard Sam Bowers, who was
resentment o f everyday people.
also linked to the killings o f Michael
Sk inheads, she says, say publ icly what
Schwemer, James Chaney and An­
others say privately.
B ernice P ow ell J ackson
few weeks ago the New
York Times ran a story
O
about the tow n of
Noblesville, Indiana, a suburb
of Indianapolis.
r e r s P e c
t / v e
Education: SAT Is Not Short For “Satisfied
O ’
f you too have sweat-
ed
through
the
conflicting and ambig­
uous headlines of recent
months, do not think that now
you may relax and enjoy a
thorough enlightenment on
the state of the educational
art.
The experts
and practitioners
interviewed have
exhibited the same
degree of puzzle­
ment as anyone
else.
You will recall that last week
we quoted a headline, “ State School
Supt. Normal Paulus says, '1995
Oregon Math and Science Tests Re­
sults Are Unacceptable (Portland
Observer, 8 /16/95), but we also have
“Oregon’s SAT Scores Jump 20
Points” (Portland Oregonian, 8/24/
95), as well as a full-page warning
reflection in the same daily on the
same date,” Tackling The Test:
Here’s an update on how the test is
changing, how colleges use it and
how some remember it.” (Both arti­
cles in section A.)
If I were a student or an affected
parent or guardian, 1 certainly would
retrieve these commentaries and pur­
sue them with undivided attention.
But at the same time, I would go to
Dalton’ s, Powell’s, or -»tames and
Noble for some outside critical com­
ment on the SAT.
We know that according to a
Louis Harris Poll commissioned and
just released by NACM E - The Na­
tional Action Council for Minorities
in Engineering --” more than 50 per­
cent of all students plan to drop high
school level mathematics and sci­
ence, regardless of their career inter­
ests and without knowing the most
serious consequences.” / worked with
this organization during the 1970s,
representing Portland State Univer­
sity a, several o f their regional West
Coast meetings. Working against all
odds, they have made yeoman efforts
to countervail against an often un­
caring educational establishment.
I am aware of the few special
programs that the Portland School
District has for reaching minority
students who have somehow survived
the miseducation at lower grades and
are given a concentrated dose o f sci­
ence and math in a “talented and
id
gifted” type program at the end ofthe
trail. These o f course, are not part o f
the regular curriculum, but are sup
ported by special grants from gov
emment for “those people.”
Several years o f interviews with
such students and their parents or
guardians (many of whom I have
known since
they were chil
dren themselves)
re-enforce my
perception that
the “chosen” and
scholastic per
formers - SAT.
etc. - would have made it anyway
that is despite the system. The “Fam­
ily Incubator” of caring, nurturing
and motivation saw to that.
So it is that in both the cases I
have cited, the input and commit­
ment of parents is required. How
many o f you remember the famed
educational accomplishments of that
African American Catholic Priest in
Chicago! They called him cold, hard
and unrelenting - because parents
were forced to attend all regular sup­
port meetings as well as any special
disciplinary sessions -- miss one and
you were out! But his high school had
over 95 percent of the graduates go­
ing on to college, and almost as many
getting their degrees.
So it is that you can well under
stand my distress this summer at dis­
covering how many seven and eight
year-olds are returning to school this
fall, unable to read. O f course they
were promoted, we can’t lease the
coliseum for kindergarten and K -l. I
have talked to many parents and some­
how have refrained from choking
them; there is no way they could not
have known and been aware o f the
consequences.
In recent weeks, my articles have
dealt with two catastrophic conse­
quences of this “miseducation” : The
over-concentration of blacks in the
“ public sector” (extremely vulnera­
ble to current layoffs), and “The End
of Work,” the best-seller detailing
how technology is putting an end to
most jobs that require no high degree
of cognitive skills nor math and sci­
ence. It is not only the case that col­
leges and universities may admit stu­
dents on the basis of the SAT, but that
employers may be following suit. We
have got to care more and be in­
volved more.
better TPa PPiie (SLPitor
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