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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------ ----------------------------------------------------------S eptember 20, 1995 • T he P ortland O bserver
lack Labor, White Wealth. Part II
bs
Yaun Youth Care Center Director Rodney Cook with Lee Grimes
(from left), Fred Barnum, Joseph Gusek and Barry Stevens at
weekend picnic at Peninsula Park in north Portland.
(Photo by Duane Lewis)
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P ro f . M< K im
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B i
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Man, Iasi w eek’s article certain
ly got some attention. However the
last line should have read, The ‘Ne
groes’ were saying, “Mckinley, you
‘can not’ do that” — in reference to
my setting up the ‘Union Avenue
Finance C o.’ for the white car deal
ers (circa 1948).
O f cours.e the same ‘plantation
types’ voiced similar warnings and
cautions when in the winter o f 1945
-1946 I set up the “ Pacific Business
Service” and years before “H&R
Block”, proceeded to set up a chain
o f “Income fax Stations" ranging
from inner-city Portland to the former
Vanport — and from Vancouver,
Washington to McLoughlin Heights.
A good dozen commissioned opera
tors were trained and employed to
perform initial interviews and then
process the returns through the sys
tem, with head quarters at 2017 N.
Williams.
It is all well and good to say,
“well, you were always ahead o f your
time.” But what does that tell us
about the black body politic and the
caliber o f leadership when, consis
tently through the years, we have the
many failures to rally around and
support the many other innovators
and builders 1 have cited from time to
time.
Even when I made detailed ac
counts o f these experiences part o f
my university M inority Business
course, the concepts still were hard
to get across.
Still seeking an improved meth
od o f ‘technology transfer’, I spon
sored several meetings this past sum
mer on the “campus” o f a large elec
tronics firm. As I’ve mentioned be
fore, a number o f my former students
(white) are executives out there in
the westside computer land and they
have provided meeting space and
transportation for related activities.
Consequently, I have been enabled
to develop some progressive tech
niques for African American parents
and students to use in interfacing
with the system (no “Negroes” were
allowed).
I also had invited several “eman-
c ipated” educators and a black scien
tist from large eastern cities. They
were all put up at a guest house
usually reserved for foreign buyers
(mostly Asian) and were given the
usual tour o f Portland and environs.
But, getting down to cases, they did
an exemplary job o f making the vital
connections for the audience -- be
tween curriculum, teacher attitudes,
grades and the job market, between
the preparation o f the young and the
economic health o f the community
(Black Labor, Black’ Wealth).
But, most importantly, they de
fined the crucial and critical role o f
the parent, describing the games and
manipulations practiced by all major
school systems in the country. Hint
ing broadly that Portland might soon
be the target o fa wide-ranging feder
al suit, the Hobson vs Washington,
D C. Board ofEducation was used as
a model (circa 1970). I was very
familiar with this victory o f a com
munity over a corrupt and manipula
tive school district I (lew to Wash
ington and spent some time under the
tutelage o f Dr. Julius Hobson.
He was the black economist who
structured the massive suit, bringing
in economists, CPAs, educators, an
th ro pologists and psychologists
among others to make the case that
the educational disabilities inflicted
upon African American pupils by a
manipulative school district imposed
a life-long constraint upon their abil
ity to learn and otherw ise compete in
America’s economic system. In oth
er words, an avenue to "Black Labor,
White Wealth!”
A number o f readers are aware
that in 1974, while head o f the "M i
nority T eacher’s A ssociation”, I
sought to gain backing from the mem
bership to mount a sim ilar suit against
the Portland District. It goes without
saying that was a lost cause, a mem
bership ofclose to a hundred reduced
to less than a dozen stalwarts at the
first intimation o f a possible suit.
Most simply faded away but several
Uncle Toms and Aunt Jeminas were
intercepted try ¡ng to get membership
lists to massa superintendent.
Som e o f us sp ecu late yet to
day w hat P ortland w ould be like
had a su it been s u c c e s s fu lly
m ounted.
Would we have had all the half
literate dropouts and forced-outs
waiting to be recruited by gangs, to
become ill-prepared parents, to go to
the penitentiary or to die?
Did the system deliberately pro
gram them not to be competitive with
other cultural groups in the econom
ic arena.
The Beaverton group, both black
and white, thoroughly understood the
mechanism that leads to "Black La
bor, White Wealth.”
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