P age
S eptember
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he purpose of JaxFax
is to provide new
inform ation, to edu­
cate, to provide a progressive
interpretation of issues, and to
provide avenues for direct
action.
This week a combination o f all
46 Senate Democrats and 22 Repub­
licans voted 66-34 to strip a section
o fa House bill passed last Spring that
would have denied benefits to wom­
en who have additional children while
on public assistance. The denial o f
the so-called "family cap” was sup­
posed to be a victory for moderates
and liberals.
The question o f welfare reform
is focused on the interconnection
between poverty, welfare dependen­
cy and out-of-wedlock births. The
Christian Coalition and it's "Family
Contract” supported the family cap.
The micro debate over welfare re­
form limits our ability to see the
macro possibilities—that for which
we should really be fighting.
The real cure for poverty, wel­
fare and the dependency syndrome is
a full employment economy with
adequate wages. We do need serious
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Welfare Reform
Requires Jobs For All
governmental social policies that
support family life, but the current
destructive and idiotic proposals be­
fore Congress are not them.
We need a family policy that
says, if family members choose to
care for the very young and the in­
firm themselves, they should be able
to do so without undue financial hard­
ship. JaxFax believes that it is the
responsibility o f government to pro­
vide support to family members who
interrupt employment to perform
work in the home. G overnm ent
should also subsidize non-parental
child care for children in the pre­
school years. The recently passed
unpaid family leave o f 12 weeks is a
step in the right direction, but falls far
short o f what other democratic in­
dustrialized countries are doing.
The next step toward recogniz­
ing the value o f family care is to pay
for family leave through income trans­
fers. Germany now supplements paid
parental leave with a paid child-rear­
ing leave o f 36 months, although at
amounts insufficient for a single par­
ent to support his or her family. In
Sweden, either parent may have a
government sponsored paid leave at
90 percent o f earnings (up to a limit)
for 12 months, plus a tlat rate for
three more months. Ultimately, the
goal in Sweden is for 18 months.
As part o f a “Lifelong Learning”
package, family care-givers should
have opportunities for job training or
education to minimize losses in oc­
cupational development and m obili­
ty as a result o f their absence from the
labor market.
The availability o f nonparental
child care reduces the interruption o f
employment and earnings.
Child care is essential if women
are to participate on an equal footing
with men in a full employment econ­
omy. Indeed, child care is a step
toward reducing gender inequality in
the workplace.
The Clinton Administration has
favored the Earned Income Tax Cred­
it (EITC), yet EITC offers no income
support to the millions o f persons
who are unemployed, or who have
left the labor force as a result o f
illness, family care responsibilities
or to escape oppressive working con­
ditions. There is no substitute for
jobs and adequate wages!
Civil Rights Journal: If Our Children Are Our Future
b \
B ernice P ow ell J ackson
f Jesse Jackson is right
’l l and the true measure
C*"
of a nation is how we
treat our children and our
elderly, then recent statistics
on U.S. children show that we
don’t measure up well at all. In
a nation of great resources and
great wealth, children in the
United States are poorer than
children in other Western,
in d u s tria lize d
c o u n trie s.
A m idst great w ealth our
children suffer in great poverty.
The Luxembourg Income Study
was recently released which showed
that only in Israel and Ireland, two
nations which have been caught up in
war, are poor children worse o ff than
ourpoor children. Indeed, the United
States has the most prosperous chil­
dren in the world, while having near­
ly the poorest.
The study measures the annual
incomes o f the poorest families, in­
cluding government benefits like food
stamps and tax credits. But the study
does not include free government ser­
vices, like free medical and child care
services available in many European
countries, which would probably push
the U.S. even lower on the list.
These figures come at a time
when 22 percent o f American chil­
dren live in poverty. These figures
come at a time when the government
is about to dismantle food stamps,
cut back tax credits for the poor and
cut both child care and welfare ben­
efits for single mothers.
As I write this debate on welfare
reform is swirling around in the Sen­
ate, where Senator Dole is still trying
to get enough votes to pass his re­
form, w hich reflects the Contract with
A m erica's positions. M eanwhile,
others, including Senators Dodd,
Kennedy, Hatch and Breaux, are in­
troducing amendments to put back
into the budget child care funds, and
to eliminate some o f the most dan­
gerous provisions o f the Dole Bill.
Still other Senators are introducing
amendments which would further
punish poor women and children,
such as including foster care and
adoption assistance programs in the
sweeping cuts.
But where in the Congressional
debate is the voice o f poor women?
Where are the voices and faces o f the
children who will be most impacted
by these cuts? Where is the voice o f
reason which reminds the nation that
we are all measured not by the strength
o f how much we are able to cut the
budget or cut taxes for the wealthy,
but by how we treat the most vulner­
able?
T he C om m unity C hildhood
Hunger Identification Project had
found that 13 million poor children
under age 12 are hungry or at risk of
hunger. Thirteen million hungry chil­
dren in a nation o f great wealth, in a
nation that proposes to give tax mon­
ey back to the rich. The Department
o f Agriculture recently estimated that
had food stamp programs been block
granted as proposed, $43 billion in
benefits to needy people would have
been lost and that states would have
been forced to eliminate 17 million
people - half o f them children - from
the food stamp program.
As a child growing up in the
N ation’s Capital, I vividly remember
President Lyndon Johnson calling
this nation to a W ar on Poverty. I
remember his challenge that we as a
nation must do better so that no ch i Id
would be hungry, so that every child
would have a bed and an opportunity
to learn. How have we lost that com­
mitment and that compassion in only
a generation? If our children are our
future, are we as a nation saying there
is no place for poor children and, I ike
the biblical Isaac, they must be sacri­
ficed? Or, if poor children are to be
part o f our future, how can we sacri­
fice the future o f our nation by not
providing child care and food?
WAY FOR BLACK EMPOWERMENT
Canadian Government Repression Must Be Stopped
D r . L enora Ft lam
'"¡'f*’ a st week, Iwascontact-
j_J ed by K ahn-Tineta
Horn, a Native Canadi­
an and P resid en t of the
Canadian Alliance in Solidarity
with Native People (CASNP).
by
She informed me o f several con­
frontations that are currently taking
place between Canadian police and
Native peoples. On June 24th, a stand­
off had begun in British Columbia.
Canada, between traditionalist mem­
bers o f the Shuswap Nation and the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Currently, over 200 armed Mounties,
armed with M -I6s and 9mm auto­
matic pistols have cordoned off a
5200 Square Kilometer section sur­
rounding the Shuswap and are pre­
paring for an armed assault.
In a separate incident, the most
recent being September 7.3 members
o f the Potawatami Nation in Ontario
were shot by the Ontario Provincial
Police at Ipperwash Provincial Park,
located on the St. Clair River. One
man, Dudley George, was killed.
Both disputes center around land
rights. In British Columbia, at the
request o f a white rancher, the gov­
ernment has attempted to evict the
Shuswap from their sacred Sundance
lands, on which the Shuswap have
worshiped for centuries. The G ov­
ernment is treating them as trespass­
ers and common crim inals. The
Shuswap maintain that they never
ceded their land to the Canadian gov­
ernment. and therefore the govern­
ment has no legal jurisdiction. They
want the matter to be settled by an
impartial third party .
The land at Ipperwash, which
was usurped from the Potawatami by
the Canadian Armed forces during
the Second World War, was sup­
posed to have been returned, but
instead was turned into a national
park. Last month. Potawatami men,
women and ch ildren stormed the gates
o f the park to reclaim their land.
Such conflict is nothing new. The
history of both the Canadian and Unit­
ed States governments is that o f con­
stant disregard for native peoples, and
their land rights. When formal agree­
ments and treaties are made, they are
almost always violated.
One new feature o f this current
situation is that the Canadian Gov­
ernment and Canad ian media are try­
ing to label the Native peoples as
“MaverickCultists” and“Terrorists.”
It is apart o f a recent pattern in which
small religions, non-mainstream po­
litical groups, and other anti-estab­
lishment organizations that oppose
the policies o f their governments are
given the "Cult” label. In the 1950’s,
the term “communist’ was used to
dem onize opponents o f the U.S.
Government. Now that the cold war
is over, new labels are being used to
dehumanize dissidents.
Here in the United States - a
country founded by religious maver­
icks - the term ' Cult” , an unscientific
and politically loaded term, is being
used to tar and feather the very peo­
ple and organizations that our Con­
stitution is supposed to protect from
persecution. Such dem onization cre­
ates and environment where the vio­
lation o f Constitutional rights - be
they Canadian or Untied States Con­
stitutional rights - becomes possible,
if not probable. W itness the outcome
in Waco, Texas, where the labeling
o f the Branch Davidians as a cult
influenced and justified the tactics
used against them.
According to the Canadian Alli­
ance in solidarity with Native Peo­
ples, the atmosphere in Canada is
very tense. There is growing outrage
at the governm ent’s use o f force rath­
er than diplomacy. At CA SN P’s re­
quest. I sent letters to the prime Min­
ister o f Canada, Jean Chretien; the
Premier o f British Columbia, M ichael
Harcourt; and British C olum bia’s
Attorney General, Ujjal Dommanj,
urging them to restrain the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police and to
desist in their campaign to demonize
the Shuswap. But much more sup­
port is needed. The situation in Brit­
ish Columbia is still dangerous, and
international pressure is critical to
help avert a bloodbath. Please phone,
or fax letter o f protest to: Premier
Michael Harcourt -- (604) 387-0087
FAX; or Attorney General Dossanj -
- (604) 387-0087 FAX; or Prime
M inister Jean Chretien -( 6 1 3 ) 9 4 1 -
6900 FAX; or RCMP Squad at 100
Mile HOUSE - (604) 395-3605
Phone; or C ASN AP ( 4 16) 972-1573
P h o n e /(416) 972-6232 FAX
“Along The Color Line”
Million Man March: An Analysis Of Black Protest, Part Two
M anning M arable
he n atio n al m o b ili­
zation to build support
for the “Million Man
March” on Washington, D.C.,
scheduled for October 16, is
rapidly building momentum.
bs
Led by Minister Louis Farrakhan
of the Nation of Islam and former
NAACP national secretary Benjamin
Chavis, the march has captured the
awareness and interest of thousands of
African-Americans. The call for the
Million Man march comes atacritical
moment o f crisis in the political histo­
ry of our people We can understand
and appreciate the meaning o f this
mobilization, its possibilities and its
problems, by grounding ourselves in
the traditions of black struggle.
The best historical parallel with
the Million Man March is provided by
the famous “Negro March on Wash­
ington” mobilization of June, 19 4 1.
On the eve o f the Second World W ar.
black trade union leader A. Phillip
Randolph issued a series of demands
against the Roosevelt administration.
His chief aims were: the outlawing of
government contracts in defense-re­
lated industries which practiced racial
discrimination in hiring; the abolition
of racially segregated units in the US
armed forces; and an executive order
abolishing Jim Crow segregation in
every department of the Federal gov­
ernment To obtain these demands.
Randolph promised to bring one hun­
dred thousand black people to Wash­
ington. D.C.
The March mobilization was all­
black. White progressives could offer
political and material support, but they
weren’t allowed to join the protest.
Randolph explained: “We believe that
Negroes need an all-Negro movement,
just as the Jews had a Zionist move­
ment. We believe that Negroes should
supply the money and pay the price,
make the sacrifices, to break down the
barriers to a realization of full citizen­
ship rights of America.” At the last
moment, the Roosevelt administration
agreed to sign Executive Order 8802,
desegregatingemployment in wartime
factories, an action creating hundreds
of thousands of jobs for African Amer­
icans. The March was called off, but it
achieved a major political objective
We must assess the current effort
P ortland O bserver
Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily
Reflect Or Represent The Views O f
The ^ o rtla n b (Dbscruer
R hihbd W
C O A L IT IO N
27, 1995 • T he
to mobilize African Americans today
against the historical standard of
Randolph and the events o f 19 4 1. To
date, the March has been endorsed by
a broad spectrum o f African Ameri­
cans. On the left, Harvard professor
Cornel West, author o f Race Matters,
has expressed solidarity for the March.
West States: “this march is for anyone
who has been disrespected, denigrat­
ed and disregarded. It’s about us com­
ing together for the sake o f the true, the
beautiful, and the good.”
The 1941 all-black March on
Washington tells us that struggle is the
best and only means for an oppressed
people to gain their freedom. Hopeful­
ly in 1995, we will struggle to achieve
that same level o f commitment to po­
litical resistance.
p e r s p e e t i r e s
Anatomy Of A Language: Beyond The Dictionary
Last week I promised that,
“we’re going to explore some spe­
cific approaches to both receiving
and disseminating information that
will make the learning and com­
munication process a breeze”.
Well, how about a couple of good
strong gusts in a world where we
are about to be overcome by the
barrage of information (noise?)
from media and cyberspace.
Let us begin
with "Roget’s In­
ternational The­
saurus: Fourth or
the Fifth Edition”,
pub lish ed
by
H arper Collins,
and available at
most bookstores. A lot o f us have had
fun -- or pain -- using the dictionary
to either shed light on some arcane
statement of an author, or just to
improve our vocabulary. Ha! but you
haven’t lived until you’ve learned to
use and love Dr Roget’s handy help­
er; for the reader, writer or speaker.
There follows a passage from the
foreword.
“The success o f the thesaurus as
a practical aid has been immense.
Literally millions o f people have put
Roget’s work to its widest proper use
as a memory-jogger for words they
know but cannot recal I, or as a source
o f words new to them which, when
the sense is confirmed by looking at
the dictionary can become a part of
their active vocabulary.”
“Thousands, too, have used
Roget’s as a browsing book, a book
that stimulates thought and explora­
tion because it uniquely collects great
semantic domains' under large con­
ceptual headings - and shows by the
manner o f organization the tracks
the mind may take as it ranges about
in a given territory."
Believe me. that is not an exag­
geration; people to whom I’ve rec­
ommended the book have said they
have not only found it o f extreme
value in improvingtheirwritingskills
(and income), but have spent hours,
entranced by the new dimensions o f
thought unleashed. The same holds
true for the students I’ve taught, in­
cluding the very young. As the pub­
lisher say’s, the ‘dictionary’ is just a
starting place; do fly first class. In the
section, “ How to use Th i s Book ’, you
are directed as fol lows (T hat" I ndex”
is really a super-dictionary).
“The International is a true’
thesaurus, compiled according to the
plan devised original ly by Peter Mark
Roget. It has a text of about 150,000
words and phrases, arranged in cate­
gories by their meanings, and a com­
prehensive index. The search for a
word that you need is a simple two-
step process which begins in the in­
dex.” (that "index” is actually a dic­
tionary, but one
like you never saw
before).
By
“ S uppose
Professor you want a word
Mckinley
to describe some­
Burt
thing that is with-
outawell-defined
shape:
I. In the index, look up the word
shapeless and pick the subentry clos­
est to the meaning you want. Shaped
made 167.22 planned 654.13 shape­
less abnormal 85.9 formless 247.4
inconstant 141.7 obscure 549.15 ugly
899.8 unordered 6 2 .12 vague 514.18
shapely beautiful 900.17 well-shaped
248.5. 2. Follow its number into the
text and you will find a whole para­
graph of adjectives for things “shape­
less” or “formless.”
247. Formlessness
J. NOUNS formlessness, shape­
lessness; am orphousness, amor-,
phisrn, amorphia; chaos, confusion,
messiness, orderlessness; disorder 62;
entropy; anarchy 740.2; indetermi­
nateness, indefiniteness, indecisive­
ness, vagueness, mistiness, haziness,
fuzziness, blurriness, unclearness,
obscurity.
unlicked cub, diamond in the
rough.
Verbs deform, distort 249.5;
unform, unshape; disorder, jumble,
mess up. muddle, confuse; obfus­
cate, obscure, fog up, blur.
J ADJS formless, shapeless,,
featureless, characterless, nonde­
script, inchoate, lumpen, blobby or
baggy (both informal], inform; amor­
phous. amorphic, amorph(o)-; chaot­
ic, orderless, disorderly 62.13, unor­
dered, unorganized confused, anar­
chic 740.6; kaleidoscopic; indeter­
minate, indefinite, undefined, inde­
cisive, vague, misty, hazy, fuzzy,
blurred or blurry, unclear, obscure.
unformed, unshaped, unshap-
en, unfashioned, unlicked; uncut,
unhewn.
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