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O ctober 4, 1995 » T he P ortland O bserver
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Editor, PO Box 3137,
Portland, OR 97208
Bv P aul R ockwell ,C alifornia
R ainbow A< iiv im
r T if' or over 25 years,
/ f f t opponents of affirm-
1 ative action for women
and people of color have
overlooked a key American
reality-the role of affirmative
action in the lives of White men.
Opposition to affirmative action
is
based
on
selective
inattention to the social props
on
w hich
W hite
men
themselves depend.
Most o f us recall the first healed
arguments over preference programs
which took place over 25 years ago
in teach-ins about the Vietnam War
How easy it is to forget that people o f
color were over-represented in the
involuntary battlefields o f Indochina,
while primarily White college youth
were building their careers through
one form o f affirmative actio n -”col-
lege draft deferment.” Some profes
sors, judges and journalists who op
pose affirmative action today took
advantage o f such programs years
ago.
It is time to consider the extent to
which White males continue to be
intertwined with preference policies.
Tax breaks for corporations, subsidies
for middle-class home buyers, mass
transit subsidies for White suburbs,
(
I
Reflect Or Represent The Views O f
Win' fjortlanii dPhseruer
b ittf
C O A L IT IO N
Angry White Guy Speaks Out
bank bailouts for desperate bank exec
utives, selective allotments for tefu-
gees and price supports for corporate
farms are all shot through with consid
erations of need and preference.
In fact, in the last 50 years o f
social engineering, the vast majority
o f affirmative action policies were
not m inorities; they were White
males. Under F D R . the New Deal
embarked upon a massive affirma
tive action approach to social crisis.
The post-W W II Marshall Plan pro
vided billions o f dollars for training
and jobs in Europe. Former enemies
got free training programs in Europe
that were denied Black G Is at home
in America. The New Deal concept
o f government intervention (affir
mative action) into social problems
became unpopular only after it was
applied to the crisis o f segregation. It
was not affirmative action itself, but
the extension ofaffirm ative action to
minorities and women that caused
the backlash.
Supposedly this backlash is led
by “angry White males.” Well, we
too are angry White males; but, con
trary to the caricature, we support
affirmative action. A s White males
whose families got free medical care,
or unquestioned access to higher
education through the G l B ill, and
shared in the social uplift o f the New
Deal, we support affirmative action
for those who are still left out.
There is a normal tendency for us
to overlook the social props, the net
work o f special benefits on which we
and our families depend. The late
Mitch Snyder, advocate for the home-
less, once gave and address to an afflu
ent, White audience. He asked the,
“Who lives in subsidized housing?”
No one raised a hand. He then asked
who owned a home. After everyone’s
hand went up he pointed out that the
I reasury gives up $46 billion a year to
homeowner dedications in a system
that predominantly benefits those who
earn more than $50,000 a year.
Tax breaks for homeo w ners may
not be wrong. What is wrong is the
smugpsychologyofthe Pete Wilsons,
Pat Buchanans, Bob Doles and Phil
Gramms, who take advantage o f all
kinds o f breaks for themselves while
denying affirmative action to the most
oppressed members o f society.
Affirmative action is already part
ofthe fabric o f American life. We are
all bound together in a vast network.
It is hypocritical and profoundly
wrong to call affirmative action for
minorities “ racism in reverse,” whi le
treating affirmative action for bank
ers, corporate farmers, and White
men of power, as entitlements.
Note 1: Paul Rockwell isaR ain -
bow activist from California. Note 2:
JaxFax readers in Arizona take note
and take action (write, call, mobilize,
organize, activate): your state legis
lators are trying to introduce legisla
tion very similar to the infamous
California C iv il Rights Initiative.
Civil Rights Journal: Saving A Culture That Could Save Ours
bv
B ernice P ow ell J ackson
frican Americans and
native Americans share
(C
a common history of
oppression in this country.
While our stories are not the
same, there are many shared
themes and shared outcomes
of that history. So it’s not
surprising that we have come
to common solutions to our
problems.
One solution can be summed up
in the Akan word “sankofa” -- going
back to our foots’lirortfertcr go Ter-r'
ward. In other words, we must re
claim our past in order to make
•'»-» » '• .
...
A
ter
progress as a people
Another solution is that educa
tion can play a liberating role for our
people and is critical to the revital
ization o f our communities. Livin g
in a nation where information and the
access to it promise to be the key to
survival in the next century, both
native Americans and African Amer
ican must Find a way o f equipping
our children to be a part ofthe future
economy and that world.
For native Americans the inter-
section ofthese two solutions is found
in the American Indian College Fund
( A IC F ). Modeled on the older, high-
ly-successful United Negro College
Fund, the A IC F was established in
1989 by the presidents o f the Amer
ican Indian Colleges. The American
Indian College Fund now includes
29 two and four year colleges with
15,000 students, located on or near
reservations in 12 midwestern and
western states. The A IC F raises funds
for these institutions which are used
to provide scholarships and student
rfd as well as to strengthen native
American studies departments and
to begin to build endowments for its
member institutions.
These are some o f the nation’s
newest colleges, serving some o f the
nation’s poorest people. The first
tribal colleges were founded during
the movement o f Native Americans
for self-determination in the 1960’s
and 1970's. They were founded by
native American leaders who saw
that mainstream education was fail
ing their people and that their tribes
were in danger o f losing both their
past and their future - o f losing his
tory and culture as elders died out
ues, music, I iterature and art is one of
without passing on the languages and
the critical missions o f these colleg
culture to the next generation and as
es. Traditional college academics are
young people succumbed to the dan
offered alongside classes in Native
gers o f alcohol and despair brought
American history, language, litera
about by poverty and latk o f self
ture and arts.
esteem.
Native American colleges are
H is to ric a lly , education was
now more than institutions o f higher
a d iffic u lt issue for native A m e r
education. They are home - centers
icans. W hile tribal leaders had
o f every aspect o f Indian life -- for
u su a lly negotiated for access to
many Indian communities. On many
education in their treaties with
reservations, they operate the only
the U .S . governm ent, those p ro
libraries, daycare centers and tribal
v isio n s were rarely honored. In
archives. They operate health care
stead white e d u cato rs 'and m is
centers, employ hundreds o f tribal
sio n arie s provided education f o r ’ members and produce nurses, doc
Indian ch ild ren , prem ised oti.the
tors, technicians, teachers and ad
concept o f assim ilatio n o f Indian
ministrator so desperately needed.
people into the larger society.
Sitting Bull, the Lakota Sioux
T h u s , these e d u c a to rs o ften
chief, once said “ Let us put our minds
forced Indian ch ild ren to live in
together and see what life we can
boarding schools away from their
make for our children.” The Am eri
fam ilie s, w hile fo rb id d in g them
can IndianCollegeFund and its mem
to speak their own languages and
ber institutions have taken that chal
g iv in g them C h ristia n names and
lenge seriously and are making it a
new identities.
reality.
But new native American col
(Note: fo r more information
leges are grounded in traditional In
on the American Indian College
dian culture and values. Preservation
Fund, write 2 t W. 68th Street, Suite
o f tribal languages, traditions, val-
IF, New York, NY 10023.)
V a n t a g e P o irvt: “Farrakhan Made The Call - But The March Belongs To Us All”
b
R U on
»1 i »
N D
I an iels
his slogan advanced by
the All African Wom
en’s Revolutionary Un
ion of the All African People's
Revolutionary Party (founded
by Kwame Ture aka Stokely
C arm ich ael), captures the
essence of the evolution of the
Million Man March (MMM) and
Day of Absence (DOA).
A vision in the mind o f Minister
Louis Farrakhan which was initially
promoted by the Nation o f Islam has
been embraced by m illions o f A fri
cans in America and thus has emerged
as an evolving mass action o f major
proportions.
Minister Farrakhan and the Na
tion o f Islam clearly remain the princi
pal guiding force and institutional an
chor for the MMM (which isappropri-
ate given the call). But, to his credit,
Minister Farrakhan has consistently
pressed to have the March become
more than just a Nation o f Islam event.
In that regard, the National African
A m erican leadership Sum m it
(N A A L S ), under the leadership o f Dr.
Benjamin F. Chavis, has played and
instrumental role in building the
M M M . Indeed, the meetings of
N A A L S have been a critical sounding
board where various proposals on the
character o f the March and criticisms/
recommendations have been heard.
In addition, key leaders from the
Nationalist and Pan-Africanist com
munity, most notably Dr Conrad
W orrill, Chairman o f the National
Black United Front, have played im
portant roles in planning the March
from its inception. Bob Law, Haki
Madhubuti, Dr. Maulana Karenga,
and Imari Obadele are also at the
center o f the planning/organizing
process, and Bob Brown o f the A ll
African People’s Revolutionary Par
ty is the Director o f Logistics for the
March. Adding to the ecumenical
character o f the MMM, prominent
African Centered and progressive
Christian ministers are actively in
volved in the mobilization for Octo
ber 16 e g.. Rev. Frank Reid, Balti
more, Rev. W illie Wilson and Arch-
Bishop George Augustus Stallings,
Washington, D .C., Rev. C alvin O.
Butts and Rev. Johnny Youngblood,
New Yo rk, Rev. Wendell Anthony,
Detroit and Rev. A l Sampson, C h i
cago.
The role o f women, concerns
about the “Atonement" focus, and
questions about the “political" direc
tion and follow-up have been among
the issues most hotly debated and
discussed across the country. Though
it is not likely that the ultimate shape
and form o f the MMM w ill satisfy
everyone, the march has been signif
icantly impacted and changed as a
result o f the discussion/debate, criti
cisms within the community and the
input/recommendations from various
leaders and constituencies.
With a few weeks left, the MMM/
D O A is still not sufficiently clear on
gender equity issues and political
direction for many social and politi
cal activist. Though I share these
concerns, my own view is that even
with its flaws, the M M M /DOA has
evolved and is still evolving into an
event which w ill be one o f the most
significant mass actions o f this de
cade. For information about the
M M M /DOA, call: 202-726-5111
To The Portland Observer
far better question (and
one that should be
m ore im p o rta n t to
answer (article by Chester A.
Higgins, Sr., Portland Observer
Aug. 23rd) would seem to be
Where is He? According to him
“Ben Chavis should be back in
the pack, not out front.”
He acknowledges in his article
“ Mr. C h avis......alleged” “ impropri
ety," so why does he display his
opinion that is o f detrimental value to
the significance ofaccom plishing the
goal o f the March? Why does he take
the advantage o f display ing his opin
ion so prominently to put a damper
on a worthy cause unless he him self
is “knocking it" (to the contrary o f
what he intones o f himself). If his
“ b e e f’ is not something he can
“ground" convictorily, at least for
the purpose o f the March, he should
just keep his mouth shut, obviously
he doesn’t have anything solid, pos
itive, (or worthy, it would appear) to
contribute.
Forgetting about Ben Chavis for
a minute, if you, Chester A. Sr., were
a person who has vision or is enlight
ened, why didn’t you exert yourself
and “ensconce yourself as one o f the
prime leaders o f the March?" Dr.
Ben Chavis is a B lack man, and that
alone qualifies him to be in whatever
place or position his efforts and his
record on issues o f human rights
puts, so finds him.
What is your record? Are you a
Black man? Are you participating?
What is your contribution? Are you
one o f those you speak o f who “re
sent it or even hate it?" A self-Exam -
ination may be in order here And
what does it matter who leads it? that,
is irrelevant. A ll B lack men who
participate are o f equal importance.
There is no individual status to be
Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily
1
gained here. It is a seeking o f collec
tive status. Those who sit back in
delusion and analyze or nit-pick.. are
the ones who are not (yet) important.
I have a distinct feeling that you
w ill not be there...and if you are, it
w ill likely be as a rebel-rouser caus
ing dissention and/or fostering dis
unity. I, for one, would rather you
stay at home. You write and submit
and article, but you certainly are not
intelligent.
An article in the same paper asks
“ Why are B lack women furious with
Black men?” this, is a prime example
o f why we are frustrated and have
had it up to here with those Black
men who waste both time and energy
trying to hide from their blackness.
Those who don’t feel they don’t
have, won't get Those who do know
it and seek to ignore it, or to deliber
ately distract are probably coward
And those who choose to not ac-
knowledge, to not act (or even to not
care, for that matter) about that wh ich
stares them in the face every day...at
the very least, don’t sabotage. Those
who will, are your brothers. And that
which they pursue is but their God-
given right, taken away.
To those B lack men who still
search, your tenacity and persever
ance do not by any means go unno
ticed. We know you are tired... it plac
es on you twice the burden o f other
men It is unfair, but a reality. We
know you can hold fast and
accomplish, we know how brilliant
and flexible you are (educational
degrees are not the sole suppliers o f
brilliance). The occasion may not
always lend itself enough, but this is
one perfect time to say: We appreci
ate you, we love you, we applaud
you, and we are with you God-speed.
Joan Gordon
Portland, Oregon
p e r s p e c tiv e s
The Anatomy Of A Language II:
Is Is! (Of Course It Is)
P rof . M< K inlev B i kt
efore we proceed with
our review of that
great speaker’s/writ-
er’s helper (or thinker's),
“ R oget's
In te rn atio n al
Thesaurus: Fourth or Fifth
Edition”, let me acquaint you
with the woman who, in her
time, was undoubtedly the
world’s greatest authority on
“the verb to be."
bi
seller, “ In Lo ve With Norm a
Loquendi.” Latin translation, “the
everyday voice o f the native speak
er.” So it was not about a girl at all,
but turned out to detail his life-long
love affair with Latin Translations
and the vernacular. Well, ok, may
be it wasn’t quite that funny, but it
does cause one to think again about
Miss Moore, the sixth grade teach
er. She used the vernacular only
occasionally
and, then,
only to gain
the rapt at
By
Professor tention o f a
Mckinley restive audi
ence. She
Burt
was not into
“ B lack E n
glish” per se; sort o f a poets li-1
cense’.
Now, o f course, it is the case |
that one can gain great facility with
words, and that further, with good j
pronunciation and articulation, the
words may gush forth as though
you were and erudite fountain o f I
wisdom. So, even as you become
more fam iliar and facile with
"Roget’s Thesaurus, keep in mind
how important it is to “not only
mean what you say”, but to “say
what you mean.”
“ Semantics’ is the key (the
study o f meanings). Since for lack I
o f space, I w ill have to resume our
analysis o f Roget’s Thesaurus next
week, I ’ll just include aclassicallu-|
sion to the semantics by the Rever
end Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, I
better known to most as Lew is |
Carroll.
This author o f “Alice In Won-1
dcrland was a fun-loving 19th-cen-
tury college professor, mathemati-1
cian, logician and inventor o f mind-
bend ing puzzles.
|;
He wrote another all-tim e |
c h ild re n 's (? ) cla ssic “ Through
T h e L o o k in g G la s s ” , a lso a
m ind-bender with subtle, but |
M iss O p h e lia
Moore, one o f two
sixth-grade teachers
at the John Marshall
Gram m ar S c h o o l-
and an absolute stick
ler for the‘K in g ’s En
glish’ -- would never
the less have her fun days. After
first peering up and down the hall to
make sure that Mr. G .D . Brantley
the very proper and rotund princi
pal was not on his almost perpetual
rounds, Miss Moore would “get
down” and I do mean “down.”
Propping her usually prim and
proper self against her desk in a
“ghetto slant” she would take us
through another determined exer
cise in the verb-to-be’ and all the
possible semantic confusion is
could cause: “A thing either is or it
ain’t! And even if it ain’t, maybe it
wuzor will be - or could’ be, after
all it is in our minds, isn’t it?”
A n d, after some b rie f e x
posure to some ‘O ld e E n g lis h '
versions o f the m atter, M iss
Moore w ould return us to some
more co n ven tio nal and current
concepts. (A c tu a lly , a cco rd in g
to many lin g u ists such O ld E n
g lish e xpression s as “ I be hun
g ry ” or “ I be g o in g ” are correct,
but arch aic). But our fo rm id a
ble teacher, h avin g now left the
ghetto far behind, w ould now
have us firm ly into the present
su b jun ctive tense, for a situ a
tion contrary to fact: “ I f I were
a K in g ” .
sophisticated exercises in se
Sin ce we all are g o in g to be
m antics. In C h ap ter6, A lic e de
in an im proved situ atio n for
m ands that “ Hum pty D um p ty”
reading, sp eaking and w ritin g
clean up his act and speak in a I
(we had better be, co n sid e rin g
lo g ica l manner so that she m ight
all the past and o n g o in g la yo ffs
understand him. But old Hum pty
that are dem anding im m ediate
Dum pty puts forth his devastat
entrepreneurial and co m m un i
ing rejoinder, “ T h in g s Are What I
cation s k ills o f a high le ve l),
I S a y 1 hey Are! -- No more, no
maybe y o u ’ ll enjoy a little jo k e
le ss’ . Want to try to analyze
by fam ed p u n d it, W illia m
that on a lo g ic m atrix are on |
Safire.
your com puter?
A while back, he wrote a best
Roget resumed next week.
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