N ovember 1, 1995 • T he P ortland O bserver
Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily
Reflect Or Represent The Views O f
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r edicare (for the elderly)
and Medicaid (for the
poor) were enacted as
part of the Great S ociety
programs of President Lyndon
B. Johnson in 1965. Together
they provide health insurance
coverage for almost 70 million
Americans. Medicare is run
en tirely by the fe d e ral
governm ent and covers
hospital and physician services
for those over 65 and persons
with disabilities.
Medicaid is financed by state
and federal funds and administered
by the states in accordance with fed­
eral regulations. The Medicaid pro­
gram covers hospital, physician, nurs­
ing home and home care services.
Many states also use Medicaid funds
to provide services to the develop-
mentally disabled and mentally ill.
Republicans are passing legisla­
tion in Congress that makes large
cuts in Medicare and Medicaid in
order to pay for large tax cuts for the
rich. In the case o f Medicare, they
have voted to slash payments to pro­
viders, raise premiums for physician
coverage and expand managed care.
R ainbo W
C O A L IT IO N
Caring About Medicare
And Medicaid
Their changes to Medicaid are
even more drastic. They would con­
vert the program from a federal-state
health insurance program to a "block
grant.” States would get a flat sum o f
money, regardless o f how many peo­
ple enrolled, and growth in this block
grant would be capped. These chang­
es would devastate state budgets,
forcing dramatic cuts in benefits and
eligibility.
Hospitals w ill be big losers.
About half o f all hospital revenue
comes from Medicare and state Med­
icaid programs, and payments to
hospitals are targeted for large re­
ductions B y 2002, Medicare hospi­
tal payments w ill have fallen by 14
percent in real terms and payments
w ill only be covering 80-to-85 per­
cent o f actual hospital costs for Medi­
care beneficiaries.
Safety-net hospitals w ill take a
big hit. Hospitals that serve large
numbers o f low-income patients, es­
pecially public hospitals, are in for a
rough ride. Such hospitals get an
average o f 38 percent o f their reve­
nue from Medicaid, and an addition­
al 30 percent from Medicare. State
Medicaid programs currently make
special payments to such hospitals,
known as Disproportionate Share
Hospital ( D S H ) payments. D S H pay­
ments account for about 12 percent
o f revenue for an average public hos­
pital. I he Republican Medicare leg­
islation would reduce Medicare D SH
payments by 25 percent by 1997
The repeal o f Medicaid would elim­
inate Medicaid D S H payments en­
tirely, a potential death blow to doz­
ens o f public hospitals across the
United States.
T e a ch in g h ospitals under the
knife. Under current law , M ed i­
care m akes G radu ate M ed ica l
Edu catio n ( G M E ) paym ents to
teaching hospitals that train m ed­
ical residents. U nder the R ep u b ­
lican proposal, G M E paym ents
w ould be slashed by $8.6 b illio n .
M any hospitals w ould lose be­
tween I/4 and I/2 o f the money
they use to train m edical re s i­
dents. T h is is a p a rticu la r p ro b ­
lem for p u b lic h o sp itals, because
they use G M E program s to at­
tract m edical residents.
C ivil Rights Journal
Red Sambos And Uncle Tomahawks
BV B
PERN
bv
ernice
P owell J ackson
hey came from the four
d ire c tio n s ,
from
reservations and from
colleges and Big Sky country.
They came to Cleveland and
Atlanta to protest the misuse
of their names and the racism
of the Images used by the World
Series teams. They came to say
no to Chief Wahoo and to the
Atlanta tomahawk chop.
They were native American peo­
ple who came to say that a grinning,
red-faced, buck-toothed, big-nosed,
bulging-eyed C h ie f Wahoo is no
honor for them. They came to say
that native Am ericans are human
beings who should not be trivialized
and dehumanized by making them
sports team mascots. They came to
say that taking away their humanity
is the final insult to a people whose
land was stolen and ancestors annihi­
lated.
It’s not funny to native Am eri­
cans to see others, often drunk and
rowdy at games, dressed up in feath­
ers and face paint and whooping or
making a so-called tomahawk chop.
The image o f the war-loving and
less-than-human Indian is just as dam­
aging and dangerous fornative Amer­
icans as Aunt Jemima or Buckwheat
or Am os and Andy were to African
Am ericans a generation ago. Little
black Sambo was racist then and
C h ie f Wahoo is racist now.
It's not funny to native Am eri­
can children to be subjected to ste­
reotypes o f their people. Many N a­
tive American children live with enor­
mous self-esteem problems, result­
ing in the highest drop-out rates, the
highest suicide and alcoholism rates
and the lowest academic achieve­
ment levels o f any people o f color in
this country. Incredibly, the C leve­
land superintendent o f schools has
encouraged children and teachers to
wear Indians baseball attire and to
display C h ie f Wahoo posters in the
schools. It’s kind o f like encouraging
them to wear black face and C leve­
land Native Americans have filed a
class action suit to stop this.
It’s not funny to native Am eri­
can people to have their spiritual
dances and sacred clothing used by
fans during games. Imagine how
Christians would feel if fans dressed
in clergy robes or how jew s would
feel ifthey wore yarmulkes and prayer
shawls.
One often hears people say that
the name “ Indians” and the logo C h ief
Wahoo are to honor native Am eri­
cans and Louis Sockalexis, a turn o f
the century Cleveland player who
was native Am erican. Sockalexis
actually played less than three sea­
sons for Cleveland, all the while be­
ing taunted by war whoops and yells
o f derisioft by fans, which contribut­
ed to his alcoholism and early retire­
ment from the gam e. T o d a y
Sockalexis’ descendants say C h ie f
Wahoo is no honor to him or to them.
If a name and logo offend the very
people they are supposedly honor­
ing, then the name and the logo must
be changed. A s E rik Brady wrote in
U S A Today,” Look closely at C h ie f
Wahoo. Where, exactly, is the hon­
or?”
Another often-heard explanation
is that the name and logos are tradi­
tions. Unfortunately, racism is a tra­
dition in this country, but that does
not mean we have to continue it. In
the aftermath o fO .J. and the M illion
Man March, we’ve heard a lot about
how this nation just doesn’t get it
when it comes to racism. When it
comes to turning into mascots and
stereotypes a dignified, religious peo­
ple who have contributed language,
law, medicine, culture and the land
itself to our nation’s legacy, we still
don’t get it.
T h e A tla n ta B r a v e s . T h e
C le ve la n d Indians. The K a n sa s
C it y C h ie fs . T h e W ash in g to n
R e d sk in s. A tlan ta, C le v e la n d ,
K an sas C it y and D .C . fans — le t’s
stop the b ig lie about hon o rin g
N ative A m ericans. L e t ’s stop de­
m eaning our Indian brothers and
sisters. L e t’s stop buying and sup­
porting racist names and logos.
Ted Turner, Atlanta can do bet­
ter. D ick Jacobs, Cleveland can do
better. Lemar Hunt, Kansas C ity can
do better. Jack Kent Cooke, our Na-
tion's Capital can do better. For the
sake o f us all, let’s take racism out o f
sports. Le t’s prove that we in this
nation are beginning to get it and
aren't afraid to do something about
it.
Marched Changed My Mind
n Oregonian editorial
f
\ on 0 ° * '
en titled
CC
“Sending Mixed Mes­
sages” called attention to,
promoted and emphasized the
divisions within the African-
American community that fits
a pattern established by that
slave owner Willie Lynch as
one of the methods recom­
mended to maintain control
over slaves.
O ur problem and the obsta­
cle to achievem ent for b la ck men
is not a co n sp ira cy o f white su ­
prem acy. But, it is the effects o f
white suprem acy that have d ra­
m a tica lly tw isted and poisoned
the w ay we view o urselves and
others.
M y reasons for not go in g to
W ash in g to n , D C ., was that I
d id n ’ t want to appear to support
the notion that anyone outside
o u rselves (other than G od a l­
m ig h ty) has the cap acity to hold
us back. W e’re h olding ourselves
back.
The Washington Monument, the
mall, the statutes, obelisk, etc., that
relate to masonic secrets, which re­
volve around black people and Far-
rakhan’s desire to expose that secret
appear to be his reason for staging
the march in that particular location.
I misjudged The ideas o f atonement,
unity and exposing that well keep
secret are all very laudable endeav­
ors. I regret now that I didn’t go.
Neither the writer o f the editori­
al, nor A M. Rosenthal are as smart
as they think, nor are we as dumb as
they presume. A s Minister Earra-
khan stated, the tactics suggested in
1712 by W illie Lynch to keep us
subjugated will not work today. Praise
be to God!
The 1995 W o rld S c rie s , the
A tlan ta B ra v e s and the C le v e la n d
In d ia n s, have com pleted for me
my W o rld S e rie s D ream s.
Both teams were destined to
p lay in this ye a rs' W o rld S e rie s,
the B ra ve s - the best ball team in
the 9 0 ’ s, and the In d ian s - the best
ball team this year.
T h is s e r ie s w as a c la s s ic
m atch-up o f p itch in g versus h it­
tin g , o f ch aracter versu s co u rage,
o f faith versus opportunity and I
was able to be a part o f it a ll.
M y name is D e n n is G . Payne
and I was born and grew up in the
Portland area. I have a lw ay s been
a b aseball fan, startin g w ith the
San F ra n c isc o G ia n ts and W illie
M ays in the 5 0 ’ s and 6 0 ’ s and the
Portland B ea ve rs co n tin u in g into
the 7 0 ’ s and 8 0 's.
M y dream o f g o in g to (he
W o rld S e rie s and/or being in the
city that was hosting the series,
were ju st that - M y Dream s
But som ething very sp e cial
happen this year and I am proud to
say that M y D ream s have fin a lly
com e true. I am in C le v e la n d ,
O h io , hom e o f the A m e ric a n
L e a g u e C h am p io n - the C le v e la n d
In d ia n s, who have ju st fin ish e d
one heck of a W o rld S crie s against
the A tla n ta B ra ve s. I m oved to
C le v e la n d in June o f 1993 and in
tw o sh o rt y e a r s , the In d ia n s
clim b e d to the top o f b a se b a ll’ s
h ie ra rch y, a league ch am p io n sh ip
and an appearance in the W o rld
S e rie s.
T h is b aseball season has been
one o f the best in b a se b a ll’s h is ­
tory and one that I w ill never fo r­
get. Rem em ber, baseball had a
strik e last year and there was no
W o rld S e rie s.
M any fans stayed away from
b aseball p arks this year in protest
for the strike last year But not in
C le v e la n d .
T h e In d ia n s won 100 out o f
144 ball gam es, won their d iv i­
sio n (C e n tra l) by 30 gam es and in
d o in g so, estab lish ed them selves
am ong the greatest teams ever to
p lay the gam e. A n d what about
A lb e rt B e lle , Jose M esa and Edd ie
M u rra y , b a ll p la y e rs who had
record b re akin g years for the In ­
dians. B e lle hit 50 home runs, hit
50 doubles and drove in over 100
runs d urin g the season.
M e sa p itc h e d 42 s tra ig h t
“ Save G am e s” in re lie f without
lo sin g and ended up the season
with 48 saves. A n d E d d ie M urray,
who hit h is 3000 base hit this
season and is w ith in 27 home runs
o f b ecom ing the third p layer in
b a se b a ll’ s h isto ry o f h avin g 3000
hits and 500 home runs.
T h e C le v e la n d In dian s sweep
the Boston Red S o x in the A m e ri­
can Leagu e se m i-fin a l gam es and
beat the Seattle M ariners for the
A m e rican Leagu e C h am p io n sh ip ,
4 gam es to 2.
The c ity o f C le v e la n d went
w ild after the Seattle w in and cel
ebrated with a m assive pre W orld
Se rie s R a lly dow ntow n in Pu blic
Square w ith o ver 40,0 00 people
show ing up to support their team
The In d ian s had ended a 4 1
year drought for the team, last
appearing in the 1954 W orld S e ­
ries. The c ity gave the Indians
their hearts and sent them into the
Media Circus: The Press Strikes Back I
he title for this week's
article is taken from
the 1993 best seller by
I Howard Kurtz, press critic for
I the Washington Post: “Media
I Circus: The Trouble With
America's Newspapers” (and
' television, of course).
How very
tolerant o f the
genre, you might
say, but think
again. Not only is
it the case that
“absolute poser
corrupts abso-
! lutely”, but it does seem to have a
habit o f flaunting itself. Media C ir­
cus is a book every African Ameri­
can should read-and certainly those
more naive ones (leaders among
them) who still do not realize that
their very being, physical and spiri­
tual, is forever circumscribed and
manipulated by the media. “A clash
of cultures”, remember?
Leaving aside theO. J. Simpson
case through which Barnum and
Bailey anticseven Ray Charles ‘saw’
in an eloquent manner, we may
reflect upon the super ugly, local
‘joum alisitc’ travesty inflicted upon
I us all, black and white.
Our avowedly liberal, weekly
alternative newspaper petulantly
mooned, then excreted on Port land’s
black commun ity by featuring a pan-
oramic view o f the Jefferson High
School student body on the front
| page, immediately above the cap­
tion, “Is Yo ur Child Safe In Public
Schools.” No correlation o f course.
A child, ofcourse, would know
what this is all about.
Bewildered, confused, angry
and surly, many little creatures are
stinking up their presses and their
transmitters across the nation with
I their punitive reactions to the O. J.
Simpson verdict. I like the strong
across-the-age-spectrum response
o f our community to this offal. But
our alarm and vigilant against the
growing onslaught should not con­
fine itself to one news organ or
medium. Many o f “those folks" are
hot at that verdict. Never mind the
“beyond a shadow o f a doubt” con-
straints-you folks spoiled a lynch­
ing. And we’ll take it out on man,
woman or child.
The revealing book, “ Media
C¡reus” delves into many aspects o f
an often devious, often manipula­
tive media. The following quote is
illuminating; especially to those o f
us who always felt that those first
“ Watts Riots” were media provoked
(Just like most lynchings were)
“And the press was not yet
through with Lo s Angeles. Having
I been blind to the potential for vio­
lence after the first Rodney K in g
beating trial, the media w ildly over­
compensated a year later, when the
four police officers were tried on
federal civil rights charges. A small
army o f journalists descended on
the city in the spring o f 1993, re­
porting so feverishly on official
preparations for another riot that
their very pres­
ence seemed in­
ce n d ia ry . T h e
fly
frightening tone
Professor
o f the coverage
Mckinley
was epitom ized
Burt
by a front-page |
U S A Today pho­
to o f live angry-looking black men
posing with pistols, a rifle and an
ammunition belt. “Gangs Put L .A .
on Edge,” the headline said.
but the picture, it turned out,
had been staged. The five young
blacks were in fact turning in their
guns, and had been assembled for]
U S A Today by a community activ­
ist seeking to launch a guns-for-
jobs program. When the youths
showed up without guns, the report­
er, Richard Price, drove one ofthem
to his mother’s house to retrieve his f
weapon. U S A Today kissed o ff the
incident with a one-sentence “clar­
ification,” but ran a fuller account |
thirteen days later after the activist,
a man named CaShears, threatened
to sue. Joseph Bates, one o f the
young blacks, said o f the paper,
“They wrote what they wanted, w hat
would get more papers sold...They I
portrayed us as hard-core criminals f
gang members who are ready to
incite a riot.”
But the dead cannot be brought I
back to life, and the burned out prop­
erty and broken, disrupted lives will
epitomize a misery that will prevail
far longer than the peak blips in rat­
ings and advertising revenues. It was
the same Howard Kurtz who further
assailed the Media Circus in his July |
I0, 1994 assessment of the O. J.
Simpson (Yes, it has gone on that!
long). His details ofjournalism trash,
sloppy police work and coverup I
would under any other than racist
circumstances have led the many to j
expect a "not guilty" verdict.
In the meantime, perhaps the
media’s ire will die down su ffi-l
ciently to allow us some vital infor­
mation on what this incredible Re­
publican congress is doing to our
health and welfare, that is if we are
able to extract any real meaning
from the smorgasbord they toss at
us. I am reminded o fa passage from
a poem by T. S. Eliot; The Rock:
Where is the Life we have lost |
in living?
Where is the wisdom we have |
lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we
have lost in information?
(Tlic JjJurtlanh (©liaeriiEr
(USPS 959-680)
Nabeeh Mustafa
My World Series Dreams
B y D ennis G. P ayne
/’ e r s p e c t i V e s
OREGON’S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLICATION
Joyce Washington
Publisher
The PORTLAND OBSERVER is located at
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W orld S e rie s with all the support
a city could provide.
Y o u know , som etim es there
is a strange connection betweens
o ne 's faith and one's d estin y. The
In dian s won the W orld S e rie s in
1948, the year I was born. T h e ir
last appearance in the W o rld S e ­
ries was in 1954 and they were
sweep by W illie M ays and the
G ian ts, my favorite team.
I m oved to C le v e la n d in 1993,
the last year that they played in
old C le v e la n d Stadium , and this
year, my first full year since my
heart transplant in M ay o f 1994,
they return to the W orld Serie s.
Y e s !!! I b elieve that it was faith
that brought me to C le v e la n d and
allow ed me to be here this year,
the year that they, the C le ve la n d
In d ia n s, returned to the w orld
Serie s.
Y e s , this was a very sp ecial
baseball season for the C le v e la n d
Indians and M y Dream s o f go in g
to the W orld Serie s have fin a lly
com e true and I have enjoyed each
and every moment o f it.
G o T rib e !!!
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