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N ovember 15, 1995 • T he P ortland O bserver
Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily
Reflect Or Represent The Views O f
The JJortlanb © bscrucr
¿ J ¿ ......
jT ï
XL*
o u b le S ta n d a rd In
Sent»nclng On the day
of th e M illio n M an
March President Clinton gave
a persuasive speech on ending
racism.
Yet when he had the opportunity
to undo the most grievous racial in
justice written into our legal system-
the 100-to-l disparity between crack
and powder cocaine sentences—he
caved in (again) to political pres
sures Rather than vetoing S.1254
and eliminating this inequity , Clinton
signed the bill and overruled the U .S.
placate White fears.
Sentencing Com m ission's call to
Just this week, the Supreme
equalize the penalties
Court agreed to hear a Los Angeles
JaxFac is disappointed that Pres
case which proves that L A has only
ident Clinton signed this racially dis
prosecuted African Americans un
parate bill. In the absence o f a real
der the law which y ields the 5-year
war on drugs and an urban policy, we
mandatory minimum sentence. We
have a war on the young and vulner
now see evidence ofa rat iai disparity
able, Black and Brown A compre
in targeted prosecutions across the
hensive war on drugs would include
country. In 17 states, no Whites have
jobs, education and treatment as
been prosecuted under the federal
weapons in that war, not more ja ils
statute. This explains how more than
and mandatory sentences. A real war
90% o f those in ja il on mandatory
on drugs would stop the flow o f
sentences are young Black and Brown
drugs into the country, and stem the
youth despite the fact that 80% o f
levels o f drug abuse The president’s
wholesale suppliers are White, and
apparent campaign strategy is to
55% o f crack users are White
prove he can stand up to the civ il
B ig White suppliers and cartels
rights community, the Congression
have gone unchal lenged O nly 5° o o f
al Black and Hispanic Caucuses, to
those in federal prison are high-level
NATIONAL'
C O A L IT IO N
Crack VS. Powder
crack offenders, and only l% o fcra ck
defendants operate internationally.
Meanwhile the crack possessor, the
lowest rung on the totem pole, bears
the burden o f the appearance o f a war
on drugs.
Crack is becoming a code word
for Black Powder is the source-
wholesale. Crack is the derivative-
retail. Yet, those caught with the
derivative serve more time than those
conv icted o f the source or even o f
violent crimes. Crack offenders are,
on the average, serving more time
than a state inmate imprisoned for
kidnapping, robbery and assault. This
ja il population is now feeding the ja il
industrial com plex-the number one
growth industry in urban America
This is a very expensive political
gimmick.
Oddly, the rationale for dispari
ty is to protect B lacks from Crack
That is racial paternalism. We want
to be protected with jobs, education
and treatment programs, not fast-
tracking jobs out o f the country and
more jails. A 5-year $40,000-a-year
penitentiary scholarship, in a c e ll-
public housing-w orth $100, plus
maintenance, costs Add 5 years o f
full security, full medical benefits-
but not drug treatment, three square
meals a day, public utilities and what
you have is a very expensive non
remedy for the urban crisis.
Rev Jesse L. Jackson and other
human rights leaders sought a meet
ing with the president to discuss this
disparity and its effect, but to no
avail. A logical solution would be to
contact the Justice Department to file
suit, but the Justice Department has
declared itself to be against equal
protection under the law.
What is at stake here is the es
sence o f the 1954 Supreme Court
decision-”equal protection underthe
law "JaxFac urges supporters to call
the White House at 202 -456-14 14 to
register your dissent, and jo in us as
we mount our legal and legislative
challenges to demand justice in sen
tencing, and a positive urban policy.
Civil Rights Journal
Washington’s Quiet War On Our Children
bv
M.
B ernice P owell J ac K* on
Q T V t - h a t is g o in g on in
Jy%ri Washington these days
( *
w ill h ave a c h illin g
effect on the most vulnerable
of our nation -- our children.
What is going on is called wel
fare “reform" or ending the war on
poverty ; but it really is a war on the
poor and it signals an end o f a funda
mental ethical principle o f this na
tion - that every child should be
protected by our federal government
as a last resort, when all else fails.
Numbed by the steamroller o f
the Contract with America and the
rhetoric o f a Congress which has
chosen to deionize poor mothers and
their children, many Americans just
don’t understand what the welfare
reform bill w ill mean for children in
this rich nation. Seven m illion ch il
dren w ill no longer have health care
coverage and childhood immuniza
tion w ill no longer be guaranteed.
Three million children w ill no longer
receive income from A id to Fam ilies
with Dependent Children. Fourteen
m illion children w ill lose food and
nutrition programs, including school
lunches and infant formula under the
W1C program. In other words, m il
lions o f children will-be sicker and
hungrier and colder this winter.
The irony o f all o f these cuts is
that they come at the same time that
Congress is giving the richest I per
cent o f Americans a tax break o f at
least $12,000 per year and a $92
billion capital gains tax to the wealth
iest 3 percent o f Americans. The
irony is that these cuts come at the
same time when congress is giving
the Defense Department $243.3 b il
lion — almost $7 billion more than
the Pentagon asked for. The irony is
that these cuts come at the same time
when Congress is giving the largest I
percent o f corporations a $121 b il
lion depreciation tax break over 10
years and has refused to cut corpo
rate welfare or farm subsidies
It is estimated that in 1994 the
federal government spent $104 bil-
lion in corporate welfare - in bail
and nutrition assistance for poorchil-
outs o f failed companies, in export
dren while leaving untouched hun
promotions, loans, debt forgiveness,
dreds o f billions in corporate wel
interest-free financingand below cost
fare, giving new tax breaks o f over
sales to corporations. It was corpo
$200 billion for non-needy citizens
rate welfare which paid the Walt
and giving the Pentagon almost $7
Disney Company $300,000 to put on
billion it did not request.”
a fireworks display while paying
Our nation now is in the unenvi
M cDonald's $466,000 to subsidize
able position o f having the richest
the advertising o f chicken menuggets
children in the industrialized world -
in Turkey . It was corporate welfare
- and the poorest children is poor
which paid Lockheed Martin Corp.
Right now, before these cuts one in
$ 8 5 0 m illio n when it m erged
every four American children ¡spoor
Lockheed and Martin Marietta air
Right now, before these cuts one in
craft companies and then paid the top
every 12 children is hungry. These
executives o f those companies an
proposed cuts w ill mean that our
additional $100 m illion as a reward
country has chosen to protect the
for a successful merger. It was farm , future o f the richest children at the
subsidies which paid Sam Donaldson,
expense o f the poorest children.
the millionaire television correspon
I don’t believe that is what our
dent. $97.000 in agriculture subsi
nation is all about — making expend
dies for his New M exico ranch.
able the most vulnerable o f our soci
In her open letter to President
ety For what w ill it profit us to gain
Clinton, Marian Wright Edelman,
the whole world and lose our souls?
president o f the Children’s Defense
(C all President Clinton today -
Fund, wrote, “ it is moral hypocrisy
(2 0 2 ) 456-111 I or E Mail:
for our nation to slash income, health
president@whitehouse.gov)
better ffö Tfhe (SLfiför
Send your letters to the Editor to:
Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208
The Powell Obsession
BV J x CQt ELINE SALIT
m e ric a 's m e d ia is
p o litic a lly o b s e s s e d
L
with Black men. First
was O.J. Simpson. Next was
Minister Louis Farrakhan. Now
it's General Colin Powell.
W hy0 Because beyond the sen
sationalism that the media has gener
ated, each o f these figures has re
vealed profound an intensify ing na
tional antagonisms Mr Sim pson’s
trial uncovered that the chasm be
tween Black and white Am erica is
more cavernous than most anyone
(white) was w illing to admit M inis
ter Farrakhan's electrifying M illion
Man March revealed that B la ck
America is standing at the edge o f
that precipice, unsure about whether
and how to try to cross over it. The
prospective presidential run by Mr
Powell has the political profession
als in an uproar over the impact his
candidacy might have on an unstable
political structure which is already
deeply unpopular with the voters.
And they have yet to really consider
the potential political clout that his
entry into the race could confer on
Black voters.
Does this mean that Powell,
should he become the Republican
nominee, would re-aljgn the B lack
voter to the G .O .P.? Not necessarily
The Republican Party has nothing to
offer African Americans, even with
Powell on the ticket. The impact o f a
Powell candidacy w ill be for more
complicated than a mere intra-two
party switch. How so?
First, the rumored prospects for
an independent bid for the presiden
cy by Powell now seem dim I fhe had
gone the independent road, he cer
tainly would have pulled m illions o f
African American voters out o f a 60-
year “bad marriage" to the Demo
cratic Party and into a new partner
ship with the white center. ( I f you
don't think it was a bad marriage,
take another look at the M illion Man
March It was the failure o f the liber
al Democrats todeliver on theirprom-
ise to end poverty and racism that
brought Minister Farrakhan and a
m illion Black men to the edge o f that
precipice. That’s why the Minister
called on Black America to political
ly reshape itself as an independent
"third force ")
But even the Republican route
promises to reshape politics-as-we-
know-it. If Powell runs and wins as a
Republican he w ill in the long run. if
not the short run. split the party No
less an expert on intra-Republican
warfare than Pat Buchanan has fore
cast it. And some scenarios suggest
that his description may be a pre
scription as well. Consider this.
Colin Powell enters the Repub
lican Party primary and by March 7.
the date o f the New Y o rk contest, it
is crystal clear that he w ill be the
. nominee. Pat Buchanan, with the
political and financial support o f the
Christian Coalition abandons his
Republican run and hurriedly assem
bles an independent bid. With a lot o f
money and a riled-up Republican
right wing, he can access all 50 bal
lots, switch his primary matching
funds eligibility over to his third par
ty run, and stay in the game big time
Meanwhile, the new Indepen
dent Party (know n as Reform in some
states) cataly zed and funded by Ross
Perot, has been creating a new party
infrastructure which w ill be prepared
to choose an independent presiden
tial candidate at a mega-Town Hall
meeting-style national convention in
"W e must learn to resolve con
flicts without violence, because we
human beings w ill share space on
this planet for many years to come
We hope that Mr Rabin's untimely
death will motivate us all to work
even harder for peace and unity in the
world and turn back the hatred and
extremism which is responsible for
his death
"W e w ould like to express
our support for and so lid a rity
with a ll people w o rkin g for peace
in the face o f such vio len t oppo
sitio n ," stated Law rence J. D ark,
Urban Leagu e o f Portland p re si
dent and c h ie f execu tive o ffice r
The Urban I eague o f Portland
for 50 years has been a bridge bu i Ider
for race relations.
More Threats To “Business As
U su ar Are Mounting
h o s e b e la te d and
overdue stirrings of
’ c o n s c ie n c e in th e
I N o rth east co m m u n ity that
were prompted by the March,
seem to have affected some
members of the black clergy;
church people I have not heard
from in years want my ‘spin’
on the matter, or its, “did you
see that article on page 2 of
last W ednesday’s Observer
I Newspaper (11/8)?"
“The African
| American Leader
And The M illion
Man March" was
b /
the title ofa strong
commentary writ
ten by a pastor
Jr *•
member o f the na
tion’s largest African Am erican
Christian organization: The Nation
al Baptist Convention U S A. Inc.
I Among other things he said, "what
ever your position on the Honor
able M in ister Farrakhan may be, the
fact o f the matter is that his success
is directly attributable to our fail
ure" (...o f the Christian Church).
The pastor further says that
“ ...others are taking the leadership
in the struggle because the African
American Christian establishment
has failed to select leadership able
to respond appropriately to the chal
lenges o f our times." I pointed out
here several years ago that the R ev
erend Martin Luther K in g Jr. had
been assassinated just as we was to
launch a vast "economic” crusade
on a national scale, A decade before
that (and since then), I was holding
up the Rev. Leon Sullivan, founder
ofthe O .i.C . movement, as an ideal
role model for members ofthe cler
gy
Here in the Northeast commu
nity the local branch o f the interna
tional organization founded by Rev.
Sullivan is known as " P O IC " (Port
land Opportunity Industrialization
Corporation). Beginning 30 years
ago as a project to create employ
ment for members o f his Philadel
phia church. Reverend Sullivan took
[ thislegacy ofthe"M aster"(feedthe
LI
multitude) to new and successful
heights around the world. Sweden,
Germany, Russia, Poland, India,
South Africa. M exico, wherever.
I can w'ell understand the fears
o f that pastor we discussed earlier.
1, like others here, have been re-
buffed or ignored by black church
‘ leaders' when we have made offers
to contribute to or participate in the I
interface between the church andf
the people. Well remembered is a|
particulartripofmineto the Yakim a,
Washington area and the islands o f
the K lin git Indian people o ff A la s
k a -a ll for the U .S. Forest Service.
In both instances, I discovered al
vast infrastructure o f economic en
terprise which in several cases had
been imitated and nurtured shortly
after World War
II by the "mis-1
sio n a ry
o u t
By
reach” to native
Professor A m e rican s es-|
I
Mckinley tablished by sev
' Buri
eral denom ina-l
tio n s o f the
Christian Church. Returning to Port
land and my classroom at the uni-1
versify where I was teaching a class
in Urban Economics I enthusiasti-1
cally described my experience to I
the class.
We developed a project and an
agenda that could very well address I
the socio-economic problems o f l
Portland’s Northeast community.
We promptly called, wrote or other
wise attempted to gain an audience
with Portland black ministers. I
thought that I was on kind o f a roll
having just successfully structured
the real estate concept and grant)
project that gained those three build-f
ingsatN .E. 17th and Alberta for the |
Black Education Center.
Not to be! That was twenty one I
years ago this month and I haven’t
heard from a black minister yet.
However, a white student in the I
class belonged to a large downtown
church on S. W. 12th and said his
minister was very progressive and
would be more than interested. They
were, and a successful program in
the Rev. Leon Sullivan style wasf
I
developed. Incidentally, the church
organist turned out to be one ofthe
kids at The Dalles Junior High I
School math and science presenta
tion where I won the National Sci-1
ence Foundation Award for the dis
trict.
For those o f you who have an
older edition o f my book "B lack
Inventors o f Am erica” , he is the)
little fat-faced kid watching the cam
era in the picture ofthe event found j
on the inside back cover.
M ore next week
<Tbv -¡¡Jortlanb (Observer
August. Faced with the prospect o f a
liberal-moderate Republican desert
ed by 45% o f the party, a respectable
right-wing populist independent, and
B ill Clinton, the Perot Party chooses
a ticket aimed at grabbing white pop
ulist pro-independent Republicans,
white independents who want to build
a broad-based third party that is non-
ideological, and African Americans
and other voters from the Democrat
ic Party ’s liberal wing who feel be
trayed by liberalism and who think
B ill Clinton is a loser. Maybe that
ticket is Lowell W eicker and Ross
Perot. Maybe it’s W eicker and Jesse
Jackson Or may be it's Jackson, Perot.
In any event, this four-way race
has the political professionals reel
ing. The two-party system as we know
it is way o ff the map. Everybody
wants the Black vote, because with
white America split four ways, black
America becomes the deciding fac
tor. No wonder the national obses
sion is with racial issues. They are on
the cutting edge o f the country’s po
litical future
Jacqueline Salit is a political
consultant for independent candida
cies and parties
Prime Minister Was Inspiration For Us All
’ e the Urban League of
Portland would like to
express our sincere
sadness over the recent and
most tragic assassination of
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Mr. Rabin's life as a soldier and
peacemaker is an inspiration
to us all and will not soon be
forgotten.
\p e r s p e e t / r e s
The League is a non-profit, com
munity-based human service, eco
nomic and social justice agency serv
ing at-risk youth and families, stu
dents, job seekers and seniors in the
metro area. In 1995, the League cel
ebrates its 50th year of serving the
community . The League is one o f
113 local affiliates o f the National
Urban League.
(USPS 959-680)
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