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thought the Chicago
Sun-Times headlined it
best: “Thumbs Up for
Jesse In Hollywood Crusade.” But
since so many others seemed to
go out of their way to ignore the
true intent of Monday n ig h t’s
protests, le t’s go through it one
more tim e. W e did not protest
the Oscar ceremony itself; we
used the occasion of the Oscars
to illum inate the institutional
biases of the Aim Industry. When
the lights turn inward, I t ’s not
such a pretty picture.
The bias reveals itself in four ma­
jo r ways: (1) racial exclusion and
gender inequality; (2) cultural dis­
tortion; (3) lack o f employment op­
portunities; and (4) lack o f positions
o f authority.
Quicy Jones got it-th a t’s why he
wore the ribbon. Even the Wall Street
Journal, in an otherwise diversionary
essay about “quotas” (their word, not
ours!), accidentally made our points
for us. We quote: “Indeed, there aren’t
enough African-Americans in be­
hind-the-scenes positions in Holly­
wood or in senior executive posi­
tions at the major studios, or who are
members o f the Academy o f Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences. And black
buffoonery has long been a stock-in-
trade o f the film and television
in d u stry ...H isp an ics and A sian-
American are even more invisible
than blacks in Hollywood, and to his
credit Mr. Jackson did note this.”
Reverend Jackson also noted a
few other truths. Native American
are excluded from behind the scenes,
and almost always negatively exploit­
ed on the screens. And when the best
C O A L IT IO N
What’s Wrong With
This Picture?
way for young actresses to compete
for the Oscar is to play prostitutes
and call girls (3 o f this year’s 5 nom­
inees!), som ething is very, very
wrong.
In conjunction with Latino, Asian-
A m erican, and Native American
groups, the Rainbow Action Net­
work organized protests and picket
lines in 30 cities across the country,
using the osear broadcast to send our
message to millions and millions o f
people around the world. This is the
same message, Reverend Jackson
raised nearly 2 years ago, when he
formed the Rainbow Coalition Com­
mission for Fairness in the Media, in
reaction to the cancellations o f
“ArsenioHall,” “Sinbad, ” and “Rock
South Central” television shows.
The Rainbow message is the same-
-racial exclusion is wrong, whether
it’s in Hollywood, housing, or hotels.
Last week, the message got through
worldwide.
After a very successful meeting
with officials from the Screen Actors
Guild, the Directors Guild, and the
Writers G uildof America West, Rev.
Jackson launched the Hollywood
Rainbow covenant, to focus “up­
stream” in the movie industry, where
the process begins. The participants
noted that Rev. Jackson “brings an
enormous credibility and an enor­
mous presence to our e ffo rts,”
pledged to “tell all o f A merica’s sto­
ries,” (and use all o f A merica’s story­
tellers), and vowed to work “to see
crews, executive suites and distribu­
tion offices that look like all o f Amer­
ica’s rainbow.”
(1) Our thanks go out to the Rain­
bow Action Network in Albany, At­
lanta, Austin, Chicago, Detroit, Los
Angeles, Louisville, Nashville, New
Haven, San Francisco, Tallahassee,
D.C., and all our other activists in
cities across the country, for helping
to make this year’s oscars a night to
remember. (And our special thanks
go out to Quincy Jones, for always
keeping the faith.)
.
(2) Join us! If you would like to
help launch a Rainbow Action Net­
work in your city, call Leslie Watson-
D avis,at202.728.1180. Ifyou would
like to help with the Rainbow Coali­
tion Commission for Fairness in the
M edia, ca ll E ddie W ong at
510.465.0120, ext. 421.
(3) The movie industry is not the
only prominent institution whose fail­
ure to fully integrate we are high­
lighting this week. As it has for the
past two years, the Rainbow Com­
mission for Fairness in Athletics
(RCFA) continues our ongoing bat­
tle to make the executive suites of
American sports look more like the
playing fields. According to profiles
compiled by the RCFA, the statistics
for the four teams in this year's NCAA
basketball Final Four show a clear
pattern o f racial exclusion. The num­
bers in Kentucky don’t look much
different from those in Hollywood!
On the floor, the Final Four are
64% Black or Latino; in the athletic
offices, almost 90% o f the adminis­
trative positions, 83% o f the coach­
ing and training jobs, and 100% of
the TV and radio jobs. Each o f the
four teams stands to reap more than
$1 million; and the NCAA has a $1
billion contract with CBS-TV to tele­
vise the tournam ent-m oney literally
being made on the blood, sweat, and
tears o f the athletes--the only ones
left out in the cold! Call Charles
Farrell for more info on the RCFA, at
202.728.1180.
O n e s p e c ia l n o te - - F r a n k
W atkins, for 28 years the “angry
w hite m a le ” o f NRC, B re a d b a s­
ket, PU SH has m oved over to
serve as D ire c to ro fC o m m u n ic a -
tions for C ong. Jesse Jack so n , Jr.
W e’ll m iss his B u lls’ updates,
but h e ’s still in the fam ily!
Civil Rights Journal
Human Rights And Kenya
B ernice P owell J ackson
hose of us old enough to
remem ber Pan African-
Ism, the dream of one,
free Africa which was voiced by
those early leaders of newly-lib­
erated African nations, will re­
call Jomo K enyatta, the impres­
sive and m ajestic first President
of Kenya.
f I
Along with Julius N yerereofT an-
zania, Kwame Nkrumah o f Ghana
and Leopold Senghor o f Senegal,
these leaders represented the best o f
the Motherland. They helped many
young African Americans to dream
ofanew post-colonial Africaofwhich
we would all be proud.
The Kenya o f today is very d i ffer-
ent from that dream. A recent report
by Amnesty International provides
evidence o f torture, deaths, ill-treat­
ment and the denial o f medical care
to prisoners, especially political pris­
oners, in Kenya. In addition, it found
that human rights abuses against
women reflect a pattern o f repression
by
pril
3, 1996 • T he P ortland O bserver
in Kenya and it has received reports
that refugees from Uganda, Somalia
and Rwanda are being harassed and
tortured by Kenyan security forces.
The Amnesty International report
found that investigations into torture
by the police are rare and that many
prisoners are tortured and then de­
nied medical attention for many days.
Kenyan police and security forces
often beat prisoners with sticks, fists,
handles o f hoes and guns butts. Some
political detainees have had their fin­
gernails and toenails pulled out. Both
men and women have been subjected
to sexual humiliation.
Women, Amnesty has found, have
been harassed, raped, tortured and
killed.
Those women who are govern­
ment critics, opposition activists,
members o f the human rights move­
ment and relative o f government
opponents especially have been tar­
geted. Several women political pris­
oners have been sexually abused
while imprisoned. M eetingsofwom-
en’s groups have been violently bro­
ken up, including a June, 1994 meet­
ing in which 100 women were beaten
by police.
Kenyan police and security forces
seem to have focussed on political
activists and opponents o f President
Daniel Arap M oi’s government For
example Geoffrey Ndungu Gichuki,
one o f 67 arrested on Kenya’s Inde­
pendence Day in 1994 on suspicion
o f holding an illegal meeting, was
found to have developed gangrene
after being tied to a tree and beaten
He later lost his arm
Similarly, Koigi wa Wamwere,
human rights activist and former
member o f the Kenyan Parliament;
his brother, Charles Kuria Wamwere,
and G.G. Mjunguna Ngengi, a local
councillor-all critics ofthe Moi gov­
ernment — faced the death penalty on
charges o f robbery after they were
alleged to have raided a police sta­
tion in 1993. Aftermuch internation­
al pressure, the death penalty charge
was dropped, but all three were sen­
tenced to four years in jail and six
strokes o f the cane after a 16-month
trial.
Early last year two human rights
organizations and one opposition
paper in Nairobi were fire-bombed.
I he printing press o f the paper was
immobilized and two other human
rights groups have been banned.
Opposition members o f parliament
have been arrested and detained for
up to three months.
The rights o f assembly, associa­
tion, conscience and free expression
are guaranteed in the Kenyan consti­
tution. But the promises are hollow
and the dreams o f Jomo Kenyatta are
meaningless as long as the govern­
ment o f Daniel Arap Moi violates the
rights o f its citizens.
(C o n tact your U.S. R ep resen ­
tative ab o u t H R I35 w hich a d ­
dresses the cu rrent hum an rights
v io latio n s in K enya and c a lls for
a co m m itm en t by the K enyan
go v ern m en t to the p rin c ip le s it
has p led g ed to up h o ld .)
l/> e r s p e c I i r e s
Well, That Will Teach Me
To Open My Mouth, Won’t It!
P rof . M c K inley B urt
by
J tf
C ”*
M ichael W ayne B oyd
ry this “Reality Check”:
Before you throw away
your next bag of trash,
look In It.
/ I
VLx
You will probably find several
different grades o f paper and paper-
board, styrofoam, glass, cans, plas­
tics, and other things. With today’s
technology, most o f what’s in your
trash can be recycled, however the
reality is, it will all probably end up
in a landfill. Why? The sorting pro­
cess. Dump your bag o f trash onto
the floor and sort it into piles of
everything you think can be recy­
cled. Now picture in your mind sort­
ing every bag o f trash discarded in
one day across this country The cost
to employ the number o f people need­
ed to sort trash in facilities like mixed
wasted processing plants, around the
clock, in thousands o f locations
throughout every state, is more than
can be recouped by privately owned
businesses.
Since it appears the cost o f labor is
the one major obstacle to be over­
come before recycling can reach its
maximum potential, then doesn’t
common sense dictate that society
turn to the one institution where this
manpower lies dormant, the penal
system?
America warehouses its convicts
under the umbrella o f the Constitu­
tion. They have 100% medical cov­
erage, three meals a day, television in
their cells, gymnasium facilities in
the prison yards, and legal recourse
against the system if they feel their
rights are being violated. Everything
provided to the convicts is at the
expense o f you, the American pub­
lic. Do you feel convicts should help
pay to house and care for them by
utilizing the technology o f recycling
to recover the millions o f dollars of
materials going into landfills daily?
Could a joint venture between the
waste management industry and the
prison systems operate at a profit if
labor were provided at below mini­
mum wage?
Can prison labor be provided at
below minimum wage? Yes, in fact
this issue has been argued in the
courts several times. In Gilbreath v.
Cutter Biological, Inc., 931 F.2d
1320, Judge T rott's opinion stated:
“that it is highly implausible that
Congress intended the Fair Labor
Standards A ct’s minimum wage pro­
tection, to be extended to felons serv-
ing time in prison”. Also, the Ashurst-
SumnersAct, I8U.S.C. 1761(c)(2),
allows prisons to recoup expenses
for room and board and requires pris­
oners to make payments for support
and restitution when they are earning
wages. Legal instruments for using
prison labor exist in Arizona, Ala­
bama. Texas, and most other states.
The real problem is the availability
o f enough work for all the convicts
the system now houses.
It is unfair for the prison system to
compete with private industry in
manufacturing products using low
cost labor Yet, landfills around ev­
ery city are filling up with mostly
recyclable materialsbeforetheirtime
because o f labor costs. I f it stands to
reason the cost of labor is keeping
private industry from recycling the
large percentage o f valuable materi-
alsgoing into landfills,...then the lack
ofcompetition best positions the pris­
on system to adopt this stepchild that
has become so important in stabiliz­
ing the resource of this county.
Combining recycling with the pris-
on system is a win-win scenario. Ev-
better Co d ie (SOitor
Send your letters to the Editor to:
Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208
eryone benefits. Prisons benefit from
badly needed extra income. Idle pris­
oners benefit from the self-worth a
dailyjob provides. Their victimscould
receive increased restitution from con­
vict’s wages. There would be a nation­
wide increase o f manufacturing jobs
to supply existing prisons with the
extensive amount equipment needed
for industrial recycling. Newly de­
signed commercial recycling prisons
would be built in very state. Penal
institutions could network their com­
puters to exchange problems and solu­
tions, research and development. Re­
cycled materials could be sold directly
to industry or traded via the commod­
ities market. According to a study of
12 manufactures released by the insti­
tute fui Local Self-Reliance (ILSK)
Washington, D C, the construction in­
dustry alone could save million o f tons
o f virgin timber being cut by using
cellulosic waste construction materi­
als.
The many different directions the
waste management industry could
take using the unlimited manpower
o f prisons combined with the fast
growing technology o f recycling is
vital to the generations to come Ev­
ery piece o f the puzzle to make the
idea a reality exists in society today
except legislative direction and in­
centives for venture capital.
ast week, I said such
rash things as, “I ’m
quite seriously consid­
ering starting my own school,
and have a very Interested po­
tential clientele... my modus
operand) included what so many
students are not getting today;
a thorough understanding of
the Binary System’, codingand
language.”
I graciously
accept the chal­
lenges, but o f
course I will have
to assess the un­
derlying offers of
su p p o rt
and
promised commitment within my
usual frame o f reference — experi­
ence-based reality. I, too, have
looked at buildings, conversed with
potential staff and have had ex­
tended conversations with several
human resource managers who, to
say the least, are unhappy with the
performance level o f the recent
additions to their firm ’s workforce.
And last w eek I got several
call to check out the “ G o v e r­
n o r ’s E d u catio n S u m m it” on
CNN. I tuned in ju s t in tim e to
hear the C E O o f IBM p a ra ­
phrasing the very sam e “ B asic-
S k ills-D e fic ie n c ie s” that I have
cited tim e and again in this c o l­
umn. He underscored my p o si­
tion, that so -called “com puter-
literacy ” has no m eaning if the
reference is only to a flashy
ability to m anipulate the h ard ­
w are and a facility at q u oting
from a cyberspace lexicon. You
can bet I got o ff a co m m u n ica­
tion in his d ire c tio n , “ ...have
been at w ork on this for 30
y e a rs’.
I thought o f several school prin­
cipals and even a superintendent
who have looked at me with big
blue or brown eyes, then, with an
expansive, condescendinggesture,
directed me to their “computer lab”
to view the 21st century wonders
they have wrought.
And I have stood there th in k ­
ing, “here are thirty exam ples
o fm y n e ig h b o r’s glib, fa st-ta lk ­
ing kid who can program my
VCR faster than I can turn it on
— but with whom I am having a
te rrib le tim e ex p lain in g som e
very basic co n cep ts n e c e ssa ry
to becom e the c o m p u ter pro
gram m er he w ants to be.
I explained to his angry parents
that if he is to be more than a little
robot, sitting at a little machine re
trieving and reiterating “ informa
tion” he may not really understand
(but is nevertheless employable)
then he first has to acquire a good
grasp o f basic language and compu
ta tio n a l sk ills
“ It’s not being at
the mall playing
By
electronic games
P ro fe s s o r
It’s about learn
M c k ln le y
ing Boolean A1
Burt
g e b ra , b in a ry
m a th e m a tic s
truth and decision tables and oper
ators.” Where, in addition to innu
merable contemporary manuals and
texts, I had kept some ancient
m anuals from IBM and digital
Equipment Corporation (1 9 5 0 ’s,
1960’s). One little handbook be­
gins, “The Computer revolution is
here in the sciences and engineer­
ing. No discipline will remain the
same. Computer open up to many
new ways o f knowing and doing...
Small general purpose computers
have become an important part o f
this revolution.”
And the text and instructions o f
this handbook proceeded in ju st as
serious a vein. “That was the ap
proach back then when we were
learning computers”, I explained to
the parents. “Understanding pro
gramming and the basic logic was
part and parcel o f the approach to
computers. It was like that credit
card company advertises, “D on’t
leave home without it.’”
1 led them through my best model
for making my case, Digital Equip
m en t’s 1967, “Small Com puter
Primer”. Section by section my po­
sition on the discipline became un­
derstandable” : “Patterns in switch­
es; flow diagrams, binary counting;
octal representation; symbolic ma­
chine language; etc.”
The parents left understanding
what their little darling was going to
have to learn to be a computer pro­
grammer — not a robot, hypnotized
by interactive hypes and the market
pace o f electronic consumerism.
Like I have always said (and the
IBM CEO), you gotta read, write
and count. Real good!
(The ^ o rtlan b (Obserucr
(USPS 959-680)
OREGON’S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLICATION
Established in 1970
Should Prisons Recycle America’s Trash?
A Nation Wide Poll
(
** >
Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily
Reflect Or Represent The Views O f
The ^flortlanb ffibsertfer
S¡3s
by
r .? 4 •
Charles W ashington-Publisher
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