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Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily
Reflect Or Represent The Views O f
The JJortlanh ©bsvruex*
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' his JaxFax was adapted
from the 6 / 1 / 9 6 media
statem ent by Reverend
Jackson. ] We ha ve witnessed the
return of the white sheet crowd,
sneaking by night to burn the
churches of our people.
We have watched the mean-
spirited m aneuvers o f the blue
suite crow d, the G in g ric h C o n
gress and many o fo u r state le g is
latures, as they try day after day
to wipe out a h alf-century o f so
c ia l progress.
l.ast week, we saw the return
of the b lack robes crow d, who
with each d ecisio n ro ll back a
little more o f Dr. K in g ’s R e co n
struction
I his lim e, the U .S . Suprem e
Court struck down m a jo rity -m i
nority C o n g re ssio n a l d istricts in
North C a ro lin a and T e x a s , in
their co n tin uing effort to e lim i
nate B la c k and Brow n leadership
from the diverse, most represen
tative U .S . C o n g re ss in the h isto
ry o f this nation.
We have c r itic iz e d the S u
preme C o u rt's attack on m a jo ri
ty-m in ority d istricts many tim es
in the past. I his latest d ecisio n is
ju st one more blow to the very
idea of equal o p p o rtu n ity in
Am erican p o litics.
C O A L IT IO N
White Sheets, Blue
Suits, Black Robes
One o f the cornerstones o f Dr.
K in g 's le g a c y is the V o tin g
R ig h ts A c t o f 1965, won by
m archers on the bridge at Selm a
How ever, the Suprem e Court re
moved much o f the meaning from
the V o tin g R ig h ts Act.
With its 5-4 vote, the B la c k
robes crow d threatens to reduce
the B la c k and H isp a n ic C a u c u s
es in C o n g re ss by half, w hile
greatly lim itin g the o pportuni
ties for A fric a n A m ericans and
Latin o s to w in state le g islative ,
city co u n cil, and county co m m is
sion seats in the future.
The Suprem e Court had a l
ready acted to alter the d istricts-
-and injure the c a r e e r s -o f A f r i
can A m erican U .S . Representa
tives C y n th ia M c K in n e y ( G A ) ,
S a n fo r d B is h o p ( G A ) , C le o
F ie ld s ( L A ) , and C o rrin e Brow n
( F L ) . Th e C o u r t’s latest d e cisio n
ad d s L d d ie B e r n ic e Jo h n so n
( T X ) , S h e ila Ja c k so n -L e e ( T X ) ,
E va C la yto n ( N C ), and M el Watt
( N C ) to the endangered list. O th
er A fric a n A m e rican s and H is
panics in C o n g re ss may yet be
je o p a rd ize d in the near future by
the C o u rt's re d istrictin g ru lin gs.
These leaders need our help.
I r o n i c a l l y , th e se A f r ic a n
A m e rica n s now threatened by
re d istrictin g represent more d i
verse d istricts than a ll but a hand
ful o f their co lleagu es in C o n -
gress-yet they are the ones the
C o urt sin g le d out in their d rive
to lim it equal opportunity.
The Suprem e C o u rt is w illin g
to accept incum bency, geo g rap h
ic b oundaries, industry, and p o
litic a l party registratio n as le g it
imate factors in re d istrictin g .
However, despite legislative and
ju dicial fundings o f long-term prac
tices o f racial exclusion—and by not
fully considering the devastating his
torical legacies o f slavery and segre-
gation-the court has now decided to
remove race as a critical factor in
redistricting.
Th is strikes at the heart o f the
Voting Rights Act. This strikes at the
heart o f political equality in Am eri
ca.
In 1996, the white sheets, the blue
suits, and the black robes are all
acting in concert to roll back Dr.
K in g ’s R econstruction. H isto ry
shows a sim ilar pattern from 1896,
when lynchings and cross burnings,
J im Crow laws, and the “separate but
equal" decision o f Plessy v. Ferguson
ended Am erica’s First Reconstruc
tion.
Unless we act now to stop it, 1996
w ill repeat the mistakes o f 1896. We
must not allow history to repeat it
self. We must not allow the 21st
century to begin on the same sad note
o f institutional racism which crip
pled this century.
The Case Against Immigration
in II xkv tv Ç. R ohe k u >
his spring, when the U.S.
Congress voted against
reducing the level of im
migration, it was continuing a
policy that is devastating the
o p p o rtu n itie s for A m erica n
Blacks to fully participate in the
life of this country.
I he effects of high immigration
on American Blacks were ignored in
the debate. But the radically increased
level o f immigration since 1965 is
believed by many to be one o f the
most important factors in why black
poverty has been growing for 25
years, and in the erosion o f our so
cial, economic and political gains.
I make that statement based in part
on observations from my vantage
point of living and working in vari
ous financial positions in New York
( ity during that period. Few Am eri
can Blacks here have not been aware
of the harmful way immigration dis
proportionately floods our labor
pools, our neighborhoods and our
schools.
Now I know that what I have seen
locally has been occurring nation
wide, because o f a remarkable new
book from the respected publisher
W.W. Norton & Company.
I he Case Against Immigration by
Roy Beck is one o f the most pro
foundly informative and insightful
books I have read It has given me a
totally new perspective on what im
migration has been doing to our coun
try and to our people.
Beck reveals the answer to one of
the most perplexing questions for
American Blacks: Why did econom
ic progress begin to stop for most
American B lacks at the very time
when civil rights laws were enacted
and affirmative action programs were
begun?
I here are crowds o f commenta-
to rs-in clu d in g some B lacks and
some immigrants-who have conclud
ed that the cause was a lack o f char
acter among us. Even worse, some
have gained great publicity for their
theories about how our economic
decline is an indication of the innate
inferiority o f our intelligence. They
often-sometimes gleefully-bolster
their arguments by pointing out how
much better recent immigrants have
done than we, the descendants o f
slaves.
But “what the critics o f black
Americans fail to realize," Beck
writes, “ is that black workers have
been systematically blocked from the
economic base that made possible
the celebrated achievements o f im
migrant communities. And often, it
has been the immigrants themselves
who blocked the black Americans."
In The Case Against Immigration,
Roy Beck uses studies from top schol
ars, lots o f newspaper accounts and
his own on-the-ground reporting to
paint a vivid and tragic picture o f
how immigration since 1965:
• has depressed the wages fo r
most black Americans,
• has actually taken jo b s from
many o f them;
• has allowed immigrants to large
ly displace Am erican Blacks in many
affirmative action programs; by al
lowing immigrants special prefer
ences to obtain contracts, admis
sions to college and specific employ
ment opportunities, the federal gov
ernment has totally distorted the orig
inal intent o f these programs origi
nally set up fo r the benefit o f us, the
descendants o f slavery, American
Blacks,
• has blocked American Blacks
from thousands o f jo b s as ethnic-
networking among immigrants has
been a llo w ed to shut Am erican
Blacks from many workplaces;
• has further eroded the quality o f
already inferior inner urban educa
tional systems where black children
disproportionately attend;
• Au.v denied skilled level employ
ment to'qualified Black men. and to
less-educated young Black men at
the entry-level jobs, while denying
both groups decent wages at their
level that would allow them to sup
port a family.
I he resu It o f these events has been
to reduce the economic and social
well-being o f American B lacks, to
contribute to the prevention o f and to
the breakup o f stable B lack families,
and to cause increased poverty, crime,
and violence among immigrants and
American B lacks alike.
Apparently, in recent decades, our
B lack leaders and other prominent
Black public speakers have been most
timid in speaking up for our own
interests on this issue. In part, we
seem to believe that for a black per
son to oppose immigration publicly
is to break with our religious tradi
tion o f helping all, and with an as
sumed solidarity with other non-white
groups.
Well, our religious doctrines clear
ly instruct us that charity begins at
home. " I f any provide not for his
own, and specially for those o f his
own house, he hath denied the faith,
and is worse than an infidel.” (I T im
othy 5:8)
While timidity in speaking up for
our own poor in the face o f immigra
tion seems to be the order o f the day
for present Black leaders and public
speakers. B eck’s book shows that
timidity never occurred until recent
ly-
To be continued next week.
<3Lditer
Send your letters to the Editor to:
p e r s p e c
Top Educators Finally Catch Up With Me
I®
wenty nations report an
average 2 5 point rise in
IQ scores since 1 9 1 8
I and, worldwide, the academic
community is forced to regroup,
I rethink and rewrite.
Those who deplored the racist and
I pejorative conclusions o f " I he Bell
Curve", are now strongly supported
I in (heir thesis that "intelligence must
be determined more by nurture than
by nature.
What is so
I neat about it is
that
many
readers were
alerted quite
early on, and
right here in
the pages o f the Portland Observer.
Not once, but time and again over the
years, I have used models from my
own childhood from parenting and
from teaching experiences, to illus
trate this “nurturing” determinant or
component.
I described the stimulating com
munication process that went on in
I my home and those o f my black
playmates, the current magazines on
the cocktail table, my own subscrip
tions to children’s magazines and the
"supper table” input where little ears
took in wondrous description o f an
exciting world yet to be explored.
And several times I have made the
precise statement now being attribut
ed to experts’ like Dr. John Boli o f
Emory University; "Nature, in the
form o f’ smart’ genes in a population,
does not change at anything like the
speed with which IQ has risen."
The world’s scholars are alter
nately “puzzled or astounded at last
month’s international intelligence
conference’ by those reports o f an
unprecedented rise in IQ scores in the
Western World “since 1918." That
date is extremely important for it
marks the end o f World War I and the
first opportunity for educationists to
examine a really massive data bank
o f so-called “ intelligence test" infor
mation e.g. examination o f military
recruits.
In a 1994 article here (Nov. 9,
“The Attack Continues” ), I pointed
out that even before Stephen Jay
Gould's valuable, book
(TheMismeausureofMan, 1981 ),
I furnished documentation from U.S.
Military Records that both white
immigrants from the southern h alfo f
Europe and American blacks have
had their IQs and other cognitive
abilities deliberately disparaged by
manipulative techniques.
(Lite Fortiani» (Observer
(USPS 959-680)
OREGON'S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLICATION
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The ‘Nurture vs Nature’ thesis is
strongly supported again; On 19 18 I
army IQ tests, northern blacks usu
ally outscored souther white—a fact
conveniently ignored by 9 9% of
educationists, sociologists and psy
chologists. A s in the case o f that
nurturing incubator o f my child
hood, this regional phenomenon saw
many o f us at our ghetto school
scoring above 150 on the Binet tests
And not all such high
scorers had profes
sionals in the family
as in my case (moth
er and aunt were
teachers).
Performances like
this by black kids
piqued the curiosity o f the white
power structure. When I was older
my mother told me that officials
from “downtown” would come out
to investigate how some segregated
black schools could be scoring h igh-
er than those in nearby neighbor
hoods o f Irish, German, Polish and
Italian extraction. It was probably
on their minds, too, that; “hey, wait
a minute! these black kids have old
er hand-me-down books and equip
ment from the white schools-and
theirteachers and administrators are
paid a lot less” (St. Louis, Mo. On
the M ason-Dixon border line).
These matters came up in heated
discussions I had with in 1990 other
participants who testified before the
Committee On Teacher Standards,
chaired then by Oregon legislator;
now Portland Mayor, Vera Katz.
This after-the-session debate took
place in the hallway and at a nearby
restaurant. What you read here is
what they got and I emphasized my
testimony that "the blind cannot lead
the blind - any modification in
teacher standards would only make
a bad situation worst.” That side did
not win a resounding victory (The
un-nurtured’, cannot nurture).
I did get to have an interesting
talk with a white principal from
eastern Oregon who was a subscrib
er to the Portland Observer. The
both o f us were avid readers and
researchers; and both familiar with
the 1987 revelation o f George
Rawoliffe, Senior Lecturer in Fur
ther Education, Blackpool, England,
"For a century, social engineering
in England saw to it that IQ tests
were rigged to send boys to highly
academic schools and girls where
ever” . We wondered about “Amer
icas plan for black.”
C a n t’s next week.
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