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Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily
Reflect Or Represent The Views O f
The JJortlanb ffib server
Help for the nation’s capital
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in
ast winter, it took the
city weeks to clear some
s tre e ts a fte r the big
snow storm. Last month it was
the announcement that the wa
ter was unsafe for the aged, the
ill and for infants to drink.
I.ast week it was the announce
ment that three elementary schools
and my old high school would not
open on time because o f fire safety
code violations. Washington, D C .,
my hometown and our Nation’s Cap
itol, is in financial trouble
Last year an emergency financial
control board was put into place to
control the spending and establish a
viable budget But years o f deferring
capital improvements are now taking
their toll. 1 he city which houses the
President of the United States, the
city which symbolizes the most pow
erful country in the world is in big
budget trouble.
And Washington, with the federal
government as its largest tenant, has
found itself in an impossible predic
ament when it comes to that budget
I
■
In Detroit, .L
the _______
automobile
indus
try pays taxes to the city. In New
York, Wall Street and the publish
ing. broadcasting and entertainment
industries pay taxes. In Los Angeles,
the movie industry pays taxes to the
city But the federal government pays
no taxes to the city o f Washington It
does make some pay ments to offset
that tact, but the bottom lines just
don’t match
Meanwhile, the city' o f Washing
ton finds itself in the same place as
the states, which have the responsi
bility o f pay ing for prisons, for med
ical treatment for the poor and other
necessary services. Infant mortality
in Washington is equivalent to that in
some ofthe poorest countries, Wash
ington has high incidences o f H IV /
A ID S and many households that fall
below poverty guidelines.
A ll o f this means that the city o f
Washington is bankrupt. Some ofthe
fault o f this lies in city administra
tions which hired too many workers
and made unwise budget decisions
over a period o f years. But some o f
the fault lies in the fact that Washing-
ton has not taxation authority to tax
commuters who use their services
free and true costs o f running the city
were not taken into account when the
federal government fumed over some
o f that administration years ago
Over the years, poor city manage
ment and declining dollars have
meant that the black middle class, a
long mainstay for Washington, has
fled to the suburbs for better servic
es Washington is increasingly a city
o f the poor, who have few tax dollars
to contribute A downward spiral has
quickly ensued
The only positive and creative idea
o f how to deal with Washington’s
budget crisis has come from Eleanor
Holmes Norton, Washington's non
voting delegate. She has suggested
that Washington be designated as a
special federal tax zone, with a flat
15% federal tax for Washington res
idents. She believes that such a tax
break is the only way to get middle
class tax payers to move back into the
city. Clearly, without tax payers.
Washington cannot survive.
The most curious thing about this
\/> e r s f> e c t i r e s
Democratic city which he is so anx
ious to continue to be his home. His
chief o f staff, Leon Panetta, recently
questioned Ms. Norton’s tax propos
al, by asking how to justify such a tax
plan for Washington and not for oth
er major cities.
But other cities are not Washing
ton Other cities have other tax bases
and corporations to help in their re
building. That’s what happened in
Cleveland, where I now live and
which is undergoing an incredible
re-birth. Other cities do not find them
selves having to provide the same
services as their states. Other cities
are not the Nation’s Capital
Ms. Norton’s proposal deserves a
more serious examination by the
White House. In this election year,
the President must take a more re
sponsible position to help save his
hometown and make it one we all are
proud of.
To express your views to Presi-
dentClinton about Washington D C .,
WTite to the White House, 1600 Penn
sylvania Avenue, NW , Washington
D C. 20500
Your life, your choice
HV )i m o i s R k \ rdo S tanton
hings turn out the best
for people who make the
best of the way things
turn out. Life offers its share of
d is a p p o in tm e n ts , s e tb a c k s ,
heartaches and pain.
No one escapes the vicissitudes
of life: success and loss are intrinsi
cally woven into the tapestry o f liv
ing. G iven this, it behooves us to
approach life wisely and not get too
excited when things are going well
or too depressed when things are not
going as we expected or planned.
Life has a way o f throwing a curve.
Just when you thought you could see
yonr vw»y out o f financial d ifficu l
ties, the kids move back in, the hot
water heater goes or the car needs
major repairs People let you down,
friends come up short and you don’t
always get your way.
__
The secret to life is being flexible
and colored ink pens. I f you saw his
fail, re-experience and master. There
and resilient. Being resilient means
work, you would never in a m illion
is always a message in every mess, a
being able to bounce back from ad
years think it was done by a man who
lesson in every loss and an opportu
versity, getting up after yo u ’ve been
is paralyzed, who draws with his
nity in every ordeal.
knocked down, holding on until your
mouth.
The question is this: What w ill
legs strengthen, your head clears or
That young man can’t change the
you learn from the experience and
the bell rings. Resilience means be
fact that he’s in a wheelchair or that
how w ill you choose to respond to
ing able to regroup under pressure
he is paralyzed from the neck down.
the situation?
and coming back stronger and more
However, he is making the most
The choice is up to you. You can
determined than ever.
of what he has—his talents, his ener
choose to wallow in self-pity, don a
I met a young man who was in a
gy--and he is making the world love
countenance o f doom and gloom or
motorcycle crash which left him par
lier with his portraits, and his "can
you can choose to find and make
alyzed from the neck down.
do” spirit.
something good come out o f it.
When he was in high school, he
I know it 's small comfort to know
Ifyou choose the latter, more than
took up art. W hile in recovery , one
others are going through pain and
likely, when all said and done, some
o f his brothers suggested he learn to
suffering; that doesn't ease your ag
thing good and redemptive w ill come
draw using his mouth.
ony or angst.
out o f it.
At first the young man resisted.
However, it may help you to stop
Focus on what you have left rath
His brother persisted so finally he
focusing on your problems and think
er than what you have lost. Lik e I
relented.
ing that y ou're the only one on earth
said in the beginning: Things turn
I hat was 13 years ago. Today the
going through trials and tribulation.
out
for the best for the people who
young man is an accomplished por
Life is a school, a giant classroom
make the best o f the way things turn
trait artist. He draws using pencils
constantly picbciiung
presenting
lessons
us us
lessons
to to out.
out.
Public Forum Or National Inquirer?
o one will ever know who
controls the media in this
country until some ofthe
most crucial cases comes be-
fore it to put it to the test.
It is time to open a dialogue with
a media that has been blinded in
every issue concerning Arab-Am er-
icans rights, even issues that deal
with human rights which is worth
noting. Who controls the media and
what stories to write about and what
stories to suppress for the benefit o f
either the newspaper or its lucrative
returns, and elusive way to ignore
public interests and concerns.
I he question becomes who is
manipulating the media and its jour
nalists o f what to publish and what to
relay matters o f significance as mat
ters o f no sign i flcance at al I So clear
ly there are well-organized groups
who would tell the media what the
news o f the day is, yet the news is
lacking public interest. Take O.J.
Simpson, for instance, the new s about
him was covered on a large scale and
on a daily basis more than covering
stories about global issues and polit
ical matters combined. There is one
explanation to this: the story is lucra
tive to the media while it is poor in
character to public opinion that if it
counts in the eyes o f the media.
This is my first attempt to open a
dialogue with the media in this coun
try and find it compelling to ask these
questions. What freedom o f the press
means to you? W'hat is the First
Amendment to the U .S. Constitution
and what is your interpretation to it?
Do we have B ill o f Rights that are
applied in theological order as far as
the media is concerned: Why the
media is try ing very hard to focus on
Arabs and Muslims as the enemies of
the United States? The answers to
these questions perhaps are basked
in favor o f the media which tell us
nothing.
It politically-oriented media ex
ists in this country, no one would be
denied the freedom o f expression
should he or she decide to voice their
concerns in a public forum.
Unfortunately, the mediadecides,
all the time, what the news ofthe dav
w ill be.
O f all people who were deprived
o f their rights to speak out and ad
dress significant issues o f concern,
even solutions to our problems, how
many opinions the media suppressed
and how many valuable ideas were
discarded by a media that does not
discern o f what
good ana
and What
what is
is
"Iia i is
IS gooa
bad?
I am not writing this letter to lec
ture anyone or to preach my ideas, I
am writing to open a dialogue with
the news media as one who reads and
listen to the news everyday. M illions
o f other people are doing the same.
We need the media to open its
doors to the public and listen to all
sides before it reports a story o f its
choice.
Without having the public and ev
eryone o f us involved in the news
forum, I believe the media remains
blind and out o f focus.
This country belongs to the peo
ple. This country has its unique audi
ence—that has the ability to listen,
take notes, and give stand ing ovation
to a news media in transition towards
impartiality and reform.
Writtt B y Sa m ir Taha
Written
Scapegoating The Innocent
u e ear
a r ro
m a n d Observer,
D
Portland
he » pu
purpose of this letter
0
ist°
inform you person
ally £
and to inform the
U.S. government and the Con
gress o fth e backlash Arab-Amer
ican are experiencing due to a
biased and irrational reports by
the media and some officials con
cerning any tragic incident that
happens to this country.
We Arabs find it appalling and
inflammatory, since the public opin
ion w ill turn negative against us and
subject each one o f us to discrim ina
tion and racism
No one in this country has suf
fered from discrimination more than
me personally and o f course many
Arab Americans as well. There is
something going on against Arab-
Americans living in this country and
I am sure you are unaware o f it This
letter, however, w ill serve as a w alk
up call to all o f you in the U.S.
government and the Congress to ask
-
onpstion Are
Arp we d a i
,
yourselves this question:
viding this country into racial zones
and find some ofthe minority groups
guilty by association9 What role this
government and the media should
play to protect this country from po
litically motivated racism? Before
looking for answers, you have to
know about my case.
I lost my private business more
than four months ago. Because this
was a racially motivated action and it
deprived me o f my ability to earn a
living for me and my family, I filed a
legal action in U.S. Federal Court in
Portland, Oregon. My case No. is
C V-96-419-H A. To date, the court
did nothing to me other than siding
with defendants and deny ing me due
process rights as well as equal pro
tection rights. I here is also evidence
that obstruction o f justice is taking
place in this case.
I must confess that I am being
treated politically especially when I
to court io to seekjustice
seek justice and
and protec-
protec
k eo
o locoun
i better fjö Tflw Qfhtor
Send your letters to the Editor to-
Editor. P0 Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208
_____ ________ L
. . .
tion and find that the court is acting in
callous indifference to my federally
protected rights. I am a citizen o f this
country and I am entitled to the equal
protection o f law.
I call upon you and urge you to
interfere in this very serious matter
and do your level best to assure the
victims o f discrimination that free
dom and justice apply to all o f us and
that the courts protect our rights and
lives.
In sum, I have a case pending
before the U.S. Federal Court in Port
land, Oregon. I am very concerned
about begin denied my legal rights
by the court itself. A ll the proceed
to
(T lje ^ J o r tla r th (O b a c r u e r
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T he P ortland O bserver ; PO B ox 3137
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Address:
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_____
__
—
———
T
e®> ' do have the July
1 8 ,1 9 9 6 issue of “Na-
ture", the preeminent
science magazine (vol 3 8 2 ).
I invited our very interested Port
land Observer reader over to in
spect some materials I have from
those "good old days” (The lady
has three children in elementary
school I explained that when my
mother and aunt attended Stowes)
Teacher’sC o llegein St. Louis M is
souri, they were |
given a spiral edu
cational schema |
By
w h ich co n tem
Professor
plated repeated in
Mckinley
tersections with]
Burt
the same d isci
p lin e s alo n g
lengthy pedagogic time line.
T a k in g this into account, their)
cu rricu lu m enabled them to un
derstand the many steps and
go als to be achieved in the va r
ious d isc ip lin e s along the time
line; that is, e xactly what foun
dation was required for the stu
dent to take the next step in aj
The reason being that I am ad
vising a little early-teen science
club like the ones we kids had in
our comer o f the innercity many
years ago.
The articles
o f interest for
th is m onth
long focus were
I "Rotation O f
Th e
Inner
Core” (o f the
earth-fascinating cover illustra
tion) and “Nicotine Addiction: The
Smoking Gun” . However, 'm y’
prime interest has been on a book
review o f "The Culture O f Educa
tion”, by Jerome Bruner. A com
ment on his idea o f a “spiral curric
ulum" coincides exactly with our
reader’s query about the “good old
days” in the elementary or “grade
competent and confident m an
[ schools".
ner. Consequently, the future e l
D r Bruner was best known in
em entary school teachers notj
educational circles (1960s and
only had the vaunted “ m ethod
1970) for his recommendation that
o lo g ie s"; but had good ground
children should be taught at differ
ing in the scien ces and hum ani
ent ages about the same topic but
ties.
at different levels o f sophistica
Th e y could guide and re in
tion; "under this scheme they would
force a student in a more than
be introduced to a topic in physics,
a d e q u a te fa s h io n an yw h e re
for example, in a basic way rea
along the tim e-line from K - l to
sonably early on in school, and
K -8 --a n d I w ould put these s is
then reintroduced to it in a more
ters up against 9 0 ° o o f today \ |
formal and abstract manner later.”
high school teachers A fter all it
I completely agree with the gen
was asked, "how could you guide
tleman, but am constrained to in
and prepare someone for a goal,
quire, “what took you so long?,
if y o u , yo u rse lf, d id n 't under-)
you pedantic gurus o f education".
stand that target.”
After all our reader asks, "what
How useless is an ‘ a rch ite ct’
were they doing so right back there
who cannot design a foundation J
from 1900 up to World War II, that
adequate to support those o b v i
many men whose education had
ous superstructures that w ill be I
ended at the-eighth grade were
added by the education o b je c
founding Am erica's basic indus
tive s. A n d a sound structure!
tries and patenting sophisticated
must be soundly im plemented.
inventions (white and black).”
W ell, so much for the tautolo-)
These early ‘masters o f tech
gies and rhetoric, but that's the|
nology had early on received the
way it w as—and should be again
prerequisite fundamentals o f lan
I ended up show ing the lady a)
guage, reading skills, computation
copy ol a note I wrote in the)
and self-discipline, such that they
third grade.
could pursue and education par-
"D ea r teacher. I w ish to ac-1
excellence at the libraries, through
know ledge to you that I did not
correspondence schools, or as on-
participate in the disturbance o ff
the-job apprentices. I maintain that
your room yesterday. Y o u have
the "spiral approach” which was
m isinform ed my mother ect."
the essence o f the teaching art in
M y mother, being a sharp co o k
earlier times has a lot to do with the
ie. knew better than my p reco
superior product o f those early
cio u s f ib - b u t was kind o f proud |
‘grammar school’s.’
o f my “ talent” (?)
¡KJortlanh (©bseruer
(USPS 959-680)
Established in 1970
Charles Washington
Publisher & Editor
Gary Ann Taylor
Business M anager
Daniel Bell
Advertising Sales M anager
lesha W illiam s
Production Specialist
ings in this case show deep-seated
antagonism towards me and towards
my race. It w ill be impossible to
make a living in this country should
the court dismiss the case without
affording me due process rights and
protecting my property and liberty
interest which have been seriously
violated.
It is time to act and investigate
matters like this one. Because it is
very critical I decided to write you.
And because this country stands up
for freedom and justice for all I turned
to you to live up to these principles.
God bless America and all o f you.
Sincerely, Sa m ir Taha
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