r /•A Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily Reflect Or Represent The Views Oj (Tlje ^Jortlaxth GObscrucr 1 t a joint NOW/NRC dem- onstration in front of the White House last month, Jesse Jackson and Patricia Ire­ land led a strong picket line de­ manding that the President re­ consider his decision [the sign­ ing of the welfare bill]. Rev Jackson pointed out: ‘When it conies to corporate welfare for the rich and powerful, it’s look but don't touch. When we talk about affirma­ tive action for the middle class, the President finally decided to mend it, not end it But when it comes to welf are for poor women and the ch il­ dren then the government decides to end it, by rending F D R ’s New Deal safety net—end it, by rending it.” This decision was made for only one reason—so that the political lead­ ership o f both parties could look tough to the voter in an election year, using poor women and children as N A T IO N A L g f lj According to the Center for Bud­ get and Policy Priorities, by the year 2002. this bill means $27 billion in food stamp cuts. It means that our poorest households, those with in­ comes below 50% o f the poverty line, w ill lose an average o f $785 in food stamp benefits per year The elderly poor w ill find their food stamps cut by one-fourth, while the working poor-those who are so of­ ten extolled for play ing by the rules, exem plifying the work ethic, reflect­ ing the true American sp irit-w ill find their benefits cut by 20%. The truth is, contrary to stereo­ type. most poor people are not on welfare. They work every day, but don't get paid a living wage. Most poor people are not Black; they’re white, and female and young. Two- thirds o f those on welfare are ch il­ dren 9 m illion in all; and 60% o f those children are under age 6. IhiiBaW C O A L IT IO N Stop domestic violence punching bags. B y the best current estimates, this assault on the poor will drive a min­ imum o f an additional one to one- and-a-halfmillion children into pov­ erty. It will not solve our problems, since the bill includes no resources for job creation, health care, job train­ ing, child care, or public works jobs- -in short, nothing that is needed to actually move from welfare to em­ ployment, except the threats o f poli­ ticians One quarter o f our children al­ ready grow up in poverty , in this, the wealthiest nation in the history ofthe world One half o f all Africa Am eri­ can children already grow up in pov­ erty. The bill will have an especially severe impact on low-income dis­ abled children, children in working poor families, and children o f legal immigrants This bill w ill make their lives worse, not better. I’m not a victim, I’m a man in M ichael S harp ’m not a damned victim so please quit treating * * me like one. I’m tired of your willingness to accept my failures without encouraging me to get back up. I’m tired of your willingness to accept the emas­ culation of the Black male. I’m tired of your willingness to ac­ cept less than what I'm capable of. In short, I’m tired of what is currently recognized as African- American leadership. I ’ve come to the harsh realization that Black people have been pimped, just like a woman o f ill repute, Black people have been exploited in every way imaginable, yet our leaders still expect us to keep coming back for more o f the same treatment. Even worse. Blacks who do become part o f the free market and start to enjoy the privileges o f being an American are either ridiculed or ignored by their leaders. This poses quite a dilemma. C iv il rights leaders have limited Black society to two choices: Either adopt the victim mentality, wait for the handouts and be praised—or accept responsibility like a man and risk being labeled an “ Uncle Tom .” Per­ sonally I was fortunate to have a father who taught me discipline so I chose to be a man. Being a man means taking control o f your situa­ tion and leaving charity for those who really need it. After years o f being ostracized because o f their re­ luctance to subscribe to the victim mentality, conservative Blacks have 1 better been continuously confronted by philosophical ignorance. It stands to reason that if current African-Am er­ ican leaders are upset because B lack conservatives use intellect and integ­ rity to make the best o f a situation, then the leaders need to take a long hard look in the mirror and ask them­ selves who are the real “ Uncle Toms.” I f promoting and dwelling in vic­ tim hood is the solution to our pros­ perity, why do we continue to suffer? I ’m sure that you are as aware as I am that as long as we’ve used this excuse our situation has worsened and so has the level o f self-hatred among our people. These negative conse­ quences may not be the intent o f our leaders, but the result is the same no matter their motives. It’s time for African Americans to think for our­ selves and for our leaders to start listening to us and stop preaching to us. After all, we are the ones who know what’s wrong with our com­ munities. Our world is changing and so are our political opinions. If we are to be a legitimate force to be dealt with, we have to disassociate our­ selves from the slave mentality and embrace the spirit o f the American Constitution. The fact is slavery was a Godawful experience and we should remember our people who were oppressed by it. But, the truth is today we are free to be victims or to be self-supporting individuals. Today, unlike our an­ cestors, we do have a choice. It’s time for us to tell our leaders that. If they don’t listen, then it’s time to elect new ones. TNic VTLïïitcr Send your letters to the Editor to: Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208* Judicial review s a result of my bitter and disappointing ex- ( perience with the judi­ cial system for the last ten years, I will be contacting members of Congress both at the federal and state levels to inform them and care less about their suffer­ ing. A s tragic as the injustice would do to the public because a judge breached a judicial obligation to the victims, our legislators should take notice that there is urgent need now to introduce a bill in the Congress making judges liable for breaking the law and for their betrayal o f public trust in furtherance o f injus­ tice. »» illiam Il I 1AM R I eed m W Committed to Bruggere 1 ou may not be able to judge a book by Its cov­ er, but you can judge a man by his actions. And if we were to judge Tom Bruggere's potential as a U.S. Sen­ ator by his conduct as a C E O , it would be clear that Bruggere takes his responsibility to his community very seriously. While head o f Mentor Graphics, Bruggere made a commitment to giving back to the community in a number o f ways. He established sound corporate policy to reduce and recycle waste and built a wet­ lands on company grounds to pro­ tect wild species. He paid all his employees a living wage and made sure they had generous health benefits. And he made sure that part o f corporate benefits were do­ nated directly to the community in the form o f funding for scholarships, public broadcasting, and cancer re­ search. Bruggere’s conduct as C E O shows he’s committed to Oregonians and their concerns. His visions and lead­ ership are what Oregon needs in Washington. —Jam es Manning Clinton’s ban on tobacco roving quickly to snuff out iQtrovinfi ^ JJ1reput republican charges that lost the war on drugs, President Clinton has giv­ en the Food and Drug Adminis­ tration (FDA) authority to regu­ late tobacco and crack down on teen-age smoking. Many say Clinton’s actions are politically motivated and designed to strike at a perceived weakness o f his presidential foe, Bob Dole, a former smoker who this summer questions whether nicotine is always addictive. Polls show that 80 percent o f Am ericans support restricting cig ­ arette sales to teens But what should be o f most concerns to blacks, and their leaders, is no, the politics o f the situation for white people. The ministers and politicians, who w ill make a fuss about out tubawo smoking is higher than average among A frica-A m erican s. Although we compromise 12.5 percent o f the na­ tio nal population, among many brands we smoke 20 percent o f the cigarettes sold Blacks also chew more gum, per average, than whites, but marketplace opportunities, and philanthropy grants, from chewing gum s companies back to the black com m unity pales in comparison to the largess that comes directly to b lack asso ciatio n s, conventions, think-tanks, cultural programs, and other, and other events and projects, 4 Personally, I w ill intensify all my efforts to see to it that Congress will pass a bill holding judges liable for rulings they make that is inconsis tent with the moral and legal duty of our legal system. From now on, I will be proactive in this direction until the Congress acts on this issue in order to preserve the integrity o f our legal system as an assurance to those victims who are seeking ju s­ tice and protection. I am ready to testify and prove that judges act and rule unlawfully whenever they have opportunity to do so. Are the members o f Con­ gress ready to listen and hear my testimony. -Samir Tara from com panies such as P h ilip Morris, R J Reynolds and Brown & Williamson. The first steps towards curbing cigarette sales ofthe $45 billion busi­ ness are to allow the F D A to regulate nicotine as an addictive drugs, ban vending machine sales, curb adver­ tising targeted at teens and require tobacco companies to pay $ 150 b il­ lion a year into a fund for educating teenagers to avoid such products. B y declaring the nicotine in tobacco an addictivedrug.thegovernment could eventually rule it dangerous and out­ law drugs to adults. This boarders on being a severe infringement on hu­ man and consumer rights. The bot- ,om-l ine is C l inton’s decision tocrack down on smoking, in reality, comes from areportcitinga 105 percent rise in teen drug use from 1992 to 1995. Sucli a surge illustrates to the white community the scourge that African Americans have known first-hand for some time, that Clinton has lost the war on drugs. The sad fact is that the increases in k id s’ smoking are so far overshad­ owed by the geometric growth in drug use. Blacks should no, allow themselves to get caught up in the current Clinton policy o f smoke and mirrors If Clinton’s public policy is to break his own vow to reduce gov­ ernment regulations in everyday life and crack down on anything to save America, that crack-down should be on crack cocaine. Actually African- American teen sm oking is down, compared to white kids, but the epi­ demic o f crack cocaine has shattered lives o f the young, and old. o f black com m unities across the nation. Crim e, the breakdown o f the black fam ily and increasing violence and mayhem are living legacies o f crack among most B lack Americans in Am erica's inner-cities. The realities for most African Am ericans in not a problem o f Joe Camel tee-shirts, but one o f prison garb. One o f every four young adult black males is held hostage in the law enforcement system due to the war on us and drugs. While many blacks allege tha, some segments o f the government is engaged in sup­ plying us drugs, most o f our associ­ ation and politicians know o f the tobacco companies reciprocity to­ ward ourcommunities and programs. S ubscribe to Significant grants to African-Am er­ ican groups, such as the N A A C P , Urban League and others, have come from black tobacco executives such as R JR 's Ben Ruffin, Philip M orris’ Wanda Hopkins and B & W ’s G ail Strange. The ban on tobacco compa­ nies’ advertising billion-dollar-a- year expenditure w ill have a nega­ tive effect on black newspapers’ rev­ enues while chewing gum compa­ nies and others, who greatly benefit from African Am ericans’ consumer dollars w ill continue to go their way ignoring black in the work and mar­ ket-place. Blacks who rely on the govern­ ment and elected-ofllcials for their betterment should make sure that scourge in our community is ad­ dressed before we allow them to regulate legitimate businesses, fann­ ers and factory workers out o f exist­ ence w ijc | b r t i a « b aol.com Deadline fo r all submitted materials: Articles:Friday, 5 :0 0 p m Ads: Monday, 12:00pm POSTMASTER: Send Address Changes To: Portland Observer, P.O. Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208. Second Class postage paid at Portland, Oregon Subscriptions $30 00 per year The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. 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