S eptember 18, 1996 • T he P ortland O bserver
P age A2
Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily
Reflect Or Represent The Views O f
Whe •fjortlanh ODbscruer
his week, from Wednes­
day afternoon ( 9 /1 8 )
through Saturday noon
( 9 /2 1 ) , Operation PUSH will cel­
ebrate its 25th anniversary of
service to humanity during the
PUSH Annual Convention at the
Palmer House Hotel in Chicago.
Ifyoucan co m e-esp ecially those
o f you who have long been involved
in the struggle for social change-and
particularly those o f you who have
worked side-by-side with Operation
PUSH in the p ast-R ev Jackson has
asked JaxFax to issue a special re­
quest for you to come join him at this
celebration.
This PUSH'S “sterling’' anniver­
sary. That is no small accomplish­
ment for a cutting-edge, social change
organization. It is a time o f pride in
our past successes, joy in our present
survival & growth (against all the
odds), and anticipation o f our shared
future.
The theme o f the convention this
year is “Opening New Doors.” This
has been the focus o f our common
struggle since the early days o f Oper-
Operation Push
25 Years Of Service
ation Breadbasket under the leader­
ship o f Dr. King, Rev. Jackson, and
the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, in the fight to open the
doors to political and economic op­
portunity.
Operation Breadbasket led to the
formation o f Operation PUSH, on
Christmas Day, 19 7 1 PUSH led the
way during the 1970s:
“using economic boycotts to force
corporate America to open its doors
and franchises to the locked-out.
“inspiringyouth to engage in "fam­
ily values” in our homes and schools,
long before Dan Quayle ever met
Murphy B row n-but also fighting
(unlike the current “family values”
crowd) for equal funding for rich and
poor school districts, better salaries
for teachers, and building schools
instead o f jails to educate our young.
“registering the voters and build­
ing the movement infrastructure in
Chicago that eventually resulted in
Harold W ashington’s historic May-
oral victory in 1983.
That victory inspired the South­
ern Voter Crusade in the summer o f
1983, w hen the peo p le at the
grassroots endorsed the idea of an
African-American candidate for the
Presidency, with their cries o f “run,
Jesse, run!” And in November, 1983,
Jackson announced the first of his
two history-making campaigns for
President.
Jackson’s 1983-84 effort led di­
rectly to the formation of the Nation­
al Rainbow Coalition, which became
the premier political strike force of
the progressive political movement
in America (and, in many ways, the
world).
From the soup lines to the picket
lines, from welfare to warfare, from
Hamlet to Harlem to Havana to
Johannesburg, from the courthouse
to the statehouse to the White House,
the National Rainbow Coalition was
always there, struggl ing for the "mor­
al center.”
It all started for PUSH on Christ­
mas Day, 1971-25 glorious and hard
and beautiful and successful years ago.
Look, Were Doing A Good Job
by R uth M c F arland , M etro
C ouncilor and V ice C hair oe
R egional F acilities C ommittee
his is a report to the
citizens of the greater
Portland Metropolitan
Area. On August 14, 1996, the
Metropolitan Exposition-Recre­
ation Commission received the
year-end financial report from all
the facilities managed by MERC.
Chairman Gary Conkling said "this
is the success story that the whole
region should share in” . The report
was ignored by the med ia. and I share
Chairman C onkling’s sentiments.
This spectacular success story should
be shared with the public.
About 3 years ago, the Portland
Center for the Performing Arts was
in serious financial trouble. It had
lost its funding with the loss o f the
Coliseum subsidy. The Civic Stadi­
um was threatened with closure, and
the Expo Center was showing a prof-
it at the expense o f delayed mainte­
nance and upkeep. The Oregon Con­
vention Center was built with a des­
ignated subsidy from Hotel/Motel
taxes and has been consistent in ex­
ceeding expectations at every turn.
The Portland Center for the Per­
forming Arts was operating in the red
at about 1.1 million a year. When
Harriet Sherburne accepted the posi­
tion o f Manager o f the PCPA she
implemented the business plan for
dealing with the red ink. It called for
cutting costs and deleting programs
that they could survive without, se­
curing more Broadway business and
mega hits, and analyzing the rental
rates.
Sherburne reported to the Com­
mission that instead o f an operating
deficit o f $1.1 million, the PCPA
ended up with a net profit o f almost
$600,000 1995-96. This success was
achieved through the successful man­
agement strategies in the business
plan and a $600,000 contribution
from the H o te l/M o te l tax and
$250,000 from Metro
Sherburne introduced several
members o f the volunteer organiza­
tion at the PCPA. She praised the
volunteers for their help with 1027
events on stages public areas o f the
three facilities o f the PCPA. The
monetary' value o f all the volunteers
fo r 1995-96 is a p p ro x im a te ly
$550,000.
The Oregon Convention Center
showed a bottom I ine profit o f $ 1.9
million in the 1995-96 fiscal year.
Under the continued superb man­
agement o f Jeff Blosser, OCC en­
hanced revenues and cut costs. They
received $4.3 million in Hotel/M o­
tel tax and operated at 74% capacity,
considered full because o f holidays,
load-in and load-out. The Conven­
tion Center was managed in con­
junction with Expo, giving increased
consumer business to Expo and leav-
ing more room for convention space
at the Convention Center.
The Convention Center still needs
more room for conventions and larg­
er shows. It is a victim o f its’ own
success and a feasibility study has
been completed and expansion is
under discussion.
The remarkable management of
the Regional Facilities by the MERC
team u n d e r m an ag er P atrick
LaCrosse is a success story that res­
idents o f the whole region and the
whole state can share. The frugal
husbanding o f public funds and the
spectacularly successful management
of public facilities is a story too often
lost in the bad news.
As former chair of the Metro Coun-
cil Regional Facilities Committee and
present Vice-Chair, I have watched
this process from its’ inception three
years ago, and 1 thought you would
want to know just how successful it
has been.
Civil Rights Journal: Welfare, Work And Wages
by
B ernice P owell J ackson
t is ironic that in 1996;
the year designated by
the United Nations as
the International yearforthe Erad­
ication of Poverty, the United
States Congress and the Presi­
dent of the United States chose
to end our nation's 60-year com­
mitment to be the last resort
provider of food and shelter for
the poor.
It is ironic that we Americans have
chosen to make more children poorer,
sicker and less well fed as the rest ofthe
world re-committed itself to ending
poverty.
The welfare “reform” bill passed by
Congress and signed by President
Clinton is troubling for several rea­
sons. First, welfare will be turned over
to the states as block grants, with only
a small contingency fund for times
when states experience high jobless­
ness. Medical will also be converted to
a block grant, ending guaranteed cov­
erage for children and cutting $72
billion in medical funding over six
j I
years.
Secondly, food programs such as
food stamps and child nutrition pro­
grams have been cut by $26 billion
over six years. States will be able to
choose a food stamp block grant in
place o f the current program.
Thirdly, some 300,000 disabled
children will no longer receive Sup­
plemental Social Security and some
$8 billion in children’s SSI benefits
will be cut over six years. Clearly,
there will be more poor children in this
nation and they will be hungrier and
sicker than before.
But while most Americans agree
that there needs to be massive changes
in the welfare system and that genera­
tions of families should not be on
welfare, many have not realized the
connection between welfare and the
problem ofjobsinthis nation. The lack
o f jobs, the location o f jobs and the
lack o f education and training for jobs
are the real problems which we must
address.
In a recent article in the Sunday
New York Times Magazine, econo­
mist William Julius Wilson points
out that one o f the very real problems
about work in our nation’s inner cit­
ies is that the unski lied or semi-ski lied
jobsonceavailable in innercity com­
munities have either moved out or
have disappeared altogether. Left in
their place are abandoned factories
and warehouses, which often have
become toxic waste dumps or rub­
ble-strewn lots. Many o f the unem­
ployed workers left behind have no
transportation to the jobs now found
in the suburbs and no training for the
information age jobs now hiring. For
many, fast food jobs offering mini­
mum wage and no benefits including
health care, are the only nearby job
options. A family cannot liveon $4.75
an hour and no medical insurance or
child care.
Yet, the welfare reform bill does not
address the need forjob training for the
vast majority o f welfare recipients. It
does not address the fact that many of
these potential workers need intensive
training in the most basic o f work
skills, which most of us take for grant-
ed -- how to do a resume, how to
conduct yourself at an interview, how
to dress, how to manage your time and
budget. It does not address the fact that
many o f the unemployed are illiterate
or only marginally literate in a world of
work which requires not only reading
literacy but computer literacy as well.
Moreover, the welfare reform bills
and our broader economic policies do
not seem to be looking at the larger
problems o f the decreasing number of
jobs in our economy. We have lost 5
million factoryjobs in the pas, 15 years
and at least one economist predicts the
end o f the blue collar job as we know
it by the year 2020. Some 750,000
secretarial jobs have been eliminated
from the economy, never to return.
These jobs losses have enormous im­
pact on the unemployed poor.
Nearly a generation ago Congress­
man Gus Hawkins and Senator Hubert
Humphrey introduced a bill calling for
a Full Employment Economy in this
nation. If we had passed that bill then,
perhaps we would not be in this predic­
ament now.
N/NE neighborhood kids need help
hildren In inner N /N E
neighborhoods
are
reaching out to the
adults in the community. Many
boys ages 7-12 are waiting for an
adult to offer some friendship,
fun times and guidance to help
them grow up today.
I am a Big Sister and I can tell you
it has been the most regarding and
important thing I ever decided to do.
I me, my little sister Robin in 1987
w hen she was abuut 10 ycais old.
Like many kids waiting for a big
brother or sister, Robin lived in a
single parent home and was in need
o f an extra support person from the
community. Robin saw an ad for Big
Brothers/Big Sisters and begged her
mom to “get her one”. She waited
over a year before she was matched
better
w ith me., there sim ply w e re n ’t
enough adults volunteering. That first
phone call was the only time I ever
felt like I was volunteering. We
formed a friendship and I sometimes
offered my guidance and ear when
she wanted to talk things out. But
most o f the times, we just hung out
and did fun things. It is easy to just be
there and care , and that is what kids
need most. We got together once a
week for three or four hours and had
picnics, went lu m ovies, carved
pumpkins for Halloween, wen, bike
ridingand lots o f other simple things.
Today Robin is 18 and on her own in
Florida We still visit each year and
talk on the phone a lot.
I am now the Program Coordina­
tor for the Big Brother/Big Sister
Program a, the Urban League I saw
(3N)itdr
Send your letters to the Editor to:
Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208
firsthand what good it can do to have
a big sister and how much fun it is to
be one, so now I want to provide
these boys and girls with a way to
broaden their life experiences. There
are about 50 boys and 10 girls from
African American homes in N/NE
Portland who have requested an Af­
rican American big brother/sister and
who have been waiting as long as a
year
Please think about volunteering
three hours a week to spend with a
young person in our community.
(Volunteers need to be at least 18
years old, pass a criminal check and
thorough interviewing process in­
cluding a home visit and attend sev­
eral trainings). For inform ation,
please call (503) 280-2657.
Together we can improve the lives
o f children, one child at a time.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lisa Wilson, Big Brothers/Big
Sisters and Urban League o f Port­
land Program.
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r e r s p e e ttv e
S
But who does it take
to raise the village?
ood question! That
thought immediately
came to my mind last
Thursday night during an ex­
change of viewpoints with oth­
er participants on the cable TV
program, “Straight Talk”.
This was an appropriate stage for
voicing such a query since the pro­
gram is a continuing presentation by
a very active community youth orga­
nization ofthe same name
D iverse but
quite relevant
opinions on the
state o f health of
the ed u c a tio n
system and the
impact on its stu-
dent/parent cli­
entele rotated around an equally
diverse panel. The program host
was David Carter, director o f com­
munity affairs for ‘Straight Talk’
and he was joined by co-host,
Samuel A. Johnson, and able re­
placement for Carter who is leaving
soon for a similar position in Den­
ver, Colorado.
Joining me as panelists were Dr
Jeffrey Niess, School District Psy­
chologist for Cam as/W ashougal
Washington, a nationally-recog­
nized consultant and lecturer on
school-child behavior and Ms Sasha
Spencer, a black North Salem H igh
School student. This young lady
made quite an impression on all o f
us with her vigorous and intelligent
presentation o f the student’s posi­
tion in the education process.
Both moderators were quite adept
in their roles and were able to ad­
vance the dialogue by a technique
o f occasionally interchanging their
roles with those o f a panelist. This
was very effective in bringing out
points that were perceived to need
further development—especially in
respect to a viewing audience that
might benefit from a broader explo­
ration o f particular issues.
Now, for that opening question.
The title of Mrs. Hillary Rodham
Clinton’s new book “It Takes a Vil­
lage” has provoked considerable
comment in black commun ities across
the country-but no, necessarily in
the manner intended. “Coopted again’
went the cries of indignation as mil­
lions o f blacks (and many whites)
immediately recognized the age-old
African axiom; "it takes a whole vil­
lage to raise a child.”
I thought the program hosts and
panelists did quite well in structur
ing questions and comments that
uniquely addressed this vital social
concept, it is universally understood
that the “village” approach is an
essential element o f the magnifi­
cent w ork o f M arion W right
Edelman with inner-city children,
"C hildren’s Defense Fund.” She
calls upon us all and many respond.
Spencer, the young student was
quite skilful in the structuring o f her
responses to far-
ranging inquiries
and consistently
By
was able to empha­
Professor
size that holistic
Mcklnley
“village” concept.
Burt
I’m quite sure that
she pleasantly sur­
prised a number o f the viewing au­
dience with her vigorous support o f
a strong parental involvement with
the educational process, and the
identification o f structure as an es­
sential element o f the maturation
process (Really says something for
her parents, doesn’t it?).
Niess, our resident psychologist
for the evening was. o f course kept
busy fielding quite a number ofques-
tions relating to that busy and criti­
cal interface manned by his profes-
sion--an educational hot seat where
students, parents, teacher, behav­
ior, performance, hopes and per­
sonalities can converge to form a
volatile mix. The exposition o f the
actual realities o f h is role were quite
clear and we all gained insight here.
I spoke about my involvement with
the schools and curriculum—over the
years and at various grade levels. I
was able to emphasize two points in
particular, the necessity o f innovat­
ing curriculum that is both interesting
and that relates to real-time process­
ing going on "out in the vi I läge”—that
is, the outside world’ (I’ve brought
in engineers, ranchers, bankers and
carpenters).
In this first instance I gave ac­
count o f my award-winning math
and communication demonstrations
in The Dalles, O regon-em phasiz-
ing that this was 30 years ago and I
was still trying to get school people
to understand that they are just now
‘nibbling a, the edges’ ofwhat I was
doing with computers in 1966 in
elementary school classrooms. I also
got to make my point about more
involvement o f the “Community
College;” eveiybody’s not a four-
vear nerson!
(Liu' JjJortlatth (Observer
(USES 959-680) Established in 1970
Charles Washington
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Portland Observador
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Photography
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lesha Williams
Production & Design
Contributing Writers:
Professor McKinley Burt
Lee Perlman
Pamela Jordan
4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.,
Portland, Oregon 97211
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