P age A 2 S eptember 2 5 , 1996 • T he P ortland O bserver ; j" ....... f" v ; .......... 1 / 1 j 5 A 7 J / hat is our vision tonight? Just look around. This publicly-financed United C e n te r is a new Chicago mountaintop. To the South. C om iskey Park, another mountain. To the West, Cook ' C ounty Jail, with its 11,000 mostly youthful inmates. Betw een these three mountains lies the canyon. O nce C am pbell’s Soup was in this canyon Sears was there, and Zenith, Sunbeam, the stock- yards. There were jo b s and industry w here now there is a canyon o f w el­ fare and despair. This canyon exists in virtually every city in America. As we gather here tonight: ♦ 1/5 o f all A m ericanchildrenw ill go to b ed in poverty, ♦ 1/2 o f all A frican Am erican chil­ dren are grow ing up am idst broken sidew alks, broken cities, broken N A. ' / 1 i / j/j ..... J L 1 I I () N À r™ Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily Reflect Or Represent The Views Of ¿A 1 \ 1 t H e M '»* (The JIortLnnb © bscruer f W MW A. I . Now that we have ended welfare as we know it, we must provide jo b s and jo b training and education and day care as we ought to know it The passage o f the welfare bill creates a moral im perative to provide a job with a living w age for every man and w o m en in A m e ric a T h a t w as R oosevelt’s dream , and Dr. K ing’s. W hat is our obligation to the peo­ ple in the canyon? First, we must claim and reclaim our children We must lift our children up, not lock them up. Instead o f three strikes and y o u ’re out, we must have four balls and y o u ’re on. In the canyon, we must have a plan to rebuild and redeem our cities, to reinvest in A m erica. After W orld W ar II, we helped rebuild Germ any- -the M arshall Plan. We helped re­ build J a p a n -th e M acA rthur Plan. Now, we must rebuild America. R xdhubw ( ( ) /X I I O N The moral center dream s; ♦ The # I grow th industry in ur­ ban A m erica—ja ils; ♦ 1/2 o f a ll the p u b lic housing built in this nation during the last deca d e—ja ils, ♦ The top 1% w ealthiest A m eri­ cans ow n as m uch as the bottom 95% —the greatest inequality since the !920s We must seek a new moral cen­ ter... Last week, over the objections o f many D em ocratic Party leaders, and the opposition o f m illions o f A m eri­ cans, Franklin R oosevelt’s six-de­ cade guarantee o f support for women and children was abandoned. On this issue, many o f us differed with the president. Patrica Ireland and I even picketed the W hite House. But we can disagree and debate and still work together. D iversity is the measure o f this p arty ’s strength; how we handle adversity, the m ea­ sure o f our character... C ivil Rights Journal: Churches still burning by B ernice P owell J ackson <”^ i | guess I shouldn’t have 'Jj been surprised when O" even the “ lib e ra l” press began questioning the burnings of black churches. O nce again my desperate desire that this nation begin to talk about and deal with the racism which is a part oflife in America had outweighed my ow n cum ulative life experience. Far too many A m ericans still are w illing to deny what they see on videotapes, what they live in their own commun ities and what they know in their own hearts to be the case — racism is still alive and w ell in A m er­ ica. Black churches are still burning in this nation, although it is no longer on the front pages (or back pages, for that m atter) o f our new spapers or on the nightly television news. But in churches burned: tw o in Arkansas, two in A labam a and one each in M ississippi, South C arolina and Tex­ as. A ccording to USA T oday, which has done the most in depth and on­ going co v erag e o f the burnings, “ Black churches in the South contin­ ue to bum at the sam e rapid rate that pushed the arsons to the top o f the national agenda one m onth ago. The pace o f the arsons - m ore than one a week - guarantees that 1996 will be the worst year for Black church ar­ sons in this decade.” Nevertheless, the Wall Street Jour­ nal and A tlantic M onthly have im­ pelled in recent articles that the burnings have been used by the N a­ tional Council o f C hurches to raise dollars for itself and that there is no real conspiracy o f w hite suprem acist groups and that therefore we should not be overly concerned about what Both o f these assum ptions are d angerous and both o f them are wrong. As the scope o f the church fires began to be known in early 1996, the N ational Council o f Churches, an ecum enical organization com posed o f 32 Protestant and O rthodox d e­ nom inations, focused its efforts in reaching out to those churches which had been burned. It was only natural that these denom inations work to ­ gether rather than individually on this issue and they were joined by C atholics, Jew s and M uslims. The NCC also worked together with the C enter for Dem ocratic Re­ newal and the C enter for C onstitu­ tional Rights to investigate the fires. They have found that there have been 75 arson attacks on black churches from January I, 1995 through July 3 1 ,1 9 9 6 , more than double the num- flve years com bined. W hile there have been a sim ilar num ber o f w hite churches burned during that tim e period, since A frican Am ericans are only 12 percent o f the population, proportionately four times as many black churches are burning. In addition, they have docum ent­ ed case after case where there was spray-painting o f racist graffiti, use o f m olotov cocktails and other in­ cendiary devices, vandalism and tar­ geting o f churches with a history o f strong advocacy for African A m eri­ can rights, including death threats and racist insults by phone at night and by mail. At least 13 o f the fires since Jan u ­ ary 1990 have taken place around M artin Luther King, J r.’s birthday. They have found evidence o f racist motivation in the m ajority o f cases, with several clearly connected to The value of politeness to t s K icardo S t a n t o n here is a South African proverb that says, "a polite mouth can open doors." Unfortunately, It seems that polite, well-mannered and gracious has become passe. African people are being duped into thinking that having constant attitude is hip, the thing to do and the way to be. I ’m sorry, that’s not the way I was raised. It is not what we are about as a people. How could our ancestors create fab­ ulous civilizations, invent ethics, mo­ rality', art, science and religion in a climate o f disrespect and debauchery? They couldn't! What are the discern­ ible social rewards o f being rude, dis­ respectful, overly demonstrative and emotionally out o f control? There is a whole generation o f Africans in Amer­ ica whose cultural icons are gangstas, ruffnecks and hoochies! What does that bode for us as a people? T he fact o f the matter is being po­ lite, well-mannered and socially re­ sponsible is an African trait. What we call Black Southern folkways, speak­ ing to everyone, looking out for one another, being generous, hospitable, respecting our elders, callingeach oth­ er cousin, uncle or aunt, are carry overs from our African cultural traditions Being crude and boorish is not an African virtue! Being loud and vulgar is not the African way. Being disre­ sp e c tfu l, d is c o u rte o u s an d foul mouthed is neither African nor hip! We really need to check ourselves on this. We have bought into a cultural stereotype that is alien to everything we have ever been about in our long and glorious existence on this planet. Politeness and mutual respect are African traits. On an extrem ely prac­ tical level, politeness is a social lu­ bricant. It m akes living easy and aids in in terp erso n al rela tio n sh ip s A pleasant courteous m anner is an as­ set People respond in kind to genu­ inely m annerly and respectful treat ment. So in effect, a gracious attitude and a polite m anner will open doors for you. T hey will help you get what you need from people w ho are in a position to assist you. O f course you must be m entally alert, prepared, confident and teachable once you step across the threshold or else your m anners are all for naught. Many a successful person has advanced or put him or h erself in a position to be noticed merely by beingcordial, cour­ teous and polite. In an era where selfishness and vulgarity are ram ­ pant, w here profanity is the norm and crassness is tolerated, a w ell-m an­ nered, polite and astute person will set him self above the crowd. Life is about interpersonal rela­ tionships. The great paradox o f liv­ ing is, we com e in by ourselves and go out alone, but in between those two points we are forced to learn how to get along with our com panions on this big blue ball we call Earth. The m ore skilled we are in creating a win- win scenario, the more successful we will become. T he greatest genius alive is unable to accom plish much all by him or herself O ne has to be able to rally and galvanize people to support o n e ’s ideas, plans and efforts ifone is to be successful. It's that simple. For the most part, kinder, more courteous and better prepared you are. the better your chances o f securing support and accomplish ingy our goals. So you see, our A frican ancestors knew the key to interpersonal relationships and how to be successful. You should expect this from the first people, those who demonstrated the social acumen and the technology to create the first great civilizations on this planet. If we are to duplicate the achieve­ m ents o f our ancestors and there is no reason to think we c a n ’t (their genius is in our genetic code), we will have to reassess how we interact with one another Cohesion and unity are en ­ hanced by mutual respect, kindness and co-operation. Before we can do anything great we must com e togeth­ er, w ork together in harm ony and shared mutual interests. T he glue that will hold it all together is love, m utu­ al respect, a consensus o f what is best for us, while being polite. By being polite I’m not talking about the fa­ cade o f civility that E uropeans use w hile they are stabbing each other in the back I’m talking about having genuine com passion and mutual re­ spect for one another. O nce we reori­ ent ourselves to proper values, m o­ tives and behaviors, nothing will be im possible for us. It all begins in loving ourselves, treating ourselves with respect, tenderness and dignity . In other w ords being polite. O nce we do this the doors o f success will fling open for us. Tobacco industry speaks on the health of Oregon by A .N d 1/ a X n nthony B i g l a n , P i i .D ., T ■ llxJ homas M. V Wi og t , M .D . atch out Oregonians! Here comes the tobacco I industry. T h ey ’re going to spend $6 million dol lars to con vince you to vote against Ballot M easure 44 Y ou w o n 't be able to turn on the television, tune in the radio, or pick up a new spaper w ithout being exposed to tobacco co m p an y p ro p ag an d a ab o u t how awful M easure 44 is. M ake you w onder w hat M easure 44 is about? Well it concerns health So no w onder the tobacco com panies are interested in it They w ant to protect O regonians' health! Right? If you believe that, w e have a bridge we could sell you. M easure 44 w ould raise about $67 m i 11 ion per year for the Oregon Health Plan. T h a t's the innovative health insurance program that w as devel­ oped by Republicans and Dem ocrats w orking together This nationally recognized program makes health insurance available to thousands o f Oregonians w ho used to go without it it has been credited with significantly reducing welfare roles. as welfare recipients find that they can leave welfare and still have health care for their children. So w hy is the tobacco industry opposed to M easure 44? W ell, M ea­ sure 44 w ould also raise about $7.5 m illion a year for program s to pre­ vent young people from becom ing addicted to tobacco. And, it would put a thirty cent a pack tax on ciga- rettes—still less than it is in the State o f W ashington. T he T obacco Industry will tell you it is a TAX and hope that is enough to convince you to vote against it. But here isa ta x that makes a big contribution to the health o f O regonians while reducing the w el­ fare roles. T he tobacco com panies will tell you that sm okers sh o u ld n 't have to pay for other people’s health care costs. But, in O regon, about $63 m illion o fy o u r public m oney is spent each year on health care for sm oking related illness. The tax will ju st about pay for the public cost o f smoking. M ost sm okers want to quit. They rea lize th a t sm o k in g k ills ab o u t 450,000 people each year in this coun­ try—m ore than are killed by auto ac­ cidents. alcohol use, drug overdoses. and AID S com bined. M easure 44 will help to prevent these deaths by preventing young people from taking up smoking. Ac­ cording to the 1994 Surgeon G ener­ a l’s report, increasing the cost o f tobacco keeps many kids from be­ com ing addicted. About 3000 kids a day start smoking. About 1000 o f them will eventually die o f smoking- related illness. We d o n 't w ant to ban smoking but we d o n ’t w ant to encourage it or subsidize it either. About 9 0 % o f smokers begin when they are children oradolescents. That is no accident. The tobacco industry spends about 6 billion a year m arket­ ing their product and much o f that S ubscribe to goes for hooking our children Studies published in the Journal o f the Am erican M edical A ssocia­ tion show that cigarette advertising is very effective with kids. M ore than 90% o f 6 year olds recognized the Joe Camel logo. In fact, am ong 3 to 6 year olds, Joe Camel was second only to Mickey M ouse in the num ber o f kids who recognized it. A study in C alifornia show ed that more teens than adults recognized Joe Camel and that it isyoung people, not adults, who are influenced to smoke C am ­ els. The tobacco industry isn’t in this for your health. They realize that their business will be hurt if they c a n ’t recruit young people to smoke. 3Hje jU o rtia n it(O bstruer I he Portland Observer Can He Sent Directly To Your Home For O nly $30.00 Per Year. Please F ill Out, Enclose Check O r Mone> Order, And M ail To Si BSCRIPTIONS T he P o r ti a n d O bserver ; PO B ox 3137 P o r tland , O regon 97208 Name;____________ ' __________ _________ Address: _ City, State:____ Zip-Code:____ I'» V»i F or R i yding T he P ortland O bserver p e r s p e c Z / r e s Northeast 'village’ echoes 31 am able to report a few positives for a change. 1 And beyond that, many villagers even place a positive spin on the rash of education negatives in the daily press: “Finally, the ‘ruling powers' see that unless the deterioration of the education system is halted, economic chaos will soon fol­ low.” Taking the lat­ ter case first, it does seem that one group ofnortheast readers in particu­ lar do have some su p p o rtin g e v i­ dence for that position. After gra­ ciously acknowledging the “perti­ nence” o f my references to the “im­ portance o f the village in raising a child” (Cable TV program. “Straight Talk.'' September 12), the group cit­ ed a list o f negative headline that pretty well matched my own tiles (alI in the last 30 days). “Corral I ing C lass S ize—Oregon ’ s schools: Treading W ater—A chieve­ ment G ap R em ains-A II Students W ant Is A Room S o m ew h ere-R e- port Raps Q uality O f T eaching In U .S.—Battle Loom s O ver Merit Pay For Teachers—Bridging The Chasm -B la c k s. H ispanics U nite On Stu­ dent N eeds—Suit Resists O regon School R eform s—B lack L eaders Ask For School A ccountability." A parent continues, “ I could go on ad in fin itu m -o r should it be ad n a u s e u m ? M a y b e e v e n ad absurdum , if there is such a word. In any case, I rem em ber that ar- tic le by Rachael Perry o fth e O rego­ nian staff, ‘Schools plunge ahead in new year o f tough ch o ices.' I thought then, ‘p lu n g e’ is the word- right over a precipice.” W ell, from my con v ersatio n s with the ‘villagers’ there seem s a consensus that “th ings are approach- ing an ignition point—som ething is going to happen and soon.” I’m sure th ey 're right, if only because I nally hear this w here the ‘clo u t’ resides—within my own organiza­ tion, "A ssociated O regon Indus­ trie s” . N ot w ith m e p erso n ally (sm iles), but with the type o f pro­ gressive entrepreneurs o f the type who have fallen in behind som e o f 1. Î my innovative techniques. Bring me to their schools. Now th at's positive; 25 or 30 years late, but positive. After all had dem onstrated my version o fth e internet in classroom s that early on using W estern Electric equipm ent (T eletypes) and Bell T elephone Com pany ‘conditioned lines’ be tween cities (And have pictures and letters from telephone execu tives to prove it) By I made that com Professor ment in a speech Mcklnley to a group o f par Burt ents and a man spoke up, "Y eah and G ranville E. W oods, a black engineer invented the autom atic air brake named for W estinghouse. The speaker, white, had m ade a telling point and the audience, rath­ er evenly divided between black w hite and H ispanic parents and grandparents, understood perfect­ ly. It had created quite a stir when I got then-O regon Senator, W ayne M orse to pry loose from the U.S Patent office a copy o f the transfer o f the air brake patent from the black engineer G ranville W oods to the W estinghouse Corporation (pur­ chase price unknown). That had been a couple o f d e­ cades earlier and I em phatically made the point in those days that not only had the white pow er struc ture refused to acknow ledge the tai ented black engineers who made major contributions to the industri­ al revolution—but that yet today we had black people o fth e same regret­ table m indset (it was only recently that the G eneral Electric Com pany had to step in and buy the birthplace o f th e b lack e lec trica l g en iu s Howard E. Latimer—to prevent it from being dem olished for a park­ ing lo t-w h o is to care if* w e’ d o n ’t?). The meeting went positive from there and reference was made to my comments on the television program about the essential role o f grandpar­ ents in the ‘village’ process. It turned out several people in the audience knew the “Chin family”, featured in the Sunday O regonian for Septem ber 15; “The Chinese honor the village concept like the A fricans.” better Ua TT/zc (Sedi tar Send your letters to the Editor to: Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208