Volume X X V I, N um ber 45
Committed to cultural divi
Albina Youth
Opportunity
School guest
writer
1
M ike Lindberg
retires
F- Â 1
1
Long time public servant
and Commissioner Mike
Lindberg will retire this
December 31.
See Observador inside, page B2.
L
M rs . F r a n r e s S c h o e n -N e w s p
Un i v e r s i t v o f O re g o n L i b r
E u a e n e . Ur e a o n
N ovem ber 6, 1996
Ashford & Simpson
join Maya Angelou
The three collaborated on
an album that could only
be titled “Be Found”.
See Metro, page B5.
See Arts & Entertainment, page B6.
(Che
Clinton wins re-election
IN
REVIEW,
Dole, Perot
concede
defeat
resident Bill Clinton won re-elec­
tion to a second term as The Port­
land Observer went to press No­
vember 5th. Bob Dole, the Republican
nominee, was never a serious threat and
epublican Bob Dole, and Inde­
national attention focused on key Senate
pendent Ross Perot, Tuesday
and House races early In the evening.
formally conceded defeat to
Exit polls showed that 67% o f the electorate
President Clinton In the U.S. election.
felt that Senator Dole would not be able to cut
Dole said he had telephoned Clinton to
taxes and balance the budget as he had prom­
congratulate him. Dole told cheering sup­
ised, 58% felt that he did not understand the
porters at a hotel in Washington: “ It hurts to
problems the country was facing, and only 12%
lose an election, but stay involved and keep
felt that he had a vision for the future. In
fighting the good tight.” Echoing a statement
contrast, 77% o f voters surveyed believed that
he made throughout his campaign, he added:
President Clinton has such a vision, a point
“ I ’m still the most optimistic man in Am eri­
which he apparently successfully articulated
ca He said he plans to rest fora few days and
throughout the campaign.
then stand up for what he thinks is right for
President Clinton also won the women's
America. He drew a laugh when he said: “ I
vote by a significant margin. 54% to 31% for
was just thinking on the w ay down the stairs
Senator Dole.
that tomorrow will be the first day in my life
Projections at press time suggested that Re­
when I don 't have anything to do.” Dole had
publicans would continue to control the U S
been in Congress for 35 years when he re­
Senate and would probably the House o f Repre­
signed as Senate majority leader in May.
sentatives, but at 7:30 P S I . Democrats were
Reform Party candidate Ross Perot
showing a net gain o f five I louse seats East o f the
shrugged o ff his crushing defeat in the
M ississippi with good prospects for more gains
presidential race Tuesday night. But he
in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast states.
vowed to "clim b back in the ring” to keep
Lo cally, the biggest news was a controver­
lighting his battle fora balanced budget and
sial and possibly slanderous political advertise­
campaign finance reform. "W e have to
ment that Republican candidate B ill Witt aimed
keep the pressure on.” Perot told hundreds
at Congresswoman Elizabeth Furse. The last-
o f disappointed supporters in downtown
minute ad purchased by Mr. Witt suggested that
Dallas on Tuesday night. Perot said he
Congresswoman Furse used political influence
would back President Clinton and C o n ­
to obtain a home loan several years ago.
gress all the w ay” ifthey push through the
Congresswoman Furse filed a slander suit
reforms he has campaigned for. Perot won
against Mr. Witt in response on Monday, No­
19 percent o f the popular vote in his inde­
vember 4. Mr. Witt defended the allegations in
pendent bid for the White House in 1992
the ad but conceded that he had no proof and
but he failed to inspire angry or indepen­
was relying on the statement o f a person whom
dent voters this time around.
he would not identify.
P
NAFEO takes the lead
R
The National Association for Equal Op­
portunity in Higher Education (N A F E O )
has received a grant from the Centers for
Disease Control to help educate Black
college students about the dangers o f H I V
N A F E O w ill develop a system for higher
education policy and decision-m aking de­
signed to support programs that prevent
infection among college students. A ID S is
the sixth cause o f death among 15-24-
year-olds in the United States. African
Americans and Latinos together account
for nearly 50 percent o f all A ID S cases
today.
Joycelyn Elders’
autobiography
During her tenure as surgeon general.
Dr. Joycelyn Elders, M .D. created a storm
ofcontroversy with her forthright, in-your-
face, tell-it-like-it-is viewpoints. She will
surely never be forgotten, writes The M ich­
igan Chronicle. In "Joycelyn Elders, M .D:
From Sharecroppers Daughter to Surgeon
General o f the United States o f Am erica",
she shares the story o f her extraordinary
life, the roots o f her values and the evolu­
tion o f her ideas,and reveals the behind-
the-scenes machinaions that led to her fir­
ing from the office o f surgeon general.
Presently, Dr. Elders is professor o f pedi­
atrics at the University o f Arkansas Med­
ical School.
United States President William Jefferson Clinton
Repression keeps award
winner anonymous
look Drive Helps South African Students
A Sudanese human rights activist w ill
receive the Robert F. Kennedy Human
rights Award, but the identities o f the re­
cipient and the groups with which the
laureate works are being kept secret amid
fears Khartoum w ill seek out and punish
them, reports IPS. This is the first time the
W ash in gto n , D C .-b a s e d R o b e rt F.
Kennedy Memorial Center for Human
Rights has had to give the award anony­
mously, since it was launched 13 years
ago. The award carries a $30,000 cash
prize ana w ill be presented Nov. 20 in a
Capitral H ill ceremony.
he hardest part about studying
businessmen, faculty and Superintendent of
for an exam in South African
Guilford County Schools, Jerry Weast were
townships is locating a text­
on hand to present the textbooks.
book. Many students must share one
“ We have great hurdles to overcome and
book with more than 50 classmates.
this book drive w ill help,” said Carter. “ We
Soon there w ill be more textbooks to go
don’t have enough schools to hold students and
around in the townships, thanks to a 60,000
o f the schools we do have, many are without
pound shipment o f books scheduled to go
books and proper learning materials.”
overseas this week from Greensboro, N .C .
The South A frica Book Project began in
The books were presented to Dr. Ron
1993 and has been successful in the shipment
Carter, Dean o f Students o f South A frica ’s
o f thousands o f books to impoverished and
Witwatersrand University last week. Local
under-educated children in South Africa.
T
“ When a concerned teachei told me that
used textbooks were being destroyed instead
o f recycled, we knew we could do better,”
said Robert Brown, chairman o f B & C A sso­
ciates. Together with a number o f local busi­
ness associates and Guilford County Schools,
Brown pulled together efforts to collect used
books for countries in need.
The South Africa book project has grown
rapidly in a short time Tw o U .S. Corpora­
tions have been in the forefront o f this effort,
Sara Lee Corporation and first Union Corpo­
ration. They have partnered to assist with
gathering the books, transportation costs and
storage and distribution once the books ar­
rive in South Africa.
Avroy Shlain, a subsidiary o f Sara Lee
Corporation, located in South A frica has also
been instrumental in providing company
trucks to pick up and deliver books to schools,
satellite libraries and universities once they
arrive in South Africa.
Sara Lee is the leading U.S. multinational
now operating in South Africa.
Has the government declared war on Black America?
South Africans live
“Jim Crow” style
During Aparteid, the South African au­
thorities carefully housed Blacks and whites
as far from each other other as possible,
reports IP S B lacks lived in areas called
locations” as if to emphasize their ano­
nymity, while whites lived in the suburbs.
This is one legacy o f Aparteid that may
never be undone. A s government im­
proves housing, it is doing so in those long
established settlements. The fertile, prime
land still belongs to the rich, white farmers,
while the government only owns some 26
percent o f the surface area.
Lagos police criticized
When the Lagos State government set
up a special police unit in 1995 to respond
q uickly to rising crime, residents heaved a
sigh o f relief, reports IP S. Lagos Stare
O fficial statistics show that between 1990
and 1994, 123 police and 276 civilians
were killed by armed robbers nationwide.
During the same period, 3,613 suspected
armed robbers were arrested and 532 killed,
some 7,538 armed robberies were report­
ed during the same period and more than
50 percent o f the incidences occurred in
Lagos State. Now, a year later, “Operation
Sweep” has turned into a nightmare, not
just for criminals, but for law-abiding cit­
izens, according to some human rights
acivists here.
ony Brown's Journal, one of the
scheme to introduce crack cocaine to raise
nation’s longest-running televi­
money to fight communism while devastat­
sion series, will examine the
ing American communities.
controversy surrounding the allegation
The C IA denies any involvement and
that the CIA played a role In launching
mainstream news organizations such as The
the crack-cocaine epidemic in the inner
Washington Post and The Lo s Angeles Tim es
cities of the United States, the week of
reported that there is no evidence to support
November 8-14.
a C IA role or master plan to traffic drugs in
This story reached national notoriety when
South Central Lo s Angeles in 1983.
the San Jose Mercury News began publish­
However, P B S commentator Tony Brown
ing a series alleging that the origins o f the
examines the charges and the relationship
crack cocaine epidemic among inner-city
between the federal government and Black
B lacks was started by two Nicaraguans. The
Am erica within a broader historical frame­
article stated that the Nicaraguans raised
work.
m illio n so fd o llars for the C I A ’s contra army
“ I f the al legations about a CIA-sponsored
in Nicaragua by selling large quantities o f
crack-cocaine epidemic that wrecked entire
cocaine to a South Central L o s Angeles dope
B lack communities in the 80s and 90s are
pusher who converted it into crack. The
true, it could represent the continuation o f a
implication was that the C IA was aware o f a
government policy that began in 19 17,” says
T
Tony Brown.
Using documentation that he gathered for
his book B lack Lies, White Lies: The Truth
According T o Tony Brown (W illiam Mor­
row & Com pany), Brown examines the M il­
itary In te llige n ce D iv isio n s cam paign
against B lack American during W W I. This
domestic spy network was the largest ever
assembled in a free country.
It is documented that this government
intelligence against B lacks continued into
the 1960s, and perhaps beyond.
Brown noted that when the spy network
was organized in 1917, President Woodrow
W ilson and the government assumed that
because B lacks were discriminated against,
they would not be loyal to America during
times o f war.
I his dom estic intelligence operation
served as a forerunner o f the C O IN T E L P R O
FB I-led counter-insurgency program o f the
1960s, and perhaps others.
Brown examines the connection between
the Arm y’s spy network and the U .S. intelli­
gence com m unity’s surveillance o f Malcolm
X and Martin Luther K in g , Jr He reports
that m ilitary leaders m obilized and d is­
patched troops, including snipers, and scout­
ed 124 cities as war zones in preparation for
an outbreak o f war with B lack Am erica, led
by Martin Luther K in g, in Ap ril 1968, the
month K in g was assassinated.
A lso examined is the infamous Tuskagee
Experiment, a study in which government
agencies, the U .S Public I lealth Service and
the Centers For Disease Control and Preven­
tion, used B lack men as nonconsenting guin­
ea pigs in a syphilis experiment.
Urban League seeks nominees for “Equal Opportunity Award”
he Urban League of Portland is
ness, government, education, the media, non
seeking nominees for its Equal
profits and community organizations W in­
Opportunity Award, which will
ners are chosen for their success in opening
be presented to one or more individuals
doors for others and the furthering the
at the agency's Equal Opportunity Day
League’s mission, which is to “assist African
Dinner on February 27, 1 9 9 7 .
Americans and others in the achievement o f
The award is presented each year to local
parity and economic self-sufficiency.”
individuals who have worked to promote the
Past award winners have included Rep
concept o f equal opportunity for all. Up to
Avel G ordly, Tony Hopson, and Gerald
three awards may be presented.
McFadden ( 1996); Dr. V ivian Bull and Jaki
Past winners have included people in busi­
W alker (1995); Ed Jensen, Edna Robertson
T
and Fred Stickel (1994); Marsha Congdon
and Carl I alton ( 1993); G ladys M cCoy, Dr
Mathew Prophet and Rev. Rodney Page
(1992); and Vern Ryles and Sam Brooks
(1991).
The award is presented to individuals rath­
er than organizations, since the Urban League
believes the award should recognize individ­
ual talents and achievements.
Nomination forms are available from
Michael Pullen (280-2615) at the Urban
League Completed
at the Urban I cage
at 5 pm. Award wi
the Urban League I
The Urban Lea
profit, community
nomic and social |
and families, stud
niors in the metro
115 local afliliat
League.
EDITORIAL
HOUSING
FAMILY
RELIGION
OBSERVADOR
A2
METRO
A4
ARTS & ENT.
A5
A6
BI
B5
B6
>rms must be received
Friday, November 8
rs w ill be selected by
rd o f Directors,
o f Portland is a non-
1 human service, eco-
igency serving youth
job seekers, and se-
I he League is one o f
f the National Urban
ASSIFIEDS
B7