P age A2_________________________________________________________________________ ________ __ _______________________ N ovember 13, 1996 • T he P ori land O bserver
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Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily
Reflect Or Represent The View's O f •
(Elje ^Jortlaxth © bseruer
/
n January 7, 1 9 9 5 , Rev
erend Jesse Jackson and
the N ational Rainbow
Coalition struck the first blow of
resistan ce to the brand-new
Gingrich Congress.
Think back to those heady days
for the right-wing extremists: Presi
dent Clinton was in retreat; the media
was in the thrall o f the new leader o f
the House. New, Gingrich, who had
ridden a supposed tidal wave o f right-
w in g
support
into
pow er.
Progressives were despondent. Dem
ocrats were depressed, and the Con
tract On America was Newt’s blue
print for a conservative counter-rev
olution.
Jesse Jackson at that point did
what he always does--he fought back.
The Rainbow called a meeting o f our
progressive allies to plan our resis
tance—N O W , labor, students, the
NEA.environmentalists.church lead
ers, Latino activists, gay and lesbian
groups, Asian and Native American
Leaders.
In the midst of progressive de
spair, the Rainbow released a state-
home
men, which expressed our refusal to
go quietly into that dark night:
“ This season o f hostility and re
treat from American values w ill be
short-lived and resisted B e ve come
together this weekend, we ’ve gath
ered, we vecaucused, we ve listened
to each other.... JFe 've discussed leg
islative, legal, grassroots, electoral,
public education and media strate
gies.
“ We have analyzed the Republi
can contract At its core, it is a state
ment to Americans that—in the new
global economy—they are on their
own.
“At a tune when corporations are
tearing up the old contract to pro-
vide secure jobs, with decent wages,
health care and pensions: at a time
when A merican workers need a level
playingfield, and watch as corpora
tions ship jo b s rather than goods
abroad: at a time when the economy
is growing, but wages are declining,
and poverty and hunger are spread
ing—rad ica l conservatives say gov
ernment can do little but give more
tax breaks to the corporations and
the wealthiest Am ericans
“ This is not acceptable, and w ill
be resisted. . Let us begin by target
ing 50 Congressional districts—and
organize to register people to vote,
educate them on what their vote
means, and mobilize them to vote. I f
each o f us act in a coordinatedfash
ion, we can make certain that radical
conservatives experience the term
limits they prom ised but w ill not
pass .
“There was no tidal wave: it was
that our walls were low.
Fast forward to 11/96. Thanks to
the work o f all our allies, president
Clinton has been re-elected, the first
Democrat since F D R to win the
honor.
The Contract On Am erica has
been torn up by the voters, and the
ch ief contractor spent the last 3
months o f the election in hiding.
And though Newt G ingrich did
manage to cling to his majority by a
very slim vote in 10 toss-up districts,
his margin o f control has been cut in
half, his mandate has been repealed,
and the voters have told the right-
w ing extrem ists to behave like
adults.
While we did not get all the way
home on Tuesday, we did fight back
hard enough to get part- way there.
L.et us never forget that. Partial victo
ries count, too.
4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.,
Portland, Oregon 97211
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More steps beyond the net
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s we wind up this “NET
and Cyberspace” series
(for now), I am gratified
to see th a t a number of parents
and students remember th a t I
was out there early on with some
valuable information which oth
ers are only now revealing.
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T hank Yot F or R eading T he P orti . and O bserver
Reform or repeal?
Letter to the Editor:
The Congressional Welfare “ Re
form" B ill signed into law by Pres
ident Clinton is really Welfare re
peal. The bill wipes out the 6 1 year
old safety net o f federal aid to adults
and children left behind by the cap
italist system The feds w ill now
send a few dollars, with rio mandate
that they be used for welfare bene
fits, to financially strapped states
that may or may not use the money
fairly and wisely. Meanwhile the
real welfare queens, multi-national
corporations, make o ff with billions
o f tax dollars through loopholes,
subsidies and giveaways.
The bill pushes millions o f wom
en with small children into subsi
dized minimum wage jobs so far
below the poverty level that they’d
still qualify for food stamps if the
bill didn't cut them o ff after three
months. In Oregon, for example,
the “Jobs Plus" Program w ill pick
up the tab for minimum wages, so
cial security, unemployment insur
ance, and Workers’ Compensation
premiums for six months. The em
ployer gets free labor and is not
obligated to move tty: person to an
unsubsidized jo b when the six
months ends. He could simply re
place that person with another free
worker.
This appalling creation o f an un
skilled, subsidized work force has
nothing to do with “ Personal Re
sponsibility and Work Opportuni
ty” as the b ill’s title states. It is
union-busting, intended to under
cut organized labor Welfare recip
ients are temporarily unemployed
workers who seldom need assis
tance for more than a couple o f
years. Unions should jo in them in
demanding an end to the corporate
welfare state and to protest this sham.
Welfare funding should be used for
genuine job,raining, education pro
grams and childcare, so welfare re
cipients can apply for living wage
jo b s when they re-enter the
workforce.
Add the Welfare B ill to the list o f
anti-worker legislation brought to
us by the Democrats and Republi
cans, who already gave us N A F T A
and G A T T . It's time for all workers
and our unions to join the newly
formed Labor Party and fight back
against the twin parties o f big busi
ness.
Sincerely, M arjorie Sandoz
Oregon Athletic Club
Letter to the Editor:
Hope all is going well for you; I
can definitely see your touch in the
Observer! Though I'm sure you're
not a bit short o f news or features,
I've come across something that
may be o f interest, particularly to
East Portland
Oregon Athletic Club, virtually
across the street from Madison High
School has a very interesting back
ground as well as being extremely
valuable to young athletes today. It
is home to Cobra Wrestling and
draws hopefuls to its annual camp
from all over the U .S. I, also has one
o f the three larges, indoor swim
ming pools in Oregon and is often
used by local youth swim teams for
practice and coaching
The owner, Marc Sprague (ph:
254-5546) is very accessible and
has had the club f o r about 25
years.
I
In the same vein, a reader remem
bers that “about 12 years ago you did
a program on channel 12 featuring
the ‘Empire Style o f Furniture- de
scribed in las, week’s article - Jackie
Kennedy installed it in the Red Room
at the White House.
And you displayed an ‘Empire
Style ’ chair that had been sent over
by the furniture department o f the
Meier and Frank store. We were for
tunate enough to get a copy o f the
tape from the station and now show it
to our grandchildren (and neigh
bors).”
T h is African style o f furniture and
dress that Napoleon’s Egyptian ex
pedition brought back to europe was
paralleled in its impact on the world
by the Scientific and mathematical
knowledge recovered—A second ‘re
naissance’ : projective geometry, the
“golden section” , Fibonacci series,
geometric city planning, astronomy,
etc. (see Tompkins, “Secrets o f the
Great Pyramids", Harper & Row).
In the particular case o f the “em
pire Style' furniture (the same as
later found in K in g T u t’s Tom b),
Nopoleon's expedition crew (loot
ers) which included scientists, as
tronomers, mathematicians, artists
and surveyors, also brought back
s
p
e
c
4000 year-old examples o f African
tools and technology-specifically,
the wood-turning lathe and the mor
tise and tenon joint. Illustrations o f
the Egyptian technology may be seen
in editions of. Furniture In The Mod-
ern world.”
I am taking more space than
planned for this segment but had a
much larger response than expected
—e sp e cially from the Bend and
Ashland areas where I have had loyal
readers since the 1970’s when I did
Black History workshops there as
part o f the U .S. Fores, Service mul
ticultural programs. Some o f the
schools and curriculums in these ar
eas are further advanced than Port-
land’s-to the surprise o f many.
Let me give several other citations
for general interest or for those pre
paring lesson plans, “The New Ency
clo p e d ia o f Furn itu re ” , Joseph
Aronson, Crown, 1967; “ The Art o f
Furniture: 5000 years o f Furniture
and In te rio rs,” O le W anscher,
Reinhold. 1988. This latter book has
photographs o f the advanced A fri
can designs we call “modern”-fo ld -
ing chairs, chaise lounges, intricate
cabinetry, woven seats, gold leaf
overlay, ivory inlay, etc., most 5000
years old (Tut Exhibit).
t
i
And we find this relevant com
ment on page 7 of, Egypt the Black
Land, Pau! Jordan, E .P Dutton,
1976'. “ In encumbering his forces
with this body o f serious scholars,
Napoleon was harnessing the aims o f
the late eighteenth century philoso
phers and scientists... who wanted to
rationalize all human knowledge”
(and expand the new Louvre Muse
um).
It would be appropriate at this
point to comment on wha, I referred
to several weeks ago as “problem
area” in my attempts to get an ad
vanced technology into the Portland
system. In this case Benson High
School, and then later O M SI.
I still could shed tears of exaspera
tion as I examine here my files from an
8/22/85 presentation to a Benson staff
o f a principal, two vice principals and
a Desegregation Specialist'.
This project was different from
my 15 year-old computer/terminals
on line system I still was trying to ge,
the superintendent’s or curriculum
offices to try. Since Benson was a
vocational or technical high school it
occurred to me that the alleged “ lack
o f motivation and other learning prob
lems ofblack students” might well be
addressed by introducing learning
models structured around document
ed evidence ofblack contribution to
technology from day one (e.g. the
African manufacture).
In addition I had gotten the local
manufacturer o f flood gauges and
other stream measuring devices to
furnish such devices for demonstra-
V
tion to students-along with compa
ny manuals and illustrations to the
effect that these instruments such as
the nilometer were “ invented by A f
ricans along the Nile River thou
sands o f years ago... some, almost in
original form, used today by the U.S.
Corp. ofEngineers, Bonneville Pow
er, and operators of dams, canals and
waterworks around the world.”
Several o f the devices lent them
selves to modeling in a high school
shop, according to the manufacturer
and I had persuaded the U .S. Forest
Service to purchase some o f any pro
duction. Well, every one grinned and
congratulated me on a “masterful
presentation" and advised, “sounds
good, we’ll get back to you” (is i,
racism or fear?).
Let us see. That was at 10:00 A .M .,
8/22/85. It is now 1:30 P.M., 11/8/
96. Have you heard from these, peo
ple. I haven’t. However, I later got
two African American Benson stu
dents involved in a summer intern,
health technology program that I
designed and implemented at provi
dence Medical Center.
I ran out o f money and time before
I got a full-blown program going as
with the medical program I brought
to Portland State University in 1974,
but that was H .E.W . funded. I ’ve got
a good learning curve going now
with some alternatives to broad-based
community support for my designs
in education and technology.
This is a tough community, per
haps concentrating more on other
cultures w ill help. Ideas?
Texaco, racism and affirmative action
by
B ernice P ow ell J ackson
he recen t revelations
about Texaco Oil Com
pany employees make
the case for the continuing need
for affirmative action.
Although that was far from the
intent o f those involved. It seems that
a secretly taped conversation revealed
racist language and illegal behavior
regarding a Federal lawsuit brought
by minority employees o f Texaco.
Like the Rodney K in g videotape,
these tapes show racism in America
duringthose unguarded moments that
prove for people o f color what we
had known all along.
A s California voters went to the
polls and voted for Proposition 209,
to end affirmative action programs in
the state o f California, they were
faced with the news story which
showed Texaco upper echelon em
ployees shredding documents which
would have implicated their compa
ny in the suit brought by some 1,500
minority employees o f that compa
ny.
These em ployees charge that
Texaco systematically discriminates
against its minority employees and
that the company fosters an atmo
sphere o f racial hostility. In tapes
which they did not realize were being
made, the former treasurer o f the
company, along with other high-lev
el employees, call African Am eri
can s “ b la c k je lly beans” and
“niggers," proving that behind many
closed doors o f corporate America,
racism is still acceptable behavior.
The suit by minority employees o f
Texaco contends that they were sys
tematically passed over for promo
tions in favor o f less experienced
whites. In the secret tapes, one offi
cial says, “This diversity thing, you
know, how all the black je lly beans
agree.” Another official agrees, add
ing, “that’s funny. A ll the black je lly
beans seem to be glued to the bottom
o f the bag.”
The suit also charges that Texaco
fostered a racially hostile environ
ment, saying that they were called
“uppity” for asking questions and
charging that black employees were
cal led "orangutans’ and “porch mon
keys.” At least one African Am eri
can Texaco employee, upon hearing
the tapes, said, “ It sounds like a Kian
meeting, and nobody seemed to ob
ject to what everybody was saying.”
That may be one o f the most trou
bling aspects o f this case — that no
one else in the room objected to such
racist language and to racist and ille
gal behavior. But it is important to
note that Texaco is not alone in al
lowing such language and attitudes
to exist in the workplace. While oth
er corporations might not have got
ten caught, there are many minority
employees who have had sim ilar ex
periences in other companies.
Which is exactly the reason why
affirmative action is still needed.
Despite arguments to the contrary,
people o f color and women are still
underrepresented in corporate board
rooms and work rooms. Women and
people o f color still hit that imagi
nary glass ceiling in every industry
and still find it difficult to start and
operate their own businesses.
Unfortunately, too many Am eri
cans have fallen for the line that we
don’t need affirmative action any
longer. Too many have believed that
quick fixes have cured 500 years o f
discrimination and racism. Too many
have been w illing to listen to the
stories o f white men who have claim
to have lost contracts or jobs without
listening to the thousands o f people
o f color who have been and continue
to be discriminated against in the
workplace.
Maybe these Texaco tapes w ill be
a wake-up call for us all. Because
those o f us in states other than C a li
fornia can expect that attacks on af
firmative action w ill soon be playing
in our own communities.
United ways makes progress through media
Letter to the Editor
The goal this year for your local
United Way is to raise more than the
$19.2 m illion we raised last year.
With the assistance o f donors and
volunteers, I believe we can achieve
this goal
Thanks to the efforts of Portland
Observer, United Way is getting its
message out into the community Be
cause o f your involvement, your read
ers are more familiar with us than they
may have been before. We've been
able to show the community how its
donations can make a difference in
many lives. When everyone gives
through United Way, more individu
als and families can be helped.
The dollars raised support 170
programs, including Mainstream
/
Youth Program, Inc., Which pro
vides treatment and education for
alcohol- and drug- related problems;
Bradley-Angle House’s Emergency
Shelter Program, offering women and
children short-term shelter from
abuse, support, and a 24-hour crisis
line; The Salvation Arm y Rose Cen
ter for Seniors, which encourages
senior adults to be active in the com-
munity; and many more.
Thank you for your continued sup
port and for all you have done to help
change people’s lives. As always,
we’ll do our very best to make sure
every dollar you give counts and
goes where it’s needed most.
Sincerely, RichardL. Woolworth,
1996 United Way Cam paign
Chairm an