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N ovember 20, 1996 « T he P or lean » O bserver
P age A2
Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily
Reflect Or Represent The Views Of
i ■.
y
Attention Readers!
(C
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pens out N O W and address your letters to: Editor. Reader Response,
The Reverend lesse L Jackson
and a group o f civil rights leaders
called for the boycott after a two-
hour meeting with Texaco CEO Pe
ter Bijur.
Jackson announced an immediate
boycott o f Texaco, Inc., its stock,
and its subsidiaries:
“ In the spirit o f three strikes and
you’re out, Texaco has been given
ample time to comply with Federal
guidelines in hiring and promoting
women and people ofcolor-and they
have failed miserably.”
The Equal Employment Opportu
nity Commission (EEOC) has for the
pas, three years investigated Texaco's
hiring and promotion practices, and
found them wanting.
“Enough is enough. I hope when
P.O. Box 3137, Portland. O R 9 7 2 0 8 . ________________________
(T in ' J jJ o r tla n i» ( © b s e r u e r
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bi
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Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver.
P roe . M< K inlka B urt
A most pertinent observation, and
many are being brought to the same
viewpoint in respect to being able to
d istinguish education p rio rities
through a blizzard o f fiscal emergen
cies; the passage o f "Measure 47”
not being the least of these traumas.
But hold that for the m om ent-I am
also reminded “not to drop the ball"
on some issues considered very im
portant to both parents and students.
I would hope that teachers are as
interested.
First, yes, I did include in that
1980s television presentation an ac
count o f the many patented techno
logical contributions of the brilliant
African American engineer from
P o rtlan d , O regon, T.M . (D on)
Rutherford, a Benson High School
graduate. There was the special lock/
catch that made possible the sliding
$ortlanb (Obscrucr
The Portland Observer can be sent directly to your home for only $30.00
per year Please fill out. enclose check or money order, and mail to:
Si'BscRirnoNs
T he P ortland O bserv er ; PO B ox 3137
P ortland , O regon 97208
C O A L IT IO N
Would You Trust Your Car
To Mark Fuhrman?
Boycott Texaco!
you need gas and see a Texaco sign,
you’ll just keep on driving."
“They say they’re doing all they
can. but this deplorable audio tape-
-and the 1,500 employees who have
tiled a suit which should have been
settled by now—say otherwise.”
r s p
ZA
PO STM A S TE R : Send Address Changes To: Portland Observer,
P.O. Box 3137, Portland, O R 97208.
The civil rights delegation de
nounced the recorded remarks o f top
Texaco executives referring to Afri
can Americans as “niggers” and
“black jelly beans” when they met
with CEO Bijur. They also asked
Bijur to:
♦ provide data on T exacos em ploy
ment picture:
• p r o v id e a b rea kd o w n o f s ta ff
ing p a tte rn s, in c lu d in g the n u m
ber o f A fric a n A m ericans, L a ti
no H ispanics, A sia n A m erica n s,
a n d w om en in m a n a g e ria l p o s i
tions, a n d on the T exaco B o a rd
o f d ire c to r:
* release procurement data,
♦ reveal the number o f discrimina
tion complaints the firm has logged
in recent years.
Texaco would provide none o f
this information.
Jackson concluded: “These Mark
Fuhrm an's o f corporate America
need to be exposed and weeded out.
We will withdraw our consumer dol
lars until we become respected trad
ing partners, and Texaco’s 1,500
employees receive justice.”
Boycott Texaco.
7)
e
doors on first the Volkswagen and
later most American Vans. Before
this Mr. Rutherford had patented the
seemingly simple catch that secures
the closing o f our kitchen cabinets,
etc.
Even more fasc inating to the v ¡ew
ers was the revelation that this black
engineer played a critical role in the
design o f that fam ous Howard
Hughes flying boat, “the Spruce
Goose.” How many times have we
seen that one momentous flight’ on
television; Mr. Rutherford was on
board as accounted by him in his
March 24, 1995 letter to me.
“...I was the Systems specialist on
the I lughes Flying Boat project. Since
I designed the Engine control sys
tem. my duty on the flight was to fill
in as a back up for the active flight-
engineer.”
‘Don’ has since retired (Rugher-
ford & Associates Engineers), but
his accomplishments live on-right
here in Portland! Many o f us fol
lowed the accounts in local and na
tional m edia when the “ Spruce
Goose” was dismantled in California
Several year ago. then transported to
Hillsboro, Oregon for reassembly. I
have been unsuccessful in an attempt
to secure a date from the owner as to
when this important exhibit might be
on display (D on’s niece, Charlotte, is
a Portland resident).
There are a number o f African
Americans with 'Portland ties who
have made major contributions to the
nation’s technology. In the past I
have encountered the same degree of
inertia at OMSI in respect to featur
ing any motivating or inspiring dis
plays o f any such contributions as
was the case with Benson High
School Staff. Many, many parents,
both black and white deplored the
situation, voicing their own negative
experiences.
This last observation brings us to
an interesting experience, one that
might be termed a cultural anomaly.
When I mentioned that white parents
were sending or bringing their kids
by my office for help in developing
profiles o f black inventors as the
ultimate in role models, one wag
suggested the message to the child
was, “By God, if they’ could achieve
against all those adds Junior, you’ve
got no excuse at all! ” What ever,
they call up and ask “what do you
s
charge an hour for tutoring?” Is our’
village listening?
When I announced in the Portland
Observer Newspaper a $25 award to
the first Middle School student who
could use the clues I furnished to track
down the black inventor of a “within-
the-engine cab” semaphore system for
railroads, sixteen’ white kids leaped
to the task-parents and teacher’s en
couraging. Several opted, “that was
sure a neat invention, it might have
prevented that fatal freight train colli
sion in a Washington State fog.
1 am not surprised at this turn of
events, and on two counts. First, that
th ere w ere no resp o n se s from
‘blacks’, includingparents and teach
ers and, secondly, that so many peo
ple from other cultures are reacting
vigorously to the threat o f being left
out of the “technological wave ofthe
future.” I noticed a universal com
prehension o f this fact during my ten
years o f contracting with the U.S.
Forest service to document the tech
nical contributions o f African Amer
icans all over Oregon, Washington,
parts o f California, Alaska as part of
cultural awareness programs. Cont’d
next week
Vantage Point: Fighting To Repair The Safety Net In the U.S.
etrified by the fear of a
Dole victory in the 1 9 9 6
presidential election, lib
erals, progressives and advo
cates for the poor swallowed Clin
ton's signing of a terrible welfare
reform bill with only mild protest.
ÎÎ
N am e:___ __
Address:
City, S ta te :______
Zip-Code:
T hank Y oe F or R eading T he P ortland O bserver
i better 'ITd ’Che (SJifitor
a
e
reader says this ‘NET’
and computer barrage
{
from the media reminds
me of your quip that “often its
hard to see the dance because
so many dancers are in the way”
( ‘can’t see the forest for the
trees In the way’).
Deadline far all submitted materials:
Articles:Friday, 5:00 pm Ads: Monday, 12:00pm
N A T IO N A L
r e
c t
The Village Needs Education As Well
p
Contributing Writers:
Professor McKinley Burt, Lee Perlman, Pamela Jordan
SUBSCRIBE TO
ut up your c a r d -th e
Texaco boycott it on.
<Hl|e ^Jarthutb ffibserucr
Send your letters to the Editor to:
Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208
In addition, there was hardly awhim-
per when Clinton failed to renew the
patry commitment to build new public
housing units for needy families in the
face o f escalating demand (the com
mitment was cut from 400,000 units
per year to 40,000 by Ronald Reagan).
Across the board the conservative clam
or for leaner government and less so
cial programs ishavingdisastrous con
sequences on the quality of life for
poor and working people and those
locked into the ghettos, the barrios and
reservations. The safety net which had
become such an integral part o f life in
the U.S. is in shambles.
T he re -e le c tio n o f W illiam
Jefferson Clinton will do little to
repair the damage that has been done
to the safety net. The Republicans
have always unapologetically been
the Party ofbig business and the rich.
The Democratic Party, however, in
its effort to gain and retain the White
House, has abandoned its principles
and reinvented itself as a moderate-
centrist political institution con
sciously coopting traditional aspects
o f the Republican agenda. It is clear
that poor and working people can no
longer count on the Democratic Par
ty tochampion theircause. It is equal
ly clear that poor and working people
cannot count on the electoral process
alone to repair the safety net. It’s
time to "agitate, educate and orga
nize.”
Civil Rights Journal: Criminal Justice And The Case Of Kwame Cannon
by
B ernice P ow ell J ackson
n stitu tio n al racism is
part of the daily life of
most people of color in
this country.
jl
O '7
The Texaco case and others I ike it
point to racism in the workplace.
But institutional racism in the crim
inal justice system is perhaps the
most devastating because it impacts
the poorest o f our nation's citizens
in life and death ways and seems to
be the institution least likely to
change.
Take the case o f Kwame Cannon.
Kwame has served ten years o f not
one but two life sentences for un
armed burglary in the state o f North
Carolina. He has an outstanding pris
on record, having assisted chaplains
and counseled other inmates and
guards He studied for his GED and
now is studying college courses. He
works in the kitchen. His life and his
attitude shows that if our criminal
justice system were really interested
in rehabilitation, he would be a mod
el.
Why did he receive such a harsh
sentence? There are some who be
lieve that his sentence is related to
the fact that his mother, Willena
Cannon, was a labor leader in 1979,
when five activists in the Greens
boro area were shot by the Kian and
Neo-Nazis in broad daylight, but
never convicted. At age 10, Kwame
was present at the massacre. As a
result o f his m other’s part in a law
suit against the city for its part in
these killings, she was unable to
work for a number o f years. As
Kwame grew up, he became frus
trated and angry with the extreme
poverty and he began to break into
houses. He never used a weapon or
confronted residents. At age 17 he
was caught and confessed to six bur
glaries But he was accused o f many
other unsolved burglaries by the
police at the time. Several white men
were later convicted of some o f these
burglaries vaguely attributed to
Kwame. They received much short
er sentences.
There are others who believe that
Kwante’s long sentence was because
he was a poor African American
youth, who ended up being repre
sented by an alcoholic attorney, who
was later disbarred His attorney rec
ommended that Kwame accept a plea
bargain which resulted in the two
life sentences. Indeed, recent re
search shows that the length o f his
sentence was unprecedented for this
offense in North Carolina. Further
more, since his conviction the laws
have changed so that unarmed bur
glary would not draw a life sentence.
For the past five years a group of
pastors in Greensboro have been
seeking the release of this remark
able young man who has already
served ten years and has turned him
self around Even his last victim, a
college president, has joined the ef
fort, as have business executives,
most of the City Council, the mayor
and a former chief justice o f the
NorthCarolinaSupremeCourt. Each
year they have petitioned Governor
Jim Hunt to commute this young
man’s sentence or at least release
him to the clergy so that he can work
with them to help keep others out of
prison. But G overnor Hunt has
turned a deaf ear to their cries.
The G reensboro Pulpit Forum
sees the case o f Kwame Cannon as
both the most extreme example o f
the inequities o f the criminal justice
system and an instance o f wasted
human potential Kwame Cannon,
they believe, has been rehabilitated
and can help others to stay away
from a life o f crime.
Here is an excerpt from an open
letter written to young people from
Kwame Cannon:
“ ...Sure, life out there can seem
unfair at times, here in prison noth-
ingseem s fair... Does this sound like
the way you would like to live your
life? It’s so easy to make the same
mistakes I did, but here area few tips
on how to avoid fal ling into the same
trap I did.
Always remember this, ‘For ev
ery action there is a reaction ’ Wha,
I am saying is, learn to take respon
sibilities for your actions...
Trust me, It’s no, worth it! I’ve
been living in here more than ten
years and every night, I lay in my bed
thinking about how my life could
have been different. It hurts, but I
can'tblam e anyone but myself. Your
life doesn't have to be like this, set
goals for yourselves and always,
think before you act."
(Note: I f you would like to write
Governor Jim Hunt on beh alf o f
Kwame Cannon, write State Capi
tol, 116 H. Jones Street, Raleigh,
NC 27603 or Fax (919) 715-3175.
Concrete Jungle: “Shut Up...Or I’ll Shoot”
by
K imberly M c L aughlin
ffA
ZA
Cj
t the risk of sounding
like an Andy Rooney
wanna be, I'd like to
know..."did you ever notice how
Americans show dissatisfaction
w ith leaders, politicians and oth
er public figures?".
In short, we try to extinguish their
lives. Somehow or another some o f
our fellow american brothers and
sisters o f all colors have misinter
preted the term “disagreem ent” .
Americans have taken the lives of
other Americans for reasons unknown
for decades. Due to the unfortunate
excess o f live lost. I'll refrain from
making direct references My main
objective here is to try to solicit the
help o f Journal readers I ask you,
why have we bought into this “death
notice" form of disenchantment?
Most recently, former Nation of
Islam Minister Khalid Muhammed
was attacked in Riverside, Califor
nia A former member o fthe Nation
of Islam has been fingered as the gun
wielding culprit. For those who've
forgotten. Dr. Khalid Muhammed is
the now infamous former right hand
man o f Min Louis Farrakhan A
speech delivered at a small New Jer
sey college by Dr. Muhammed con
tained language that several white.
Jewish, and other students found rep
rehensible Sources say that Dr
4
Muhammed made ill reference to the
Pope, and the entire Jewish commu
nity
There are many who have little to
no compassion for the fallen Dr
Khalid Muhammed. Those who have
been targeted in this speeches across
this country have every right to hold
the Dr. in low regard
What is not acceptable is the re
cent attempt on this human being's
life As Americans we are all entitled
to our own opinions
We are entitled to voice our opin
ions. and to stand by them as best we
know how It is people like this gun
man who sot Dr Muhammed in the
leg who are reprehensible! How dare
the likes of,his gunman attack anoth
er person on account o f a disagree
ment in theory.
I believe strongly that o f those
who know o f Dr Muhammed and his
flamboyant way of speaking, less
than half are happy to see him sur
vive his recent attack. These self
righteous types are also guilty
Though his message could be con
sidered hate filled to some. Dr. Khalid
Muhammed as an American citizen
has every right to speak it Perhaps
K halid's non-sympathizers should
afford themselves a quick search into
their souls
As things stand now, if you pub
licly take unpopular positionson cer
tain issues you could be putting your
life on the line. I’ve been thinking
readers. I've come to the conclusion
that with every Concrete Jungle I
write, I may be taking seconds, min
utes, and perhaps days off o f my own
life. In thinking back over the past
several months, I've done quite a bi,
o f name calling, finger pointing, etc
I’ve made ill reference to several
groups, and individuals.
I’ve basically commented on or
verbally chastised more people than
you can shake a stick at. My only
saving brace is that The Journal is a
small, weekly, community newspa
per. After all, The Journal is only
read by thousands o f people in the
U.S. and abroad. Being the small
town, cub reporter, little known jour
nalist that I am, I shouldn’t even
consider fearing repercussions from
enraged readers... right? Okay, so
may be I should, bu, I w on’t because
telling the story the way my eyes see
it is my style.
As human beings we are promised
only two things, life and death. If
having the courage to inform people
(especially my people) o f what they
need to know makes someone un
comfortable, so be it. Whether my
train out,a this game called life is
coming today or tomorrow, I will go
with my truth in my heart and mind
what about you?