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N ovember 27, 1996 • T he P ortland O bserver
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• r ~ ■ "A
y
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Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily
Reflect Or Represent The Views O f
(Eljc 'JjJortlanh ODbsertier
•/
A
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he Rainbow/PUSH Ac
tion Network offers Its
congratulations to the
African American employees of
Texaco, who were victorious in
their racial discrimination law
suit.
The $ 176 million settlement sends
a clear message to corporate Ameri-
c a -n o t only is race and gender dis
crimination wrong, it is expensive.
Nevertheless, though civil rights
leaders have declared a moratorium
on picketing, the Texaco boycott
continues. Rev. Jesse Jackson, Pres
ident o f the Rainbow/PUSH Action
Network; Rev. Joseph Lowary, Pres
ident o f the SCLC and the Black
Leadership Forum; Cong. Sheila
Jackson-Lee o f Houston; Rev. Al
Sharpton o f New York; State Rep.
Alvin Holmes o f Alabama; Delores
Huerta, President ofthe United Farm
Workers; Hazzel Dukes, President
o f the New York NAACP; Dennis
Walcott, President o f the New York
Urban League; and 19 other minis
ters and civil rights activists agreed
to keep the boycott pressure on in a
e
r
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Triumph Over Texaco
pre-daw n conference follow ing
Texaco’s announcement that they
would settle the lawsuit.
In R ev. J a c k s o n ’s w ords:
“Texaco’s decision to settle the suit
with the gun o f public pressure firm
ly at its head does not give us comfort
that the company will change its ways
and eradicate the racism that current
ly exists at the company, once that
pressure is removed.
“The Rainbow/PUSH Action Net
work intends to become a sharehold
er o f Texaco. We will purchase
$1,000 o f the company’s stock, and
will work with other existing share-
s
p
e
holders to examine the most effec
tive means o f insuring that Texaco’s
Board o f Directors will take tangible
steps to end the com pany’s discrim
inatory policies and corporate cul
ture.”
The civil rights coalition lead
ing the boycott is demanding:
( 1 ) the release o f relevant Texaco
staffing and management data;
(2) institutionalized policies that
discourage “patterns and practices”
o f intimidation and discrimination in
the workplace;
(3) open doors allowing for ad
vancement and greater opportunities
c
t
i
V
e
s
The Village Gets Educated
Deadline f o r a ll submitted materials:
A rticles:Friday, 5 :0 0 p m
C O A L IT IO N
for people o f color and women in all
ares o f Texaco operations; and (4)
halting the use ofTexacocredit cards,
and stopping the purchase o f gas at
Texaco stations, until these demands
are met.
As Rev. Jackson stated: "The set
tlement is a step in the right direction
but a comprehensive plan including
goals targets and timetables in terms
o f employment and economic devel
opment is still not on the table. There
are also unresolved matters regard
ing the environment and economic
development, and changing Texaco’s
internal culture for women and peo
ple o f color.”
The boycott is having an effect. In
a national newspaper brief last Mon
day, the following quote says it all:
“Operators o f some Texaco gas sta
tions are seeing their sales eroding in
the wake o f a call by the Rev. Jesse
Jackson for a boycott o f the oil com
pany because o f racist comments that
were made by its executives.
Way togo, Rainbow/PUSH! Con
tinue the boycott. Texaco will change
its corporate culture.
bv
P rof . M c K inley B t rt
here were many words of
appreciation for informa
tion on the brilliant ca
reer of T.M . (Don Rutherford),
the black engineer who graduat
ed from Benson High School; “Will
we ever see his picture in that
h a llw a y sh o w c a se honoring
‘Benson Greats' who have made
major contributions?” (Portland
Observer, Perspectives column
for 1 1 / 2 0 / 9 6 )
1 ask, now, what do the readers
think? We are not talking about the
most yardage gained inasinglegam e
or o f track records still standing af
ter so many years or any other ‘ex
pected’ examples o f physical prow
ess. We are talking serious cultural
one-up man ship here - brain stuff at
level I.
The cultural mind-set o f the suc
cessive ruling dynasties o f the Port
land School system has never been
one to permit any radical departure
from the prevailing racist postures
they reflect.
Not all o f us are naive nor enter
taining that old adage, “hope will
spring eternal, even from the breast
o f a fool.” At a coffee house meeting
o f the folks’. One parent said, “you
w ouldn't really expect them to dis
play the image o f a highly successful
African American Engineer to epit
omize the type o f graduate Benson
send out in the world? after all, you ’re
talking ‘white-boy’ stuff here... try
and conceive a picture o f a black
man sta n d in g next to H ow ard
Hughe’s Spruce Goose. And with a
notation that this man made a signif
icant technical contribution. For
pity’s sake, this plane is an All-
By
Professor
Mckinley
Burt
American icon o f the nation's tech
nology.”
Evidently, though, there were
some villagers present who had en
tertained some degree o f hope for
the educational process and as late
as this past October. They were still
expressing disappointment at super
intendent Jack Bierwith’s laconic
response to a proposal their group
had made to the school board in
September—for establishment o f a
20-member Citizen Monitoring Ad
visory Com m ittee. Someone ob
served in a loud ‘stage w hisper',
“that approach has failed a dozen
times so now you’re going to do it
'rainbow style'... they still w on’t
respect us.”
After this there were a few less-
than-pol ite exchanges and comments
about gutless “talking heads” and
“media freaks” who would never
seriously challenge the system and
jeopardize their program or public
sector jobs. “No matter another two
decades o f ruthless gang activity,
our youths shot dead in the streets -
- and, worst o f all, the production o f
yet another generation o f minority
youth who on the whole are not
seriously educated for effective com
petition in a technological world.”
Somehow the conversation was
diverted to me before things got too
rough - the management was look
ing rather concerned. This was
alright with me on two counts. First,
I would have hated to see some long
term friendships destroyed in the
heat o f anger, while the real rascals
escaped the wrath o f God and man.
Secondly, it opened the door for a
friend who was close to the process
to explain the serious error made
twenty years prior when I did all the
necessary research for implement
ing a lawsuit to bring that arrogant
1974 Portland School District to
account.
This parent o f three children,
brought up in Portland and educated
in Northeast schools, pointed out
that he had lost one to gang violence
and that the other two bounced be
tween correctional institutions and
deadend jobs, high school graduates
who were ill-equipped to deal with
today’s world. And much less so
than the other cultural groups who
were their classmates.
The point he emphasized was that
he was one o f those members o f a
minority teachers group I headed
who “chickened out” when 1 actual
ly found three lawyers to take on a
major suit. “The talking heads and
m ediatypesall fled like rabbits when
McKinley made a presentation o f all
he had learned in several weeks o f
tutelage under Dr. Julius Hobson
who won the famous and successful
suit against the most intransigent
school district in America” (Hobson
vs Washington , D.C. Board o f Ed
ucation).
He was referring to the fact that
im m ediately on returning from
Washington I made it clear that such
an encounter with “old massa” would
be total war.
As Hobson had done, everything
would have to be challenged and
brought under scrutiny, m onies,
buildings, equipment, textbook al
location, possible diversions and
exotic’ accounting in funds origi
nally targeted for disadvantaged’
(black) children, and a score o f other
soft’ areas in urban school systems
“ Some people go to jail, some lose
professional licenses. And if you
lose the suit, your name is mud!”
He made his point and several
loud ‘talking heads' crept out.
C ivil Rights Journal; Criminal Justice and Johnny Gammage
bv
B ernice P owell J ackson
have often said th a t
I Rodney King was not the
only victim of police bru
tality, just the most famous.
/J
And, ifan onlooker had not video
taped the brutal beating, the rest of
the world would have never known
and those police officers would still
be on the street.
Last week I wrote about Kwame
Cannon, a young African American
man who received an overly-harsh
prison sentence and who has been
rehabilitated while in prison. Still,
the governor o f North Carolina has
refused to give him clemency or to
release him to a group o f pastors who
want to help him.
This week 1 write about the case of
Johnny Gammage, a 3 1 -year old Afri
can American in business with his
cousin, Pittsburgh Steeler Ray Seales
While drivinga Jaguar, Gammage was
judged by police officers to be tapping
his brakes too often and was stopped
by these officers outside Pittsburgh. In
less than 10 m inutes, Johnny
Gammages was dead.
T he five o ffic e rs w ho held
Gammage down claim that he was
resisting arrest. Conflicting accounts
say that they were fearful that he was
carrying a gun and that they saw he
was really carrying a cell phone. In
deed, the phone was swatted out o f
his hand and the five officers hit him
with flashlights and batons. With the
weight o f five men on top o f him,
Gammage was quickly squeezed to
death, killed by the compression on
his neck and chest
Gammage was characterized as
easy-going, mild and professional in
his demeanor. There were no drugs
or alcohol found in his system Ray
Seales and those who knew and loved
him find it impossible to believe that
he would have charged and attacked
five police officers.
Sadly, the criminal justice system
did not protect Johnny Gammage
that night on the side o f the highway
and it is not working on his behalf
now. The primary police officer in
volved in this incident was not
charged with murder, but with invol
untary manslaughter. Claiming that
he would not be able to receive a fair
trial in Pittsburgh, the system brought
in an all-white jury from Scranton,
200 miles away and in a county with
less than 1% people o f color. Not
surprisingly, the jury found the po
lice officer not guilty.
Reminiscent of the Simi Valley
jury which found the police officers
who beat Rodney King innocent,
these jurors believed that Johnny
Gammage was the aggressor in this
incident. This was despite the testi
mony o f a passing tow truck driver
who said the police were clearly the
aggressors. This was despite the con
flicting testimony o f the police offic
ers themselves about whether they
knew that Gammage was holding a
cell phone instead o f a gun.
The trial o f the two other police
officers charged in Gammage’s death
ended in mistrials because o f the
testimony ofone witness. They could
be re-tried, but so far that has not
been decided. A major contributor to
the gulf between white Americans
and people o f color is the difference
o f perceptions about the crimina
justice system. As long as people o
color can die while in police custod;
and the police can go unpunished
the gulf will continue to widen.
The tragedy is that the most pun
ishment Johnny Gammage shouk
have received was a ticket for hi:
driving. The reality is that Johnm
Gammage could have been any Afri
can American man in an expensive
car in the wrong place and confront
ed by police at the wrong time. The
irony is that only because o f his rela
tionship to a professional athlete dc
the rest o f us even know his story.
Justice Clarence Thomas and the black leadership: a changing of the guard?
bs
S tephen
*jl
C *“
F. S m ith
t has been five years
since Associate Justice
Clarence Thomas was
confirmed as the 1 0 6 th Justice
of the Supreme Court of the Unit
ed States.
During that time, he has come
under sharp and unrelenting criti
cism from almost all segments of the
media Indeed, some of his harshest
attacks have come from the civil rights
community, which one would have
expected to welcome the ascent o f a
black American to the pinnacle ofhis
profession. Is all this part o f some
personal vendetta against Justice
Thomas? Maybe in part, but far more
is at work here
The relentless assaults on the Jus
tice are part and parcel o f a larger
struggle for the hearts and minds o f
black America, a veritable last gasp
o f those who have traditionally
viewed themselves as leaders o f the
black community to maintain their
hold on power. As the standard-bear
er for black conservatives, it is only
natural for civil rights leaders to sin
gle him out or denunciation because
the continued spread o f conservative
ideas in the black community poses a
direct threat to the status quo and has
potential o f filling the leadership
vacuum that is widely perceived to
exist for black Americans. It is, there
fore, little wonder that the traditional
civil rights leaders have been Justice
Thomas' sharpest critics.
Their constant yet unexplained
refrain has been that on a number o f
issues, especially affirmative action
and race-based redistricting, Justice
Thomas holds views that no “true”
black person could hold. For exam
ple, Leon Higginbotham gave a bit
ter, rancorous speech last Fall at New
York University, arguing that Justice
T hom as is not “ re a lly ” black.
II igginbotham state that Justice Tho
m as’ conservative voting record on
the Supreme Court proved that the
Justice suffers from "racial self-ha
tred” . The obvious implication, o f
course, was that only a self-hating
black person or an “Uncle Tom”
could oppose affirmative action or
any number o f similar race-based
programs advocated by the black
leadership.
The vehemence and persistence
o f Higginbotham and others in as
serting the view that all blacks must
and do think alike does not, of course,
make their thesis true In fact, it is
obviously both racist and untrue:
Black people are no, and never have
ben monolithic in their views. To the
contrary, there has always been a
healthy diversity o f opinion within
the black community, as in the white
community. This is true even-and.
perhaps, especially-as to civil rights
issues.
In the decades that followed abo
lition, W E B DuBois and others
(including, after the turn o f the cen
tury, the N A ACP) rejected the ortho
dox approach o f Booker T. W ash
ington and argued for an immediate
end to all forms o f racial discrimina
tion. In the 1960s, Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. advocated nonviolent means
for achieving civil rights, but Mal
colm X and the Black Panther Party,
for instance, were prepared to reject
nonviolent means if “necessary” .
Today, o f course, many in the black
community agitate for race-conscious
remedies such as affirmative action
in the belief that racism constitutes
an insuperable barrier to black
progress. Others, including Justice
Thomas and Shelby Steele o f the
Hoover Institution oppose affirma
tive action and argue that, having
achieved equality before the law and
basic civil rights, black progress de
pends on improving schools, main
taining strong family structures, and
the like.
As their use ofplantation, terms like
“Uncle Tom” indicates, it is Justice
Thomas’ critics who are stuck in the
oppression o f the past. Justice Tho
mas, by contrast, invites us to live in
what Dr.Kind called the “promised
land”--a land where that sky is the limit
to our success because all people are
judged by the content o f their charac
ter rather than the color o f their skin.
That beautiful conception o f racial
harmony and equality is inconsistent
with racial preferences of any kind
The civil rights leadership is able to
insist on such preferences only be re
jecting Dr. King’s vision.
Higginbotham and others who ar
gue today for convenient departures
from the unyielding principle of
equality that many generations of
blacks struggled and died to have
written into law mus, be regarded for
wha, they a re -th e intellectual off
spring o f Jim Crow (in reverse) and
the rejection o f the civil rights move
ment led by Dr. King and others.
As a consequence, in arguing for
governmental colorblindess in the
affirmative action case from last
Term, Justice Thomas has not turned
his back on blacks or on the struggle
for civil rights. Rather, he has re
mained true not only to the text and
fundamental design o f the Constitu
tion, as amended by the 13th and
14th Amendments, bu, also to the
views of,he civil rights movement of
the 1960s and before. To the extent
Higginbotham and other modern civil
rights leaders no longer favor
colorblind law, it is they who have
“turned back the clock,” no, Justice
Thomas.