J anuary 15, 1997 • T he P ortland O bserver
P ag i A 2
Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily
Reflect Or Represent The Views Of
(Tlje |Jn rtla n b © bseruer
>^Si
Attention Readers!
J
Gingrich once again survived a
major challenge to his leader
ship.
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(E ljc ^ ¡ .lu r t l a n b
By the slimmest of margins
(3votes!), Newt was re-elected Speak
er of the House. And like President
Clinton, Gingrich won a plurality
victory, with 216 votes, just less than
half of the U.S. House.
Democratic leaders continue to
whisper that Newt’s days are num
bered, that his ethics problems will
soon bring him down the way that
similar problems ended the career of
Jim Wnght. JacFax is not so sure-we
note that Gingrich has had numerous
narrow escapes during his career. In
deed, were Newt a cat, he would be
down to the last of his nine lives!
(iD b s v r u e r
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Charles Washington
Publisher & Editor
Mark Washington
Distribution Manager
Gary Ann Taylor
Business Manager
Sean Cruz
Consultant & Editor
Portland Observador
Danny Bell
Advertising Sales Manager
Gary Washington
Public Relations
Consider:
★
Gingrich lost two races for pub
lic office in the !970s before he final
ly won his House seat: had he lost a
third time, he 'd have been done be
fore he even started.
★
Gingrich built a career as a
Paul Neuleldt
Production & Design
Rovonne Black
Business Assistant
( 'ontributing Writers:
Professor McKinley Burt, Lee Perlman, Eugene Rashad
C O
A L IT IO
N
Speaker Gingrish
Rockefeller Republican in a right-
wing party; as a transplanted Penn
sylvanian in suburban Georgia: and
as the lead GOP attacker against a
solid Democratic majority.
★
He barely hung onto his House
seat in 1990, defeating the Demo
crat by less than 1,000 votes: he
survived a new redistricting plan,
which could have left him with a
Democratic district; then, in 1992,
he narrowly edged out a fellow Re
publican in the primary.
★
He won promotion within the
GOP Causcus in 1989, winning a
party leadership election by only one
p e r s p e
vote!
★
He lost half his House margin
during the last election, leaving him
the highest level o f party opposition
in recent history. However, he did
manage to hang on to the leadership
despite party defections, despite
Nixonian approval levels, and de
spite having all his fellow Republi
cans "morphed" into him during the
campaign for slashing medicare and
Medicaid, education and the envi
ronment.
★
In 1996, Newt spent $5.4 million
to win re-election, more than any
other House candidate ($100,000
spent per percent won!).
In short, he has survived narrow
escapes before. Newt Gingrich may
be wounded--but he is still Speaker
of the House. And while JaxFax has
certainly differed with the speaker
many times, he remains an interest
ing politician because he refuses to
be predictable.
In fact, JaxFax would like to con
gratulate the speaker for setting the
right tone in his speech this week. He
surprised everyone by seizing the
moral offensive, raising critical is
sues that were largely ignored in last
year’s campaigns: race; drugs; igno
rance; morality; D C He noted that
the new Congress looked like Amer
ica, unlike the first congress twocen-
turiesago. His comments were inclu
sive, not divisive. Reverend Jackson
even met with the Speaker for an
hour on, to encourage him to follow
through on his remarks to take race
and ignorance seriously, and to in
vite him to be a guest on this week’s
TV show. If Newt means to take
these issues seriously, 1997 could be
a very interesting year.
c t i v e s
We Have Fire, Now Let’s Move On: Conclusion
4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.,
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s you probably have gath-
ered by now, when I work
w ith youths, parents or
guardians are involved to a great
e xten t. And, clearly, In many
cases this is a decided advan
tage. But in some it is not, most
youth being more or less rebel
lious by nature - though some
tim es we would not w ant the
tw ig bent in the same direction
as the tree.
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G iven all that, a com m on
intergenerational pattern is to be seen
among African Americans and call it
cultural, genetic or whatever your
value system dictates, they are seen
tobe the most enthusiastic of innova
tors, visionaries and inventors. And
this obtains from time immemorial
as one might surmise after reading
two of the books cited in my “Good
Reading List” on another page ofthis
paper.
Reprising my ‘motivation’ theme,
“We did it before, we can do it again’,
I again have thrown Isaac Newton,
and The Great Pyramid into the fray.
And never, never letting the youth in
my science and mathematics semi
nars forget that the seminal sources
for the great discoveries was a fe
cund African womb. And why I doc
ument exactly what people Newton
was talking about when he said, “I
Addenda on
“Mobuto is back”
L etter To The E ditor
I would like to refer to your
article "M obutu is back. What
m ust A fric a do'.’” , by Dr.
Lenora Fulani which was pro
duced in connection with a
television interview I had with
Dr. Eulani.
I want to take this opportu
nity to both correct some fac
tual errors that were made in
the colum n as well as make it
clear that a num ber of the
statem ents made in the article
were Dr. F ulani's opinions and
could not be attributed to ei
ther me or the G overnm ent of
Rwanda.
First and forem ost, I want
your readers to be inform ed
that the Rwandese Patriotic-
Front is not a government. The
Rwandese Patriotic Front is
one of the five political par
ties which constitute the gov
ernment of National Unity.
The United States did not
pressure the United Nations
Security council to reduce the
small peacekeeping force sta
tioned in Rwanda.
The United Nations former
S ecretary G eneral B outros
B outros-G hali holds the ma
jo r responsibility for the re-
I
ust as he has done so
many other tim es in his
political career, Newt
duction of the UN peacekeep
ing force during the genocide
crisis in Rwanda.
Rwanda does not provide
any political or m ilitary sup
port to the alliance of the dem
ocratic forces for the libera
tion of Congo, Zaire nor to the
c o n s titu tio n a l d e m o c ra c y
m o v em en t led by E tien n e
Tshisekedi. Rwanda supports
and encourages regional m ech
anism s that can lead to a p o lit
ical solution to the crisis in
Eastern Zaire
Hence, the Rwanda govern
ment has been participating in
the major initiatives at the lev
el of the Heads of States and
g o v e rn m e n ts o f the G reat
Lakes region.
The recent series of m eet
ings which took place in Ugan
da and Kenya are some of the
exam ples of R w anda's com
m itment to the search for a po
litical and peaceful solution to
the problem s of the region.
Please accept the assurance
of my highest consideration for
Dr Fulani
P ie rre
E m m an u el
UBALIJORO
Second C ounselor
Republique Rwandaise
was talking aooui
w iic h
stood on the shoulders of those who
came before me.” So did Mercator
and Fibonacci!
By
Professor
Mckinley
Burt
And I am ever reminding student
and parent that we have excellent
role models for this type of back
grounding right in our own commu
nity. I cite the example of Ms Lulu
Stroud Johnson, the single parent
who has done such a magnificent job
of guiding three over-achieving
daughters through the treacherous
Portland education maze. But then,
this is a family I’ve known for three
generations and Black History and
motivation have always been their
forte Continuing a Straight A pace at
the university, we certainly will have
some more great black scientists
(micro-biology, etc.)
I was very proud that one of the
girls chose Norman Rillicux, the in
ventor of the sugar refiner, as the
subject for an award winning essay
while still in high school He was
featured in my book, "Black Inven
tors of America”, and that reminds
me of a painful fact. My popular
cable television presentation of
“Great African and African Ameri
can Inventors” no longer appears-
ran several times a month - used
extensively by schools, students, par
ents and general public. We are try
ing to remedy this.
I believe I have mentioned the
interest white parents, students and
teachers are showing in the motiva
tional value of black inventors. A
twelve year-old white student from
Gresham won the $25 prize I offered
in the 3/27/96 issue of the Portland
Observer. The task was to identify a
black inventor from Buston, Iowa
who invented a “railroad semaphore
displayed 'inside the cab' of a loco
motive.” The device was activated
by a minute electrical signal con
ducted through the rails and the loco
motive wheels.
Having more or less given up on
the school system and having indus
try people saying almost weekly,
“Why didn’t you come to us in the
first place? Thats what you did in
The Dalles to gain the support you
needed for that award-winning sci
ence, math andcommunicationsdem
onstration”. Nothing renews your will
and determination like having two
CEO’s and a plant manager stepping
over 'floor files’ and spreading pa-
pers on a banquet table in your Al
berta office/apartment. “We like it
and you’ve got a track record! W e’re
talking the high end of six figures,
here.”
I’m building prospecting now, to
house a twenty-first century upgrade
of my S E. Belmont 1969 operation
where the upstairs was devoted to an
online education network, including
curriculum and terminals in the class
room -- and that 5000 Sq. ft. base
ment with working models of power
system consoles, telemetry models
for remote monitoring of weather
instruments, flood and irrigation con
trols. I even had several examples of
the voltage regulators I made for the
sixty potlines at the Harvey Alumi
num plant. “Hands on learning” is
my thing
A lot of the electronics I used to
simulate industrial and even astro
nomical functions were obtained by
cannibalizing coin-operated amuse
ment devices and pinball machines
(interesting little devices). I hauled
two van loads of this junk down to
Portland from The Dalles. Milt Mar
tin, the rancher who partly financed
my first 1966 operation owned a coin
device shop across the street form
my house in The Dalles. Well, stu
dents, parents we will see how it goes
this time
iic
The Myth of Black Self-Destruction
by
I» Ì JVI
,il a
\ l i . I ik
R is s k l l
he CIA, or as some now
call it, the Cocaine Im
portation Agency's op
eratives, made cocaine afford
able and readily attainable to
African-American neighborhoods
at rates that Crazy Eddie couldn't
beat.
In turn, it also created a boon
industry lor crime, murder and may
hem, in a manner similar to what the
African slave trade did to the econo
mies of European states. The infu
sion of drug money has allowed the
L. A.-based gangs to spread “crack'
cocaine around the nation and pur
chase expensive weapons ol mass
destruction such as Uzi machine guns,
Glocks and Street sweepers among
others.
This all occurred under the
Reagan-Bush administrations, al
though ostensibly it was not U.S.
policy. This is by no means a street-
level operation. it more so represents
a cooperative ol untold billions dol
lars operating under the authoriza
tion of an American governmental
organization. Many questions
abound, particularly if the CIA set up
this operation, which was later picked
up and supported through the White
House via Oliver North. They in
clude, what other drug running oper
ations arc there in the African-Amer
ican community, tor example.’ I d
like to know Just in case I buy some
Martin Luther King
Day is observed on
January 20th.
American agenda. Where do you
stand?" Must be the hue and cry of
our people to those seeking oui vote
or support of any kind. Each member
of the Congressional Black C aucus
should be held accountable. At this
point, since we know the game, we
should at least call for the cards to be
placed on the table. One wonders
where the melininated parrots sueh
as J.C Watts, Armstrong Williams,
and others are, who regularly beat
down their own people like grinning
overseers? They are extremely quiet
and asloundingly absent when it
comes to eriticizing the system They
scream from the rooftops concerning
the faults of their brethren and yet
scurringly rush to hushed circ les when
the system logically reveals, as the
government assassinated Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. noted, that "the logi
cal conclusion of racism is genocide.”
This should be no surprise, but the
surprise for many should be the real
ization that despite the genocidal ten
dencies of this government, we as the
descendants of the Original people,
Aethiopians, Ether peoples-meaning
spiritual or heavenly are in control
of our destiny.
We must begin to ask ourselves
what we are doing to improve condi
tions for our children There were
brothers and sisters around when we
sold out Denmark Vescy. assassinat
ed M alcolm , M artin, Patrice
Lumumba, Mickey Leland, infiltrat
crack. I’d like to write it oil as a tax
break.
If we are going to be Iruthlul, we
must also acknowledge dial ihe past
two presidents werc-or s lid are- CIA
operatives. According to an article
appearing this past year in the Wash
ington Post. Bill Clinton was lai Irom
a Vietnam war protester, its more
likely that he went to study in Ox
ford, England under a double major,
English Literature and spying on his
more radical classmates
Unfortunately, the question is not
about the president, U S. govern
ment officials, the CIA or the FBI
with their annual racist Frcaknic or
‘Good Ole boy’ cookouls. I he ques
tion is more about us. During the
“Blackploitation”’ Films of the 1970’s
we knew that the institutions created
to protect us were involved in a plan
for
our
genocide.
Today
"Blackexploitation" artists and other
folk act as if believing that govern
mental agencies are working for our
destruction is some wild theory; this
when "ain't nothing changed except
the weather.” What we must ask is
where our leaders and spokespeople
stand on the call for an independent
investigation into the CIA's connec
tion to the infusion of crack cocaine
and guns into the African-American
community?”
It's a simple barometer test, which
should be extended to all political
candidates as part of an African-
ed and destroyed the Black Panther
Party, whose best services were free
health clinics and free breakfast.
There were brothers and sisters
around when they deported Marcus
Garvey, created shams which were
supposed to help our children-but
didn't, introduced AIDS through
genetic warfare, murdered Ron
Brown, nearly wiped out the Native
Americans, and consistently and dai
ly through the television and media
drill into the minds of the world and
our children their alleged inferiority,
criminality, and lack ol values com
pared to the other folks. I ask again,
where are those who know? When
will those who know remember the
courage of their ancestors such as
Queen Nzinga who ref used to bow to
the enslavers and that of such mod
ern day warrmrs as Congresswoman
Maxine Waters?
For many it is the fear of death, yet
in many cases the courageless are not
in fear of losing their life, but rather
a superficial acceptance in society,
their jobs and careers. This is the
dilemma that our people face, and
each individual must make the deter
mination to stand and simply fight
for what’s right.
Yet we continue to fail to stand, to
fail to fight for what is right and true
and then wonder why so many of our
children are considered lost-we have
some nerve. Well, then again, maybe
we don't. PEACE.
better SCa 'CShc CSCditor
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Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208
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