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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 1997)
P agi AZ F ebruary 5UJ ___ I Attention Readers! Please take a minute to send us your comments. We're always trying to give you a better paper and we can't do it without your help. Tell us what you like and what needs improvement... any suggestions are welcomed and appreci ated. We take criticism well! Get your powerful pens out NOW and address your letters to: Editor. Reader Response, P.Q. Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208, (The |Llortlanit ©bsevuer (I SPS 959-680) Established in 1970 Charles Washington Publisher <& Editor Mark Washington Distribution Manager Gary Ann Tay lor Business Manager Paul Neufeldt Production & Design Danny Bell Advertising Sales Manager Tony Washington Arts & Entertainment Gary Washington Public Relations Contributing Writers: Professor McKinley Burt. Lee Perlman. Neal Heilpern. Eugene Rashad 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland. Oregon 97211 503-288-0033 • Fax 503-288-0015 Entail: Pdxobserv@aol.com Deadline fo r a ll submitted materials: Articles.Friday, 5:00 pm Ads: Monday, 12:00pm POSTMASTER: Send Address Changes To: Portland Observer, P.O. Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208. Periodicals postage paid at Portland. Oregon. Subscriptions: $30.00 per year The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manu scripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and w ill be returned it accompanied bv a self addressed envelope. All created design display ads become the sole property of the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or personal usage without the written consent of the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition of such ad. © 1996 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITH OUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED The Portland Observer—Oregon’s Oldest Multicultural Publica tion-is a member of the National Newspaper Association—Founded in 1885. and The National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers. Inc. New York. NY. and The West Coast Black Publishers Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver. S ubscribe to (Elie ^ ortlanb ©bseruer 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: S ubscriptions T he P ortland O bserver ; PO B ox 3137 P ortland . O regon 97208 Name: Address: City. State: Zip-Code: T hank Y ou F or R eading T he P ortland O bserver Editorial articles do not necessarily •r reflect or represent the views o f (Tljr Tin rtlanb (©bsevuer / / e r violence and social cannibalism be rampant if sagacity and com mon sense were encouraged on all levels of society ? Where are our philosophers (lov ers of wisdom), our sages and deep thinkers? In America, people are made celebrities and "stars" simply because they are proficient at play ing sports, entertaining or because they are in the media spotlight? No consideration whatsoever is given to their character. In television and motion pictures most of the major characters are seriously flawed. They are sociopaths, ruthless connivers or people with no morals. Is it wise to trumpet antisocial values and pa rade degenerate behavior before the public without offering a counter balance? Can a culture that fosters instant gratification, conspicuous consumption, crass materialism, situational ethics, hypocrisy and so cial irresponsibility be deemed w ise What does the future bode for such a society? Will this nation continue its slide into depravity and decadence or is moral transformation possible? For Africans in America we lace an even greater challenge; maintaining our sanity. Prior to our captivity and subjugation to European or Arab hegemony, we came from traditions where wisdom, mother wit and com mon sense were integral parts ofthe social fabric. African people vener ated their elders, they were spiritu ally centered and communally fo cused. Wisdom, right discernment and right conduct, was encouraged, foolishness was clearly defined and discouraged Now we find ourselves in a situation where the exact oppo site is true. Check out the media. s p e c i r ì e s Have I got an education plan for you, II ¥ art one of this series c e rta in ly trig g e re d a large and favorable re sponse, and I am pleased for a number of reasons. Not the least of which is what seems to be an almost universal rec ognition that a "return to basics" can indeed be a "back to the future” movement. O f equal importance is the fact that the spectrum of favorable re spondents was across al I age. ethn ic, gender and generation lines. It was my intention that this second part of the "Education Plan" would address several novel innovations for expe diting the integration of 21st-cen tury technology into the school sys tem. However, last Thursday's op portunistic participation in an "Ebonics" discussion on Cable TV (2/13/97) has led me to defer this component until next week. This "Ebonics" roundtable dis cussion was sponsored by “Straight- Talk, Inc.," a very active community organization dedicated to timely and constructive intervention with our at-risk youth. The program modera tor was Mr Samuel A. Johnson, and my three fellow panelists were. Dr. Charles L. Hopson, principal at Har riet Tubman school. Education Con sultant, Edward T Roberts and Dr. R obert G arlett, principal at Zellerbach Elementary School, Ca mas, Washougal, Washington. By Professor Mckinley Burt I lie exchange of viewpoints was quite livelyand informative, and while no absolute consensus was reached (or expected), some classic positions on the subject were delineated. The principal arguments subtending these positions emerged as did differing viewpoints on the sociological frame of reference to be employed in evalu ating the linguistic component of African American experience. But more on this in a later evaluation of the "Ebonics" theme. Meanwhile, ‘back at the ranch' let me cite again, this week, a noble phrase from president Cl inton's edu cational priorities. "Every eight year- old must be able to read" Well, I would certainly hope so, but in my "Plan", I emphasize how important it is to restore that pre-World War II ‘learning incubator' which com bined motivation and expectation in a fashion that saw many segregated ghetto schools performing at a level of say, the local "Catlin Gable." There follows a note I wrote in the third grade, at age 8 "Dear teacher. I wish to acknow I- edge to you that I did not participate in the disturbance of your room yes terday ” I could have done a little better with the modifier, but my students at Portland State Univer sity go, the message when I circu lated a photostat of the original note. This was during one o f my bad" semesters w hen I was being forced to deal with a freshman class with many graduates of Portland's noto rious "Adams High School.” This was in the early 1970's This tragic "open campus, do-your- own-thing” experiment on a lower- income student population (whoelse, of course) had devastating results, inflicting long-term social and eco- nom ic disabil ities. Those students that were reading and writing at the third to fifth grade level when they entered high school let) in the same condition Not all of course, as a number of parents, and many students them selves, belatedly realized the conse quences of this educational travesty, and took remedial measures. I and an associate have tracked several ofthese cases, even across generational lines So you can understand our concent with the inspired rhetoric of the archi tects of “Ebonics.” As is par for the course with these carefully orchestrated education game plans, the Portland experi ment was preceded by a glow ing, two-page spread in Time Magazine. Two young, white lads flashed their brilliant smiles and new education doctorates, then waxed eloquent on their scheme to retrieve inner-city youth. Suitably equipped with both advanced degrees and foundation monies these two upper-m iddle c lass pedagogues descended upon a naive (?) Portland School district. Early on I encountered these Harvard graduates in the staging area that had been se, up for them in the basement of Jefferson High School. Naturally, any attempt to dissuade them or the administration was futility itself. San Francisco: deja vu all over again by J ohn W illiam T empleton ve ver since the Gold Rush, has been very danger ou ous to be an african- american neighborhood in San Francisco, as soon as a commu nity gets settled and comfort able, someone else decides they want your land. iti The city 's history can literally be traced by the neighborhoods that used to be populated primarily by Blacks form the Financial District and Chinatown to Russian Hill and the Fiullmore and Hayes valley, tactics ranging from vigilante violence and the Fugitive Slave Act to the right of testimony law. urban renewal, and in the case ofthe Fillmore, even murder, have been employ ed to displace Black land owners. Bu7t benerally. it's been done under the auspices of legitimate governmental authority through plan ning. zoning and permits granted, often with the stated purpose of im proving community conditions. You’ll find very few former resi dents of the Hayes Valley or North Be Wise, Be Well B\ .It nidus R icardo S tanton There is a Swahili saying. "Wis dom creates well being.” Africans have always recognized the con structive role wisdom plays in pro moting and maintaining social sta bility and harmony. The New Webster's Comprehensive Dictio nary of the English Language de fines the word wisdom as; the qual ity of being wise, the faculty to discern right and truth and to judge and act accordingly, sound judg ment, sagacity. discretion, common sense, extensive knowledge. (Em phasis mine.) Mediate on that for a moment In essence, one who is wise discerns truth, that which is right and acts accordingly. In a sane and civilized society, wisdom , doing w hat is right would be encouraged, recognized and honored by all strata of the culture. Unfortunately for us, America in neither sane nor civi lized How can you make such an assertion, you ask? Study the real history of this nation. Take a look around you. Now' imagine a society based upon truth and righ teousness and contrast that with what you see. Docs what you see give any indication Americans have discerned truth, what is right and right action? If wisdom was promoted as a virtue in America, would her citizenry assent to the hypocrisy and corruption we see all around us? Would there be as much animosity, frustration and rancor in this society if truth and right were priorities? Would the suicide rates for all races, ages and socio-economic groups be so h ig h ’ Would alienation, sub stance abuse, divorce, domestic 19, 1997 • T he P ortland O bserver Crudeness and vulgarity are held up as the standard. We disrespect our elders and we have cut our selves off from a fount of tradi tional wisdom, from successful examples and role models for liv ing. We have replaced them with the decadence of Hollywood and Madison Avenue with gangstas, pimps and hoochies. Wisdom is the key to our regen- eration/transformation as a people. We have to discern truth, righ teousness and act accordingly Dis cernment is a mental process We must not abdicate our mental re sponsibilities or allow our faculties to atrophy from lack of use! D is cernment means having the power to perceive differences between things, or ideas as well as their relationships. It also mean using our volition to decide to act in accordance with what we deem right! Actions always speak louder than words. Intuitively what is right, for the most part it is very simple Cunning m ischief makers are the ones obfuscating the truth and what is right. Their goal is to confuse the people. In a sane society, righteousness is taught, encouraged and openly and con sistentlv practiced. Doing what is right brings healing, it allows us to feel about ourselves, it cre ates well-being for us and those with whom we interact Let us not look to the hypocrisy of our adversaries to extricate us from madness Let us look to our past. Io the wisdom of our ancestors lor guidance and lor w hat is right. true and wise When we become wise, well-being will follow. Beach public housing projects who expect to move back into those areas once they are demolished nation ally. African-American urban neigh borhoods have been sited near in dustrial concentrations. W'veall heardetheof)-quoted say ing "the other side of the tracks." While doing an analysis of Census data in the 1980s. I was able to con firm demographically the validity of that notion, while looking at more than 100 metropolitan areas, I was struck that 95 percent ofthe time, the 2000 block of East 14th Street in any city was an 100 percent African- American area, further queries de termined that because of prevailing w inds heading east. African-Ameri can neighborhoods were generally just east ofthe industrial area near the site of the pollution form smokestacks. Since railroads ran to the factories, those neighborhoods would be next to the tracks, conversely, in practically any city, the "West End" was de scribed as a fairly upscale area with very few Blacks. Depite the environmental conse quences, there might be some secu rity and lower housing prices form being in a less desirable area. But those neighborhoods have tended to be the path o f least residtance for highways, and major construction projects like the Oakland postal ciearning center. Crippled by the lack of access to mortgage capital for thome building and renovations, the communities have been unable to amass the capital to hold on to their neighborhoods. New Bayview aublisher Willie Ratliff is now- sounding the alarm for Vayview-Hunters Point, the site of the highest concentration of breast coancer in the world. It also lies between the already approved Pa cific Bell Park for the San Francisco Giants and the about-to-go-to-vot ers 49ers stadiuym-mall complex, linked by a planned light railline up I hird Street. Although the combined impact of the Giants and Niners has never meant an iota of economic benefit to Bayview. Ratliff correctly perceives that someone will benefit from the increased land values due to the appeal of the new facilities. History tells him that it won't be the current residents. In the same wav that an effort has been launched to creae an economic magnet with the Fillmore Jazz Pres ervation district, although hopefully much more effectively and quickly, there is a need to give the Bay view- Hunters Point community an eco nomic focus that provides jobs and entrepreneurship for the current resi dents. One ofthe first steps that can take place is to replace the impersonl thired Street and honor the legacy of the recently departed spokesman for Black San Francisco—Dr. C arlton B. Goodlett. physician, psychiatrist and publisher ofthe Sun Reporter-by re naming the street Carlton Goodlett Way. In addition to Goodlett's local and statew ide contributions, he is due the primary credit for hekping to re vive African-American community newspapers in the 1960s and 1970s as president ofthe National Newspaper Publishers Association. By lobbying with major corporations, he helped the papers transition from a reliance on circulation revenue to advertising and inspired a whole new generation of editors and publishers through his advocacy of journalism education, in cluding this writer Is Alexis Herman Paying the High Cost of Public Service? by Y vonne S cruggs few years ago, I co ta u g h t the C ap sto n e Seminar for 2 2 second- year graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania's pres tigious Fels Center of Govern ment. and 1989.1 wonder if these students feel vindicated today when they look at the cannibalizing of public ser vants that dominate the front pages of national newspapers ’ It appears to me these days that prominence in public service eventually leads to having every minor personal flaw magnified and having the well- intentioned and completely appro priate fulfillment of legitimate du ties of public position distorted into devious schemes of personal or po litical aggrandizement. There are numerous recent cases of character assassinations and repu tation assaults w hich would discour age any sane person from voluntar ily accepting a high government appointment. Often the entire fam ily is vilified and tarnished by broad brush allegations or "appearance of impropriety," this is then incorpo rated into the persona of the public figure, and whether or not it for future publicity Often these allega tions can haunt public figures for a lifetime. It should come as no surprise therefore, that of the many who are called to offer service in a national public administration, few choose to be chosen. And of those who do choose, many (especially women and minorities) come to wish that they had not. The current contretemps A Earning Masters Degrees in vari ous aspects of government and public affairs were 14 Phi Beta Kappas, sev eral former Rhodes Scholars, a con tingent of honors bachelors degree holders and a majority who had rich backgrounds as legislative aides to congressional persons or as assistants to various mayors and governors. During the final class meetings, we polled each student about his or her career plans after graduation. With the exception of one. all of these stimulating and bright young people excitedly reported their success in finding coveted positions with pri vate corporations and industries, not with governmental agencies or public organizations. Why? Because they feared the effects of press intrusion and unwarranted notoriety on their children and families, and felt that given the conservatively capped gov ernmental salaries and other restricted public employment amenities, the gains from public service simply were not worth the pain. This took place between 1986 over the alleged/implied/assumed/ speculated upon role of Alexis Herman in the Democratic National Committee's (DND) fund raising investigation, is a graphic and dra matic case in point. Herman's primary responsibility in the White House for the last four years had been to reach out to con stituents. especially traditionally excluded or under-represented classes, to make sure that they felt embraced. These groups, included clergy, small business owners, and labor groups. Herman was respon sible tor correcting that impression and improving the reality. Where excluded groups often art not asked to help make a difference in deci sions affecting all A m ericans, Herman's ollice existed in order to facilitate their participation by the inclusion of their opinions, encour aging their influence and recogniz ing their civic and entrepreneurial power. Alexis Herman did her job well. I his tact has been under-reported and underestimated. Unfortunately. the decision to leak un-annotated records of the many perfectly legitimate meetings she arranged lor diverse groups of Americans added to the problem and was unhelpful at best, cynical at least. belter 'Cœ 'Che (SLditor Send your letters to the Editor to: Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208 I K ” • *’i* V, yl
