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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 19, 1997)
• « J »V DK P age i•« ,-W*4NRi » > ». A 2 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ M arch 19, 1997 • T he P ortland O bserver Editorial articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views of (El|c |Jnrtlanh ©bseruer Attention Readers! Please lake 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.O, Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208- (T h e ^ l o r t l a n h (© b s e ru e r (USPS 959-680) Established in 1970 Charles Washington Publisher & Editor Mark Washington Distribution M anager Gary Ann Taylor Business M anager Paul Neufeldt Production & Design Danny Bell Advertising Sales M anager Tony Washington Arts & Entertainment Gary Washington Public Relations Audrey Washington Business Assistant Contributing Writers: Professor McKinley Burt, Lee Perlman, Neal Heilpern, Eugene Rashad 4747 N E M a rtin L u th e r K in g, J r. Blvd., Portland, Oregon 97211 503-288-0033 • Fax 503-288-0015 E m ail: Pdxobserv@ aol.com Deadline for all submitted materials: Articles:Friday, 5:00 pm Ads: Munday, ¡2:00pm P O S T M A S T E R : Send Address Changes To: Portland Observer, P.O . Box 3137, Portland, O R 97208. Periodicals postage paid at Portland, Oregon. Subscriptions: $30.00 p er year The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. M anu scripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by 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 W ITH OUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED The Portland O bserver--O regon’s Oldest Multicultural Publica- tio n -isa m e m b e ro f the National Newspaper A ssociation-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 $ o r t i a n h < ® b B m .e r 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: Z ip -C o d e._____ erh ap s th e g r e a te s t paradox in the current scandal about foreign influence-peddling in D.C. is that the biggest foreign influence- peddler of all is leading the charge against the Clinton Ad ministration. We speak here, of course, about the Washington Times, the Moonie rag. The W ashington Times is Rev. M oon’s pet project, his attempt to bend the course of American public policy to the right He has spent literally millions and millions of dollars trying to pin scandals on various Democratic leaders, defame liberals, puff up right-wing ideolo gies, and lend credence to numerous far right conspiracy theories. To a great extent, he has suc ceeded. He has launched a whole series of them into "talking head” p by D r . L enora Ft ia n i s we approach the 21st century the fundamen tal challenge to our na tion remains the same as it was at the end of the 1 8 th century: the problem of racism. Racism is not easily eradicated from America because it is such an integral part o f the American expe rience. Slavery was the economic backbone o f the original thirteen colonies, and the idea that an Afri can American counted as only 3/ 5ths o f a person was institutional ized in the Constitution. Certainly, the character o f Ameri can racism has changed over the past two hundred and twenty years African Americans are now legally entitled to all the rights o f full citi zenship Though this enfranchise ment has not been powerful enough to overcome the social and econom ic obstacles to full equality. Can racism ever be overcome? Not in America as we have known it. As long as power in America is concentrated in the institutions that pre-date the abolition o f slavery then racism will never be overcome Re forms, concessions, increased toler ance, yes, we have won these things But racism has not been overcome. The Republican Party ended sla very One hundred years later, the Democratic Party put itself at the head o f our civil rights movement But in neither case were African Americans frill partners in building a new America. We wrenched our freedom and dignity from a basically white power structure that was more or less disposed - at that particular time in history - to accommodate our demands The major parties enlarged American democracy to “ include” < us and other "disadvantaged” con stituencies not as partners, but as purely passive voting(or non-voting) blocs. The politic o f coming to white America to get things for Black America has failed, and will con tinue to fail This approach locks us into the politics o f identity victim We have to reach out to other Ameri cans willing to work with us as full partners and build a new American democracy. A new democracy means increased citizen participation where all Ameri cans are activists, and take responsi bility for the country. It means re structuring the decision-making pro cess to give all citizens a stronger voice, using technology to update the electoral process and make it more accessible. And enacting term limits to eliminate "professional politi cians.” It means getting the two par ties out o f over-controlling America; it means depoliticizing government, our economy andourculture. It means completely overhauling our election laws so that we have truly free elec tions that are not determined by spe cial interests and providing equi table access to mass communica tions and debates. Building a new American democ racy requires that Black and white Americans engage in a new kind of activity together We have complex and diverse feelings about one an other But I think it’s very clear that there isn’t a shared commonality of interest, o f collective ownership of the country. T wo hundred and twenty years o f struggle within this unequal partnership yielded toleration, but not cooperation. The way to create cooperation is to build something together r status on TV He has helped drive the Washington Post to the right, to the point where the Post's once- liberal reputation is now almost com pletely at odds with its conserva tively-slanted opinion page. He has used his money (foreign money!) to purchase credibility in conservative ranks, despite what should be their uneasiness about his weird marriage s p e theories, and his even weirder belief that he ranks up there with Jesus! Rev. Minin is a prophet in his own mind- a position which we would think should make most conserva tives shun him, rather than embrace him Meanwhile, the foreign-funded Moonie Times is leading the attack on Bill Clinton for foreign money laundering! Only in America... c t i P 0 Many Alleged Army Rapes Just That, Alleged! AACP President Kwesi Mfumu staged a prece dent s h a tte rin g news conference Tuesday, March 1 1, p re s e n tin g a re p re s e n ta tiv e group of five w hite female sol diers who promptly shocked the nation by recanting previous tes timony that they had been raped by African American Training per sonnel. "W e were coerced into making false statements... I agreed to te 11 them what they wanted to hear in order for them to leave me alone... I never admitted that I was raped, but I was told that under military law consen sual sex was considered rape... They are not allowing me to speak' what I feel because they are afraid it would help defense... everything they said was a lie.” Such blatant and perverted ob struction o f the criminal justice sys tem is a felony (to “suborn... induc ing a witness to commit perjury"). However, “this is the army” as the old maxim goes, and by their very nature m ilitary institutions have never been noted for any departure from the most rigid codes o f justice (or injustice). The case will be made that the military could not operate in any otherfashion, but that, o f course, does not appear on any recruiting posters. Although the NAACP press con ference was held just outside the Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland where over 50 women recruits have made official com plaints o f sexual abuse against one officer and about 20 drill sergeants, the nation’s media appears to have uncovered a scan dal at any installa tion large enough to support a post exchange. But those suspiciousof the entire process like Hollywood’s m ercilessly intim idating and de meaning helpless young whites. That created a lot o f resentment, but who cared? It made a lot o f money. Now. this last observation brings us around to another time-tested maxim, one I frequently use in this column, “ Eternal vigilance is the price o f liberty.” Could have, should have this sorry state o f affairs been antici pated? My correspondents tell me that there have been mumblings and rumblings on the bases for the past three years. It is also said that the Pentagon, eager to retain its widely- advertised success story' of friction- free integration, deliberately ignored the many danger signs that should have forewarned o f disaster at hand. T y p ically , these w ould have ranged from a pronounced increase in racist graffiti on the walls o f la trines and recreation areas to the appearance o f vitriolic right-wing hate publications that were printed either on or off the base. And I am told that accom By p a n y in g th e se Professor rather overt mani M ckin ley festations o f a de Burt generating racial clim ate are the more subtle indications o f discon tent, childish pushing and shoving in lines for food and other services, racial epithets yelled out in dark ened theatres. It is interesting that Togo West, the African American Secretary of the Army -- described by some o f the black media as the least effectual o f all the administration appointees in terms o f being the expected ombudsman in achieving and maintaining an ethnic equity in his realm - suddenly and loudly called for an "internal investi- S gation by the army, not by outsiders.” Contrariwise, William Coffer, the Secretary o f Defence, very sensibly calls for an “ immediate independent investigation.” It is well understood by any thinking person that it is critical to restore the highest level of credibility to the legal and civil pro cedures involved here. The nation has not come as far as it could have in matters o f race and discrimina tion, but, certainly, this is no time to retrogress It has occurred to quite a few that there are some significant economic factors at work here. We have dis cussed in this column the fact that there has been an increasing degree o f jealousy and envy o f African Americans in the public sectorof the workplace. For decades racism kept them out o f the more lucrative posi tions in business, industry and the craft and trades, so blacks gravitated to the civil service and the armed forces for job opportunities. The net result is that in today’s unsettled economic climate o f lay offs, mergers and outsourcing many blacks are in the enviable position o f having relatively secure job and pen sion security via civil service. It was time to win one. Legislator in progress T hank Y ou F o r R eading T he P o rtland O bserver Overcoming Racism In America e Influence Peddling W atching the pathetic attem pts ol former D em ocrat, now R epub lican Senator Richard Shelby of Alabam a, as he tries to play Perry Mason, we are rem inded o f the wonderful Frank M ankiew iczjoke about John C onnally--that when he sw itched parties, he raised the intellectual level of both parties (In truth, transferring that joke to Shelby is not really fair to the rest ol the GO P.) Shelby is clearly not playing by the rules with Anthony Lake. This is right-wing payback for L ake’s prin cipled resignation from the Nixon A dm inistration during V ietnam / Cambodia, a quarter of a century ago The national press should be ashamed of itself for even consider ing treating this as a serious investi gation, rather than merely a ven detta To The Editor The 1997 Oregon Legislature is now in progress. Thousands of ideas and proposals are being discussed at the state capitol and many will be passed into law. The bill most important to every property owner is HB 2 5 15 This is the landowner notification bill Cur rently, a citizen can buy a home or a piece o f property under one set of zoning laws and the government can change those laws without noti fying the property ow ner that a change has been made. For many years, landowners have complained that the state's land-use agency is unfair. It is wrong when rules are proposed and put into law which restrict the use o f private prop erty without informing the property owners prior to the change. In many instances, landowners have been totally left out o f the land-use pro cess. Citizens may not learn until years after laws have changed that they cannot use their property for its intended purpose. The state land-use system has made a serious error by not includ ing landowners in the process HB 2 5 15 is the first step to return needed ba lance to Oregon ’ s prob lem p lagued land-use system and to bring land- owners back into the process. Sincerely, Joan McConoughey Imbalanced Constitutional Budget Amendment B y C ongressm an J esse L. J ac k - J r .___________________ son , he federal government should balance Its bud get like families, busi nesses and states do! But since it does not, we need a Balanced Budget C onstitutional Amendment to guarantee that the federal government will balance its budget. That is the essence o f the argument for the amendment. The amendment may sound good on its face, but it falls flat on its face when examined more critically. A fe d e ra l B a la n c e d B udget Amendment (BBA) would: damage our economy by making recessions deeper and more frequent; heighten the risk o f default and jeopardize the full faith and credit o f the U S . Gov ernment; weaken the principle of majority rule; lead to reductions in needed investments for the future; favor w ealthy A m erican s over middle-and-low-income Americans by making it harder to raise rev enues and easier to cut programs; would likely lead to cuts in Social Security checks, but more impor tantly affect Social Security 's financ ing, not be the same as state bal anced budget mandates; not be nec essary because we are m aking progress on reducing the debt with out it; and, therefore, passing the BBA is not a prudent path for the nation to follow. The rigid fiscal policy prescrip tion o f the BBA proposed by both the House and the Senate would require the budget to be balanced (or in surplus) every year, regardless o f whether economic growth is strong or weak A sluggish economy, with fewer incoming revenues and more outgoing expenditures, would cre ate a deficit that needs economic stim ulation to reverse the cycle. Under a BBA, more deficit reduc tion would be required in periods of slow growth than in times o f rapid growth — precisely the opposite o f what is needed. Thus, a constitu tional amendment risks making re cessions more frequent and deeper. Under the BBA, the government could no longer borrow funds unless there was a three-fifths vote in both houses o f Congress to raise the debt limit. Under that scenario, a budget crisis, where a default is threatened, is more likely, and it would heighten the risk that such a default would actually occur A default o f only a few days could have long-term im plications. It would erode confidence in the binding nature o f U.S. finan cial obligations. The government pays relatively low interest rates on its loans because it pays its debts back in full and on time A default would shake that confidence and, therefore, raise interest rates and government costs paid by taxpayers. The requirement that the budget must be balanced at all times unless three-fifths o f the members o f Con gress agree to raise the debt ceiling, also weakens the current principle o f majority rule. It would empower a minority (40 percent, plus one), will ing to threaten economic turmoil and disruption unless they get their way, with the ability to extort con cessions or exercise unprecedented leverage overour national economic and fiscal policy. Public investment that improves long-term productivity growth — such as investments in education, infrastructure, research and devel opment - encourages increased pri vate-sector investment that results from lower deficits. A BBA, requir ing a balanced budget that did not borrow to modernize could not re main competitive. Most families, if they could not borrow, could not purchase homes or finance college educations. State and local govern ments borrow judiciously to finance road construction, to build new schools and to make other capital improvements, thus assuring their future economic development. The BBA, while formally flexible in approach to deficit reduction, fa vors wealthy Americansovermiddle- and-lower-income Americans be cause, undercurrent law, legislation can pass by a majority of those present and voting by recorded or vice vote. The BBA, however, requires that legislation raising taxes be approved on a roll call vote by a majority o f the full membership o f both houses. Thus, the BBA would make it harder to cut the deficit by curbing the special interest tax breaks o f the oil and gas industries, and easier to reduce such programs as Medicare, veterans’ benefits, education, envi ronmental programs and assistance for poor children Wealthy individu als and corporations receive most their government benefits in the form o f tax entitlements (more than $400 billion in 1995), while low-and- middle-income Americans receive most o f their government benefits through programs better ^0 'Uhe (^Editor Send your letters to the Editor to: Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208 I
