A prii . 23, 1997 • T he P ortland O bserver
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T hank Y ou F or R eading T he P ori land O bserver
Article retraction
eter Edelman resigned
last fall from his posi
tion as Asst. Secretary
for Planning & Evaluation at the
Dept. of Health & Human Ser
vices, due to his opposition to
the welfare bill.
Last month, he wrote an in-depth
article for the Atlantic Monthly,
entitled “ The W orst T hing Bill
Clinton Has Done,” in which he
explained what was so wrong with
this welfare repeal.
We think excerpts from it are
worth sharing'
The hill that President Clinton
signed is not welfare reform h does
not promote work effectively, and it
will hurt millions o f poor children
by the lime it is fully implemented
“ What's more, it bars hundred o f
thousands o f legal immigrants-in-
cluding many who have worked in
the US. fo r decades and paid a
considerable amount o f Social Se
curity and income taxes-from re
ceiving disability’ and old-age assis
tance and fo o d stamps, and reduces
food stamp assistance fo r millions
o f children in working families. ”
This [the Republican proposal]
was a truly radical proposal. For 60
p e
regarding the efforts made by the Mallory Avenue Blockwatch and
the Portland Police Bureau in resolving the Drug House on North
east Mallory Avenue. We know that the Observer makes tremen
dous effort in reporting the facts accurately and we wish to note the
following corrections to that article:
Mrs. Y oung's son's names are Bruce and Nathaniel (not Edwin as
reported).
We have seen and have been told that Cocaine was sold from the
premises (Not Heroin as reported.)
The Kent's friend' Kenneth Edwards from theG -StreetO ld Timers
raised the funds for new locks for Mrs. Young. (Although we know
o f and respect Ray Leary we did not say he was a personal friend (as
reported)-(he may be a part oftheG-Street group we are not certain.)
Finally, it is very important to note that we are only the organizers
o f a wonderful group of diverse neighbors who care enough about
our community and their neighborhood to be involved in an active
Blockwatch. Kenneth Edwards taught us how to form an effective
Blockwatch and the Portland Police Bureau, in particular. Officer
Marcia Barbourenabled us to be an effective part of law enforcement’s
on-going efforts to eradicate Drug Houses from our precious
communities. This definitely was acoopcrative effort! Although we
appreciate very much the O bserver’s reporting o f this crucial
community issue-we insist that your readers understand that it is the
cooperative effort o f neighbors, law enforcement, neighborhood
associations, the m ayor’s office, the city attorney and the judges that
enablesourcontinued success in m akingourcom m unities safe and
livable. Thank you for your courageous effort on reporting about
issues that really matter to the average citizen and reader.
God’s Blessings.
James and Elizabeth Ken, and Family
RAINBOW PUSH
C O A L IT IO N
The Worst
years Aid to Families with Depen
dent Children had been premised on
the idea o f entitlement ‘Entitlement
has become a dirty word, but it is
actually a term o f art It meant two
things in the A FDC program
• a federally defined guarantee o f
assistance to families with children
who met the statutory definition o f
need. .
• a federal guarantee to the states
o f a matching share o f the money
needed to help everyone in the state
who qualified fo r help..
“The block grants will end the
entitlement in both respects, and in
addition the time limits say that
federally supported help will end
even if a family has done everything
that was asked o f it and even if it is
still needy. ”
“This time the Hill Republicans
s
p
e
wanted the President to sign it The
game was over Now no one could
ever say again with any credibility
that this President is an old lib
eral ”
“How bad, then, is it? Very bad.
The story has never been fully told,
because so many o f those who would
have shouted their opposition from
the rooftops if a GOP President had
done this were boxed in by their
desire to see the President re
elected “ [note To some extent, this
would include us, though we did
picket the White House the very next
day ]
“The same defacto conspiracy o f
silence has enveloped the issue o f
whether the bill can be easily fixed
The President got a free ride through
the elections on that point because
no one on his side. .. wanted to call
c
him on it
“Why is the new law so bad? To
begin with, it turned out that after
all the noise and heal over the past
two years about balancing the bud
get. the only deep multi-year budget
cuts actually enacted were those in
this bill, affecting low -incom e
people. "
“The magnitude o f the impact
is stunning. Ils dimensions were
e stim a te d
by
the
U rban
Institute To ensure credibility fo r
the study, its authors made opti
mistic assumptions; two thirds o f
long-term recipients would fin d
jobs, and all states would main
tain their current levels o f fin a n
cial support fo r the benefit struc
ture. N o n eth eless, th e stu d y
showed, the bill would move 2.6
million people, including !. I mil
lion children, into poverty “
“The new study showed that a
total o f I / million families-10% o f
all American families-would lose
income under this bill. This included
more than 8 million families with
children, many o f them worktngfami-
lies affected by the food-stamp cuts,
which would lose an average ofabout
$1,300 per family. ”
t i v
e
s
Business Information You Can Trust, Part II
hey tell you to, “Please
stay on the line... Your
call is important to us.”
You certainly hope that Is the
case, for someone is sorely test
ing your patience; but when you
receive the requested informa
tion, will it be reliable, experi
ence-based?
As promised, this week I will
describe the second o f those “excel
lent business guides based upon the
real worW’, and available at your
downtown\>ublic library.” Today’s
revelation is, “ Thom as’ Register o f
Manufacturers." What we have here
in this most comprehensive listing
o f American manufacturers avail
able is the purchasing m anager’s
dream publication; who makes what
and where — what it does, how does
it do it, and how well.
But it also is an indispensable
guide to any entrepreneur who is
making, servicing, repairing, deliv
ering, mining or growing any type
o f product, device or material imag
inable; whether a one-person shop,
a limited partnership, an IPO O p
eration or Intel or General Motors.
The need and the utility is there in
all cases, though no, always recog
nized. Your prpduct may be dolls,
bunk beds, pickles or Web Sites.
I introduced this classic source o f
commercial data to my urban eco
nomics class at Portland State Uni
versity. An assignment for the se
mester was for self-selected groups
of students to examine ‘Thom as’
Register', then develop a business
plan for a commercial venture that
would use a mix oftools, equipment
and materials offered by the vendors
advertising in the
register.
As I had learned
through years o f
ex p erien ce, this
operation proved
to constitute a busi
ness course in it
self and rather than a mere academic
exercise, it opened the minds o f the
students to new parameters for the
projected enterprise. True to form,
several other University departments
adopted an innovation o f mine (1
was siphoning off an awful lot o f
their students for my classes, even
though their faculties included pro
fessors with degrees from the busi
ness schools o f Harvard, Wharton,
UCLA and Stanford).
The
To The Editor:
Mr. Washington, We appreciate very much the article written by
Lee Perlman on the April 16, 1997 issue of the Portland Observer,
r
^ a rtla n b (©bseruer
b >
D r . M anning M arahi . e ____
m t
n the aftermath of the
1 9 9 5 “M illio n M an
O ’ March,” many African-
Americans felt a renewed com
mitment to become active in
civic and political affairs.
There is striking evidence from
last N ovem ber’s presidential elec
tion that this new attitude has di
rectly contributed to much higher
voting rates.
In November, 1996, the number
o f black men who voted was about
4.8 million. This was a 1.7 million
increase over the number who had
voted in 1992, an increase o f 55
percent in four years.
This massive increase in black
male voting power was even more
remarkable when considered against
the voting patterns o f everyone else.
In 1996, less than one-half o f all
registered Americans actually voted,
the lowest percentage o f the elector
ate since 1924. The percentage of
both African-American women and
white males who went to the polls
respectively declined by 8 percent.
For white women, the drop in voter
participation was 14 percent from
1992 figures, or about seven million
fewer voters.
President Clinton won 84 percent
o f the African-American vote, a sub
stantial part o f his margin o f victory
over Republican challenger Robert
A study o f the wares offered in ‘
Thomas Register’ soon reveals that
contrary to the belief o f most lay
persons, few if any manufactures
make or fabricate ‘all’ ofthecom po-
nents o f their products. Whereas it is
c o m m o n ly
u n d e rsto o d
that
automakers do not make the wind
shields, tires, ash trays, sparkplugs
orclocks fortheir vehicles, few real
ize that it is much the same for most
companies, large or small. This not
only applies to the
nuts, bolts, screws
and fasteners, but
to the ‘wheels’ for
any vehicle. Pro
d u c tio n space,
capital and craft
expertise is not
tied up in these type o f operations.
Startled students find that there
are a thousand specialty “wheel”
manufacturers supplying the mak
ers o f baby carriages, tractors,
lawnmowers, scooters, pulleys, shop
ping carts, dune bugggies, you-
name-it! The same structure holds
true with the makers o f handles and
knobs serving practically all o f in
dustry with their specialties for fur
niture, cabinets and devices o f all
kinds - wherever something must
be opened, closed or turned. And of
course the same relationship tech
nology exists for the electrical in
dustry where each day more ma
chines are electronically controlled
or monitored — from household ap
pliances to construction machinery
and from medical devices to agricul
tural (You don’t make the bulbs for
your brand o f flash lights).
Very soon the students realize
that it is possible to greatly expand
their ambitions and the scope o f
their business projection. They will
not need nearly so much money and
space as first thought because so
many components and materials may
be bought “off the shelf.” Initially
that large’ facility may be down-
scaled to a couple o f store fronts, or
a storefront to your garage, or your
garage down to your basement. I’ve
seen all this happen in my years o f
accounting practice.
This technique will work equally
well today with so many laid-off
workers becoming entrepreneurs.
But note, industry has always been
good at this ‘outsourcing - that's
how it expanded so rapidly. “ Infor
mation You Can Trust!”
lack Male Vote
Dole Even more influential was the
impact o f the black male vote in key
Congressional races. In New Jersey,
for ex am p le, D em ocrat R obert
Torricelli was locked in a bitter con
test with Republican Dick Zimmer
for a U S. Senate seat. In the elec
tion, Zim m er won 54 percent o f
New Jersey ’s white voters. But
Torricelli won 85 percent of the
African-American vote, and won the
election by an overall margin o f 53
felony conviction. In short, about 14
percent o f all black men are unable
to vote, either because they are in
prison or because they have been
convicted o f a felony.
According to the study, felons are
barred from voting while in prison
in 46 states. Thirty-one states also
disenfranchise convicted felons
while they are on parole or proba
tion. And there are thirteen states,
mostly in the South and the West,
“ The greatest factor undermining the
full power of the black male vote is
the criminal justice system. „
percent to 47 percent. Observers
noted with amazement that New
Jersey's black turnout o f registered
voters had almost doubled compared
to 1993 election figures. Most o f this
growth in the black electorate came
from black men
The greatest factor undermining
the full power o f the black male vote
is the criminal justice system. Ac
cording to a study released by the
Sentencing Project, a nonprofit or
ganization, o f a total voting age
population o f 10.4 million African-
American men in this country, nearly
1.5 million have had the right to
vote taken away from them due to a
that permanently prohibit former
felons from voting.
A fric a n -A m e ric a n s currently
comprise 51 percent o f the 1.1 mil
lion Americans incarcerated in Fed
eral and state prisons.
About one-third o f all young black
males in their twenties are, at any
given time, either in prison or jail,
on probation, parole, or awaiting
trial.
The criminal justice system is the
chief means o f warehousing unem
ployed, undereducated and poor
black men.
Denied economicopportunity, Af
rican-American men are dispropor-
tionately locked up by a penal sys
tem which is designed to ensure that
their full voting power is reduced
and, for many, completely elimi
nated.
As David Bositis, a researcher at
the Joint Center for Political and
Economic Studies, explained to the
New York Times. “You havea prison
system where black men are back in
servitude, along with an economy
where blacks are in the low-paying
jobs.” So, to many black Americans,
“the system is basically rigged to
diminish their political power and
recreate the plantation system with
prisons.”
Civil rights organizations like the
NAACP need to consider initiating
campaigns to change election laws,
permitting people who have served
time in prison for felonies to be
restored their full voting rights.
To be denied the right to vote is to
become a non-citizen in one's native
land. And for A frican-A m erican
men who still enjoy the freedom to
vote, we must continue to do so in
ever-increasing numbers. Voting by
itself won’t solve all our problems,
but it is an indispensable tool in the
struggle for black freedom.
(Dr. Manning Marable is Pro
fessor o f History and the Director
o f the Institute fo r Research in Af
rican-American Studies, Columbia
University, New York City.)
better TTc TThe (3LÏÏitcr
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