A pril 30, 1997 • T he P ortland O bserver
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Coping:
A Woman Being “Used”
by
D r . C harles F aulkner
Dear Dr. Faulkner:
"I had a wonderful relationship
with a man ! recently met For the
first two weeks, things were going
ju st great Then he started being
unreliable He would promise to
pick me up at 9 hut wouldn t come
until II. He would promise to take
me out but would cancel the date at
the last minute (Sometimes he
wouldn t bother to call to cancel
the date). So, one evening when he
called to say that he would be two
hours late. I simply told him that I
was tired and had gone to bed. Now
he calls once a week What have /
done wrong? "
—Hillary, Portland, Oregon
Dear Hillary:
You certainly have my sympa
thy, but you may have blown the
relationship Here is why. Your
friend must have found you attrac
tive in order to have shown the
initial interest in you that he did.
Then, it happened You probably
submitted too easily in either a
sexual or social way. Inotherwords,
your behavior suggested to him that
you were easy, and desperate, that
you were not popular with other
men, and that he did not need to be
on his best behavior in order to
befriend you. This may not have
been true, but he probably believed
that it was
The fact that he has apparently
lost great interest in you could well
mean that he has relegated you to
the status o f his “available anytime
girl," the person he calls when no
one else is available.
Considering that you selected an
intelligent man, because you are
also intelligent, he probably inter
preted your statement, that you were
“tired and had gone to bed" differ
ently from the way you wanted him
to. You intended to suggest that
you were “hard to get” but he prob
ably thought that you were angry at
his tardiness. To him, this meant
that you wanted desperately to be
with him and were angry because
you couldn’t be. He knew that you
would be available whenever he
called again. I’ll bet that if you had
told h im that you were getting ready
to go on a date with another man,
he would have begged you to wait
for him. Strategy is everything.
You attracted him initially, by
conveying the impression that you
were a highly selective lady who
was “choosy” about the men she
wants. (W omen want men who
other women want, also). How
ever, after his first weeks with you,
he concluded that you had no other
male friends to compete with him.
Dating you no longer enhanced his
ego. You allowed “the chase" to
end. Or, in simpler terms, you failed
to play “the game.” Being sincere
unfortunately does not always have
its rewards.
However, please do not stop be
ing sincere. In the future, deter
mine the extent o f your friend's
sincerity before releasing your
emotions. Accept him. initially, as
a friend and no more. Just as you
attracted him, you will attract other
men. so maintain your dignity and
accept this as a learning experi
ence.
If you have questions, com
ments or suggestions fo r Dr.
Faulkner, write him at 5722 Green
Street, #302, Philadelphia, P i,
19144.
D r . L eaner Ft
by
lani
s regular readers of this
column know, I ran for
President of the United
States twice as an independent,
becoming (in 1 9 8 8 ) the first
woman and the first African
American to appear on the bal
lot in all 50 states.
One o f the things that I demon
strated in that campaign (and the
many other independent campaigns
I have run or supported) is that the
cards are stacked against indepen
dent cam paigns and independent
parties.
The American electrical system
has a structural bias in favor o f the
two major parties. And as the third
party options become more impor
tant to the evolution o f black poli
tics. el im inated these biases becomes
and important part o f the black
agenda.
State legislatures, controlled by
the D em ocrats and Republicans,
have passed laws that erect incred
ible barriers to independents. Take
ballot access, for example.
Independents have tocollect many
more signatures, in a shorter period
o f time and face many more hyper-
technical requirements than do ma
jo r party candidates running for the
same office.
When black and Latino insurgent
candidates for public office are
thrown off the ballot by the party
machine, they often turn to indepen
dent candidacies. This often means
having to negotiate prohibitive bal
lot access requirements.
The Fair Elections Bill was origi
nally written by Ballot Access News
publisher Richard W inner and Gary
Sinawski, my national elections at
torney and one o f the foremost ballot
access lawyers in the country.
C o n g re ssio n a l B lack C aucus
member John Conyers (D-M ich.)
Federal Reserve
by
J esse L. J ac kson , J r .
resident Clinton w ill
soon n o m in ate tw o
people for the Board at
the Federal Reserve.
Recently, Lawrence Lindsey an
nounced his resignation for the board
and Janet Yellen moved to the Coun
cil o f Economic Advisors.
The board o f governors has seven
members, each appointed to 14 year
terms. Counting Alan G reenspan’s
reappointment as chairman. Presi
dent Clinton will have chosen five o f
the seven. Next year, the term o f
Susan Phillips expires and then he
will have chosen six o f the seven
governors.
The primary responsibly o f the
board is to set monetary (money
supply) policy. They also develop
and administer the major federal
p e r
Here are some recent examples.
When three African Americans
in Union County, Ark. wanted to
serve on the county board o f direc
tors, they ran on the Reform Party
and won. And in 1994 in Alabama,
Nate Robertson became the nation’s
first elected official o f the Patriot
Party, the independent party that is
now a part o f the Reform Party coa
lition, with his successful run for
county co m m issioner in G reen
County.
The Fair Elections Bill, like many
other structural democratic reforms
such as term limits, equal access to
delegates and campaign finance re
form, are very important for the
black community.
We need a level playing field in
the electoral arena to allow indepen
dents to impact.
W riteyourCongressman. Tell her
or him to sponsor and work for the
passage o f the Fair Elections Bill.
oard needs diversity
laws governing consumer credit.
So far, the president has not nomi
nated a singe person o f color to be a
member o f the board. With the two
nominations he is about to make that
record must change.
The Board o f Governors, the presi
dent o f the Federal Reserve Bank of
New York, and four other regional
Federal Reserve Bank presidents make
up the Federal Open Market Commit
tee. This group meets regularly to
decide the cost and availability of
money and credit in the economy. All
o f its members are white.
T h e ir a c tio n s can slow the
economy, making it difficult to cre
ate jobs. Sometimes, the mere sug
gestion they may act to slow or speed
the economy can send the bond and
stock markets reeling.
Like some industrial countries,
s p
was the first to introduce the bill in
1985.
Former Congressman Tim Penny
(D FL-M inn), a good friend o f the
independent political movement,
sponsored and championed the bill
in the 101 st and 102nd Congress.
I applaud Ron Paul for carrying
the banner this year.
The political balance o f power
is beginning to shift in American
politics, as new independent par
ties com e onto the scene and begin
to impact.
The Reform Party, for example,
which ran Ross Perot for President
last year garnered enough votes to
win ballot lines in over 30 states.
I am active in the Reform Party,
along with an expanding network o f
Black activists around the county
who are finding that the indepen
dent option adds a new dimension to
black empowerment dynam ics at the
local level.
e
we have made our central bank inde
pendent. We insulate it from open
partisan political pressures. The eco
nomic policies the Federal Reserve
pursues can, in theory, best benefit
America without the political fall
out of making the tough decisions
needed to curb inflation or generate
jobs.
The policies they decide have at
least as important an influence on
the everyday lives o f Americas as
those we take in Congress to tax or
spend. When the Federal Reserve
Board took action, the effect o f wh ich
was to slow the economy in 1994,
em ploym ent growth slowed, and
manufacturing employment in par
ticular declined.
Real people lost jobs and board
policies affected real peoples lives.
The costs o f fighting inflation are
c
t i v
not felt uniformly.
Some segments o f America are
still reeling from the deep recession
o f 1981. Parts o f the district I repre
sent, Chicago and the south sub
urbs, have not yet recovered. Jobs
that were lost have no: come back.
Until 1994, adult African Ameri
cans had to endure double digit un
employment and still suffer twice A
the unemployment rate o f w hites,t
despite tremendous increases in the
educational attainment o f that work
force during that 13 year period.
So, it is vital that the Federal
Reserve Board have people who are
very sensitive to how economic poli
cies affect different communities,
especially its impacton employment.
The President must strive to give
those communities a voice in setting
economic policy. So far, he has not.
e
s
Business information you can trust,III
o repeat an old fashioned
phrase, here are several
more ‘absolutely trust
worthy' formats for structuring
business enterprise in the most
e n e rg e tic ,
e ffe c tiv e
and
proactive manner you may wish
to achieve.
In previous ‘ Perspective’ columns
we have discussed, “Starting & Op
erating A Business In Oregon: A
Step By Step Guide”, and “G ale’s
E n cy clopedia o f A sso ciatio n s.”
These extrem ely useful tools for
structuring or improving a commer
cial enterprise were reviewed on
April 16; both can be found at your
downtown public library the - first at
your bookstore.
Last w eek's column featured that
w ondrous listing and display o f
A m erica’s principal manufacturers
and suppliers o f every possible ma
chine, tool, material, part and ser
vice a business enterprise might in
volve. It was pointed out that this
“T hom as’ Register o f Manufactur
ers” could, on the one hand demon
strate to a new entrepreneur that he
would not need as much expensive
space as thought since others were
making parts essential to his prod-
ucts and they could be bought-off-
the-shelf (like wheels or lights); but
on the other hand with more space
available, the neophyte could ex
pand
h is
p ro d u c tio n .
Today we will evaluate another im
portant guide that can lead to the
formation o f a successful business; I
introduce the “Standard Industrial
Classification manual (SIC).” The
p re fa c e
sta te s,
“ .. used to promote
the comparabi I ity of
establishment data
describing various
facets o f the U.S.
economy. The clas
sification covers the
entire field o f economic activities
and defines industries in accordance
with the composition and structure
o f the economy.”
As we review its structure here,
you should see many opportunities
to gain insight in respect to how
certain areas o f industry and com
merce are structured — leading to
new ideas o f how your expertise or
training might occupy a profitable
niche. You might see a commer
cially viable nook or cranny within
“ Industry Group No. 571, Industry
No. 5712, Furniture Stores, or No.
5713, Floor Covering Stores or how
about No. 5719, M iscellaneous
Home Furnishing Stores?”
Out o f the many subvariables, some
opportunity for enterprise may leap
out from the page; “aha!, thats how I
can use the skill and perceptions I
gained several summers ago. And
looking at Thomas’ Registerof Manu
factu rers, the
space and capital
could be within
I’ roi I SNOB
my reach. Fur
Ml K IM I Y
ther, I can use
B l Rl
G ale’s Encyclo
pedia o f Associa
tions to contact
organizations of firms that are either
in the same field or are close enough
fortheirexperiencetobeuseftil” (mar-
keting, accounting, advertising, equip
ment, personnel). Critical correlations
not taught in school. Write! Learn!
Now , the process I just described
is an elaboration o f a technique I
used to ‘expand my student’s mind’s’
when theirselection ofpossible busi
ness ventures seemed pretty well
limited to what they saw in Portland.
I would have them study the yellow
sections o f out-of-town phone direc-
tories where they would o f course
come up with many, many new en
trepreneurial prospects. Just try San
Francisco, Chicago, New York,
Dallas, Etc. (All to be found at the
Public Library).
There are ‘thousands o f such
major groups listed in this “Stan
d ard In d u stria l C la ssific a tio n
Manual”, perhaps 10,000 or more is
a better description They range from
the generic: fisheries, fur farms, log
ging, fish hatcheries, all types of
farms, orchards, dairies, timber com
panies, etc., to the Extractive Indus
tries: Mining, oil and gas wells.
Then there are the financial ser
vices, theatrical, amusement, trans
portation, lodging, food, health and
gift, retail, electronic, building, con
struction, nonprofit, com m unica
tions, electrical, Direct Mail, etc.
But most importantly, there are
thousands of ‘between-the-line’ in
dustries that service, repair or other
wise support the more conventional
or standard types o f enterprises with
which most o f us may be more famil
iar You are certain to find new and
possibly profitable commercial niches
which would never have otherwise
occurred. Concluded next week.
Tuskegee syphilis study’s terrible legacy
by
B ernice P owell J ackm in
o m e tim e s European
Americans find it diffi
cult to understand the
reaction by people of color to
events and believe that we over
act or are a little paranoid.
But to really understand our reac
tions, one must know the history o f
people o f color in this nation.
For example, one must know that
Japanese Americans were put in
concentration camps during World
W ar II
One must know o f the many treaty
violations which have been experi
enced by native Americans
A nd one m ust know o f the
Tuskegee syphilis study undertaken
by the federal government using
African American men as its sub
jects.
Earlier this year, four o f the eight
living survivors of this terrible ex
periment gathered at the Shiloh Bap
tist Church in Notasulga, Ala. to ask
President Clinton to publicly apolo
gize for the government’s actions in
this horrible study. The president has
indicated a willingness to do so.
It is a peculiarly American trag
edy o f race and medicine,” said James
H. Jones, author o f a 1981 book on
the Tuskegee study, inarecent Wash
ington Post story.
In 1932, the government began a
study on the treatment of syphilis and
lured 399 men, mostly poor and un
educated African Americans, to par
ticipate with the promise o f free
lunches, transportation and medicine.
The study followed the progress
o f this dreaded disease in these men,
some o f whom were told they were
being treated, but who actually were
being given placebos. The subjects
were told they had “bad blood.”
Bu, the most horrible part o f this
40 year study is that even after peni
cillin was introduced as a successful
cure for syphilis in the late 1940s,
the study was continued until 1972
and only ended then after it was
exposed publicly.
Thus, men who could have been
treated successfully for this disease,
went untreated
It essentially reduced black men
into unwitting laboratory animals,”
said the Washington Post story.
There is some evidence that some
of the researchers continued the study
based on the incredibly racists belief
that African American men would
respond differently than European
American men.
In addition, there is also evidence
that the government got local Ala
bama doctors to cooperate with them
by agreeing not to treat the Tuskegee
subjects with antibiotics.
After the study’s public exposure,
the federal government did agree to
pay $10 million in compensation to
the victims and their families, but it
never apologized for one o f the most
blatant examples o f racism in our
nation’s history.
It is that apology that the survi
vors and their families now seek.