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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1997)
á - • » r • 4 ¿ J f i ; ‘ , ? > .« * ? »•■ •, • • ■ nmmm I mmmomhi P age A2 Editorial articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views o f JJnrtlanh ©bseruer 3 T í|e ^ J o r t la n h (O b s e r v e r • ^ 4 n last week’s Rainbow/ J | PUSH articles, we raised "X . r the possibility of Rever (USPS 959-680) Established in 1970 Charles Washington Publisher A Editor Mark Washington Distribution Manager Gary Ann Taylor Business Manager Danny Bell, Yvonne Lerch Account Executives Micheál Leighton Copy Editor Paul Neufeldt Jim Bennett Production A GruphicDesign Larry J. Jackson, Sr. Director o f Operation Contributing Writers: Professor McKinley Burt, Lee Perlman, Neal Heilpern, Eugene Rashad 4747 NF, Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, Oregon 97211 503-288-0033 • Fax 503-288-0015 Email: Pdxobserv@aol.com Deadline fo r all 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 will be returned it accompanied by a sell 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 o f 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--^ a member ot 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. SUBSC R IB E I O <2TI| c JJo rtku tò (Dbecruer I he Portland Observer can be sent directly to your home for only $30.00 per year Please till out. enclose check or money order, and mail to St BS( RIPITONS T he P ortland O bserver ; PO B ox 3137 P or i land , O regon 97208 Name: Address: ____ _________ City, State: Zip-Code. T hank You F or R eading 1 he P ortland O bserver Pity the Consumer - Black and White by ( / D r . L enora F ulani ! ake the latest contro versy over the stun ningly talented golfer Tiger Woods. Within hours after he had won the Masters Tournament, televi sion commentators were debating the "meaning” of his triumph and of the public enthusiasm for it. On CNN's Capitol Gang, the Sunday night weekly political affairs talk show, Tiger’s extraordinary per formance was the big topic. Sev eral commentators proclaimed that W ood’s enormous popularity - which crossed racial lines - was an indicator that America was truly a ‘meritocracy” where talent, drive and accomplishment were revered and “trumped" race. Suddenly Ti ger Woods was no longer a golfer, nor a Black golfer, nor an incred ibly famous and popular Black golfer. He was a symbol of what these political pundits - all of whom are white - are selling to the Ameri can people: That’s the notion that America, deepdown inside, is color blind. And that it should be. Of course the salesmanship did not stop there. By the day after the last round of the Masters, the Black radio talk show phone lines were buzzing with commentary about Tiger Woods. Some were insistent that a most important feature of Tiger’s game is that he is Black. There was criticism of Woods’ seeming unwillingness to empha size with his African American identity. The message was that Tiger and America were acting colorblind. And they shouldn’t, because that denies racism. This national dialogue on golf contains the two most pervasive sales pitches on race. For the white “salespeople," there is no racism. It’s bad for business. For the Black “salespeople,” there is only rac ism. » e ,w , . O l * i > - »Sk Drinhing and riding crosses the line. Even a little alcohol can affect your timing, balance and judgment. You might not even feel it, but its effect can be deadly— even if you just drink one. Don't let alcohol bring you down. Don’t drink and ride. Ride Sober. The M/by To Go. Oregon Department of Transportation end Jackson running for Presi dent in 2000. We've gotten a lot of good feedback in the past few days - it’s nice to hear from so many old friends! Given this interest, we thought it might be useful to reconsider our own history, in the present political context. The pundit consensus is that the current front-runners are Vice-Presi dent Al Gore and House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt. They are also keeping an eye on former Senator Bill Bradley, while giving lip-ser vice to Senators John Kerry, Jay Rockefeller, Dianne Feinstein & Paul Wellstone. (By the way, Paul, the road to Des Moines runs through Chicago....If you’ve go lime to chat with E.J., you’ve got time to call JJ!) Given how Jesse is being ignored by the pundits, there would seem to be a certain amount of media amne sia here - after all, we’ve been down this road once or twice before. ♦Jackson beat Gore & Gephardt 9 years ago, running second only to Dukakis. *In 1988, Jesse Jackson won 7 million votes, more than twice as p e r RAINBOW PU$H C O A L IT IO N lorn To Run many as Senator Gore’s 3.1 million, and five times as many as Rep. Gephardt’s 1.4 million. ♦Jackson 88 carried 13 prima ries & caucuses - AL, GA, LA, MS, VA on Super Tuesday (winning the most votes that day!); that wonder ful victory in ML DC, Puerto Rico & the Virgin Islands; and caucuses in AK, DE, SC & VT. ♦More Jesse Jackson supporters turned out for the 1988 caucuses than for any other candidate, includ ing Dukasis. ♦Jackson won the youth vote, and as a result carried the 18-44 vote. * Jesse won 92% of African Ameri cans. * Jackson '88 spilt the self-identi fied liberals with Dukasis, 41-41%. * Jackson won 1,218.5 delegate votes at the Atlanta Convention, the most ever received by a 2nd-placc finisher in Democratic Party his tory. (And what happened after Jackson ran so tar ahead of Gore? First, Dukakis seriously considered Gore for vice-president, then ended up choosing Bentsen without telling Jesse. 4 years later, Clinton went out of his way to pick a fellow moderate, young. Southern, white male as his running mate. With the total approval of the press, Clinton took the candi date who had won 3.1 million votes over the one who had soundly beaten him with 7 million! Now that’s affir mative action - elite style!) Our main point here is, if and when Jesse decides to run for Presi dent in 2(MX), he’s not exactly going to be intimidated by his two main opponents, both of whom he’s al ready outrun. And in today’s America: *with stagnant wages for work ing families; * with our economic futures in the hands of Alan Greenspan and an p e c over-priced stock market; *with NAFTA jobs flowing out overseas; ’ with an increasing gap between rich & poor; ♦with a welfare repeal that will leave millions of our poor with nei ther jobs nor safety net’ ♦with the gap in public school funding leaving our kids in schools that are “separate and unequal; ♦with our foreign policy held hos tage to the demands of corporate commerce; ♦with a prison-industrial com plex that is swallowing up more and more of our young; ♦with our political system clearly showing major signs of decay; and, ♦with our cities in need of recon struction - there is clearly room for an outsider, a prophet, a fighter for the common people. As long at the politicians in Wash ington continue to pretend that all solutions are punitive, cheap, and driven by either the corporate elite or the radical right, our issues will grow in power. The experts will say Jesse can't run again, for the 3rd time. But William Jennings Bryan did; Bob Dole did (and he’s got 2 decades on Jesse!): and Ronald Reagan certainly did. Our time will come. t / r c s Business information you can trust, IV today’s review of the “Die tionary of Occupational 'Titles "(DOT) is the fourth and final business information standard to be evaluated in this series. Like last week’s introduction to the "Standard Industrial Classifica tion Manual," this too concerns in novative applications of a U.S. Gov ernment publications; and is also available at the downtown public- library. A. The latest edition (1991) in cludes standardized and comprehen sive descriptions of job duties, re lated information for tens of thou sands of occupations. B. Covers nearly all jobs in the U.S. economy. C. Groups occupations into system atic occupational classification struc tures based on interrelationships of job tasks and requirements. D. De signed as job placement tools to facilitate matching job requirements and worker skills. 1 m sure that many of you who read or have followed up on my description of the “ Industrial Manual" already have perceived the possibility of useful interaction here. Clearly, you are on the right track, for beginning with page 1157 of this "Dictionary of Occupational Titles,” there is a 210 page section, “Occu- pational Titles arranged by Indus try' Designation." It is easy to see why this guide is so important to the work ol the Stale Employment Ser vices and private agencies. On the one hand you imme diately are able to ascertain that there are scores of jobs you never knew existed within a type of industry you were quite fairyliar with. What a boon to the job seeker, whether a new graduate or someone who has worked in the particular field for some time, but was unaware of new applications of his skills in expanding industry class and tech nology. But on the other hand, you may have been quite confident in the skill and experience criteria’ you employed to choose your new busi ness enterprise. And then, in in specting this "Occupational Dictio nary' cross-reference, discover that, hey! there’s a number of industry (commercial) profit center opera tions that fit right in with the skill bank I already possess. And with the space, tools, materials already pro jected. Are these good guides or what? The operational logic of the “Dic tionary" centers around a 9-digit Occupational Code" assigned to each job, and in this occupational classification system, each set of three digits has a purpose or mean I l «Y ing. The first three | | P u o i essor digits identify a T M < K IM .E Y particular occupa B i Ri tional group; All occupations are clustered into nine broad categories; which in turn breakup into 82 occupationally spe cific advisors. Clearly, this dictio nary closely corresponds with the Industrial Classification Manual for nine primary occupational goals: I. Professional, Technical and Mana gerial. 2. Clerical and Sales. 3. Ser vice. 4. Agricultural, Fishery, For estry. 5. Processing. 6. Machines Trades. 7. Bench Work. 8. Struc tural. 9. Miscellaneous. The middle three digits of this DO T occupational code further en able an employer, worker, job seeker or agent of social change to manipu late the system to his advantage. Additionally, every young person planning an educational agenda or job search should become adept at correlating the material in these two federal publications. This will prove to be an education in itself; and greatly expand earning capacity. To continue on, these middle three digits are the worker func tions, ratings of the tasks per formed in the occupation. Every job requires a worker to function in some degree in relation to data; people and things. A separate digit expresses the worker’s relationship to the groups I have listed them below because this analysis of worker (unction was so useful that even today I meet former students who say this type of thinking “made it for me” either in terms of career or business. (The last three digits ol the code or simply identification units are explained in the DOT guide). DATA (4th digit) synthesizing, coordinating, analyzing, compiling, computing, copying, comparing. PEOPLE (5th digit) mentoring, ne gotiating, instructions, supervising, diverting, persuading, speaking-sig nalling, serving, talking instruc- tions-helping. THINGS 6th digit) setting up, precision working, oper ating-controlling-driving-operating, manipulations, tending, feeding- offbearing, handling. Next Week: Some important and current career-education job and business data. Hello Portland Black Community ♦ ave you seen what is | “i going on with the black ~ I men in your community? This thing that we call rack eteering and Measure 11 is tak ing them away. A group of Deputy District Attor neys are deciding their futures. They are the ones that are in their rooms with their donuts and coffee and with their ancestors race mentality and modern day "Let’s lock those people up” attitude. I know that there are some of you who would say that these black people arc getting what they deserve. But please look closely at this racketeer ing and Measure 11 laws. I know that it is aimed at putting the criminal away. I know that it is meant to protect the whole commu nity. But please - do not let them direct it at the black man only! Stand up community and say again, let my children go!" I know that the churches and the commu nity activists will not or can not do anything to correct these prob lems. So let’s begin to do research on this problem. Let’s begin to put people in the courtroom who will find the judges and district attorneys most active in the slaughter of young black men. Let’s begin to work closely with the public defenders to make sure that they don’t play the game of “Let’s Make A Deal!" Let’s begin to get active in the community to get racketeering and Measure 11 laws revised so voters and commu nity leaders can push politicians, judges, district attorneys and public- defenders to do something about these laws that are aimed directly at the black man! I know as an older black man I have found a lot of hope in one young black man who has been ac cused of racketeering. This young black man is a leader and is well- respected among the young blacks of the Portland black community area. He has faced a lot of hardships. He has a lot of love from his grand mother who raised him. She has stood by him through his many life struggles. This young man has taken from the bad things in his life and has turned them around. With his music he is in the process of opening a music studio in Portland. He is also active with other business adven tures. Being an old black man who lost everything to drugs, my business, my family, my home, and on and on and on! Since 1992 I’ve been lost in the wilderness with drugs and other things to medicate my life of self- pity and my losses and to escape from being a lost black man! This Measure 11 brought me to reality and also to God. I will not discuss my case or my religion. But I will tell you about this 25 year-old black man who is in here for rack eteering. He make me feel like an ‘Old Uncle Tom’ sellout, who has let the young black man down. How could we not show our chil dren how to protect themselves from the trickeries of this white society. They are the masters of camouflag ing their hatred toward us. We got so involved in making money, that all the doors got shut to the young black man. So he had to go out and lend for himself. In doing so, he became a ‘racketeer, a gang- banger and gang-related’ and all the 1 better 'Cd C/ir CLditor Send your letters to the Editor to: Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208 other things associated with being a young black man. Well let me tell you about this 25 year-old black man that I've come to know the last 3 months. He is facing a 25-year sentence. We talk about all of the things he wants to do. He shows me pictures of his two children. He speaks real highly of hisgrandmotherandclaims to owe her his live. He is very active in his business, having already re tained a business attorney and ac quired all of the necessary equip ment to run the business. Now I know I could compare all the white cases of racketeering and Measure 11 to the black cases and you would be shocked. This is not directed at the white race. But it is directed at the black community for not keeping an eye on this unjust society that we live in. So don’t blame the district attor ney or the voters or the police de partment. They arc only doing what we let them do! May God be with you tonight. I hope you hear the cries from an old black man who is trying hard to right his wrong for his people. Peace! Good-bye to racketeering and Measure 11! Just let my people go!! -L arry Harrell, N.E. Portland
