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Editorial articles do not necessarily
reflect or represent the views o f
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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.
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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