<•. » • 4 A- * \ / .. A* • . * • ■ F* • <'-«** J T / C • ’Í ' >-< <*.* ' • * • •** -t »-U.-X. J ¿ ü * t ‘. 7 4 .•* * . '■ -< •> SEPT. 3, 1997 Page A2 ( T h e P o r i L t t t h ’C l ^ h s d 'r i u ' r ---------------------------------------------------------- Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily Reflect Or Represent The Views Oj (El|v Jlo rtlan b ffibseruer F / Attention Readers! PI vum * take 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: Edi tor. Reader Response. P.0, Bttt 3 1 37. Port l a n d. OR y72tf8= (T b r ^ J o r t la n b Q D b seru er (USPS 959-680) Established in 1970 Charles Washington Publisher & Editor Mark Washington Distsribution M anager Gary Ann Taylor Business M anager Larry J. Jackson, Sr. D irector o f Operation Yvonne Lerch A ccount Executives Mike Leighton Copy Editor Contributing Writers: Professor McKinley Burt, Lee Perlman, Neal Heilpern 4747 NE M artin L uther K ing, Jr. Blvd., P ortland, O regon 97211 503-288-0033 • F ax 503-288-0015 Em ail: P dxob serv@ aol.com Deadline for all submitted materials: Articles:Friday, 5:00 pm Ads: Monday, 12:00pm PO STM A STE R : Send A ddress C han ges To: Portland O bserver, P.O. Box 3137, P ortland, O R 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 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 ol such ad. © 1996 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART W ITH­ B y B ernice P owell J ackson Civil Rights Journal Government, Poverty And Cities ver since I read William Julius W ilson’s book, when Work Disappears, I’ve been thinking about how government policies, both in­ tentionally and non-intentionally, have played a part in many of the problems that our urban communi­ ties face and are now held respon­ sible for. A recent article in the Cleve­ land Plain Dealer also pointed that out, but shows an opportunity to turn one past government mistake into a positive, if only the opportu­ nity is used while the proverbial win­ dow is open. W ilson’s book points out how government housing policies after World War II shut out blacks, who found it impossible to move to the segregated suburbs, where federal housing loans were available M ort­ gage capital was not made available to the inner cities, where blacks could live, but government dollars did sup­ port the building of large develop- E TO (Tl)«.' ^ o r tla n h (Observer 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: Tin. S ubscriptions P o r t i -AND O bserver ; PO B ox P ortland , O regon 97208 3137 Name: Address; City, State: Zip-Code: T hank Y ou F or R eading T he P orti ani ) O bserver Second Letter To The Editor Dear Editor: Watch out all persons with dis­ abilities who rent in the state of Oregon. If you have poor living con­ ditions because of a negligent land­ lord and take it to court using the first Amendment of the Constitu­ tion to defend your tenant rights, the chances that your rights will be denied are 99%. I am a physically disabled person and I can attest to this, based on my recent devastat­ ing personal experience which be­ gan October 31, 1996 continuing to this day in 1997 Why was I denied my rights un­ der the First Amendment of the Con­ stitution in Portland, Oregon on October .31.1996? This happened in Judge Mary O vergaard’s court, when my landlord, Mr. Michael J. Penney was petitioning to evict me without cause The Judge would not allow testimony about my dis­ abilities; my speech impediment, my hearing deficits, my eating require­ m en ts nor a c c e p t all o f the defendant’s exhibits in my behalf . I lived twenty years in the same apartment, yet went without a work­ ing stove (shut off at the fuse box by the Fire D epartm ent) for three months. I have friends who can verify this. I am extremely ataxic with de­ scending neuropathy causing me to sometimeschoke when eating and I require special food preparations. Is this why my landlord refused to put a working stove in my apart­ ment for three months? Or is it my speech and hearing im pediment caused by nerve damage the reason Judge Overgaard did not want to listen to my testimony? I call the Oregon State appeals Clerk in Salem weekly (1 -503-986-5555 ext 3) just to check on my court case (CA A 95188) to find out what the final court judgment costs will be. Since I have no money and no means to pay the court. I am afraid that the Sheriff can come and seize what little property that I have even to the ex­ tent of beating me. Before I became physically handi­ capped, I can honestly state that I created lOO.s of businesses and l,00(),s of jobs in Portland, when I helped start the Portland Saturday Market. Little does this matter now. I am lucky that I have found a place with a friend (on a m onth to m onth basis) so at least I am no, on the streets. I do not want to im pose on my friend, how ever I do not know if and when I will ever be able to find another safe place to live. I may never feel safe no m atter w here I live. I left my safe neighborhood of 20 years, which protected me from physical and m ental abuse. T hough the courts have throw n me out into the streets, I will never give up on the fight for the rig h ts o f d isa b le d and p h y sic a lly c h a l­ len g ed p erso n s to live in a safe env iro n m en t. T hank you for taking the time to read my letter. Any response can be directed to: Form er State Senator: M r. R ob­ ert W . B oyer K ing N eighborhood Facility C o­ ordinator Portland Public Schools 4815 N E 7th P ortland, OR 97211 (503) 916-5835 "end welfare as we know it.” Indeed, the irony of the formal name of the law which changed the welfare system. The Personal Responsibility Act" has not escaped me While I believe that each individual must take responsi­ bility for himself or herself and their family, I know that many poor people are poor not because they are not hard-working, but because of gov­ ernment policies and economic con ditions for which they have no re­ sponsibility. All of this has been in my mind as I hear the poor - all the poor, working or not - increasingly being demon­ ized in the public debate. As I listened to the debate on the new tax changes earlier this summer, I have heard it said over and over again that poor working people who pay no income tax because of their low incomes, but who do pay payroll taxes and sales taxes and real estate taxes, should not be able to receive the tax credits for their children that the res, of us will. Somehow it feels a little like robbing the poor to feed the poor to me. The sign of hope in all of this is buried in the new tax laws which virtually repeal capital gains taxes on the sale of personal homes. While this does discriminate against the poor, most of whom never have the opportunity to purchase a home, it may have a helpful impact on the cities, many of whom are struggling with the abandonment of the middle class. This provision is due to the re­ search and hard work of Thomas Bier, the head of the housing policy re­ search center at Cleveland State U ni­ versity, who had examined the impact of the 1951 tax law which in effect forced homeowners to buy more ex­ pensive housing or pay federal taxes on the difference/This single federal policy meant that inner cities had no where to go but down . r e s A Dream Deferred O r A Dream Inferred p e r OUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. The Portland Observer—O regon’s Oldest Multicultural Publica­ tion—is a member of 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. S ubscribe ments of suburban tract houses. Meanwhile, federal dollars supported the building of highways and trans­ portation systems to the suburbs while they destroyed black commu­ nities by building these highways through the middle of city commer­ cial and residential areas. Local gov­ ernm ents subsidized the suburbs with new water and sewage systems, quality schools and economic devel­ opment monies for businesses relo­ cating to the suburbs. Federal housing laws thwarted the maintenance and/or development of viable city communities, so that pub­ lic housing became an institution which isolated families by race and class, Wilson contends. Thus, they, too, have responsibility for the job­ less urban ghettoes which many large cities now must deal with. All of this has been on my mind during the recent public debates about the welfare system and the need to eelaring a racial I‘’Apocalypse Now” in his inim table sty leo f m etaph or and snappy the Rev. J esse Jackson h is follow ers acro ss the Icon last T hursday (T he :nStatc Bridge). T h is was ‘high-point o f along andbitter p ro test a g a in st C a lifo r n ia ’s position 209, the law that linated race and sex in hir- education and contracting not age o r d isability o r vet- statusk igan ironic coincidence that mark the rveentdeath lack administrative assis- io coined the p h ra se“ Af- •tMk to war among various govern­ mental, educational, political and B y H ugh B. P rice P resident N ational U rban L eague he shocking sexual assault by at leas, one white New York City police officer against Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant, is only the most depraved of numerous ex­ amples of police misconduct that has produced a rising tide of mistrust among African- American and His­ panic- American citizens. That the savagery occurred within a police precinct-wherc at least ascore of officers could hear Louima’s an­ guished screams, and know that, af­ ter the attack, he was left on a jail-cell floor for nearly 90 minutes before being taken by ambulance to a hospi­ tal-only underscores that something is seriously wrong with the attitudes and conduct some white police offic­ ers have toward some of the people they’re sworn to protect and serve. Thankfully, the Haitian commu­ nity of New York City has spoken out forcefully and clearly-and their com- ments about longstanding disrespect and mistreatment by some police of­ ficers have shredded the myth that only US-bom African Americans have a problem with the police. Yes, this was an “isolated inci­ dent," as New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giul iam and Police Commissioner Howard Safir have kept repeating, even as they've quickly moved to arrest those who committed the crime and punish those who knew it oc- T s p e legal groups. A long, bitter and divi­ sive struggle looms ahead for this state. Republican Gov. Pete Wilson has filed a lawsuit in superior Court that seeks, ultimately, a state appellate court ruling declaring all five catego­ ries of state affirmative action laws unconstitutional so that they can be removed from the statues. This in­ cludes the three preference cited ear­ lier as ‘remaining on the books: Age, disability and veteran status. The law abolished only programs benefiting women and minorities. A Portland Observer reader in The Dalles, Oregon who listens to "Radio KGO. San Francisco which comes in clearly after the sun goes down", says that his favorite commentator has compared the dismantling of Affirmative Action programs to the dynamiting of the high-rise struc­ tures which shelter so many black families around the country. It was suggested that in neither case is there provided - or indeed intended - ad­ equate preparation for the social dis­ ruption that necessarily must ensue. It should be stated that the ban does not apply to private corpora­ tio n s or o th e r n o n g o v ern m en t groups, nor to federal affirmative ac­ c / tion programs - or get this! - to state programs needed to maintain eligibil­ ity for federal aid. The method in this ambiguous madness is quite obvi­ ous. Many groups of contractors, public school and university teach­ ers and similar ‘special’ groups had enough weight in the California State legislature to be darn sure their “Af­ firmative Action" monies were pro­ tected. This Proposition 209 went into effect Thursday, August 28 bu, the American Civil Liberties Union plans an appeal to the Supreme Court in an attempt to stop the law - this after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied an attempt to block the law on Tuesday. There possibly (and hope­ fully) will be time for a successful turn-around before too much dam­ age is done. State and county offi­ cials forecast a long and typical bu­ reaucratic delay in dismantling the many programs. The smiling, happy face of Ward Connerly is being seen all over the television screen. He is the African American member of the California board of Regents whose vote was decisive in ending Affirmative Ac­ tion in California Universities. The consequences have been disastrous To Be Equal curred and kept silent. But the Louima case does come against a particular backdrop in New York City: for one thing, there have been several recent killings of black and Hispanic m en-innocent of any crim e-b y white police offices under controversial circumstances. For an­ other, according to one news report, the city government paid at least $22 millionin 1996 alone,osettleclaimsof brutality against the police depart­ ment. And the I .ouim a case Fits a larger national pattern. That pattern includes the killing and beating o f black and H ispanic men at the hands of white police offic­ ers u nder questionable circu m ­ stances; the police use of traffic laws to arbitrarily stop black and H is­ panic drivers on city streets and high­ w ays because their skin color “ju s­ tifies” th eir being su sp ected o f crim e; and the “routine” disrespect on the street, in their hom es and at the station house people o f color re­ ceive at the hands of too m any white police officers. Something must be done—and done quickly-at the local, state and federal level. One way to star, is for President Clinton's newly established commis­ sion on race relations to take up the issueof police abuse ofcivilian rights The Louima case is just the latest to underscore that the conflict between white police officers and people o, color is a major flashpoint of racial tension today. I, cannot be ignored any longer. The commission should put the spotlight on the socalled blue wall ol silence behind which police officers retreat whenever one or several of them are accused of wrongdoing. That practice—which has played a prominent role in the Louima case—is a disgrace to law enforcement. It has to be outlawed by imposing severe penalties on those who adhere to it. Secondly, America must stop pre­ tending that the police and get-tough crime policies alone have produced the significant decreases in crime in the nation’s cities. As criminologist Christopher E. Stone pointed out in the Urban League’s The Stateof Black America 1996, the most effective cause of de­ clining rates of violent crime “is more likely to lie in something that is new and powerful within black communi­ ties: no, just a good police strategy or a good neighborhood program, bu, a determined focus on reducing crime and violence in black communities that unites the efforts of local police, local activists, and local residents.” He concludes: “The remarkable thing... in these neighborhoods is with minority enrollment in some fields like law and science dropping cata­ strophically for blacks, hispanics and women. Mr Connerly, the sharp business­ man he has always been, has launched a new venture which already prom­ ises to be quite profitable. Perhaps even more so than the “contract pref­ erence - affirmative action” enter­ prises that made him a wealthy man. His new, perfectly-times operation is the “AmericanCivil Rights Institute” and is guaranteed to bring in big bucks from Industry, Chambers of Commerce, and' right W ing’ organi­ zations of all kinds. Semantics and other language barriers may stand in the way of an early implementation of this racially and socially divisive law; what is a “race conscious or gender conscious preference.” Many officials see long (and ex­ pensive) legal struggles ahead. Also to be kept in mind is the fact thatmany state governments across the land are watching this drama. There are other governors like Pete Wilson who would like to go down in racist his­ tory as blocking a doorway of oppor­ tunity like the notorious pair, Gover­ nors Faubus and Wallace. No Justice, No Peace th at both go v ern m en t a g en cies a n d c o m m u n ity in s t i t u t i o n s , w hile in m any instances d is tru s t­ ful o f one an o ther, seem to be w orking tow ard the sam e ends and re in fo rc in g each o th e r’s e f ­ fo rts .” It is that still-fledgling com bina­ tion of individual and com m unity initiative along with solid police work and appropriate governm ent support that local, state and fed ­ eral agencies as well as com m unity organizations must work to su p ­ port. T h a t’s why Dennis M. W alcott, president of our New York Urban League affiliate, co-chairs the C.P.R. in itia tiv e -th e in itials stand for “C ourtesy, Professionalism , R e­ sp e c t-P o lic e C om m issioner Safir developed when he was appointed. African Am ericans, w hether US- born, or from Haiti or elsew here in the Diaspora, have as great a vested interest in an effective police force as anyone, for they know all too clearly the need law -abiding c iti­ zens have of police com m itted to their protection. But they also know that a mutual commitment to ju stic e -a n d tocour- tesy, professionalism and respect- are vitally necessary parts of any true program of crim e reduction. W ithout it, there will be no peace.