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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1997)
Pane A4 OCT. 1, 1997 <Thc |Jo r t lattò Wíto'Btrrumnr Editorial articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views o f (Tlje |Jn rtlan h © bsrrncr Attention Readers! Please take a minute to send us your comments. W e’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: Editor, Reader Response, P.O, Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208, (Elje ■)lJ ortlanì» (©bseruer (USPS 959-689) Established in 1970 Charles Washington Publisher & Editar Mark Washington D istribution Manager Gary Ann Taylor Business Manager Larry J. Jackson, Sr. Director o f Operation Gregory Benton Graphic Design Mike Leighton Copy Editor Contributing Writers: Professor McKinley Burt, Lee Perlman, Neil Heilpern 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, Oregon 97211 503-288-0033 • Fax 503-288-0015 Email: lMxobserv@aol.com Deadline fo r all submitted materials: Articles:Friday, 5 :0 0 pm Ads: Monday, 12:00pm POS I MAST ER: 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 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 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 Oldesi 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. SUBSCKIBE ID ^Jo rtlan b (lf)bacrtier The 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: S ubscriptions T he P ortland O bserver ; P O B ox 3 1 3 7 P ortland , O regon 9 7 2 0 8 Name: Address: City, Slate Zip-Code: T hank Y ou F or R eading T he P or i land O bserver City’s Contract Program Designed To Fail J ames P osey owns W orkhorse C onstruction of P ortland A regional study o f public con tracting discrimination and the city o f Portland’s resulting Fair Contracting and Employment Strategy began as a courageous process that held so much promise and hope for minority contractors, but now the city has blown it. As much as I tried to avoid this conclusion, the city’s attempt to drive a stake into the heart o f the problem o f public contracting discrimination has missed the mark This is sad because I ’m convinced some folks at the city really do want to do the right thing. Now I ’m faced with the dilemma o f criticizing the one government body that has honestly tried more than any other to seriously tackle the problem. But someone must continue to say that most black contractors would do just fine, given equal access and simple fairness. Government action beyond this is often more harmful than helpful. Those o f us who have been down this road before recognized distinct and troubling patterns: Die hiring o f key personnel whose skills and expe rience have little relationship to the technical duties expected to be per formed in civil rights-related issues; allowing staff and departments re sponsible for past failures to con tinue to formulate and control the new initiatives; loading the develop m ent advisory com m ittees with known opponents o f minority con tractor programs; ensuring that the hassle o f the process and price o f involvement outweighs the tangible benefits; shifting most o f the re sources from the central cause o f the problem to symptomatic ailments; and building a bureaucracy that is self justifying, self-serving and self-per petuating. In spite o f the City Council’s good intentions, it continues to err by at tempting to sidestep the issue of race in term s o f proposing solutions. Groups that have been historically denied economic access because of race will not be well-served by the broad application o f all the groups included in the strategy. The city has unsuccessfully tried the race-neutral theme prescribed by the U.S. Supreme C ourt's 1989 and 1995 decisions that struck down m i nority contracting set-aside. On the other hand, it ignores the Supreme C ourt’s strict-scrutiny theme to nar rowly focus programs where racial disparity is found. The city’s program is broad and unfocused. It is determined to cover everybody. Other structural flaws in the city’s strategy occur because it is unwilling to address the realities o f how racism has hurt the competitive capacity o f minority contractors in the past. For example, the program tries to force participants into a competitive mar ket process without considering the limited capac ity of many minority firms having to make a profit under the current low-bid system. Closely related to the issue is the fact that the same public contracting prevailing wage factor works to ex clude many minority workers, further diluting the minority contractor’s ability to employ highly skilled, profit- producing workers from minority communities. No matter how many times these critical issues are pre sented, the city chooses to look the other way. W hat’s devastating is how these factors work effectively to discour age future generations o f black con tractors from seriously considering this business. Eye With A View I Dream A Time...Will You Dream With Me??!! Z dream a time when our children will not die in the streets like dogs...and we will return them to their families their communities, to their world-safe and of sound mind-will you dream with me?l ast summer as this writer pletely pletely pass pass by. by. Now Now as as most most o o f f our our moved south along Mar M ar children children return return to to school school and and the the 'tin Luther King Boulevard Oregon rams remind us that fall tin Luther Kine Boulevard Oreeon rams remind <» »ha» fall is in Northeast Portland, the traffic all here and winter is nearby, just maybe, o f a sudden began to pile up as we (we say as we breathe a sigh o f hope approached the cross street ofNorth- ful relief) the killing will sto p -a t least east Broadway. As the traffic slowed until next summer! to a crawl, o ff to my left flank, it But the question that I ask is why became painfully clear why the traf do we allow it to occur? We live in the fic jam had occurred. It was due to a wealthiest country in the world; we T ri-M e t bus th at had sto p p ed have the highest GNP o f any other abruptly in the street. Country; we have put many a man on However, by the time I reached the moon; we can send a laser beam the scene, it was surrounded by to Jupiter, and spell America on its familiar yellow tape that signaled the surface; but we can’t stop our chil presence o f danger or an area quar dren from killing each other? antine for the purpose o f investigat Personally, 1 cannot accept the ing a homicide. I quickly learned that thesis that we can’t stop these kill on the bus a young black man lie ings, what I do accept is that we do dead on the floor from a gun shot not—and the reason we do not is wound to the head. Two weeks be because we lack resolve! thus, we fore, on a back street in Northeast lack vision, commitment, consistent Portland, two other young black men effort, m onetary and hum an re were killed as they sat in their car. sources to stop it. We would rather And while we commend the collec throw a few dollars here and there for tive efforts o f our city’s social ser suppression and guilt alleviation, but vices machines (i.e. police, fire, com we knowingly and consistently fall munity programs, medical teams, short o f doing what it takes. When ect.), this summer the front pages o f will we get serious about this task? th e O b se rv e r, O re g o n ia n and When will we be willing to roll up our Skanner have informed us o f similar sleeves and invest the time, energy, reports. effort, brain-thrust, prayer, and The occurrence has become so money that it’s going to take to get familiarthatweholdourbreath, won the job done. dering when the next mother ’ s child I was most pleased to see the ar will fall prey to still one more fatal ticle that appeared in the Observer b u llet-yet praying for some rel ief or entitled Violence Outdoes Resolve. I miracle that the death angel will com- was even more pleased that it was L r s p e written by the Editor o f the Observer, Such concern voiced by persons o f that caliber and with the means to get the message out, is the kind o f mod eling we need from our leaders. When was the last time there was a summit to discuss this issue in earnest? When was the last time we felt that efforts were being put into real solutions and not merely the appearance o f things looking better. Though I am only one voice, but just in case no one else has, I will officially be the first person to stand up and take on the O bserver’s Edito rial Challenge, and declare that I have the resolve. And my resolve is stron ger than the violence that seems to engulf our children; it is stronger than their willingness to die-w hich is really fear hidden behind a facade o f indifference; further, it is stronger than the statistics that say they will not live pass twenty one. And stron ger still than those who have grown comfortable with a certain number o f average deaths, as long as the num ber does not exceed it. I resolve that no child has to die in gang violence in Portland; that no mother, whether rich or poor has to look forward to getting that call in the early a.m. that her child is dead. If there are others who feel the same as Mr. W ashington o f the Ob server, myself, then let voice be heard. Write the Portland Observer, and tell them that you are person number c t three, four, fiv e --n th . and say th at you have the resolve! A nd you a re c o m m itte d to d o in g so m eth in g a b o u t it! As fo r my part, I reso lv e to w rite ab o u t th is p e rs o n ’s life A ll th at h e /sh e w as, w anted to be, and co u ld have been. I w ill refu se to let them be m ere statis tics, b u t real hum an b eings w ho had dream s and a m b itio n s ju s t like you and I. In a w ord, 1 w ill refu se to let them die q u ie tly , as dogs in the stre e t, in hum ane and su m m arily d isre g a rd e d as m ere garb ag e. I w ill also c o n tin u e the w ork th at G od has ca ll me to in this co m m u n ity re g a rd le ss o f n a y say ers and d e tra c to rs. A nd we w ill establish a m ental stress and p sy c h o lo g ic a l traum a tre a tm e n t clinic th at sp ecializes in helping th ese young p e o p le cope w ith the p a in and d isa p p o in tm e n t o f liv in g in a v io le n t cu ltu re. I w ill by faith s and sa c rific ia l e ffo rt b e g an today to c o u n t dow n to the day w hen no m o th e r’s ch ild w ill die in gang violence in P o rt land! T h a t is m y p ray er, th a t is m y faith, th at is m y h ope, th a t is m y reso lv e! Sam P ie rc e is a fre e la n c e w rite r, his colum n Eye W ith A V iew , ap p ears in the O b serv er p e rio d ic a lly . He can be reach ed by phone a t (5 0 3 )2 8 2 -4 9 7 9 . r e s O pportunity Knocks: Are The Knuckles Raw? rather snide comment that it was sim ply amazing that these black geniuses could display as their renowned A f " I in P u o i : rican ancestors. That is, exhibit the ! \I< K im i \ same organizational, technical and Bi HI scholastic talent as those who built the pyramids and subtending infra his column closed last structure or the African Universities week with the caustic like Timbuktu where Europeans came comment o f a black to study in the middle ages — but teenager that a mil today must depend upon Asian im lion African Ameri migrants to operate their corner gro cans on a ‘M arch’ for anywhere ceries. else] could have acted in the manner of This man had been a student in my black people o f yesteryear and real “Small Business Operations” class at ized that just small individual assess Portland State University during the ments would provide the means for 1970’s and he understood full well large scale economic projects. the implications o f this situation. He Actually, he had paid rapt atten said, “it may mean that we [African tion to a family discussion several Americans] may not have sufficient weeks ago when they were voicing social (spiritual?) resources to re pros and cons in respect to the article cover from that last destructive as in which I cited the complex and so sault on our infrastructure - “Urban phisticated management positions Renewal/Removal.” occupied by African Americans— The question was pursued last these in the establishment infrastruc week when a group o f us escalated ture, o f course; nothing owned by the dialogue in a meeting room at black people. Community College. “Is it still the It seems that a grandfather made a case that ' Small Is Beautiful’ ? Or does l! 91 T The Landscape T the mega-corporation’ ensure that only a giant grouping can compete in any field - and that the masses must be peasants, with no ameliorating middle class to which the ambitious might aspire?” It was rather obvious that several o f those present who had attended the march certainly had not pursued this type o f analysis. “Man, it was more like my identity’ was threat ened to the extent that I had to do something - right now, and this was a convenient avenue. Especially given that it had all the cultural and spiritual trappings. I just had to find m yself for a moment, get away from th is w h ite , le ft c ru sa d e o f multiculturism’; as author Richard Rodriguez puts it, ' the odd parade’.” And so it has gone, both locally and in communication with other cit ies. Few, if any, gave thought to any thing like an economic purpose or looked beyond an immediate need for a “spiritual revitalization”, a time out from a wrenching angst - “An abso lute must.” There also was comment to the effect that African Americans have become a society as celebrity - ob sessed as white, viz a viz “ Elvis, Prin cess Diana, et al.” A case in point was made by citing the failure o f the A fri- can American “Pepsi Cola venture in Africa.” Tens o f millions were lost when adequate research and market studies were not performed. The prospectus (invitation to in vest) was celebrity-enhanced with the names ofblack notables from the entertainm ent community (Oprah Winfrey), the political arenas and, o f course, the church. William Reed, the publisher o f “W ho’s Who in Black Corporate America says that “New opportunities will come along again.” From conversation like these and reading the African American Press, including other parts o f the country, it becomes clear that an increasing number o f blacks are determined to “get real”, as it is often put. This time there seems a determination to un derstand the process and not to miss again the opportunities briefly pre sented by a fast-m oving world. Cont’d. 4M/MB0IPPU$H COA he New YorkCity mayor’s Census Bureau, by way o f the Alma race reminds us that an nac o f American Politics 1998.) other election cycle is be (1) T hePopulation: ginning. * 2 65,284,000 p eople live in This fall there will be two guber America natorial elections, in New Jersey & *75.6% o f Americans are white Virginia. The 1998primaries will start *11.7% are African Americans soon after, with 1/3 o f the U.S. Sen *9.0% a re H ispanics/L atinos ate at stake; the entire House o f *2.8% are Asian Americans R ep resen tativ es (in clu d in g the *0.8% are Native Americans G in g ric h /G e p h a rd t b a ttle fo r •M edian per capita incom e = Speaker, w hich m ay determ ine $14,420 w hether or not Dick Gephardt runs *12.6% o f Americans are 65+ fo r P re sid e n t in 2 0 0 0 ); m ost *The voting age population is governor’s seats; most state legis 196,511,000 lative seats; and hundreds o f other •Registered voters» 146,211,960 key mayor, city council, county com (2) The U.S. Senate: mission, and judicial races all around •T he republicans have firm con the country. trol, but still lack at least 5 seats to be This week in the Rainbow/Push able to prevent filibusters. fax, we help set “the landscape” for •T here are 34 Senate seats up in these elections, with some key de 1998-16republicans & 18 Democrats. mographic and electoral facts for (3) The U.S. House o f Representa your use. (The data is taken from the tives: 1996 census estimate o f the U.S. •T h e republicans control the House by a small margin, with 228 seats. The Democrats have 206, and Socialist Bemie Sanders ofV T holds the remaining seat. Rep. Sanders would break the tie if the Democrats manage to win back 11 more seats in 1998. •The 1996 house vote was 49.0% for the GOP, 48.5% for the D em o crats. • I f the D em ocrats won back control o f the H ouse, the “pre sum ptive” chairm en o f several co m m itte e s w ould be A frican A m e ric a n s-C h a rle s R a n g e l at W ays & M eans; John C onyers at Judiciary; Bill Clay at Education & Labor; and Ron D ellum s at N a tional Security. •A quote from The Almanac: “O ne o f the striking features o f the 1996 election results is how voters in D em ocratic regions have b e com e more Democratic, while vot ers in R epublican regions have becom e m ore R epublican.” (4) The G overnors: •R e p u b lic a n s do m in ate the go v ern o rs’ m ansions around the country, holding 32, with only 17 D em ocrats, and 1 Independent in M aine. *If the republicans hold their c u r r e n t s ta te lin e -u p , th ey w ould have m ajor ad van tages d u rin g the next round o f reap portionm ent and redistricting. •T h e r e are 36 sta tes w ith gubernatorial races in 1998 (23 G O P, 12 D em ocrats, 1 Indepen dent) (5 ) S tate L eg islatu res: •B e c a u se term lim its in m any sta te s have c re a te d vast n u m b ers o f op en seats next year, and b ecau se re a p p o rtio n m e n t and re d istric tin g loom on the h o rizo n , the 1998 sta te le g isla tive races are even m ore im p o r tan t then usual.
