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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 22, 1997)
3' ■ \ ■■•, •'■,‘.’ a k - L’ W * '' f . . i r . •' • % . •.’• • .. ; •*' « P agi A4 Editorial articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views o f (Ttje ^orflartb ©bseruer 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 improsement... 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. |Jn rtlan b (Observer (PSPS 959-680) Established in 1970 Charles Washington Publisher A Editor Mark Washington Distsrihution Manager Gary Ann Taylor Business M anager Larry J Jackson, Sr Director o f Operation Iesha Williams (i rap hie Design Mike Leighton Copy Editor Contributing Writers: Professor McKinley Burt, Lee Perlman, Neil lleilpern 4747 NF. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, Oregon 97211 503-288-0033 • Fax 503-288-0015 Email: l’dxobserv(«aol.com Deadline fo r all submitted materials: Articles:Friday, 5:00pm Ads: Monday, 12:00pm POSTMAST ER: Send Address Changes To: Portland Observer, P.O. Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208. Periodicals postage p a id at Portland, Oregon Subscriptions $30.00 per year I he 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 o f 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 o f such ad. © 1996 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITH OUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED The Portland O bserver-O regon’s Oldest Multicultural Publica tion—is a member of the National Newspaper Association—Founded in 1885, and Hie National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc, New York, NY, and The West Coast Black Publishers Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver. Si Civil Rights Journal Bx B e R N K E POVX El l JACKSON T r BSCRIBE IO (Tin’ ¡Jilurtlnnï» (Oharrtirr Sl'B St R ll’ l IONS Name: Address: City, State: Zip-Code: rn.xNk Yot F or R eading T he P ortland O bserver 14 éf/frr 'Cô 'Che (Sf'ùter . 7-----:---------:------------------—------------------------ , Send y our letters Io I he Editor lo: F dilor PO Bov 3137 Portland, OR 972(18 An Open Letter to The President Dear Mr. President, I wanttothankyou for encourag ing the Nation to enter into an hon est dialogue on issues o f race. As a free people, we sti 11 have the oppor tunity to shape this mighty nation intoa place where each individual is important and each opinion is counted Mr. President, I offer you the following suggestion as a way to helptreatthe nations'w eeping sore o f racial intolerance. The sugges tion is. change the artwork on the faces o f our money. Remove the portraits o f the African slave trad ers George W ashington, Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson Also, remove from our money the likeness o f Abraham Lincoln, a pro fessor in the doctrine o f racial su periority. Mr. President, I ask you ear nestly. what purpose is served by having a five cent piece depicting a sla v e b r e e d e r s ’ m an sio n at Monticello, Virginia. Monticello must evoke feelings in the African American similar to those evoked in Jewish Americans when they see pictures o f the death camps of ( iennany. or what Japanese Americans must feel when they are re-visited with WWII images ofdetention. Mr. Presi dent, can you imagine how a Native American might feel ifthe Indian pris ons at Ft. Leavenworth, in frontier Kansas, were seen as a sy m bol worthy of national pride? Mr. President, I again thank you for this opportunity to engage in a dialogue and to remind you o f the contribution African laborhasmade to this great nation, a contribution deserving recognition, not insults. Sincerely yours, C. Walker Port land, Oregon To the Editor: Will the people o f Oregon stand up this time around on the physi cian-assisted suicide measure and vote Yes to repeal it? (Abolish it. ) Ethical doctors do not want the responsibility to assist in destroy ing life There is no place in the medical profession or society for laws that authorize them lokill. I heir healing role is comprom ised by such laws. C onsider Biblical values. We are created to overcom e any atti tudes or circum stances that try to take away o u rg ift o flife . includ ing depression, disablem ent, trag- edy. We are stronger and very capable of enjoying life in the worst of circum stances because we are created with a divine purpose and <1 destiny liven if we c a n ’t see or I understand how our existence has any purpose in it. God does see and does work out His plans and put poses. For us to end our life or som eone e ls e 's based on our I \ ie\s s o f their quality o f life, makes I us ( tad , as if we know what is best I lor anv living human being. Vote | YES on M easure 5 1! Sincerely, Alex and Rebecca Johnson s P e o f the dru g s, th e ir only a lte rn a tive to the te stin g is to do n o th ing but w hen asked by a rep o rter if she re a liz e d that th ese tests could not be done in the U .S., the head o f the testin g program in the Ivory C oast asked, “ If the c o u n try that is p ay in g for the study cannot accept co n d u ctin g it, then we c a n ’t be expected to accept it e ith e r.” The fact that these drug trials are being done in third w orld c o u n trie s in ev itab ly raises q u e s tio n s a b o u t g o v e rn m e n t te sts using the poor and people o f color. Even the New E ngland Jo u r nal o f M edicine has com pared this new study to the infam ous T uskegee e x p e rim e n ts done by the fed eral g o v ern m en t on poor, u n ed u cated black men w ho w ere never to ld that they w ere not being treated for syphilis and who never w ere offered treatm ent even a fte r p e n ic illin had been proven to be e ffe c tiv e. In the latest tw ist in this new case, several m em bers o the New E ngland Journal o f M edicine e d i to rial board resigned a fte r the e d ito ria l a p p eared , say in g they had n ev er been c o n su lte d about the a rtic le and that they did not ag re e w ith it. W h e th e ra co m p a riso n with the T u sk eg eeex p erim en t is fair or ac c c u ra te or not, there are som e real m oral and ethical questions w hich m ust be answ ered Is it eth ical to do a test elsew h ere w hich we could not do in our ow n co u n try ? Is it eth ical to do co m p lex te stin g using poor, m ostly uneducated peo p le who have few or no o ther op tio n s fo r treatm en t? - Can we ab so lutely disco u n t the elem ent o f race in all o f this? Is it fair to ask w om en to p a r tic ip a te in such a study only m inutes after learning they have this deadly disease and that m ost likely th eir unborn c h il dren w ill have it as w ell? But in the articles being w rit ten by m edical e th ic ists and others, no w here have I yet seen the question being raised about the ethics o f ch arging th o u sands o f d o llars for m edicine w hich we know save lives. Indeed, H IV /A ID S patien ts in the U.S. spend $ 1 2 -1 5 ,0 0 0 a n n u ally for these drugs. P h a r m a c e u tic al co m p a n ie s argue th at they m ust be able to re coup the high cost o f research . But w here does re sp o n sib il ity to th eir pro fit line and re sp o n sib ility to m illion o f poor people who are destined to die w ith o u t the drugs begin? W hat is the ethics o f only the rich o f the w orld having a c c e s s to th e se lif e - s a v in g d ru g s? T hat to me is the real m oral and ethical dilem m a. t V s e will The 'North' Rise Affiin? 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: T he P o r k and O bserver ; PO B ox 3137 P o r tlan d , O regon 97208 Ethics And AIDS h e r e 's been a q u ie t up roar in the medical com m unity in the past few w eeks as it has becom e p u u n blic d ersto o d that it was already that the fed eral g o v e rn m e n t has know n that A ZT p re v e n ts the financed a m edical study usin g tran sm issio n o f the virus d u ring third world women who are p reg p re g n a n c y . nant and w ho have H IV /A ID s. W hen asked if she found out D octors a lre a d y know th at she had rec e iv e d a placeb o w hen w hen p re g n a n t w om en re c e iv e a pro v en tre a tm e n t alread y e x the drug A TZ that th e ir b abies ists, she re p lie d , “ I w ould say are m ore likely to be free from quite sim ply that it is an in ju s the virus. But, in this stu d y , tic e .” som e o f the w om en are g iv e n a The te stin g is n ecessary , we sh o rten ed c o u rse o f the e x p e n are told, to see if th ere is a less sive AZT, w hile others are given ex p e n siv e way to treat the g ro w a placeb o , or dum m y pill. ing n u m b e ro fp e o p le in d e v e lo p The women, from Africa, T hai ing c o u n trie s w ith H IV /A ID S land and the D om inican R epub- w hich ca n n o t a ffo rd the e x p e n ic, w ere asked if they w ish ed to sive and c o m p lic a te d A ZT re g i p a rtic ip a te in the study and the men. term s o f the experim ent w ere also The c o n tro v e rsy has eru p ted , e x p lain ed to them , that is, that largely in the m edical com m unity they m ay re c e iv e the dru g or so far, aro u n d the e th ic s o f tr e a t they may rec e iv e a placeb o . ing som e w om en w ith a drug H ow ever, a recen t New Y ork know n to help, w hile g iv in g o th Times reporter interview ed som e ers the dum m y p ills, p e rh a p s o f the w om en p a rtic ip a tin g in do o m in g the u n tre a te d w om en the testin g program and found and th eir ch ildren to die. and then that for m any, the c o n c e p t o f a there is a q u estio n o f the eth ic s sc ie n tific test in w hich som e get o f doing a study w hich w ould not m e d ic a tio n and o th e rs g e t a be allo w ed here in the U .S. in dum m y pill is not u n d ersto o d . third w orld co u n tries. O ne w om an told o f hav in g W hile U .S. g o v e rn m e n t o f f i the test e x p la in e d to her w ithin cials arg u e that because these an ho u r o f fin d in g out she c a r d ev e lo p in g c o u n trie s can n o t a f ries the A ID S virus and that it ford the h ig h -co st A ZT drug for may be tra n sm itte d to her u n th e ir p a tie n ts, this te stin g is the born child. only option that m akes sense, and A n o th e r , m o r e e d u c a te d som e A frican p u blic health o f f i w om an in d icated th at she n ev er cials say that b ecau se o f the price Jttx Pioti : with the tone and tenor o f my eco nomic commentary over the years w ill say, “M ckinley’s hurting again- missed opportunities.” m Rather glad that response Well, not really. What actually to last w eek's article about a bought this type o f economic enter spec idem inority enterprise did prise to mind was a certain fact oflife not indicate the readers concluded derived from a page-by-page assess the concept to be fatally Hawed. ment o f the Portland, O bserver's big The venture described was a comprehensive “Minority Enterprise 1970's" REIT’ tobeoperated in Wash Development” issue. It is not meant ington. D.C., the knowledgeable in to surprise anyone when I state that vestor will identify those letters with "M inorities are doing better in retail a “ Real Estate Investment Trust.” and service-but land and its ameni Very simply put (very simply), this is ties are not our' thing at this time.” when a pool o f investors jointly hold, Your most immediate comment buy, sell, rent, lease, build or other might be, “is land and its develop wise benefit from the ownership o f ment anyone’s thing, unless rich, real property-apartm ents, hotels, corporate or governmental?” I would shopping centers. be hard-pressed to disagree, recall Those familiar with the basic con ing the economic environment dur cept, though not necessarily with the ing the time I was teaching “Urban financial sophistications, will imme economic Experience at Portland State diately recognize Portland, Oregon University (the first halfofthe 1970s). as a current beehive o f these devel It was so much easier, then, for opers. And many o f those familiar those 'at-the-margin o f the economy \ I < K i m . i 1 Bi ri I to become involved in land and its development. I citetwoexamples from that PSU class which was designed to equip the neophyte with the tools’ and procedures I d gained from ' real- time’experience. One ‘enterprise’ was a white fe male and her middle-aged mother, both o f whom had taken some car pentry and related courses at a com munity college. By the end of the second, unit, these two students had used their savings to purchase a half- finished house-and persuaded a sav- ings& loan to underwrite itscomple- tion while they lived in the ‘base m ent’ and did most o f the work. When I saw them again in later years, they had acquired a number of properties, initially in this manner. In addition they had formed an associa tion o f women property owners who shared critical information and con tacts. My second example is that o f the Black Education Center school on N.E. 17th near Alberta Street. Founded by a committed group o f young black collegestudents.theirdedicationand the community’s needs soon out stripped their small rented house. After meeting them and assessing theirneeds I designed a unique model for unsolicited proposals to chari table trusts and corporations-an ab solutely unheard o f proposition at thattime(any othertime?). And while the shocked targets were mulIing over these proposals, the young people were out locating a building(s) to fit the proposals. As w e ’ve said, the eco n o m ic clim ate was d ifferen t in those d ay s, and in quick su ccession the group “ b o u g h t” the fo rm er p u blic library on N.E. 17th and th e tw o b u ild in g s on A lb e rta S treet, now ow ned by the “ H ouse o f Umoja! Will related opportunities arise again? they say, “what goes around comes around!” Struggling To Pay the Rent” Dr. Manning Marable “Along the Color Line ss he majority o f all African- cent o f renters paid more than they American families are rent could afford for one-bedroom apart ers, not homeowners. Most ments and more than 40 percent did people with low incomes, racial so mi for two-bedroom apartments.” norities and the unemployed, are al Not surprisingly, housing condi ways confronted with the difficult tions were worse in major urban cen challenge o f finding decent housing ters and in states with high concen which they can afford. Increasingly trations o f low income work ing class for millions o f A m ericans-black, and unemployed people, such as New Latino, Asian and white alike-that York. The study found that 48 per challenge has become an “ impos cent o f all renters in New York State sible dream.” were unable to afford the estimated A recently released study by the fair market rent for a one-bedroom national Low Income Housing Coali apartment, $687, and 54 percent were tion, which represents a broad spec unable to afford a two-bed room rent, trum o f housing advocacy groups, $796. The report estimated that New fully documents this growing prob York renters would have to earn wages lem. The study observed: “Housing exceeding $ 13.22 an hour to afford a costs, for most people, represent the one-bedroom apartment, and $ 15.32 largest monthly expense. Most people an hour toafford a two-bedroom apart pay their rent first, buying food, cloth ment. ing and health care with what re Even these dire statistics fail to mains.” c a p tu re the vast social conse- The report used an index devel q u e n c e so fth e housingcrisis. Hun oped by the Department o f Housing dreds o f thousands o f fam ilies in and Urban Development to estimate New York City, largely black and the cost o f decent but modest hous Latino, live doubled or tripled up ing in cities and states throughout with their relatives, friends and the US. The study found that in al neighbors. Crow ded housing con most every state “more than 30 per- ditions push poor fam ilies fre T quently into unsafe or unsanitary conditions, threatening the health and w e lfare o f th eir ch ild ren . Y oungsters who have no space for hom ework and study are less com petitive when they go to school. The lack o f adequate shelter di rectly contributes to dom estic vio lence and spousal abuse. What are the solutions to address the housing crisis? Conservatives who say that the federal government should get out o f the housing busi ness, and let the marketplace deter mine the availability and cost o f shel ter by the laws o f supply and demand, are just wrong. The private sector overall has little interest in construct ing millions o f new housing units for people ofmodest means. Luxury con dom inium sandshopping malls have larger profit margins. We need to devote a greater share o f national resources to guarantee that clean, basic shelter is considered an inalien able right. No one should be home less or poorly housed, in a land of vast material affluence. But the real solution to the hous ing crisis can only be achieved by raising al I incomes to meet the cost of basic human needs. In short, you c a n t pay the rent if you don't have a job, or if the job your have doesn’t earn enough for you to pay your monthly bills, including rent. According to the research o f the New York based National Jobs for Al I coalition, as o f 1996 there were nearly 17 million adults working full-time, year-round jobs, who were earning less than the poverty level for a fam i ly o f four. Another 4.3 million workers have part-time jobs, but aren 't able to get fill-timepositions. Addingto these millions o f Americans are the dis placed former recipients o f aid to Families With Dependent Children The draconian 1996 Welfare Bill hurled a million children into poverty, and coerced hundreds o f thousands o f women into workfare programs and low wage jobs that don’t pay enough to afford decent shelter. Building more affordable housing is helpful, but not enough. Only when all American have a real living wage or a guaranteed income if they are unable to work, will all ofus be able to pay the rent i
