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O ctober 29, 1997 • T he P o r tlan d O bserver
P agi A4
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P resident
N ational U rban L eague
I’ll get it myself goes the title
lyric from one of soul-singing leg
end James Brown’s hits of the late
1960s.
It was a song-and a sentim ent-
that came to me while reading two
different kinds of documents last
week.
One was Jackie Robinson: A
Biography, the powerful new book
on the life and times of that base
ball star and American hero by the
distinguished Princeton scholar
Arnold Rampersad.
The other was a landmark study
of the affirmative-action program
at the University of California at
Davis Medical School published
recently in the Journal of the Ameri
can Medical Association.
The study, undertaken by two of
the medical school’s faculty, com
pared students admitted with lower
scores on the medical school en
trance tests through the affirmative
action program with those admit
ted through the regular program
during the last two decades. Sig
nificantly, the study pointed out,
the program was not limited to Af
rican Americans, Hispanic Ameri
cans and Native Americans. Nearly
half-46 percent-of those admitted
p e r
S t US( R irtlO N S
Im I’ orii \ ni > O bserver ; PO Box 3137
P ori i and ,O bi (. on 97208
T hank Y oi F or R eading T he P or i land O bserver
fletter Tfa 'Cite (SLïïitor
Send your letters to the Editor to:
Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208
Their have been several
articles written in regard to
the Disparity Study in the
construction industry.
As an active member of
the construction industry, and
as a member of the Black
Conti actors Alliance. AGC.
and the Port of P ortland's
M entor-Protege Program. 1
believe that I have a well-
rounded view of the current
state of the construction in
dustry with regard to m inor
ity and women opportunities.
Some members of the pub
lic have voiced concerns
about the progress being
made by the City of Portland
and other public agencies
w ^
................s-
parity Study two years ago.
Whenever public policy is
changed, there will be dissent
ing voices and no one person
or affected group will get ev
erything that they might w ant
The key is to have all parties
working together in a spirit of
mutual respect and honesty.
I believe that this is occur
ring The Disparity Study
pointed out instances where
women and m inorities, par
ticularly African-American,
have historically been left
out of the public contracting
process
In response to these find
ings, the City ami County
have pul into place stake
holder groups (of which I am
a member) to develop new
program s and public pro
cesses to remedy these situ
ations.
Programs such as the City’s
proposed Sheltered Market
Program, the Port's Mentor-
P ro teg e
P rogram , the
County’s informal Sheltered
Market Program, the educa
tion of the public project man
agers about diversity issues
and the modifications to the
selection methods used by all
apprenticeship programs in
Oregon are some of the at
tempts at trying to reverse past
inequities.
Will these types of pro
grams solve all problems?
Probably not. Will we need
to evaluate their successes
and failures and fine tune
them as we see their results?
Yes definitely. Is there com
mitments to doing that? I
believe there is.
We should not cry “wolf"
and say that the public agen
cies are acting in bad faith or
proposing programs that are
doomed to fail. But instead,
we should give the process a
chance by working together
as a community to bring forth
creative ideas and at the same
time, hold the public agen
cies accountable.
Sincerely,
Edward Holmes
P re sid e n t Ebony Iron
Works, Inc.
s
p
e
talent and determination in abun
dance, too.
It really is that simple
W hat has made realizing the
American Dream forallcomplicated-
and necessary to struggle for-is that
some people construct obstacles in
order to limit opportunity.
Regardless of the form those bar
riers take, their purpose has been, as
the scholar and poet Sterling Brown
so keenly put it in “Strong Men"
seven decades ago, to shout prohibi
tion at you./"Thou shalt not this’/
Thou shalt not that’/ ’Reserved for
whites only...’
That some still cling to the old
racist shibboleths, as if to a dank
security blanket, is evident in the
instances of overt discrimination-”as
common as commercials on televi
sion,” in the words of the newspaper
columnist Bob Herbert-that continue
to demand our attention.
And it is evident in the surveys by
the National Opinion Research Cen
ter at the University of Chicago,
which, as writer David K. Shipler
recently pointed out, have found that
"most Americans still regard blacks
as less intelligent (53 percent), less
hard working (62 percent) and more
desirous of living on welfare (78
percent) than whites.”
Shipler goes on to write that “Such
prejudices are merely thoughts, of
c
t
i
course, and to dampen their expres
sion. the society has created a struc
ture of law, ethics, educational pro
grams and other mechanisms. But
bias is agile enough to worm its way
through the inhibitions."
The heartening thing, however,
is that the fight against racism goes
on, the will to overcome persists.
Arnold Rampersad does us all a
great service in examining at length
the abundance and quality ot the
will Jack Roosevelt Robinson pos
sessed. He shows that what lifted
Robinson to the stature of Ameri
can icon was not his athleticism, as
extraordinary as that was. It was his
commitment to social justice, his
will to help bring the American
Dream into being, which became
manifest to us all because of his
singular achievement in baseball
Rampersad gets the man right
when he writes, “Despite his quick
temper in the face of injustice, es
pecially racial injustice, he lived on
the whole a life of discipline, re
straint, and self-denial; he thought
of himself and his future in terms of
moral and social obligations, rather
than privilege and entitlement..."
As I stated in a previous column,
this is the attitude, and these are the
kind of people-success stories-that
are the real cause of the opposition
to affirmative action.
r e s
Yes, The North 'Will' Rise Again -
if 'We' Rise To The occasion
£lte ■f.lortlaub (Observer
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through affirmative action were white
or Asian American.
The Davis study reported that, while
the affirmative action students had
lower standardized test scores and
grades in key courses in the first years
of medical schools, the differences
began to narrow i n the later years, and
that both groups had high graduation
rates: 94 percent for the former com
pared to 98 percent for the latter.
Perhaps even more important, the
report discovered that the post-gradu
ate and career experiences of the two
groups “were quite similar.” During
their residency training both groups
gained honors evaluations in nearly
equal percentages, both chose sim i
lar kinds of medical specialties, and
both had similar kinds of practices-
even to the point that both groups
said that between 55 and 60 percent
of their patients were white.
Both the Rampersad book and the
UC-Davis study speak volumes about
how closed and unjust-and wasteful
of talent and potential-American so
ciety was just a short time ago. Both
speak volumes about what happens
when the exclusionary barriers are
limited or narrowed so that doors of
opportunity can be opened wider.
Those who’d been previously de
clared to be too stupid, too lazy, too
shiftless, too culturally deprived,
to...show that their “kind” possess
One thing was made very clear by
the Portland O bserver’s special is
sue of Oct. 8,1997, "Minority Enter
prise Development." The Northeast
community has the people and the
resources to make the area economi
cally viable again.
T his w ell organized and re
searched report recited and defined a
broad spectrum of people, institu
tions and resources available for de
veloping the area. And with the right
effort and commitment, a new mi
nority business complex could be
developed, far surpassing the com
mercial operations that were derailed
or destroyed by Urban Renewal (A
major disaster to blacks in over 20
key cities).
There was a “can do" inventory of
skilled artisans, service firms, pro
fessionals of every sort, appropriate
educational and financial institutions,
experienced counselors and support
ing agencies of city, state and federal
government. The overall assessment
is that of a community positioning
C
O
itself to “do-the-right-thing.”
Most immediately some will say,
“but haven’t we been this far be
fore?” Practically a consensus of
opinion drawn from studies, experi
ences and real-time analyses given
here from time to time will point in
this direction. Over the years, I’ve
done my best to accurately detail the
heights, and the “ full back’ posi
tions.
The past two weeks I have given
some details of a large east coast real
estate development proposed but not
carried through by a group of A fri
can Americans I cited this venture
only in making the case that in the
Minority Enterprise issue there was a
definite limit to the type or genera of
business enterprise - especially as
compared with that business spec
trum of the city as a whole. We must
breakout of the mold.
In speaking to one small group I
suggested applying the “business di
versity” structures I introduced in
past evaluations of minority busi-
ness. Two stand out as I recall both
my roles as business consultant to the
Model Cities Program, and, later, as
an instructor in small business opera
tions at Portland State University.
Both require following up with in-
depth research and the assembly of
necessary support structures, but ac
complish the initial purpose very well
- identifying possible new opportu
nities. The first procedure sounds
simplistic but is rewarding; Inspect
the yellow pages of the out-of-town
(large) phone directories at the li
brary.
And given that expanded reach to
possible ventures whose local viabil
ity, of course, will have to be deter
mined. the next step should be a
thorough review of the U.S. Govern
ment publication, “Standard Indus
trial Classification Manual.”
I’ve reviewed this ‘jew el’ before,
recommending it for the master cod
ing and indexing of the many thou
sands of types of commercial enter
prises operating in this country. And
RAINBOW PUSH
A
L I T
I
there isacom panion federal publica
tion that also can be put to good use
in evaluating the “can-do’ “and the
"how-to-do” potential of this com
munity.
T his second im portant federal
m anual is the “ D ictionary o f O c
c u p a tio n a l T itle s ” w hich p ro
vides a sim ila r type c la s s ific a
tion of all the th o u san d s o f jo b s
and p ro fe ssio n s in this co untry.
C e rta in ly , these tw o com m ercial
'b i b l e ’s sh o u ld e x p a n d o n e ’s
reach, grasp and com p reh en sio n
o f com m erce to an ex ten t c o m
patible w ith a new and w ell-struc
tured b u sin e ss com plex in this
co m m unity. The N orth c a n ’ rise
again!
However, as w e’ve observed at
other times, factors of people and
community relations are equally im
portant to the effective planning and
design of urban projects. Next week
we will evaluate what could have/
should have happened at the N.W.
corner of N.E. 19th and Alberta.
O
African American
In the ’84 & ’88 Presidential cam
paigns, only one man focused on
democracy and liberation in South
Africa.
In his 1984 Democratic National
Convention speech, that same man
told the 50 million people who were
watching on worldwide TV that the
supportive relationship of the United
States for apartheid South African
was a "moral disgrace.”
In 1989. that man played a key role
in popularizing the term "African
A m erican." That same man was
present when Nelson Mandela was
freed, and headed the Presidential
delegation that observed the first free
and fair elections in South African in
April. 1994. That man served as co
leaderofthe Presidential mission to
the recent African/African-American
Summit in Zimbabwe.
In a ceremony held in the Secre
tary of State's private office, that
man-Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.-was sworn
in as the Special Envoy for the Presi
dent and the Secretary of State for the
Promotion of Democracy in Africa.
In Secretary of State Madeleine
A lbright' s words: "That is a long title
for an important job to be filled at a
key moment by an extraordinary
individual. Reverend Jackson is ide
ally suited to help us as we proceed
to build partnerships and establish
dialogues to assist Africans as they
move down the democratic road. He
is, after all. well known to African
leaders. He is deeply respected by
the African people. He has been a
champion of human rights and hu
man dignity throughout his career."
We should note that this Special
Envoy position does not pay. It is not
a full-time job, requiring no more than
60 days per year to handle special
assignments which reinforce the de
velopment of African democracies.
The position will not require Jesse to
move to Africa, nor will it require him
to give up his leadership role in the
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.
Special Envoy Jackson added his
ow n p e rsp e c tiv e , noting that
“though the years I have been able to
develop a view of the world in part
because of my kinship with Dr Mar-
tin Luther King, Jr., and Dr. Samuel
Proctor, which...taught me abiding
principles about our relationship to
other countries that guide my view to
this day.
“Africa has meant so much to the
world. It helped to subsidize the de
velopment of our county and Europe.
Through centuries of work without
wages and exploitation of vast raw
materials, the contribution of Africa
constituted a subsidy to the devel
opment of Western civilization.
“Now in this period of post-colo
nialism. President Clinton asserts the
idea of Africa as a reciprocal trading
partner - a continent of expanding
democracies-acontinent of hope and
opportunity.