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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 19, 1997)
NOV. 19,1997 Page A4 (Elje Jlortlanh (©bscruer Editorial articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views o f ^Jortlanh (©bserucr s Attention Readers! Please take a minute to send us your comments. We’ re always trying to gise you a better paper and we can’t do it without your help. I ell 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. (USPS 959-680) Established in 1970 Mark Washington D istrib u tio n M anager Gary Ann Taylor Business M anager Larry J. Jackson, Sr. Director o f Operation Iesha Williams Graphic Design Mike Leighton Copy Editor Contributing Writers: Professor McKinley Burt, Lee Perlman, NeilHeilpern 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, Oregon 97211 503-288-0033 • Fax 503-288-0015 Email: Pdxobserv(o)aol.com Deadline for all submitted materials: Articles:Friday. 5:00 pm Ads: Monday. 12:00pm POSTMASTER: Send Address Changes To: Portland Observer, P.O. Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208. Periodicals postage paid at Portland. Oregon Subscriptions SJ0.00 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 of such ad. © 1996 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART W ITH OUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. The Portland O bserver-O regon’s Oldest Multicultural Publica tion—is a member o f 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 to w ijv | i o r t i a n i » ( O h s m i c r The Portland Observer can be sent directly to your home lor only $30.00 per year. Please fill out, enclose check or money order, and mail to: Si BS< R IP IIO N S T ut P ortland O bserver ; PO Box 3137 P or i land , O regon 97208 Name: Address:__________ __________ ____ ______ ___ _______ City, State:_______ _ __________________ Zip-Code: ________ T hank Yot F or R eading T he P ortland O bserver “Along the Color Line” Labor Organizing And The Black Poor The most important election to take place this fall was largely unreported in the press. There were no public debates, no campaign slogans or posters, not even a bumper sticker. There weren’t even any candidates running for office. This election was not about per sonalities. but power. At stake was potentially the economic f uture of millions of poor people across the country. Since the passage of the draco nian 1996 welfare bill, the sur vival of several m illion poor women and children, the majority of whom are blacks and Latinos, become at risk. Hundreds of thou sands of Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AEDC) re cipients have been forced into vari ous "workfare" s c h e m e s In New York City, for example, many AEDC recipients are required to work 20 or more hours each week in order to receive their modest payments. These women usually work in jobs normally associated with the lowest wages: cleaning public toi lets and streets, mopping hospital floors, picking up litter in subway stations. Few w om en receive proper equipment for their jobs Health and safety safeguards are virtually nonexistent Frequently women assigned to work outside are not even provided with toilet facilities Several decades ago. the Asso ciation of Community O rganiza tions for Reform Now, known as ACORN, began building a pro gressive. human rights movement among America's poorest and most oppressed people. Today ACORN has over 200,000 members. In its latest initiative, ACORN began a campaign in New York City to achieve union representation sta tus for workfare workers. Some political "experts" though that ACO RN ’s efforts to organize AFDC recipients was quixotic at best. Welfare mothers, for the most part, have no personal history or experience in unions Besides, or ganized labor had traditionally viewed poor people’s problems and concerns as being irrelevant to its own interests. This October, New York C ity’s .35,(MM) workfare participants were given the choice to determ ine whether they desired to have union representation. Over a period of four days, about 17,300 people cast ballots at 250 polling sites across the city. The election results were clear: alm ost 17,000 w orkfare workers voted in favor of organiz ing a union, with barely 300 voting against. The vote showed without a doubt that "welfare mothers" rec ognize the exploitation of labor inherent in the workfare program. Representatives of Republican Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani im m ediately dism issed this over whelming mandate for union rep resentation Randy L. Levine. New York City ’ s Deputy Mayor for Eco nomic Development, protested that because welfare is supposed to be “temporary", that it made no sense for “welfare recipients to become city employees." ACORN organiz ers immediately challenged the Giuliani administration to meet with them, with the goal of improving working conditions for workfare workers. e c t t V e s The North will Rí» fyaín, ni Fortiani» (©bserver Charles Washington Publisher & Editor J) T he poet R obert Frost said, “ w ritin g free verse is like p la y ing tennis w ithout a n e t.” A nd a b la ta n t d isre g a rd for the 'r u le s o f the g a m e ’ can d e ra il even the in itia l phase o f a w e ll-p la n n e d e n te rp rise like the "A lb e rta Food P ro je c t.” But en o u g h , a lre a d y , o f the sp e c ific d isa b ilitie s o f the c h o sen com m unity gro u p we sought to in te re st in the p ro ject. E xcept to say that, for the on-com ing g en eratio n and any o th e rs p la n ning “C o m m u n ity -O w n e d ” , e c o nom ic d e v e lo p m e n t, such re a l tim e, e x p e rie n c ed -b a se d m odels are needed - w h eth er they ended in success o r w ere ab o rted . R e fer to last w e e k ’s a rtic le . T his is not to say that those A m erican s w ho have lo n g -su f fered from tra u m a tic and in s titu tio n a liz e d eco n o m ic lim ita tio n s do not need or d e se rv e g o v e rn m ental in te rv e n tio n e g. m in o r ity or ‘set a sid e ’ c o n tra c ts, A ffir m ative A ction. W ithout that rec- o g n itio n and in tercessio n in a vicio u s and racist c irc u m sta n c e, fin a n c ia l, cu ltu ral and p o litic a l parity never w ill be achieved. F or the m om ent, we restrain o u rse lv e s from any cau stic c o m m ents on the h y p o c rite segm ent o f th o se g ro u p s w hose sh rill s c r e a m s fo r a “ c o l o r - b l i n d A m e ric a ” could cause you to a l m ost fo rg et certain facts . T his is the blu sterin g crow d that in stitu tio n a liz e d racism , c re ating an urg en t need for federal in te rv e n tio n to prev en t a further d escen t into an urban social and econom ic d isa ste r fo r us all. As my black n e ig h b o r put it d u rin g a loud abusive co m m en tary a d d re sse d to som e c o n stru c tion w ork ers having th eir lunch next to his p ro p erty ; "T h a t’s easy for you to say. Y o u ’ve been free since you landed on Plym outh R o ck , e n s la v e d the A fric a n s, sla u g h te re d the In d ian s, inv ited over tens o f m illio n s m ore E u ro pean im m ig ran ts - and, then, re w rote the c o n stitu tio n s o f the craft unions to read, for w hite m ales o n ly ;.” ‘B ill’ has been re in fo rc in g his p o int by giving me rid es up and dow n N.E. A lb e rta S treet and M .L.K. Blvd w here so m uch new co n stru c tio n is going on He has pro m ised me five d o l lars for every black seen o p e ra t ing any m ach in ery , tool or d e vice m ore so p h istic a te d than a shovel or a ham m er. So far, I ’m still broke. But, m ean w h ile, back to my “A ll A m e ric a n ” c o n c e p t o f b u si ness d ev elopm ent and ow nership by c o m m u n ity r e s id e n ts w ho 'o n ly happen jo be m in o ritie s or w o m e n ’ - an a w hose in d e p e n d e n tly - m a n a g e d o p e r a tio n s w ould be u n fe tte re d (o r c o n tro lle d ) by any federal financial or s o c ia l’ lien s, or cu ltu ra l e n cu m b ran ces. In o th er w ords, e n tre p re n e u rsh ip in the style o f the “ A lberta Food P ro je c t." O r as B ill’ w ould say, “ju s t like w hite fo lk s.” My c o m fo rt le v e l and su c c esses w ith th is in clu siv e p o si tion of e ith e r co m p le te in d e p e n dence for those en dow ed w ith the necessary sk ills and e x p e ri ence, or a reaso n ed a ssista n c e w here both the need and the c a p a c ity to b e n e fit are d e m o n strated - can be atte ste d to by e ith e r o f the fo llo w in g su c c e ss ful b u siness lead ers in our c o m m unity. Both took my b u sin e ss and urban econom ic c la sse s at P ortland S tate U n iversity. Sam B rooks o f the “O regon A sso ciatio n o f M inority E n tre p re n e u rs” and H erm an G rim es, P resid en t o f “C o ast Ja n ito ria l.” and there are m any m ore, too num erous to nam e, w ho c o m p le te d th at se rie s o f b u sin e ss co u rses and have gone on to e i ther chart new seas or to su c c e ss fully m odel my own b u sin e ss ex p e rie n c es or my in d ustry e x perien ces; S ervice, m a n u fa c tu r ing, retail - accounting, shipping , com puters. N ext w eek: conclu d ed ‘one- m o re -o n c e ’ as we append som e necessary o b se rv a tio n s; “b e tte r in fo rm atio n re trie v a l is n eed ed - using your c u ltu ra l base and c o hesion to your ad v an tag e, but av oiding re se g re g a tio n in a n a r row ing w o rld .” V a n t a g e P o in t The Sell out In New York: When Pragmatism Replaces Principle B y R on D aniels R udolph G iu lia n i, M ayor of New Y ork, is the ep ito m e o f a new w ave o f rig h t w ing p o liti c ia n s w ho have com e to p ow er in the last decade e sp o u sin g p o li c ies and program s in d irect o p p o sitio n to the in te re sts o f people o f c o lo r and poor and w orking people. Indeed, it w as R udolph G iu lia n i w ho won the m ayoralty in 1993 by bashing form er M ayor D avid D inkins and accep tin g the su p p o rt o f the P o lice B enevolent A sso c ia tio n of the New Y ork P o lice D ep artm en t at a drunken, p ro fa n ity fille d , racist rally on the steps o f C ity H all. R udolph G iu lia n i, like so m a n y right wing p o litic ia n s around this nation, w as sw ep t into o ffic e by the W h ite b a c k la s h a g a in s t th e p ro g re ss o f B lack people and o th e r peo p le o f c o lo r d u ring the e ra o f 6 0 ’s. In the face o f th is kind o f right w ing reco rd , how is it p o ssible that p ro m in e n t B lack political and re lig io u s lead ers and lib eral- p ro g re ssiv e labor lead er could line up in su p p o rt o f R udolph G iu lian i in the re c e n t m ayoral e le c tio n in New Y ork? Such no ta b le fig u re s as C o n g re ssm a n F lo y d F la k e , C o n g r e s s m a n A ugustus T ow ns and sta lw a rt la bor lead ers like S tan ley H ill of D istric t 37 A FSM E and D ennis R iv eria o f 1199 H ealth and H os pital W orkers gave th eir stam p o f ap p roval to a m ay o r w ho has given tax breaks to W all S treet w h ile o ffe rin g no m e a n in g fu l plan for jo b g en eratio n or e c o nom ic developm ent for inner-city n e ig h b o rh o o d and co m m u n ities. H is honor has been a prim e p ro p o nent o f w orkfare w hich th re a t ens to u n derm ine the se c u rity / sta b ility o f w orkers w ith good p a y in g u n io n jo b s w ith in the m unicipal w orkforce. In addition, in a city w here h u n d red s o f th o u sands o f B lack and L atin o stu dents are com pelled to attend low p e rfo rm in g s c h o o ls , G iu lia n i d rastically red uced the education b u d g e t fu rth e r d a m a g in g the ch ances for these young people to attain a q u a lity ed u catio n . R u d o lp h G i u l i a n i ’s m a jo r claim to fam e is a dram atic r e duction in crim e. N ew Y orkers are said to be fe e lin g m uch safer these days. P o lice b ru ta lity and m isco n d u ct, ho w ev er, have no ticeab ly in creased as G iu lia n i’s aggressive p o licing p o licies have re su lte d in sc o re s o f cases of p o lic e b r u ta lity a n d m u rd e r. People in in n e r-c ity n e ig h b o r hoods, p a rtic u la rly young A fri can A m erican, L atin o and A sian m ales feel less secu re as they daily face the th re a t o f h a ra ss m ent, abuse or even death at the hands o f ren egade cops. T his is the m an th at som e p ro m in e n t A frican A m erican lead ers and stalw art labor lead ers en d o rsed in the recen t m ayoral cam paign . In making this fateful decision these “respected" leaders intention ally or unintentionally sold out the interests and aspirations o f the m asses of B lack people, other people o f color and poor and w ork ing people. In most instances these leaders meant well, they were sim ply being “practical" in going along to get along in order to have access to the w inner in the hope of garner ing some benefit for their lim ited constituency or for them selves. They chose the prospect o f gaining “d iv is ib le ” p a tro n a g e /b e n e fits, those benefits that m ight accrue to an individual or a narrow co n stitu ency over “ indivisible” benefits, those benefits that accrue to an entire group or class. They placed pragmatism over vision, values and p rin cip le. T hey abandoned the many i” *’ ite re st o f a few. Houston, Yes! - Hatch, No! E le c tio n day b ro u g h t som e good new s, by way of the Lone S tar S tate. The very last state to su rre n d e r during the civil W ar, T ex as is not n o rm ally a place w here one would begin the search for ju stic e and eq u ality . H ow ever, the voters o f H ous ton stood tall, by voting to p re serve the c ity ’s a ffirm a tiv e ac tion program , thereb y proving that not all A m ericans are fooled or scared by right-w ing ra c e -b ait ing. (A t the sam e tim e, they gave Lee Brow n a strong first-round lead in his attem pt to becom e the c i t y ’s first A fric a n A m erican M ayor.) W hat are the lessons from our v icto ry in H ouston? ♦F irst, this vote show s that p e o p le are not a u to m a tic a lly ready to re se g re g a te. (T h is also m akes the C alifo rn ia situation even m ore sh am efu l, as T exas vo ters have now acted m ore d e cen tly than Pete W ilso n ’s fo l lo w ers.) ♦ S eco n d , the H o u sto n vote d e m o n stra te s th at bold le a d e r ship from w hite p o litic ia n s, as part o f a broad c o a litio n , can m ake a huge d iffe re n c e. M ayor Bob L a n ie r stood strong on the side o f ju stic e in this b attle, m ak ing the case to preserv e and p ro /M /AWOiy PU$ H C O A L IT IO N tect affirm a tiv e actio n . He d id n ’t end it; he d e fe n d e d it. The c o n tra st w ith the D em ocratic Party an the C lin to n A d m in istra tio n is stark. M ayor L an ier stepped fo r w ard and fought back; m ost other p ro m in en t D em o crats have re m ained in hiding. ♦Third, this initiative victory in Houston reminds us that an early start is critical to our ability to over come the other side’s huge funding advantage. This early start will be vital as the anti-affirmative-action right wing moves to other states next year, such as Florida, Colorado, & Washington. ♦F ourth, this v ictory rem inds us th at we can w in if we stay focused on our p rio ritie s. R e v e r end Jack so n spent the last w eek end before the e le c tio n in H ous to n , w o rk in g the c h u rc h e s to bo o st v o te r tu rn o u t. T his e le c tion w as the m ost im p o rtan t one on the b a llo t for those in terested in p re se rv in g Dr. K in g 's dream . W e fought back hard there, and we w on. The people o f H ouston sent a m essage o f d ecency to the rest of the country. If we hear it, we can save the dream . We hope it is heard in the S uprem e C ourt. We hope it is heard in the W hite H ouse, and in C alifo rn ia Sadly, it is obvious that Houston’s message will not be heard by Orrin Hatch (R-UT), who has chosen to sully his career with an undeserved, unprecedented, racially-charged at tack on Bill Lann Lee, President Clinton’s nominee to serve as Assis tant A ttorney G eneral for Civil Rights. H a tc h ’s d ecisio n is m e a n -sp ir ited, an abuse o f pow er, an insult to A sian -A m erican s. Karen N arasaki, E xecutive D i re c to r o f the N ational A sian P a cific A m erican L egal C o n so r tium , put it th is way in The New Y ork T im es: “Just a few m onths ago he [H atch] said about a w hite m ale n o m in e e , Jo el K lein , I d o n ’t agree w ith all his view s, but h e ’s q u a lifie d and h e ’s the P re sid e n t’s c h o ice and he d e serves the c h a n c e .’ N ow w hen presen ted w ith Bill L ee i t ’s a totally d iffe re n t sta n d a rd .” T his is a sham eful e p iso d e for O rrin H atch, and for the R e p u b lican Party w hich seem s p o ised to jo in him in defam ing one o f the best q u a lifie d , m ost decen t, m ost talen ted A m ericans e v e r to be nom inated for this post. Bill L ann L e e ’s story sy m b o l izes the A m erican D ream the co n se rv a tiv e s claim to stand f o r - born in H arlem , o f a fath er w ho im m igrated to A m erica w ith no m oney, w orked in a laundry, and v o lu n teered to serve in the A ir Force d u rin g W orld W ar II. Bill played by the ru les, too, grad u atin g Phi Beta K appa, ma- gna cum laude from Y ale, and then from C o lu m b ia U niv ersity Law S chool. He has spent his life w orking on b e h a lf o f civil rig h ts, and lists en dorsem ents even from his previous opponents. (P erhap s S e n a to r H a tc h w ould lik e to m atch up L ann L e e ’s q u a lific a tio n w ith th o s e o f C la r e n c e T h o m as...Y eah , rig h t!) Bill L ann Lee is an A m erican success sto ry ; but h e ’s about to becom e an o th er victim o f a v i c io u s , p a r t i s a n , id e o l o g i c a l battle. I t ’s a sham eful e p iso d e . The right w ing is taking no p ris oners.
