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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 30, 1997)
Page B2 DEC. 30, 1997 (Tile IJortlanò Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily Reflect Or Represent The View s O f (Tlic |Jo rt(an b (Dbsertier r Attention Readers! Please take a minute to send usyourcomrnents. W e ’re always trying togiveyou a belter paper and we can’t do it without your help. Tell us what you like and what needs improvement... any suggestions are welcomed and appreciated. We take criticism well! Get your pow erful pens out N O W and address your letters Editor, Reader Response, P.Q. Box 3137, Portland. O R 97208, ^ J J o r tla n h ( B b s e r u e r (D S P S 9 59-680) E stab lish ed in 1970 Charles Washington Publisher & Editor Mark Washington Distsribution Manager Gary Ann Taylor Business Manager Larry J. Jackson, Sr. Director o f Operation Iesha Williams drap hie Design Tony R. Washington Associate Editor Contributing Writers: Professor McKinley Burt, Lee Perlman, Neil Heilpem Joy Ramos 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, Oregon 97211 503-288-0033 • Fax 503-288-0015 Email: Pdxobserv@aol.com Deadline for all submitted materials: Articles:Friday, 5:00pm 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: $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 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 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 ■JJIortlanh © h s e r l t e r 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: S ubscriptions T he P ortland O bserver ; PO B ox 3137 P ortland , O regon 97208 Name: _____ Address:_ ___________ ____________ City, State: Zip-Code:______________________________________ ___ r hank V ou F or R eading T he P ortland O bserver Put >1 I ESSI IK M c K innley B i kt B y P rof . M c K inley B urt T h a t's right, go for it this year! Go for the gold, or even the platinum . Ignore the "A pocalypse N ow " people and the “doom sayers.” G et your co n tain er’ ready for the long haul. Make those resolutions real For 52 straight w eeks, The Port land O bserver' has identified and highlighted as many as possible of those caring and m otivated residents and o rg am /atio n s o f our N ortheast com m unity responsible for signifi cant advances in our quality o f life. Only the restriction o f space and tim e have prevented a broader cita tion (including those very helpful ‘ou tsid ers’). Thank you! A nd here in my w eekly colum n, I strive to place a realistic and infor m ative "perspective’ on those events and forces that may either advance or constrain our am bitions and aspira tions - and sim ilarly m otivate and structure the future o f our children in House M inority Leader Richard G ephardt let the cat out of the bag, when he picked a fight with the "D em ocrats for the Leisure C lass" in the midst o f a thoughtful, well- w ritte n , an d tim e ly s p e e c h at H arv ard 's K ennedy School. T h is is no o rd in ary p o litica l squabble-G ephardt w asaco -fo u n d er and the first chairm an o f the D LC, a co rp o rate-fu n d ed , m edia-oriented, Beltway organization founded in the m id-1980s with the specific purpose of moving the Dem ocratic Party away from its base, aw ay from unions. Blacks & Brow ns, and w o m en 's rights. D esp ite his D L C roots, D ick G ephardt stripped the bark o ff Al F ro m ’s hide, with these pointed re marks: "A n d n o w m o re th an e v e r, pragm atism ...cannot be a substitute for the principles that give us purpose and direction in a lime of rapid change. ToBe Equal Reading Is Fundamental B\ H ugh B. P rice P resident N ational U rban L eague A colleague and I were talking recently about the distressing new s o f the poor perform ance o f black seventh-grade pupils in reading in the suburban W ashington, D.C. ju r is d ic tio n o f P rin c e G e o r g e 's County. M aryland There, in a county that is 62 p er cent A frican A m erican (and those A m ericans are basically w orking class and m iddle class), XI percent o f while pupils passed the reading lest, 75 percent ol A sian-A m erican students passes the tests, and 46 percent of H ispanic-A m erican pu pils passed the lest-bul only 40 per cent of A frican-A m erican pupils passed the lest. My colleague, visibly upset, re sponded by telling me this story of Ins childhood "For all my adult life," he said, "I'v e had to acknow ledge that I d o n 't know, because I never read, most of the fairy tales and com ic books that com prised ihe typical ch ild 's reading list ol ihe 1950s. "I never read those tales because I was iixi busv-loo enthralled with- reading the twenty-volume 1947 edi tion of the W orld Book en cyclope dia. and wiih Hipping through the new spapers and m agazines that lay on the floor, on tables, and on chairs in the living room of my fam ily 's apartm ent in C hicago. I read an y thing I could get my hands on. in cluding the R eader's Digest con- lensed Books series they also sub scribed to. I d id n 't need tairy tales and com ics; this was the reading lhal took me far beyond the world ol C h icag o ’s South Side ghetto. "M y father, who was a longshore man all my life, and my m other, who was a hom em aker until I w as a teen ager. had bought the W orld Books set brand spanking new when my brother was horn in late 1946. "I d o n 't know whal dam age buy ing the W orld Bixik set did to my parents' finances I do know that purchase was ihe single m ost im por tant foundation of my life. For me. reading-and absorbing all sorts ol inform ation, as much by accident as by d e sig n -b e c a m e as fundam ental as breathing." I understood then w hy he found the new s from P rin ce G e o rg e 's C o u n ty ’s so painful. It's painful to m any b la ck p a re n ts th e re , too. T h e y 're open arms. Any they should be. It's inexcusable that the school districl-any school d istrict-sh o u ld allow this to happen. So. those who m anage the educational system must be taken to task Bui when the parents go home, they need to look in the m irror and ask w hether th ey 'v e done all that they can do and must do lo make certain they have pul their own c h il dren on course, and that their ch il dren are staying there. I hey need to ask them selves: Do they have books, new spapers, and m agazines prom inently available in their hom es? Do they read with their youngsters al home, and prom inently available in their hom es? Do they read m onitor how their children are doing in school? Do they talk with teachers about how then children are taring? Il this is beyond them , do they seek out ihe help of pastors and friends ’ s In saying this, we al the National U rban League are doing more than just talking the talk, lo u se a popular expression. O ur new C am paign lor A frican-A m erican A chievem ent is intended to help black parents-and theircom m unilies-puttheirchildren on the path to high scholastic per form ance and keep them there. F in d in g and p u rsu in g that path is m ore c ritic a l then ev er, says Jam es C o m er, the ch ild p sy c h ia trist and school reform er, because, lo r the first lim e in h um an h is tory. in d iv id u als need a good e d u c a tio n in o rd er to earn a good living. G o n e are ihe d ay s w hen a facto ry w o rk er co u ld earn a d e cen t w ag e o ft the sw eat o f their brow and the stren g th o f th eir back. N ow and in the fu tu re , the stre n g th and su p p le n e ss o f o n e 's m ind is the o nly route to that end. T h at m ean s lhal it you c a n 't read: Y ou c a n 't h an d le the w ord p ro b lem s in alg eb ra. Y ou c a n 't h an d le the read in g assig n m e n ts in so cial stu d ies You h a v e n 't a p ray er ol w ritin g w ell. You w o n 't be able lo n av ig ate the Internet Y ou w o n 't pass the read in g test to b eco m e an au to w o rk er You w o n 't d o w ell d o w ell en o u g h on the S ch o la stic A p titu d e T est lo get in to c o lle g e -m u c h less handle ll e w orkload o n ce you get there A nd on and on W e’re all conscious at this time o f the year ot ihe presents we give to o th ers as expressions o fo u r love. And perhaps we parents are more conscious al this lim e o f year o f our w ish to give our children what th ey 'll need fo ra productive, boun tiful life. p e c t i n e s New Year 1998- Accentuate The Positive a world that is known best for its uncertainty. But having said that and hopefully m aking the case that we may replace your "psychic", what serious state m ents can we make about the future? It we refer to this colum n and/or this new spaper generally, then be assured that we will "k eep -o n -k eep in g ’-on." How better can we put it then to state that it is our resolve to continue in the tradition o f journalistic excellence established by our late past publisher. Joyce W ashington. I (eel privileged tohave been given the opportunity to provide critical inform ation and som e degree o f in sight - not only to the com m unity and the m etropolitan area with its ex tended Portland O bserver readership, but increasingly to other parts o f the nation. A nd occasionally abroad, since it appears our readers are rather em phatic about com m unicating their opinions and faxing news clippings to other media, organizations and politicians, w hoever and w herever ( Journals-N et-W orldw ide Web). As I said on the front page o f The Portland O bserver, "The legacy of Joyce W ashington" (3/20/96)," ... my appreciation for the opportuni ties Joyce provided for many o f us to reach our com m unity (and the world) with the news and inform ation so vital lo our w ell-being. And the ch ance to m otivate our youth to greater achievem ent and fuller lives through the m edium o f The Portland O b se rv e r" I can assure the readers that this tradition and com m unity spirit is not only intact but is being aggressively pursued. And another m easure o f an organizations ability to interact ef fectively with the external is its ow n internal sensitivities expressed in re lations with staff. Earlier in the year I was incapacitated by a very serious illness but few in the com m unity /L4//VB<?MZPU$H C O A L IT IO N T hisisadifferentapproach from some who now cal I themselves New D em o cra ts-b u t who set their com pass only oil the direction o f others-who talk about the political center, but fall to understand that if it is only defined by others, it lacks core values. And who tixi often market a political strategy m asquerading as policy." (In other words, those, as Jesse alw ays says, who choose the po liti cal center over the moral center. | The D L C ’s founders were the origi nal triangulator, long before Dick M orris popularized the phrase. Their whole strategy was based on “push- o f f ’ politics, to attract corporate fund- ing for public policy research that sought a "third way" between artifi cially-defined "old D em ocrats" and the rising right-wing Republicans. The D L C 's real selling point, how ever. was that its strategies and poli cies supposedly offered N ew D em o crats a chance to win at every level. And the election o f Bill C linton in 1992, another former DLC Chair, seem ed to vindicate the DLC strat egy. at least to the W ashington E s tablishm ent. The truth is far different. The truth, in the immortal words of Mark Shields, is that "if the Clinton Democrats have written a new political chapter, sadly. were aw are o f this situation due to perform ances ‘beyond-the-call-of- duty'. B ecause o f the c o o p e ra tio n and sup p o rt o f the P o rtlan d O b serv er sta ff and my c a rep erso n (C athy G a lb ra ith (P ro je c t C o o rd in a to r. " C o r n e r s to n e s o f C o m m u n ity : B u ild in g s o f P o rtla n d 's A frican A m erican H isto ry "), not a sin g le d ead lin e for my articles was m issed - ihev w ere eith er faxed from the h o sp ital or d eliv ered to the p ap er for me. Further cooperation from this ‘ex tended fam ily' - type operation kept physical and econom ic situations in tact during a m o n th 's hospital stay and a long recuperation. Things are looking better all the tim e and I plan to "accentuate the positive with a vengeance. "Black History M onth" contributions should be broader and more m otivating than ever. Happy New Y ear to you a ll! it must be called Chapter 11." This basic truth has been pointed out by Shields, by Kevin Phillips, and by M ichael Barone in The A l m anac of A m erican Politics 1996- that w hile C linton him self has been successful al the politics o f triangu lation, every other level o f the D em o cratic Party has literally collapsed. We would say it is dying o f "stran g u lation by triangulation." The R ainbow ’s view is that the D L C 's original "p u sh -o ff' political strategy, its strategy of running away from the base voters o f the party, is the main reason for this collapse. A pply the DLC logic to sports- using DLC strategic thinking, C h i cago B ullscoach Phil Jackson would build his entire offense around Steve K err rather than M ichael Jordan. True. Steve Kerr often provides the "sw ing points needed to win big gam es, as he did in the NBA Finals earlier this year. Ron Brown May Have Suffered Gunshot Wound B y E i . aine H egwood B owen S pecial to the NNPA from i he C hicago N ew C rusader A fter the su d d en d eath in A pril 1996 o f U S. C o m m erce S ecretary R on B row n, so m e in the A frican - A m erican com m unity said the crash o f his p lan e in B osnia reek ed o f co n sp ira cy . N ow , m ore than 18 m o n th s later, a P ittsb u rg h T rib u n e R eview ex p o se, w hile not clearly su b sta n tiv e , p o in ts to trag ic c ir cu m stan ces. A hole in B row n’s skull could have been a gunshot wound, wrote reporter C hristopher Ruddy. Ruddy interview ed several m ajor players in the ensuing plane crash investiga tion. w hich d id n 't prompt an autopsy o f B row n's corpse. One reason that an autopsy w asn't perform ed is because W hite House officials were pressured to speed up the return o f B row n's body to the United Stales tor his funeral. Ruddy wrote. A ccording to Ruddy, Lt. Col. Steve C ogsw ell, a doctor and deputy m edi cal exam iner w ith the A rm ed Forces Institute ol Pathology, said that ev i dence that Brown may have been m urdered has been ignored. A 22- volume report issued by the A ir Force said the crash, w hich killed Brown and 34 business executives and o th ers, resulted from pilot error and faulty navigation equipm ent C ogsw ell said an X-ray show ed small metal fragments inside B ro w iis head and he claim s according to Ruddy, that this X-ray has disap peared. Ruddy wrote. "The pathologist said the fragm ents could be what pathologists som etim es call a 'lead snow storm ' pattern from a d isin te grating b u lle t." And w hileC ogsw ell d id n 'tex am - ine B row n's corpse. Ruddy wrote, he (C ogsw ell)did interview colleagues w ho were part o f the exam ination team. C ogsw ell also review ed re ports. records and photographs of the crash scene and victims. A NEW DENTAL RESEARCH STUDY AT RUSSELL STREET CLINIC ARE YOU HIV POSITIVE? Do You Have Tooth Pain? Do You Have These Symptoms? Do you have a persistent tooth ache, intennittent tooth pain, or swelling in your mouth or face? Have you been told your tooth needs a root canal? Participate In A New Free Research Study You may qualify to participate in the Oral Health E nhancem ent Study being conducted by the Russell Street Dental Clinic, a part of OHSU. Volunteers must lie HIV positive, 18 to 65 years of age and have at least 15 teeth. Benefits Participants will receive free root canal treatment, free CD4 counts and viral load bltxxl tests, free check-ups, and $125 for participation. Participants will also be helping to improve the quality of life for people with HIV. For more information, call: (503) 494-6300 S C It N C IS W here Healing. Teaching a n d D iscover)’ C onte Together UMvomrr An ti|u«l nppnnuiiit,. altirma«\« uttnn inMiiuuon
