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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1998)
a . <*. t • t i • ■' • : • *• • a J T< a • f-sf A »*I < *.* •'. : ■** u> ; 2 m 9* k - *.5 , «. ». •••/<. '* ’•' . .'. kWM JAN. 21, 1998 (Tin $Iortlanì» (iDbscruer Page A4 Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily Reflect Or Represent The Views Of (Cite $ o rtla n h (©hserucr r Attention Readers! to: KHitor. Reade r RttS l HHlfi*. P.O. ft « ^l37' (T ljc ^ o r t l a n h OR Mark Washington Distsribution M anager Larry J. Jackson, Sr. Gary Ann Taylor Business Manager Director o f Operation Tony W ashington lesha Williams Associate Editor Graphic Design Contributing Writers: Professor McKinley Burt, Lee Perlman, Neil Heilpern Joy Ramos 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, Oregon 97211 503-288-0033 • Fax 503-288-0015 Email: Pdxobserv@aol.eom Deadline for all submitted materials: Articles:Friday, 5:00 pm Ads: Monday, 12:00pm Send Address Changes To: Portland Observer, P.O. Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208. Subscriptions: $60.00 per year The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manu sermts and photographs should be clearly labeled and w .11 be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. All created design disp ay rds become the sole properly 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 RIC.HIS RESERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE (JR IN PAR I W l, II E n o u g h o f d e f in itio n s , a l ready! T he read ers say those p a ra m e te rs given last w eek lor an o rd erly record and chro n o lo g y o f the past w ere ju s t tin e , but let s get on w ith it. W hat is real about 'o u r ' history is not ju st om issio n but m an ip u latio n It is as though som e sort of p re sc ie n c e was w orking for me as last w e e k ’s P e rsp e c tiv e s c o l umn a c h iev ed a p o in t-to -p o in t c o rre sp o n d e n c e w ith the issues raised in the book sectio n ol the Sunday O reg o n ian . I/ 1 1/98; the S cott E llsw orth review of. 'H is tory On T rail; C u ltu re W ars and the Teaching of the Past N ash, C ra b tre e and D unn, K nofl. T he review er re fe rs to ihe re cent cu ltural sk irm ish in g over A f r o c e n tr is m ” ', w h ile I d e sc rib e d a "p e rn ic io u s c u ltu ra l w arfare" still driven by economic- forces set in m otion by the d e h u m anizing in stitu tio n ol chattel slavery on this c o n tin e n t. P a r tic u la rly I made the case lor a s e v e r e ly im p a ire d A m e ric a n p s y c h e ( c o n s c ie n c e - C h r is tia n e r / s What Is History? The Countdown; Part II l ’ l « l l I I SNOK Mi K iw i i \ 1 Bt ri ( O b s e r v e r (DSPS 959-68») Established in 197» Charles Washington Publisher & Editor ! p e c / e th ic ) that not only h an dicapped the nation in te rn a lly , but posed d iffic u ltie s for a w orld m oral lead ersh ip . O f co u rse, the dice are alw ays loaded in this “cu ltu ral skirm ish" as w itn ess the usual selectio n ol the term " A fro c ie n irism ", rather than “ A n g lo c e n trism . T ells you w ho is in charge h ere, doesn I it ’ and as B lack H isto ry M onth d ra w s e v e r c lo se r, we should keep M arshall M c L u h a n ’s m es sage firm ly in m ind, "the m e dium is the m essag e" - and for those w ho c a n 't read. A m erica s m o s t u b iq u ito u s i l l u s t r a t o r . N orm an R ockw ell laid it out in “ A n g locentric" style for decades. S everal of those involved in an ab o rted process called in re sponse to my re fe re n ce to the "B ase lin e E ssa y s' com p o n en t o f an early Portland School D istricts M u ltic u ltu ra l/M u ltie th n ic p ro gram (m id 1970s). I heartily a s sured tw o o f the c a lle rs that I w ished they had opened th eir m ouths at "that lim e" in support o f my w idely p ro c la im e d - and do cu m en ted - c o n te n tio n s that key generic black c o n trib u tio n s su b m itted by program c o n tra c tors like m yself were deliberately om itted. T his ru th less e x c lu sio n of m a jo r sem inal c o n trib u tio n s in the arts and sc ie n c e s on three c o n ti nents was d e sig n e d to p reserve intact the co m m u n ity ’s ethnic and cu ltu ral m in d set. P a rtic u la r e x am ples w ill be p resen ted during Black H istory M onth. T his leads us to a key point o f d isc u ssio n in the book, "H isto ry On Trial. As is usually the case, the a u thors o f such tex ts seldom place sp e c ific peo p le and ev e n ts or d o c u m e n ta tio n on tr ia l; they w o u ld n 't d a re ' W ere P lato and Isaac N ew ton rig h t about the A fric a n d e v e lo p m e n ts o f la n guage and m a th e m a tic s? As in d ic a te d by the g ra ffiti they left on the great P yram id, did both F ibonacci and M ercato r sim ply la tc h on to A fric a n d e v e lo p m en ts.’ W ere all those E uropean S cholars te llin g the truth when they cam e back from I im buktu r OUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. The Portland O bserver--O regon's Oldest Multicultural Publica tion--^ a member of the National Newspaper A ssociation-Founded in 1885 and The National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers Inc. New York. NY. Oregon Federation ol Advertising. American Minorites Media, and I'he Wes. Coast Black Publishers during the M iddle A ges and w rote o f the great learning they r e ceived at the U niversity ? D um as .’ P u s h k in ’ N a p o le o n 's g re a te s t g en erals ? E tc, Etc? In the particular case, the agenda of the authors is "the history wars o f the 1990s" and does not center around such sp ecifics as cited above - not at all about what tacts the majority of citizens and stu dents would like to know The book is about establishing the "National C enter for History in the Schools - along with creating and dissem i nating tea c h in g m a te ria ls that would help bring 're c e n t' h isto ri cal scholarship into the n a tio n 's c la ssro o m s..." T his Bush A d m in istratio n in i tiative meant th o u san d s of tim es the grant m onies a llo cated for a local “ B aseline Essay P rogram " and still no m o tiv atio n - c h a l lenged black stu d e n t, co n c e rn e d p aren t or ta x p a y e r in g e n e ra l w ould know how m uch o f the w orld around him was of his m aking. C onclu d ed next week. '"ClIf Send your letters to the Editor to: Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208 Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver. Dear Editor: S ubscribe to a t y iiiirtu m ò (O iw n u r The Portland Observer can he sent directly to your home Io, only $60 DO per year Please till out. enclose check or money orde, and mad to S ubscriptions T he P oru ani » O bserver ; PO B ox 3137 P ortland , O regon 972»8 become increasingly concerned about the debilitating effects of a meat-and-dairy As an African-American physician in practice toi many y e a r.. . ,mnortanl role in the cause and progression of chronic diseases centered diet on the health of African-Americans and others hese die a.y , e . p •„ • P (enJ (o be minorities. | n lhe . ,„ s h Mnml pressure. hear, disease. s„ „k e s. “ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ . m p l i s h r u e n i s and h,s h.s.ene legacy in a sp ecal way. spirit of Martin Luther King. Jr.. I would like to invite your .cade, s to celcbi ate Dr King peace Nonviolence begins in the kitchen, one bite at a tune. Many re n e a n e d A n re r,c a n ,d S K.ng s son D esier Se.,,, K,ng. us wulow C, e „ S a n .la .a a rB .IIC o sb , . politician and edueaiorChurleiie Drew , a „ r s . i a l k ",,^ 1 K U ^ e X X X i X ^ D ^ ^ " b , a . e M b X author Alice Walker, comedian Dick Gregory, comedian | X ~ t„ ns,t o W y . ^ 1n ;g ,.« ,d ,b ....... ....................................... .. p la n e .,be b u n g ,,, a n d ,b e ....... . Try Name a vegetarian lifestyle, and you'll find it could give you a much longer life tim e _________ ______ Address; City. State; Zip-Code: T hank Y ou F or R eading T he P orti ani » O bserver The Legacy of Levittown Bv H ugh B. P rice P resident N ational U rban L eague It was a visionary s d ream -m ass- produced. single-family tract hous ing that, at a cost of $7,(XX), or $60 a month, ordinary w orking people could afford. And when in 1947 the visionary, William J. Levitt, buoyed by substantial federal monies, opened the first Levittown on a vast expanse of flat Long Island farmland twenty miles from Manhattan, he helped in ten sify not ju st the d e lu g e of suburbanization which was to re shape America’s residential housing pattern but the huge expansion of the American middle class that is one of America's greatest post-war achieve ments Last m onth, when L evittow n marked its fiftieth anniversary. I couldn't help but place it aside two other significant fiftieth-anniversary events now within our vision. One was the breaking of baseball's color barrier by Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby in the summer of 1947 The other was President Truman s ex ecutive order of 1948 desegregating the military. In that comparison. Levittown s anniversary is a bittersweet one, to say the least. The reason is that from the begin ning Levitt's vision and achievement were besmirched. Levittown, built just outside the country's most ra cially diverse city, was for whites only. So. too. would be the Le vittowns he subsequently built near Philadel phia. and in New Jersey. There were no "whites only” signs on the properties But the exclusion of blacks from what was for many white families the opening of the door to the American Dream was ironclad. That point wasclearly made in a recent article about Levittown in the New York Times, as it was in David Halbei stain's recent book.The Fifties. Yes. L evittow n has changed. Blacks have lived there since the late 1950s, and all evidence suggests they find it a welcoming place to liv e - thought it is worth noting that even today Levittown is more than 97 per cent white. Blacks make upjust one- quarter of one percent of its nearly 53.000 residents. But. recalling Levittow n’s dis criminatory beginnings isn't merely a matter of a particular historical interest. In fact, its past, in and of itself, the devastating and continuing impact discrimination has had on the ability of African Americans (and others) to pursue the American dream. In th a t w ay. r e c a llin g L e v itto w n 's past is vitally im por tant to the current "conversation w e 're having about affirm ative action and w hether a preferential treatm ent that seeks to expand op portunity is worth pursuing. L e v itto w n ’s h is to ry u n d e r sc o re s how m uch m any w hite fam ilies b e n e filte d in m aterial, tra c e a b le w ays over the past tw o and three g e n e ra tio n s from the m ost e x c lu sio n a ry kind o f p re f e re n tia l tre a tm e n t in jo b s . h o u s ing. and sch o o lin g . Il is not a m a tte r of c o n je c tu re or m ere a s sertio n . It is ev id en t in a su b sta n tial num ber of d e m o g rap h ic facts that stretch far beyond L evittow n. It is starkly apparent in the differ ent housing profiles of blacks and whites, as economist W ilhelmina Leigh, of the Joint Center lor Politi cal and Economic Studies, wrote in the 1996 issue of The State of Black America. Expanding the Marketplace For the first time in its long his tory. the New York Stock Exchange closed in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 19). For two dayspreceding that event. Wall Street served as the national staging point for American business leaders to participate in an in-depth evaluation of the ongoing effort to expand eco nomic growth through increased in vestment and partnerships with m i norities and women. As Rev. Jackson has said. "The Wall Street Project is about building bridges of trade between corporate America and those who do not have access to business and capital. This effort is not conservative or liberal. It makes sense, costs less, and builds equity and justice. A Wall street con ference on Dr. King's Birthday is not /74//VSO IV PU$H C O A L IT IO N an anomaly or an aberration. It is the direct expression of the hard work and enormous challenges that were the essence of his life. Rev Jackson was joined in the conference with President ( linton. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan. Treasury Se- i etary Robei i Rubin. Congressman Charles Ragel AFL-CIO President John Sw eeney, a host of CEOs from A m erica's largest corporations and leading minority-owned businesses, and event co-hosts New York Stock Exchange President Richard Grasso and Travelers Group Chairman and CEO Sanford I. Weill I'he most recent, available Census Bureau statistics tell a compelling story. 1993 M edian H ousehold Net Worth White $45,740 African American $4,418 Hispanic $4,656 F em ale H ead - of - H o u se h o ld $13,294 Blood is to the human body as capital is to the econom ic system. It must circulate and flow through out the whole body. If it does not circulate fully, clots form. Clots cause strokes. If the w ealth and capital are all held by a select, isolated few, the economy will suf fer. Inclusion - Growth. Restraint of trade is the worst sin against capitalism, it impedes growth and limits the ability of the free mar ket to operate. Dr. King spoke of the bounced check hurting three parties-the writer of the check, the recipient of the check, and the bank. Dr. King’s Legacy And The Consequences Of Racism Part 1 Bv D r . L enora F i i . ani The civil rights movement of the 1960 s ended structural racism in America That movement was an in dependent movement, a grassroots movement led by Dr Martin Luther King. Jr. and enlivened by thousands of activists, attorneys, and students. Dr. King was not a Democrat — with a capital “D" and it was not a Democratic Party movement, though the Democratic Party did succeed in coopting it and taking credit for its achievements. Throughout the struggles which led to the passage of the civil Rights Act ol 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (which were propelled through Congress by Lyndon Baines Johnson - not by the liberal estab lishment) the Democratic Party was ambivalent I'he Democrats, after all. had constructed an electoral coali tion that relied heavily on Southern white voters But once the civil rights movement -- independently led galvanized the country, the Deino- cratic Party f igured out how to con solidate it and opportumze off of it. The success of Dr King and the civil right movement meant that struc tural racism had been eliminated. Race discrimination was outlawed and participation in the political pro cess was secured for Black America. With racism ended, the issue for the country became what to do about the consequences ol racism We had lived for 300 years with racism as an institutionalized element of every day life Slavery had been abolished only 100 years earlier. The social fabric of our society was deeply cor roded by this social/political/cultural experience. America needed to go through a healing process to deal with the residual anger and outrage of Black America and to create a uni tied country that could move tor ward in the national interest. But the 30 years that followed the elimination ol structural racism w ere years - not of healing but of wheel ing and dealing The Democratic .» . translate .. I ., . ..II all of the ••.oiniri tFir* r In Instead, c to a r! • hi country I/ together. the two Party was eager • Io parties spent the last 3 0 years tearing social movements of the 1960s into the country apart, while taking ex its political subsidiaries and so it treme measures to preserve and insti nurtured identity politics -- the el tutionalize their own political power evation of and competition among and that of the corporate and special fractured segments of the population interests which run America. based on racial, cultural, gender, ideo This .30 year bipartisan gambit, logical and sexual identity -- in order however, is losing its grip on the to do so. American public. There is still much This modus operandi served the unresolved outrage on the part of interests of the Democrats - and the Black America which, though still Republicans as well, who quickly loyal to the Democratic party, is learned how to play this game on the showing signs of breaking out of its "right" - but not the interests of the monolithic allegiance. In 1997. Black country. As the Democrats promoted voters stayed home from the polls in various oppressed grouping for their record numbers and sought out Re own political purposes, the Republi publican and independent options in cans organized the backlash against discernible numbers. There is also a it, playing on the incomplete social/ new generation of young Black adults cultural process left in the wake of without (hecivil righteraexperience the structural elimination of racism to lie them to the Democratic Party. and elevating their own identity Black America is communicating a groupings, e g .Christian fundamen new message, a question that has talists. veterans, pro-lifers, etc The remained unanswered for 30 years. country needed to have spent the last What do we do now? Where do we 30 years creating a new post-racist go next? political culture that could bring the
