JAN. 28, 1998
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Send your letters to the Editor to:
Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208
Dear Editor:
As an A liican A m erican physician
m piactice tor many years, I have be
com e incre;isingly concerned about the
debt h luting e 11 ects ot a I neat-and-tlairy-
< entered diet on the health o f African-
Americans and others These dietary
lactors play an important role in the
cause and progression o f chronic dis
eases such, is high hlixxl pressure, heart
disease, strokes, diabetes, and cancers.
?\nd. unfortunately, those hardest hitby
such diseases tend to lie minorities. In
the spirit of M artin Luther King, Jr., I
would like to invite your readers to
celebrate Dr K ing's peaceful accom
plishments and his historic legacy in a
special wav Nonviolence begins in tire
kitchen, one bile at a lime.
M ans renow ned A m ericans-D r.
King s son I Vxtei Scott King, his widow
Dear Edition
W ho w ould have ev er th ought that
it w ould be illegal lor local g o v e rn
m ent officials to return property tax
dollars to the tax p ay er?
I )esc hutesandL innC ounty officials
were recently told that it w ould take
legislative action in order for them to
return 11 million dollars o f unantici
pated revenue back to the taxpayer.
W hat O rego n ian s d id n ’t realize
w hen they passed B allot M easu re 50
w as that all expiring tax lev y ’s w o u ld
becom e a pe rm anent part o f the tax
rale I guess the d rafters o f M easure
50 figured that O reg o n ian s w o u ld n ’t
not ice and that local officials w o u ld n 't
com plain about the increased tax re v
enue.
Are Deschutes and l inn County
alone in this predicament'’ No. Ac
cording to stale revenue officials, 20
counties are in a similar position.
However, the taxpayer overcharge is
much smaller in the other counties.
Why then is the legislature refus-
Coretta Sci itt King, authi ir Al ice Walker,
comedian DickGregory,comedian and
actor Bill Cosby, politician and educa
tor Charlene Drew Jarvis, talk show
host Keenine Ivory Wayans, model
Roshumba, singer Janet Jackson, and
rapper KRS-One, to cite but a few -
have beer ime vegetarians. So have many
ordinary Americans, and I hope to see
those ranks swell considerably.
Let us celebrate this Martin Luther
King Day. and those following, by eat
ing It x k J that is gtxxJ for our bodies, our
planet, the hungry, and the animals. Try
a vegetarian lifestyle, and you’ll find it
could give you a much longer lifetime.
Sincerely,
Milton Mills, M.D.
Physicians Committee tor Respon
sible Medicine
Washington, DC
ing to convene a special session to
correct this wrong'.’
Two reasons. Legislative leaders do
not want to deal with other issues that
wi mid he bri lught updunng the session.
Second, the State of Oregon is the
benefactor of this mistake. By allowing
the expiring levies to become a perma
nent part of the lax rate, local schixil
districts col lectagrcateramountoftheii
school funding from local property tax
payers. Therefore, reducing the amount
that the- state contributes to local school
districts. State revenue officialsrecently
revealed that the state will spend 40
million less on Basic School support
this biennium due to higher than antici
pated properly tax dollars.
It is no wonder that Oregonian's
distrust government and their elected
officials We give them every reason
to believe that we are not interested in
justice, fairness and just doing the
“right thing", for the "right reason."
Linda Swearingen
DeschutcsCounly Commissioner
B y P rof . M c K inley B urt
“C o untdow n to w h a t? ” , asked
a c a lle r w ho had ju s t read last
w e e k ’s a rtic le , “ Part II." G ood
q u e stio n from one co m in g into
the m iddle o f a series in itia te d as
a “co u n td o w n to B lack H istory
M o n th .” Sorry about that hut it
does seem that my d e fin itio n s oi
in te rp re ta tio n s o f h is to ry got
th ro u g h to m any read ers.
L e t’s p roceed fu rth e r along
th at line. I read an in te re stin g
a rtic le by sy n d icated c o lu m n ist
R oger E. H ernandez, “ W h a t’s in
a n a m e ? ” O f co u rse, that phrase
is a ls o a fa m o u s lin e fro m
S h a k e sp e a re ’s play, R om eo and
Ju lie t. T he query is sp ark ed by
the passio n ate lo v e r 's co ncern
w ith the attitudes o f th e ir re sp e c
tive fam ilies, the M o n tag u es and
the C apulets.
But in the p a rtic u la r instance,
Mr. H ernandez invokes this play-
on -w o rd s in a stra in e d e ffo rt to
state th at there is no d istin c tio n
betw een w hite p a re n ts in River-
s
I
r
e
t i r
e
s
What Is History? The
Countdown, Conclusion
side, C alif. W ho did not w ish a
school nam ed a fte r "D r. M artin
L uther K ing J r .” -- and black
p a re n ts in N ew O rle a n s w ho
changed the nam e o f a school
from "G eo rg e W a sh in g to n " to
"D i C h a rle s R ichard D re w ” .
P laying to the g a lle ry - w hite,
at least in his m in d -o u r anxious
w riter h asten s to a ssu re all who
w ould liste n . “ B oth (sets o f p a r
ents) are trying to T w ist history
to suit th e ir own sim p listic , ra
c ia lly -m o tiv a te d e n d s .”
Mr H ern a n d e /, a m inority him
self, o b v io u sly y e a rn s for in c lu
sion (a c c e p ta n c e ) and em ploys a
tactic that has been used by other
‘o u tsid e rs’ who have felt alm ost-
but not q u ite -p a rt o f the e sta b
lishm ent. For the m om ent let us
ignore his spate o f ox y m o ro n ic
sta te m e n ts such as in d ic tin g the
N ew O rle a n s' school board for
having "th e p o litic a lly correct
id e a th a t n o th in g w h ite in
A m erica is good".
H istory - B lack H isto ry , if you
will - has alw ays been an integral
part o f the lives o f A frican A m eri
can s, w hether w ritte n , em bodied
in the a rtifa c ts and icons around
them , or sim ply (but im portantly)
in the sto ries and fo lk lo re passed
from g en e ra tio n to gen eratio n (a
w hite p ro fe sso r at Los A ngeles
C ity C ollege once rem inded the
c la ss that “ H om er was illite ra te ,
b u t w e w o r s h ip th e G r e e k s
th ro u g h his e y e s” ).
It is u n fo rtu n a te that the c o l
um nist whom we are e x o rcisin g
here does not have a b etter grasp
o f black histo ry or o f that s p iri
tual, life -su sta in in g force (elan
v ita l) so fre q u e n tly m an ifested
in the nam ing o f in stitu tio n s a f
ter ‘the great o n e s ’.
H ow
sh o ck ed
w o u ld
H ernandez be to know that in my
southern g h etto o f St. L ouis this
had been the tren d since shortly
a fte r the C ivil W ar - and other
p a rts o f 'D i x i e '.
T he e lem en tary sch o o ls that
my m o th e r and au n t a tte n d e d
w e re
re s p e c tiv e ly
nam ed,
“ L o u v e ra tu re and D e ssa lin e s” ,
a fte r the tw o great H aitian fre e
dom fig hters w hose c o u ra g e o u s
re v o lts a g ain st slav ery w ere as
im p o rtan t to the black p o pulace
as w as G eorge W a sh in g to n ’s o p
position to "tax atio n w ithout re p
r e s e n ta tio n .” A nd, o f c o u rs e ,
there w ere o th e r sch o o ls nam ed
in an effo rt by black people "to
tw ist history to suit th eir ow n
s im p lis tic , r a c ia lly - m o tiv a te d
e n d s” , as Mr H ern an d ez w ould
say.
In stitu tio n s h o noring W E B
D uB ois. B ooker T. W ash in g to n ,
E lijah M cC oy, D um as, ad in fin i
tum . W hat, indeed, is in a nam e?
I 'll tell you. It can inspire you,
m o tiv ate you, e le v a te you-m ake
folks w ant to "lift every voice
and s in g ” , m ake them "clim b to
the m ountain to p .” T hose b lack
p a re n ts in N ew O rlean s knew
ex a c tly w hat they w ere do in g -
w hat the needs o f th eir y o uth
Setting The Growth Agenda
Today, the First Annual Rainbow/
PUSH Wall Street Project Confer
ence concludes its third and final day
of landmark sessions. Although the
conference itself ended, the themes
and goals of the conference will con
tinue as Rainbow/PUSH makes its
presence felt.
The response to our sessions has
been tremendously positive. Every
major network, newspapers from
overseas, were covering the confer
ence. Over 250 press credentials were
issued and rooms were filled to ca
pacity at each event.
Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin-
-’’Although government at all levels
is important to addressing these is
sues, I believe corporate America
has a vital role to play in its own self-
interest in expanding opportunity for
all Americans. Inclusion is good for
the bottom line.”
President Bill Clinton-"I thank
Reverend Jackson for his insight,
that he has said for years, and years,
and years - (investment banks) are
m issing a m arket here. This is
A m erica’s opportunity to close the
opportunity gap. L et’s seize it."
The American Minority Market -
Key Facts
* 60 million people and growing
rapidly.
* Commands more than $600 bi I
RA tN B O W PU $H
C O A L IT IO N
lion in annual earnings.
* Com pared to other national
economies around the world, it ranks
fifteenth-ahead of Mexico. Switzer
land. India, Indonesia, Thailand,
Saudi Arabia, and South A fricajust
to name a few.
* Right in our own back yard.
* Better-educated and more stable.
A recent study rating the S&P
500 com panies on factors related
to the hiring and prom otion o f m i
norities and women offered quan
titative evidence that there is an
econom ic incentive lor w orkplace
diversity, and a disincentive for
exclusion;
* The top 100 companies aver
aged about an 18*% return on their
investments.
* The bottom 100 companies av
eraged about a 7CT return on their
investments.
What is the securities industry's
record diversity?
* O f th e90.000people in America
classified as stock brokers, only about
600 of them are African Americans
* The number of minority portfo
lio managers has declined in recent
years.
* Fewer than 40 African Ameri
cans have discretion over portfolios
at majority-owned asset management
funds or major pension funds.
T he W all S treet Project has
pu rch ased sh ares in fifty d iffe r
e n t p u b lic ly -tra d e d c o m p an ies
and will continue to closely m oni
tor th eir c o rp o ra te p ra c tic e s and,
if need be, in te rv e n e in our role
as in v estm en t a d v iso rs. T hese
c o rp o ra tio n s in w hich we own
stock include:
* Columbia/HCA
* MCI, WorldCom, and Digital
* CBS, Sony, Time Warner, Co
lumbia Pictures, and Ploygram
* Ford, Chrysler, GM, H onda.
Nissan, Toyota, and Volvo
* Texaco, Chevron, Shell, and
Ratheon
* C o c a -C o la , P e p sic o , and
Seagram
The Wall Street Project will con
vene six task forces that will issue
interim reports in six months and
final reports a year from now in the
areas of:
* Employment Practices in the
Investment Industry
* Opportunities for Minority and
Women-Owned Investment Firms,
Ad agencies, the Automobile indus
try, Energy industry, and Telecom
munications
* Pension Funds
* Commercial Lending Practices
* Domestic Development Finance
Initiatives
* The Emerging Marketplace of
Minorities and Women
Rev. Jackson announced ten c it
ies where we intend to hold follow
up dialogues and negotiations to
ensure that this opportunity to grow
is not wasted. The cities will likely
include:
* Chicago
* Los Angeles
* Atlanta
* Houston
* San Francisco Bay area
* Philadelphia
* Miami
* Boston
* Washington, DC/Baltimore
* New Orleans
* Detroit
America Need Diverse And
Excellent Educators
B y B ob C hase
There aren't a lot of Pacific Is
landers teaching in Billings. Mon
tana. As one of the few minority
teachers at Riverside Middle School.
Diane Welhavcn often becomes the
standard-bearer for all of the school' s
children of color.
“The expectations for minority
students are remarkably low,” she
says. “I bring them high standards
and a desire to excel. I show them
that anyone can be successful."
Yet minority students are hardly
the only ones who benefit. An award-
winning teacher. Welhavcn demon
strates to all Riverside students that
intelligence and ambition have no
racial or ethnic boundaries. Her pres
ence does more to open students'
minds than any multicultural cur
riculum. She teaches by example.
So does Charlec O 'R eilly, one of
the few African-American teachers
at Manalapan EnglishTown Elemen
tary School in Manalapan. New Jer
sey. “Because of me. students have a
higher comfort level being around
people from different cultures," she
said It broadens their knowledge
and understanding of people."
Unfortunately, minority teachers
like W elhavcn and O 'R eilly arc
scarce. Currently, over 90 percent ol
A m erica's teachers are white; 75
percent are female. By the early 2 1 st
century, the percentage of minority
teachers is expected to shrink to an
all-time low of 5 percent, while 41
percent of American students will be
minorities. Already, several cities
have “majority minority” student
bodies. Classrooms everywhere arc
starved for good teachers of color,
particularly black and Hispanic men.
Make no mistake: Competence,
not background or gender, must be
the defining criterion for hiring any
teacher. Yet excellence and diversity
are not — and must not be - mutually
exclusive.
America is a gold mine of ethnicity.
As a nation, we have at our disposal
more diverse cultural resources,
viewpoints, talents, and insights into
the human experience and the global
community than any other nation on
the planet. To deny our children full
access to this wealth is criminal.
Yet the sad, ugly truth is that chil
dren in America still attend public
schools where the only minority
adults they sec are custodians, bus
drivers, cafeteria workers. These jobs
arc important and noble. But such a
division of labor sc nds a skewed and
dangerous message tochildren about
the relationship between race and
human potential. W hetherit’s in Bill
ings or Baltimore, Children learn as
much from what they see as from
what they read. A homogenous teach
ing force contradicts the very values
of equality, opportunity, diversity,
and tolerance that public schools
struggle to teach.
Furthermore, as traditional fami
lies and the social safety net disinte
grate, it is falling to schools to pick
up the slack. Teachers are now ex
pected to be part social worker and
part surrogate parent to children
whose backgrounds are far different
from their own. They need diverse
colleagues as much as students need
adults who can relate to them.
How to attract more minority
teachers? Among strategies the Na
tional Education Association sup
ports are aggressive recruitment cam
paigns, financial aid to future teach
ers, partnerships with schools of
higher education (including histori
cally black colleges). "Grow Your
Own" teacher cultivation programs,
and extensive teacher preparation
Last month, we awarded grants to 11
affiliates engaged in collaborative
recruitment with their school dis
tricts. A handful of schools are also
launching innovative programs to
train and credential school support
staff — such as secretaries and
teacher's aides -- to become full-
fledged teachers.
But ultimately, I believe we have
to take a page from Diane Welhavcn s
lesson book. If we want more minori
ties to teach, we have to encourage
children when they are young. We
have to endow them with a love of
learning, stoke their ambition, and
demand excellence. This requires
more than a few role models. It re
quires patience, commitment, and
guts; it requires us to purge ourselves
and our school systems of any unwit
ting biases that might exist — be they
in the form of lower expectations for
minority students, “color coded"
tracking, or attitudes.
In the words of Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., "We have to be together
before we can learn how to live to
g eth er" We have to be together be
fore we can teach how to live to
gether, too.
Bob Chase is President of the
National Education A ssociation,
which represents more than 2.3 mil
lion public school and college em
ployees.