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(USI‘S 959-680) Established in 1970
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lesila Williams
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T hank Y ou F or R eading T iie P ortland O bserver
JUST THINKING
B y M aurice A. D awkins
The first bull scale attack on
the failings o f the W elfare Re
form Act passed by Congress
and currently implemented at the
State level is being launched by
the militant Black founder of
s e lf help jo b tra in in g in
America.
Calling together OIC Lead
ers and Community Based Or
ganization M ovement leader
ship o f the Urban League, SER.
and other Hispanic and Native
American job training programs
Sullivan is contacting Congress
men, Senators, and the White
House on M arch 4th in the
nation's capital.
He is calling for amendments
to the Welfare Reform Act that
will repair the safety net. De
claring that far too many wel
fare re c ip ie n ts are fa llin g
through the holes in the socio
economic safety net the founder
o f selective patronage boycotts
in Philadelphia and highly re
s p e c te d a d v iso r to Je sse
Jackson’s Operation Breadbas
ket is using the legislative pro
cess and focusing on the House
and Senate Labor Committees.
A Bill outlining OIC Type
pre-vocational training to “feed
welfare recipients into cortimu-
rtity based job training pro
gram s” is receiving bi-partisan
support from both Republicans
and Democrats.
After ten years experim enta
tion with Governor Thompson
in W isconsin the M ilwaukee
OIC has offered its experiences
as a prototype for new methods
and strategies such as church
based mentoring, transportation
subsidies, child care provisions
and even short term loans to
help bridge the gap between
welfare and permanent work.
Thompson has agreed to get the
National Governors Association
behind the Sullivan initiative
and the Black Caucus of State
Legislators has adopted a reso
lution urging passage of com
munity based organization pre-
vocational job training. The
Congressional Black Caucus is
being urged to push with its con
siderable clout during the 55
day session.
Carol Geary, Publisher o f the
Black Milwaukee Courier has
joined Dorothy Leavell, Presi
dent of the National Newspaper
Publishers in endorsing the
Sullivan Initiative.
The Black Press Across the
nation calls upon Black Ameri
cans to contact their Congress
men and Senators and urge them
to support this new Community
Based W elfare to Work Bill.
I went to Phoenix, AZ to ask
Dr. Sullivan about this legisla
tion. His daughter Atty. Hope
Sullivan is the new Washington
Representative of OIC coordi
nation this effort. His response
was as expected:
“We must help people make
the transition from welfare rolls
to payrolls, without the thou
sands of casualties that are be
ing dropped into homelessness,
joblessness and despair as is
being reported from all the state.
We must patch up the holes in
the safety net.
We m ust help them help
themselves as OIC has done for
three decades now graduating
more than two million disad
vantaged Americans. “MEET
ME IN WASHINGTON ON
MARCH 4TH.”
p e r s p e c t i v e s
"Bring Out The Noise, Bring Out The Brains"
B y P ropessor M
B urt
c K in l e y
A long-tim e reader o f the P o rt
land O b serv er says y o u ’ve done
ju s t that w ith recent “ th rillin g
rev elations in our 'B lac k H istory
M o n th ’ se c tio n .” T hank you but
ju s t w ait until you see w hat we
have for this w eek!
It seem s that our proud reader
w ent to the p h o to co p y shop and
had dozens o f copies m ade to
send all over the co u n try to re la
tiv es, frien d s, and “ frat b ro th
e rs .” W hen he called and later
c a m e by I sa id , “ m a y b e you
should have w aited ju st one m ore
w eek. We c e rta in ly a p p re c ia te
y o u r in te re st and e n th u sia sm ,
th a t’s our g o al, but ch eck this
o ut, W ednesday, F eb ru ary 2 5 .”
“ O ur p re se n ta tio n o f a n o th e r
black e n g in e e rin g g e n iu s is a
m in d -b lo w er: A ‘h o m e -g ro w n ’
p ro d u ct o f P o rtla n d ’s 'B e n so n
T ech n ical H igh S c h o o l’ as it w as
c alled in th o se days. T h o m as M.
R u th erfo rd , o r ‘d o n ’ as he p re
fers (in sists) on being c a lle d , w as
a 1932 graduate o f B enson (T e c h
nical A viation m ajor) and a 1941
g ra d u a te o f the U n iv ersity o f O r
egon.
O ur b rillian t, but m odest e n g i
neer, w ent on to e sta b lish a fifty-
year career in top level te c h n o l
ogy, in c lu d in g c ritic a l e n g in e
c o n tro ls he d e sig n e d and in
s ta lle d on H o w a rd H u g h e s ’
fa m e d “ S p r u c e G o o s e ,” th e
w o rld 's largest plane. ‘ D o n ’ says
“ it w as ac tu a lly m ade o f birch
w o o d !” But turn to our B lack
H istory M onth sectio n to read
ab o u t the w o n d ro u s c a re e r b e
tw een B enson H igh S chool and
“ R uth erfo rd & A sso ciate E n g i
neers o f S o uthern C alifo rn ia.
B e lie v e me th e re w as not
nearly enough room to d e sc rib e
th is rem ark ab le saga; I w ill be
d o in g that in a national p u b lic a
tion.
M eanw hile, back at the ranch,
it seem s th at 1 “ w as th ere fa ste st-
w ith -th e -m o ste st” as they qu o te
a fam ed C ivil W ar g eneral.
T he re fe re n ce is to my w eekly
in siste n c e that h o n o rin g B lack
H istory for ju s t one m onth o f the
y e a r is not en o u g h -it m ust be
lived, e x p erien ced and e x p lo ite d
on a continual basis, rational, and
sp iritu a l. R eaders have sent me
"W hy
The Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the
Brotherhood Crusade, dozens o f
other progressive organizations and
community leaders, and thousands
o f citizens marched from the LA
Coliseum to the Ronald Reagan State
Building on Monday February 23 at
8:00am to protest Propositions 209
(anti-race and gender), 187 (anti
immigrant), 226 (anti-worker) and
227 (anti-language).
Just as we face down foreign weap
ons o f mass destruction, so too must
we face down domestic policies of
mass destruction. These exclusion
ary propositions are anti-growth.
They are divisive. They seek to drive
a wedge between us instead o f trying
to bring us together.
Devastating Impact o f prop. 209
In the wake o f Prop. 209, doors o f
opportunity are being slammed shut
in minorities’ and w om en’s faces.
* Only one African American cur
rently enrolled in the UC Berkeley
Law School first year class.
* African American and Latino
enrollment at California’s public law
schoolsand business schools has been
nearly cut in half in only one year.
* There are virtually no women
contractors with the City o f San Di
ego.
* O f LA C ounty’s $1.4 billion
paid to contractors in FY 96-97, only
clip p in g s from several ‘B la c k ’
com ic strip s that em p h asize this
very point.
T h is p a st S unday in “Jum p
S ta rt” w h ic h fe a tu re s a black
co u p le, a po licem an , nurse and a
to d d le r, w e have them q u o tin g
Black H istory and ending up with
the w ife c o m p la in in g , “ ...ex cep t
th a t i t ’s o n ly ta u g h t for one
m o n th !” A nd in the daily black
com ic strip , “C u rtis ,” the very
sam e p o int w as m ade. T his latter
series d eals w ith a very real sc e
nario built around inner-city life,
e sp e c ia lly as it affe c ts the early
black teens.
A nd it w as w ith a deep g r a tifi
catio n th at I review ed the c o m
m unications from readers who re
m arked that I was “out there early
o n ” w ith the a d m o n itio n th at
B lack H istory can n o t be a p e ri
od ic th in g like S pring B reak.
S everal re a d e rs noted that in the
P ortland O b se rv e r for 2 /18/98,
the guest c o lu m n ist for the N a
tio n al U rban L eague takes up the
th e m e I ’ve been p u sh in g fo r
m onths. His delay ed a d v ice is
“ To Be E q ual: R e d isc o v e rin g
B lack H isto ry .”
IV T arch i
6.3 went to Community Business
Enterprise firms.
* The number one growth indus
try in California and much o f the rest
students admitted to UC-Davis Medi
cal School under “special circum
stances” than African American and
Latino students.
Æ4/JVS0WPU$H
C O A L IT IO N
o f the country is the Jail Industrial
complex. We are throwing money
into new jails to lock our youth up
instead o f investing money in new
schools to lift our youth up.
Shatter Affirmative Action Myths
* Affirmative Action is not about
race and gender preferences. Quotas
have always been illegal. Affirma
tive action is a conservative remedy
to demonstrated patterns o f race and
gender discrimination.
* Affirmative action is a majority
issue, not a minority issue. In Cali
fornia, minorities are 48% o f the
population and women are 51% o f
the population.
* Standardized tests and grades
are not the only criteria for university
admission. According to the Journal
o f the American Medical Associa
tion, last year there were more w hite
T o
G ood stuff, as far as it g oes,
but you will note the critical point
m ade last w eek in the final a r
tic le o f my se rie s, “ B lack H is
tory M onth is H ere (A g a in ). It
seem s very w ell to presen t a c a re
fully c o n tro lle d , e sta b lish m e n t
and c o rp o ra tio n ap p ro v ed ro ste r
o f ‘a c c e p ta b le ’ black h e ro e s-n o t
a th in g w rong w ith o u r g re a ts,
fro m R e v . K in g to J a c k ie
R obinson and from Dr. D rew to
Dr. C arver.
But as I p o in ted in my “ P e r
sp e c tiv e s” colum n on the sam e
page, th ere is a m ethod in ‘o l ’
m a ssa ’s m a d n e ss.’
T h e m a te r ia ls I ’ v e s e e n
presen t a black w hose e x iste n c e
in the un iv erse began w ith sla-
very-N o E gypt (k now n as E th io
pia to the an cien t w rite rs), no
py ram id s, no B lack P opes, no
E u ro p ean s a tte n d in g the g re a t
u n iv e rsitie s o f T im buktu in W est
A frica, no N a p o le o n ’s black g e n
e ra ls, no P u sh k in , no A le x a n d e r
D um as, N o Issaac N ew ton d e
scribing A frican m athem atics and
a stro n o m y .”
No n o th in g but a new sla v e ry
o f the m ind.
English-Only Measure (Prop. 227)
counterproductive-English is a great
language, but there is nothing sacred
about it. Jesus did not speak it. In the
new world economy, America’s great
est strength - our competitive advan
tage over all other countries - is our
diversity. We should be striving to be
bilingual or multi-lingual. Our ability
to grow inthenexteentury will largely
be determined by our ability to com
municate with people o f all different
cultures and nationalities.
Workers Under Attack
An issue on the June ballot in
California, the deceptively titled
“ C am p aig n R eform In itia tiv e ”
(Proposition 226) is a direct assault
on the First Amendment rights o f
working people. It is a blatant at
tempt to silence working people and
eliminatethem from the political pro
cess. If passed, this initiative would
require union members to go through
their employers for authorization to
use dues for political purposes.
Campaign Finance Protections
Already Exist
In CWA v. Beck (1988), the Su
preme Court said that workers who
are employed in a union shop do not
have to join the union. As such, work
ers who do not want their money to
be used for political purposes have
the right to request that it not be. This
ruling makes Prop. 226 unnecessary
if its intent is truly to reform cam
paigns.
Similar Initiatives In other States
and Congress
* Michigan and W ashington have
already passed similar bills.
* The results o f the W ashington
bill are particularly disturbing. Be
cause labor’s political contributions
have been slashed by 90%, both
houses in the state legislature and the
G overnor’s mansion are controlled
by Republicans.
* States presently trying to force
through anti-worker measures in
clude NV, AZ, AK, W l, OR, MO,
and GA.
* In Congress, US Senate Bill 8
and House Resolution 2806 are at
tempts to eliminate w orkers’ voices
in federal elections.
B e E q u a l
Black Poverty/White Poverty
B y H ugh B. P rice , P resident ,
N ational U rban L eague
Earlier this month I read a news
paper article about a part o f Ken
tucky where hard-core poverty has
settled over the landscape-and the
people who there-like a shroud.
This is an area where 46% o f the
residents live in poverty and at least
25% liv e b elo w th e federal
g o v e rn m e n t’s b aselin e poverty
marker-a rate almost double the na
tional average; where nearly half the
adults are unemployed, where two-
third receive some kind o f federal
assistance, and where more than hal f
the adults are so bereft o f schooling
that they are functionally illiterate.
This is an area where residents are
i n such despair that a new program to
help them accumulate savings-for
every one dollar individuals put into
their own savings account, the pro
gram will contribute six-has, aston
ishingly, largely been ignored.
The program ’s administrator ex
plained the low participation by say
ing: “They don’t think they have a
future. If they did. they would think
about it and delay instant gratifica
tion. But they have no reason to.
And they can’t. They can only think
about how they are going to feed the
children this week and pay the rent
this month.”
If you think this place is an inner-
city neighborhood, peopled by desti
tute African Americans and Hispanic
Americans, think again.
It’sOwsley County, Kentucky, one
o f the poorest o f the 399 counties in
13 states which make up Appalachia.
This is one o f the places where hard
core white poverty lives.
I thought o f the people in Owsley
County, Kentucky and throughout
Appalachia when I watched, again,
earlier this month, the “ Frontline”
program on PBS. The Two Nations
o f Black America, in which Harvard
Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and
other black scholars and civil rights
figures discussed whether a wide
divide has opened up between the
black middle class and theblack poor.
They concluded that it has, and
that the black middle class must find
a way to narrow it substantially, al
though, it was strongly implied, some
middle-class blacks could care less
about the black poor.
These two news media consider
ations o f poverty and poor people in
America starkly illustrate how, you’ll
pardon the expression, colored our
thoughts, our language, our perspec
tive, and our public discussion are by
our notions o f black and white.
That is to say, how, when it’s
African Americans being talked or
written about, the entire issue is
placed inside a “black frame,” and,
very often, “dis-connected” and iso
lated from being considered part of
the American mainstream.
It’s not accidental that the “Front
line” program ’s title was “The Two
Nations o f Black America”-as if
blacks live in a separate land, where
what they do and think and aspire to
has no relationship to what happens
in American society— while the news
article in The New York Times about
the white poor in Appalachia was
devoid o f any reference to race or
ethnicity, or, for that matter, a “cul
ture o f poverty” at all.
Why is that, particularly when the
Time's wrenching report implicity
illuminated the parallels that exist
between the continued existence o f
desperate poverty among both poor
whites in the depressed, rural areas
o f Appalachia and the black and His
panic poor in depressed urban neigh
borhoods?
No one can honestly examine the
problem o f poverty in Appalachia
and then say that the problem o f
those African Americans who are
desperately poor is a “black prob
lem” that every American but A fri
can Americans need pay no attention
to. This is the old racist posture o f
“separate bu, equal” at its crudest
and most dishonest.
Yes, even in this period when a
robust economy is benefiting mil
lions, there is a continuing signifi
cant problem o f poverty in America
among white, Native Americans,
Asian Americans, Hispanic Ameri
cans, and African Americans. It has
systemic causes. Some o f those
causes have been discussed before in
this column, and were all too briefly
mentioned by the scholars and civil
rights figures on the “Frontline” pro
gram and by the anti-poverty activ
ists interviewed forthe Times article.
We keep missing opportunities to
both categorize things in racial terms
and to discuss issues in ways that
transcend racial and ethnic bound
aries so that there can be a substan
tive conversation across the bound
aries o f race and ethnicity about what
are American problems.
It’s long pas, the time to break the
color barrier that limits an honest
discussion o f A m erica’s public
agenda.