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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 15, 1998)
JU L Y 15,1998 Page A4 ffljc Fortiani» (©bseruer - ' v — r Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily Reflect Or Represent The Views Of K b •j  T r J y / ■ Wb i-J Wiiîi niiVki Ä*A***^ ~p Attention Readersi Please take a minute to send us your comments. W e’re always trying to give you a better 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. W e take criticism well! Get your powerful pens out N O W and address your letters to: Editor, Reader Response, P.O. Box 3137, Portland. O R 9 7 2 0 8 . (Tljc sportiani» (©bseruer (DSPS 959-680) Established in 1970 C harles W ashington P ublisher & E ditor M ark W ashington D istsribution M anager G ary Ann T aylor B usiness M anager Larry J. Jackson, Sr. D irector o f Operation Tony W ashington A ssistan t E ditor Iesha W illiams G raphic Design C ontributing Writers: P rofessor M cKinley Burt, Lee Perlman, N eil H eilpem Joy Ramos 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, Oregon 97211 503-288-0033 • Fax 503-288-0015 Email: Pdxobserv@aol.com Deadline fo r all submitted materials: Articles.Friday, 5 :0 0 pm (Ehe ^ o r tl a n h (Oliserttfr -•*41 Ads: Monday, 12 :00pm POSTMASTER: Send Address Changes To: Portland Observer, P.O. Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208. P eriodicals p ostage p a id a t Portland, Oregon. Subscriptions: $60.00 p e r y e a r T he Portland O bserver w elcom es freelance subm issions. M anu scripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accom panied by a se lf addressed envelope. All created design display ads becom e the sole property o f the new spaper and cannot be used in other publications or personal usage w ithout the w ritten consent o f the general m anager, unless the client has purchased the com position o f such ad. © 1996 TH E PO R T LA N D O BSERV ER. ALL RIGHTS R E SE R V E D , R E PR O D U C T IO N IN W H O LE OR IN PART W ITH O U T PER M ISSIO N IS PRO HIBITED . T he Portland O bserver--O regon’s O ldest Multicultural Publica- tio n - is a m em ber o f the N ational N ew spaper A ssociation-F ounded in 1885, and T he N ational A dvertising R epresentative A m algam ated Publishers, Inc, N ew Y ork, NY, and T he W est Coast Black Publishers A ssociation • Serving Portland and V ancouver. SU B SC R IB E TO (Elje Fortiani» (lObserucr The Portland Observer can be sent directly to your home for only $60.00 per year. Please fill out, enclose check or money order, and mail to: S ubscriptions T he P ortland O bserver ; PO Box 3137 P ortland , O regon 97208 N am e :__________________________________________________________ A ddress:________________________________________________________ C ity, S ta te :______________________________________________________ Zip-Code: T hank Y ou F or R eading T he P ortland O bserver e E 's p e c t i v e Webster’s First Dictionary Featured ‘Eurobonics;’ "Ebonics for White Folks 111," Conclusion by P rof . M c K inley B urt The responses o f readers to this series on ‘Gram m ar W ars, Past and Present” have run a lull spectrum; from surprise; “knew-it-all-the-time,” to outrage or that irrepressible Am eri can hum or w hich sustains our citizens under the most trying o f circumstances. Beginning with the latter reaction, I had a caller insist that either Eurobonics or Ebonics would have served as well or better than the N avajo Indian lan guage used in W orld W ar 11. O ver 400 N av ajo “ code ta lk ers" used this “Athupaskan tongue with its com plex syntax and subtle tonal qualities to encode the dispatches o f A merican troops in the South Pacific.” Japanese cryptographers w ere un able to decipher the critical messages passed between the marines storming the shores ofthe Pacific Islands: “ginif ’ (hawk) for dive bomber, “nimasii” (potato) for hand grenade. The caller, a Native American, said he was con sidering an SB A loan to develop “code- breaking kits” for sale to industry that would be hiring both white and black victims o f the “Eurobonics.” eil,n now ow u that iailliavcu vvn iiiau v<u Well, 1 have been made an i honorary m em berofthe“NavahoCode Talkers Association,” allow m e to re late some other advises and concerns o f readers and callers. I heard from parents, teacher, students and from the public at large, including irate taxpay ers. Several com mented on a ‘Portland Oregonian’ article o f July7, “Oregon Schools Should Teach Citizenship.” It w as contributed by R obert Y. Thornton, retired judge and former attorney general ofOregon. O necould anticipate the response from that great majority who feel that teaching staffs first should “get up to speed on read ing, writing, and arithmetic, and espe cially grammar." There was much commentary on an educational system decrying the lack o f adequate funds for music, dance or driver education, being asked to “give instruction in honesty, morality, cour tesy. obedience to law .. .respect o f par ents and the home and related subjects as required by Oregon Law (ORS 336.067,1929).” It w a s‘like,’“can he be serious?” As usual, industry was com plain ing that, are not o getting any w».., “things --------- ------- o ---. . .... e. • • n il better with this crop o f new hires.” My former PSU students, now in m anage ment, tell m e that my anticipation o f second generation “ functional illit eracy” problem s has cam e to pass. “A nd we are crucified by some m em bers o f congress when w e ask for more visas to ‘im port’ skilled technicians, the people showing up at our door do not have sufficient language skills for training.” Clearly, w e are able to see w hat will happen in the case o f any economic downturn, for the problem is said to exist am ong m any o f the non-techni- cal new hires. A nd holds true for both white and black. O ur education sys tem has produced new dem ographics for that, “Last hired, first fired” slot. N oah W ebster, the great ‘dictio nary-m aker’ also “had a dream ;” a completely literate America, with such a goal to have been met well over century ago. But we have the follow ing from the wife o f one o f those ‘chip- land’ executives, a dedicated public school teacher these past 25 years. “I hope that I’m w rong buy my greatest fear is that the m ost highly publicized (and vigorously marketed) _«____ o f the electronic revolution elements will provide the ultimate escape hatch for a failed education system.” O ur conversation ranged from en thusiastic press releases com pletely at odds with media reports o f the same day-and those reports in conflict with others in the same newspaper on the same day. “Parents ask me, ‘are read ing scores up or down-the same with math or whatever. Answers phrased in ‘psychom etrics’ do not satisfy many parents who know that their child does not read nearly as well as they did at that same age.” T h e te a c h e r u n io n s -” asso cia - tio n s’ in th eir p u ru len ce-are not n early adept as they once w ere at reassuring either the public or m any m em bers that their m ain objectives have to do w ith ‘ed u catio n stan d a rd s.’ Publications loaded w ith icons o f cyberspace like com puters u p -y o u r-g izo m o , and “ cute little colored kids sitting at term inals m ay be good grant bait-but w hat about those scores? W hat are they being tau g h t?,” a parent asks, her child asks, “ H ow can I look it up i f I c a n ’t spell it?’ C a r M a k e r s P u t O n N o t ic e Rev. Jackson announced that five a u to m o b ile m a n u fa c tu r e rs - M e rc e d e s, H onda, L e x u s, Volksw agon, and V olvo - w ould be targeted for action because o f their practices o f excluding m inorities from business relationships. Tw o weeks ago, the N ational A s sociation o f M inority A uto Dealers (N A M A D ) held its annual conven tion in Houston. C om ing out o f the meeting, we found that, despite the fact that African A m ericans alone spend more than $22 billion every year on new and used cars and trucks, m inorities are spectators in the auto industry rather than players. At the press conference announc ing R ainbow /PU SH ’s intentions to m onitorthe autom otive industry and take action if necessary. Rev. Jack- son said, “ M any o f these car makers, including but no lim ited to the five we are nam ing, are boycotting us. They are w illing to take our money and deal with African A m ericans and other m inorities as consum ers, but com e boycott partners. W e w ould /M /W fl<W P U $H C O A L IT IO N they refuse to engage us as reciprocal trading partners - dealers, suppliers, attorneys, m oney m anagers.” Rev. Jackson w ent on to say, “ E i ther they will drop their boycott o f us and becom e trading partners, or we will stop buying their cars and be- rather be trading partners, but w e are w illing to be boycott partners.” Evidence o f E xclusion - G eogra phy In N ew Y ork C ity, there is not a single car dealership north o t Central Park. A nd yet, A frican A m ericans in N ew Y ork City spent $1.3 billion on cars and trucks in 1996 alone. In W ashington, D C. there is not one m inority-ow ned automobi le deal ership. And yet A frican A m ericans spend alm ost $300 m illion on new and used cars and trucks every year. If, by A ugust 15 (during Rain b o w /P U S H ’s annual convention), these five corporations have not d e veloped com prehensive plans to in clude A frican Am ericans and other people o f color in the industry as reciprocal trading partn ers. Rev. Jackson will announce the organiza tion o f a nationw ide boycott o f the offending car makers. Civil Rights Journal Preventing Hate Crimes B y B ernice P owell J ackson W ith th e h o rrib le m u rd er o f Ja m es B yrd, Jr. last m onth in J a s per, T X , th e n a tio n ’s attention w as tu rn ed fo r the m om ent to th e sim p le fact that A m erican s are still being attacked and even killed b ec au se o f the co lo r o f th e ir skin o r th e ir sexual o rien tatio n . L ess than tw o y ears b efo re the m illen nium , h ate crim es are still a part o f life fo r th is nation. Senators K ennedy, S pecter and W yden have intro d u ced federal legislation w hich w ill expand fed eral ju risd ic tio n to reach all se ri ous hate crim es and provide grants to sta te and local au th o rities to help p rev en t h ate crim es, e sp e c ially by ju v e n ile s. N ow the S en ate Ju d iciary C o m m ittee is h o ld ing hearin g s on th is b ill, w ith th e h o p e th a t sim ila r h earin g s w ill be held in th e H ouse o f R e p re se n ta tiv es and that a hate C rim es P re v en tio n A ct w ill be passed th is year. “ H ate crim es a re a form o f te r ro ris m ,” sa id S e n a to r E dw ard K ennedy, ad d in g “T h ey te ar at the h ea rt and soul o f o u r c o u n try... T hey threaten the entire com m u n ity and u n d erm in e th e id eals on w hich the nation w as founded.” W ad e H en d e rso n , E xecu tiv e D irec to r o f th e L ead ersh ip C o n feren ce on C ivil R ig h ts,” noted th a t th e d ism em b e rin g o f Jam es B yrd, Jr., after b ein g ch a in e d to th e back o f a p ic k u p tru ck and d ra g g e d alo n g a d irt road, and tw o sim ila r c o p y -c a t crim es in B e lle v ille , II an d S lid ell, LA are b u t th e latest in a lo n g series o f v iolent crim es against people ju st because o f th eir race, national o ri gin, eth n icity , gender, disab ility or sexual o rien tatio n . Indeed, it is e s tim ated th at th ere are som e 10,000 such crim es com m itted every year. T he H ate C rim es P revention A ct o f 1998 is d esigned to clo se som e loopho les ea rlier federal leg isla tion left w hich have tied the hands o f federal p ro secu to rs in the past. U nder cu rren t law s, a federal p ro s ecu to r m ust prove that the d efe n dant acted becau se o f the v ic tim ’s race, co lo r, religion o r national o ri gin and becau se the victim w as e x ercisin g a federally p ro tected right. T here h av e been m any h einous acts o f racial and relig io u s v io len ce that the D ep artm en t o f Ju stice has been unable to o r unsu ccessfu l in p ro s ecu tin g becau se o f th e restrictio n s in the law. U nd er the new p ro v isio n s, for instance, th e federal g overnm ent w ould be able to get in volved in hate crim es com m itted by organized hate groups w ho have sophisticated interstate netw orks, m aking it m ore d ifficu lt for local and state law en forcem ent to p ro secu te. In ad d i tion, it w ould close gaps cau sed by the fact that o nly 18 states have law s crim in alizin g v io len ce based on sexual o rien tatio n and that 12 states have no hate crim es law s at all. S everal states, in clu d in g O hio and N ew Jersey, h av e had their state hate crim es law s struck dow n on co n stitu tio n al gro u n d s. States w ill co n tin u e to tak e the lead in in v estig atin g and p ro secu tin g hate crim es u n d er this new leg islatio n , but the federal governm ent w ill also s be able to punish th ese crim es. T h e h o rrib le d eath o f Jam es Byrd, Jr. o ffen d ed and shocked m any A m erican s. B ut m any w ere shocked and o ffen d ed by the p o lice b ru tality in th e case o f A bner L ouim a in N ew Y ork C ity last year. But, in the afterm ath o f th e public o u tcry , o n ce the television cam eras w ent aw ay, in term s o f system ic, lo n g -ran g in g changes in the N ew Y ork C ity p o lice d ep a rt m ent and its h an d lin g o f police b ru tality , little o r n o th in g w as done. W e ca n n o t e n te r a new cen tu ry w ith th o u sa n d s o f h ate crim es o c c u rrin g e v e ry y ea r. T h e H ate C rim es P re v en tio n A ct is b ut one step in w h at w e as a n atio n m ust do to sto p th e k illin g s. B ut it is a step — le t’s ta k e it an d th en look serio u sly at how w e can stop these crim es on o u r o w n stre e ts, in o u r ow n co m m u n ities. B ecau se J a s p er, TX is not u n lik e y o u r tow n o r m ine. B ecau se th e d eath o f Ja m es B y rd , Jr. and th e th o u sa n d s o f A m eric an s w h o w ere v ic tim s o f h ate crim es and have d ied b e fo re him m u st n ot be in vain . B ecau se w e m u st liv e up to th e id eals o f freed o m w e say w e still b eliev e. (N o te: Y o u can c o n ta c t y o u r S e n a to r a b o u t th e H ate C rim e s P r e v e n tio n A c t, S. 1 5 2 9 at U n ite d S ta te s S e n a te , W a s h in g to n , D C 2 0 5 1 0 . Y o u can c o n ta c t y o u r C o n g re s s p e rs o n a b o u t th e H ate C rim e P re v e n tio n A ct, H. 3081 at U n ite d S ta te s H o u se o f R e p re s e n ta tiv e s , W a s h in g to n , D C 2 0 5 1 5 .) Just think, to u r son is b rig h t, h e a lth y a n d h e a d e d fo r college one day to u love the direction your career has taken. You're doing a tot of the things you planned and even a few you didn't. Living life to the fullest is easy when you have family behind you. American Family Insurance. Call and talk to one o f our helpful friendly agents. You'll find out w h y we're consistently rated A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best, the insurance rating authority Then, go on. Dream. Plan. What you do next is up to you and we'll be here to help you. u have family behind you. All Your Protection Under One Roof. American Family Mutual Insurance Company and Subsidiaries. Madison, Wisconsin 53783-0001 wwwamtam.com » * 1 ô I S '
