JU L Y 15,1998
Page A4
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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
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Well,
1 have been
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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
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