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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 12, 1998)
AUGUST 12, 1998 Page A4 (The Jînrtlani» ODbseruer Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily Reflect Or Represent The Views Of ijjjortlattii (fftiscruer s — p e r s p 6 - - C . (SJditor AWhat Could Be More Interesting Than "A History Of Redding?” 7 z- better J c i SENd youR I eiiers to the Edito» to: Edito»- PO Bo* J 1 >7, PoRtlAisd, OR 97208 V ___ by ----------¿ ¡£lte Jarliani» (©bseruer (USPS 959-680) Established in 1970 Charles W ashington Mark Washington Publisher & Editor Distsribution Manager Gary Ann Taylor Larry J. Jackson, Sr. Business .Manager Director o f Operation Iesha W illiams Laphael Knight Graphic Design Graphic Design Contributing Writers: Professor M cK inley Burt, Lee Perlman, 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.Fridav, 5:00 pm Ads: Monday, 12:00pm POSTMASTER: Send Address Changes To: Portland Observer, P.O. Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208. Periodicals postage p a id at Portland, Oregon. Subscriptions: $60.00 p e r ye a r T he Portland O bserver w elcom es freelance submissions. 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 written consent o f the general manager, unless the client has purchased the com position o f such ad. © 1996 TH E PORTLA N D OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS RESERV ED, R EPRO D U C TIO N IN W HOLE OR IN PART W ITH O U T PERM ISSIO N IS PROHIBITED. The Portland O b serv er-O re g o n ’s O ldest Multicultural Publica- tio n -is a m em ber o f the National N ew spaper A ssociation-F ounded in 1885, and T he National Advertising Representative A m algamated Publishers, Inc, New Y ork, NY, and The W est Coast Black Publishers A nd how is it, you may ask, that a “history” may effortlessly involve the past, present and future? W e do not usually see these states o f tim e as coexistent-doesn’t tim e flow like a river? Oh, but w hen you im m erse your self in the intriguing w ork o f the w riters art, “A History o f Reading” by Alberto M anguel, it will all b e com e understandable-also rew ard ing for years to com e (Viking, 1996- paper or cloth). It is a different perspective en tirely that M anguel brings to the ‘a rt’ o f reading, and reading ‘is’ an art; som ething the author m akes clear, both directly and indirectly. More than that he sets new param eters for either pure enjoym ent or for extract ing som e ulitarian relevancy. A nd w e are distracted for pre cious m om ents by our exasperation w ith an educational system w hose gross failures shall have deprived m illions o f sufficient literacy to en jo y ‘an y ’ book-let alone, a ‘good’ book. Again, our Dr. Silber: “A telling indictment o f A m erican edu cation.” . But let us m ove on to the revealing a n g g u u el’s é is beautiful Deautiiui passages o f M an w ork. I f you number am ong those o f us w ho have belatedly discovered ju st how fortunate those o f us who have belatedly discovered just how fortunate w e are to be literate in this com munications citadel o f the world, you will smile and savor many a nuance. W hile at one o f several underly ing them es, com monly term ed “clas sic” by literary cirtics-E gyptian, G reek, Rom an, C hristian, Pagan, novelist, playw right-our author will tease our memory (or conscience) with a personal anecdote. At the age o f sixteen, he had an after school job at a book store and a life-long love affair began at once. As it has happened to many in this situation, he was soon to begin tak ing unfinished books hom e to read, intending to return them. O f course, that never happened and Manguel goes on to quote black author Ja m aica Kincaid confessing to a sim i lar escapade at her childhood library, “it w as ju st that once I read a book I couldn’t bear to part with it,” I know the feeling. N here, ■ I have an opportunity rw ow w «civ, ------ j to illustrate in an uncom m only clear manner, how it is that without the prior years o f specialized training devoted to the researcher’s craft, I was able to present so m any new and docum ented revelations in my very first book. I always answ ered inquir ies, “ I read alot.” M any readers are fam iliar with my research and writings on the famed “A lexander D um as,” France’s black poet and novelist extraordinare; “The Count o f M onte Cristo, The Three M usketeers, The M an In The Iron M ask,” over 67 plays, 92 novels, plus histories and travelogs. A nd certainly, neither I nor the readers would expect the selection o f a book like “The History o f Read ing” for som e basic research on A lexander D um as; now then there are dozens o f titles with a direct reference to or that have a firm infer ence relating to the subject matter. But as I say, “I read alot,” so low and behold! In the 1870’s the U.S. Supported Cubans fleeing a revolution, these immigrants making Key West Florida the ‘Havana C igar' m aking capital o f r th» the ivnrlH world. T h e v hro uo ht rea They brought reading habits. “The w orkers who im m igrated to the United States took w ith them, am ong other th in g s,, the institution o the lector: an illustration in the Ameri can Practical M agazine o f 1873 show s one such lector, w earing glasses and a large brim m ed hat, sitting with legs crossed and a book in his hands w hile a row o f w orkers ( a ll m a le ) in w a is tc o a ts an d shirtsleeves go about their cigar roll ing with w hat appears to be rapt attention.” “T he m aterial for these readings, ag reed upon in ad v an ce by the w orkers (w ho, as in the days o f El Figaro, paid th e lector out o f th eir ow n earnings), ranged from p o liti cal tracts and histories to novels and collectio n s o f poetry both m od ern and classical, they had th eir favorites: A lexandre D u m as’s T he C ount o f M onte Cristo, for instance, becam e such a popular ch oice that a group o f w orkers w rote to the au th o r shortly before his d eath in 1870, asking him to lend the nam e o f his hero to one o f th eir cigars. D um as co n sen ted .” Next week w e will get into the real beauty and depth o f this book. C ornerstones of E quality B y H ugh B. P rk e P resident N ational U rban L eague As we stand at the cusp of the 21st Century, America must pay heed to the clarion call tolling across the land. The call issounding i s ^ A g l from t a m many a . y quarters: ^ i r s n It’stimeto m e«, and from our institutions and to commit ourselves to achieving a true equality of opportunity in America We at the National Urban League have sounded that clanon call ourselves at our annual conference this week in Philadel ^ o rtla n b (©baeruer The Portland Observer can be sent directly to your home for only $30.00 per year. Please fill out, enclose check or money order, and mail to: T he __ P rof . M c K inley B ir t A ssociation • Serving Portland and Vancouver. SUBSCRIBE TO 7 S ubscriptions P ortland O bserver ; PO B ox 3137 P ortland , O regon 9 7208 phia. True, that call to arms has often been couched in terms o f achieving greater eco nomic opportunity and economic power. The new world order of today- popularly known as globalizahon-demands that we all be extremely sensitive to the economic N a m e :_____________________ ______________________________ —----- A dd ress:__ City, State: Zip-Code: . . fundamentally the same clarion sounded 88yeaisagobythefbundingoftheNational Urban League itself (and of our sister organization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). It is . . . . . . « « a call for jobs and freedom. Those were the words on the placards carried at the March on Washington in 1963-inthat era when thegainingofftinda- mental civil rights necessarily had to take precedence. Times have changed considerably, and the opportunities for people of color have expanded, it must be acknowledged, enor- • mously. But one can still sense that slogan s imprint if you will, underneath the words on the “placaids”-their business cards- many AlricanAmericanscanytoday.Black A o are w c still t d l r pursuingtheirhistoncal u ir c i Americans dual agenda of jobs and freedom. to honorthe spirit and letter of theConsbtu- tnhnnnrthp «iirit and lette tionbywelcomingAfricanAmericans,and other people ofcolor, as lull-fledged mem- bersofthe American famtly.Noexceptions and no excuses. No discrimination and no more procrastination. It’s high time we relegate racism to a sorry chapter in the American institutions, including the busi nesses, universities, and federal agencies that have come to our conference, of the society-widebenefitsofequal opportunity shouldn’t blind us to the work still to be I to if ™ h ™ the America can do that we honor guarantee in the Bill of Rights of equality andjustice for all, ifwepledgeallegianceto the cornerstones of equality. Those cornerstones are com pas sion, o p p o rtunity, and econom ic done. It’s time, once and for all, for the nation power. winds of change. Nonetheless, the call we make now is T hank Y ou F or R eading T he P ortland O bserver D an g ers In The P riso n In d u stria l Complex B y B ernice P owell J ackson O ne o f the fastest grow ing indus tries in the United States is the prison industry. As states and the federal governm ent rush to build prisons, as local com m unities vie to have them located w here their low-skilled and unem ployed residents can get jobs and as politicians use crim e as a scare tactic to get elected, w hat used to be a governm ent-operated small business has now becom e an industrial giant. At least one private com pany w hich operates prisons is traded on the stock m arket and more and m ore states are looking at priva tizing their prison systems, in an attem pt to keep costs to a m inim um . But in O hio, w here I live, at least one prison is proving that the rush to privatize the prison industry is prem ature at best and dangerous at worst. In the year or so since the Corrections Corporati on o f Amen ca w as given the contract to manage the new prison in Y oungstow n, two inm ates have been killed, at least 13 have been victim s o f stabbings and now six have escaped. T he Y oung stow n prison, the N ortheast O hio C orrectional C enter, is supposedly classified as a m edium security prison, but four o f those w ho es caped w ere convicted o f m urder and tw o o f arm ed robbery. Clearly, som ething is w rong in Y oungstow n. Part o f the problem seem s to be that in the prison industrial com plex m entality, prisoners are com m odities or profit centers and are traded betw een states. So, in this case, D istrict o f C olum bia prison ers w ere sent to O hio since D.C. prisons are overcrow ded. T he O hio prison then m ade m oney from these nation and that free m arket should prevail, the free market should pre vail over m orals and ethics - the m orality and ethics o f prisoners be ing sent out o f state long distances from their families, m aking visits nearly impossible. The free m arket should prevail over our concerns that the m ajority o f people incar cerated in this nation are people o f color. The free market should pre vail over questions o f hum ane treat ment by private prison officials who m ust only w atch the bottom line, cutting costs in som etim es ques tionable ways. T he free m arket should prevail and force local com m unities to choose between prisons w hich provide jobs and unem ploy m ent for their low -skilled and un em ployed citizens. The prison industrial complex concept is a dangerous one to a free and dem ocratic society. W e do need prisons in this country, but w e do not need private ones. W e do need prisons in this country, but w e need a fair and ju st crim inal justice sys tem which offers alternatives to sen tencing and drug and alcohol treat m ent program s and w hich provides recreational and educational pro gram s for young people who need help navigating difficult waters. We do need prisons in this country, but w e do not need politicians w ho use crim e to scare voters. W e do need prisons in this coun try, but w e do not need politicians w ho use crim e to scare boters. We do need prisons in this country but we need to bring back the concept o f rehabilitation w hich we have abandoned for the sake o f punish out-of state prisoners. But it seems that either the D.C. officials or the Northeast O hio Correctional Center m is-classified these prisoners, inten tionally or not. After early indications o f prob lems m ade O hio legislators leery, they began to look more closely at the Y oungstow n prison. But when a delegation led by O hio legislators m ade an unscheduled visit to the prison a few m onths ago, they were not allowed in. The com pany pleaded ignorance, saying they had not real ized who the visitors w ere and prom ising to be open to future legislative visitors. Now the state is looking into closing the prison or at least turning it over to the state prison system. O ne could get caught up in the trees o f the N ortheast O hio C orrec tional C enter case and not see the forest. T he forest in this case is the concept o f the prison industrial com plex. A concept w here prisoners - human beings - are profit m akers. A concept which in some prisons means that prisoners w ork for cents an hour for private em ployers, m aking cloth ing, furniture and other com m odi ties. A concept w here the future o f hundreds o f thousands o f young people is planned for incareration rather than education since w e as a society are choosing to spend our tax dollars on building and running pris ons rather than educating young people and proventing their initia tion into-crime. A choice w e have m ade in spite o f the fact that it is m uch cheaper to educate than to in carcerate. The underlying concept o f the prison industrial com plex is that pris ons are a growth industry in this ment. < Just think: Your 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 You love the direction your career has taken. You're doing a lot 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 of 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. 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