Oct. 7, 1998
(Ehr Fortiani» (Obsrrucr
Editorini Articles Do Not Net essttrily
Reflect Or Represent The Views Of
(Ebe ^Jartlanb (Observer
* J
Attention Readers!
Please takeam inutetosend us your comments. W e’re always try ingtogiveyou
a better paper and we can't do it without your help. Tell us what you like and
what neJds Unprovement... any suggestions are welcomed and appreciated. W e
take criticism well! Get your powerfui pens»•«»J
Editor. Reader Response P.Q. Boi W7, Port l M d . Q B
^ o r tla n b
Columbus Sailed The Ocean Blue, Was
In 1492, II
912Q&
(© b s e ru c r
(U SP S 959-680) E stablished in 1970
Charles Washington
Publisher & Editor
Mark Washington
Distsribution Manager
Gary Ann Taylor
Business Manager
Larry J. Jackson, Sr.
Director o f Operation
Laphael Knight
Graphic Designer
Iesha Williams
Graphic Designer
Contributing Writers:
Professor McKinley 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 .Friday, 5:00 pm
Ads: Monday, 12:00pm
POSTMASTER: Send Address Changes To: Portland Observer,
P.O. Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208.
Periodicals postage paid at Portland, Oregon.
Subscriptions: $30.00 per year
The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manu
scripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned
if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. All created design display
ads become the sole property o f the newspaper and cannot be used in
other publications or personal usage without the written consent of the
general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition of
such ad. © 1996 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITH
B y P rof . M c K inley B urt
We proceed now with a further
inquiry into perhaps the most endur
ing example ofMurphy s Third Law,
that of “unintended consequences."
Certainly, the four voyages o f Chris
topher Columbus to the “New World"
will more than suffice for our pur
pose.
Last week I placed in stark con
trast, the savage behavior ot the Span
ish explorers and their continuous
call to Heaven to “ordain them as an
instrument by means o f which the
high purposes o f Heaven might be
accomplished.” I remember very well
a Native American Student o f mine
saying, “These people always seem
to page God, before they rip off some
OUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED.
The Portland Observer—Oregon’s Oldest Multicultural Publica
tio n - ^ a member o f the National Newspaper Association-Founded in
1885 and The National Advertising Representative Amalgamated
Publishers, Inc, New York, NY, and The West Coast Black Publishers
body.”
to
by H ugh B.
P rice , P resident , N a
tional U rban L eague
$ o r t i a n h (© b a m ie r
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
S ubscriptions
P ortland O bserver ; PO B ox 3137
P ortland , O regon 97208
N am e:____
Address:__
City, State:
Zip-Code: _
T hank Y ou F or R eading T he P ortland O bserver
1
better
~öhe (SJditor
Send your letters to the Editor to:
Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208
Peter Bhatia
Executive Editor
The Oregonian
1320 SW Broadway
Portland, Oregon »7201
D
ear M r. Bhatia:
This letter is written in re
sponse to an article which ap
peared on Wednesday, Septem
ber 23, 1998, on the front page
o f the M etro section. The ar
ticle “ Hundreds W ill Witness
Community Policing” written by
Maxine Bernstein, depicted me,
George A . Sm ith, as a drug
dealer, using my business for a
dope dealing operation.
I am distraught over the ac
cusations this a rticle brings
forth. M s. Bernstein indicates I
was evicted and my business
shut down after Portland Police
built a case implicating my busi
ness as a front for a “ dope deal
ing” operation, and that I mis
lead clients to believe “they
w oald ‘come fu ll circle' w ith a
makeover i f they came in for a
buzz.” For over 28 years, I
have been a hair stylist, provid
ing professional services to cli
ents including, C h ie f o f Police,
Charles Moose, politicians, ath
letes, business folks,public ser
vants (police officers, parole
and probation officers, etc.) as
w e ll as the overall community.
Never has my intent been to do
anything ille g a l or unlaw ful.
», I have on numerous
l, called the police in
an effort to make the commu
nity a safer environment, free
o f drugs and violence. M y only
detriment is believing every
one deserves a second chance.
I hire Aaron Peterson, a con
victed felon, sex offender and
drug dealer, after he reassured
me he had been rehabilitated
and needed someone to believe
in him and give him a second
chance. M r. Peterson was ar
rested in connection to “distrib
uting drugs” from my salon,
however, 1 had no knowledge o f
his selling dope. The “set-up’
referred to by Ms. Bernstein, in
her article, 1 believe is directly
linked to M r. Peterson. To date,
I have been unable to obtain
reports regarding or related to
this case, have I been im p li
cated by M r. Peterson? I be
lieve so. Is there any truth to
me knowingly having drugs sold
from my business? Absolutely,
NOT!
I totally support Community
Policing, however, I do not sup
port being used as a scapegoat
for the Portland Police to shine
and make themselves appear to
be doing so much to abort crime
in our neighborhoods. 1 am re
questing an article be written
and carried w ith equal im por
tance, detailing what actually
took place.
Your immediate response is
requested. Thank you in
vance for your assistan
cooperation.
Sincerely,
George A. Si
transition movement whose esthet
ics and philosophy was a far cry trom
the simplistic “Garden o f Eden vi
sualized by Columbus, and earlier
Americans. "Scientific Environmen
talism” was introduced.
Readers who are in need of more
enlightenment in respect to the con
tradictions within both the environ
mental and urban planning move
ments should read. Interpreting
Environments”, Robert Mugerauer,
University o f Texas Press, 1995.
O f course, one might reflect that
the forever-threatened inner city resi
dents, having marginally survived
the Urban Renewal/Removal cata
clysm, must now face massive new
a ssa u lts upon th e ir rem aining
“Edens” by the advocates of subsi
dized Light Rail. They may find the
title o f that book, "The Geography of
Nowhere to be a painfully accurate
description o f their garden .
“Aided by his wildly erroneous
conception o f the earths circumfer
ence, Columbus redrew the globe,
perhaps encouraging others to re
align the heavens” . Scientific Ameri-
can, Nov. 1992 "Astronomy In the
Age o f Columbus”. (Should have let
the Moorish navigators prevail).
However, it seems quite obvious
that African voyagers had well-mas
tered the knack o f seafaring to the
"New World” - and beyond. And this
was authenticated long before the
late Thor Heyerdahl and his reed-
craft voyages from the west coast of
Africa to the New World and beyond
(Kon Tiki, etc.).
"...and he (Columbus) wanted to
find o u t w h at the Indians o f
Hispaniola had told him, that there
had come from the south and south
east Negro people, who brought those
spear points made o f a metal which
they call guanin, o f which he had sent
to the king and queen for assaying,
and which was found to have in thirty-
two parts, eighteen o f gold, six ot
silver and eight o f copper .
This was the exact same for
mula used by the people o f Ghana
Africa. Q uote is from "A frica and
the discovery o f A m erica", Leo
W einer, H arvard University (circa
1920)
Progressive Policies Do Matter
Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver.
S ubscribe
The "Garden o f Eden” concept
carried right through from Colum
bus and his contemporaries to the
American essays and landscape paint-
ingsofthe 19thCentury. Nature is to
be the scene o f conquest and trans
formation. A new paradise on earth
was to be created; The American
landscape was to be understood ac
cording to the first Genesis account
and the consequent moral mandate
for work developed into the idea ot
progress. Not very many seem both
ered that much o f this “work” was to
be accomplished by chattel slavery.
Representative paintings in this
genre include, “Home in the Woods”,
Thomas Cole, 1847; “Twilight in the
W ild e rn e ss” , F re d e ric k E dw in
Church, 1860; “The Oregon Trail”,
Albert Bierstadt, 1869; “Coming of
the White Man”, Joshua Shaw, 1850.
And in that same article last week,
1 introduced the name o f a patron
Saint o f the en v ironm entalists,
Frederick Law Olmstead. This in
tensely religious landscape architect
(Central Park, Berkeley Campus,
National Parks, led a 19th century
The U.S. Census Bureau’s annual
report on income and poverty re
leased last week indicates the Ameri
can economy’s prolonged period o f
economic good times is beginning to
significantly raise incomes and re
duce poverty among African Ameri
cans and Hispanic Americans.
Indeed, last year, the poverty rate
among blacks fell form 28.4% to
26.5%, a record low, as the number
o f poor blacks dropped by 600,000,
to 9.1 million.
For Hispanics, the census tally of
8.3 million poor represented a drop
in the poverty rate o f more than 2%,
to 27.1%.
These groups’ declines in poverty
were primarily responsible for house
hold income rising and poverty rates
falling for all Americans for a third
consecutive year.
In 1997 13.3% o f Americans,
nearly 36 million people, lived in
poverty, down form 13.7% in 1996,
according to the federal agency. A
family o f four was considered poor it
its annual income was $16,400 or
less; for a family of three, the poverty
threshold was $12,802.
Conversely, household income-
again, driven by improvements in
economic status among blacks and
Hispanics-rose slightly.
which he also vigorously champi
oned.
Those three measures likely had a
great deal to do with the median
income for single-women-headed
households increasing by 4.4% even
as many single mothers left the wel
fare rolls. The gains were largest for
Hispanic and black women.
These statistics mean that there
were a lot more dollars circulating in
the communities where these women
live-enough money for individuals
and families to now buy a used car to
get to that job on the other side o f
town or in the suburbs, or to give the
daycare lady o f the block some
money, which, in turn, she could use
to hire an assistant.
It’s those kind o f “little” conse
quences going on in these neighbor
hoods which can make a significant
difference in the status o f those at the
bottom o f the wage ladder.
Yes, this proves that a strong
economy with low unemployment
(now at 4.5%) and inflation is the
best anti-poverty program one can
devise.
And it undermines that persistent
rac ism myth that poor black and H is-
panic workers either can’t compete
or aren’t interested in competing.
But it also underscores that-be-
cause a rising tide alone doesn’t nec
essarily lift all boats-progressive
The median household income for
all Americans-the number o f house
holds above the median is the same •>
as the number below it-rose 1.9% to
$37,005. That increase was nearly
twice the rate o f inflation and equaled
the historical high-water mark it had
reached in 1989 before the economy
endured a recession.
The median o f black households
grew4.3% last year to $25,050. Since
1993 it’s increased by 15%, or
$3,354, after adjusting for inflation.
For H ispanic-American house
holds the median income rose 4.5%
last year to $26,628; since 1993 it’s
increased by 4.8%.
President Clinton said the good
news proved that his economic-policy
approach has been the right one.
“Our growing economy is giving
more and more families a chance to
work their way out o f poverty. After
six years, it can’t be an accident
anymore.”
The President’s entitled to a little
boasting. He did lobby hard and
successfully for increases in the mini
mum wage, which took effect in 1996
and 1997. Those increases have made
a difference: they protected the earn
ings o f wage earners at the bottom of
the wage ladder by keeping pace
with inflation.
So, too, has the Earned Income
Tax Credit for low-income workers.
■ •
j ___
Am. Progressive
we bo forward
policies
do
matter.
eco
nomic and social policies can make
a rising tide lift all the boats; they
can expand social and economic op
portunity to all o f A m erica’s citi
zens.
We need to keep that in mind as
h we go forward form here tor two
reasons.
Now, more than ever, we must
not relax our efforts to use progres
sive policies to produce more eco
nomic good news. Progressive poli
cies do matter.
lik e a good neighbor,
State Farm is there.®
See your State Farm
Agent:
Michael Harper
4004 SW BarburBlvd.
Phone:221-3050
Auto • Home • Life • Health
State Farm Insurance Companies
Bloomington, Illinois
Home Offices:
Cfutpi^eCftanrs
430 N. Killingsworth Street
Portland, Oregon 97217
503/283/1976
Complete Funeral Package
Starting at $2895
(includes casket)
Complimentary videotapes and books are available on
coping with grief.
Proud to be a member of the world's most experienced family of funeral homes
I