J A N . 6, 1999 Page A 4 1 áRfet ' 1 Stye JIorHanfc (Obseruer Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily k 1 Reflect Or Represent The Views Of X S 'l a i J y f -lk w l . J w 9 l S ' $ n s p e c t i V 6 & Showing My Race: Politically Incorrect Essays On Identity Attention Readers! Please lake a minute to send us your comments. We're always trying to give you a better paper and we can t do it without your help. TeU us what you tike and what needs improvement.- any suggestions are welcomed and appreciated. We take criticism well! Get your powerful pens out NOW and address your letters to: Header Respon se. P.O. Bax 3137. Portland. OR 9'2 - SUBSCRIBE TO W ^ n r f i a n b © b s e ru e r The Portland Observer can be sent directly to your home for only $30.00 per year. Please fill out, enclose chock or money order, and mail to: S ubscriptions P ortland , O regon PO B ox 3137 97208 7 > I l • • * «« h in .If P l« >1 1 s s l )|< Ml K IM 111 H I 1 \ The title to this series is a paraphrase of the title to a great book by African America’s top essayist; “ Showing My Color: Impolite Essays On Race And Identity”, Clarence Page, nation­ ally syndicated newspaper col­ umnist (Harper Collins, 1996). Some members o f ‘our’ com­ munity are waiting to examine the format of the “ Y ear 2000 Cen­ sus” questionnaire before they decide on their ethnicity. There is a definite madness-in-their- method. Like a number of us, they feel that the 1990 Census missed whole segments of population, largely members o f m inority groups, there by throwing off de­ cisions by government and busi­ ness on everything from health care to advertising. Further, there has been some ill ease among minorities (par­ ticularly blacks) since the cat­ egories of ancestry on Civil Ser­ vice exams began to reflect the cultural discontent of several non-white groups with strong lob­ bies in W ashington (circa 1970s). It was quite natural for blacks to suppose that, if these others were seeking ‘genetic space’ by label, “they may know something we don’t.” It would be extremely unfor­ tunate if Right Wing extremists and other parties in support of discrimination and racism should find the minority house divided - with some even buying that “color blind” scam. And an even worse case would be not to support the administrations statistical ap­ proach to the Year 2000 Census. This sampling approach pro­ poses to count 90 percent of the house holds in each census tract and then use mathematics to de­ termine the number of people in the tract who had not been physi­ cally counted. The Census Bu­ reau estimates it ‘under-counted’ the 1990 population by 1.8 per- Letter to the Editor: Hypertension or high blood pressure is one of the leading causes of heart disease in the United States. However, this com­ mon and potentially life threaten­ ing disease that affects twenty- five percent of the American Adult population, is still not well con­ trolled. Among those at highest risk of hypertension are African Ameri­ cans who have an 80 percent higher stroke mortality rate, a 50 percent higher heart disease mortality rate and a 320 percent greater rate of hypertension related end-stage re­ nal disease than seen in the gen­ eral population. Despite their greater hypertension risk, African Americans often have less access to health-care resources and are usually not well represented in clinical trials. To this end the International So­ ciety on Hypertension in Blacks (IHSIB) with support from Bayer Corporation, Pharmaceutical Di­ vision has conducted a hyperten­ sion study in African Americans that compares the effectiveness and safety of three commonly used cent and, Hugh B. Price, Presi­ dent-N ational Urban League, notes that the ‘overcounted’ were 4.4 million college students and affluent whites who owned more than one home. The greatest fear of the Right Wing, “color blind” contingent - embroiled in a nation-wide fight against Affirmative Action - is that the Year 2000 Census will pick up those 8.4 million people who were missed in 1990. Most o f these were African Americans in inner cities and Hispanic Americans in California, Texas and New Mexico. The Republi­ can Party and camp followers shake in their boots at the pros­ pects of such a move - “helping Democrats and shifting money and political clout away from wealthier, mostly white districts. 1 was delighted by the reader’s response to my December ar­ ticles highlighting black engi­ neers and inventors who contrib­ uted so much to the safety and comfort of mankind. Several re­ marked, “I thought you had said it all last year during Black History Month - the engine controls for Howard Hughe’s Spruce Goose (our own Don Rutherford, P.E. from Benson High and the Uni­ versity of Oregon).” And there were those who mailed and faxed copies all over the United States - including the story of David Crosthwaite whose thermodynamics, plumbing and air conditioning made skyscrapers possible (I’ve heard from MIT, Cal Tech, Purdue and the Smithsonian on these - among others). Strangely, no one has advo­ cated a “color blind” approach to the dissemination of this infor­ mation about the “black” contri­ butions to the world’s technol­ ogy. All seem in concert with me that it was the 300 year omission of color that did indeed rob gen­ erations of motivation and role models. And, additionally, it was the whites as well as blacks who emphasized that the attitudes and prejudice of the white race was structured by omission of intel­ lectual accomplishments - even during the time of slavery - more on this next week! anti-hypertension drugs. Calcium Antagonists in Blacks (CAB) showed that once-daily calcium channel antagonists Adalat CC (nifedipine CC), Procardia XL (Nifedipine XL) and Norvasc (amlodipine) provide comparable 24-hour blood pressure control and can be used safely for the treat­ ment of hypertension in African Americans. These results are now published in the Archives of Internal Medi­ cine. Details of the study results are enclosed. In addition, Dallas Hall, MD, MACP, principal inves­ tigator of CAB and co-founder of ISH1B and Keith Ferdinand, MD, CAB investigators are available for interview. I f you would like further infor­ mation, or to schedule an inter­ view, please call one of the fol­ lowing people; Pamela Bourne (212) 229-8449, Anne Dubois (770) 516-7717 or Jucinda Fenn- Hodson (203) 812-2160 Thank you. T hank Y ou F or R eaping gy»fomRaxAM A Call to Reason Responsibility, and Action 44 S t a t e m e n t to R e v . J e s s e J a c k s o n - “ T h e A m e r ic a n p e o p le w i l l b e s h o c k e d to le a r n th a t th is la m e - d u c k C o n ­ g r e s s , a lo n g p a r t y l i n e s , i n ­ te n d s to im p e a c h th e P r e s i ­ d e n t A f te r c o n tin u o u s p o llin g t h i s f a l l , th e p e o p le c o n t i n ­ u e d to a p p e a l to th e n a tio n a l le a d e rs h ip fo r p r o p o r tio n a l­ ity a n d b a l a n c e d j u d g e m e n t b e t w e e n th e e r r o r o f t h e P r e s i d e n t ’s a c t o f p r i v a t e i n ­ d is c r e tio n a n d th e n a tio n a l i n ­ t e r e s t o r th e p e o p l e ’s a g e n d a . N o v . 3 rd, th e p e o p l e s p o k e . T he a ct o f in d is c re tio n w as n o t a n i m p e a c h a b le o f f e n s e . I t w a s n o t a h ig h c r im e . It w a s n o t tr e a s o n . It d id n o t v i o l a t e a n d r e s p o n s i b i l i t y fro m C o n ­ g re ss. T h e 81 q u e s tio n s J u d ic ia r y C h a ir m a n H e n r y H y d e s e n t to th e P r e s i d e n t s e e m e d to b e a m o v e to w a rd a m ic a b ly r e s o lv ­ in g th is m a tte r . H o w e v e r , it b e c a m e a T r o ja n H o r s e th a t r e o p e n e d th e w o u n d a n d th e h u r t a n d th e n a t i o n a l d i v e r ­ s io n fro m is s u e s o f g r e a t s u b ­ s t a n c e t h a t m a t t e r to o u r p e o p le . T h e J u d ic ia r y C o m m i t t e e ’s d e te r m in a tio n w a s to c o n d u c t a f u l l - s c a l e h e a r in g . A s s u c h , it s h o u ld h a v e b e e n le a s t a s f a ir as th e W a te r g a te h e a r in g s - f u ll d e b a te w i t h o u t l i m i t s . I n s te a d , c o n t r o l l e r s h a v e l i m ­ ite d d e b a te a n d l i m i t e d w i t ­ n e s s e s to a r t i f i c i a l l y s h a p e th e p o lic y a n d p r o c e s s . T h e y a r e t r y i n g to r a i l r o a d i m p e a c h m e n t t h r o u g h th e G in g r ic h la m e -d u c k C o n g re s s b e c a u s e th e y k n o w w e , th e p e o p le , h a v e s e n t n e w le a d e r ­ s h ip to th e n e x t C o n g r e s s to p u t th e n a tio n b a c k on c o u rs e . W e s e e a n g e r , p o s tu r in g a n d o b s e s s io n b y C o n g re ssm e n T o m D e L a y (R -T X ), B o b B a rr ( R - G A ) , a n d C h a r le s C a n a d y ( R - F L ) . T h e p r e s e n t la m e - d u c k l e a d e r s h ip s e e m s n o t to g e t it o r to c a r e . T h e p e o p le s e n t n e w le a d e r s to th e C o n ­ g r e s s to s e n d a m e s s a g e - D o n o t im p e a c h th e P r e s id e n t. I f C o n g r e s s w ill p u t th is m a tte r in p e r s p e c tiv e , th e n th e y w ill d e a l w ith is s u e s f a c ­ in g A p p a la c h ia . Is s u e s f a c in g u r b a n a n d r u r a l A m e r ic a . I s ­ s u e s o f p a in a n d o p p o r tu n ity in a p e r io d o f s u c h p r o s p e r ity f o r so m e . F o c u s on I s s u e s th a t a f f e c t u s w h e r e w e liv e . 1500 A m e r ic a n s d y in g fro m c a n c e r e v e r y d a y . A c o a l m in e r d ie s fro m b la c k lu n g d is e a s e e v e r y s ix h o u r s . M illio n s o f c h i l ­ d r e n a r e g o in g to a s b e s t o s ­ la d e n s c h o o ls . T h e re a re th o s e w h o w a n t to r is k S o c ia l S e c u ­ rity b y p riv a tiz a tio n an d s u b ­ j e c t it to f l u c t u a t i n g m a r k e t f o r c e s . T h is is a g lo r io u s an d y e t a c r i t i c a l m o m e n t in o u r h is to r y . S p e a k e r-d e s ig n a te B ob L iv i n g s t o n ( R - L A ) is ta lk in g t o o l i t t l e I n c o n t r a s t to S p e a k e r G in g ric h (R -G A ) w h o t a l k e d t o o m u c h . In t h a t v a c u u m , e x tr e m is t f o r c e s a re m o v in g u s to n a tio n a l d is a s - 99 te r . R e p . M ic h a e l P a p p a s (R - N J ) , R e p . R ic k W h ite (R - W A ), S e n . A1 D ’A m a to (R - N Y ), an d S e n . L a u c h F a ir c lo th ( R - N C ) a ll lo s t t h e i r r e e l e c ­ tio n b id s in N o v e m b e r p r e ­ c is e ly b e c a u s e o f th e o b s e s ­ s io n w ith tr y in g to p o li t i c a l l y d e s tr o y th e P r e s id e n t a n d s a c ­ r i f i c i n g th e is s u e s th a t a f f e c t A m e r ic a n s e v e r y d a y . I f y o u n e e d a n y p r o o f th a t th e im p e a c h m e n t d e b a te is p a r tis a n , lo o k a t th e G in g r ic h p r e c e d e n t. S p e a k e r G in g r ic h lie d to th e S p e c ia l C o u n s e l I n v e s t i g a t i n g h is e th ic s 13 tim e s ! A n d th e u n d e r ly in g c o n d u c t th a t w a s in v e s tig a te d w a s a v i o l a t i o n o f ta x la w s , n o t m a r r ia g e v o w s . A n d y e t th e C o n g r e s s d id n o t re m o v e G in g r ic h o r e v e n c e n s u re h im . T h e y g a v e h im r e p r im a n d , a f in e a n d m o v e d o n . L a m e - d u c k le a d e r s h ip an d e x tr e m is ts a re tr y in g to h it the P r e s id e n t, b u t th e y a re o n ly h u rtin g th e c o u n try . I h a v e ta lk e d w ith th e P r e s i ­ d e n t an d th e F irst F a m ily . T hey a re e n title d to h e a l th e ir f a m ­ ily in p r iv a te . T h e P re s id e n t is d e a lin g w ith th is b y s h o w in g p u b lic s tr e n g th in th e fa c e o f p r iv a te p a in . T h e s tr e n g th is r e a l, b u t so a re th e p a in , th e c o n t r i t i o n a n d th e r e s o lu te c o m m itm e n t to b e c o m e s tr o n ­ g e r . T h e r e a l q u e s t i o n is w h e th e r th e C o n g re ss w ill p u n ­ is h th e c o u n tr y in th e ir e f f o r t to h a rm th e P r e s id e n t. coverage you can count on from the world leader in wireless...AIRTOUCH. ► no contracts ► no deposit ► no monthly bill ► no credit check * ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► control your airtim e getting started is easy ..visit these AirTouch Prepaid Cellular retail locations. tfTouc E P A ID Direct Hull Cellular * Paging 2914 N lombard S I, Portland, 286.5655 C e llu la r C a llin g C a rd Maalc Galore 3213 NE MLK Jr Blvd Portland 288 9,80 El Mercado 525 NE Killingswortti Portland. 288 5889 Cellular Connection! z 10055 SE Stark S I. Portland 256 4055 (eater CHy \ A ir T o uch 500 NE MIK Ji Bind, Portland. 232 7449 Communication Pin« 317 NE Killmgswortti, Portland, 735 1422 cards available in $15. $30 $50 or $100 denominations l e f i Ta» Wlreleia • some restrictions may apply 2813 SE 122nd. Portland, 762 5659 A ir T ouch ( "e llu la r