FEB. 10, 1999
Page A4
(Elie Jlortlanò (©bseruer
Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily
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P.O. Box 3137. Portland. OR 972Q8,
( T T lj v ^ o r t l a n h
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E d ito r
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D irector o f A dvertising
C ontrib u tin g W riters:
P rofessor M cK inley Burt,
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Email: Pdxobserv<aaoLcom
W e o ften h ea r th e jo k e ab o u t the
p erso n k n o c k in g o n th e d o o r and
sa y in g ,” I’m from th e g o v ern m e n t
an d I’m h ere to h elp y o u .” W ell,
th is tim e, fo r A fric an A m eric an
farm ers th e p h ra se m ay b e true.
T h e U .S. D ep a rtm en t o f A g ric u l
tu re re c e n tly se ttle d a lo n g -sta n d
in g class actio n la w su it b ro u g h t by
th e N atio n al B lack F arm ers A sso
c ia tio n o n b e h a lf o f 1,000 o l its
m em bers.
U n d e r th e se ttle m e n t, th e A g ri
cu ltu re D ep a rtm en t h as ag re ed to
p ay as m u c h as $ 3 0 0 m illio n d o l
lars fo r claim s d atin g b ac k 16 y ears
to b lack fa n n e rs w h o h av e an active
d isc rim in a tio n c a se o r w h o file an
a ffid a v it o f d isc rim in a tio n th a t
n am es sp e cific in d iv id u a ls in th e
A g ric u ltu re D e p a rtm e n t w h o d e
nied them loans. T h o se elg ib le w ill
b e ab le to g et a $ 5 0 ,0 0 0 ta x -free
paym ent and w ill have all their debts
to th e A g ricu ltu re D ep atem en t fo r
given. I f th ey h av e b etter d o cu m en
tatio n th ey can forego $ 50,000 p a y
Deadline for all submitted materials:
A r tic le s .F r id a y , 5 :0 0 p m
PARTIAL VICTORY FOR BLACK FARMERS
A d s : M o n d a y , 1 2 :0 0 p m
P O S T M A S T E R : Send A ddress C han g es T o: P o rtlan d O b serv er,
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m ent an d n eg o tiate w ith an a rb itra
to r for a h ig h e r p ay m en t.
T h e d is r im in a tio n fa c e d b y
th o u s a n d s o f b la c k fa rm e rs is a
le g a c y o f th e R e a g a n a d m in is tra
tio n , w h ic h d is m a n tle d th e A g ri
c u ltu r e D e p a rtm e n t O f f ic e o f
C iv il R ig h ts. W h ile th e b la c k
fa rm e rs w a tc h e d w h ite fa rm e rs
r e c e iv e lo a n s , lo c a l e le c te d
co u n ty o ffic ia ls w h o d isb u rse d the
fu n d s o fte n to ld th e m th a t th e y
had ru n o u t o f d o lla rs. Jo h n B o y d ,
J r ., p r e s id e n t o f th e N a tio n a l
B lac k F a rm e rs A s s o c ia tio n , h im
s e lf to ld o f h o w th e c o u n ty s u p e r
v is o r th re w h is a p p lic a tio n in th e
tra sh in 1 992, s a y in g h e h a d no
m o re m o n e y . W h en in v e stig a to rs
a s k e d h im w h y h e h a d m a d e o n ly
tw o lo a n s to A fric a n A m e ric a n
fa rm e rs, h e re p lie d th a t b la c k s
w e re la z y . O th e r b la c k fa rm e rs
w ere req u ired to p ro d u ce ev id en ce
o f a g ric u ltu ra l a n d fin a n c ia l e x
p e rtis e n o t d e m a n d e d o f w h ite
fa rm e rs, o r h a d th e ir lo a n s d e-
c o m m e rc ia l lo a n s at m u ch h ig h e r
ra te s a n d a re n o w fac in g fo re c lo
su re. T h u s, th e $ 5 0 ,0 0 0 w ill do
little to h e lp th e se farm ers. O th ers
la m en t th e ir in a b ility to ex p a n d o r
la y e d u n til a f te r th e p la n tin g s e a
so n . In 1997 th e A g ric u ltu re D e
p a rtm e n t to o k a w a y m u c h o f th e
p o w e r o f th e F arm S e rv ic e A g e n
c ie s w h e n m a n y o f th e s e in e q u i
m o d ern ize b ecau se the governm ent
lo a n s w ere u n a v a ila b le to them ,
c a u sin g th en to lo se m o n ey , w h ich
tie s c a m e to lig h t.
F a rm in g h o ld s a s p e c ia l p la c e
o f h o n o r in th e A fric a n A m e ric a n
c o m m u n ity , s in c e m o s t o f u s a re
d e sc e n d e n ts o f sla v es w h o w o rk ed
th e lan d , m a k in g th e ir o w n ers rich.
th e y ca n n e v e r reg ain .
M o re o v e r, m a n y b la c k farm e rs
a re d is tru b e d th a t th e se ttle m e n t
d id n o t in c lu d e an y p u n ish m en t for
o ffic a ls w h o d e n ie d th e n lo an s.
H o w e v e r, th e A g ric u ltu re D e p a rt
m e n t p ro m ise d to c h a n g e its in te r
n al p ro c e d u re s fo r in v e stig a tin g
b ia s c la im s a n d h as s tre a m lin e d
m a n y o f its p ro c e d u re s. T h e O f
fic e o f C iv il R ig h ts w as r e - in s ti
tu te d b y th e C lin to n A d m in is tra
B u t m u c h o f th a t s p e c ia l re s p e c t
h a s b e e n lo s t o v e r th e p ast 25
y e a rs as fe w e r A fric a n A m eric an s
o w n fe w e r fa rm s. In d e e d , in th e
1920 14 p e r c e n t o f th e n a tio n ’s
fa rm s w e re o w n e d b y b la c k s . B y
1 9 9 2 , o n ly 1 p e r c e n t o f fa rm s
w e re o w n e d b y A fric a n A m e r i
c a n s a n d e v e n th a t n u m b e r h a s
p r o b a lly d ro p p e d in th e p a s t six
tio n in 1996.
B lack farm e rs d e se rv e a sp e cia l
p la c e o f h o n o r in th is n a tio n ’s h is
to ry . T h e se ttle m e n t is o n ly o n e
sto p fo rw ard in th e ir jo u rn e y fo r
ju stic e . B ut it is a step forw ard. I t’s
g o o d n ew s fo r u s all.
y ea rs.
S a d ly , th is se ttle m e n t m ay be
to o little an d to o la te fo r som e
b la c k farm ers. W h en th e y w ere
d e n ie d A g ric u ltu re D e p a rtm e n t
lo a n s, m a n y w ere fo rced to tak e out
Policy Makers End M o n th Spent On
Food Stamp B udget
Last Friday m arked the end o f a
long and frugal m onth for tw elve
Oregon policy m akers w ho spent
the four weeks living on a food stamp
budget and being paired w ith a food
stam p recipient in their district. The
public officials participated in W alk
a M ile, an educational program co
ordinated by O regon Food Bank and
sponsored by a num ber o f other so
cial service agencies.
The participants this year included
Sen. M arilyn Shannon; Sen. Lenn
H annon; Sen. V erne D uncan; Sen.
Kate Brown; Rep. Ken M esserle;
R ep. B a rb a ra R o ss; R ep. K itty
Piercy; Rep. Tom Butler; Rep. Lynn
Lundquist; Julia Cooley, G overnor s
o ffice; Bob R epine, D irecto r o f
H ousing and C om m unity Services;
and G ary W eeks, D irector o f D e
partm ent o f H um an Resources.
As part o f the project, pairs talked
on the phone, m et to g eth er over
lunch or w ent grocery shopping to
gether. L egislators learned about the
m yriad o f issues facing low -incom e
O regonians.
Rep. K en M esserle, C oos Bay
said “Talking w ith her (his m atch)
brought into focus the pressures
these folks are facing.” A dded to the
pressures o f surviving on a tight bud
get, M esserle added, “T he econom y
here is very depressed and looking
w orse all the tim e."
N am e :_______ ______________________— ------------------- --------------------
A ddress:
___________________ _— — ---------------------------------- -
C ity, State: _______________________________ ______________________ _
Z ip -C o d e :---------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------
and food stam p recipients expressed
gratitude and understanding after
having the opportunity to m eet,” Said
C assandra G arrison, project coor
dinator. She added, “the project re
ally highlighted the void left by w el
fare reform , social service agencies
sim ply are not able to fill the gap.
In addition to Oregon, eight states
including Alaska. Arkansas, Indiana.
Louisiana. Montana, New York, Ohio
and W isconsin also ran W alk a Mile
projects this fall. The W alk a Mile
program w ent national in M ay o f
1995 when 16 mem bers o f Congress,
eight Democrats and eight Republi
cans were m atched with welfare re
cipients in their hom e districts.
Sandra Savage, a food stam p re
cipient and single m other paired with
Sen. Lenn H annon o f A shland shared
the difficulties o f a food stam p bud
get.
“It’s hard to live on $237 a m onth
on food stam ps for three people; we
buy w hat w e can to m ake it through
the m onth.” Savage recently shared
dinner w ith Sen. Lenn H annon and
his extended family. “W e had tacos,
talked about education and how hard
it is to find affordable housing."
“This y ea r’s project m ade some
p ro fo u n d c o n n e c tio n s b e tw e e n
groups o f people w ho are not often
able to connect. B oth legislators
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W hat Social Security “ Crisis
The same economic interests whose
political reprentatives were opposed
to Social Security (SS) in 1935 are
still against it in 1999 — the pn vatizers.
Their trick is to invent a political “cri
sis” over the public program o f SS in
order to propagate a political outcry
for privatization.
Politicians mess with SS at their
penl. Every .American has a stake in SS
and it has worked well for 64 years. To
conservatives’ consternation, it is the
largest, most success ful and mostpopu-
lar "centralized." “big government,"
bureaucratic,” “costly,” “entitlement”
program in American history. The
national Council o f Senior Citizens
reports that in 1997 the U.S. spent
slightly less entitlements, as a per
centage ofG D P , than it did in 1983. In
fact, since 1976 entitlement spending
has risen only eight-tenths o f one per
cent o f GDP. SS spends about one
percent o f total program expenses on
administration, compared to the insur
ance industry, which spends between
12 nd 14 percent.
SS provides universal portability and
nearly universal protection. Ninety-
six percent o f those now working
(nearly 142 million people) arc cov
ered, while less than hal f o f Americans
with private pension plans arc covered,
and that num ber is eroding. Without
SS, 54 percent o f the elderly would be
inpoverty.
SS was designed as one leg o f a
three-legged stool, the others being
private plans and personal savings. It
was created to provide economic se
curity for millions o f Americans in
retirement caused as a response to a
collapsed stock markets in the first
place, the G reat Depression. Eco
nomic globalization means any col
lapse in the 1930s. If people choose to
risk their disposable income in the
stock market they can do that today
without privatizing SS. It is ironic that
at a nm e when half the nation does not
have a pension, and few have any sav
ings at all, SS is the leg o f the stool
under attack.
Wall Street, private banks and fi
nancial corporations are spending mil
lions o f dollars to lobby for their fa
vorite SS soultion o f risky private in
vestments for greater average indi
vidual return. However, average in the
stock market is the middle o f two
extremes - winners and losers. SS is
not a funded pension or retirement
system with your name on it, designed
solely to benefit individuals. It is a
transfer program where today's work
ers pay today’s beneficiaries. There
fore, it is an economic security pro
gram designed to protect society.
In contrast, the privatization plan
favored by Wall Street is rooted in
“market values” that would generate
$240 billion in investment manage
ment and administrative fees between
now and2010. The feet that privatization
would reduce the rate o f return benefi
ciaries receive by a full percentage
point seems only an ancillary concern
to free marketeers.
We are told by some that w e must
acknowledge that the SS system as we
know it is in trouble. In feet, we are told
it is in crisis, and that it it needs to be
fixed! Various reforms are being sug
gested, including some drastic ones,
such as raising SS taxes, cutting ben
efits, taxing SS as ordinary income,
extending retirement to age 70, modi
fying co st-o f-liv in g ad ju stm en ts,
means testing SS benefiiciaries. But
most o f all, to save it, we must privatize
it to gain a greater return. BALONEY!
NEEDA
BIGGER/
UMBRELLA
FOR Y o DR n
LIVWGROOMr’
They don’t come in XL.
So fix your roof instead.
PDC offers loans for home repairs
and improvements.
99
In life , there are certain lines
you should
W hat is actually needed to fix SS
is a m inor correction; an adjustm ent
sim iliar to others m ade in the past,
m ost recently in 1993. Even more
im portantly, w e need to focus on
balanced econom ic grow th w ith a
com m itm ent, a policy and a con
crete plan, built around national and
international m onetary and fiscal
policy, to establish a peacetim e full
em ploym ent economy. If w e were
truly com m itted to full em ploym ent,
the SS crisis w ould com pletely go
\
cross.
'
away.
If w e truly want to give all Ameri
cans unprecedemted economic secu
rity, both during their working years
and in retirement, we will commit our
selves to a peacetime full employ
m ent economy.
This is
One of them.
If stormy weather knocks a power line across your
path, don't take chances. Take a big step back and call
PGE. Because while power lines bring us the electricity we
all count on, downed lines can be extremely dangerous.
There's simply no way to tell if a downed line is still live.
And getting too close to one could be deadly. So play it
safe, and remind your family, too. Don’t try to move, touch
or even go near any downed line. Instead, call this one
1-800-544-1795.
PGE/
[For details, call 823.3400.
X
11x1
PORTLAND
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