FEB. 10, 1999 Page A4 (Elie Jlortlanò (©bseruer Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily Reflect Or Represent The Views Of (The 'JjJortlanh © bscruer Attention Readers! Please take a minute to send us your comments. W e’ re always trying to give you a better paper and we can’t do it without your help. Tell us what you like and w hat needs improvement... any suggestions are welcomed and appreciated. We take criticism well! Get your powerful pens out NOW' and address your letters to : Editor. Reader Respon se P.O. Box 3137. Portland. OR 972Q8, ( T T lj v ^ o r t l a n h (© b a c r r ie r (USPS 959-680) Established in 1970 Charles W ashington P ublisher Larry J. Jackson, Sr. E d ito r Gary A nn Taylor B usiness M an a g er M ark W ashington D istribution M ana g er Laphael Knight G raphic D esigner Joy Ramos Copy Editor Iesha W ilham s G raphic D esigner T ony W ashington D irector o f A dvertising C ontrib u tin g W riters: P rofessor M cK inley Burt, Lee Perlman, Y em a M easho Richard Luccetti 4747 N E M a r tin L u th er K in g, J r . Blvd., Portland, Oregon 97211 503-288-0033 • Fax 503-288-0015 Email: Pdxobserv r t i a n h < s )h 8 m te r The Portland Observer can be sent directly to your home for only $60.00 per year. Please f ill out, enclose check or money order, and m ail to: S ubscriptions T he P ortland O bserver ; PO B ox 3137 P ortland , O regon 97208 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 You Can Now Find Us On The Web!!!! http:www.portlandobserver.net T hank Y ou F or R eading T he P ortland O bserver 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 HI \ I I o l ’MI M ( i )\¡M |ss|( >\ never Portland General Electric C o n n e c t in g P t o n t , P o w t« a n d P os si b i i ' T i t s