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T hank Y ou F or R eading T he P ortland O bserver
C IV IL
R IG H T S
J O U R N A L
A New Kind Of Politics
Bv B ernice P owell J ackson
Sooften in this nation’s history w e’ve
seen the divide and conquer strategy
used to keep people o f color apart. As
people o f color, too often we have
internalized the racism which has been
fed to u s an d w e b e lie v e
misconceptions and stereotypes about
other people o f color, and sometimes,
even about ourselves. In politics, the
divide and conquer strategy has been
used tim e and again to keep people o f
color out o f elected office.
N ow there is a group w hich is
w orking from a new paradigm , a
m ultiracial/m ulticultural coalition
w orking together to elect progressive
candidates in Los (Angeles. Called
C oalition LA , this grassroots group
o fcitize n s from the 10* C ity Council
D istrict has w orked for m ore than a
d e c a d e a g a in s t s u c h d iv is iv e
C a lif o r n ia
p r o p o s itio n s
as
Proposition 187, the anti-im m igrant
legislation and Proposition 209, the
anti-affirm ative action law. W hile
they lost these struggles, they found
new allies to w ork together across
racial and cultural lines and in the
past five years they have focused on
b rin g in g neighborhoods together,
d e v e lo p in g c o m m o n p o litic a l
platform s, and running their own
m em bers for city council.
T his com m unity w ork, based on
five m onths o f going door-to-door to
ta lk w ith re s id e n ts a b o u t th e ir
concerns, has resulted in a Plan o f
A ction. N ot surprisingly, they found
that residents w anted jobs, better
h o u s in g ; a g re e n e r, m o re sa fe
com m unity, and better educational
opportunities for their children. When
asked to im agine the city they could
create i f the people w ere really in
charge, com m unity residents wanted
to m ake governm ent accountable to
the residents, to create a clean and
healthy environm ent, to get m ore jobs
in the com m unity, to create affordable
h o u s in g city w id e, to m ak e real
changes for children and to ensure
safer com m unities.
The 10* City Council district in Los
Angeles is a diverse one, including
some parts o f the Crenshaw district
which burned in the 1992 uprising and
the fast growing Koreatown. Coalition
LA believes that it is by organized
participation in neighborhoods in local
go vemmen t that can make a di fference
in the lives o f people and can give
them incentive to become involved in
politics and elections.
C le a rly , on e k ey to th a t
em powerment o f the people is to have
leaders w ho tru ly rep resen t the
community and who refuse to play the
divide and conquer game. California,
the nation’s m ost populous state,
already has achieved a status ofhaving
no racial ethnic majority in the state,
w hich will become a demographic
reality for the rest o f the nation in
another generation. Thus, how people
o f color in California work together for
political power will be instrumental to
the rest o f the nation.
W ithin the 10* district. Coalition
LA has chosen to support in the up­
com ing April election an African
A m erican candidate new to electoral
politics, but not new to the district.
Rev. M adison Shockley is a local
church pastor in the 10* district and
grew up in that neighborhood as well.
A civil rights activist, he is on the
board o f the Southern C hristian
Leadership Conference in Los Angeles
and is also a member o f the African-
Amencan/Korean- American Christian
Alliance and the African-American/
Jewish Leadership Connection. Rev.
Shockley clearly understand the need
to b u ild m u ltiracial/m u lticu ltu ral
alliances in the 21 ■ century.
It was the beating o f Rodney King
by L. A. police officers which resulted
in the acquittal o f the police by a Simi
Valley jury which sparked the uprising
in 1992. R odney K in g 's sim ple
question o f ’W hy c a n 't we ju st all get
President Clinton Called On To
Fight Against Police Brutality
Unprecedented Coalition Of Civil Rights Leaders unify in call for action.
A d iv e rse g ro u p o f A fric an -
American, A sian, Latino and Jew ish
leaders d em anded th at P resident
C lin to n tak e actio n a g a in st th e
growing national epidem ic o f police
brutality. The group o f leaders issued
their appeal to C linton at a press
co n fe re n ce held re c e n tly at th e
National Press Club and convened
by National Urban League President
Hugh Price.
Price, citing the police killings o f
A m adou Diallo in N ew Y ork, T yisha
M ille r in R iv e rsid e , an d D eo n
Grimmett in Pittsburgh, declared that
“recurring instances o f im proper use
ofdeadly force,excessive useofforce.
racial profiling, abuse o f basic civil
liberties, and routine harassm ent o f
m inorities who have done little or
nothing wrong, are vivid signs o f a
national epidemic o f police brutality.”
As he spoke, Price w as flanked
by: Jesse L. Jack so n , p resid e n t,
R ainbow /P ush C o alitio n ; K w eisi
M fum e, president & C E O , N A A C P;
Johnnie L. C ochran, Jr., attorney;
R everend A1 S harpton, president,
T heN ational Action N etw ork; W ade
H e n d e rso n , e x e c u tiv e d ir e c to r .
L ead ersh ip C o n feren ce on C iv il
rights; Raul Y zaguirre, president,
N ational Council o f La Raza; Joseph
Lowery, Chairman, Black Leadership
Forum; Abe Foxman, president, Anti-
Defam ation League; Karen Narasaki,
executive director, A m erican C ivil
L iberties Union.
Price called on PresidentClinton to:
•Convene a W hite H ouse sum m it
this spring to place the national
spotlight on this problem
•Dispatch a blue ribbon panel.
New Medicare
Reimbursement
Rates Metro
Area Counties to
Get Increases of
More Than 10%
Thanks to changes w ritten into law
byU .S. Senator Ron W yden (D-Ore.),
Oregon seniors will benefit from large
increases in reim bursem ent rates for
m anaged care under the M edicare
p la n . In m u ch o f th e P o rtla n d
m etropolitan area, w here m ore than
h alf o f all seniors are enrolled in
m anaged care plans, increases will be
m ore than 10% next year.
The increases com e about as a
re su lt o f c h a n g es su g g e sted by
W yden to the form ula, know n as the
A A PCC , used for determ ining the
rates at w hich m anaged care plans are
reim bursed for enrolling seniors. The
changes w ere passed into law as part
o f the Balanced B udget A ct o f 1997.
Previously, the AA PCC rew arded
w a ste fu l co n d u c t and p u n ish e d
seniors in places with efficient health
care systems, such as Oregon.
In m any cases around the country,
higher reim bursem ent rates have
translated into additional benefits
like prescription drug coverage, and
free eyeglasses and hearing aids,
am ong others.
“O regon seniors should see results
from these increases in better services
and m ore choice from m anaged care
providers,” said W yden. “Senator
Smith and I are now fighting for further
legislation to m ake sure that these
increases continue in the years ahead,
and ensure that they translate into
the kind o f im proved benefits that
seniors deserve.”
M etro a re a c o u n tie s w ill see
particularly strong increases in 2000,
w ith rises o f 10.6% in M ultnomah
county, 12.4% in Clackamas County,
9.8% in W ashington County, and
9.1 % in C olum bia County.
along?” was echoed throughout the
nation. N ow com m unity activists in
Los A ngeles are out to prove that not
only can we all get along, but we can
w o rk to g e th e r to m a k e o u r
co m m u n ities a b e tte r p la ce for
ourselves and our children.
T hat sounds like new politics to me.
T hat sounds like a vision for the 21“
century we all need to model.
arm ed w ith su b p o en a pow er, to
conduct public hearings to ferret out
evidence o f p olice b rutality and
abuse. W here there is widespread
evidence o f abuse, the panel should
devise guidelines for state and local
p o lic e d e p a r tm e n ts , c o v e rin g
appropriate use o f deadly force and
prohibitions against detaining and
s e a r c h in g p e o p le w h o a r e n ’t
suspects in sp e cific crim es and
w ho’ve done little or nothing wrong
•Take legal action against police
departments that repeatedly brutalize
and abuse people by placing these
departm ents “ into receivership until
they straighten out.”
•Investigate practices o f racial
profiling
H enderson expressed hope that
the group’s diversity w ould persuade
P resident C linton to take action.
“T oday, m any o rg an izatio n s are
speaking w ith one voice in the hope
o f P resid en t C lin to n m o v in g to
address this growing national crisis,”
said H enderson.
Just m om en ts before the press
co n feren ce, P rice receiv ed a letter
from B ill C lin to n in w h ich the
P resid en t called the issue o f p olice
abuse and m isco n d u ct “critica l.”
A tto r n e y G e n e ra l J a n e t R e n o
agreed to m eet w ith civil rights
le a d e rs an d a c k n o w le d g e d th e
gravity o f the p o lice b ru tality issue
in h er w eekly press conference.
R eno stated that in the p ast five
years, her departm ent has crim inally
p ro secu ted m ore than 300 o fficers,
r e s u lt in g in m o r e th a n 2 0 0
c o n v ic tio n s , w ith a n o th e r 100
in v estig atio n s ongoing.
Photo: Jason Miccolo Johnson
W ashington, D.C. - National Urban League President Hugh Price, right,
flanked by civil rights leaders Kweisi Mfum e, president & CEO, NAACP;
Dr. Joseph Lowery, chairman, Black Leadership Forum; Abe Foxman,
president, Anti-Defamation League; Joe Madison. W ashington, D.C.
radio ta lk show host; and many others, spoke in unison in a call for action
against police brutality.
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