Page A4
Good News, Bad News For Black America
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C h arles W ash in g to n
P u b lish er
L arry J. Jackson, Sr.
G ary A n n T ay lo r
B u sin ess M a n a g er
Jo y R am os.
C o p y E dito r
M ark W ash in g to n
D istrib u tio n M a n a g er
H eath er Fairchild
G ra p h ic D esign er
E dito r
B y
In a recent edition o f N ew sw eek
M agazine. Ellis, the author o f R age o f
the Privileged Class, penned an article
entitled The G ood N ew s A bout Black
America. In essence Mr. C ose indicates
that the good new sis that Black A m erica
is better o ff than at any tim e in history.
O stensibly, this good new s is attribut­
able in large m easure to the trem endous
grow th in the U.S. econom y in the last
few years. The B lack m iddle class in
particular has benefited from the explo-
sive grow th in the U.S. econom y. O ver­
all B lack incom e is at its highest level
and unemployment at its lowest in nearly
T o n y W ash in g to n
D irecto r o f A d vertisin g
C o n trib u tin g W riters:
R ich ard L u ccetti
L ee P erlm an ,
4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.,
Portland, Oregon 97211
503-288-0833 • Fax 503-288-0015
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*• » f
W ith the plea bargaining agree­
m ent o f Justin V olpe and now the
conviction o f C harles S chw arz in the
b eatin g and sod o m izin g o f A b n e r
Louim a, one m ore chapter o f the tragic
.
•
r*
and frightening and on-going tale o t
N ew Y o rk city police brutality against
people o f color com es to a close. It’s
not all over yet since officer S ch w arz’
law yer has indicated that they w ill ap­
peal his co nviction an d since M r.
L ouim a has filed a civil suit against
N ew Y ork city for the injury done to
h im that night. M oreover, not all o f the
officers w ho were tried w ere convicted,
b u t at least som e ju stice has been
achieved in one o f the m ost horrible
T hank Y ou F or R eading T he P ortland O bserver
4 Had discussions regarding the scope o f
cions w ere in fact baseless.
A s a com m unity w e m ust learn to
work together, and w hen w e disagree
we m ust w ork out o ur differences in
cooperative m anner - w ith open and
« '.'t
•V,I
honest dialogue.
Founded by community leaders in
1983 and managed by a dedicated staff
and board o f directors, The Black United
Fund has worked in cooperation with
neighborhood residents, community lead­
ers, and public and private institutions to
stimulate neighborhood revitalization for
more than fifteen years, and our project
on Alberta is no exception.
T o ensure minority participation on
this project we:
1 Identified three (3) qualified general
contractors and invited them to bid on the
project Portland’s largest African- Ameri­
can general contractor was included in
this group.
2 Developed a “Statement o f qualifica­
tions" describing the O w ner’s goal o f
having minority sub-contractors actively
involved in theproject. A commitment to
the inner northeast Portland was our pri­
mary concern.
3 Forwarded two sets o f bid documents
to O A M E (Att: May) on March 18* and
included the names and phone numbers
>f the three general contractors invited to
submit bids.
expertise available and B lack entre­
preneurs are investing in m ajor busi­
ness and com m unity d ev elopm ent
projects in a num ber o f cities.
A s Mr. C ose suggests, how ever,
everybody in B lack A m erica is not
celebrating. F
all u o i f the
ceienranng.
r u or i an
uh . progress o f
the Black m iddle class an d u p p erclass,
. _______
Black professionals and B lack execu­
tive do not fair as w ell as their W hite
counterparts. For exam ple. B lack m e­
dian incom e reached an all tim e high o f
$34,644 in 1997, but the m edian in-
com e for W hites w as $56,022 or
$21,378 m ore than the m edian incom e
for Blacks. A nd w hile B lack unem -
“the m ost depraved act that’s ever been
reported o r com m itted by a police of­
ficer or police officers against another
hum an being.”
A nd perhaps
it w as the nature o f the
------r
------ ■«----
attack w hich brought about the second
t
_ - the
1_ —
1 break
_— I»«
V««-» “blue uro
11 n o t f
change
in ♦ the
w all
silence." T hat code o f silence o f police
officers, thus called the blue w all, has
in the past been alm ost im possible to
break and thus it has been hard to get
police officers convicted in cases o f
police brutality. In the L ouim a case it
w as only after four other police offic­
ers testified against him . and despite
A fter the ju r y ’s decisions w ere a n ­
nounced in N ew Y ork, M r. L ouim a
indicated his disap p o in tm en t w ith the
acquittal o f those officers w hom he
claim ed had beaten h im in the police
car o n the w ay to the precinct. In cred ­
ibly, it w as the p o lice precin ct b ath ­
room w here he w as so d o m ized w ith a
broken broom handle b y O fficer V olpe
w h ile O fficer S ch w artz h eld him
dow n. B ut, M r. L o u im a said that he
w as gratified to know that finally those
w ho terrorized him that night w ere
being forced to p ay for th eir crim es.
AU toooften in the few police brutal­
ity cases that do reach trial, the jury
dismisses the testim ony o f the victim,
choosing to believe the police officers
instead. In m any cases prosecutors do
not even file charges against police or
the grand ju ry refuses to indict them
because m ost A m ericans still find it
difficult to believe that som e police
officers do harass and som etim es beat
people o f color. Indeed, it is only b e­
cause o f cases like those o f Rodney
King, w hereab y stan d er videotaped the
Z ip-C ode: .
zations, and the city as a whole.
W hile w e appreciate M r. W ilson’s
interest in this project, w e are deeply
concerned that Mr. W ilson did not speak
with anyone w ithin our organization to
confirm w hether o r not his assum p­
tions w ere correct. Had he taken ju st a
m om ent to discuss this m atter with us,
he w ould have learned that his suspi­
. . . . _____
i— their . skills
u n . o„/i
com m unity
to m ake
and
» ploym
I„ .m,»„»;fia»
y s v year
« « rln
w o f8
.9 % , .it
ent is at a « 25
low
f 8.9%
it
is still tw ice as high as W hite unem ­
ploym ent w hich stands at 3.9% . In
addition. W hite hom e ow nership is
nearly 20% higher than that o f B lacks.
A m ong B lackyoung peopleages20-
24 the unem ploym ent rate is still a stag­
gering 16.8% (significantly dow n from
24.5 in 1985) com pared to 6.5% for
W hites and am ong young people ages
16-19, only 4 0 % o f Blacks are in the
labormarket com pared to50% ofW hites.
In the
atts section o ~ f Los Angeles,
— W
----------------------
~
w hich is probably typical o f m any Black
inner city neighboifroods, 70% ot the
B lack m en are in pnson, on parole or
have been under som e forni o fc o n e c -
tronalsupervisionSome l,400,000Black
m en in A m erica or 13% o f the Black
m ale population have loss the nght to
vote because o f felony convictions.
Ironically, w hile Black youngpeople
continue to suffer from disastrous levels
o f unem ploym ent, som e W hite business
ow ners are com plaining that they cannot
find enough w orkers to fill vacancies in
----------- r
,
theirenterprises,particularly forseasonal
r«__________
r t v 'l f » i in
n
Sum m er A jobs. A ccording frv
to arx
an o article
U SA Today, resorts, them e parks, hotels
and restaurants are aggressively recruit­
ing in various European countries like
England, Scotland, Spain, Poland, the
Czech Republic. Slovakia and Latvia to
find w oikers to fill jobs that pay any­
w here from $5.25 to $ 10.00 an hour. If
a
m onths o fdenying the allegations, that
officer V olpe adm itted his guilt in a
plea bargain agreem ent.
But while som e justice has been
achieved in this case, there still can be
no reconciliation in this terrible case.
That is because after pleading guilty.
O fficer Volpe apologized to his family
but refused to apologize to M r. Louima.
W ithout apology and a request for for­
giveness there can be no reconciliation.
W ithout adm itting guilt to the injured
party, there can be no healing. T hat is
true forO fficer V olpe and that is true for
the N ew Y ork C ity police department.
It’s tim e for an apology, it’s tim e
Black
being ag-
B
lack young people are not bet
gressivelyrecruitedbycertaincategones
o f businesses during economic good
times, w hat can Black A m enca expect
w hen the econom y cools dow n ?
A fricans in A m erica have alw ays
been the last to be hired in econom ic
good tim es and the first fired during
bad tim es. H ence the good new s for
B lack A m erica could evaporate rap­
idly if there is a substantial slow dow n
turn in the econom y. The bad new s
w o u ld becom e even w orst for those
w ho have not benefited from the cur­
rent econom ic upsw ing. In order to
m ake sustained progress tow ards the
goal o f econom ic w ell being for the
m asses o f B lack people, it is incum ­
b ent o n those B lacks w ho are m ore
w ell o f f to invest in im proving B lack
com m unities. Pressure m ust also be
exerted on corporations and govern­
m ent at all levels to develop initiatives
and program s designed to strengthen
the econom ic infrastructure in the Black
com m unity. B lack A m erica cannot al­
low th e good new s o f the progress by
som e to obscure the persistent bad
new s w hich is a daily reality for vast
num bers o f im poverished B lacks w ho
struggle to survive in the inner-cites.
W e m ust resolve that it m ust be free­
dom and prosperity for everybody or
freedom and prosperity for nobody in
this nations.
fo r an adm ission o f guilt an d it’s tim e
fo r a request for forgiveness. It’s tim e
for all o f those from O fficer V olpe
and from Police C om m issioner Saffir.
It’stim e fo ra llo fth o s e to M r. L ouim a,
to the com m unities o f color in N ew
Y o rk and the g reat p eo p le o f the city
o f N ew Y ork as w ell. T he N ew Y ork
city p olice d ep artm en t has already
p aid out m illions o f dollars in settle­
m ents to victim s o f police brutality,
b u t w ithout those adm issions o f guilt
and requests for forgiveness there w ill
be no reconciliation and healing and
there w ill be no true justice. A nd the
b rutality w ill ju s t continue.
cases o f police brutality in this nation.
C ity , State:
I am writing in response to Mr. Ed
Wilson’sletterto the Editor dated June 16,
1909 As you might imagine. The Black
United Fund o f Oregon is very pleased to
seePhasel o f our project on Albertataking
shape and are very excited about the op­
portunities that it presents for neighbor­
hood residents, community-based organi­
the s u s t a in e d grow th in the econom y,
Cose notes that som e o fth is progress is
the result o f strenuous se lf help efforts
by Blacks. A n increasing num ber o f
Black churcnes
nave s started
i a r i e u com
c u i m m
u u-
u-
churches have
nitydevelopm entcorporationstobuild
low and m oderate incom e housing and
create various econom ic developm ent
projects. Sim ultaneously, m ore B lack
professionals are returning to the Black
the U 5 . A ttorney in this case, called it
-•• li
-•"3
Black offenders declined from 50 per
100,000 to 32 during this sam e period.
W hile m uch o f the im provem ent in
the Quality o f life for B lacks is due to
B y B ernice P owell J ackson
A ddress:
Letter to Editor
__
Some Justice For Louima
N am e:
;v <
-, f
_____,
than a decade also seem s to be bottom ­
ing out. The hom icide rates for Blacks
was 28 per 100.000 in 1997 com pared
with 40 in 1980. The percentage o f
three decades.
Som e 4 6 % o f B lacks now ow n
their homes and the num ber o f Blacks
l i v i n g in poverty declined to 27 % in
1997 as com pared to 32% in 1980.
Eighty-eight percent o f B lack high
school students are now staying the
course to graduate com pared to 55% in
1973. W hile college graduation rates
for Black males dipped slightly in 1997
from a high o f 15.4% in 1981 to 13.7%,
the rates for B lack fem ales rose from
14.5% to 18.5% over the sam e period.
Infant mortality for Blacks has also
dram atically d eclined from 4 4 p er
m u,uuu in
in 1960 to
u, - 12 u in . ------------
100,000
1997. In
aflrlifion.the fratricidewhichhasplagued
inner-city Black com m unities for m ore
o r p e rso n a l u sag e w ith o u t the w ritten c o n se n t o f the general m anager,
u n less th e c lie n t h as p u rch ased th e c o m p o sitio n o f su ch ad. © 1996 T H E
P O R T L A N D O B S E R V E R . A L L R IG H T S R E S E R V E D , R E P R O D U C ­
T IO N IN W H O L E O R IN P A R T W IT H O U T P E R M IS S IO N IS P R O H IB ­
S ubscribe
Row D aniels
the project with Tony Jones at Housing
Development Center. Wethen forwarded
a set ofbid documents to Tony March 25*
and included the three general contrac­
tors invited to submit bids.
5 Had additional discussion with Tony
Jones regarding the goal o f increased op­
portunities for participation o f minonty
sub-contractors dunng construction.
• Extended the bid date by one week to
allow interested sub-contractors the op­
portunity to prepare their bids despite
being on an extremely tight schedule.
7
D iscussed additional site visits for
sub-contractors during the bidding
phase with T ony Jones. Consequently
we decided in order to provide opportu­
nities for minority sub-contractors we
w ould hold three site visits. Three site
visits during the bidding phase is far
beyond the industry standard for a
project o f this nature and size.
8 Discussed withTony Jones the success
in contacting contractors in the Housing
Development Center’sC S P to seeifth ey
beating by police o r in cases as unset­
tling as that o f Mr. Louim a that large
numbers o f A m ericans have begun to
question the reliability o f die blue wall
were informed o f the project and inter­
ested in bidding.
• H ad the architect. Bill H art, w ho is
A frican-A m erican, from Carleton Hart
A rchitecture, subm itting the nam es o f
the general contractors to interested
sub-contractors.
10 Interviewed each general contractor to
ensure minority participation and commit­
ment to north/northeast Portland.
11 Hired at least seven local firms to
work on this project. W e are not aware o f
any “out o f state” contractors on this
project.
12 H ave identified six o f th e seven
firm s w orking on the project as m inor­
ity firm s; and
13 Have identified that four o f the six
companies working on the project are
African-American firms.
T his process not only indicates the
extent o f o u r outreach efforts, but the
diversity o f o urproject team also dem ­
onstrates o u r com m itm ent to m inority
and com m unity involvem ent. Few
constructions have this level o f m inor-
1
o f silence disavowals. In the Louim a
case several things happened which
changed the usual dynam ics o f police
brutality cases. First o f all there w as the
horrendous nature o f the sexual attack
on Mr. Louim a, w hich immediately
drew the headlines in the press and a
public outcry. Indeed. Zachary Carter.
ity participation.
While I agree with Mr. W ilson’s basic
concern given the lack o f minority par­
ticipation on most construction projects,
the issues that he raised regarding our
projects are entirely misplaced. Unfortu­
nately, all too often, the companies with a
historical pattern o f exclusion are rarely,
if at all, questioned or held accountable,
and these projects have the potential to
generate far more revenue for minority
contractors than the project that w e’ve
undertaken.
The Black United Fund will continue
to do its part to build community, and I
hope that we can continue to count on our
many supporters to work cooperatively
with us to accompl ish this important goal
Sincerely,
Judith Pitre, Board Chair
The Black United Fund o f Oregon, Inc.
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