M a y 17, 2000
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(Observer
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Established 1970
STAFF
E d it o r
C h ie f ,
in
P u b l is h e r
Charles H. Washington
E d i T o R
Larry J. Jackson, Sr.
B
u s in e s s
M
anager
Gary Ann Taylor
C
E
opy
d it o r
Joy Ramos
C
r e a t iv e
D
ir e c t o r
Shawn Strahan
4 7 4 7 NE M a r tin L u th e r K ing,
Jr. B lvd.
P o rtla n d , O R 9 7 2 1 1
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Civil Rights USDA: A The waist is a terrible thing to mind
success story in progress
BY
l.S . S ee Hl LAMLOl
A u KK LLILK Lß AM
G l It KMAN
Five years ago, w hen 1 b ecam e
Secretary o f Agriculture, 1 discovered
th a t th e d e p a r tm e n t w a s s till
struggling - as much o f our society
still is - to m ake racial equality an
institutionalized and unshakeable
principle, one that em bedded in every
decision and every program.
1 im m ediately m ade it a top priority to
m a k e th e U .S . d e p a r tm e n t o f
A griculture (U SD A ) a place w here
e m p lo y e e s ,
c u s to m e rs
an d
constituents are all treated with the
fairness and dignity they deserve. It
has been m y goal to m ake USDA a
civil rights leader in the federal
g o v e rn m e n t. O n e o f o u r m o st
im portant steps in that direction was
the settlem ent w e reached last year in
a class-action suit brought by a group
o f African-American framers al leging
d is c rim in a tio n by U S D A . T h e
settlem ent calls for debt forgiveness
and paym ents to individual plaintiffs
w ho can prove discrimination, even if
it occurred as long as 1981. A s o f
A p ril 2 6 , p a y m e n ts to ta lin g
$206.5million havebeenm adeto4,130
farmers.
As im portant as the settlem ent is, our
civil rights agenda includes more than
reactively m aking am ends for past
injustice.
In 1 9 9 6 ,1 appointed a com m ittee o f
USDA employees toexam ine the state
o f c iv il rig h ts th r o u g h o u t th e
departm ent and report back to me
w ith suggested actions. A fter three
m onths o f exhaustive fact-finding,
they delivered 92 recom m endations
covering everything from w ays to
savem inority-ow ned farms to USDA
hiring practices to disciplinary action
for civil rights violators.
We have also established a new Office
o f O utreach, w hich will help get
inform ation about our program s to
m inority com m unities and socially
and ec o n o m ically d isad v an tag ed
populations.
O ften, these com m unities qualify for
U S D A a s s is ta n c e w ith o u t ev en
know ing it. The O ffice o f O utreach
will serve as a central repository for
inform ation and assistance, helping
ensure the fair distribution o f USDA
resources to people and places that
have never before received them.
I n te r n a lly , a lm o s t a ll U S D A
em ployees have now com pleted some
civil rights training, w here they learn
about th e p articu la r se n sitiv ities
involved in w orking w ith historically
undeserved com m unities.
M any supervisors and m angers have
received additional training, to help
them m anage the diversity on their
staffs. And our agency heads are
now evaluated as m uch on their ci vi I
rights perform ance as any other o f
their job.
We have introduced accountability,
so that those w ho do not follow civil
rights guidelines can expect to bear
the consequences. O ver the last two
years, w e have issued 94 disciplinary
actio n s, ran g in g from letters o f
re p rim a n d to 14 d is m is s a ls .
O verhauling an institutional culture
is not an overnight job. It will take a
sustained com m itm ent and relentless
vigilance over an extended period o f
time.
We have yet to reach the mountaintop,
but we have begun the climb.
A braham Lincoln, w hen he signed
the legislation creating USDA, called
it th e “ P e o p le ’s D e p a rtm e n t,”
because o f its ability to im prove the
lives o f so many di fferent A m ericans
in so many different ways.
With our vigorous civil rights agenda,
w e are beginning to live up to that
name in its fullest sense. The “People’s
D epartm ent” is starting to make good
on its obligation to serve all o f the
people.
A little over a half-century ago, I joyfully displayed on
my M arine Corps uniform the “ruptured duck” pin,
sym bolic o f an H onorable (and m ost w elcom e)
Discharge.
At the time, that uniform encased only 130 pounds o f me,
including a fat content som ew hat approxim ating that o f
the average bullw hip. O n a recent m orning, my
avoirdupois hit a new high, when 1 recorded a startling
“200” on the bathroom scale (after sucking in the locale
o f m ost o f that poundage).
The w eight gain w e’re talking about here is pure, uncut
tlab - not ju st the suet that accum ulated on a once
youthful, lithe and svelte frame, but the additional
adiposity that filled in w hen, with age, my m uscles,
bones, height and other things atrophied. (Theoretically,
I now have the same gross am ount o f blood and internal
organs as in my salad days, right?)
Getting back (and front) to the 200 pounds that currently
accom pany m e w hithersoever I go, I have sworn to shed
at least 10% o f it before the D olphins’ sum m er training
eam p begins. (No, 1 w o n ’t be trying out for the team this
year; that w as ju st a test to m ake sure y o u ’re paying
attention.)
The problem is that every w eight-loss program I’ve
investigated is tainted w ith flaws or side effects that
have prevented me from getting under “w eigh” with any
o f them.
One, I ’ m told, will m erely wring water out o f my system,
reducing my m easurem ents, but m aking me a human
version o f those dehydrated sponges that swell up like
blow fish when im m ersed in water. T his suggests that,
for the rest o f my dehydrated 1 ife, 1 w ould have to avoid
ingesting fluids, bathing and going out in the rain.
O ther plans threaten to clog my arteries, destroy m uscle
mass, mess with my metabolism and/or turn my liver into
a hockey puck. Long-range, these developm ents would
only enrich som e funeral director and lessen the burden
o f pall bearers - neither o f w hich benefit would accrue
to my favorite fat boy.
Kindly people have told m e that my problem m ight be
genetic - therefore, perhaps, unsolvable. I took refuge
in this theory at first, given the fact that neither my
parents nor their siblings ever had to await the late
afternoon sun to cast an im pressive shadow. I do,
though, have a sister w ith the sam e genes, but a
rem arkably lean profile. Ergo, no alibi there.
I ’ m somewhat concerned about the psychological impact
o f dieting on a man o f my septuagenarian vintage, who
takes alm ost obscene pleasure in scarfing up almost
every fattening food know n to man, beast o r pig farmer.
M ight the stress o f deprivation drive m e into a slough
o f despond, progressing to clinical depression and
ultimate suicide? My otherwise loving and compassionate
spouse greets this theory w ith a fit o f derisive cackling,
which I take to be reassurance that this is not a likely
danger.
After sorting through all the drugs, deprivations, devices,
dodges and dubious theories that abound in magazines,
junk mail, TV ads and cocktail party chit-chat, I’ve
discarded everything except these few unspectacular
guidelines:
1. If 1 take in few er calories than I burn up, I will lose
w eight and it w o n ’t com e back.
2. If I exercise aerobically, I will b um calories, either
torching stored fat or lean m uscle mass.
3. If I engage in strength-building exercise, that muscle
mass will be preserved and enhanced.
4.1 will not enjoy any o f these pursuits.
One more thing. I’ll have to drink a lot o f w ater - some say
a couple o f gal Ions dai ly - i n order to carry o ff any tai low
I might be shedding; alm ost all o f the rem edies for
o b e s ity m e n tio n th e n eed fo r in c re a s e d w a te r
consum ption.
I’m rem inded o f a patent m edicine, popular a num ber o f
years back, called C arter’s Little L iver Pills, tyid touted
as a m iracle laxative. Its radio com m ercial included the
adm onition to “every day, drink eight glasses o f w ater.”
Well, it turned out that those w ho drank th eeig h t glasses
o f w ater needed those little liver pills like O ld Faithful
needs an alarm clock to ensure regularity - in addition to
w hich C arter’s had no m ore affect on the liver than the
Sixth Com m andm ent has on minks. Could be? (Naah!)
So there it is: Fergie, the D uchess o f York and M onica,
the Sultana o f Sleaze notw ithstanding, 1 shall subscribe
to no short-cuts, w acko schem es or group efforts in my
cam paign to get back into the w ardrobe that lies a-
m olding in the back o f my closet. I’ll do it the hard way,
as outlined above.
If it works, w e ’ll market it as the K lockw ise Kure. If it
doesn’t, it’ll be a hot day at the South Pole before the
subject is again brought up in this space.
I am, for now, my blubber’s keeper, but - mark iny words
- not for long!
Statement from UO President Dave Frohnmayer
“ Recent news reports may have given the m istaken im pression that the
U niversity o f O regon has suddenly reconsidered its decision to jo in the
W orkers’ Rights C onsortium .
T he UO is jo in in g the W RC for one year. The university action has always
included establishing a process for internal review in cooperation with the
U niversity Senate during the next academ ic year to evaluate w hat has already
begun.
O ur conditions include ensuring proper influence for university m em bers and
m ore clarity regarding selection o f advisory board m em bers; a m em bership
balance that includes business and corporate participation; and ensuring
m eetings and outcom es are open to the m edia and non-m em ber observers.
A ny decision on w hether to renew our relationship will be m ade only after a
scheduled review and consultation with the UO Senate. W e are not looking
backw ard at this point; we are looking forw ard.”
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