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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 2003)
Page A4 ®t|c Çortlanh (fibserüer May 07. 2003 O pinion The Portland O bserver Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views o f The Portland Observer E o i r o t -i n -C H ie r , P u i l i s Charles H. Washington h c v __________ USPS 959-680_________ C • l .< T I £ D I I t c r o i Paul Neufeldt C ru rm Michael Leighton Established 1970 O r r i c t M . n a c Kathy Linder The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. All created design display ads become the sole property o f the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or personal usage without the written consent of the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition o f such ad. © 1996 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. e » 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., D U T IIW T IO V Portland, OR 97211 A s s o c n r e E a t TO K Wynde Dyer M 4 \ 4 6 t « Mark Washington The Portland Observer—Oregon's Oldest Multicultural Publication—is a member o f the National Newspaper Association—Founded in 1885, and The National Advertising Repre sentative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc, New York, NY, and The West Coast Black Publishers Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver. PosTMAtTt»: Send address changes to P o rtla n d Observer P 0 Bos 3 1 3 7 , Portland, OR 9 7 2 0 8 P e r io d ic a l P o s ta g e p a id In P o r tla n d , OR i S u b s c rip tio n s are $ 6 0 .0 0 p e r y e a r Remembering Cesar Bernice Powell Jackson W arrior for ju stice proved that in unity there is pow er by B ernice P owell J ackson The son o f a poor farm w orker and general store ow ner, C esar C havez was a w arrior for justice, bom in Arizona in 1927. W hen his family lost their land during the D epression, he was forced to quit school and work in the fields. In the early 1960’s, he and his w ife and eight children m oved to California, w here he dedi cated his life to organizing farm w orkers, w(jo lived in dingy, overcrow ded quarters without electricity, bathroom s or running water. In his lifetim e he never ow ned a house or earned more than $6,000 a year. But when he died in 1993, 40,000 people m arched behind his casket. C esar C havez’s life was an inspiration to a w hole generation o f farm w orkers— men and w om en, som e even today living very closely to slavery. In helping to found the U nited Farm W orkers o f Americh, Chavez show ed that in unity there is pow er, even for the pow erless. For his organizing work, for his voter registra tion work, for his repeated jailings because o f this work and for his fearless and yet non violent approach to those w ho threatened him, C havez is rem em bered as a human rights advo cate and a m an o f justice and peace. But to do honor to this great man, it is not enough to recall his m anner or his accom plish m ents or his faith or his dedication to the poorest o f the poor. It is not enough to lift up his name as one o f the prophets sent to rem ind the w ealthiest nation in the world o f the plight o f those w ho w ork so that we m ight be fed. Bel I and others, are paid 40 cents for fi 1 ling a 32 pound bucket. Like the migrant farm w orkers w ho pick cucum bers for Mt. O live pickles in N orth C arolina, they have not had a pay raise in three decades. W hen they finish paying for their lodging, for the transportation and for the food which they receive (conveniently) from the nearby little grocery stores m ostly ow ned by their overseers, there is little or no m oney left over. If they try to run aw ay they are beaten and som etim es worse. Girls and w om en som etim es find them selves sold into lives o f prostitution by the sam e overseers. M eanwhile, the large cor porations— the citrus com panies, the food in dustries w hich use tom atoes and cucum bers for their foods— purchase w hat they need from these grow ers while w inking at these skirtings ofthe law and proclaiming theirow n innocence. C esar C havez was a fine man and a great A m erican w ho forced this nation to look at how we treated farm workers. Many o f us— people o f faith, people o f conscience, people who recognized injustice when we saw it— responded by not buying table grapes then. The spirit o f C esar C havez lives on and forces us to look at the below -poverty wages, the unsafe w orking conditions o f those picking pesticide-laden fruit, the unsanitary, sub-sub standard living condi tions and the involuntary servitude that thou sands o f farm w orkers face today. W ill we respond to this injustice now? Cesar Chavez was a fine man and a great American who forced this nation to look at how we treated farm workers. -Bernice Powell Jackson Rather, C esar C havez w ould w ant us to work for justice ourselves. C esar Chavez would w ant us to jo in the farm w orkers’ struggles against Mt. O live pickles and against Taco Bell and the grow ers who supply these large com pa nies. The farm w orkers w ho live in the little town o f Im m okalee not far from Ft. Myers, Fla. and w ho pick tom atoes which then are sold to Taco Bernice Powell Jackson is the executive minister fo r the United Church o f Christ Justice and Witness Ministries. Support Programs Should Help, Not Penalize by J ohn L ewis W hat do g ran d p aren ts raising ch ild ren , fo ster p aren ts, and single fathers have in com m o n ? T hey are the new est targ ets in the Bush a d m in istra tio n ’s w ar on the w orking poor. I f th e Internal R evenue S ervice gets its w ay, by 2006 m any low -incom e O regon fam i lies w ill have to provide exhaustive d o cum en tation b efo re they can claim the E arned In com e C red it w hen filing th eir tax returns. M ost EIC claim s com e from tw o -p aren t fam ilies or sin g le m others. A bout a third com es from g ran d p aren ts o r o th e r relativ es carin g for related ch ild ren , fo ster paren ts, step p aren ts or sin g le fathers. T he 1RS d e te r m ined th is second g ro u p is at high risk for erro n e o u sly claim in g the credit. L ater this year, 4 5,000 o f these “high risk ” fam ilies nationw ide w ill have to provide a d d i tional docum entation to the 1RS before they can receive the EIC. T he list o f a ccep tab le d o cu m en ts is m ore re stric tiv e than for any o th e r federal program that assists the poor. W ork-support program s should help people, not penalize them for applying. The IR S’s plan adds layers to the already com plex process o f claim ing the EIC. It will “succeed” by driving eligible fam ilies aw ay from the credit. C ertainly, only those who are eligible for the credit should receive it and the 1RS has proce dures for exam ining returns and tracking dow n errors. The 1RS exam ines about tw o percent o f EIC returns each year, about tw ice the rate they exam ine all returns. If the adm inistration’s “pre-certification"program is fully implemented almost one in three EIC recipients will be required to undergo w hat is essentially an audit before they have even subm itted their tax re turns. Imagine if a third o f all taxpayers were requ ired to “pre-certify” their m ortgage interest deduction, their m edical expenses, or their IRA contributions. Politically such a proposal would never fly; the outrage would be trem endous. So should it be w ith this proposal aimqd at the w orking poor. John Lewis is with the Oregon Center fo r Public Policy, a group working to improve the economic and social prospects o f low- and moderate income Oregonians, the ma jority o f Oregonians. [ 3 mtp:ZiMHMtM^}or1l«ndob*e rv e r.c o m / 11,1 ^Jnrtlani» (¡Observer EJ* Et» ïl e w Favor le s ... J Tools j Make Health Care a Civil Right E very A m erican should have m edical coverage U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cum m ings, D-Md., chair o fth e Congressional Black Caucus, joined hundreds o f participants last week at a rally for universal health care. The rally was spearheaded by the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional H ispanic Cau cus, the Congressional Native American Caucus and the Congressional Asian Paci ftc American Caucus and is the culmination of the celebration o f Minority Health Month. A ccording to a report from the K aiser Family Foundation,44 million Americans are uninsured. A ccording to the C ensus Bureau, o f those uninsured, 12.4 m illion are H ispanic, 6.8 m illion are A frican- A m erican and 2.3 m illion are o f Asian Pacific Islander descent. T hism eansover h a lfo fth e uninsured are from racial and ethnic minorities. The United States is the only industrial ized country that does not have a health insurance program for everyone. A ccord ing to the W orld Health Organization, the U. S. spends m ore on health care than any other country in the w orld, but ranks 37,h am ong the 191 m em ber states in health care perform ance. C uba ranks 39th and France is num ber one. “ It is time to make health care a ci vil right for all A m ericans,” said C um m ings. Un less human rights are transformed into civil rights protected by law, they are not guar anteed rig h ts’ at all. That is the hard lesson that Americans o f color have learned from our experience with this nation's health care system . And that is the sam e hard esson that m any, many other A m ericans are learning today.’’ The Congressional BlackCaucus has made guaranteeing universal health care for every American its number one health care legisla tive priority for the 108th Congress. U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-M ich., the dean o f the CBC, has sponsored H R. 676, the United States National Health Insurance Act. M icrosoft In te rn e t Explorer J jS e a c h jU F e v o rte s ¿ /M e d a J oh’ J 3 J O O fi 4 |<J] http/Avw w porHondobservet com o„ Web w w w .p o r t l a n d o b s e r v e r .c o m Volume XXXH, 7] Number ?1 (Elje |J o rtla n h (D h s m u r Top Sto lies Adam» High Aw»tt« Wrecking Bell Metro The Portland School District has proclaimed that there will be a new Whitaker Middle School to replace the empty and former Adams High School at 5700 N E 39th Ave Of course the new building will look very different and will bring new housing with it — something that makes nearby existing neighbors a little nervous Health Opinión Pollce/Vancoirver Religión Observador General News (Tiir ^lurtbuih OOhsmicr needs o f our readers and advertisers by going online. reach more people with banner ads call 503 288.0033 With the capability o f the Internet, the Portland Keeping a C lo s. Eye On Crim . Despite program cuts and budget shortfalls, reluming Northeast Police Precinct Commander Bruce Prunk is positive the Observer now reaches a broader audience, and thus community he calls home will continue Io m ake slndes sets your business in front o f a new generation. Spraying Makes Progress in Mosquito Fight Take a sigh of relief Multnomah County health officials are reporting success in the fight to nd your backyard of mosquitoes 33 fr rtlaiib ODbsertier From border to border, from coast to coast here are some of the top stones making news across the United States and from reach more people with banner ads call 503.288.0033 around the world ¡ST t I L r ts » n Top Stories Focos world, The Portland Observer endeavors to meet the ^>O o June 19. ?0D> Sports As it quickly becomes more and more an electronic B Help <0 Irtemel I I
