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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 13, 2003)
®l|e JJortlanh (©bserlier Page A4 August 13. 2003 I O pinion Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views o f The Portland Observer Thc Portland Observer E D ir o i- m - C H itr .P u iiis H o Charles H. Washington C n m n D 111 c t o r Paul Neufeldt L tu r o i Michael Leighton O m e t M a nag a a Kathy Linder usps 9 5 9 8 8 0 Established 1970 4747 NE Martin Luther King. Jr. Blvd., D is t k ik v t io h Portland. OR 97211 W 4 .» A c s H f t t r o t tea Jaymee R. Cuti Mark Washington PosruAsrea: Send address changes to Portland Observer PO Box 3 1 3 7 , Portland, OB 9 7 2 0 8 P e rio d ic a l P o tta g e paid In P o rtla n d , OR ■ S u b s crip tio n s are $ 6 0 .0 0 p a ry e a r 5 0 3 -2 8 8 0 0 3 3 • FAX5 0 3 -2 8 8 0 0 1 5 • EMAIL: neHS@porUandobserver.com subscnption@porUandQbserver.com ads@porUandobserver.com You Probably Saw It In Clir JJnrtkntb (©bseruer The Portland Observer is Oregon s Oldest and Largest Multi-Cultural Newspaper. The Portland O b serv er’s distribution o f nearly 40,000 p a p e r s e n c o m p a s s e s a w id e c r o s s - s e c tio n o f residential and state read ersh ip , as w ell as a large percen tag e o f the local b u sin ess com m unity. Become a part of our community. Read the Portland Observer News. 1 Year $60.00 Make check payable to the Portland Observer News or pay hy Visa or Master C ant ( inline subscriptions arc also avai lable at subscnptKJKKiiponlaidubbcrv sicun. Renewal $60.00 Name A ddress C ity____ State Phone Fax . Zip Code Company Name Gift subscriptions are also available for h alf price with your renewal. N am e__ A ddress City____ State Phone__ Fax _ The Portland O bserver-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 WestCoast Black Publishers Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver. Entrepreneurial Mindset Needed If It’s New or Informative, 2 Years $100.00 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 o f the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition o f such ad. © 1996 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER AI.L RIGHTS RESERVED, REPR( ADUCTION IN W HOLE ORIN PART W ITH OU T PERM ISSION IS PROHIBITED. Zip Code Joblessness gloom must not setback economic progress for adult women (5.2 percent), whites (5.5 percent), and Hispanic Americans (8.4 percent) were little changed from May. While the num ber o f whites em ployed grew, the number o f African Americans em ployed declined. Thus, here’s more evidence that the inability o f African Americans to find work is returning to the “tw ice-as-great-as-w hites” ratio that plagued Black America for most During that decade, the black middle class recorded significant gains in income and other mea sures o f economic vitality. But it was the black poor who by M arc H. M oriai made the most significant economic The federal De mark ofthe period: Theirhungerfor partment o f Labor work led them to rush to fill the has delivered the millions o f low-wage service jobs latest new s from the decade’s prosperity created at the jobs front and it the bottom o f the economic ladder- is gloomy. a "jobs rush” which drove the black The unem ploy unemployment ment rate from May rate down to an to Ju n e ju m p e d historic low o f from 6.1 percent to 7.2 percent in 1999. 6.4 percent as the economy shed an- . T h at h is other 3o,ooojobsto to ric d e c lin e add to the 200,000 - National Urban League President Marc H. Moriai in d ic a te s the lostearlierthisyear. — ——-------------------------------------------------------------- p o te n tia l The number o f Americans looking o f the past three decades. am ong A frican A m ericans for for work but unable to find it rose It would be cruel to blithely say, concentrated "w o rk ” on becom past 9 million for the first time in a “ look for the silver lining" in all this ing econom ically self-sufficient decade. As worrisome, more than hardship and misery. isn ’t lim ited to those w ho are h alf o f the unemployed have been But in the face o f this crisis o f w h ite -c o lla r p ro fe ssio n a ls, or looking for a job for longer than 12 double-digit unemployment rates, their fortunate younger brethren" weeks, a 20-year high. Now, the one can soberly and in fact, ur c ro w d in g u n d e rg ra d u a te and jobless spend an average o f nearly gently, advise African Americans- graduate business schools. 20 weeks looking for work, a 19- and the nation as a whole-to seize The issue is how best to develop year high. the opportunity to focus its ener that potential to its maximum. One H ow ever, the rep o rt’s m ost gies even more on gaining eco step is the development o f an “en alarming fact is that the increase in nomic strength. trepreneurial mindset.” In business unemployment was almost com I say “even more” because the terms, that means having the cre pletely driven by the rise in black 1990s made it clear that black Ameri ativity to figure how to build the unemployment. Itjumpedaftillper- cans o f all economic classes under proverbial better mousetrap. centage point, from 10.8 percent to stand the value o f economic self- Marc H. Moriat is president and 11.8 percent. sufficiency, the value o f work and chief executive officer o f the Na By comparison, the jobless rates the honor in working. tional Urban League. The inability o f African Americans to find work is returning to the “twice-as- great-as-whites ” ratio that plagued Black America for most oj the past three decades æ*!‘ JJo rtlan ò (î^bseriier P.O. Box 3137 Portland, O R 97208; 503.288.0033 o r Fax 503.288.0015; portlandobserver.com Tte <5000 HENS fe T here ' s FLEHTY tor -me school BEEN FAKED OUT BY Bush's Vendetta with Venezuela by FREE CHECKING? WE GAN HELP T R U L Y F R E E C H E C K IN G You may be getting duped and not know it. A lot o f banks claim M to offer free checking, then nail you w ith m onthly fees. But not Washington M utual's tru ly Free Checking account. It has no charge to talk to a teller or telephone hanker, no m onthly fee no matter what your balance, no direct deposit requirement and no FEE TS TALK TO 1 TELLE« 0 « TELEPHONE BANKER « 0 MONTHLY FEE 0 0 MATTER WRAT TOOR BALANCE NO OIOECT OEPOAIT REQOIREMENT per-check charges. T ha t’s no hidden fees, period. Reject fakcry. NO PEN-CHECK OOANCES G o to any W ashington M u tu a l Financial C enter o r call VISA* CHECK CARO W ITO 1 0 ANNIAL FEE 1-800-788-7000 and switch to tru ly Free Checking today. Washington Mutual MORt HUMAN INTEREST. FDIC IlMurcd A M ark W eisbroi The United States has always had a bad reputation for the way it treats its neighbors south o f the border. But now W ashington’s treatment ofVenezuela has been an embarrassment even by the low standards o f diplomacy that it main tains for the region. The Bush adm inistration en dorsed a military coup against the democratically elected government o f Hugo Chavez last year. T hat’s about as bad as you can get, al though it may have been worse: There were numerous meetings between Bush administration offi cials and coup leaders in the months preceding the coup. Opposition groups also received increased funding — some o f it still unac counted for — from the U.S. gov ernment prior to the coup. The major media in the United States have mostly joined our gov ernment in its hostility to Venezuela. In an editorial that was as scandal ous as the exploits ofreporter Jayson Blair, “The New York Times” also endorsed the military coup. The edi torial board issued a half-hearted retraction a few days later. But there were few American journalists who bothered to ask how the most influ ential newspaper in the world’s most influential democracy could have made the mistake o f endorsing a military coup against a democrati cally elected government. I C havez’s m ajor crime seems to Iran-Contra scandal. be that he was elected mainly by Unfortunately some ofthe same V enezuela’s poor, who previously people who were implicated in that had little voice in the corrupt politi scandal are determining U.S. policy cal system that had ruled the coun in Venezuela today, viewing their try for four decades. It appears that mission through the same distorted our government, as wel I as most o f ideological lens. Chiefamong them our foreign policy establishment, is Otto Reich, who is currently serv respects democracy only when “the ing as White House special envoy right people" win elections. for Western Hemisphere Initiatives, We have gone down this road and expresses unrelenting antago before. O ur government spent bil- nism toward Venezuela. Last month Washington cut o ff credits from ? It appears that our the U.S. Export-Import Bank to Ven ezuela, for reasons that appear to government, as well as be political rather than economic. Venezuela is a constitutional de most o f our foreign mocracy, with complete freedom o f policy establishment, the press, speech, assembly and respects democracy association. The opposition con trols the major media and their TV only when “the right news broadcasts are so partisan people” win that most people here would not recognize them asjoum alism . The elections. opposition also has about 48 per lions o f dollars and financed the cent o f the seats in the national killing o f thousands o f people — congress and controls most o f the mostly innocents— trying to over country’s wealth. throw the government o f Nicara If the reader has the impression gua in the 1980s. That government that Venezuela i s not a democracy, was democratically elected in 1984, it is mainly because our own media but it made no difference to W ash re g u la rly re p e a t o p p o sitio n ington. The result o f American ef charges - that the government is forts is a stil I devastated country— “authoritarian" or “Castro-commu 13 years after the war ended —with nist” — often without rebuttal. most Nicaraguans actually worse Mark Weishrot is co-director o f o ff than they were 40 years ago. the Center fo r Economic and The impact on our own democracy Policy Research, in Washington. was harmful as well, as it led to the D C. (www.cepr.net).
