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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 11, 2004)
B lack H istory M onth Page A 4 .W x X < -___________ F ebrua ?" 2004 O pinion Thc Portland Observer 3 E D IT O » -I N - C H I f f . P u i L I S H E » C n i Charles H. W ashington USPS 959-680 Established 1970 A 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., F F Portland, OR 97211 Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views o f The Portland Observer O ffic e M a n a K athy Linder E D I T O » M ichael Leighton D is r n iu r io s M a n M ark W ashington tr i v c D i » e c r o » Paul N eufeldt a g e » K g e f o » r e Jaym ee R. Cuti e » » P o s t m u s t e h : Send address changes to P o rtla n d O bserver PO Box 3 1 3 7 , P o rtla n d , 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 r ip tio n s a re $ 6 0 . 0 0 p e r y e a r___________ 5 0 3 2 8 8 0 0 3 3 • FAX5 0 3 -2 8 8 0 0 1 5 • EMAIL: news@Dortlandobserver.com subscriotion@Dortlandobseryer.6Qm adi&DQniandObserwLCQm JO B S? YES! 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 of 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 of such ad. © 1996 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART W ITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. The Portland Observer-Oregon's Oldest Multicultural Publication-is a member of 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. We Too Have a Dream Changing banking system to boost minority homeownership by F ranklin D. R aines , C hairman F annie M ae and C E O of Temporary, Seasonal, and Summer Aide and Technician Jobs in the areas of: . Forestry . Range . Biology . Fire . Recreation . Surveying . Engineering . Others Find these jobs at: www.usajobs.opm.gov OR www.nc.blm.gov/jobs BLM Oregon/Washington Equal Opportunity Employer TALK RADIO with W eekdays 7 :3 0 -9 am REAL PEOPLE FROM YOUR COMMUNITY R&B, SOUL & W eekdays 7 - 9 p m HIP HOP C ommunity R adio 503-231-8032 D J ! 503-231-8187 W W W .KB00.FM Advertise w ith diversity in ffl’' J jiu * tla n ò (O b s e rv e r ( all 503-288-0033 - Franklin D. Raines, chairman and chief executive officer of Fannie Mae Fannie Mae has ju st expanded our American Dream Commitment plan. U nder this plan, launched in 2000, we pledged to provide $2 trillion in housing capital for 18 m illion m i nority and underserved fam ilies by the end o f the decade. Since then, follow ing three ex traordinary years for the housing industry, we have already hit the $2 trillion mark. This is on to p o f the $ 1 trillion we provided to 10 m illion underserved fam ilies from 1994 to 2000. Now Fannie M ae is renew ing and deepening our American Dream C om m itm ent plan, starting with an em phasis on first-time homebuyers. O ver the past 10 years, the $3 trillion incom m itm ents Fannie Mae has made and met have transform ed us in to a c o m p a n y w h e re underserved fam ilies are the core o f our business and our future. Now that we have the capital, the tools and a wide range o f com m itted hous ing partners, Fannie M ae is push ing to do m ore with bold ideas and big plans to really m ove the m inor ity hom eow nership rate. At Fannie Mae, we have a dream too - that all A m ericans will have equal access to the American Dream o f hom eow nership. By striving for our dream , we can help to achieve Dr. K ing’s as well. Janet’s Halftime Show: Get Over it by A sk D eanna ! N ationally S yndicated A dvice C olumnist O kay— h ere’s the skinny. Janet Jack so n ’s boob was rigged to pop out on national television. The re sult, the television world and those co n tro llin g the buttons and the program s go crazy. G et o ver it. Y o u ’ve been "punked" although A shton K utcher has retired. Only this tim e, it’s a black w om an you see in stead o f the trash y , h alf d re sse d , b re a st im p lan t w h ite w om en y o u 're used to seeing on the tube. The gross num bers o f people calling it an invasion o f the family aren ’t fooling anyone. The same parents w ho claim they had chil dren w atching are the same parents with kids that have seen it all. Yes, these children have seen every thing on M TV and BET in the form o f a music video. You nam e it, the children have seen it. The drop it like it’s hot, booty shaking but, cheeks, and breasts ready to ex plode from a dental floss top. Y eah— I laughed because peek- a-boo— Jan et Jackson got you! Perfect m arketing— why not pull a stunt when you have the largest audience ever. I, worked. H er super bowl incident got m ore hits on the w eb in the history o f the Internet. She even got more hits and searches than the 911 T errorist A ttacks. So why is the netw ork and ev erybody else m ad? T h ey ’re mad because Jane, Jackson got a free com m ercial that rocked the world for days and she d id n 't have to pay $2.1 m illion dollars for it. N obody rem em bers the C hevy com m ercial with the yellow car, the beer co m mercial with the donkey; they barely even rem em ber the game. Pure g e nius. Jane, Jackson did in about 5 seconds what the com m ercial in dustry co uldn’t do in 30 seconds. W ith this said— where is Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton with the support and opportunity to play the race card like they alw ays do? This is truly a race thing. As many "National G eographic" show s that show naked black w om en and the cruelty to black w om en show n on "Roots" tells us one thing. It’s okay for the w hite-controlled m edia net w orks to depict black w om en as naked, black whores, sluts and sexu- ally insatiable objects, but when the black w om an takes advantage o f the w hite netw ork and does it herself, they cry wolf. Jesse and Al, are you on the line? Y ou m ean to tell m e th at it’s o kay fo r the B ible to tin g m ed ia to show tw o w om en kissing, B ritney and M ad o n n a and p lay it o v er and o v er again w ith no n ational co m p lain t. It’s o kay fo r D rew B arry m o re to ju m p on top o f a desk on the D avid L etterm an Show and pull up h er top and reveal nak ed b reasts and no co m p lain ts. B ack to Jesse and Al. W here is Jesse Jackson— it’s a perfect opportunity to chase an am bulance. A nd w here’s A l? T hen again, Jesse and Al w on’t touch this with a 10-foot pole after their ow n drama. You know . The Reverend w ent half on a baby and A l— well the 40-day hunger strike. Very am azing considering I had lunch with Al and the las, cheese stick on the table d id n 't stand a chance. Janet cam e, Janet saw, the boob w ent— get over it and keep it m ov ing. (Süditan Help Make Our Kids into Readers O ffice : the Fannie Mae will create six million first-tim e hom eow ners - including 1.8 m illion m inority hom eow ners - over the next 10 years and help boost the m inority hom eow nership rate to 55 percent. But we are not satisfied stopping there; ultim ately our goal is to erase the racial gap in hom eow nership. The Harvard Joint C enter for H ousing Studies has projected that it w ould take unti 1 the year 2020 for the m inority hom eow nership rate to reach 54.4 pet cent. W e are going take it farther six years earlier. Ultimately our goal is to erase the racial gap in homeownership. better dJa JAZZ, AFR0TAINMENT, HIP HOP & MORE S aturdays 4-1 1 p m C all In 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “H alf o f all Negroes live in substandard housing. And Negroes have half the income o f whites.” Today - o n the 50th anniversary o f the B rown v. B oard o f E duca tion decision that marked the b e ginning o f the end o f racial apart heid in A m erica - m inority A m eri cans still have not achieved parity in housing or wealth. Dr. King argued that poverty had to be abolished first before there could be parity in housing. And o f course, to a great extent he is correct— fam ilies need a decent income and some money in the bank to get a m ortgage. B ut w e at F an n ie M ae, the nation’s largest source o f hom e m ortgage funds, also stand for the converse proposition: If we can bend the housing finance system to transform the poor into hom e p u r c h a s e r s , i f w e ca n h e lp underserved fam ilies apply the in com e and savings they do have, then we can get more minority fam i lies into hom es - and they can start to build equity w ealth. T oday, w h ile th e U .S . hom eow nership rate has reached an all-tim e high o f 68 percent, and 75 percent for w hite A m ericans, only 49 percent o f m inorities own their homes. If there were racial parity in hom eow nership, w e cal culate that three m illion m ore A fri can-A m erican fam ilies w ould own their hom es - and w ould have $760 billion more in hom e equity wealth. For exam ple, a $ 100,000 hom e pur chased in 1990 that appreciated the national average o f 4-5 percent per year would now be worth $ 172,000 - yielding a $72,000 gain in equity wealth, tax free. T o do our part to close the racial gaps in homeownership and wealth. ads@ portlandobseivcr.com W ith the failure o f M easure 30, schools are once again facing the prospect o f shortened school years and larger class sizes. T he state continues to struggle with how to provide adequate care for our chil dren. W e c a n 't afford to wait to find solutions. A 2002 U.S. D epartm ent o f Education study show ed that nearly half o f O regon fourth grad ers from low-income families lacked even basic reading skills. E duca tion cutbacks w o n ', im prove these s ta tis tic s . M o re th a n e v e r, O regon’s children need our sup port to succeed. It is easy to feel frustrated with the uncertainty and challenges fac ing O reg o n ’s schools. It can seem like th e re 's nothing we can do. Bu, there are som e pow erful w ays for us to impact the lives o f children and the future o f our com m unities. By g e ttin g in v o lv e d in o u r schools through nonprofit volun teer program s like SM A R T (Star, M aking A Reader Today), indi vidual O regonians can bring en ergy, com m itm ent and resources to schools throughout the state right now. G et engaged. Take the tim e to visit a school in your com m unity and consider reading with children for an hour a week. We do no, have ,o stand by. Each o f us can invest in our state's future, one child at a time. Steve Stadum, O regon C hildren's Foundation, 503-937-4800.
