PascA‘l________________________________________ J J o r t l a n ì » ( D b s e m e r ________________________________________ m « 2,2004
O pinion
Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or
represent the views of The Portland Observer
Florida’s flawed List of Felons
B y D onna B razii . e
Three and a half years after the
State o f Florida issued an error-
riddled list o f felons
that kept thousands
of eligible citizens
from voting, the eli­
g ib ility o f th o u ­
sands o f those vot­
ers still hasn’t been
restored.
It’s u n co n scio ­
nable that nearly four
years after the de­
bacle in Florida and
th o u san d s o f d e ­
serving voters were
prohibited from casting a ballot that
the state still hasn’t corrected the
wrongs o f 2(XX).
I call on Governor Jeb Bush to
direct his Division of Elections to
immediately begin a process to verify
every single name contained on its
2000 and 2004 felons lists or to pro­
hibit counties from using the lists.
We know that in 2(XX) former Sec­
retary o f State Katharine Harris and
the Division of Elections provided
Florida’s 67 counties with a seri­
ously flawed list. There is no ex­
cuse for Jeb Bush to remain silent
w h ile ev e n on e
Florida voter runs the
risk o f losing his or
her vote because of
benign neglect.
B ecause reform
measures simply do
not match the recom­
mendations set forth
by such bi-partisan
g ro u p s
as
the
N A A C P an d the
United States Com ­
m issio n on C iv il
Rights, an untold number o f U.S,
citizens will lose their voices in the
upcoming election. How many more
innocent American citizens will be
denied their right to vote before
Florida, and the entire United States
electoral process, is truly reformed?
Donna Brazile is chair o f the
Democratic National Committee's
Voting Bights Institute. She was
campaign manager fo r Al Gore in
the 2000 Presidential Election.
Tearing Down the Prison Is Not Enough
Administration must tear down its assumptions, too
B y R ev . J esse L. J ackson
in this case, a text based on a
p r e te x t le a v e s
A m erica w ith a
false context.
T he
Bush
A dm inistration’s
plan to tran sfe r
symbolic power on
June 30th has more
to do with this fall’s
elec tio n than it
does with the state
o f re a d in e ss to
govern in Iraq. Just Rev. Jesse L
as the timetable to
hype the need for a war with Iraq
was based more on the fall 2002
election schedule than it was on the
supposed imminent danger we were
facing from weapons of mass de­
struction, now we are supposed to
The P resident spoke on Iraq
again and once again failed to
connect his policy with the real­
ity on the ground. He announced
that the A bu G hraib prison will
ev en tu ally be torn dow n, but
neglected to tear down the incor­
rect assum ptions that have m is­
g u id ed his in te rv e n tio n there
from the beginning.
This was a war based on false­
hoods and misdirection; until that
is confessed, there will be no salva­
tion. And the President continued
to mislead, referring to “terrorism”
in almost every paragraph, trying
to cover the shame of Abu Ghraib
with the cloak o f 9 / 11.
I have often said that a text
w ithout a context is a pretext; but
believe that Iraq will be prepared to
govern itself July 1—
with the help o f our
1 3 8 ,0 0 0 tro o p s, o f
co u rse . T his strain s
logic.
President Bush now
belatedly asks for inter­
national help to get us
out o f the hole he has
dug us into, the same
help his m inions so
loudly spumed going in.
Jackson Our historic allies are
demanding seats at the
reconstruction table and partner­
ships in redevelopment; we need
their help, and we should not now
spurn their offers and conditions
for that help.
The truth is, to get full interna­
**AII classes are free of charge!
African American Health Coalition, Inc.
tional cooperation, America will
need to change leadership and
direction. This Administration has
turned worldwide sympathy into
worldwide mistrust, uniting the
world against U.S. intervention.
G eorge W. Bush is still trying
to fit a square peg into a round
hole. Even Secretary Powell has
now adm itted that we w ent into
Iraq on flawed information. Until
our leaders alter the false as­
su m p tio n s u n d er w hich they
w ent to w ar, this tragedy will
co n tin u e.
One m ore point: the President
attem pted to lay the blam e for
Abu G hraib on “a few A m erican
troops who dishonored our coun­
try and disregarded our values.”
T h at’s a sham and a scam. The
A newly formed coalition of
African American pastors against
same-sex marriage, recently held a
rally in Arlington, Texas calling for
Wellness W ith in REACH Activity Calendar
Aerobics
Mallory Ave. Christian Church
Kickboxing
Humboldt Elementary
Mon, Wed, Fri, 6-7am, Pierce • 5:30-6:20pm,
Granville ■ 6:30-7:30pm, Nickerson
Tue, Thu, 6-7pm, Keller
Low Im pact Aerobics
Daniel’s Mem orial Church
ity; no one has been fired; no one
has even been reprim anded. In­
stead, the P resident is trying to
dum p this scandal o ff onto our
low -ranking troops. And he ig ­
nores the crucial fact— it is “p re­
This was a war based on falsehoods
and misdirection; until that is confessed,
there will be no salvation
«
cover-up o f the prisoner abuse em ptive w ar” w hich dishonored
was know n to his office, the P en­ our country and disregarded our
tagon, and top m em bers o f his values.
staff for weeks and m onths before
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson is a long
it finally leaked out to the public. time civil rights leaderandfounder
But no one has taken responsibil- o f the Rainbow Coalition.
A Civil Rights Movement of Our Time
B y J asmyne C annick
Presents for your health,
attem pt to evade the G eneva C o n ­
ventions was crafted in his own
office by his ow n law yer; the
“ to u g h g u y ” a p p r o a c h w as
pressed hard from the highest lev­
els o f his A dm inistration; and the
transgender African American were
slavesjust like heterosexual African
Americans were.
Slavery was not based on on e’s
sexual orientation; it was based on
the color o f one’s skin and that also
included black gays and lesbians.
ment. But I also think it's important
to remember that Bayard Rustin, an
African-American gay man, was an
instrumental part of the very civil
rights movement that these black
pastors are trying to say gays and
lesbians have had no part of. How
Slavery was not based on one’s sexual
orientation; it was based on the color o f
one s skin and that also included black
gays and lesbians.
Pilates (Contact AAH C)
M att Dishman
Tue, 8-9pm
Tue, 7 :15-8; 15pm, Granville
Stretching/Body Sculpting
W a te r Aerobics (Contact AAHC)
Columbia Pool, M att Dishman,
Salvation A rm y
African Dance
M att Dishman
(Class courtesy o f Mott Dishman)
M att Dishman
Jasm yne Cannick
Tue, Thu, 7-8am, Lois
Tai Chi (Contact AAHC)
S t John’s Comunity Center
Tue, 6:30-7:30pm
Sat, 10-1 lam, Addo
Body Conditioning
tty
W ild Oats M arket
W a lking Group
Peninsula
Sat, 9:30-10:30am, Nickerson
Sat 12:30pm • l ^ ^ J ^ J J J h W o o d s
ChicagoStep
M att Dishman
W eight Mgnt./Conditioning
U. of Portland Indoor Track
Fri, 6:30pm, Kendrick
Tue, Thu, 9 -1 Oam, Hasan
J
&
a constitutional amendment ban­
ning same-sex unions. The Not on
My Watch Coalition issued state­
ments contrasting the civil rights
movement with the gay rights
movement and citing that “homo­
sexuals” were not slaves like blacks
were.
G ay, lesbian, bisexual and
Letter to the Editor
Yoga
W ild Oats M arket - Tue, Thu, 7:30-8:30pm, O'Rourke
Columbia Pod, 7701 N Chautaqua
Peninsula Park, 700 N Portland
Daniel’s Memonal Church, 1234 NE Killmgsworth
Salvation Army, S32S N Williams
Humboldt Elementary. 491S N Gantenbein
St John’s Community Center. 8427 N. Central
Malory Ave Qtrenan Chunh (Gym). 126 NE Alberta
II. of Portland Indoor Track. S00 N Willamette
Matt Dishman. 77 NE Knott
Wild Oats Market 3535 NE 15th
“ Must be 21 or older to participate. Please contact AAHC before showing up to the first class and lor
more information at 503-4I3-I8S 0 or kdempsey@aahc-portland.org. Please receive approval from your
doctor before beginning exercise class.
R acial and Ethnic A p p ro a c h « * to C om m u nity H a a lth
A Program of me African American Haalfti Coalition. Inc.
Sponaored by me Center, lor OriresM Control and Prevention (COC)
Contact AAHC at 5O 3-4I3-I85O or visit our web site at w w w jahc-portbnd.org
These types o f groups seem to al­ is that for irony?
ways fail to acknowledge that there
I think the time is now for black
are African-American gay and les­ g ay , le sb ia n b ise x u a l and
bian couples advocating for the right transgendered persons to stand up
to marry.
in the churches that preach anti­
African Americans do not own gay m essages. U nless we do,
the civil rights movement. For many groups like this are going to con­
people my age (26), the same- sex tinue to believe that we don’t exist,
marriage movement is the civil rights especially in church.
movement of our time because we
Jasmyne Cannick represents the
were not around in the 60s. Nobody National Black Justice Coalition
is try ing to steal the civil rights move­ and is from Los Angeles.
Do the Math
Okay, another police shooting,
another killing.
Chief Foxworth points out yes,
but hey— we separated them be­
fore they could go to Applebee’s
and compare notes. We really are
trying. We had detectives inter­
view the officers in a shorter time
frame (less than 24 hours). W e’re
getting some of those (89 is it?)
rules activated that came down on
us last year from the Police As­
sessment Resource Center. Hey-
be patient, let the process work—
w e’re trying. We even had an in­
quest this time.
The logic seems to be that with
every unprovoked killing o f a per­
son of color, the police bureau will
right a few wrongs that should have
never taken place at all. In the past
few weeks, the cover of “just a rou­
tine traffic stop" has been revealed
to be an excuse. It now even has a
name: it's a “pretext stop.”
Listen up white folks who actu­
ally believe that if youjust follow the
rules the cops w on’t kill you. See,
they admitted that they d id n 't really
care if you didn ’ t come to a complete
stop (Kendra Jam es' life) or failed to
signal properly (James Perez's life).
What they cared about was: you
might be somehow connected to
drugs. It was, “let’s go give a look-
see, and hey if we kill you in the
process-w ell, too bad.” It’s the
“livability” of the neighborhood
that’s at stake, remember.
I n 1 ight of the P A RC recommen­
dations, if two wrongs were righted
after the Kendra James killing and
two wrongs were righted after the
James Jahar Perez ki 11 i ng, there are
just 85 recommendations to go. And
you wonder why the undercurrent
in the city now is one of “bum baby
bum ?”
-L in d a Kanzinger
Northeast Portland