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August 25, 2004
Opinion articles do not
necessarily reflect or represent the
views of The Portland Observer
O pinion
Obama’s Message Vs. Cosby’s
Opportunity expands
with government’s role
by
D edrick M
oham mad
I’d like to invite Barack
Obama and Bill Cosby
over for dinner, and listen
to them hash out their dif­
ferences about the causes
of black poverty.
In his keynote speech
at the Democratic Na­
tional Convention, the sen­
ate candidate from Illinois
had a healthy balance between public and indi­
vidual responsibility; a balance that eluded Mr.
Cosby in his tirades against African American
parents and youth.
Obama did call for holding up high expecta­
tions forourchildren, decrying “the slander that
says a black youth with a book is acting white.”
Mr. Cosby reinforced the stereotypes used
ever since enslaved Africans were first brought
to the shores of the United States, that white
Americans were more prosperous because they
worked harder and upheld better moral stan­
dards. He claimed that low-income African
Americans are not taking advantage of the
opportunities theCivil Rights movement brought
them.
When sociologist Dalton Conley analyzed
educational outcomes, he found that family net
worth, not race, was the best predictor of high
school graduation and college enrollment. At a
given level of assets, black students are actually
Letters to
slightly more likely tograduate from high school by three-quarters in the 1980s, and the majority
than white students. The drop-out rate for black of families of color have been unable to achieve
students has declined 44 percent since the as­ the American dream of homeownership.
sassination of Dr. Martin Luther King.
Direct discrimination still exists in the job
African Americans with graduate degrees market, as evidenced by recent studies. One
are two to three times more likely than whites to found that job applicants with white-sounding
engage in the rough-and-tumble world of entre­ names are 50 percent more likely to be invited
preneurship with small business start-ups.
for an interview than applicants with black­
Yet African Americans have not been re­ sounding names.
warded for all this effort. Forevery dollar of per
Another found that white applicants with
capita white income, black families had 57 cents prison records are more likely to be hired than
in 2001, up from 55 cents in 1968. The racial black applicants without a record.
•
The United States has never invested in
African-American communities in the same way it
did from the late 1930s through 1950s to create
the white suburban middle class.
%
wealth divide is even worse: the typical black
These obstacles are not African Americans’
family has less than one-tenth of the median fault. The United States has never invested in
white net worth of $120,000.
African-American communities in the same way
In the decades when white income and wealth it did from the late 1930s through 1950s to create
soared, it was not only due to hard work and the white suburban middle class.
talent. Those factors are present in every race
Barack Obama’s hopeful vision of America
and every era. It was because of public invest­ will only come to pass when African Americans
ment in a ladder of opportunity. The New Deal and all Americans focus theirenergy on improv­
and the generous post-WWII veterans' benefits ing both their own behavior and on expanding
largely excluded people of color.
society’s infrastructure of opportunity.
Affirmative action and the Great Society
Dedrick Muhammad is the Racial Wealth
programs of the 1960s and 70s helped create the Divide Coordinator at United fo r a Fair
first large black middle class. But since that time, Economy and co-author o f U FE’s report
public investment in opportunity has eroded. “The State o f the Dream: Enduring Dispari­
Federal spending on affordable housing was cut ties in Black and White. ”
Voting
Empowers
Black Citizens
Black people are continually degraded by
the dominant society because blacks placed in
"head positions” do the cause of keeping blacks
down and beaten by those within the dominant
society.
There are no logically and truthful reasons
tor James Jahar Perez and Kendra James to
have been murdered, and for the dominant
society to say the police are in their rights to
shoot unarmed persons.
Historically to keep blacks out of education,
employment and housing, the dominant society
has always found a “spokesperson” to keep
blacks “in their place.”
If blacks really want to get ahead in their
lives, they will have to get rid of “spokesper­
sons" and “leaders.” Blacks must be more
politically influential in voting toelect the proper
person for all people.
The black race is the only race of people
who’ve suddenly had “leaders” to appear to
speak for them. Malcolm X encouraged black
people to be independent.
Walter F. Morris Jr., Northeast Portland
W h e r e IS Olli* O u t i ¿Ige? Assault weapons back in business
by
M orna M urray
Gun manufacturers are eagerly
ratcheting up their military assault
weapons production lines as they
count down the final days of the 10-
year-old Federal Assault Weapons will be back in business on the mass killings: 21 killed and 19
Ban. Congress is scheduled to be in streets of America, just as our chil­ wounded at a McDonalds in San
session for a mere four days before dren are returning to school.
Ysidro, Calif, in 1984; six killed and
the ban expires on Sept. 13. Soon
The 1994 Assault Weapons Ban 14 wounded in Palm Bay, Fla. in
after, these deadly killing machines came about in response to horrific 1987; five children killed and 29
children and one teacher wounded
in Stockton, Calif, in 1989; eight
killed and 12 wounded in Louis­
ville, Ken. in 1989; two killed and
three wounded in Langley, Va.
in 1993; four killed and 16 wounded
in Waco, Texas, 1993; and eight
killed and six wounded in San Fran­
cisco in 1993.
Overall, crimes involv­
Since the ban went
ing assault weapons
into effect, child and teen
have dropped 79 per­
deaths from firearms have
cent since 1994.
dropped 50 percent. Over-
President Oeorge W.
all, gun deaths have
Bush has stated his sup­
dropped nearly 25 per­
port for the ban, saying,
cent.
“It makes no sense for
Child and teen death Morna Murray
assault weapons to be
rates from firearms had
around our society.”
increased every year from 1983 But when the U. S Senate renewed
through 1994, but have decreased the ban in March, the president
each and every year since the ban. stood idly by while the National
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Rifle Association snuffed out the
underlying bill.
There’s widespread and diverse
support for the ban, including an
overwhelming majority of citizens,
active duty and retired military fami­
lies, NASCAR fans and a clear
majority of gun owners. Every ma­
jor law enforcement organization
and nearly 900 police chiefs from
across the country support ban­
ning these military-style guns.
Assault weapons are designed
for one purpose and one purpose
only: to kill the maximum number of
human beings as quickly and effi­
ciently as possible. They are not
hunting weapons. They are not
necessary for protecting one’s
home and family.
Sounds like renewing the As­
sault Weapons Ban is a no-brainer,
doesn’t it? But even this kind of
overwhelming support can’t force
the passage of the utterly common
sense legislation that will extend
the ban. Not in this country, not
with the financial backing and power
of the NRA.
Our political will has been ma­
nipulated, subverted and hijacked
by an extraordinarily well-organized
lobbying group that contributes
millions of dollars to members of
Congress and whose message is at
best, non-representative, and at
worst-deadly.
Where is the president? Where
is the Congress? Where is our out­
rage?
Morna Murray is co-director of
Education and Youth Develop­
ment at the Children's Defense
Fund. Found on the web at
www. childrensdefense. org
To work with an advisor, e-maii studentinfo@marylhurst.edu
or call 503.699.6268
MARYLHURST UNIVERSITY
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