September I. 2004
Page A4
Opinion articles do not
necessarily reflect or represent the
views o f The Portland O bserver
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Our
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We must end
America’s
divisions
Sen.
Jo h n March fo r Jobs and Freedom.
Dr. K in g 's “ I Have a Dream”
K e rry released
the f o llo w in g speech firm ly established the vis
statement in ob ib ility in this nation o f the injustices
servance o f the faced by too many A frica n A m e ri
4 1'1 Anniversary cans in the south.
Soon after the March on Wash
o f the M a rch on
Washington and ington and Dr. K in g ’ s speech. C on
M a r tin L u th e r gress passed the C iv il Rights A ct
King, Jr. 's celebrated “ I Have A o f 1964. But. as Dr. K ing told us, the
C iv il Rights A c t was “ only the be
Dream " speech:
Forty-one years ago, on Aug. g inning o f a new day...not the end
28,1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. o f a jo u rn e y ." The next step in our
led over 250,000 peaceful protest journey must be to remove the bar
ors to the L incoln M em orial on a riers that keep us from d rin kin g at
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’ A va ila b le in an o nline fo rm a t
the same fountain o f opportunity.
O ur work is not yet done when
many o f our kids are not receiving a
quality education; when 44 m illio n
Americans don’ t have health insur
ance and people o f color are signifi
cantly more likely to suffer and die
from diseases likecancer, AID S and
diabetes; when A frican American
unem ploym ent continues to be
double that o f whites; when right-
w ing judges are turning back the
clock.eroding many o fth e civil rights
gains o f the past 40 years; and when
some in Washington are sowing new
seeds o f division, not unity.
John Edwards and I believe that
we can do better. O ur jo b is to end
the d ivisio n between the fortunate
A m e ric a and the fo rg o tte n
Am erica. We must come together
to build one Am erica. A nd we must
carry the words o f Dr. K ing in our
hearts, w ho proclaim ed on the steps
o f the L incoln M em orial, “ I have a
dream that one day this nation w ill
rise up and live out the true mean
ing o f its creed: ‘W e hold these
truths to be self-evident: that all
men are created e q u a l."’
FALL TERM STARTS SEPTEMBER 2 3 ™ .
African Americans and the Economy: Time for a Change
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or call 5 0 3 .6 9 9 .6 2 6 8 .
Prosperity has
not returned
A US
News & World Report BEST C O L L E G E S 2 0 0 4
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MARYLHURST UNIVERSITY
by D r . E dw ard M ontgomery
Weak jo b grow th and rising in
flation have caused analysts and
p u n d its to w o n d e r abo u t the
strength o f oureconomy. The much-
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Serving students since 18 93.
touted Bush recovery seems to
have left the p u b lu f still anxious
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about their future economic pros
pects and Republicans scrambling
to explain w hy their policies really
aren’ t w orking.
African Americans know that this
economy is sim ply not delivering
the bacon fo r them. Indeed, a recent
National Urban League report in d i
cated that this is the worst turn
about in the labor market fo r A f r i
can Americans in 25 years. W ith
the poverty rate increasing each
year since President ftush took o f
know that our little rebate checks
had not really helped us get a leg
up.
W h ile the A fric a n -A m e ric a n
com m unity has been through some
tough economic times, it is striking
that you have to go all the way back
to Herbert Hoover and the Great
Depression to fin d a president w ith
a worst record in creating jobs than
George Bush. N ow the R epubli
African Americans know that
this economy is simply not
delivering the bacon for them.
fice, did we really need experts to
tell us something was wrong?
W ith an unem ploym ent rate fo r
A frican-A m ericans stuck at 10.9
percent, we know that prosperity
has not returned. E very tim e we go
to the gas station, the doctor’ s o f
fice or look in our pay packet, we
know in tu itiv e ly that we are not
keeping up, even before the Bureau
o f Labor Statistics confirm ed that
w hile wages have increased on
average 1.9 percent over the past
year prices have risen 3 percent.
A nd w hile the Congressional Bud
get O ffic e ju st documented that
under the Bush tax cuts the w ealthi
est Am ericans are paying a smaller
share o f federal taxes w h ile the
m iddle class is paying more, we all
cans have been telling us that things
are turning around but this remains
the weakest economic recovery in
50 years.
M aking the situation even worse
is the fact that this weak recovery
and the President's tax cuts have
put the squeeze on the budgets o f
our states and cities. T his in turn
has translated in to higher local
taxes and cuts in vital local pro
grams and services. H ow many o f
us w ould say our schools are bet
ter, our streets are safer, jobs are
more plentiful and pay better, health
care is more affordable, our faith in
Social Security is stronger or that
we are less in debt than when B ill
C lin to n left office?
N ow to be fair, President Bush is
not to blame fo r all o f the w oeful
economic times that the country in
general, and the A frican-A m erican
com m unity is particular, is experi
encing. But he is responsible fo r
the cuts in programs to help pro
vide training fo r inner-city youth
and m in o rity business de ve lop
ment. He, and the Republican con
tro lle d Congress, are responsible
for the fact that while minim um wage
Dr. Edward
Montgomery
workers ca n 't get a raise, big corpo
rations continue to enjoy tax breaks
when they send our jobs overseas.
He is responsible fo r trying to e lim i-
nate funds fo r drop-out prevention
programs and cutting funds fo r the
Perkins loan program that makes
college affordable to many o f our
children. And. President Bush is
responsible fo r turning trillio n d o l
lar budget surpluses into trillio n
dollar deficits endangering our a b il
ity to preserve Social Security. W ith
a record o f economic responsibility
like that, the question is not do we
want to give him another fo u r years
but can we afford to!
D r. E d M ontgom ery is Dean o f
B ehavioral and Social Sciences at
the U niversity o f M aryland.
Forgetting From Where They Came
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Thomas, Bush tell
audiences what
they want to hear
by
J udge G reg M athis
W ebster's D ictio n a ry defines
the word "b e tray" as a verb mean
ing. “ to be u n faithful o r disloyal
to .” R ecent re p o rts note that
Clarence Thomas and George W.
Bush have been disloyal to the
very programs by w hich they re
ceived their lauded Ivy League
educations. Bush has jo in e d T h o
mas. a long tim e opponent o f A f f ir
mative A ctio n programs, in giving
lip service to dism antling the pro
grams that helped to launch him
into national prominence. Where
Thom as lambastes A ffirm a tiv e
A ction. Bush, partaking in election
year back peddling, has taken to
Gr
at am
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c ritic iz in g legacy admissions (a
practice o f a d m ittin g w e ll-c o n
nected and/or wealthy students to
college based upon w ho they know
or are related to).
It is curious that both Bush and
Thomas. a n ti-” big governm ent"
conservatives are so q uick to call
fo r government action to rid co l
leges o f select admissions proce
dures. Whereas one can conclude
that Thomas is honest, i f not grossly
out o f line, in his zeal to eradicate
A ffir m a tiv e A c tio n program s,
George Bush's m otivations are a
little murkier. The Detroit Free Press
reports that President Bush gave
his "anti legacy" remarks during a
“ U nity: Journalists o f C o lo r con
vention.” He did not express this
sentiment to a largely w hite and
wealthy audience. Rather, he told a
gathering o f A frica n Am erican,
Latino and Native American jo u r
nalists what he thought they would
want to hear.
Regardless o f the m otivation -
whether it be conservative self-hate
o r attempted p o litica l gain - the
p o in t rem ains that the highest
elected o ffic ia l in the United States
and a Supreme Court Justice are
closing the door on the admissions
systems w hich benefited them.
I was in the courtroom during the
attempt on the life o f the A ffirm a
tive A ction program at the U n ive r
sity o f M ichigan. For someone like
Clarence Thomas, w ho owes all o f
his academ ic and professional
achievements to A ffirm a tiv e A c
tion, to criticize the program and
reject it as a means o f liftin g up
students o f color, specifically A f r i
can-American students (like h im ) is
beyond insincere. George W. Bush,
a self-adm itted legacy admission to
Yale, owes all o f his academic and
professional life to the power o f
legacy and connections in and out
o f the classroom. Had his father not
attended Yale, I doubt he w ould
have been admitted.
H ow q u ic k ly and e asily T h o
mas and Bush fo rg e t fro m where
they come. W ith o u t the b e n e fit
o fth e ir respective program s, n e i
ther man w o u ld be where they are
in life . T h e ir w illin g n e s s to shut
the d o o r they passed through to
reach th e ir success goes a long
way in d e fin in g the type o f men
they are. I f they are so w illin g to
d e s tro y th a t w h ic h b e n e fite d
them , how can they be trusted to
protect that w h ich benefits som e
one else?