Page Ab______________________________________________ ^ o r t l a n ù ( © b s e r u e r ______________________________________________ March 2 ,200s Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views o f The Portland Observer O pinion Hate Crimes Are Not Going Away Studies and stories underscore more work to be done M arc H. M orial Y ou may recal 1 that 2(X)4 and 2005 mark the 40th anniversary of tw o o f the greatest monuments to American ideals of dem oc racy. the Civil Rights Act o f 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Yet, in recent weeks several policy studies and news stories have underscored how far from the promised land of equal opportunity Ameri can society remains. For example, statistics compi led by the FBI indicate that racial bigotry was the cause of more than half of the nearly 7,500 hate crimes reported to the agency in 2003, and that the 2,500 acts of bigotry against African Americans were far greater than the number against any other racial group. The year’s totals, which were slightly above 2002 figures, are largely comprised by o f acts of intimidation, vandalism and destruc tion o f property. But they also include a total o f 14 murders, more than 2,700 assaults and 400 robber ies, burglaries and thefts, and 34 incidents of arson. The federal documents shows that crimes catego rized as anti-Islamic re mained at about the same ------------------ level as in 2002 -149, although some ques tion whether these crimes are significantly under-reported. By far, most of the hate crimes motivated by religious bias were against Jews - the 927 incidents were about the same as in 2002. Spokesmen for civil rights groups said the figures show a need for stronger fed eral laws against hate crimes as well as increased Justice Department assistance to local law enforcement agencies to pros ecute such crimes. Such legislation passed both houses of Congress last year but was tabled when Statistics compiled by the FBI indicate that racial bigotry was the cause o f more than half of the nearly 7,500 hate crimes reported to the agency in 2003.^ differences in the House and Senate ver sions couldn’t be reconciled. That need takes on greater urgency when one considers that the Southern Poverty Law Center, a respected monitor of acts o f bigotry and extremist groups and individuals, contends the federal sta tistics substantially under-report the real ity. Noting that that because several states have weak hate-crime laws (some don’t recognize bias against sexual orientation as a basis for a hate crime) and the report ing done to the FBI by local police depart D irect F lights TO ments is entirely voluntary (less than 20 percent of the nation’s 1 l,90()departmentsdo so), the Center estimates the real annual number o f hate crimes is about 50,000-nearly 7 times the federal estimate. Thus, it’s even more alarm ing to read that a recent by S yracuse U niv ersity c o n cluded from its review o f Jus tice Department data that fed eral court actions against violations of civil rights laws have fallen significantly since 1999-to less than 2,000-even as the total number of complaints has held steady at about 12,000 a year. But it’s not only government inaction that causes concern: Some seem to feel that issues of race and a commitment to tolerance and inclusion now can be pushed lower on the public agenda. Certainly, the most bizarre example of this was the astonishing vote in Novem ber of a majority of A labama’s white elec torate to keep language in the state’s Riverside Resort Hotel & Casino bi Laughlin, Nevada by ROOM & AIR PACKAGES F ro m $ 2 ‘| 9 to $ 2 3 9 * (Price Includes All Taxes & Fees) From PORTLAND, OREGON To LAUGHLIN, NEVADA During MARCH Flights Every 1-866-228-2734 www.rtveriideresort.com Weds - Sat 3 Nights Sat - Weds 4 Nights •PRICES ARE PER PERSON, BASED O N DOUBLE OCCUPANCY SINGLE OCCUPANCY S50 A DD ITIO NA L CHARGE INCLUDES ROUNDTRIP AIRFARE. G R O U N D TRANSFERS A N O HOTEL LODGING AT THE RIVERSIDE RESORT PRICES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. ARE NO T RETROACTIVE, A NO MAY NO T BE AVAILABLE O N CERTAIN DEPARTURES OR AT TIME OF BOOKING DUE TO L IM n t D SPACE SEE OPERATOR PARTICIPANT CONTRACT FOR A D D IT IO N A L DETAILS.TICKETS ARE N O N REFUNDABLE. CHANGE ANO CANCELLATION PENALTIES APPLY. PRICE INCLUDES ALL TAXES A N D FEES ALL CHARTER FLIGHTS OPERATED FOR SKY Q U E S T BY RYAN INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES, MCDONNELL OOUGLAS M D 9 2 JET AIRCRAFT. FINALLY RELEASED!!! PepperBird Books is pleased to finally release “AKEE TREE, A Descendant’s Search for his Ancestors on the Eskridge Plantations," by Portland writer Stephen Hanks. It began as mere curiosity when the funeral letter from Kansas arrived. It ended with discovering his African roots and preserving the saga of four matriarchs who kept the fam ily bloodline alive during 140 years under American Slavery. Four wom en: Akey, Jenny, Rose, and Eliza, labored to keep different generations of the fam ily together while under slavery until it was finally abolished and the family left Mississippi for Kansas after changing their last name. Author Stephen Hanks’ painstaking 10-year research takes him back in time through four plantations, ending up at the early 18th century plantation of a Virginia attorney whom George Washington was named after. AKEE TREE delivers to readers a fresh, raw, and revealing account that will have them turning each page until reaching the last leg of the journey: to Africa! AKEE TREE is not only a dramatic fam ily biography, but also a com pelling investigative search for identity. Paperback. 420Pages. $28.00 ISBN: 0-976-58660-6. Order at your local bookstore or send mail order to: PepperBird Books, 4515 N. Interstate, Suite 4, Portland, OR 97217,503-282-6696. Stephen Hanks reads from his book and signs copies, 3 p.m., Sunday March 6, Genealogical Forum of Oregon, 1505 SE Gideon St., Portland (North of Powell Blvd and SE 13th Place) 503-963-1932. Subscribe! c o n s titu tio n m a n d a tin g se g re g a te d schools “for white and colored children” along with language referring to the poll taxes that in the era o f segregation were used to disenfranchise blacks. This mean-spirited and pathetic cling ing to the now-unused remnants of the anti-democratic regime of the Old South - some o f which still litter several other southern state constitutions, too - con trasts even more sharply to the vision for America that the Civil Rights Movement o f the 1950s and 1960s advocated: one in which the meaning o f such words and phrases as freedom and justice and the pursuit of happiness are not limited to one class of Americans but are a living reality that applies to all. African Unity Can Start Here in U.S. ¿3** .daucfTtfut'j, jVtRSIDE Marc H. Morial is p resid en t a n d CEO o f The Na tional Urban League. Since the days of the Honorable Marcus Garvey many Black activ ists have looked for opportunities to unite all people o f African de scent under one banner. In recent decades, a large number of African- born Blacks from a variety of coun tries have moved to the United States. This movement has created a unique opportunity to further the cause of Pan Africanism, a cause also championed by W.E.B. Dubois, which strives for international unity among all people of African ances try. The belief is that if we unite throughout the world we will have the purpose and power to pursue an agenda that will uplift the entire race of Black people wherever they may be. New hope for Pan Africanism to catch hold in America can be found in the historic migration from Africa to the United States since the 1990’s. According to the 2000 census re port, the number of African-born Blacks in America has doubled since 1990. With a constant migra tion of Blacks from the Caribbean, along with an additional 50,000 or more from Africa each year, the opportunity to get to know and love all our brothers and sisters from around the world is better than ever. The migration is coming from several countries throughout the continent of Africa and the Carib bean. Those arriving are generally more educated and have higher Fill Out, Clip Out & Send To: |Jortlanh ©bstruer Attn: Subscriptions PO Box 3137 Portland OR 97208 s u b s c r ip tio n s are j u s t $60 p e r y e a r (please include check with this subscription form) N ame :___________________________________________________ A ddress :________________________________________________ T elephone :______________________________________________ Drpw6n7subscriptions@portlandobserver.com ~ With a constant migration of Blacks from the Caribbean ... the opportunity to get to know and love all our brothers and sisters from around the world is better than ever. paying jobs than American-born Blacks. They are coming voluntar ily from the West African countries our ancestors were captured from during the slave trade, in what some may regard as an ironic twist on history. Indeed most of the African immigrants are from Nigeria, Ghana, and Liberia. All countries that were primary targets for slave traders during our slave holocaust. In fact, the voluntarily migration from Af rica to the United States is said to now surpass the forced arrival through slavery. A lthough that does not account for the hundreds o f millions w hodied in the Atlantic Ocean, or in the holes of slave ships before their arrival. They also share their American prosperity by send ing more than $ 1 billion ayear back to Africa for families and friends, according to a report in the New YorkTimes. Imagine what it could be like if we were to unite here in America, all of the African-born, Caribbean and American-born Blacks on a com mon agenda. A political and eco- nomic agenda that would allow us to influence A m erican foreign policy toward Africa and people of African descent throughout the world. An agenda that would per haps allow us to begin in America, reclaiming the wealth that was sto len from Africa and African-Ameri can slaves. Many question whether such unity is possible considering our history of division and ethnic tribal disputes. They would remind me that the ideology o f w hite su premacy was specifically designed to make sure we remain divided by skin tone, age, gender, and geogra phy. I would remind them however that no race of people in the history of mankind have overcome as many barriers and obstacles as people of African descent. Disunity is noth ing but another wall preventing our progress that will soon fall. Judge Mathis is Chairman o f the Rainbow PUSH-Excel Board and a National Board Member o f the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Social Security Does Matter Excuse of shorter life expectancy bogus by U.S. 5 0 3 -2 8 8 -0 0 3 3 J i ix ; f ; G reg M athis R f . p . C harles R angel President Bush is now seeking to privatize Social Security. As a part o f his campaign, he and his allies have been claiming that Social Security is a bad deal for African Americans, since Afri can Americans tend to have a shorter life expectancy. This is really an outra geous argument. If the President really was concerned about shorter life expectancies for African Americans he should try to do something about it. Instead, he wants to assume that African Americans will always die younger than whites. Talk about soft bigotry of low expectations. But, the President doesn’t even have his facts right. Much of the life expectancy gap results from higher infant mortality. What matters for Social Security is life expectancy at retirement. And the older we get, the lower the gap. By age 65, the difference is about a year-and-a- half. There is indeed a gap at retirement age. but not nearly as large as the President and his supporters claim. I^et me tell you why Social Security is a good deal for African Americans: It not only provides retire ment benefits, but also disability and survivor ben efits as well. African Americans only represent 12 percent of the U.S. population, but 18 percent o f all persons receiving disability benefits are African American and 22 percent of all children who receive survivor benefits are African American. The way Social Security benefits are calculated is also beneficial to lower income families, who, disproportion ately tend to be, yes, African American. As Americans we pay into the Social Security system and we all benefit. It gives us the confidence that we will have the resources to be independent and proud o f whatever happens. Private accounts only add to the challenges of Social Security that we already face. They lead to a vast benefit cut that undermines the independence that Social Security gives to all Americans. I want to work with the President to have an honest debate about Social Security’s future. And. I want to work with him to improve health care for African American communities. The life expectancy gap has been shrink ing for years. With his help, maybe we can eliminate it rather than use it to sell a Social Security program that will harm America and is important to our commu nity. Congressman Charles Rangel is the senior Demo crat on the Ways and Means Committee in the House o f Representatives.