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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 20, 2005)
luly 20, 2005 ŒlK^îortlanb (©hseruer Page A4 Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views o f The Portland Observer O pinion Must Mexican Come Clean on Racism °F THÈ PEESÍPWTS poVUUteftV PAV h G t S : about tw o percent of the popula tion, and th a t’s only a rough estim ate. The M exican governm ent propagates the myth o f a color-blind soci ety and has never des ignated any racial cat egories. There is no form al ban in M exico on em ploym ent dis crimination. Then th ere’s Pinguin. An en- tire generation o f M exican school ? children (and m any adults) has many M exicans are quick to boast grow n up delighting in the zany o f differences in skin color among frolics o f the popular com ic hero. P inguin has gro ssly disto rted their own fam ily m em bers. A few years ago, a M exican- m onkey like features, a baldhead American friend made me acutely and big ears. His m other is a gro aware of the rigid race differences tesquely fat, bandanna-w earing in the country. W hen I told him mam m y. The black mammy do that I’d be traveling extensively m estic was the stock racist image in M exico, he urged me to pay of black women in countless 1930s close attention to the w orkers and 1940s A m erican movies. But doing the hardest and dirtiest P inguin’s m other isn ’t a dom es work in restaurants and hotels, tic. She routinely w ears her ban and who the beggars and ped danna around their house, and it’s a ram shackle house in a poor dlers on the streets were. They w ere overw helm ingly barrio. The Pinguin series ran in M exi dark, and in m ost cases w ith pro can new spapers and m agazines nounced Indian or A frican fea during the 1960s and 1970s. It tures. Many M exicans refer to United States. The extent to which was created by Sixto V alencia dark skinned persons, both M exi federal and state laws supported Burgos, one of M exico’s top c re can, and non-M exican, as negritos the institution o f slavery and years ative artists. or little black people. This is not of racial and economic oppression The Pinguin series is so popular seen as racially offensive, but would also be studied. that decades after Burgos discon rather as a term of affection, even With a few notable exceptions, tinued the series, fan clubs still endearm ent. Ads have featured this bill, and the reparations move sprout up on both sides of the blacks in A fros, black face, and ment in general, has been met with border. The comic books are still d is to rte d fe a tu re s. T he m ost resistance from the powers that be. wildly popular collector's items in popular screen stars in film and As a community, we should con Mexico, and other parts of Latin i on TV, and the m odels featured tinue to press this issue until the America, and continue to be much on m agazines and billboards, are government begins serious delib discussed and much read. w hite or fair skinned w ith sandy erations on the topic. G ilberto Rincon, President of or blond hair. T h a t’s the standard As a result of discussions about the N ational Council to Prevent o f beauty, culture, and sophisti the Holocaust, Japanese interment D iscrim ination, noted that a re cation th at’s held up as the ulti camps and the devastation colo port on racism in M exico was re mate standard to em ulate, and nists inflicted upon Native Ameri leased p rio r to F o x ’s racially th a t sta n d a rd is u n a b a sh e d ly cans, Jews and the Japanese have loaded quip in May about blacks com m ercialized, and peddled as received reparations and Native and im m igrant jobs. T hat was a top com m odities in M exico and Americans have received land. A sm all sign that top M exican offi other Latin A m erican countries. good start for African-Americans cials grudgingly realize that race Mexican President Vicente Fox would be congressional hearings does m atter in M exican affairs. and m ost o f M exico’s past presi to determine what modem day cor dents, top officials, business lead Now M exican officials can take porations directly benefited from ers, educators, and governm ent another sm all step and dum p the the slave trade and how they can leaders, for instance, are light Pinguin stam p. Then they can begin to repay for the sins of sla skinned or C astellan Spanish. take the bigger step and fully come very. They routinely boast that they clean on the country’s racism and Judge Greg Mathis is Chair can trace th e ir b lo o d lin e s to do som ething about it. man o f the Rainbow PUSH-Excel Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a col Spain. Board and a National Board Mem- um nist fo r B lackN ew s.com , an Blacks in M exico suffer from b e ro f the Southern Christian Lead those attitudes. They make up author and political analyst. ership Conference. '¿5- rs, r-aWNVf -r >W ¡U by E arl O fari H utchinson The M e x ic a n governm ent’s sale o f the racially offensive c a r toon character M em in Pinguin as a com m em o rative stam p is an outra geous sign that top M exi can officials still refuse to deal w ith th e country’s racism . Racism goes much deeper in the exican 1 1 1 ^ v country. v u n v t y • Even * » » » »• w »» • hile • • • ■ » • M - —— w riters and politicians rail in ar- tid e s against A m erican racism , Congress Should Hold Hearings on Slave Reparations ‘studding’ of black males caused a breakdown in the black family. Most On July 7, a federal judge tossed of our people were denied educa out a lawsuit brought against cor tion - to learn to read was to die. porations, including R.J. Reynolds And, as slave women began to bear Tobacco and Loews, that profited the master’s children, color issues, from slave labor, saying Congress introduced by whites to separate or the president should decide the us, further divided an already weak ‘political’ issue. While the judge’s ened society. Unfortunately, when decision dealt adisappointing blow slavery ended, the suffering con- to the reparations movement, his insistence that this is a topic the iW executive and legislative branches should explore is justifiable. From the 1450 to 1865, over 4-million A fricans and their descendants were enslaved in the United States; this free labor allowed the United States to build its wealth and posi tion itself as the most prosperous nation in the free world. To begin to heal the deep racial wounds that tinued. To this day, millions of Af continue to persist in this country, rican-Americans continue to feel the U.S. government must first of the effects of slavery, in what is ficially acknowledge that, without clinically known as Post Traumatic slavery, A m erica - and m any Slavery Disorder. Psychologists wealthy whites - would not be in the point to the disparate numbers of blacks in prison, addicted to drugs position they are in today. While the U.S. economy flour and living in broken homes as evi ished during the slave era, African dence of the damage slavery has culture and communities did not; caused in our communities. In January 1989, Congressman languages and customs were lost and families were destroyed. The John Conyers (D-MI) first pre- by J udge G rf . g M athis sented H.R. 40, Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act, to Con gress. Conyers has re-introduced H.R. 40 every year since and says he will continue to do so until it becomes law. The bill would re quire the American government to establish a commission to study slavery and the discrim ination With a few notable exceptions ...the reparations movement in general has been met with resistance from the powers that be. a'l't ^ßortlanb (0bseruer Established 1970 USPS 959-680 _____________________________________ 4 7 4 7 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211 E d it o r - i n -C h ie f . P u b lis h e r : Charles H. Washington blacks faced once freed and exam ine the impact slavery and Ameri can apartheid has on modern-day African Americans. The commis sion would then make recommen dations to Congress on appropri ate solutions to addressing these issues. Additionally, the commis sion would look into the way slaves were captured, transported and sold, as well as explore how they were treated once they reached the Send address changes to Portland Observer, P 0 Box 3 1 3 7 , Portland, OR 9 7 2 0 8 Subscription* are $60.00 per year 503-288-0033 FAX 503-288-0015 news@portlandobserver.com subscription@Dortlandobserver.com ads@Dortlandobserver.com classifieds @Dortlandobserver. com EDiroR:M ichael L e ig h to n Katherine Blackmore D is t r ib u t io n M a n a g e r : M a r k W a s h in g to n C r e a t iv e D ir e c t o r : P a u l N e u fe ld t O f f ic e M a n a g e r : K a th y L in d e r R eporter : 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 has purchased1 the¿«W rottion of such ad. © 1996 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PAR WITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED The Portland Observer-Oregon's Oldest Multicultural Publication-^ a member of the National Newspaper Association-Founded in 1885, and The National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc, New York, NY, and The West Coast Black Pu is Tax Breaks for Millionaires Shameful War climate wrong time for cuts by C huck C ollins W as there ever a tim e when congressional tax cuts for m ulti millionaires were more unseemly? R ecently, President G eorge W. Bush spoke about the w ar in Iraq on national TV, asking A m eri vans io UC U.UC..V «..v. w bear in cans to be patient and to silence the heavy sacrifice o f A m erican so ld ie rs’ lost lives, That num ber is getting close to 2,000. M eanw hile, alm ost 60 percent of A m ericans disapprove o f the way Bush has handled the w ar.Indeed in 2001, when te rro rism c z a r R ichard Clark was trying to get high-ranking An ongoing senes of questions and answers about America’s natural healing profession Bush adm inistrators to Dr. Billy R. Flowers meet about the al-Q aida threat, the adm inistration was m ounting a cam paign to pass tax cuts for m ulti millionaires. In June of that y e a r, it s u c c e e d e d in flexible and well rested. If you used to be so stiff in the j vous system. As the nervous sys achieving cuts of $1.35 trillion have had problem s with m uscle morning I could scarcely tie tem gets well, you will notice that over 10 years. The m ajor benefi stiffness, trouble resting or if my shoes. W orst of all I was only the spine begins to lose the rigid ciaries had the highest incom es waking up gives you the feeling 37 years old. Now th at’s all stiff feeling that it had. Muscles can in the land. that you’ve been through W orld changed since coming to your begin to relax because they don’t In 2003, as our troops were War II, it’s a great tim e to wake office. I’m eternally grateful to have to work to make marching on Baghdad, Bush and up to the feeling o f Chiroprac T he body bend and m ove. you and Chiropractic. I just don’t Congress were pushing for $330 tic! Call today for an appoint see how it works so well, particu W hen the nerves are finally as billion in additional tax cuts, 57 ment. Isn’t it tim e you stepped healthy as they should be, the larly with-out medication. percent o f which w ent to house J up to C hiropractic? : We very much appreciate body will reflect that by being h o lds w ith in c o m e s o f o v er your kind compliment. It is $337,000. Last sum m er, as the true that many of our patients do death toll for A m erican troops rest better at night and wake up was passing passing 1,000, I,uuu, tne was the auiniiiis- adm inis- 2124 N.E. Hancock Street, Portland, Oregon 97212 feeling more relaxed and refreshed. tration was fighting hard to give Chiropractic works by taking the Phone: (5 0 3 ) 2 0 7 -5 5 0 4 corporate donors an additional stress and irritation off the ner- Association. Serving Portland and Vancouver. — THE SPINA COLUMN Partió: Chiropractic VS. Morning Stiffness: A deadly blow to the agony of awaking. A Flowers* Chiropractic Office $ 1 4 0 billion in tax breaks. Now, the Senate is preparing to vote on repealing the estate tax, a tax that is only paid by multi-millionaires and billionaires, few er that 1.5 percent o f all es- tates each year. If there ever was a tim e to limit tax breaks for m ulti-m illionaires, this should be it. The cost o f o u t military involvements is growing, and we need to make additional investm ents to protect hom eland security. M eanw hile, our budget Today the lives o f U.S. citizens are again at risk as they face pro longed service in Iraq. O thers are feeling the pain o f recession, los ing jobs, savings and security. State and local governm ents, facing the w orst budget cuts since W orld W ar II, have gutted crucial com m unity services. Rather than facing these prob- lems and appropriating the money to resolve them , congressional leaders are using the fog of w ar to pass a n o th e r tax cut fo r the w ealthy that would exacerbate long-term budget shortfalls at all The cost of our military involvements is growing, and we need to make additional investments to protect homeland security. surplus has disappeared, shift ing from a 2001 estim ate o f $5.6 trillion in the black to $5,2 trillion in the red today. Bush has asked for and gotten close to $200 billion in emergency war funds, and it is rum ored he will ask for more. W here is this m oney to com e from ? It is unprecedented in U.S. his tory to push for tax cuts to the wealthy in a time of war. For over 2 0 0 years, estate and inheritance taxation has been linked with mili- tary m obilizations. levels. W hile the public’s atten tion is riveted on the w ar in Iraq, Congress shirks its duty to find m oney to pay for it, and instead m oves to repeal the estate tax, our most progressive tax. There is only one word for ad vocating such an inequality o f sacrifice: Shame. Chuck Collins, co-author with Bill Gates, Sr. o f ‘W ealth and O u r C o m m o n w e a lth : W hy A m ------- erica Should Tax A ccum u- ---- lated Fortunes, is senior fe llo w at U nited fo r a Fair Economy. I
