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Page A4
September 21, 2005
Opinion articles do not
necessarily reflect or represent the
views o f The Portland Observer
O pinion
Insular Whites Untouched by Racist Reality
Why views on
disaster differ
J udge G reg M ai his
Every so often, som ething in
A m erica happens that reminds
the general population that white
and black A m ericans are reading
different pages in very ditterent
books.
In the 1990s, the L A. Riots
and the O.J. Sim pson “not guilty"
verdict proved that this country s
race problem d id n 't go aw ay
post-integration, but was merely
swept under the rug.
In this decade, the Hurricane
K atrina disaster or more appro
priately it’s handling is our wake
up call. A recent USA Today/
CNN Gallop Poll reveals the races
are sharply divided on the subject
of the victims them selves, the
President’s handling o f the situ-
by
ation and the rea
so n s th e g o v e rn
ment was so slow
to respond.
A ccording to the
poll. 6 in 10 blacks
say that the g o v
ernm ent responded
slowly because the
majority ot the vic
tim s were poor and
black, w hile nearly 9 in 10 w hites
say race and class were not a
factor. Even more m ind-boggling
is the reality that 71 percent of
blacks said the disaster response
strengthened their belief that ra
cial bias is still a problem in the
U.S. Only 32-percent o f w hites
underprivileged, so living in the
Houston A strodom e w ere they
w ere evacuated w as “w orking
very w ell for them .” This state
m e n t la c k s c o m p a s s io n and
show s a lack o f understanding o f
the pervasive problem s o f race
and class in this country. Presi
dent Bush is not his m other, but
the apple doesn’t fall far from the
"
tree.
W e can no longer accept that
President Bush says that race
did not play a role in the w ay the some things will alw ays be dif
m assive flooding in New O rleans ferent for us, that w e will alw ays
w as handled. N evertheless, the see things differently than whites.
m ajority o f the suffering, d e W hite A m erica m ust understand
spondent faces on television and how race and class divisions af
in new spapers and m agazines be fect our com m unities. U ntil they
longed to our brothers and sis ‘get it,’ the bias that thw arts our
progress will continue.
ters.
Exasperating the
differences in perception is
the fact that many whites are
removed from the reality o f
race in this country.
w hite A m ericans.
A m erica’s historical reality is
that blacks w ere once c o n sid
ered chattel and w ere bought and
sold as such. W hen w e w ere
counted as hum an beings, w e
w e re n ’t considered w hole, in
stead we w ere thought to be only
3/5ths o f a person. T hroughout
agreed.
There is no doubt that the all this, m any w hites w ere able to
reasons for this difference in per gain m oney, prestige and pow er,
ception can be attributed to the often on the backs o f our people.
Fast-forw ard to m odem tim es
disparity in the historical and
current realities o f black and and blacks continue to face d is
crim ination. Racial bias in hiring,
housing, education, lending prac
tices and the courts have rein
fo rced the idea that A frican-
A m ericans are not fully valued in
this country.
E xasperating the differences
in perception is the fact that many
w hites are rem oved from the
reality o f race in this country. If
w hites choose to do so, they can
go their entire lives and have
lim ited contacts with blacks and
other m inorities. They d o n ’t have
to learn o u r history in
school, they d o n ’t have to
live am ongst us and they
d o n ’t have to see us in the
w orkplace. Blacks, on the
o th e r hand, d o n ’t have
that luxury. From very
early on, we are assim i
lated into an A merican cul
ture that has oppressed
us.
T he President’s ow n m other,
during an interview on N ational
Public R adio’s M arketplace com
m ented that m any o f the d is
placed individuals w ere already
Judge Greg Mathis is chair
man o f the Rainbow PUSH-Ex-
cel Board and a national board
member o f the Southern Chris
tian Leadership Conference.
Lives Ignored Once Again America’s embarrassing disaster
L iv e s, d re a m s an d
hopes w ere sm ashed to
less than nothing in both
the storm and afterm ath
o f H urricane K atrina.
N o m a tte r h ow you
look at it, we blew it.
W e failed on our own
soil. Federal Em ergency
M a n a g e m e n t A g en cy
leaders and oth er a g en by Ron W eber
cies very slow ly rose
to the occasion. W hy? A lthough sham eful. It is both e m b a rra ss
som ething like this could have ing and a h u m iliatio n across the
throw n o ff any nation, th e re ’s globe. W hile w e p reten d to be
m uch d eeper problem here in the great sav io r and cham pion
around the w orld, we forgot
A m erica.
T he poverty level o f m any o f o u r ow n at hom e once again.
th o se a ffe c ted by K atrin a is W as it because the area w as so
a g a in , w e h a v e n o t
gone far en o u g h . T he
fact th at ev ery c o n ti
nent and co u n try on
this e a rth saw o u r po o r
c itiz e n s, m ostly black,
left alone in a tim e o f
n eed is b a d en o u g h .
B ut to see the face o f
K
th ir d - w o r ld p o v e r ty
h e re in th is c o u n try
ex p o se d to the w hole
w o rld is ju s t plain sick en in g .
The
d is a d v a n ta g e d
in
A m e ric a q u ite h o n e s tly had
b e e n f o r g o tte n o n c e a g a in .
M any c itiz e n s a cro ss the c o u n
try h av e been so busy w o rry
ing a b o u t terro rism , w ar, p o li
tics and lif e ’s o th e r c a la m itie s
Every continent and country on
this earth saw our poor
citizens, mostly black, left
alone in a time of need.
p re d o m in an tly b la c k ? As m uch
as I hate to say so, th is an sw er
m ay be tru e r th a n w h a t w e
w ant to adm it.
A m e ric a ’s racism has reared
its ugly head. Y es, w e have
m ade im p ro v em en ts. B ut, once
th a t w e d id n o t re a liz e how
dow n and o u t so m any o f our
o w n peo p le w ere and still are.
In th e 1 8 0 0 s , F r e d e r ic k
D o u g lass bro u g h t atte n tio n to
the plight o f S o uthern black s to
h u g e a u d ie n c e s o f d istu rb e d
N o r th e r n e r s a n d th ro u g h o u t
E u r o p e . T h e y to o “ s o r t o f
k n e w ” that th in g s w e re n ’t too
g o o d in the S outh. B ut th e ir
daily lives kept them in the dark.
D o u g lass had to put it in fro n t
o f them .
A lth o u g h G o d p ro m ise d n o t
to flo o d th e w h o le e a rth a g a in ,
he n e v e r sa id he w o u ld n ’t p u t
p a rt o f it u n d e r w a te r. It is as
th o u g h he h a s d o n e w h a t he
d id to b rin g th e p ro b le m o f
r a c is m a n d p o v e r ty to th e
s u rfa c e o n c e a g a in .
L e t’s a ll h o p e th a t w e tak e
a c lo s e r lo o k at th e p ro b le m s
o f r a c is m a n d p o v e r ty th is
tim e . In s te a d o f try in g to save
th e w o rld , o u r le a d e rs sh o u ld
be lo o k in g a w h o le lo t c lo s e r
to h o m e .
A w e ll-k n o w n ch an t afte r the
9 -1 1 tr a g e d y w a s “ N e v e r
A g a in .” W hen I see the kind o f
tre a tm e n t that A m e ric a ’s poor
and m in o rity p o p u la tio n s still
re c e iv e , the th o u g h t “ N ev er in
the F irst P la c e ,” co m es to m ind.
Ron W eber is a freq u en t
speaker on African American
history and a regular contribu
tor to the Portland Observer.
Disgust and Dismay
y
Y
The federal governm ent’s response to the crisis
facing hundreds o f thousands of American citizen’s
in the G ulf Coast states of Louisiana, Mississippi and
Alabama fills this reader with disgust and dismay.
The result of 20 plus years of attempts by the
conservative movement within the Republican Party
have contributed to a complete and utter breakdown
of how our govern ment can respond to the most basic
needs of its citizens after a catastrophic event. Food,
water, clothing and shelter were woefully inadequate
and far too late in arriving. We have also uncovered
the under-belly of shame and neglect in our racist and
classist society.
The time to address these fundamental failures has
come. The ability to investigate and correct these
problems ca not lay in the hands o f those who
contributed to their creation. It is time that we, as a
united America; rich and poor, black and white and all
of the diversity in between demand that we find a
solution which will help us to rebuild not only the
States of the Gulf Coast - but also the foundations of
our system of government.
The Rev. Dennis J. Parker
Southwest Portland
Sham and
a Shame
Guard Recruitment Wrong
With rage, I read that the National Guard is tasked with recruiting
the homeless and hungry from the G ulf Coast. So, poor people in
New Orleans, a place Rev. Jesse Jackson so aptly said has been made
from “the bottom of the slave ship,” and have been shafted since
birth to fund corporate military government inequalities, are shafted
1
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again to wage battle against Iraq.
The illegal U.S. war was funded instead of their city’s levees and
now the displaced residents are being invited to offer themselves up
to next round of cannon fodder.
Aaron Neville is right when he achingly sings, “They want to
wash us away.” We cannot allow these ignorant monsters, who
continue to savage the G ulf and its inhabitants, to have their sins
washed away
This time, our flood of righteous anger must engulf and sink them
forever in their own criminal indifference to humanity.
How can it be considered a fair pro
cess when Supreme Court nominee John
Roberts refuses to answer over 100
questions?
This is a position for the highest
justice in the land. In my mind, we should
refuse to acknowledge John Roberts as
a candidate of the court. This is a sham
and a shame.
Trouble is he will probably be con
firmed because that is what this country
has been reduced to - a sham.
Colin Jury
Beaverton
Claudia King
Northeast Portland
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