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October 12.200s
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Opinion articles do not
necessarily reflect or represent the
views o f The Portland Observer
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Portland Schools
Ignore Real Issues
Students face racism and discrimination
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Crossing All Lines of Reasoned Discourse
Words were
immoral,
anti-family
The Links, Inc., one o f the
nation’s oldest African-American
women’s organizations, calls on
The White House, Congress and
the Federal Communications Com­
mission tocondemn former Educa­
tion Secretary William Bennett’s
racist comments and cancel the
Republican commentator’s radio
program.
Dr. Gladys Gary Vaughn, na­
tional president of The Links, urges
the U.S. Senate and House to pass
resolutions condemning Bennett’s
statement linking a presumed re­
duction in the crime to aborting
unborn black babies.
“You could abort every black
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baby in this country and your crime
rate would go down,” he said.
“ Bill B en n ett’s hypoderm al
contem plation crosses all lines
o f re a so n e d d is c o u rs e . T he
Links, Inc. respectfully urges
C o n g ress to p ass re so lu tio n s
condem ning his rem arks and the
FCC to require the Salem Radio
N etw ork to cancel his show ,
M orning In A m erica. “W e also
call on the W hite House to de­
nounce the im m oral, antifam ily
and racist rem arks. There are no
c irc u m sta n c e s in w hich his
w ords would be appropriate,”
V aughn said.
Established in 1946, The Links,
Inc., is one of the nation’s oldest
and largest volunteer service or­
ganization of women are commit­
ted to enriching, sustaining and
ensuring the culture and economic
survival o f African-Americans
and other persons of African de­
cent.
Appalling Racism
The appalling, racist comments of William
J. Bennett demand condemnation.
How could a man who equates black chil­
dren with crime— not to mention seeing geno­
cide of African Americans as a theoretical
crime solution— have been entrusted by the
Reagan administration with educating our
children and by the administration of George
H. W. Bush with protecting them from illegal
drugs?
Bennett’s comments give us insight into a
dangerous mindset that has led to underfunded
public schools that are leaving behind so
many children— especially children of color
and poor children. They underscore the hor­
ror we saw when New Orleans flooded and the
poor— mostly black and brown— were left
behind.
Truly, America needs a new direction.
Every responsible public official— Demo­
crat and R e p u b lic a n — m ust condem n
Bennett’s grotesque comments and he must
apologize to African Americans and to all
Americans whom he has so deeply offended.
John Sweeny
AFL-CIO President
B yrd
Portland Public Schools under
the direction o f superintendent
Vicki Phillips comprised a design
team to ‘study’ alternate configu­
rations for the predominantly black
Jefferson High School.
Phillips and the PPS board seem­
ingly gave in to opposition from the
Jefferson community concerning a
7,h through 12lh grade configuration
for the school during a school board
meeting on March 28. She had ju s­
tified the configuration by stating it
was the best model to raise student
achievement in non-white, low in­
come, non-English and special
needs student populations.
During a recent City Club ad­
dress, she tied progress in closing
the achievement gap for students
of color and those from low-income
homes to an examination of the
assumptions about these students,
the curriculum used, the teaching
methods used and how schools
interact with the community.
Based on her own reasoning it
would appear that Phillips ‘as­
sumes’ there is a ’special w ay’ to
educate black children, that black
children learn ‘differently’ than
white students, and that there is a
connection between the learning
abilities of black children and those
of special needs children.
Instead of confronting the nega­
tive conceptions towards black stu­
dents and learning, Phillips per­
petuates the ‘assum ptions’ held
by many who work within Portland
Public Schools. By focusing on the
grade configuration of Jefferson,
she deflects attention from the real
issues confronting many black stu­
dents and others in PPS: Racism
and Discrimination !
Five parents with students in
PPS, four black and one white, have
recently contacted me with con­
cerns for their respective children.
One parent wanted her high achiev­
ing son to be promoted to a more
challenging math class and was
denied. Another parent told a simi­
lar story, different school. Another
parent told me his son was placed
in a Special Ed. class when his son
is not a Special Eid. student and
never has been. Nonetheless, he
was placed in Special Ed.
A parent affected by recent
school closures wanted her daugh­
ter transferred out o f what she
deemed an inferior school and for
good reason, she was denied. At
the end of the last school year a
mother’s son and his friends were
called ‘nigger’ by a substitute
teacher at a local elementary school.
And then there was the incident at
Davinci Middle School last year
involving two black students and a
‘lesson’ in slavery.
If Phillips is truly concerned
about raising achievement for black
students and others as she pur­
ports, she would first deal with her
own assumptions about the man­
ner in which black children learn.
She should know that the shuffling
of Jefferson High School students
would not engender an increase in
academic achievement. Research
clearly demonstrates that it is the
ed u catio n al en vironm ent both
mental and physical, not the con­
figuration that increases student
achievement.
All successful schools regard­
less o f configuration and racial
makeup for that matter, have a few
things in common, effective parent,
school and district comm unica­
tions; administrators who stead­
fastly believe all children can learn;
administrators that actively pro­
mote and maintain strong and vi­
brant school programs.
Byrd is a public schools advo­
cate and local African American
resident.
Benefiting from the Devastation
M inority-owned
firms not so lucky
by
J udge G reg M athis
After Hurricane Katrina struck the G ulf
Coast, the federal governm ent set aside over
$62-bi 11 ion in em ergency funds to aid victim s,
clean up and rebuild from the storm.
T here are m illions o f d o llars to be m ade
in reco n stru ctio n projects. W h a t's ironic is
that friends o f the federal governm ent -
the sam e governm ent that was negligent in
its handling o f the d isa ster - are now b en ­
efitin g from the sto rm ’s d ev astation.
A m ajor “ w in n er” in the p o st-H u rrican e
clean up w ork is the Shaw G roup. The
B aton Rouge based co n stru c ­
tion and engineering firm , re­
ceived two $100 m illion no­
bid co n tracts, one from F ed­
eral Em ergency M anagem ent
A gency (FE M A ), the o ther
from the C orps of E ngineers,
to w ork on lev e e s and to
pum p w ater out of New O r­
leans.
Joe M. Allbaugh, President
Bush’s 2000 cam paign m an­
ager and a form er director o f the FEMA,
represents the Shaw Group and Halliburton,
Vice President Dick C heney’s form er em ­
ployer. Kellogg Brown & Root, a Halliburton
subsidiary, stands to earn m illions under a no­
bid contract for work at Naval facilities in
L o uisiana and M ississip p i. C heney was
H alliburton’s CEO until 2001.
U n fo rtu n a te ly , m in o rity -o w n e d b u s i­
n e s s e s a r e n ’ t q u ite as lu c k y as th e
P re sid e n t's friends. O nly 1.5 percent of
the $1.6 billion already aw arded by FEM A
has gone to m inority b u sin esses; th a t’s less
than one third o f the 5 percent usually
required.
To expedite the rebuilding process. C o n ­
gress and the Bush ad m in istratio n decided
to w aive certain rules, like open and c o m ­
petitiv e bidding for H urricane K atrina re ­
covery co n tracts. T his opened the door for
com panies like Shaw , w hich already had
the ear o f the decisio n m akers, to lay claim
to the b illio n s at stake. As a resu lt, m in o r­
ity-ow ned firm s are pushed to the side,
along w ith the debris.
T his scen ario is all too fam iliar. In 2001,
K ellogg Brow n & R oot was aw arded a n o ­
bid c o n tract w orth several hundred m illion
d o llars by the U.S. A rm y C orps o f E n g i­
neers to rep air Ira q ’s oil in frastru ctu re and
put out oil fires.
For far too long, the w ealthy e sta b lish ­
m ent in this country has prospered on the
backs o f the poor. W e can no longer allow
this to continue. To see the sam e circle o f
in d iv id u als that w ere o rig in ally n eglectful.
F orfar too long, the
wealthy establishment
in this country has
prospered on the
backs o f the poor
co n trib u tin g to the loss o f property and
hum an lives, now profit in K a trin a 's after-
m ath is ap p allin g . It is also u n acceptable to
know that m inority-ow ned firm s are lo o s­
ing out on these m ulti-m illio n d o llar c o n ­
tracts. It only seem s fair that a m ajority of
the clean up work in New O rleans, a p re ­
d o m in an tly black city , should go to local
firm s, ow ned by people o f color. These
co m p an ies and their em ployees have ties to
the com m unity; these personal, em otional
and financial co n n ectio n s are necessary to
ensure the city is rebuilt and repopulated as
qu ick ly as possible.
Judge Greg Mathis is chairman o f the
Rainbow PUSH-Excel Board and a na­
tional board member o f the Southern Chris­
tian Leadership Conference.