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January 23. 2008
Page A3
Cutting-Edge
Candidates
Over time, we tend
to forget the trials,
tribulations and stresses
o f young people.
- Harold WilliamsTwo.
candidate for City Council
continued
photos by R aymond R endeeman /T he P ortland O bserver
City Commissioner Sam Adams (left) meets with City Council Candidate John Branam at the Albina
Press coffeehouse in north Portland.
from Front
him the optimism he needed to collect
the names of 1,000 people donating $5
to qualify for public campaign financ­
ing.
A children's social worker for the
past 10 years, Williams, 31, says he
rediscovers the importance of a youth­
ful perspective on a daily basis.
“Over time, we tend to forget the
trials, tribulations and stresses of young
people,” he says. “With me being not
that far removed, it would be an easier
translation.”
“We cannot afford to let things
like accessibility, com m unication,
education or accountability to fall to
the wayside," W illiams says. “ 1 will
do all I can to provide access to
those who don’t know their way
around.”
A 1995 graduate of Jefferson High
School and subsequent professional
football player, Williams speaks to
being the best he can be.
“I’m not saying I can be everything
to all people, but I can be me,” he says.
Wealth Gap Makes Case for Racial Reparations
continued
from Front
cans were almost completely excluded
from benefiting from these loans be­
cause the FHA assigned “risk” rating
to neighborhoods, based on various
demographic factors, especially race.
Mixed and predominantly black neigh­
borhoods were rated as “riskier” and
were generally not eligible for FHA
loans.
After World W arll.theG .I. Bill led
to a housing boom where returning
soldiers bought new homes in the
newly-form ed suburbs. However,
black veterans were largely excluded
from the housing benefits of the G.I.
Bill.
“The FHA manual at the time stated
that i f a neighborhood is to retain
stability, it is necessary that properties
shall continue to be occupied by the
same social and racial classes,” ’ Valis
said. “So for a home to be insurable, a
neighborhood had to be white and to
stay white.”
To ensure that stability, the FHA
actively promoted the use of racial
covenants - legal restrictions on
who houses could be sold to - in
order to protect against transitions
to mixed neighborhoods. By some
estimates 80 percent of new subur­
ban housing developm ents in the
1930s and ’40s included such cov­
enants.
“So even if you wanted to sell
your home to a person of color, you
couldn’t,” noted
V a ils. V ails
said he recently
found a racial
covenant in the
original deed for
his 1949 home
that stated that
the home was
“not to be sold
to blacks or Asians.”
In 1948, the Supreme Court ruled
these covenants to be unconstitutional.
However, the discriminatory practices
continued well into the 1980s.
“This was a very explicit wide­
spread discrim ination that had real
impact on people's well-being and
theirability to have that cushion that
comes from having assets such as a
hom e,” Vails said.
Kaplan added: “Access to equity
in a home gives you a back-up in
case of an emergency; it gives you
something to fall back on. Histori­
cally, it helps you build on what you
have: to hold out for a better job,
upgrade to a better neighborhood,
get other loans. If you are denied
Some o f these policies that might
contribute to closing that wealth gap
would benefit people o f all colors... but the
important part is that it closes that gap.
- Andrew Valis, Oregon Sate University professor
the opportunity of home ownership,
it affects your entire way of life.”
Vails and Kaplan said the m ajor­
ity o f y o u n g , firs t-tim e w hite
homebuyers today receive money
from their parents to help them af­
ford a home. This is not the case for
black first-time homebuyers, how­
ever, because of the lack of owner­
ship history.
Obama Sets Record Straight
(AP) - Presidential candi­
date Barack Obama is stepping
up his effort to correct the mis­
conception that he's a Muslim.
At a rally to kick o ff a
weeklong cam paign for the
South Carolina primary, Obama
tried to set the record straight
from an attack circulating widely
on the Interne, that is designed
to play into prejudices against
Muslims and fears of terrorism.
"I'v e been to the sam e
church — the same Christian
church — for almost 20 years,"
O bam a said, stressing the
word Christian and drawing
cheers from the faithful in re­
ply. "I was sworn in with my
hand on the fam ily Bible.
W henever I'm in the United
States Senate, I pledge alle­
giance to the flag of the United
States of America. So if you
get some silly e -m a il... send it
back to whoever sent it and
The researchers believe that repa­
rations for this governm ent-sup-
ported discrimination are necessary.
Using a model where they com ­
pared the current average wealth of
white Americans due to home eq­
uity to the current average wealth of
black Americans due to home eq­
uity, they believe that reparations in
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama
It’s not your standard funeral home...
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RRY FAMILY
F u n e r a l H om
the billions - and perhaps hundreds
of billions - may be owed to black
Americans.
In their paper, published in the
July issue of Public Affairs Q uar­
terly, they suggest programs that
would help correct some of these
recent historical injustices.
They believe that low-interest fed­
eral government home and business
Battles misconception on his religion
tell them this is all crazy. Edu­
cate."
Obama is referring to a de­
bunked chain e-mail circulating
widely on the Internet that sug­
gests he is hiding his Islamic
roots and may be a terrorist in
disguise. It says he was sworn
into the Senate on the Quran
and turned his back on the (lag
during the pledge.
There are some truths in the
e-mail's details. Obama's middle
name is Hussein. His father and
stepfathej were Muslim. And
he spent part of his childhood in
Indonesia, a largely Muslim
country. But he attended secu­
lar and Catholic schools, not a
radical madrassa.
His campaign has been push­
ing back against the false ru­
mors all year. His aides decried
an incorrect news report that
Obama was educated in a Mus­
lim madrassa and a section of
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In a business where things seemingly stay
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T erry
You see, when we went into business we
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loans aimed at (but not exclusive to)
black Americans would help rem ­
edy a system that has discriminated
against blacks since the 1930s and
caused a historic gap in wealth be­
tween black and white Americans.
“ Black Americans ought to be eli­
gible for very favorable terms on mort­
gages, with very low interest rates and
low or no down payment, with both
mortgage insurance and the low inter­
est rates subsidized by the govern­
ment,” Kaplan said.
In addition, they said that blacks
should be provided with opportunities
that would lead to the creation of
wealth through means beyond the
housing market alone, such as im­
proved access to good primary educa­
tion; improved access to funding for
secondary education; very favorable
terms for loans to start new busi­
nesses, etc.; and improved "safety
nets” for crises.
“Some of these policies that might
contribute to closing that wealth gap
would benefit people of all colors,”
Valis said. “But the important part is
that it closes that gap.”
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his website is devoted tocorrect
that and other false rumors cir­
culating on the Internet.
But they are stepping up the
effort now that the campaign
has hit South Carolina and soon
turns to other southern states
where religion is so important to
voters. The campaign distrib­
uted an open letter from seven
Jewish senators this weekend
condemning the attacks; aides
are planning an event this week
to respond directly to the e-
mails; and campaign represen­
tatives blanketed South Caro­
lina churches Sunday with lit­
erature that touted O bam as
Christian faith.
Obama says he’s going to
fight h ard er ag ain st o th er
mischaracterizations about his
positions that he says are being
perpetrated by rival Hillary
Rodham Clinton and her hus­
band, the former president.
"W hen I see S e n a to r
Clinton. President Clinton dis­
tort my words ... that is no, a
way to move the debate for­
ward. that is not a way to help
the American people." Obama
said. "I am not running for
president just to become presi­
dent. I'm running to help the
American people. I'm not w ill­
ing to say or do anything just to
win an election."