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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 2008)
Page AG ll1'' P o rtla u b (Jí)bsvrtier O pinion February 27, 2008 Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views o f The Portland Observer Troubling Way to Elect a President Dream Big Perhaps our system needs some fixing Presidential contest shows progress being made B entley de B ardelaben As a boy, I coukl be w hatever I imagined for m yself when I grew up. 1 could even be the President o f the USA. I grew up in the 1960s. the firstborn son o f a retail salesm an in M ichigan in a m odest hom e that my parents owned. W ithin that dw elling also lived my two siblings. My m om 's primary responsibility was caring for her fam ily. Life as I understood it was "norm al.’ by on my younger brother who frequently shadowed me. I went to the local public school, played baseball with my friends and axle my bicycle without a care. All in all, I thought of myself as an "all American boy.” Looking back, 1 realize that although I have heartw arm ing m em o ries, my upbringing was not necessarily the "norm .” The m ere tact that 1 believed that Santa C laus would always grant my wishes, my grandparents would alw ays be excited to see me during sum m er visits and 1 could be anything that I wanted to be w hen 1 grew up is not necessarily consistent with the experience o f others. Nevertheless, becom ing anything that I desired was w hat 1 had been taught and shown. My teachers reinforced that. My parents told my siblings and me this as we did hom ework and went on family outings. H ow ever once 1 graduated from college and becam e an adult, I learned that professional life for me was not so easily accessible. Despite my sense o f integrity, strong w ork ethic and optim ism , there are times that I have been random ly judged by the mere color of my skin. This was a curve ball for w hich I had not been prepared. At home. I had been taught to believe that character was more important. My dad was determ ined to teach his children that our skin color did not define us. He em phasized that we were human beings created in the divine image o f God, as G enesis inform s us. Additionally, he fostered that we w ere A m ericans; within our society we had a voice and ongoing opportunities for our dream s to be m ade real. Today. I find m yself looking back over my life as an Am erican as well as looking ahead to a new future for me and the nation. My life did not go exactly as 1 had imagined. 1 did not enter the political landscape, at least not yet. I am not likely to becom e President. Yet to recognize that my dream may com e true for another, either an African American male or European American female, is unparalleled. The good news is that our nation is also dream ing b ig .. .evolving and overcom ing the prejudices of our past. No one can know the outcom e of the 2008 race for President o f the United States; how ever the reality is that one o f these candidates may well becom e our next com m ander in chief. Certainly, I do not pretend to personally know the childhoods o f the candidates. But. like me. I imagine they were told to “dream big...anything was possible.” Bentley tie Bardelaben is an African-American minister in the United Church o f Christ. Cl’r JJnrtlaub Afliscvuvr Established 1970 USPS 959-680 ___________________________________ 4 7 4 7 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland. OR 97211 in h iis h ir : Charles H. Washington ich a el L eig h to n D is tk ir i tion M anac . eh : M urk W ashington C u m in Duo< tor : P aul N e u fe ld t A ih e r iis in h : K athy L in d e r Oinci M a n a c i . r : Sharon Sperry K i p o r ii h : R aym ond R endlem an L dito k - in -C h ik t . E d iio h . M The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions Manuscripts and photographs should he clearly labeled and w ill be relurned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope A ll created design display ads become the sole property o f the newspaper anti cannot be used in other publications o r personal usage without the written consent o f the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition of such ad (') 2(M>K F ill P O R TLA N D OBSERVER A l l R K illT S RESERVED. Rl PRODI ('H O N IN W H O LE OR IN PART W IT H O U T PI RM ISSIO N IS P R O H IB ITE D The Portland Observer -Oregon's Oldest M ulticu ltural Publication r a member o f the National Newspaper Association -Founded in IXK5. and The National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers. Inc. New York. N Y . and The West Coast Black Publishers Assriciation P ostmaster : Send address changes to Portland Observer, POBox3 1 3 7 , Portland, OR9 7 2 0 8 CALL 503-288-0033 Black History Month LAX 503-288-0015 news® Dvrtlandobserver.com ads @ pvrtlandobserver. com udiscriinionte portlandobserver.com by J udge G reg M athis For g e n e ra tio n s the U n ited States governm ent has prided it self on its dem ocratic system , so much so that is has criticized and invaded other countries, imposing an A m erican-like system that rep resents all people equally. But given past troubles w ith o u r c o u n try 's electio n s p ro cess, p erhaps the U nited States should review and co rrect its ow n e le c tio n s sy stem s b efo re p o lic in g that o f others. In the 2000 presid en tial e le c tions. Vice President A1 G ore w on the p o p u lar vote. Y et, an o u t d a te d v o tin g p r o c e s s , b e tte r know n as the E lectoral C o lleg e, aw arded the presidency to G eorge Bush and began eig h t y ears o f increased public d issatisfactio n w ith our n a tio n ’s p olitical p ro ce ss. The Electoral College is com prised o f delegates from each state. As a candidate w ins a state, those delegates are a w a rd e d to him (and her). Bigger states have more del egates. W ins in those del- e g a te -ric h d eleg a tes p ro p o rtio n ate to the popular vote in that state. T hat said, “super-delegates", who co m prise nearly one-fifth of the parties delegate count, may cast a vote that goes against the desires o f the voters they serve. D em o crats created the “su p e r d e le g a te ” in the 1980s, believ in g these individuals, all o f w hom are In a true democracy, the voice o f the people is all that matters. v states give a candidate the upper hand, no m atter how low voter turn out in that state may have been. Though the public supported Gore, Bush got the push he needed from the delegates. Political insiders worry our po litical system is set to once again ignore the will o f the people. In the Republican presidential prim aries, it’s w inner takes a ll... delegates that is. In the Democratic primaries, how ever, candidates are awarded party and public o fficials, knew the can d id ates b etter and could co u n te r ‘m ista k e s’ m ade by the v o tin g p u b lic . T h o u g h h ig h ly unlikely, it is very possible D em o cratic voters co u ld select one ca n d id a te say, Sen. B arack O bam a, but "su p er-d e leg a te s” co uld su p p o rt, and e le c t, an o th er. C u r ren tly , Sen. H illary C lin to n has a few m ore “ su p er-d eleg ates” in h er co rn er than O bam a. It is very hypocritical that the D em ocrats, who claim to be the most concerned about equal repre sentation and honoring the voice o f the people, would use such a system to elect their leaders. If enough behind-the-scene prom ises are made, a prom ising candi date, one the public stands behind, could be stopped in their tracks. The way we elect national lead ers in this country is troubling. From the Electoral College to the “super delegates,” the United States has chosen a very com plicated way to, in effect, silence majority. How then, is this country any different from those we criticize? In a true dem ocracy, the voice of the people is all that matters. C an didates win not because of their political alliancesortheirdeep pock ets, but because they touched vot ers. A nd if the people make a mis take? So be it. We cannot do any worse than the Electoral College did in 2000. Judge Greg Mathis is national vice president o f Rainbow PUSH and a national board member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. KMHMMMMMMMM Mayor Visits and Now What? Jefferson must appeal to kids that live nearby D on J ohnson A s a form er Jefferso n H igh School student and teacher, I can offer some o f my feelings and o pin ions about the school. I think it was great that the o ut going mayor, m em bers of the city council and other city officials co n ducted its business from Jefferson during a w eeklong stay. But I w on der how this really helps the high school and more im portantly its current and future students? What inform ation could school district adm inistrators learn that they didn’t already know? From my point of view, very little. From 2000-2007, there have been eight principals at Jefferson. D ur ing their respective tenures, these adm inistrators have adopted and implemented numerous educational m odels, moving from a four-block program to small schools, back to a traditional school model and now its current schtMil academies. All o f these changes were aim ed at im proving the quality o f educa tion and im proving student scores and literacy. Have they been suc cessful? Have any o f these plans or designs w orked? A ccording to all o f the data and inform ation the dis trict has shared with the com m u nity, I d o n ’t think so. So w hat has been the problem !s)? by How does a school with one- quarter o f its student body on lEPs ( Individual Educational Programs) or w ho have been identified as stu dents with special needs, meet dis trict and state benchm arks when its leadership and educational infra structure has been in a constant state o f chaos? Ponder this, how does a school that every year loses at least one- half o f the students from its feeder schools to other high schools via the d istrict’s transfer policy, be expected to show more than mar- schools. How do we begin to correct this problem ? I agree it does begin with a strong and caring adm inistrative leadership team. But more im por tantly Jefferson must begin by over hauling its current curriculum and class offerings to m ake the school m ore appealing to the students w ithin its com m unity. I also find it quite interesting that a school that has a strong m ajority A frican-A m erican student body do esn ’t offer elective classes in A frican-A m erican literature and If the mayor, city council and JHS administrative team walked the halls and visited classes with their ‘eyes wide open ’ then how can they not agree that something is missing? ginal academ ic gains when the lost students are the best and bright est? If we closely exam ine data per taining to student achievem ent and academ ic success we discover that most o f these ex-Jefferson students are doing quite well at their new NEW S E A S O N S M AR K Pkarmacu AT A R B O R L O D G E / yfef / /<?£ art a r u lla r pkarrnaaj! W e fill p r e s c r ip tio n s — in c lu d in g a n tib io tic s , h ig h b lo o d p r e s s u r e m e d ic a tio n s , a n ti- d e p re s s a n ts , b irth c o n tro l, a n d m o re . ✓ W e h a v e k n o w le d g e a b le , frie n d ly p h a r m a c is ts w h o h a v e th e tim e to s h a re in fo r m a tio n . ✓ O u r p r ic e s a re c o m p e titiv e . W e a c c e p t m o s t in s u r a n c e p la n s a n d a re a d d in g o th e r s a s re q u e s te d . W e s p e c ia liz e in c u s t o m c o m p o u n d in g . F4 le r m a c s t. lu tle r Y O U R L O C A L L Y O W N E D , N E IG H B O R H O O D P H A R M A C Y A T A R B O R L O D G E N IN T E R S T A T E A V E N U E & P O R T L A N D B L V D • 5 0 3 .4 6 7 .4 8 4 8 w w w .n e w s e a s o n s m a r k e t.c o m • M O N -F R I 9 a m - 7 p m • S A T 9 a m - 6 p m • S U N 1 0 a m - 4 p m history. If I were an A frican-A m eri can parent, I w ould definitely ques tion this oversight. Speaking o f parents, they too must realize that they are the most important and influential stakeholders in the edu cation of their children. Learning begins at home and m ust be reinforced on a daily basis. School should not be viewed as a glorified baby-sitting and daycare service or as an athletic factory. Parents should also stop enabling their children by accepting and oftentim es condoning inappropri ate and anti-social behaviors. Teachers rely on parents to make sure that their children arrive to school on tim e with the necessary b o o k s an d m a teria ls fo r th e ir classes. O ver the years I have o b served students w ho have becom e confrontational and verbally ab u sive toward teachers when ques tioned about their unpreparedness. Q uite often students w ho re peatedly challenge authority and disrupt the learning environm ent force teachers to devote more time addressing and correcting these behaviors than teaching those stu dents who cam e to school to learn. Veteran or experienced teachers in most cases are capable o f han dling these situations without es calating inappropriate behaviors from students. Unfortunately d u r ing my stay at “J e f f ' the staff turn over on a yearly basis was so great that we found ourselves with too many new or inexperienced teach ers. When I say inexperienced, I mean teachers who had little or limited contact and interaction with chil dren o f color and children lacking the “ social skill set" that we expect from high-school students. If un checked this situation can culti vate a “ status quo attitude” where teachers accept these questionable behaviors as being the norm for a specific group or race o f people instead o f working to eradicate these inappropriate behaviors. O ne h elp fu l and p o sitiv e way to a c c o m p lis h th is w o u ld be through ex p an d in g the cu rric u lum to include classes in “E ffec tive C o m m u n icatio n Skills, H u m an In teractio n s, S o ciology, and P sy ch o lo g y .” Instead o f assu m ing o r rely in g solely on others to p ro v id e the cure paren ts, teach ers, and adm inistrators m ust work to g eth er in dev elo p in g a "h o lis tic ed u catio n al p arad ig m ” th a t's p rev en tiv e and th erapeutic. Next and some may take excep tion to this particular suggestion; the current teaching staff at JHS needs to be re-evaluated. T his should begin with an introspective self-evaluation by those teachers w ho d o n ’t want to be at Jefferson. If unhappy, then they should ex plore other career options rather than continue to perpetuate m edi ocrity and com placency. F or th o se w ho elect to stay in sp ite o f th e ir ap p aren t lack of co m m itm en t to ex c ellen c e, the Jefferson adm inistration, its co m m unity m em bers and union lead ers m ust w ork to g e th er to c o n vince the school d istrict to im ple m ent th ese ch anges. T h ese are tough d ecisio n s but we have to begin som ew here. The playing field has been un even for eight years, and now its tim e to do som ething about it. II this means that some feelings are hurt, then so be it, because far too many young African-American stu dents as well as other students are not receiving a quality education at Jefferson High School. It was great that the mayor, his staff, and others spent a week at Jefferson. But w hat did they truly accom plish? W ere more hollow or em pty prom ises m ade or were new guarantees made that may go un fulfilled? If the mayor, city council and J HS admini st rat i ve team wal ked t he halls and visited classes with their “eyes w ide open," then how can they not agree that som ething is m issing? I pose this question to everyone who is fam iliar with the current situ ation at " J e ff' under its current design: W ould you allow your child to attend this school for four years'? Don Johnson is a retired Afri can-American educator and the chief executive officer for Kids N' Tennis. Inc., a youth tennis pro gram.