^ '^ o r tla n h (©baeruer_____________________ May27.2009
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O pinion
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Pulling Together
in Tough Times
Supporting our community
by
P at K siten
Throughout our nation and
our state, people and commu
nities such as north and north
east Portland are being chal
lenged as never before in our
lifetimes.
L a y o f f s , f o r e c lo s u r e s ,
ev en th e w e a th e r seem to
conspire to paint a bleak and
stressfu l p icture. T hese are
surely tim es we will hold up
as a y ard stick by w hich to
m easure future events.
But the true measure of the
tim es w on’t be the lessons
about financial hardship and
w idespread econom ic strain,
but the sto ries o f courage,
community spirit and working
to make things better, together.
T hose stories w ill point to
people and organizations that
made the difference for us all,
as a community, when things
w ere good, but also w hen
things were toughest.
These people and organiza
tions are on overdrive serving
our community, right now. Our
company has had the privilege
to know and work with them
for many years, organizations
like the Urban League, New
Kids on the Block, Children
First and the Albina Rotary.
So w e ’re p ro ud to be
partnered with community or
ganizations that stand so tall
during difficult times and ask
that everyone who can, join
us all. Their work has never
been more important.
These organizations bind
th e c o m m u n ity to g e th e r
with strong bonds, even in
tough times. Take a minute
and look around - perhaps
because they may be able to
help someone you know, or
because you may be able to
help others, as a partner. Or
at the very least, please just
say thanks. They need and
deserve all o f our support
now more than ever, on be
half of our com m unity and
our neighbors. Doing that is
truly how we should m ea
sure ourselves.
Pat Reiten is the president
o f Pacific Power.
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Arrested over Health Care
for another one of the highly
scripted, well-protected events
that are supposed to make up
the “health care debate" using
standard tools of advocacy. We
organized call-in days and faxes
to the members of the commit
bv D r . M argaret F lowers
On May 5, eight health care tee requesting the presence of
advocates, including m yself one single-payer advocate at
and tw o o th e r p h y sic ia n s, the table of 15.
stood up to Sen. Max Baucus,
D-Mont., and the Senate Fi
nance Committee during a “pub
lic roundtable discussion.”
We posed a simple question:
Will you allow an advocate for
a single-payer national health
plan to have a seat at the table?
Despite thousands of calls
The answer was a loud, “Get
more police!” And we were ar and faxes, the only reply - re
ceived on the day before the
rested and hauled off to jail.
The fact that a national health event - was, “Sorry, but no more
insurance program is supported invitations will be issued.”
We knew that this couldn't
by the majority of the public,
be
correct. We had heard Sen.
doctors and nurses apparently
Baucus
say on that very same
means nothing to Sen. Baucus.
day
that
“all options were on
The fact that thousands of
the
table.”
And so, the next day,
people in America are dying
we
donned
our suits and trav
every year because they can't
eled
to
W
ashington.
We had
get health care means nothing.
many
know
ledgeable
single
The fact that over 1 million
Americans go into bankruptcy payer advocates in our group.
every year due to medical debt And as the meeting started, one
- even though most of them had of us, Mr. Russell Mokhiber,
insurance when they got sick - stood up to say that we were
here and we were ready to take
means nothing.
And so, as the May 5 meet a seat. And he was promptly
ing approached, we prepared removed from the room.
But it won’t
stop me from
speaking out
* Our voices must be strong
enough to drown out the
influence o f corporate dollars.
9MWMNRMNMH
More black babies die before age one or are bom
too early, ICTC helps to stop this problem through
training and services.
ICTC is a non-profit infant mortality prevention,
breast-feeding promotion and training organization,
established in 1991.
You can do it too
by M arl
H .M oriai .
Last month I wrote a column
about how too many inner city
boys are putting basketball be-
N o rth R u n w a y E x te n s io n P r o je c t
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<5 PORT OF PORTLAND
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f
•
would include everybody and
provide better health care at a
lower cost. These facts mean
nothing to most of them be
cause they respond to only one
standard tool o f advocacy:
money, and lots of it.
The people seated at the table
represented the corporate inter
ests: private health insurers and
big business and those who
su p p o rt th e ir agenda. The
people w hose voices w ere
heard all represented organiza
tions which pay huge sums of
money to political campaigns.
These interests profit greatly
from the current health care in
dustry and do not want changes
that will hurt their large, per
sonal pocketbooks.
And so, we have entered a
new phase in the movement for
health care as a human right:
acts of civil disobedience. It is
time to directly challenge cor
porate interests. History has
shown that in order to gain hu
man rights, we must be willing
to speak out and risk arrest. We
must engage in actions that ex
pose corporate fraud and cor
ruption. We m ust make our
presence known.
And that is why the eight of
us, knowledgeable health care
advocates and providers, most
of us parents, some of us grand
parents, spoke out one-by-one
at the Senate Finance Commit
tee. And it is why we will con
tinue to speak out and encour
age others to do the same. Our
voices must be strong enough
to drown out the influence of
corporate dollars.
Health care must become the
civil rights movement of this
decade. T he opportunity is
here. A nd we can c re a te a
single-payer national health
care system.
Yes, we can.
Dr. M argaret Flowers is a
pediatrician in Baltimore and
co-chair o f the Maryland chap
ter o f Physicians fo r a National
Health Program.
■ bbbrmmbbmbmnbnbbebbhmebb
Congrats to Mayors Johnson and Bing
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In that moment, it all became
so clear. We could write letters,
phone staffers, and fax until the
m achines fell apart, but we
would never get our seat at the
table.
T he se n a to rs u n d e rsta n d
that most people want a na
tional health system and that
an improved Medicare for All
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fore education, only to be left
with no futures once their play
ing days are through.
Today I want to talk
about two former NBA
All-Stars, Sacramento
Mayor Kevin Johnson
and D e tro it M ayor
Dave Bing, who chose
another route.
Both Johnson and
Bing grew up in poverty, gradu
ated from high school and col
lege and went on to accomplish
great things in business and
politics after they retired from
playing basketball.
Kevin Johnson became Sac
ramento 's first African American
Mayor in 2(XJ8 after 12 seasons
as a point guard for the Phoenix
Suns and a subsequent career
as a successful Sacramento de
veloper and civic leader.
The son of a teenage mother,
Kevin was raised by his grand
parents in the city's rough Oak
Park neighborhood. Young
Kevin excelled both academi
cally and athletically at Sacra
mento High School and earned
a scholarship to play basketball
for the University of California
at Berkeley. He graduated from
UC Berkeley in 1987 with a de
gree in political science.
After his stellar NBA career,
Johnson
returned
home in 2000 to serve
as the chief executive
officer of St. Hope, a
non-profit community
development corpora
tion he founded to im
prove education and
revitalize city neigh
borhoods. As Mayor of Sacra
mento, he has laid out a bold vi
sion for that city’s future.
NBA Hall of Famer Dave Bing
may have ju st taken on the
toughest job in America. On
May 5, the Detroit Piston all-
time great was elected Mayor
of Detroit, a city that has been
hit especially hard by the cur
rent economic meltdown. Bing's
background and track record
have prepared him well for the
challenge.
Like Kevin Johnson, Bing was
also a basketball prodigy and a
child o f urban poverty. A
graduate of Washington, D.C.'s
Spingam High School, Bing at
tended Syracuse U niversity
where he is known as "the great
est player in Syracuse history."
He earned a degree in eco
nomics and after a great NBA
c a re e r, fo u n d e d th e B in g
Group and became one o f the
le a d in g A fric a n A m erican
businessm en in the country.
Ronald Reagan once named
him, "Minority Small Business
Person o f the Year" and in
1998, Black Enterprise named
the Bing Group its "Company
of the Year."
Upon accepting that award
Bing said, "As a black with the
stigma of being an ex-jock, the
toughest thing for me was get
ting people to realize that I had
the intellect to get things done
and that I was serious about
making the leap from athletics
to business."
Kevin Johnson and D ave
Bing have proven they have
both the intellect and the seri
ousness to be big city mayors.
They've used the lessons of
teamwork and discipline that
they learned on the basketball
court, and in the classroom, to
succeed in both business and
politics. I hope the young men
see them as true role models
and say, if KJ and Dave can do
it, you can too.
Marc H. Morial is president
and chief executive officer o f
the National Urban League.
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