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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 15, 2015)
Page 6 New Prices Effective May 1, 2014 July 15, 2015 O PINION Martin We Are Called in Aftermath of Charleston Honoring Cleaning our dream of equality for all Service M ARIAN W RIGHT E DELMAN I am a native South Carolinian. Charles- ton is my maternal ancestral home. My great grandmother was born during slav- ery. My great grand- father I have been told was a plantation overseer. Never have I been more proud and more ashamed of my dueling ancestral heritages than in the aftermath of the terroristic murders of nine black Christians engaged in Bible study at Charles- ton’s historic Mother Emanuel Af- rican Methodist Episcopal Church by a young white man infected by what Dr. King called, after Pres- ident Kennedy’s assassination, “a morally inclement climate.” He came with a troubled spirit DQGUDFLDOUDJHLQÀDPHGE\DZKLWH supremacist website. He was en- abled to become a mass killer by readily accessible and largely un- regulated guns – over 310 million in citizen hands and only 4 million in America’s law enforcement and BY Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning Residential & Commercial Services Minimum Service CHG. $45.00 $VPDOOGLVWDQFHWUDYHO charge may be applied CARPET CLEANING 2 Cleaning Areas or more $30.00 Each Area 3UH6SUD\7UDI¿F$UHDV (Includes: 1 small Hallway) 1 Cleaning Area (only) $40.00 ,QFOXGHV3UH6SUD\7UDI¿F$UHD (Hallway Extra) Stairs (12-16 stairs - With Other Services) Area/Oriental Rugs $25.00 Minimum Area/Oriental Rugs (Wool) $40.00 Minimum Heavily Soiled Area Additional $10.00 each area (Requiring Extensive Pre-Spraying) UPHOLSTERY CLEANING 6RID /RYHVHDW 6HFWLRQDO &KDLURU5HFOLQHU $25 - $49 Throw Pillows (With Other Services) ADDITIONAL SERVICES • Area & Oriental Rug Cleaning $XWR%RDW59&OHDQLQJ • Deodorizing & Pet Odor Treatment • Spot & Stain Removal Service • Scotchguard Protection • Minor Water Damage Services SEE CURRENT FLYER FOR ADDITIONAL PRICES & SERVICES Call for Appointment (503) 281-3949 military hands. But his dastardly deeds were bathed in an amazing spirit of forgiveness among the victims’ families. I hope this latest chapter in America’s pervasive history of domestic terrors against millions of o black citizens vic- timized by slavery and ti Jim J Crow terrorism, de- nied full citizen rights n throughout our history, th relegated to subhuman r WKUHH¿IWKV VWDWXV LQ RXU WK Constitution and treated C like li beasts of burden to fuel our unjust economic system can be squarely confronted. Until the United States sees and cures its profoundly evil birth defects of slavery, Native Ameri- can genocide, and the exclusion of all women and non-propertied men of all colors from our elec- toral process, these birth defects ZLOO FRQWLQXH WR ÀDUH XS LQ PXO- tiple guises to threaten our black community’s and everyone’s safe- ty, our nation’s future, and render hollow our professed but still in- adequate commitment to ensuring equality for all. Slavery was followed by thou- sands of lynchings and racially instigated terrorism through hate groups like the KKK during the Jim Crow era. And it continues WR EH UHÀHFWHG LQ WKH XQMXVW UD- FLDOSUR¿OLQJDQGNLOOLQJVRIEODFN boys and men by law enforcement agents and a mass incarceration system. Millions of African American and Latino children and people of color are trapped in a cradle to prison pipeline lodged at the inter- section of race and poverty. That black children are the poorest, most mis-educated, most incarcer- ated, most unemployed, and most demonized of any group of chil- dren in America is a continuing legacy of slavery and Jim Crow that must end now. Let’s seize this latest tragic ra- cial terrorist act to confront our history and how we teach our his- tory. And we must all act together to reject our present day racism in all its structural, cultural and hid- den manifestations with urgency and persistence. We must pass on to our children and grandchildren a more honest and just nation and a future free of the violence of rac- ism, poverty and guns. I believe we are called in the aftermath of the Charleston mas- sacre, the latest in a long and egregious history of unjust black deaths, to confront the realities of our true history so that a new generation of white youths does not carry forth the poison of racial supremacy and white privilege. We also must act so that millions of African American, Native Amer- ican and Latino children, soon to be the majority of our country’s children in a majority nonwhite world, do not have to continue to struggle against overt and covert culturally ingrained racism. :HPXVW¿UPO\UHMHFWDOOV\P- bols glorifying slavery and hatred that divide us. We must reject all efforts to subvert fair and demo- cratic election processes includ- ing the precious right to vote. We must end mass incarceration and ensure equal justice under the law for all. We must confront massive inequality of wealth and income and end poverty, beginning with child poverty now. It is time to commit America to become America and to close the gap between creed and deed. Let’s send a ray of hope throughout our nation and world that we are com- mitted to honoring our dream of equality for all. What an amazing grace moment we have been given to help our nation move forward together. Marian Wright Edelman is President of the Children’s De- fense Fund A Musty Artifact of a Defeated Insurrection Taking down the UHEHOÀDJ K WAME S. S ALTER Flags are imbued with the values, senti- ments and aspirations of the nations, states, cities, organizations or groups that honor DQG À\ WKHP 2IWHQ hoisted high above throngs of DPSHGXSLQGLYLGXDOVWKHÀDJLV a visible and material reminder of what a particular group stands for or values. Flags can evoke passionate emotions of love, hate or fear. Flags carry a very loud, non-ver- EDO \HW VSHFL¿F DQG LUUHGXFLEOH message. In the USA, the Ameri- can Flag carries the message that we stand for truth, justice and democracy. However, in other SODFHVDURXQGWKHZRUOGRXUÀDJ unfortunately, carries the mes- sage that we are there to impose our way of life and values on the indigenous population whether they like it or not. Flags are not value neutral. Flags say what they mean and mean what they say. BY 7KHUHFHQWÀDSVXUURXQGLQJWKH &RQIHGHUDWH ÀDJ LV DOO WKH PRUH surprising because we all know what it stood for and still stands for today. No, it does not represent youthful rebelliousness; nor, does it truly repre- sent the heritage of a particular region of these United States of America; and, most importantly, it does not represent truth, justice and freedom. Put simply, it is the musty ar- tifact of a defeated insurrection against our government. What the &RQIHGHUDWHÀDJUHSUHVHQWVLVWKH attempted perpetual dominion of one group of human beings over another group. In other words, the cry of the secessionist southern states preceded George Wallace’s “Segregation now, segregation forever.” Instead, the rallying cry of the boys in grey was Slavery Now. Slavery Forever.’ Prior to the Great Migration of the 1940s, the majority of African-Americans had toiled, been lynched, dehumanized and marginalized in the South. And, while their experience dif- fered markedly from whites in the South, southern blacks have as much of a claim to Southern heritage as their more privileged white brethren. So, the argument that the &RQIHGHUDWH ÀDJ LV D V\PERO RI Southern Heritage is tantamount to saying that the Nazi Swasti- ka represented German heritage. Lest we forget, Jewish people in Germany were Germans. So, clearly both the Swastika and the Confederate Flag represent a failed attempt to either eliminate a group of people or, in the case of blacks, to keep them as chattel SURSHUW\%RWKÀDJVDUHDEKRUUHQW reminders of man’s inhumanity to man. For over 150 years, the vic- torious North has mollycoddled and enabled the defeated white South. Our central government allowed the wholesale disenfran- chisement of black southerners, thus allowing white southern racists to control the most pow- erful committees in our national Congress. We permitted the construction of statues lining the streets of Richmond, Virginia, Charleston, South Carolina and other south- ern cities paying homage to “war heroes’ intent on keeping my peo- ple in bondage. And, every day of D EODFN VRXWKHUQHU¶V OLIH KHVKH must be reminded of those very men who sought to keep them as work animals. Again, it would be akin to having statues of Hitler and his generals lining the boule- vards of Berlin. 1R WKH &RQIHGHUDWH ÀDJ LV not the symbol real rebels should adorn their homes and clothes with to assert their independence. Instead, how about hoisting the American Flag, the real rebel ÀDJ While not always perfect in living up to it, the genesis of our QDWLRQDOÀDJJUHZRXWRIDQDVSL- UDWLRQDO YLVLRQ ³:H KROG WKHVH truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal. Endowed by the creator with certain un- alienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty and pursuit of happiness...” Kwame S. Salter is President of The Salter Group and the author of two books, including Striving While Black.