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It’s not quite spring in
Washington D.C.
It’s a cold place this time of
year. But it's an interesting
place, in all the ambiguity that
word implies.
A beautiful city by night
with the Capitol, the Jefferson
Memorial, and Lee’s mansion
across the river all lit up. The
broad avenues are lined with
golden lights. The Potomac
sparkles.
In the daytime, the nation’s
capitol is a different story.
White pillars, white marble
buildings, the White House
stand out against the black
wrought iron, the black
streets, the city’s population,
blacks.
Traveling two or three
streets from Pennsylvania and
Constitution avenues and the
“mall” (a green parkway from
the Capitol to the Lincoln
Memorial bordered by national
museums and used for
demonstrations) the tourist
confronts worn out buildings,
many untouched, according to
my Washington friend, from
the riots in the 1960s.
The broad avenues so ap
pealing by night are the worst
city roads I’ve ever traveled. If
the roads are the District of
Columbia’s responsibility, the
“city” is too poor to repave
them. If the roads are the na
tional government’s, no one
has gotten around to
maintenance. No one seems
to know.
Capitol Hill is a dishearten
ing place.
Oh, the architecture is
grand and the history looms
large, but the actual dialogue
in Congress “ain’t” much to
write home about.
As far as I could tell, the
Power lies in deciding what
will be heard and voted on and
this had all boen decided long
before I wandered into the
gallery.
After the initial bill is written
it’s mostly rhetoric on the
floor, little self-gratifying
speeches that are heard by a
small part of the House. When
the amendment or bill comes
to a vote a bell rings and our
electeo leaders run from their
desks to vote (where the
House members could have
been watching the side show
on television).
The day I sat in on the
House an amendment to the
nuclear freeze joint resolution
was being considered. I don’t
remember which bit. Les Au
Coin, D-Oregon, stood at the
door after the bell rang and put
his thumb down, so that
Democrats “out to lunch”
would know how to vote as
they walked into the room.
Rumor on Capitol Hill had it,
that the nuclear freeze resolu
tion would have to be through
Congress by St. Patrick’s Day
— Speaker Tip O’Neill intend
ed to be celebrating. But the
debate dragged on and was
postponed.
That isn’t to say Tip didn’t
drink his whiskey and join the
rest of the lawyers, one
seventh of the Washington
D.C. population, in pub hop
ping. I wonder if he loosened
his tie? Nobody ever loosens
their ties in Washington D.C.
Arlington Memorial hangs
over the Capitol. Thousands of
straight white perpendicular
gravestones spread out over
what was once the beautiful
front yard of Robert E. Lee’s
home. It doesn't seem to
bother anyone that all the vic
tims of momentous Congres
sional decisions stare at them
365 days a year, year in and
year out.
It did bother some that one
plaque at the Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier read to the
victims of the Vietnam
Conflict.
It bothered me that at the
exact same time I read about
the slaves at Lee's Arlington
House a group of black men
were gardening in the yard.
I can't quite understand why
John F. Kennedy is buried in
Arlington next to all those he
sent to Vietnam. I never got to
the new Vietnam Memorial,
but I’m comforted by knowing
it’s on its way to the Lincoln
Memorial.
I hope my picture turns out
of the little old lady sitting in
front of the White House with
her picket sign reading
something like: “We could use
some wisdom in this House.”
And I would like to think
that maybe one afternoon
Pres. Reagan will wander
around the Jefferson
Memorial and read about how
the primary responsibility of a
nation is to educate its
citizens. I doubt he will.
I would like to see
Washington D.C. when the
cherry blossoms are out But I
missed it this year. I'm told by
the natives its always a very
short season
your turn
South African divesture
South Africa is the only
country in the world where
racism is practiced blatantly
and legally. South Africa is a
country which constitutes
laws to preserve a population
of four million whites with
superior occupations, high in
comes and sole governing
power over 22 million in
digenous non-white South
Africans.
South Africa practices a
legal governing system called
apartheid (apart hate) which
administers laws that deter
mine where one can live, what
time one must be in at night,
whether one can vote, etc.,
solely on the basis of a per
son’s skin color.
In essence, South Africa is a
country where one fifth of the
population enjoys the
freedoms and luxuries of a
capitalist life because of
Hitlerian-type laws which deny
the majority of the population
of the most basic human
rights.
Two bills, House Bill 2772
and House 3ill 2028, are
presently being considered in
the Oregon House of
Representatives before the
House Subcommittee on Ag
ing and Minority Affairs. The
bills relate to how Oregonians
invest their public dollars and
whether we condone in
vestments in genocidai coun
tries like South Africa simply
because of high profit returns.
HB 2772 demands the State
Accident Insurance Fund
(SAIF) and the Public
Employee Retirement System
(PERS) redirect their in
vestments out of large cor
porations and banks which
have substantial business in
South Africa.
Excluding other state trust
funds, SAIF and PERS alone
have well over $900 million in
vested in over 140 United
States corporations and banks
which do business in South
Africa Why aren't these
monies being invented in our
state, where over 170,000
Oregonians are out or work?
And why are we investing our
retiree funds in a country that
completely ignores its own
retirees’ fundamental rights to
vote or collect retirement
benefits?
The first congressional
hearings on the two bills took
place on March 10th and a se
cond hearing is scheduled for
Thursday, March 31st. Op
ponents, such as the Oregon
State Treasury and the Oregon
Public Employees Union
(OPEU), fear that divesture will
depress the SAIF and PERS
funds because South Africa,
rather apartheid, provides un
matchable revenue returns.
Nonsense. Similar legisla
tion to HB 2772 and HB 2028
has been passed in
Massachusetts, Michigan,
Connecticut and other states
to prove these opponents
wrong. In fact, each of these
states have found reinvesting
in their own economies to be
more profitable.
Our legislative and ad
ministrative officials in Salem
need to hear our voices. I
strongly urge all Oregonians
who oppose racial inequality
and who suppport growth in
the Oregon economy to write
Gov. Vic Atiyeh, State
Treasurer Clay Meyers and our
state legislators to support
the passage of HB 2772 and
HB 2028. (All these officials
can be reached by writing to.
Offical name, Salem, Oregon,
97130).
University students and the
Eugene chapter of People for
South African Freedom will be
in the Erb Memorial Union this
week with a petition to sign
urging support of the two bills.
We Oregon citizens have
the moral obligation to see
that our funds are supporting
Oregon economic growth,
rather than supporting the op
pression of 22 million people
in another country.
Kevin Gilroy
Gilroy is a senior in interna
tional studies, specializing in
African studies.
Oregon daily
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