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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 1973)
Page 2 P orti and /O bserver Thu reday January 25, 1973 As I See It The Editor’s Desk by Lenwood G. Da vis White newspapers and the Black community Black people must keep abreast of what la happening not only on the International level but also on the national and local levels as w e ll. We must not only read t l« W bite newspapers tut also tl« Black papers. One only has to ob serve the meager amount of space devoted to Blacks in the White papers a ll over the nation to see how much space is devoted to tl« Black Com munity. T radition ally the White newspapers have usually re ported only two aspects of Black life - diabolical and exceptional acts. The news papers mostly e a rn e d stories about Blacks who allegedly raped, murdered, robbed, o r assault someone, o r when Blacks won some ra re p riz e . ALT RED LEE HENDERSON WE SEE THE WORLD , THROUGH BLACK EYES. Unity for Victory The time has come fo r Black people to unify our efforts and work together toward a common goal. There is enough talent, enough training and education, enough ambition and aspiration in the Black community of Portland to have lifted it to higher achievements than we now see. No national o r ethnic group has ever achieved victory without a united e ffo rt. We have seen this in the marches and the " s i t - i n s ” that brought about a revolution in civil rights in this country. What we now need in Portland is unification of all of the diverse groups and factions so that together we can build our community and can develop the political and economic muscle to persue our needs and desires effectively in City Hal! o r in the State Capitol. The professional person must rem em ber that although he has achieved some successes, he is still subject to d iscrim ina tion — he is s till Black. He must assist those who have been less fortunate and are more tightly held by the forces of oppres sion. On the other hand, those who may be laborers, w elfare recipients, persons who have worked hard but achieved little , must be careful not to be c ritic a l and condemning of those who have succeeded. Tearing down the few who have made a dent in the system is not the way to change the system. Fighting over the few positions of prestige of influence w ill not help the g re a te r masses of our people obtain a little m ore. Only when all Black people are w illing to work together and help each other and the community, w ill we see any real pro gress that w ill affect the lives of our people. What priorities now? The w a r is over. F o r nearly ten years the people of the United States have paid fo r an illegal and imm oral w a r. Now we are told the w ar is over and we may turn our attentions back to the problems at home. F o r ten years we have been told that the United States could not afford the programs it needed-to make the living conditions fo r its people bearable. We have been told there were not suf ficient funds to provide quality education, retraining, adequate w elfare subsidies, transportation, low-income housing, medical care and medical research, social service, and child c a re . Prog ram s such as the W a r on Poverty. Headstart, Model C ities w ere all but abandoned because we w ere told that the w a r and the resulting defense costs held highest p rio rity . Now the w a r is over. Yet the Nixon administration is rapidly cutting back and witholding funds from the programs that were designed to better the social conditions of the country. We w ill now have the opportunity to assess the p rio ritie s of the nation. Was the w a r just an excuse? MEMBER Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association A MEMBER ,NPA NMWA l PE r Association - Founded 1885 The Northwest's'Best Weekly A Black Owned Publication The White presses all over the country, from tl« largest cities - Los Angeles, New York. Chicago, etc. - to the sm allest hamlet - K ickville. Jam esville, Supply, e t c . - s t i l l do not adequately cover t l« news In the Black community. And when the White presses LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON LBJ in retirem ent: W ithdraw n but calm [EDITOR'S NOTE: The fo llo w in g e d ito ria l was p u b lis h e d in th e PORTLAND OBSERVER o n O ctober 5, 1972.] Those w h o have ta lked to President Lyndon B Johnson lately say he is ca lm ly g e ttin g his a ffa irs in order fo r an e a rly dem ise. It was my pleasure, w h ile p astoring in Pacoima C a lifo r n ia , to have W arren Hughes, a classmate o f L.B.J. as a m em ber o f the Parks Chapel A.M.E. Church. W arren Hughes was also a re la tiv e of Judge Sarah Hughes, w h o g a v e President L B J the oath o f O ffice in D allas a fte r J F K s assassination Warren gave me d e e p insight into L B J.'s life He also predicted that L B J. w o u ld passm ore C ivil Rights Bills than any o f his predecessors. W arren Hughes was rig ht! D w ight Eisenhower left 45 social program s in the books, costing just $10 b illio n a year W hen Johnson departed, there w ere 435 program s w ith ye arly price tags o f m ore than $25 b illio n . L.B.J. pushed through John Kennedy's voting rights law , w hich e n fra n c h is e d m illio n s o f blacks in the South. Johnson started M e d ic a re for the e lderly and M ed ica id fo r the needy. He started also the War on Poverty and the M od el Cities program to cure urban ills. Today, Johnson at 64 is very q uiet. He is setting his house in order, since in his heart he know s he has been a good president. He sold the fa m ily TV interest, sub|ect to g o ve rn m e n t a p p ro v a l, fo i a bo ut 9 m illion He has c o m p le te ly w ih d ra w n fro m the spotlight of the W hite House He w o n 't talk to the press, w on't respond to attacks, w o n 't p e rm it his frie n d s to d ra w him into a discussion of n o tio n a l a ffa irs He is through w ith p rivate business. He is o n ly m a kin g sure that his heirs w o n 't have a ny problem s. He fe els that the Johnson m en d o n 't have a lo n g life expectancy It must be very p a in fu l fo r the fo rm e r President to w ith d ra w A m an w h o has been on the Washington scene since the e arly 30's and w ho d o m in a ted W ashington for fiv e years must fin d it d iffic u lt to become silent It is re a lly u n b e lie v a b le and it is a mystery. H ow ever, re m e m b e rin g w h a t W arren Hughes to ld me a fe w years a go in Pacoima, it gives me an insight into this strange, n ew Johnson w ho is still g o in g through severe w ith d ra w a l pains but rem ains calm . It is no surprise that I have in m y scrapbook a letter from President Johnson He answ ered the eb’ e and the poverty victim s p erson ally. M any Vietnam soldiers received letters fro m L.B.J. that he answ ered personally He was a President w h o re a lly cared He was m isunderstood by m any over the V ietnam War, but no one every m e n tio n e d h ow he w o u ld stay a w a ke m any nights to check on A m e rica n casualties. M any reporters and newscasters w ho re a lly d id not understand L B J a nd le a k e d o ut b itter criticism of him should k n o w that it hurts the o ld m an's insides He has served his co un try w e ll -- he was a great President if not the greatest o f a ll tim es. He sits silent now , letting history be his Judge. W e are told by one o f his friends, L.B.J. hears a nd fe e ls the pains o f his critics, but he w ill n o t fig h t nor d e fe n d his record H e Simply w ill turn the Other cheek " He is listening to a Distant D ru m m e r1 The Distant D rum m er says "W e ll done L B J W ell d o n e the good a nd fa ith fu l servant A mystery m an? Yes and No L B J has simply adopted the p h ilo s o p h y that his frien ds need no explanations a n d th a t his e n e m ie s w o u ld n 't believe him anyw ay. That is the recpon he stays on the ranch and out of the spotlights o f W a sh in gton , D C He ,s satisfied with his record o f service a nd the o n ly question he is concerned w ith is, ''is the M aster sa tisfied w ith h im ’ " Binyon Optical 6 3 0 SW B ro a d w a y 2 2 6 -6 6 8 8 J a n tze n Beach 2 8 3 -3 1 9 5 SIDNEY THOMAS DISPENSING O PTIC IA N Dr. L. W e s le y A p la n a lp O ptom etrist Soft a n d R e g u la r contact lenses Associate Optometrists: BRIGGS, H A T TE N , M IL L E R 8. STENGER ? < A of the Freedom 's Journal, Those words are s till mean ingful today, one hundred and forty five years la te r. Name ly, out of necessity. Blacks must have th eir own news media. If anyone believes that White iwwspapers w ill report news objectively in tl« Black Community, 1« must 1« suf fering from C ancer of tl« brain and diarrhea of mlndt by B e n ja m in E. M a y s A great deal has teen said about w elfare abuse from President Nixon on down. A long a rtic le appeared in the Atlanta Journal and Constitu tion, December 25, 1972 on abuse In t l« w elfare program . A multifaceted program has leen launched in Georgia to cut down on atxjse and to pun ish those who cheat. A state law for Georgia is being sought to set penalties fo r fraud. Deputy Com m is sioner J im Parham has e s ti mated that the annual loss to the state in W elfare fraud amounts to m illio ns. E .W , (»wan, d irecto r of tl« office of legal services of the Human Resources [ « p e r t inent, says the state of Georgia has recovered more than $70. 000 since July 1. H alf of the fraud is found in tl« abuse of t l« use of food stamps. A ll this is well and good. 1 am against fraud and d e a l ing. But I wish the c ritic s would take a broader view. A ll w elfare programs are de signed p rim a rily to keep peo ple on w elfare by giving them the m inim um , barely enough for them to eke out a poor dying existence. Husbands should not desen th e ir fam ilies, but many of them desen because they have no jobs, cannot find jobs and If they are caught at the house not working, welfare w ill 1« cut off. The welfare system, t l« way it works, encourages dishonesty. In most of the violent at tacks on fraud in w elfare, it is not pointed out that tl« vast m ajo rity of tl« cases on w el fare are honest cases. This suie of the story is seldom brought out. It often doesn't get the lea d lin e . Yet we 1«- come witch hunters indicting or casting reflection on all people on w elfare. 11« m a jo r ity of t l» people are on wel fare because they cannot help It and not because tin y want to be there. I wish we were equallycon cerned about m llllonalresw ho pay no Income tax at a ll.T h e y find legal ways to avoid It. liven tl« federal government passes no laws to close this loophole. Nolxxly cares that there are fan n ers on w elfare being paid $50,000 o r several hundred thousands a year for not planting. These are right l«op le on w elfare. It is the tax money of those of us who pay Income fax. Nobody knows just how many I) 52s have leen shotdownover North Vietnam over t l« last three weeks at t l « time of this w ritin g , one repo it e r has said that 29 fj 52s have heen shot down, each one cost eight m illio n dollars o ra totsl$2.12, fXXJ.(XX). This, we say is, not waste. It IS In the In terest of national defense, D e c e m te r 12, 1972 allnited Press artic le stated that we have spent $26,6 billion on tl« maned space program in tl« last 15 years. The scientific value of this program to tl« survival and welfare of man Is yet to Ic known. Thia amount of money would endow 26 u n lv e rs lt« s with a billion d o llars each and if there are 2,000 institutions of higher learning in tl« I nite I States, each one could 1« endowed by $ 13,(XX),(XX) with $26 billion. It Is a fact that the per centage on welfare is highest among Negroes. F o r this reason we w ill crack down on w elfare cheaters because (hey are black. Unfortunate lo t true. With Ron Hendren A YOUNG VIEW OF WASHINGTON THE $10 BILLION TREASURE CHEST-PART II By Ron Hendren \pplication to m ail at second-class postage rates is pending at Portland, Oregon. D isp en sers of Fashion E y ew e ar Lenwood Davis Nixon abuses welfare Published every Thursday by Exie Publishing Company 2201 N . Kdlingsworth, Portland, Oregon 97217 M ailing address: P.O . Box 3137 Portland, Oregon 97208 Subscriptions - $5.25 per year - T ri-C ounty area by mail 6.00 per year - Elsewhere by mail Telephone: 283-2486 ALFRED LEE HENDERSON P u b lis h e r - E d ito r do report t l« news, It Is us ually reported erroneously. Hence. out of necessity we must have our newspapers. The firs t known Black i» w s - paper, Freedom 's Journal, owned and edited by Samuel Cornish and John B . Kuss- w u m i, appeared in New York C ity on M arch 16, 1827. It should 1« pointed out that the Journal appeared four years le fo re W ill lam I.loyd G a r r i son's I.ite r a to r . It's firs t editorial stressed one of its purposes: The interesting fact that there are five hun dred thousand free persons of colour, or« half of whom might peruse, and the whole he henefitted by tl« publica tion of the Journal; that no laiblication, as yet, has leen devoted exclusively to their Improvement that many selec tions from approved standard authors, which are within the reach of few, may occasional ly be made - and more im portant s till, that this large body of our citizens have no public channel - all serve to prove the real necessity, at present, fo r tl« appearance Another Point of View Black comedy of error CHICAGO D EFEND ER The black RejTUblicans who went all out fo r reelection of F resident Nixon, must be har boring dark thoughts while wringing th e ir hands in con tritio n . Thus far, th elreffo rts, tim e and money have yielded no commensurate rewards. A ll the juicy plums have been palmed out. There is nothing left Ixit crumbs, and even the crum bs are being scooped up by second rate white Southern ers and the hard-hats who cast th e ir ballots last Novem ber fo r Nixon, although some of them can hardly read. With the exception of M rs . Jewel Lafontant who has been January 13, 1973 named to the post of deputy S o licito r General - a job that c a rrie s more prestige than real Importance, black Repub licans simply wasted th eir kinetic energy on M r . M ixon. The two-day strategy meeting held in Washington last M ay and which was highlighted by a $ 1 0 0-a -p la te dinner spon sored by black officials of the Nixon Administration was a grandiose gesture, never be fore conceived by GOP blacks In the whole history of the p arty. Some $200,000 w ere raised at the dinner as a contribution to the Nixon campaign fund. That money could have leen used more advantageously as a contribution to t l« NAACP Defense Fund, o r to PUSH’ s Educational Fund o r to the Red C ross. Two-hundred thousand dol lars Is nothing to laugh at. It Is a respectable sum In anybody's language. Pouring that money Into the Republican campaign chest without any guarantee of compensatory results was a colossal m istake. P olitics Is no place fo r a ltru is m . Tbs Nixon phi losophy h is the basic tenet of the D lx le cra t conceptual Ideo logy of race. It Is firs t and last of all anti-black. Letters to the Editor D e a r S ir, In s t itu t io n a liz e d racism and assistance In.self e x term ination with the help of unequal justice Is poetically displayed In the courts and published In the Oregon Journal d ate d ja n - uary 19, 1973. A Black gets two years fo r murdering an other black and two para graphs lower on the same page a white gets ten years for m urdering another white! I wonder If tl« Black would have gotten the same two years for m urdering a W hite. An "u n derstanding judge” Is giving Blacks a license to k ill each other as in all the states while singing "w e shall o v e rc o m e ". It seems as If stress on ed ucation and constructive values are the furthest thing away from too many of our Black adults and th e ir chil dren. W a lte r F . M o rris J r . W ASIIINGTON Last October (in a col umn entitled "The $10 Billion treasure Chest") I reported that Ihe President had impounded more than $10 billion in funds appropriated by ( ongreis, money destined primarily to aid cities and states in regional development projects, urban mass transit, water and sewer grants, highway construction and rural electrifi cation development I noted then that the practice o f impounding a power which has been misused by Presidents, Republicans and Democrats alike, since World War II thwarted Ihe will ot Congress and further eroded its already weakened powers, in this case its Constitutional responsibility to appropriale public funds. Unni now Congress has reacted rather passively Bui Iasi week Senator Sam I I rvin (I)-N ( I introduced legislation which would go a long way toward preventing unauthorized impounding Ihe bill, S 373, is co-sponsored by 45 other senators and thus is pretty much assured ol Senate passage, even though hearings are yel Io be held Irv in s proposal would require the President lo notify (ongress each lime he impounds appropriated funds, and unless Ihe legislative body specifically approved Ihe action w ilhin 60 days, the impound ment would cease and Ihe money would be allocated as originally intended by Congress Similar legislation is pending in Ihe House I rvin. respected as the Senate's expert in-residence on Ihe Constilulion, intends Io hold hearings on his proposal in late January and early February before Ihe Subcommittee on Separation ol Powers, of which he is chairman He says he hopes Ihe hill will be ready for consideration by Ihe lu ll Senate "before the heal ol summer has beset ihe Nation's Capital " As F.rvin noted when he introduced S 373, the issue is not one between a wasteful Congress and a th n lty President, as Ihe Administration would paint the picture The real issue is the far more basic question o f who controls ihe purse strings The Constitution gives Congress the clear and undisputed responsibility of allocating public funds And yel ihe President, through selected impounding, can cut hack or completely eliminate those programs which he does not lavor, without financial consideration, without regard to need, and without consulting Congress Thus it is no accident lhal many domestic programs have been cut hack drastically since the President's re-elec tion in November And even if I rvin's proposal passes, we can look for more of the same But al least his bill brings Ihe issue into public focus for the first lime in many months, and if it passes Ihe President will finally have Io justify his actions if he expects ( ongress to approve additional impounding S y n d ica l«) 19 7 1 hv W A S III N I, t ( IN W l I h l V III, A ll natile rvevrvvd
