Portland/Observcr
Thursday, November 15, 1973
Page 3
Famine result of colonialism
Getting
Smart
BY WALTER L SMART
Executive Director
National Perleration ot Settlements
and Neigbbortiood Centers
The on going reports
of
racial violence from the
Caribbean should send us a
message that should ring
loud and clear to all of us.
We are facing an increase of
awareness in the Americas
an awareness that should
eventually reap more vio
lence if the powers to be do
not deal sensibly with the
problems ot minorities and of
economic oppression.
When our ancestors were
shipped bulk rate from Afri
ca, many ships stopped first
in the Caribbean. On these
islands, surviving Afrirans
were bought, sold, and traded
to retailers who would then
either ship the slaves dir
ectly to the colonies or would
train them in agriculture and
in abject obedience.
Many
slaves escaped or were de
tailed for work on the islands
in slave trade processing.
They became the "deputies
for the coloreds”, servants,
field hands, dork workers
and bearers. There soon de
veloped a Black majority
ruled by European slave
masters.
Today the noble great
grandchildren of the noble
Africans are rebelling. The
fare of the master is now
slightly different. You see
the United States owns St.
Croix.
In St. Croix, white tourists
have been killed. Although
there has been a marked in
crease of deaths among the
press, the United S ta tes
government, and the govern
ment of St. Croix has given
the white tourist deaths spe
cial significance. Just as in
the United States, Black
lives are less important than
white lives.
White lives
represent money and tour
ism.
U.S. Marshalls have
been sent.
Governmental
snooping increased. So-called
militants arrested.
Many Afro Americans who
have the chance to travel
play down the abject poverty
of the Caribbean. They are
often so happy they have a
chance to do the things of
which their parents only had
dreams, they forget that they
too «re playing a large role
in the oppression of other
Black peoples.
The Afro-
American tourist takes on
the same elitist arrogance of
his European counterparts
and soon becomes oblivious
to the poverty that sur
rounds him. We hide our
eyes just as the whites do in
America.
So far the tourist slayings
have only affected whites.
When many Crusans recog
nize Afro Americans also
represent money, they will
open their eyes and recog
nize us too as ugly rich
Americans. The problem is
not race. It is economics.
Ix*t us not forget our history
and the role we must play to
change the present,
ACLU director speaks
Melvin Wulf, National
I-egal Director of the Ameri
can Civil Liberties Union,
will be keynote speaker at a
luncheon preceeding a I jiw
yer's Workshop sponsored by
the ACLU of Oregon to be
held Saturday. November 17.
at Templeton Commons,
Lewis and Clark College,
from 12:30 to 5:00 p.m.
Wulf will speak on "Recent
Developments in the United
States Supreme Court". As
a member of the ACLU staff
since 1958. he has argued
more rases before the Su
preme Court than any lawyer
in history, probably including
Solicitors General.
He is
personally responsible for
many of the landmark First
Amendment victories.
The workshop is designed
as a "how to do it” session to
help lawyers become more
familiar with the techniques
of litigating civil rights rases.
The workshop will be
chaired by Thomas P. Deer
ing, who served six years as
Vice Chairperson of the
ACLU of Oregon and head of
it* legal panel. ACLU co
operating attorney Daniel
Seifer will present "An Over
view of Civil Rights Laws".
"Justiciability, or, How to
Get to Court and Stay There"
will be discussed by a panel
of ACLU attorneys: Jona
than Ater, Charles Hinkle
and I^slie Swanson.
Participation in the work
shop is open to all members
of the Oregon Bar. law stu
dents and the public. Regis
tration information may be
had from the ACLU office in
Portland.
DR. JEFFREY BRADY Says:
DO Not Put Off Needed Dentol ( o r e 1'
Enjoy D e n ta l H e a lth N o w a n d
Im p ro v e Y our A p p e a ra n c e
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D R . JEFFREY B R A D Y , D E N T IS T
'
The United Farm Workers
Union will hold a week of
a c t iv it ie s ca lled "Farm
workers Thanksgiving" in
support of the farmworkers
movement.
On Monday, November 19.
labor picket lines will be held
at Lloyd Center Safeway
(12:00 noonl, at St. John's
Safew ay, and Milwaukee
Safeway (4:00 to 6:00 p.m.).
On Tuesday, November 20.
at noon, clergy will picket
the 10th and Jefferson Safe
way store.
hara.
Hardly had these areas
been conquered when France
redirected their trade and
harnessed their resources to
its colonial enterprises. land
which previously had been
used for pastures by Fulani
herdsmen were brought
under the plow to plant
peanuts and cotton for ex
port.
So in sisten t were the
French that these colonies
should make a profit for the
Metropole, that when in 1929
the cotton and oil markets
crashed, the Upper Volta
was judged unviable as a
territory, dismembered and
her parts assigned to the
neighboring colonies.
Later, unable to stem the
tide of nationalism, and un
willing to spend the money
necessary to treat her now
Black citizens as equals with
their co-citizens in France,
the French first balkanized
her West African Federation,
linked each of the now
weakened countries directly
to her, and gave them inde
pendence.
The economic plight of the
peoples in the Sahel was
exacerbated by a climatic
shift that started in the early cost anybody anything," they
1960's and has continued up say.
to thé present. Not only has
For their part, the Afri
the rainfall been 10 15% less,
cans are insisting that the
but it has been erratic over money alloted to them should
the whole area. The Niger not be spent in innumerable
River is at its lowest level in studies which gather dust,
about 40 years, and Lake but should be used to de
Chad has less water in it velop projects generated by
than at any time since 1943.
them. They are seeking the
As these conditions be
help of the Black community
came worse, the Africans did in this difficult battle. Send
alert the Food and Agricul
funds to RAIN. 475 River
lure Organization and other side Drive, New York, New
aid granting agencies, but no York 10027.
one paid any attention to
them.
It was only when
reports of widespread hunger
and death began to trickle
out of the Sahel that the
Western world took notice.
By then the Senegalese had
harvested only one third of
(Continued from pg. 1. col. 9l
their normal crops, and about
40% of its livestock had died. tradition of Ronny Williams
The Upper Volta lost some to Alabama.
Williams was
35% of its livestock, Maure convicted in Alabama of as
tania about 60% of its herds, sault with intent to kill a
and the latest report is that police officer, a charge of
about 35% of all the animals which he claims to be in
in the entire Sahel have nocent.
he left Alabama,
perished. The cost in human fearing for his life, while his
lives has not yet been cal
case was on appeal. Since
culated, but millions are af
coming to Oregon he has
fee ted.
earned his GED and has
In the face of such suffer
been employed at ESCO.
ing. the response of the His employers termed him a
world was too little and valuable and responsible em
almost too late. Spurred on ployee and if he remains in
by A m b a ssa d o r Sam uel Oregon they will rehire him.
Adams, Deputy A ssistant He is currently in Rocky
Secretary of State for the Butte waiting extradition to
Agency for International De
Alabama.
velopm ent, and by Afro-
One gentleman asked that
American who had served as the motion be held over to
Ambassador to Niger, the look in the State of Ala
United States finally allo bama's side of the story.
cated some $20 million in Russ Farrell said, “The other
food and assistance.
side of the coin is racism.
But a great deal of this How do you compromise
money was spent airlifting with racism. This is not an
food into the inland regions, isolated incident, but the
and it was a drop in the same thing is happening to
bucket in the face of tremen Blacks and Mexicans through
dous need. While apprécia
out the South."
tive of this aid, the Africans
Representative Edith peck
have felt constrained to de said. "If a young man could
clare publicly that the United ?pend time in our disgraceful
States "could do a little more Rocky Butte jail and still
without feeling the strain. want to stay in Oregon -
You have so much, it wouldn't Alabama must be hell!”
SH O P
■ENOW'S
FOR
4
BRA N D S you know
VARIETIES you lik.
SIZES you • I « w
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Democrats
As
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4 X,» I»-.
i
A Wed H
O» U N IF fD G R O l t R t
Day Care Mothers
To provide Child Care
in your home
Ages Infancy thru 12 yrs.
Day - Swing ■ Graveyard
Contact :
AMA Family
D ay/N ight Program
288-5091
4635 N.E. 9th
Wulf will also appear in
Eugene on Friday evening,
November 16, where he will
speak at a public meeting at
the University of Oregon
I jiw School.
Christmas
card class
Portland Community Col
lege will present a one-
evening demonstration "Print
Your Own Christmas Cards"
on Tuesday. November 20, at
PCC's Cascade center, 705
North Killingsworth.
A growing number of fame
lies are making their own
cards in an effort to convey
personalized greetings during
the holiday season. Projects
which do not require special
tools or expense will be
demonstrated, utilizing card
making techniques attractive
to the entire family.
Special talents are un
necessary to create attrac
liv e , inexpensive greeting
cards. Many items found in
the home can be recruited . . .
the humble cabbage, potato,
and carrot, or that old inner
tube and the scrap pile in the
woodshop. All can be used
to print simple patterns. For
paper . . . brown sacks from
the supermarket can be re
cycled.
The event is free, every
one is welcome. "Print Your
Own Christmas Cards" will
be held in the Cascade Stu
dent Union at 7:30 p.m. For
more information, contact
PCC Community Services,
244 6111, ext. 208.
Farm union holds
Thanksgiving week
NO AFPOINÎMINÎ M IM I)
The spectre of millions of
people starving, and entire
herds of animals dying has
dramatized the tragic legacy
of a bankrupt French colonial
policy which exploited West
Africa for decades.
RAIN
(Relief lor Africans In Need
in the Sahel) is now trying to
help.
The plight of the nations in
the Sudan Sahel zone is a
direct result of a colonial
policy that treated these
areas as a plantation for
export crops and as a game,
and long after the British
had grabbed the wealthier
coastal territories, the French
moved into the Sudan, con
quered the indigenous states,
and linked its West African
conquests with the colonial
territories north of the Sa
On Wednesday, a city wide
picket will be held from 4:00
to 6:00 p.m. at the Union and
/Ainsworth Safeway store.
This will be followed by a
farmworker mass at St. An
drews Church, 806 N.E. Al
berta at 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, November 25, has
been designated as Farm
w o rk er S u n d a y , w hen
churches will be asked to re
member the plight of the
farmworkers who are seek
ing equality and self determi
nation.
Bank with
Betty and
Barbara.
Betty Palmer and Barbara Brown are our Personal Serviee Representatives at
the Union Avenue branch.
And if you don't know them, you should.
Because their only job is to make your banking a lot more pleasurable.
That means introducing you to the right people for faster serviee. And
helping you choose the right kind of cheeking or savings account. They'll even
help you balance your checkbook if you want.
A long time ago U.S. Bank promised to make banking a very personal
thing.
People like Betty Palmer and Barbara Brown are helping us keep that
promise.
Come in and meet them.
They'll be waiting on a red carpet to greet you.
Sf Ml (R BUILDING
S V»
3 rd A M o r m
I I . P f I e V < 1' < I *, I
t
t
•,». P o r ' i i m d
ü '» - i p
UNI I I D STATES NATIONAL BANK OF OREGON
5505 N.E. Union
I : I I o < j ’ J ' , I S t I I f I
P h o n e :2 2 8 -7 5 4 5
Eighteenth century ladies sometimes cinched their waists
in so tig h tly they suffocated.
A very personal ttxnq.
W illiam C. Spicer, Manager
Member I D I C
I
I