Page 2
Portland Observer
1
«day. September 16U. 197«
The B-l Bomber
W e see the world
through Black eyes
It’s not too late
The City of Portland faces a serious question that
must be resolved within the next few weeks. For
about six years the school district's plan to build on
educatinal center on the property north of the Mem
orial Coliseum has continued because no city agency
seemed concerned enough to question it.
As the plonning and acquisition of the land took
place, the prevailing attitude seemed to be that it
was too late to intervene.
If the educational center is built, it will be there for
years and years, and it will be too late. The City
Council must act now to make a rational decision
based on what is best for the community, not based
on the indicision that has gone on before.
The same foctors that make it a good site for the
school district make it an ideal ploce for coliseum
expansion or related facilities. This type of develop
ment would spread out into the odjocent neighbor
hood, bringing related businesses to the lower
Albina area. This would bring a much needed boost
to a depressed area and would enhance the pro
posed Union Avenue development.
The school district could easily find suitable space
for its warehouse/maintenance facilities. Public land
is available around the freeway and fremont bridge
areas and elsewhere. Depending on the site select
ed the administration and some other programs
might have to be located separately — but this should
be no great problem. We ore not questioning the
desirability of combining administration with other
functions, but we do question whether the ware-
house/maintenance/food service areas must be lo
cated on such valuable land.
During the years, the only real protest has come
from the people of Albina — those who were dis
placed and those who can visualize a better future
for the community. Only Commissioner Ivancie has
raised serious questions on the city level.
It is time for the city to assert itself and io plan with
the best interest of the entire community in mind.
If the school district believes it has a moral com
mitment to the people who once owned the land, let
it absolve this commitment by sharing the procedes
of sale with them.
Unemployment a crisb
There are an estimated 7,000,000 unregistered
Black voters in the United States. In the history of
thrs nation, only five of the 38 presidents have de-
featd their opponents by more than 7 million votes —
Herbert Hoover, FDR, Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon
Johnson and Richard Nixon.
The U.S. Census Bureau projects that 15,398,000
Blacks will be voting age on November 2nd. Blacks
will represent 10.3 percent of the persons eligible to
vote. With such potential clout at the polls, the
outcome of the election is threatened by those 7
million unregistered Block voters.
K massive voter registration campaign has been
launched - Operation Big Vote. The nonpartison
effort seeks to invigorate existing voter registration
efforts and to assist local leaders in organizing new
drives
Of course as for away as Oregon is, and with a
small Block population, it will not be a target in this
national effort. But this does not excuse the local
community horn on all out effort in voter registration
and voter participation. With the ease of postcard
registration there is no excuse tor anyone to neglect
to vote in this important election.
The Block vote obviously is a significant factor in
elections at ail ieveis of government. Black votes are
a balance of power in many cities — and even in a
city like Portland, in a close race, can be the deciding
factor.
We hear much about voter apathy this year, but
we can be sure the racists will not be apathetic. They
will vote. We cannot afford to sit this one out.
Black vote needed
The greatest crisis in the United States is unem
ployment. Unemployment in the last three months is
officially 7.8 per cent, but this does not include those
who have exhausted their unemployment benefits or
have given up looking for work.
Unemployment is not only devastating to the
individual and his family, but is a loss to the nation.
Unemployed workers are a drain on the economy,
drawing unemployment compensation or welfare.
Unemployment also means loss of production with
the accompanying loss of circulation of dollors. Un
employed workers do not pay taxes, so all levels of
government suffer.
Like every piece of social legislation since the
Roosevelt area, the Humphry-Hawkins bill has been
denounced as a boondoggle that would bankrupt the
nation. It is called a federal make-work program —
leaning on the shovel. This is not true since two-
thirds to three-fourths of the jobs created would be in
the private sector.
The bill has been called too expensive — about $12
billion a year. But detractors forget to odd that in four
years, national production would increase about
$275 billion and would odd about $36 a year to the
federal budget in taxes.
We cannot afford to continue the high rate of
unemployment and the accompanying social con
sequences if the nation is to survive.
No surprise
No one should have been surprised to hear alleg
ations that the local FBI office has been involved in
break-ins and wiretapping. This sort of thing has
been going on all over the nation. Why not here?
It points to the need for a new administration and
a new philosophy of government designed to meet
the needs of the peop/e.
Discrimination suit hits Hyster
(Continued from p.l col. 6)
in September, 1975. because of bis oppo
sition to Hyster'» unlawful employment
practices as defined by Title VII of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964. as amended.
Howard Shields was employed by Hy
ster on May 5th. 1970. in its sales divi
sion. was transferred to the Danville
plant in May, 1974, and was terminated in
October of 1975. He charged that during
his tenure in sales he was denied promo
tion and that he was subjected to racial
slurs and epithets against him and other
Black persons.
Robert Earl Moore was employed by
Hyster on March 15th, 1966 at its Dan
ville Plant as a cleaning grinder, and
progressed to foreman, miscellaneous
weld area, in 1972. remaining in that
d)
unlawfully
discharging
Black
persons;
el maintaining policies and practices
with respect, but not limited to wages,
layoff, recall, job assignments, and other
terms and conditions of employment
which unlawfully operate to deny equal
opportunities to Black persona;
f) maintaining policies and practices
that utilize subjective, non-job related
hiring criteria, which criteria operates to
disparate and adversely affect Black per
sons;
g) maintaining policies and practices
which adversely affect Black persona;
hl failing and refusing to take affirma
tive action to correct the effects of dis
criminatory policies and practices com
plained herein.
The suit asks for a permanent injunc
tion enjoining the Hyster company from
continuing any policy or procedure dis
criminatory against Black people. It
also asks for back pay and benefits, at
least 215,000 for punitive damage, and
215,000 tor mental distress. It asks that
Dilworth, Middleton, Shields, and Coun
ter be given appropriate employment,
back pay and benefits. It also asks that an
affirmative action program be designed.
Portland O bserver
Published every Thursday by Exie Publishing Company, 2201
North Killmgsworth. Portland. Oregon 97217. Mailing address:
P .0. Box 3137, Portland. Oregon 97206. 'Telephone: 283 2466.
by Yvwtas Brathwafce Barks
Copley News Service
The moat difficult decision I have made
as a member of Congress is to support the
continued funding of the B-l bomber.
My constituents have been divided and
as troubled on the issue as I have been, it
is gratifying that the Houae-Senate Con
ference Committee agreed to delay the
decision for full scale producation of the
B 1 until February. It leaves the question
open to be decided by the President
elected this November. The decision is a
wise compromise.
Human needs have always guided my
decisions.
I have consistently urged reductions in
defense spending levels so that more re
sources might be devoted to humanitar
ian programs. As long as such problems
as poverty, unemployment, inadequate
and expensive health care continue to
exist in our society, I will urge primary
attention to these critical human needs.
Unemployment and related hardships
are the major problems among my const!
tuents. The congressional district I re
present lies squarely in the center of Loa
Angeles County in which the overall un
employment rate during July was 8.7 per
cent. In my district, which is 46 per cent
Black, the rate is much higher.
In Southern California, over 9.200 per
sons arc employed at the Rockwell B-l
Division. Those employed by special con
tractors and subcontractors, whose jobs
also depend upon the B-l, number into
the thousands.
A cutback in B-l funding would have
disastrous economic consequences.
Present defense policy holds that the
manned bomber is a vital part of our
defense system. Combined with land bas
ed intercontinental missiles and sub
marine launched missiles, the bombers
make up our triad of strategic defense
forces. To he effective, each leg of the
triad thould be able to absorb Soviet
attack and retain the capacity to retaliate
in sufficient force to inflict unacceptable
damage on the Soviet Union. The miliary
experts warn that to maintain strategic
superiority the aging B 52 must be re
placed.
If it is given that the Air Force is
committed to a new manned bomber, I
would prefer to see it built in the Ixw
Angeles area or some other locale that is
also experiencing high unemployment.
At present, the B I is to replace the
B 52. production of which was diacontiuu
ed in 1962. This remarkable new bomber
can fly fast and low - so low that it cannot
be detected by radar in time to be attack
ed by ground-to-air missiles. It can travel
at speeds of about 600 miles per hour
while at a few hundred feet elevation as
its terrain tracking radar automatically
takes it up hills and into valleys to avoid
radar detection. One hundred miles from
a target it can fire SCRAM missiles and
beat a low-level retreat.
Opponents argue that all of these
strategic benefits may be obsolete by
1990 if the Soviets develop an AWACS
lairborne warning and control system)
that could give them a more sophisticated
detection capability.
The delay of full scale production is the
result of extended public and congres
sional debates.
The funding approved for the B-l by
the House for the 1977 fiscal year is 2948
million for the beginning of production.
Included in that figure is 289 million in
advance funding for eight additional
bombers for the following year. The
Senate approved a slightly higher figure.
An amendment which I supported called
for postponement. Though it failed in the
House, it passed the Senate and was
agreed upon by the conferees.
It was further agreed that the B-l
bomber project will be funded at the rate
of 287 million per month beginning in
October. The commitment of funding
until next February will total 2350
million. Thia will allow Rockwell Interna
tional, the B 1 contractor, to keep its staff
of engineers and executives working
without going into full production.
A t the rate of 287 million per month,
the price of a holding action is more
expensive than gearing for full produc
tion.
The waters become even more murky.
The proponents of B-l production con
tend that momentum will be lost and
coots will skyrocket by the necessity of
canceling subcontracts and disbanding
work forces. Also, inflation will take its
tolL Opponents will work to see that the
program is delayed forever.
And upon the shoulders of the man
elected president in November will be the
weight of an awesome decision.
He will not be alone. AU of us will join
in the pain.
Priestley defies 'gag rule’
I Continued from p. 1 col. 3)
present and future school board members
to properly and fully carry out the res
ponsibiiities of their oath of office to the
best of their ability.'*
Priestley then presented a post dated
letter, dated the next day, to be sent in
violation of new policy, to the President
of the E-R Commission advising that the
City Council Wednesday will have before
it the ordinance requested by the school
district tc vacate streets on the property
adjacent to the Coliseum so that con
struction can begin on their Educational
Service and Administration Center.
Mao
iContinued from p. 1 col. 6)
and Marxist.
If Mao were around to listen to all the
speculation about his succession, he
would probably subscribe to the mroe
lugubrious ones. Like most Chinese, be is
well read in Chinese classics, many of
which are unending tales of the fickleness
of politics and the inevitable depravity of
government. But the thing the he believ
ed from his earliest Marxist days was
that China's destiny was and had to be
linked with the rest of the world. Being a
Marxist meant for Mao being a man of the
world, not just a Chinese bottled up in an
overcrowded country.
Mao's legacy remains to be seen, even
the question of whether his name will
continue to be honored. He died at the
end of an era, an era when destinies of
peoples were intertwined with the being
of one person He was born when the
events that produced China today were
spawned, just as similar events in the
West spawned the two world wars and
what came afterwards. It is a new era
now and one can say that be died when he
really had nothing left to do.
Copyright PNS, 1976.
(Franz Schurmann. noted scholar of con
temporary China, is the author of Organ
isatioe and Uealagy la t a a a i a l x (Tuna
“ U.C. Press, 1966 — and The China
- Random House. 1967, 1974.)
it «un» not
Priestley told the Observer that he
believes the "gag policy” to be on in
fringement on his right to free speech and
discrimination against the minority point
of view. If board stationary can he used
by individual members to express
agreement with a policy, it is discrimina
tory and limits free speech to deny its use
to express opposition. “The whole affair
was an attempt to shut me up. because I
disagree with the rest of them."
Steve Buel, unsuccessful candidate for
the School Board, speaking tor the audi
ence to the Board, said he was shocked
when he read the resolution. “I couldn't
believe someone as renowned as Mrs.
McCoy could consider such a resolution."
He told Attorney Robert Ridgly who had
earlier confirmed his belief in free speech,
that to talk about his connections with
the American Civil Liberties Union and
to vote on this resolution "is absolutely
unbelievable.*
»rain
UMW sponsor
workshop
The United Minority Workers will
sponsor a workshop, “Affirmative Action
1976" on October 11th and 12th at the
Cosmopolitan.
Representative»
from
Region X Bureau of Labor; General Ser
vice Administration; Environmental Pro
tection Agency; Health. Education and
Welfare; Contract Compliance; and Hous
ing and Urban Development will present
this workshop.
Edward Mitchell, Director of Civil
Rights for GSA in Washington. D.C.;
Carol Thomas. Director of Civil Rights
and Urban Affairs for EPA; and Antoin
ette Ford, from the Bureau of Labor will
be p resent
Father McNamara of the Campaign for
Human Dignity, which funds UMW will
also attend.
Jimmy Carter has also been invited to
be present.
1st Place
Cownunity Service
ONPA 1973
Dolías: $8.70
You can call Mesquite, Farmer’s
Branch, Richardson or anywhere
around Dallas, and talk for a full 60
minutes for only $8 70, plus tax
I hat s if you call before 8 a m. or
after 11 p m. and dial direct without
operator assistance. Go ahead Try
it sometime
Pacific Northwest bell
lot Place
Best Ad Results
ONPA 1973
Subscriptions: 27.50 per year in the Tri-County area. 26.00 per
year outside Portland
Second Class Postage Paid at Portland. Oregon
ALFRED L. HENDERSON
MiUw/Publisher
I be Portland Observer's official position is expressed only in
its Publisher's column (We See The World Through Black Eyes).
Any other material throughout the paper is the opinion of the
irirt,. idual writer or submitter and does not necessarily reflect
the opinion of the Portland Observer.
Na ti onal Advertising Representative
I Publisher.. Inc
New York
M iM S tl'
Oregon
Newspaper
Publishers
1 Association
Honorable Mention
Herrick Editorial Award
N N A 1973
2nd Place
Best Editorial
M l
Subscribe te the Observer
Tri-County area
$7.50
other areas
$8.00
fo r 52 issues
Name
MfMWR
¡ U A m iN JLL
S a Place
Best Editorial
NNPA 1973
Address
ER
City
Mail to:
Portland Observer
P.O. Box 3137
Portland, Oregon 97208