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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 23, 1976)
I Equal work for equal pay We see the world $6.3 million to 6.100 employees red by another $7 million to 7,000 through Black eyes Actions best judge Jimmy Carter has named Patricia Harris, a Block woman, to his cabinet os Secretory of Housing and Urban Development, and Andrew Young to what is considered by many to be a Cabinet level post, Ambassodor to the United Nations. These are good appointments, and meet his stated criteria of seeking the best qualified person for each position. Carter has failed to meet the expectation of many supporters who felt he was pledged to go beyond his predecessors — that is, to name more than the usual one Block, one woman The most controversial nomination is that of Judge Griffin Bell to be Attorney General. Carter himself has said that this position must be held by someone with the highest integrity. Already it has been noted that Judge Griffin Bell belongs to three currently or formerly segregated private dubs. His support of Harrold Carswell, a roast as well as mediocre judge, for the Supreme Court is also questionable. Much of the opposition of the NAACP to Judge Bell is based on his approval of the Atlanta Compromise, while serving as federal judge in Atlonta. This compromise - which was opposed by the national office of the NAACP — was worked out by the Atlanta Block leadership heoded by the Atlanta Chapter of the NAACP, the school boord, and white leadership. It resulted in less than full racial desegregation but guaranteed Blacks the position of Superintendent of Schools, Chairman of the School Board, and half of the administrative personnel of the public schools.. Judge Bell approved the order; the national NAACP expelled the local officers and board members. Whether the compromise was just is still o matter of question — although Atlanta's Block community is satisfied. Beil has said he will change his clubs or resign — perhaps he is another who has grown up Southern but has found the light. If he becomes Attorney General, Beil will be judged initially on his appointments to administra tive positions in the Department of Justice. The first of these is the directorship of the FBI. If this position and others of equal importance go to Blocks and other minorities — perhaps he is o.k. If not, then there is reason to fear Carter's judgment. Another Point of View A w n - ia w w ith death Guest Editorial Atlonta Inquirer Convicted killer Gary Gilmore, who has faced death sentences several times in the last few weeks, is on a virtual see-sow with Death and the "see-sawing" comes from officials in this country who can't seem to make up their minds on whether or not to carry out the country's first execution since 1067. Gilmore has done everything possible to insure officials that he wants to die for the murders he has committed because, as he puts it, he doesn't wont to spend the rest of his life in prison. Prison, he says, is "unreol." • We hope he believes it was also "unreal" for him to take the lives that he snuffed out in Utah. Last week, Gilmore, who has tried to take his own life while in prison, almost got his wish. Utah declared the execution should go through. The U.S. Supreme Court near the end of the week decided Gilmore should not be executed this past Monday by a firing squod as was his choice in Utah. And so, the see-saw continues to rock. We do not want to hear of anybody in this country taking another person's life. We do not want people not now under sentence of death and walking our streets to even think about taking someone's life. We do not wont the state to engoge itself in the business of capital punishment. Somewhere we have got to start a program of education to the value of human life, and it seems our officials in government should lead the way and moke whatever program necessary to see this become a reality. We simply don't think enough has been done in this area. Our officials simply have said "this was the law, you broke it and here's what you should get." Former Texas Governor John Connally, highly respected in some quarters, said last week the execution of Gilmore should be put on prime-time national television. That program of "education" is a kind of stock answer to everything, but it is not QOing Equal work far equal pay. I t sounds M r . But all of us know that women traditionally have been paid far ieea than man for the aaaae work. U n til recently, women accepted the ste au o s without strong proteat D r. M arilyn Stokatad. a professor of art history at the U n iversity of Kansas, is an example. She hired malt professors at salaries higher than her own in order to build the a rt departm ent. She said, "1 was proud to have the opportunity to do a t deal of w ork, even at much lees pay. I always hoped for a raise." When she joined a women's group that looked into salaries in the Kansas state system, she found she was the highest paid woman, and her pay was $4,600 below the lowest-paid male professor The wrong to herself and other women became obvious to her. Since that diacov ery. her salary has improved. Now, she earns only $50 a year less than the lowest paid male professor. The outcry against the kind of injustice suffered by Stokatad is mounting. Women are speaking out. They xare taking advantage of the federal laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex. Employers are recognizing the ser- E aoaue are paying in settlem ent*. The Telephone and Telegraph has New American policy necessary Lewis, Having just returned from the King dom of Lesotho, in the heart of South Africa. I am now try in g to do everything in my power to call attention to the stark, brutal conditions th at e x is t, in South Africa. I am convinced th a t each day the United States of Am erica continues to support the racist m inority government sf South Africa, w e are personally and collectively responsible for the brutality and genocide which it occunng in that country. Against all moral reason. United States investments in South Africa only prolong the brutal repression of eighteen million Blacks. O ver 800 Blacks have been killed, thousands have been wounded, and many thousands of o.hers have been imprison sd. The graves of children who have been shot down should remind us all of the w spunkahlr injustices which we support when our nation and its largest corpora Rons support the apartheid system of k ie r ^ l Silence no defense The Grambling Tigers eased into town almost unseen in a news blockout — but left with the Portland State Holiday Tournament crown. The Tigers' game Monday night was played to nearly empty stands — although a few Grombling fans found their way to the gym. It is too bad that Portlond State University would have brought in a team with Grambling's fine reputation without providing the publicity that would have allowed them to play before a decent crowd. We doubt that the press was to blame this time since we received notice of the gome from Grombling - not from PSU. We hope this was just incompetence and nothing more. The Portland fans and the Grombling team deserve better. l « m Z d k > m the value of human life f ’om every nook and cranny of every point we cons.dei 'oca! in this country. Right now, nobody wonts to be the "first" to order someone to death when he has the power to prevent it. When the first execution comes, the others are going to be like snowballs rolling down Mt Everest. And Utah, at this time, just happens by circum stances to be at the top of the snow-capped mountain. Other states with capital punishment laws are perhaps happy to be on the bottom in this case. Con we in this country not break the cycle? However, change seldom come« easily. Under the executive order that prohi bits discrimination by federal contract tors, many womea have filed charges and must w ait years for action. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEO C) has a backlog of 124,000 unre stived rases In the new H E W Office of Civil Rights, cases filed six years ago have not been resolved. This delay compounds the injury. The old saying is true, "Justice delayed is justice denied." A t present, revised regulations are being considered which w ill weaken enforcement of asti-discrimination legts lation further. One method of effective control has been to require federal contractors to provide a hiring and promotional program that eliminates dis crimination. A contract » not awarded until this requirem ent is satisfied. Ex per ience has shows that contractors comply more readily under these circumstances. U nfortunately, the revisions under consideration raise the minimum amount of the contracts to which this "pre award review" applies from $1 million to $10 million Obviously, this w ill reduce the number of review s and w ill substantially reduce the concern far discrimination. Those supporting these changes say that by focusing on the large contrxctor*. In the 1960s. the people of th » nation w ere shocked and horrified when we were beaten in the street* and attacked oo the bridge in Selma. Alabama. That shock and horror was translated into government action. Civ*l rights law* were passed and a national decision was made to uphold the constitution and human rights erf Blacks in the United __ States. In South Africa i n fcre. i grester threat to riviKred hMttdtoS4 Than' rvd r I b m ajority rule in southern Africa. But it is M t enough to raise our voiced as long as government policies are deaf to the cries sf Black Africans who suffer as A m en cans reap economic benefits. The Blacks of South A frica are mvolv ed in a universal struggle for human rights and human dignity. W e cannot isolate ourselves from that struggle, because the silent scquiesence of the American people has prolonged their agony and their THE BLACK In the civil rig h t* battles of the United States, we came through many dark and difficult days, but we. as Blacks in the southern United States, never faced a governmental system as brutal and racist as the one which now exists in South Africa. W e had years of lynching. W e had billy dubs and fire bones and police dogs used against us in our struggle far civil and human rights. But we never faced a situation in which school children were shot and left to die on the streets. The Black people of southern Africa have bees long-suffering and have tried peaceful protest. They have tried passive resistance. They have appealed to the world's sense of justice, to our coo- sdences. to our hum anity, to no avail. existed in the southland of our country. And. if we have the w ilt if w e have the decency, the United S tate* government, the United S tate * corporations, and the United States people can realign our selves in support of a peaceful transition to m ajority rule. Black people in southern Africa are not bent on destruction and reprisal. They do not seek to d rive the w hite m inority into the se* They are simply seeking the right to self-determination and opportun P R E S S — OUR SHOP IENOW S LETTERS TO THE EDITOR BRANDS om certain organizations within the Albina D istrict. I ’m employed a t the Multnomah County M ental Health Service, located a t the Albina Human Resources building on Vancouver. Tve found that People here try desperately to help people of all races but at times it's difficult to communicate within this build- ing w ith people from different depart ments. so as it was ex p r e ssed in your paper w e ail need to find tim e to revive meetings for toe eouaing year 1877 sad »«»ke it a bettor more prosperous way to deal w ith our Neighborhood Programs . God Bless You. y r U lik e S IZ E S y o u w a n t In Town Portland O bservar DEPENDS ON IT ! PORTLAND CLEANING WORKS O N I DAY MRVICI Fisk ^ p A IhS.y** 2R2-AM1 KNIT BLOCKING OUR SFCCIALTY 3800 N. $2.50 of your row subscription to The Portlmd Observer w ill go to the every Thursday by Exie Publishing C o m p s */. 22C1 5fdnh KiBingsworth. Portland. Oregon 97217. M ailing address: P.O. Box 3137. Portland. Oregon 97208. Telephone: 283-2486 Subscriptions: $7.50 per year in the Tri-County area. $8.00 per year outside Portland. The Portland Observer's official posrtioe u expressed only m its Publisher * column (W e See The W orld Through Block Eyes) A ny o ther material throughout the paper is the opuuoo s f ths individual w rite r or i ths opinion of the F you kno w V A R IE T IE S FREEDOM itie* which we have universally come to describe as human rights - the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. A * a beginning, the United States can and should: Isolate the apartheid society of South Africa from all public and private support. Participate in the United Nations embargo against the repressive South African government. -Take sanctions against our allies who break the United Nations embargo. Repeal the Byrd Amendment which allows American importation of Rhodes ian chrome, which w the economic bul w ark of the southern African nation of Zimbabwe. Recognise Angola as a member of the world community of nations. W ith draw all m ilitary attaches from South Africa. There are some beginning steps we can take to w ithdraw from the immoral and degrading role which we. as a nation, have played in propping up the apartheid government of South Africa. I appeal today to the people of the United States, and especially, |o R frfjl. Affwneaaa f l i g h t of oppression, to direct the Congress and our newly-elected President. Jimmy Car tor. to adopt a humanitarian national policy oo Africa. This means not only lip service to the principle of m ajority rule in southern Africa, but concrete stops to insure th at Am erican policies no longer support the brutality of apartheid gov ernment. I t means also affirm ative steps to provide technical assistance and de velopment aid to African nations which are em barking on self-help programs to uplift the Uvea of ail Africans. NORTH A NX. PORTLAND FO R Revive meeting To the Editor Tve rend the article in your paper concerning the stressing need for u ity among the Albina Community and B u s nesa. I would like to say this article was very much appreciated by me as well as others who are concerned about a bettor source of the p rea w ard review «rill have the greatest impact. According to figures from the Employment Standards Adm in istration. this w ill not happen, F stance, the Environm ental Prep Agency awarded no contracts last year of more than $10 million. O f the many contracts awarded by the Departm ent of Defense, only 9 per cent are over $10 million. Only 8 per cent of contracts awarded by the Departm ent of Transpor tation fall into thw category. In the National Aeronautic* and Space Aduunwtration the number is 1.4 per cent, and 8.75 per cent in the Energy Research and Development Administra tion. W ith the $10 millioa minimum in effect, the federal protection against discrimination would be reduced to insig nificance. This is just one attem pt to reduce the federal anti-discrimination commitment. There are others. Also under considers tion is an easing of the requirement for companies with existing federal contracts to develop programs to eliminate discri mination in hiring and promotion. Those of use who have fought to make these programs effective are speaking against these proposals as forcefully as possible. All of us must be watchful and speak out wherever we are. U n til we do, the injustice and hardship w ill continue. Unequal pay for equal work has been with us long enough. NN A 197$ Oregon Block History Project Tri-County area $7.50 other areas $8.00 A L F R E D L HENDERSON N ew York Orégon Newspaper P u b lis h e r» Aatociation Moil to: Por'land Observer P O Box 3137 Portland, Oregon 97206 O N F A 197$ ER City
