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