P *« « £
Portland Observer
Thursday, January 90, 1077
Oversea* job*
W e see the world
Who aays there are no jobs?
The Sunday
has page after
pace of ads for jobs
system architect
field
through Black eyes
A day of beginning
Te|| yo„ C0-grMS-aB
Iri 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the steps
of Lincoln Memorial and proclaimed - "I Have A
Dream."
This morning. Dr. King's father, stood on those
same steps and participated in the inauguration of a
president
In 1963 Black people wore murdered, beaten and
jailed because they attempted to vote. But these
same Black people elected the man who became
President today.
In 1963, a man stood beside Dr. King—was beaten
and jailed for his dream—and this man will soon
represent this nation at the United Nations.
It has been a long, long time since 1963. The
spector that haunts us on this day — o day on which
we can be proud, on which we can be hopeful — is
that the man who hod the dream is dead. Martin
Luther King, Jr. did not stand on the steps of Lincoln
Memorial this morning - but his spirit was there. It
was this man, and the thousands and thousands like
him—who marched, who struggled, who suffered,
who prayed-w ho changed the fate of a nation.
The dream is not yet fulfilled. The basic problem
of the nation - the problem of racism - will not be
solved in the next eight years, or in the next fourteen
years. It will never be solved unless the marching,
the struggling, the suffering, the praying continue.
Jimmy Carter has mode a promise but it is up to us
to insure that this promise is kept. A president's
power, after all, is limited by the people - and our
voices must be stronger than the voices of those who
rise against us.
Today we stand on the-thresnhold of a new era in
American politics - but lest we become complacent
and believe the battle has been won, we must
remember the words of Frederick Douglass: "Power
concedes nothing without a demand. It never has
and it never w ill."
Support the Colegio
The 95th Congress faces a busy session with many
important bills held over from the last session. Some
of these bills are important to minorities and the poor
and our Congressmen should hear from their
constituents about them.
The Humphrey-Hawkins full employment bill did
not reach the floor of either house in 1976. The bill
seeks to provide a goal of 3 percent unemployment
for workers 20 years and older within four years and
provides for federally financed jobs as a last resort.
The Congressional Black Caucus has asked President
Carter to convey the urgency of this bill to Congress.
The 94th Congress did not bother to consider
national health insurance legislation. The Kennedy-
Corman Bill, regarded to be the most comprehensive
will be considered this year.
A Food Stamp revision bill passed the Senate but
not the House. The administration tried to restrict
users by strict regulations but this move was stopped
by the courts. With a national outcry over alleged
misuse of food stamps, some type of change will be
offered this year.
Many
overnight to be first in
Upa.
The evidence is that our high un­
employment is among the unskilled and
semiskilled. W here have these jobs gone?
Automation has taken its toll but. in
addition, jobs have moved out of the
country..
During the last few years, many
companies have moved th eir plants out of
the United States and into countries in
Asia and into Mexico where labor is
cheap and tax advantages abound.
This is very profitable. U.S. D ep a rt­
ment of Commerce figures show that D»»
profit of U.S. corporations between I96 0
and 1965 in underdeveloped countries has
been 264 per cent compared to 74 per
cent during th a t tim e in the industrialised
countries of Europe.
A substantial p art of th a t profit comes
from using cheap labor, p a rt of it comes
form tax concessions of the boat country
and part of it comes from tax advantaged
granted by the United States.
W hat are these tax advantages? F o r
most of us whose minds go blank and
paralysis seta in at the sight of our
income tax forms, they are hard to
understand. They are easy if you are
If there ore still any questions as to the morality of
fortunate enough to benefit from the
the death penalty, the morbid interest of the
provisions and have a law yer trained in
American-people in the execution of Gary Gilmore
the art of tax law.
should answer those questions. Whether or not it is
One such advantage is granting of a tax
just to put a man to death, there can be no doubt
credit for foreign taxes. T hat is. the
about its evil impact on the American people.
amount of tax owed the United States is
reduced by the amount of tax paid to a
In a Chicago Doily News Service column, Bob
foreign government. This is far more
Green, o reporter who covered the execution wrote: advantageous than deducting foreign
"W e told you everything we knew about the taxes as an expense the «ray all of us
killing and the killed . . . We didn't tell you about us.
deduct our state income taxes.
I f you pay state income tax. figure out
"W e didn't tell you how we rushed to the death
yourself bow much you would save if you
shed the moment we knew we could get away with
could deduct state taxes as a credit
it. We didn't tell you how we crawled around the
rather than as an expense.
sandbags in front of the dead man's choir, the
O ther tax advantages involve setting
sandbags still fresh with his blood- We didn't tell you
up a domestic international
how we hurried into the firing sqdad's canvas booth,
ation that in effect defen
and provisions th at defer income tax on
and how we squinted out of the vertical slits where
foreign subsidiaries. A ll these tax ad­
the rifles had been, squinted out at the chair and
vantages and high profits are the
made ourselves a gift of the same view the-.'; of "Yankee tagea
executioners had viewed.
cans are famous.
"We didn't tell you how we touched everything,
Some Mexican ingenuity is mivwd in
also. The M exican government has es­
touched every possible surface in the death shed.
tablished a tax-sheltered sone 12.5 mil—
We didnt tell you of the looks on the faces of the
wide along the borders of California.
prison guards, who watched in amazement os we
Arizona, N ew Mexico and Texas, to m *k«
went about our doings with such eagerness, such
easy the establishment of plants for
lust. We didnt tell you what we did to the death chair
finishing products to reexport into the
United States.
itself - the chair with the bullet holes in its leather
I t is not surprising to find that the
bock. We didn't ell you that, did we? Didn't tell you
number of U .S. plants located in Mexico
how we inserted our fingers into the holes, and
has increased from 50 in 1967 to 260 in
rubbed our fingers around, feeling for ourselves how
1971. In business, capital and
deep and wide those death holes were. Feeling it all.'
ment are portable; labor io not.
"Why didn't we tell you that? Why didn't we tell
Those of us who are deeply
about the high unemployment hi the
you about ourselves? Probably because we under­
United States would like to use the
stand the basic truth of it oil. We understand that we
experience and expertise of corporations
ore you, and you are us, anti there are some things
who have relocated plants overseas to
that we don't want to admit out loud about
bring jobs to our own areas of high
ourselves. Don't even want to think about. If we
unemployment.
First, we must recognise th at wages
were monstrous, we were monstrous in a small way;
w ill never be cheap in the U nited States.
probably better if we just forget about it, we and you
Wages of 92 per day in Hong Kong or 60
both.
cents per hour in Mexico are deplorable
And besides, the killing at Point of the Mountain
and exploitative But offsetting our hu­
The pleasure* of death
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs
is attempting to evict the tiny Colegio Cesar Chavez
from its campus in Mt. Angel.
The College inherited a HUD indebtedness on the
buildings when the property was donated to it by a
Catholic order. It has never been able to pay off the
loan, as the sisters hod not before it. The college has
repeatedly pleaded with HUD for more time - but
now HUD has decided the end has come.
The school is small and is designed to teach
Chicano students - many of whom know little English
and would not be odmitted to another college. The
majority of the members of Oregon's largest minority
group have been denied a basic education and are
unable to take advantage of the opportunities
provided by the state's college and universities.
Federal aid for colleges is not new. In fiscal year
1975, federal investments in higher education came
to $4.5 billion. MIT received almost $10,000 per
student; Howard University got $8,000 per student;
the University of Washington got $2,200 per student.
Stanford (11,260 students) received over $70
million; Harvard (15,736) got over $65 million;
Cornell (16,980) almost $54 million; Yale (7,312)
over $51 million; and Yeshiva (5,334) over $44
million.
A few of these dollars could save Colegio Cesar
Chavez, as could a cancellation of their debt.
The Colegio is small and might seem insignificant,
was only the beginning. There will be others; there
but it is the only one of its kind in the nation - a
will be more. And we will be there, too, and you will
school where Chicanos plan courses relevant to their
be right along with us. Oh, yes you will. We will
culture. This school could become a center for study
always come for the killing."
of Chicano and Latin American history, culture and
language
What better place for future Anglo
diplomats, businessmen, teachers, and other profes­
sionals to learn about the Hispanic cultures?
It would seem that this school would be an ideal
THE BLACK P R E SS —
one for the federal and the state government to
O
U
R
F
R E E D O M D E P E N D S ON I T !
make an investment in the future of the nation's
Chicano citizens.
Portland O bserver
Published every Thursday by Exie Publishing Company, 2201
North Killingaworth, Portland. Oregon 97217. M ailing address.
P .0 . Box 3187, Portland. Oregon 97206. Telephone 283 2436.
Subscriptions: $7.50 per year in the Tri-County area, 98.00 per
year outside Portland.
P tad et
A L F R E D L. H E N D E R S O N
L d R e r/P u M ta b e r
equipment
A ll carry minimum
requirem ent of
and years of experience
There seems to be no shortage of
positions for those w ith sophisticated
technical education.
But when an ad «ms placed for four
openings as police technician trainees and
elevator mechanics helper. «00 people
lined up to apply at one tim e and 1.500
The Portland Observer's official position ia expressed only in
its Publisher’s column (W e See The W orld Through Black Eyes).
Any other m aterial throughout the paper ia the opinion of the
individual w rite r or subm itter and does not necessarily reflect
the opinion of the ~
‘ “
safe !
Beat Editorial
N O T A 1973
H e rric k EdRerfel Aw ard
N N A 1973
technical advantairee of operating in the
United Slates. And added to that must be
tax advantages.
Tax advantages can no longer favor
overseas processing plants. Those laws
must be changed to favor the relocation
of pianta into the urban centers of the
United States where our unemployed are
concentrated. These advantages must not
he merely federal tax advantages. Local
and state governments must take active
rotas in packaging suitable sites and
proposing tax advantages to corporations
that w ill provide jobs.
The benefits w ill be universal. Wage
earners increase the tax revenues. W ith
reduced unemployment comes reduced
payments for unemployment benefits,
welfare and medical expenses. I look for
thia Congress to provide tax advantages
for the creation of domestic jobs. Jobs
mean a healthy economy
Important Change^
For 1 9 7 6
Before you Me your Federal income
tax return, check out these important
changes in the law made by the Tax
Reform Act of 1976
A new geaerai lea r u g * that ____
to almost everyone who flies It i»"$35
per exemption or two percent of the
first $9,000 o f taxable income ($4,300
for married filing «eparatelyL which­
ever it more. Families o f six or more
should use the $33 figure. Others may
get more from the percentage option.
asd deAwdesw have been increased.
Minimums are $1700 for tingle fliers,
$2100 for married tiling jointly and
$1,030 for married filing separately.
Maximums are $2400 for single
people. 92*00 for married filing
jointly, 91,400 for married Ming
separately
The rick pay exetarioa has been
eliminated for moat people. Require­
ments for taking deductions for bnri-
txpewets are now claimed as a tax
credit of 20% o f eligible expenditures,
with top credit« o f $400 for one de­
pendent, $800 for two or more The
credit may now be claimed by married
couples where one spouse works full­
time and the other works part-time
o r ■ a full-tim e student, or where
both work part-time, by divorced or
separated parents who have custody
of a child, and by deserted spouses
who have a child, as well as by those
already eligible If certain conditions
are met, payments to a relative may
qualify The $33.000 income limitation
has been dropped
, w rental of a vacation home have
been tightened considerably Read the
tax return instructions carefully be­
fore trying to claim any of these
And for 1977 . . .
Alimony will become a deduction
in arriving at adiusted groas in­
come. similar to moving expense*.
This means that peopie who take
the standard deduction will be
eligible to claim their payments. For
1976, it is still an itemized deduc­
tion.
Eligibility requirements for chum-
Oualifled taxpayers will also be
able to make contributions to an
been eased T he claimant's total in­
come, which must include earned in­
come, still must be under $1.000; how­
ever, the dependency requirements
have changed Workers must now pay
over half the cost of keeping up a
home all year in the U .S for them­
selves and their child who was under
19 years o f age or a full-tim e student,
or for their adult disabled child who
( I R A ) for an unemployed spouse
The
maximum
deduction
to $3000 from 1976'» $2300 ceiling
T he distance requirements «rill drop
from 30 miles to 35 miles
0
Taxpayer« over m 63 who seR
f*e h home* in 1977 «rill be able to
exclude the entire gain from the
sale when the adjusted sale price ia
933,000 or leas When the adjusted
seta price is over $33400,; the mn^fi r .,
9ta*Wn ,» .pnwelgf, tw irfj vif
shoT
THE AFTER
5:00 SAVE.
mane wage scales are the sociological and
Zvobgo
(cent, from p .l eoL6)
ment w ill collapse. South A fric a does not
w ant a Black government unless it can be
controlled.” South African intervention
would postpone victory but would bring
the eventual defeat of South Africa, atao.
"W ill the United States tend the
marines and on which side?" ia the real
question. Zvobgo believes South African
entry into the Zimbwabwe revolution
could involve the United States because
of the great AM erican capital investment
in South Africa.
One of the best business
deals in town is the after-
five long distance call. Save
25 percent on calls within
th e sta te any weekday.
Just dial direct, without op­
erator assistance.
for
moving expenem will be increased
The retirement income credit has
b o n revised aari renamed the credit
fer tae ririmfe. hhaa been hen. ex-
tended to earned income and there­
fore is now available to persons age
65 or over whether their income is
earned or retirement income The re­
duction of the credit due to eamings
and the requirement that the retiree
have had annual eamings of $600 for
the 10 years immediately prior to
claiming the credit have been elimi­
nated The maximum incomes on
which the credit may be based have
increased to $2300 for single persons
and $3750 for married couples where
both are over 63 and who Me jointly.
There are special rules for couples
where one spouse is over 65 and the
other is under 63. The credit phases
out when the single retiree’s income
reaches $12,300, $17.300 for married
couples filing jointly when both are
over 63.
Ì’tJ.Itì
(H W W lW A t« »
Pacific Northwest Bell
W?d like to save you money.
$2.50 of yonr bow subscription to
The Portland Observer w ill go to the
Oregon Black History Project
Tri-County area
other areas
$8.00
Mail to;
Portland Observer
P O Box 3137
Portland, Oregon 97208