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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 19, 1978)
New Day Begun •age 2 Portland Observer Thursday. January 19. 197» W e see the world through Black eyes City/School Commission grabs power from people The a p p lic a tio n o f th e School Board a n d the C ity o f ’o rtla n d to th e M ott F oundation fo r m o n e y to set up in in d e p e n d e n t S ch oo ls/C ity C om m ission needs a ot m o re p u b lic a tte n tio n than it is g e ttin g . This C om m ission, w h ich w ill cost $100,000 per year n tax fu n d s p lus $250,000 per year fro m the p riv a te o u n d a n o n , w ill be in d e p e n d e n t — resp on sible to no jn e As o u tlin e d m the p ro p o sa l, the C om m ission w o u ld o o rd in a te p la n n in g fo r th e city a n d school d istrict in jre a s that w o u ld in v o lv e both o rg a n iza tio n s . For jx a m p le , it w o u ld try to insure th a t school closure yvould not d im in is h city e ffo rt to u p g ra d e a n e ig h b o rh o o d . C o o rd in a tio n b e tw e e n the city a n d the school district is essential, b ut the p ro po sed C om m ission has several p itfa lls . 1. The C om m ission w o u ld ta ke the p la n n in g fu n ctio n a w a y fro m th e e le c te d b o d ie s — the School Board a nd the C ity C o u n cil. It c o u ld beco m e a q u a s i-g o v e rn m e n ta l a g e n cy s im ila r to the Portland D e ve lo p m e n t C om m ission. 2 It w o u ld crea te a n o th e r le v e l o f b urea ucracy, w ith a ll p la n n in g in the areas w ith w h ic h it w o u ld d ea l, in c lu d in g school re o rg a n iz a tio n , h a v in g to go th ro u g h it. 3 It w o u ld in te rfe re w ith th e cu rre n t citizen in v o lv e m e n t e ffo rts o f the school d istrict - school a d viso ry co m m itte e s a n d a re a a d viso ry co m m itte es. These still do not insure tru e citize n p a rtic ip a tio n , b ut they a re in v o lv e d in p la n n in g fo r school o rg a n iz a tio n, re n o v a tio n , etc. W hat w o u ld th e ir ro le be a fte r the cre a tio n o f the C om m ission? The w e s t-s id e n e ig h b o rh o o d s a re n o w discussing p o s s ib le school ^ o r g a n iz a tio n in th e ir a re a . W h a t im p a c t on this ty p e o f p la n n in g w ill the C om m issio n h ave ? 4 The c itiz e n 's in v o lv e m e n t th e city has crea ted th ro u g h its n e ig h b o rh o o d o rg a n iz a tio n s w o u ld be n e g a te d to a la rg e e x te n t w h ile p la n n in g w o u ld go to the C om m issio n. 5. J u d g in g by th e past. B lue R ibbon C om m issions te n d to re p re s e n t th e d o w n to w n business e s ta b lis h m e n t n ot students a n d parents. 6. Since th e C om m issio n is to d e a l w ith " r a c ia l is o la tio n ", m in o rity im p a c te d n e ig h b o rh o o d s , etc. — w h a t e ffe c t w ill its c re a tio n in M a y h a v e on the School Board a c tio n on the re c o m m e n d a tio n s o f the C o m m u n ity C o a litio n fo r School In te g ra tio n to be s u b m itte d in June? W ill it g iv e the B oard an o p p o rtu n ity to dism iss or p u t o ff d iffic u lt d ecisions? 7. The C om m issio n w o u ld a llo w the School Board a nd th e C ity C o u n c il to a b d ic a te th e ir re s p o n s ib ilitie s in this im p o rta n t a re a . These a n d m a n y o th e r c o n s id e ra tio n s a n d q u e s tio n s n e e d to be a n s w e re d . The p la n n eeds a fu ll p u b lic a irin g . It is too im p o rta n t to be q u ic k ly shoved th ro u g h th e School B oard n ext M o n d a y w ith o u t an o p p o rtu n ity fro m the p u b lic to study it a n d resp on d It a p p e a rs th a t the ro le o f the C om m issio n w ill be to p ro v id e a b u ffe r b e tw e e n th e p e o p le a n d the schools a n d b e tw e e n the p e o p le a n d th e city. W hy c a n n o t e sse n tia l p la n n in g c o o rd in a tio n be d o n e w ith e x is tin g p la n n in g s ta ff -- p e rh a p s w ith som e a d d i tio ns — a n d u sin g e x is tin g c h a n n e ls o f citizen s p a rtic ip a tio n ? No Blacks allowed C om m issio ne r C harles Jo rd an ju m p e d on the M a yo r last w e e k because G o ld sch m id t a g a in ig nored his re c o m m e n d a tio n s fo r a p p o in tm e n t to the P ortland D e v e lo p m e n t C om m ission. Jordan said PDC does not h ave a d e q u a te re p re s e n ta tio n from N o rth east P ortland, w h ic h has b ee n the ta rg e t o f m uch o f PDC's effo rts. Perhaps Jordan sh o u ld be m o re e x p lic it. The fa ct is that th e re is not n o w a nd has n e ve r b ee n a Black person on PDC a lth o u g h a la rg e p a rt o f PDC's b u d g e t in past years has b e e n the d ire c t re su lt o f the Black co m m u n ity. PDC has e n p y e d fu n d s fo r M o d e l C ities, u rb a n re n e w a l fu n d s a n d c u rre n tly the H ousing and C o m m u n ity D e v e lo p m e n t Act. O v e r the years th e re h a v e b e e n m a n y abuses p ra c tic e d a g a in s t Black h o m e o w n e rs a n d businesses. N e a rly e v e ry c ity c o m m itte e a n d task fo rc e has som e Black re p re s e n ta tio n . It seem s easy to p ut a B lack on the Y o uth C om m issio n or th e H um an R e la tio n s C om m issio n, w ith th e ir in fim ite s im a l b u d gets, b u t the M a y o r h a sn 't seen f it to a p p o in t a Black to PDC -- w h ic h spends m illio n s . C o m m is s io n e r J o rd an a n d the p e o p le o f P ortland h a v e the rig h t to be a ng ry. Only T&n Years Later His Dream Deferred ! ! I Nt Place Community Service ONPA 1973 Portland O bserver Published every Thursday by Exie Publishing Company, 2201 North Killmgsworth, Portland. Oregon 97217. Mailing address: I’.O llox 3137, Portland. Oregon 9720». Telephone: 283 2480. I st Place Kest Ad Results ONPA 1973 Subscriptions: $7.50 per year in the T ri County area, $8.1X1 per year outside Portland. 5th Place Kest Editorial NNPA 1973 Second (lass Postage Paid at Portland. Oregon The Portland Observer'» official position is expressed only in its Publisher's column IWe See The World Through Black Eyes). Any other material throughout the paper is the opinion of I he individual w riter or submitter and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Portland Observer. ALFR ED I. IIENOEKSON M iM B tP I Oregon Newspaper I Publishers Association I William Baxley. From his election in 1970, he began working on the church bombing case to, as he said during the trial, “show the world" that Birmingham was a city of justice. Baxley had also helped the NAACP win a full pardon for Clarence (Willie) Norris, last of the “ Scottsboro Boys" for the alleged rape of two white women in the 1930s. His victories in both cases clearly demonstrated the changed atmosphere throughout the south. But it should not he forgotten that those demonstrations of positive social change in the administra lion ol criminal justice were almost isolated incidences. Still free are the murderers of civil rights workers such as Medgar Evers, Wharlest Jackson. Ver non Dahnter. the Reverend James Reeb, Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, James Chancy and Harry T. Moore. For the hundreds of Blacks who were lynched in the south this century, so ciety's only means for atonement seems to be to forget that those people ever existed. That the cruel threads of racism still exist through America, however, can be seen in the many instances of police committed violence throughout the big cities where Blacks are concentrated. In Mississippi, a State Highway patrol man even sued the NAACP back in 1975 for alleged slander. NAACP local leaders had charged patrolman Robert E. Moody with police brutality for allegedly beating Kaunda accused of m eddling in Zim babw e affairs To the Editor: As the new year gets under way, the world's attention is once more focused on southern Africa where increased polari zation of the races threatens to plunge the subcontinent into a full -scale war. Again, Zimbabwe dominates the scene because: II Zimbabwe is an "easier nut to crack,” and 2) that's where the fighting has been most sustained. Generally regarded as a central figure in this life and death drama is one Kenneth David Kaunda. self styled "hu manist" President of Zambia. Henry K issinger, Andrew Young. David Schaurele, David Owens. British Foreign Secretary; Lord Carver, British Negotia ter; and every other U.S. and British official who has gone to southern Africa lately has called on Kaunda at one point or another because, as the western journalists see it, his backing is “ crucial" for any peace initiative. Yet for all that, the record clearly shows that the only contribution Kaunda has made to the sticky Zimbabwe situa lion is to further complicate an already highly complicated situation. He is not. as he claims, working for the liberation of Zimbabwe. He is working for his own selfish ends. Everything he has done up to this point indicates he is working to install his friend Joshua Nkomo as the leader of Zimbabwe. Why? Several reasons have been put forth. One is that even though Zambia has been “ independent" for almost four teen years, she is just as under developed today as she was at the time of indepen dence. Housewives line up outside the market at 5:00 a.m. to compete for the few commodities available and shortages of sugar and toilet paper have been widely reported. So serious in fact, was the toilet paper shortage that a South African A ir Force jet had to rush in emergency supplies towards the close of last year. And why an A ir Force plane? Your guess is as good as mine. Zambia grows sugar but there is still a shortage due to the ineptitude and bureaucratic boodoggte that now characterize Zambian politics. Kaunda is a dictator but the western press handles him with velvet gloves because he is so fanatically anti commu nisi and remains the most vocal defender of capitalism in the Third World. So. essentially, what he wants to do is to ensure that Zimbabwe gets a “ respon sible" government even if that means riding rough shot over the 7m. citizens of Zimbabwe. He sees Nkomo as the most easily manipulate because without Kaunda's backing, Nkomo would have tieen finished as a politician in Zimbabwe. He just does not have the massive popular support he once enjoyed. And the fact that both Kaunda and Nkomo are being used by 'Tiny' Rowland, the chair man of the British company, Iainrho. is common knowledge to any Zimbabwe watcher. Kaunda wants to run the show not only in Zambia but in Zimbabwe also. To that end. he has tirelessly and shamelessly worked to obliterate all of Nkomo's $7.50 rivals. Nkomo is the only Zimbabwean nationalist still allowed to maintain of fices at Lusaka's so-called Liberation Centre. Kaundu had the murderers of Herbert Chitepo. the late Secretary General of ZAND (Zimbabwe African National Union) released from prison after serving barely three months after they promised to leave ZANU and come join Nkomo's ZAPU (Zimbabwe African People's Union). Kaunda also prevailed in getting the so-called Front-line presidents to support only the “ Patriotic Front,” the loose alliance of ZAPU and Robert Mugabe's ZANU guerila forces. He also cried at the OAU meeting in Gabon until the African body had agreed to support and finance only the Patriotic Front as the sole organization charged with liberating Zim babwe, leaving Ndabuningi Sithole and Bishop Muzorewa out in the cold. It has recently come to light that while he was Chairman of the OAU. publicly denouncing apartheid, he was holding secret negotiations with the South Afri can dictator, Johannes Vorster. He held another secret meeting in Lusaka with lan Smith towards the end of last year in which he tried to get Smith to surrender power to Nkomo. Even though ever since the whole Zimbuhwe debacle started he has been ceaselessly calling for "one man one vote," now that he realizes Nkomo does not stand a chance of winning such an election, he has suddenly started singing a different tune. Now he is calling on Britain to simply hand over power to the PF (Patriotic Front), mean ing Nkomo, and suggesting that elections lie postponed for at least three years "to avert a civil war.” Considering Zambia hasn't had any real elections in almost fourteen years, nobody is fooled by this naively absurd logic. As if that's not bud enough, he hus gone so far as to carry on a vicious campaign of character assassinations against the other Zimbabwe nationalists particularly Muzorewa. using such outlets as the government controlled Zambia TV and Zamhiu Daily Mail, (the newspaper). He has called the people of Zimbabwe "stu pid" for refusing to support Nkomo and one of his ministers was quoted as saying. “ Even if Muzorewa is elected, he will be removed." After he hud udvoeated the creation of a Zimbabwe National L i beration Army, he had it disbanded because the soldiers would not accept Nkomo as their commander in-chief. Earlier on he hud ulso encouraged the then four sepurate nationalist organiza tions. ZAPU, ZANU, FROLIZI and the ANC to unite into the new ANC so they would work together instead of ugainst each other hut he broke it up ugain as soon as the delegates refused to accept Nkomo us the new President. He even sent 129 guerillas hack to Rhodesia and into the hands of Smith's men because they hud refused to join Nkomo's urmy! The sad thing is that while he is doing all this, he continues to whine about "the sacrifices we are making on behalf of our brothers in Zimbabwe.” And in the eyes of the world, he continues to occupy centre stage as the "leader closest to the struggle." I have no quarrel with Nkomo. He hus as much right ns 1 do to contest the Presidency of Zimbabwe. I have no quurrel with Kaunda either. He is free to support whoever he wishes. What 1 do disagree with, however, are the dirUy tricks they are using, the fact Lhut Kaundu has taken it upon himself to decide what’s best for us. I disagree with the way he is running Zambia but I have never taken the Zambians to task for not getting rid of him. 1 feel that is a Zambian affair and should I n - handled hy Zambians. By the same token, I expect him to accord us the same respect, He cun aid us in our struggle but that does not give him the license to tell us how to think, how to act. how to vole. We are quite capable of doing that by ourselves. And if we make an unwise choice, that will I n - our problem. We are the ones who will huve to live with that mistake. N. Eungai Kumbulu. (Twenty-three year old Zimbabwe na tional, third year student at I’ SU.I Comments on prison control To the Editor: The article “ Murder of the Mind" by Representative laiuis Stokes was well written. His mention of psychosurgery to rehabilitate prisoners is a cold possibility, especially when the rehubilitators prac lice thought control twenty four hours u day. January 11, 1978, an informant is brought on the tier. Both the prison administration and the prison population knows, and has records of the informant. Both the administration and the prison ers know there is going to be a hassle. W hy do they do it? The answer to that question is the key to how the administration controls a large prison population with relatively few guards. The answer is trouble. As long as the administration keeps enough trou hie going, its work is done for it: thought in T ri—County A re a 2nd Place Best Editorial 3rd Place Community Leadership ONPA 1975 MEMBER 97208 Attociahon - Founded 1M6 I a Black man whom he had arrested on a traffic violation charge. A Mississippi court last year awarded patrolman Moody $250, (XX) in damages against the NAACP. But the State Supreme Court dismissed the charges last September. The scars of the heating, however, will remain with the victim James Stokes. Meanwhile, a New York jury last month# found police officer Robert H. Torsney not guilty for reason of insanity in the shooting death of Randolph Evans. The fifteen year-old Black Brooklyn youth was killed Thanksgiving Day last year with a bullet to his head in front of his Brooklyn home. Even though the verdict had been delivered by a criminal court jury, this appears to have been a gross miscarriage of justice. Torsney admitted killing young Evans after allegedly seeing him reach for a gun. But no gun was ever seen by eyewitnesses. That such a madman could have been empowered with law enforw-menl duties is an all too common reality of present day society. In muny other cities, such as Philadel phia, Detroit and Chicago, similar racial killings occur at will hy policemen, most of whom escape without being charged with any crime. To end these injustices, society must recognize that there is really no difference in a racial killing, whether it is committed by a Chambliss or a Torsney. JattM to tko ZdiitH, Honorable Mention Herrick Editorial Award NNA 1973 National Advertising Ke.iresenlalive Amalgamated Publishers. Inc. New York t a i l l e r / Publisher by Benjamin Hooks The conviction of Robert E. Chambliss for the vicious dynamite bombing of the lttth Street Baptist Church in Birming ham that killed four young Black girls has aroused jubilation throughout Alabama and many parts of the south. I he guilt and shame over the south's inability to convict those responsible for this glaring crime has been removed supposedly some fourteen years after it was committed. For the girl's parents, however, the “ victory” was painfully hollow. The death of their daughters is a finality that they must continue to bear The young lives were claimed during one of America’s most violent periods, as the forces of social change marched irrevocably throughout America. As Altha Robert son, mother of Carol who was killed, said tearfully after the verdict was handed down. “Things are better in Birmingham now. Things are looking up. It does make you feel better.” Although “ things are looking up," it was evident that Mrs. Robertson and the other girl's parents do not believe that the battles against the kinds of brutality and injustice that claimed their daught ers’ lives have been won. Society might be said to have learned a lesson. But, need the price have been that high? Chambliss' conviction was also a per sonal victory for Alabama prosecutor I control. One of the biggest problems prisoners seem to have in changing unything is that they have very little credability. One day 1 hope a skeptical society will look at t he records of the prisoners in the segrega lion unit, 197b, 1977, and will also look at the staff "confidential” records. The one constant in the staff modus operandi is the use of its informants, as on January 11, 1978. Yelling, screaming, the expo sure of the informant, his denial it must I n - satisfying to sit back and “ rehahili tale." Prison is a glass house for the keepers and the kept. The records of the keepers arc never seen they would expose the "correctional" mind. Sincerely, Donald Danford O.S.l' #32323
