Page 2 Portland Observer Thursday. September 28. 1978
Africa news carries bias
We see the world
by N. hungut Kumhulu
through Black eyes
The quantity of news coming out
o f A fric a , p a rtic u la rly southern
Africa has jumped considerably over
the past few months. A lot o f the
newspapers, magazines and other
publicatio ns now carry regular
features devoted to African affairs.
But. while the quantity o f news has
improved, the quality in most cases
still leaves a lot to be desired.
Considering the severity o f the
censorship in both South African and
Rhodesia, maybe this should not be
too surprising. After all. both coun
tries are far away enough but also
added to tha; is the problem o f un-
familiarity. Even with all the news
flow ing out o f the area, a lot o f
journalists are still very much in the
dark once they arrive in southern
Africa. And, because they usually
have deadlines to meet, most end up
getting all their news from govern
ment sources. Thus the news is
always presented in a way that makes
the government(s) look good and
responsible and portrays the African
freedom fighters as bloodthirsty, an
ti-white, communist led savages.
Protesters deserve respect
Suggestions have been advanced that the per
The proponents of nuclear power cla»m it is
sons who protested the proliferation of nuclear safe. But the makers of destruction always
power plants by ''occupying'' the Trojan plant
defend their products. The residents along Love
should be forced to pay for the increased cost of
Canal, who now find themselves in danger of
police power by paying large fines. Since Trojan
death and deformity, must wish someone had
is located in a small county, police and court
protested the dumping of chemicals in their
costs have taxed the local county budget.
backyards. And those now dying of lung disease
The locals thought Trojan was a good idea
caused by asbestos must wish someone had seen
when it was proposed — bring jobs and tax funds
the danger and had been brave enough to
to their area, much as some of the people in
protest.
Eastern Oregon have fought for the proposed
How long did the tobacco growers maintain
Pebble Springs plant, the Boardman arsenal and
that cigarettes have no hazzard to health? And
nuclear waste storage grounds. They tend to
what about DDT, thalidomide and all of the other
favor immediate gains in spite of long range
products that have been used for years with
dangers. Then, when problems do arise, the tax
devastating effects?
burden falls on the few residents and property
owners who get left with the bill.
So don't be too quick to laugh at those who
So now the public calls for bigger fines and
protest nuclear power or spraying the forests
larger jail sentences for those who protest. And is
with pesticides. In future years, when the profits
the case of all who dare to oppose the establish
have been made or when the negative effects are
ment, they are heaped with ridicule.
too blatant to ignore any longer, the people will
Both Rhodesia and South Africa
The same abuse was given Martin Luther King
wonder why they were not banned long ago. Then
have
notorious “ guided tours” for
and the civil rights activists, Cesar Chavez and
maybe we will remember with respect a few
journalists, so the journalists can
the farmworker's union, the anti-war protesters.
people who sat in rain and then went to jail.
only see what the government wants
''foutl
Uouo
Startling statistics
from The Atlanta Inquirer
NEW YORK (UMC) — Ten million children in
the U.S. have never received any medical care,
half the nation's children have never seen a den
tist, and one million children were physically
abused by their parents in 1975.
These statistics and others showing serious
problems among children were cited by President
Carter in appointing the U.S. Commission on the
U.N. International Year of the Child (IYC).
Even more impressive to a small group of
United Methodist Women, who gathered in New
York in August to make plans for the 1979 obser
vance, was the information that 16 percent of all
America's children are growing up in poverty,
below the government's "understated poverty
line." In 1976 that figure stood at $5,500 for a
family of four in a non-farm environment.
"T h a t's a bare m in im u m ," said Franna
Diamond, program specialist for the Children's
Defense Fund of Washington, D.C. "Children are
the poorest age group in our population; they
constitute an even larger group than the elderly
poor," she said.
The Women's Division Task Force will propose
several IYC goals to the division's October annual
meeting. These include: seeking to rediscover the
theological basis for justice fo r children;
highlighting the U.N. Declaration of the Rights of
the Child; learning about the children of other
culture; and working for justice for children
through legal and legislative structures.
The Human Rights Seminar scheduled for
February 22-23 in New York City will give special
emphasis to the rights of children in an effort to
increase United Methodist women's awareness
of them.
Since the main thrust of the year is to generate
far-reaching and sustained national activities on
behalf of children, the seminar will concentrate
primarily on problems plaguing U.S. children.
But because the year is an international obser
vance, the task force said the activities of
multinational corporations in developing coun
tries and their impact on children should also
figure in the discussions.
Possible topics for "struggle groups" at the
seminar include: parent/family situations, health
and nutrition, children in crisis, child welfare,
children and the media, education and child care.
Eileen Moon, who covers UNICEF for the
Women's Division, urged that IYC not be a "one-
year e ffo r t" but tha t "a fte rw a rd you keep
children in your thinking.
In closing Ms. Diamond warned: "The temp
tation will be to debate the issues rather than
doing something about them. We know what
children need. We don't need a study on hungry
children. We need to do something about feeding
them ."
We'd like to simply say "A m en" to that last
statement.
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•« T r i- C o u n t y A r e a
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J jttM
to tht Zd/f/A
Defends school adm inistration
To the Editor:
In Herb Cawthorne’s most recent
myopic pre-release o f a portion o f
the C o m m u n ity C o a litio n fo r
School In te g ra tio n fin a l report
(Oregonian, September 26, 1978), he
employs the use o f literary theatrics
laced w ith em otionalism , all ap
parently calculated to enrage rather
than inform the public about Port
la n d ’ s
school
desegregation
program.
His comments implying that Port
land Teachers have received little or
no training in the management o f a
desegregated classroom or teaching
Black children, that schools teach no
Black history whatsoever, and that
children are callously scattered in
schools are a ll examples o f his
monumental ability to manipulate,
distort and when necessary, ignore
existing data which fails to hone his
axe.
M r. Caw thorne’ s comments on
teacher training are o f particular
concern to me because this is my
current fie ld o f a c tiv ity . School
D is tric t 81 records, w hich were
available to M r. Cawthorne, reveal
that P ortland has provided a
multitude o f teacher training in race
relations, m ulti-cultural education,
and teacher effectiveness. The
follow ing list o f past and current
Portland Public Schools offerings,
while not complete, provides some
Another interesting aspect is that
all the missionaries killed had been
supporters ol the guerillas. One ol
the first victim s, Bishop Adolph
Schmitt was a personal Iriend o f
Joshua N kom o, one ol the two
guerillas chiefs. The Pentecostals,
the latest victim s, had been
cooperating with the guerillas in their
areas. On the other hand, the
missionaries o f churches that have
been supporting the regime such as
the Dutch Reformed Church and the
Anglican Church have never even
been touched. Something smells very
fishy. Both N kom o and Robert
Mugabe, the other guerilla chief,
have stated that the regime, realizing
that it is losing the war, has sud
den! larted to sacrifice missionaries
in .i cl fort to discredit the guerillas
and win world sympathy.
Rhodesia also has powerful sup
porters in the U.S. which help make
its voice heard. The Rhodesia Inlor-
mation Office in Washington D.C.
continues to diseminate propaganda
to sympathetic Americans especially
po liticia n s and jo u rn a lis ts . The
media outlets o f the New Right are
busy mobilizing support for the in
ternal ‘ settlement’ , Robin Moore
heads an unofficial U.S. “ embassy”
in Salisbury. Robert Cleaves, a Los
Angeles “ lawyer” writes and speaks
extensively trying to sell the internal
‘agreement.’ Industry is represented
by E .F . Andrews o f Allegheny
Ludlum (the c o u n try ’ s largest
specialty steel company and one that
has used Rhodesian chrome) who has
been lobbying for years fo r a re
sumption of trade with Rhodesia.
V irtu a lly a il the news from
Southern Africa that you read about
in this country comes either from AP
or UPI, both o f which have bureaus
in Salisbury but none in the Front
line states where the Patriotic Front
guerillas are based. Propaganda can
be a powerful weapon and Smith and
Company are going fo r broke in
their efforts to gorge you.
*
idea o f what in fact has been
provided fo r teachers and other
staff: Black Culture and Awareness
Sem inar; In te rg ro u p
Problem
Solving: Intergroup and C u ltu ra l
Awareness Workshop for Classroom
Teachers in Support o f the A d
ministrative Transfer Program; U r
ban School Management; Human
Awareness Workshop; Summer U r
ban School Management Workshop
for Administrators; lntergroup and
C u ltu ra l Awareness W orkshop;
Team B uilding fo r M u lti-c u ltu ra l
E ducation ;
System atic
Self-
Observation; Summer institute for
ln te rg ro u p E d ucation ; Values
C la rifica tio n ; Fallm ark; A M u lti
c u ltu ra l
E ducation
T ra in in g
W o rk s h o p ;
M u lti- c u ltu r a l
Curriculum Development; and many
more.
I f Mr. Cawthorne can set himself
up as investigator, judge and jury o f
P ortland’ s desegregation program
and exclude relevant data, such as
provided above, who then, can stop
him from totally polluting the stream
o f understanding?
C lifford Campbell Jr.
Portland, Oregon
(Editor's Note: Mr. Campbell is
Curriculum Specialist f o r the Port
land P u b lic Schools T itle V II
(desegregation) program.)
Doesn’t like
cover photo
To the Editor:
The Portland Observer welcomed
NAACP delegates with an excellent
June 29th special edition. It was well-
written, in good taste, and valuable
to the delegates.
Consider another Portland-based
p u b lic a tio n , the Oregon Times,
which had the monumentally bad
taste to welcome the N A A C P
delegates with a July cover featuring
a KKKIanner holding a noose before
a sign reading, "Welcome to Oregon
— Have a Nice V isit but Please
Don’t Stay.”
When the New York Daily News
reported that the delegates were of
fended by the cover, Oregon Times
editors apologized in the September
issue, saying, “ the cover was meant
to convey Oregon’ s historical at
titude toward Blacks.”
D o n ’ t spend too much time
searching historical sources because
you w ill not find this “ historical at
titu d e ” conveyed. A t no time in
history did Oregon ever say
"Welcome to Blacks,” for a visit or
otherwise.
So, then, Oregon Times editors —
just what was the cover meant to
convey?
Dean Synder
Aaaociafwn - FsunSW 1M8
$8.00
O th e r
PORTLAND OBSERVER
C ity _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Taking a closer look at a concrete
example: did you notice how every
time a number o f whites are killed,
you hear the story for weeks on end?
Did you know though, that thirty
Blacks are getting killed every week?
When those twelve missionaries were
k ille d , the governm ent flew in
foreign journalists and allowed them
to write stories and photograph all
the gory details and made no attempt
dem anded fo o d . M r. N y a d iriri
refused them food and the murderers
gunned him dow n w ith Soviet
automatic weapons.’ ”
M W A ren
N a m e ------------------------_________ -----
A d d re s s
them to see. And even after they
gather the news, it has to pass
through a Board o f Censors and
anything that portrays the govern
ment in an unfavorab le lig h t is
scratched. In Rhodesia at the
moment, no journalist can go into
the operational areas. A ll the news
about the war comes from govern-
Selous Scouts. They were more
time it comes out, it (the news) has
been fully doctored.
to censor anything. Just (wo weeks
before. Smith’ s security forces had
massacred 22 Black civilians. Did he
fly in journalists to take all the pic
lures and write all the stories like he
did w ith the k illin g o f the
missionaries? Hell, no! At (hat time,
even the protestations o f his
colleagues in the Executive Council,
Biship M uzorewa and Reverend
Sitholc, were censored. Also, only a
day before, Rhodesian troops had
raided a refugee camp in Mozam
bique and killed seventeen refugees
and two United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization volunteers
Irom Belgium but, that news too,
never saw the light of day.
The Rhodesian arm y has a
notorious band o f operatives known
as the Selous Scouts that have been
responsible fo r some o f the worst
atrocities o f the war. David Martin,
w ritin g in 77it' London Observer
(3/I3/77) says that all but one o f the
people (missionaries) that he spoke
to stressed that their A fric a n
congregations were convinced that
the killings were the work o f the
Selous Scouts. They were more
afraid o f the Scouts, whom they
regarded as the real terrorists, than
o f the guerillas. The former Bishop
o f Umtali (since deported) the Rt.
Reverend Donal Lamont said . . . “ I
had a visit from one o f my African
clergy who reported that he was
being terrorized by the European
(white) members o f the security fo r
ces. They said to him: ‘ You’d better
watch out. One dead missionary is as
good as 100 dead terrorists.’ ”
W onderful M ukoyi, a captured
Selous Scout, quoted in the July-
December issue o f Zimbabwe News
had this to say: “ A thirteen man sec
tio n o f Selous Scouts posing as
guerillas arrived at Nyadiriri kraal.
The com m ander. L y tto n , in
terrogated M r. Nyadiriri and, after
torturing him for two hours without
getting any useful inform ation, or
dered his men to shoot the innocent
man. Three days later, the Rhodesia
Broadcasting C o rp o ra tio n (radio
and TV) filed this report: ’Terrorists
arrived at N y a d iriri kraal and
____
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