Page 2 Portland Observer Thursday, October 5, 1978
O f Common Bonds
W e see the world
bv Herh L. Cawthorne
through Black eyes
Vice publicity signals tro u b les a h e a d
We must wonder when the police and the
press show an inordinate interest in vice in the
Black community. Is this a genuine concern for
ridding the community of an undesirable element
and protecting innocent citizens, or is it a diver
sion to draw interest from the real problems of
crime?
Last week a headline article appeared in one of
Portland's dailies telling about North Precinct's
crusade against after hours clubs. This closely
follows a great crusade against prostitution,
which has driven the prostitutes and their
customers off of Union Avenue and into the
neighborhoods. We are not advocating that vice
be overlooked or that lawbreaking be condoned.
But what happens while the police force is
busting after hours clubs?
Sure enough, a few days later an article ap
peared in the back pages of the same newspaper
stating that in a 48 block area of Northeast Port
land there have been 49 burglaries in one month.
Now was the great publicity over the vice arrests
a ploy to draw attention from the fact that the
police have been unable to protect citizens from
burglary? We hope not.
Then still later this week, the other daily went
to great pains to point out that the Prince Hall
Masons invited Police Chief Baker and others to
come and talk about crime prevention. The
editorial goes on to state that "It's a move that
could not have been considered five years back,
let alone actually get off the ground as it appears
it will this week . . . Police have tried neigh
borhood crime prevention programs successfully
in other com munities, but they haven't felt
welcome in Portland's predominately Black
neighborhoods."
This editorial not only gives an erroneous pic
ture of the Black community — a no man's land
where no police dare tread — but it is completely
untrue. For the past year the Greater Northeast
Police Precinct Council — a Police Bureau sanc
tioned community council — has been meeting
with police representatives on crime prevention,
and serving as an advocate for persons with
com plaints against the police. Each Neigh
borhood Association has a crime prevention
committee, which presents crime prevention
meetings and forums.
And this is not new — Model Cities worked
closely with the police department through the
Police Community Relations Office as did the
Albina War on Poverty Committee and others
had done before them.
The people of Albina have continually attempt
ed to work with the police department in an ef
fort to gain the police protection that is their
right. It is true that there have been tensions and
conflicts — m ostly brought on by police
harassment, brutality and neglect.
The editorial also mentions that "crime com
mitted by Blacks far exceeded their represen
tation in Portland's population." It is true that
Blacks have a high percentage of arrests, of con
victions and of prison sentences. But is this the
result of a high crime rate or of discrimination?
After all, the city's highest crime rates are in
white Lents and St. Johns, not in Albina.
We salute the efforts of the Prince Hall Masons
to work with the police department on a crime
prevention program, and especially their inten
tion to involve youth. But the effort should not be
used by others for racist attacks on Black people.
What is the purpose of this apparent attempt
to make Portland's Albina area seem a den of
iniquity? Does it foretell an attack on Black of
ficials or Black-run programs? Or is it as the
recommendations of the Community Coalition on
School Integration draw near, an attempt to tell
white parents that Albina is not a good place to
send their children to school?
.4
o f hands to help —
Thus the dream becomes not the
man ‘s dream alone.
But a community dream.
Not my dream alone, but our dream.
Not my world atone.
But your world and my world
Belonging to a ll the hands who build.
Langston Hughes
fro m ‘ 'Freedom‘s Plow ’ ’
After discussing the dissatisfaction
many Black residents have with the
manner in which desegregation has
been handled here, a surprisingly
odd question arose from the audience:
“ Is there really a Black community
in Portland?”
T o my continued surprise, the
question has reared its head in
several telephone conversations since
then. And, for an ultimate shock,
during the recent controversy over
the shotgun screening process used
by the Board o f Education to fill a
vacant p o s itio n , both m ajor
newspapers wondered on their
e d ito ria l pages whether the “ so-
called” Black community was an en
tity at all.
For those unaware, or those hard
ened by a refusal to sec, the Black
com m unity is definitely an entity.
Moreover, what is understood about
its dynamics can prove helpful to a
creative approach toward better race
relations in our city.
The Black com m unity, like any
other, composes a society o f people
bound together under a similar set o f
experiences. A common character
has been forged, a togetherness of
brotherhood and spirit. Black people
in Am erica stand on com m on
ground. They enjoy together like
possessions, sim ila r rig h ts and
privileges, and common interests.
The possessions which make the
Afro-American existence distinctive
are not the material goods charac
teristic o f modern society, but the
less tangible influence o f heritage,
color and spirit.
Black heritage possess, above all,
the ever-present conflict between u
Western crust and an African core, a
Black soul and a white perspective.
“ One ever feels his twoncss,” wrote
W .E.B. OuBois, “ an American, a
Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two
unreconciled strivings, two warring
ideals in one dark body, whose
dogged strength alone keeps it from
being torn asunder.”
In a d d itio n to the heritage o f
duality, the possession o f a dark skin
color renders many a prejudicial
hurdle for every Black American.
This is reflected in the economic
structure, particularly employment.
While national unemployment holds
around seven percent, the unem
ploym ent rate fo r Black people
averages about twenty-five percent,
according to the N ational Urban
League's respected hidden unem
ployment index. Consistent with the
trend, Black youth unemployment
averages over forty percent. In spite
o f the gains accomplished recently,
Blacks on the whole make half as
much as the average incom e o f
whites. In economics, as in untold
other aspects o f American life, the
in e q u ity is rooted in color
discrimination.
The Black community can be un
derstood in terms o f the spirit it
possesses. Dr. DuBois touches briefly
on the unshakable spirit which drives
Black people tow ard a better
tomorrow. “ It is our duty,” he ex
plains, “ to accomplish the immor
tality of Black blood in order that the
day may come in this dark world
when poverty shall be abolished,
privilege based on individual desert,
and the color o f a man's skin be no
bar to the outlook o f his soul.”
Together w ith these com m on
though intangib le possessions, a
community is also measured by the
enjoyment o f the same rights and
Guess w ho’s coming to the USA
by N. Fungai Kumbula
It appears that competition per
meates every stratum o f American
life: the need to be different, to be
“ visible.” During the mid and late
60’ s, when a ‘ lib e ra l’ trend was
sweeping the co u n try, almost all
politicians stumbled over each other
to outdo the other in ‘ liberalism .’
Now, that the pendulum has swung
the other way, the catch-word is no
longer ‘ lib e ra lis m ’ , but ‘ conser
vatism.’
But the way the new right wing on
slaught has been waged gives one the
im pression that any pretense at
liberalism demonstrated in the past
was nothing more than a show, a put
on. The true colors o f our politicians
are once more coming to the fore.
The late trend surfaced a few weeks
back when Senator S.I. Hayakawa
(R., CA.) extended an invitation to
Ian Smith, rebel prime minister of
Rhodesia along w ith his cohorts
Ndabaningi Sithole and Jeremiah
Chirau, the other members o f the
ruling Executive Council. The in
vitation was subsequently signed by
276 other senators.
Ever since the defeat o f the
Senator Jesse Helms (R ., N .C .)
proposal to lift sanctions against and
resume trading with Rhodesia in an
e ffo r t to rescue the beleaguered
Smith regime, the conservatives had
been gearing up for another push.
Underlying all this is an effort to
change American foreign policy vis a
vis southern A fric a . The conser
vatives. aided and abetted by big
business, are pushing fo r a n o r
m alization o f relations w ith
Rhodesia and South Africa.
And, as usual, they are using the
same, tired old arguments about
countering the Soviet threat, support
ing those regimes because they are
pro-W est, safeguarding American
interests to insure the continued flow
o f m inerals, o il and other raw
materials. And, they are so strident
in their demands that they almost
drown out the voice o f reason that
has so far prevailed in the Carter
Administration.
As regards Rhodesia, led by UN
Ambassador Andrew Young, the
a d m in is tra tio n has refused to
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The Portland Observer's official position is expressed only in its
Publisher’s column (W e See The W orld Through Black Eyes). Any
other material throughoui the paper is Ihe opinion o f the individual
writer or submitier and does not necessarily reflect the opinion o f the
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1
recognize the internal agreement as
long as it leaves out the guerilla
alliance o f the Patriotic Front. The
argum ent, w hich has since been
proven true, was that there can be no
peace in Zimbabwe if the guerrillas
are left out o f any agreement. So, the
U.S., along with Britain, have been
trying to compel Smith and Com
pany to attend an all parties con
ference as outlined in the Anglo-
American plan.
T his approach is a lot more
realistic and a lot less dangerous than
the H ayakaw a-H elm s’ e ffo rts to
disregard the wishes o f the Zimbab
wean people. Technically, Rhodesia
remains outside the international
com m unity and, accordingly, any
leader o f this outcast has to be an in
ternational outlaw. To bring Smith
and his cohorts over here as guests of
the U.S. Senate w ould be ta n
tamount to giving tacit approval,
tacit recognition to the illegal regime.
That is the aim o f the whole exercise.
In Sunday's Oregonian, one James
K ilp a tric k , Washington colum nist
and self-styled spokesperson for the
New Right took the C arter A d
ministration to task for delaying in
issuing visas to Smith, Chirau and
Sithole. Yeah, you guessed it. He
made the same, tired, old, recycled,
hollow arguments about Rhodesia
being a “ stable, pro-West democracy
in a sea o f Black dictatorships." He
didn't miss the opportunity to write
about the “ terrorists who shot down
a civilian plane and then slaughtered
the poor survivors in cold blood” or
the
“ 37
w hite
m issionaries
massacred
by
Soviet
armed
terrorists.”
D id he m ention the 700 odd
women and children killed when
Smith’s forces bombed Chimoio, a
refugee camp in Mozambique? Did
he mention the 94 unarmed, Black
civilians killed in a “ crossfire" at
S ipolilo in which the only people
firing were Smith’s so-called security
forces? (There were no guerrillas
anywhere in that area at the time.)
Did he mention that thirty Blacks are
k ille d each and every week by
this same, “ stable, pro-West de
m ocracy?” No, o f course not.
That would have taken the steam out
o f his arguments.
Last I heard, the State Department
was still considering the applications
for the visas ard had not made a
decision one way or the other. I f the
visas are granted, it would mean
that Smith can come to the U.S. to
sell his interim government. That
would be a tremendous victory to
someone who has been ostracized for
the past thirteen years, and a very
serious blow to the lib e ra tio n
(Please turn to Page 4 Column I)
privileges. However, as applied to
the Black Americans, the definition is
perverted: It has been the universal
denial o f the basic rights and
privileges that has created the
cohesive bond.
The denial is nowhere better
exem plified than in the fie ld o f
education. O f course, slaves were
denied education m aliciously.
Following Emancipation in 1863, it
was not u n til 1896 that the legal
rig h t to equal education was
acknowledged by the Supreme
Court. Even then it advanced the
spurious “ separate but equal” doc
trine. Legalized inequality existed
until 1954 when the infamous Brown
vs. Topeka B oard o f E ducation
decision outlawed segregation.
The denial o f privilege and right to
education bound Blacks together in a
relentless thrust for change Richard
Kluger's book, "Simple Justice,” is
a m agnificent history o f Black
struggle to gain educational equity.
It is suggested reading for those who
carelessly refer to the Black com
munity as a "so-called” entity.
The Black com m unity is also
marked by its common interests.
This interest is reflected in the fact
that over ninety percent o f the Black
voters cast
ballots
fo r
the
Dem ocratic presidential hopeful.
The collective interest is generated
fro m
an
understanding,
an
awareness, an identity.
Given its possessions and the
frequent denial o f its rights, the
Black com m unity holds together
with a willingness to fight for the
same causes, to uphold the same
values. The common interests can be
explained; the values and causes
shared. Thus, there are those whose
backgrounds are different and whose
skins arc white, but whose perspec
tives harmonize with the common in
terest o f the Afro-Am erican com
munity.
Obviously there is a way to iden
tify the Black community as these
b rie f references demonstrate here.
Therefore, those who discount its
existence simply because they do not
understand its dynamics, or wish not
to, do the larger community a disser
vice.
I say this so strongly because 1
believe that what we understand
about the dynamics o f the Black
community, as well as other ethnic
cultures, creates the fo u n d a tio n
upon which to b u ild a better
tomorrow.
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