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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 1979)
Paga 2 Portland Obaarvar Thursday. January 25. 1979 EDITORIAL/OPINION They deferred his dream! What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun ? Or fester like a sore — and then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over — like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load? OR DOES IT EXPLODE? Langston Hughes Was it just a coincidence that immediately fol lowing the Portland Board of Education's refusal to adopt a school desegregation plan that would provide justice to the district's Black students, that same Board eloquently praised the ideals of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Jonathan Newman — who has repeatedly refused to mandatorily transfer white children w hile busing increasing numbers of Black children — called Dr. King "the outstanding American of the Twentieth Century." Isn't it a shame that those who speak so glibly of Dr. King's dream that one day "little Black boys and Block girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and girls as sisters and brothers" do not have the courage to make that dream a reality. The Board of Education should recall another of Dr. King's statements: "The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emeiges. '' Justice has not emerged in Portland — and the Board's refusal to consider the transfer of white children for the purpose of desegregation has delayed that day. Designating Dr. King's birthdate as a school holiday (whether paid or unpaid) is an honorable gesture, one that comes many years too late. But how much more appropriate would it have been to end the district's discrimination against Black children and provide equal educational oppor tunities for all children. Another Point o f View School integration issue not closed taken from The Oregonian The Portland School Board's rejection of a resolution to "pair" Black and white schools, as a means of racial integration and racial equity in achieving integration, does not put an end to the issue of improving the program of integration in local schools. The School Board and the inde pendent Community Coalition for School In tegration, which raised the basic issues involved in the debate, should continue discussion and ne gotiation. Chief among the issues has been the pairing proposal, in which predominantly white schools would be matched with Black schools, with mandatory busing of students between the schools of each pairing. This recommendation had built-in explosives. There are seven predominantly Black schools in volved, many times that number of w hite schools. It meant that the Board would be required to choose a minority of white schools to share the burden of integration that has rested more heavily on the Blacks. The Coalition stra tegically declined to make recommendations for such pairings. One of the things that should be sought by more consultation is a means of involving whites in busing on a level more equitable to that of Blacks. The editors of The Oregonian have grave reser vations about the over-simplified pairing propo sal, inviting as it did unreasonable enmities be tween or among the community's neighbor hoods. But hope is to be held for a change in the "s c a tte rin g " of Black pupils among w hite schools. There should be some cohesion in the busing of student bodies, whatever the race. One or two Black pupils in a predominantly white school or one or two whites in a Black student body is not integration; it is isolation. It is our understanding that the School Board has obstructed an early and fair solution to this community problem by the reluctance of its members to discuss the issues among them selves in public. There has been much discussion, but it has come primarily from mem bers of the audience with Board members listen ing. A reporter for The Oregonian who attended the Board meetings and hearings has observed: "During six Board meetings held on the Coali tion's proposals, not once has the Board engaged in public discussion of the substance of these proposals." This is not in the tradition of the Portland School Board or in the tradition of openness at every level in Oregon government. It does not do credit to any decisions the Board has so far made. The School Board and representatives of the Coalition should continue to work toward im provements in the integration program, and they should do so in the open. Letters to the Editor 1 have known Kevin Berry since his birth. 1 want everyone to know of the good Christian characteristics o f M r. and Mrs. Edward Berry and their tw o sons, o f which Kevin is the youngest. 1 feel that there is a conspiracy among the police to bust anyone regardless o f age, race or sex, i f the person does not have a police record at all. I am well aware o f th police officers’ special weapons and tactics (SW AT), especially in our Albina area Our backyard is only one hundred N.E. Prescott. While gardening each summer ( fo r ten years) in the daytime 1 see police officers pulling cars over — also stopping pedestrians often for I.D . or whatever. Yes, I am just nosy and 1 like to know “ what it is” , as our young people say. I pray that the officers in Albina w ill stop using extreme b ru ta lity when making an airest because we do not need a “ Watts,” a "D e tro it” or an earthquake to teach us a lesson. Only the strong survive and we who are parents and grandparents do not intend to sit quietly like Uncle Toms and A unt Janes letting our 1st Place Community Service ONPA 1973 1st Place Beat Ad Result» ONPA 1973 Pubtahed every Thumdey by Exie Pubkebing Company. 2201 N ortt KilSngsworth, Portland Or egon 97217 Mailing ad órne P .0 Box 3137. Portland, Oregon 97208 Telephone 283 2486 6th Piece Best Editorial NNPA 1973 Subscriptions »7.60 per year in the Tri-County area. »8.00 par year outside Portland Second C lan Postage Paid at Portland. Oregon ALFRED L HENDERSON Editor /Publisher The Portland Observer's official position is expressed only in its Publisher's column (W e Sea The World Through Black E y n i Any other material throughout ’he paper « the opinion of the individual writer or submitter and d o n not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Portland Observer National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers. Inc New York M IM »« NUA A no c iahen - Poundsd 1009 f Honorable Mention Herrick Editorial Award NNA 1973 2nd Pises Beat Editorial 3rd Place Community Leadership ONPA 1976 3rd Place Community Leadership ONPA 1979 M t M S I I’ ill « ® - A lo t ot tnings happened in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) this past year but, in terms o f progress, very little was accomplished. There was the sellout “ agreement” o f March 3 in which Bishop Abel Muzorewa and Rev Ndabaningi Sithole put the 6.5 million Zimbabweans on the auction block. The immediate response to this was an escalation o f the armed conflict. So far, this war has claimed 13,000 lives, 40 percent o f these lives have been lost since the signing o f the agreement. Over h a lf a m illio n people have been incarcerated in "p ro te cte d villages” to ‘ prevent them from aiding and collaborating with the guerrillas.* There were repeated raids into M ozam bique and Zambia by the desperate Smith regime and hun dreds upon hundreds o f innocent refugees were killed. White flight (exodus) reached unprecedented levels, averaging 1,000 people per month. By the end o f the year, an estimated 12,000-20,000 whites (five percent o f the total) had fled. Ian Smith, Ndabaningi Sithole and Abel Muzorewa came to the U.S. at the invitation to Hayakawa and Helms to plead for an end to sanctions and recognition o f the “ internal govern ment” by the U.S. Both missions failed. The only thing the unholy trio succeeded in doing was in attracting thousands o f dem onstrators everywhere they went. The demonstrators managed to convey to them the message that even though Americans are so far away from the scene o f oppression, they are fully aware o f the injustices perpetrated by that infamous regime. The demonstrators also educated a lot o f their countrymen who may not have been too fa m ilia r w ith the Rhodesian tragedy. W ith the war heating up in Rhodesia, the mercenary recruitment campaign was stepped up aU over the “ Free” world. A t the same time, combat weary mercenaries who were already in Rhodesia began to desert in significant numbers. Ndabaningi Sithole, who now has to cling to Smith for survival, initiated a plan to extend the d ra ft to Blacks. The bogus elections, originally scheduled fo r last December were scrapped almost at the last moment due to "technical d ifficu ltie s.” They are now scheduled for A pril 20th. The white referendum fo r approval or rejection o f the proposed new con stitution w ill be on February 28th. The original guidelines for the set ting up o f an independent Zimbabwe have been d ra stica lly altered. Whereas in the original agreement, whoever had won the election would have been free to choose his own government, the new guidelines call for a coalition government. Now, anybody who gets just five percent o f the vote will have to be included in the government, w ill nave to be allot ted some cabinet posts. W ith the Black vote split three ways, and the whites guaranteed a m inim um 28 seats, any government to result from such a setup can only be expected to be sadly ineffectual if not actually unworkable. On the other hand, it would also be a thinly disguised way o f perpetuating the present system. Byron Hove, the co-Minister o f Justice, Law and Order was fired af ter he had protested the absence o f Blacks in the higher ranks o f the police, the army and the rest o f the civil service. A Rhodesia Airways plane with 32 persons aboard (all white) was shot down by the guerril las using anti-aircraft rockets (SAM) and all but six o f those on board perished. A few weeks previously, several missionaries had been killed. Initially, the Smith regime had tried to blame the killings on the guerrillas in an effort to discredit them before the eyes o f the world but, evidence recently uncovered has implicated the notorious Selous Scouts, opera tives o f the Rhodesian army who fre quently masquerade as guerrillas. Smith held a secret meeting in Lusaka. Zam bia w ith Joshua Nkomo, one o f the two leaders o f the P atriotic Front g u ctrilla alliance. The meeting was presided over by the President o f Zam bia, Kenneth Kaunda who had tried to strike a separate deal (between Nkomo and Smith) excluding Robert Mugabe, the other g u e rrilla chief. This meeting was inconclusive and at one p o in t threatened to wreck the cooperation that had so far existed among the Front line states. Charges and countercharges flew back and forth between Zambia and Tanzania. The relationship between the two countries was fu rth e r strained toward the end o f the year when Kaunda decided to reopen Zambia’ s border with Rhodesia, ironically, at the very time Smith was bombing Zambia. This border had been closed since 1968 as pan o f the sanctions campaign. Some sources claim that he was pressured into doing this by the IM F from whom he had had to borrow to get Zam bia out o f a nagging financial quagmire. A few days before Christmas, the guerrillas made one o f their most daring and spectacular raids when they destroyed, using rockets, a fuel refinery and storage dump just out side Salisbury (the capital). More than $20 million worth o f fuel was' destroyed and the blaze burned out o f control for four days. A massive manhunt was launched but the "culprits” were never apprehended and the already jitte ry white populace received another severe jo lt. In fleeing the country, due to the severe currency restrictions the now desperate regime has imposed, a lot o f the whites fleeing Rhodesia are devising some very ingenious ways to thwart the government. There was even a scandal involving some very high ranking military officials who had diverted into personal Swiss bank accounts, funds earmarked for arms purchases. Some eleven Augusta Bell 203 helicopters mysteriously turned up in Rhodesia and the Houston based company says it has no idea how they got there. They supposedly originated in Italy (from a Bell licensee), then were sold to Israel, then to some “ logging company” in Southeast Asia and suddenly wound up in Rhodesia. They were used in the recent raids. I f all o f this sounds confusing, don't despair. You are not alone. I am sitting here wading through all this and trying to figure out: where do we go from here? The only thing that seems clear is that Rhodesia's problems are far from over. Even the U.S. State Department acknow ledges this and is now sort o f sitting back to watch. ‘ We have done all we could * Amidst all this con fusion comes the latest report which details how, in addition to the two wings o f the Patriotic Front battling the Rhodesian army, Muzorewa, Sithole and Chirau have now begun raising private armies that owe allegiance to them, rather than to Zimbabwe. Again, it is the innocent civilian who gets caught in the crossfire. One way o f hope lies in that the farmers, who have been the backbone o f white resistance to majority and the m ajor source o f income fo r the Smith regime have been leaving in record numbers. In some cases, up to 70 percent o f them have fled. Business is also suffering as the businessmen (w hite) spend in te r minable periods o f time in the bits pursuing an invisible enemy. Now the regime has to depend on older whites (in the 30-70 category) to guard the cities! This military “ over- duty" has also spurred white flight. W ith a new government in Iran that hopefully will cut o ff oil sales to South Africa. Rhodesia may finally be starved o f oil. Meantime, all we can do is sit and hope and pray that Zimbabwe will be saved and prevent ed from completely going to the dogs. Africaa realities aad the caaflict strategy myth Director, USSR A cademy o f Sciences Institute o f Africa young people suffer from all kinds of abuse and possibly murder. Shame on our preachers, the cowards, not to speak out in public concerning all this undercover police harassment in Portland. You are going to hell with your eyes wide open. No praying, singing or preaching can save you. Repent and stop your low-down Uncle Tom ways. Come forward and help Kevin Berry because his family has helped all o f us spiritually. 1 do not know the young lady who was beaten but I pray for her too. Who w ill be the next victim? Mrs. C. Louise Harris PORTLAND OBSERVER by N. Fungti Kumbuta by Professor A natoli Gromyko End police brutality To the editor: Rhodesia: What’s la store for the Now Year? Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association Refusing to face the facts and to concede the inevitability o f change, the West lays the blame for every thing that is happening in Africa at variance w ith its interests on the Soviet U n io n , Cuba and other socialist countries, claim ing that these countries are pursuing a “ con flict strategy’ ’ in Africa. Hence the myths about “ Soviet penetration” and about the socialist countries working to destabilize A frica and impeding the peaceful settlement o f c o n flic ts . M oreoever, some politicians in effect lay claim to the right to wage armed struggle against the independent countries and pro gressive forces o f the continent. The fundamental difference be tween the approaches o f the USSR and some Western powers to Africa developments is plain to see. The Soviet Union is opposed to policy which runs counter to the objective imperatives o f historical develop ment in Africa. We shall continue, as always, to support the forces righting for national liberation and the peo ples o f the newly free countries who are waging a d ifficult struggle to up ho ld th e ir independence and freedom, including their right to choose th e ir own path o f social development, and to ensure the terri torial integrity, independence and sovereignty o f their countries. In pursuing this policy, the USSR is not prom pted by any " u lte r io r motives,” contrary to what Western propagandists maintain. As Leonid Brezhnev has said, in rendering assis tance to peoples fighting fo r their freedom, the Soviet Union does not seek any advantages for itself, is not out to obtain concessions, does not strive for political domination or to acquire m ilitary bases. There is another aspect o f the mat ter that must be borne in mind. Some prominent leaders o f NATO coun tries make a point o f underscoring the dependence of the West’s economy on wide access to African raw ma terial resources. Moreover, the em phasis is placed on the growing im portance o f these resources for the economies o f the Western countries, in particular the United States. But surely it is obvious that dependence on one or another raw material source cannot ju stify the use o f gunboat diplomacy or armed intervention to gain control over such sources. To m aintain that A fric a is an arena o f rivalry between socialist and capitalist countries, and especially between the USSR and the U.S., is to be totally blind to the very substance o f the policy o f the Soviet Union. Suffice it to mention that in our country there are no transnational monopolies, which in the United States, for instance, as is admitted even in American quarters, often dic tate their w ill to the State Depart ment. W hat the Soviet U nion is working for is the immediate grant ing to the peoples of southern Africa o f their legitim ate rights and the abolition o f such political anomalies and social anachronisms as the racist regimes. The Soviet Union has no “ conflict strategy” in Africa. It is opposed to the arms race everywhere, Africa in cluded. However, when it comes to newly liberated countries that have embarked on building a society free o f exploitation, the Soviet Union, like the other socialist countries, helps them to repulse aggression and to build up their defense capability. The latest examples are Angola and Ethiopia, where Soviet and Cuban assistance fo ile d the aggressors' plans and compelled them to beat a retreat. It is not difficult to visualize what w ould have happened in Angola, for instance, had the Soviet Union and Cuba not come to its aid. As like as not, it would have been oc cupied by the South African army and shared the fate o f Nam ibia, which was annexed by the racists af ter World War II. The assistance rendered by the So viet Union to Angola and Ethiopia and the national liberation move ments in southern Africa was fully in accord w ith the U nited N ations Charter and the decisions o f the w orld organization and other? authoritative international forums. It serves the just cause o f the libera tion o f the peoples from racist and colonial oppression and the defense o f the sovereignty and territorial in tegrity o f states against encroach ments from w ithout. The Soviet people are rightly proud o f this. The attempts made to misrepre sent the stand taken by the Soviet Union and other socialist countries on African problems are primarily de signed to justify the N ATO coun tries’ policy o f direct intervention in African affairs. There is no dearth o f instances o f such interference. Take, fo r instance, the intervention in Zaire, the provocations engineered against Benin, Angola, Zambia. Mo zambique, and Botswana, the attempt to set up an “ inter-African force” under NATO aegis, and the political maneuvers undertaken to save the racist regimes. As we see it, it is imperative for all states whose efforts could lead to the removal o f the conflict situation that has arisen in southern Africa to take (Please turn to Page 5 Column 3)
