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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1979)
Papa 2 Portland Observar Thursday. February 1.1979 EDITORIAL/OPINION ri Renew commitment Change filibuster rule The death of four young boys, members of the Columbia Boys Club basketball team, reminds us of the special uniqueness of each and every child. Each child is not only an individual - with bis own talents, desires, joys, and dreams -- but be holds a special place in his family, his church, his school, his community, a place than can net/er be filled by another. The loss of these young boys reminds us of the community's responsibility to each child -- to insure that each receives the care and protec tion, the guidance and the education that will allow him to achieve some of those dreams. As we mourn the loss of these young boys, we must also renew our commitment to all the communty's children. The United States Senate is again attempting to deal with the filibuster - a procedure that allows one or a small group of Senators to prevent discussion of or vote on proposed legislation by holding the floor for days or weeks. Free them, too Amnesty International has charged the US with cruel and degrading punishment in some prisons, possible fabrication of charges against political activists and the use of the death penalty by some states. Among the specific cases mentioned were the Wilmington 10; the Charlotte Three; Johnny Harris, who faces the death penalty in Alabama; and additional Black and Indian prisoners. In light of the CIA's years of drug testing and brain washing of unsuspecting, defensless citizens; the FBI's harassment of Black and In dian rights groups; the suspicious nature of teh involvement of the CIA and the FBI in the assassinations of President Kennedy and Dr. King, these allegations are undoubtedly true. Now that President Carter has set Patty Hurst free, he should look into the phons and the courts and fee the US's political prisoners. Organized filibusters have echoed through modern Senate history beginning with the effort to talk to death the Anti-Lynching bill of 1937. The filibusterers have usually been Senators from the same bloc of states, trying to preserve white supremacy or corporate power. Virtually every step toward human rights in the United States has been the target of the filibuster. These anti-human rights filibusters in clude those against the 1937-1938 Anti-Lynching bill (29 days); the 1942 Anti-Poll Tax bill (9 days); the 1946 Fair Employment Practices bill (18 days); the 1964 Civil Rights bill (83 days); the 1965 Voting Rights bill (26 days); the 1966 Repeal of Right-to-Work-for-Less (14b) (16 days); the 1968 Campaign fund financing bill (20 days); the 1968 Open Housing bill (34 days); the 1972 Equal Job Opportunities bill (23 days); the 1973 Voter Registration bill (10 days,; the 1974 Consumer Protection bill (17 days); the 1975 Common Site Picketing bill (10 days,; the 1976 Anti-Trust Amendments (14 days). Past attempts to change the rules to control filibustering have failed. At the beginning of each session the rules can be changed by a procedural motion - and that opportunity can be taken now if enough Senators agree. Persons w ho are interested in a more democratic process in the Senate should urge Oregon's Senators, Mark Hatfield and Robert Packwood, to support this rule change. O.S.P. runs 'kangaroo court' The January 25, 1979, ‘ Behind the W a ll’ colum n is one o f the best analysis o f the prison kangaroo court 1 have read. The standard, “ You can have witnesses as long as they arc not inmates, staff members, or other Dersons” o f O.S.P. has been laughed at, ridiculed, held up as an example o f madness. From coast to coast people are earnestly trying to understand what type o f “ human in telligence” could come up with such nonsense. The keepers o f O.S.P., meanwhile, are content that they are perfectly normal. A fter all, they have always done things upside down and see no reason to change now. They are working, drawing steady pay- checks, paying bills: what else is there to life? The last paragraph o f Earnest Watson’s article summed up the en tire Oregon “ correction" story: “ . . . poorly trained personnel that deal directly w ith the priso n e r.” The emotions o f guards and other prison personnel run the prison. I f the keepers like the prisoner on a personal basis, the prisoner w ill find that all o f a sudden things are going right for him — he secures the favored job he wants, he gets the cell move he wants, his daily life starts running smoother, thanks to the almighty guard. I f the keepers become men- ta lly/e m o tio n a lly involved w ith a prisoner on another level, the prisoner’s life is beset with troubles, from the hassle o f getting his cell door open to getting a job change, a cell move or any o f the 101 daily in volvements o f sta ff and prisoner. The convict who is the object o f the guards negative emotions may find himself trying to reason with the " in telligence” that believes “ you can have witnesses as long as they are not people” makes sense. And up is down and straight is crooked and few are many . . . Sincerely, Donald Danford American State Bank expands (Continued from page 1 col. 4) businesses who find it inconvenient to come to the east side.” Booker credits Sol and Frank Director, owners o f the property the bank w ill occupy, as providing much o f the encouragement for the move downtown. The general area where the branch w ill be located is having a renewed growth with the building o f the M arriot Hotel, Portland General Electric’s buildings and planning for the Hawthorne Bridge area. For the firs t tim e, ASB paid dividends to stock holders this year. The first three quarters o f 1978, the dividend was 5< a share, but it was in creased to 10c a share for the final quarter. The bank is increasing its loans and is establishing a specialty in real estate loans. Currently, a SI million loan, the bank’ s largest, is being closed with a Marion County com pany. As a community based bank, there is a desire to assist new and potential homeowners as well as businesses locate in the North-North- east area. The bank also has a large number o f Small Business Adm ini stration loans, possibly the great est number compared to the size of the bank. A bank is the hub o f the com munity, around which the economic and financial life evolves. Life in this com m unity does not yet evolve around ASB. since its competitors are the well-established First National and United States National Banks. “ O ur co m p e titio n is the best,” according to Booker. “ First National is the 38th largest bank in the nation and U.S. is right behind. Accounts d o n ’ t come fro m no where — every account has to be taken away from another bank. When the old established banks open a new branch, most o f the customers transfer from another branch and they pick up a few new ones. But our customers are all new. “ We are competing against the giants. They have the history and the technology to win. We have had hurdles to overcome that others d on’ t — proving that a m in o rity owned bank can have integrity and stability. But now we are able to compete on th e ir grounds and sometimes to win. “ We are growing and expanding, and the year ahead w ill bring greater successes.” le t Place Community Service ONPA 1973 PORTLAND OBSERVER 1st Place Beet Ad Results ONPA 1973 Publehed »very Thursday by Exie PuMahmg Company, 2201 North Killmgeworth. Portland. Oregon 97217 Mailing address P O Box 3137, Portland, Oregon 97206 Telephone 2R 32486. 6th Place Beet Editorial NNPA 1973 Subscriptions: »7.60 per year in the Tri-County area, »8 00 per year outside Portland Second Cleas Poetag. Paid at Portland. Oregon Ê l U . ALFRED L. HENDERSON EditorZPubliaher The Portland Observer's ottxM l position n - j - T e i d only in its Publisher s column (W e See The World Through Black Eyes! Any other material throughout the paper is the opinion of the individual writer or submitter and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Portland Observer National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publiehera. Inc New Vork % « *1 Opta ''8 k í& i Honorable Mention Herrick Editorial Award NNA 1973 2nd Place Beet Editorial 3rd Piece Community Leadership ONPA 1976 3rd Piece Community Leadership ONPA 1979 Ml MSH Oregon PER Aasocialion by N. ¡u n ta i Kumbula For a long time now, Africa has viewed China as a friend, a leader and a comrade in the struggle to be free. The Chinese revolution and her ensuing ‘go it alone* policy provided a shining beacon that inspired colonial Africa to rise up and throw o ff the colonial shackles. China was one o f the few countries that not only turned up its nose at ‘capitalism’s exploitation ot man by man* bt.t also actually came up with a viable alternative. They wiped out starvation, dtug addiction and drug abuse, crime and all the other ills o f capitalist decadence and built from one of the poorest countries on earth, a major world power. And they did it single- handed too. That’s what was so at tractive to other people around the world, people who were also trying to get up from under the yoke o f op pression. C hina’ s call fo r self re liance was something they could all identify with. The architect o f this philosophy, one Mao Tse-tung, died a few years back and soon after his death, China began to undergo profound policy changes. The Great Wall o f China that had kept “ foreign barbarians” for hundreds o f years began to tum ble — torn down by China's new open door policy. The world watch ed and A frica gasped. Now China's door is open so wide that Coca Cola is gushing through. Before too long. Big Macs w ill be making the ‘ Great Leap To China’ with “ Saturday Night Fever” right on their heels. Credit cards, autos, tractors, blue jeans, the whole works. The way things arc going, before too long, you w ill have trouble deciding whether you are in Chinatown (C alifornia) or "R e d ” China. You do not quarrel w ith your neighbor because he is fixing up his home for his family or building a play area for his kids. By the same token, we do not have any quarrel w ith C hina’ s m odernization pro gram. We understand their need for technology, to enter the 20th cen tury. The Chinese leadership know best what’s good for China and we applaud them for trying to accelerate the advancement o f their country. The one thing we are concerned about is the resultant change that in her foreign policy that accompanies these ‘ ‘ advances.” As C h in a ’ s relations with the West have im proved, so her ties to the T hird W orjd have been equally and ad versely affected. The change had been coming for quite some time but, the real danger signal came with the Angola Civil War o f 1975. China had become increasingly obsessed with trying to “ check Soviet expan sionism " and so China began to throw in her lot more and more with the Western countries. During the Angola War, because o f this obsession, China, for the very firs t time, took the same side as A frica’ s arch enemy. South Africa, in opposing the ascension to power o f the M PLA. This came as a rude shock to all A frica and suddenly made us realize what a very different hue our friend had now taken. A f ter Angola came Zaire and, again, China took the same side as South A fric a along w ith Fran¿e, West Germany and the U.S. This is where our concern lies: that in "norm alizing” relations with the Western countries, China has begun to take some rather unpopular positions. In the struggles in Southern A frica, China had been one o f our mdfjt enthusiastic sup porters, lending m o ra l, p o litic a l, financial and material support. Most of the time, this was in direct conflict w ith the wishes o f the Western nations who were concerned about their investments. Lately, Chinese aid has either been tied to too many conditions or been cut o ff altogether. I f the Chinese no longer wish to- support our struggle, we cannot argue with them. After all, you do not prosecute a man for refusing to offer you food. Our concern steins from the fact that they may now de cide to flex their muscles and in fluence the course o f events (in the wrong direction) in Southern Africa. Already, it has been reported that, when Zbniew Bzezinski went to China recently, he was trying to per suade the Chinese to cut back their support fo r the Zim babwean guerrillas. This in spite o f the fact that the U.S. officially maintains a “ neutral” policy. As Teng Hsiao-ping basks in the limelight in Washington, we wonder: ‘ Have we merely lost a friend or made a new enemy as well?’ Urban poor being displaced by Vernon Jordan Letters to the Editor To the Editor: China's new foreign policy Newspaper Publishers Association Instead o f a planned effort to save Speculators are making fortunes major report to Congress on the ex the cities for the people who now live out o f this process while local of tent o f displacement, a report that w ith in th e ir borders, there is a ficia ls welcome it as a way o f should result in Congressional ac national movement o f urban reducing the city services poor people tio n . M eanw hile, federal bank revitalization going on that w ill - if need and gaining tax money middle regulatory agencies are putting new it is not checked — wind up driving income people bring. mortgage money into urban housing people from their homes and neigh But this is no way to save cities. markets that w ill accelerate borhoods and worsen A m erica’ s The process merely trades revival in displacement. social problems. one neighborhood for accelerated Some people actually think that Inner city neighborhoods are being d e te rioratio n in another. Unless helping this destructive process con spruced up w ith rehabilitate d policies are devised to shield the poor stitutes “ social responsibility” . They housing and other amenities. Lend from displacement and to allow them seem to think that any kind o f urban ing institutions are putting up mo to participate in true urban revival, investment, even If it is a downtown ney for housing and rehabilitation in then the process may ignite the social office building, is a “ social invest neighborhoods they once redlined. dynamite barely below the surface in ment” . I t ’s all part of a process designed most cities. Meanwhile, the poor are being to attract the middle class back into The Department o f Housing and forced out o f th e ir homes, and the cities they had deserted for the U rban Development needs more rational urban development may suburbs. And one result o f that powers to deal with the displacement wind up being delayed fo r yet process, whether intended or not, is problem . It w ill be subm itting a another generation. displace the poor and the elderly now living in those neighborhoods. A National urban Coalition study o f 65 neighborhoods in 44 cities (Continued from Page I Column 4) documents this. population being held at Rocky But without ever being allowed out for Inner city houses are being bought te arc Black while the outside ratio fresh air which is contributing to up, rehabilitated and sold to affluent on Black citizens is about four per poor health conditions at the jail. people. Ideally, this should help the cent. According to previously revealed racial and economic integration o f Spokespersons fo r this Support information, the food remains below urban neighborhoods. Committee are asking anyone sen par, overcrowding continues, sani But such integration as takes place sitive to these conditions to attend tary conditions are poor and health appears to be only a way station on the demonstration Sunday. care specifically is inadequate. the road to desegregation o f Black A committee spokesperson has neighborhoods into predominantly Attorneys have been reported as stated " a new facility w ill not be white, middle class ones. gathering information prepatory to b u ilt u n til approxim ately 1984” Poor people and most Black ur launching lawsuits such as have been pointing to this five year period “ as ban-dwellers can’t afford the prices successfully concluded in other states an additional reason to immediately and rent being asked for the newly and similar to suits currently pending urge Commissioner Clark and other rehabilitated properties. And as the such as was brought by a Portlandj correction officials to bring the jail sale prices for those houses escalate, resident citing lack o f access to the to a level of compliance as required moderate income people find them insulin he requires twice daily. The by law as soon as possible.” selves paying property taxes they lack o f insulin fo r approximately Members o f the committee have can’ t a ffo rd on their old homes. three days lead to hospital treatment also labeled the county correction They have to sell out, and the neigh and a $35,000 suit. The driving viola system as “ racist” citing statistics borhood becomes depopulated o f its tion leading to the incarceration was that upwards o f thirty percent o f the old residents who must leave before later dismissed in court. the in flu x o f more a fflu e n t newcomers. Where do they go? In some cities, it is to trailer camps on the outskirts. (Continued from Page 1 Column 6) Hoffman told the ju ry that Williams In others, it is to substandard already been there once, had already had gone back to the donut shop housing deeper w ith in the urban been cut, and here's the man with the w ith the intent to k ill M o rriso n ghettos, which become more knife again.” because he was angry and crowded. Juanita Rivers, the waitress who humiliated. “ Black pride — ethnic In the neighborhoods surveyed by saw much o f the incident, had pride - is not an excuse for murder.” the Urban Coalition, about half had testified that she saw M orrison M axim um sentence fo r firs t- fewer m inority members living there "lunge” at Williams before the shot degree manslaughter is twenty years. than before the renovation process. and the coroner’s report corroborat Sentencing has been set for March Typically, those neighborhoods now ed that statement. 2nd and W illiams remains free on had fewer blue-collar workers, fewer Deputy D istrict A ttorney Erich bail. families with children, and far fewer elderly people. Some have managed to keep stable i minority population levels, indicating that some Black middle class people are taking part in the renovation process. But the poor can't participate. $7.50 Tri-County — Per Year They can’t afford to. And in the rush $8.00 Other — Per Year to proclaim that this revitalization I process is good, few care about what , Name ___________________ ___ ___________ happens to the dispossessed poor. In some ways, what is happening is I Address____________________________________ _ an unplanned, speculative version of I City________________________ .State Zip. urban renewal, with negative con I Portland Obsever • Box 3137 • Portland, O R . 97208 sequences for the poor. Jail demonstration planned Williams convicted, manslaughtei Let the mailman bring the 1 Portland Observer to your 1 door. .. I
