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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 1979)
^ 8 * 3 Portland Ob— rv T Thursday. February 8. 1979 Willamette Week's 'Prostitution' EDITORIAL/OPINION China beware! Who Will Suffer? The Environmental Protection Agency has bowed to the pressure of the nation's oil, chemical and auto industries and will relax its standard for urban smog. After nearly a decade of fighting clean air stan dards and EPA itself, industry seems to have won again. The reason given for the change is that EPA has been unable to enforce smog standards because the industries refuse to comply. They say protection of the public's health costs too much. Now White House advisors have stepped in on the side of industry calling for an end to regulations that would worsen inflation. There is no assurance that EPA can enforce the new standard, which allows a fifty percent in crease in pollution over the old standard. Only two urban areas in the United States meet the current health standard for smog set in 1971 — Honolulu and Spokane. The relaxation of the standard will mean that twenty cities, rather than two, already meet the standard. Air pollution is a major health hazard in this country. Research has proved that pollution amounts even lower than the current standard increase susceptibility to disease, and cause headaches, coughs, and lung problems. Higher amounts cause serious heart and lung ailments, leaving impairment and even death. Who will suffer from the new regulations? Black people and minorities are the people who live at the core of the major cities where air is polluted. Minorities tend to occupy the areas nearest heavy industry — areas that are changing from residential to industry. Portland does not meet current air pollution standards and who knows how much of the in crease in lung cancer and other heart and related diseases can be attributed to smog. Can China remain socialist while encouraging economic investment from the United States? Can China control its own economic destiny while allowing incursion by the multi-national corporations? Reportedly the government of China has nego tiated with foreign countries for at least $40 billion in investments. Although China is, at least initially, insisting that this be in the form of joint ventures, with the Chinese holding at least 51 percent of any company, the power and influence by the foreign investors could soon overcome the good intentions of the Chinese. The multi-national companies have spread throughout the world — putting up factories and plants, using cheap labor, exploiting the re sources of the nation, and taking billions of dollars in profit home. Although this brings physi cal development — factories, mines, oilwells, skyscrappers — little if any benefit trickles down to the people. Instead, the little money that remains in the country is used to corrupt the government to such an extent that all freedoms are lost. The dangers are not only to the people of China. China provides a huge untapped labor market — four billion people who work at wages from seven to fourteen cents an hour. It is a per fect opportunity for American companies — faced with paying adequate salaries, benefits and maintaining health and safety standards — to move their operations to yet another "undeve loped” country, leaving Americans behind — un employed. A lthough the political recognition of the Peoples Republic of China, and the market potential and cultural exchange possibilities this offers, is a good move — one that should have happened years ago — the potential for exploi tation of both the Chinese and the American public is enormous. FIRE! A sign of deeper problems by Herb L. Cawtborne Those foggy-eyed Black people who continually deny the damages of the thoughtless scattering o f Black children by the school system ought to pause a minute. A recent a rticle in W illam ette Week should give them something to think about. The article was about prostitution in the public schools. The picture on the fro n t page, naturally, showed a crowd o f Black children. The unmistakable implica tion of the picture and the story was that Black children are involved in this prostitution. To me, the article points up one o f the central problems o f desegrega tion in Portland. The problem in volves our inability to know what our own children are doing. I am not admitting that a high per centage o f our young people are in volved in this degrading prostitution. I am saying there are more Black children involved in more undisci plined activities now than would be the case if they were in schools in which their adult community was in volved. PORTLAND OBSERVER 1st Placa Best A d Results O N P A 1973 PuWwhed every Thuredey by Exie Pubfcebmg Company, 2201 North KiMmgsworth Portland, Oregon 97217 Mailing address P .0 B om 3137, Portland Oregon 97206 Telephone 283 2486 6th Place B est Editorial N N P A 1973 Subscriptions »7.60 per year in the Tri-County area. »8.00 per year outside Portland. S econd Class P oatags Paid a t P o rtlan d . O ragon ALFRED L. HENDERSON Editor/Publisher The Portland O bserver! official position is expressed 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 subn itter and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Portland Observer N a tio n a l A d v ertisin g R ep resentative A m a lg a m a ta d Publishers. Inc N e w York MtMMR a Aasociafion í W - p W per bounded 1999 H o n o rab le M e n tio n H errick Editorial A w a rd N N A 1973 2nd Place B est Editorial 3rd Place C o m m u n ity Leadership O N P A 1976 3rd Place C o m m u n ity Leadership O N P A 1976 t M a M in M M l MS» ■ O'Wiw Association a • had better not find out what I was doing in school. It was something I knew and it brought self control. This is one of the primary reasons why we must not allow the recent mismanagement o f the desegregation issue by the School Board to slow us down. While a court case will take tim e, a u n ifie d com m unity can produce faster change. Because this desegregation program is so poorly run, a unified community can be achieved if people will look at the facts. Look at the discipline figures. Look at the grades o f Black children in English and math and college preparatory courses. Look at the “ brain drain” in the Albina schools. Look at the teachers in Black schools. Look at the figures on Black hiring. Look at i t * d if ficu lty we have bringing cultural programs to our children. Our first task, then, should be to get every Black person in this city, and as many whites as possible, to look at the facts o f desegregation. Once Black people see the facts, unity is next. The Church and Apartheid by N. Fungai Kumbula A lot has been w ritten or said about apartheid lately, though not nearly enough 1 w ill be the first to adm it. W hat has been largely ignored, however, is the role o f the church. After all in every other in stance where people fight for their God given rights, the church has usually been a very powerful force. It has lent the m oral and spiritual backing, the financial support or, in certain cases, provided the leader ship. Since all religions preach and exhort the pursuit o f good and the abandonment o f evil, most church leaders have found themselves in the forefront o f the civil rights struggle in various countries around the world. In South Africa, the story is all turned around, it seems. Maybe it was only to be expected but, it should by no means be excused. Un tenable as it sounds, the church in South Africa has actually provided the apartheid regime with the moral backing it needs to 'ju s tify ,' i t ’ s inhuman policy o f apartheid. I f you ask any A frik a n e r the reason for their apartheid practices, you arc most likely to get the stan dard answer: ‘ we are trying to main tain Western c iv iliz a tio n and Christian democracy.’ They actually believe that segregation and exploita tion o f man by man are in accordance with the laws o f God! The history o f the church in South Africa is rather strange, to say the least. The D utch Reform ed C hurch, South A fric a ’s dominant church, was established around 1656-57 as an adjunct o f the parent church in Holland. For the first two hundred years, it ministered to all races but, in 1857, it suddenly split the flock according to color. When most o f its counterparts in the ‘Christian’ world began to criticize South Africa for her racial policies, the South African DRC stood stolidly alone. In 1961, it Inside South A fric a itse lf, the Reformed churches are split up. Actually, there are three Dutch Re formed churches in South Africa and the largest o f these is called the Nederduits G ereform eerdc Kerk (NG) which claims 1.5 m illion mem bers out o f the total Afrikaner popu lation o f 2.5 m illio n . Both P.W . Botha and John Vorster, his prede cessor, are among its members as are the majority o f South A frica ’s politi cians. Consequently, the NG church is the most powerful body outside o f the Broederbond. The Broederbond is a super secret clan o f 12,000 ‘ leading’ Afrikaners, the architects and ‘ enforcers’ o f apartheid. It is the one organization that maps out apartheid strategies and is considered to be even more powerful than the Parliam ent. A recent Sunday Times story indicated that about 750 Afrikaner ministers or fully 40 percent o f the clergy are Broederbond members. No wonder the church not only condones apar theid but actually actively supports all segregatory tenets, backing them w ith “ a p p ro p ria te ” quotations from the Bible. Unfortunately, just about anybody can quote the Bible to justify just about anything. Due to this misinterpretation o f the Bible, the NG church is split up into four separate entities: the white “ parent” church and a separate “ daughter” church for each o f the other three ethnic groups: Blacks, Coloureds and Asians. A proposal to Letters Parent-Child changes its name To the Editor: 1st Place C o m m u n ity S ervice O N P A 1973 Desegregation in Portland scatters and isolates. It brings ten or twelve or twenty Black children together from several different parts o f the city. The children don't necessarily know each other, it's a good bet their fam ilies have never met. Among the transferred children and their families, there is not the kind of rapport that helps people in a com munity help each other bring up the children well. This problem may be most acute at the high school level. I f my neigh bors had children in the same school as 1 did, then maybe I would get the word when my child started acting up. Perhaps I w ould overhear someone talking about my child's be havior. Maybe my friend and neigh bor would hear the information from his child and pass it on to me. It would be more d iffic u lt fo r our children to be involved in drugs or prostitution or skipping school or fighting. 1 was a mischievous child myself. But I knew one thing: My mother I was appalled to hear about the “ Jailhouse rape” that occurred above the Commissioners’ offices in the Courthouse. We have not yet re ceived the full report on the incident. However, the public should be assured o f my concern. I expect to get all the particulars and as a M ult nomah County Commissioner w ill do all I can to see that this kind of in cident does not happen again. Gladys McCoy Multnomah County Commissioner POIC (Continued from page I col. 6) downtown area will hinder outreach to low-income and minority commu nities. h) The city’s reorganization to be able to emphasize “ First Source E m ploym ent” — tra in in g fo r specific jobs for specific employers — ignores the fact that OIC was first organized on that principle, with its founder, Dr. Leon Sullivan, going to the employers o f Philadelphia for quit the World Council o f Churches, o f which it had been a member, because the WCC had been openly critical on the question o f apartheid. This year, the major Afrikaner church severed its last remaining outside link when it broke with the Protestants in Holland because the WCC had de cided to provide financial aid to African revolutionaries. (Continued from page 1 col. 6) There w ill be a ninety day proba tionary period for enrolled families for the purpose o f allowing staff and families to assess program — family computability. Families will come to the center on one o f four days, Monday through Thursday, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Transportation to the center will be provided where necessary. An effort will be made to gather families from the four areas o f the city. On Monday families w ill come from N orth and N ortheast P o rtla n d ; direction to train for existing jobs. The City Council w ill consider the changes on the CETA program at its informal meeting, Tuesday, February 13th at 9:00 a.m. Volunteer (Continued from Page 1 Column 4) Many persons could remain out of ja il i f they could receive mental health care. Currently judges have the choice o f sentencing to prison or reunite the church was turned down by the white church for fear that Blacks m ight get into a position where they could have a say in secular governmental affairs. The one demand that was honored was the creation o f a single govern ing body that sets out the guidelines on doctrine, discipline, and “ issues o f general concern” . It, however, rejected the other demand that would have had the “ daughter” churches renamed “ sister” churches. The white church has to remain above the others! An E .P .J. Kleyhans, who was elected moderator at the last synod regards in te g ra tio n as an “ indefensible policy” and takes pride in the fact that the “ church has been two cen turies ahead of state” in developing apartheid. At this same synod, they did not discuss the endless violations o f the human rights o f South A fr ic a ’ s Black citizens nor their appaling living conditions. They did not touch on police bru tality and a professor who asked about Black political detainees was shouted down. Needless to say, the rift between the white church and its “ daughters” is widening fast. Talk o f secession has been heard a lot of lately. The one problem is (hat the white church provides the bulk o f the “ daughters” $10.3 m illion annual budget. These internal pressures coupled with rising Black nationalism will no doubt provide the impetus to secede. Both Reverend E. Buti, moderator o f the Black ‘ daughter’ church and A. Boesnak o f the Coloured church feel that secession is inevitable. ‘ Black churches are tired o f being associated with an apartheid church.’ I just wonder how Christiandom feels about the DRC portraying Jesus as the champion of segrega tion. Tuesday will be Southeast; Wednes day, far North; and Thursday, North west and Southwest areas. The idea behind sectioning o ff the city is that this w ill build a sense o f community which could grow into “ clusters” in some central location, for example, in Southeast Portland. Recruitment is in progress. Any persons who are interested in joining or who wish information regarding the program should contact Parent- C hild Services, 284-6267, Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. probation, with no alternatives, “ not enough money is spent on care and treatment o f individuals. Those im prisoned eventually return to society with the same mental or emotional problems as before. The same people return to the courts again and again.” The Professional Voluntary Ser vices program was designed by Judge U nis; D r. Edward Colbach, a psychiatrist; and Dr. David Myers, a psychologist. Numerous psychiatrists and psychologists have volunteered to participate. 91