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P ortland I
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EDITORIAL/OPINION
Another Black History Week
It is Black History Weak again and time to
remember the past contributions, to evaluate the
present and to plan for the future.
W e know the past. Black peopte played an im
portant role in the discovery, the exploration and
the settlement of Oregon. Black people helped to
build a modem civilization — as servants and
slaves, as farmers, merchants, laborers and
businessmen. Although locked out of the state's
political, social and economic mainstream, they
left their mark.
The present is more difficult to evaluate.
Although great strides have been made in the
area of legislation - Oregon is at the forefront in
civil rights legislation - the realities are still not so
great. White people and organizations realize
they can discriminate without danger to them
selves
Black people are still not found in propor
tionate numbers in private industry or in civil ser
vice. Although there have been gains in
professional employment, and in some crafts and
trades, Blacks are not properly represented in
administration, supervision or planning.
Across the nation Black public officials are un
der attack — Diggs, Brooke, Dymally — and
Gilcrease. And who knows who will be next?
The economic development lags behind that of
the nation. Although the num ber of Black
businesses may be growing, they are still not ac
cepted as competitors and partners by the white
business community. A few tokens are thrown -
and those are mainly at federal direction.
The schools are still segregated — Black
children scattered and largely ignored. The
School Baord has refused to act in a responsible
manner.
There are constant charges of police brutality.
Youths are making their way to prison in alarming
numbers. The criminal justice system has failed
to respond.
The elderly are overlooked and left out.
Programs that once held hope have been snat
ched away.
A dismal picture? Then look to the future.
What does the future hold? Only what the
people make it produce. Organizing, voting,
uniting and demanding are the key to the future.
China: The new Sunbelt?
by Bayard Rusiin
L ike two long-estranged lovers,
the United States and China have
embraced each other warmly, casting
aside b itte r m em ories o f old
quarrels and deeply-felt hatreds.
This sudden and rather passionate
reconciliation has many hopeful and
positive features. Yet at the same
time it would be quite foolish to
ignore the many problems - actual
a n d p o te n tia l --
arising
fro m
America's rapprochement with the
w o rld ’ s largest and most tightly-
controlled totalitarian state
By raising my doubts and
criticism, 1 don’: mean to dismiss the
im p o rta n c e and prom ise o f the
newly-established relationship with
China. Nor do 1 mean to suggest that
we would be better o ff if we simply
ignored the Chinese. Rather, 1 raise
my questions now because they could
be easily lost in the flood o f un
critical praise so lavishly heaped on
everyth ing Chinese. The present
eu p h o ria about the P eople's
R epu b lic — and even its most
gruesome aspects -- forces me to
conclude that we may be collectively
blinding ourselves to some unattrac
tive realities. Self-deception, as we
all know, offers temporary peace of
mind, but in the long-run it almost
inevitably leads to even more serious
problems.
T w o questions m particular cry
out fo r attention, especially from
Black people First, »hat does the
ne» relationship between American
business and the Chinese rulers mean
for working people? And, second,
win the Carter Administration scrap
us commitment to human rights in
deference to China's heavy-handed
and deeply-entrenched governing
elite?
In the area o f economics, one
th in g is quite clear: A m erican
business views China as a huge pool
o f cheap, docile and rig id ly -
disciplined lab o r. Wheras labor-
intensive companies once turned
from the Northeastern states to the
Sunbelt states, they now look toward
China as the new low-wage Mecca.
In the eyes o f American business
leaders, C h in a o ffers
untold
possibilities for expansion and huge
profits won at the expense of defen
seless workers.
W h ile it is still too early to
estimate the full impact o f this low
wage Asian “ Sunblet" on American
workers, particularly those in semi
skilled or unskilled manufacturing
jobs, several recent cases suggest
what the future may hold.
Last fa ll two Am erican apparel
companies - Prestige Sportswear of
Boston and O x fo rd Industries o f
New York — concluded a preliminary
deal with the Chinese to construct
and equip plants m two major cities.
Because China tacks hard currency ,
the American companies agreed to
establish a barter system with their
Chinese clients In other words, in
stead o f demanding cash fo r the
plants and equipment, the .American
companies w ill be “ p a id ” w ith
finished products, in this case sports
clothes and corduroy suits. These
apparel items manufactured by low-
paid Chinese workers (the per capita
income o f China is less than $400 per
year) w ill then find their way to
American retail outlets and sell at
normal Amencn pnees. Under such
an arrangement, our own apparel
workers - many o f them seriously
under-employed and under-paid —
will find it impossible to compete
with Chinese workers earning mere
pennies.
While the emerging barter system
threatens workers in an immediate
and direct way, other jobs are en
dangered indirectly by capital out
flow s from the U nited States to
China. Simply put, this means that
when an American company decides
to
invest
in
Chinese-based
operations, it has fewer financial
resources to invest in job-creating ac
tivities in the U nited States. Sub
sequently, fewer jobs develop here as
new jobs open in China.
A number of firms have already
turned to China with heavy invest
ment plans. Kaiser Steel Corporation
and Bethlehem Steel, for instance,
have both decided to build new iron
ore facilities in China. And the Fluor
Corporation concluded one o f the
largest deals ($800 million for star
ters) ever negotiated w ith the
Chinese. Other lucrative ventures are
planned by Coco-Cola, Hyatt Inter
national and Pan American Airways.
And this is only the beginning.
Business leaders, ot course, argue
that large capital expons to China,
and a steady influx o f cheap Chinese
products » ill not seriously threaten
Am erican jobs. Flourishing U .S .-
China trade, they insist, will actually
create jobs in A m e ric a. Such an
arguement might make sense if we
planned to export finished consumer
goods like automobiles, refrigerators
and vacuum cleaners. But the great
bulk o f American export to China
w ill consist o f ag ric u ltu ra l com
modities, and, to a much lesser ex
ten t, high technology items lik e
computers. Neither agriculture nor
sophisticiated computer and com
munications industries offer much
hope o f new em ployment oppor
tunities for displaced workers. While
“ free tr a d e " c e rta in ly hits its
theoretical attractions, it makes little
sense fo r the average A m erican
manufacturing employee
Now, let us consider the question
o f human rights, a question which is
intimately connected to the economic
problems.
Aside from a few devoted Maoists,
most people agree that the Chinese
government is oppressive, totally un
democratic, and frequently prone to
use force and o u trig h t te rro r in
achieving political ends
How does one promote respect for
human rights’’ One promising ap
proach is the use o f economic incen
tives or sanctions. Just recently, for
exam ple,
lab o r
org anization s
throughout the Western Hemisphere
threatened to boycott Chilean goods
u ntil the Pinochet regime allows
workers to freely organize. Aleady,
the Chilean government has shown
some signs o f moderating its harsh
rule.
But in the case o f China, scarcely
anyone has looked to trade — or
anything else - as a possible weapon
in the battle for human rights.
While history may someday show
that President C arter’s bold decision
to recognize China was a stroke of
politcal and strategic genius, our
triumph will surely seem less than
magnificent if we cynically abandon
the struggle for human rights, and
seek to modernize China at the ex
pense o f jobs and d ig n ity fo r
America's poor and working people.
l a i Placa
C o m m u n ity Band ea
O N P A 1973
PORTLAND OBSERVER
le t Placa
Baat Ad Neeuha
O N P A 1973
«ver, Thursdey tov bue Puoserung Company 2201 N c r t
K « m g *» o rti. Portene Oregon 97217 MeAng e d e re * P O Bo»
3137. Portano. Oregon 97206 Tefepnone 283 2486
5th Placa
Beer Editorial
N N P A 1973
SuOecnptione 97 SO par yeer n thè Tn-County area, 96 00 par
yaar oularta Portland
SaconO Claaa Postage Paio a i P o rta n o Oregon
ALFRED L. HENDERSON
Editor / Publisher
Merrick Editorial A w ard
N N A 1973
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2nd Place
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3rd Place
C o m m u n ity Leadership
OWI>A 1975
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A m e tg e m a ted Publishers Ine
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C o m m u n ity Leadership
O N P A 1976
-riusi i
|f Oregon
Aewspaper
111
Publishers
■ •
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Association
r
i: An update
by N . Fuugat K ambula
Iran has been so much m the news
lately it has co m p letely o v e r
shadowed the other area o f perennial
conflict: Southern Africa. Not that
there is anything wrong with Iran's
monopolizing the limelight. On the
c o n tra ry , we a ll rejoice th at the
Iranian revolution has achieved one
o f its main objectives: the ouster o f
both the shah and his hand-picked
'successor' Shahpour Bhaktiar. We
hope that it w ill continue to be
carried on to its ultimate goal: the
d e m o c ra tiza tio n o f the Ira n ia n
society.
W hile all this has been going on,
the Zimbabwean tragedy has been
dragging inexorably on. On January
30th, in a referendum reserved ex
clusively for whites, lan Smith won
the mandate he needed to carry on
with his power sharing plan that will
eventually lead to "m ajority rule.”
That he won was no surprise. For the
first time in their lives, Rhodesian
whites now realize the inevitability of
a Black takeover.
Actually, they were choosing the
"lesser o f two evils” : they could
either have voted for Smith to pursue
his version o f “ majority rule” or (by
rejecting it), they could have voted to
continue fighting what even the most
die-hard among them admit is a war
they cannot possibly win. By opting
for ‘ power sharing.’ they are hoping
to keep the Africans divided between
the 'moderate' and ‘radical’ camps.
They are also hoping to persuade the
outside world, particularly the U.S.
to recognize the resultant ‘ internal
government.’ This would ultimately
lead to a revocation o f the trade em
bargo necessitated by sanctions.
In this hope, they are encouraged
by a number o f recent events in the
U .S. Most obvious, o f course, is the
decided shift to the right o f the coun
try's politics. Going along with this is
the make up o f the 96th Congress.
Senator Dick C lark (D -Io w a ) who
was the ch airm an o f the Senate
Foreign Relations Com m ittee was
defeated in his bid for re-election last
N ovem ber. A lo n g w ith S enator
Frank Church (D -Idah o ) and George
M cG overn (D -S o u th D a k o ta ), he
was one o f the most progressive
voices in the Senate. His defeat was
not tied to his A fr ic a policies,
however, he just happened to run
afoul o f an anti-abortion group back
in Iowa.
M c G o v e rn has taken over the
c h airm ansh ip o f the Foreign
Relations Committee. H e has just
returned from a tour o f Southern
Africa during which he visited Tan
za n ia , M o z a m b iq u e , B otsw ana,
South A fric a , A ng o la, Zim babw e
and Z am b ia as well as N am ib ia.
When he came back, he made the
reco m m en d ation th a t the U .S .
should disengage from any peace ef
fo rts in Rhodesia because the
situ a tio n was so hopeless. Jesse
Helms o f North Carolina is also now
a member o f this committee because,
as he puts it: “ I want to speak up for
Rhodesia and South A fric a .“ He
will, no doubt, be pushing hard for
recognition o f Rhodesia's “ internal
government."
The House o f Representatives has
its own headaches too. Representa
tive Charles Diggs (D -M ic h ig a n ),
pow erful chairm an o f the A fric a
subcommittee was convicted o f ac
cepting kickbacks this past year.
Though he was re-elected by an over
whclming majority to his House seat,
his colleagues in the House stripped
him o f his c h airm ansh ip o f the
A frica subcommittee. H e is in the
process o f appealing the conviction
and in the meantime, a Representa
tive Solarz from New York has taken
over the chairmanship o f the sub
committee. Even though this gentle
man may have a lot o f good inten
tions as far as Africa goes, he could
never be the equal o f Diggs, a man
who had built the A frica subcommit
tee into one o f the most influential
Congressional bodies.
Much o f C arter’ s A fric a policy
was prompted by the work o f these
tw o com m ittees. M cG o vern may
head the Foreign Relations Com m it
tee as well as Clark did (they are both
liberals) but. with that much more
dissension (on the committee) and
the prevailing mood o f the country,
he cannot be expected to be as effec
tive. W ith o u t Charles Diggs, the
Africa subcommittee can also be ex
pected to be a lot more quiescent. A ll
this works right into the hands o f lan
Smith & Co.
A fter the phony elections o f A pril
30th, Smith and his cohorts will be
out to sell the internal government to
the world and. they will be relying
on such people as Jesse Helms to in
fluence A m e ric a ’ s A fric a policy.
Also, with Secretary o f State Cyrus
Vance tied up with Iran and the
Middle East, Zbigniew Brzezinski is
le ft to h im s e lf to shape the a d
ministration’s policy. He would be
okay if only he would stop looking at
A frica, particularly Southern A frica,
in global terms. A ll this can only
mean more trouble for our people.
LUTHEB
By Brumsic Brandon. Jr.
Letters to the Editor
OSP can with hold mail
T o the Editor:
The mail room staff o f O .S .P . no
longer has to d eliver m ail to
prisoners or even notify them that
they received mail Under a new rule
that took effect February 5, 1979, if
the mail room staff decides the mail
is “ unacceptable or controversial”
they can withhold the mail. The new
procedure states that “
the send
er will be notified o f such and they
w ill be given the o p p o rtu n ity o f
haring the mail returned or having a
hearing."
I f a prisoner is controversial, e.g.,
one who writes the truth about what
the staff is doing to prisoners behind
these walls, then the same "correc
tion al intelligence” that came up
with the rule that prisoners accused
o f prison rule infractions may have
witnesses testify on their behalf as
long as the witnesses are not inmates,
staff members, or other persons, will
possibly be able to classify all mail
sent to a controversial prisoner as
controversial. I f confronted with this
seemingly obvious attempt to sur-
press the truth from getting out o f
O .S .P ., the keepers may point out
that the rule is designed primarily to
stop "co ntro versial publications”
from coming in here. But the staff
has allowed publications in here for
years that make jokes about child
molesting. Still, the staff claims in
the new rule that they do not want
any publications in here ” . . . in that
they a ffro n t general co m m u n ity
standards.”
The Prisoners’ Legal Services of
Oregon (875 Idylwood Drive, S .E .,
Salem, Oregon 97302, phone 399-
9714) filed a Civil Rights Act lawsuit
alleging that the staff beats, maces,
tortures prisonerJand that prisoners'
mail is ” . . . unjustifiably withheld,
confiscated, and destroyed ”
The s ta ff o f O .S .P . have been
working on new rules for a year. This
new rule allows the mail room staff
to justifiably withhold, confiscate,
and destroy mail.
Respect
others
T o the Editor:
l am not of Oriental descent and I
respect the Bill of Rights and decent
law-abiding citizens, I cannot under
stand why Japanese American citi
zens have had th e ir d ig n ity and
possessions stripped fro m them
d uring W o rld W a r I I . H a m le t’ s
speech to the players describes the
above. The Japanese Remembrance
Day event will take place February
17th at 2:00 p.m. at the Expo Center
in Portland, Oregon. I f we do not
show respect for one another in this
nation, then whose else will?
R. Slaughter
Portland, Oregon
Sincerely.
Donald Danford «32323
Black Educational Center
(Continued from page 1 col. 6)
better
Seeking o f Knowledge. Knowledge
is the passpon to freedom. The BEC
makes this print iple come alive in its
philosophy. With discipline, students
are made to appreciate that know
ledge is the product o f continued
work.
C ooperation. The BEC teaches
that working together " fo r the good
o f all Black people" is the goal of
education. In a time when Blacks are
still suffering from negative images
th a t “ a n yth in g Black must be
second-rate,” the BEC attempts to
teach that Black people mutt work in
unity to build a better community.
in ternatio n al Perspective. Black
history, traditions and current world
struggles are essential fo r young
Black children to understand. This
does not mean mindless in d o c
trination, but a realistic presentation
o f T h ird W o rld conditions and
stiuggles. It is important that Black
history be taught consistently. The
fabric o f the knowledge o f the past is
woven by exposure over and over
and over again. The Black Educa
tio n a l C enter presents an in te r
national perspective to youngsters —
a perspective upon which they can
build later.
Respect f o r W ork. The B EC
"promotes in the student a respect
for, appreciation for, and participa
tion in all forms o f w ork.” Students
are given homework daily, and it is
expected that every assignment will
be done. Parents are expected to
make proper arrangements for their
child's study. Through work, educa
tion is achieved.
The Black Educational Center is a
unique exam ple o f what Black
people can do for themselves. Its
existence offers a choice. Its achieve
ment stands as an undeniable vision
o f the q u a lity Black people can
demand o f one another.
/
Ù.
1
She’s pregnant.
She’s deserted.
She needs help.
She should call
221-0598
B irthright
Ire« confidential
counseling for
pregnant girls
Mayer Building al
1130 S W M jrnson
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