Coming up: Congressional
showdown over Rhodesia
EDITORIAL/OPINION
by N. Fungai Kumbuta
Another child care rip-off I
if 4-C (Community Coordinated Child Care,
gets its way, state funds now going to the Albina
Ministerial Alliance Family Day and Night Care
Program will be absorbed by 4-C.
A M A Family Day and N ight Care was
established in 1970, as part of the Model Cities
Child Care package. This package also included
six child care centers and an emergency center.
AM A provided care for approximately 450 child
ren, mainly infants to three years, in certified
family day care homes. Although the largest pro
gram of its type, two similar programs operated
in the tri-county area — Volunteers of America
and West Tualatin in Washington County.
4-C was bom and bred on Model Cities money.
As the contracting agency for all of the Model
Cities child care programs, 4-C not only got a
rake off on all Model Cities funds and additional
federal and private money generated by Model
Cities funding, but got staff positions, materials,
and equipment.
The war in Rhodesia has been
going on for the better o f six years. It
started out very quietly and, matter
o f fact, used to be the subject o f
derisive jokes in the white press and
the white communities. ’ They’ ve got
to be crazy if they think they can take
on the Rhodesian a rm y .’ Sm ith,
brimming with overconfidence and
brash arrogance, publicly declared:
‘ M ajority rule? Not in a thousand
years.’
The past few m onths have,
however, brought the ‘ bush w ar’
very much out into the open. Now, a
fu ll third o f Zimbabwe is firm ly in
the hands o f the guerrillas and, they
roam almost at w ill in about 80% o f
the rest o f the country. The joke has
suddenly become grim reality. The
racists are not laughing any more.
Life, which fo r them had been a
paradise, has suddenly become an
endless nightmare.
As soon as Model Cities was terminated, the
Albina area programs were abandoned. 4-C
policies as well as changes in state funding
procedures closed all but two small centers and
stripped those centers of the ability to operate as
quality child development centers.
So most of the community based programs;
which w ere operated by com m unity organi
zations, employed community residents and de
livered quality services are gone.
In recent years A M A has provided supportive
services for 400 day care homes — the state funds
coming through 4-C.
Now 4-C has decided to keep the money and
operate their own programs. This is a clear-cut
example of white operated agency using federal
and state funds designated for the Black com
munity to build their own kingdom and then rip
off Blacks.
When they declared independence
from Britain in 1965 in an effort to
The once strong community based child care
fo re sta ll the Black independence
network is gone and the Northeast community
drive,
they had clung together and
has no control over its own destiny.
Letters to the Editor
No
automatic support for Black politicians
To the Editor.-
T n th e F d it n r -
’
Herb Cawthorne’s article in your
last edition probably disappointed
some people because he openly criti
cized a Black politician. 1 do not
share that disappointment.
His letter should alert all local
Black politicians that you are terribly
mistaken and ill advised i f you feel
you can make decisions that hurt or
ignore the interest o f most Black
people and still expect our support or
our silence.
The misery among our people wor
sens daily, there is more unemploy
ment, more hunger, more misedu-
cated children, more dope, more
police brutality, and more Black
people in jail. You who are in posi
tions to help us, and who fo r
political expediency choose not to,
w ill no longer find that your smiles
and smooth words w ill soothe our
suffering.
Black politicians that have worked
to help us are to be congratulated, we
understand the precarious position
you arc in. Those that feel they can
exhibit only fleeting allegiance to the
Black community may quickly find
themselves in “ political no man's
land.” Excuse me make that “ poli
tical no person’s land.”
Yours In Struggle.
Ronnie Herndon
Give NAACP leadership a chance
To the Editor:
I agree with Herb Cawthome that
it ’s time we gave those community
members who step forward to serve a
chance to demonstrate their talents
and commitments before we jum p to
criticize their contributions. I have
also heard the rumblings about what
Lucious Hicks is and is not doing as
the newly elected leader o f the local
NAACP. I t ’s too bad that we spend
too much time picking apart the ef
forts o f those individuals who have
shown a sincere willingness to ad
vocate on behalf o f the community.
Leading any organization like the
NAACP is not an easy job as I ’ m
sure leaders such as Reverend John
Jackson who have come before
Hicks would agree. It is largely a
delicate task o f trying to address and
balance all the competing interests
within the Black community and still
present a united front to the white
power structure that demands atten
tion. There is seldom praise for what
has been done w ell, and always
criticism for things that others feel
could have been done differently.
I t ’s easy to stand around talking
about what isn’ t right, but it’s much
more difficult to take the initiative to
act upon what’s wrong. Maybe that's
why so many o f us continue to do
nothing but talk, we don’ t have the
commitment or the courage to act. I f
thankless job in many ways. No mat
ter how well-meaning our intentions
may be, there are always those who
w ill stand on the sidelines and accuse
us o f not taking care o f business.
This is the price Black people pay to
contribute their ideas and their ser
vice to the improvement o f their
community in a racist society.
Oftentimes we judge other Black
people’ s contributions not on the
merits or facts o f their service, but
on how much they deviate from our
own personal biases about how they
should serve the com m unity or
handle a particular issue. Before we
are too quick to judge what others
aren’t doing in the community, we
should first reflect on our own in
dividual community service records.
I f we are not actively involved in
trying to solve community problems
ourselves, we have no rig h t to
criticize the sincerity or the value o f
another’ s efforts.
Lucious H icks is young, he’ s
energetic, and he seems committed to
making the local N AAC P a viable
and active force in Portland. I ’ ve
been impressed with his efforts to
date. He is trying hard to lend a new
vision and voice to the organization.
For his effort he deserves our praise
and active support. He’s bound to
we dared to get involved in the com
m unity’ s affairs, we would quickly
learn as so many have that it is a
make some mistakes as he shapes a
new contingency. We shouldn't hold
these against him. Our duty is to
p o in t them out and o ffe r our
thoughts on how things can be done
better.
Every day, as we stand around in
our little circles talking about each
other, there are new and disturbing
examples o f the injustice, the disre
spect and the insensitivity with which
the larger white society treats Black
people. We w ould fu rth e r our
mutual aims o f equity, justice, and
co m m u n ity development by the
positive acknowledgem ent o f all
good-intentioned efforts to serve the
community regardless o f whether we
agree with the style. We didn’t get
where we are today by putting down
the honest efforts o f those who step
ped forw ard to work fo r and on
behalf o f the Black community. We
have always appreciated and built
upon every individual’s service. We
must follow this historical example
o f cooperation i f we want to make
further progress as a race o f people
in this society.
Respectfully,
Jeana Woolley
LUTHER
" you
By B ruim ic Brandon
understand ’
< nyepse
proportions ,
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turned up their noses at the rest o f
the world. In this country, this was at
the height o f the C iv il Rights
movement. The liberals were “ in ,”
having swept the conservatives under
the political rug. The United Nations
imposed a trade embargo against
Rhodesia thus forbidding member
states, the U.S. included, from
trading with the rebels. That was in
1968 and these sanctions were in
tended to crip p le the Rhodesian
economy and bring the ‘colony’ back
to legality.
We now know that, while these
high sounding pronouncements were
being made in the UN chambers,
equally fra n tic and much more
sinister plans were being made in
corporate board rooms in the U.S.,
B rita in , France, West Germ any,
Italy, Israel, Holland, Japan, etc. to
circum vent these very sanctions.
Smith had known all along that when
it came to a showdown, his
“ brothers” around the world would
not abandon their “ kith and kin.”
More than ten years have passed
since the passage o f these sanctions
and, thanks to this outside help,
Smith is still alive and oppressing.
But now that the C ivil Rights ‘ fever’
is over. Smith’s ‘ brothers’ can come
out in the open in broad daylight.
And they are back with a vengeance.
A ll across the country, in recent elec
tions, liberals have been falling like
ninepins. The 95th Congress is the
most conservative since pre-C ivil
Rights days. Prospects for the future
don’ t look any brighter either.
W ith this in m ind, the conser
vatives are gearing up fo r another
m a jo r push on Rhodesia. Their
ultim ate goal is to recognize the
illegal Ian Sm ith regime, resume
trade with Rhodesia and prevent the
Africans from taking over the coun
try and turning it into the Democra
tic Republic o f Zimbabwe. Maybe,
when he was winning the war, there
was no need to come to Smith’s aid
but, now that he is clearly losing, the
conservatives feel they have to prop
him up. Now that he is surely in
danger, fighting a war that he cannot
win, a war that is costing in excess of
$1 m illion a day, with the economy
already in shreds and facing an un
precedented white exodus (20,000
le ft in 1978 alone — and th a t’ s
almost two percent o f the white
p o p u la tio n ), the conservatives in
Congress feel it ’ s time to pitch in
again and derail the Black Freedom
train.
Again led by Jesse Helms and S.I.
Hayakawa, they are pushing for a
repeal o f sanctions and enforcement
o f the Case — Javits amendment
passed last year. This amendment
binds the President to lift sanctions
within ten days if, it has been deter
mined that the interim government
of Rhodesia has made genuine efforts
at convening an all parties conference
(which would include the guerrillas)
and if free and fair elections have
been held. Rhodesia's ’ elections’ are
scheduled for A p ril 20th.
A repeal o f sanctions would mean
massive infusions o f foreign (mostly
American — your tax dollars again!)
aid to rescue the tottering Rhodesian
economy. It would also open the
doors for the regime to buy all the
weapons it so badly needs to fight the
guerrillas. It would also open the
doors for the regime to buy all the
weapons it so badly needs to fight the
guerrillas. It would also somewhat
“ legitimize” the role o f American
mercenaries who are now busy
killing Zimbabweans who only wish
to be free. Once the U.S. recognizes
Rhodesia, it would make it easy for
these animals to claim they are aiding
a ‘ frie n d ly ’ co u n try fig h t com
munism.
Though this would in no way halt
the guerrilla campaign, it would de
fin ite ly deal it a severe blow . It
would be a major setback. It would
undoubtedly prolong the war. The
for ------r
the present
is that, a at .
• prognosis
-
-------------- -----
it ’s present rate, the guerrillas should
win overall control in a year or two
at most. The longer the war con
tinues, the more blood is split and, so
far, up to 70% o f the blood split has
been civilian.
To this end there w ill be a push to
have a vote in the Senate Foreign Re
lations Committee to authorize a
U.S. congressional observer team to
go and monitor the Rhodesian elec
tions. I f this team (which w ill cost
the American taxpayer an additional
$175,000) determines the elections
arc ‘ free and fa ir,’ then Carter will
have no choice but to repeal sanc
tions. The observer team is sup
posedly to be ‘ impartial* but, as Bill
Sutherland, American Friends Ser
vice Committee Southern Africa rep
resentative points out: “ How impar
tial can this team be when it will be
tra v e llin g througho ut Rhodesia
guarded and escorted by the Rhode
sian arm y?" The guerrillas have in
dicated they w ill disrupt these ’sham’
elections.
Sutherland sees it as another con
servative plot to force the guerrillas
to observe a self imposed cease fire
for fear that, i f they carry on, they
might hit one o f the congressional
observers. That would definitely hurl
th e ir cause. Sutherland fu rth e r
argues that the elections cannot be
‘ free and fa ir’ when the outcome has
already been pre-determined. Whites
are to vote for whites and though
they o n ly make up 3% o f the
population, they have been guaran
teed 28% o f the Congressional seats
in the new government, a set number
o f cabinet positions, continued con
trol o f the army, the police force, the
civil service and economy. Also, since
a 75% vote would be required for
any constitutional amendment, they
w ill have veto power for at least the
first ten years.
W ith this elaborate conservative
plan in the works, it’s time for us to
start mobilizing too to prevent them
fro m sabotaging the Zim babwe
freedom movement. I t ’s time to start
preparing to contact our respective
congress-people and letting them
know that we are not fooled by all
th is conservative baloney about
“ keeping Zimbabwe out of'the hands
o f the communists.” Let’s put an
end to this madness, le t's show
Hayaka et al that, everything else
notwithstanding, there are still a lot
o f good, honest, decent people in
this country who w ill not be swept
IIIIUCÏ
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Dig DUSIW
under in
the
business rug.
Weber vs. Kaiser attacks affirmative action
(Continued from Page 1 Column 6)
has suspended implementation o f the
program at plants throughout the
United States,” according to the ap
peal.
The Justice Department has asked
the Supreme Court to send the case
back to determ ine i f the Bakke
decision would have any impact on
the Court o f Appeals ruling, but the
justices have not yet announced what
they w ill do.
The im pact o f the threat o f
lawsuits was recently illustrated by
an agreement between the New York
Times Com pany and a group o f
women who had charged sex
discrim ination. While denying any
wrongdoing, the Times agreed to pay
$350,000 and start an affirm ative ac
tion program. Harriet Raab, the at
torney for the women, says the suit
forced the newspaper to change its
hiring practices.
In 1970 and 1971, she said, only
six percent o f the editors and report
ers hired were female. In 1973, the
year after formal charges were made,
47 percent o f reporters and editors
hired were female. But the plan to set
hiring goals for women may not go
unchallenged. Recently, a white male
reporter at the St. Louis Post Dis
patch filed a complaint o f “ reverse
discrimination” with the EEOC after
a women was selected for the paper’ s
Washington bureau.
The flurry o f complaints by white
males reflects a mood o f resistance to
affirm ative action fueled by intense
competition for increasingly scarce
desirable jobs. Efforts to “ deregu
late” affirm ative action also reflect
the p u b lic ’ s m istrust o f govern
ment bureaucracy and intervention.
But proponents o f affirm ative ac
tion argue that racism and sexism are
very real elements in the selection
process. Government pressure, they
contend, is essential in guaranteeing
equal opportunities for minorities in
an extremely tight job market. The
im pact o f the national mood on
m in o rity adm ission was recently
documented by the Association o f
American Medical Colleges, which
reported that m inority enrollment at
U.S. medical schools has remained
level during the past three years.
Black enrollment declined from a
high o f 6.3‘ percent in 1974 to less
than six percent last year while total
emollment at medical schools was
increasing.
The latest round o f lawsuits once
again raises the issue o f how far
American society must go to over
come the inequities o f past
discrimination against minorities and
women. Recent polls show a
willingness to provide more training
for m inorities but a reluctance to
face minorities in head-to-head com
petition.
Last spring, the U.S. Supreme
C ourt carefully sidestepped argu
ments by Bakke and his support
ers that the choice in his case was
between “ b e tte r” and “ less”
qualified applicants, or even that
"reverse discrimination” was a valid
term. But racial attitudes — and ap
parent differences in grade point
averages — made it easy for many
whites to believe that Bakke was
more deserving o f an opportunity to
attend medical school than a faceless
group o f minorities.
The issues raised in the Weber and
Cramer cases may force the public to
confront what some observers believe
to be the real issue o f our time — too
many well-qualified applicants for
too few positions. The Weber case
does not involve rigorous academic
qualifications that were at the core o f
the Bakke case.
James Cram er to im prove their
positions in society could well lead to
a better public understanding o f
what affirm ative action really is: an
attem pt to redistribute a lim ited
number o f opportunities among a
large number o f equally deserving
individuals.
Too late to classify
The efforts o f Brian Weber and
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