Portland observer., April 26, 1979, Page 2, Image 2

> • © • 2 Portland Obaarvar Thursday. April 26 1676
EDITORIAL/OPINION
gets a 'new' government
b y N . Fungai h ambula
Oregon racism lives
L
State of Oregon has at least seven years, and
maybe longer, to make this difficult decision.
Oregon is showing its "Southern exposure"
once again. For years and years the people of
Washington, D.C. were denied the right to vote
tor representatives in the Senate and Congress ,
and therefore a right to take part in the
deliberations of government, by a group of
Southern Senators. Finally, some of them died
off and others left the Senate.
Last year, largely due to the efforts of
Representatives Fauntroy and Diggs and the
other members of the Congressional Black
Caucus, the Senate finally voted out a Con­
stitutional Amendment that would allow the
people of D.C. to elect two Senators and
Representatives commensorate w ith their
population. But who comes forward to deny the
right of the citizens of Washington, D.C. to vote
- the Oregon House of Representatives? Why?
Because the two Senators and the Represen­
tatives from Washington, D.C. will undoubtedly
be Black. What better reason to deny them the
right of representation?
The ratification of a Constitutional Amendment
is clearly the responsibility of the state legislature.
But the members of the House of Represen­
tatives, led by Kip Lombard of Southern Oregon,
took the easy way out and refused to vote. In­
stead they chose to avoid their responsibility and
asked the people of Oregon for an "advisory
vote" - a vote that will have no legal standing.
Lombard, who is not yet able to decide on
whether American citizens should have a right to
vote, recently told the House Judiciary Commit­
tee that this is an issue "we have debated since
high school". Yet a few minutes later, he told the
same committee that he just had not had enough
time to gather enough information to make a
decision. After all, he said, there is no hurry. The
Were these representatives afraid to go back
to their constituents after voting to give the basic
right of citizenship to the Black people of
Washington, D.C.? Were they afraid to go back
to the voters of Southern Oregon, the Oregon
coast and east of the mountains where racism stjU
lurks? Or was the racism in their own hearts?
Our thanks to Gratton Kerens and the House
members who had the guts to vote for citizenship
rights for the people of Washington, D.C.
Still not a democracy
The supporters of the white Ian Smith regime
of Rhodesia are pressing the Carter A d ­
ministration to recognize the government of
Rhodesia now that the election is over and
Bishop Muzorewa has been elected. They con­
tend that the reported large turnout of voters im­
plies a free election with broad support for a one-
man-one-vote democratic election.
They fail to mention the seats reserved for
whites and the fact that whites will permanently
control the police, the courts and the army.
W hat if that situation were applied here?
Would these Smith supporters be satisfied if 50
positions in the U.S. Congress were reserved for
Blacks, 40 for Chicanos and 10 for Indians.
Would they call it "democracy" if Blacks were to
control the police, the courts, the armed services
and were firmly entrenched in government jobs?
No, that would not be "democracy"; that
would be "reverse discrimination." The U.S. has
no business recognizing Rhodesia or lifting its
economic embargo until that nation has a true
"free election".
This past week, ’ Rhodesians’ o f all
races went to the polls to elect what
will be the country's first ’national*
government. This was being hailed as
a milestone in the history o f the
troubled country The elections were
hailed as ushering in Rhodesia's first
Black m ajority government since one
Cecil Rhodes stole the country some
88 years ago But, newspersons cut
be devious characters too. They can
deliberately distort the truth to serve
their own ends.
In the Rhodesian elections, there
seems to be a deliberate attempt to
legitimize this illegitim ate electoral
farce. The Rhodesian regime, like its
South African counterpart, is inde­
fensible because it discrim inates
solely on the basis o f color. For that
reason, it has been a little difficult
for the outside world to come to their
aid — at least openly. Nonetheless,
certain newspapers w ho, because
they are the ones with the news gath­
ering facilities, generally decide what
the American public will read, seem
to go all out to distort the Southern
African situation.
That power, to decide what the
public will read, has often been used
to manipulate public opinion as far
as the African situation is concerned.
Most journalists have latched on to
the ’ ’ Blacks killing whites,” "Wood
is thicker than water” and ” commu­
nist penetration ” cliques. I t ’ s in­
teresting
how
selective these
arguments are though: in Uganda, it
was ’support the Ugandans against
the Idi Am in dictatorship.' In Rho­
desia, however, it's ’ let's back the
Smith or a Black moderate regime
because it will be pro-W est.' Not a
word about human rights!
In the elections in question, the
Nuclear scientist charges 'coverup'
by Ernest Stemglass
(PNS) — The accident at the H ar­
risburg nuclear power plant may
have exposed about a million people
to up to 130 times more radiation
than the government has so far re­
ported. The health effects o f this ex­
posure will be far more serious and
long-lasting than the Nuclear Regu­
latory Commission (N R C j has so far
acknowledged.
The N R C reported only the exter­
nal gamma radiation doses received
from passing clouds of radioactive
gases. It failed to calculate the total
dose received by critical organs and
bones from inhalation o f fission
gases, which produce the greatest
biological damage.
The N R C ’s claim that pure xenon
and some traces o f iodine 131 were
the only radioactive gases released is
misleading and certainly unproven
by in fo rm a tio n availab le to the
public.
The governm ent had no in ­
strumentation in place to measure
the precise composition o f the radio­
active steam that escaped into the at­
mosphere at the start of the Harris­
burg disaster. The only instruments
present were simple thermo lumines­
cent dosimeters, which cannot dis­
tinguish between different chemical
elements that give rise to the gamma
radiation they register. H ow ever,
there is every reason to believe that
this steam contained many o f the
rad io a c tiv e chemicals n o rm a lly
produced in the fission process, of
which the N R C ’s Allen Brodsky, an
expert in the field, lists 21.
Gases inhaled when fission pro­
ducts pass by m a cloud of steam
produce a dose about 130 times
greater than the dose absorbed by the
body from external gamma radia­
tion, according to Brodsky’ s esti­
mates. He bases his calculations on
data from releases during earlier nu­
clear accidents and during nuclear
bomb tests carried out in the 1950s
and ‘60s
Although the N R C has cited maxi­
mum accumulated doses as being 80
millirems in the course o f a week
following the Harrisburg accident,
the true maximum doses to the lung
may have been as large as 10,000
millirems. The doses to bones from
elements including strontium 89 and
90, which are decay products o f the
rare gas krypton, are about 30 times
greater than w hat is absorbed by ex­
ternal gamma radiation.
N ot only was strontium 90 re­
leased during the accident, it is emit­
ted during normal operations o f nu­
clear power plants, as are cesium
137. bcrium 140 and larger amounts
of xenon and other chemically inert
gases. O fficial publications o f the
N R C cle a rly list these elements
among annual radioactive releases
into air and water.
Krypton and xenon are the most
common radioactive fission pro­
ducts. The N R C has told the public
the emissions contained mostly these
inert gases, which do not necessarily
produce the greatest b io lo g ical
damage. H ow ever, o ffic ia l state­
ments generally have failed to point
out that these elements decay into
other more biologically hazardous
materials, including cesium, berium
and strontium.
Strontium 90 has been regarded by
the scientific community as the most
toxic of all fission products produced
during nuclear testing. It collects in
the bones and can cause cancer and
leukemia. It has a half-life o f about
30 years and, like other radioactive
isotapes produced in the fission
process, lingers and builds up in soil.
It may present a hazard in food
grown near the Three M ile Island
plant.
In the past few months, however,
the N R C has issued new regulations
that will no longer make it necessary
to report the level o f strontium 90 in
local soil and milk routinely.
Failure to consider strontium 90
and other decay products emitted
during the Harrisburg accident is
tantam ount to a cover-up o f the
seriousness o f the damage done. It is,
I believe, further evidence that the
N R C is p rim a rily concerned with
protecting the nuclear industry
The health hazard also has been
discounted by other federal officials.
Joseph A . Califano, Jr., secretary of
Health. Education and Welfare, told
the Senate H ealth sub-committee
th a t so fa r , ra d ia tio n th a t had
leaked was not expected to cause a
single cancer death among the people
living within 50 miles o f the plant.
Yet even using only the external
dosages that the N R C has reported
— 2 millirems to a population o f
about a million within 50 miles o f the
plant — between 0.5 and 50 cancer
deaths can be expected, according to
Karl Z. Morgan, professor o f health
civics at Georgia Institute o f Techno­
logy and former director o f the Oak
Ridge National Laboratory's Health
Civics Division.
But if, in addition to the reported
external doses, the unreported expo­
sure from inhalation is considered,
the number o f cancers that may de­
velop in the next 10-20 years might
PORTLAND OBSERVER
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ALFRED L HENDERSON
Editor/Publia her
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be 3OO-2.5OO, depending on what risk
estimate you adopt. Other health ef­
fects can be expected to include
genetic defects, and physical and
m en tal re ta rd a tio n am ong the
newborn.
Repeatedly, officials have com­
pared radiation doses at Harrisburg
to those received during dental X
rays. This is a completely deceptive
attempt to minimize the true nature
o f the exposure. A dental X ray is
confined to a couple o f inches o f re­
latively insensitive area. A t Three
M ile Island, the whole body is ex­
posed. Furtherm ore, the dental X
ray is over in a fraction o f a second,
while the inhalation o f strontium 90
w ill irrad iate the bone and bone
marrow for many decades after the
individual has been exposed. It also
will affect an infant developing in the
mother's womb, possibly years later.
This is not true o f dental X rays.
The Harrisburg health hazard is
far from over. Emission o f radio­
active gases from the plant will con­
tin u e over m any m o nths, and
possibly years, as radioactivity is re­
moved from the plant. The N R C has
admitted this is unavoidable.
It may become necessary to advise
people in the im m ediate area to
leave, for background radiation last
week was still 10 to 20 times what is
normal
T o protect the population, we can
insist that all animals that produce
food or milk be fed imported seed
and hay until the full extent o f the
contam ination is established. This
should continue for some time while
rain washes rad io active elements
deeper into the soil and into rivers
and ocean and diminishes the levels
in grass that serves as local seed. De­
spite the economic impact o f such a
course, it is one o f the consequences
we will have to face.
By and large, however, the only
real protection is to prevent such ac­
cidents from recurring. We should
work to convert nuclear power plants
to c o n ven tio n al gas, coal or o il
power plants. This was done in Sioux
Falls, South Dakota, in 1968, when
the Northern States Light and Power
Company converted a leaking experi­
mental nuclear plant into a natural
gas plant. A ll but a fraction o f the
total cost o f a plant can be saved in
conversion.
(Ernest Stemglass is a professor o f
radiological physics at the University
o f Pittsburgh Schoo! o f Medicine.
H e is a longtime critic o f nuclear
p o w e r!
"M ercy is n o b ility 's true
Shakaipeara
badge "
jo u rn alists' emphasis was on the
large tu rn o u t and the guerrillas*
’ ’ failure” to disrupt the elections. As
usual, they went out and managed to
find a number o f people dancing and
celebrating in the streets. A lot o f
space and time was devoted to the ex­
traordinary precautionary measures
taken to "protest” the voters. There
were 100,000 troops roaming all over
the c o u n try to “ discourage the
g u e rrilla s .” C onveniently om itted
from this same report, o f course, was
that these were supposed to be "free
and fair elections” ! H ow do you
have free and fair elections when you
have that many armed men (there
were no women among them) man­
ning the polling booths?
Smith, Muzorewa A Co. wanted a
large turnout so they could persuade
the U .S. and the rest o f the world to
recognize the regim e that would
result from these elections and have
sanctions repealed.
So far, only South A frica has pro­
mised such recognition. In Britain,
they will be holding general elections
on the 3rd o f M ay to form a new
governm ent. The present Labour
government o f Prime Minister James
Callaghan lost a vote o f confidence a
few weeks back. Opinion polls at the
m om ent show th a t the C on ser­
vatives, led by Margaret Thatcher,
will probably win. I f they do, they
have prom ised to recognize the
"n e w ” Zimbabwe-Rhodesia govern­
ment. The Labour government has
promised to hold out recognition un­
til such a time as the Patriotic Front
g u e rrilla allian ce is brought in to
Zimbabwe government.
The Carter Adm inistration is o f
the same o pin io n as the L a b o u r
government but some conservatives
in the U .S . Congress are already
pushing very hard for such recogni­
tion and an end to sanctions. Should
a M u zo re w a g overnm ent (he is
the one expected to win) win U.S.
recognition and a repeal o f sanc­
tions, that would by no means ring
the death knell for the Zimbabwe
freedom drive. That can no longer be
sidestepped; delayed yes, derailed
NO.
R ecog n itio n o f a M u zo re w a
regime would therefore only escalate
the level o f violence. M o re lives
would be lost. Already 14,000 lives
have been lost in the six year old war.
The violence is bound to continue
until such a time as Z IM B A B W E ,
not “ Z im babw e-R hodesia,” takes
her rightful place among the world’s
free nations. The war will continue
until every Black vote counts as
much as every white vote, not as in
the present situation where one white
vote counts as much as S E V E N
Black votes.
Zim babwe’s freedom is o f crucial j |
importance not only to the people o f
Zimbabwe hut also to the citizens o f
Botswana. Zam bia. M alaw i, Zaire.
A n g o la . M o z a m b iq u e , N a m ib ia ,
Lesotho, Sw aziland, Black South
A frica as well as all our brothers and
sisters around the world. A free Z im ­
babwe would guarantee the freedom,
security, prosperity and stability o f
all the above mentioned countries
and pose a very serious threat, mater
o f fact, the most serious threat to
date, to the partheid regime o f South
A frica. It would once more resurrect
the so-called “ d o m in o th e o ry ” :
knock one and they all come tumbl­
ing down.
For white supremacy and colonial
d o m in a tio n , the w riting's on the
wall: going, goin, goi................
Letters to the Editor
Commissioner thanks supporters
Dear Friends:
I am delighted to have this oppor­
tunity to thank you for your support.
Your presence at the banquet on
Saturday, A pril 21 st, sponsored by
the Masons of the Prince Hall Grand
Lodge o f Oregon and its jurisdiction
was indeed, an honor.
I have attended many banquets
and had presented to me numerous
awards, but this one was special. It
came from the hearts o f those whom
I serve and love. 1 am deeply touch­
ed.
Many hours o f hard labor, time
and dedication went into m aking
that evening you shared with me a
success and I send my love to those
who helped to make it a reality.
I will continue to do my best to al-
ways earn your belief, trust, respect
and support both, as an individual
and a public servant in discharging
my responsibilities.
M y tasks are not easy as I must
confront challenges and obstacles
daily and make decisions which af­
fect us all in one way or another.
However, these tasks are made easier
through my own integrity maintain­
ed by my faith in the Almighty and
my belief in you.
Tru ly, my evening with you was an
evening to be remembered for a long,
long time.
Best personal regards and richest
blessings.
Sincerely,
Charles J ordan
Commissioner o f Public Safety
Racism wins
(Continued from Page 1 Column 6)
justice fo r a ll.“ It is never said
"n o n e ” , although we’ve treated it
th at w ay. W e 'v e said, “ a ll men
B la c k ” , “ a ll men w om en” , and
we’ve said “ all men 18 year olds”
and we've said “ all men equally rep­
resented” . And finally and at last,
the opportunity is before this body to
say “ all men” . A fter 178 years o f in-
justice - all men, all Americans.
The question is, is it haste? I am
reminded o f the Reverend M a rtin
Luther King when in one o f his last
speeches he asked the nation, " H o w
long? ’ . And I ask that question to
you today. Is not 178 years o f denial
enough?
And the Oregon House o f Repre­
sentatives said - " N o .”
McElroy volunteers
(Continued from Page 1 Column 6)
siness while a volunteer member o f a
task force organized by former Vice
President Hubert Humphrey.
The many years M cElroy has spent
volunteering also have benefitted
the participation o f minorities in bu­
siness while a volunteer member o f a
task force organized by former Vice
President Hubert Humphrey.
While working in personnel for the
Ford M o to r Com pany in D etro it,
M cElroy was asked to assist the task
force in encouraging m in o rity
colleges to increase their business
curriculum.
The task force also attempted to
motivate minority college students to
seek out business careers, McElroy
said.
him personally and his fam ily in ­
directly.
“ Il gives me an intrinsic feeling o f
accom plishm ent, o f satisfaction,
which I can’t obtain any other w ay,”
he said. ” M y w ife and 1 have a
common understanding about com­
munity needs and we will assist if we
. can.
__ 88
M cE lroy’s wife, Rochelle, a coun­
selor at Portland Com munity C ol­
lege, has done volunteer work for the
American Cancer Society. They have
three c h ild re n , H o w a rd J r ., 12,
Nicole, 6, and Kevin, 4.
“ I t ’s a comfort to know the ser­
vices are there,” he added. "They
make this a better com m unity.”
Interested In current books
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