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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 31, 1979)
R»»*2 Portland Observa/ Thursday 1W» EDITORIAL/OPINION Remember them, too T h a week the nation » celebrating Vietnam V e te ra n * W eek -- honoring those men and women who served in Vietnam. The Vietnam veterans were not welcomed home as heros, like the men who had come home from other wars. The stigma of an unpopular war still follows these veterans. In the words of the President, "instead of glory, they were too often met with our embarrassment or ignored when they re turned.” These veterans have not had the care, the opportunities and the respect they deserve. They are still met with embarrassment or ignored. W hile we pause this week to honor these veterans and pledge to renew our efforts to in sure that our governm ent no longer ignores them, we must also remember the men who left the country or went to jail to demonstrate their opposition to an illegal and immoral war. They, too, suffered and served. Two bad bills SEnate Bill 358 will go to hearings in the Senate Committee on Aging and Minority Affairs next week. This bill, sponsored by Senator An thony Meeker, would put a one year limit on the authority of the Civil Rights Bureau to investigate and resolve civil rights complaints. In other words, if the Civil Rights Bureau failed to investigate, conciliate and settle a complaint within one year, the rights of the complaintant would be lost. In light of Oregon's record of taking from four to five years to complete a civil rights case, this would be a travesty of justice and would deny the citizen's legal recourse. It is a green light for discrimination. A related bill is being introduced to the House - - HB 3147 — at the request of Representative Max Rijken. This bill would ammend the law to allow public m e etin g s to be held in places th a t discrim inate — lodge buildings and the like. Currently, no governmental body can meet in a place where discrim ination because of race, creed, color, sex or national origin is practiced. HB 3147 would allow public meetings to be held in places where discrimination is practiced if no other adequate facilities are regularly available and if no person is denied access to the meeting. This bill would place the State's stamp of ap proval on discriminatory organizations. Persons opposed to these bills should make their voices heard It is true that no good bills seem to be getting through the legislature this session, and maybe there is no need to worry But then, it just might be easier for a bad bill to slip through. A statement of Principles by Vietnam Veterans As veterans o f the illegal “ war that never happened.** »e exist so that fellow veterans may one day soon receive the legal rights earned by serving in that war; we exist so that the leaders and people o f America may forever be conscious o f the injustice done to her sons and daughters of the Vietnam era We, the hidden minority, stand with other oppressed minorities as peaceful soldiers in the war for social justice. W e advocate that veterans have the right to jobs, training, and medical and mental-health care prescribed by law and demanded by social justice. We deplore the fact that hundreds o f thousands o f veterans are demed these rights by the very governmental agencies that are supposed to be helping them. It is time for society to stop ignoring veterans and their problems. Both society and the government were responsible for drafting minors and other young men into the last war. Neither society nor government seems to be willing to acknowledge or repay veterans for the painful changes that occurred in their lives fighting for a country that did not care. M a n y veterans feel they were m an ip u lated and cheated by the political decisions made while they were ui the military As veterans now, we are distrustful and often insensitive to human values. O u r y o u th fu l idealism was corrupted by having to kill or be killed, while at home society became indifferent toward those trapped m the fighting in Vietnam. A t Project R eturn-VETS, we attempt to help rectify those injustices by finding employment and training for veterans, by neiping get iess-than-honorable discharges upgraded, and by providing mental-health counseling. We also attempt to educate the public, including other veterans, about possible solutions for these problems We stress helping disabled veterans, combat veterans, and minority veterans — those most affected by the violence of the war and American society. * e support urgently needed changes in social policy, as follows: 1. Responsive and innovative medical treatment for veterans from the Veterans Adm inistration must be Namibia's own 'internal settlement' b y N . Fungai Kumbula N a m ib ia has been likened to Rhodesia for so many reasons. For one. along with South Africa, they are the only countries in southern A frica still under m inority colonial domination. The only other country in Africa still suffering the same fate is Western Sahara at the moment jo in tly occupied by M orocco and Mauretania. In both Rhodesia and Namibia, the white number less than a quarter o f a million in each coun try. Both have also been involved in long, costly and un winnable guerrilla wars. In N am ibia, which has been administered by South A frica since the end o f W orld W ar I (the original League o f Nations mandate that had given South A frica this power was revoked in 1966 but South A fric a still refuses to quit). South A frica is providing the troops that are op posing the African freedom fighters. In Rhodesia, the lan Smith regime has relied very heavily on South A fric a fo r both m ilita ry and economic sustenance. N ow , a new dimension has been added to this long list o f analogies. In Rhodesia, lan Smith forged an ’ in ternal agreement* w ith three, moderate Black "leaders” that cul minated in the holding o f elections last m onth that installed a Black “ d o m in a te d ’ ’ governm ent. Black dominated* is a misnomer because w hues still control all the instruments o f power: the army, the police force, the civil service, the judiciary and have been guaranteed effective veto power for at least ten years. Though they make up less than four per cent o f the population, they have been assigned 28% o f the Assembly seats and 30*» o f the Cabinet positions. In Nam ibia, the U N . through the five W estern ’ Pow ers*, the U .S ., B ritain, France, Canada and West Germany has been negotiating «nth South A fric a for a solution to the Namibian problem. S W A P O (South West A frica Peoples Organization) recognized by the U N as the sole representative o f the N a m ib ia n people has been waging an armed struggle against South A fric a ’s oc cupation since 1966. (The Patriotic Front launched its initial attack on settler occupation in 1966 too. H o w ever. the present cam paign start ed in 1972.) T he U N negotiations have met with one roadblock after another. Last September, an apparent agree ment «»as reached when South Africa agreed to have elections held in Nam ibia under the supervision o f the U N and, S W A P O had also agreed to participate. However, South A frica already had initiated its own version o f elections which it was going to supervise. S W A P O had rejected this idea as did the U N . Nonetheless. December 4th through the 8th last year, South A frica went ahead with these elections which S W A P O boycotted and which the U N declared “ null and v o id “ . A t the time South A frica claimed that this was a ’ trial run’ for the later elec tions that would be overseen by the UN. As was expected, the elections were won by the so-called Democra tic T u rn h a lk Alliance, a coalition o f moderate Blacks and whites which had the fin a n c ia l, m a te ria l and political backing o f South A fric a . Even though South A fric a had all along m ain tain ed th at this was nothing more than a ’trial run.’ she has suddenly changed tunes and now claims that these were the ’ real’ elec tions and is also now talking about tu rn in g over the a d m in is tra tiv e powers to the constituent assembly that was formed as a result o f these ’elections.* This in effect leaves S W A P O out in the cold just as Sm ith left the Patriotic Front out o f his ’internal settlement*. Further, South A frica is also now reneging on her original promise to allow U N supervised elec tions to be held. For S W A P O , the only option now left is an intensifi cation o f the war. The U N , for its part, has been meeting this past week to decide the next step. One o f the options supposedly un der consideration is the imposition o f economic sanctions against South A frica but this is a course that has repeatedly been vetoed by B ritain, France and the U .S . The election o f a new C onservative governm ent in Britain does not help matters any at all. So, for the time being at least, there’ s one three letter word that hovers over everything else: W A R . P.S.: To Sunanda Sen, Thank you fo r pointing out my very serious om m ission o f In d ira Gandhi as one o f the five women to lead their countries She was in my original d ra ft but, somewhere be tween th at in itia l d ra ft and the finished copy, she ’sneaked’ away. N . Fungai Kumbula 'Free m arket' keeps medical costs high by Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. available. 2. Recognition of. and subsequent treatment for, the delayed-stress reaction suffered by veterans must be adequately funded by the federal government. 3. A national network o f veterans’ self-help groups to supply services to Vietnam veterans and to function as “ watch dogs” for all services to veterans must be en couraged. facilitated, and funded by the federal govern ment. 4. American society must be awakened to the fact that refusal to openly accept veterans back home and back into their communities has contributed to the unique problems o f Vietnam-era veterans. W ith the wisdom gained from serving in the Vietnam war, we further serve to teach our sons and daughters so that they , armed with our knowledge, may question the next “ V ietnam '* and be spared the horrors o f our generation (Tha statemem was adopted in December, 1978, by the staff o f Project Return- VETS.) LUTHER By Brumsic B randon Jr. health practitioners, so long as many public hospitals would stop dead in their tracks svithout foreign trained physicians, and so long as medical professionals are R e d is trib u te d , America doesn’t have too many doc- to n . It's troubling that calls for limiting the numbers o f doctors come just as Blacks and other m in o ritie s are gaining a tenuous toehold in medical schools. Even w ith the rise in m inority medical school enrollments. Blacks are o n ly ab ou t tw o per cent o f Am erica's doctors. A nd while the total number o f places in medical schools is increasing, the number o f Blacks admitted is shrinking. So in this post-Bakke era, calling for a doctor freeze is tantamount to calling for permanent minority un derrep resen tatio n in the m edical profession. The numbers o f doctors should be increased. Incentives should be given to encourage them to practice in poverty neighborhoods and to prefer general practice to the kinds o f specialities society needs less. Massive programs to increase the numbers o f qualified minority health professionals should be a top p rio rity , so that the most under served and underrepresented com munities get their fair share o f health care. And all o f this should be in the fra m e w o rk o f a n a tio n a l health policy that provides universal, com prehensive access to quality health care for all. 1st Placa C o m m u n ity Sarvica O N P A 1973 PORTLAND OBSERVER Th» Portland OOatrwr IUSRS 9 6 8 « 0 • puMahati avwv T h u rr 3av bv Exe 6ut*ah«ng Company. Ine.. 2201 Nortr KShogawortt' Pom ato Oregon 97217. Poe» ortica Bo» 3137. Pomand Oregon #7206 Second elea« poataga pax) et Portland. Orego' la» Placa Saat A d Resulta O N P A 1973 Subscriptions «7 60 par year a» Tn-County aree; »6 00 per year outarde Tri-County Area Poetm aatar Send eddraaa clange» to tha Portland Otuenor, P O B o i 3137 Portland. Oregon 97206 ■'he Portland fS tarr *rr i otlrcrW poertior e e«pra»aac omy ai n» Edrtoraf column Any ornar metenei throughout the paper e tn* opinion of the mdtviduai e n te r or subm itter and does not no r n aant y reflect the oomaxi o» the Portland O t a r ' - " One of the most curious concepts to come along in quite a while is the growing notion that America has too many doctors. Just try telling that to minorities and the poor, who frequently live in rural areas or ur ban neighborhoods that have no doc tors at all. I t ’s the old story o f looking at gross figures. The annual output of new doctors has doubled in the past two decades. But that doesn't mean they practice where the people who need their skills live. N o r does it mean they are in specialities most needed by the average health con sumer. Still, the so-called doctor shortage is an excuse for support for cutting federal aid to medical schools. I t ’s even being used as a rationale for opposing a national health insurance plan. It is argued that the more doctors there are. the more people will use them, and the more inflationary will health costs become Strange At the same time, we’re to ld that the law o f supply and demand has not been repealed. The more there is available o f a good or service, the lower iu price is likely to become. But that doesn’ t hold true for health care. Why? The answer is that organized medicine operates like an in te rn a l O P E C m o n o p o ly , freed from the normal constraints o f the m a r k e tp la c e . F r e e - f o r s e rv ic e medicine keeps health care costs high, as does the cost-plus insurance system. I t ’ s hard to understand the argument that it’s bad if people use physician's services more often. I f more people use more doctors, that obviously means they need those doctors and the health care they provide. Whenever sales o f some consumer item increases we never say that's bad. We recognize that people want more o f that item and business takes steps to supply it. But why then do we say that items in human services, like health care, should be carefully rationed and kept limited? Those limits are today imposed by excessive costs. I f you can afford to pay a doctor you use his services, if you can’t you don’t. Poor people covered by Medicare and Medicaid programs have some access to health care since the government will pay for it. And there's been a rise in health services utilization since those programs were started. That's good, it means more people are getting better health care. But m illions o f others are n ot. They don't have access to doctors. The fin a n c ia l structure o f m edical professions is such that esoteric spe cialities drain o ff many who in for mer years might have been general practitioners and family physicians. The result is that some areas and people are not served at all. some are underserved, and relatively few have full access to the health care they need So long as the nation's ghettos and barrios are v irtu a lly w ithout Siti Placa Beat Editorial N N P A 1973 H onorable M e n tio n H errick Editorial A w ard N N A 1973 2nd Place B a r' Editorial ALFRED L HENDERSON Editor/Publisher A m a lg a m ated Publishers Inc N e w Verb MEMSf« ddaor-^tatr 9 foondod 1999 3rd Piece 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 1979 Mi arara 7r x /v ¿ o r e r r t ju P rrP P f'
