Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 28, 1979)
Page 2 Portland Observer Thursday. Juna 21. 1979 EDITORIAL/OPINION The discriminating press We were dismayed, but not surprised, to read the headlines in a Portland daily: "Justices OK employer bias toward blacks." It is headlines like this and the misleaaing articles in the white press regarding affirmative action that incite the white public against equal opportunity for minorities. W hite people in this country actually believe that Blacks are being favored by employers — that Blacks are being given jobs for which they are not qualified and that they are preferred over whites. W hy do they believe this? Certainly not because they see large numbers of Black people h o ld in g good jobs w ith businesses or w ith government. Few white employees ever see more than a minimal number of Blacks at their place of employment. No. Those people get their mistaken ideas from the white press and its continual discussions of "reverse discrim ination" and preferences. The true fact behind the Weber vs. Kaiser case is not that Kaiser decided one day to do a little something for Blacks. Kaiser had a long history of racial discrimination and was found in violation of equal employment laws. Rather then face a court suit, be found in violation, and be ordered to pay m illions of dollars in bacK pay and penalties, Kaiser decided to include Blacks in its training programs. In order to make up for lost years and begin to equalize the work force, they agreed to reserve half of their training slots for Blacks until Blacks reached a reasonable level in the w ork force. Weber, who was not selected to fill one o f the positions still available to w hites, sued. The Supreme Court said Kaiser has the right to reserve positions for Blacks in order to make up for past wrongs it has done against Blacks. Is that "e m ployer bias toward Blacks?" If there were such a thing as reverse discrim i natio n, or em ployer bias to w ard Blacks, we should see a trem end ous decrease in Black unemployment, which, as usual, is tw ice that of whites. No glory for the House Representative Rick Bauman told the members of the Oregon House of Representatives that they should be proud of themselves for passage of a compromise bill providing a one year m oratorium on siting future nuclear power plants. The House had earlier passed a bill calling fo r a m oratorium u n til th e fe d e ra l g o v e rn m e n t p ro v id e s safe storage fo r nuclear waste — a m oratorium fo r a period estimated at from ten years to eternity. A good appointm ent danger to society. U nder c o n s ta n t fire fro m the in m a te s, the public, and from over-zealous District Attorneys, the Parole Board is not an easy place to serve. We believe Mrs. Hays w ill dem onstrate the com passion, understanding and strength this position requires. Prosecuting the wrong man his family. While the government spent five years trying to build a case against a man, who, (even if guilty o f every thing he was accused of, which I doubt) posed no serious threat to the safety o f the community, the same federal o fficia ls have consistently refused to prosecute certain organized crime figures for murder simply because to do so would ex pose F B I. d irty tricks. And our civic leaders wonder why the citi zenry has lost respect for law and or der. Sincerely, Floyd C. Forsberg le t Piece C o m m u n ity S ervice O N P A 1973 PORTLAND OBSERVER The Portland O bstrvtr (USPS 966 6001 a puMtehed every T h u n dey by fcxie Puttahing Company, Ine., 2201 North K Ihngnwo’Tl' Pprtlend Oregon 97217, Poet Office Bo« 3137, Portland Oregon 97206 Second clew postage paid at Portlend, Oregon le t Place Beet A d H a iu lta O N P A 1973 Subscriptions »7.50 per year in Tri-County area. Wt.00 per year cutside Tri-County Area Postm aster Send addresa changes to the Portland O bstncr. P .0 Bo« 3137 Portland Oregon 97206 6th Place Best Editorial NNPA 1973 The Portland O tn errrr j official position ■ expressed only m its Editor is* column Any othe* material throughout die paper « ;he opinion of the individual w riter or subm itter end does not neceseeniy rafter.! the opinion at the Portland O btervtr Honorable M ention Merrick Editorial Award N N A 1973 National Advertising Representative Am algamated Publishers Inc New York Beet E ¿ ..jrigl 3rd Place Comm unity Leadership ONPA 1976 2nd Place ALFRED L HENDERSON Editor / Publisher 3rd Piece Comm unity leadership ONPA 1979 H e J by Herb L. Ciiwihitrne A shock wave sent a numbing feel ing through a large segment o f the Black com m unity. Many white liberal organizations noticed the strange feeling too. Vernon Iordan, Should the members o f the House congratu in a carefully worded speech, showed late themselves fo r accepting the compromise? his astonished disagreement. The energy policy o f the NAACP Isn't one year better than none? W e d o n 't think passed January 9, 1978 was entirely so. unexpected. There has been a lo t of talk about nuclear It shocked us: “ N A A C P Takes pow er at the Legislature this year. There has Side o f O il In d u stry,” “ N A A C P been a lot of hard w ork on the part of legislative Takes Giant Step Backwards,” and “ A Travesty for Blacks" were a few employees, citizens, and even legislators. The o f the headlines sym bolizing the legislature has provided a forum for the discussion astonishment. of the issues surrounding nuclear pow er plants. And the immediate numbness o f Many people have become more aware of the the shock has now transformed into controversy and many w ho were disinterested or the daily reality that the N AAC P’s unconcerned have joined the anti-nuclear cause. policy on energy, p a rtic u la rly But, in spite of the tim e devoted to the issue — nuclear energy, is being used to un and along w ith taxes it became the major issue of dermine the interest o f Black people and all o f humankind. the 1979 session — not one substantive piece of The “ Statement o f Position on a legislation was passed. Of the six bills introduced N ational Energy P olicy by the — regulating the siting, waste storage, waste NAACP National Board o f Direc shipment, emergency plans, etc. — only the one tors” not only caught thoughtful members o f the Black and liberal year m oratorium survived. In spite of the heated community by surprise, but many debate and the noise over the Governor's replace members o f the Board were “ totally m ent of members of the Energy Siting Com unaware ’ o f the contents o f the mission, his nominees have been accepted and resolution. confirm ed. “ The truth is that the NAAC P No. The one year m oratorium is no great vic board, racing cavalierly through a huge agenda, adopted a flawed tory of w h ich to be proud. It merely lets the energy policy without proper discus people th in k som ething happened th a t d id n 't sion, and with some board members happen at all. totally unaware o f the implications o f what they were approving,” wrote Carl Rowen in his national column less than twenty days after the vote. The national office o f the NAACP had fallen asleep and while its eyes W e must com plim ent Governor Atiyeh on his were closed the organization was in filtrated by energy special interest. appointm ent of Mrs. Hazel G. Hays to the Parole Roy Wilkins had long since reached Board. W hile w e have not been favorably im his peak His physical condition lead pressed w ith m ost of the G overnor's a p p o in t to loss o f concentratio n in the ments, it does take some courage to name a sec waning years, and rendered a strong executive organization the captive o f ond Black person to the five member board. its board. The new executive direc The Parole Board is - a s Mrs. Hays said - an tor, Benjamin Hooks, had not yet awesome responsibility. Not only is the board re been able to take charge; by the time sponsible to see that prison inmates - many of he a rrived, the strangle hold o f them Black - have fa ir consideration of their energy special interest was well in plade. W ith o u t strong executive parole standing but ft also has a responsibility to leadership, the board took actions protect the public from those persons w h o are a which did not necessarily harmonize Letters to the Editor I have followed the persecution (or is that prosecution) o f Cleveland Gil crease with interest. Having exper ienced firsthand the U.S. Attorney’s selective prosecution policy I feel a deep sympathy for Mr. Gilcrease and NAACP's Energy Policy That bill, HB 2570, met opposition from the Governor, and so failed to be passed by the Senate. Those anti-nuke Senators hoped fo r a tw o year m oratorium , but opted fo r a one year period th e y th o u g h t m ig h t be acceptable to Governor Atiyeh. By Brumsic Brandon. Jr. To the Editor: A Dangerous Step Backward I p J I p EP Aatatial'dn - founded >999 1 w ith the rebuilding needs o f the executive department that runs the NAACP. In 1978, a Task Force on Energy studied intensively for seven months. Obviously the policy discussion was initiated by a NAACP board bent on making the N A A C P a friend o f energy producing C orporate America and vice versa, although the rationale for the policy was tied firm ly to the negative impact o f poor energy planning on Black folks. And make friends it did. One sec tion o f the N AAC P’ s policy sounds like it was written by the Public In formation Department at Portland General Electric. “ We recognize that nuclear power does present certain problems,” the policy acknowledges with all but indifference, “ But wc think these problems can be solved through dedicated efforts by govern ment, the scientific community and the industry working cooperatively together. Notwithstanding the claims o f opponents o f this source o f energy, the fact is that nuclear power w ill be required to meet our future needs for electricity. I f we do not move ahead now with nuclear, the next generation is likely to be sitting around in the dark blam ing the utilities for not doing something this generation’ s officials would not let them do.” The daily reality o f this policy is visible. It serves to place the Black community on the wrong side o f a very important issue. For example, recently on Channel 2’ s Town H all program about nuclear energy, a Black member o f the N AACP's Task Force, who also works for Portland General Electric, assured the audience that the N A A C P supports the development o f nuclear power. People unaware o f debates in the Black communitj might accept this pronouncement as “ the Black con sensus." It was offered that way — Hrvihf on nurnose. A firm deeply committed through investment in the nuclear industry can dispatch a Black mouthpiece who can speak not only the propa ganda o f his company, but in the same breath the “ o fficia l” word of the NAACP. The NAACP is com prom ised. The connection is spurious. The situation is rather like the helpless, unsuspecting lamb being enticed to testify for better working conditions for the wolf! The nuclear industry docs not need nor warrant the support o f minority people. The risks cannot be justified by the benefits. The question o f nuclear waste must be at the top o f the list of reser vations in the continued develop ment o f nuclear energy. It takes no genius to figure the mathematics. If it takes thousands o f years for the waste from nuclear plants to evolve to harmlessness, how can anyone speak on behalf of man’s ability to manage such long-term com m it ments. The modern world, beginning with Egypt, is little more than 3,000 years old! Who can speak for the stability o f this world over a hundred year period, much less a 100,000 years? Plutonium, the powerful contami nant o f nuclear waste, remains potent for 240,000 years! And it is deadly. To contain it, genius un bridled by the cost-cutting mentality of the profit seeker would have to work long and hard. The NAACP position on nuclear energy is dangerous; it promotes a form o f electrical generation which is more costly to the poor and can have nothing except an adverse affect on the economics o f the Black com munity. Last year, when the N A A C P convention met in Portland, the exe cutives o f the organization prevent ed a discussion o f the energy policy by the delegates from Pennsylvania and New York, and other states. Perhaps this year in Louisville the discussion can be held and, by listen- ins to its articulate constituency, the 7 E ditor s Note: The three voting delegates who are representing the P o rtla n d Branch at the N a tional Convention are: President Lucious Hicks, Bernard Richardson o f PCE; Cart Ta!ton o f Pacific Power and L ig h t Company; Bob Bryers, vice president o f the Northwest Region Thanks, Spinks. We needed that by N. Fungai Kumbula Brace yourselves, friends. We face the p o s s ib ility o f having an Afrikaner WBC heavyweight cham pion! For that unhappy prospect, we have our own “ b ro th e r,” Leon Spinks to thank. A lot o f things have been written and said about Spinks ranging all the way from the scurrilous to the down right malicious. So much has been made o f his frequent brushes with the law, his numerous car accidents, being arrested for driving without a license, for wrecking a brand new Corvette because he was unfamiliar with it, for possession o f dope, and the stories about his missing front teeth were almost legend. A ll o f these stones had one familiar ring in them: they were designed to “ show” that Spinks was ‘ dumb, a buffoon.' I never came to Spinks' defense even though I felt that most o f the at tacks against him were unfair in that they were personal attacks and had nothing to do with his professional career. True, he had just committed the ultim ate crime: defeated the People’ s Champ but all the same he deserved much better treatmen; than the media was according him. Now after last Sunday, 1 fee! that 1, too, w ill have to join the hordes of writers, journalists and other news persons who poked so much fun at the former champ. I, however, do so only because 1 am appalled and dis turbed both by his professional inep titude and his lack o f sensitivity towards the Black Cause. Winning that title from Muhammad A li had propelled him to dizzying heights and even a fte r A li won it back, Spinks had remained one o f the top contenders to get the title back once A li retires. A li is expected to retire ‘soon’ . Several months back, Reverend Jesse Jackson o f Operation PUSH and hundreds o f other concerned Americans raised such a big stink when Kallie Knoetze, a former south African policeman who, during the Soweto riots o f June 1976, shot and crippled a IS-year-old Black youth, was allowed to come to the U.S. to fight a Bill Sharkey in Miami. This was part o f the elimination process to determine a successor to Muham mad Ali. Our objection to this fight which eventually took place even though the State Department had revoked his visa and work permit because some judge issued an injunc tion, was that this gives South Africa a respectability, an acceptance it does not deserve. A ll o f us concerned about South Africa feel that she is now trying to use sport as a way of getting back into the international community. Currently, South Africa is barred from several international sport governing bodies because o f her apartheid policies. We have, therefore, strongly urged Americans, Black Americans in par ticular, not to be so used. Portland’s own Mike Colbert, a welterweight contender, went to Johannesburg last March 17th to fight an unknown by the name o f Chris Weir. That, as 1 predicted in my column o f the same week castigating Colbert for going to Johannesburg, propelled Weir into world prominence, gave South Africa much needed, free and uncritical publicity and pushed Colbert closer to oblivion. John la te , the other contender to the WBA heavyweight crown, went to Bophutatswana, a Black ‘ indepen dent’ reservation in South Africa, earlier this month to fight the same controversial Kallie Knoetze. Tate won that fight in eight rounds but, again, the big winner was South A frica because it meant that the W BA was giving South A fricans serious consideration fo r w orld championships. It meant that the wall o f isolation from international sport was cracking. Last Sunday, Leon Spinks, former W BA v ic to r over The Greatest, fought another South African heavy weight contender, Gerrie Coetzee in Monte Carlo. And, you guessed it; he lost! He was knocked down three times in the first round and the fight was stopped after only 2 minutes and 3 seconds. Now Coetzee is set to fight Tate for the W BA heavyweight championship. A sam pling o f what to expect should Coetzee win was provided at Monte Carlo. The crowd, made up mostly o f South Africans, taunted Spinks most o f the evening. They banged on his dressing room window shouting “ k a ffir ” , A frikaans for “ nigger” . The police had to step in to separate Spinks* sparring partner from the Afrikaners when it became evident a brawl was in the making. Did Spinks have to fight Coetzee? No. Did he need the money that badly? Again, no. He had made quite a lot o f money over the past two years. Why then, did he fight and provide legitim acy to this, the ultimate o f racists? Bob Arum who is promoting the upcoming Tate-Coetzee fight says it will be staged in South Africa if the South African Boxing Board of Con trol w ill agree to ’ integrated seating’ . “ It w ill be their first equal oppor tunity legislation,” he adds. Thank you. Arum , for letting us know that all we want in South Africa is integrated seating at boxing matches. Thank you, Leon Spinks, fo r doing so much harm to the African-Am erican cooperation that we have worked so hard to build over such a long period o f time. Thank you for giving these Afrikaner racists their day in the sun. We really needed that. (NOTE: ‘ The Steve Biko Legacy: Part I I ' w ill be in next week’ s column) Interested in current book* about African Liberation? Visit: JOHN REED BOOK STORE In the Dekum Building 519 S.W . 3rd Avenue Sixth Floor Or call: 227 2902 <
