Portland Observer Thursday, July I t . 117»
EDITORIAL/OPINION
Muzorewa struggles for recognition
by N. Fungal Kumbulu
'Responsible leaders'
"I am certain in my association w ith the
leadership in the black community that such a
recommendation will not be considered seriously
by thoughtful members of the com m unity.”
Those are the words of Or. Robert Blanchard,
Superintendent of the Portland Public Schools,
regarding the planned school boycott.
Dr. Blanchard also had some things to say
about what 'responsible Black leaders” would
do, Dr. Blanchard's statements demonstrate the
lack of communication between him and the
Black community. In all the years that he has
been in Portland, Dr. Blanchard has not gone
beyond the few he considers to be "responsible
leaders" to see what others are thinking and
saying. It has been too easy in the past to con
demn those who speak out more forcefully as
radicals and to blame them for the conflicts that
continue to develop.
Dr. Blanchard held a "secret” meeting with
some of those he considered to be "responsible
leaders" two years ago during the controversy
over the Newm an Plan. Those "responsible
leaders" knew the role chosen for them was to
go out into the com m unity, divide the op
position, and persuade the people to do it the
school district's way.
It didn't work. Perhaps for the first time, the
responsible leaders" told the Superintendent
and the members of his staff assembled that they
must go to the people and listen to the problems
and the demands. These "responsible leaders”
did not join the School Board in its effort to fool
the community.
Now, two years later, confronted with the
same and yet more severe problem s, the
Superintendent apparently does not realize that
the "responsible leaders” have joined the
radicals. Dr. Blanchard -- whose contacts with
this community are largely second hand - does
not realize how broad the base of support for the
boycott has become.
The latest effort of the district to capture the
leadership - an appeal by an Assistant Superin
tendent to a ministerial group - served only to
make the support of that group stronger.
Dr. Blanchard and the School Board will find
that this time they will have to deal directly with
the people - to come and talk on an equal basis -
- or they will face some difficult times ahead.
Investigate the murders
The House Assassinations Committee has
finally submitted its final report. The report
recommends that the Justice Department in
vestigate the murders of President John Ken
nedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. There was no
specific evidence, but enough to lend credence
to the generally held notion that both men were
the victimes of conspiracy.
The Committee indicated that individuals or
groups in organized crime might have been
responsible for Kennedy's death. Now that the
collusion between the CIA and organized crime
are known and the inter-infiltrations of the FBI
and organized crime are becoming public, the
implication of organized crime in Kennedy's
murder brings both agencies into suspect.
In the case of King, the FBI's hatred of him is
paralleled only by its infiltraton of and attempts
to destroy the civil rights movement and all Black
organizations. These activities are becoming in
creasingly revealed as more groups and in
dividuals claim their FBI files through the
Freedom of Information Act.
Not only did the FBI attempt to destroy all ef
forts to win civil and human rights for Black
people, but its agents were actually involved in
the harassment, brutalization and murder of civil
rights workers.
These facts make the investigation of the two
murders crucial. Not until the FBI and the CIA
are either convicted or cleared can this govern
ment be safe.
President shows courage in Rhodesia decision
by Vernon Jordan
Presideni Carter acted boldly and
deeisivesly’fn deciding to maintain
economic sanctions aganist Z im
babwe-Rhodesia.
He was bold because he acted in
the face of an overwhelming Senate
vote in favor o f lifting sanctions. The
Senate bought the idea that since that
country’s elections were nominally
fair, sanctions ought to be lifted.
The President said there were three
basic reasons for his decision,
keeping the sanctions would be in
the best interest of the United States
and in the best interest of the people
of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia. Finally, the
progress made there has not been
sufficient to justify lifting sanctions
according to the guidelines set by the
Case-Javits amendment.
Those guidelines require free elec-
lions open to all political groups, and
dem onstration o f willingness to
negotiate with the Patriotic Front
whose armies pushed the old Smith
government into making concessions
to the Black majority.
There’s been a lot o f talk about the
fairness o f the A pril elections in
Zim babwe-Rhodesia. But parties
opposed to the new Constitution
were not allowed to participate in
any meaningful sense.
Whatever the conduct of the elec
tions themselves, there hasn’t been
much attention given to the fact that
the Black m ajority was excluded
from the real decision - to approve
or disapprove the new Constitution.
That document provides for real
power to reside in the white
population — four percent o f the
nation’s people. The 96 per cent who
are Black were not allowed to vote.
The Constitution was imposed upon
them. Those April elections were for
Parliment, not for the Constitution.
So they were rigged long before any
Blacks went to the polls.
The merit o f providing some tem
porary assurances to the white
m inority that their rights will be
recognzied is not the issue. The issue
is that minority advantage - dispro
portio n ate
representation
in
P a rlim e n t, control o f the arm y,
courts, police, and the civil service —
is frozen into the Constitution Blacks
could not vote on. The future re
forms will be impossible because of
the built-in veto power enjoyed by
the white majority.
So the fairness o f the April elec
tions is a phony issue. The real test is
whether the country has a majority
government, and that test cannot be
met by simply having Blacks in
stalled in top government posts. Ian
Smith's continued presence in the
government is symbolic o f the power
he and the small m ino rity he
represents still wield.
I f tah President had gone along
with the Senate's inclinations, the
United States would have been the
only country in the world, aside from
South AFrica, to formally recognize
the new government and to break the
UN ban on trade.
That would have been disastrous
to American foreign policy. The
long, patient process of overcoming
our past racist image on the con
tinent would have been destroyed.
And it would have been an in
vitation to the Russians and the
Cubans to escalate the m ilitary
struggle in Southern Africa, with all
the bloodshed and suffering for
Black Africa that would mean.
In essence, the President has left
his options open. By maintaining the
sanctions he’ s putting heavier
pressure on the Zimbabwe-Rhodesia
government to negotiate with the
dissidents. He’s serving notice that
the U.S. takes its world citizenship
seriously and will not unilaterally
break the world’s boycott. And he’s
fetting the Patriotic Front know that
we continue to support democratic
solutions to the formation of a new
nation.
Justifying his decision, the
President said: ‘‘ It means a lot to our
country to do wht is rig h t, and
what is decent, and what is fair, and
what is principled.”
His decision
fu lfills
those
requirements, and demonstrates the
kind of active leadership we hope he
will increasingly supply in fighting
Congressional intransigence on the
domestic scene.
PORTLAND OBSERVER
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I
of the Africans to use a gun. In a few
short years, however, that laughter
turned first to surprise, then conster
nation and, finally, utter panic.
Consequently, they rushed to offer
the Africans some crumbs if they
would live and let live. A t this point,
there was no need for the Africans to
concede anything.
They
had
everything going for them but, best
of all, they had time. They could af
ford to wait; there was no need for
any hasty decisions.
With all this in mind, however,
Muzorewa decided he was going to
let the racists o ff the hook; he was
going to accept the crumbs, give the
’internal settlement’ some legitimacy
and try to sabotage the revolution.
Why did he do it? Even now, more
than a year later, no one has yet
come up with a plausible answer.
Was it just plain greed, a lust for
power, a need to play the ’good’ guy
(show the whites that we are
civilized) or was it just naivety, plain
and simple?
When he first 'came to power’ , he
was making all those pompous state
ments about making Zimbabwe the
envy of Africa but, so far his efforts
have been frustrated at every turn be
cause what he has is not power but
the shadow power. So why does he
continue with this charade? Again,
no one can give an explanation that
would satisfy even a three-year-old.
Recently, he was in South Africa
to “ report on the military situation
in Rhodesia.” Now, how absurd can
one get? Isn’t that just like President
Carter going to Canada to explain
his leadership problems? From
Smith’s perspective, the beauty of
the present debacle is that now he
does not have to do his own dirty
work. Muzorewa is now the tool
through which all of Smith’s dubious
schemes are now carried out.
Muzorewa and his ineptitude are
also very good news for South
Africa. As long as he remains in
’power’, strapped not only by Smith
but also by the myriad problems he is
currently facing, he poses no threat
to South Africa at all. Matter of fact,
he acts as a cushion. Can you see
Muzorewa offering South African
freedom fighters sanctuary and the
other necessary facilities? No way!
Matter of fact, he has agreed to join
a South African sponsored ’Confed
eration o f Southern African states.*
The member countries would coor
dinate efforts and pool resources and
finances to "combat terrorism and
the spread o f com m unism ” in
Southern Africa. In other words, the
Muzorewa regime has pledged itself
to cooperate with South Africa to
maintain the status quo.
in the meantime, however, the
war grinds relentlessly on. More and
mare people are getting killed —
already the death toll has gone over
the 16,000 mark and there seems to
be no end in sight. More and more
whites continue to flee the c o u n try -
figures for May were the highest for
any single month to date. This has
created a crisis between Smith and
M uzorew a as Sm ith pressures
Muzorewa to do something to stem
the tide.
Since President Carter has refused
to lift sanctions and Britain has de
layed any decision on Rhodesia until
November, this is a crisis that’ s not
likely to go away any time soon. The
war is getting costlier every day, up
from the previous $1 million a day
and the coffers arc just about
exhausted. The whites, who shoulder
most of the tax burden due to their
higher incomes are becoming in
creasingly restive at having to con
tinue funding a war that they all
know they cannot win.
To top it all off, even those Blacks
who had been duped into supporting
the Muzorewa clique are becoming
very disenchanted with his lack of
progress in carrying out his cam
paign promises. In Bob M a rle y ’s
(Jamaican reggae superstar) song We
Hungry But Them Bellyful, there is
an im m o rtal line that goes: ‘ A
hungry man is an angry m an...........’
The anger of the impoverished Zim
babweans, formented by perpetual
hunger threatens to be another time
bomb with which the good bishop
will have to reckon before too long.
Any circus performer will tell you,
walking a tightrope is tricky busi
ness. One false move and it’s cur
tains. Muzorewa has been walking a
political tightrope now for quite
some time. When he falls, we shall
hear the crash all the way to Cannon
Beach.
Social Security cuts and the Black community
by Bayard Rustin
Fver since social security became
the law of the land in 1935, its con
servative opponents have repeatedly
sought to destroy it, or failing that,
to substantially weaken the system.
O f course, Barry Goldwater’s frontal
assault on social security in 1964
proved to be quite a political disaster.
Learning from that experience, the
enemies of social security have adopt
ed a new, more effective strategy.
They have begun to chip away
gradually at the system by cutting
benefits, changing eligibility require
ments and opposing any creative
changes.
This quiet, almost unnoticeable at
tack on social security has ominous
im plications for everyone, but
especially for Black people. I say this
for two reasons: First, the proposed
cutbacks and changes are largely in
the life insurance and disability in
surance components o f social
security. And second, it is these
benefit areas— rather than ’’old age”
insurance— which are critically im
portant to thousands o f Black
families and youngsters.
To begin with, let us consider the
Carter Administration's proposal to
reduce benefits paid to disabled
workers. These cuts, which I find
especially b afflin g at a time o f
chronic inflation, will make it far
more difficult for workers to main
tain a decent, but far from luxurious
standard o f living. Since Black
Bth Place
Bast Editorial
N N PA 1973
fWefWp/ipeR
9
I f the M uzorew a regime in
Rhodesia can be likened to any other
country in the w orld, that other
country would have to be either
Transkei or B ophutatswana. A ll
three have been rejected by all of
Africa, the Organization of African
U nity (O A U ), the United Nations
and virtually every other country in
the world. This rejection has stem
med from the fact that all three
governments are illegitimate, illegiti
mate in the sense that the agreements
worked out to establish each were
discrim inatory, excluded the vast
m a jo rity o f the people, did not
change anything even though they
claimed to be more 'democratic*.
They all masquerade as Black ’inde
pendent’ republics but, it ’ s only
tokenism.
A further reason for this ostracism
has been the three countries’ close
ties and cooperation with South
A fric a .
W hile
Transkei
and
Bophutatswana are little parcels of
land carved out of South Africa and
offered as Black homelands, the
situation is somewhat different in
Rhodesia. Rhodesia always has been
a separate country, with a people and
colonized a! a later date than South
Africa.
The reasons for the setting up of
an ‘independent’ Rhodesia were also
entirely different than the pressures
that tormented the setting up of the
homelands. In South A frica, the
homelands were set up as a way of
squelching Black demands for inde
pendence. as well as depriving Black
South Africans their just share of the
wealth By giving them these barren,
economically destitute homelands,
the A fricans are sim ultaneously
stripped o f their South A frican
citizenship so when they come to
work in the cities and the mines, they
are actually foreigners, without any
rights whatsoever.
In Rhodesia, a fte r decades o f
stubborn resistance and defiance of
the whole world, the whites finally
faced up to the grim reality: They
were up against an immovable Black
tide that was surely going to sweep
them away into the Indian Ocean.
The Africans had finally gotten hold
of something with which the whites
could not argue: the gun. Initially,
the whites had scoffed at the ability
LUTHER
workers are twice as likely as white
workers to be seriously injured on
the job, they are disproportionately
represented among recipients o f
disability benefits from social
security. A lso, disabled Black
workers are more likely than whites
to have dependent children at home.
In light of these facts, then, it is clear
that the suggested benefit cuts will
have a broad, and severely adverse
impact on the Black community.
While disabled Black workers watch
their income from social security
shrink, their children will also be
harmed by two other cutback
proposals. The more serious of the
two is a move to completely phase
out social security benefits to depen
dent students under age 22. Under
the present setup, youngsters who
lose their father receive a monthly
cash payment while they attend high
school or college. For Blacks this
student aid program has special im
portance for two reasons: the mor
tality rates for Black fathers are
higher than rates for whites, and
Black families have a greater number
of children than whites. Subsequent-
ly, Black youngsters o f college age
are less likely than whites to have an
income-producing father at home.
Moreover, the financial strains of a
large fatherless family make it signi
ficantly more difficult for a Black
youngster to raise sufficient funds
for college. If Congress accepts this
proposal to kill student benefits, it
will be in effect by voting to destroy
the ever more limited opportunities
available to Black youth.
The second proposal which will af
fect Black youngsters is the plan to
lower the cut-off age of children who
live with widowed mothers. Pre
sently, widows receive a monthly
payment for each child under 18. But
under the proposed change, all pay
ments would end when the child turns
16. Quite understandably, this will
mean a substantial reduction in in
come with no off-setting reduction in
the costs o f decently supporting a
child.
O ther radical changes under
serious consideration include raising
the retirement age, eliminating the
lump sum death benefit (a mere $255
usually spent on funeral costs), and
abolishing the minimum benefit (a
scant $122 per month). In every in
stance, these proposals strike harder»,
and with their most devastating im
pact against poor people and Blacks.
And the supposed savings realized by
these cuts are at best minimal.
This planned rip-off o f the social
security system, I think, teaches us
some useful political lessons. It once
again reminds us that in a time of
fiscal au sterity,” groups which
have the least amount of power will
inevitably bear the brunt of the sacri
fices. It also reminds us that attacks
against the weak will always be quiet,
discreet, and aimed against the least
expected target like that old stand
by, social security.
h