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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 16, 1979)
Page 2 Portland Observer Thursday. August 10.1979 EDITORIAL/OPINION The Steve Biko legacy: conclusion by N. Fungai Kumbula Congratulations I A standing ovation greeted the appointment of Herb Cawthorne to the School Board. That ovation was a vote of confidence from the public —Black and white —who have come to know and trust him. For the Black community, Cawthorne is a man who, no matter how successful, has not forgotten his roots. His responsibility and active leadership are trusted. There is no doubt where his allegiance lies. He made his choice when he told the School Board that more important to him than the ap pointment, is his role in his community. For whites, Cawthorne is known as one who will speak on the issue in a calm and intelligent manner —though not without emotion and con cern. For those who agree or disagree with what he says, he can offer some understanding of the issues from a Black perspective. A lth o u g h he cannot perform m iracles, Cawthorne will be diligent in his efforts to bring quality education to Portland's children. We congratulate him and wish him well. Watch the politicians One of the most important issues facing this community and the state in the next tw o years is reapportion of the State Legislature, which is done every ten years, following the national cen sus. In 1971 the Legislature failed to reapportion it self and as Secretary of State, Clay Myers got the job. He satisfied political pressures by dividing the Albina area into four House Districts and four Senate Districts. This was the only community in the state that he could and did divide. A legislative committee has been appointed by Senate President Jason Boe and House Speaker Hardy Myers, who will co-chair the committee. Senators are: Mike Ragsdale. Beaverton; Richard Bullock, Portland; Keith Burbidge, Salem; Fred Heard, Klamath Falls; Dell Isham, Lincoln City. Representatives are: Bill Rogers, Vida; Bill Rutherford, M cMinnville; Gary Wilhelms, Kla math Falls; Gratan Kerans, Eugene; Max Simp son, Sumpter; Glen Whallon, Milwaukie. Many of these legislators will not only be at tempting to protect their own territory and that of their strong supporters, but w ill attem pt to strengthen the representation of their party. The rural areas of the state (especially Klamath Falls) are well represented, as is the conservative viewpoint. Hardy Myers and Richard Bullock rep resent the Portland area. Who will protect the voters of Albina to insure that four persons, living in the four corners of the block, will not have to see four Senators and four Representatives about a problem in their intersection? Unless this community is very active, vocal, and watches this committee carefully, it will find itself gerrymandered again in 1981. Boat people: The Blindness at Home Much of what has appeared in the media for the past several months indicates a national ad ministrative preoccupation w ith establishing a humane image of this government by propagan dizing its pretense of concern for the "b o a t" people of the Far East. Yet, here in the w estern hem isphere the refugees from Haiti, the first Black republic in the world, are refused political asylum in the United States. The tyrannical government of Duvalier has been a nightmare for a large number of its Black citizens for a long time. While the United States was still nopalm ing S outheast Asia, Blacks were taking to the sea in small boats in their attempts to escape the brutalities and per secutions at the hands of Duvalier's SS type arm ed militia. The Black refugees arrive often at southern Florida points. Most make their way to Miami where there is a semblance of a Haitian refugee center. They are able to report widespread inci dents in Haiti of arrests, beatings, to rtu re , property confiscated and executions of friends and relatives, including names, dates and places. The sufferings of these people are directly trace- aDle to the human rights violations practiced by a ruthless, dictatorship that is provided consider able assistance and support by the United States. These human rights violations are outlined in the 1976 report of Amnesty International. The United States is a signatory to the United N ations Protocal Relating to the S tatus of Refugees and has pledged not to deport persons who have "well-founded fears of being perse cuted for religious or political reasons if returned to their native land." Needless to say, Haitians are rounded up and deported, and most of those who manage to assume new identities in order to remain, survive in the throes of poverty. They are faced with immediate deportation if and when they are discovered. It seems that Blacks under any type of relationship to the American govern ment can expect double standard American type justice. .. McNamara's the one Frank McNamara was the hero of the day — finally making his decision and casting the first vote for Herb Cawthorne for appointment to the School Board. McNamara showed that he can provide leadership to the new Board in a strong and decisive way once he makes up his mind which way to go. Monday was an important day for Herb Caw (Continued from page I column 6) thorne, who joined the Board, and for Jonathan eluded in the Black/white ratios o f those schools in an effort to bring Newman, who left the Board. But it was perhaps them below 50 per cent m inority. even more important to McNamara. McNamara Most white children return to their had the choice of joining the progressive wing of neighborhood school for the elemen the Board, by voting for Cawthorne, or of staying tary grades. For the coming school with a sinking ship. He chose the former. year, 270 new white students were McNamara's choice left him in the leadership recruited, but no report was given on how many are grade one or above. role. He now has an opportunity to more nearly Regarding the problem o f Black follow his own principals and beliefs. The old neighborhood children not being Blanchard-Ridgley-Newman coalition is gone allowed to attend EC E’ s because and McNamara is free to express his own in there is no space for them, Dr. Blan dividuality. Perhaps he can afford to be more chard said those Black students who mellow and less given to sarcasm and nit-picking. register before schools starts will be For Superintendent Blanchard, the picture is accomodated. This w ill be a problem in the future. The goal is for racial not so bright. His strongest supporters are gone. balance, he said, and if you get more His role as decision-maker has ended. The new white students to volunteer, that Board will more closely examine his record and creates as situation where there is no his performance will not be judged with senti room for neighborhood children. In response to questions, he said there mentality. The question that remains is: Can Dr. Blan has been no change in rules for ac cepting Black students but a series o f chard adjust to a new definition of his role, pro ideas has been considered. vide the information the Board needs to make re Middle School sponsible decisions, and carry out those deci The Board directed that middle sions in a responsive manner? schools be found fo r students o f Eliot, Boise, King(area I) and Hum We predict a resignation before Thanksgiving. PORTLAND OBSERVER The Portland Observer (USPS 969 6801 is published every Thure day by Ex» Publishing Company, Inc., 2201 North Killingsworth, Portland. Oregon 97217. Post Ottica Box 3137, Portland, Oregon 97208 Second class postage paid at Portland, Oregon Subscription« 17 SO per year m Tri County area. »8 00 per year outside Tri County Area Postmaster: Send address changes to the Portland Observer. P O Box 3137, Portland. Oregon 97208 The Portland Observer's official poeition » expressed only in its Editorial column Any other material throughout the paper is the opinion of the individual writer or submitter and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Portland Observer ALFRED L HENOERSON Editor/Publisher Notsikelelo Biko, Steve's widow was recently awarded the equivalent o f $78,000 by the South A frica n government as a result o f her suit against the South African police in connection w ith her husband's death. Biko died in detention in Sep tember o f 1977. He was the 20th Black to die under mysterious cir cumstances while awaning trial. When the other 19 died, their files were just marked: “ C lose d.’ ’ B ik o ’ s file , however, has not been so easy to so conveniently forget. The original suit had asked for $108,000. The fact that the govern ment paid out anything at all, even though at the same time they were denying any admission o f guilt, at tests to the power and influence Biko wielded and continues to wield. Any time a Black prisoner dies in police custody, as mentioned above, that is usually the end o f the case. In Biko's case, however, there was so much hue and cry that an inquest was held to determ ine the exact cause o f death. Initially, the chief o f police, one C ol. Goosens had sum m arily dismissed Biko's death as a suicide. He claimed Biko had refused food and so had starved himself to death. His fam ily and friends, however, knew this was a blatant lie: Biko had talked so many times about prison and what he always said was that, if he were arrested, he would never ever commit suicide because he must live to fight another day. His family and friends kept up the pressure: d em on stratin g, w ritin g critical editorials in the papers, con tinually questioning the police and demanding a public inquiry. Caught by surprise, the untimely death and the protests had elicited angry re sponses from around the w orld— world leaders. Carter and Young, among others, sent letters o f protest to the South African govern ment, the police then began to fum ble fo r an explanation. Goosens came up with four different explana- National Advertising Representative Am algam ated Publishers. Inc N ew Verb MIM9M H e J I p J I p ER toteciotion ■ founded 19M Desegregation 1st Place C om m unity Service ONPA 1973 1st Place Best Ad Results ONPA 1973 boldt. Dr. Blanchard reported that Area I King has been assigned to H ayhurst and G ray, both K-8 schools; Humboldt has been assign ed to Aisworth and West Sylvan. Students can also be recruited to other schools. He said staff had discussed the possiblility o f a middle school at Eliot or Boise with a committee from the C o a ltio n and was m aking progress but the Coalition cut o ff talks. He noted that the Board has (Please turn to page 3 col. 1) 5th Place Best Editorial N N P A 1973 tions in the space o f a week. Finally, an inquest was ordered, as much to silence critics at home as to polish its image broad; the very first time they had ever had to account for the death o f a Black. The inquest in itself was a mockery o f justice. Every time the police and government wit nesses were caught in a lie, the judge, one Marthinus Prins, would inter rupt, offer an out for the embarassed liar, disallow the question or adjourn u n til the police and government lawyers could get their lies straight. In the end, o f course, the police were absolved o f any wrongdoing. Even though B iko ’ s fam ily lawyers had picked enough holes to make a sieve out o f the government lawyers' and police story, Biko’ s death was still ruled a suicide. The official version was that he had banged his head against a filing cabinet until he died. As a 1940’ s B movie plot, it could not have been more ludicrous. This inquest was supposed to clear the air once and for all. After it was concluded, that was supposed to be the end o f Steve Biko. The world was supposed to have been convinced that the South A frican authorities were civilized too, and worthy o f in clusion in the species called homo sapiens. Somehow, it d id n ’ t quite w ork out that way. C riticism o f South A fric a may have become m uted b u t, it never died out altogether. The brutal murder o f one o f the most popular leaders, the world over, has convinced even the diehards o f the viciousness o f apar theid. It ’ s been almost two years now since Biko was killed but, far from being forgotten, he is now much more well-known than he was even when alive. By killing him, South Africa had hoped to remove a thorn from her racist side; instead, the thorn has turned out to be a hook. The murder o f Biko convinced any and all who had argued for peaceful change that they are barking up the wrong tree. Rigid as it is, apartheid leaves no room fo r compromise. That leaves only one option: apar theid has to be rooted out. It has often been said that ‘ You can kill a revolutionary but, you can never kill the revolution.' The k ill ing o f B iko may be the biggest mistake South Africa has made to date. The ideas he planted w ill remain with us for always. We can not bring him back but, we can do the next best thing: bring about his dream o f a South A fric a fo r all people This will necessitate the de struction o f apartheid, Biko’ s arch enemy. It would indeed be a fitting memorial to one o f A frica ’s greatest sons. A few months back, John Vorster, fo rm e r prim e m in ister o f South Africa was forced to resign his new post o f president due to his involve ment in the Muldergate scandal. This was an influence peddling scheme which involved buying newspapers around the world and getting to write more favorably about South Africa. The very same papers that had pressured the government for the Biko inquiry are the ones that kept after Vorster until he was forced out. Apparently, they have learned their lesson well. The resignation o f Vorster was significant in that it caused the first major split among white South A fri cans. It made a lot o f them who had been following the policies o f apar theid blindly suddenly look up and start to think. It made some o f them even begin to question the logic and validity o f apartheid. Vorster was the major architect o f apartheid. It was during his thirty years in politics that most o f the most vicious and op pressive laws were drawn up. That he was kicked out in disgrace rocked apartheid right down to its founda tions. Now most o f these people who followed him everywhere like sheep are beginning to be a little more receptive to those voices that he had worked so hard to quell and one o f the voices they are paying heed to now is, that o f Bantu Steven Biko. Interested in current books about African Liberation? Visit: JOHN REED BOOK STORE In the Dekum Building 519 S.W. 3rd Avenue Sixth Floor Or call: 227 2902 American State Bank "The Bank that integration built” 2737 N.E. 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