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.
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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-
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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)
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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.
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282-2216
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Honorable M ention
Herrick Editorial Award
N N A 1973
;
I
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Best Editorial
3rd Place
C om m unity Leadership
ONPA 1975
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