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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 1979)
Pag» 2 Portland Observer Thursday. Septam bar 13. 1979 EDITORiAL/OPINION NBC TV in center of African storm by N. Fünften Kumbula Bass extradition shows insensitivity to racism When Victor Atiyeh took office he was an un known quantity in the Black community. He had never established any significant ties in this community and as a conservative Republican did not receive many votes from Black citizens. There still has been little evidence that the Governor has given attention to the special prob lems that face Black and other minority citizens. But the Governor has made some effort to gain confidence of minorities, appointing Blacks to the Parole Board and to the office of Ombuds man and, after his first appointee resigned, to the Affirmation Action office. What ground the Governor has gained will be lost if he persists in his plan to return Alabama prison escapee Carl Bass to that state. Regard less of promises made by his "brother governor" Fob James, once Bass is within the prison wails there is no reason to believe that he will be pro- tected from racist guards and administrators. Will the element that punished him for a prior escape by allow ing his legs to decay while denying adequate medical care treat this escape with any less vengeance? Bass is the product of a racist community en vironment, a racist police and court system, a racist prison. Whether or not he is guilty —and he says he is not —does he deserve to be returned to the inhumanity of a prison in a state where even now the Kian is marching? The Bass case does much to demonstrate our Governor's lack of knowledge, understanding and sensitivity to the unique position of Black people in American society and his inability to relate the laws, regulations and processes of government to their impact on the lives of indi viduals. Investigate controversial murder For the last year a prisoner at Oregon State Penitentiary —Floyd Forsberg —has been attempt ing to get the authorities to believe that he com mitted a murder for which another man was con victed. Forsberg has an extensive criminal record in cluding bank robbery, narcotics and burglary. He also claims to have been an informer for the FBI providing information on his current and former gang members. He is fully capable of having committed the murder he is attempting to claim. Forsberg says the local District Attorney's o f fice has refused to fully investigate his story. Although DA Harl Haas says a thorough investi gation was made, Forsberg wonders how that was done without talking to him and witnesses he says can verify his story, and without allowing him to reveal evidence he says will tie him to his accomplices. Although we have no way of knowing whether Forsberg is guilty of the murder or whether Rod Addicks, the man convicted of the crime, is in- nocent, thus far all the information provided to us by Forsberg about his other activities has been reliable and most is documented. Considering the fact that a man who could be innocent is serving a life sentence for this crime it does seem than the utmost effort would have been made by now to determine whether Fors berg’s claim is true. The fact that no one from the Multnomah County District Attorney's office has obtained his statement and that no grand jury has been called to investigate his story is incredible. If the District Attorney's office still believes Rod Addicks to be guilty there should be no hesitation to attem pt to disprove Forsberg's claim. There might be no way of proving whether he planned and committed the murder, but if his story was concocted in the prison yard as is claimed by Haas, it should be easily disproved. Since Haas seems le lu cta n t to pursue this case. Governor Atiyeh should ask A ttorney General Jam es Redden to co n d u ct an in vestigation. Letters to the Editor Urban League investigating Grigsby charges To the editor: Your editorial o f September 6th, "Everyone’s Problem ." carried an appropriate indictment o f the Urban League and other organizations re garding the Kevin Grigsby incident. The Urban League did get the ap prenticeship. However, our respon sibility does not stop there. In the case o f Kevin Grigsby, the LEAP staff did follow through immediately to investigate the issue along with union officials. Several counseling sessions were held with Grigsby, and since he does not want to go back to the Boardman site, we are working to locate another apprenticeship position for him. We are also work ing with the appropriate organiza tions regarding this specific incident to ensure against a repetition. This incident does point out a need to review, again, the procedure and manner in which we prepare clients for new job opportunities and in which we follow up with problems they are faced with. The Urban League o f Portland was founded to create a better climate o f interracial understanding by improving the working conditions and opportunities for Blacks and eliminating discrimination and segre gation. That goal is as important and relevant to our organization now as it was then. Sincerely, Lreddye Petett Executive Director Urban League o f Portland Audit Haas, not Corrections Division To the editor: Harl Haas, Multnomah County DA, asks for a performance audit of the Oregon Correctional Division. He seems to feel that there are too many escapes by men he has sent to prison. One o f the main reasons fo r escapes is the overcrowding of the D ivision's facilities. The Division would have a lot more room if Haas did not send so many men here for breaking in to coke machines, or driving without a license. The goal o f imprisonment seems to be revenge It seems that six months to a year in the county jail would satisfy all the requirements illegal drivers, i.e., the illegal driver would lose his job, most o f his friends, possibly his wife, and the illegal driver would be permanently scarred for life, not only by his crim inal record but also by being subjected to the Multnomah County Jail. It has been estimated by know warehouse burglars and illegal drivers are being sent here. The audit might show that Haas appears more interested in revenge by imprison ment where restitution could have been made, than he is on working on the problems that generate crime. (One o f the biggest problems in the state is in his county: it’s called Rocky Butte). The audit might show that while aspiring politicians are claiming there is a lessening crime rate in county or state, more people are being im prisoned than ever before, and this is straining the state’ s facilities until they are bursting at the seams. The audit might also show that some per sonnel w o rk in g fo r M ultn om ah County have been accused of worse crimes than the men imprisoned by Multnomah County. And the only reason they occurred is that there was not a thorough performance audit. Sincerely, Donald Danford ledgeable experts that there are almost as many rapes and assualts happening inside this jail controlled by employees o f Multnomah County as are happening on the streets of Portland. Rocky Butte, as this jail is commonly referred to, is one o f the most n o to rio u s county ja ils in the nation. The newspaper coverage o f abuses at Rocky Butte has often surpassed the coverage o f both state prisons. A perform ance a ud it o f H arl Haas, his o ffice, the M ultnom ah County Jail, might be much more pro du ctive in understanding the escapes o f Oregon’ s C orrections Division. The audit might show conclusively that: I) hundreds o f prisoners suf fering severe psychological problems are being sent to O.S.P. and released in much worse shape years later to the streets o f Portland; 2) O.S.P. is over crowded because too many coke machine bandits, bicyle thiefs, empty PORTLAND OBSERVER 1st Place Community Service ONPA 1973 The Portland Observer IU S P S 969 880I n published every Thurt dey by E«ie Publishing Company. Inc . 2201 North Killingsworth, Portland Oregon 97217 Poet Office Bo« 3137. Portland. Oregon 97208 Second c la n postage paid at Portland Oregon 1st Place Best Ad Results ONPA 1973 Subscriptions S7 50 per year in Th-Counfy area »8 00 pet year Outside Tn County area P o s tm a s te r Send address changes to the Portland Observer. P 0 Bo« 3137. Portland Oregon 97208 5th Place Best Editorial ONPA 1973 The Portland Observer a official position is e«pressed only in its Editorial column Any other material throughout the paper is the Opinion of the individual writer or submitter and does not neces eerily reflect the opinion of the Portland Observrr A a to t 't t'o n . f aunOtd 1888 Assoc lation r (Continued from page I Column 4) the ill-housed. On the other hand, it could well happen that the guilty party tn order to lighten his uncom fort able moral burden, w ill finally begin to rationalize his sins and a ffirm them as virtues. Ms. Miller asked that a system be devised to include from the require ment teachers who are proficient in Black History and that teacher repre sentatives be involved in all nego tiations on this policy. School Board member Herb Caw- thorne expressed his astonishment that a representative o f a major pro fessional organization could be op posed to the "in clu sio n o f ethnic cultures in the curriculum and the mandatory development o f teacher sensitivities in this area. the maintenance o f racial and ethnic barriers. 2nd Place "W h e n a Board o f Education Best Editorial moves to communicate its educa 3rd Place Community Leadership tional imperatives that every child ONPA 1975 receive the most sensitive edu cation possible, which may include a 3rd Place special focus to develop the staff ex- Community Leadership ONPA 1978 mistake o f stumbling on the ghettos o f Soweto, Sophiatown, Dube or Alexandria where the true Africa is. The cameras will never focus on the poverty prevelant in the ‘ ‘ home la n d s " in sharp contrast to the alm ost s in fu l a ffluence evident everywhere in the white suburbs. No one w ill get to see the Black kids running around h a lf naked with distended bellies and cracked lips, victims o f kwashiokor (a nutrition deficiency disease). If the cameras wander at all, they will be allowed” to wander in the right direction, to show one affluent Black busi nessman or one Black apprentice or one Black college student. And this one "prom inent” Black would be used to show the "progress” that Blacks have made. Thanks to our “ brother” John Tate and his ‘ boss’ Bob Arum, the world will get to see a very ‘ beautiful South Africa, filled w ith the happiest’ Blacks in the whole wide world. With friends like this, who needs enemies? NBC Television has expressed an interest in televising this fight via satellite from Pretoria so you too might get to see "b e a u tifu l” South Africa. Already a lot o f groups and individuals have started to bombard NBC telling them not to televise this nefarious fight. Probably the largest and most vocal as well as the most influential group to contact NBC and tell them to ‘ forget about showing the fight or face the conse quences’ is the Supreme Council for Sport in A fric a , an um brella organization governing virtually all sport in Africa. With a membership in excess o f 40 countries, it boasts representation o f over 300,(XX),000 people It was the Supreme Council for Sport in Africa that was respon sible for the very successful African boycott o f the 1976 Montreal Olym pics. At that lime, the controversy was over C anada’ s (the host nation) refusal to bar New Zealand from the O lym pics. New Zealand had in curred A frica ’s righteous wrath by maintaining rugby ties with South Africa. For a number o f years, the African sport governing body had been pressuring countries around the world to cut o ff all sports ties with the apartheid regime u ntil such a time as all people in South Africa have an equal say in the running o f their government. This pressue had resulted in the expulsion o f South Africa from most international sport governing bodies such as FIFA, the International Football Federation that oversees the World Cup (soccer) matches, and the In te rn a tio n a l Olympic Committee that is in charge o f the Olympics. The Supreme Council for Sport in Africa had approached New Zealand several times urging her to terminate her rugby matches with South Africa but New Zealand had adamantly refused. Come the '76 Olympics, the C ouncil approached Canada and told her that if New Zealand partici pated, all African countries would w ith d ra w . Canada hedged and hawed but did not expel New Zea land so the Africans walked on the first day o f competition. This was a bitter blow and a major setback to the Olym pic contests because, in withdrawing, the Africans removed, among others. Filbert Bayi, the Tan- zani “ miracle m iler” , John A kii- Bua, the world record holder o f the 400 meter high hurdles, the Kenyans, K ip Keino, steeplechase, Henry Rono and Samson Kimombwa 800 meters and M iru Yifta, Ethiopia’ s ageless steeplechase wonder. A ll of these athletes were expected to provide most o f the excitement and their non-participation robbed the Olympics o f a great deal o f prestige. A lot o f questions which sports buffs had been looking to the Olympics for answers were never answered and never will be. Some people were none too happy w ith this approach used by the Africans and charged that ‘sport and politics should not m ix.’ I agree; it would be nice to divorce sport and politics if it could be done but, it cannot. If you watched the Olympic Games or any other international meet (or even college football and pro football) you will no doubt have heard the national anthem o f the winners being played. Now, how much more political can you get? Why play the national anthem o f France or Malaysia? Why not play the winning athlete’ s favorite tune, like “ Good Times” or “ No Woman No C ry .” Why don’ t the athletes come in simply as Maria Perez or Delwyn M adkins and not M aria Perez o f Venezuela and Delwyn Madkins from the USA? And why was it necessary to keep harping on the fact that the Soviet Union had won 50 gold medals and the US 33? Remove the flags, the national an thems, the country o f origin and the Olympics and all sport can be made- apolitical. Right now, a group of people are planning to demonstrate at the Moscow Olympics against the jailing of Soviet Jewish dissidents. Is that any different than the action taken by the African sports body? The Supreme Council for Sport in Africa has warned NBC which will be televising the 1980 Olympics from Moscow that, if they go ahead and televise the Tate-Coetzee fight, then the African athletes w ill refuse to gran, NBC correspondents any inter views at all. This would put a big hole in NBC’ s Olympic coverage. If NBC heeds the African warning and w ithdraw s its o ffe r, that would lessen the impact o f this latest sneaky South African propaganda scheme. On the other hand, if NBC remains hard-headed and shows the fight anyway, there w ill be a big showdown in Moscow. Chances are the Africans would solicit the sup port o f other Third World and sym pathetic Western countries. If we cannot get through to Tate and Arum, the next best thing is to make sure that their ‘victory’ turns to ashes; that they not be allowed to reap any rewards from this act o f treason against all our brothers and sisters. The stakes are getting higher and we're playing for keeps because we are playing for survival. Teacher rep disputes history value He said, "Since its earliest begin 283-2486 llE llp flP E R Reverend Jesse Jackson who headed a campaign to stop the Knoetze-Sharkey lig h t and has, lately, been in the forefront of cut ting o ff sport contacts with South A frica , is again trying to get the Tate-Coetzee fight stopped. So far, Tate has turned a deaf ear and is already in South Africa training for the fight. This fight promises to give the apartheid regime the most wide spread favorable publicity to date. Bob Arum, who is promoting the fight and who has become the top promoter o f South African boxers, is bragging about the fact that the boxing arena w ill be "in teg rate d" for this fight. That is what the world press w ill zero in on: Blacks and whites sitting shoulder to shoulder yelling at the fighters, urging them on. The cameras will never make the Honorable Mention nings, the American public school Herrick Editorial Award system has been deeply committed to NNA 1973 National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers. Inc New York Oregon Newspaper Publishers Last March I was livid with rage when I learned o f local boxer Mike C o lb e rt’ s planned tr ip to South Africa to fight an Afrikaner named Mike Weir, or was it Charles? I went to town denouncing the trip and ex plaining why I opposed it. Only a few short months later, 1 again hit the roof when 1 heard o f the (white South African) Kallie Knoetze-Bill Sharkey (American) fight in Miami. Then I took one Leon Spinks to task for agreeing to fight and subsequent ly losing to another A frik a n e r, Gerrie Coetzee in Monte Carlo. This paved the way for Coetzee to take a crack at the WBC version o f the world heavyweight championship. That fight is scheduled to take place in P re to ria , South A fric a next month. The Knoetze-Sharkey, Spinks- Coetzee and the John Tate-Knoetze fight(s) which took place in Bophu- tatswana, one o f the “ homelands" in South Africa were all part o f a series o f elimination bouts to deter mine the successor to Muhammad A ll’ s title now that the People’ s Champ has finally retired. Against the advice o f his brothers and sisters both here and in Africa, Tale went ahead and fought Knoetze. Some misguided fo ol at J E T exercising abysmally poor judgm ent, adver tised the light in the TELEVISION section o f JET. In the past several months, Tate has shown a lot o f promise in the pugilistic world, working his way to the point now where, if he beats Coetzee next month, he will be the next W B t heavyweight champion. In the cerebral department, however, he has shown a disturbingly high degree o f deficiency. It's understand able he wants to be the new champ and earn the big bucks and accolades that come with the title but, is that reason enough to embrace, shuffle and grin at the number one enemy of Black folk anywhere on this planet? All was offered $50 m illion to stage a number o f exhibition fights in South A fric a but, after ta lk in g to the Africans and other Americans, Black and white, who are opposed to apar theid, he turned it down. Besides, there are other alternatives for Tate to have gotten to that heavyweight championship pertise necessary to produce on that co m m itm e nt, it h ardly seems p roductive that professional organizations o f teachers should speak in a way that maintains the wrong perspectives o f racial order.” The intent o f the Board, he said, is to positively recognize the values, the experiences, the realities o f social and p o litic a l life in Am erica. In noticing these realities, the Board has wisely chosen to demand that its teachers understand the children to whom it impacts the values and in formation o f education. Cawthorne quoted Earl Conrad’s " T h e In v e n tio n o f the N egro” : "Negroes are now viewed variously as crim in a ls , cowards, comics, congenital rebels. Uncle Toms W hites believed that blacks had special anim al fa c ia l,ies, more rhythm , fo r example, than white people. They could sing and dance better because these were primitive gifts. Most o f these ideas sprang directly from professional racists. Others were invented by the press. "T h e final specific task is for the white citizen to undo his diabolical inventive genuis, to transcend an un conscionable trad ition ." The only way to change old at titudes, Cawthorne explained, is ,o challenge them , and ways to challenge them is through requiring teachers to learn Black history and culture, and through a commitment o f the administration and Board to demand changes in perspectives that w ill allow children to receive better education. " T h is better education comes when the stereotypes, the false images, the negative perceptions, the d e b ilita tin g characterizations o f Black people are eliminated "T he Black community has asked for a positive reflection o f its cultural identity; no less than we would want fo r every c h ild th ro u g h o u t the district. "T he teachers o f this district will have to accept a much stronger re sponsibility to carry out the task o f education. The requirements o f the Board w ill regard to the desegrega tion program it intends to develop is a reflection o f that need. It seems appropriate, and beneficial, that teachers be exposed to information, perspectives, world views, cultural identities, that w ill enhance their capacities to com m unicate w ith young children. This needs to be uniquely focused upon in working with Black children or other ethnic groups "
