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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 27, 1979)
P«fl« 2 Portland Obaerver Thursday. Septem ber 27,2879 EDITORIAL/OPINION In their place! Members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) who visited the Middle East last week have disturbed a lot of white Americans who would like to see Blacks stay in their place. Oregon's largest daily refers to SCLC: W it ness the Southern Christian Leadership Con ference, a conspicious example of a miniscule civil rights organization that has leaped beyond its regional boundaries to intervene as a self- appointed international peacemaker.'’ The newspaper further advises SCLC to take advice from Bayard Rustin who warned them not to forfeit the "long and noble tradition of non violence" and Black Americas' "moral prestige" by meeting with the Palestinian Liberation Orga nization. Apparently the editors have forgotten that this "miniscule organization," founded by Dr. Martin Luther King, had influence well beyond its numbers when it forced the United States to redefine the civil rights of its citizens. It is suitable that this organization fill the void created by a government that refuses to com municate publically with the Palestinian Libera tion Organization— a government that cannot possibly bring peace to the Middle East while ignoring a major factor in the dispute. Who better than Black people who have en dured the brutalities of American racial op pression can understand and in te rp re t the inhuman conditions under which three million Palestinian people live? What arrogance leads the white press to praise the occasional United Nation visits and peace proclamation of the Popes, while ridiculing the peace efforts of Black ministers? Is it because they still believe the place for Black people is w ithin their "regional boundaries” — or in the back of the bus? Cold feet, runny noses P o rtlan d's elem entary ch ild re n w ill face another hazzard this year —their classrooms will be kept at a 65 degree temperature. The School Board chose not to take advantage of a exception to federal regulations that would allow the temperature to be kept at 68 degrees. President Carter's mandate to conserve energy requires that most buildings be maintained at 65 degrees but allows exceptions for elementary schools, child care centers and hospitals. Children who walk to school or wait for buses in the rain will arrive at school with wet clothing. Some will be inadequately dressed. Cold hands and feet, and general discomfort, cannot add to the learning ability of small children. The school district did not obtain the advice of physicians or other health specialists on making its determination that cold rooms will not adversely affect the health, attendance or learning of the districts' children. It is incumbent on the district to keep careful records of illnesses and absences. An assessment of the effect of learning will be more difficult if not impossible. We believe the district has made a mistake in placing the savings of $100,000 and a few barrels of oil above the com fort of students. W hy not let the young children have a com fo rtable and pleasant place in which to learn? VOICES OF REVOLUTION struggle Violence voices o f steel in the sun setting fire to a landscape already hot and dreams dispersed against a wall o f bayonets A new wave rises and longings dispersed over unburied bodies And a new wave rises for the struggle and yet another and another until there remains o f violence only our pardon. Here in prison rage contained in my breast I patiently wait for the clouds to gather blown by the wind o f history No one can stop the rain LUTHER E arlier this m onth, Eleanor Holmes Norton, head o f the Equal . Employment O pportunity Commis .¿on, told a conference o f federal civil rights offices that the federal government has a worse record o f p ro v id in g jo b o p p ortu nities to minorities and women than private To our mines o f diamonds business Is this any less true for the gold, copper, oil we must return State o f Oregon? Many slate workers feel that the same can be said about the State o f To our rivers, our lakes to the mountains, the forests Oregon. And certainly, Blacks feel that they are getting less o f an oppor we must return tunity for job o pportunity now in state government. Q u a lific a tio n s To the coolness o f the mulemba have very little to do with it. Black to our traditions college graduates are said to provide to the rhythms and bonfires a higher unemployment rate than we must return white high school dropouts. “ Recent appointm ents to key To the marimba and the quissage positions in state government reflect to our carnival that the demand is for white males we must return w ith a fiscal management To our beautiful Angolan homeland background,” one state personnel our land, our mother worker noted. While many Blacks, we must return trom around the state, are observing that no Black males have been ap We must return pointed to any key positions in the to liberated Angola \tiye h Administration, regardless o f independent Angola their qualifications. When candidate Victor Atiyeh spoke at the Oregon Assembly for Black A ffairs meeting on October 28, 1978, 8 * Brumsic Brandon. Jr. he stated that he would not be op posed to h irin g Blacks and other racial m inorities in key cabinet or line positions in his administration. M a tte r-o f-fa c t, he was quoted as saying, “ I w ill not be opposed to it. . . .Yes, I w ill 1 w ill try. Matter- of-fact, I w ill encourage it . ” A fter his election, Govenor-elect Atiyeh stated, “ Finding the right person for the right job is one o f the highest p rio ritie s durin g this tra n s itio n The Portland Observer IU S P S 960 6 8 0 « pjblm hed » v e ry Thur» day by E x» Publishing Company, Inc 2201 North Killinpaworth, Portland, Orapon 97217, Poat Offica Bo« 3137, Portland, Oregon 97208 Sacond claaa postage paid at Portland. Oregon Subaciiptmna 17 50 par year in Tri-County area M 00 per year outarde Tri-County area P o e tm a a te r Sand addraea change» to the P ortland Observer, P .0 . Bo» 3137. Portland, Oregon 97208 The Portland Observer» official poeitior i» «xpreeeed only in ita Editorial column Any other material throughout the paper ia the opinion of the individual writer or submitter and doe» not necee aariiy reflect the opinion of the P o r tla n d O b se rv e r 283 2488 N a tio n a l A d v e rtla ln g R e p re s e n ta tiv e A m a lg a m a te d Pub llahera Inc. N e w York M{ m M * M l M a ia tinuing the same liberalization trend, there were elections recently in Nigeria to choose a civilian govern ment to take over after 12 years o f successive m ilitary regimes. Ghana also chose a civilian government in elections conducted within the past three months. She, too, had lum bered under one m ilitary regime after another for the past ten years. These two countries have paved the way for what we hope will be a continuing trend all over Africa: returning the vote to the people. Southern A fric a has not been to ta lly left out o f all these good tidings: the wars in Mozambique and Angola resulted in the overthrow ot five centuries o f Portuguese domination. Over in Rhodesia, alter eight decades o f white intransigence and defiance the war o f liberation has forced the whites to put forward a few Black faces to carry on their dirty work. However, with the war intensifying rather than slackening, the whites have once again been forced back to the bargaining table where, at th is very m om ent, they are agreeing to the abolishm ent ot almost all their privileges. Both South Africa and Namibia continue to simmer and, it is a fair assessment to say that the days o f colonial domination in the south ot the Motherland are, finally drawing to a close. W ithin the next five to ten years, look for a truly independent Zimbabwe and a free Namibia as well as tremendous progress in the struggle to free South Africa. by Calvin O.L. Henry To our lands red with coffee white with cotton green with maize fields we must return PORTLAND OBSERVER Aaaociairen - founded »888 schoolchildren ranging in age from eight to sixteen, simply because they had refused to wear school uniforms. The revelation caused a lot o f coun tries, among them France, then her largest aid provider, to cut o ff aid to the Bokassa regime. Iro n ic a lly , Bokassa was overthrown by the very same man he had overthrown 14 years previously. In 1965, Bokassa had seized power from David Dacko, the Central African Republic’ s first popularly elected president following independence from France. Bokassa was a source o f constant embarassment to all A fric a . Two years ago, he had squandered $30 m illio n on his own ‘ c o ro n a tio n ’ when he converted the then Central A fric a n Republic to the ‘ C entral A fric a n R egim e.’ In a c o u n try ranked as one of the 25 poorest in the world, this was fully 25 per cent o f the total budget. Over the years, his penchant fo r cutting o ff theives’ hands, beating prisoners to death and slicing o ff various parts o f the anatomies o f whoever incurred his wrath cowed the whole country into helpless submission while his extra vagance (am ong his countless possessions he boasts nine palaces, and several private jets) plunged the country further into the throes o f poverty. That’ s three dictators gone all in one year and, in each case, it has since been revealed, other African coun tries lent the support and the means by which their brothers and sisters o verthre w the m urderers. C on To the houses, t our crops to the beaches, I our fields we must reiurn Here in prison 1 would recall Hikmet where I to think o f you Marina in that house with grandmother and child ALFRED L. HENDERSON Edltor/Publlaher One o f the sad things about Africa in the past few years has been its preponderance of dictatorships. For many who were beginning to look to Africa as the Motherland, this was a glaring co n tra d ic tio n ; w hile they tried to speak up for Africa, it was impossible to overlook the dictator ships, one p arty states, m ilita ry governments and a gross disregard for human rights. In some cases, sad as it sounds, some countries were worse o ff after ‘ independence’ than belore. In the past few years, particularly the last two, there seems to have been an accelerated shift away trom this unhappy state o f affairs. So much so that the last O A U conference, held in June in L ib e ria , even set up a “ human rights watchdog com m it tee.’ ’ This was a far cry from the days ol “ non interference” in the af fairs of other member states. This ac tion by the O AU seems to have ac celerated the dismantling o f some o f A fric a ’ s most notoriouos dictator ships Since June, Macias Nguema, iron listed d icta to r o f l.q u a lo ria l Guinea has been overthrown. His reign o f terror had forced fully 25 per cent o f his citizens into exile. I he ouster o f Idi Amin in Uganda made headlines the world over and : ins something to bite into for several weeks. The latest despot to bite the dust is the self- proclaim ed Em peror lean Bedel B i sa I of the < entrai A frican Empire. He hit the headlines recently when it was revealed that he had k ille d about 100 to 200 w e m ust retur here In prison Here in prison I would recall the saints were I to forgive them the torments and lies with which they shatter our happiness by N. Fungai Kumbula Affirmative Action and the Governor Agostinho Neto Agostinho Neto, president o f the People’s Republic o f Angola and leader in the struggle fo r liberation, was also a poet. Below are some o f his poems, many o f which were written while he was jailed by the Portuguese. Here in prison 1 would recall the heroes were 1 to sing joyfully the war songs with which our people crush slavery Africa: The housecleaning continues 1st Place Community Service ONPA 1973 1st Place Best Ad Resulta ONPA 1973 5th Place Best Editorial ONPA 1973 Honorable Mention Herrick Editorial Award NNA 1973 2nd Place Best Editorial 3rd Place Community Leadership ONPA 1975 3rd Place Community Leadership ONPA 1978 TOO LATE TO CLASSIFY STAFF ADVOCATE Private, non profit orga nization which provides free legal assistance to disabled persons needs attorney’s assistant. Du ties include receiving, investigating, seeking in formation, resolution of complaints concerning decisions in education, employment and other services. Effective inter viewing and negotiating skills required. Exper ience in disability, spe cial education and legal system helpful. Salary 110,000 Submit re sumes to: OODAC. 621 SW Morrison, Am 519 Portland. OR 97206. period. The search must be statewide and impartial, with competence and integrity the overriding criteria.’ ’ Govenor Atiyeh has made three appointments o f Black women in highly visible positions w ithin his adm inistration, but they are not in cabinet or line positions. These ap pointees came from the Department o f Human Resources and they were replaced w ith white males w ith a fiscal management background. Maybe A tiyeh is keeping his promise, but are his departm ent heads still acting like those o f the past administration? A case in point is the process o f selecting the per manent Regional Manager fo r the M ultnom ah Region o f A d u lt and Family Services Division. The former Regional Manager o f the Multnomah Region o f Adult and Family Services Division was Hazel Hays, who was, at that time, con sidered the only Black in a high line position in state government. She was appointed to the State Parole Board by Atiyeh, and was replaced by a white male as the acting regional manager. The acting regional manager is Dick Rova. The recruitment fo r the regional manager was open and eight names were finally certified with scores o f 100 on the exam ination. Two o f these applicants are Black males; however, on the initial certification, one o f their names was left o ff. The current acting regional manager is not one o f these eight. The position was initially adver tised on July 17, 1979, and closed on July 31, 1979, as not being in the executive service. Now this position is being changed to executive service so that the administrator o f Adult and Family Services will not have to hire o ff o f the certification list from the Personnel Division. However, D irector J.B. Beding- field. State Executive Department, requested in his letter o f August 28, 1979, that all state agencies lim it their transfer o f those who qualify with the executive service status to an absolute m inim um . And there are some questions in the d ivision whether this p a rtic u la r regional manager p osition or ail regional manager positions should be in exe cutive service. Then, in this change by A d u lt and Fam ily Services D ivision being made to prevent a competent Black with integrity from being appointed? This may be o nly one example among many in state government where job opportunities for Blacks and other racial m in orities are becoming increasingly more d ifficu lt and few. One would not have to look very far to see how blatant racial dis c rim in a tio n on the jo b in state government has increased. M any people are saying that aura o f state government is becoming more like the Nixon administration and Water gate. Norton said equal employment ef forts have been more successful in private business because firms that lack adequate a ffirm a tiv e action plans can lose lucrative federal con tracts, while the federal government faces no such penalties. What about the states? Atiyeh has said many times that he is fo r bringing more q u a lifie d minorities in his administration, and he is creating a name bank o f qualified individuals. But it appears that the translation o f his position on m in ority hiring to actuality by his department heads is lacking. W ill the State o f Oregon record o f providing jo b o p p ortu nities to m in orities become worse than Oregon private business? Perhaps it is tim e fo r state government to take affirm ative ac tion. I---------------------------------------------------------- ! Subscribe Today [ $7.50 per year—Tri-county i $8.00 per year — Other I I I N A M E ____________________________________ ____ ADDRESS __________________________________ ___ | • 2 8 3 -2 4 8 6 C IT Y ____________________ STATE __________ __ Z IP ______ I ' Mail to: Portland Obenrver P.O.Box 3137 Portland, Oregon 97208
