Pag« 2 Portland Observar January 10. 1960
EDITORIAL/OPIIMION
Rhodesia to Zimbabwe: Here we go again
By N. Fungai Kumbula
A question of ethics
A th irte e n year old ch ild is accused of
killing a four year old girl, and an earlier death
of a three year old cousin is being investigated.
The law protects the identity of children and
prevents the release of their identity to the
news media and to the public. Aside from the
fact that the child might be innocent - in fact
she is innocent until proved guilty -- the whole
d ire c tio n of the ju ve n ile c o u rt system is
re h a b ilita tio n . The secrecy in vo lve d is to
protect the child in case the arrest was in error,
and also to give the child a chance for a future,
should she be found guilty.
True, the identity of the child would even
tually leak out, to friends and neighbors and to
school mates. But w ithout the involvement of
the media, the damage would be restricted.
In this case, the Oregonian requested the
c h ild 's id e n tity and w hen it was refused,
so u g h t to ob ta in it th ro u g h the co u rts ,
challenging the constitutionality of the law.
Although the Oregonian had already obtained
the child's identity from other sources, they
did not reveal it while the court case was pend
ing.
The Jo u rn a l, o b ta in in g the same in fo r
mation, rushed it into print. Now the child's
name has been splashed across the
newspapers and over the air.
We do not disagree w ith the Oregonian’s
contention that the press has a right to the
facts, and that it has a right to print the facts.
But this case demonstrates why the law exists
and why courts are reluctant to release infor
mation about children.
Although the Journal probably has a right to
print what it knows, the ethics in doing so are
certainly questionable. Has anyone benefited
by the release of this child's name and history?
It certainly was not done in a way to construct
ively challenge the law. A child who has lived a
miserable life and who perhaps brought suf
fering and death to others has been hurt again
by a society that has failed her. This time that
hurt could and should have been prevented.
Political prisoner freed
Ben Chavis was recently released from a
North Carolina prison where he had been held
fo r more than fo u r years, the last of the
Wilmington Ten to be released.
The W ilmington Ten were convicted in 1972
of burning a white owned grocery store during
a period of violence, when white vigilantees
invaded the Black community. The conviction,
which civil rights leaders have considered a
fra m e -u p to d e stroy the m o ve m e n t, was
dependent on the testimony of a ten year old
boy. In 1976, this witness and others admitted
they had been paid to lie.
In spite of mass protests and repeated ap
peals, the state courts refused to reverse the
conviction and give the defendents a new trial.
Finally, under pressure fro m the U .S .
D e partm ent of J u s tic e , G overnor H art
reduced the sentences. This reduction made
Chavis eligible for parole on January 1st and
he was released early for Christmas.
Reverend Chavis is still on parole. The con
viction is still on his record. He and the other
defendents will continue to challenge the con
victions.
Who says there are no political prisoners in
the US?
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01/71 ASA CHRIST
IA N OUGHT.
IF I CAN ORING SAL
VATION TO A UORLO
once B rought .
IF ¡C A N SPREAO
THE M ESSAG E A S
THE MASTER TAUGHT.
THEN mi living hill
N O T H I N vain .
TO LINE FOR SOME'
0001 TO SAY THAT
PAY, THAT MARTIN
LUTHER'HINGJR.
TRIER TO LOVE
SOMEOOOY."
1939-1968
Letters to the Editor
Age discrimination still City policy
To the editor:
Recent occurances w ith in C ity
governm ent p e rta in in g to age
d is c rim in a tio n p o in t out several
issues which the public should be
aware of.
Commissions, such as the C ity-
County Commission on Aging, are
appointed to provide government
o ffic ia ls w ith in fo rm a tio n which
w ill aid them to make intelligent
decisions. For quite some time the
C C C O A has tried to obtain C ity
support for the abolition o f all age
related restrictions on hiring as they
pertain to city employees, including
Police and Fire Departments. The
City has chosen, in this instance, to
ignore our suggestions and instead,
chosen to pay $4’ ,000 o f your tax
monev to study an issue which one
o f the CCCO.A's committees could
investigate for much less.
Had the Council made one phone
call to the CCCOA they could have
avoided a law suit fo r age
d iscrim in atio n in h iring and they
would have been inform ed about
M ichigan Judge P a tricia Boyle's
July 30, 1979, judgement restraining
the City o f Allen Park. Michigan
from discharging any police/fire of-
o ffic e at age 57 or a recent suit
against United Airlines concerning
mandatory retirement fo r pilots.
O ur investigations w ould have
also reported other decisions which
have had some effect upon hiring
issues in relationship to the elderly.
We suspect there w ill be a ruling
in the present case that w ill make
Portland but another precedent in
the c o n tin u in g b a ttle to prevent
d is c rim in a tio n because o f race,
c o lo r, re lig io u s beliefs, sexual
preference or AGE.
For seven long years the two sides
fought a vicious silent war, a war
whose main characteristic was the
absence o f open confrontation. At
the outset, the "better armed, better
equipped, better tra in e d , better
d is c ip lin e d and better m anned”
Rhodesian army was supposed to
blow the g u e rrilla th re at “ to
sm ithereens w ith in a m atter o f
days.” The whole thing was sup
posed to be one big joke.
A t the conclusion o f the war last
week, no one was laughing. The
joke had turned out to be such a
serious d is ru p tio n o f Rhodesia’ s
"w h ite paradise" that as much as 20
per cent o f the c o u n try ’ s w hite
population had been forced to flee.
Over 21,000 had been k ille d , the
economy had ground to a halt, the
war was costing the regime in excess
o f a m illio n d o lla rs a day, the
government’ s civil administration in
the o u tlyin g areas had long since
crumbled, 90 per cent o f the country
was under martial law and as many
as 50 per cent o f the people had been
forced fro m th e ir homes. O n ly
South A frica, supplying S50 m illion
for the war effort and as much as
two battalions, had kept the Stnith-
Muzorewa regime afloat. The joke
had suddenly become a il to o
serious.
The African e ffo rt, fo r its part,
was not entirely without casualties.
Combined with the to ll on the bat-
<
«
as big as their odds versus the USSR
and possibly could be reconciled in a
unity against it? So here too politics
could make some very strange part
ners, namely Khomeini and Carter
joing forces against a much bigger
danger.
The way we’ve been acting against
Iran out o f blind passion and vin
dictiveness, more harm than good
happened—e g , Oregon alone lost
m illions in trade while the USSR
used the occasion for invading Af-
by Vernon Jordan
1979 began with a stunned nation
try in g to understand the mass
suicides in Jonestown and it ended
with an angry nation concerned with
Americans held hostage by Iran, in
gross violation o f international law
and any standards o f accepted dip
lomatic practice.
In between came twelve months
o f continued hardships fo r poor
people, some im portant gains fo r
m in orities, and some setbacks as
well.
Perhpas the most important plus
in 1979 was the Supreme C o u rt’ s
Webber decision. Especially after
the d is a p p o in tin g result o f the
Hakke case the previous year,
Weber b ro ug ht fresh hope to
millions.
In its decision the Supreme Court
upheld an a ffirm a tiv e action plan
condemned by some as an uncon
s titu tio n a l q uota system. The
C ourt's action gave a big boost to
a ffirm a tiv e action ju s t when it
looked as if it might be swept away
by the rightward tide.
The Court also laid down some
ground rules on what makes an a f
firm a tiv e action program accep
table. Since those rules are con
sistent with every such program I ’ ve
heard o f, the outlook for progress
on this front is bright.
The Weber case takes on greater
importance since it came against the
backdrop o f continued high Black
unem ploym ent and a predicted
A t the annual C om m onw ealth
prime ministers’ conference held in
Lusaka last July, the African count
ries mounted a spirited challenge to
Thatcher's Rhodesia policy and she
was forced to back down. Instead o f
recognizing the Muzorewa regime
and liftin g trade sanctions as she
had said she would, she ended up
promising to invite the warring par
ties: the P a triotic F ront g u e rrilla
alliance and the Stnith-M uzorewa
regime to London for talks. These
talks w ould center a ro u n d the
drawing up o f a new constitution
that would be more acceptable to
the Africans but would continue to
reassure the whites.
On this note, the conference end
ed. Next stop was Lancaster House
in London fo r the proposed con
ference.
Next week we too shall visit Lan
caster House and see:
"W H O ’ S FOOLING W H O ?”
recession that may yet inflict heavy
damage on Black workers.
That recession, now starting, was
deliberately engineered to curb in
flation. I t ’ s the old story — you beat
in fla tio n by dam ping dow n the
whole economy. If people lose their
jobs, why it’ s only a temporary in
convenience. T h e y ’ ll be back at
work when the recession ends and
inflation w ill be under control then.
It's a small price to pay fo r con
trolling inflation.
Well, that kind o f thinking is all
wrong. Not only does it make the
poorest people pay the greatest price
fo r c o n tro llin g in fla tio n , but it
won’ t work. In the seventies, we’ ve
had both high in fla tio n and high
u ne m p loym en t, and th e re ’ s no
reason to expect c o n ve n tio n a l
economic policies to work now.
The nation's economic problems
may be a factor behind the w ith
d ra w a l o f s u p p o rt fo r m in o rity
rig hts and fo r the rise o f fringe
groups lik e the K ia n. When the
economy is expanding, the m ajority
is n 't w o rrie d about c o m p e titio n
from minorities. But in hard times,
everyone takes a “ m e-first” attitude
and sees justice for others as a per
sonal threat.
T hat’ s also part o f the reason for
the disarray o f the old civil rights
coalition in the seventies. The last
and most devastating blow to the
coalition came in the summer, when
Andy Young’ s resignation from his
post as UN Ambassadore led direc
tly to increased tensions between
Jews and Blacks.
Young's departure from the A d
ministration set o ff shock waves o f
anger in the Black com m unity. It
has still not been fully explained to
most people’s satisfaction.
But the immediate effect was to
intensify fric tio n between Blacks
and Jews, since Young’ s resignation
came in the wake o f his meeting
w ith a representatiave o f the
Palestine Liberation Organization.
L o n g -s m o ld e rin g resentm ents
about numerous issues broke to the
surface and the groups are now
engaged in dialogues to try to re
establish their past partnerships on
behalf o f civil rights.
In a way, the break may have
been healthy in that it provides a
basis to r realistic coalitions based
on each group being co m p le te ly
aware ot the o th e r’ s p o s itio n .
Sometimes a fractured bone, when
it heals, is stonger than it had been
before. Both Blacks and Jews w ill
benetit from a healed, reconstituted
creative alliance.
For most m inorities, 1979 con
tinued as a year o f hardship, high
unemployment, high prices, eroding
c o n d itio n s . D is c rim in a tio n co n
tinues to be an integral part o f our
society, and there were few signs o f
any renewed n a tio n a l c o m m m it-
inent to the ideals o f equality that
once were so important to so many
Americans.
That’ s a sad com m entary on a
year that could have been a lot bet
ter.
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O.J. Gates
Executive Director, CCCOA
ghanistan. We have to learn that
discretion is the better part o f valor
and that whom God would destroy,
he first makes mad. We must con
sider that in some respects Khomeini
»as try in g to do fo r his country
what say, G. W a shington was
seeking fo r his c o u n try , nam ely
"independence,” etc. In England's
sight, Washington was a devil some
what as Khomeini is in the esteem o f
the USA.
Paul Brinkman, Jr.
that had been installed six months
pre vio u sly. The o u tg o in g L a b o r
governm ent o f James C allaghan
had steadfastly refused to do so un
t il the P a tro tic F ro n t o f Joshua
N kotno and Robert Mugabe had
participated in any elections that
resulted in the fo rm a tio n o f a
government lo r Zimbabwe. The PF
had boycotted the elections that
were held last A p ril because they
withheld so may priviledges for the
white m inority.
1979 A Mixed Year
Subscriptions »7 50 per year in Tn County area $8 00 per year
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Will USSR unite Iran and US?
To the editor:
P o litic s and n a tio n a l interests
make strange partners, e g , after
W o rld W ar II, our hated enemy
Japan became our ally while our big
ally, Russia, became our number
one foe. C o u ld n 't that happen
likewise with Iran now our hated foe
by jo in in g us against a common
enemy, the USSR, as it now tries to
take over the reins o f Afghanistan?
While the USA and Iran are at odds
with one another, these odds aren’t
tlefield was the effect o f the war on
the economies o f the F ront Line
states o f Botsw ana, Z am b ia ,
A n g o la , T an zan ia and M ozam
bique. Not only did each o f these
co un trie s have to feed, house,
clothe, arm and provide train in g
fa c ilitie s and sanctuary fo r the
freedom fighters but they also had
to cope with the influx o f refugees
fleeing the war. This had the effect
o f draining the meager resources o f
these fledgling nations. Added to
that also were the all too frequent
“ cross-border ra id s" directed first
by the Smith regime and later by the
"g o o d ” bishop.
The international community was
very slow in corning to the aid o f
these F ro n t L in e states. T h e ir
economies could not continue to ab
sorb such pum m eling to the solar
plexus. The p opulations o f these
countries, deprived o f most com
mon everyday necessities as salt,
sugar, corn, toilet paper, began to
get very restive. Z im b ab w e thus
became a h o tly debated issue in
Z a m b ia ’ s last e le c tio n . Should
Zambia continue to sacrifice for the
liberation e ffo rt even as her people
were dying?
Compounding this problem even
further was the election o f the new
C o n serva tive
governm ent
in
England headed by Margaret That
cher. Before corning to power she
had vowed she whould recognize the
illegitim ate Muzorewa government
The Portland Observer s 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
sarily reflect the opinion of the Portland Observer
283 2486
N ational A dvartising Representative
A m a lg a m ated Publishers Inc
ALFRED L. HENDERSON
Editor/Publisher
New York
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a m a / a l
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1st Place
Community Service
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Best Ad Results
ONPA 1973
5th Place
Best Editorial
ONPA 1973
Honorable Mention
Herrick Editorial Award
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Best Editorial
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Community Leadership
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3rd Place
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