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Page 2 Portland O bserver February 7,1980
EDITORIAL/OP1NION
South Africa: fallout from Rhodesia
By N. Fungai Kumbula
Boise community control
In southern A frica, the so-called
“ domino theory” is back at work
again. The theory works something
like this : at one point not too long
ago, there were several white
m inority
regimes:
Bot-
swane, Lesotho,
Swaziland,
Mozambique, M alwai, Zambia,
Angola and Rhodesia. As one by
one the m inority regimes were top
pled, beginning with Zambia and
Malawi in 1964 then Lesotho, Bot
swana and Swaziland in 1964 and
finally, Mozambique and Angola in
1975, pressure kept m ounting on
those regimes that were left. Just
like dominoes, each m inority white
regime that was toppled seemed to
topple the next one in turn.
school would be operated by a committee of
persons representing organizations that have
a demonstrated interest in education, com
munity members, residents of the Boise atten-
dence area, parents and students. This com
mittee would have the authority to select the
principal and w ith him the staff; control the
budget; design the curriculum; determine
discipline policies; etc. It would be directly
responsible to the School Board.
This committee would, of course, have to
work within the policies and regulations set by
the School Board, which has responsibility for
operating the schools.
Can it be done? It has always been the
philosophy of this country that citizens can
and should control their schools. School
Board are made up of lay persons - not
educators - and the rights of local school
boards have been jealously guarded. If the
residents of small towns across the country
can run their schools, why can't Blacks?
Both of the desegregation plans proposed
by the School Board and the education plan to
be presented by the Black United Front leave
Boise Elementary School as a Pre-K-eight or a
K-eight school.
Boise's student body is about 90 per cent
minority, with a large concentration of Cam
bodian children and some Indians, Chicanos
and students from other minority groups. The
school has the opportunity to become an
exemplory multi-ethnic school with a strong
bi lingual component.
About ten years ago the Model Cities
Education Committee advocated community
control over one school and desegregation of
the others through pairing. Of course, the
School District violently rejected both ideas. In
the meantime, little desegregation has oc-
cured and little improvement has been made in
the education provided Black children.
The Board has the opportunity to make
Boise a pilot community Control sghool. The
Now, the only three countries left
in southern A frica are Rhodesia,
South A frica and Naimbia. The war
in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) as we saw
recently, finally pushed the whites
to accept the very same settlement
they had rejected for fifteen years.
Later this month Zimbabweans o f
all colors w ill go to the polls to
choose
the
country’s
first
democratically
elected,
Black
m ajority government. So, barring
some last minute hitches, to all in
tents and purposes, another white
m inority regime has toppled. Now
all that’s left is Namibia and South
Africa.
Letters to the Editor
More jails not the answer
C oncerning
the
e d ito ria l
12/27/79, " N o More Prison.” In
essence, our foreign policy today
s till remains a shackle on the
liberation struggle in this nation.
A ro un d this nation, caucasoid
youth are already in motion by the
tens o f thousands led by hundreds
o f skilled organizers and tacticians
who recognize Vietnam and Cam
bodia as the fuses which may yet
light a world holocaust. We shall
make a q u a lita tiv e change in
A m e rika
when
the
laggard
caucasoid workers stop looking in
fear at the com petition potential
Black workers represent, and find
men who will lead them in concert
with Blacks, their allies, to establish
peace and justice, based on a system
which w ill distribute the vast fruits
o f their joint labor.
D r. K in g s c o n trib u tio n to
Am erika and the w o rld was his
willingness and determ ination to
confront a sick, insane and vicious
Ainerikan system. He confronted
A in e rika ’ s national sickness w ith
her own health chart-the U nited
States C o n stitu tio n . He marched
under the banner o f the C o n
stitution, and was jailed, beaten and
finally killed. A ll the while M artin
Luther King confronted A m erika
with the haunting question: can a
nation whose rights are so clearly
defined and so loosely interpreted
expect to survive?
Throughout history men in power
have always feared the man who
could control the minds o f youth.
Socrates was forced to drink the cup
o f hemlock by the system to prevent
him from further “ poisoning” the
minds o f youth w ith wisdom and
truth he learned on the continent o f
Alkebu-lan (A frika). But somehow
such attem pts to d iscred it and
destroy have a way o f widening a
m an’ s fo llo w in g . The cup o f
hemlock destroys the very person
who orders its consumption. And
truth prevails.
It’ s plain hell around this nation.
People are pushing dope, they’ re in
to p ro s titu tio n , and th ey’ re into
mugging. It’ s not because they want
to do this, but dammit, there is little
left for them to look forward to. To
deprive a person o f w ork is to
negate a p o rtio n o f his or her
h u m a n ity. The d ivision s o f
A in e rik a n society, ra c ia lly and
economically, also contribute to the
problem o f organizing the unem
ployed, making more d iffic u lt the
development o f a common interest,
a shared political consciousness and
program. One group is pitted against
the next and is led to believe that
the benefits gained by others
necessarily occur at their own ex
pense. It is clear in whose interests it
is to keep ethnic groups divided, just
as colonialists o f a former era main
tained their dominance through a
policy o f divide and control.
The inecitable pathway for untold
numbers o f these poor and unem
ployed people leads to lives o f
crime, drugs, and hustling-trying to
beat the system that all too frequen
tly chews them up. W ithout decent
remunerative jobs, the generational
cycle o f poverty is given another
spin and society picks up the tab in
increased crime, welfare, and urban
decay. The crim inal justice systern-
the police, prosecutors, courts, and
k o n c e n tra tio n kamps (p riso n s)-
aggravates and com pounds the
problem s o f Black and p oo r
caucasoid people which steins from
the racism and p o ve rty that
surround th e ir lives. Rather than
re h a b ilita tin g y o u th fu l offenders,
the system o f crim inal justice rein
forces c rim in a l b ehavior in the
m anner in w hich it selectively
punishes p oo r caucasoids and
Blacks. Alongside the schools, it
conspires to keep poor people in
their degraded status on the pain o f
rem oving them fro m society
altogether.
1 believe, a successful attack on
rising crime rates must consider the
employment problems facing poor
and unemployed people. What can
be done, in the context o f the failure
o f our moral and political systems,
to provide jobs and a decent stan
dard o f livin g fo r all Ainerikans.
The most im p o rta n t and pratical
measure that those outside o f
government can take is to begin to
apply massive political pressure on
all institutions o f government.
U ntil a movement fo r economic
justice arises, "d e m o c ra c y " w ill
remain a meaningless aphorism and
“ equality” an empty slogan.
From South A fric a ’s point o f
view, the "lo ss” o f Rhodesia is
going to be especially costly. The
“ loss” o f Rhodesia, in the eyes o f
most analysts may trigger what
south A frica has feared for the last
three hundred years: a Black
takeover. As happened in Zim bab
we after the Portuguese were over
thrown in Mozambique, the war in
tensified to the point where the
whites were fu lly forced to concede
defeat, so now in South A frica it
BUF proposes community middle schools
PORTLAND OBSERVER
The Portland Observer'» official position is expressed only in its
Editorial column Any other material throughout the paper is the
opinion of the individual writer or submitter and does not nec.es
serily reflect the opinion of the Portland Observer
283 2486
ALFRED L. HENDERSON
Editor / Publisher
National Advertlaing Representative
Amalgamated Publishers Inc.
Naw York
■
5th Place
Best Editorial
• ONPA 1973
J
Honorable Mention
Herrick Editorial Aware
NNA 1973
2nd Placb
Best Editorial
3rd Place
Community Leadersh >
ONPA 1975
3rd Place
Community Lemtershn
ONPA 1978
Reports o f attacks on rural farms,
border areas and such like have in
creased almost tenfold w ithin the
past few months. More significant
too has been the number o f inciden
ts reported in the cities and town
ships. A few months back, twelve
Black men stood trial in Pretoria ac
cused o f attacking a police station in
Soweto, Johannesburg where two
Black policemen were killed and
another two wounded. The same
group o f twelve was also being
charged with receiving training
abroad and bringing weapons into
the country for the purpose o f over
throwing the government.
Last month tw o Black teenagers,
armed with machine guns, burst in
to a bank in Pretoria and seized
about a dozen hostages. For the
release o f the hostages, they deman
ded the release o f Nelson Mandela,
president o f the A N C (A frican
National Council) who has been in
prison o f Robben Island since 1962.
He was sentenced to life imprison
ment for his advocacy o f equality o f
all south A fric a ’ a people. Police
stormed the bank and killed the two
youth including one o f the hostages.
This is the kind o f thing that sen
ds shivers down the spine o f apar
theid. South A frica is armed to the
teeth and prepared to meet any in
vasion just as Rhodesia was. A
guerrilla war, however, is a horse o f
very different color. As Rhodesia
found out, all those sophisticated
weapons are cirtually useless when
you cannot even see the enemy,
there w ill be no massive invasion o f
South A frica. The Africans have
found the simplest answer to the
whites superiority in weaponry:
guerrilla war. It worked in Vietnam,
it worked in Mozambique, Angola,
Guinea Bissau, Algeria, Zimbabwe
and it is going to work in Namibia
and South A frica. Even the nuclear
bomb that South A frica is rumored
to have w ill be o f no use unless the
apartheid regime decides to blow
everybody in that part o f the w orld,
themselves included, to kingdom
come.
It is this fear in South A frica that
had prompted the apartheid regime
to prop up Smith fo r the last fifteen
years.
Even as we go to press, there are
still an estimated 2,000 or so South
A frican troops in Rhodesia that had
been fighting alongside the Smith-
Muzorewa forces in a vain e ffo rt to
stem the Black liberation tide. Now
that all o f that has failed South
A frica is trying to influence the o ut
come o f the elections. I f Muzorewa
were to win, Ian Smith urged all
whites to support Joshua Nkomo.
He realizes that Muzorewa does not
stand a chance so he is now trying to
back Nkomo in another desperate
e ffo rt to stop from winning out
right.
The thinking in Petoria is that,
while Mugabe would no doubt
throw his unconditional support
behind the liberation o f South
A frica , Nkomo would exercise a lit
tle caution. Either way, with all
these Black governments now
staring her hatefully in the face, the
future does not look too rosy. Once
again, the question being asked is:
“ how long can South A frica last?”
Independence in Zimbabwe w ill also
free Zambia, Mozambique, Angola,
Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland
from dependence on South A frica
for food, markets and export
outlets. So South A frica w ill be
m ointoring the Zimbabwe elections
with a lot more than “ Big Brother”
interest.
HAP employee wins civil rights suit
(Continued from P. 1 Col. 6)
about residential security. Tenant
concerns were related to flimsy
locks and doors that could and had,
been broken through. Swan conten
ded he was told by Londahl not to
"s tir up the tenants” about security.
He sought punitive damages against
Londahl for her actions disciplining
him after the Dekuin Court tenant
meeting.
HAP contended at the trial that
Swan’ s statements at the June
meeting with tenants were not
protected
under
constitutional
rights
of
free
speech
and
association, that Swan could no
longer have been an effective em
ployee at Dekuin Court because he
had chosen to "cham pion tenant
causes" rather than to support H AP
policy, and that he was not entitled
to a hearing since his transfer was
Dr. Jam il Cherovee
not for disciplinary reasons. Lon
Field Dir. Tor (CURE)
dahl said she preferred to view the
memos and transfer as “ feedback.”
She also viewed firing an employee
as “ feedback” that was, she said,
not
necessarily
bad
because
someday the employee might realize
it had been the best thing that could
today.
have happened
(Continued from page 1 col. 6)
“ The m ulti-cultural education in barassed that he was still employed.”
child about how his ancestors in
M usolf denied knowing that
Herndon explained that the BUI
Portland is a disgrace. I was looking
hearing dates had been scheduled
fcgypt contributed to the formation
at a list o f multi-cultural activities membership do not consider them
for Swan and stated he knew only
ot
mathematics.
Chemistry,
done by some o f the schools and it selves to be experts in curriculum, that Swan had “ requested” a
astronomy, reading, geometry -- all
was pathetic. Here is King school but they want the school district iz> hearing when the H A P Board o f
began in Egypt. And we now that the
getting a grant to study Japanese and bring in curriculum and teacher Commissioners later met to consider
Egyptians were Black people with
Chinese, and they have never even training experts as consultants.
wooley hair. It would give the Black
the issue. M usolf alleged further
The proposals w ill be discusses jt that the board had concentrated on
been taught about themselves. I f I
child motivation if you could tell him
was in charge and someone turned King Neighborhood Facility, Thur whether or not Swan was entitled to
that his ancestors did this 5,000 years
in
a report like that, I’ d be ern- sday at 7:00 p.m.
ago and so surely he can learn math
a hearing rather than whether such
a hearing, if held, sould be open or
closed
Swan’ s attorney stated that
1st Place
board minutes showed otherwise.
Community Service
ONPA 1973
H A P attorney, Miles Sweeney,
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stated at the trial, in reference to the
Portland, Oregon 97217. Poet Office Box 3137, Portland. Oregon
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Dekuin Court playground issue
97208 Second class postage paid at Portland, Oregon
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that, “ we’ d all like a park next door
ONPA 1973
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to us.” He mentioned H A P budget
outside Tri-County area Postm aster Send address changes to
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self, the number o f guerrilla attacks
has risen dramatically since the
Zimbabwe victory.
cut», though on a late 1979 K O IN
television program, “ Northwest
Illustrated,” it was stated that
H A P ’ s federal funding had in
creased ahead o f inflation over the
past years and that many people see
cuts in social services to tenants as
being due to H A P priorities rather
than fund cuts. H A P agreed at the
trial that services were cut and said
that employee jo b descripitons, in
cluding Swan’ s new job descripiton
prior to the June meeting with
tenants and M usolf, reflected this
policy change.
Attorney Sweeney questioned a
Dekuin Court resident about her in
come and amount o f rent paid in an
e ffo rt, he said, to illustrate the
benefits that thousands o f eligible
families were not able to enjoy;
Judge Edward Leavy refused to
allow the question. In his closing
statement,
attorney
Edstrom
decried this as one "lo w p o in t” in
the trial and an attempt by Sweeney
to make it appear that “ single
mothers receiving assistance were
living the life o f Riley.”
Witnesses, three from Dekuin
Court and one former tenant
manager at Dekuin C ourt, were
denied by H A P ’ s attorney, per
mission to sit in the courtroom after
their testimony until the afternoon
o f the tria l’ s second day. They
waited in the hall " t o lend moral
support.”
In his closing statement, Sweeney
stated that even i f Swan had been
granted a hearing by H A P , it would
not have been possible for him to be
transferred back to Dekuin Court as
he believed. Swan attorney Edstrom
said that this showed what a
"sham ” the whole process in that
"o pe ratio n ” is, that even if Swan
had been granted a hearing, the
decision had already been made. He
said that the ju ry , in giving Swan his
day in court, should read H A P ’ s
grievance policy which clearly states
that such an outcome, transfer back
to an employee’ s previous position,
is a possible decision o f a grievance
hearing.
Swan, was unemployed for eight
months follow ing his resignation
from H A P , is now employed at
Providence Medical Center as a
Mental Health Therapist. A fte r
college in Wyoming, he served as a
VISTA volunteer in West Virginia
where he worked with people in
rural areas, most o f whom were
retired coal miners and their
families. He also previously worked
at Columbia Villa as Service C oor
dinator fo r H AP.
When asked about his feelings at
the tria l’ s outcome, M r. Swan
stated, " I ’ m overwhelmed. 1 can’ t
tell you how good it feels to be vin
dicated by an im partial ju ry.
Dedicated people from Concordia
Com m unity Association and from
the
Dekuin
Court
Tenant
Organization
stuck
together
throughout this whole matter, and I
would have sunk w ithout their sup
port. And, o f course, city officials
and M ayor Goldschmidt played an
instrumental part in getting some o f
the playground back; I'm very
grateful fo r that. It really has been a
join t e ffo rt.”
J: pitch
W
IN!
B jzfl Birth D efects Jjgg
are forever
w m . Unless v o u aFPy
> \ HELP
MARCH
OF DIMES
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