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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 14, 1980)
P aga 2 P o rtla n d O b a a rv a r F ab ru ary 14.1980 EDITORIAL/ Dumping nuclear wastes in Africa B y N. Fungai Kumbula What is multi-cultural study? Several schools exhibited their m ulti cultural activities at the school district ad ministration building Monday night as a part of the competition for the McPhearson Award in human relations understanding. Many of the exhibits were interesting and colorful, demonstrating hard work by staff, students and parents and, hopefully, some evidence of growth in understanding the history and culture of various ethnic groups. One exhibit - that of West Sylvan - was par- 'iculary interesting. Seventh graders had prepared notebooks on a "journey" around the world, describing a variety of nations they had visited - Germany, England, India, etc. The thing that was unusual about this exhibit was that the class (or the teacher, chose to select South Africa to visit as a representative of the African continent. Why choose the most blatantly racist nation in the world? Why not choose a Black ruled nation that would demonstrate some attributes of Black African culture? Of the notebooks displayed only one men tioned "coloured people" at all and we were told by this student that "in religion as in other areas coloured people have accepted white traditions" and that coloured people eat the same foods as whites but have a somewhat lower cost diet. These children did learn about the geo graphy, the republican form of government, the products, the animals etc. No where was there a mention of either the contributions of Blacks to the history and culture of South Africa, their contribution to the econom y, apartheid, the terrible o p pression of Black people. W e certaintly hope that this is not a model for multi-cultural curriculum in the Portland District. Letters to the Editor Appoint ex-con to parole board Dear Editor: Recently on page I6 A , the Oregon Statesman, between the car toon strips o f "P e a n u ts ” and “ Blondie” and a homeowners tip on letting hot bath water sit and cool rather than drain it, (thereby warming the air in the house), there was a small article entitled, "Brow n appoints ex-convicts to State Board ot Corrections." Everyday convicts are released from prisons somewhere, every day convicts who commit new crimes are in the news somewhere, everyday ex-cons walk city streets somewhere, but only on ce in a blue moon an ex-convict who succeeds in turning his life around in problems in their own lives, let alone w ithstand all the added problems they have piled on top of them by the prison experience, but at the same time there are hundreds who do not succeed. Successful ex- cons, it seems to me, would be good role models fo r people in prison trying to relate to a society the con vict could not make it in is a hard concept. Trying to relate to a society that allows the things it does behind walls is a hard, if not impossible, concept. But relating to an ex-con who made it in spite o f all the added spite o f the prison experience, is noted briefly between the cartoons and homeowner tips. There are thousands o f ex-cons who cannot straighten out all the problems the state weighed him down with is not only a realistic concept but also an ideal. Few prisoners know o f successful ex-convicts. Ex-cons are not allowed to associate w ith ex-cons, the rationale being that it w ill lead to trouble. But it could be time for the experts to reconsider their modus operandi. C om m unity involvem ent w ith convicts might be an idea whose time has come. Every member o f the community is involved (by higher and higher taxes at the very least), or will become involved, with con victs and ex-convicts. Sincerely, Donald Danford School Board wants citizen's comments To the Editor: As you know from news media reports and neighborhood meetings, the Portland Board o f Education w ill try to decide on a comprehen sive school desegregation plan by the end o f this month. Currently the school board has reduced the various plans under consideration to two. The plans are supposed to ser ve these objectives: reduce racial isolation in an equitable manner and raise the qu a lity o f education received by students in the school district. Here are some o f the ways to Jury supports employee suit to The Editor: Concordia Community Association’s Dekum Court Task Force is heartened by the just outcome o f Mr. Ron Swan’s suit against the director o f Operations ind the executive director of the Housing Authority o f Portland (HAP). Mr. Swan, a former service coordinator for HAP, claimed, among other things, denial o f his civil and property rights through unfair discipline and denial o f his right to a hearing. Mr. Swan did his job, a job which did and should involve service to HAP residents as well as rent collection for HAP. He was willing to risk his own secure future for his belief that a means to allow tenants to be heard and to have input into decisions should, by right, be provided by HAP, and for his belief that H A P ’ s action to deny, by sale o f all usable undeveloped property, the children of Dekum C ourt’ s forty families their backyard playspace was unjustifiable. Part o f providing adequate housing, which HAP repeatedley and correctly describes as it’ s "prim ary function,” is to provide usable space for children to play. We are heartened also because this ju ry ’s decision shows that just challenges to a large and often insensitive bureaucratic institution from the small voices o f those affected by that institution’ s policies and decisions -- be they tenants, clients, employees or general community members - can reach successful conclusion, if the persistant effort and patience required can be sustained. Our most optimistic hope is that this federal court decision will encourage HAP’s Board of Commissioners and Administrators to evaluate carefully their past performance and present policies as a constructive step leading to much needed change in HAP policy and procedures relating to tenants, employees and neighborhoods. reduce racial isolation and raise the q u a lity o f education being con sidered by the school board: 1. Student assignments 2. School manget programs 3. Staff training 4. Strengthening early childhood education centers What the Board o f Education needs right now is your input and concerns about the two plans it is considering. It docs not want to select any plan w ithout sufficient citizen input, involvement, concern or approval. One o f the ways fo r the school board to learn what you th in k is through public meetings. This Friday, February 15 at 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., there w ill be a p u blic meeting at Bethel A M E Church, 5828 N.E. 8th Avenue. The Rev. L. Fisher Hines, pastor at Bethel, has agreed to allow his church to host a public forum so that members o f the community and parents and children o f Woodlawn, Vernon, Adams and C olum - bia/W hitaker schools can meet with school board members. T alk to those who affect your children’ s education. C. Eddie Edmondson Communications Specialist Sonja Grove Citizen Involvement Coordinator Claudia Fisher, Chairperson CCA Dekum Court Task Force PORTLAND OBSERVER The Portland Observer (USPS 969 6801 is published every Thurs day by Exie Publishing Company, Inc., 2201 North Killingsworth. Portland, Oregon 97217, Post Office Box 3137, Portland, Oregon 97208 Second class postage paid at Portland, Oregon Subscnptions »7 50 per yeer in Tri-County area, »8 00 per year outside Tri County area P ostm aster Send address changes to the Portland Observer, P O Box 3137. Portland. Oregon 97208 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 neces sarily reflect the opinion of the Portland Observer. 283 2486 ALFRED L. HENDERSON Editor/P ublisher N ational A d vertisin g R ep resentative A m a lg a m a te d Publishers. Inc. N e w York 1st Place Community Service ONPA 1973 1st Place Best Ad Results ONPA 1973 5th Place Best Editorial ONPA 1973 Honorable Mention Herrick Editorial Award N N A 1973 2nd Place Best Editorial 3rd Place Community Leadership ONPA 1975 3rd Place Community Leadership ONPA 1978 O f all forms o f energy, nuclear West A fric a n country to dump energy is the most controversial. nuclear wastes in his country. The Ever since its introduction several nerve, the callousness, the gross years ago, it has been the subject o f disregard for the consequences o f more, often heated debate than just such an agreement are just unner about anything else in recent years. ving. The fear prevalent among us In an increasingly energy hungry all now is that, with all the super w orld, any new form o f energy secrecy surrounding the nuclear in would normally be welcomed with dustry outlined above, how many open enthusiasm. The objection to "deals” went through without any nuclear energy however, are well o f us being any the wiser? founded. State after state in this country The Three M ile Island near has refused the “ dishonor” of being disaster o f a few short months ago used as a nuclear waste dump and did a lot to rekindle the nuclear con with good reason. These radioactive troversy and to educate others who wastes can cause miscarriages in probably had never given the women and all kinds of birth defects, problem a moment’s thought. Had and not just for a few years but for there been a meltdown at TM1, the thousands o f years. Radiation can resulting radiation would have con also cause all kinds o f human muta taminated the air and the water for tions. Remember Hiroshima? T hir several hundred miles around Three ty years after dropping o f that nu M ile Island and forced the clear bomb, the survivors o f the evacuation o f thousands o f people. blast are still suffering from the ef Some scientists even say that had a fects o f radiation: miscarriages, bir meltdown occured, the radiation ef th defects and various kinds o f can fects could have been felt over half cer. o f the United States. With such stark evidence as to the It is this kind o f controversy that undesirability o f nuclear ill effects, has made the nuclear industry so was it mere greed, sheer avarice, sinisterly secretive. The dem on gross disregard, abysmal ignorance strations at T M I Seabrook, New or lingering “ uncle tom-ism” that Ham pshire, W ashington D .C ., prom pted one Siaka Stevens, Trojan and Mt. Ranier, Wash, have President o f Sierra Leone, to agree all demonstrated the p u b lic ’ s to Sierra Leone’s being used as a anxiety over nuclear power. M elt nuclear dumo? downs and nuclear accidents aside, A Godfrey Harris, Los Angeles the most preplexing problem is what consultant to the Nedlog Technol to do with the spent nuclear fuel, the ogy Group says he offered Siake wastes. Stevens J25 m illion to dump toxic Plutonium which is the material wastes in Sierra Leone. Harris, a used in nuclear plants is very former state department employee, radioactive. That means, unlike went on to say that Nedlog planned other forms o f fuel such as wood, " t o ship all kinds o f hazardous coal, petroleum products and solar wastes” to Sierra Leone. The plot to as well as wind energy, the products ship nuclear wastes to some foreign (wastes) are not readily biodegrad country was hatched to circumvent able. Radioactive substances can stringent tough regulations against linger around for thousands of years; dum ping in this country. A p therein lies the problem o f disposal, parently, companies are now re problem o f disposal. quired to post bonds running into Recently, it has come to the atten several million dollars in case o f an tion o f a number o f Portland area accident later on. African students that one American The Association o f African Stu company involved with the nuclear dents at Portland State University is industry has paid the leader o f one up in arms over this issue and, un derstandably so. As one student put it, “ Nuclear radiation respects no boundaries. I t ’ s not just Sierra Leone that will be affected but all o f West Africa and even the rest o f the continent.” Curiously enough, it is the U.S. State Dept. that seems more concerned about this whole issue than the government o f Sierra Leone. The State Dept. is afraid if word o f this leaks out, A fricans could condemn the United States for "dumping its wastes in the Black man’s backyard.” This is one issue the Africans have promised to fight with everything they’ ve got because this threatens the very survival o f the continent as a whole. Though Liberia and other West A frican countries that had initiallly been contacted by Nedlog had opposed Nedlog’ s dum ping plan, H arris describes Sierra Leone’s Stevens’ response as “ one o f great interest.” Is this old fool totally ignorant o f the hazards o f nuclear wastes? Another sad facet o f the whole episode too involves the gross disregard fo r A fr ic a ’ s welfare by these foreign co r porations so bent on pursuing the dollar at all costs. The Sierra Leone incident is only the tip o f the iceberg; it should also be the kind o f lever used to tip over the likes o f Stevens. A ftica has no place fo r such money-hungry, gullible, naive, callously indifferent Uncle Toms any more. Can you imagine what would happen if Sierra Leone sud denly had to deal with a whole new rash o f cancers, deform ities, mutations and other such horrors? The future o f the African is at stake. Over the next few weeks Siaka Stevents and all stooges o f his kind will feel the full fury o f the wrath o f the African. This should serve as a warning to one and all who were contemplating such fo lly that the real Africans and all their allies w ill not stand idly by while the continent and all its future generations o f un born children are put on the block for a few million miserable dollars. In defense o f Black life (Continued from page 1 col 3) There is determination now to make it poss.ble for Black ch.ldren to reduce learning impediments, and pro vide more emotional comfort through exposure to non-racist education. In the struggle to reach these objectives fio T ° PP° nentS Should understand some Black perspectives as they re la tito segregation and Integra Segregation and integration in America are interlocked with white racism. They are inseparable. Their assort ed functions collectively frustrate the Black population (all non-dominant ethnic populations) from having any success in liberating themselves from the horrendous circumstances created by the barriers and constraints which are the social constructs for racist rejection. nicn P e rc e n ta g e fo rm u la capricious Segregation sets the stage for its targets to be vulnerable to any negative social excesses, abuses and proscrip tions which the segregationists wish to impose. It provides the social climate for the segregationists to feel a cok lective obligation and duty to preserve the status quo. To accomplish this, laws, public policy, attitudes and custom are utilized in some o f the most appalling ways. Consequently, racial discriminations are stimulated and maintained that seriously interfere with interpopulation communication and understanding. This assures that any percentage o f Black students in any school operating under the racist mandates o f the dominant population w ill be segregated with impunity. This does not become altered if the Black student population is 1 «76; 50«?# 99Vo. In a word the theory o f correcting the educational problems facing Black children through racial balance is a joke. The racial attitudes among many school officials are acquired and remain stable with few exceptions through out a lifetime.There are very strong correlates to these attitudes in evidence throughout the dominant population and for many they have been in existence for several generations. This brings us to face the long-held adage that all education up to this point for Black people in America, no matter where it is offered or acquired, is alterna tive education. There is no valid challenge to this because America as a system and its educational structures always deals with Blacks as outsiders. American education, as much or more so than any other institutional area, is a colossal bureaucracy and bastion o f exclusivity, selectivity and status quo maintenance. It has been very effective in providing and sustaining the most damaging negative definitions of Black people, their culture and history. When arbitrary and capricious determinations are announced by this school administration as to the percentages o f Blacks that w ill be admitted to certain public schools, these are not expressions o f interest in the educational and intellectual development o f Black students but are dominant population contrivances to erect new structures o f paralyzing selective segregation under the pretense o f fostering integration. White manipulations for segregation and for integration are never conducted in the spirit of a social contract. They are never covenants entered into with the Black population having equal input, influence and authority. Consequently agreements are never reached that make possible the even and balanced functioning o f society. I I Subscribe Today $7.50 per year—Tri-county $8.00 per year—Other Eo?3i37°b’ #rver 1 P o rtla n d , O rego n 97208 I N A M E _____________ < ’ A D D R E S S ________________________ ___________ _______ 1 C IT Y ---------------------------------- STA TE_____________ Z IP ______ 1
