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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1980)
Pag* 2 Portland Observer February 21.1980 Diplomas, Diplomacy and Development EDITORIAL/OPINION By N. Fungai Kumbula Curriculum for the future The school district is preparing to develop one, tw o or more middle schools and to design a stronger upper grade program fo r Boise. Am ong the programs prominently mentioned - especially for a magnet middle school - is an arts program designed to draw children who would later move into the Jefferson magnet program. We were disappointed to see in the district's Desegregation Plan the proposal that Boise, along w ith its fu n d a m e n ta ls p ro g ra m be p ro vid e d speech, dram a, jo u rn a lis m and television/radio. The arts are valid subjects of study ana should be taught in every school, but how many Black youngsters will make a career of the arts? Its alm ost like encouraging vast numbers of Black children to place their hopes in professional sports, when only a few can achieve that goal. In designing a new m iddle school in the Black com m unity, the School Board should try to look into the future and determine w hat types of career opportunities will be available and to provide the type of education that will prepare children for those careers. The EPA says there w ill be over 300 new job titles in environmental protection alone. Other growing fields are computers, space and alter nate energy. The Board also should look at fields where Blacks are underrepresented - medicine, law, engineering, foreign service - and provide not only the educational o ffe rin g s, b u t the e x posure to professionals in those fields that w o u ld inspire and enable students to seek these careers. One reason Blacks are underrepresented in many professional fields and in professional schools is because Black children are mis- educated in the early years. It's d ifficu lt fo r a student who has never had science to get into medical school and it is hard for a student who has never met an engineer to be directed into engineering. A ny middle school established in the Black com m unity should not only provide the basics - reading, w ritin g , a rith m e tic - b u t should provide history and geography, French and Spanish, science, creative w riting and speech as w ell as the arts, industrial arts, physical education and athletics. Letters to the Editor Let's make progress at home To the editor: It is clear that any progressive future involving improvements in the qu a lity o f everyday life in Amerikan society immediately rests upon substantial changes in the con tent and direction o f US foreign policy. It is difficult for many o f the people o f this nation to face up to, but the stubborn fact is that we inherit a terrible legacy o f criminal- like behavior toward other nations of the world from the Truman A d ministration down to the recently disgraced Nixon-Agnew-Ford. The suffering caused by this foreign policy has been enormous, as the government o f this country poured billions of dollars into prop ping up fascist-type dictatorships all over the globe because these govern ments promised to be “ friendly” to US corporate investments. It is p rim a rily this area o f regressive foreign policy that earned D r. King’s condemnation when he said, “ The Amerikan government is the greatest purveyor o f violence in the world today.” In a very real sense our large cities with their squalor, mass unemployment, declining soc ial services and deteriorating public school systems are a m irror and a symptom of what US foreign policy has wrought in domestic conditions. The riches o f the national treasury have been poured into the military while the people’s needs go begging. Consequently, foreign policy is, in a very fundamental sense, a major domestic issue. .The spiritual and economic waste, which every ad m in istra tio n o f the past three decades has sponsored by pursuing a foreign policy o f national chauvinism and arrogance, has brought the nation to this point wherein a whole generation o f young people are saddled with a way-of-life that offers less hope for a progressive future than has been faced by any generation o f Amerikans in this century. The foreign policy o f the past 30 years has been characterized by its lack ol morality and its unconcern lo r human rights. The economic and military aid which the US has repeatedly given to the most repressive regimes in the world - Chile, South Korea, Iran, H aiti, Greece and South Afrika, to name a few - has cost the Amerikan tax payers billions o f dollars and is an a ffront to civilized international relations. The foreign policy, whether measured by open warfare against the Korean and Vietnamese peoples or by such covert operations as the C IA ’ s overthrow o f the reform government o f Guatemala in 1954, is a measure of the distortion o f national p rio ritie s which has taken place in our country since the end of the Second World War. To fundamentally change the direction o f US foreign policy will take more than good intentions expressed in words. The sincerity o f President Carter’s expressed intentions to turn US foreign policy toward a peace and good neighbor course is left in serious doubt when he agrees to fur ther US aid to the police-state regime in South Korea on the grounds that our “ national security is involved. This is just nonsense. It is not national security but US neo-colonialism which is served by such falsehoods. The situation in South A fric a reducing the arms race, especially nuclear weapons, are the focus o f the international community at this juncture in w orld h istory. The struggle fo r jobs, a nationalized system o f health care, and quality education in our country w ill meet with success in direct proportion to the victories we gain in the struggle to achieve a progressive change in US foreign policy. The current $120 billion a year military budget hangs like an albatross around the neck o f our national effort to fu lfill these domestic needs. The military budget has become an in s titu tio n — a product o f the Cold War - and so has the far-reaching crisis it Is generating in Amerikan society. Our unfinished agenda o f human rights here in A m erika is con siderable. I t ’ s achievement is also inseparable from efforts to secure a toreign policy which respects the human rights and the national in dependence, dem ocratic and socialist political gains o f working people in other parts o f the world. LUTHER Dr. Jamil Cherovee Field Dir. For CORE By Brumsic Brandon. Date: June 17, 1987. government had embarked upon. Place: U niversity o f Zim babwe, Faced w ith a cash s h o rtfa ll, Harare, Zimbabwe. therefore, the idea, actually the Occasion: Graduation ceremonies brainchild o f Dr. Mungate and a for the University o f Zimbabwe’ s number o f his colleagues at the medical class. various campuses o f the University As Dr. Fungai Mungate, Dean o f o f Zimbabwe, had begun to make the School o f Medicine got up to more sense. Called the “ Pundits of deliver the commencement address, Regional Development,” this group he was thinking o f the changes that had proposed the consolidation of had taken place in Southern Africa all o f southern A fric a ’ s develop over the past decade. The position ment projects. The countries in he held now would have been un volved would be Zimbabwe, Zam thinkable way back then, in the days bia, M alaw i, M ozam biqui, Bot o f “ bad old Ian Smith.” Back then, swana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Ango his MD and Ph.D. degrees from the la and Namibia. South Africa, or University o f Alberta, Canada, one Azania as it w ill then be called, o f the best medical schools in the would be invited to join as soon as world, would have been good only the Africans took over. to w ork in some remote, ill- The m ajor selling point o f equipped, overcrowded, rural Black regional development as opposed to hospital if he got a job at all. each country going it alone was “ Everything comes to those who th a t, by pooling resources, the w ait,” the old folks used to say. countries would be able to afford “ Sure,” thought M ungate, “ we and carry out a lot more projects would sure have rotted under the than they could individually. Educa yoke o f colonialism i f we had tion was the first area o f coopera waited.” After the conclusion o f the tion proposed. Rather than try to war o f liberation in 1980 and the expand the University o f Zimbabwe election o f a popular government to cover all the fields o f study pro which had initially been hampered posed in the curricula, they could, by the so-called London agreement instead, make each co u n try's restrictions, the development o f the university system an integral part o f country and o f the region had the entire re g io n ’ s educational proceeded by leaps and bounds. A f system. The plan eventually agreed ter almost ten years o f war, the upon stipulated that the University primary task o f the new revolution o f Zimbabwe would house all o f ary government had been recon southern A frica ’ s medical, dental, structed. The government had p h a r m a c e u tic a l, b io lo g ic a l, focused first on health, education chemical, public health and other and re-orientation o f the economy health-related fields o f study. to gear it more towards the needs o f M ozam bique, which had the people than had been the case developed a hig h ly successful under previous successive colonial economic system, would house the regimes. School o f Econom ics, Business, The task o f reconstruction had Finance and Financial Planning. proved to be quite formidable given Angola, with its overabundance o f the sorry state o f the country at the p o litic a l experts, n a tu ra lly was time o f independence. Even the $2 assigned the Schools o f P o litica l billion from the Western sponsored Science, Public A d m in is tra tio n , Zimbabwe Development Fund had Education, International Relations not been quite enough to finance the and Journalism. Namibia took over ambitious program the Zimbabwe M in in g , M e ta llu rg y and MHRC hits City hiring results (Continued from page 1 col. 6) “ Skilled Crafts” or “ Service Main tenance.” The departm ent’ s minority percentage dropped from 6.5to6.3. This department had 17 Black men and 2 Black women in a staff o f 364, or 5.2 percent. Parks, the largest bureau, had 17 Blacks out o f 330 employees. Public U tilities The Departm ent o f P ublic U tilitie s is Com m issioner Frank Ivancie’s department. The depart ment’ s m inority employment per centage was 6.4 percent, w ith all m inorities in “ O ffic e /C le ric a l” , “ Skilled C ra fts” and "M a in te n - ance/Service” . According to the study, “ The department serves as an ¡lustration o f the concentration o f m inorities and women in ’traditional’ categories.” The Departm ent o f P ublic Utilities had 26 Black employees out o f 575. The largest department is water which had 23 Blacks in a total of 422 employees. Public W o rks PORTLAND OBSERVER 1st Place Community Service ONPA 1973 The Portland Observer IUSPS 959 6801 is pub) ,b ed every Thur, dev by txie Publishing Compeny, Inc.. 2201 North Kilhngsworth P o r te d , Oregon 97217. Post Office Bo, 3137 Portland. Oregon 9/208. Second class postage paid at Portland. Oregon 1st Place Best Ad Results ONPA 1973 Subscription, »7 50 per year in Tri County area. »8 00 per year outside Tri County area P ostm aster Send address changes to the Portland Observer, P O B o , 3137, Portland, Oregon 97208 N ational A dvertisin g R ep resentative A m a lg a m a te d Publishers. Inc. N e w York 2nd Place Best Editorial 3rd Place Community Leadership ONPA 1975 M (M *U N£WA Aasociahen . founded IB M O re g o n J r 1 C % |- - V .[I.tp e r P u b lis h e rs ■ * * V I Association M |S ■ W 3rd Place Community Leadership ONPA 1978 staff are at less than parity. “ Public Works, despite the larger number of hires, was furtherest below parity in hiring both minorities (3.8 percent) and women (4.6 percent).” Minorities make up 4.8 percent of the employees. Public Works had 36 Black men and one Black woman out o f a total o f 1,449 employees. Large depart ments include streets with one Black out o f 146 employees, Sanitary Engineering w ith no Blacks on a staff o f 93; maintenance with 14 our o f 377, Fire with 17 out of 683; and Wastewater Treatment with 4 out of 122. Blacks made up 2.6 percent of the Department o f Public Works staff. The D epartm ent o f Public Utilities and Public Works “ stand out due to poor utilization as well as having the lowest promotional per centage for both protected groups,” (m inorities, women) “ evidencing the need for affirmative actions to address lim ited progress towards equal employment opportunity.” M H R l made the fo llo w in g recommendations: 1. That the A ffirm a tive Action O ffice determine and analyze un determ ined barriers to increase u tiliz a tio n o f m inorities and women, especially in departments where under u tiliz a tio n exists; analyze bureau’ s goals; report find ings and make recommendations to the Commissioners-In-Charge. 2. That the training component of the Personnel Division work with the A ffirm a tiv e A ction O ffice to analyze the p a rtic ip a tio n o f minorities and women in training opportunities and develop plans to further assist minorities and women in competing for permanent em ployment and promotional oppor tunities. 3. That the EEO Regulatory Committee be activated and assume its mandated role to “ enforce both the need tor, and the successful at tainment o l, positive A ffirm a tiv e Action goals and timetables, and to serve as agent of the Council to en sure implementation o f the A f f ir mative Action Program.” M H R C recommended that the Mayor and each Commissioner ap point staff members to sit on the committee and that the Mayor see that the committee is formed and meets regularly. 4. That the City allocate necessary s ta ff and resources to the A f f i r mative Action Office. Linda Roberts, Interim Director of MHRC, told the Observer that the Com m ission’ s em ploym ent committee is meeting with the City < ommissioners to explain the study and discuss implementation o f the recommendations. We have found a positive a t mosphere and im plementation o f parts o f the Affirm ative Action or dinance that have been neglected seem closer.” “ The EEO Regulatory Commit tee has met only a few times - very irregularly - in the past, and people were not appointed to serve on a continuing basis. This committee - if it functioned properly - would give the Commissioners an insight into what is happening in the depart ments on a regular basis. They w o u ld n ’ t wait fo r a once-a-year report that is two years late.” Subscribe Today Honorable Mention Herrick Editorial Award NNA 1973 283 2486 ALFRED L. HENDERSON Editor/Publisher The Department ol Public Works was headed by Mayor Connie Mc Cready during the 1977-78 fiscal year, the period o f the analysis. "The Department of Public Works exhibits poor u tiliza tio n o f both women and m inorities in every category w ith the exception o f women in “ O ffic e /C le ric a l” .positions and m inorities in “ Ser- v ic e /M a in te n a n c e ,” evidencing protective class concentration in traditional areas.” In all categories except "Protec tive Services” (5.3 percent) and “ Service/Maintenance” (8.0 per cent) the Public W orks m in o rity 5th Place Best Editorial ONPA 1973 The Portland Observers 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 sanly reflect the opinion of the Portland Observer Engineering Swaziland took Math, Physics, Genetics and Agricultural Science. Botswana had the Social Sciences, Humanities, Music and Art while Zambia took over Speech, Mass Communications, Languages and History. Malawi became the center for studies in Geography and Land Management. Thus the university o f each country began to operate as an adjunct o f the Univer sity o f Southern Africa. Not only did this serve a lot o f money but it also increased coopera tion in the region, im proved the quality o f ecucation tremendously since all the experts in each field were concentrated in the same place. The artificial boundaries imposed by colonialism began to crumble and the African Fam ily began to come together again. As successful as this project became, it was only a matter of time before it was dupli cated in other parts o f Africa. This cooperation, with the lessons learned in education, was extended to other areas such as the building o f roads, hospitals, schools, railroads and travel connections: an a irlin e , bus and tra in services, telecommunications networks and agricultural as well as industrial projects. As a result o f all this “ u m o ja ,” southern A fric a soon became the fastest growing region in the w orld in terms o f national development. The success o f all this also brought p o litic a l s ta b ility because when people’ s bellies are fu ll, what do they have to gripe about? South A fric a , which had anxiously watched all these goings on, hoping against hope that they w ould a ll come to nought, was dismayed at their success. A t this point in time also, it was a matter o f time before apartheid was buried for good. As Dr. Mungate got up to speak, he was thinking: “ When Azania jo in s .. . . ” $7.50 per year—Tri-county $8.00 per year—Other NAME ___ ADDRESS C IT Y _____ STATE P ortland O bservar Box 3137 P ortlan d , O regon 97208 ZIP ---------1 I
