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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 20, 1980)
Paga 2 P o rtla n d O bsever M a rc h 20, 1980 EDITORIAL/OPINION Zimbabwe: Outfoxing the fox Unions: Fighting the working class The City of Portland hs an extremely poor record in minority hiring. Few City bureaus have anywhere near the numbers of minorities they should have if hiring were done, as the say, 'color blind . Those who fear affirmative action will favor Blacks and lead to large num bers of Black employees can relax. It doesn't happen. Affirmative action does not lead to any over abundance of Black employees. Those who are afraid that whites, especially white men, will no longer be hired should look at the facts. In Portland, which prides itself on its tolerant attitudes, employment in City, County, State and School District jobs are minimal. The proposal the Civil Service Commission is considering would not force hiring of minorities. It would not even guarantee that minorities are hired. It would allow a manager - - in a bureau that has few minority employees - - to find some on the eligible list. This is an extremely weak proposal and only with extreme pressure from the City Council will it have any effect. Those Bureaus that have traditionally discriminated will continue to do so, unless the Commissioners in charge Two weeks after his landslide vic tory, Robert Mugabe continues to confound w ould be critics. The prophets o f doom had predicted, if Mugabe wins, the whites w ill leave en masse; the whites w ill stage a coup d etat; there will be civil war; Nkom o and Mugabe w ill turn against each other; South A frica would invade and so forth and so on. Not only has Mugabe proved all these "experts” wrong, he has also proved to be the best leader Zim babwe could have had at this time. So far he has proved that the people’ s mandate was not misplaced. The task facing Mugabe is not to be underestim ated. On the one hand, after nine decades o f colonial oppression, the Africans look to him for deliverance. They would like to see him overturn the system as quickly as possible. They would like to start “ tasting the fruits o f ‘ ‘ ru s u n u n g u k s o , in k u lu le k o ” freedom.’ On the other hand, wat ching very apprehensively, are the whites, the perpetrators o f the system about to be dumped. Mugabe’s task is to cater to both Black and white aspirations: aspirations that all along have been diam etrically opposed. In a n u t shell, his task is to build a single nation out o, these fragments. For reasons that may not be too apparent, Mugabe cannot go ahead and simply ignore the whites. For one, the international community, so long dormant, is now scrutinizing Zimbabwe for any signs o f racism. So many people are just waiting to point a finger and say, " I told you so.” For another, all along make m inority hiring a top priority and evaluate managers accordingly. It is unfortunate that such a do nothing proposal would meet with opposition. And even worse, that opposition is from the unions. Minorities are deluged with anti-union, 'right to work” propaganda. At the same timé unions are losing much of their respect, power and political influence. The union movement cannot be helped by those who push their own self interest at the expense of working class minority people. Friend or foe Open letter to the School Board Dear Board Members: by N. Funga! Kumbula munity to the detriment o f the rela mises were made to avert the Black United Front’s boycott. However, tively poor and powerless who need We are a group o f ordinary Port most o f the terms o f that agreement high quality education desperately, land residents who have gotten or have been violated. The Black in order to lace the critical problems ganized in response to the general United Front has been met with re and hard times our country is enter decline in living standards poor and b u ff after delay after insult by an ing. We have noticed that upper working people are facing today. administration that should be ac class communities don’ t have to get We feel that inflation, nuclear ac up in arms and make threats to be tively soliciting this kind o f com cident, war, low wages, racial and munity input. taken seriously like we in the lower class oppression, sexual harassment, Why has Dr. Blanchard’s admin class communities do. etc., are not going to go away by istration acted toward the Black These opinions are based on themselves. We feel that our philos numerous conversations with com community in this fashion? It seems ophy— that the only way to solve to us that the adm inistration’s at m unity residents, parents, and our problems is for ordinary people school employees. In particular, we titude stems from the fact that lots to get active and u n ited— is would like to point out three ex o f federal money follow s Black becoming more and more accepted amples which support these conclu children to wherever they are bused. in our communities (St. Johns and Under the m isleading banner o f sions: the case o f the Metropolitan the inner Southeast). We have been achieving “ racial balance,” (the ad Learning Center (M LC), the plight w orking with and learning from o f the Job Corps program, and the ministration, it seems, still has not other grass-roots groups like the experiences o f the Black com realized that a school which is 95 per Black United Front. We would like munity. cent white is more racially "unbal to share with you some o f our ideas Several years ago, D r. Blan anced” than the 55 per cent Black about the Portland Public Schools chard’ s administration decided to school whose children are bused to and Dr. Blanchard's adm inistra transfer Amasa L. Gilman, the very achieve “ balance"), Black children tion. are bused to richer schools—largely well-liked principal of M LC, and to We would like to emphasize that w h ite — whose enrollm ent, and replace him with Dick Wheatley. we do not presume to be speaking Students and parents were outraged therefore funding, is too small to for the Black community. It is our allow for certain "extra” programs that they hadn’ t been consulted. observation that the Black United M LC had been an alternative school like music teachers. W'e have Front represents that com m unity that had a high degree o f parent and noticed that it is the richer white very well. Rather we represent a com m unity involvem ent. People schools who receive this extra growing trend in our somewhat in were upset because M r. Wheatley money: we don’ t see Black children tegrated, mostly white communities. had very little experience or under being bused to the poorer white We have two points we would standing of alternative education. In schools in St. Johns, the inner South respectfully like to submit for your spite of many meetings, including a east, or Lents. Thus the administra consideration. First, we would like large fund-raising rally and cultural tion, all under the guise o f "desegre to urge you to adopt the Black U nit event that involved the vast majority gation," has been able to keep the ed F ront’ s school program. Black o f the M LC community, Dr. Blan relatively pow erful sectors o f the children (as well as white) have a c hard’ s ad m in istra tio n w o u ld n ’ t community happy at the expense of right to quality education in their budge. The parents were referred to Black children. How else can it be neighborhood schools. This goal various adm inistration-controlled explained that a Black child, who cannot be reached through a com bureaucratic channels and School has lived in the same house through plex, gerrymandered busing system, Board Member Jonathan Newman. out her school career, has been but through improving education in A ll to no avail: Wheatley stayed. He bused to over twelve schools? the neighborhood schools. This is came out pretty well, too: he was the obvious way to improve educa We would like to see our schools able to use his tenure at M LC to get tion: the Board, we are sure, would be places where ordinary people o f his Ph.D. in alternative education! never think of raising the quality o f Another incident was the loss of whatever race or nationality would education at James John or Buck- the Portland Job Corps Center con feel comfortable, that would wel man by busing white children to the tract with the Department of Labor. come our ideas and involvement and West Hills schools. For Black chil Under Portland Public School ad use our skills and knowledge and dren improved education requires ministration the Center became top- teach all our histories to all the kids. an a ffirm a tiv e action hiring heavy with administrators and yet We believe that hard times are here program w ith lots o f room fo r discipline was lax, the facilities were and harder times are coming fo r community involvement in selecting poorly maintained and morale was everyone; and that the only way out teachers and administrators; inclu low among students and staff. The is for everyone to stick together and sion o f Black history and culture in Job Corps contract was eventually help each other out. The present curricula as well as training in these lost to RCA Corp., which was able school administsration has consis subjects for teachers in the district; to underbid the P ortland Public tently ignored the input o f com a d d itio n a l schools in the Black Schools. The real losers, however, munity groups like the M LC par community; an end to racist disci were the hard-core unemployed ents, the Community Coalition for plinary measures. youth the program is supposed to School Integration, and the Black Secondly, we think it would be United Front—perhaps out o f fear serve. good for you to ask for Dr. Blan T h ird ly , we have the struggles o f being "deluged by the rabble chard’ s resignation. H ere’ s why. around school desegregation. The wanting things changed" if it once Dr. Blanchard seems to administer Com m unity C oalition fo r School ‘ ‘ gives in .” W'e hope that you, the schools with the prime objective Integration spent two years doing a members o f the School Board, do o f preserving the power o f his ad very thorough study o f the whole not have this fear o f the community. ministration and to the detriment of question. This work was treated in a We hope you w ill be far-sighted the School Board’s authority, the very off-hand manner by Dr. Blan enough to act in the spirit o f unity wishes o f parents, students and chard. An adm inistration should necessary in this increasingly d iffi teachers for good schools that are welcome, encourage and cherish this cult period. We urge you again: appropriate to the needs o f the par kind o f community involvement in carry out the Black United Front’s ticular communities. He seems to the schools but Dr. Blanchard and school program; ask Dr. Blanchard use his position to establish an ad to some extent the School Board to resign. ministrative staff that is loyal to him under his leadership has instead by making decisions that favor the laregely ignored this effort. When Yours truly. advancement of administrators over the Black United Front was formed The Portland Fight Back the advancement o f education. to continue pressing for changes in steering committee. Also, he seems to use his position to \ (P o rtla n d F ig h t Back may be the way Black children are treated serve and curry favor with the rich reached by contacting The Portland they were called "irresponsible” in and powerful sectors o f the com- Observer.) stead o f listened to. Some compro Rhodesia’ s whites have demon strated a total lack o f understanding o f the nuances o f civilization. They have controlled the economy all these years. If they leave en masse, it is not beneath them to sabotage that economy. A sabotaged economy is one problem Mugabe would rather not have to deal with. So, showing a sophistication and political savvy that no one, not even his closest watchers expected o f him, he has opted for diplomacy. He has assured the whites they do not have to w orry about ex propriation, nationalization or any o f those good re volutiona ry remedies - just yet. Instead, he has promised to be “ pragm atic.” As apprehensive and naive (and without any other options anyway), this is just what they wanted to hear. The easiest way to outwit the fox is to play by his/her rules. In the Cabinet portfolios that he announced last week, Mugabe ap pointed two whites, one the the Ministry o f Finance, the other to the M in is try o f A g ric u ltu re . Their deputies are both Black. In ad dition, he has retained Peter Walls as commander of the army and gave him the task o f integrating the guerrillas and the former Rhodesian army. His deputy is Rex Nhongo, Mugabe's own commander-in-chief of his ZAN U army. That one move alone killed several birds (like killing four birds with one stone). For one, it reassured the whites that they are still in control o f the army, but are they? Not really. The Rhodesian army was about 80% Black and, in the last days o f the war, the loyalty of most of them was becoming highly questionable. With Mugabe retaining the M inistry o f Defense for himself, he is Wall’ s immediate boss. With Mugabe breathing in his face and Nhongo down his neck, how much leeway does Walls have? With these former Black Rhodesian soldiers finally realizing how they have been used by the whites and how, all along Mugabe was actually trying to liberate them, can they be expected to go on owing allegiance to Walls? What this points to is that, far from retaining control o f the army, by being appointed commander o f a national army, Walls has been effec tively stripped o f his m ilita ry “ m uscle.” Better s till, it also removes once and for all the threat o f a white staged coup. Walls himself has repeatedly war ned the whites that any of them who “ a ttem pt” such fo lly w ill be severely dealth with. He feels that by staying close to Mugabe, he will maintain some form o f authority. Now, where have 1 heard that one before? In a few years, once Zim babwe’s national army is in place, Walls can be eased on out, retired or fired and Nhongo takes over. By the same token the Ministers o f Finance and A griculture can be sim ilarly eased out. At that time the economy will be in shape again, the Africans will be in charge and the Zimbabwe government, then firm ly in control, will be in a position to deal with any foolishness on the part o f the whites. At that time we shall be talking about how the fox outfoxed the “ fox.” Notes from City Hall By Charles Jordan, Commissioner o f Public Safety “ Legislation alone will not totallv elim inate victim s o f in s titu tio n a l abuse, but it w ill serve as a deterrent to those who commit such abuse" fo prevent abuse, safeguard and enhance the welfare o f patients in long-term care facilities, mandatory reports and investigations o f allegedly abused patients are required, according to the Legislature. In accordance w ith that legislation, a new law enforcement policy has been in itia te d by the P ortland Police Bureau to in vestigate alleged cases o f abuse to citizens livin g in long-term care tacilities or nursing homes. W ithin two hours o f any reported case o f abuse where a patient has been injured accidentally, obtains an in ju ry which appears to be in disagreement with the explanation for the injury, suffers neglect which leads to physical harm , OR, is refused direct patient care, a uniformed officer will be sent to in vestigate. The patient may be photographed as proof of abuse at the time o f the investigation. I f the investigation shows reasonable cause to believe that abuse has oc- cured, a report w ill be forwarded to the Long-Term Care Unit o f the Adult Family Services Division, or a call made (238-7558) for immediate follow-up. The Legislature has attempted to provide a solution to an ever growing list o f complaints in care facilities. For most o f us, the fo r tunate majority, having good health care is a matter o f choice. However, tor many, those choices are limited and that type o f freedom just never exists, because circumstances force us to reside in long-term care facislities. Most of those facilities are quite adequate and provide the necessary care. However, there are some that have been reported for mistreatment and abuse of patients. That is where you ad I, along with a peace officer, can play an im portant role in assuring that the quality o f patient care is maintained. Our "ca rin g ” can be an im p o rta n t part o f a patient’s good treatment. Mistreatment is a different mat ter. Anyone who reports or has reason to believe that someone residing in such a facility is being mistreated or abused, is encouraged to call the POLICE EMERGENCY NUMBER at 760-6911. You are exempt from c iv il or crim inal liability regarding any phase o f your involvement in the abuse report, and all records are kept confiden tial. Let’s make those CARING years COMFORTING years. Unions oppose City affirmative action proposal i i n t i n n p J f r n m m u a I ,^,-,1 £ .\ (Continued from page 1 col. 6) be demoralizing." Asked whether there has been a sig n ifica n t difference in per formance of those who head the list and those low er on the lis t, he replied, " N o .” Sam Gilespie o f AFSCME Local 189 said his untion is very concerned about minority and women’s right, but there is a question o f "reverse discrination” . He explained that the union had not had time to meet and decide whether to support or oppose the proposal. Support for the proposal came from William Wheeler o f Legal Aid who called the proposal a conser vation compromise point o f view and said that based on statistics the City could be required to adopf and meet quotas. Calling Police Bureau employment statistics appauling, he associated crime and police brutality w ith the absence o f employment statistics appauling, he associated crime and police brutality with the absence o f minorities on the police force. Blacks make up 1.3 per cent o f the State’s population, 12.3 per cent of persons incarcerated, and the crime rate fo r Blacks is the highest in the nation. The Civil Service Commision will hold another public meeting on the proposal. PORTLAND OBSERVER 1st Place Community Service ONPA 1973 The Portland Observer IU SPS 969 6801 is published every Thurs day by Exie Publishing Company, Inc . 2201 North KHiingsworth 0 r8 9 ° n 97217 Posl 0H,ce Bo’ 3137- Portland Oregon 97208 Second class postage paid at Portland, Oregon 1st Place Best Ad Results ONPA 1973 Subscriptions: $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 Box 3137, Portland, Oregon 97208 5th Place Best Editorial ONPA 1973 The Portland Observer s 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 Honorable Mention Herrick Editorial Award NNA 1973 283 2486 ALFRED L. HENDERSON Editor/Publisher X »Vui ■ N ational A dvertisin g R epresentative A m a lg a m a te d Publishers. 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