•*»q« 2 P o rtla n d O b»< rv»r A p ril 10 EDITORIAL/ OPINION Cable TV: Now that's entertainment by N. Fuugat F um bula White America ignores African refugees The m ost desperate and m ost ig nored refugees in the world are the Somali and Oromo people w ho are m oving from Ethiopia in to Somali. Although the U.S. government is con­ cerned about revolutionary socialist movements m the horn of Africa, and is providing military assistance against the Peoples Reouhlic of Ethiopia, the plight of the people is being largely ignored. The UN High Com m ission fo r Refugees recognizes that Somalia has the largest refugee camp population in the world. On February 1st, there were approximately 1.5 million refugees - about 16 million m camps and the rest absorved into the countryside. Sixty percent are children, with 150,000 under six years. Thirty percent are women. An estimated 1,000 to 2,000 arrive each day. For a nation whose estimated per capita in­ com e is about $70 per year, the burden is devastating. The refugee population now makes up one-third of the nation s 3.7 million people. For centuries the Somaiies have eked out a subsistence in the inhospitable desert. The newcomers are a burden to limited resources but, more important, they threaten an ecological imbalance that will cause drought and famine. The im m ediate need is fo r fo o d , shelter, clo th in g and m edical supplies. The S om ali government has asked the U.S. government for help, b u t there has been no substantia l re ­ sponse. Despite their numbers and the political com ple xities, A frica n refugees have never received much attention. There is no sense of urgency and little publicity. While the American people argue about the Boat People and other refugees from Southwest Asia, and while our government welcomes them by the thousands, the Black refugees of Afnca and Haiti are forgotten. For our purposes, probably the best feature o f cable television is com m unity cablecasting. This is »hen one can watch local events. Just imagine: whole programs de­ voted to such community events as African Liberation Day, Women’ s Day, African and Carribbean coun­ tries, independence celebrations, Kwanzaa, N e ig h b o rfa ir, Rose Parade, Black Educational Center activities, community workshops of all kinds and anything else that might be going on in our neighbor­ hood. W HAT b O you T R iN K y o u 'r e h o /z v t' £RJNG //VG f l u . T H 4 T TOR.CtC.FJ To How many times have you found yourself flip p in g fro m one TV channel to the next lo o kin g fo r something worthwhile to watch only to find each as bad as the next? Then, you might turn to the radio, but there again only to meet with no better luck. Doesn’ t it make you wish, not for the first time, that you could watch what you wanted to »atch or listen to what you fancy in­ stead of making do with what's o ff­ ered? The advent o f cable television to this starved P o rtla n d m arket is about to change all that. Instead of five channels we have now. there would then be anywhere from Thirty- five to a hundred or more channels to choose from. So vast is the po­ te n tia l that no one can, at this moment, say with certainty, what the maximum number o f channels will be. Just by flipping the dial, you can choose from local, national or in te rn a tio n a l news, educational classes, drama, art, first run movies, sporting events from around the corner or around the w orld or a program about your own neighbor­ hood. C urrently there are eight com­ panies vying for the Portland fran­ chise east o f the river. Liberty Cable Co. already operates on the west- side. The Portland City Council will be meeting before long to decide which of the eight applicants will be awarded the franchise. It is in the in­ terest o f the Black com m unity to .examine each o f these applicants and see who offers us the best deal. M in o rity input is very im portant ORCGO a P t u e ’v e GOT P iX N T Y OF G ooo W H /re K o e * HCAC"! Trade and the Black worker By Norman Hill, President A. Phillip Randolph Institute Once again the unemployment rate among Black workers has reached the 12^» mark, nearly dou­ ble the overall rate. And once again, economists have failed to explain the economic depression in the Black com m unity. So we ask: Where have all the jobs gone? Why do skilled and well-educated Black workers, especially in urban areas, face so many workless and payless days? Part of the answer can be found in the general economic stagnation that has plagued the United States for nearly a decade. But there is also another explanation, an explanation which few economists, business leaders and politicians are willing to deal w ith. And that is the jo b - destroying role o f internation al economic policies, which allow foreign nations to flood American markets with imports. This is not to say that most un­ employed Black people would sud­ denly find jobs if all imports were banned. They most certainly would not. But a substantial body o f evi­ dence points to a direct linkage be­ tween imports and the loss o f a sig­ nificant number of Black jobs. As an example, consider recent developments in the auto industry. At the present time, nearly 200,000 workers, many of them Black, are out o f work because of the slacken­ ing demand fo r Am erican-m ade cars. While the lower demand is par­ tia lly related to the poor mileage ratings of most U.S. automobiles, and the general dow nturn in the economy, it is also linked to the in­ flux o f cheap, fu e l-e fficie n t cars built in Japan and Germany. Last m onth, fo r instance, Am ericans bought 177,500 Japanese cars, an increase of 86^0 over January, 1979. And 22(ro of all cars now purchased in the U nited States come from Japan. Other industries have also lost jobs because o f imports. A study published by the National Commis­ sion on M anpow er shows that 200,000 apparel jobs disappeared during the period 1964-75. At the same time, over 100,000 jobs were lost in the radio and TV industry. And nearly 100,000 jobs in the fu r­ nace in d u stry were elim inated. Moreover, the study concluded that import-related job losses were most prevalent among “ lower wage, somewhat-less-unionized employees who were more often m inorities, women, older workers, less formally educated, a n d /o r p a rt-tim e em­ ployees.” In short, the poorest and most defenseless people are once again called on to make the greatest sacrifices in the name of an abstrac­ tion called “ free trade.” To make matters worse, the enor­ mous outflow o f American capital into low-wage Third W orld coun­ tries also contributes to the erosion of jobs. W hereas in 1950, U.S. cor­ porate investment in foreign coun­ tries was SI 1.8 billion, the amount had grown to a staggering SI 18.6 billion by 1974. And the impact of this on jobs is clear: A study com­ pleted by a group of Cornell econo­ mists for the State Department con­ cluded that 1.06 m illion jobs were elim inated in the domestic economy. W ithout a doubt, many o f these jobs would have been held by Black workers especially women and young people. If unemployment among Blacks is to be lowered to a manageable level, then Black people, their organizations and their political al­ lies must begin not to focus on inter­ national economic policy as a key issue in the 1980 presidential elec­ tions. U nfortunately, none o f the candidates— Dem ocratic and Re- publical— has demonstrated much concern with the’ problem. But as the campaign progresses, Black people must raise the issue; they must raise it forcefully, and they must insist on a response. 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