Portland observer., July 24, 1980, Page 2, Image 2

P age 2 P ortlan d O b aarvar July 24. IM O
EDITORIAL/OPINION
The Organization of African Unity
N. P u ntai Kum bula
Racist role of US corporations
We haven't seen much in the dailies about
the South African troops that have poured in­
to Angola for the past months. South African
troops have launched the largest aggression
since the 1975 -1976 Angola war.
The invasion began on June 7 when bat­
talions of infantry, supported by armoured
cars and artillery entered Kunene Province.
On June 27th, the United Nation's Security
Council condemned the racist nation for its
"premediated and sustained armed invasions"
of Angola. The Security Council called for
immediate w ithdraw l and payment for
damages. Of course the U.S. abstained.
In the meantime, U.S. corporations, doing
business as usual, are assisting the South
African government in its effort to put down
the current wave of strikes and protests by
Blacks.
Following demonstrations commemorating
the fourth anniversary of the Soweto up­
risings, the South African government has
ordered "key point" industries to upgrade
their security programs and to take steps to
protect their facilities. Secret General Motors
memos obtained by the American Committee
on Africa revealed that GM has been inden-
tified as a "key point" industry and plans "to
work closely with South African forces in case
of industrial disruption or civil unrest.”
The memo stated that SA security forces
are supervising security operators at the plants
and in case of intense confrontations it is
almost certain that support industries "would
be taken over by an arm of the Ministry of
Defense, which would regulate output and
coordinate the entire industrial effort. At such
times operating control of plants like General
Motors and Ford, as well as others, would be
vested in South A frica's network and all
materials, manpower and production
requirements would be tied into the national
requirements."
So much for the idea that the American
corporations are in South Africa to upgrade
the living conditions of Blacks.
Punishing the poor
The Governor and the Emergency Board of
the State Legislature are arguing the merits of
the various cuts in State Services proposed by
the Governor's office to meet a $20 million
budget deficit.
When money is short - whether through
miscalucation, mismanagement, or mistake -
the burden is placed on the poor. Budget cuts
dig deep into programs that already provide
only the minimum welfare, health and mental
health programs, housing, education, child
care, corrections. Those whose lives are
already miserable are made more miserable.
In the meantime, the State - because of the
foolish political deals of the 1979 Legislature
- pays one-third of the property taxes owed by
people whose homes are valued in the
$100,000 bracket. Should it be the obligation
of the poor starve and suffer - to go without
even the basics of life - so those who live in
luxury can avoid the tax obligations?
Our recommendations to the Legislature is
to retain the home owner and render relief
programs for the low and middle income tax
payers and to amend its tax relief program to
apply only to those homes valued at $50,000 or
less.
We should also remember that the voters of
Oregon just voted to pay for the State Police
and the State parks out of the general fund in­
stead of the highway fund - thereby placing an
additional burden on the already depleated
general fund. This constitutional amendment
should be offered to the people on the earliest
possible date to put the costs back in the
highway fund where they belong.
Another proposal the administration plans
to send to the voters is the finance the building
of two new prisons. The voters of course
should turn the proposal down in favor of
cheaper and more humane rehabilitation and
prevention.
The nation's failing economy cannot be
used as an excuse for neglecting human
needs.
Notes from City Hall
By Charles Jordan
Commissioner o f Public Safely
YOU FEEL AN OFFICER
VIOLATED YOUR RIGHTS.
DURING YOUR ENCOUNTER
WITH A POLICE OFFICER ANY
NUMBER OF THINGS MAY
HAVE HAPPENED THAT YOU
FEEL WERE A VIOLATION OF
YOUR RIGHTS AS A CITIZEN."
T ry to remember the o ffic e r’ s
name, or badge number, your
location, the time of day and note
any witnesses.
Call or visit the Internal Affairs
Unit of the Police Bureau and file
your complaint by filling out a form
that requests specific information.
This Internal Affairs Unit w ill in­
vestigate your allegations by inter­
viewing you, then interviewing the
o ffic e r you’ ve accused o f wrong
doing.
This unit w ill then determine if
the officer was acting in accordance
with prescribed standards.
The disposition o f your case will
be reflected in one of your findings.
Sustained, not sustained, unfoun­
ded, or exonerated.
When
the
findings
are
“ SU S TA IN E D ,” that means that
you have a legitimate complaint and
there w ill be some action taken in
reference to the accused officer by
the Police Chief. When the findings
are “ NOT S U S T A IN E D ,” that
means your allegatons cannot be
proved or disproved.
When the fin d in g s are “ U N ­
FOUNDED,” that means your case
was disproved. When the findings
are “ EXO N ER ATED ,” that means
the officer acted in accordance with
standard procedure.
You w ill be notified o f the find­
ings by letter usually within 30 days
from the date o f your complaint.
If you are not satisfied with the
findings, you may appeal it through
my office by calling 248-4682 for an
appointment.
NOTE: No investigation w ill be
conducted by the Internal A ffa irs
Unit if any court proceeding are un­
derway. Your complaint w ill be ac­
ted upon as soon as your case is ad­
judicated but “ YO U ” must notify
the Internal A ffairs Unit so that the
investigation can proceed.
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The O rganization o f A fric a n
Unity, O AU, held its 17th annual
summit in Freetown, Sierra Leone
this past week, the high point o f the
summit came with the presentation
o f credentials o f the delegation from
the Republic o f Zimbabwe led by
Prime M inister Robert Mugabe.
Since its inception in 1963, the OAU
has taken the liberation o f Africa
from colonial d o m ination as its
number one priority.
Siaka Stevens, Sierra Leone’ s
President, host and incom ing
chairman o f the OAU for the next
twelve months, lauded the liberation
of Zimbabwe as a giant step in the
continuing struggle to return to the
continent to A frican control. For
his part, Mugabe called fo r in ­
creased contributions to the ANC of
South A fric a and SW APO o f
Namibia to speed up the liberation
o f these last two A frican nations
s till languishing under colonial
domination.
The thunderous applause Mugabe
received was as much for Zimbabwe
as for all o f Africa for a job well
done. I t ’ s not every day that the
O AU has something to celebrate
and the celebrants felt they owed it
to themselves. After the backslap-
ping and the toasts, however, came
the more contentious issues o f the
Western Sahara and Chad. This
time the Western Sahara which is
still illegally occupied by Morocco,
a member o f the OAU, was seeking
admission.
The battle lines were drawn from
the w ord go. Adm ission o f the
Western Sahara to the OAU would
be tantamount to recognizing her as
a separate, independent and
sovereign state. That would also
mean that the OAU was rejecting
Morocco’ s claims and occupation of
Western Sahara. As with almost
every other issue pitting one African
nation against another, the OAU
members seemed evenly split: one
group backing admission o f
Western Sahara w hile the other
backed M orocco’ s continued oc­
cupation o f the former. Morocco,
fo r its past, was using the “ big
stick” as it applies to OAU politics:
threatening to quit the African body
if its position were rejected.
There was a heated exchange be­
tween M ozam bique’ s President
Samora Machel and M o ro cco ’ s
prim e m inister. Machel accused
Morocco o f “ blatant colonialism,
exploitation o f the Saharan people
and their resources and gross
disregard for their human rights and
p o litic a l preferences.” M orocco
responded by lam ely
scoring
Mozambique’ s economic “ ties” to
“ the racist regime o f south A frica.”
This was very lame indeed con­
sidering Morocco is getting some o f
her m ilita ry hardware from that
same racist regime. The Morocco-
Sahara dispute, as expected, could
not be resolved so it was delegated
to a committee. The committee is to
“ study the problem in depth, make
recommendations and report to the
full body.”
As far as Chad is concerned, even
though this approach has been used
without too much success in the past
tw o to three years, the O AU
recommended once again the
creation o f a peace-keeping force
with troops drawn from countries
bordering on Chad. The idea is to
try again to bring the warring Chad
factions back to the negotiating
table. This was somewhat a better
“ solution” than that proposed for
Western Sahara.
The glaring weaknesses o f the
O A U are always very apparent
when it comes to in tra -A fric a n
disputes. Any problems pitting one
A frica n country against another
seems to get completely mired in
rhetoric. Both disputants always
threaten to quit the O AU i f their
respective positions are rejected and
this tends to weaken the body as a
whole. I t ’ s time the O AU started
calling this blumm. It makes no sen­
se at all for the OAU to condemn
colonial domination o f Namibia by
South Africa while turning a blind
eye to Morocco’s illegal occupation
o f Western Sahara.
I f Morocco quits the OAU becaue
o f the O A U ’ s support fo r the
liberation o f the Saharan people
(the Sahrouis), then let her go. It’s
tim e the O A U started taking
positions because they are right and
not because they are a fra id o f
reprisals. As long as African leaders
are afraid that the OAU w ill break
up i f they take certain positions,
then the body w ill never have the
muscle that it should have. The
OAU needs to be consistent regard­
less o f whose toes get stepped on.
After all, it is supposed to be the
Organization o f African People, not
the O rganization o f A fric a n
Leaders.
Missing from this summit was one
Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe,
new leader o f Liberia. A few o f the
African leaders are still highly upset
Pacific
Power
Evelyn Crews
Citizen
o f the Week
V
Letters
To the Editor:
This article is a request from the
Black United Front on behalf o f
M r. Noble Vaughan, Branch
Manger o f the Northeast Benj.
Franklin Bank. The N.E. Branch
has been robbed twice in the month
o f July 1980, and M r. Vaughn was
shot, fortunately his injury was not
serious, but his experiences have
been.
The recent boycott o f the Benj.
Franklin banking establishment has
no doubt brought out people who
have declared open season on
robbing the Benj. F ranklin N.E.
Branch. The Black U nited Front
would like it understood that M r.
Vaughn is an employee o f Benj.
Franklin and not an advocate nor
member o f the recall campaign. It is
sometime d iffic u lt to separate the
individual from the organization,
but it is necessary in this instance to
do so.
Mr. Vaughn is performing his gig
as many blacks are who working for
other unnamed racist establish­
ments. M r. Hazen and the Benj.
Franklin Corporation are the targets
o f the issue o f racism and not
brothers and sisters trying to make a
living. Punishing M r. Vaughn for
racist practices o f Benj. Franklin
Corporate leaders is not the point of
nor w ill it bring about the desired
results o f the boycott.
w ith him fo r overthrow ing the
T olbert regime, the Liberian
delegation was refused admission to
the April economic summit held in
Lagos.
Tolbert was the outgoing chair­
man o f the OAU and, after he was
done away with, his replacement,
Doe, should have replaced him as
OAU chariman also. In the end the
very people who barred Doe from
these African gathering will have to
mend their fences with him because
(1) Tolbert is very dead and Doe is
here to stay.
Sierra Leone also spent an
estimated 5100 million just to host
the OAU conference. For a country
so poor, th a t’ s an unholy sum:
money that could have been better
spent creating new jo b o p p o r­
tunities, doing away w ith slums,
providing health and education op­
portunities. The OAU is in danger
o f going the way o f the Olympics:
pricing its e lf almost to death.
Maybe it’s time the OAU had a per­
manent home instead o f shifting to
a different country each year. Also,
the African Heads of State can do
without a lot of those trappings like
limousines, fancy hotel suites, bat­
teries o f telephones and the like.
The motto should be: “ We come to
work, not to play.”
Another missing figure at this
summit was burly Joshua Mqabuko
Nkom o, Zimbabwe’ s M inister o f
Home Affairs, he was not included
in the Zimbabwe delegation because
it was thought “ he had nothing
useful to contribute.” It is the first
time in almost five years that he has
not been in attendance: he used to
have observer status. In a sense it is
rather ironic.
The OAU is a very good idea; it
w ill become an even better idea
when the average African starts to
exert some more influence as to
which direction the body should
take. It will be an even better idea
when it represents the people more
than the Heads of State.
&
Nate Proby is executive director of the Southwest Washington
Minority Contractors Association, funded by the Washington State
Department of Transportation. The Association provides technical
assistance and training for minority contractors and assists their
participation in construction work and supplies related to highway
construction.
Prior to his current position, Proby was director of the United
Minority Workers for nine years. In that position he coordinated
training; found jobs in construction and other trades; worked with
and against contractors, government agencies and unions to get
minorities into construction. Among his contributions were a suit
which resulted in much of of Portland's "Home Town Plan" being
discarded by federal court, and a fedeial court finding of
discrimination against Operating Engineers Local 701.
Proby was founder of Blazerhaul Trucking Company.
Proby’s community activities are multitude. He was a member of
the Regional Model Cities Citizens' Advisory Board; was a founder
and is Third Vice President of the Albina Lions Club; and was a
member of a Bureau of Labor Advisory Committee
His main interest is youth. Proby has been involved with Little
League for thirty years, and was President of the Peninsula Park
League for three years. He has been PTA president at Duniway and
a Boy Scout leader For the past two years he has coached winning
men's and women's softball teams sponsored by Blazerhaul.
Proby has five children: Jay, a 1979 Cleveland graduate;
Deangela, a 1980 Cleveland graduate; David, a 1978 Benson
graduate; Hiedie, 14; Calvin, 11; and Simone, 3. He and his wife,
Francine, live in Portland.
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