1rs Frances Schoen-Newspaper Foo»
U n iv e rs ity o f Oregon L ib ra ry
t-ugene, Oregon 97403
»
There is a persistant rumor afoot,
carefully nurtured by the media,
that a major portion o f the coun­
t r y ’ s citizens w ill not vote this
November. The public has been told
for months that they have no real
choice, that they dislike both can­
didates, that there is no reason to
vote.
Is this a media campaign to
discourage certain classes o f voters,
or is it just easier than reporting on
the issues? One thing is certain -- the
rapidly growing right wing w ill vote
for their candidate, Ronald Reagon.
This is a crucial election; the
nation is in a serious economic crisis
and the world is on the brink o f war.
Perhaps fo r the firs t tim e since
1964, the m ajor prey;dential can­
didates offer the voters clear choices
in terms o f their philosophies,
programs and personalities. The
voters cannot afford to ignore these
choices.
Since the passage o f the Voting
Rights Act o f 1965 Black political
influence has been substantial,
sometimes decisive, in many areas
o f direct concern to Blacks. Blacks
have exerted enormous political in­
fluence in getting and protecting
programs that benefit them and
other minorities.
There is a traditional link between
p o litic a l p a rtic ip a tio n and the
d is trib u tio n o f public benefits.
Therefore, the special attention that
Blacks have devoted to political em­
powerment over the past twenty
years, is expressed ins omc o f the
programs that are o f special interest
-- jobs program s, aid to cities,
minority business opportunities, af­
firmative action regulations, etc.
Quite often these programs do
not reach those for whom they were
intended, so it is im p o rta n t fo r
Blacks and other minorities to exert
political influence not just on the
national level but on the state and
local level as well.
Eddie N. Williams, President of
the Joint Center fo r P o litica l
Studies, offers the fo llo w in g
political realities for consideration
when deciding whether to register
and vote.
1. Former U.S. Senator Edward
Brooke often emphasized this
political fact: “ Political power and
public o ffice have been the keys
which opened the doors o f oppor­
tunity for various groups in Amrica
since the founding o f our country.
What is new in our day, however, is
the use o f political power and public
office in Dursuinc t h e h n n « a n d
aspirations o f Black people.”
2. In one way or another, the
political process affects our lives
from birth to death. Some even say
from conception to resurrection!
3. Linder these circumstances,
it makes sense to want to do
everything possible to elect officials
whose philosophies, programs and
personalities are most in harmony
with our own. By the same token, it
makes sense to defeat those can­
didates who are out o f sync with
our hopes and aspirations.
4. Since in every election
somebody wins and somebody
loses, our self-interests are best ser­
ved when the candidates we fa v o r»
win and the ones we oppose lose.
5. The only way to make sure this
happens is to amass as many votes
a< nnKQihl»* f n r
PORTLAND OBSERMER
despite any shortcomings they may
have, appear to be the best choices
for us at the time. I f enough voters
feel the same way about a can­
didate, a winner emerges and the
basis is established fo r m aking
demands on that person.
6. In addition to the presidency,
numerous congressional, state, and
local offices are at stake this fall,
and they, too, have enormous in­
fluence over our lives and
livelihood. We should examine these
candidates in the same way we
examine the presidential contenders;
o f all the choices available in every
race, which one, despite any short­
comings, appears to be the most in
line with our thinking?
7. Even before the votes are cast
and counted on November 4th, a
Volume XI Number 2
October 23.1980
25C per copy
Death penalty appeal goes to UN
W illy Brandt, Pierre Trudeau and
M o ra rji
Desai were among
thousands o f prom inent people
around the world who joined in an
appeal to the United Nations Oc­
tober 22nd for international action
to abolish the death penalty, Am ­
nesty International said.
The appeal presented at United
Nations Headquarters in New York
was signed by people in more than
100 countries, including religious
and labor leaders, scientists, doc­
tors, artists and writers.
International celebrities joined
local and com m unity leaders in
declaring the death penalty incom­
patible w ith fundam ental human
rights -- the rights to life and to
protection against cruel, inhuman
or degrading punishment.
More than 600 members o f
parlimanent, over 1,000 members of
the medical profession, and more
than 70 judges were among over
150,000 who put their names to the
appeal, which is part o f Amnesty In­
ternational’ s program o f action for
worldwide abolition o f the death
penalty.
Six heads o f government signed:
Thorbjorn Falldin (Sweden), Anker
Jorgensen (D enm ark), Mauno
Koivisto (Finland), Bruno Kreisky
(Austria), Helmut Schmidt (Federal
Republic o f Germany) and M r.
Trudeau (Canda).
Amnesty
In te rn a tio n a l has
repeatedly appealed to the U.N. for
abolition o f the penalty. It told the
U.N.Economic and Social Council
in April 1980 that the death penalty.
It told the U.N Economic and Social
Council in April 1980 that the death
penalty had never been proved to
deter crime more effectively than
other punishments, that it was in­
flicted disproportionately on the
poor, and that it had often been
used for political, racial, religious
and ethnic oppression. Since that
appeal in A p ril, more than 700
people have been executed.
Sterling Brown reads poetry
Two nationally recognized poets
to express the stoic conditions o f
w ill read selections o f their work at
blacks. His collection o f poetry,
Lewis and Clark College Monday,
Southern Road, was published in
October 27, and Tuesday, October
1932, followed by several essays and
28.
others works including The Negro in
Sterling Brown will appear at 7:30
Washington, Negro P oetry and
p.m. Monday in Agnes Flanagan
Drama. The Negro in A merican Fic­
Chapel. Michael Harper will read at
tion and The Negro Caravan.
3:30 p.m. Tuesday in Tamarack
His latest volume is The Collected
Lounge. Andm ission is free and
Poems o f Sterling A. Brown, the
open to the public.
first in a N ational Poetry Series
Brown was born in 1901 on the
funded by James Michener.
campus o f Howard University in
Washington, D.C., where his father
Michael Harper, born in 1938 in
was campus minister and professor
Brooklyn, New Y ork, graduated
o f theology.
from high school and college in Los
He studied at W illiams College
Angeles before he began to write
and H arvard U niversity before
poetry. In 1971 he was nominated
returning to Howard, where he has fo r a N ational Book Aw ard in
taught for more than 50 years.
poetry. A graduate o f the University
Brown is said to be the firs t
of Iowa Writers Workshop, he now
American Black poet to use dialect teaches at Brown University.
African student continues study
Like a story with a happy ending?
P ortland C om m unity College
student Michael Lekoetje has one.
Lekoetje, a second-year optical
technology student at the PCC
CascAde Center who lives in the St.
John’ s area, was having a rough
time finding a way to finish the two-
year program last spring.
He had come to Portland from
the so-called “ Black ruled” country
o f Lesotho, which is land locked by
South Africa on every side. Lekoet­
je was sponsored by a Washington
ophthalmologist who had trained
Lekoetje as an assistant at the
Maluti Hospital in Lesotho.
When Lekoetje learned to make
glasses through the PCC program,
he would be the only optician for his
home country o f nearly one million
people.
Lekoetje studied hard his first
year at PCC.
“ He is an excellent stu d e n t,”
Maurice M errick, manager o f the
optical technology program said.
Members o f the University Park
Seventh Day A dventist Church
helped Lekoetje. A fam ily in St.
John’ s offered him a room in their
home. The doctor who brought
Lekoetje to the United States helped
fund his college costs.
Robert Phillip* of the Albine Voter Registration
end Education Committee IAVRECI (left In top
picture) and Bob Boyer, preeldent of the Portland
Chapter of the A. Phillip Randolph Institute, ex­
plain voter registration procedures and
regulations to volunteers Cheryl Patmore and
Stanley Denbo.
Operation Big Vote, a coalition of community
organizations, is conducting a house-to-house
voter registration campaign urging residents to
register and vote.
(Photos: Richard J. Brown)
Then those helping Lekoetje had
personal financial reverses. There
wasn’t enough money for Lekoetje
to finish school. And in May a
visitor dropped by the PCC Cascade
Center, the chairman o f the board
o f directors o f the Maluti Hospital
in Lesotho, w ith concerns about
whether a place would be waiting
for the Black African in the hospital
when he returned.
The situation looked bleak for
Lekoetje. No funds, no job, lack o f
a job promise back home.
“ I was committed to helping him
finish,” Merrick said.
M errick contacted the local
newspapers through the college's
public inform ation office. Several
papers ran the story o f Lekoetje’s
problems finishing his education,
ind a story in the St. John’s Review
was read by a manager in the
RHONDA BROWN
Hewlett Packard C orporation in
Vancouver, Washington. He called
the college.
In August Lekoetje began a 20-
hour a week jo b w ith Hewlett
Packard and in late September he
began classes for his second year of
studies at PCC.
Lekoetje was offered the position
(Please turn to page 12 col. 4)
LAM NGUYEN
Students win Reynolds grants
The 1980 winners o f the Phil
Reynolds M em orial Scholarships
are Rhonda Brown o f Washington-
M onroe H igh School and Lam
Nguyen of Madison High School.
tend P ortland State U niversity.
Each winner has worked a year or
more in his Field o f interest which
has helped the student to mature
and to choose a definite career.
Each has won S500.00 to help
with tuition and fees. Miss Brown is
pursuing a Dental Hygiene Course
w ith her fin a l goal O rth o d o n tic
D entistry at the U n ive rsity o f
Washington, Seattle.
Mr. Nguyen is interested in Elec­
tronic Engineering and plans to at-
The Family Representative, Dr.
W alter Reynolds, states th *t a
minority student graduating in May
or June, 1981 with a financial need,
above average grades, and a definite
career choice in mind — may see
his/her counselor for an application
or write him c/o 6909 S.E. 42nd,
Portland, Oregon 97206.