Pago 2 Portland Obaarvar November 13,1980
EDITORIAL/OPINION
The rise and fall of one Peter Walls
By Fungai Kumbula
Criteria for new police chief
Commission Charles Jordan will soon be
faced with the task of selecting a new police
chief to replace ailing Bruce Baker.
In light of the past year - allegations of
police brutality, opposition to the police -
schools program, dismissal of indictments due
to police misbehavior, the police suit against
the city's affirmative action hiring procedure -
the appointment will be controversial.
The police officers generally prefer a
promotion from w ithin the ranks and are
capable of making life miserable for anyone
coming in. Others point to the difficulty an in
sider would have in bringing fundamental
changes to the bureau that would adversely
affect old friends. Many believe this appoint
ment is an opportunity to find someone who
could bring new sensitivity to the bureau, and
that this type of person is not to be found in
Portland.
Several overriding concerns should be con
sidered in hiring a new chief:
1) Affirmative action - across the nation
police bureaus are being required by court
order to add Blacks and other minority o f
ficers. Portland's statistics show this is a clear
possibility for Portland. To avoid the costs of a
suit, the new chief must be one who will sup
port the City's two-list civil service system
which is currently in litigation.
2) A new chief will have to be commited to
recruiting and hiring m inorities, and to
eliminating the environment that leads Black
officers, once hired, to leave the bureau.
3, A new chief will have to redefine the use
of physical force in making arrests or dealing
with citizens. Elimination of abuse and un
necessary force would go far to improve
police-community relations. Proper, repeated
training could do much to eliminate reliance on
improper force.
4) A new chief should have an attitude of
respect toward minorities and the poor that
will not tolerate disrespect by his officers.
5, A new chief should be willing to include
citizens in the process of investigation of com
plaints against police officers. He must be
willing to enforce policies and regulations, and
discipline officers who do not conform.
If someone can be found within the Portland
Police Bureau who can prove by his actions
that he has met these criteria, then he should
be selected. If not, there should be no reluc
tance to undertake a national search to find
the right person.
The next few years are crucial. This appoint
ment will set the tone for the Police Bureau for
many years to come. It should be taken as an
opportunity to bring positive change.
Another point o f view
On Robert Blanchard
By Marko Haggard, KA TO
I did not know Robert Blanchard well...I
have no credentials to pretend to speak pro
foundly about the man or his contributions.
But I, like many of you, am stunned by the
sudden loss of this 53 year old nationally
recognized educator. And I, like you, grieve
for his wife, children and family.
I am also concerned that in light of the
events of the pasj few months, we do not in
dulge in instant, impulsive autopsies. In fair
ness, we do not know precisely what caused
such a tragedy. Was it a consequence of
style...a style which demands endless
meetings, poor nutrition, smoking, constant
stress for achievement etc? Was it a con
sequence of genes...one’s inheritance? Was it
a consequence of forced idleness...the abrupt
transition from center stage? Was it a con
sequence of living in an environment that is
becoming increasingly hostile, in which our
relations (on both or all sides) is becoming in
creasingly adversariable?
In fairness to the man, it may well be that
one or all of the above were causal factors. At
this moment of concern, what might we, the
living, ask of ourselves? Might we not ask if
our life style is getting too fixed on tension,
confrontation, anger, bitterness, retaliation?
Does it not appear that we/they is context in
which most of our lives is intertwined...the
tensions between management/labor; admin
istrators/personnel; bureaucracy/citizenry;
media/audience...power struggles all over the
place.
Can we reasonably ask people to be in
volved in school board meetings which go on
for eternity day after d a y ...fo r marathon
negotiations that may end up in exhausting
all parties physically, mentally, emotionally...
wounds that never heal? S ensitivity to
legitimate, human concerns is required of the
school board, the adm inistration, the
teachers.
As we grieve and regret, lets resolve to try
to be more sensitive to the concerns, fears and
hopes of others...and lets give more time and
thought to easing up on our own rat race.
I hope, Robert Blanchard, that you approve
these awkward but heartfelt comments.
Portland Observer
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I
"T o the victor belong the spoils;
to the vanquished, the soils" is an
ancient piece o f wisdom shared by
all o f humanity. In this country it is
referred to as the "spoils system”
and should soon become quite
evident fo llo w in g last Tuesday’ s
massacre at the polls. (For us, it ’s
going to be a very bad year.) This
rule o f thumb was not honored in
Zimbabwe, much to the surprise of
everybody.
I f anybody deserved "th e soils”
in Zimbabwe, it was Peter Walls,
form er
commander
of
the
Rhodesian forces. It was he who
had persecuted the war against the
liberation forces for most o f the
past ten years. He had directed raids
into neighboring Zambia, Mozam
bique and Angola with the resultant
deaths o f hundreds o f innocent
A frican women and children. He
had directed the destruction o f
African crops and livestock so they
w ould not feed the freedom
fighters. In short, Peter W alls
provided the m ilitary muscle that
kept the whites in control.
Come independence and, fa r
from being prosecuted for crimes
against the state as he should have
been. Walls was instead appointed
supreme commander o f all o f Zim
babwe’ s armies and charged with
the task o f forging a single army out
o f the three then in existence. It was
very surprising, yes, but quite in line
with the Africans spirit o f recon
ciliation. A ll along the Africans had
said all they were really interested in
was building a single nation out o f
the ruins o f the nine decades o f
colonial misrule.
Walls accepted the appointment
but abruptly resigned recently and
took a trip to South Africa where he
made some very uncomplimentary
statements about Zimbabwe and its
new leadership. He "p re d ic te d ”
there w ill be a c iv il war p ittin g
African against African before too
long. He also fo r the firs t time
publicly revealed the coup that he
had formented to overthrow the
hours old government o f Robert
Mugabe shortly after he had won his
stunning electoral victory. Walls
further revealed the other plans that
had been laid down to bomb the
assembly camps where the 30,000
guerrillas were housed during the
elections as well as the letters he had
sent to M argaret Thatcher, the
British Prime Minister, asking her
to declare the elections null and void
to prevent Mugabe from assuming
power. A ll these revelations were
being filmed by a British Broad
casting Corporation TV film crew.
Naturally, when the Zimabawean
government heard all this, it was
understandly upset and several
parliamentarians called for legal ac
tion to be taken against the errant
Walls. Prime Minister Mugabe felt
particularly betrayed. In the end the
government simple decided to fire
General Peter Walls. True, he had
already resigned but, that would
have made him eligible for a govern
ment pension. By firin g him, the
government made sure he will now
not be eligible to receive the pension
or any other benefits normally ex
tended to former civil servants.
F urther, W alls is now barred
from ever returning to Zimbabwe.
He is fifty-seven, and has no skills
other than being a soldier. He has
no pension or retirement fund to
live o ff on the rest o f his days and
no readily employable skills. What
he had hoped to gain by turning on
the very government that had not
only forgiven him all his sins, but
also actually adopted him no one
really knows. So far it as brought
him nothing but grief.
If he had hoped to bring chaos by
his resignation, he has been disap
pointed. Nothing o f the sort has
happened. None o f the whites who
stayed on in the army have followed
his example If he had hoped to lead
a new exodus o f the whites who he
believed are the backbone o f the
Zimbabwean economy, he has been
disappointed in that respect to. He
has not even been able to shake
foreign investors’ confidence in
Zimbabwe in spite o f these
damaging but false accusations.
Zimbabwe keeps on humming
merrily along.
The only logical explanation one
comes up with has to be that, being
the hard-core racist he has been all
his life, Walls could not reconcile
him self to living in a Zimbabwe
that has suddenly become a normal
society where each and everyone is
judged on merit and not on colour.
In such a society, he knows he can
not survive because, based on merit,
he cannot qualify for anything other
than menial iabour. The world has
suddenly become torpsy-turvy; it is
the A fricans who are giving the
orders and the Walls who are doing
the running around.
I f anyone has use for a fired,
racist, former child killer, terrorist,
bomber, segregationist, w ith ten
years experience in bombing refugee
camps, violating sovereign coun
tries’ territo ria l integrity, civilian
crop destruction and other such
nefarious activities, please contact
this columnist at the Portland Ob
server. This man comes with the
highest recommendation from co
conspirator Ian Douglas Smith.
Letters to the Editor
Local governments fail Albina community
Letter to Editor:
I write to you out o f concern for
Portland, my home for all o f my 32
years.
It has been my observation o f N.
and N.E. Portland (A lbina area)
where I grew up that the overall
quality o f the living environment -
houses and business buildings - has
steadily deteriorated expanding
geographically with occasional stop
gap projects that stand out like
islands o f progress. It hurts me to
know that there has been no sub
stantial progress in 30 years and
there is no real hope o f change in
even my lifetime!
I have observed that much
favorable p o litic a l fa ll-o u t (our
Secretary o f Transportation seems
to have benefited most) has occured
and h o to rie ty shed on P ortland
because o f the follow ing: "m odel
railroads (lightrail); "m o d e l” zoos
(tw o b a llot measures in vo lvin g
millions o f dollars were promoted to
provide animals w ith a "m o d e l
c ity ” o f their own w ith superior
care); ’ ‘ m odel" freeways and air
ports; " m o d e l” c iv il stadium ;
"m o d e l” w aterfront parks, sky
scrapers and in d u stria l parks;
"m odel” mass transit system and
bus mall; etc...Portland has been
proudly acclaimed as the "m o s t"
liveable city in A m erica" but for
whom? Whatever happened to the
idea o f a "M o d e l C ity or Com
munity” for people in Albina?
M etro (M e tro p o lita n Service
District) has clearly missed the ob
vious and opportunity to act and
take leadership here. P ortland
government would rather approve
lavish statutes on bus corners and
encourage foreign investment than
to ensure w arm th fo r children.
Multnomah County prefers "urban
renewal” in the not so old suburbs
along I-2O5 for business and private
investment. The federal government
cannot be relied upon for adequate
corrective effort, and local control.
Form er T ra ilb la ze r, M aurice
Lucas observation that the Portland
Black community is not aggressive
enough in pursuing what is right and
in their interest may be correct. To
date the Black United Front has
shown some sign and hope o f
correcting this situation.
It is abundantly self-evident that
the true solution must come from
the residents o f A lb in a ! One
possible route for housing action
and results is for the residents to
unite into a coalition for the use of
referendum and in itia tiv e to
establish a locally controlled
organization with an area-wide tax
base and tax levies to convert Albina
in to a habitation comparable to
other refurbished Portland com
munities.
The 1981 Oregon State Legis
lature should not be ignored.
Pressure and publicity are required.
W ill there be overall improvement
and establishment o f a "M o d e l
C o m m u n ity” in Albina? The
" Irresistable force” is only w ith
those in the community who decide
to act.
George Steveson
Disapproves editorial language
even an inner-office memo o f that
Letter to the Editor:
A fte r reading your e d ito ria l grand old gentleman who wanted to
"O p p o sitio n as prin cip a l” which rule the world — Adolph Hitler. In
appeared in the September 18 issue stead o f representing a respectable
o f your paper, I am not certain if 1 publication and the public on the
should take up arms against the issue o f the CJO Program, you seem
Portland Police Department, or just more prone to headline the event as
break out in a good old fashioned would the Revolutionary Worker.
What has happened to your role
laugh. I would do the latter if I were
as
a twentieth century leader in the
not so concerned about the negative
Black community? Are you really so
im pact o f your comments upon
both the Black and white commu b itte r that you lose sight o f the
positive role you must play i f the
nity in the Portland M etropolitan
defined social evils are ever to be
area.
broken down so as to provide a
First let me say that I respect your wholesome life fo r all citizens
opinion as an individual; and surely regardless o f their ethnic, racial or
you as an editor o f a major Black socio-economic background. How
publication have the right to advise can we as a people bring about im
your readership o f issues having a provem ent in our society i f the
direct bearing on their daily lives as words o f hatred and aggression are
well as to voice an opinion on such heaped so high with such powerful
issues. Yet, for the life o f me, I find
fertilizers by an influential gardener
it d iffic u lt to accept the role you
such as yourself. Is there at least one
played in the recent editorial. Your
good aspect of the CJO Program to
comments could not have been more
which you could have addressed
yourself, or is the tru th o f the
caustic and in my judgement, inap
propriate. If I didn’t know better,
matter that you do not understand
what the program is all about? I for
when I read such expressions as
one feel that we should welcome any
"...ra cist, m ilitarist decisions...un
program which has any possibility
concealed tour de force...police are
o f im proving our neighborhood
the firs t line o f the organized
p o p u la tio n ...”
I w ould have
livability rather than polluting the
believed I was reading a publication
minds o f many who could benefit
from any form o f education
o f the Black Panthers, the KKK, or
available. Statistics w ill show that
our neighborhoods are already
ladened w ith unnecessary crime
primarily due, in my judgement, to
the lack o f respect that we as a
people have for one another. What
have you done recently to improve
this element of respect within your
own area o f influence?
I suggest that you take the time to
fully read the program proposed by
the P ortland Police Juvenile
Division and inform your reader-
ship as to the truths and good that
can be achieved from such a
program.
Robert Pierson
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