P » 9 « 2 Portland O bM rver M arch 12. 1181
Black ancestry of Boer heroes revealed
EDITORIAL/OPINION
Black removal again?
It comes as no surprise that Adams and
W ashington were the only high schools
named by ii»e school district's school closure
consolidation committee for closure; Adams
41 percent Black, and Washington 37.7 per
cent Black, both serving low income neigh
borhoods.
The school closure committee - in its wisom
- chose not to close schools that "participate
in the desegreation program" to the extent
that they receive 10 percent of their population
through administrative transfer. This the old
theory - the Blanchard theory - that Black
children should be pushed out of their own
neighborhoods while those schools that are
willing to accept them should be rewarded.
Thus Jackson, which has all of the reasons
for closure, is allowed to reamin open because
it recruited m inority youngsters, while the
schools in the children's neighborhoods will be
closed - pushing even more children out. Or is
it just that the people of Jackson live on the
right side of the river and have the political
power to save their school?
Adams High School has been scheduled for
failure since it opened. First the students had
the audacity to refuse an American flag pre
sented to them by a racist organization, then
they refused to participate in the Rose Festival
Princess selection. This was followed by more
real problems - the inability of children who
had been miseducated and uneducated in the
elementary schools to adjust to an experimen
tal "open classroom" situation where self-
discipline and self-motivtion was prerequisite.
This combination - an indpendent, inter racial
and sometimes unruly, student body born
amid national political and social upheaval -
gave Adams a reputation it has never been
able to shed
Adams is now like the normal structured
high school, with a difference. Because of its
size and tradition, it has a humanity lacking as
many of our schools. It is small for several
reasons: When the upper grades were
removed from Woodlawn, King and Vernon,
the students were sent around the City ano
not allowed to return to Adams; the district
and the press have discussed closing Adams
for years, discouraging students from
enrolling; the former reputation - often re
peated by the press - continues.
There are many questions that need to be
answered before Adams and Washington are
considered for closure: Has there been con
sideration for closing a southeast school and
adjusting attendance areas through boundary
.changes; with Northeast Portland one of the
fastest growing areas in the City, one of the
few areas w ith land available for housing,
and w ith crowded elementary schools, are
future projections being considered; w ith
Adams and Washington closed, when will the
students of Tubman be assigned; will they be
scattered throughout the City or be placed in
Lincoln to keep up its sagging enrollment?
Where are you, Joe Reike? One of the
strongest supporters for planned, coordinated
school closure is board member Joe Reike.
When he began pushing for the school closure
plan last summer, Reike never failed to men
tion Lincoln first. Well, Joe, what about Lin
coln?
Chile first, U.S. next
An item in the morning Oregonian sets the
stage for the coming attempt to create in the
U.S., the "free enterprise" system imposed by
the U.S. on other nations including Chile,
South Korea and Taiwan.
The article, called "CIA seeks freer hand at
hom e" outlines the plan of the Reagan ad
ministration - through a presidential executive
order - to give the CIA legal authority to spy on
Americans at home and abroad through "in
trusive techniques" such as searches, physical
surveillance and in filtra tion of domestic
organizations.
This will remove - through Executive Order -
the few restraints put on the spy organizations
by Congress and the Carter and Ford A d
ministrations following their attacks on the
Civil Rights Movement, the Anti-war
movement, student activists and political
parties.
This is not an isolated incident - but should
be viewed along with other front page stories -
"Rates boosted on state Gl home loans," "Big
boosts seen for military" and "$48.6 billion in
cuts targeted by Reagan."
Chile is a perfect example of the plan that
will be established in the U.S., if Americans
do n 't wake up. In 1973 the democratically
elected president of Chile, Salvador Allende
(called communist by the U.S. press), was
assassinated and his government overthrown
with the aid of the CIA. The citizens who had
supported their government, who opposed the
m ilitary coup, or who objected to their
brutalities practiced by the new regime were
imprisoned, disappeared or fled the country.
Unions and popular organizations were
outlawed; a state of martial law declared.
A free market economy was established -
that is, no regulation on business. This was
carried out by U.S. m ulti-national cor-
porations, w ith financing by U.S. banks -
Chase Manhattan, etc. W ith no government
regulation of business and no opportunity for
worker organization, a state of near slavery
developed. All government support for the
needs of the people - housing, welfare, health
care, education was terminated, leaving the
people even more destitute.
Along w ith low wages and lack of social
programs, taxes had to be raised. The huge
U.S. bank loans had to be repaid, and in order
to obtain more loans the government of Chile
had to agree to even more repressive "b e lt
tig h te n in g " policies. Today Chile has the
highest per-capita debt in the world with no
way to pay it except through the rape of its
resources.
To force the people to live under such ex
treme circumstances, repression is required.
The army and police force, armed by the U.S.,
are among the most brutal in the world.
The model for this regime - the "free enter
prise" theory of Milton Friedman - University
of Chicago. Listen carefully and hear this man
quoted ever more frequently by the Reagan
administration in the coming days.
The Reagan adm inistration has already
begun - cutting funds to social programs and
education; increasing the military spending;
strengthening the FBI and the CIA; proposing
removal of regulations on business - including
minimum wage, worker safety, environmental
protection.
The people of Chile lost their democratic
government through U.S. interventions and
the murder of their president. They have suf
fered and died to try to regain their rights. Will
the people of the U.S. sit back, watching soap
operas on TV, and allow our legal and civil
rights to be removed in the interest of greater
profits for a few?
Portland Observer
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Community Service
ONPA 1973
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and cntc of discriminatory practices and policies a sentinai to
warn of impending and e«isting racist trends and practices, and a
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arrangements that prolong and increase the oppression of Third
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ptortation and marspuiation by the colonial nations including the
United States and then relationship to this nation s historical
treatment of its Black population
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In depth coverage
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By Fungai Kumbuta
Do you recall the controversy and
Irouhaha over the Black ancestry of
fke o f your American Presidents?
That is nothing compared to »hat is
going on in South Africa right no».
The Johannesburg Sun, an affiliate
o f The Sun (A m erican) reported
recently on an article in "K ronos” a
publication o f the Western Cape In
stitute for Historical Research. In a
sick society like South A frica, this
revelation had the same impact as if
someone had found out that the
founder o f the KKK »as descended
from Black forebears.
Paul Kruger, notorious Boer
President and General Louis Botha,
South Africa's first prime minister,
are only two o f South A fr ic a ’ s
leading proponents o f racial
separation »hose lineage has been
traced back to at least one Black
parent, in this case a Black woman
by the name o f Lisbeth Van Die
Kaap. She is supposed to have been
born in Guinea, W est A fric a and
then moved to South A frica in the
late Seventeenth Century.
Professor J.L. Hattingh, director
o f the research effort, disclosed that
he had stumbled across the Black
ancestry of Botha and Kruger while
researching
the
‘ ‘ w hitening
process” o f the descendants o f this
woman, Lisbeth, a form er slave.
H attingh says that in the early
1670's, Lisbeth gave birth to three
daughters fathered by Louis Van
Bengale, an Indian. These three
daughters as well as another two by
a John Herr, a German with whom
Lisbeth moved in after she le ft
Bengale, were all born out o f wed
lock as Lisbeth supposedly never
m arried any o f the men she went
with.
The five daughters all m arried
w hite men, according to the
professor, and the lineage o f
243,000 and 246,000 white South
Africans can be traced back to them
today. F urther, South A fric a n
scientists, themselves champions o f
apartheid, the forced separation o f
the races in South A fric a , had
previously established that there are
few white Afrikanners without some
non-white blood. However, the in
clusion o f Botha and Kruger among
this group is the firs t tim e that a
member o f the “ ruling clique” has
been “ im p lic a te d '' as having
anything other than whole w hite
lineage.
In a society that is also so
fanatically religious -- A frikaners
view themselves as the chosen
people and indoctrinate themselves
into believing that by keeping the
races separate, they are carrying out
a biblical mission - the idea that one
o f the “ p illa rs” o f this misguided
philosophy not only has Black an
cestry but was also illegitim ate, is
auite shattering. The revelation o f
this report is s till reverberating
through the shocked A frik a n n e r
communitv and causing quite a few
chuckles in the Black com m unity
which remembers all too well the in
sults hurled at Black people.
It also shatters the myth o f white
superiority that proponents o f a-
partheid have been trying to sell for
over three decades now. I f two o f
their heroes were actually de
scendants o f Black forebears, what
does that say about their long held
philosophy that Blacks are “ in
f e r io r ," savages, u n civilized, fit
only for performing manual labour
for the whites? Afrikaner academics
have also been the form ulators o f
this false doctrine and, fo r one o f
them to come up w ith this
irre fu ta b le evidence o f Black
linage on the part o f some o f the
A frik a n e rs ’ most revered leaders
must send a shiver up their collective
spine.
What w ill the academics fin d
next? Maybe they w ill find that the
stories about mighty Black empires
throughout the African continent at
a tim e when Europeans were s till
livin g in caves are true after all?
Maybe they w ill even fin d that
A frika n e rs have been led by the
nose for the past one hundred years
and, that far from being the
“ chosen people,” they are actually
outcasts? Could it be that Pandora’s
box has just been opened?
Who knows? One o f these days
someone may discover that
Shockley is not white after a lll
Would that be a trip? But pleeeeze,
don’t let him be Black!
Letters to the Editor
Help rebuild the Democratic Party
To the Editor:
If you are concerned with preser
ving our environm ent, natural
resources, restoring peace in the
w orld, p ro vid in g innovative em
ployment opportunities, preserving
the health and safety o f w orking
people and senior citizens. I f you
are concerned w ith the erosion o f
human and c iv il rights here and
abroad, then 1 invite you to jo in in
revitilizing the basic in stitution o f
Social change in this country, the
Democratic Party.
In a special effort to broaden the
base o f the D em ocratic Party in
Oregon we are inviting the member
ship o f all our natural constituen
cies; la bor, women. Blacks,
H ispanics, Asians, yo u th , con
sumers, environmentalists, farmers,
small business people and others to
participate in Democratic Party af
fairs beginning with the Statewide
Grassroots Conference May 15, 16,
17 at Oregon College o f Education
(OEC) in Monmouth.
We must all pull together now to
make sure 1982 does not realign the
electorate tow ards a rig h t-w in g
Republican m a jo rity. Rebuilding
the Democratic Party from the bot
tom up and insuring the nomination
of progressive candidates is the ef
fective way to combat Reaganism.
Write me or the Democratic Party
o f Oregon (P.O. Box 1012, Salem,
OR 97308 - 370-8115) to jo in the
Outreach Com m ittee or come to
Grassroots May 15, 16, and 17th.
Cordially,
David McTeague
Democratic National
Committeeman
Open letter to the President
Mr. President,
The Hispanics in the State o f
Oregon were appalled at your com
ments during your address Monday,
March 2nd to the National I eague
o f Cities regarding bilin g u a l
education. Specifically, your com
ments that a b ilin g u a l education
program was never getting "...them
adequate in English so they can go
out into the job market.”
Hispanics nationa lly and in the
State o f Oregon are equally con
cerned as you are that all Americans
be equipped with adequate English
language skills and other w ork
abilities in order to be employed and
capable o f supporting themselves
and their families.
The purpose o f bilin g u a l ed
ucation is to allow lim ited English-
speaking persons the opportunity to
learn academic and vocational skills
w hile also learning English. The
goal is to maximize a student’ s time.
In the past, persons o f lim ite d
English-speaking ability have spent
years only learning basic English.
During those years, nothing else was
learned. The result, was that
children and adults were not
provided an equal o p p o rtu n ity to
learn
other
im p o rta n t
jo b
preparation skills such as math for
students or vocational skills fo r
adults. The consequence has been
prolonged dependence on a cycle
that we all want to break: lower
educational achievement, increased
unemployment, and increased sub
sidies to ill prepared families.
Hispanics in Oregon support your
e ffo rt to increase work incentives.
Hispanics in Oregon are eager to
support your economic policies. We
understand the tradeoffs during
harsh economic times, yet, at the
same time, we urge you to research
your position on bilingual education
and other areas before m aking
statements that w ill alienate
Americans such as us who want to
support your administration for the
welfare o f all Americans.
Hispanic Political Coalition
White man/Black woman = police harassment
Dear Editor:
Recently, w hile on my way to
dinner, I encountered a situation
with the Portland Police, that leaves
a very bad taste in my m outh, as
both a Black woman and employed
citizen.
M y date (who was white) and I,
were driving down U nion Avenue
minding our own business when we
noticed that a police car, headed in
the opposite direction, came to an
almost halt, and the officers inside
p o in tin g in our dire ctio n . We
thought nothing o f it, until it made
a sweeping U -tu rn , headed in our
direction, flashed lights and pulled
us over.
There were no citations, but there
was h u m ila tio n . The o ffice rs in
volved talked to my date and I,
separately. The questions asked my
date went like this: “ W ho is she?
(Meaning me) Where did you pick
her up at? H ow long have you
known her? Are you sure she is who
you say she is?” The o ffic e r
questioning me asked things like,
“ W hat are you doing w ith him?
Where did he pick you up at? Do
you work? Show us your I . D . ”
And after about a thirty minute wait
we were allowed to proceed to our
destination.
The implications o f this incident
are many. First o f all, these officers
assumed that since they had seen a
Black woman, riding in the car with
a w hite man, that apparently the
Black woman was a whore, a pick
up. tryin g to con this man out o f
money, or whatever. Secondly, it is
apparent that when the o ffice rs
focused their attention on us, while
passing, all they saw was race,
co lo r, a w hite man and Black
woman together, and this, 1 am sure
prompted them to pull us over.
I am forced to wonder just what
w ould have been the reactions o f
these officers if the white man in the
car had been th e ir boss, or the
Mayor, or even the Governor? My
point is, these officers didn’t know
who the white man was. They didn’ t
even care, which points to the fact
that, as many Black women as there
are working w ithin State Agencies,
who go to lunch w ith their bosses
who are white, or are involved in
business trip s around tow n, w ith
th e ir w hite business associates, a
dire threat is evident.
I went downtown, lodged a com
plaint, only to find that the officers
didn’t even make a note of any kind
to the occurance o f the incident.
They didn’t note why we were stop
ped, or that we had been stopped. I
was inform ed by Com m issioner
Charles Jordan’ s o ffic e , that o f
ficers are not required to make note
o f any incident where they stop
citizens, if no citation is involved. I
was also to ld that it w ould have
been appropriate to write down the
badge number o f the officers, and
possibly license plate numbers, so
that, i f an investigation was to
occur, they would know the officers
involved.
For a Black woman to be made
feel like a whore, just because she is
rid in g w ith a white man is
dangerous. It points to the fact that
any Black woman caught rid in g
w ith a white man, after a certain
hour, stands to be humilated in the
same way. I hope that other Black
women who find themselves in this
same situ a tio n , w ill remember to
write down both the badge number
and license plate number o f the o f
ficers.
Sincerely,
Jamse Winchester
Doesn't believe
To the Editor:
I believe the moon is made o f blue
cheese, that babies come from cab
bage patches, and that Mercedes
Deiz is a "good judge."
And before I disregarded w arn
ings that she is not capable o f
making financial judgm ents, and
appeared in front o f her, I believed
in justice in the court room.
Kathryn Collins