Portland observer., May 21, 1981, Page 2, Image 2

Pao« 2 Portland Observar M ay 21. 1981
EDITORIAL/OPINIQN
Need for communication
Now as never before the com m unity's
numerous organizations need to work
together. Each has its own agenda, its own
style, its own "territory." Some of these con­
siderations need to be set aside for a time in
order to provide the leadership needed at this
crucial time.
Among the issues that will come together
this summer are:
1) Increased unemployment and lack of
recreational facilities for youth
2) Increased police pressure as demon­
strated by new "crowd control" ordinances
recently passed by the City Council.
3) Increasing lack of public confidence in
the police.
4) New efforts to restrict Black students at­
tendance at Jefferson, plus a new move to
close Adams.
5) Cuts in social programs and unemploy­
ment and training programs.
A "long, hot summer" is expected - not so
much by those who suffer all of the ingred-
ients that create distrubances - but by those
who hold power The police agencies across
the nation are making preparations - not to
allievate the contributing problems - but to
physically control any outbreak of violence.
Portland is no different. Laws to restrict the
public's rights have been passed in an­
ticipation of trouble, w ithout citizen input,
without citizen knowledge. This type of abuse
of police power is what has always led to con­
frontations.
Only the residents of the com m unity -
working together - can control and alleviate
situations that could be magnified into violent
situations by misguided police power.
The Police Bureau also has a responsibility
to open channels of communication and to
cooperate with the community. Ultimately,
the attitude of the police toward the com ­
munity and their willingness to work w ith
community organizations and individuals will
be the deciding factor.
Now what?
Last week the students of the Portland
School District learned a lesson in democracy -
American style. The students from Jackson
High, whose affluent adult spokesmen had
threatened to suced, to refuse taxes, to sue,
who brought up race wars in other schools
and "special interest" groups, celebrated their
victory with shouts and cheers. The young
people from Washington/Monroe - a school
that is one-third Black and includes the City's
poorest Black and white neighborhoods - went
home in tears.
Shouldn't the concern of the affluent, those
who do have the ability to determine whether
school levies are passed, those who control
school board elections, extend their concerns
to beyond the boundaries of their own
schools? Some of these same parents were
the first to come forward and figh t the
recommendations of the Community Coalition
for School Intergration. Yet Jackson depends
on its 200 or so Black administrative transfers
for its survival.
We agree with Steve Buel and Superinten­
dent Jim Fennwick that no schools should
ECOWAS: An encouraging signal
By Fungat Kumbula
Some fiv e years ago, leaders o f
sixteen West A fric a n countries got
together and form ed an econom ic
e n tity called the E c o n o m ic C o m ­
m u n ity o f West A fric a n States,
ECOW AS It was a bold experiment
and, set along the lines o f the now
defunct Eas: A fric a n C o m m u n ity ,
ECOW A S ’ s objectives were to in ­
crease intraregional trade while cut­
ting dependence on unreliable o u t­
side w orld. Am ong o the r benefits,
this would strenthen the economies
o f the countries involved w hile in ­
creasing cooperation in other fields
as well.
G iven
A f r ic a ’ s h is to ry
of
c o lo n ia lis m and n e o -c o lo n ia l ex­
p lo ita tio n , the skeptics were quick
to pooh-pooh this latest attem pt at
A fria n u n ity . I t ’ s been fiv e years
and the skeptics are still w aiting fo r
ECOW AS to fa ll a p a rt. It was on
the strength o r resilie n ce o f th is
c o o p e ra tio n th a t A fric a n leaders
met in several capitals th ro u g h o u t
A frica over the past tw o years to go
even fu rth e r than th is m odest
b eg in nin g. The resu lt o f those
meetings was the b lu e p rin t fo r the
A fric a n Econom ic C o m m u n ity, an
econom ic g ro u p in g , on a regional
basis in itia lly , o f all fifty -o n e coun­
tries th a t m ake the A fric a n c o n ­
tinent.
P ro po ne nts o f th is school o f
th ou gh t were seriously concerned
recently when an apparent squabble
between two members o f ECOW AS
threatened to tear the e n tity asun­
der. There have been in the past
strains o f m istrust between French
speaking A frican countries and their
English speaking counterparts. This
o f course is a result o f the wedge the
B ritis h and French a tte m p te d to
drive between the A fric a n s : divide
and co n q u e r, rem em ber, rem em ­
ber?
G hana has been b u ffe te d by
econom ic woes o f late ( o il prices,
w orld recession) and thousands o f
Ghanaians have been forced to leave
their hom eland to go seek w ork in
such n e ig h b o u rin g c o u n trie s as
N igeria and the Iv o ry Coast. Last
year, some f if t y so-calld vagrants
suffocated to death in a police van
into which they had been crammed
on th e ir way to p ris o n . M ost o f
them were Ghanaian but not much
o f a force was raised over that one.
This past March, however, on the
5 th , 46 G hanaians w ho had been
arrested and throw n in to a tin y cell
died o f suffocation in the capital o f
the Iv o ry C oast, A b id ja n . Ghana
was fu rio u s and P resident H illa
Lim an im m ediately dispatched his
In te rn a l A ffa ir s M in is te r Ekow
Daniels to Abidjan with a protest to
iv o ria n President F elix H ouphet-
B o ig n y. H o u p h e t-B o ig n y sup­
posedly was “ on to u r” some place
but D aniels met tw o cabinet
ministers. His report intim ated that
have been closed at this time. The district has
no long term comprehensive plan - the district
is still working on piecemeal planning as it has
for the past 10 years. We have yet to hear
educational plans to accompany school
closures.
But the decision to close only Washington/
Monroe was highly unfair and the failure to Participants disturbed about ACT-SO
close Jackson will put Adams on the hit list Dear Editor:
1. The o ve ra ll w in n e r was not
As p a rtic ip a n ts in the recent
selected, there was a tie and the two
again. It is interesting that Frank McNamara,
one of the strong voices for closing three N A AC P sponsored A C T -S O com ­ Silver medalists received $250 each,
p e titio n we have several concerns
schools now, was the deciding vote to leave that we w ou ld lik e to share about the bronze w inner received $100.
2. No cash awards were made in
Jackson open.
the A C T -S O awards. O ur u nd er­
the nine catagories.
The word is also out that certain Board standing, based upon in fo rm a tio n
3. N o g o ld , silver or bronze
members will not allow the students of Eliot provided by the school district and medals were awarded in any o f the
the local N A A C P o il ice was as
14 categories. O ur question as par­
ano Boise to attend Jefferson - and that Tub-
follow s:
ticipants
are:
man students will be assigned to the west side
1 Nine local scholarships in the
I 3$ hy wasn’ t an overall winner
or remain unassigned - that is, scattered am ounts of $500, $250 and $100 in selected?
among the various high schools. There are still the areas o f A rts H u m a n itie s,
2. 33 hy werent’ t the nine scholar­
those on the board that fear "resegregation" Science and Social Science were to ship awarded?
and will do whatever is necessary to insure be awarded.
3 W hy w eren’ t the g o ld , silver
2
G o ld , S ilver and Bronze
and bronze medals awarded in the
that Jefferson does not go over the magic 50
medals were to be awarded in all 14
14 catagories?
percent.
catagories o f competition.
4 A re any local w inners being
So be alert for a move in early July. All of
3. A local w inner was to be sent
sent to the national A C T -S O com ­
the gains of the past two years could be to compete in the national ACT-SO petition?
destroyed by a single vote.
finals. The reality was:
5. 33 hat happened to the over
the G hanaian embassy had been
refused permission to see the incar­
cerated G hanians and p riso n con­
ditions had been so bad some o f the
prisoners had begun to d rin k th e ir
own blood urine
Ghaman students, infuria te d, a t­
tacked the Iv o ria n embassy in A c ­
cra, Ghana and Iv o ry reca lle d its
embassy s ta ff. As the s itu a tio n
ste ad ily d ete ria ra te d fro m bad to
w orse, there was the very real
p o s s ib ility th a t an irre v o c a b le
schism was about to erup between
tw o EC O W AS members. Togolese
President Eyadema q u ickly moved
to resolve the problem by arranging
a m eeting between the fu e d in g
Presidents. The first week o f A p ril,
the two met in Lone, the capital o f
Togo and emerged shaking hands
w ith the Iv o ry Coast expressing
regret fo r the incident and Ghana
a p o lo g iz in g fo r the a tta c k on the
Ivory Coast’ s embassy.
The im b rog lio has been amicably
resolved, EC O W AS saved and the
people o f both Ghana and the Ivory
Coast m uch the wiser fo r the ex­
perience. Greater caution w ill now
be exercised in d ea lin g w ith
n a tio n a ls o f o th e r A fric a n c o u n ­
trie s. A ll A fric a is ric h e r fo r th is
k in d o f b ro th e rly /s is te rly u n d e r­
standing indicative o f the fact that
the continent has reached another
plateau: diplom acy replacing hasty
and sometimes divisive use o f force.
Letters to the Editor
S7.000 in donations raised by local
businesses?
6. 33 hat happened to the over
$2,500 in prize scholarships that was
to have been awarded to local w in ­
ners in each catagories?
The local N A A C P A C T -S O
Board has not acted in good fa ith .
The philosophy o f the com petition
is to promote excellence. This com­
p e titio n in fact, did more to insult
and discourage the hard w ork that
each participant devoted to his her
p roject, than any thing. 33 e deserve
belter treatm ent fro m o u r own
c o m m u n ity s u p p o r te d /fu n d e d
organization.
d o n a Dempsey
Donnie Harei
1981 33 il son High School
ACT-SO Competitors
Military spending ruins economy
To the editor:
Do you want to stop in fla tio n ?
Get rid o f the m ilitary. The m ilitary
does not defend us, it just gets us in ­
to deep trouble.
The m ilitary produces nothing we
can eat, drive on, live in, get well in
or learn in. The m ilita ry provokes
the latest o f o u r
so-called
’ ’ enem ies’ ’ and keeps us p o o r.
A ll the n a tio n s spend a bo ut $500
b illio n annually fo r arms. The US
and many larger nations are about
to go b a n k ru p t, m ostly because o f
the m ilita ry . M any US social
program s are being cut d ra stically
who IS GOING- TO TARE M 5 P 0 N S10 1L17 Y
FOR PARDO NING - THOSE WRONGLY CONVICTED
BECAUSE OF PO LIC E H /S C O N D U C T ?
to give billions more to the m ilitary.
M u n itio n s m a n u fa c tu re is now
m ostly te c h n ic a l, re q u irin g few
workers. Enormous p ro fits go only
to a few ow ners. A n uclea r war
ending c iv iliz a tio n co uld start any
minute and would be over in h alf an
hour. No winners. A ll dead.
33 e w o u ld have m any M O R E
JOBS tf our tax money did not go to
fatten the m ilitary .
M illio n s more employees, w orld
wide, would be hired to build badly
needed houses, roads, fa c to rie s ,
schools and to sell what is needed.
Alm ost all could w ork, would have
a job and no one would be killed by
an “ enemy” .
The U.S. should lead the way in
rem ovin g the m ilita ry . O th e r
n a tio n s , in c lu d in g the S oviets,
w o u ld soon fo llo w because thè
fin a n c ia l load w o u ld be o f f th e ir
backs also. And soon all could have
jo b s in b u ild in g not d e s tro y in g .
L e t’ s make Am erica first in saving
humanity.
33 e d o n ’ t have m uch tim e . The
end could come any moment. L e t’ s
all be constructing, not k illin g and
dying.
Howard D 33 illits
Support Martin Luther King legal holiday
Portland Observer
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The real proWems of the mmonty population «nff be viewed and
presented from the perspective of then causality unrestrained ano
ch ro np ,tally entrenched racism N ational and in ternation al
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arrengements that prolong and increase the oppressnyn ol Third
° ' l<1 Peoples shall be considered in the context of then e>
P*ortat«n and manipulation by the colonial nations nciuding the
"***** Sta’ es end then relationship to this nation » historical
treatment of
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Dear Editor:
I rece n tly w ro te to m y state
re p re sen ta tive in s u p p o rt o f de­
c la rin g the b irth d a y o f M a rtin
L uth er k in g . J r., a legal h o lid a y .
This is what she told me: There is a
b ill (H B 26 17 ) th a t w o u ld do it.
How ever, it has been tabled in the
House C o m m itte e on State and
Federal A ffairs.
O n ly th ro u g h dem onstrated in ­
terest by the people w ill this b ill be
brought o f f the table 33 e need to
write to the members o f the com m it­
tee on State and Federal A ffa irs and
te ll them to get busy on this. C om ­
m ittee members are: Drew Davis,
C hairm an; Larry Cam pbell; Robert
H arper; G rattan Kerans; C aroline
Jagruder; Glenn O tto and Donna
Zajonc.
33'e already have holidays which
g lo rify m ilita ris m (M e m o ria l Day,
Independence Day, 3'eterans Day).
NEXT WEEK
Next week the series on the
A C T -S O c o m p e titio n w ill con­
tinue w ith intervie w s w ith p a r­
tic ip a n ts ,
c o u n s e llo rs
and
coaches
33e sh ou ld have an A m e rican
h o lid a y to p ro m o te peace and
brotherhood, k in g ’ s birthday would
certainly be appropriate.
I feel that M a rtin L u th e r k in g ,
J r . ’ s d e v o tio n to peace and n o n ­
violence averted a c iv il war in our
country.
Please w rite to the c o m m itte e
members and ask them to recom ­
mend passage o f H B 2517 d u rin g
th is session o f the O regon
I egislaiure.
Thanks,
D o n a ld H G o lle r
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