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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 4, 1981)
< Page 2 Portland Observer June 4. 1981 The road to Anzania EDITORIAL/OPINION luates No jobs for This is the week when hundreds of young people reach the day they have looked forward to - graduation day. This is the day that is supposed to be the beginning of a new life - adulthood - when chosen vocations or preparation for professional careers begin. This year many of these young people will only find disappointment. Some who would have gone to college will be barred by high costs and dwindling financial aid. Many of those who looked forward to jobs when school was over w ill remain unemployed. They have no money for school, for clothes, for cars, for apartments - for all the things for which they have worked and waited tor so long. Where will they spend the summer? Along with their younger brothers and sisters - also unemployed - they will be on the streets and in the parks. Nothing to do but throw basketballs or become a nuisance. Only a united community effort on behalf of its young people - to provide jobs, recreation, facilities and meaningful activities will save them from the hopelessness that empty pockets and broken dreams bring. Jordan removal brings concern We are concerned now with the removal of Commissioner Jordan from the police bureau and the naming of a new chief - that this process continue. The manner in which this change was made and its timing raises many serious questions as to intent. Who is threatened by Jordan's a t tempts to humanize the bureau? If we are ever to accept the Mayor's word that this change was made for the good of the City and not for political reasons - we will have to be shown. If the change was truly made to provide bet ter management, we expect to see the results of that management. We expect to see decisive changes in police policy and person nel that w ill provide better policing in a humane and respectful manner for all the Port land community. We will expect to see a process provided for citizen input and citizen review. We w ill expect to see the Chief and the command officers in our communities. Only then will we see this change as one of those that regularly occurs in the life of a city and not as an expression of betrayal of the needs and aspirations of Black people and of all people of the City. “ There is a trend emanating fro m the wealthiest boardroom s and the highest corridors o f power in this country, seeking to portray as unfashionable even the most super fic ia l expressions o f sensitivity to the needs and aspirations o f Black people. ’ (Peoples World) The summary dismissal of Charles Jordan from his position as Police Commissioner and the swearing in of a new chief on the same day has resulted in com m unity protest and in creased tensions. During recent weeks, since the possum in cident, the community has had an ongoings dialogue with police officials through a series of police/community relations forums. Among the concerns expressed during the forums were: excessive use of force, harassment and brutality, lack of training in human relations, lack of minority and Black of ficers, lack of citizen participation in policy making. We asked the Police Bureau to respond on June 20th with plans to address these con cerns. There were indications that this challenge would be met - that the bureau would bring their plans to the community for discussion. l i f L L BOYS, I GUESS W E’VE SHOWN THESE VARM INTS WHO .R U N S TH IS TOWN), NOW. 1st Place Community Service ONPA 1973 Portland Observer Bruce Broussard Editor/Publisher M ■ M CM MM Oregon Newspaper Publishers ■ I f li Association _ $ | » MEMBER M WAeen The Portland Observer IUSPS 959 680) is published every fhurs day by Exie Publishing Company. Inc , 2201 North Killingsworth Portland. Oregon 97217, Post Office Box 3137. Portland Oregon 97208 Second class postage paid at Portland, Oregon 1st Place Best Ad Result ONPA 1973 Subscriptions $10 00 per year in Tri County area Postm aster Send address changes to the Portland Observer. P O Box 3137 Portland. Oregon 97208 5th Place Best Editorial ONPA 1973 The Portland Observer was founded in October of 1970 by Alfred Lee Henderson Honorable Mention Herrick Editorial Award NNA 1973 The Portland Observer is a champion of |ustice equality and liberation, an alert guard against social evils, a thorough analyst and critic of discriminatory practices and policies a sentinal to warn of impending and existing racist trends and practices and a defender against persecution and oppression The real problems of the minority population will be viewed and presented from the perspective of their causality unrestrained ano ch ro n o ica lly entrenched racism National and in te rn a tio n a l arrangements that prolong and increase the oppression of Third World peoples shall be considered in the context of their ex ploitation and manipulation by the colonial nations, including the United States and their relationship to t h * nation s historical treatment of its Black population 2nd Place Best Editorial 3rd Place Community Leadership ONPA 1975 3rd Place Community Leadership ONPA 1978 3rd Place In depth coverage ONPA 1979 283 2486 By Fungai Kumbula It’s a long road to Azania, a very long road. We have been on the road fo r the better part o f the last three and a h a lf centuries but our elders have always told us: “ A long journey begins w ith but a single step.” The road, however, is not just long, it is also teeming w ith beasts o f some very funny colours setting traps for us at each and every turn but we w ill not be deterred. The prize, the reward, is well worth all the sacrifices: freedom, returning home to where we should have been all along. We have celebrated w ith our brothers and sisters who have made it home; who have overcome the same obstacles we are faced with. It was good to celebrate but most o f all it showed us it can be done and now, more than ever, we are deter mined to get home whatever the cost. Maybe we shall get to celebrate one more homecoming before we see our own - that o f our comrades in N am ibia - and we w ould like ***«%»•»!* By Dr. Manning Marable Part III Last month in this column I doc- ummented the ‘ ‘ War Against Black Women” that is beng waged within every sector o f the U.S. economy. The response of readers across the country has been rem arkable -- many have begun to rethink our old notions about the positions o f Black women within the struggle for jobs, political rights and social equality. Sexism is a problem w ith in the Black movement, and until we begin to recognize the unique oppression of sisters of all ages within the Black com m unity, not one o f us w ill become truly free. Strategics for empowering Black women through the legal sysem and political institutions must become part of a total redefiniion o f the role o f all women w ith in the national po litica l economy. Thus, most o f the specific strategies aimed at reducing the specific forms o f op pression against Black women must be a defined w ithin the general ef fort to retard sexism as a permanent feature o f America’ s economic life and social relations. Legislative reforms along these lines should in volve the following: I ) federal and state legislation should be enacted to create centers for "displaced homemakers.” These are women, Black and white, who are widowed or divorced between the ages o f 45-65 who find it d iffic u lt to obtain work because they have no recent records o f paid em ploym ent. Usually they are melibiblc for AFDC, because their children are generally over 18 years o f age. They cannot receive Social Security because they are not old enough. Since the life expectance tor Black males is approximately 62 years, compared to 69 fo r white males and 71 for Black females, the problem of the "displaced homemaker” is especially real for Black women. One life insurance study has determined that the family income for widows over the age of 55 declines 42 percent. The average policy monies from a spouse’ s life insurance are generally gone within twenty-four months. By 1980 sixteen states had adop ted Displaced Homemaker I egislation. Recent legislation enac ted by the state o f Minnesota recognized that "th e re is an in creasing number of persons who, in their m iddle years and having fu lfille d the role o f homemaker, find themselves displaced because of dissolution o f marriage, death o f spouse, or other loss o f fam ily in come. As a consequence, displaced homemakers have a greatly reduced income, high rate of unemployment due to age, paid work exprience and discrimination, and limited oppor tunities to collect funds o f assistance from social security, unemployment compensation, medicaid and other health insurance benefits, or pen sion plans of the spouse.” The M in nesota law created two m u ltip u r pose centers fo r displaced homemakers under the direction o f a commissioner o f public welfare. The centers counsel women “ with respect to appropriate jo b oppor tunities,” provide training and skills necessary for private or public sec to r em ploym ent, and " re fe i displaced homemakers to agencies which may provide information and assistance w ith respect to health care, financial matters, educationa, nutrition, and legal problems.” 2) Federal and state legislation should be enacted to extend labor law protection to domestic or household workers. According to a legislative report completed by the New Y ork Bar Association, over 50 percent o f all domestic workers are Black, and 99 percent are women. The average age o f these workers is 51; the median annual income in 1980 was $2243. Alm ost h a lf o f the n a tio n ’ s domestic employees are required to work at least 50 weeks every year. In 1974 the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act granted m inim um wage coverae to domestic em ployees, but the law has had no practical impact in the states. The majority o f states deny these women workers the right to collectively bargain, and they are excluded from the minimum wage level. In the state o f New York, "the employers of no more than one-quarter o f all household workers contribute to the unemployment insurance fund. O f those workers surveyed by the New York State Household Technicians, approximately one-quarter do not have Social Security.” It is imperative that state labor relations laws be modified to allow domestic employees to create their own unions. Through unionization, domestic workers equid be guaran teed certain basic legal rights. The New York Bar A ssociation’ s legislative report states: "Unionized domestic workers could increase their earnings and obtain such benefits as paid vacations and paid sick leave. C ollective bargaining agreements w ould stablize work situations by achieving relative u n ifo rm ity in wages, benefits and w orking co n d itio n s...T h e stigma currently attached to the occupation would be erased and the occupation would be upgraded with increased wages and benefits resulting from concerted activity.” 3) Expanded federal programs are r We w ill fight on u n til the Freedom Charter replaces the current charade as our c o u n try ’ s constitution. We are on the march now and there is nothing that can stop us; not guns, bombs, bullets, in tim id a tio n , incarceration, the racists and their cohorts, not one thing. We have seen Azania and it is a b-e-a-u-t-f-u-l country. needed to create new vocational tra in in g opportunities fo r Black, L a tino and w orking class white women in tra d itio n a lly ' male- dominated sectors o f the economy. The Vocational Education Act of 1963 amended by the Education Amendments o f 1976, created the mandate to "develop and carry out such programs o f vocational education within the State, so as to overcome sex discrimination and sex sterotyping in vocational education programs, and thereby furnish equal educational opportunities for persons o f both sexes...” $50,000 was granted to each state to hire administrators “ to examine all data, plans, grants, procedures and ac tions w ith regard to sex d iscrim ination and to assist local agencies in im proving educational opportunities for women.” Both the National and State Advisory Coun cils for Vocational Education were ordered to select at least one female Council member "knowledgeable w ith respect to the special ex periences and problems o f sex discrim ination in job training and e m p loym ent...” This existing legislation must be expanded to in clude m inim ally the fo llo w in g provisions: free day care facilities fo r the children o f vocational education students; federal grants and low-interest educational loans made available to female household heads and homemakers who desire additional skills in order to compete for traditionally "m ale jo b ;” guidance programs aimed at secondary school-level females to reinforce and direct greater numbers o f women into certain higher paying vocations; vigorous m onitoring o f any private sector company holding federal contracts in its employment practices, promotion and retention o f Black, Latino and working class white women. Other federal and state legislation needed to combat sexism and the in stitutionaliza tion o f the lower in come conditions o f women must in volve the expansion o f food stamp subsidies (for example, to include all female household heads with one child w ith annual incomes below $15,000); the adoption o f pay equity programs, which would reevaluate salaries paid to workers in traditionally "w om en’ s jobs” and would create a federal mandate to close the wage gap between men and women; the vigorous prosecution of all agencies, corporations and firms that violate T itle V II o f the C ivil Rights Act o f 1964, which forbids unequal payment to employees per form ing the same w ork. These reform s would mark only a real beginning in turning the tide against sexism and the historic war against Black women and poor women. i---- I SUBSCRIBE TODAY! j Be concerned! ONLY $10 PER YEAR j Be informed!! ’ know the facts!!! Name......................................................................................... j | Portland Observer Box 3137 Portland, OR 97208 I-------------------:------ AMoelafton - Founded 1MS have been over were it not fo r the enemy’ s fellow beasts from the other jungles around the world. But a beast is only a beast so long; sooner or later he gets slain. We shall drive the beasts from our beautiful country even if it means taking on all their cohorts and co- conspirators wherever they may be. When that happens, we shall be able to build the kind o f paradise that Azania used to be before the enemy stumbled on it; the kind o f society we see our neighbors building all around us; the kind of society where we shall all be equal regardless o f colour, sex or creed. Winning the war against women | N ational A d ve rtia in g Representative A m a lg a m a te d Publishers. Inc New York nothing better because that w ill make our own journey all the more worthwhile. O ur comrades in Zim babwe, Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Tanzania, throughout A frik a and the rest o f the world have given us the support, the courage, the inspiration to carry on. It is better to die fighting than to live forever on our knees, our fathers and mothers have always told us. Along the way we have laid to rest some o f our gallant comrades; executed by the cowardly enemy or fallen valiantly fighting fo r that most precious o f human qualities: freedom. A ll our heroes, we remember and honour them; those in the enemy’ s ja ils , those gone on before us, those valiantly fighting the enemy in their everyday toils throughout the unhappy land that is South A fric a today, those carrying on the armed struggle, the p o litic a l struggle, the diplom atic struggle, we remember them all. The journey w ould long since Address...............................- .................................................... City-------------------- State............. 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