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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.
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Portland Observer
Bruce Broussard
Editor/Publisher
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Honorable Mention
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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
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ONPA 1978
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In depth coverage
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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.
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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
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