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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 25, 1981)
Pag« 2 Portland Obsarvar June 26 1981 Oblivion EDITORIAL/OPINION The word is 'justice' ì Mayor Ivancie was reported by the Oregonian to have said: "Then, in the last four years, you've had a Black Commissioner in charge of the Bureau after Neil reassigned it...B ut yet, at the same time, a lot of racial problems and misconduct on the part of the police - and the administrative breakdown as far as the SID operation - happened under that Commissioner," Whatever the intention, the implications are clear: The problems suffered by the people at the hands of the police are the result of the police Commissioner being Black. For those who still believe Blacks to be in ferior and those who haven't yet decided, the Mayor's words give comfort. He, too, must believe a Black man cannot function adequately because he is Black. To Blacks it was a slap in the face from the C ity's highest elected official - one whom many supported albeit with hesitation. It's a signal that the small efforts toward equity will not continue - that the needs and aspirations of Black citizens will take a back seat to other City business? We would like to hear the Mayor condemn the crim inality and the brutality w ithin the Police Bureau. We would like to know that those 30 officers who have practiced brutality against the public will be removed. We would like to hear the Mayor make an effort to bring justice to those who have been wrongfully convicted because of police crime. Planting of evidence and lying in court is serious business and we do not believe our "law and order" Mayor would condone such behavior; he should cooperate to remove its results from the lives of its victims. We would like to hear the Mayor express his understanding of the causes of crime He has criticized (if news accounts are correct) the belief of Commissioner Jordan that police alone cannot prevent crime. He has disagreed with the belief that police officers need to be aware of human behavior or, as he says, "be sociologists." Yet police statistics demon strate that most of a police officer's time is spent on non-criminal activities, much of it dealing with domestic and neighborhood con flicts. We would like to hear from our Mayor a little understanding of the causes of crime and some willingness to address those causes. In a period of growing unemployment and increasing cost of living, the tensions and frustrations will increase and crime will in crease. Fathers are losing jobs; young people are in the streets with nothing to do; drugs are rampant and alcohol an easy answer. Public services and programs to aid those in crisis are discontinued. Where is the honest person who can't find a job supposed to turn? Does Mayor Ivancie have an answer? Recent studies demonstrate that personal and family problems are directly linked to in come in this country. Families with less than $10,000 a year income have more medical problems; more retarded or disabled children; greater rate of suicide; deliquency and crime; more mental health problems; more child abuse and neglect and shorter lives. Because of the racial realities many of those families are Black and other minorities. They are also the most frequent victims of crime and of police harassment and brutality. We support "law and order," but in the con text most used by such criminal elements as Richard Nixon and John M itchell it means repression. The term "la w and o rd e r" has come to mean the abuse of police power. We would like to hear our Mayor talk about justice, equality and humanity. Waving the Flag The confederate flag has become a best seller at carnivals and parades. It was distur bing to see them waving along the route of the Rose Parade, but even more disgusting was the sight of a confederate flag fastened on one of the City's street cleaning units. Perhaps Americans have forgotten what the confederate flag stands for - we have been so subjected to John Wayne like movies and "h is to ric a l" movies that make heroes of traitors. The confederate flag honors men who chose to sacrifice hundreds and thousands of lives, who created wounds that have never been healed, who devastated entire sections of the country, who attempted to destroy our nation - all in the defense of slavery. Apologies We extend our sincere apologies and regrets to our readers for the unacceptable reference to Jewish people and the use of stereotyping in an article published in last week's paper: "Marlin McClain explains Pleasure split." litìwep- e/ACK COMMUNITY 1st Place Portland Observer Community Service ONPA 1973 published nav by Exie Publishing Company Inc , 2201 North I P w lah d . Oregon 97217. Post Office e o , 3137. Port 1st Place Best Ad Result ONPA 1973 3//UB Second class postage paid at Portland, Oregor Subscriptions $10 00 per year ,n Tr. County area Postm aster Send address changes to the Portland Observer, P O Box 3137. Portland. Oregon 97206 5th Place Best Editorial ONPA 1973 The Portland Observer was founded In October of 1970 by Al*r©d Lee Henderson Bruce Broussard Ed I tor/Publisher I - - 2nd Place Best Editorial 3rd Place Community Leadership ONPA 1975 The real problems of the minority population will be vie w presented from the perspective of their causality unrestrain chronoically entrenched racism N ational and in terni Mi MM* [Oregon Newspaper ’ Publishers I Association Honorable Mention Herrick Editorial Award NNA ,973 rne fo rtla n d Observer is a champion of (ustice. equat liberation, an alert guard against social evils a thorough and critic of discriminatory practices and policies, a sen warn of impending and existing racist trends and practices defender against persecution and oppression 1 1 MEMBER 3rd Place Community Leadership ONPA ,978 arrangements that prolong and increase the oppression o World peoples shall be considered in the context of th ploitation and manipulation by the colonial nations, includi United States, and their relationship to this nation s hit treatment of its Black population 3rd Place In depth coverage ONPA ,979 283 2486 -le., vo si urnxii ’ r N ational A dvertising R epresentative A m a lg a m ated Publishers Inc N e w York A u o c lU e n ■ Founded IM S < By Fungat Kumbula Have you been following the CBS Special Reports: Defence o f the United States? I f you have, you know what a chilling experience that has been. The worst th in g , it oc- cured to me as I watched one evening, is that television to a lot o f us, is first and foremost, an enter tainment medium. So much fiction and make-believe are fed to us night after night and we can sit in an easy chair comfortable in the knowledge that it’ s all make-believe. At the end o f the movie we all know that ail the actors and actresses will walk away, back home to their wives/husbands and families. For that reason, it is hard to take TV seriously. That is the m ajor tragedy o f the current CBS program: it seems so fantastic, so crazy, so unreal that ordinary folk like you and I have tro u b le swallowing it. We are used to a real, rational world where reason prevails or is supposed to prevail. The problem with the afore-mentioned program is that is seems so much like a game; a ch ild ’ s game in fact except the players are not children. And they are not using toys either; they are playing with the real thing and their playground is not just the TV screen but the whole world. The “ toys” they are playing with too are real nuclear devices with the capability to blow this whole earth to Kingdom Come not once but fifty times over. You watch your TV screen and hear this man tell a class how to fire a nuclear device; how to destroy the “ enem y" before the enemy destroys you and you won der: given the destructive power o f nuclear explosion, does it really make a difference who destroys who? You hear talk o f a “ lim ited nuclear war” and you wonder how can one have a “ lim ite d ” nuclear war? Do nuclear devices choose? My "lim ite d ” physics tells me they do not. Given the risks involved in tam pering w ith nuclear weapons, one would assume that logical, rational people would leave that destructive power well alone. Are there any winners in a nuclear war? How can there be winners when the survivors ( if there are any) will wish they were the dead ones? The num ber o f casulaties in any such war would be such that existing medical facilities just would not be able to cope and the wounded w ould ju st lie there and fester to death. There would be no p o s s ib ility o f acquiring food, shelter or other emergency supplies as w ould be the case in sim ilar emergencies because all supplies Letters to the Editor Adams closure wrong To the Editor: Desegregation is one o f the prin cipal goals o f the Portland Public Schools. W hy, then does the School Board want to close a school which is naturally integrated? As a white parent, I chose to live in this area to raise my children. 1 want them to appreciate the d if ferences that exist with the various cultures who make up our nation. I do not want them to only experience a “ to ke n ” encounter w ith other races in an isolated class here and there, and to live in a sterile a t mosphere where all their neighbor hood alike with values that exclude the acceptance of ethnic diversity. Herb Cawthorne is correct in his assessment that closing both W ashington/M onroe and Adams w ould be grossly u n fa ir to our minority population. Go ahead and close Adams, but open a new school in clu d in g the W a s h in g to n /M o n r o e m a g n e t programs at the Adams site so that the second largest student population in the city o f Portland can go to its neighborhood school in the best physical plant in the State o f Oregon. Sincerely, J. H. Robinson Robert Nelson Loa Collins Dianna Peck M yrtle Obazake Sharon McCormack Mark Rothut Why not come to Oregon? To the Editor: I understand that there is some concern about the fact that I brought Congressional hearings to the State o f Oregon recently. 1 would like to comment b rie fly on those concerns. I came to Congress six years ago. D uring all o f that tim e I have watched my colleagues, and I am sad to say that what a lot o f people th in k , is true — most members o f Congress do seem to have an a t titude o f “ the public be damned, we know what is best.” I have always figured Oregonians were different in that they did not have that sort o f attitude, and did not want their representatives to have that attitude. So, it was with some special sadness that I note that elected Oregon representatives op pose my having held Congressional hearings in Oregon recently. I ’ ve always felt it is pretty im portant to give people -- real people, everyday people - a chance to take part in government. So, in my six years in Congress, I have made it a point to bring Congressional business to the state as often as possible. In par ticular, I ’ve made it a point to hold numerous hearings in Oregon over the years. There is a good reason for this. A funny thing happens when the only place you hold hearings is Washington, D.C. The only people you hear from are career bureau crats, highly paid lobbyists, or people who can a ffo rd to pay the thousand dollars its costs to fly back to Washington, stay in high-priced hotels and wine and dine their Congressman. That is who ususlly testifies at Congressional hearings. The result? Too often it is one-sided legislation that benefits ju st the bureaucrats, or the special in terests...not the people. I d o n ’ t th in k it is rig h t. So, I have held hearings in places like LaGrande, Corvallis, Medford and other small towns in Oregon; because, I think it is p retty im p o rta n t to hear what people who live and work in those towns have to say about legislation that w ill affect them. I have been holding hearings in Oregon fo r years — it is not a new development. And, by the way, it is not politically motivated. Anyone who is running fo r office is hardly going to try to enchance his image by travelling to LaGrande and Pendleton to talk about herbicides and wilderness. F rankly, I d o n ’ t believe my position on those issues is par ticularly popular with a lot o f folks in those areas. But, I believe in let ting people know how I feel; and, I want to make sure I hear what the people have to say as well. At my hearings in LaGrande, last month, I heard from senior citizens, housewives, fly fishermen, teachers, farm ers, small tow n Chamber o f Commerce representatives, and dozens o f other ju st plain folks. That is what I came to hear. And I brought the Chairman o f the House Subcommittee on Public Lands and National Parks, John Seiberling (D- Ohio), with me. I think the people o f Oregon -- the real people, not the lobbyists, or the coprorate represen tatives - deserve no less. I doubt if many o f the people who w ould be contam inated. Imagine the scene: no food, no medical a t te n tio n , no shelter, no water, nothing. The “ su rvivo rs” w ould just hope and pray that death comes and quickly. Do you remember the time there was a com puter m a lfu n ctio n and one US nuclear equipped plane set o ff for the Soviet Union because it had “ read” that the Russians were attacking? That’ s all it would take: one mistake like that and we would be plunged into a nuclear war from wich there w ill be no survivors. It would be such a relief if we could all wake up and find out that this is all one big nightmare and that in fact it is a game: that the nuclear weapons we see are just make-believe; that this w orld we love so much is s till safe fo r you and I to enjoy; that sanity and logic still prevail. Since that is not lik e ly to be something will have to be done if we hope to see the 21st century. Somehow we must all return to that time so long ago when sane people were in control. Since these people w ill destroy your w orld as well as mine, it is up to everyone to wake up and start doing som ething about saving this w orld before it is too late. Otherwise, Oblivion... Join Festivities To the Editor: Week o f the Grand Rose Festial Parade and the Black community o f A lb in a was not represented. The Rose Festival is a annual ju b ila n t event, when the C ity o f Roses displays its beauty. It is tim e fo r the Black com munity and the people o f Albina to organize th e ir own parade. The Rose Festival week is a perfect time for the pride o f the com m unity to shine. “ I f Black is beautifu l?" Let is shine! The beauty and pride o f this unique com m unity must be displayed. Many o f the outstanding individuals could be honored. Long and existing organizations need to be recognized. There is a variety o f talent which is craving for attention. The Black com m unity needs to honor its people, and show its pride. I f there is anyone who wants to help organize our own Black Parade, lets get together now! Sincerely, Vernell Carter took part in my hearings w ill ever get a chance to go to W ashington, D .C ., to te stify in Congressional hearings, or will ever get a chance to te ll two House Subcom m ittee C hairm en their concerns. That is why I came. Because I think it is im portant to hear what the people in Oregon have to say. I w ould like to add one other thing. I hope others share my feeling o f regret that some legislators from Oregon, a state that had prided it self on openness in government, op pose my holding hearings in Oregon. People have been mad at government for a long time because government hasn’ t cared enough to listen to what the people have had to say. It’ s up to legislators at all levels to change this and give people reason to trust their governm ent again. As long as those in government are saying “ Keep the doors shut; it ’ s business as usual,” that trust may be a long time coming. I intend to work in Washington, D .C ., and in Oregon to give people back their trust in government. Sincerely, Jim Heaver Member o f Congress SUBSCRIBE TODAY! ONLY $10 PER YEAR Nam e- Address City....... State-.......... Zip....... Portland Observer Box 3137 Portland. OR 97208 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
