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
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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
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