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V .\
. September!. IM I
EDITORIAL/OPINION
by Manning M araM r
__ ___________
United States in isolation
The statements o f U .S . Assistant Secretary
for African Affairs demonstrates clearly the po
sition o f the U .S . in world affairs. Discussing
South Africa’s invasion o f Angola, he indicated
that the United States will not choose between
Blacks and whites.
No mention o f right and wrong— that South
Africa had sent its troops into Angola and had
killed Angolan citizens. What is the inference?
...t h a t Am erican citizens should associate
Black with wrong and white with right no matter
what the circumstances?
The United States vetoed the United Nations
Security Council’s resolution that would have
condemned South Africa and required immedi
ate withdrawal o f its troops from Angola. The
U.S. showed its true colors and voted to allow
South African aggression.
The United States’ insistence on the support
o f racism and aggression is isolating the nation
from all its allies. On the U N resolution our
traditional allies— France and Britain— aban
doned the U.S. position with France voting for
the resolution and Britain abstaining. In another
clearly related issue, our neighbors Mexico and
Canada, along with most o f the world, recog
nize the legitimacy o f the liberation struggle in
El Salvador. Mexico and France this week rec
ognized the Farabundi M arti National Libera
tion Front (F M L N ) as a political entity that
must be involved in any negotiation with that
country.
To defend its position on any world issue the
U .S . resorts to its usual defense— “ com m u
nism.” As the South Africans reported, it was
left to the U .S . to bring up the issue o f East-
West struggle. A lthough for many years the
U.S. was able to cloud the real issues o f racism
and colonialism behind the charge “ commu
nism” the nations o f the world are beginning to
recognize the subterfuge. The U.S. is being left
out there all by itself— with South A frica— as
the defender o f racism and oppression.
The South African vote was an opportunity
for the United States to put itself clearly on the
side o f integrity and human rights but it chose
economic self-interest instead.
Free speech
Worth the money
In the land o f free speech, the Oregon State
Fair Board has succumbed to temptation and
denied the Communist Party its rights.
The Com m unist P arty-U S A has rented a
booth at the State Fair for several years— along
with numerous political and special interest
groups that take advantage o f this opportunity
to reach thousands o f citizens with their litera
ture and information.
When the group was threatened by picketers
in “ black face” and army fatigues who prom
ised larger demonstrations, what did the Fair of
ficials do? Protect the booth and its occupants
from the invaders? No, they moved the booth.
The clear statement that the police powers of
the state are meant to protect all o f the citizens
needs to be made right now. To do less is to en
courage those who would harass and abuse citi
zens because o f their race, color, language, re
ligion or political belief.
A little known but important local project is
seeking temporary funding from the City Coun
cil. The Senior Job Center, currently receiving a
small C E T A grant for its staff and overhead,
w ill request $40,000 operating capital for six
months.
The project finds em ploym ent— fu ll-tim e ,
permanent employment— for workers 50 years
and older. These people, with many productive
years left, are often precluded from employment
by discrimination and preference for younger
workers.
A second role o f the project is to refer part-
time “ handyman” or professional jobs to older
workers. The advantage is two-fold: providing
needed income to older workers and providing
services to persons who need temporary assist
ance such as minor home repairs.
This is a “ self-help” project that deserves spe
cial funding from the City to help it through the
transition period to self-sufficiency.
For service, not money
The Portland C ity Council is contemplating
nice raises for itself— an issue that has caused
much community concern.
A period when the City faces cutbacks in all
areas is hardly the appropriate time to consider
raises for our public servants.
We are concerned about the continuing pro
fessionalization o f our elected officials. Elective
government has become a profession— with
many individuals spending their entire lives in
one position or another. W e are rapidly losing
the idea o f "citizen representatives” who sacri
fice a few years to serve the community but not
to make a living at it.
W e do not think our elected representatives
should attempt to compare their salaries to those
o f private business. The opportunity to serve
should be the major portion o f the salary.
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2nd Piece
Beat Editorial
3rd Place
Community Leadership
ONPA 197S
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Community Leadership
ONPA 1979
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3rd Place
In depth coverage
ONPA 1979
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N e w Vocfc
spent
ten -year e n e rg y -e ffl-
»pent on a tei
cicncy e ffo rt to save 29 to 90 per
cent o f U.S. oil imports.
M e lm a n states th a t the b lo ated
military budget has drained Am eri
can capital from critical socioeco
nomic needs into the war machine, a
process that erodes U .S . c a p ita l
form ation for domestic needs while
escalating international tension with
the Soviet Union. " T h e concentra
tion o f capital on the m ilitary por
tends sharply diminished opportun
ity for a productive livelihood for
most A m ericans," M elm an writes.
"C le a rly , a choice must be made as
to where these resources w ill be
used."
Even Tim e m agazine's editors
had to admit that Reagan's demand
for one trillion, five hundred billion
d ollars w ould take its to ll on the
A m e ric an people. T h a t am ount
"w ould be enough to pay o ff the en
tire national debt, with $300 billion
le ft over. It w ould finance a fu ll
year's output o f goods and services
fo r Japan. It comes to more than
$ 1 0 ,8 0 0 fo r every A m e ric an who
paid taxes on 1979 income."
Sizing up the growing mania for
defense spending at the expense o f
Great Society/New Deal programs,
one o f my Cornell students offers a
simple yet precise dictum to the cur
rent situation: " Y o u cannot eat a
ta n k ." W e cannot and should not
elect politicians who would allow
the great industrial centers o f New
Y o rk , D e tro it, P ittsbu rg h , C leve
land and other cities to become em
ploym ent w astelands, and who
w ould deny food stamps to m a l
nourished children, simply to stock
up on out-of-date, overly expensive
weapons. A new common sense on
defense spending and the fraud o f a
wartim e economy must inform the
direction o f Black and progressive
politics in the 1980s.
'Rap Sheet' talks back
¿V J e ff Barker
(From The Rap Sheet)
W ell, last month's A urora Bore
alis caused some reaction.
As you might recall, I discussed
the Oregonian's continuing assault
on the Police Bureau. I even took
some o f th e ir reporters to task.
M o st o f the reaction I heard was
favorable.
The P ortland Observer, a black
Portland newspaper, not only took
exception to my column but with the
entire issue
The O bserver’s ed ito ria l w riter
apparently sees boogie men every
where as he twists my concern over
the O regonian’ s slanted, biased re
p orting in to "ra c is t re m a rk s ." It
appears that if the Observer has no
real issue, they w ill call people
names.
I ’ll stand by last month's article.
The article was not anti-black nor
was it racist. W e are ready to pro
vide police service to any human in
need.
The lin e , " A n d L in d a , d e a r, i f
you d on ’ t like cops, next tim e you
need help why don't your try calling
A la n O t a ,” was not a threat th at
L in d a (o r A la n o r Julie T rip p )
would be refused police service, it
wasn’t even o rig inal. It was just a
rehash o f the old bumper stick, " I f
you d on ’t like cops, next tim e you
need help call a hippie."
To suggest that it w u a threat, as
the Observer did, is absurd. To sug
gest that the Portland Police would
refuse service to any person because
they criticized us is stupidity.
The Observer also stated, “ There
rem ains a lo t o f questions about
who runs the P olice B u reau — the
C h ie f o r the u nion p re s id e n t."
A nother absurdity. The C h ie f runs
the B ureau; Stan Peters runs the
union; it's as simple as that.
A fte r the R ap Sheet came o u t,
O ta and W illiam s called the C h ie fs
O ffice to ask about the article. See,
i t ’s their own ignorance as to who
runs what. I f you have a union ques
tion, you don’t call the Chief.
T he O bserver decries w hat it
terms the union's "attack position"
towards the Bureau's critics. It is the
A ssociation th at sticks up fo r the
w orking o fficers w hile politicians
hide.
We don't condemn all critics. We
have had some problems; we have
(and you notice it was " w e " not the
Oregonian or the Observer that fer
reted out the wrong-doers) corrected
them.
W e w ill continue to identify and
correct problems in the future but
we, the A s s o c ia tio n , w ill not lay
down and take unw arranted abuse
when we are unfairly attacked. I f we
d o n ’ t stand up fo r the w o rkin g
women and men o f the B ureau,
nobody will.
Besides some other drivel, the edi
torial concluded with: " W e also be
lieve the dem eaning and racist re
marks about Ms. Williams require a
formal apology from the Police As
sociation."
There were no racist remarks d i
rected tow ard L in d a W illiam s. As
fa r as "d em ean in g ” goes, it is her
p o o rly -w ritte n , biased attacks on
the Police Bureau that are demean
ing.
In closing. I ' l l note that the edi
to ria l said, " W e also b e lie v e ..
because it is obvious no real thought
was given by the editorial writer.
* * *
M oving right along, I think it is
tim e we had a C iv ilia n Review
B oard! D o n 't th ro w up yet; keep
reading
H ow many times have you been
doing a good jo b and some je rk
says, " I ' m going to report you to
Internal A ffa irs ." And what do you
do about it? Nothing, what can you
do?
See. now here’s where my Civilian
Review Board comes into play. You
report errant citizens to the C R B .
Y ou w ill then be able to file the
same silly and frivolous complaints
the citizens file on you.
I can see it now . " W h e n I gave
M r. Johnson his traffic citations, he
didn’t smile. In fact, he had a surly
look on his facet ”
Johnson would then be advised o f
his rights, his statement taken and
then he would have to wait a month
or two while the C R B would make
up its m in d . The c itize n , his w ife
and family could all worry about the
decision that would come down.
Just how the C R B w o u ld go
about punishing the civilian is a part
o f my plan I h aven 't w o rked out
yet. Maybe guilty civilians could be
forced to read the police m anual
cover to cover.
(The Rap Sheet is the o ffic ia l o r
gan o f the P ortland Police Associa
tion and the Oregon Council o f Po
lice Associations J
Open Letter to Chief Still
Dear C h ie f Still:
8th Place
Best Editorial
ONPA 1973
The reel probterm of the manonty population wifl be viewed and
pretentwt from th , p ^ p e c t w . ot the» causality unreavamed ano
M tM M R
Oregon
Newspaper
Publishers
Association
tat Piece
Beet Ad Result
ONPA 1973
P o *tm ««t» r
' 0
Bruce Broussard
Editor/Publisher
Community Service
ONPA 1973
, , p o rt.n d , Oregon
*
yond anything that would be needed
to protect themselves from outside
a tta c k .” N ow here in 77me maga
zine's "analysis” was the fact that
Soviet leader Brezhnev has offered
to negotiate a re d u c tio n in arm s,
and th a t R eagan, H a ig , and
Company have refused to talk!
A graphic way o f looking at the
insanity o f the U .S. m ilitary budget
has been done by Seymour Melman,
professor o f industrial engineering
at Colum bia University and author
o f The Permanent War Economy. In
a recent article, M elm an charts the
costs o f the arms race vs. the costs
o f revitalizing and repairing the na
tio n ’ s social and economic in stitu
tions. The cost o f two B-l bombers,
$400 m illion, equals the cost o f re
building C leveland's water supply
system. The program , $34 b illion ,
could m o d ern ize A m e ric a 's m a
chine-tool stock. The cost overrun
o f the N a v y ’ s A egis-cruiser p ro
gram. $8.4 billion, could pay for all
the research and developm ent
needed to m ake autom obiles that
could run 80-to -100 miles per gallon
o f gasoline. The cruise missile pro
gram , at $11 b illio n , would equal
the cost o f bringing the annual rate
o f investment in public works back
up to the 1963 level. Cost overruns
to 1981 on the Navy's Trident and
the A ir Force’s F-16 programs, $33
billion, could reconstruct or rebuild
one f if t h o f a ll the bridges in the
U .S . The cost overrun, to 1981, on
the A rm y 's h eavy-tan k p ro g ra m ,
$13 b illio n , equals the shortfall o f
c a p ita l needed fo r m a in ta in in g
water supplies o f 150 U.S. cities un
til the year 2001. The cost overrun,
to 1981, o f the A rm y’s U H -6 0 A hel
icopter program, $4.7 billion, could
restore all the roads, bridges, sub
ways, buses and aquaducts in New
York C ity. The M X missile system,
projected at $34 b illio n , could be
lati
Portland Observer
£
The federal budget’s
budaet's aross
groe» alloc«-
alloca
tions for defense stands a» a monu
mental insult to the intelligence o f
any c le a r-th in k in g person in the
world The Reagan Administration,
in tandem w ith the cultural p rim i
tives. conservatives and hawks in
Congress, have tipped the political
scales tow ard irration alism , in te r
ventionism and dom estic chaos.
M illions o f poor Americans w ill be
denied food stamps, decent medical
care, or a chance to be trained for a
jo b because o f the d estruction o f
federal social programs. Reagan's
tigh t m onetary policies, which
have been im plem ented in the
U n ite d K in gd o m , w ill even tu ally
turn our city streets into the bloody
battlegrounds o f L on d o n and
Liverpool.
In its July 27. 1981 issue, Tim e
m agazine blared the doom sday
trumpets in the cause o f prepared
ness. " I f it came to a Tight, the m ili
ta ry pessimists contend, the U .S .
c o u ld n 't lick a stam p. T h a t is not
s o ,'' Tim e adm itted. " B u t A m e ri
ca’ s armed forces have planes that
cannot fly fo r lack o f spare parts
and warships that are being kept in
pon by a shortage o f sailors to crew
them . U .S . A rm y units in Europe
would run out o f ammunition after
o nly tw o weeks o f conven tio nal
w ar.”
Tim e editors were tro u b le d by
two specters— the fiasco o f the C ar
ter Administration's response to the
hostage crisis, and the ever-present
th reat o f an a ll-p o w e rfu l Soviet
menace. “ The humiliating failure o f
the Blue L ig h t rescue mission
burned an impression o f military in
competence deep into the American
m in d ," Time charged. But the real
in te rn a tio n a l boogy man was not
the A y a to lla h , but the masters o f
the K re m lin . " T h e Soviets have
built up their m ilitary forces far be-
i
w w v ,,
I
x
1 was th a n k fu l a fte r having the
pleasure o f speaking with you per
sonally, but those thoughts are sink
ing after the continuously bad con
duct o f o ffic e rs from N o rth P re
cinct. W hen A rch ie F ra n k lin 's li
cense was taken by Officer Waddell
on Aug. 22nd, and not returned at
the exact same tim e the check
proved M r . F ra n k lin had no w a r
rants, something else was intended
like a lost driving identification. It
does not create any better forms o f
c o m m u n icatio n w ith the p u b lic ,
when you have open letters printed
in the papers, that eliminate explain
ing im proper conduct o f your o ffi
cers. Y o u spoke about discipline
and inspections to prevent any type
o f wrong-doing under your leader -
ship. Apparently Captain McCabe,
who is in charge o f N orth Precinct,
is not listening o r does not care
about what you are supposedly try
ing to do. M a y o r Ivan cie has also
gone into silence when it does not
relate with his personal salary.
Do we as citizens, just hear prom
ises th at are meaningless, when it
comes down to action in rectifying
misconduct? We are told to give you
a chance, and the situation regard
ing police officers* im proper deeds
w ill change. H o w long do citizens
have to wait7 Thus fa r, in relation
ship to any questins o f significance
asked, no concrete answers have
been given by you or M ayor Ivancie.
Does th a t mean no im provem ent
shall take place? The public heard
nothing but promises a fte r the re
m oval o f C om m issioner C harles
Jordan, as the head o f the Portland
Police Bureau, from you and Mayor
Ivancie. T he citizens in the N orth
Precinct know what those promises
m ean— n o th in g . T he Black C o m
m unity realizes we are now going
into a form o f political, and institu
tional. cover-up. W h a t’s your opin
ion?
Charles Elake
Portland, Oregon
Correction
O erry A bram s is spokesperson,
not chairman, o f the Jefferson High
^ “ rent A d v ,»o ry C o u n c il,
m ie I. Ms. Abrams was improperly
identified in our August 27th issue
regarding her statem ents to the
Portland School Board.