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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 5, 1981)
Jefferson vs Corvallis ---- ---------- - •»«■■paper U n iv e rs ity Of Oregon L ib rary tußene, Oregon 97403 Friday, November 0th, Jefferson H.S. Special Issue "Honoring Renfro Dr. Reynolds carries Career Day the ball PO RTL4ND OBSERVER November 5, 1981 Volume XII, Number 4 25C Per Copy Two Sections Matthew Prophet selected 1 many years.” D r. Matthew Prophet was select Kay Toran, State A ffirm ative Ac ed from among 100 candidates to tion Director, said Prophet w ill be become the new Superintendent o f excellent fo r the d is trict and for the Portland Public Schools. A fte r Portland. "Portland is a district that an intensive process including visits to the districts o f the three finalists, requires a lot o f attention and D r. Prophet has good experience, intel D r. Prophet was selected by a six-to- lect and skills. one vote o f the board. The dissent “ D r. Prophet does realize that a ing m em ber, C h a rlo tte Beem an, school district is only as strong as changed her vote to make the selec the Administration, the community, tion unanimous. the faculties and the students. It is Board C h a irm a n F ra n k M c N a mara is in the process o f negotiating an exciting time for Port nd and it is im p o rtan t that D r. Prophet re a contract with D r. Prophet, who is ceive good strong support in the im currently superintendent o f the Lan plementation o f his policies.” sing, Michigan schools. Edna Robertson, director o f the D r. Prophet was the first choice C ity ’s Northeast Neighborhood O f o f the Citizen and Internal (s ta ff) fice, said, “ It is wonderful! Parents Search Committees that advised the should be aware o f what their chil board. dren are doing and D r. P rophet Norm M onroe, assistant director o f the U rban League o f P o rtla n d , seems eager to meet and com m uni cate with parents and this is a good said Prophet is the best choice. " H e beginning. has good adm inistrative and m an agement skills that the d istrict " T h e Black com munity needs to needs. D r. Prophet w ill meet with establish priorities— agenda items— agencies and in d i viduals w ho arc and invite public officials to partici pate.” concerned about the quality o f pub Ron H e rn d o n , c o -ch airm an o f lic education. And this is very posi tive." the Black U nited F ro n t, said P ro phet clearly was the best choice Lucius Hicks IV , president o f the Portland Branch, N A A C P , sees the among the candidates. " W e hope he selection as an opportunity for the w ill be able to ensure that fin a lly Black children w ill receive quality P o rtla n d c o m m u n ity to u n ify in support o f the school d is tric t. education, will increase the hiring o f “ W ith such broad support from Black teachers, will address the dis com m unity representatives he can proportionate suspensions and ex become the catalyst that will allow pulsions, and will deal with the ra the public to support the school dis cist environment in the school sys- tric t in a way th a t it has not for (Please turn to page 3 column I ) DR. MATTHEW PROPHET Photos Richard J Browr MHRCasks county make no South African investment Ofcachchu Okonkwo joins his parents in a protest against pros' tutiohih the North/Northaast area. (P h o to - Rir-harH i Browr (Photo: Richard J. Business League presents plan The N atio n al Business League, O regon C h a p te r, has requested a unique part in the P o rtla n d D e v e lo p m e n t C o m m is s io n ’ s proposed developm ent plan for N o rth /N o rth e a s t P o rtla n d . " W e view our role as one o f facilitating the positive aspects o f econom ic development as it impacts Black and other m in o rity businesses and communities in Oregon. N B L O C wants to serve as the “ mechanism to interface w ith the P o rtla n d D evelopm ent C o m m is s io n " to plan developm ent in the C o lu m b ia B oulevard In d u stria l P ro je c t. PDC has proposed targeting C o lu m b ia and the ¡¿manual Hospital site. N B L O C asks fo r com m u nity support in a q u irin g the land, (Please turn to page 2 co. !) The M etro p o litan H um an Rela tions C om m ission has urged that Multnomah County and the C ity of Portland not participate in invest ments with companies that do busi ness in South A frica, and reconsider a m erger w ith the O regon P ublic Employees R etirem ent System (PERS). I f Multnomah County pen sion funds are merged with PERS as proposed, the County funds will be invested with 86 U .S .-o w n ed com panies that do business in South A f rica. The state retirement fund now has $222.9 million invested in corpora tions doing business in South A f rica. O f this amount, $190 million is invested w ith com panies that do substantial business in South Africa (5,000 or more employees, $500,000 m ore gross ann u al p ro fit from South A frica, or $500,000 or more invested or loaned in South A frica). The money is state funds, withheld from employees'paychecks for re tirement benefits. Although there has been increas ing pressure on the transnationals to withdraw from South A frica, many have used the “ Sullivan Principle” as an excuse to rem ain. The p rin ciple, drawn by Reverend Leon Sul livan, founder o f Opportunities In dustrialization Centers o f Am erica (O IC ), includes: Non-segregation in work facilities; equal pay; equal and fa ir unemployment practices; train ing programs for Blacks in technical jobs and administrators; increasing Blacks in management; im proving quality o f life such as housing and education. The lib e ra tio n m ovem ents o f Southern A frica and most support ive groups in the U .S . oppose the S ullivan principles w ith the belief that U .S . investm ent allows the a p a rth eid governm ent to survive and that w ithdraw al o f U .S . econ omic investment would lead to its fall. During a tour o f Africa this April, Reverend Sullivan discovered that none o f the U .S . com panies that had signed the principles had fully complied and he now opposes any U .S. investment in South A frica. A team o f U .S . citizens sponsored by the American Friends Service C om mittee recently conducted a survey in South A fric a and found u n an i mous o p in io n that w ith d ra w a l o f U.S. investment would be in the best interest o f South African Blacks. The growing opposition to U .S . investment, led in large part by the N ational Council o f Churches, has resulted in the states o f Connecticut, N ebraska, M ich ig an , and M assa chusetts passing legislation requir ing disinvestm ent o f th e ir funds from companies doing business in South A frica. They were joined by ten cities including Berkeley and Gary, Indiana. The Oregon Legislature failed to adopt similar legislation. In February 1981, the Lane C oun ty Circuit Court upheld the Oregon State Board o f Higher Education's vote to sell stocks o f companies that do business in South Africa. The corporations doing business with South A frica in which PERS invests are: A m erican Express, A m erican Hom e Products C o rp ., Am erican H o sp ital Supply C o rp ., A tla n tic Richfield C o ., Bankamerica C orp., Bell & H o w ell C o ., Boeing C o ., (Please turn to page 2 column /) Black Americans seek spiritual roots in Israel Parti Entering Israel by Cleo Franklin Black men, women and children identifying themselves as the Origin al Hebrew Israelite Nation o f Jeru salem have left America for the sole purpose o f establishing a "righteous government” in "Northeastern A f ric a ” (Is ra e l). (A fte r the break in the Hebrew Kingdom under Reho- boam the north ern Kingdom was called Israel, the southern Judah. Rehoboam was the son o f Solomon and the King o f Israel from 937-920 B .C .). I was recently privileged to visit their settlement o f Dimona. I left Dulles A irport in Washing ton, D .C ., and by way o f London I arrived at T el A v iv ’ s Ben G u rio n A irport about 14 hours later. After the plane landed I anxiously sat in my seat aboard the plane waiting to disembark. It was time; I got to the door and the warm dry desert heat was a great re lie f from the m an made environment o f the aircraft. As I stood in the doorway o f the aircraft, I immediately noticed two soldiers w ith guns standing at the bo tto m o f the stairw ay fro m the plane. The soldiers stood by and watched as the people descended the stairs. When my turn came I started down the stairs with much care and went into the airport terminal w ith out incident. Inside the airp o rt the first stop was Israeli customs, where inside a booth sat a young wom an who asked to see my passport. She then asked me if I was traveling w ith a group. M y reply was no. She then picked up the phone and m ade a phone call. A few moments later a man came out from the o ffice and asked if I would come with him. He was dressed in a m ilita ry u n iform and appeared to be a government official so I asked him if there was a pro b lem . The man p o litely said, No, but asked that I follow him into his office. A fte r we got inside, the man asked me to sit down. I again asked if there was a problem, and his reply was still no. The airport official sat down at his desk and began to look over my passport which he had re ceived Irom the lady at the customs booth. He asked me for additional identification; I gave him my press card and my O regon D riv e r’ s L i cense. At that point he began to ask me a series o f questions. The ques tions and my replies were as follows: Q. Why are you here ? /4. A am a reporter and I am here to write a story about Israel. Q. Where are you fro m and f o r whom do you work? A. I am from Portland, Oregon in the United States, and I work for a newspaper called the P o rtla n d Observer. Q. Where are you staying in Is rael? A . The American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem. Q. Do fo u have reservations and how long will you be staying? A. Yes, 1 have reservations at the hotel and I will be staying about ten days. Q. D o you kn o w anyone in D i mona o r do you have gifts f o r any one there? A . No. Q. D o you kno w anyone in Is rael? A. No. Q. A re there stories in Israel that you think your readership would be interested in? A. Yes. T h e o ffic ia l then made a tele phone call and spoke in Hebrew. I did not understand much o f the con versation but I did understand him to say Portland Observer to the per son on the other end o f the phone. The o ffic ia l also called the hotel to verify my reservation at the hotel. The o ffic ia l then asked to see my camera. He did not take my camera, nor did he reach for it. I assume he concluded it would be reasonable for a newspaper reporter to have a cam era and so he was testing my story. According to the Jerusalem Post there have been reported cases that some Black Americans had been de nied entry into Israel. Sources from the Black Hebrew community claim that the Israelis routinly harass or detain Black Americans. According to the Israeli official at the Tel Aviv a irp o rt, they only question those Black Americans that arc o f a "spe cific m akeup." The official declined to elaborate on that "specific make up.” A ccording to sources from the Black H ebrew com m u nity there have been reported cases where Black A m ericans have been stripped, searched and detained for hours. I f for some reason you are not allow ed to enter the c o u n try, you will be escorted to the firs, de parting flight. Under these circum stances in most cases you w ill not get your a irfa re refu n d ed , the sources claim. D uring the 35-m inute interroga tion session, the government official repeatedly asked me about Dimona Dim ona is one o f three cities in Is rael where the Black Hebrews live. The other two cities are Mitzpah Ra mon and Arad. I explained to the o f ficial that I did not know anything about Dimona. It was very clear at this point that the o ffic ia l did not want me to know about Dimona or the people who live there. A fte r about 35 minutes o f questions from (Please turn to page 13. column I)
