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Page 4 Portland Observer, December 3,1981 EDITORIAL/OPINION Human Rights for Haitians? The neglect and abuse o f H aitian refugees by the U.S government is fast becoming a national disgrace. W h ile accepting refugees fro m those n a tio n s th a t arc id e o lo g ic a l “ enem ies” w ith “ open arms and h e a rt,” the U .S. governm ent denies these poor, Black people from H a iti refu gee status, co n fin e s them in in h u m a n c o n d i tions, ships them to prison in Puerto Rico o r de ports them to certain to rtu re and death at the hands o f their government. A lthough the agony o f the H aitian people has continued fo r decades, it is o n ly recently that their plight has come to the attention o f the in te rn a tio n a l press and sm all b its o f news have leaked to the Am erican people. The great m igration o f Haitians began early in the 20th century, but it increased sharply fo llo w ing the occupation o f the island by the U.S. in 1915. Imm ediately, large numbers began leaving fo r the neighboring nations o f Cuba and the D o minican Republic. preferrin g death at sea to starvation o r m urder at home. Because the Haitians are Black and poor, and because the U .S . governm ent has no p o litic a l points to gain by accepting them, the treatm ent o f those H a itian refugees who arrive in the U.S has been brutal at best. They are the victim s not only o f their ow n governm ent’ s oppression but o f the U.S governm ent’s silence about their true condition. Because the Haitians have no legal rights and no legal protection they are easy targets fo r ex p lo ita tio n . U n s c ru p u lo u s m e rch a n ts charge $1,500 to “ g u id e ” H a itia n s to F lo rid a , where they are directed to areas where they are used as virtual slaves. The same thing happens in the Ba hamas, Guadalupe, M a rtin iqu e, Venezuela and the D om inican Republic. In the D om inican Re p u b lic H a itia n wom en are sold lik e c o m m o d i ties, workers are held as slaves to U.S. corpora tions, and many are murdered. The U .S . defin es H a itia n s as “ e c o n o m ic ” rather than " p o lit ic a l” refugees, w h ich a u to m atically denies them o ffic ia l refugee status and makes their entry in to the co u n try illegal. This refusal to recognize the p o litica l reality is an e f fo rt to present the exodus as a fin a n c ia l p ro b lem, masking the terrible oppression the people must endure. The U.S m ust redefine its refugee p o lic y to base status on need, not on political expediency. Refugees fro m H a iti, El Salvador, G uatem ala and other dictatorships should receive the same status as those fro m Cuba and Southeast Asia. The U .S. should jo in w ith the F irst C o n tin ental C onference in S o lid a rity w ith H a iti— an o rg a n iza tio n representing over 30 n a tio n s — in calling on the government o f H a iti to release all political prisoners and should honor that organi zation’s request that countries w ith H aitian re fu gees treat them humanely. The U.S. should use its influence and power to suppon the liberation movements that seek to remove the current regime and bring about a re turn to constitutional government. The U n ite d States shou ld celebrate H u m a n Rights Day, December 10th, by extending a little hum anity to the H aitians who fin d their way to our shores until they can make their way back to a free H a iti. Lately, the m igration has been so great that it is viewed as one o f the m ost re m a rka b le phe nomena o f H aitian history. They go not only to the U.S. but to the Bahamas, the Dom inican Re public, Guadalupe, M artinique, Venezuela, C u racao, C anada and C uba. A n estim ated one- sixth o f the population has left the country. H a iti is not only one o f the poorest nations in the w o rld ; it is run by a tyra n n ica l dynastic re gime that practices mass m urder, im prisonm ent, arrest and subsequent disa p p e a ra n ce , and brutality. Even the rudim ents o f political and so cial rights are absent. Less than one per cent o f the population owns 40 per cent o f the n a tio n a l w e a lth ; eig h ty per cent o f the gross natio nal produ ct goes to five per cent o f the population. The average income is $260; 40 per cent are unemployed. L ife expectancy is 42 years, the high rate o f death due to m alaria and m a lnu tritio n, aided by the terrorism o f the secret police. N inety per cent o f the people ca n n o t read o r w rite . C h ild re n must go to w o rk at age eight to help su p p o rt their families, then as adolescents jo in the ranks o f the unemployed. Those w ho leave th e ir c o u n try are becoming know n as “ boat peo ple .” U su a lly p o o r peas ants, they flee in flim s y , unseaw orthy boats— Violence by white youth: the growing in crisis by Dr. Manning Marabie The election of Ronald Reagan to the Presidency has inspired, at the level o f popular culture and social relations, one o f the most massive racist reactions in American history. Across the nation, policemen are shooting our young Black men at the slightest provocation. In several hundred towns and cities, crosses have been burned at Black homes; in dozens o f instances young Black women have been verbally abused and sexually assaulted by white law- enforcement officers. Yet the media is largely silent before these mount ing human tragedies. The Congress passes legislation cutting welfare and human services programs de signed to improve the status o f Black lives. The President is silent in the face of these racist atrocities— and this silence implies consent. Racism is nothing new. Yet par ticularly striking about this period is the steady proli Herat ion of random, racially-motivated acts o f violence committed by white children and young adults. Somehow, many young whites have sensed the shift in the national mood. The old segre gationists, whose lips still drip with race hatred, are reentering the polit ical arena. The most extreme pro ponents of Reagamsm, conservative groups quietly sympathetic to facist slogans and Ku Klux Klan-type po lemics, are training a new genera tion to hate Blacks. Since last January, there have been series of shocking incidents in volving white teenagers. A brief sample includes: The drowning of John Stencil, a Black freshman at Farleigh Dicker- son University, on A pril 11, 1981. Two white youths pushed Stencil into the Hackensack River as he sat on a bridge railing. Stencil reported ly “ shouted to them that he could not swim but they went aw ay.” Hackensack prosecutor Roger Bres- lin , a white lawyer, termed the drowning an "accident.” Five white youths in a car a t tempted to run down three young Black women in Far Rockaway, New York, on February 28, 1981. Charged with attempted murder, the youths pleaded innocent and were released on only $5,000 bail. Five young white men were arrest ed by M aryland State Police on June 1, 1981, and charged with con spiring to burn a cross on the lawn o f H arford N A A C P president Jo seph Bond of Churchville. Several white youths burned two crosses on the lawn of Renne Burns in Cleveland, on June 4, 1981. Gary Allen Smith, a 24-year-old Black student at M organ State University in Baltim ore, was vi ciously attacked by eight white youths in June, 1981, after Smith had argued with a white female em ployee where he worked. Smith was beaten with pool cue sticks and suf fered “ a broken left arm, contu sions and swelling of the brain.** Three white men, ages 19, 21, 23, tossed a pipebomb into the house of a Black Detroit fam ily. Mrs. Syn- thia Steele had seen the bomb crash through the bathroom window, picked it up and was attempting to throw it away when it exploded in her hand. Three fingers of her right hand were blown o ff. The attack was the last in a series lasting two- and-a-half years. Previously, white youths had thrown baseballs through Mrs. Steele's windows and painted KKK signs on her garage. Michael Jarrett, a Black youth of 19, was killed by a gunshot wound to the head in Steubenville, Ohio, on April ,7, 1981, for allegedly dat ing white girls. Police (raced (he murder weapon to a white youth, who was eventually released. Over 500 people marched to protest po lice inaction in this case. White students at Cass Technical High School in Detroit have begun calling themselves “ the junior K K K s" and “ Baby H itle rs ." Last March the juvenile racists circulated white supremacist literature, spray- painted lockers with swastikas and assaulted a student with a knife. At Wesleyan College, Connecti cut, a racist campaign o f terror has been mounting for months. White youths posted a series o f “ Wanted — Dead or Alive’* flyers throughout the campus, with an ugly, twisted sketch o f a spear-carrying Black man portrayed. One flyer charged "Jigaboo" with a variety of crimes, including, "rape, murder, robbery. He (is] led by Communist Jews in a conspiracy to destroy America and the W hite race.” Another flyer taunted: “ You call yourselves brothers... well, you’re brothers of the gorillas. I have a d ream .. . you- all gonna die in pain.** Still another racist tract promoting a fraternity informed prospective white mem bers that it was “ dedicated to wip ing all g-damn niggers o ff the face o f the E a rth .” By late October, 1981, KKK members were visiting Wesleyan’s campus to recruit young racists. Il is particularly sad that the Anti- Defam ation League o f the B'nai B'rith has chosen this moment to as sert that America is not “ institu tionally racist" and that the Kian is an "aberration." Nothing could be further from the truth. Legions of white teenagers and young adults are being indoctrinated into the tra ditional patterns o f racism, while the government and the majority of white public opinion concur through silence. So long as incidents like (hose illustrated above can oc cur, not a single Black person in this country can /e e l secure. A final note: While drafting this essay 1 happened to return to my of fice at the Africana Center. Cornell University, early one morning. The windows on the first floor o f the building were punctured by an air- rifle. On my door was printed clear ly a single word—" N IG G E R ." Bullets before butter Ronald Reagan is m aking a last-ditch e ffo rt to save face w ith the W hite House Conference on Aging— going all the way from packing the dele gation w ith his own supporters to m aking a per sonal appearance and dragging along the vice- president. Older Am ericans should not be fooled by his promises to save Social Security— after repeated threats to sink it. Nearly 16 per cent o f the elderly— 4 m illio n - have incomes below p o v e rty level ($3,941 per year fo r a single person). W ith o u t Social Securi ty, 60 per cent would be below poverty level. In 1980, more than tw o-th irds had incomes o f less than $6,000. Medicare paid fo r only 38 per cent o f medical bills fo r the elderly. Yet, rather than substantially increase the benefits fo r the elderly, the Reagan regime threatens cuts. There are c o n tin u o u s p re d ic tio n s o f b a n k ru p tc y fo r S o cial S e cu rity. W here to get the money? Over the next five years arm y aircraft funding w ill increase 55 per cent over fiscal 1981 expendi tures; missiles w ill increase 54 per cent; artillery, tanks, arm ed personnel ca rrie rs, 96 per cent; am m unition, 40 per cent. In 1981, the Navy w ill spend $114.4 b illio n , the A rm y $52.1 b illio n ; the A ir Force $51.5 billion. That would go a long way tow ard m aking life fo r our elderly citizens a little more com fortable and secure. HPim. THE 'BUMPING 1 TRIED LAST SuriVER DIDN'T WORK GUE5S I'LL HAVE TO .CUT. Be concerned I Be informed 11 Know the facts! II Subscribe Todayl R eceive y o u r Observer by m ail Only $10 per year. N am e_ Address City __ -Z ip Make checks payable to: Portland Observer P.O. Box 3137 Portlend. 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