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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 10, 1981)
-k K rs F ra n c e s S ehoen-M U n iv e r s ity o f Oresjon Lugen?, Ore fe n 9/403 Atiyeh orders 20% cuts Equal Opportunity regresses e v a p s p e r Roo» L ib r a r y Yesterday's hero, Today's goat PORTEND OBSERMER -=as Middle East: The next world war??? by Catherine Siegner M. BEGIN Events in the M id d le East have captured our collective attention for several years now as the U .S . a t tempts to stabilize its access to the a rea ’ s o il supplies am id explosive political maneuverings. Never a very calm region, the situ ation was d ra m atic ally shaken by the assissination o f Egyptian Presi dent A n w ar S ad at, a re lativ ely staunch supporter o f the U .S . and correspondingly seen m ore and more by other Arab countries as an enemy to Arab solidarity in disputes with Israel. S a d at’ s support did not come cheap. The U .S . government spent millions in m ilitary arms and other aid to effectively buy his friendship. This did not go unnoticed by his neighbors, who viewed him as a sell out for p articip atin g in the C am p D avid accords w ith Is raeli P rim e M in iste r M en ach im Begin and fo rm er U .S . President Jim m y Carter. There are ongoing debates about whether Sadat met his end because o f his willingness to deal unilaterally with Israel and the U .S ., or because there were factions w ithin his own government who wanted a less dip lomatic and a more violent encount er w ith the Israelis. Perhaps both reasons were at w o rk , or perhaps others we know nothing about. As this discussion goes o n , the Jewish and A ra b com m u nities in P o rtla n d , as well as Palestinians, are taking part. This week we hear from Lanita Anderson, editor o f the P o rtla n d Jewish R eview , who has studied both the history o f the re gion and the current situation. ’ ’ 1 think Sadat was a moderating in flu en ce,” she says. “ His overall interest was not to push Israel into the sea like other Arab states.” A n derson believes S a d a t’ s absence from the scene could encourage the more anti-Israeli attitudes exempli fied by the Palestinian L ib eratio n Organization (P L O ) and its leader, / Please turn to page 12 col. 4) Jordan discusses economy Grassroot News, N. W .— Vernon Jordan, Executive D irecto r o f the Urban League, faced the nation on N B C ’ s Meet the Press in one o f his last public appearances on civil rights issues as a national civil rights leader. A t the beginning o f next year, Jordan will begin a private law practice in Washington, D .C . VERNON JORDAN Jordan was questioned about his tor to address basic needs, that it support for larger doses o f federal was not in the n atio n al interest to funds to entitlem ent program s. have an increasingly high unemploy “ W e are living with the reality that ment rate. “ Public employment is the budget is going to be cut. We just one way. I ’m for any number o f have taken the position, that to the incentives to the p rivate sector to extent that the budget-cutting pro hire and train the unem ployed. cess takes place, the burden should What we’ re getting is the cutting o f not be borne by those least able to programs with no visible alternative bear i t . ” He believes that there for those directly affected.” might have been programs not as ef It was asked if the subject o f fe fective as others, but that the con male-headed households was taboo cept o f this administration that fed among Black leaders and what eral programs have not worked is a could society and the leadership do misconception. "Food Stamps have to solve the problem . Jordan re wiped out hunger in this country. sponded that Black leaders were Head Start and compensatory read very much aware o f the problem . ing programs have made a fantastic “ But this problem transcends race. difference. Part o f the difficulties I t ’s a problem involving the private are that these programs have been and public sector. It’s a problem for underfunded and not in existence many white families sim ilarly situ long enough to determ ine their ated. I t ’ s exacerbated in the Black w orth.” community.” Once the budget cuts arc made Interviewers stated that a ffirm a Jordan doesn’ t foresee the private tive action is viewed by this adminis sector taking up any o f the slack. " I tra tio n and the m a jo rity in this do not see the private sector employ country as u n fair and unworkable ing people, in fact, white male un because it imp sed official discrim employment is on the rise. If this is ination in favor o f minorities to cor the case, we’re surely in a recession rect past official discrimination. “ I ary period because i f i t ’ s hard for never saw the outrage when Black white males, i t ’ s twice as hard on people were being specially treated Black people.” in a negative way and now that a Jordan stated that it’s the respon corrective process has been pu, in sibility o f the private and public sec / Please turn to page I I col. 3) b y A .M . Babu W ith the ever-increasing possibil ity that the United States and some o f its W estern allies m ight under take m ilita ry action in L ib y a to o verth ro w the regim e o f C o l. Muammar Khadafy, it is crucial for Americans to take stock < possible consequences. For the simple truth is that Kha dafy is not perceived in the M iddle East and A frica as he is portrayed in the United States. Massive propa ganda efforts to discredit him well could backfire in a region already beset by political, economic and so cial turmoil. In addition, to ignore the view o f Khadafy from Khadafy’s own hemi sphere is to ignore some o f the more painful lessons in the history o f U.S. foreign po licy over the pat three decades. T h e h abit o f A m erican presidents to pin p o in t special v il lains in the Third W orld has had the regularity o f a law o f nature. T ru m a n picked N o rth K o re a ’ s Kim 11 Sung as his arch-villain; Eis enhow er chose Nasser o f E g yp t; Kennedy’ s nemesis was Fidel Cas tro; Johnson’ s was H o C hi M in h ; Nixon settled on Allende o f Chile, and C a rte r on K h o m e in i. N o w Ronald Reagan has his Khadfy. A ll o f these villains in one way or ano th er indeed have challenged U .S . policies in th e ir regions. But none o f them seriously posed a se curity threat to the U n ited States. Nevertheless, they have been pre sented consistently to the American public as though th e ir power was deeply dangerous to U .S . survival and to world peace— and that their removal was essential for the good o f humankind. The great p arad o x, however, is that in v a ria b ly these v illa in s also happened to be extremely popular in their own countries, and in their re spective regions as w ell. In fact, it now has become axiomatic that if a leader is fanatically v illified by the (Please turn to page 5 column 7) M. KHADAFY OABA charges Demo racism The Oregon Assembly for Black A ffa irs (O A B A ) has charged the D em ocratic P arty o f Oregon w ith racism in its decision to boycott O A B A ’ s S u m m it m eeting last m onth. According to C alvin O .L . H e n ry , president o f O A B A , the D em ocratic P arty o ffic ia ls join ed the M u ltn o m a h C o u n ty L ab o r Council in asking members not to participate in the conference. The conference, which featured Atlanta M ayor Maynard Jackson as its banquet speaker, addressed “ Economic Survival o f Black Peo ple.” Problems began when the confer ence was scheduled at the T h u n- de bird Jantzen Beach in Portland, a motel currently on the A F L -C IO ’s o ffic ia l U n fa ir List. H en ry states that he was not aware o f the listing and was not n o tifie d by the Multnomah County Labor Council, A F L - C IO , u n til it was too late to move the conference. tive report. The Executive Secretary o f the state party called Henry to say that she had been directed by the Executive D ire c to r Wes H a re to inform him that the executive report would not continue to advertise the conference because la b o r unions were upset that it was to be held at the T h u n d e rb ird . This was confirmed by Hare, who said he had received calls about the advertising and that he and Sm ith had concluded that it would be best for the p arty not to p u b licize the conference. Henry was also informed by other sources that some county chairmen were discouraging attendence and (Please turn to page I I col. 3) Henry states that Lon Imel. Exec utive Secretary o f the M ultn o m ah Labor Council, told him the organ ization would not participate in the conference. H enry was told that Im el called Joe Smith, Chairperson o f the Dem ocratic Party o f O regon, and told him that Democrats should not at tend the conference or the banquet. Also Sm ith was told by labor that the Democratic Party should not ad vertise the O A B A event in its execu Dental clinic receives grant Project Dental Health, a program o f the federal Department o f Health and H u m an Services funded through Multnom ah C ounty’ s Pro ject Health Division, has awarded a three-year grant to the department o f public health dentistry at The Oregon Health Sciences University School o f D entistry for the Cleve Allen (Russell Street) C linic which provides dental care to low-income persons. The to ta l am ount o f the grant, which is expected to be $2 million, is dependent on cutbacks made in fed eral funds. The first year’ s funding will be $590,890. The clinic, located at 214 N. Rus sell Street, has provided comprehen sive dental care to low-income per sons since 1975. Between 75 and l(X) patients are seen at the clinic daily, which translates to some 1,500 visits during an average m o n th . M an y have never visited a dentist before. Dr. David Roscnstein, project di rector and professor and chairman o f the department o f public health dentistry at the School o f Dentistry, believes that the quality o f care pro vided to low-income patients at the Cleve Allen Clinic is just as good as private care. A full range o f services is o ffe re d including endodontic (ro ot canal) care, crowns, bridges and dentures. Describing the clinic as "virtually one o f a kind,” Dr. Roscnstein said 3 that while most other clinics have a 35 per cent "n o show" patient rate, the Cleve Allen Clinic’s rale is only 15 percent. "Th e focus o f the clinic is on pre vention, stressing saving the teeth rather than extracting th e m ," ex plained Dr. Roscnstein "Before pa tients receive restorative care, they arc first instructed on proper main tenance o f the teeth. Initial instruc tion is followed by periodic check ups." The Cleve Allen C lin ic’s staff o f 40 includes seven dentists, one pedo- dontist (children’s dentist), two den tal hygienists and five lab techni cians, nearly all o f whom are aluini (Please turn to page 5 column 4) 1 Balemar Velasquez, president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, visited Oregon to explain boycott of Campell's Soups, Pietro's Pizza Parlors, and Libby in support of striking migrant farm workers. Above. Velasquez sings a song for An i thony Castillo Brown, 4. son of Gayle Castillo and Jerry Brown, and Veronica Digman McNassar. 2. daughter of Jeanne McNassar and Joe Digman (Photo Richard J. Brown)
