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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 24, 1981)
Page 4 Portland Observer, December 24, 1981 EDITORIAL/OPINION A Christmas Prayer The Spirit of Christmas Last Friday night a commissioner, city and state official, judges, police officers and others joined to provide a Christmas dinner, program and gifts for 700 wives and children o f inmates of OregQn State Prison. The only stipulation made was that there be no publicity. We would like to have published pictures o f two women—one Black and one white, one a judge and the other a state o ffic ia l— in their Santa Clause suits. We would have liket to have published pictures o f a college class cooking the turkeys. We would like to have printed pictures o f the children’s faces when they received their ffifts W - r — ak have liked the W — — n would — ------- - -- to - - r nuhlish - faces o f those men who, although they can’ t be home with their loved ones for Christmas, coor dinated and promoted this evening from their by D r. Manning M arable prison cells. This is the true spirit o f Christmas. ★ ★ Recently a little g irl, Adrienne Garrison, a student at Humboldt ECEC, was brave enough to save a seagull from older children who were throwing rocks at the injured bird. Adrienne and her teacher took the bird to the Audubon Society to be nursed back to health. This kind act was another example o f the Christmas spirit o f love. ★ ★ At a time when the Christmas spirit appears to be lost— when commercialization overshad- ow’s the religious tradition and war and violence are erupting around the world—it is refreshing to remember those whose acts reflect peace, love and kindness. I believe in Black h u m an k in d — every man. woman and child o f A f rican descent th a t dwells on this earth. I stand in awe o f our beauty and genius, our gift o f song, our sci ences and culture. N either slavery nor capitalist oppression could de stroy that special heritage, that chal lenge o f Blackness, which shall one day rise up w ith the oppressed o f other lands and inherit this turbu lent world. I bleieve in W o rk — that collective act o f creativity which moves moun tains and builds cities. I believe that unemployment is a crime, and that all men and women should be pro vided the chance to learn productive skills, to enjoy the fruits o f their la b o r . a n d ro c o n t r o l the means o f production that create all wealth. I believe in E q u a lity — that all human beings o f all races and cul tures were made alike in the possi bility o f development. 1 believe that the Black struggle in this nation can not accept “ equal o p p o rtu n ity ” within an inherently unequal econ omic and political system. The de m and for e q u a lity, defined as the principle o f human fairness, must mean the construction o f a sensible, d em ocratic, econom ic alternative for U .S . society, which socializes minds, bodies and communities. I believe in Sacrifice. W e cannot all be wealthy. In an ideally demo cratic society, no one should have an income or an accum ulation o f wealth that he or she does not per sonally need, nor acquire the eco nomic power to disrupt the lives and aspirations o f others. W e must give a portion o f our personal income back to our Black communities to build economic and social institu tions. I believe in Freedom. In this soci ety, freedom has meant the freedom o f corporations to raise prices, the freedom o f the w ealth y to evade taxes, the freedom o f the unem ployed to dwell on the precipice o f starvation and desperation. I believe in the freedom to build a new soci ety devoid o f the darkness o f blind bigotry; the freedom to work, play and live in neighborhoods without fear o f police repression; the free dom to worship; the freedom to confront our own weaknesses with the courage o f our Black elders; the freedom to resolve the political and social problem s o f today and set forth, in the light o f our heritage, to a new land o f peace and productivi ty, racial equality and economic de mocracy. Only when these tasks are accomplished shall we be free at last. the accum ulatio n o f c ap ita l and places the interests o f people before profits. I believe in Justice— that every citizen should have equal access to counsel, and be treated fa irly in courts o f law. I believe that the A m erican legal system has all too often favored the afflu en t and powerful and system atically punished the Black, Brown and poor. 1 believe in the Prince o f Peace. W ars o f im p erialism and aggres sion, waged by this n atio n and o th ers, are nothing less than Murder. I believe that nuclear weap ons must be outlawed in our genera tio n , to perm it the survivial o f the next generation. I believe in certain In a lie n a b le Righ’s beyond “ life, liberty, and the pursuit o f happiness.” I believe in the right not to go hungry in a land o f agricultural abundance; the right to decent housing; the right to free, public medical care for all; the right to an adequate income in one’s old age. I believe in Education— that the greatest force o f protest against the evils o f racism and economic exploi ta tio n is know ledge. Every Black parent must spend as much tim e teaching his or her child as that child receives at school. Education must become a to o l fo r lib e ra tin g our Dick Bogle It behooves each and every news reporter to listen. That means listen to just about anyone who a p proaches with an idea for a story or an opinion on a story already pub lished or broadcast. Fortunately, I took the time to lis ten to a young man who approached me earlier this week at the scene o f a m u rd er. It w asn’ t the m urder he wanted to talk about, it was my re cent series on television and in the Observer on street prostitution. He asked what alternatives young wom en have who are presently hooking on Northeast U nion and N orth In terstate. I m um bled som ething about m inim um wage jobs at fast food outlets and possible help for such young women from communi ty churches. He told me he heard that Seattle, W a s h in g to n , has a program that really provides assistance to prosti tutes who want to change their life style. I returned to the office, called the Seattle vice squad and was referred by them to the o ffic e o f Jen n ifer James, a faculty member o f the U n i versity o f W ashington. Ms. James has the reputation for being perhaps the N o rth w est’s leading expert on prostitution. I talked with a Debra Boyer, who is a reseach analyst in the D ep a rt ment o f Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University. She and War in the Middle East ? (Continued fro m pane 1 column 2) government risk international poli tical repercussions by annexing the area? Several explanations can be put fo rw a rd . One is that the Israeli governm ent, at the direction o f Begin and Defense M inister A riel Sharon, are only doing the bidding o f the U .S. government, as spelled out in the U .S .-Is ra e li Accord on M ilita r y Strategic C o o p eratio n approved by a close vote and over strenuous objections, in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) Dec. 2. This agreement stipulates that Israel will put its armed forces at the disposal o f U .S . war ventures against states in the Middle Eastern and N o rth A fric a n region, or directly against the Soviet Union. It reads in part: ‘ ‘The U.S.-Israeli strategic coop eration is designed against the threat to peace and security o f the region caused by the Soviet U n io n and S o viet-co n tro lled forces from outside the region.” Perhaps this agreement had given the Begin governm ent the green light to continue offensives, such as the G olan Heights annexation, as well as bom bing raids against Lebanon and the attack on the Tam m uz nuclear research reactor near Baghdad, Iraq, last June. U n ive rs ally condem ned as a breach o f in te rn a tio n a l la w , the Israeli government’s action against Ira q was attacked by the French government, form er U N secretary- general W a ld h e im , B ritish P rim e M in is te r M arg a re t T h a tc h e r and even Sen. M a rk H a tfie ld (R -O re ). Begin declared, “ W e are not afraid o f any reactions in the world.” W hy is Begin unafraid? Perhaps he knows the massive flo w o f aid and arms from the U.S. government w ill continue despite w o rld w id e criticism o f his government’ s belli gerent posture in the region. That is one theory. Another is that Begin is acting in direct opposition to U .S . govern ment wishes and actually alienating his A m erican supporters. H is m otivations fo r this position are unclear, but the balance o f power within the Knesset, and Begin’s own tenuous position as governm ent leader may provide clues. Lengthy debate over the U .S .- Israeli strategic accord included the in tro d u c tio n o f no-confidence motions against the Begin-Sharon government by opposition groups. Should Begin face a confidence vote, he may stand the test better by appearing to defy the w ill o f the U .S . government through indepen dent actions apparently made with out U .S. approval. H e has made recent allusions to Israel being “ a banana republic” to U .S . interests and otherwise irritated U .S. leaders with increas ingly strident remarks. A lth o u g h factions w ith in the Israeli government no doubt resent that country’ s reliance on the U .S. both economically and p olitically, other government o ffic ia ls worry that Begin will alienate U.S. leaders and therefore lose financial support. At the same time, moves are afoot to repudiate the U .S.-Israeli accord just passed, which was attacked by nearly the entire Israeli press and much o f the Israeli public. (The accord was canceled Dec. 21 by Begin— Ed. note.) Prime Minister Begin is indeed in an uneviable position. Regardless of what happens next, he only stands to lose. I f he defies U .S . go vern ment wishes, throu g h the G olan Heights annexation or other o ffen sive acts, he will lose essential finan cial support. I f he is doing the bid ding, express or covert, o f U .S . leaders, he risks further ostracism in the Middle East and perhaps repudi ation by the Knesset and members o f the fragile coalition that enables his position as leader. Either way, peace in the M iddle East is made that much more elusive. prostitution is a negative sexual ex perience which a ffects their self- concept and con d itio n s to view themselves in terms o f their sexual worth. So, they teach the youngsters to recognize a potential sexual exploit ive situation, what their rights arc. develop assertiveness skills and what to do if exploited. This teaching is done in schools at the Jun io r H igh level. The two women have also developed a simil ar program for first and second graders but that has yet to be imple mented. They have no doubts that it w ill since it has the backing of school district officials. A ll o f the above points out Seattle is far far ahead o f Portland in look ing at real solutions for diminishing street p ro s titu tio n using means other than the threat o f ja il. Ms. Boyer did tell me she had been in P o rtla n d at the request o f M u lt nomah County Commissioner G o r don Shadbourne and his task force on p ro s titu tio n . So the C o m m is sioner and his group know about Judical Advocates and how it has worked in Seattle. I t ’s my hope that our community can muster the resources necessary to mount a m ulti-faceted attack on prostitution with some viable alter natives for those caught up in it and those potential hookers who find themselves drifting toward criminal ity. Christmas Message by Police C h ief Ron Still Our traditional year-end holidays provide a time and a setting for re flection and anticipation. W e reflect upon feasts, fa m ily , friends, good times, little children w ith shining eyes, lau g h ter, tears and the rapidly passing years. W e remember holidays when we had to w o rk , and were separated from our families when we should all have been together. W e remember those who appar ently have no fam ily except the one seated on the next bar stool. W e rem em ber the closeness o f people at Christmas and wish that it could last all year. Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association member 1 MMM™ 1 Ms. James work together in a pro gram called judicial advocates. T h at began as an o ffs h o o t o f C o yo te, an acronym for Cast O f f Y our T ire d O ld Ethics. C oyote is headed n a tio n a lly by M arg o St. James, a former Madame. However, this Seattle group is not interested in the legalization o f pros titu tio n . Far fro m it. T h ey are a counseling-referral service for wom en involved in prostitution. They formed a task force on pros titu tio n which developed a tw o pronged attack on the p ro b lem . First a pub lic education program with the theme, “ D o n ’t let children play hooker." This took the form o f seminars presented in the commun ity complete with posters and bro chures. It was financed through a grant fro m the H u m an ities C o m mission. Secondly, a street outreach pro gram came about w ith outreach workers working the streets to meet kids who are runaways and offer al ternatives to adult exploiters. They also help the youngsters m o n ito r their health until the tim e the kids m ake a decision to change their lives. T h e outreach pro g ram is run through a runaw ay shelter home which provides a safe place for kids with problems. Boyer and James have determined that the most significant factor in influencing someone’ s entrance into Auociation - Foundad iggg W e are th a n k fu l fo r the Police Bureau and the C ity who compen sate us for our services with reason able salaries and benefits. We know that our Qositions as law enforce ment o fficers in P o rtlan d provide security for our fam ilies while we work and during retirement. We feel a growing concern for those less for tunate du rin g these d iffic u lt eco nomic times. We realize that we were blessed to have been born in a free society. We also are cognizant that we live and work in a c ity, P o rtla n d , which is known throughout the world as a clean, well-governed and concerned city. We will remem ber this year be cause o f the hurt caused by a few o f our police family members. But, we will be thankful that we have gained strength from their mistakes. W e forgive their mistakes, control our emotions, and resolve that such mis takes shall never happen again. Therefore, it is with optimism and confidence that I extend my sincere best wishes fo r a H ap p y H o lid a y Season to the active and retired members o f the Portland Police Bu reau, their families, and to the com munity. rortiand Observer i o b , , r ' " r ,U 8 P S • » M O I la puMlahad T h u rv l.y by ExW Publ,.hlng Company. 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