Page 4 Portland Observer, March 25,1982
EDITORIAL/OPINION
Letters to the Editor
Benjamin Hooks keeps his promise
Still wants everybody booked
The M etropo litan Hum an Relations Com m is
sion recently completed a study o f the Police Bu
reau’ s use o f citation-in-lieu o f custody. That is,
an o ffic e r can give a citation rather than take the
suspect to ja il.
T his practice not o n ly allow s the suspect to
continue his jo b and fam ily ties w ithout interrup
tio n , b u t alleviates some o f the serious o v e r
crowding at the ja il and the booking facility.
The M H R C study shows that although there
has been m uch im provem ent in the case o f m i
n o ritie s , Blacks are s till booked in larger per
centages than whites. That is, when a police o f fi
cer has the discretion to give a citation o r take a
suspect to ja il, he is more apt to take a Black to
ja il than a white.
This is a situ a tio n that requires some honest
assessment and soul searching on the part o f the
P olice B u rea u— fro m M a y o r Ivancie dow n to
the street cop.
To the editor:
W h ile across the n a tio n e ffo rts are being
made to keep m in o r offe nders— and especially
people waiting fo r tra il— out o f ja il and in alter
native programs, C h ie f Ron S till wants to go in
the other direction. He w ould like to have a city
booking fa c ility and b rin g a ll arrested suspects
to that facility. They w ould be fingerprinted and
p h o tog ra phed, record checks made, and then
consideration given to pre-trial release.
W hat is the object o f this complete reversal o f
policy? Could it be a method to obtain in fo rm a
tio n on suspects to be used at a la te r tim e — a
way to round up the petty thieves, tra ffic v io la
tors, drunks, etc., and obtain possibly in crim in
ating in fo rm a tio n that cannot be otherw ise be
obtained legally? W ill it be used as preventive
detention?
O r is it just the evidence o f a “ law and order”
m entality that seeks to bring more and more per- •
sons through the swinging doors o f the crim inal
justice system.
Police protection for whom?
M a y o r Francis Iv a n c ie ’ s m ove to a lly h im
self w ith the police in a “ law and o rd e r” cam
paign should be watched ca re fu lly.
Ivancie has recruited and encouraged police
o p p o s itio n to a p ro p o s e d c o m m is s io n th a t
w o u ld review the policies and practices o f the
P o lic e B u re a u in in v e s tig a tin g c o m p la in ts
a g a inst p o lic e o ffic e rs . H is p o s itio n has the
s u p p o rt n o t o n ly o f the police a d m in is tra tio n
but o f the police un io n . The proposed com m is
sion has been described by Ivancie as a menace
to p o lic in g th a t w o u ld re s u lt in a d d itio n a l
crim e.
Iva n cie has made a “ law and o rd e r issue”
It is not a road we in P o rtla n d should travel.
ip i was th £ N€M)came-K.
AH «R.CA ANO W F NUT**»
O lO N T
fh fc, I'D moveÿ
tiary.
The prisoners were so overjoyed
th a t, w ith the assistance o f Kay
Toran, Oregon A ffirm ative Action
Director, they presented Hooks with
a $200 check to purchase tickets for
the Northwest Regional Conference
banquet that night. These tickets
were distributed to poor people who
would not otherwise have the money
to attend.
I personally forsee a chapter be
ing developed at this prison that can
be productive and positive.
In conclusion we w ould lik e to
thank Senator W illia m M c C o y ,
Judge Betty Roberts, O regon Su
preme Court, and M r. J. C. Keeney,
Asst. Superintendent, O .S.P. for in
tervening as they did when request
ed by the prisoners to help show
how important it was for Hooks to
talk to them.
Larry Baker
Display encourages militarism
To the editor:
o u t o f the p ro p o se d c o m m is s io n — k n o w in g
that this is the easiest path to p o litic a l support.
H e, along w ith police u n io n leader Stan P et
ers, have threatened to put the issue on the b a l
lo t i f they do not get th e ir way w ith the C o u n
cil. T h e ir appeal w ould be to the fear o f crim e
and violence, w ith heavy racist overtones.
A llia n ce between the p o litic a l leadership and
the p o lice o r m ilita r y is dangerous. In its ex
tremes it becomes fascist— w ith the po lice o r
m ilita ry used to protect the interests o f the p o l
iticia n .
Although a move occurred that I
hope w ill never have to happen
again, especially among Black peo
ple, among the haves and the have-
nots, the Class o f Legal Processes
was successful in sponsoring D r.
Benjamin Hooks* second visit to the
Oregon State Penitentiary, Friday,
March 19, 1982.
1 am grateful to the Portland Ob
server for having printed my article
about the disappointment when we,
the prisoners at the O regon State
Penitentiary, were instructed by let
ter that the H o n o ra b le B enjam in
H ooks, Executive D irecto r o f the
N A A C P , had a schedule that was
too full to give the prisoners an au
dience, to fu lfill the pledge he had
made four years ago on his first visit
to the prison.
We are aware that B enjam in
Hooks does not break his promises.
I f he did, he could not be considered
a nationally respected Black leader
in America. This is why the Benja
min Hooks we know rearranged his
schedule with the assistance o f Mrs.
Hooks back in New York, and with
the Regional D ire cto r, M s. V irn a
C anson, in San Francisco. The
name o f the game is integrity, and
even some Black men behind these
walls can understand that.
This is the sad part: it became ob
vious in the last moments before
Hooks reconsidered his decision not
to appear at this prison, that there
were some forces in the P o rtlan d
N A A C P w o rkin g against us. But
their opposition was overruled— ov
er-ruled so th o ro u g h ly by Hooks
that he publically assured us that the
N A A C P will do everything it can at
the national and regional level to as
sist this prison’s adm inistration in
establishing the avenues to create an
N A A C P chapter at this peniten-
The weapons display at the Clacka
mas Tow n Center M arch 11-14 is a
slap in the face o f all those who de
vote th e ir lives to build in g better
ways o f dealing with human conflict
than blowing each other to bits.
C om e o n , folks. These are not
A tari games, or tinker toys, or the
newest line o f Porsches your chil
dren are climbing on. That exciting
technology and expensive hardware
was built from your paycheck, and
its purpose is mass murder.
T o legitim ize war machinery in
this way is to make the (wrong) as
sumption that ail Americans either
enjoy o r cannot com prehend the
idea o f the p ain, m u tila tio n , and
death that war inflicts on the “ ene
mies“ hand-picked fo r us by our
leaders.
W e pretend we would be peace
ful, if not for “ them” We pretend
we are a noble n atio n , saving the
world from H itler or Communism.
We close our eyes and secretly envy
those in our land who reap the prof
its from every war. W e invent the
God who prefers us. and our kind.
When can we stop killing for Rea
gan, Rockefeller, and Jesus?
America has been a shining land
o f promise for the entire world. The
price tag o f our civilization does not
include either permanent adoration
o f or slavery towards the rich and
the military.
A ny culture that encourages its
citizenry to casually com m it geno
cide every ten years is wrong. A N Y
culture that creates mass unemploy
ment and powerlessness among its
citizens and then promises economic
priviege (college, housing) and a
'feeling o f belonging* is wrong.
Speak out. Teach your children to
cherish our beautiful planet and all
its citizens. Demystify Reagan, a tin
god in an endless line o f tin gods, all
spewing “ Let them eat g u n s.”
D o n ’ t listen when they play the
Rockefeller theme song number one
with a bullet— “ Dance to that D ol
lar.'* Consider that Jesus would not
allow killing even as He went to His
own certain death.
Senseless and e ffic ien t is this
slaughter. Search your souls. It can
not proceed without you.
M ana C. Webb
Portland, Oregon
Why the world doesn't like the United States
To the editor:
k
/ LJ
I KMWf
IfOltOWtKS I / ’
JUST
t W l N ’ Kid HT
on th H puo H,
B uo oy:
erika must stop now. Let the honest
people o f this nation speak for those
whose land will be laid waste, whose
homes will be destroyed, whose cul
ture will be subverted. Let us speak
for the poor o f Amerika who will be
paying the double price o f smashed
hopes at home and death and cor
ruption in the jungles o f Central and
South Amerika. Let us speak as citi
zens o f the world, for the world as it
stands aghast at the path Reagan
omics plans to take. The image o f
re vo lu tio n , freedom and dem oc
racy, but the image o f violence and
m ilitarism. I f Reaganomics do not
stop their war against the people o f
El Salvador or N icaragua im m edi
ately the world will be left with no
other alternative than to see this as
some h o rrib ly clumsy and deadly
game we have decided to play.
We don’ t need another Vietnam
in El Salvador, or Nicaragua. While
poor people watch as we poison
their water, as we kill a million acres
o f th e ir crops; w ith poor people
weeping as the U .S. bulldozers roar
through their area preparing to de
stroy the precious trees, leaving
thousands o f the children, home
less, w ith o u t clothes, running in
packs on the streets like animals.
W ill the adults have to watch their
children degraded by U .S . soldiers
as they beg for food? Yes, see the
children selling their sisters to U.S.
soldiers, soliciting for their mothers.
W hat w ill the rest o f the people
around the world think as Amerika
tests her latest weapons on them,
just as the Germans tested out new
m edicine and new tortures in the
The world now demands a matur
concentration camps o f Europe. In
ity o f A m erika that we may not be
Vietnam , A m erika destroyed their
able to achieve. The situation is one
two most cherished institutions: the
in which we must be ready to turn
family and the village. Amerika has
sharply from our present ways. Let
even cooperated in the crushing o f
us set a date that we will remove all
the N a tio n ’ s only non-communist
foreign troops from Central Am er
revolutionary political force— the
ika in accordance w ith the 1934
u n ified Buddhist C h u rch . Yes,
Geneva Agreem ent. W e are at the
Americkan soldiers did corrupt their
m oment when o ur lives must be
women and children and killed their
placed on the line if our nation is to
men. W hat liberators! How can the
survive its own folly. Every man o f
people o f Central or South Amerika
humane convictions must decide on
believe in the integrity o f this gov
the protest that best suits his convic
ernment.
tions, but we must all protest.
A ll around the world Amerikans
are met by a deep but understand
The war in Central Am erika is but
able m istrust. The so-called edu a symptom o f a far deeper malady
cated in A m e rik a , and the more
within the Amerikan spirit. The late
sophisticated surely realize that Am John F. K ennedy comes back to
erika is on the side o f the wealthy haunt us. H e said, “ Those who
and the secure w hile this nation
make peaceful revolution impossi
creates a hell for the poor. Some ble will make violent revolution in
how this madness must cease. A m
evitable. Increasingly, by choice or
by accident, this is the rote of our na
tio n has ta k e n — the role o f those
who make peaceful revo lu tio n
impossible bv refusing to give up the
privileges and the pleasures that
come from the immense profits o f
overseas investments.
This business o f burning human
beings with napalm, o f fillin g our
n atio n ’ s homes with orphans and
widows, o f injecting poisonous
drugs o f hate into the veins o f
people n o rm ally hum ane, o f
sending men home from dark and
bloody battlefields physically handi
capped and psychologically de
ranged, cannot be reconciled with
wisdom, justice and love. A nation
that continues year a fter year to
spend more money on m ilitary de
fense than on programs o f social up
lift is approaching spiritual death.
Communism is a judgment against
our failure to make democracy real
and follow through on the revolu
tions that we initiated. The oceans
o f history are made turbulent by the
ever-rising tides o f hate. O ver the
bleached bones and jumbled redidue
o f numerous civilizations are w rit
ten the pathetic words: “ Too late.”
We must move past indecision to
action. We must find new ways to
speak for peace in Central Am erika
and justice throughout the develop
ing world. A world that borders on
our doors. If we do not act we shall
surely be dragged down the long
dark and shameful corridors o f time
reserved fo r those who possess
power without compassion, might
w ith o u t m o ra lity , and strength
without sight.
Pax. Domine. Vobiscum.
Dr. Jam il Cherovee
Field D r. for C O R E
Public hearing for tha aalactlon of a alta for tha naw naar
Northeast Senior Canter will be held on Wednesday, M arch 31st I 30
pm, at M t. Olivet Baptist Church, 116 N .E . Schuyler, and on Wednesday.
April 7th, 1:30 pm, at the M att Dishman Center, 77 N .E . Knott Street.
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