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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1982)
Page 4 Portland Observer, April 1,1982 EDITORIAL/OPINION El Salvador turns right President Reagan put himself in a trick bag when he force elections in El Salvador. Because the people, who never had the opportunity to vote during fifty years o f U.S. supported dicta torships, went to the polls in great numbers the Reagan administration is calling it a great vic tory over the guerrilla forces. Mr. Reagan should take another look. Presi dent Duarte— front-man for the m ilitary rulers and Reagan’s hope for a “ reform” government —is on his way out. The five minor parties that are even further to the right than Duarte’s party are attempting to get together to form a coali tion government. I f they are successful the new president w ill undoubtedly be ex-Major Roberto d ’Aubuisson, leader o f death squads and sus pected engineer o f the murder o f Archbishop Romero. To add to U.S. embarassment is the fact that the man who couid become president was barred from entering the U.S. by the Carter administration because he threatened the life o f a U.S. official. For the Reagan administration this w ill be a problem. W ill Congress and the American peo ple continue to provide m ilitary and economic support to a butcher? W ill the administration al low the El Salvador election to take its course or will it intervene to force a more moderate result? For the people o f El Salvador the situation must get worse. The guerrilla forces— barred from participation in the election— will continue to try to free the country from the grip o f the m ilitary dictatorship. Repression, torture and murder o f innocent civilians by government will increase. Thousands more will die. The election was a farce no matter how it is analysed. Only the right-wing parties were al lowed to participate. The elections were carried out in the midst o f a blood bath. The people had more to fear from the army i f they refused to vote than from the guerrillas who asked them not to vote. The election did not deal with the basic causes o f the revolution: poverty, oppression, hopeless ness. Those who fight for liberation have every reason to continue their struggle. The people o f El Salvador and o f the United States would have benefited more from a nego tiated settlement sought by the guerrilla forces. Time for negotiation Monday night the Black United Front exer cised its right to protest and closed down the School Board meeting. Perhaps those who say the BUF should have used the channels provided to influence Board decisions do not realize the hours, months and years that have been spent attempting to open those channels. The desires and recommendations o f Black parents and Black organizations have fallen on deaf ears—or on uncaring ears. Perhaps the demonstration Monday night has opened some ears. Perhaps the message has finally been heard. Dr. Matthew Prophet has a unique oppor tun ity to provide channels o f com munication — to bring some hum anity, justice and equity to Board decisions. It has been said that com m unication between the Board and the com m unity is a two-way street. We believe those who hold the power should reach out to the community— take the first step. A n honest, open re-evaluation o f the Tub- man siting and a pledge on the part o f Board members to put aside old enmities and consid er the needs o f neighborhood children would do much to quell the conflicts that lie ahead. The board should change its decision or con vince the community that it is right. Corporations find profits in Black consumer by Manning Marable In recent months there have been numerous articles published which advocate d iffe re n t strategies and programs which are termed “ prison re fo rm .” M any o f these proposals include the expansion o f existing penal facilities, and the building o f new prisons throughout the coun try. Few if any o f these programs in clude a critical evaluation o f exactly who is behind bars, and why. In 1982, over 500,000 men, wom en and youths were incarcerated in more than 6500 penal institutions o f various types. Despite the growing recognition o f scholars and some corrections o fficials that mass im prisonm ents had not low ered the U .S. crime rate, many conservative white Americans pressed their elect ed officials and courts for increased ja il terms for persons convicted o f violent crime. A desire “ to inflict se vere punishment and to seek revenge and re trib u tio n ,” com bined w ith the tra d itio n o f racism , sent the number o f state prisoners soaring in the 1970s and 1980s. Between 1972 and 1978, for example, Florida al most doubled its state prison popu lation. In the same six year period. D elaw are’ s prison p o p u latio n in creased by 260 per cent. C ritic s noted, w ith o u t a v a il, that one fo u rth o f a ll persons im prisoned were alcoholics. One h a lf m illio n Am erican youths every year spent some time locked away in a state re fo rm a to ry or p riso n. A n n u a lly another 600,000 mentally ill persons are arrested and imprisoned for per iods o f months or even years, and few receive any psychiatric care. By the early 1980s the annual national incarceration rate o f 250 per hun dred thousand was the third highest in the w orld. Not surprisingly, the leader was South A fric a , with 400; but p ro jectio n s fo r U .S . prison grow th could exceed that fig u re within a single decade. L ik e fascist South A fr ic a , the American prison profile reflects the brutal realities o f class exploitation and racism inherent in a modern ra- cist/capitalist state. Almost h alf o f all prisoners in the U .S., at any giv en time, are Black. 51 per cent o f the entire prison population is 29 years old or less; and 30 per cent is be tween the ages o f 20 and 24; several thousand convicts are not even old enough to vote. 56 per cent o f all prisoners never com pleted high school, and over one quarter have an eighth grade education or less. The great majority o f prisoners are from the working class: craftsmen (23 per cent), operatives (29 per cent), ser vice workers ( I I per cent) nonfarm laborers (17 per cent), and clerical employees (4 per cent). Almost one third o f these men and women (31 per cent) were unemployed during the four weeks prior to their arrest. Most inmates had difficulty finding steady employment, with 46 per cent w o rk in g at th e ir last jo b fo r less than six months tenure. Only 14 per cent o f a ll prisoners had earned $ 10,000 or m ore annual incomes, w h ile 60 per cent earned under $6,000. Such a large pool o f “ idle” workers did not escape the notice o f many corporations and politicians, who put forward a prison "refo rm ” program o f “ rehabilitative w o rk ” in the early 1960s. Prisoners would be hired to work at manufacturing jobs while still serving their senten ces behind bars. Businesses would produce commodities at lower than norm al wage rates, thereby saving money. C hief Justice Warren Burg er, among others, endorsed the pro gram to convert prisons into " fa c tories with fences.” T h e A m erican c rim in a l justice system operates effectively as the conduit fo r enlargening the n o n w hite prison p o p u la tio n . E very y ear, over 8 p e r cent o f a ll A fr o - Americans are arrested. As Lennox S. Hinds, former National Director o f the National Conference o f Black Lawyers, has observed, “ someone Black and poor tried for stealing a few hundred dollars has a 90 per cent likelihood o f being convicted o f robbery with a sentence averaging between 94 to 138 months. A white business executive who has embez zled hundreds o f thousands o f d o l lars has only a 20 per cent likelihood o f conviction with a sentence aver aging about 20 to 48 months." Blacks comprise over 25 per cent o f all A m ericans arrested in a given year. A l though whites are charged w ith about 72 per cent o f all criminal o f fenses. the crim inal justice system tends to “ punish” them for certain less serious crimes m ore so than Blacks and other national m in o ri ties. For exam ple, in 1975 whites constituted 87.8 o f all persons a r rested as runaw ay youths, 84 per cent o f all charged for driving while under the influence o f alcohol, 88.6 per cent o f those who violated state liquor taws, and 83.3 per cent o f all vandals. Blacks com prised m ore than half o f all Americans charged with murder and nonnegligenl hom icide (54 .4 per cent), p ro stitu tion U h _ pvi i v u i / t t v u u v t ) ( j o . y | / v a (JJ.U cent) and gam bling (72 per cent). Blacks also accounted for 45.4 per cent o f all Americans arrested for forcible rape, 39.5 per cent o f all ag gravated assaults, and 41.4 per cent o f those carrying a n d /o r receiving illegal weapons. The p attern o f American “ justice" that emerges is obvious: white Am ericans are a r rested generally for relatively minor property crimes, whereas Blacks are arrested for violent crimes which carry substantial penitentiary sen tences. In a racist society, the penal sys tem is only one o f several in s titu tions which perpetuate Black exploi tation in both political and econom ic relations. U n til we understand that the American penal system is one o f "C rim in al Injustice," piece meal attempts at prison reform only make an in to lera b le c o n d itio n worse. fro m The Grassroots, © I VX 2 Letters to the Editor Kian activities shock and anger To the editor: W e are shocked and angered by the recent evidence o f racism in our Most Livable City; I am referring to the Ku Klux Kian action o f dumping a dead chicken at a N o rth east Burger Barn Restaurant. The owners o f Burger Barn were told in a related call that "next time dynamite would be throw n" at their establishment. It is appalling that such a hateful incident can occur w ith o u t some strong public response and outcry. This can hardly be termed a prank and ignored; the threat o f violence is too great to go unheeded. W herever they have surfaced in North America, Ku Klux Klansmen have proven themselves to be terror ists— in the real and most hideous sense o f that word. They have his torically used murder, rape and psy chological violence to oppress those people they deem undesirable, p ar ticularly Blacks. As white people committed to an end to racist injustice, we demand an investigation o f this incident, not only to protect the owners and pa trons o f Burger Barn, but also to ex pose Ku K lux K ian members and their tactics. This occurrence is all too reminiscent o f last year’ s pos sum-throwing activity. Could there possibly be complicity between the KKK and the police force? Justice must be done in this case for, unchecked, the level o f racist vi olence will escalate. P o rtlan d w ill become a place where not only chickens and possums, but also guns and bombs, are used to in tim id ate and eliminate Black citizens. Name withheld by request Low income housing in trouble (Continued fro m page I column 6) units at “ 3.8 million units by 1985." In a d d itio n , he said, a p p ro x i mately $3 million will be spent over the next two years to develop an 85- unit mid-rise complex in Southwest P o rtla n d , and a p p ro x im a te ly $2 million will be spent for an addition al building (15 duplexes) at Unthank " . . .and. to M t the mood for our naw crima fighting program. Chiaf Still ia mod aling the naw polica officara’ uniform that ha and I have daaignad." I IP ■ ■ IB 11 1 Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association M I ■ ™ Plaza. The construction, to begin in m id-M ay, should be ready for occu pancy the first o f 1983. During M arch o f this year, H u n ter said, two H U D representatives fro m W ash in g to n , D .C . were in P o rtla n d collecting in fo rm a tio n about “ cost o f project and manage ment approach" to various housing a u th o rities and w hat types o f changes the Portland Housing A u thority thought would bring about a better program. The Portland Housing Authority, he said, believes “ . . .th at we are at at U n th a n k P la za . T h e construc- that we can cut any more people and areas in the Section 8 program and in one instance said, “ Besides the sheer volume o f paper work for the Section 8 program, the Housing A u thority is required to reimburse the la n d lo rd fo r unpaid tenant re n t, damages, and vacancy loss (24 CFR 882.1121. In the private market, the tenant and the lan dlo rd deal w ith these disputes on their own, and any third party involvement is at their request and /o r expense.” The Portland Housing A uthority recommendations called for: " A l low housing authorities to impose a m inim um rent; m odify the income adjustm entsd that tenants are a l lowed; eliminate credit or negative rents; m o d ify D avis-B acon [A c t] Name _ Address City____ Association - Founded 1999 Guatemala (Continued fro m page I column 6) homes burned. In a widely reported massacre o f February 15h. 43 to 53 In d ian campesinos were to rtu re d and decapitated. Am id this b ru ta lity , the Reagan government announced on February 28th that it is moving to restore m ili tary aid to Guatemalu based on its assessment that its human rights rec ord has improved. Reagan is asking Congress for $251,000 for training Ihe Guatemala armed forces. Subscribe today) Receive your Observer by mail. Only $10 per year The P o rtla n d O bserver (U S P S 969 680) ie published every Thursday by Exie Publishing Company, Inc., 2201 North Killinge- worth, Portland. Oregon 97217, Post Office Bo« 3137, Portland, Oregon 97208. Second class postage paid at Portland, Oregon MEMBER peh and prevailing wage requirem ents (40 U SC 276a et. seq. directs housing authorities and contractors doing business with them to pay the p revailin g union wages as d e te r mined by the Secretary o f L a b o r|; streamline and tighten up Section 8 adm inistrative process; elim inate the federally-m andated grievance process fo r c on ven tio n al p ro grams." Portland Observer Subscriptions: »10.00 par year in the Tri-County area. P o s t m aster: Sand address changes to the Portland Observer, P.O. Bo« 3137, Portland, Oregon 97208 N Ê W p  produce a product in accordance with federal requirements." H e said the housing a u th o rity submitted an eight-page document to the fed eral governm ent that pointed out "restraints” by federal regulations. The document cited 14 A . Lee Henderson, Publisher A l McGilberry, Managing Editor A I Williams, Advertising Manager National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers. Inc. New York .State. Portland Observer Box 3137 Portland, OR 97208 .Zip
