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Page 4 Portland Observer, July 14, 1982 EDITORIAL/OPINION Dick Bogle by Dick Hoyle Replace Africa's stolen resources — Africa is a continent in trouble. Agricultural output is lower than that o f 1970 and economic development has been hampered by high oil prices and interest rates. Over half o f the pro ceeds from exports are used for oil and food im ports. O f the 31 least developed nations in the world 22 are in Africa. Estimates are that 69 per cent o f the population is seriously poor and 39 per cent destitute. Industrialization has contributed little to eco nomic and social development. The predomin ance o f light industry, coupled with high trans portation costs, means that only 0.8 per cent of the world’s manufactured goods come from A f rica. Eighty per cent o f the people live in rural areas where 44 per cent o f the land is subject to drought and 55 per cent to desertification. The population growth is greater than in the rest o f the world, with a 2.9 per cent average an nual growth between 1975 and ,980. The labor force, suffering from extreme unemployment and underemployment, grew 2.2 per cent. To ensure adequate employment for the projected 585 million people by the year 1987, more than 39 million jobs need to be created. Lack of transportation hampers the economy. There are few all-weather roads, 40 per cent o f the road network being partially improved or unimproved dirt tracks. Railroads vary in gauge and size, precluding inter-connections between countries. Economies are based on colonialism — p ro ducing raw materials for export rather than food and material fo r consumption at home. The high cost o f manufactured goods and food im ports, coupled with low income from natural re sources, ensures that the African nations— like other Third W orld nations—do not have the economic resources for development. Many o f the new governments are empha sizing food crops, a necessary step to feed people now starving and to cut down the expenditure o f funds for lood imports. Another great need is the development of solar power to minimize the enormous expenditures on oil. A lthough the bulk o, the work to build the economies must be borne by the African nations themselves, their survival also depends on the world economy. The developed nations, especially the U .S ., which raped Africa of its human and natural re sources, should be in the forefront o f the race to provide African nations with technical assist ance and economic aid. This aid must be pro vided without subjecting them to economic or political control. New targets and new strategies are pari o f the goals set by the na lio n ’ s oldest civil rights organization at its recent Boston convention. t he National Association for the Advancement o f C olored People is planning greater activism in bring mg black Am ericans in to the eco nomic mainstream. One o f the symbolic targets in this c tfo r l w ill be the m o tio n p ictu re in d u s try . The co n ve n tio n passed resolutions requiring executive d i rector Benjamin Hooks to conduct a campaign lo r jobs and upward m o b ility in the industry and asking the industry to portray blacks in more positive roles. Hooks was also authorized to o r ganize boycotts ol movies which ex clude blacks “ in front o f and behind the camera,” i f that is deemed nec essary. I lie year 1982-gT also w ill see other specific efforts directed by the N .A A .(. I* in the fields o f educa tio n . crim in a l justice, and political brighter picture fo r blacks to gain elective o ffic e . B oth the V oting Mights extension and the decision w ill make it easiei to prove in court that an election system discriminates against minorities. The July 1st Supreme C ourt case involved Georgia's Burke County, a rural area near the South Carolina border. It allows a wide range o f in direct evidence to show discrim ina tory intent, something not allowed in a 1980 court decision. Now, with the new decision the American C ivil Liberties U nion w ill resume filin g challenges to at-large elections sys tems soon. The thinking is that if a county elects its commissioners on an at large basis, blacks w ill not as like ly win office as they would had the election been conducted on a district basis since blacks co u ld be in the m ajority in some districts. Blacks today hold o n ly tw o per cent o f the nation's elected public offices. And the rate o f increase in their election has slowed over the past several years. M onths ago, in this colum n, we wrote about the need for an exten sion o f the N ational Voting Mights A ct. W ell, Congress passed it and President Meagan signed it into law. That fact plus a recent II.S . Su preme Court Decision paints a much Washington Hot Line by Congressman Ron Wyden Television teaches racism Television could have been the most powerful vehicle o f education and communication known to man. It could have been a leader in the quest for human understanding and human rights. It could have been a means to show children all of the wonders of the world and to encourage them to seek knowledge. Instead, television maintains a stagnant com munication, playing to the lowest common de nominator with its soap operas, game shows and violence. Programming for adults is aw ful—violence, sex, racism and ignorance. But programming for children is worse. A recent study by Action for Children’ s Tele vision revealed that children’ s programs are worse than adults in not showing minorities and in stereotyping minorities and women. •3 .7 per cent o f the characters in the pro grams surveyed were black; 3.1 per cent were Hispanic; 0.8 per cent were Asian. Native Amer icans were represented only by Tonto. •O n ly 16 per cent o f the m ajor dram atic action. The o rg a n iz a tio n plans to con tinue legal and other efforts to de segregate schools at all levels but w ill put most emphasis on quality education, rather than busing and the achievement o f strict racial bal ance in schools. It w ill also study testing not only in education but in jo b selection testing. The N .A .A .C .P . w ill become more active in starling rehabilitation program s both inside correctional institutions and for former inmates. Althea Simmons says the organi zation plans to boost local chapters where they may be sagging and form coalitions w ith other organizations Io make candidates aware o f the needs and aims o f black Americans. Q M hat do vou think o f current characters were female. television advertisements which give • Blacks are more likely to be cast as heroes cred it to the A d m in istra tio n f o r ’ 'keeping its p ro m ise s'’ to preserve than as villains but this is offset by the in fre the in teg rity o f the social security quency of minority portrayals. s vs tern? • Women were portrayed as younger than •1 I hew ads are both misleading men, more likely to be married, less active, and and h a rm fu l, and I believe they with lower self-esteem. should he discontinued. I he ads are m isleading because Programs targeted to children—the most vul they give credit where credit is n 't nerable o f our population—portray a world o f due I he ads state that the President white males. Those with accents are villains or has kept his promise to preserve the stupid. These programs provide a daily dose of Social Security system by allowing a education than ensures that the racism in our so 7.4 per cent c o s t-o f-liv in g a d ju s t ciety will survive and grow. ment to go through as scheduled on Far too many parents use television as a baby June JO. What the ads fail to note is that: sitter and never look to see what their children I I I hese eosl-of-liv ing increases are seeing and hearing. Few bother to tell the have been provided autom atically networks that the picture must change. by law since 1975 (not by any action Television is a commercial product. The best o f the president); and 2) The A d m in is tra tio n fo u g h t way to reach the policy makers is not to buy long and hard to have this increase from the corporations that pay the bill. When delayed It failed to do so only be the advertisers find that parents want change— cause Congress refused to go along. and feel it in their bank accounts—change will By g ivin g undue c re d it to the come. A d m in is tra tio n , these ads make a m ockery o f the tr u th , and once Tf I Helped You. I’d Have Io Help Others’’ again stretch the patience o f the American people Hut they do m ore. They also threaten chances for the kind o f ra tional, bipartisan solution to Social Security’ s problems that the Presi dent has said he favors. O nly 10 m onths ago, the Presi dent stood before the Am erican people and announced the fo rm a tion o f a bipartisan task force which was to come up w ith proposals for re fo rm o f the system. He said at that tim e, that this task force was designed to remove Social Security once and for all from politics. The M epublican N ational C o m mittee (which is sponsoring the tele vision ads) obviously d id n 't get the message. By g ivin g cre d it where credit isn’ t due, the committee has once again removed Social Security fro m the conference ta b le —and placed it on the p o litic a l playing field. The problem w ith this Social Se curity game is that the losers are not the Democrats nor the Mepublicans. The losers are the unw illing specta- to rs—A m erica’ s w orking men and women and our retirees. As <he great political game wages on, Americans are forced to sit on the side, nes never knowing which team w i ll score the points, or whe ther someone w ill just drop the ball, leaving them holding nothing more than the memories o f a broken con tract. We owe the A m erican people more. We owe them a v ic to ry —and we can only achieve that v ic to ry if we work together. In a speech on the House flo o r this week, I urged the President to assert his authority as the leader o f the Mepublican Party — to demand rem oval o f the R N C ’ i Social Se curity ads from the airwaves—to de mand return o f Social Security to a pension pro g ra m , not a p o litic a l football. That is the only way we can hope to keep our pledge to the American people, and to provide them w ith the retirement benefits they earned and deserve. Affirmative action feud (Continued fro m page I column 6) ney Barry Goldstein, who has repre sented m inority workers in seniority system challenges, insists that equal opportun ity sometimes requires ab rogation o f seniority rules. He a r gues that rig id ly applied se n io rity often perpetuates the effects o f past discrim ination. O nly one m ajor labor organiza tion advocates “ a ffirm a tiv e reten tio n ” o f m inorités in la y o ff situa tio n s — the independent N a tio n a l Education Association (N E A ), chief riv a l to the A F T and the n a tio n ’ s largest teacher group. N E A guide lines encourage local a ffilia te s to seek contracts which lim it m inority layoffs to the proportion o f m inor ities in the b a rg a in in g u n it. Even w ith in the N E A , how ever, m any members prefer traditional seniority systems and re la tiv e ly few locals have adopted a ffirm a tive retention plans. N E A o ffic ia ls say they w ill honor any choice made by locals. The Boston case is not the only such dispute now in court. Accord- <>— h tv ! O reg c" , Newspaper Publishers * V ' Association 1 1 mlmber M W p W er AaaociaMort - Founded IMS -> •, Portland Observer Subscriptions »10 00 per year in the Tri County area Post m a ster Send address changes to the Portland Observer, P 0 . Box 3137, Portland, Oregon 97208 A l McGdberry, Editor/Publisher A l Williams, Advertising Manager rights.” Nevertheless, a Supreme C our reversal w ould not surprise m an’ observers. W hile the court has no ruled on a major “ reverse discrimin a tio n " claim since 1979. this year’ decisions in other cases revealed i grow ing reluctance to set asidi union rules: In the most recent sue! decision, June 29, the justices over turned a lower court affirm ative ac tion hiring order covering Pcnnsyl vania and Delaware c o n s tru c tio r workers. The high court now insists that union seniority and hiring hall rules may no, be set aside unless the challengers prove they were set up with intent to discriminate. W ha, that in te rim ru lin g w ill mean for current la yo ff disputes re mains to be seen. But a more defini tive Supreme C ourt decision, espe cially in a case as clear-cut as that in Boston, would almost certainly have a lasting impact on race relations in U.S. workplaces. t’ A d l K N E W S S E R V IC E . 1982 r p ? f The P o rtla n d Observer IU S P S 969 680) i t published every Thursday by Exie Publishing Company, Inc , 2201 North Killings worth. Portland, Oregon 97217, Post Office Box 3137, Portland, Oregon 97208 Second clast postage paid at Portland. Oregon ing to Shanker. teachers in Spring- fie ld . Illin o is . Kalam azoo, M ic h i gan, and B u ffa lo , New Y o rk , are em broiled in sim ilar controversies. Appeals court rulings have also up held court-ordered m in o rity la y o ff restrictions covering pu b lic safety agencies in Boston and the Memphis fire department. Judges stated th e ir ra tio n a le clearly in the Boston police and fire case: " W e arc acutely aware that some white policemen and fire fig h t ers who, understandably, regard the s e n io rity system as an inalienable rig h t and who have been innocent themselves o f any d is c rim in a tio n w ill lose their jobs, at least tem po ra r ily . We must recognize that whites as a group reaped significant advantages in the past in hiring and prom otion at the expense o f blacks and hispanics and that a last hired, first fired seniority system perpetu ates the past exclusion o f minorities. This is not a case o f wrong or right; it is a case o f tw o com peting 0-»' »»non* Subscribe today! Receive your Observer by mail. Only $10 per year Portland Observer Box 3137 Portland, OR 97208 fijiur/iM* 283 2486 Name Address City_ National Advertising Representative A m alg am ated Publishers. Inc N ew York State Zip
