Portland Observer, August 4, 1982 Page 3
EDITORIAL/OPINION
Release the Haitians now
A lte r a four-m onth trial in M ia m i, U.S. D is
tric t co u rt Judge Eugene Spellm an ruled that
Haitian refugees had been illegally detained. On
June 29 he ordered their release.
Justice D e p a rtm e n t law yers im m e d ia te ly
asked him to slay the execution o f his order.
When Spellman refused, the government asked
lo r a slay o f the ju d g e ’ s o rder fro m a Federal
Appeals C ourt. Again, the government was re
fused.
W hile the Justice Department said it planned
to appeal Spellm an’ s order to the 1 1 i l l C ircu it
C ourt m Atlanta, it said it would not ask the Su
preme C o u rt to stay release o l the H a itia n s
IK00 refugees were Io begin being released ac
cording lo a n eight-point Spellman parole pro
gram.
Instead, the Im m igration and N aturalization
Service has refused thus far to assist w ith com
pensation to voluntary agencies acting as spon
sors who incur H aitian relocation costs. The a t
torney fo r the H a itian Refugee Center, Inc., in
M ia m i states that in all o th e r cases in v o lv in g
refugees fro m other countries, the governm ent
has paid part o f the relocation expenses.
So, governm ent p olicy that has been illegal
and im m oral in detaining I K<K) people in prison
like d e te n tio n centers is six stales and P u erto
Rico continues to discrim inate against H a itia n
blacks. Il also continues its fiscal inefficiency by
paving lo i costly dete n tio n fa c ilitie s . Beyond
simple economics, the U.S. government c o n tin
ues to dam age its re p u ta tio n lo r ju s tic e and
compassion.
Now is the time to release the Haitians.
New facts on 3-Mile-island
I he owner o f the Three M ile Island atom ic
pow er p la n t. G eneral P u blic U tilitie s , denies
that the uranium oxide fuel core had melted dur
ing an accident three years ago. lin e to the ap
parent code that allows owners o f nuclear plants
cither to claim there was no accident or that an
accident had no determ ined e ffe ct on hum an
beings, a spokesman fo r the com pan y agreed
that the center o f the core had been reduced to
’ ’abed o f ru b b le ."
The core was examined July 22 by television,
the first lim e it had been seen since the accident.
Scientists present concluded that an almost corn
plete m eltdown had taken place in the center o f
the core. A t that tim e W illia m H a m ilto n ,
spokesman fo r G T U , said " th e uranium oxide
fuel had m elted."
The press was not allowed at the viewing and
by the tim e o f the press co n fe re n ce the next
m o rn in g , H a m ilto n had changed his m in d .
"W h a t we have seen, does not suggest an ac
tual melting o f the core.”
Whether or not the uranium fuel melted is sig
n ific a n t because m e ltin g w o u ld in d ica te that
wuv pon í ime ispaelis just
TALK ITOVtP WITU ÎUL PlO'
temperatures in the reactor were m uch higher
than previously thought, that the risk ol a radio
active release was m uch greater, and that the
population should have been evacuated.
I he danger o f melt down, which some reactor
owners still call impossible, is that the core w ill
m elt th ro u g h the re a c to r vessel I lo o t, reach
ground water, and set o f f gigantic eruptions o f
contaminated steam.
I he American people still have not been given
the whole tiu th by the nuclear in d u stry. A c c i
dents, large and sm all, are hidden fio n i public
view , are considered ‘ ‘ r o u tin e ,’ ’ and ate d e
scribed as holding no danger to people ot other
livin g things. G overnm ent regulatory agencies
are not much better. It w ill be 20 years ot more
until cancer and related conditions appear in the
residents o f the thre e M ile Island area; it w ill be
three generations before the genetic effects are
known.
In the meantime the Am erican people have a
right to know the truth so that they can make the
ultimate decision on the future o f nuclear power
in this country.
BECAUSE ISRAEL SAVS TUT PLO
POESN T EXIST AND TUE PlO
SAVSISPAEL DOESN’T EXIST
/
J
On November 3, 1979, television
cameras docum ented one o f the
most biutal executions in American
h isto ry. Car loads o f Ku K lux
Klansmen and Nazis raided a black
housing p ro je ct in G reensboro,
North ( arolina, k illin g five people
and wounding nine others. A ll five
demonstrators who were killed were
members o f Ihe Com m unist W o rk
ers P arty (C W P ). D espite o v e r
whelming evidence, six racists even
tually charged with first degree m ur
der in the case were acquitted one
yeai later by an all-white ju ry.
M any c iv il rights activists have
contended that the FBI and other
Federal and local agencies conspired
in advance to murder and maim the
demonstrators. They have claimed,
w ith su b sta n tia l d o cu m e n ta tio n ,
that a long tim e Klansm an and
fo rm e r FBI in fo rm a n t E dw ard
Dawson had organized Ihe 35 to 40
assassins. The FBI has issued con
tradictory statements since Novem
ber 3, 1979, about its role. One FBI
agent slated im m ediately a fte r the
massacre that the Bureau “ closed its
investigation o f the C W P on N o
vember 2, 1979.“ l ater, FBI o f f i
cers stated that they “ had never in
vestigated the group and could not
have anticipated the November 3 v i
olence ’ ’ In A p r il, 1980, the U.S.
Justice Department exonerated the
Greensboro police's role in the case
h i a letter io ( ity Manager Tom Os
borne
I wo m a jo r developm ents have
now nciutred which completely un
d o mine the (ireensboro police and
the I I l l ’ s denials. On July 8, 1982, a
rade permit. Greensboro police were
“ slow” to respond to the shootings,
because as Dawson makes clear, they
knew m advance that a massacre
would take place.
As Ihe Greensboro Justice Fund
stales, “ the Kian caravan would no,
have been organized and five mem
bers would not have been co m m it
ted w ithout the active intervention
o f the Greensboro Police D e p a rt
ment. It blasts the credibility o f the
police excuse that they were c o n
fused about the m arch s ta rtin g
p o in t.”
It also raises a number o f unan
swered questions: What exactly did
the FBI know in advance about the
Greensbor massacre? Why did the
G u ilfo rd County D istrict A ttorney
refuse to subpoena Dawson in the
1980 tria l o f the six Klansmen and
Nazi murderers?
It is very clear that justice w ill not
be served unless a special prosecutor
is appointed to investigate a ll parties
—including the F B I and Greensboro
o fficials As the Institute o f South
ern S tudies’ special report on the
Greensboro massacre declares, “ We
must not forget the Greensboro k ill
ings. T oo many questions rem ain
unanswered, and those that our re
search answered pointed us toward
deeper research, p a rtic u la rly in to
the role o f the police, the prosecut
ing a tto rn e y and c ity o ffic ia ls in
managing the events surroundin g
the killing, subsequent publicity and
the tria l.”
bv Congressman Pon H yden
Q. I ast week, President Reagan
certified that the FI Salvadoran gov
ernment has made progress toward
guaranteeing the human rights o f its
people. I his certification opens the
wav lor additional military aid from
the U.S to FI Salvador. Do you
think the President was justified in
I I do not support the P re s i
dent's certification o f human rights
piogicss in I I Salvador for one sim
ple reason: I here is no real p ro o f
that .ins real progress has been
made
Consider the facts iw o years a f
ter the ll.S began to put pressure
on ihe I I Salvadoran government to
recognize the hum an rig h ts o f its
people, o p p o sitio n to the govern
mem and its policies is s till being
met with excessive violence. Reports
continue unabated ot executions by
the aimed loices, torture by the Na
tional Police and kidnappings. And
the promised land reform program
TUEN SOMEONE 0U6WT V) FINI»
OUT WUO’S POUNDING
LEBANON TO PIECES!
C annon M ills un io n organizer in
Salisbury, N C , to ld the press that
less than a week before the massa
cre, tw o F B I agents visited her
home. Ms. Daisy C ra w fo rd stated
that the tw o F B I agents “ flashed
th e ir badges,” and asked her to
id e n tify a series o f photog ra phs.
One photo was that o f Saudi Smith,
one of the victims o f the November
3 massacre. “ They showed me pic
tures of men which I did not identify
at (he tim e, but I believe may have
been CW P members."
Ms. C raw ford, who is no, a mem
ber o f the CW P, publicized the FBI
visit “ so that people can understand
my feelings that the FBI was in
volved in the k illin g s in Greens
b o ro .” The F B I's in te rro g a tio n
"scared me,” and led her to cancel
her plans to attend the November 3
rally. The FBI has refused to com
ment on M s. C r a w fo r d ’ s state
ments, pending her appearance be
fore a Federal grand ju ry investiga
tio n in to the k illin g s . H ow ever,
shortly after her public statements,
the Ku Klux Kian sym bol " K K K ”
was written near her home. Accord
ing to the C a ro lin a Pacem aker,
“ some th in k it a w arning to
C raw ford.”
Edward Dawson’ s testimony be
fore the grand ju ry on July 15 raises
more questions. According to Daw
son, the (ireensboro police paid him
to com m unicate w ith local K lans
men. Police asked Dawson to attend
an October 20, 1979, Kian rally spe
cifica lly to recruit Klansmen to at
tack the November 3 rally, and even
urged him to get a copy o f the pa
Washington Hot Line
taking this step.'
4
W U L.IF ISPALL DOESN'T
EXIST AND M PLO
DOESN’T EXIST.
Government implicated
in Greensboro massacre
has suffered reversals and appears,
at best, to be going nowhere.
There is likewise little, i f any, evi
dence that real progress has been
made to w a rd in v e stig a tin g and
bringing to justice those resjxmsible
for killin g four U.S. church women
in El Salvador some 18 months ago.
In other words, we simply do no,
have the kind o f p ro o f we should
have for the President to certify hu
man rights progress in El Salvador.
W'hat we need is real proof. What
we have are th in assurances. And
that just isn't enough. We need real
p ro o f because anything less makes
this entire exercise a mockery, and i,
fails to discharge the duty at hand
That duty is both to ourselves and
to the people o f El Salvador.
I f the U nited States continues to
provide m ilitary arms to El Salvador
and the regime stifles reform s and
continues its oppression, then we
have fu rth e r tarnished the already
darkened image o f Am erica in this
hemisphere.
And i f El Salvador doesn’ t move
ahead w ith reasonable speed on re
form s, it invites more insurgency,
more in s ta b ility and more re vo lu
tio n . By paying mere lip service to
human rights progress in El Salva
dor, the Adm inistration is handing a
I lank check to (he right-w ing gov
ernment o f Robert D ’ Aubisson and
playing into the hands o f armed reb
els.
The U nited States and El Salva
d o r have a re s p o n s ib ility to each
other. But the U nited Slates has a
larger responsibility as a world lead
er and the major economic and m ili
ta ry pow er in the western h e m i
sphere.
I w ill no, be party to a move that
shirks either responsibility. There
fore, I see no other choice than to
oppose ce rtifyin g that FI Salvador
has lived up to its prom ises o f re
fo rm -p ro m is e s El Salvador must
keep if it is to take its rightful place
as a free and dem ocratic nation in
the community o f nations.
Protest rally Sat. noon, Waterfront Park:
Groups oppose making N-bomb fuel in NW
Letters to the Editor
To Ihe editor:
The fa m ily o f Shag Thom as
would like to express our apprecia
tio n to the many concerned people
w ho showed us so much love and
concern during the loss of our loved
one. There are no words to express
our feelings, t hank you just isn ’ t
enough We hope that each o f you
w ill realize how much it means to
us.
T o those who were p la n n in g to
m em orialize him on August 8, we
would like Io say we appreciate the
beautifu l and sincere thought, but
we, the fa m ily , w ould like Ihe ser
vices conducted on July 28, to be the
fin a l trib u te paid to our husband
and father We w ill always be grate
fu l to you fo r w anting to do this,
and also for respecting our wishes.
I f anyone w o u ld lik e to leave a
m em orial in Shag's behalf, please
contribute to the C om m unity ( arc
Program c/e Mrs. ( lata Peoples, in
his name.
I hank you so very much
Shirley Ihomas
and family
“ We oppose all these methods ol
c o n tin u in g the escalating nuclear
arms race . . , " said AFSC spokes
person P a u lle tte W itlw e r. " A l l
these options affirm the existence o f
the direct and undeniable connec
tion between nuclear power and nu
clear weapons," she emphasized.
Com m enting on the proposal by
the DOF to use spent nuclear fuel
fro m com m ercial nuclear power
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NMWA per
Aisocitllon - Founded 1885
tion o f the term inated W ashington
P u b lic Power S u p p ly System
(WPPSS) Nuclear Power Plant No.
4 at H anford, W ashington; building
a replacement for the N-reactor, als-
so at H a n fo rd ; reprocessing spent
fuel from commercial nuclear pqwer
plants such as T ro ja n . The DOE is
expected to m ake a decision
sometime this December.
plants such as the T ro ja n Nuclear
Power Plant near P o rtla n d . Ms.
W ittwer went on to say, " . such a
move would be a violation o f inter
national treaties and would be seen
as a signal to the 35 other nuclear
nations that nuclear power plants
are suitable sources fo r nuclear
bombs m aterial.”
The groups urged others in the
N orthw est to jo in w ith them " t o
stop the nuclear madness o f the
Reagan A dm inistration and its sup
porters in the Northwest Congres
sional delegation “
A ll three groups are co-sponsors
o f a rally to be held in Portland on
August 7th, calling for an end to nu
clear power and nuclear weapons.
The ra lly w ill be held at noon,
Saturday. Aug. 7th. at the Burnside
Stage Area o f W aterfront Park
P ortland O bserver
•?» M H I •
MEMBER
Saving that proposals now before
the Dcpailmcnt ol I nergv (IX 'F .) to
b u ild a new p lu to n iu m reactor to
produce weapons grade plutonium
tor nuclear bombs w ould tu rn the
Northwest into a "nuclear weapons
p ro d u c tio n fa c to r y ,” three a n ti-
nucleat groups have said they w ill
oppose any such move on Ihe part
ol the IX )I and certain members o f
the Northwest ( ongressional dele
gation Representatives o f the A m
erican frie n d s Sei v ice C om m ittee
(A l S( ), the I ellowship o f Reconcil
ia tio n (I U R ), and the T rojan De
commissioning Alliance ( I D A ) an
nounced their opposition at a P ort
land press conference on Friday.
Currently the D U I is considering
several options to produce p lu to n i
um and tritiu m fo r use in nuclear
weapons, including: the m odifica-
zl/ M etidberrv, I ddor/Publisher
■II I, Illinois, Advertising Manager
283 2486
Portland Observer
Box 3137
Portland, OR 97208
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