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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 8, 1982)
Page 4 Portland Observer, September 8, 1982 EDITORIAL/OPINION Punishment in America Parti Tax overhaul needed The Oregon Legislature, with the guidance o f Governor Victor Atiyeh, has balanced the state’ s budget by robbing the State Accident Insurance Fund. This is only a temporary solu tion — questionable both legally and morally. Since the Governor suggested taking $81 m illion from SAIF, many charges have been made against SAIF, from giving its managers salary increases to audit problems. These charges, even if true, have nothing to do with the issue. The SAIF fund comes from taxes paid by employers and is used for employees injured on the job. Oregon employers pay one o f the highest workman compensation taxes in the nation. I f SAIF has too great a surplus, this should be used to decrease the tax and to increase services to injured workers. We consider the action by the 1981 Legisla ture in changing SAIF from a state agency to a public corporation to be wrong. This is an action the Legislature should reconsider. The one-time grab o f SAIF money is only a stop-gap and w ill not solve Oregon’s money problem. True, much o f this problem is the re sult o f a failing economy — the unemployed do not pay income taxes — but there are reme dies. by Manning Marable American politicians and busi nessmen often refer to this country as “ a free society.” Corporate power and exploitation is called ‘•free enterprise” ; elected officials applaud the “ free institutions” of the Congress and the courts. The Soviet Union is attacked as "to tali tarian” when it restricts critical commentary about the regime. But trom the vantagepoint o f grassroots America, the dream o f freedom has become a cruel hoax. How “ free" are working people, Blacks. Hispanics, the unemployed and the poor in America? For every advance in legislation providing job security,.health care and social ser vice benefits, we have witnessed public policy assaults which would increase poverty, disease, and un employment. Well before Reagan ism, this country has been moving steadily toward greater inequality, fewer democratic rights, and less real “ freedom,” especially in re gards to the criminal justice system. Let these recent events speak for themselves: • In December, 1981, two million American adults were behind bars or on probation or parole. That amounts to 1 out o f every 83 per sons over the age o f 18. 369,000 adults are locked up in Federal and state prisons; 157,000 were in local The solution, which would also apply in bet ter economic times, is to tax corporations on a sliding scale based on profit. Currently all cor porations — large and small, rich and poor — pay 12 percent o f their taxable profit. The small corporation with a $1,000 profit pays 12 percent, or $120, while that giant corporation making $1 billion pays only $120 million, leav ing a take-home profit o f $880 million. Surely these giant companies that make their billions from the people and the resources of Oregon could pay a larger share o f the costs of govern ment. The same applies to the citizens. Those with larger incomes should pay a larger share o f the cost. Oregon has not adjusted its income tax scale for years and our suffering institutions demonstrate this neglect. Another area that needs to be addressed is the property tax refund. There is a tax relief program for the low income homeowner and a deferral system for the elderly. These should not be touched. The tax refund program that returns money from the general fund to middle and high income persons should be eliminated. A ll taxes should be levied according to ability to pay. jails; over 1.2 million were on pro bation from state or Federal pern tentiaries, and another 223,800 were paroled. • 2.2 million Blacks arc arrested every year, over 8 percent o f the to tal Afro-American population. • The U.S. Death Row popula tion, as o f June 20, 1982, reached its highest level in history, 1038 per sons. About one half o f these men and women are Black. Only 13 per cent of the Death Row prisoners had Black victims — while Blacks com prise 54 percent o f all homocide vic tims in the U. S. • There is a direct relationship between racism and punishment. The Southern states have had a long historical tradition o f racist lynch ings and legal injustices toward Blacks. Thus, in our times, it comes as no surprise that 693 of the Death Row prisoners arc currently held in the South. Southern politicians have turned the penitentiaries and crimi nal justice system into a virtual “ po litical football" in order to get re elected. Since January, 1979, Flor ida Governor Bob Graham has signed 32 death warrants, and his state's Death Row total o f 181 is the highest in the country. This May, the Georgia State Senate passed a bill to create a "mobile death wag o n .” Georgia’s electric chair will now be placed literally on wheels, "so condemned criminals can be ex- exuted near the scene" o f their al leged crimes! • Mandatory life sentences with out the possibility o f parole are now ordered with greater frequency. This June, for instance, a 32-year- old Black man, Vernon Chapman, was convicted for raping a Louisi ana white woman. Chapman took a voluntary lie detector test, which he passed; three witnesses at the (rial swore that he was 10 miles away from the scene o f the crime when it occurred. An all-white jury gave Chapman "life without parole." The vast majority o f Black, His panic and poor whites convicted for mandatory life or the death penalty arc represented by court-appointed lawyers who arc overworked, and underpaid. As Tom Wicker states, "those wealthy and knowledgeable enough to hire good lawyers seldom suffer the death penalty.” It is cleat that the criminal justice system "cannot prevent injustices" and "arbitrary and capricious judg ments." Langston Hughes once said the same thing, even more eloquent ly: "Th at Justice is a blind goddess/ Is a thing to which we black arc wise/Hcr bandage hides two fester ing sores/That once perhaps were eyes.” Caribbean plan Reagan ploy President Reagan has initiated a push to get his Caribbean In itia tiv e through Congress. Billed as an effort to help U.S. “ neighbors” in the Caribbean, the plan actually does not do much more than aid m ulti-national corpora tions. Although the plan calls for $350 m illion in emergency aid, much o f that sum goes to the new pro-U.S. Jamaican government and to El Salvador for economic and military aid. Little is le ft fo r the many small nations that are facing economic disaster. Reagan said when he introduced the plan in February, “ This economic disaster is consuming the monetary' reserves and credit o f our neigh bors and obliges thousands o f persons to emi grate to the United States, some ille gally -----And the economic disaster has opened a new breach to the enemies o f freedom, nation al independence and peaceful development.” Unfortunately, Reagan’s answer to the prob lem o f failing economies is more dependence. Street Beat His plan consists mainly o f encouragement to corporations to do business in these countries and Financial institutions to invest. This w ill re sult in a greater demand for imported goods, a greater escape of funds, and larger loans and in terest payments. With high interest rates, high energy costs and a need to import nearly all manufactured goods, these nations must sell their food products rather than feed their people. So starving work ers produce food to ship abroad. The underdeveloped nations need technical assistance and money to upgrade their agricul ture and to develop light industry that will light en their dependence on imports. The giant cor porations that have taken $4 in p ro fit for every $1 they invest are not the answer. The U.S. must support a new economic system that will pay the underdeveloped nations the true value o f their national resources rather than exploiting them for the benefit of the rich nations. —k Ivan Lawrence Pastor Personally, I like Billy Ray. But as a player he's just not consistent. He comes alive during the playoffs and we need him more than that. He has a lot o f style and talent if he just had his head together. Protecting the airwaves For four hours last Monday night Cuba took over the frequencies of five or more large U.S. radio stations. Instead o f their favorite talk shows, the top 10, or country/western, U.S. listeners heard news and music from Havana. This experience should teach us sev eral lessons. First, our government is not telling us the truth. The official statements o f the U.S. government is that this is an example o f Cuba’s lawlessness — disobeying international radio regulations. The truth is that the U.S. Senate is debating Reagan’s plan to build a radio station — named after Cuba’s revolu tionary hero, Jose Marti — to invade the Cuban airwaves with anti-Cuban propaganda. The Cuban government has warned that a war o f the airwaves can go both ways. Cuba does not want to spend its resources and energy on this type o f nonsense, but will if necessary to protect their country. Monday night was a demonstration o f what they can do if they must. Second, the people of the U.S. should real ize what a waste o f tax money it is to fund a Basketball is the theme of this week’s Street Beat as the Street Beat team went to the streets with; “ H ow would you assess the performance o f B illy Ray Bates, and should he re main a Portland Trailblazer?“ “ Radio M a rti,” “ Radio Free Europe,” etc. The people o f Cuba w ill not appreciate “ Radio M a rti” any more than U.S. listeners appreciated reception o f the Cuban broadcast. Instead of griping about Cuba, the listeners, owners and advertisers should be contacting their Senators in an effort to stop Reagan’s propaganda plan. Third, the people in the U.S. have never ex perienced a war in their own country. Our wars have been fought in other people’s coun tries. Many o f the people o f Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and Africa have been the recipients o f pain and suffering inflicted on them by the U.S. or U.S.-supported merce naries. Perhaps if we would think about how we would fe e l.. . . What if this were not just an invasion o f the airwaves by a small country that would like to be friendly? What if it were the missiles and bombs o f the most powerful nation on earth? I f U.S. citizens really thought about the pain and fear we are right now in flicting on the people o f Central America, would we allow it to continue? His performance has slipped. He Yes, I think he should. The ser vices he gave to the team is the rea ought to reappraise and utilize the son why. I f he doesn’t perform they income he's receiving to try and hang on to it for the rest of his life. should get someone else. I remem ber once when I heard that he He is not performing as well for the showed up for a game during the Trailblazers nor is he meeting the half-time. It seems that if he is mak expectations of his coach or fellow ing all that money, he should show players. I t ’s sad to see that he worked so hard to become a basket upon time. ball player and he is letting it slip away. He needs to go back and get an education. Joe Osborne Student Billy Ray is a good player but as a person he is really messed up. When he was a young man he skipped his education and that set him back. He is not really a good example foi young people of today. As a playei they should give him a second chance. H e’s good. Betty Loving He should stay with the team. He has played well. But, I don’t think his personal life should come into his basketball life. As long as he gives us a good game, he should stay. by Lanita Duka and Richard Brown New principal joins PPS (Continues fro m page I col. 6) Cameron was principal o f G ar field High School and Washington Junior High School, both in Seattle, and he was the task leader for Seat tle’s integrated middle schools. According to Cameron, things arc going particularly well at King school and the staff is extremely competent. But he adds, " I will ob serve and review what’s being done at King school and make recommen dations where necessary.” Envisioning an agenda that will include speaking and utilizing his talents in the community, he says, " I want kids to dream the imposs ible dreams and reach the imposs ible,” and he adds that " i t ’s very important to share love in teach ing." He says Portland is a beautiful place and that Northeast Portland has been open and he is looking for ward to meeting and working with the Albina Ministerial Alliance, the Black United Front, and other groups and people in the commu nity. Cameron is the only new principal who has not had previous experi ence with Portland’s school system. Larry Hanggi In vesto r Kenny Smith Security Officer Oregon 3 it 9 W New,o,![,«•, H » B Publishers I ■ ■ » ir I Association V From what I ’ve gathered when he's on the court, he inspires his other teammates. When he plays he has something to offer. He has good points and gives the team a lot. Bates puts forth a great effort and should be recognized for that. Portland Observer , ,o * * 1 MAflDWat The P o rtla n d O b tr rv rr (U S P S 969 6801 it published every Thursday by Exie Publishing Company, Inc., 2201 North Killings worth, Portland, Oregon 97217, Post Office Box 3137, Portland, Oregon 97208 Second class postage paid at Portland. Oregon Subscriptions »10 00 per year in the Tri County area Post m a ster Send address changes to the Portland O biervrr . P O Box 3137, Portland, Oregon 97208 member N M A PER Aatoclatlon - Founded Emmett Moore Carpenter IM S 283 2486 A t McGilberry, Editor/Publisher A ! Williams, Advertising Manager National Advertising Repräsentative A m algam ated Publishers, Inc N ew York