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
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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
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