Page 4 Portland Observer, September 15,1962
EDITORIAL/OPINION
Punishment in America
Partii
Stop race with death
Fortunately no one was killed in the high
speed chase Monday that resulted in the arrest
o f two persons who allegedly attempted to
cash a forged check and were driving a car re
ported stolen.
This chase — reaching speeds o f up to 120
miles per hour — began in the State o f Wash
ington, circled through Portland, and ended in
a crash on an 1-5 exit. Four police agencies
were involved — Vancouver and Clark Coun
ty, Portland and Multnomah County.
The Emergency Communication Bureau re
ported that eight hit-and-run accidents oc
curred during the chase.
Once again we must protest a police policy
that risks human life. No one was killed this
time — but next time? In past chases police o f
ficers, suspects and innocent bystanders have
been killed. Is apprehending a couple o f
would-be forgers really worth death or perma
nent disability? This is a policy that requires
the attention o f the C ity Council and the M u lt
nomah County Commission.
School's open: Get involved
School is in fu ll swing and again parents are
asked to attend PTA, local advisory com
mittees, etc. Most never step inside the door o f
the school except for mandatory parent/teach-
er conferences.
The only way parents can really find out
what is happening in their children’s schools is
to become involved.
The PTAs and local advisory committees
are a good way to start. Local advisory com
mittees are usually selected by the principal but
all parents can attend meetings and partici
pate. Ask to be on the council and ask how the
members are chosen.
Those persons selected by the School Board
for Area Advisory Committees and other spe
cial committees are usually those who have
been involved at the school level.
Attend meetings o f the area committee, the
desegregation committee, the School Board,
the transportation committee and others. They
all make decisions and recommendations vital
to your children’s education.
I t ’s easy to complain about the schools, and
there is plenty to complain about, but active,
involved parents who know what is going on
can bring about change.
Drop by the school, visit the prinipal and the
teachers, offer your help. See the difference it
makes in your childrens’ education.
by M an n in g M arable
W e hear so often about the vic
tims o f brutal crime. The natural re
sponse o f many people is to advo
cate the death penalty, mandatory
sentencing, and giving greater pow
ers to the police and law enforce
ment officers. But what about those
victims o f crimes committed by the
U .S . government, the F B I, and the
legal system? Thousands o f A m e ri
cans involved in Black and Hispanic
liberation
movements,
women's
rights activists, anti-nuclear leaders
and labor activists have been the vic
tims o f government arson, mail
tam pering, illegal wiretapping, false
testimony in court, bombings, and
even assassinations.
Throughout the past decade,
there have been a series o f political
Black prisoners across the U .S . —
Angela Davis in C alifo rn ia; Ben
Chavis and the W ilm ington Ten in
N orth C arolina; Im ari Obadele and
the Republic o f New A frik a Eleven
in Mississippi; Assata Shakur in
New Jersey; lm ani H arris in A la
bama; G ary Tyler in Louisiana;
George M e rritt and J.B. Johnson in
Missouri; Delbert Tibbs in Florida;
the C harlotte Three — D r. James
G ran t, Charles Parker, and T .J .
Reddy — in N orth C arolina; and
many more.
Some o f the most blatant exam
ples o f violations o f justice against
Black people are not widely known,
or remained obscured in the back
pages o f newspapers. Take, for in
stance, the twelve-year cases o f D a
vid Rice and Ed Poindexter. These
two young Black men were civil
rights activists in O m aha, Nebraska.
As local organizers o f the Black
Panther P arty, they sponsored free
breakfasts fo r Black children, ob
tained medical care for the poor,
and assisted Black people in deal
ings with the police. By late 196«,
the F B I placed the Om aha Black
Panthers on their prime " h it lis t,"
harassing members, and underm in
ing the chapter by illegal means.
On August 17, 1970, an Om aha
policeman was murdered in a bom b
ing. The police arrested a 15-ycar-
old form er Panther, Duane Peak,
who had been on drugs and was pre
viously suspended from the Pan
thers for rash misconduct and theft.
Peak first confessed to the crime
and at first implicated no one. L a
ter, police were able to get Peak to
state that Rice and Poindexter were
behind the bombing. A t a prelim i
nary hearing, Peak even confessed
under oath that the police "th re a t
ened" him with the electric chair,
and that naming Rice and Poindex
ter was what the police had wanted
him to say.
T o further prove their case, police
searched Rice's home and claimed
to “ fin d " traces o f dynam ite. T w o
federal courts later held the search
to have been illegal. Soon after.
Rice’s house was burned, elim inat
ing the possibility o f further demon
stration o f the inaccuracy o f police
testimony.
The O m aha police and FBI
seemed determined to convict Rice
and Poindexter, even i f it meant
freeing the real murderers o f the po
lice officer. They suppressed facts
which would have helped to vindi
cate the two activists. 19 days before
the bombing m urder, police arrested
three men, one o f whom was anoth
er expelled Panther, for possession
o f dynamite. In A p ril, 1971, Rice
and Poindexter were convicted for
firs, degree murder and sentenced to
life im prisonment. Four days after
their conviction, the three suspects
holding dynam ite were quietly re
leased and all charges were dropped.
Since 1971, the authorities have
tried to bury all traces o f the truth
in this case. Peak was sent out
o f state under the Federal Witness-
Relocation Program . H e has since
"disappeared." Thousands o f pages
o f FBI material now available in d i
cate a clear fram e-up. Amnesty In
ternational now lists both Rice and
Poindexter as probable "prisoners
o f conscience"; three organizations
have petitioned the United Nations
on their behalf; form er U .S . A tto r
ney General Ramsey C lark has rep
resented Rice in appeals; but as o f
now, Rice and Poindexter still are
behind bars.
Today, the miscarriages o f justice
still continue unabated. Last O cto
ber 2«, four Black men inside O ra-
terford Prison, Pennsylvania, des-
perate fo r humane treatment and
dignity, were driven to devise an es
cape plan. The attem pt ended in a
five-day hostage stalemate, where
six civilian employees were held by
the prisoners. The four men now urc
charged w ith "attem pted escape,
kidnapping, possession o f instru
ments o f crime and conspiracy."
One o f the Black men, 32-year-
old C alvin W illiam s, wrote to inc
last week: "Since 1971 I have been
active in the struggle. The media has
depicted us as M adm en and the only
support we have gotten has been
from white liberals. As o f yet we
have not support which is badly
needed; we are cut o ff from every
one on the outside. N o one will
touch us in the Philadelphia area,
and the only aid we get legally or
otherwise is from few brothers in
these holes (hat
are struggle
conscious. You are our last and only
hope.”
W e can not depend upon the
crim inal justice system to provide
equal treatment to Black men and
women when it is obvious thut the
system itself perpetuates racism and
inequality. W e must take political
action now in order to fight for
Black freedom: ( I ) Send tax-deduct
ible contributions to the R ic e /P o in -
dexter Legal Defense Fund, c /o C a l
vin M em orial Presbyterian C hurch,
3105 N . 24th Street, O m aha, N e
braska 68110; (2) W ire or write N e
braska authorities to free Rice and
Poindexter, and demand that feder
al district court judge W arren K.
U rbom release all F B I files for ex
am ination; (3 ) Support and defend
the right to a fair trial for all Black
prisoners, including the " G ra te r-
ford F o u r” ; (4) Oppose the election
o f any politician who demands the
death penalty and m andatory sen
tencing without parole; (5) Be aware
o f the growing use o f power exer
cised by the crim inal justice system,
and the escalating prison popula
tion. The next political prisoner may
be you.
D r. M anning M a ra b le is D ire c to r
o f the Race Relations Institute. h s k
University, Nashville, Tennessee.
Castro explains econom ic crisis
(Continuedfrom page ! col. J J
GIV£ P\Y PLAN R UTTCE
SCURVY BMCA OF
7/M6 TO UJORJt
KRTS •
Yff
Letter to the Editor
Population growth exceeds food production
A recent edition o f your paper re
ported that South A fric a had made
large increases in food production.
Most newspaper stories dealing with
food production are constantly on
grain shortages in the Soviet U nion
and grain surpluses in the United
States. Although that is true, it
mostly ignores the rest o f the world
and the successes and failures o f
each nation.
A ctu ally, most nations are in
creasing food production but in
many cases the rate o f increase is be
low the population increase.
Unexpected developments often
help or hinder agriculture. For ex
am ple, when large oil discoveries
were made in Nigeria, farm workers
and farmers abandoned agricultural
pursuits for the more profitable in
dustrial and business employment.
The flight from the farms has cut
food production to the extent that
imports are now necessary.
Henry Korman
Longview, Washington
Labor turmoil threatens apartheid government
(Continued fro m page ! co! 6)
foreseeable future. According to South
Africa’s National Manpower Commis
sion, the number of strikes grew from
101 in 1979 to 207 in 1980 to 342 last
year, with the pace this year making
likely an even higher total. The num
ber o f workers involved increased
from some 15,000 in 1979 to 56,000 in
1980 and 84,000 in 1981.
One potentially explosive dispute,
also in the eastern Cape, is between the
General Workers’ Union and the
BI
Oregon
Newspaper
Publishers
Association
MEMBER
NÊWAL PER
Auoctotlon
Founded 1MS
(SATS), a division o f the state-owned
South African Railways and Harbors.
The G W U has already won recogni
tion from stevedoring companies at the
four major South African ports —
Cape Tow n, Durban, Port Elizabeth
and East London — and has also been
recruiting Black railway workers with
in the docks. The G W IJ says it repre
sents some 1,100 SATS employees at
the Port Elizabeth and East London
docks, but SATS refuses to talk with
South
African
Transport
Services
the union, maintaining that its Black
workers are represented only by the
“ in-company” union, the Black Staff
Assn.
A failure to recognize the union
could lead to action by the well-
organized stevedores and to support
overseas in the form o f a boycott by
the Inti. Transport Workers Federa
tion against South African shipping.
And a ports shutdown would have ser
ions consequences for other industries
as well.
— A F R IC A N E W S
Portland Observer
S f» ;,
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ing o f the foreign debt by the under
1977 to SI .28 this year.
developed countries even more un
Sugar is Cuba's most im portant
bearable,” Castro said.
“ These are the reasons why inter
commodity but it is also vital for
national authorities view the eco
Brazil, the Philippines, and the D o
nomic and financial situation o f the
minican Republic. The price o f sug
underdeveloped countries as derper-
ar has dropped from 40« a pound in
ate. In those countries, the crisis in
October o f 1980 to less than 8« a
basic products, aggravated by the
pound.
aforementioned factor, has led to a
A gricultural raw materials includ
sustained drop in the growth rate, in
ing cotton, rubber, timber and ca
some cases reaching levels o f nega
cao make up about 18 percent o f the
tive growth; a contraction in invest
total value o f the underdeveloped
ments and consumption; a rise in in
countries’ exports. C otton is im po r
flation; an upswing o f the traditio n
tant to some o f the poorest nations
in A frica: Chad (83 percent o f ex
ally high rate o f unemployment; and
a dramatic deterioration o f living
ports), M a li (46 percent), and to
Sudan, Egypt, Nicaragua and U p
conditions.”
per V o lta. C otton prices dropped
The outlook is even more dismal.
from $ l . 06 a pound in I980 to 72c
The growth rate o f the O E C D devel
in 1982.
oped countries is not expected to ex
ceed IS percent in 1982; the in fla
M ineral ores vital to the economy
o f many T h ird W o rld nations —
tion rate w ill remain between 8 and
copper, iron, alum inum , tin — have
10 percent; unemployment is ex
dropped in price. Vegetable oils,
pected to go to 8.5 percent o f the
oleaginous seeds and timber have a l
world labor force — more than 30
m illion unemployed — by 1983.
so dropped in price.
These price drops in basic com
“ Furtherm ore, most o f the gov
modities cost the underdeveloped
ernments o f the developed capitalist
nations I0 billion dollars in export
countries seem to be more inclined
income. The drop in prices as well as
to cope with the crisis with the idea
in exports "has become a determ in
o f protecting the profits o f the mo
ing factor in deepening one o f the
nopolies, while encouraging mone
tary-fiscal policies and applying
worst, if not the worst, crisis ever
experienced by the underdeveloped
countries.”
As is well known, those countries
are faced with a sustained rise in the
price they pay for imports from the
(Continued fro m page ! col. 5)
developed capitalist countries, a
Rather than consider less strin
constant increase in foreign debt
gent loan requirements, the U .S . led
servicing and an increase in the
the opposition and pushed for even
drainage represented by the export
tougher conditions to free countries
o f capital and other profits going to
to balance their budgets at the ex
private foreign investment. A t the
pense o f their poor.
same tim e, paradoxically, at the
The Development Association, the
same time when they most need it,
W orld B ank’s organization fo r pro
commercial loans to these countries
viding low-interest loans fo r the
are being curtailed, and, in certain
poorest nations, was jeopardized
cases, the loans from the In tern a
last year when the U .S . withheld
tional M onetary Fund are complete
$1.1 billion o f its quota. The U .S .
ly cut o ff, while the so-called o ffi
has refused to pay this am ount,
cial development aid is being cur
but 31 nations, led by Canada and
tailed and often suspended.
France, agreed to make up the d if
“ T o make things even worse, the
ference. The question whether the
interest rates, pressured by those set
U .S . will cut its contribution even
by the United States, are being kept
further remains.
at the highest level. Such a situation
The U .S. made it clear that m ili
not only obstructs the economic re
tary spending w ill take precedence
covery o f the developed capitalist
over foreign aid. The w o rld ’s spend
countries but also makes the servic-
ing on arms is estimated at <<on h«'
measures that put the full weight o f
the crisis on the shoulders o f the
workers in the form o f unem ploy
ment and wage cuts, and on the un
derdeveioped countries in the form
o f protectionism through subsidies,
im port quotas, ta riff barriers and
n o n -ta riff barriers.
" L a te ly , some o f these developed
capitalist countries, with the United
States in the lead, have been putting
up even stiffer resistance to the just
demands o f the underdeveloped
countries, particularly in regard to
basic products and financial aid for
development. It is clear that such a
policy can serve only to worsen the
crisis and with it the world economy
as a w hole.”
The
Reagan
adm inistration's
"absurd ideas about international
policy and the world economy are
causing serious problem s. . .
" T h e arms race is aggravating the
economic crisis by forcing people to
spend money on defense. The U n it
ed States has set astronomical bud
gets for arms production with the
resulting budget deficit estimated at
over $100 billion dollars by next
year. A ll sane, sensible people who
analyze such a policy consider it
completely absurd.”
Reagan says 'No'
lion
per
year,
about
the
same
amount as the foreign debt o f the
developing nations.
This decision comes at a time
when 100 m illion children arc going
hungry. The U nited Nations C h il
dren’s Fund (U N IC E F ) revealed in
M arch that this year 17 m illion c h il
dren under 5 years old will starve to
death. One child dies o f hunger ev
ery 2 seconds in the T h ird W orld
and the situation is getting worse. In
1981, 46,000 infants died each day,
11,000 more than in 1980.
In Latin A m erica, where the food
crisis is less severe than in A frica
and Asia, the Pan Am erican H ealth
Organization reported that 2,700
children die o f hunger each day.
Starvation accounts for 38 percent
o f (he deaths o f children under one
year and 70 percent o f those be-
’ • jn one and four years.