iMilMMApiaAb UkRSBW > t*X • ,c Reagan gives military aid to impoverished nations Ronald Reagan took a quick pub­ lic relation s swing th ro ug h L a tin Am erica last week. Billed as a mis­ sion o f peace and friendship, Rea­ gan's m ajo r theme was opposition to “ c o u n te rfe it re v o lu tio n a rie s ” and "aggressors." i- ‘ Brazil . í V- r ■; <7 Ronald Reagan em braces El Salvador's interim prasidant, Lula Alberto Monga. First stop was B razil. C u rren tly under an elected President but fre­ q u en tly the target o f U .S . backed coups, B razil has had one o f the w orld's fastest growing economies and has been viewed as a T h ird W orld country building its way out o f underdevelopment. The current w orldw ide recession, however, has brought economic crisis to Brazil. The great decline in coffee prices has seriously damaged Brazil's bal­ ance o f tra d e , caused a 6 percent drop in production, and a shortage o f dollars with which to pay its $80 billion external debt. Brazil is on the verge o f default. Brazil has appealed to the International M onetary Fund for $6 billion to enable it to meet its im m ediate loan payments but this w ill take some time to process and approve. Reagan promised S I . 23 billion in emergency credit. The U .S . loan is designed o nly as a h o ld o v er u n til B razil can o b ta in I M F m oney. It protects the U .S . banks, since the d e fa u lt o f a m a jo r b o rro w e r like B razil or M e x ic o could b a n k ru p t m a jo r U .S . banks and th ro w the U.S. into a major financial crisis. Although Reagan offered a short term loan his real message was for a " fre e enterprise" answer to the fi­ nancial crisis. He told Brazil's lead­ ership that there are tight lim its on what the U .S. is willing to do for de­ veloping countries w hich “ c a n 't talks to return the country to n o r­ mal activity, the M -1 9 turned to ru ­ ra l g u e rilla w a rfa re . T h e c o u n try was hit with nationwide strikes; the government closed the universities; unions were o u tlaw ed . M o re than 70,000 were unemployed; m illiions were potentially employed. G overn­ ment oppression included m urder and imprisonment. S im u ltaneou s w ith governm ent oppression was brutality o f the drug m afia, fighting to retain control o f a large segment o f C o lo m b ia 's economy. When President Belisario Betan- cour took over as President this year he offered amnesty to guerilla and political prisoners— hoping to cool o ff the civil war and make some ac­ comodation with the aspirations o f the people. Whether the government can m ake necessary changes to come at the expense o f the devel­ o p e d ." H is p res crip tio n fo r eco­ nomic expansion in underdeveloped countries, including B ra zil, is the same as fo r the U .S .: incom e tax breaks for high-income individuals and corporations, reduction o f non­ military budgets, and reliance on in­ vestment of multi-national corpora­ tions. In the meantime, 1,000 people die each day in B razil o f diseases that could be prevented or cured and 40 million Brazilians have never seen a doctor. Columbia C o lo m b ia is a n atio n caught in two civil wars. Throughout 1981 the m arg in al life led by most o f the people and the unjust d istribu tion o f material goods fueled the efforts o f the M -1 9 g u e rilla m o vem ent. Failing to involve the government in avoid revolution remains to be seen R eagan's visit to C o lo m b ia re ­ quired extensive m ilita ry security with an air force helicopter hovering only 23 feet away when he placed a w reath at the B o liv ar m onum ent Betancourt warned Reagan to end the U.S. policy o f attempting to iso­ late C u b a and N ic a ra g u a Belan court also warned against outside (i.e. U .S .) interference in the a lla ir s of Central America President Reagan's m ilitary pro­ gram su ffered a m a jo r setback , Tuesday when the House o f Repre­ sentatives voted 243-176 to kill the M X missile program. The M X missile was part o f a $180 b illio n plan to m odernize the U .S . war machine. This is the first time since W orld W ar I I that either House o f Congress has turned down a P re sid en t's request fo r a m a jo r weapons system. Reagan responded belligerently: " I had hoped (hat most o f the mem­ bers in the House had awakened to (he threat facing the United States. That hope was apparently unfound­ ed. A m a jo rity chose to go sleep­ walking into the fu ture." Reagan also threatened to take his case to the people. M any opponents o f the M X believe the people have already spoken— through the N o ­ #C M vember 2nd election, by defeating m any representative« w ho support Reagan's position. The House voted to delete from the budget the $988 m illion that was earmarked for M X procurement. The Senate w ill vote on the issue w ith in the next week or tw o and Senators M ark H atfield (R-Oregon) and Ernest H o llin g s ( D - S .C .) are leading the opposition. I f the Senate approves the missile program the House-Senate Conference C o m m it­ tee w ill reconcile the budget d iffe r­ ences. Some opponents oppose the "dense pack" theory which assumes that incoming missiles would blow thcmsclve up rather than destroy the M X missiles. Others believe the mis­ siles are not necessary because the U .S . has an adequate nuclear and conventional force. W i Hazel G. Hays “ L e t's face it. I got a personal high from my N A A C P activity and I w ant th at in v o lve m e n t a g a in ," said Hazel G . Hays, who is a candi­ date for President o f the N A A C P , Portland Branch. " T h e N A A C P must be brought back to life again. I must say that I have been shocked to see that the N A A C P is never m e n tio n e d — it plays no role in the serious problems that affect black people. The P o rt­ land Branch is a tro p h ie d — it isn’ t t-t years. She also was elected Secretary o f the Western Region. M rs . Hays was ch airm an o f the L a b o r and In d u stries C o m m itte e during the four-year administration o f Thomas R. Vickers. A discrimin­ a tio n c o m p lain t file d against the Postal Service brought changes in hiring and prom otion nationally as well as the first prom otion o f black people to non-entry-level positions in the P o rtlan d Post O ffic e . This brought the branch the Thalheimer A w a rd , the N A A C P 's highest a w ­ ard. O ther activities included obtain­ ing em plo ym en t fo r blacks in the construction o f the A lb in a Hum an Resources C e nter; o b ta in in g sub­ co n tracts fo r black co n stru ctio n companies; establishing the A lbina Contractors Associaion; helping ini­ ♦. : Parents o f T u b m a n M id d le School voted not to invite an outside com m ittee to investigate problems between P rin c ip a l H e rm a n W a s h ­ ing to n and some members o f the s ta ff. T h e problem s were made public through an Oregonian article in w hich teachers were q uo ted as saying th at W ash in g to n is an a u ­ th o rita rian and that the m orale o f the staff is deteriorating. Based on remarks made by staff at previous meetings and the state­ ments in the article, Jackie Lynch, a parent, expressed the opinion that the only grievance is that " a black man is in charge. Racism is w hat we’re dealing w ith ." Asked why the teachers who took their grievance to the press were still at the school. Bernard Farrell from the Area O ffice, indicated that this m istake. I hope we d o n 't do a n y ­ thing to make it w orse." was an “ u n p ro fes sio n al a c t " but they m ig h t n o t be subject to d is ­ charge. T h a t decision is left to the principal and if disciplinary action is taken the teachers have access to the grievance procedure. He questioned w hether the teachers’ statem ents were racist since "there are different perceptions o f what is racist." Washington agreed that the usual grievance procedure should be used. "O n e person who spoke in the a rti­ cle never had spoken to me even one t im e ." H e stated that the D is tric t has an option to evaluate him and the school. "E veryon e has the right to the grievance procedure i f they d o n 't like what happens." H e said th at the p ro ced u re had not been used prior to the newspaper article. Parents G erry A b ram and Herb Cawthom e said the numerous prob­ lems in other schools had never been aired in the press this w ay. “ It's more than a matter o f perception,” Cawthorne said. • •-. 'i 1 ÏC' - k •• ; US' R o n nie H e rn d o n spoke against requesting a comm ittee o f inquiry. “ It is m ore than a hot issue now. When you talk about going outside the normal channels you have trou­ ble. Those teachers made a horrible s .i sents— they had more correct in fo r­ m a tio n th an w hat they gave the press. It was most unorthodox and uncalled for; teachers have a proce dure to use. > *•« . /• • “ I cam e to T u b m a n to try to m ake a d iffe re n c e . I have ideas about w o rk in g w ith ch ild re n I f there are persons w ho fin d it e x ­ tre m e ly d iffic u lt to w ork in the school they have options to leave. 4 ." . “ M y jo b is to w ork w ith people . . . As long as I ’ m the p rin c ip a l, people have to w ork w ith me and through the system." W hen the a rtic le was published W ash in g to n had alre a d y set up a process to attempt to improve com ­ munication and thought the process was beginning to work. tiate the discrimination suit against the In te rn atio n al Longshoremen's and Warehousmen's Union. An often heard reason for current N A A C P inactivity is lack o f enthu­ siasm by board members or lack of help fo r vo lun teers. “ As I look back, I believe Tom m y Vickers was the best president this branch has had since I ’ ve been in P o rtla n d ,” M rs. Hays said, "a n d many times there were only three or four o f us to do all the work. That showed that a few people can get a lot d o n e - lack o f members is no excuse.” The N A A C P must be returned to the people, M rs. Hays said. In the past, the branch was financed through memberships. I f the black community is supporting the branch — buying memberships— then they are going to ask what the branch is doing. She does not agree w ith the cur­ rent national and local emphasis on corporate memberships and corpor­ ate donations. " I f I am elected pre­ sident I w ill not go to the corpora­ tions for memberships; I d o n 't be­ lieve they have the same goals as the N A A C P . I wonder what interest the nuclear pow er industry has in the N A A C P . I f the corporations want to buy a m em bership, fine; but if they really want to help black folks they can p ro vid e job s fo r young {Please turn to page 8 column I ) Bernard Richardson by L am ia Duke Grassrool News, N. W< — O n D e­ cember 12th the Portland Branch o f the N A A C P w ill hold elections to f i ll the post o f President o f the branch. Bernard Richardson, Direc­ to r o f C iv ic A ffa ir s at P o rtla n d General Electric, is running for the office. “ M y in v o lve m e n t w ith the N A A C P spans a number o f years," a B S r p r . - ; -- - • i,- -• • t e V. S. . • M i Cawthorne added that the school has had four principals, each with a different style. "T h e school will not run w ithout a leader. The teachers cannot run the school, but the prin cipal has to have support." “ There are s ta ff here who have difficulty taking orders. That is why they are upset. The article misrepre- Richardson to ld the O bserver. “ I w orked on the A C T -S O p ro g ram . The Po rtlan d chapter has been in ­ volved in A C T -S O for five years and we had four national winners. This speaks very h ig h ly o f o ur yo u th . When I became involved in A C T-S O I started out in the fund-raising de­ partm ent and the highlight came a couple o f years ago when we had a matching grant from the U.S. Bank o f $ 3 ,0 0 0 . T h e co m m u n ity cam e through with $4,300 and that was a very heart-warm ing experience— to have the co m m u n ity open up and show their money support." Richardson was also involved in b rin g in g Rosa P a rk s , M a rg a re t Bush W ilson and Benjam in Hooks to Portland. “ A n o ther project th at's dear to my heart is P . O . I .C , which works w ith basic skills to upgrade those skills." In 1910 the N A A C P was form ed out o f the talented ten which was the brainchild o f D r. W E B. DuBois. Yet w ith the passage o f tim e the Pan-Africanist foresight o f DuBois was lost. As a member and possible president o f the P o rtlan d Brancn, Richardson gave his views on A f r i­ can affairs in general and South A f ­ rica in particular: " I would have to go back to the constitution o f the N A A C P . It calls for a number o f things regarding ci­ • •i-. Tubman parents discuss staff complaints Hays, Richardson vie for NAACP presidency being used, it is never m entioned. The fight at (he legislature for redis­ tric tin g , the p ro blem s w ith the school district and the police— these problems were not attacked by the N A A C P , yet they should be the ones to identify problems, not react after other organizations take up the cause.” Although she has not been active in the P o rtla n d B ranch recently, M rs. Hays' service has been exten­ sive. An active member since age 17, she was a member o f the Portland Branch Executive Committee for 15 ■ ♦ a ■ C oata R ica Costa Rica is among the most sue cessful o f the L a tin A m eric an n a­ tions. A democracy w ith no viand ing arm y, Costa Rica has had little internal strife. Costas Rica is on the verge o f bankruptcy w ith 100 pci cent in fla tio n , u n e m p lo ym en t, a growing trade imbalance and an in ternal debt o f SI .8 b illio n . A 300 ( Please turn to page 2 column /) •ST/ House rejects M X r & vil rights. The National Association has passed several resolutions in re­ gards to South A fric a and we w ill follow the dictate o f the national o f­ fice." The N A A C P was a prime factor in the desegregation o f public schools. I asked R ich ardso n how he felt about desegregation as it was ap plied in Portland: “ W e ll, I 'm a p ro du ct o f Texas and there we had many role models for black children. T H is is one ele­ ment that is lacking for our children in the Portland area When you take a black student out o f his own en ­ vironm ent as was done earlier this created a host o f problems that we had to deal with and rid the system o f. T h e Black U n ite d F ro n t was unique in solving this p ro b lem . I found nothing wrong with the com­ munity's decision to solve this prob­ lem. I think in a couple o f years we w ou ld have to go back and look over this p erio d to see w hat was right and what was w ro ng ." W h y does Bernard R ichardson want to become the president o f the N A A C P 's P o rtla n d Branch? “ I think every individual brings some­ thing unique to the office. I believe it would be a challenge more than anything else." O ne observation o f the N A A C P in term s o f black o rg a n iz a tio n in {Please turn to page 12 column I ) v l" 'I $ ft* ». • 5 $ - , ■ . . ■