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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 5, 1983)
Page 4 Portland Observer, January 5,1963 17,0 electio.nJiîlReaganism EDITORIAL/OPINION "F ro m The Grassroots" Prison decision no answer In a long awaited decision U.S. District Court Judge John Burns decided that overcrowded conditions at Oregon State Penitentiary are not a denial o f inm ates' rights. He did order the Slate to im prove medical care, food handling and fire safety. This decision reverses an earlier decision in which Burns had found that overcrowding vio lated the Constitution's ban agains cruel and un usual punishment. The State should not be com placent in the face o f this decision. It is a documented fact that levels o f violence at the prison have risen along with the severe overcrowding. There is also the long range picture to consider: inmates who do not receive proper health care, counselling, edu cation, work assignments, etc., w ill come out o f prison having learned noth in g except to hate those who have imposed these co n d itio n s on them. N o th in g w ill have happened to enable them to live productive lives or to reject a return to crime. Proper sentencing that would divert persons guilty o f non-violent crimes to treatment, resti tu tio n and co m m u n ity program s w ould free space in the maximum security prison for those who require that security. This, along with ade quate funding, could provide time, space and programs for those who could benefit from re habilitation programs. Not all prisoners would succeed, but the current position o f warehousing prisoners for longer and longer periods and then turning them loose w ith nothing serves neither the criminal nor the public. Where were they? I wo days before Christmas the home o f a Sa lem fam ily was burned and racial epithets paint ed on the house and fence. The fam ily— Robert White, a Libyan, his wife Betty, black, and their five-year-old daughter were out o f town at the tunc o f the fire and robbery. I ast week the Salem Human Rights Commis sion held an emergency meeting to determine how they could best assist the fam ily and how they should address the com m unity about the blatant racism. Strangely absent was any outpouring o f sup port and assistance. Usually when a family is hit by fire or other disaster, especially at Christmas time, they are inundated with help from neigh bors and other com m unity residents. Perhaps the people o f Salem were put o ff by the racist nature o f the tragedy; perhaps they d id not know how to approach the situation. However, the Human Rights Commission did get some offers o f assistance and concern and a few community organizations were represented at the meeting. I hose significantly absent were the black citi- zens o f the Salem area and the leadership o f the black organizations that serve that part o f the state. Were they kept away by whispered ru mors? Were they too busy to attend? D o they not consider this attack on the Whites to be an attack on all black people? What w ill this lack o f involvement in such a serious even, in their com munity say to Salem’s white citizens? Apologies In the December 29th edition o f the Observer we contused the record o f Judge 1 ee Johnson. It was not Johnson who had problems with the law in C alifornia. but then-Multnomah County Dis tric t A tto rn e y H a rl Haas. O ur apologies to Judge Johnson and to M r. Haas. Ii is our point o f view that the appointment o f I ee Johnson by Governor Victor Atiyeh to the position o f Circuit Court Judge was one o f politi cal expediency and based on his record as A tto r ney General is no, in the best interest o f those black defendants who appear before him. [Continued fro m page I column ft) by R o ttilo Naranio Maxico Letters to the E d ito r ---------------- Prisoners like crime series I had once th o u g h t th a t the q u a lity o l your newspaper had de creased. set I tind that I was mistak en 3 our a rticles e n title d “ B lack- on black crim e” were well received here at O .S .P . I feel that this series addressed a serious problem in Ihe black co m m u n ity, a problem that we as a people must learn to deal with. The a rtic le ab o ut S tephanie Brown and her struggle was another newsworthy article W e need more women like her who are determined to be successful regardless o f the ob stacles. T h e refo re , keep the good, posi tive and in fo rm ative articles com ing. because they are well apprecia ted. L .C . Moore Legislature faces crucial session |f 'on tm u ed fro m page I column ft) sion should be no d iffe re n t. In all likelihood, the economic debate req uisite to in n o v a tiv e jo b c rea tio a policies will not occur at the legisla tive level And in all likelihood. O re gonians expecting help fro m the State will be disappointed. Regardless o f one's o p in io n on X yster's m ulti m illio n d o llar b a il out request or on plant closure legis la tio n , it is clear that the State o f t )regon's past efforts to create jobs have fa lle n far short o f the g o a l. One reason for this failure has been the las k o f clear, well-constructed iob creation policies. Instead o f asking tough questions and seeking h ard -h ittin g answers, leg islators have c a v a lie rly tossed money after ihe problem (through corporate subsidies) in Ihe hope that < w ithing the electoral system. O ver $90 million was spent in the 32 Sena torial races. Usually, the candidates who marshalled the greatest fiscal backing was victorious. In New Jer sey. Democratic candidate Frank R. L a u te n b e rg , a m illio n a ire b usi nessman. spent $5 m illion (including $2 .6 m illio n o f his own m oney) to purchase a Senate seat His Republi can challenger, Representative M il- licent Fenwick, spent $2.7 million in the p rim ary and general elections. In the M innesota general election. Democratic nominee M ark Dayton, another m illionaire, spent $5.7 m il lion in an unsuccessful effort to un seat R epublican incum bent D a vid Durenberger, who was only able to come up with $2.7 m illion. A total o f $1 billion was spent on the 1982 U .S . election campaigns. M oney was an im portant reason for the modest number o f losses suf fered by the Republicans. A c co rd ing to one source, in most dose-ly- contested Congressional races, Re publicans outspent Democrats by an average o f almost $100,000. Second, racism played a m ore c ritic a l role than in previous elec tions. The number o f black House members increased by fo ur, and in Brooklyn alone, two new black Rep resentatives, Adolphous Towns and M a jo r R Owens, were elected But R obert C la rk , J r., a black Missis sip pi State R e p res en tative, lost a very close House race to a conserva tive w hite Republican whose cam paign slogan, " H e ’ s one o f u s ,” sm acked b la ta n tly o f redneck r a cism. In C alifornia, all the polls pre dicted that Los Angeles mayor Tom B rad ley should have little tro u ble defeating Republican state attorney general George Deukm ejian. Three weeks p rio r to the e le c tio n , h o w ever. Deukm ejian’s close friend and cam paign m anager, B ill R oberts, bragged that "ra c e " was a factor in D e u k m e jia n 's fa v o r. R oberts predicted that in a close contest, at least fiv e percent o f C a lifo r n ia 's white electorate would vote against Bradley for the sole reason that he was b lack. Roberts was p io m p tly dism issed fo r his c a n d o r, but on election nig h t, his words were a f firmed by white voters. Bradley lost the election that every pollster pre d icted he w ould w in by less than 50.000 votes out o f over 7.4 m illion cast. In another C a lifo rn ia race the slate's highest ranked black elected o ffic ia l, W ilson Riles, was also de feated. C a rl H o lm a n , president o f the N a tio n a l U rb a n C o a litio n , noted ruefully that racism continues " t o be a potent negative p o litic al fa c to r — w hether in C a lifo r n ia or Mississippi." T h ird , and p ro b a b ly most deci sively. the true test o f the meaning of any election is found on W all Street, am ong the n a tio n ’ s p o w e rfu l c o r porate elites. Significantly, they sur veyed the so-called Democratic vic tory and breathed a collective sigh o f relief. The day after the election, the Dow Jones in d u s tria l average jum ped 43.41 p o in ts, closing at 1 ,0 6 5 .4 9 p o in ts, its highest level in h is to ry. C o rp o ra te executives noted q u ite ca n d id ly th a t the incoming Congress was less inclined to endorse the extrem e “ supply side" programs o f radical Reagan- iles. and that a bipartisan consensus o f “ m o d e ra te " R epu b licans lik e Howard Baker and Robert Dole and more conservative Democrats such as James Jones and D an Rosten- kowski would forge policies which benefited big business. Reagan him self may no longer be in the political 'driver's s e at," but the visious au sterity o f "Reagam sm " can and will continue through Congressional at tacks against workers, national m i norities. the elderly and the poor. W hat can black Am ericans learn from the recent elections? I think we have to view the electoral failure to check Reagamsm as indirectly a pro duct o f our own in a b ility to reach lo w e r-in c o m e b lacks, the jobless and blue collar workers, and to mo b ilize this constituency w ith in the ele cto ral process. D esp ite the N A A C P ’s im portant efforts to reg ister blacks, we must redouble our local e ffo rts in vo ter ed u c a tio n . O nly about one out o f every three black w ho were over 18 years old votes; less than one q u a rte r o f blacks who earn less than $10,000 income cast ballots. Had truly vigo rous voter education campaigns in side the black com m unity occurred last m onth, the number o f progres sive blacks elected to public o ffic e would have increased dramatically. M o re im p o rta n tly , we must not be deluded with modest Democratic gains to believe that Reaganism has been checked. W e must fight to cre ate legislation which democratizes the U.S. electoral system, which en courages T h ird P a rty challenges, and which facilitates access to the media. Blacks and the oppressed do not have a b illio n d o lla r c o ffe r to express our views on television. We must m o b iliz e our n um bers, d e m anding the right to p ro p o rtio n a l re p res en tatio n inside the g o v ernm ent, and must prepare an all- out assault fo r 1984 against all " R e a g a n ite s " inside b o th m a jo r parties. House burning remains unsolved Thinking about Watt«? To the editor: T h e c o n v e n tio n a l w isdom c o n cerning the recent Novem ber. 1982 elections concurs that Reagam sm was largely repudiated by American voters. H ouse o f R epresen tative Speaker T ip O 'N e ill termed the 26- seat loss o f the Republicans in the House **a disastrous defeat fo r the President** and a "victory** against Reagamsm. N o th in g co u ld be fu rth e r fro m the truth, unfortunately. O n the positive side, the midterm elections produced several construc tive gains for blacks, Hispanics and working people A number o f reac tionaries and an ti-labo r candidates were defeated Most of the 77 fresh men m em bers o f the H o u se in fo rm e d the N e w York T im e t in a pre-election poll (hat they would be "opposed to trim m ing domestic so cia l p ro g ra m s .’ * F ifty o f the new legislators stated that they "w ere in fa v o r o f canceling the scheduled 1983 cut in income tax ra te s ," and 54 “ strongly opposed increasing the age for eligibility for Social Security b e n efits." It was in the South that the Republicans suffered their worst reverses. D e m o c ra tic challengers won three Republican House seats in V irg in ia , and also d e fe a te d a series o f reactionary Republican in cumbents in N o rth C arolina, South C a ro lin a . A lab am a, and West V ir ginia. D em o cratic leaders p oin ted out repeatedly that the 26-seat gain was the highest gain in off-year elections in decades It is true that all parties which have won the Presidency lose a number o f seats in subsequent off- year elections. Under Kennedy, for exam ple, the D em ocrats lost fo u r seats in 1962 D uring N ixo n 's first term in 1970 the Republicans lost 10 seats, and more recently, in 1978 un der C a rte r, the Dem ocrats lost 12 seats. But given the current econom ic situ ation , w ith general u n e m p lo y ment above 10.4 percent, and black joblessness exceeding 20.5 percent, ihe Democrats should have a ttrac t ed even greater support In two ma jo r slates, C a lifo rn ia and Illin o is , R epublicans w on g u b e rn a to ria l races; in the Senate, the Republican m a jo rity o f 54 to 46 rem ained the same Reaganites inside the D e m o cra tic P a rty , the n o to rio u s “ b o ll w eevils'* or S o u th ern C o n s e rv a tives. were uniform ly reelected back in to Congress over token R e p u b li can opposition. W h a t lessons can we co n clud e from the off-year election? First, the elections laid bare the lie o f true d em o cratic governm ent in the nation by illustrating once more that money is at the root o f power new jobs w ould be created — and th at O reg o nian s w ou ld get those jobs. Few legislators are asking if revenue bonds actually create new jobs; few are asking if jobs in high technology firm s w ill help u nem ployed w o o d w o rk ers or th eir families. No one even knows where jobs in O reg o n are created , nor where nor why jobs are being de stroyed. The task facing G ilm o re and his Republican vice-chair. Rep. Donna Zajonc (R-Salem ), w ill be 'o gener ate this essential debate and to find answers for these questions Hardy Myers, who officially represents the speaker on the economic develop ment committee, w ill need to devel op a high profile if the committee is to have any c re d ib ility and any chance o f pushing its leg islatio n th ro ug h the H ouse. M y e rs , h ow ever. will be chairing the House Ju diciary C om m ittee, and Trade and Economic Development may not be highest priority. U ntil a meaningful debate on eco nom ic alternatives occurs— and it did not occur during the last gover n o r’ s race— the ineffective policies o f the past will remain. And as long as the D em ocratic and Republican House leaders toss their discards in to a d ead -en d econom ic d eve lo p ment committee, this debate will not be heard In the end. the losers will be those thousands o f Oregonians who voted fo r the promises and the p la t forms— and remain unemployed. C Northwest Legislative Services. Inc . 19*2 " I tovk the opportunity to go to Los Angeles to see ch ild re n I had not been able to see in prison," he said. “ W hen we came back, everything we owned was d e s tro y e d ." W h ite was in fo rm e d o f (he fire w h ile in Los Angeles and left his five-year- old daughter there with relatives. M rs. Betty W h ite , who is black, said she had been the target o f ra cism when she m oved to Salem in July of 1981 to be near her husband. “ Niggers m ove" was painted on the door and eggs thrown at the door. "T h e neighbors were shocked,” she said She had been treated kindly by her neighbors and did not believe they were involved. She reported the incident to the police. She also had been warned not to allow her child to play in Ihe nearby park because she might be in danger. W h ite, who is Lib yan, expressed fear fo r his life and said his m ain hope now is to be able to leave O re gon. " I t ' s been a racist fig h t ever M» M«» •. Oreqon Newspaper Publishers i Asso«'alton IB 11 1 I since I came to O r e g o n ." W h ite does not know if the arson was con nected to his problems in prison or was the result o f his getting a man fired for discrim inating against his fa m ily , but believes the Kian is o r ganized and ac tiv e in the Salem area. A lth ou gh the neighbors had ex pressed concern and frien d sh ip in Ihe Salem n ew spaper. W h ite said this was not the case. “ W e moved to a new area; we were the newest peo ple, the only blacks. T h e children were to ld they c o u ld n 't play w ith our child. When we went back after the fire, the neighbors d id n 't come up and say they were sorry it hap- pened. “ I am a fra id my fa m ily w ill be h u rt," he said. " I don’t know what is happening. I am just scared." T h e Salem H u m a n Rights C o m m ission is p ro v id in g te m p o ra ry housing for the Whites and hopes to serve as a clearing house to arrange for other needs. W hite said the fam ily does not have an immediate need for money but he is concerned with safety. The Police D ep a rtm e n t has a d vised W'hite not to leave Salem dur ing the investigation o f the fire and robbery. It is the o p in io n o f D e tec tiv e W a lte r F u h rm a n n that (he arson was not a Kian action but that the racist epithets were a cover-up o f the robbery. T he D epartm ent had not asked for FBI assistance, as is usual in cases in v o lv in g d e n ia l o f c iv il rights. The H u m an Rights Com m ission will meet Thursday, January 5th, to decide on a p u b lic response. T h e special m eeting was atte n d ed by church and civic groups but the only person representing the black c iti zens was P lu m m e r W illia m s w ho filled in for his wife. M atthettc, who is 1983 Chairm an o f the G overnor’s Commission on Black Affairs. Portland Observer 0» » ' * '• 1 » . The P o r tla n d O b t t t y t r IU S P S 9 59 6801 <s pu blish ed every Thursday by E«ie Publishing Company. Inc 2301 North Killings worth Portland. Oregon 97217. Post Office Bo« 3137. Portland Oregon 97708 Second class postage paid at Portland Oregon The Portland O b ttrv tr waa established m 1970 by A . 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