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U a i v c r i '. t y o f Or«(?on L i b r a r y
Urban League
report, 1982
Pag* 2
tx
Response
to Reagan
Page«
¡PORTLAND OBSERVER
Portland Observer
Volume XIII, Number 16
January 26, 1963
Section IV
Four Sections
USPS »59-680-855
Nicaragua says:
No human rights in El Salvador
M ilita ry and economic aid to E l
Salvador requested by the Reagan
A d m in istratio n f o r 1983 totals
Í 2 26.2 m illion and is based on the
Administration’s contention that vi­
olations o f human rights— murders,
torture, kidnapping, imprisonment
—have decreased over the p a st year
In addition to military aid. the U.S.
is providing training and advisors.
The Reagan Adm inistration has
certified that the human rights si­
tuation has im proved in E l Salva­
dor. in order to qualify ' ^ t country
fo r continued military aid.
from Barricada International
Sandinista ‘s official newspaper
M A N A G U A . N IC A R A G U A — In
1982 the word •'dem ocracy” was
discussed in El Salvador a t in no
other Latin American country; par
adoxically. in reality every day was
marked with kidnappings, mass and
individual assassinations, and gen­
eral evasion o f the law in the pro­
gress of a violent war.
During the year at least 5,352 Sal­
vadoreños were assassinated, a doz­
en m ilitary actions were taken
against civilian populations in rural
zones, 600 persons remained impri­
soned illegally, and seven foreign­
ers, including four Dutch jo u rn al­
ists, lost their lives.
In few nations o f the world it the
evidence of murder so monstrous as
the headless corpses by the sides of
the highways, or in the center of the
cities; the deform ed corpses with
cuts and bullet holes, with horrible
signs of torture, and invariably with
the thumbs bound with cords.
AU of the humanitarian organiza­
tions that have made investigations
in El Salvador have unanimously ac­
cused the government forces o f re­
sponsibility for the crimes.
Amnesty International said the
security forces are carrying out a
“ large and systematic plan of disap­
pearances, torture and mass and in­
d ividu al m urder o f men, women
and children. The victims include
not only persons suspected of oppo­
sition to the authorities, but also
thousands who simply are encoun­
tered in zones chosen fo r security
operations, whose murder and mu­
tilation appear to be completely ar-
bitray.”
The activist Michelle Arena, of the
Hum an Rights Commission o f El
Salvador, declared that the murders
are the result o f " th e m ilitary re­
pression o f the regime, that occur
with the help o f the government of
the United States.**
On the 6th o f September three
peasant women related a drama that
happened to 300 peasants in the De­
partment of San Vicente. On the 18th
o f August, they related, A-37 a ir­
planes dropped incendiary bombs
over Amatitan Arriba. “ When they
fell they did not explode but burned
large areas of the land,“ related one
woman. A t least 134 persons died in
this government action.
Similar actions took place at least
a dozen times in different parts o f
the country. Four villages in the De­
partm ent o f U sulutan were fire -
bombed on August 28th; four v il­
lages on September 2nd; and two
villages on June 4th.
C olonel Dom ingo M o n te rra ,
commander of the Special Forces o f
Atlacatl, acknowledged, in attempt­
ing to ju stify these attacks, “ I t is
noteworthy that there would be ci­
vilian assasins, some without arms,
including women and c h ild re n .”
"T h e result of the counter-insur­
gency operations is to eliminate any
group that is collaborating or sym­
pathetic with the insurgents,** said
(Please turn to page 4 column J)
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Portland Observer
Legislative Forum
January 29th -10:00 a.m. - Holiday Inn Coliseum
Grattan Kerans, Speaker o f the House
The public is urged to attend and participate.
task force
School Board member Steve Buel
w ill present a resolution to the
Board Thursday evening calling for
the establishment of a task force to
assess drug abuse in the Portland
schools and to make recommenda­
tions fo r solutions to these prob­
lems. The task force is to be com­
posed of representatives of organiz­
ations and agencies interested in
drug abuse and of parents and inter­
ested citizens.
STEVE BUEL
More than 200 students were sus­
pended fo r drug use last school
year, and during 1982 185 juveniles
were arrested for drug related crime
in P o rtlan d , Buel said. " W e all
know that these numbers are just
the tip of the iceberg."
Buel advocates coordination o f
all community drug abuse resources
Attending the N AACP Northweet Regional Con
ference hoeted by the Portland Branch were. Port
lend board member Lome Marple: pest preeldent
Lucloue Hlcka IV; Portland Branch preeldent Hazel
Hays; board member Robert Phlllpe; Executive Dl-
with the school system. Portland’s
schools have some good drug abuse
education programs and are apply­
ing for a grant to add school police
officers to deal with the program.
But, Buel said, some drug abuse
abencies have found d iffic u lty
working with the school system. The
school police need to work more
closely with city police and parents
need to be involved.
In other school systems, including
V ancouver, W ashington's drug
counselors in the schools have been
successful in helping young people
“ kick the habit.”
Drug abuse is an education issue,
Buel explained. Young people do
not learn when they arc high on
drugs or alcohol. "Kids are wreck­
ing their lives, not learning, and we
should do something about it."
rector of the Weetern Region Verna Careon; Eu­
gene Branch preeldent W illie Polite; Yakima
Branch preeldent Deloree Goodman: end Tri-CItiee
Branch Preeldent Ed Hurgrow.
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
Johneon, accompanied by hia wife Rose Merle, on
behalf of the Northeast Rotary. Johnson, a police
Court deals Reagan a blow
The Reagan Administration suf­
fered a setback in its effort to over­
turn long-standing court ordered
school desegregation when the U.S.
Supreme Court refused to hear an
appeal from Nashville.
I h e case was an appeal by the
Nashville, Tennessee, School Board
o f a U .S . C ou rt o f Appeals deci­
sion. The Appeals Court had over­
turned an earlier decision of a Fed­
eral District C ourt judge who ex­
empted kindergarten through fourth
graders from a court-imposed de­
segregation order.
The Justice Department, carrying
oul President Reagan s intention to
pro hib it court-ordered busing,
joined in the suit. The Justice
Department urged consideration of
“ educational, social and economic
costs of busing."
The Justice D epartm ent hoped
that if their challenge in the Nash­
ville case were successful it could be
used to challenge other cases.
William Bradford Reynolds, who
is director o f the Justice D epart­
ment's C iv il Rights Division, said
that the decision in the Nashville
case "in no way indicates that the le­
gal issue o f mandatory busing is
closed." The Department plans to
busing.
"W e continue to believe that it is
far better to desegregate cual public
school systems through the use of
transfer programs that depend on
non-mandatory measures," he said.
The Appeals Court, in overturn­
ing the order exempting prim ary
students from the desegregation
plan, had said that the Nashville
schols had still not been desegre­
gated after 27 years of litigation and
the School Board had an obligation
to "e lim in a te from the public
schools the last vestiges of state-im­
posed segregation."
Employment Officer no easy job
by Robert Louthian
" F ru s tra tin g ,” is how Duane
Washington describes his job.
Washington, a job service repre­
sentative at the Albina office of the
Oregon Em ploym ent D ivision,
screens up to 50 jo b seekers each
day, matching skills and experience
with appropriate jobs.
"Y ou try your best to help,” said
the 12-year veteran with the E m ­
ployment D ivision, "b u t the way
the market is, very few get jobs.” It
gives him a good feeling to find
someone a jo b . said W ashington,
"know ing that now they can get a
meal and take care o f some bills.”
“ But the competition is so over­
w h e lm in g ," he said. "W h e n you
place someone, it doesn't seem like
you’ve done that much. You see the
same faces coming back. It's like
sitting in the mud. spining your
wheels."
In spite o f the pressures o f his
job, Washington said he tries not to
lose track o f the human elem ent.
" I 'm w orking w ith people,” he
said. " I t ’s not 8 to 5, it’s around the
clock." Washington said he is some­
times called at home and on week­
ends by job seekers with stress and
fam ily problems. " W e ta lk ,” he
said.
Counseling is a m ajor aspect o f
Washington's jo b — trying to raise
spirits and instill the confidence ne­
cessary to go ut and find a jjob. He
inevitably hears stories of personal
hardships faced by recession vic­
tims. "T h e y tell me right o f f .” he
said, "about their homes and m ar­
riages breaking up, and having to
sell their furniture and cars to pay
the bills.”
One o f the hardest things, he said,
is trying to encourage those whose
age and low level o f skills make it
doubly hard for them to find a job.
This is the case, he said when a per­
son has worked at the same firm for
many years and suddenly find them­
selves laid o ff and out in the market
knowing only one job.
As many as ISO job seekers pass
through the Albina office each day,
according to supervisor Martin Bur­
rows. An average o f ten job refer­
rals are handed out by Washington
• ach day, and o f those "m aybe
ine” gets a job, he said. In the three
month period ending in December
1982, there were 142 firm place­
ments out of the office, according to
Burrows.
People coming to him are “ really
getting themselves together" to go
out for interviews, said Washing­
ton. They are more conscious of be­
ing neat in order to be " a sellable
item to an employer,” he said
“ I t ’s an employer’s m arket," ac­
cording to Washington. "T h e em­
ployer is playing hard to get. They
can get just about who they want."
Job descriptions have doubled in
size, he said, as employers demand
more skill and experience. Washing­
ton described a J3.3S/hr. janitor’s
job which required 5-10 years exper­
ience, and a 1 3 .5 0 /h r. building
maintenance position requiring car­
pentry, plumbing and electrician's
skills.
Jobs available on an average day
might range all the way from "room
cleaner" ($ 3 .3 5 /h r .), "security
guard” ($ 4 .5 0 /h r ), “ messenger”
($3.8O 9/hr.), "inventory counter”
(»3.35/hr.) all the way up to a "neu­
rosurgeon" ($60,000/yr.j.
Job seekers are more likely to be
successful at the office, Said Wash­
ington. if they "a rriv e as early as
possible" and "keep coming back
on a regular basis. It also helps to
develop a "one-on-one” relation­
ship with a counselor: Washington
keeps resumes and a card file so that
he can match skills of applicants he
knows with appropriate jobs when
they come up.
An Employment Division publi­
cation reports that 75 percent or
more of job vacancies are not adver­
tised through traditional channels:
newspaper ads, federal/state em ­
ployment services, private employ­
ment agencies and computer jo b
banks. Also mentioned was the
myth of the resume: only about one
in 245 resumes that a company re­
ceives leads to a job interview, ac­
cording to the report.
For these reasons, the Albina o f­
fice offers free "Q u ic k Connec­
tions" workshops three days each
week. Among the topics discussed
are "Portland Job M a rk e t," "T h e
Untapped Job M a rk e t," and "T he
Interview."
Duane Washington says he sees
no indication that the recession is
coming to an end. " I just hope I'm
able to stay healthy and do a good
job for people,” he said.