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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.