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PORTLAND OBSERNER
March 2, 1983
Volume XIII, Number 21
250 Per Copy
< tm r PuMahin, C o . 193.1
USPS 959-6HO-H55
Black United Front calls 7-Up boycott
The Black United Front has called
for a boycott o f 7-U p and other pro
ducts o f the Portland Bottling C o m
pany—-N ehi, R C C o la . A& W ’ Root
Beer, and Squirt.
7-U p is only one o f the companies
that w ill be the target o f economic
b oyoctts, acco rd ing to B U F co-
chairm an Ronnie H ern do n . " T h is
just happens to be the most flagrant
example o f arrogance and racism.
W e are not going to sit back that
don't even have the decency to have
em plo ym en t practices that a llo w
blacks to work there.”
According to H ern do n there are
currently no blacks employed by Port
land Bottling Company, which regu
larly employs 125 persons and adds
ap p ro xim a tely 23 w orkers durin g
the summer. " F r o m what we have
been told there have been no black
employees for three years and there
have never been m ore than tw o
blacks employed at one tim e."
Mayor Francis Ivancie proclaims Portland's first
"Black Bualneaa W a a k." Obaarvlng are: Charles
C rew s. President, Oregon C hapter of N atio n al
Business League; A nthony A llen, grandson of
W .D . Alien, early Portland businessman; Jamas
Barry, Executive Secretary. NBL; Floyd Booker.
Executive Board, NBL; M rs. Kathryn H. Bogle.
Portland Observer; Dick Bogle, grandson of Waldo
Bogle, early Portland busineaaman.
(Photo: Ricky Booker)
Portland celebrates Black Business Week
by Kathryn H a ll Bogle
Black Business W eek was an
nounced in Portland for the days of
February 20 through February 27,
1983, by p ro c la m a tio n signed by
M ayor Francis J. Ivancie.
M ayor Ivancie urged all Portland
ers to “ join me in trib ute to P o rt
land’ s black business pioneers with
special recognition o f the National
Business I eague, the nation’s oldest
national business association (which
was) founded in 1900 under the
leadership o f D r. Booker T . W ash
ington, and whose Oregon chapter
stresses econom ic developm ent in
the black com m unity.”
A m on g witnesses attend ing the
signing o f the proclam ation in the
mayor's office was Charles Crews,
president o f the Oregon chapter o f
the NB L.
The N B L , a professional and
trade association, “ is dedicated to
prom oting full participation o f the
m in o rity private sector w ith in the
Am erican economic system. There
are m ore than 120 chartered
chapters throughout the nation with
headquarters in W ashington, D .C .
They “ seek to elim inate the exclu
sion o f the m in o rity business com
m unity fro m economic initiatives,
not sim ply fo r our own interests,
but for the stability o f the nation as
w ell.”
7-U p locally has chosen to ignore
the agreem ent between O p e ra tio n
P U S H and the national 7-U p com
pany which acknowledges corporate
responsibility to return some o f the
profits made in the black com m it-
jiity through em ploym ent and in
vestments.
" D o n ’ t think the local company
has a perpetual lock on the 7-U p dis
tributorship,” Herndon said. " P e r
haps another group, which would be
more responsive, would like to have
this distributorship." Herndon indi
cated that the BU F has notified the
national o ffic e o f its meeting with
the Portland Bottling Company and
the resultant boycott.
" W e had one meeting with them
and scheduled a second m e etin g ,"
H erndon said. "Just prior to when
the second meeting was scheduled,
the director o f 7-U p said he had not
done the things he had agreed to do
fo r the second m eeting . H e was
going to check out an old a ffirm a
tive action plan that had been im
posed on the company by the State.
Since he had not done th a t, there
seemed no reason to have a meeting.
" W e wrote a letter expressing our
disappointm ent and indicated (hat
we would decide what to do. Copies
were sent to PU SH and the national
7-U p office.
" 7 - U p has to ld the press they
thought we had an agreem ent, but
that letter should have convinced
Herndon is pleased with the com
munity response. Several merchants
have taken 7 -U p products o f f their
shelves and posted signs supporting
the boycott. They include: A lberta
Fish and P o u ltry , Joe’ s Place, the
Esquire C lu b , C leo's, the T ro pica,
Peterson G ro c e ry , G e n e v a ’ s, El
D o rado , Burger Barn, Allens G ro
cery, King N eig h b o rh o o d F acility
and others.
" 7 -U p is just the first on the list,”
Herndon said. " W e need to ask bus
inesses what they are doing to help
(his depressed com m unity; most of
them have been leeches. H ave you
ever seen a black person working in
a Chinese restaurant? Yet look at
the money we spend there. We need
to make a conscious e ffo rt to buy
here— why always go dow ntow n to
restaurants where we can't work?”
Herndon expects white support of
the boycott. “ I think when the is
sues are exp lain ed it w ill g r o w ."
Several predominantly white organ
izations have expressed interest and
indicated support.
“ We are organizing our own
co m m un ity f ir s t ,” H e rn d o n said.
" T h e n we w ill reach out to the
others. 1 think the boycott will
definitely be felt.”
them otherwise.”
The N B L has an advocacy p ro
gram , according to Crew s, who
says, “ The League consistently
works to move (he m inority private
sector in to the m ainstream o f the
free enterprise system." He cited the
N a tio n a l C o u n c il fo r P olicy Re
view, designed by N B 1 , as a mech
anism to build a close partnership
w ith both the federal governm ent
and the private sector to provide a
consolidated forum for effective di
alogue on national concerns. "F ro m
this fo u n d a tio n ,” Crews said,
" N B L seeks to make economic par
ity a reality for blacks and other m i
norities.”
From the beginning, N B L “ has
! Please turn Io page 4 col. !)
Black voters elect Washington
The victory o f black mayoral can
didate Harold Washington over (wo
prominent white candidates in C h i
cago’s Democratic primary election
is seen as a result o f black unity.
W ashington, a former state sena
tor and Congressman, said the vic
tory underscores a "com ing into po
litical m aturity” o f minority people.
He said black people have dem on
strated this concern through street
protests and have believed that pass
ing c iv il rights laws was enough.
"W e 'v e got to be involved in main-
strcam p o litic a l a c tiv ity . T h a t's
w hat's happening here in Chicago
and th a t’ s the lesson th at's going
out across the country.”
W a sh in g to n won 37 percent o f
the vote, the remainder splitting be
tween M a y o r Jane M . Byrne and
Richard M . Daley, son of the fo rm
er long-term Chicago mayor. Wash
ington received over 80 percent o f
the black vote and little of the white
vote.
Success in the Dem ocratic Party
primary should mean easy victory in
the Dem ocrat dom inated city, but
race is expected to play a major role.
Chicago has 3 m illion residents in
cluding 1.6 m illio n voters, 40 per
cent of whom are black.
A lread y the Republican Party is
working for an upset, sending num
erous national party officials to C hi
cago to meet w ith the Republican
candidate. Bernard E p ton . Epton,
who also is a former state legislator,
has suggested that he and Washing
ton pledge not to use racism in the
(Please turn to page 12 col. 3/
Black History Day was celebrated at Humboldt
Early Childhood Education Canter w ith a program
of local celebrities.
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
U.S. government fears collapse of El Salvador regime
n seeks more aid.
President Ronald Reagan has re
quested an additional $60 million in
m ilita ry aid fo r El S alvad or ($26
m illion has been approved for this
year). A n increase in U .S . m ilitary
"advisors” and a possible change in
role fo r the U .S . m ilita ry is also
being considered.
Reagan met w ith about tw en ty
key members o f Congress M onday
to discuss El Salvador. Secretary o f
State George P. Shultz, who until
now has not been as hawkish on El
Salvador as his predecessor A le x
ander Haig, told the Senate Appro
priations Subcommittee on Foreign
Operations he strongly backs m ili
tary aid because he is worried about
a "S o v ie t-b a c k e d ta k e o v e r.” H e
said Salvadoran church leaders and
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others w ho advocate negotiations
are only encouraging the insurgents.
Shultz said he fears that not only is
El Salvador critically located but it
is "connected right up to M exico,
with which we have a long border.”
Reagan to ld the assembled
Congressmen M onday that the sur
vival o f the Salvadoran government
is at stake. Republican Senate leader
H o w ard Raker said the im m ediate
problem is whether the El Salvador
governm ent can sustain itself and
that Reagan is of (he opinion that it
cannot.
Democratic Senator Henry Jack-
son o f W a sh in g to n said the real
p ro b lem is the d e s ta b iliz a tio n o f
Mexico. "M exico is the ultimate tar
g e t.” H e added that there are real
problem s in M e x ic o — severe u n
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—
em ploym ent, unrest, co rrup tion —
that could be used by foreign agents
to destabilize that nation.
W hite House advisors said Rea
gan has not decided whether U .S .
m ilita ry advisors w o u ld play a
more active role in the civil war.
The President’ s action places El
Salvador at the forefront o f the na
tion ’s foreign policy again— a place
held recently by the M iddle East.
Tha House Hum an Relations
C o m m itte e w ill hold a public
hearing on d lsvestm ent from
South Africa on March 10th. 7:00
p m In Hearing Room E at the
State C apitol in Salam . The
public Is Invited to testify or to
sand written testimony.
• it
U.S. intervention predicted
Arnoldo Ramos, a representative
o f the guerilla movement in El Sal
vador, told the Observer last week
that his o rg an iza tio n , the F M l.N -
F D R , expects U .S . m ilita ry in te r
vention in that nation's civil war.
The guerilla movement is making
rapid gains both m ilitarily and poli
tic a lly , Ramos said. A lth o u g h
bringing untold suffering to the peo
ple o f El Salvador, prolongation o f
the war through U .S . aid can only
help the g uerillas M ilit a r ily , the
guerillas are on the offen sive; the
government forces can only defend.
" I f they move their forces from San
Salvador to the Eastern provinces to
c o u n te r-a tta c k , we p u ll back and
s trik e in San S a lv a d o r. T h e y can
o n ly try not to lose any m ore
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g r o u n d ." T h e g u e rillas c o n tro l
about 20 percent of the country.
T h e g overnm ent tro o p s — d is
heartened by the long war and the
increasing losses—are demoralized.
O ne tactic the g uerillas are using
successfully is to encourage surrend
er and to return m ilita ry prisoners
through the Red Cross. "Sometimes
the troops coming to attack us meet
the prisoners returning— persons we
have treated well and provided with
medical care. It is very d ifficu lt for
them to co n tin u e to the b a t t le ."
This also gives the guerillas a con
stant supply o f weapons. " W e cap
ture our guns from the government
forces; we d o n ’ t have to buy them
on the world m arket.”
A recent attem pted coup by one
o f the m ilita ry leaders shows the
weakness o f the g o v ern m e n t.
Ramos said. He is the only m ilitary
leader with the ability to wage a suc
cessful war. yet politically he is un
acceptable because he is so fascist
that he would eliminate even the ap
pearance o f civil rights. Politically,
the El Salvador government is f a ll
ing ap art and as tim e goes by the
rifts will widen.
The g uerillas have accepted the
idea o f a negotiated settlem ent as
proposed by Venezuela. Mexico and
Panama, but the U.S. is opposed.
T h e tim e w ill come very soon
when the U .S . w ill have to decide
between sending troops to El Salva
d or or accepting d e fe a t, Ramos
said. The F M I.N -F D R fully expects
the decision w ill be the deployment
o f troops.
(Please turn to page 4 col. 3/