Pag« 4 Section I Portland Observer, June 1, 1983
EDITORIAL/OPINION
Legal terrorism
by Dr. Manning Marabie
"Front the Grassroots"
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Recovering the NAACP
This Saturday the N A A C P national board
took the first step to return that organization to
the people with the vindication o f Benjamin
Hooks and the reduction o f the powers of board
chairman, Margaret Bush Wilson.
The often-publicized power struggle between
the executive director and the board chairman is
more than a struggle for personal influence. It is
a struggle over the direction and philosophy of
the association.
Ms. Wilson was able to turn the traditionally
weak chairmanship into a position o f power.
Filling a vacuum created by the aging Roy
Wilkins, Ms. Wilson became the association’s
leader. When Hooks came on board in 1977 she
refused to give up authority to the executive
director and the association became a two-
headed monster.
Ms. Wilson launched the N A A C P in a new
direction. A member o f the Monsanto Chemi
cals’ board o f directors and close to the corpo
rate world, she put the N A A C P in bed with the
very powers that have perpetuated racism and
oppression o f black people. Rather than rely on
financial and political support from the
N A A C P ’s traditional supporters — the black
community, progressive whites and some seg
ments of labor — she encouraged corporate
donations and corporate memberships.
Wilson led the national board to adopt the
“ trickle down” theory — that corporate profits
will trickle down to the unemployed poor. This
is best revealed in the board’s 1977 statement on
energy (written by power company executives).
Ms. Wilson and the board refused to allow floor
discussion at the National Convention that year
in spite o f angry opposition o f many o f the
elected delegates. The statement included an
endorsement o f nuclear power and, unbeliev
ably, endorsement o f natural gas deregulation
— an action that will put the price o f home
heating beyond the reach of millions o f black
people living in the cities of the east. The
N A A C P board simultaneously endorsed truck
deregulation, a move that will consolidate the
profits of the large trucking companies and put
many small truckers out o f business.
Ms. Wilson’s leadership of the N A A C P was
clearly for the interest o f corporate profit, not
for the millions o f black people suffering from
unemployment, poor housing, lack of medical
care, deficient education and all the ills that
befall a group of people that are set aside for use
as cheap labor or cannon fodder.
Hooks never publically denounced this policy,
or openly challenged Ms. Wilson, but we must
believe that much o f the so-called “ power
struggle” was based on his desire to return the
N A A C P to the people. His suspension, reinstate
ment, and the overwhelming support of the
national board and the membership give Hooks
the authority to take the N A A C P back where it
belongs — fighting for the basic civil and human
rights of black people and all Americans. When
the N A A C P finds itself in opposition to the
corporate structure — as it will — it must re
member whom it represents and why.
No recovery in sight
While the Reagan administration is praising
itself over the so-called economic recovery and
various economists are arguing about whether
the recovery will be long or short, strong or
weak, the nation’s workers do not sec much to
indicate “ recovery.”
While the nation’s unemployment rate
dropped only one-tenth o f a percentage point
(seasonably adjusted), Oregon’s rate dropped .6
of a percentage point in April to an unemploy
ment rate o f 10.4 percent.
Much o f the small improvement was in
lumber and wood products and in construction,
while other sectors of the economy remain
stagnant.
There are still 148,700 persons officially un
employed in Oregon (drawing unemployment
compensation or registered with the State Em
ployment Office). In some counties, where there
have been mass lay-offs or plant closures, o ffi
cial unemployment is still at 14 to 20 percent.
The wage and salary index has gradually de
clined since 1979, now indicating that wages are
just slightly above the 1977 level.
Millions o f unemployed workers, without
income or health insurance, ineligible for un
employment compensation or welfare, losing
the homes and possessions they have worked for
years to purchase — many of them with no mills
or shops to return to — do not believe recovery
is here.
Letters to the Editor________
Racial commissions funded
To the Editor:
In your editorial o f March 23 you
suggested that racism was my
motivation for referring the Hispanic
and Black Commission bills (H B
2355 and H B 2356) to Ways and
Means instead of Hum an Services
and Aging. You said that sending
the bills to Ways and Means, when
there was no appropriation attached
to them, would guarantee that they
die in committee. These bills estab
lish the Black Commission and the
Hispanic Commission. But both of
these commissions also wanted state
money to spend, not just to be es
tablished.
It seems your fears were unwar
ranted after all. The Black and His
panic Commission bills passed out
o f Ways and Means on M ay 16 and
passed the Senate on May 18. The
bills which would appropriate the
state tax dollar funding for the
Commissions, H B 5058 and H B
5059, pased the House on M ay 19
After being assigned to Ways and
Means, these bills both passed (he
Senate on M ay 27.
The fact (hat all of these bills
passed (he Senate tells me that my
referrals were very helpful toward
getting these commissions estab
lished and funded. I served on the
Ways and Means Committee for
Williamsburg
(Continued fro m page I column 6>
goods.
A point o f conflict during the
1982 conference and after was the
U .S. effort to ban its Western allies
from trading with the Soviet Union.
The W illiamsburg document says,
“ East-West
economic
relations
should be compatible with our
security interests."
The Williamsburg conference did
little to solve the world economic
crisis. For Reagan, it offered an
opportunity to demonstrate leader
Ml M»l »-
ship away from the eyes of the press
and to get through the conference
with no overt conflict. A repeat o f
his gross behavior during and after
the 1982 conference was avoided.
Nothing occurred that will aid the
people o f the U .S. or the other
nations represented. M ore than 22
million people are unemployed in
these nations and the leaders of
Western Europe are aware that it
will require substantial restructuring
o f their industrial bases to put their
people back to work.
many years. I speak from experience
when I say that members o f the
Committee do not react well to peo
ple saying a bill doesn't cost any
state funds on one hand and asking
for money to make the bill work on
the other.
Edward N. Fadeley
Senate President
NAACP
(Continued fro m page I column 6)
Board members and members
have contended that political in
fighting and bickering has hurt the
organization, causing confusion
over policy and direction. They add
that the association has antiquated
procedures, inadequate staff and
declining membership. Ms. Wilson
sent Hooks a letter suspending him
because he refused to turn over
internal records that she said she
could use to support her charge of
incompetent management.
Following the Saturday meeting.
Hooks said " I am happy, of course,
to have been vindicated. . . I intend
to go forward. The association must
go fo rw ard ." Ms. Wilson, on a
speaking engagement in Chicago,
indicated she will not resign.
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As thousands o f Americans are
beginning to m obilize for the Twen
tieth Anniversary March on Wash
ing ion , D .C ., which w ill be held on
August 27, it is imperative that we
understand what the Freedom
Movement
represented
in
the
1980’i. and where we stand today.
M artin Luther King, Jr. fought
for racial equality for Black Am eri
cans, and his “ 1 Have A D ream "
speech which was delivered at the
1963 M arch has inspired millions
across the world. M artin also stood
for economic justice for the poor of
all races, and prepared a Poor
Peoples' M arch on Washington in
early 1968. M artin had (he courage
to follow in the steps o f D r. W .E .B .
DuBois and Paul Robeson, to call
for world peace and an end to U.S.
militarism.
The FB I countered
M artin by harassing his fam ily, il
legally wire-tapping his conversa
tions. blackmailing him, and dis
rupting his organization, the South
ern Christian Leadership C onfer
ence. In the end. he was assassinat
ed. Other civil rights and Black
Power activists suffered his fate:
Fred Ham pton. Ralph Feather-
stone. M ark C lark, Medgar Evers,
and dozens more. The FBI and local
government agencies were responsi
ble for the arrest o f 749 Black Pan
ther Party members in 1968-69, and
for the killing o f 27 more.
This pattern o f “ legal terrorism "
was checked slightly by Attorney
General Edward H . Levi's "G u id e
lines on Domestic Security Investi
gations" issued in A p ril, 1976. But
with the economic and political
turmoil o f Reagamsm, the U .S . gov
ernment has reversed itself to keep
the lid on the impending social
crisis. O n August 9. 1982, new and
dangerous C IA
Guidelines for
covert operations inside the U.S.
were approved by Attorney General
W illiam French Smith. Last Decem
ber, Reagan issued Executive Order
12333, which calls for sweeping
"police state-type” authority for
the F B I. Three months ago, Smith
announced a plan to implement
Executive 12333 which would target
all groups advocating "political or
social change through the use o f vio
lence.”
Reagan's and Smith's idea o f a
"dangerous, violent person" comes
dose to being anyone who opposes
the Reagan budget, who favors
peace over nuclear war, or who is
opposed to racism. As journalist
Nat H e nto ff observes, the FB I "w ill
now be able to investigate persons
or groups advocating 'criminal acti
vity,* " as well as those who are ac
tually conspiring to carry out speci
fic acts The FB I will “ clip and file
articles, letters to the editor and
ads" o f anyone (hey consider suspi
c io n . Undercover agents can in fil
trate any group, from a Black neigh
borhood group concerned about po
lice brutality to a coalition opposing
the nuclear arms race. The FB I's
budget for next year is over one
billion dollars. And some members
o f Congress are too frightened of
the agency to halt the drive toward
legal terrorism. As California Con
gressman Donald Edwards states,
"T h e FBI is more powerful than we
are when there's something it
w ants."
Some Americans still remain un
convinced that their police or the
FBI would go so far as to assassi
nate political activist*. Yet in
Greensboro, North Carolina, five
activists were publicly executed by
gangs of Klansmen and Nazis in
1979. with the cooperation and cer
tainly advance knowledge o f local
and federal agents. In the middle o f
the recent Greensboro grand jury
hearings to investigate the murders,
a black man, Henry C . Byrd, sub
mitted a signed document on April
13. 1983. stating that Greensboro
police officers asked him to “ shoot"
black activist Nelson Johnson. Byrd
states: "W h ile sitting in this un
marked car, O fficer Bell pointed out
to me Nelson Johnson as he walked
into the bookstore. O fficer Bell gave
me a .38 caliber pistol, bullets and
three addresses where M r. Johnson
was likely lo b e found.”
W hy would officers sworn to up
hold the law conspire to pay some
one to execute Nelson Johnson? Be
cause Johnson has been under some
form o f F B I. army an d /o r police
surveillance since 1967. Johnson
was a leader o f the Black Power
movement in North Carolina, and
more recently, was a member of the
Communist Workers Party. The
FBI fought back by promoting slan
ders about his involvement in drugs
and schemes to initiate violence.
Now there is clear evidence that
some law enforcement officers may
want to silence him permanently.
The recent FBI guidelines, and
the evidence from the Greensboro
grand jury, converge to form a clear
pattern o f legal terrorism. When we
go to Washington, D .C ., therefore,
we must demand:
Who killed
M artin Luther King, Jr., and
M alcolm X? Who killed Fred
Hampton and Ralph Featherstone?
Who is planning the murder of
Nelson Johnson and perhaps hun
dreds o f other Black, Latino and
w h ite , political activists? Who is
slandering Black politicians such as
Congressman Ronald V . Ddlum s
and imprisoning black elected o f
ficials like Tchula,
Mississippi
M ayor Eddie Carthan? The March
on Washington, D .C . must not
simply honor the memory o f
M artin , but it must have at its core,
an activist, progressive vision o f a
democracy without legal terrorism,
FBI
surveillance,
and
official
murder. W e must demand the revo
cation o f Executive Order 12333,
and the end to all legal lynchings.
Dr. M anning M arable is Director
o f the Race Relations institute. Fisk
University. Nashville. TN.
Quorum of One
by Greg Wasson
Salem — Friday, Gov. Vic Atiyeh
apeared before the Senate Revenue
Committee to repeat his call for im
mediate, substantial property tax re
lief. The governor warned the com
mittee that unless the legislature
adopts a program of meaningful
relief, a Ballot Measure 3 will be en
acted into law by the people
“ I intend to do everything in my
power to see to it that a reasonable
and fairly drawn property lax plan
emerges
from
this
legislative
assembly . (a)nd I will call this
legislature into Special Session if
such a plan has not emerged when
the final gavel has sounded."
Tough talk on the governor's
part. But it could legitimately be
labeled too little, loo late. For
Atiyeh to chide the legislature for
inaction on tax relief is a classic
example o f the pot maligning the
kettle for its shading.
The legislature came to Salem
seemingly dedicated to altering the
situation that spawned the nearly
successful tax revolt. Atiyeh greeted
it with a budget that could be bal
anced only with tax increases total
ing over $600 million, a clear re
versal o f his repeated campaign
pledge not to increase taxes and a
program that no one in the legisla
ture supported.
When the House Revenue Com
mittee shelved Atiyeh's plan after a
week o f perfunctory hearings, the
governor dismissed it as a Demo
cratic legislature tweaking the nose
of a Republican governor. Chal
lenging the lawmakers to draft a
better plan if they could, Atiyeh
contented himself with taking pot
shots at the legislature for its in
action and traveling to Japan to
promote economic development.
That's unacceptable, governor.
First, the decision needs to be
made whether property tax relief is
to be provided or not. The Big-3 in
the legislative process — Atiyeh,
Senate President Ed Fadeley and
House Speaker Grattan Kerans —
all seem to agree (hat it should.
W ith that goal established, tax-
planners must face the reality that
money to fund property tax relief
can come only from a new. or in
creased, tax. In his budget, the gov
ernor announced that income tax
increases were the preferred route.
Then why hasn't Atiyeh helped lay
the lerminally-revivable sales tax to
rest? Continued discussion o f that
revenue albatross muddies (he water
and prevents formation o f the
meaningful program Atiyeh says he
wants.
Actually, it appeared early in the
session like Atiyeh planned to throw
his weight around the statehouse
more than he had in the past. In
February's battle over a fairly in
nocuous bill, H B 2373, the governor
showed surprising spunk.
The proposal contained a plan to
use unemployment funds to support
displaced workers as they attended
retraining classes. Under the exist
ing regulations, anyone in school
was ineligible for unemployment
payments. The A F L -C IO and others
wanted to carve out an exception for
retraining programs
As originally introduced, the bill
called for establishment of a wide-
open system Business opposed that
idea, one lobbyist complaining that
the bill was really a full-enrollment
bill for community coleges with the
tab to be picked up by the business
community.
The historic connection between
the Democratic Party and organized
labor is well established, as is the
one between the Republicans and
management Given that backdrop,
(he battle over the bill became part
o f a fam iliar war. The House Demo
crats and Speaker G rattan Kerans
won the first volley.
When the unemployment bill
came before (he full House, a
Republican motion to send it back
to committee was defeated almost
straight down party lines. Reps.
M ax Simpson o f Baker and Bernie
Argons o f Klamath Falls were the
only Democratic delinquents. W ith
the procedural question decided, the
lower body then approved the bill 56
to 3.
Over on the Senate side, the un
employment issue provided a d if
ferent view o f the power struggle. It
was
still
Republicans
fighting
Democrats, but this time with added
firepower — Gov. Atiyeh.
Through Republican L .B . Day o f
Salem, the governor offered amend
ments to the bill seriously reducing
access to the training money. A t a
weekly press conference, Atiyeh de
clared that he would “ probably"
veto the bill if his amendments
weren't accepted. The head o f the
Senate Labor Comm ittee, Sen.
Margie
Hendriksen,
D- Eugene,
heeded Atiyeh's threats and accom
modated the governor’s concerns.
When asked about the new-found
aggressiveness, Atiyeh acknowledged
that he planned on playing rougher
with the legislature than he had his
first term.
“ The old w ay ," said Atiyeh,
"w asn't too successful."
From this perspective, though, it
doesn't appear that the governor
followed through on his new role.
Simply proposing an unrealistic
budget is not a sign o f action. By
neglecting to do what needed to be
done, Atiyeh may have dealt himself
out o f the tax reform game and
blown a unique chance to exert
some real influence on the decisions
made during this crucial session.
You stood by while the focus
shifted to others in the process,
governor. I f you want to recapture
it, it will take more than "tough-
guy” talk from the sidelines.
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