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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 22, 1983)
Portland Observer. June 22, 1983 Page 5 Special Spring Sale Washington Hot Line Gospel Records by Congressman Ron W>den The Reagan administration has often assailed the virtues o f affirm a tive action policy President Reagan is an avowed enemy o f the policy and the Assistant Attorney General for civil rights, W illiam Bradford Reynolds, has termed the policy a "racial spoils system." I find this a disturbing attitude, made all the more distressing in light o f a report recently completed by the Labor Department which shows some of affirm ative action's positive results. U n fo rtu nately, many have not heard about this report. It has not been pub lished, and some congressional sources believe that the administra tion is trying to suppress its publica tion. A draft o f the report, obtained by the Washington Post, provides im pressive figures on the effectiveness o f affirm ative action and therefore makes a convincing case for "stay ing the course” on such hiring poli cies. The study reviewed hiring prac tices at some 77,000 businesses be tween 1974 and 1980 Here are some o f the conclusions: • M ino rity employment grew by 20.1 percent in businesses with a ffir mative action hiring requirements, but by only 12.3 percent at compa- mes with no special hiring require ments. • In businesses with affirm ative action programs, the number o f black managers grew by 96 percent and women managers by 73 percent. • The number of women employed by businesses with affirm ative ac tion programs grew by 13.2 percent compared to only 2.2 percent at companies without such programs. A ffirm ative action has been a boon to the m inority worker. It has increased the demand for minority workers and has contributed to rais ing their earnings and job status. It took a trip to Mississippi for Assistant Attorney General Rey L.P.s *5M Singles Two-record Set 8” nolds to believe stories o f electoral abuse that had long been reported It took an 8-1 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court to convince the ad ministration that tax breaks for schools which practiced blatant ra cial discrimination were illegal. I hope that the new Labor Depart ment report will do the trick in this case and help convince the adminis tration o f the value o f affirm ative action. I f not, the adminstralion will be showing its unwillingness to support policies which lead to the progres sive integration o f the workplace, and hence o f our society as a whole. This coupon is good for $10°° off any new T.V. Dellums fights for military budget cuts Rep. Ron Dellums (D -C a l.) con tinued his effort to reduce the U.S. military budget by introducing an amendment last week that would remove the Pershing I I missiles from the budget. In December o f 1979 the U.S. agreed with N A T O to deploy Pershing I I missiles in the N A T O nations o f Western Europe if no progress was made in negotiations with the Soviet Union. The Carter plan for the Pershing I I was to use it as a bargaining chip in negotiations. The Reagan adm in istration, however, is intent on ac tually deploying the missiles. Dellums based his opposition to funding and deployment o f the Pershing Il's on four premises: 1) There is no m ilitary rationale for deploying the missiles. Their targets can be hit by existing N A T O missiles and missiles owned by the French and the British. 2) It is too dangerous. " T o deploy is to create a permanent Cuban missile crisis in E u ro pe." The Pershing I I is the fastest and most accurate missile designed. I f fired it would reach its target in from 6 to 8 minutes, not long enough to provide time to assess a situation. Currently it takes 23 to 40 minutes for a missile to go from the U .S. to the Soviet Union or vice versa. Although there have been several computer errors that indicated Soviet missiles had been fired, the time lapse pro vided time to discover the error. W ith missiles only 8 minutes away from control silos o f the USSR, the USSR would have to use "launch on warning” and have no time to re consider. "T h is is a miniscule amount o f time to talk about a nuclear holo caust," Dellums said. " I t is incredi bly dangerous. M y voice is crying out to you for millions o f people in this country and on this planet who do not want to plunge the world into a nuclear holocaust." 3) The Pershing I I would under mine the N A T O alliance. A t the time West Germany asked for the decision on the Pershing I I , the U .S . was ready to ratify S A L T I I and negotiate S A L T I I I . It was com monly though that there was a degree o f stability. S A L T I I was not ratified and. "there is great calamity in the w o rld ." The situation is d if ferent and the U .S ., "needs to re think the incredible desire to de p lo y ." N A T O never intended that the Pershing I I be deployed, but hoped its threat would bring a Soviet reduction. "T h e USSR did say they would reduce their SS20's, but President Reagan clung to the zero-zero option and turned down the USSR effort to reduce the SS20 and not to deploy the 21, 22 and 23 ." N A T O has always included the missiles o f France and Britain in the count, although Reagan attempts to ignore them. There must be an agreement on the ratio between Israel rejects Ethiopian Jews by John Blank n The black Jews o f Ethiopia — sometimes known as “ Falashas” — could well disappear in a new “ holocaust," according to Simcha Desta, a Fa las ha who recently es caped from Ethiopia. Simcha, who spoke to approxi mately 100 people M onday night, said that teachers and students in Falasha schools, himself included, have been arrested and tortured, for learning Hebrew and practicing their ancient form o f Judaism. Simcha, his wife, and their daughter (3 months old at the time) were im prisoned for 11 months; he and his wife were tortured, in order, he said, to terrorize the other Falashas, (or "B eta Israel," as they call them selves). " T h e government tells us, ‘ You are not Jewish, you are black. You must become Christian. ’ . . . We have to die for our relig io n ." In addition, he said, the Beta Israel face other forms o f persecution; internal and external travel is severe ly restricted. Hebrew books have been confiscated and burned, and the Jews have been ordered to hold their market day on Saturday, the Jewish sabbath, during which work is strictly forbidden. The Ethiopian government's mo tives for persecuting the Beta Israel do not seem to be directly political, as the Beta Israel have not opposed the Dergue (as the government which came to power in 1974 is known); in fact, the Beta Israel have received harsh treatment from op ponents o f the regime, such as the rebels in Eritrea and Tigre as well as from internal opposition groups. They are "caught between the ham mer and the an vil,” Simcha said. Instead, the motice seems to be old-fashioned Christian " a n ti semitism," especially on the part o f M ajo r M elaku Teffera, head o f Gondar Province, where most o f the Jews live. Peasant superstitions against the Jews, such as that they "bring the evil eye.” are being stirred up; Jews are forbidden to own land; foreign contact with the Bachelor« • Bachelorette« Tired M others Do you need domestic care for your home? I will clean at low coat. Call for apppolntmsnt Ms. Spic-n-Span Cleaning Service Call 287-3309 Jews is strictly lim ited to interviews conducted through Christian " in te r preters,” according to D r. Jerry M alino o f Eugene, who organized M onday night’s program. Nor is it the case that the Jews are being persecuted because the nominally M arxist, Soviet-support ed government is anti-religious, for the m ajority Coptic Christian reli gion is not discouraged at all. Authorities disagree on the o ri gins o f these Ethiopian Jews. A c cording to some, they are descen dants o f Ethiopians converted to Judaism around 2,000 B.C. by Jews from Egypt and Yemen; others say that they are the descendants o f the tribe o f Dan, which made its way to Ethiopia after the destruction o f the temple in Jerusalem in 386 B.C. However they got there, they multiplied and became powerful, and at times dominated Ethiopia until the 4th century A .D ., when the Empire converted to (Coptic) Chris tianity. A t that time, the Jews re treated to the mountains, where they maintained their own state. There followed a 350-year period o f war against these Jews by the Chris tians and the Moslems (who con tributed the name "F alas h a ," which means "o utcast;" the Jews' own name for themselves being "B eta Israel,” meaning "House of Israel” ), culminating in their defeat in 1830, at which time there were approxi mately 100,000 o f them left in Ethiopia. Almost completely isolated from the outside world for the last 2,000 years, they practice a pre-rabbinical form o f Judaism. They observe Shabbat (the Jewish sabbath) very strictly; during Shabbat drawing water, making fires, and other work is prohibited; even in wartime, they won't fight on the sabbath unless they are attacked. Other Jewish customs, such as ritual bathing for women who are having their periods, and dietary restrictions, are practiced; the m ajor Jewish holi days are observed Today there are an estimated 23,000 Beta Israel left; 20.000 live in Gondar Province, where the m ajority o f them are sharecroppers. Although they were supposed to have obtained land in the land re forms following the 1974 change o f government, this has not happened, because peasant committees and local officials would not let Jews own land; where they were allowed to own land, it was the poorest. In addition, the Beta Israel are hand craft workers — weavers, potters, blacksmiths, etc. — who are consid ered the lowest stratum o f Ethiopian society, according to Samah. Population estimates do not count an unknown number o f Beta Israel who outwardly converted to Christianity, but practice Judaism in secret, as did the Jews o f Spain during the Inquisition. The plight o f the Falashas has been little recognized by the world at large. Although some sections o f the world Jewish community has taken an interest in them, (through organizations such as the American Association for Ethiopian Jews — A A E J ), they were not officially rec ognized as Jews until 1973 (by leading rabbis in Israel). The Israeli government has only recently taken a stand in their favor. During the 1930’s and 1960's, then-Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie prohibited em igration, but Falashas have said that he could have been persuaded to allow the Jews to emigrate, according to D r. M aliner, o f the Eugene branch o f the A A E J . O nly after public dem onstrations by the few Falashas who managed to make their way to Israel has the Begin government begun a public human rights campaign, but has limited this campaign to "quiet diplom acy," arguing that this would "b ring greater results in the long ru n ." However, some Mossad (Israeli secret service) agents assigned to the Falasha program told a N . y. Timas correspondent that the Begin government uses this argument to "cover up its own in activity." Some speculate that the Israeli government's low profile in the rescue o f these Jews — in con trast to the noise made about res cuing the Jews o f Russia — has to do with the fact that the Falashas N A T O and the Warsaw Pact, The USSR sees U .S. escalation as requiring a reaction. Deployment o f the Pershing I I will force the USSR to increase its missiles and that will split N A T O . 4) The SS20 does not give any new capacity to the USSR. The negotia tions between the U .S. and the USSR need more time. The U.S. must count French and British missiles and accept an equal global force — the Western Alliance and the Soviet Bloc's. The talks on various missile systems must be merged. Once deployed, the Pershing 11 will no longer be a bargaining chip but will be a new missile system d i rected at an enemy. N o missile sys tem, once deployed, has ever been removed. Dellums asked his colleagues to debate the issues o f the military budget and look at the facts and the consequences rather than push for an early vote. If all the hamburgers Americans eat each year were stretched out side by side, they could circle the earth four times. According to Irish folklore, if you meet a weasel on the road, you're sure to have good luck. The ancient Egyptians bathed with soda instead of soap. • The Sahara Desert is as large in area as the continental U.S. W a do not do busineaa w ith South Africa. American State Bank AN IMPORTANT BOOK THC BLACK R f SOUACC OOiOC (4 btech toectory) r»M unsqwo t '• p«g« >»acko»y * h o w « you Io t — c A »ay Ofacki anywMre *s t o U 1 M Mg t o Aameg aoo was*« and p W « Otffftov« o< Ova 'too (Me» « I O C grxJ o»gao* «atoo« t * 5 00 •<> B*a« » Regostaf o e m • fo’ OoAKUPt NW toa/wvgton UC JOO’ » (JOJ1/91 4 3 0 AN INDEPENDENT BANK Head Ottica 2 7 3 7 N. E. Union Portland, Oregon 9 7 2 1 2 Street Beat by Lenita D uke and Richard Brow n K J Clift Smith Tgachgr " I was opposed (o ihe idea of anyone paying to build a nuclear facility because I'm against nuclear power. I remember when they first started talking about building nuclear power plants, they said it would be too cheap to meter. As it turns out, it is the most expensive.” Last week a legal decision was ----- handed down in Washington which released a group of public and private utilities from their indebted ness to Washington Public Power Supply System. The Street Beat team asked, "H o w do you feel about cer- ___ tain utilities being excused from their bond obligation?" Blaka Washington C ra w Laadsr " I 'm not fam iliar with all the details, but it would be interest ing to see who will pick up the final tab. From what I under stand, they didn’ t have the power to get into a contract. It is a big messy situation." Elder Frank Martin Mlnlatar " I feel it's unfair for anyone not to fu lfill their obligation. You shouldn't take advantage o f anyone just because you have the opportunity." are black. A similar point might be made about the Am erican govern ment, which otherwise has been eager to support the "v ic tim s" of the Soviet Union and its clients— except perhaps when these “ victim s" are black. "The tw o graatast stimulants in tha world ara youth and dab t." Benjamin Disraeli Triam inic* Syrup Triam tnicin* Tablets or Triaminic-12* Tablets For Allergy Relief that's notning to sneeze at. * '* • 'a w A .- Ina latawaww»« (V> « a a ,4 Im cafc Netwsate M V l Nancy Wong Credit Interviewer Richard Bucklay Postal Employa« " I f I had a debt I would be forced to pay. I'm opposed to the way the whole situation sur rounding W PPSS it. It's w rong." " I f anyone has a debt they should be responsible for it. Anyone that incurs a debt should be able to pay it o f f ." Both Watorman Nursa " I don't like the fact that sooner or later, we, the public, will have to pay for it. I f private individuals have to pay their debts then I feel businesses ought to ."
