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L e r r le k 4. ? » {) o f Ore. i „ lugen«, t r e . 97U3 ÜI UJ NBA draft choices Tax relief proposal Sect. II Page 4 Sect. I Pi PORTMND OBSERVER U*»*S 959-680-855 Seh3tl Volume XIII, Number 37 June 29,1983 25C Per Copy Two Sections £ < w A .N u *m « C a ./* /•» ' Reagan policy spurs conflict Ronald Reagan's plans are not developing as expected in Central America. In response to a question, Reagan waffled on his earlier statement that no U.S. troops would be sent to Central America during his news conference Tuesday. " W e ll, presi dents never say never. I said that we have no plans to send combat troops, nor are they needed or wanted .. ” When pushed, he said, "W e ll, you were asking a kind o f hypo thetical question and I gave a hypo thetical answer. And it's an old saying that the president should never say never. You know, they blew up the M a in e ." (U .S . forces blew up the Maine in Havana harbor to give the U.S. an excuse to intervene in the Cuba-Spain war and to take possession o f Cuba). "Firat to come la Miater Thumb; then Pointer atrong and then Tall Man high and juat cloae by the feeble one doth linger; laat of all, so wee and small, the baby little finger." Danny Long and his greet grandmother play a finger game that she learned as a child in Millbury. Massachusettea. (Photo: Dan Long © 1983) NAACP delegates face critical challenges When the N A A C P holds its na- lional convention in New Orleans the first week in July, it will meet many serious challenges. In a June l lt h special meeting called by board chairman Margaret Bush Wilson to explain her tempo rary suspension ol executive director Benjamin Hooks, Mrs. Wilson was stripped o f all o f her powers. The functions o f the chairmanship were given to vice chairman Kelly Alexan der, Sr. In an earlier meeting, called by board members, they had rein stated Hooks and asked Mrs. Wilson to resign. Hooks said the board had "seen fit to put the N A A C P back on the track and back into the business of civil rights.*' Mrs. W ilson’s report — which was rejected by most o f the board members as ‘sour grapes” — re flected much o f the conflict and confusion that has prevailed since Roy W ilkins resigned in 1977 and even earlier. The report contained accusations that some board members say are valid. She asserted that the organi zation is in a serious financial crisis and that its membership is declin ing. She said auditors have com plained that financial records are in adequate and there are no records o f revenues earned from interest and dividends so that "there is no means o f determining if revenue earned has been received." Mrs. Wilson said she had suspended Hooks because she was not sure he would give pri ority to an audit and a financial report to the board. Hooks responded that all work necessary for the audit had been completed before his suspension and that he had not interfered with it. He admitted that the association had not had financial reports for a "substantial period o f tim e" but blamed Mrs. Wilson. Mrs. Wilson also charged that Hooks' schedule o f speaking en gagements make him a part-time director, although his contract spe cifies that speaking engagements are not to interfere with N A A C P work. Since he became executive director he has earned more than $360,000 from speaking honoraria. Hooks said his speaking engage ments are made, in part, to make up for money not received from the NAACP. His salary is about $75,000 per year plus rent, he ex plained, and this year he was offered $115,000 but accepted the $75,000 plus rent. The N A A C P has not paid his rent, which would have amounted to at least $108,000 over the past six years, he said. " W h a t ever I made speaking has to be con sidered in the light o f the N A A C P not paying the $108,000." The N A A C P , which once was financed mainly by membership dues, is now dependent on corpora tion and foundation funds, a fact that causes a degree o f hesitancy in attacking certain issues. There is a difference o f opinion on membership, with Mrs. Wilson reporting 178,000 members Hooks said she had counted only those who paid dues in 1982 and that there were 331,000 individual paid mem bers in 1981 and 244,000 in 1982. The N A A C P ’s problems are being interpreted in several ways. Kelly says it is merely a personal problem between two individuals. Others believe it is symptomatic of a failure to adopt new national policies to meet changes in the civil rights struggle. Some board members say the dispute is symptomatic o f the politics o f powerlessness — turning inward (he frustrations and anger at being unable to slop the Reagan ad ministration's assault on civil rights and social funding. Still others sav the struggle for f Please turn to Sect. I I Col. 3) Reagan defended his Central American policy in the face of in creasing public opposition: “ I think there's a great lack o f inform ation on the part o f the people. I do know that after I addressed the Joint Session of Congress and the people on television on that subject, there was a decided shin in favor o f our position. But, I guess that proves the power o f advertising.*' The "contras” invading Nicaragua with U.S. support suffered a set back with the withdrawal o f Eden Pastora Gomez. Pastora (called Commander Zero when he fought with the Sandinistas to overthrow the Somoza dictatorship) said he was suspending fighting because the U.S. government was refusing aid to him and was blocking aid from other nations. In a highly publicized defection, Pastora left Nicaragua a year ago to announce his opposition to the Sandinista government. Portland hosts The National Black United Front will hold its fourth annual convention in Portland, Ronnie Herndon, co-chairman of the Portland Chapter announced W ed nesday. Delegates from 40 cities will meet to discuss how to belter address the needs o f Black Americans. Among the issu.i to be addressed are jobs, education, police brutality, prisons. Among the keynote speakers are : D r. Derrick Bell, Dean o f the University of Oregon Law School; Sonja Sanchez, prominent poet; Dr. Ron Karenga, Edgar Cham orro Coronel an nounced that his " c o n tra " arms, located on the Honduran border, would send an invasion force ot 5,001) deeper into Nicaragua in fills. He told the New >ori. lim e s that his organization regularls meets w ith U.S. intelligence agents and H onduran authorities ( hamorro also said it had been the goal ol the Reagan adm inistration lo r over a year to bring Ins and Pastora's groups together under a united com mand. Cham orro said Pastora was in Honduras in March ol 1982, meeting ssith U.S. o fficials Pastora refused to jo in (. ham orro because his demands could noi be met " H e wanted to be the head ol the jo in i chiefs o f stall He scanted us to dress like the Sandinista army, use the Sandinista colors o f red and black and sing Sandinista songs ” Pastora also made the mistake, he said, o f revealing lhai lie had met w ith the C IA and w ith General Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, head ol the Honduran armed force . while the U.S. was attempting to hide its involvement. Cham orro said the U.S plan, now not possible because o f Pastora's withdrawal, was a three pronged attack on Nicaragua M iskilo Indians on the cast coast, Pastora on the south from Costa Rica, and Cham orro from Honduras Colonel John D Waghclstein, the departing commander ot the U.S. M ilita ry Group in LI Salvador, said if Congress cuts o ff m ilitary aid to that nation U.S. troops w ill be needed to win the three-year old civil war. Waghclstcin's statement comes in the wake o l increasing ad vances by guerrilla forces and mien sified opposition by some members o f Congress. UF convention political theorist and educator; Dr Herbert Daughtry, Chairman o f the National BU F. W hile earlier conventions adopted numerous resolutions, this convention will focus more on strategy. Herndon said Many o f the resoutions are idealistic and will not soon be attained. “ There's nothing wrong with dreaming,” he explained, "b u t let's move away from dream ing" to specific actions. Among the specifics that will be addressed are the steps to a successful political campaign. Local BUFs figured prominently in the election of M ayor Harold Washington o f Chicago and in the prim ary victory o f W Wilson Goode in Philadelphia. Those strategies and action plans w ill be shared. The Portland Chapter w ill share its successful campaign lo r obtaining jobs at Safeway and I red Myers. The Front is expanding rapidly, Herndon said. In I9H0 there were four chapters, while now ihrc are 25 chapters and organizations arc de veloping in 15 additional cities. f Please turn to Sect. / / I'uite 3/ A The greatest crime is silence... by Petty M cFarlane " Y o u ’ ll notice my hair is short," said Simone W ilkinson. I cut it after the blockade at Greenham C o m m o n ." W hy should Simone cut her hair? And where is Greenham Common? Greenham Common is a U.S. A ir Force base 70 miles west o f London, in Berkshire, England. N A T O plans to put the first 96 cruise missiles there in December, 1983. Women have been camped outside the base for two years, protesting the planned deployment. The encampment began in August 1981, when 40 women and children walked 125 miles from C a rd iff. Wales, i<> Greenham Com m on, to ask government officials for a pub lic debate on the plan to deploy the niisuk-,. I hey wanted to alert the public, but (hey were ignored by the government and the media. They decided to stay until they were heard. Thousands o f women have since passed through the camp, staying hours, days, and in some cases a year. The camp was a center o f con troversy from the beginning, at first only locally, on the issue o f the women's right to be on the land. How could they call national atten tion to the missiles? The women de cided to do non-violent civil dis obedience. Nineteen women entered the base illegally and occupied a sentry box on August 27, 1982, while others lay on the road and blocked (he main gate. Simone was one who went inside. "People tell us we were very brave," she said “ You should have seen us huddled in the corner of that box, shivering and shaking." The women were arrested and charged. Their trial brought the national debate the women were seeking. The prosecution charged them with an act likely to cause a breach o f the peace. The evidence was that the American wife o f an American serv iceman was delayed 20 minutes get ting to the American supermarket inside the base. The prosecutor said that if she had lost her temper and hit someone, the British women would have been responsible. The defense claimed that cruise missiles violate the British Genocide Act, which forbids destruction of any "national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” And they present ed expert testimony to show that living under the threat of nuclear extinction is psychologically damag ing the British women and their families. Twenty-four women, in cluding Simone, were sent to jail for two weeks. There was a sensation. Before the trial only 10 percent o f Britons knew what a cruise missile was. Now 90 percent know. Before, 14-18 percent opposed deployment. Now, 61 percent o f all Britons, and 65 per cent o f British women are opposed Support and criticism flooded the women o f Greenham Common. The London D aily M a il * r o i t that they are all "fem inist, separatist, lesbian vegetarians." Simone Wilkinson is a housewife from Cowes, on the Isle o f W ight. She has two children, ages 10 and 12. When she was pregnant with her second child a Japanese woman told her, "Even today in Hiroshima, when a woman is pregnant, no one congratulates her. They wait nine "B y the time that first day was months in silence to see if the child over I knew the human race was will be all rig h t." Simone could not ‘ worth saving," said Simone forget this. "Townspeople brought us food, Simone joined the Campaign for tents, a portable shelter, sleeping Nuclear Disarmament. bags and blankets. The police even "W e had a meeting once a gave us the key to the municipal month, and a yearly peace m arch," to ile t." The women began a series said Simone, "and I wanted m ore." o f discussions with their neighbors Two weeks after the Greenham that left them little time for sleep peace camp started, Simone and Simone and 23 others started some friends from Cowes went there serving their two weeks in jail in to visit. They were inspired. November, 1982. Support for these " W e decided to start a peace women was widespread in Britain camp o f our own on the town A demonstration was planned for a square in Cowes, and to start display o f unity with them at Green talking to our neighbors about ham Common on December 12 cruise missiles,” said Simone. The An invitation was circulated, women decided to begin before they chain letter style. Each woman who could lose their nerve, first thing the received a flyer was asked to d up li next morning. It was raining, as cate it and pass it on to 10 other usual, and they went poorly women. On arrising at Greenham equipped. tP lease turn to Pane 4 ( 'olutnn 5/ I
