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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