Page 2 Portland Ob—rvw , Augurt 10, 1963
EDITORIAL/OPINION
MHRC backs down to Strachan
It would be difficult to find anyone in M u lt
nomah County who really believes that the M et
ropolitan Human Relations Commission should
lose its staff and programs or that it should be
held in the grip o f one politician. Yet, that is
happening.
This is especially serious when that politician
has a poor civil rights/human rights record. She
speaks of justice while voting for a substantial
police budget increase, while gutting programs
designed for prevention. She speaks of open
government while wheeling and dealing in
secret. She speaks of human rights while
destroying the only public body dedicated to
human rights. She speaks of equal employment
and women's rights while demoting the City’s
highest ranking black/female employee and
while trying to eliminate her only female direc
tor. She speaks of services while withdrawing
funding to feed poor elderly Hispanic people.
She speaks o f civil rights while attempting to pit
whites and other minorities against black peo
ple.
It is, perhaps, understandable that a politician
seeks power, that a politician forgets her role is
to serve. But it is unbelievable that citizens
would allow demagoguery to develop.
Citizens have come forward and demanded a
full restoration o f M H R C ; they are prepared to
go to the City Council with their demands,
hoping that the mayor or Commissioner Schwab
will see the light. But the Metropolitan Human
Relations Commission itself is now willing to
"negotiate” for the return of some of its budget,
to accept the politician’s dictates to receive
crumbs.
The power of the government resides in the
people. When they give up that power — or
allow it to be taken from them — they allow
tyranny to take the place o f democracy.
U.S. finger on the trigger?
The overthrow of General Efrain Rios Montt
of Guatemala by General Oscar Humberto
Mejia Victores looks like a U.S. job. Not only
did Mejia meet with high U.S. officials the night
before the coup, but he was quick to praise
Reagan's Central America policy.
So much for Reagan's continual praise of
Guatemala's “ progress” toward "democracy.”
Could it be that Rios M ontt, with his death
squads, was not tough enough for Reagan?
Now Reagan will adopt a new general, heap
the same inane praise on him that he gave his
predecessor, and seek his help to overthrow the
government of Nicaragua and subvert the efforts
of the people of El Salvador to find freedom.
And the people of Guatemala will continue to
suffer.
U.S.: might, not right
The Reagan administration seems intent on
making war. While the Organization of African
Unity is calling for negotiations in the worsening
situation in Chad, the U.S. is choosing this time
to make a show of naval force o ff the coast of
Libya $25 million in arms is being shipped to
the fourth poorest country in the world — a
country whose people need food.
The U.S. is also showing its muscle in Central
America with the Navy stationed o ff both coasts
of Nicaragua and U.S. troops maneuvering
along the Nicaraguan border in Honduras.
Neither o f these actions is designed to pro
mote peace. Wha, the U.S. government must
learn sometimes is that the desire for indepen
dence overrides fear and that U.S. military
might cannot stop the search for freedom.
ne^ ^ ! ,^ ^ ing,°"
M any o f us going to this month’s
March on Washington, D .C ., do
not know that the 1963 effort was
inspired by an earlier event. In 1941,
A Philip Randolph, the leader o f the
Brotherhood o f Sleeping Car Por
ters, initiated a major campaign
against the racist policies o f the
Roosevelt administration. To under
stand the dynamics o f our current
campaign against Reaganism. it is
essential that we remember the
issues confronting an earlier genera
tion o f black freedom fighters.
Despite the reforms made by
Roosevelt during his first two terms
in office, the New Deal was orga
nized on strictly segregated lines.
Civilian Conservation Corps camps
were segregated by race; provisions
in the Public W orks Administration
which mandated certain percentages
of Black workers in th construction
of buildings were blatantly ignored;
benefits from the Agricultural A d
justment Administration were often
denied to Black rural farmers
through fraud and outright corrup
tion.
One area o f the racially stratified
labor market in which the federal
government played a decisive role
was in defense-related industries.
Already suffering under twice the
unemployment rate experienced by
whites. Black workers found it
nearly impossible to obtain jobs in
defense plants. From January-
March, 1941, for example, 1,066
employees were hired in electrical
equipment firms which held federal
government contracts. O f these new
workers, only five were black. In the
same period, aircraft industries with
war department contracts hired
8,769 workers, and all but 13 were
white. During the presidential elec
tion o f 1940, a number o f civil rights
and liberal organizations — the
N A A C P , the Allied Committees on
National Defense, and the Com m it
tee for participation o f Negroes in
the National Defense — began to
criticize the Roosevelt administra
tion’s failure to pressure these cor
porations to hire blacks. In Septem
ber, 1940, a group of middle class
black leaders met with Roosevelt
personally in an effort to obtain
concessions, but came away empty-
handed. N A A C P leader Walter
W hite was not even allowed to meet
with Roosevelt after the Democrat’s
victory over Wendell W ilkie in N o
vember, 1940. In White's words,
"Bitterness (was growing) at an
alarming
rate
throughout
the
country."
In January, 1941, A Philip Ran
dolph consolidated the anger of
black workers into a call for an un
precedented march on Washington,
D .C ., to be staged on July I o f that
year
Randolph was a familiar
figure within the black movement,
and a socialist nemesis o f several
past presidents. In the black press.
Randolph justified the necessity for
black workers to surround the
W hite House. "O n ly power can
affect the enforcement and adop
tion o f a given policy," he declared.
"P o w er is the active principle of
only the organized masses, the
masses united for a definite pur
pose We loyal Negro-American citi
zens demand the right to work and
fight for our co u ntry." Randolph
issued the march's ambitious de
mands: an executive order forbid
ding government contracts to be
awarded to any firm which prac
ticed racial discrimination in hiring;
an executive order abolishing segre
gation in the armed forces; an exec
utive order abolishing racial dis
crimination in government defense
training courses; an executive order
requiring the U .S. Employment
Service to supply workers without
regard to race; an executive order
abolishing Jim Crow in every de
partment o f the federal government;
and
a
formal
request
from
Roosevelt to the Congress to pass
legislation forbidding any benefits
of the National Labor Relations Act
to unions denying membership to
blacks. The demands represented
something qualitatively new in black
protest strategy: the active pursuit
of executive intervention to over
turn the major pillars o f Jim Crow.
Individually, none o f the demands
was revolutionary; taken together,
they were a series o f transitional and
militant reforms within the frame
work o f American democracy.
Historians August Meier and
Elliot Rudwick correctly note that
Randolph’s "M a rc h on Washington
Movement clearly foreshadowed the
goals, tactics, and strategy o f the
mid-twentieth century civil rights
movement___ Unlike
the
older
Negro movements, the (march) had
captured the imagination o f the
masses." By A p ril, 1941, the Negro
March on Washington Movement
had 30,000 members who had paid
one dollar or more toward the cam
paign. All-black rallies and demon
strations in churches, schools and
union halls occurred across the
country.
By late Spring, the Roosevelt ad
ministration had clearly begun to
panic. The spectre o f an estimated
30,000 black workers surrounding
the W hite House grounds at a time
when Nazi Germany was winning its
war against Britain caused consider
able anxiety Eleanor Roosevelt, the
president’s principal liaison with
Cities mobilize for
"We Still Have A
Dream" march
—-
Ormimi
U
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P iilii.-.lio f.
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N f V S .|i.H > p r
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M ore than 310 cities will be repre
sented at Ihe August 27th March on
Washington for Jobs. Peace and
Freedom. From Anchorage, Alaska
to Bangor, Maine, local delegations
are expected to converge at (he L in
coln Memorial in record numbers,
arriving by bus, car, plane, train,
fool and even bicycle.
"Freedom trains," walkathons
and trucker caravans are among the
activities planned to mobilize parti
cipation from wide segments of the
country. Coordinators from some
43 stales are reporting mounting en
thusiasm as the 20th anniversary o f
the 1963 March on Washington
draws near. The 1963 march, in
which Dr M artin Luiher King, Jr.,
delivered his famed ” 1 Have A
D ream " speech, marked one of the
largest mass gatherings in America’s
history.
Coining the theme, "W e Still
Have A D ream ," the upcoming
march has captured a mood of dis
content among diverse contigents
including civil rights, labor, youth,
women, church and community or
ganizations. Together, they have
forged " A New Coalition o f C on
science," to renew the spirit of D r.
King's dream o f social and econom
ic justice.
U .S. Rep. W alter E. Fauntroy is
National Director of the Twentieth
Anniversary March. Co-Chairper
sons include: Coretta Scott King,
President, M artin Luther King, Jr.,
Center
for
Non-Violent
Social
Change. Dr. Joseph Lowery, Presi
dent, Southern Christian Leader
ship Conference; Judy Goldsmith,
President, National Organization
for Women; Asia Bennett, Director
o.' the American Friends Service
Committee; Rev. Jesse Jackson,
President, Operation P U S H ; Dr.
Benjamin Hooks, Executive Direc
tor, N A A C P and renowned artist
Stevie Wonder.
A symbolic march will take place
in Salem, O R on August 27 al I I :00
V m Marchers will assemble on the
steps west of the stale capitol build
ing for a program which includes
speakers representing issues o f jobs,
peace, and freedom. There will also
be cultural entertainment from
multi-ethnic groups during and after
the program. (For more inform a
tion please contact Paulette W ittwer
at 239 9427 or Iris Bell at 283-3249
In Salem, please contact Elaine
Zablocki at 371 8002 and in Eugene
contact Donna Goetsch at 342-3167.
The Seattle effort is chaired by
City Councilman Sam Smith and
Rev. Samuel McKinney The local
coalition will send a delegation to
Washington, D .C .. and will hold a
rally in Seattle.
In San Francisco, a coalition of
38 labor, church and community
groups will hold a march from
Golden Gate Park to downtown San
Francisco for a rally at the Civic
Center.
civil rights leaders, visited Randolph
in New York City and urged him to
call o ff the demonstration. He
bluntly
refused.
Subsequently,
Roosevelt summoned Randolph to
the W hite House. W ith both the
Secretary o f W ar and the Secretary
of the Navy, Roosevelt demanded
that the campaign be discontinued.
A t this moment. Randolph made a
tactical blunder. He suggested that
he would halt the march if Roose
velt agreed to only one demand, an
executive order to end racial dis
crimination in federally funded war
production factories. Roosevelt re
fused Randolph then announced
that (he march would bring 100,000
Afro-Americans to Washington,
making the demonstration
the
largest in U.S. history at (hat time.
W ith less than a week before the
march, a mood o f near terror para
lyzed white neighborhoods in the
District o f Columbia. Civic leaders
in this still segregated city warned of
bloody racial violience in the streets.
Barely seventy-two hours before
the march, Roosevelt agreed to com
promise. The president signed Exec
utive Order 8802 which prohibited
racial discrimination in (he hiring
policies o f factories which held de
fense contracts. Roosevelt also
created the President’s Committee
on Fair Employment Practices to in
vestigate violations in private indus
tries affected by the executive order.
In turn. Randolph called o ff the
march. Historians will continue to
debate whether the Negro M arch on
Washington should have been held.
Conversely, the Negro March on
Washington Movement sparked a
new level o f black resistance and
black organizing which touched
every level o f the Afro-Am erican
community throughout W orld W ar
II. For instance, the N A A C P experi
enced a new wave o f recruits among
the black working class after it pub
licly endorsed for the march. From
50,600 members and 353 branches
in 1940, the N A A C P grew to almost
450,000
members
and
1,073
branches in six years. The March on
Washington organization continued
to exist after 1941, challenging the
racist policies o f Roosevelt. A series
of new political formations oppos
ing Jim Crow were born during
these years.
The vision and courage o f Dr.
M artin Luther King is a prime
factor in mobilizing millions of
Americans
against
Reaganism,
racism, and the dangers of nuclear
war. Bui as we build for the future,
let us not forget A. Philip Randolph's
first March on Washington, his
leadership, and that early contribu
tion to the struggle for freedom.
CHAD
(C ontinuedfrom Page I, Column 6j
other U.S. officials resulted in a
search for assassins thought to be
attempting to smuggle themselves
and their missiles into the U .S .; the
U.S. deployed A W A C S to Egypt
last year to watch for a rumored
Libyan attack on Sudan
On August 4th — in the midst of
the Chad conflict — Reagan de
clared thai the G u lf o f Sidra, which
Libya claims as its territorial waters,
is "international waters" and that
the U.S. Navy will use the gulf for
maneuvers.
This
announcement
came hours afier Libya had notified
ihe U.S. that it will resist the entry
o f the "Eisenhower" (which was
maneuvering 150 miles o ff the
coast) into the gulf. On numerous
occasions, Khadafi has said that the
gulf "contains our factories, our in
dustries and our petroleum ports
and anyone who peneiraies it de
dares war on the people o f L ib y a ."
The Soviet Union has demanded
lhat ihe U .S ., France and othei
narions cease (heir intervention i
the internal affairs o f Chad an.
their provocations against Libya
The USSR denounced the involve
ment o f airplanes and mercenaries
of the U.S. and France and the U.S.
propaganda
campaign
against
Libya, saying, " it is evident that
they are looking for a pretext for an
armed confrotation." The news
agency TASS continued that Ihe
U.S. and France seek to reestablish
domination
over
the
African
nations, to restrict their sovereignty
and to deprive them o f self-determi
nation.