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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 1983)
Food: Dieter's delight Ed Leek's record in the legislature Page 6 Below Hispanics oppose Reagan PORTWND OBSERMER U^PS 959-680-855 © £xw PuNuAm« C o.. htt. I9 ti Volume XIII, Number 46 August 24, 1963 26C Per Copy ________________________________________________________________________________ March for Jobs, Peace, Freedom A national mobilization w ill cul minate Saturday, August 27th, with a commemoration o f the 20th A nni versary o f the 1963 M arch on Wash ington. The historic day will be me morialized in a massive march for Jobs, Peace and Freedom in Wash ington, D .C ., and in cities across the country. "W e seek to bring together a ‘ New Coalition o f Conscience' for Jobs, Peace and Freedom on the 20th Anniversary o f D r. M artin Luther King’s historic ' I Have a Dream' speech," states the call issued by the march conveners. "W e seek in this way to help recapture a sense o f noble and human spirit in which our domestic and foreign policies are consistent with the basic national purposes articulated in the Declaration o f Independence, the Bill of Rights and the United States Constitution." In Oregon: Oregonians will be gathering in Salem for a march on the state capitol followed by a rally featuring Ronnie Herndon, BUF; Bob Baugh, A F L -C IO ; the Love Congregation; Ada Sanchez, Peoples Test Ban; Reverend Ira M um ford; The Jazzmin Community Marching Band; Sheila and the Monarchs and others. For I t — tranaportatlon from Portland: coma to the King Neighborhood Facility at 4816 NE 7th Avenue by 8:00 e.m. For more Information call 288-8617 or 230-9427. A Call To The Nation Three critical conditions in our society — insufferable unemploy ment, an escalating arms race, and the denial o f basic rights and p ro grams which insure freedom — compelled us to call upon our fello w Americans to M arch on Washington on August 27, 1993 on the occasion o f the 20th anniversary o f the his toric M arch on Washington. We deemed it wise to call upon our fellow Americans to remember the full meaning o f the American Dream, o f liberty and justice for all, in a world o f peace and freedom in which everyone can live with the hope o f a better tomorrow for our children. W e seek to bring together a "N e w Coalition o f Conscience” for Jobs, Peace, and Freedom on the 20th Anniversary of D r. M artin Luther King’s historic “ I Have A D ream " speech — a treasured part o f the legacy o f all Americans. We seek a New Coalition o f C on science that will be an expansion o f the historic Coalition o f the Civil Rights Movement, because we un derstand that the issues o f Jobs, Peace, and Freedom are inextricably linked. The New Coalition brings together these three issues based upon the concept o f the "Beloved Com m unity" o f D r. King — that all humans are "caught in an inescap able network o f m u tu ality— what ever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” Joba: Millions o f Americans are suffer ing from the disaster o f double-digit unemployment and the groups affected most are Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, the disabled, women and youth. The shrinking availability o f jobs in a depressed Ed Leek ’s first term gets mixed review ■ iy w .,. Be . -, Peace: It is necessary that peace not be defined merely as the absence o f war or as a distant goal which is sought, but as a means by which a goal is achieved. The pursuit o f peaceful ends through peaceful means must be continued. Based on the assump tion that life is worth living and that humankind has a right to survive, an alternative to war and threats o f war must be found. Freedom: In light o f the creeping fear that is sapping our confidence and trust in each other and setting group against group, we call for a national cam paign throughout 1983 against hate and every form o f class, racial, sex ual, age. and religious prejudice. We call upon the American people to renew their commitment to the cause o f human rights and to resist the rising tide o f extremism reflected in the rebirth o f bombings and in creased brutalities by the Ku Klux Kian, neo-Nazi groups, and in some places, by the enforcement agencies. W e belive that this is the historic moment to bring together again a coalition o f goodwill and conscience, that will address the welfare of the whole nation and not merely some of its parts; that w ill be unified by a common vision o f the American Dream. Tutu brings African struggle to Portland by Rich Lochner The needs o f poor and working people in inner Northeast Portland were put forward by first-term state Rep. Ed Leek (D -N E Portland), most Salem observers agree Some say he still has a way to go learning the legislative ropes in order to be effective, however. Ron Herndon of the Black United Front (B U F ) says many in the Black community are still angry about his election, triumph ing over a divided Black vote in a majority non white district. Leek says his main achievements is Salem were passage o f the Com munity Finance Development C o r poration (C F D C ), and aid to the medically needy. Those measures’ backers say Leek did his best to win support for these bills, but legisla tive compromises mean they will have little immediate impact in the district. The C F D C will give the state au thority to tell up to $200 million in bonds for local community develop ment such as schools, roads, etc. Small communities will save since the state can get a much lower inter est rate. The original bill would have tar geted high unemployment, low-in come areas such as Northeast Port land. Downstate paranoia that this was a pro-Portland mane ver killed that section. Leek says. Small business would have gotten direct help through a state loan pro gram. The banks killed that since they saw it as competition. Leek says As passed, the C F D C mostly helps rural areas like Tillam ook and Harney County which have no credit rating. Portland gets virtually nothing since the city's credit rating industrial economy, and the lack o f training opportunities to learn new skills, is undermining the moral and spiritual foundations o f our com munities and families. The military budget which involves pouring bil lions o f dollars into defense spend ing denies our people scores o f ab solutely essential human resources and service programs. W e call upon the American people to turn this na tion around from its present course and to seek with all deliberate speed the full employment objectives o f the Hum phrey-Haw kins Act. is the same as the state's. Medically needy Some of the thousands of Oregon families who lost health insurance in the current depression will be aided by the medically needy program. The Human Resources Committee, on which Leek serves, approved his medically needy bill. However, the Ways and Means Committee, which handles funding, cut the request from $20 million to $7 million under Vera Katz* leadership. (This cut contrasts with $17 million that was found to remodel a Pendleton men tal hospital into a prison, lobbyist Oretchen Kafoury points out.) The program will help 1500 o f the poorest children and their families, though thousands more will have no medical insurance. Leek says the principle that people deserve health coverage has been established, and he hopes more funding will be avail able as the economy improves. Leak's Style "E d 's chief problem is his perso n ality ." Kafoury savs. " H e needs to (Continued on Page 4, Colum n I f G R A SSR O O TS N E W S . N. W. - He has been called the M artin Luther King o f South A frica. His passionate, but forceful call for peace in the apartheid South Africa touched the souls o f a sixty-person audience who came to hear Bishop Desmond Tutu's sermon last Friday at M t. Olivet Baptist Church. Bishop Tutu utters a theme o f rebellion and faith much like his American counterparts in the Black liberation struggle in the United States. H e is the general secretary of the South A frican Council o f Churches who has freed himself from the emotional and intellectual shackles o f a second-class citizen ship “ Let me tell you about my coun try ," Bishop Tutu begins. " I t is a country where they say the most im portant thing about a human being is the color o f his skin. Everything is determined by that — where you can live, who you can marry and the school you will attend. It even de cides where you arc to be buried. " T o pursue this policy o f apart heid, the government o f South Africa does not mind how much human suffering and misery they in flict on their fellow human beings." An example o f what Bishop Tutu calls misery is the South African policy of putting Blacks in "hom elands.” "O ver three million Black people have been uprooted from their homes and dumped in settlement ermpe — places where there is very little food, very little work. Bishop Tutu, who has bean called tha "M artin Luther King of South Africa." addressee the Portland community at M t. Olivet Baptist Church. (Photo: Richard J. Brown! "T h e father must leave his family in these camps to eke out a misera ble existence while he goes as a m i grant laborer to the white m an’s town to look for a job. In these towns he sits in a single cell hospice (shelter) and is prey to prostitution, drunkenness and all the other things that split up human beings. H e lives there for 11 months out o f a year. So. Black fam ily life is destroyed — not accidentally, but as part of gov ernment policy." According to Bishop T utu , South A frica is a place o f record crop sur pluses, but where people are starv ing. " I visited one o f these resettle ment camps once and I met a little girl coming out o f one o f these shacks in which they lived. I asked her i f her widowed mother received a pension or a grant. She replied, no. I then asked her what she did for food. She said that they borrowed food. I asked her what she did when they couldn’t borrow food. She an swered by saying, 'W e drink water to fill our stomachs.' "T hey starve not because o f some accident, but because it is govern ment policy." Tutu says despite the overt insidi ous effects o f the government poli cies, the people are not bitter. " I am speaking for millions when I say thank you for your prayers, con cerns and activities to help change the situation. I l is a situation o f es calating violence and we are trying to advert a blood bath. We are say ing apartheid has to be dismantled. W e are looking for all the peaceful possibilities." He urged the audience to "bring international pressure on the South African government to go to the conference table before it is too late to confer with the authentic leaders o f all sections of the community. For us (Blacks) it would include those in jail and exile." Tutu wants his countrymen to draw up a new blueprint for a new South Africa. " A South Africa where people count, not because of biological irrelevancies like color.” He came one step away from ad vocating economic sanctions, which is punishable in South Africa as "Econom ic Sabotage." "R ight now, it might be right for Bishop Tutu to be in jail. But I think my im prisonment should be for something more useful than standing up in Portland, Oregon supporting eco nomic sanctions. "B u t involvement in South Africa (Continued on Page 2. Colum n I )
