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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 7, 1983)
Page 4 Portland Observer, September 7,1983 I EDITORIAL/OPINION Help Indians save Comumbia While anti-nuke and environmental groups are waging a campaign against government plans to expand production o f plutonium at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Eastern Washington, the Yakima Indian Nation has tackled the U.S. Department of Energy’s (D O E ) hopes to designate Hanford as a permanent de pository for up to 70,000 metric tons o f nuclear waste. D O E has postponed its plan to sink a test shaft in 1983, the first step in the search for the nation’s first permanent repository for commer cial waste. The Yakima Nation and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission requested the delay because the drilling violates the Nuclear Waste Act o f 1982; it could lead to a premature choice of Hanford, D O E ’s pet candi date for the site; and a waste dump could ad versely affect Columbia River salmon, steelhead and other life in (he area. The site is only 13 miles from the Columbia River. The 570-square-mile site would be a politically expedient choice because it is federally owned and has a history o f use as a nuclear site. The Indian groups say the selection must be made not on political expediency but on the area’s geologic potential for a safe site, groundwater hydrology and protection o f the river. The Yakima Nation has successfully petitioned for designation as an “ affected Indian tribe” and the Umatilla tribe’s application is pending. This gives them the right to information, consul tation and financial assistance to enable them to participate in carrying out the act. Before drilling, D O E must complete selection criterion guidelines and provide environmental assessments. Substantial public involvement is also required. A ll o f this is what D O E attempted to avoid. The Columbia River also flows past Portland and is a vital element in the economic life o f the city and o f the state o f Oregon. The people o f Oregon need to join with the Indian tribes in re quiring that the regulations are followed, that the necessary research is done and done proper ly, and that information is provided. Attention to the protection o f the Columbia and its surroundings will insure that the H an ford site is rejected. U.S. children need medical care Six million children in the United States are denied medical care because states arc allowed to set their own guidelines and eligibility standards for Medicare or to reject the program altogether. a Thirty states, including Oregon, exclude chil dren of two-parent families from Medicare. In 29 states the income cut-off line is 50 percent of the federal poverty level. In 19 states, women who arc pregnant for the first time are not eligi ble until after birth. About 330,000 pregnant women from low-income families are not eligi ble for Medicare and many receive no or inade quate prenatal care. The number o f children living in poverty rose from 15 percent in 1970 to 22 percent in 1982. In 1982, 13.5 million children lived in families with incomes below the poverty line. At the same time the number o f children covered by M edi care dropped from 10.2 million in 1979 to 8 million in 1982. President Reagan recently discovered that there are hungry people in the U .S.; he should now learn that babies are dying for lack of medical care. The push is on for a greatly ex panded military budget and new tools o f war. Just a few cost overruns could provide basic medical care for the nation’s children. Letters to the Editor Prostitution law said irresponsible To th a Editor: Portland City Council unani mously passed an irresponsible ordi nance on July 13. 1983, mandating jail sentences for prostitutes, despite extensive testimony proving that legal suppression o f prostitution re sults in greater criminal involvement and more violence and V .D . for both prostitutes and the community. Since prostitution is the result o f women's second class economic and social status in society, this ordi nance, by attacking the prostitute, encourages the growth o f prostitu tion. T o punish the prostitute for a situation imposed on her is hypo critical and immoral. I am for the le galization o f prostitution as the only humane solution and greatly appre ciated the 8/31 Oregonian article exploring this option. A recent series o f articles on pros titution in the August 21-23 Ore- to m an presented the viewpoint that •At Mitt > til O regon Newv.pjper Publishers AtSOr '.ihon legalization oppresses prostitutes, and that decriminalization is the so lution. Nevada's system is used as an example o f legalization's effects. The conditions in Nevada are very oppressive, and I believe, illegal and unconstitutional, but they are the results o f decriminalization and not legalization. Nevada has no laws making prostitution illegal, but also no laws legalizi tg it. In such an un protected situation a whole series o f practices that grossly restrict the lives and rights o f prostitutes are being enforced by local law agencies. 1 believe legalization is necessary to improve the status o f prostitutes because it gives the prostitute an ac tive role, a voice and a weapon. De criminalization simply leaves her at the mercy o f the status quo o f a sexist and racist society and criminal justice system. Alternative laws against loitering and drugs could be used to harass her under decriminal- ization. There can be no hope that ■ Monzuzn o f Jew in an intensely hostile system can protect the prostitute, as is shown by Nevada's system. Legalization recognizes that the prostitute must fight back and gives her a legal base on which to fight for protective legislation, overtime laws, wage and hour laws, rights to protection against harassment by police, johns or pimps, protection under the N L R B , etc. In order to end prostitution, the U .S . government must reverse its status as the most backward o f in dustrialized nations on human services programs, and provide job training, education, quality child care, health care, employment and truly adequate wages for all the dis enfranchised. U n til then, I believe the prostitute's best chance for pro tection and survival is legalization. /V o«« 'ßkßiKn' Mw%»ae«a The Portland Observer (USPS 959 MOI is published every Thursday by Esie Publishing Company. Inc 2201 North Killings worth Portland. Oregon 97217. Post OMica Bo> 3,37. Portland Oregon 97208 Second class postage paid st Portland. Oregon T h e P o r t l a n d O b t r r v r r w a s e s ta b lis h e d in 1 97 0 MEMBER Assocrerion • Founded TMS I I I I ■ I I I I I- I I Mai, to I I I B, Post master Sand address changes to rhe Portland Observer. P 0 Bo« 3,37. Portland, Oregon 97208 Alfred L. Henderson. Editor/Publisher Al Williams. Advertising Manager Portland 283 2486 ra tio n a l Advertising Representative Am algam ated Publishers. Inc New York ■ ■ ■ Subscribe today! PORTLAND OBSERMER News fo r and about you. Y m . I would like a subscrlptloi to the Portland Observer. □ I have enclosed my check or money order for »15, for a one-year subecription. PLEASE PRINT Portland Observe! N a m e ________ Bos 3,37 A d d res s Portland Oregon 97208 C i t y ____ .S ta te . by Dr. M anning M arable. "F ro m the Grassroots' ' I t ’s now all but official. As o f this writing, Jesse Jackson will probably announce his candidacy for the presidency before the end o f this month. Ivanhoe Donaldson, a veteran o r ganizer o f the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Comm ittee and top aide to Washington, D .C . mayor M arion Barry, will lead the cam paign. Already a number o f major Black political leaders and elected officials have given private assur ances o f support to Jesse’s cam paign, including Newark mayor Kenneth O ibton and G ary, Indiana mayor Richard Hatcher. M any re spected members o f the Congres sional Black Caucus, including John Conyers (D -M ichigan), G u i Savage (D -Illin ois), and Ronald V . DeUums (D -C alifo rn ia) will either aggressive ly support Jackson, or out o f politi cal solidarity, at least will remain neutral. There are exceptions, to be sure. Detroit's Coleman Young has al ready committed himself to W alter Mondaie. But it’s clear that few major Black elected officials can a f ford to denounce Jackson, unless they have Coleman Young’s type o f raw political power and a strong patronage machine, Andrew Young, once firm ly behind M o n dale, has suddenly acquired cold feet, and is trying to placate M o n dale and Jackson supporters simul taneously. The sudden groundswell o f sup port for Jesse Jackson's campaign for the W hite House should not be interpreted as general Black approv al o f Jesse per se. It is no secret that Joe Lowery o f the Southern Chris tian Leadership Conference and Coretta Scott King share no great love for the charismatic “ Country Preacher." For years, Black nation alists, labor union leaders, and N A A C P activists have privately criticized Jackson's tendency to pos -Z ip ture, his flagrant inability to cany out hard organizational tasks, his flights into florid and often illogical rhetoric. W hat has changed has been the overall national political climate since the victory o f H arold Wash ington in Chicago, and the failure o f most Black middle class leaders to comprehend the growth o f political militancy and independence across the Black community. The Congres sional Black Caucus largely ignored the repeated calls for a Black chal lenge inside the Democratic Party primaries. Now it is too late for any other political spokesperson, chiefly someone o f the national stature o f a Parren M itchell or Ron DeUums, to make the run. In short, Jesse was smart enough to move while nearly everyone else went to sleep. For better or worse, Jackson is the only candidate to emerge from the ranks. W hat must we do? We have no choice except Io support the Jack- son f o r President campaign. There are at least three solid reasons why Jesse must be supported in 1984: (1) Neither o f the two likely Democratic Party nominees in 1984, John Glenn and M ondale, will ne gotiate with the Black and national minority communities unless they are absolutely forced to do so. The Jackson effort could become the de cisive “ balance o f power'* at next year's San Francisco Convention, given that the Southern candidates will eventually get behind Glenn, and the white liberals will support Mondale. Political negotiations must take place from a posture o f strength, not weakness. Ben Hooks and Coleman Young ought to reread MachiavelU’s “ The Prince.” (2) Jackson's campaign, like that o f Harold Washington, will bring thousands o f new Black voters to the polls. This should help to estab lish a stronger electoral base to defeat the Reaganites in the Senate and House races in 1984, plus create a more activist-oriented, politically involved Black electorate. The cam paign would be a long-needed Black revolt inside the Democratic Party, just as Harold's campaign was the vehicle for us to attack the Daley- Byrne regime in Chicago. (3) By running Jesse in 1984, we are building Black political power for the 1988 contest. Jackson cannot win the nomination, to be sure — but neither can Reuben Askew o f Florida or Alan Cranston o f California — and no one asks whether these white candidates have the "rig h t” to run for office. L et’s suppose a Parren Mitcheii or Julian Bond ran four years hence. Their political credentials are equal, i f not superior, to any white candidate now on the scene. W e have to devel op a political infrastructure which unites Black, Latino, peace, envi ronmentalist, feminist and labor voters, in order to contest for elec toral power. W hat about the six white males currently contending for the Demo cratic Party’s nomination? M o n dale, Glenn and Company — known in some circles as the “ Somi- nex Six” — have few if any political attributes other than their ego-driven desires to reside in the W hite House. The most progressive candidate among the sorry lot, Cranston, has no visible support among Blacks, most Latinos, and labor. I f we continue to believe that a bland white male with moderate to conservative political credentials must lead the nation, we condemn ourselves to a life o f political servi tude, dominated by the corpora tions and the elites which run both major parties. It's time to bring the Freedom Movement into the center o f the electoral process. Every pro test march begins with the first step. The time for taking that step is now. BUF protests South Africans' visit (Continued fro m page 3 col. 3) Adrienne Weller Portland Observer Subscriptions 1 ,5 00 per year In the Tri County area Run, Jesse, Run meeting with O D O T to talk about technical matters in regards to how you fund highways. It was a stan dard form request." Rick Gustafson, Executive Officer o f M E T R O , said M E T R O was in volved because “ the interest o f the South A frica officials was to see how metropolitan transportation problems are handled. These gentle men went to several different states to see how transportation problems were handled." Gustafson said at no time did the racial policies of South A frica ever come up. “ W e didn't talk about South Africa. W e talked about M E T R O and transpor tation planning in the Portland area ." Vicky Rocker, the Public In fo r mation O fficial from the Oregon Department o f Transportation, said "T h e y were interested in how we get money to finance our projects and how we set priorities. They came to our office end talked with our plan ners. They wanted to know where and how we used our tax money. They really wanted to know how we did all the work that needs to be done with the limited monies that were available. W e treated them the way we treat any other government person that comes over here and they come on a regular basis." Herndon said he viewed those re sponses as excuses. " A n y time an official in this state who occupies an office paid for by tax dollars turns around and hosts a representative from the government o f South A frica, that shows that they have no concern for the millions o f Black people who suffer daily. The money that these representatives has comes directly from the blood that is ex tracted from Black people. It is one o f the worst countries in the world and their system o f racial segrega tion is the only one in the w o rld ." Herndon also said he believes the responses given were "w eak and tinted with racism ." Paul Bay from T ri-M e t said he understood how the courtesy which was requested from their funding source, the Federal Highway A d ministration, could be construed as insensitive. "B u t all I did was to give them a little pamphlet that we hand out by the thousands — and that was i l l " Herndon concluded his remarks by stating, “ Anything that a repre sentative from South A frica talks about is going to be harm ful for Black people. The inform ation re quested by these two representatives will enable that country to come up with a better way to exploit Black people in South A frica. Here you have white local officials talking with white representatives from a country whose entire aim is to ex ploit Black people. It almost ap pears as if it was a meeting between a Ku Klux Kian member and latent Ku Klux Kian sympathizers." Free lunch policy Revised eligibility guidelines for free and reduced-price meals for the 1983-84 school year will affect stu dents in Portland Public Schools. Prices for school lunches w ill be 90 cents in elementary schools, SI in high schools. The price for break fast, available at most schools, will be 60 cents. Qualifying students will receive these meals without charge or for the reduced price o f 40 cents for lunch and 30 cents for breakfast. Application forms, with a letter to all parents or guardians, will be sent to all student homes the first week of school. The forms alio will be available at school offices. Applications may be submitted at any time during the year. Requests for an appeal hearing may be sent to Robert L . Honson, director o f food services, P .O . Box 3107. Portland. O R 97208. Phoned requests for appeals should be d i rected to Honson at 249-2000. Ext. 393.
