4 Section I Portland Observer, September 28, 1983
The Right to Live
EDITORIAL/OPINION
by Dr. Manning Marable
M B E ju s tta lk to Reagan
President Reagan has proclaimed Minority
Enterprise Week, as have presidents before him.
But Ronald Reagan has done everything to
make life more difficult for minority and small
businesses. His “ Reaganomics” has depressed
the economy, raised interest rates, created high
rates
of
unemployment
and
business
bankruptcy.
Minority businesses — usually undercapital
ized — must compete against large corporations
that pay lower interest rates and can purchase in
quantities that provide better prices.
Some white businesses begrudge the little that
minorities do have, taking advantage of
minority goal and set-aside programs to pick
I HAVE A DRUM'
THE THEME OPT&OAVS
MAPCH ON WASHINGTON
their own pockets and to cut out minorities.
Compliance agencies look the other way until
the job is done and the money is gone.
Commissioner Charles Jordan’s attempt to
put teeth in the City of Portland's program by
assessing financial damages on those who don’t
comply is bringing him the wrath of fellow
councilman Mildred Schwab.
Reagan has also created a climate of racism so
that businessmen and others do not feel that
they have to obey the laws designed to profit m i
norities.
It is to their credit that many minority-owned
businesses are surviving the depression and that
they will grow and prosper.
H undreds of thousands
HONORED MARTIN U/THÉG
nos I odious aspect o f all
cist and authoritarian move-
ments is their doctrines o f racial or
genetic superiority H itler’s psycho«-
ic belief in racial purity led millions
o f Jews to the gas chambers, as well
as Slavs, political dissenters, homo
sexuals. and the physically handi
capped.
Reaganomics shares the same
contempt, in a diluted and more
subtle way, for Am erica’s poor and
minorities. Reagan reduced infla
tion by hiking national unemploy
ment rates by four percent or more:
by 1983, at an annual rate, this in
crease meant 148,000 additional
deaths, including almost 4,000 addi
tional suicides, 2,000 additional
deaths from cirrhosis o f the liver,
and I6.0CC additional admissions to
state mental hospitals. Those are the
statistical costs in terms o f human
life each year due to Ronald Reagan.
These Americans were not executed
or gassed in H itle r’s ovens, but they
are just as dead as the victims of
previous human disasters
There are other subtle ways to
undermine the right to live. The
National Association o f Children's
Hospitals is suing to overturn feder
al anti-discrimination regulations
which protect infants born with
physical handicaps. The regulations
opposed by hospitals would half
federal funds to any healthcare insti
tutions which starved children to
death, or which denied basic medi-
The Duvalier dynasty o f H aiti is
facing political instability after a
quarter century o f rule. In the 12-
ycar period after succeeding his
father, Francois or "P apa D o c,”
the young hie time president Jean-
Claude or "Baby D o c" has been
harassed by moderate and left-wing
opposition, but now he confronts
unexpected problems. There is open
discontent o f the oligarchy, denun
ciation by the Catholic Church, and
protests by the peasants.
Until his death in 1971, Francois
Duvalier ruled the infrastructure o f
the country’s economy, only sharing
it with courtesans. On taking power,
his son had to deal with the upper
middle class bourgeoisie, an elite of
mulatto landholders, merchants and
importers
composed
of
6,000
families
with
annual
incomes
greater than 554,000 who control 46
percent o f the economy but pay only
3.5 percent o f the taxes. He brought
this segment into the governmental
affairs with his marriage to the
daughter of a businessman, one of
the principal figures o f the mulatto
bourgeoisie.
The business oligarchy now wants
to install its own men in the dynasty.
It has lost faith in the inept presi
dent and is alarmed at the low world
prices o f coffee, sugar and bauxite.
Ebony poll favors Black president
Readers were asked to vote for
one o f five political and civil rights
leaders: Reverend Jesse Jackson of
Operation P U S H ; Maynard Jack
son, former M ayor o f Atlanta;
W alter
Fauntroy,
Washington,
D .C . delegate to Congress; Richard
Hatcher. M ayor o f Oary, Indiana;
and Maxine Waters. California
Stale Assemblyman.
Jesse Jackson received 61.6 per-
cent o f the votes cast. Andrew
Young. M ayor o f Atlanta, a write-
in, was second with 11.6 percent.
Others were. Maynard Jackson. 6.1
percent; Rep. Fauntroy, 4.6 per
cent; George Stale Senator Julian
Bond
(write-in),
34
percent;
Hatcher, 2 percent; Waters, 2
percent;
Imam
Warithuddin
Muhammad.
American
Muslim
Mission (write-in)
1.4 percent;
former
Congressman
Barbara
Jordan (write-in), 1.3 percent; and
M ayor o f Los Angeles Tom Bradley
(write-in), .9 percent.
Letters to the Editor
UNDBCRO PLAYS POLITICS
To tha Editor:
New Clear Vision o f Oregon, a
non-profit voter education lobby,
has asked City Commissioner M ike
Lindberg to use his elected position
Io provide the public with hearings
on Portland-based nuclear weapons
production. For five weeks not only
did Lindberg refuse to get the iuue
on the City Council agenda, he alto
refused to meet with the group to
explain his position. In response, a
number o f New Clear Vision mem
b en and staff went to Lindberg's
office to present the Commissioner
with lists o f Portlanders concerned
about involvement in the nuclear
arms race. Once again, Lindberg
was not available to talk with citi
zens, but on the very tame day did
find time to give Channel 12 News a
M S I s-
private interview in his office and
behind closed doors.
The result was slanted and inaccu
rate reporting. O n the 10:00 news
show, Channel 12 broadcast that:
“ Other commissioners had refused
to meet with New Clear Vision and
that (he group had indicated it
would work against Lindberg in
upcoming
elections."
Nothing
could be further from the truth. The
fact o f the matter is no other com
missioner has had the opportunity
to refuse, and, as an educational
lobby. New Clear Vision will never
endorse any particular politician.
What we will do is communicate
to voters which elected officials are
taking action to be responsive to the
anti-nuclear movement, and which
are playing politics with an issue of
such public importance. In truth,
many New Clear Vision members
will continue to vote for M ike Lind
J a ff Llddlcoat
C o d lr a c to r o f C o m m ltta a a
N a w C lear Vlalon
222 6701
(Continued fro m page I column 6/
control. "D u rin g large altercations
there are a lot o f charges being flung
back and forth. When there is a
large group, the officers will try and
disperse the crow d." As other ques
tions were asked Shrunk directed
them to seek answers from the po
lice department.
One observer said, " I t seems (hat
every question thrown at you you
throw it to someone else. This man
(Johnson) is hurt and the people's
feelings are hurt. The people want
questions answered and it seems
that vou are fair, but you keep say
ing that you are not responsible.”
However, Shrunk commended
the group for their willingness to
I
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Portland Observer
the old national security volunteers or
“ tontons macoutes,” the Leopards
and the 5-3, a unit o f specialists
trained by the U.S. Special Forces.
The 5-3 are recruited from the uni
versity students and children o f the
well-to-do to watch the behavior of
the upper class.
Abroad there are groups which
advocate change through pressure
on Duvalier and groups that favor
armed revolution: the Hector Riobe
Brigade, based in Canada; the
Haitian National People's Party,
headquartered in Florida, are exam
pies o f the former. Advocating re
form are the Social Christian Party,
the Christian Democrat Party, and
the Union o f Progressive National
Democrats, based in Venezuela.
Late in 1982, representatives o f
the groups in exile — those advocat
ing peaceful methods and those ad
vocating armed revolution — met to
attempt to coordinate their efforts.
In the meantime, the economy
and the government o f Haiti are
being supported by foreign aid:
Canada, $10 million; France, $6
million; U.S. $4.4 million. The
Reagan administration has ear
marked $5 million from its Carib
bean Basin Initiative.
stand up and try to solve the prob
lem. "There has been one arrest and
that arrest was (he result o f you
sitting down and giving enough in
formation to these officers so they
could put it down on paper. They
were able to sit down with an attor
ney from my office to file charges."
A juvenile was charged with reck
lessly endangering a person's life
and attempted assault.
The assault was on Charles Bran
don who was standing on his porch,
during the incident in the park,
when three shots were fired at him.
The apartment manager. Kenneth
Schmid, said, “ I went down to
North Precinct and I wanted to
know why there was no PR between
the Police Department and our ten
ants. I got nothing from them. On
Sunday, I told the police that I was
the new apartment manager and
asked the officer what was going on.
He told me this was police business
— stay out o f it ."
Henry M o tt, one o f the residents,
said, "This was not an isolated inci
dent. During the summer we have
reported all of them to the police
and they took everything we said as
being funny. The police have been
very passive about coming to the aid
o f Blacks.” M o tt also said he feared
for the safety o f his fam ily. "W e are
protected by the law, and if the law
is not responding I want to know
why. W e don’ t want, nor do wt
need, a racial thing out here."
Portland s largest olack-owned newspaper,
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A lfre d L. Henderson. Editor/Publisher
A ! Williams, Advertising Manager
whose production in H aiti is man
aged by transnationals. They want
an end to the Duvalier reign and a
rearrangement o f the economy.
The Catholic Church was one of
the regime's bastions until Pope
Paul Il's visit last March. In 1966,
Papa Doc achieved a concordent
with John X X I I I by which he was
permitted to appoint the prelates of
(he Haitian hierarchy. This close re
lationship was maintained until this
year. After Pope Paul 11 criticized
human rights violations and poverty,
the Haitian bishops began to de
nounce the repression.
Since 1980, trade union organiz
ing has provoked peasant agitation.
Eighty percent, or 1.2 million,
peasants are unemployed; life expec
tancy is 51 years. The agricultural
enterprises run by U.S. corporations
pay $1.50 for 12 hours o f labor.
Since 1980, peasants have tried to
flee this situation through illegal
emigration. Besides the h alf million
“ boat people" who have come to
the U .S ., thousands have gone to
the Bahamas, Jamaica or Franch
Antilles.
The lifetime president cannot
fully trust the army, which has been
purged repeatedly in the last 10
years. Duvalier must depend on
police groups and counterinsurger.-s:
Pier Park site of racial attack
berg, but that has nothing to do
with what we must do as an
organization. What we must do is
pursue moral legislation. And al
though Channel 12 and M ike Lind
berg would like to make it seem as
though we are an unreasonable
group, the proposal we are asking
for public hearings on has already
become law in cities from Garret
Park, Maryland to Ashland, Ore
gon. We are working within the sys
tem, but a system which allows elect
ed officials to avoid public account
ability, which allows the press to be
manipulated by elected officials and
through silence allows murderous
weapons to be produced is a system
that needs changing.
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MEMBER
D etroit’s United Comm unity O m
budsman. an organization o f volun
teers involved in human rights and
social welfare, has been at the fore
front in protesting the National As
sociation o f Children's Hospitals*
suit. In his view, there is a direct
danger that if babies with handicaps
were deliberately destroyed, then
Black and Latino children could be
next. “ I f rights can be taken away
today because o f a defect, rights can
easily be taken away tomorrow
from any race or sex that a bigoted
judge considers to be naturally de
fective,” Seigel states. Other Detroit
activists who support Seigel’ s pro
tests include Nellie Cuellar, head of
the Detroit chapter o f (he National
Association o f the Black Aged; Eric
Gentile, author o f (he Michigan
Handicappers Civil Rights Act; and
Rose Bell, a leader o f D etro it’s
United Neighbors, a neighborhood
food and self-help organization.
Can hospitals police themselves
against racism or prejudice against
handicapped babies? Seigel raises
another decisive question: " I f we let
(his go through, why don't we elim i
nate federal enforcement o f all civil
rights laws, and let integration and
voting rights be protected by ethical
boards picked by those doing the
discriminating? Could that be the
next step?" The defense o f civil
rights cannot stop at the color line.
I f must be expanded to include all
Americans subjected to discrimina
tion.
Haiti regime faces new problems
AND VOWED T& REGISTER
The results o f the Ebony poll are
in with a resounding 67.1 percent
vote for a Black presidential candi
date.
Ebony asked its readers to respond
to the question: Should a Black seek
the Democratic presidential nomi
nation in 1984? And i f so. who
should it be.
O f those participating in the poll,
67.1 percent said yes; 21.5 percent
««id no; 11.4 percent were undecid-
cal care to those with handicaps
Why do the hospitals oppose such
humanistic legislation? They assert
that Washington should not dictate
the decisions properly left to parents
and doctori. Hospitals' “ ethical
boards” would police themselves in
life-and-death decisions.
This litigation raises a number of
disturbing moral and political ques
tions. People who have the ability to
make conscious decisions, who exer
cise free w ill, must be allowed the
right to decide if they wish to die —
for example, cancer patients or
those who are otherwise terminally
ill. Similarly, I support the right of
any woman the freedom to decide
whether to have an abortion. Here,
the state should have no authority to
dictate what happens inside a
woman's body.
But what o f the child who is born
with a mental handicap, or with any
o f a number o f the birth defects
which can occur? I do not think that
a hospital board o f so-called neutral
participants, nor even the child's
parents, should close the door to the
experience o f life for any handi
capped child. In such cases, there is
an obligation for the federal govern
ment to subsidize whatever costs are
involved to ensure the right to live
for these thousands o f children. Can
the rights to live o f a Black. Latino
or poor child by guaranteed by a
"majority vote” o f any hospital
board?
Ronald L. Seigel. the Director of
283 2486
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