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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 1983)
Page 4 Portland Observer, October 19,1963_________________________ EDITORIAL/OPINION Make his dream a reality The U.S. Senate has joined the House in vot ing for a holiday to honor Dr. M artin Luther King, Jr. A ll that remains is for Ronald Reagan to sign, and this being a pre-election year, he has indicated that he will. The credit goes to Rep. John Conyers and other members of the Congressional Black Cau cus who have submitted the bill year after year without losing the hope that someday their col leagues would join them. This is not only the first U.S. holiday to honor a Black man. It is also the first holiday to honor a man who struggled to bring an end to racism and poverty at home, to imperialism and war abroad. It is the first holiday to honor a man who was harassed, threatened and perhaps even killed by agencies o f his own government. Although he is recognized as a hero now by many Americans o f all political stripes, while he lived King was attacked by officials of all levels of local and national government. Some o f those who voted for the King holiday today were among those who fought him and what he stood for hardest. Those who now understand and ac cept the challenges of King's life and death, while they honor him, should continue his strug gle. The Senators who voted today are in a prime position to make many elements of his dream a reality. EEOC role still essential The General Motors Corporation, the na tion’s largest automobile manufacturer, has signed a settlement in a IO-year-old complaint of racial discrimination brought by the Equal Em ployment Opportunities Commission. The agreement sets numerical goals, includes a $15 million scholarship fund, earmarks $8.9 million for training of minorities and women for white-collar jobs, and sets aside $4 million for back pay and relief to resolve individual discrim ination complaints. The total package will cost G M $42 million, the nation's largest monetary settlement. While the EEO C was negotiating this E E O C ’s own life is in danger. President Reagan has di minished the Commission’s role by replacing its members with his own appointees— persons who do not endorse affirmative/equal opportunity principles. Congress has attempted to intervene by creating new positions so Reagan can keep his appointees and former Commissioners can remain. If Reagan does not accept, Congress has threatened to end the Commission’s funding. The value of a commission— free of political interference— can be seen in the G M settlement. Press aids CIA covert wars The C IA and its allies have stepped up their war against Nicaragua since September, when CIA-owned airplanes bombed the airport at Managua. Mercenaries and ex-Somoza national guardsmen, world-renowned for their brutal murder and torture during the 5O-year Somoza dictatorship, are stepping up their war against Nicaragua. In recent weeks the Somocista ’’contras’’— re cruited. trained, supplied and armed with U.S. lax dollars— have increased their raids across the borders ol Honduras and Costa Rica, destroy ing villages, roads, bridges, communications and oil storage sites, and killing the peasants and villagers. This, together with a U.S. economic blockade, is crippling the ability of the Nicara guan government to provide for its people. This in turn— and its build-up of arms for defense— is used as reason for the U.S. attack. Why are the citizens and the taxpayers of the U.S. sitting idly by while our government wages war against innocent people? Could be the slander campaign in the U.S. press. The press refers to the Nicaraguan gov ernment as the Sandinistas— never referring to it as a legitimate government. The Sandinista Lib eration Front is referred to as ’’leftist,” “ com munist,” and "M arxist,’’ while the mercenaries attempting to overthrow the government are called "anti-communist.” The U.S. govern Williams ( l ontmued fro m />age I col. ) l more Black reporters hired ai The Oregonian.” Prior io coming to City H all, W il liam* covered the I egislature during it* off-season. ’ ’ O regon has some really talented legislators, especi illy from Portland But the Legislature reflects the state, w hich is ru ra l, small town. The attitude of some of the legislators is very provencial and parochial In some cases it has hurt the concerns of Portland, which is more urban and cosmopolitan As fo r the p olitics behind C ity H a ll. W illia m s said. “ A t times I have been amazed at some o f their reasons fo r doing things the way they’ ve done them. A lot o f issues have been decided on personality. This is a problem with government in general Sometimes they make de cisions based on fa c t* and other tim e* they are based on how they felt when they got up in the m orn Ill •• MW» Oregon Nrvs .pjper Publishers Association ment and the press treat the two sides as if they were equals, when in reality one side is the government (won from the Somoza dictatorship through the sacrifice o f 50,000 lives), and the other is traitors. The press also persists in portraying Nicara gua as a Marxist state controlled by the Sandinis ta party and directed by Cuba and the U.S.S.R. Nicaragua has and plans to retain a mixed econ omy— with both public and private enterprise. Nicaragua has eleven functioning parties— all protected by law— which participate in the na tional congress along with representatives of all segments of the population. The nation is devel oping a new constitution and system of elec tions, with the election to be held in 1985. Little can be found in the press about the great strides Nicaragua has made— in spite of U.S. opposition— in education, medical care, agrarian reform, and including the people in de cision-making. Perhaps this is why the American people are willing to participate in the murder of thousands of people— mostly poor peasants— who only want to live in peace and control their own des tiny. We do have to question the motives and the ethics of the media who are willing to spread lies over and over again. ing.” W illia m s kept her ear to the ground and was able to predict Charles Jordan’s removal as Police Com m issioner. " T h e re were some people in the Black community who thought they had gotten a co m m it ment out o f Ivan cie that Jordan would continue >s Police C om m is sioner. T hat was a c o n flic t w ith know facts. Ivancie was very close to the Police Union, who never hid the fact that they did not like Jordan as a Commissioner. The scandal in the police dep artm en t and the 'possum incident gave Ivan cie a convenient reason to rem ove Jo r dan.” Becaues o f this and a few other victories, W illiams said she believed the Police Association is sutrounded by a perception o f power. “ I f you go back and look at the record they did not support M ike Lindberg,.Neil Goldschmidt and a number o f can didates who won over their o bjec tions. Their biggest defeat was mea sure SI which was the measure to prevent the Police A u d itin g C o m mittee.” L in d a W illia m s w ill go down in the history o f A fro -A m e ric a n s in P o rtla n d as a re p o rte r w ho de veloped a grassroot connection with the community. A n example o f this connection was an editorial (Febru ary 23, 1983) exposing police harass ment o f Black males who are stopped and detained while police o ffic e rs exhaust th eir com puter banks looking for something to ar rest them for. " T h e main reason I wrote about him ( C l i f f W a lk e r) is th at he was among many Black males w ith the same c o m p la in t. S econdly, there was something on the record I could use other than his w o rd ." Her editorial stated that the police officers' determination o f a "suspi cious person” is loo often based on rae. Her research validated the com plaint and as a staff w riter for The O regonian the vio latio n o f in d iv i dual rights was exposed to the entire state. , Portland Observer E H I™ o. y - ' • I . . «•' sett •/ Th» P o rtla n d O b t e n r r IU S P S 959 6801 is published »vary Thursday by E«ie Publishing Company, Inc 2201 North Killings worth Portland. Oregon 97212. Poet Offica Bo« 3132 Portland Oregon 92208 Second class postage p»rd at Portland Oregon The Portland (H iterrer wee established m 1920 Subscriptions »15 00 per year m the Tn County area Poet m aeter Send address changes to the P ori land O tnrrver P 0 MEMBER associ »hon • Fovndad ISSS P O R T L A N D , O H —Oregon C on gressmen Le* AuCoin warned Friday that the United State* faces a tightening "nuclear noose" world wide and stalemate in Central America because it is trying to apply military force where it w on't work. Speaking to the City Club of Portland, A uCoin said the United States "obviously need* adequate military strength, or there w ill be no negotiations" to control nuclear arm*. “ W e have that strength. In real-world combat capability, we and our allies are the strongest pow er on earth.” But he said while western military equipment and tactics are superior to those o f the Soviet Union, the West remain* insecure, with the “ noose o f nuclear war growing ever tighter,” because it ha* misused it* military force in an attempt to solve problems around the world. As an example o f faulty strategic thinking, A uCoin cited the idea o f a nuclear weapons build-down, cur rently being promoted in Washing ton, which he said will not help de terrence or reduce the risk o f nu clear war. Under the builddown concept, two older strategic missile* would be dismantled by the United State* and the Soviet Union for each new mis 283 2486 M atronal A d vertising R ep resentative A m a lg a m a te d Publishers Inc N e w York sile deployed AuCoin said that be cause o f advance* in technology, new classes o f weapons would be faster, more accurate and more leth al than the one* they replace. M aking a distinction between sheer number* and destructive capa bility, AuCoin said, "one o f the best policies we can make is quali ta tiv e arms control, because it’s in the qualities o f new weapon* that the danger lies," especially in such "quick-paralyzing, first-strike” weapon* as the M X Missile. The great strength o f the nuclear weapons freeze, which passed the House o f Representatives earlier this year, said A uC oin, is that it "w ould stop these new technolo gies. They have to be flight-tested before any war-planner would have enough confidence to use them. This testing can’t be hidden, and the freeze would prohibit it .” AuCoin added that the freeze is not based on trusting the Soviet*. " I f it were, no rational American could support it. It ban* only what is verifiable," he said, "and flight testing o f ballistic missiles is very easy to verify.” M ilitary force is being misapplied not only in arms control strategy, but in El Salvador, AuCoin said, where U.S. m ilitary aid is being used to "protect the status quo . .a gov ernment power structure made up o f, or dominated by, extreme right wing elements with dose tie* to the military who in any normal society would be considered m afia-type hit m en.” Some 30,000 civilian non-combat ants have been killed and mutilated over the last three year* in El Salva dor becuase they were suspected of sympathizing with insurgents, AuCoin said, and not one A rm y o f ficial ha* been brought to trial. "T here is a lim it to how long a people will take such repression be fore those governments are invari ably toppled; when they are, the countries that bankrolled those gov ernment* are equally blamed— a fact which create* diplomatic open ings for our adversaries.” A uCoin said now is the time for the United S u te* to “ turn away from a military strategy which em boldens right wing elements in the current government,” and to em brace the approach called for by the Contadora nation* and the Pope: “ unconditional negotiation* among all parties in the civil war, leading to a coalition government o f national reconciliation, with elections to fo l lo w .” Portland plans anti- missile rally P O P T L A A D — Oregonian* will be protesting the planned U .S. de ployment o f Cruise and Pershing II missiles in Europe at a march and rally to be held in Portland on Sat urday, October 22. Marchers will parade from the South Park Blocks by Portland State University, beginning at 10:00 a m ., to W aterfront, where various nationally and locally known speak ers will address the themes o f the rally: • No Cruise and Pershing missiles: Stop first-strike weapons. • Support the nuclear weapons freeze campaign. • Employment for peace, not de ployment for war. Grenada Protests are being registered throughout Europe, Canada and the United States on October ¿2 to pro test the deployment o f the Cruise and Pershing I I missiles in Europe, scheduled to begin in December. Such deployment by the United states would heighten tensions in Europe, would increase the chance of nuclear war, would initiate a new round o f nuclear arms escalation on both sides, and would seriously un dermine the prospects o f achieving a comprehensive and verifiable U .S .- U .S .S .R . freeze on all nuclear weap ons. The march and rally are being or ganized by a coalition o f peace and religious groups throughout O re gon, under the auspices o f the Peace and Disarmament Com m ittee o f Ecumenical Ministries o f Oregon. Herb Cawthorne, Portland school board member, w ill be mas ter o f ceremonies o f the local rally. (Continued fro m page I column 3/ controls 60 percent o f the nation’s prise and to erase symbols o f colon Grenada had no relations with Cuba. Grenada refused, and accept ed help from Cuba and a number of other nations in building its new air port. Reagan has charged that the air port, which was planned during the colonial era but never constructed, is really a landing strip for Cuban and Soviet fighters. U ntil the airport is completed, in March o f 1984, tourists must travel from Barbados or Trinidad, both o f which are com petitors for the tourist dollar. The New Jewel Movement is a member o f the Socialist Internation al, but Grenada does not have a so cialist economy. Although there has been a development of cooperatives and unionization, with new rights for workers, agriculture, the major industries and commerce are in the hands of private enterprise, which economy. Grenada is a member o f the B rit ish Commonwealth and recognizes ialism. IÍSÍ‘ta f t'k.r-an the Queen. One o f the reasons for Bishop's removal is believed to be his reluc tance to nationalize private enter The last news from Grenada prior to Bishop's death indicated that the option to retain his position and share power was still open to Bishop. "Brown Beauty” ¡a reputed to be the name of the horse Paul Revere rode when he warned the country side of the approach of the British. __ - c - ______ l U S t í t . . -------------------------------- - t' .S “Vrr-idt. - W - . ......................................... ■ Ufa.'* ‘ A “ deltiologist’ is one who collects picture post- cards. *"'2 Teepees and wigwams are not the same things. A teepee is a conical tent of the North American Indians, while a wigwam is a hut or dome-shaped wooden house. We do not do business w ith South Africa American State Bank AN INDEPENDENT BANK Head Office 2737 N E. Union Portland, Oregon 97212 ■* ™ ™ " ^ t/a n d ^ “ ^ ^ /à c T ò w n e tT ' newspaper. ■ Subscribe today! ■ PORTLAND OBSERVER ï News fo r and about you. <e( • * • • • « • Bos 3132 Portland Oregon 92208 A lfred L. Henderson. Editor/Publisher A I Williams. Advertising Manager AuCoin challenges deployment I I I I I i please print Mail to Portland Observai Bo« 3137 Portland Oregon 97200 Nam e A d d res s C ity .S ta te . Yes. I w ould like a s u b s c rip tio n ! to th e Portland Observer. I □ I have enclosed my check or 5 money order for 8 1 5, for a one-year subscript* ■
