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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 2, 1983)
I ■M ab»«« Reagan threatens Cuba »«,.» Centro Cultural FMC hires strikebreakers Page 3 Page 9 PN ** Grenada Diary Page 5 PORTWND OBSERNER Volume XIV, Number 3 November 2, 1983 2SC Per Copy t l ’ti’S 959-680-155 District 18: Forum to select candidate Wearing “ Maurice Bishop” buttons, students of the Bieck Educa tional Center Join demonatrationa condemning U.S. inveeion end occupation of Grenada. An estimated 300 persons Joined the demon stration sponsored by the Black United Fron at the Federal Office B uilding.. I Photo: «»«herd J Brown I A community forum will be held on November 5th to select a Black -candidate to compete in the Demo cratic Party Primary against incum bent State Representative Ed Leek. The forum is sponsored by the District I8 Leadership Forum (Ron nie Herndon, Herb Cawthorne, Rev. John tiarlington, M arian Scott and Rev. John Jackson) and will be held at 1:00 p.m . at Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church. Each candidate w ill speak for ten min utes, to be followed by questions for all candidates from the public; then each candidate will have the oppor tunity to summarize. The process has raised some ques tions in the community. Some feel that the form at— one fo ru m —does not allow for the development o f is sues or a platform or enough time to adequately assess the candidates. "T his one-shot event favors candi dates who have run before and makes it into a contest o f who can get the most friends there, not who would be the best Representative," said one resident. Ronnie Herndon, one o f the or ganizers, admitted the process is "fla w e d ” and could be criticized on those counts. He believes the pro cess is the best that could be de veloped in a short time and that a series o f forums would not have produced a different result. Another question is raised about the balloting, since persons who do not attend the forum and hear the forum and hear the candidates can speak. “ We are trying to include as many people as possible. W hat should we say if someone had a sick child and arrived late, should we re fuse to let her vote,” Herndon said “ There are others who already sup port a candidate, who don't want to even listen to anyone else." Herndon criticized those who warn that coercion o f a candidate or potential candidate is against state law. "There will be no coercion," he said. "A n y candidates who do not abide by the decision will be vig orously criticized because they are dividing the Black vote We don't want to divide ourselves, to let people say, “ It's what I desire. This is the same thing that led Ed Leek to say, ‘ It's what I desire, let me in .’ ” Herndon considers the comm uni ty endorsement as no different than a union trying to get rid o f Reagan or women trying to defeat Jesse Helms. “ When Black people take steps to control their political inter ests, Ills called coercion ” He said this process extends de mocracy one step more. "U sually the process is not this democratic; we are exercising democracy at its finest. I don't know who selected Ronald Reagan or Jimmy Carter. This is taking democracy to the grass roots." Another criticism— that Dem o crats and Republicans were being considered together— has been elim inated by restricting the forum to Democrats. The candidates who have indicat ed that they will participate are H a r old W illiams, Margaret Carter, Luther Strong and Bill Hardin. W il liams, who has run twice before, is a labor negotiator for the State of Oregon. He is mariied and has three children Ms. Carter, who has raised eight children, is a counsellor at Portland Community College. Luther Strong, Jr., is a correc tions officer and substitute school teacher. He is married and has five children. W illiam H ardin, a busi nessman, also is a candidate but cannot be present for the forum. Herb Cawthorne described the forum as a first time effort that is not perfect but can be improved in other years. “ There are aspects that could be better done There was no effort to develop candidates, but to provide a positive way for the com munity to express its opin io n." “ I believe the quality and charac ter of the candidates will emerge in the process and that it will demon strate whom the community sup ports among those who are there." Cawthorne added that the candi dates and (heir supporters have par ticipated in the planning meetings and have raised no objections to the process. “ We have given the candi dates and their campaign people and others a chance to be involved in the meetings. We have found no one who says it is not fair or that they will not abide by it. "A n yo n e who goes th ro jg h the process, saying they will abide by the decision, and then does not, will make their own integrity suspect." School zone election petitioners' goal Jeasa Jackaon will announce formally on Thursday that ha la a candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for Praaidant. Jack- son's campaign Is expected to add up to a half-million now voters and to pooHlvaly affect the Democratic Party platform. (Photo: Richard Brown) An organization is forming to pe tition the Portland School District to divide itself into zones for the purpose o f nominating members to the School Board. Currently three Board members live in the same area o f Northeast Portland and four live on the West side. Southeast and North Portland are not represented on the Board. In addition to the matter o f repre sentation, District-wide School Board races have become highly f i nanced and professionally managed campaigns. State law had prohibited the Port land District (only) from zoning, but during the 198J legislative ses sion, Senate Bill 740 was passed to allow zoning, in the face o f strong opposition from the School Board. SB 740 does not provide for election by zone; it provides that candidates live within the designated zone but they are elected by voters through out the District. Although the bill does not solve the problems o f District-wide campaigning, its chief proponent. Rev. Frank Shields, be lieves it is a good first step. SB 740 provides that the citizens present a petition o f 1,000 signa tures to the School Board with this request, so that the School Board can adopt the change or refer it to the people. H B 2109, which was passed unno ticed in the closing days o f the ses sion. states that if the 1,000 signa tures are not submitted before Jan uary I . 1984, over 45,000 valid sig natures will be required. The coalition forming plans to re quest o f the School Board that can didates not only be nominated from , but also be elected from , zones. For inform ation, call 280-6769. Bool Winners of the North Branch Library costume contest ore Hank Christianson. Jessica Faulkner, and Lana Johnson (Photo Richard Brown) Cuban victory? For Cubans Grenada is a symbolic Alam o by Nelson Valdes Pacific News Service For those who measure success with a geo poll teal ruler, the invasion o f Grenada signifies a swift and m a jo r victory for the United States in the ongoing struggle between East and West. But this is not just another play in that fam iliar global chess game. The confrontation on the tiny island of Grenada represents instead a battle between the developed " N o rth " and the weak, underde veloped “ So uth ." In those terms, countries o f the Third W orld see Cuba winning a significant political and moral victory Consider the following: •Cuban nationals on Grenada moved quickly to resist the U .S . in tervention and to defend the terri tory and instsdlations they con trolled Soviet personnel on the island did not resist in any manner. •A n estimated 800 Cubans, of whom 40 were actually military ad visers, managed to fight an invading force o f about 3,000 for some 36 hours— despite the fact that the U .S . controlled the air, the sea and most o f the surrounding land. •T h e Cubans had orders to resist until they ran out o f ammunition and under no circumstances to sur render. • In the final moment of battle, the morning of Oct. 26, six Cubamn nationals, holding their country's flag, may have killed themselves rather than be taken by the U.S. forces, according to Cuban media. This is the sort o f behavior that Pentagon computer programs can not quantify or evaluate. Yet the commitment it reflects has signifi cant impact on world affairs. U .S . military planners were sur prised by the opposition they en I countered from a portion o f the Grenadan population and the Cubans. They had to bring the Rapid Deployment Force o f the 82nd Airborne into the battle, al though this was not originally planned because American strate gists assumed the whole affair would meet little resistance Cuban civilians put up an un heard-of fight. But anyone who knows about Cuba knows that the Cuban Revolu tion has universalized m ilitary train ing, which now begins in elementary schools, as well as discipline and or ganization. U .S. forces at Salines A irport confronted a highly m oti vated force o f Cubans. The Third W orld understands that motivation. •T h e Cubans were defending the integrity as well as the honor of the Grenadian people, even though the Cuban regime had been highly criti cal o f the murders committed Oct. 18 by the government o f Hudson Austin. •T h e Cubans were fighting as well for the dignity o f revolutionaries the world over who have rejected colon ial rule and control. •T h e Cubans were also demon strating their leadership and their commitment to stand up to the United States. •T h e Cubans also believed that standing firm in Grenada could send a message to the United States— that it should not try to do the tame in Nicaragua or Cuba. As Angel Pino, speaking from the Cuban Interest Section in Washing ton, D C ., puts, it, "Those Cubans in Grenada are determining not only their own fate but the fate o f Nica ragua and Cuba. In other words, to the extent that they offer resistance, they will make sure that this aggres sion will not go unnoticed. I f this were an easy victory, those who make policy in the U.S. would continue to escalate. They will think that if it was easy in Grenada, it will also be easy in Nicaragua and next in C u b a." Cuban defiance o f the greatest power in the world may very well capture the imagination o f the Third W orld countries, as the death of Che Guevara did in the 1960s. It might seem to us that it is fool ish to resist insurmountable forces. Yet actions such as this take on sym bolic import and contribute to the building o f a nation, to developing of national identity, to the strength ening o f community. In the 19th century, "Remember the A lam o" dieted the kind o f response in A m ericans that the word Grenada will now produce among Cubans. Cuban behavior in the Third W orld is not a respone to Soviet de signs. The Cuban Revolution has a foreign policy of its own. It stems more from the interests of the South than of the East. It is based on principles that we may not comprehend, that may even defy our own logic. These involve is sues of honor, o f dignity, of m oral ity -w o rd s which are constantly used and understood in the Third W orld, not simply as the rhetorical language of the developed countries. Thus it is important to set ex amples through action for evervone else. In a way, the Cuban people have been instilled with the idea that the whole world is watching them and that their behavior has to be exemplary. It is that which allows Havana to claim leadership over the non-aligned These concepts did not arrive with the revolution. They are deeply rooted in the political culture o f the (Please turn io page 4 column 6)
