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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 11, 1984)
Portland Observer, January 11. 1984 Page 5 KBOO airs Grenada report Voting key to political clout the older one gets, the more likely one is to vote. The young vote less. So do the unemployed, the poor, minorities, and people who have moved recently. Women and stu dents are also less likely to vote than are white, well-educated, well-to- do, middle-aged. residentially stable. Northern males. The impact o f these voting pat terns is to exaggerate the interests of some groups and minimize those of others. The result, in the day-to-day affairs of local, state and federal politics, can be expressed in terms of power and influence. Citizens who are under-represented at the polls are less able to command the atten tion of elected officials and to affect decisions on public policy. Voting, then, has a doubly powerful effect: first, in the election o f politicians and passage o f ballot measures; sec ond. in the response of elected o ffi cials to local concerns. It is no surprise that Norm W in- by M argot E. Butler The "Rainbow C o alitio n " is a colorful new term coined by the Jes se Jackson campaign to describe his jumble of supporters— black, brown, yellow, red and white, women, the poor and other disen franchised groups. A pot o f gold exists at the end of mythical rainbows, but will mem bers o f the “ Rainbow C o alitio n " find their pot o f gold at the end of the campaign? They will if all the voter registration campaigns suc ceed in mobilizing t h i most disen franchised o f all minorities— the non-voter. The pot o f gold in democratic elections is political power. Some nations disperse political power through military might, others re serve it solely for the ruling party. In the United States, anyone >:an en gage in the electoral struggle for power, and yet so few participate. Voter Registration in Greater Portland % R aqlatarad » U n ra q lata ra d 83% 75% 76% 28,862 106,480 44,024 Clackamas Multnom ah Washington 179,366 TOTAL In the 1982 general election— the major contest in a non-presidential year— 70 percent o f registered vot ers voiced their opinions at the polls. But only 80 percent o f O re gonians are registered. In effect, state and national political ques tions and players were determined by a little over one-half o f those eli gible to be voters. Nearly half o f all Oregonians chose to disenfranchise themselves. In the 1982 primary election, non-participants com prised nearly 75 percent. Dismal as this seems, voter turn out is only part o f the picture. IF/io votes is o f greater significance. A re cent study of national voting pat terns indicates that education and age are prime indicators o f voting. The greater one's education an d /o r ningslad, a high-tech industrialist and proponent o f a sales tax, gets so much attention from political lead ers. Winningstad and his friends vote, give money, and publicize their pro-business ideas. I f they had remained silent or grumbled amongst themselves, the sales tax would not be up for voter consideia tion in March. Political power in this country is up for grabs among those who exer cise their right to participate. In the greater Portland area, the number of people who pass on political pow er is astounding. Non-voters in M ultnom ah. Clackamas and Wash ington counties are estimated at 179,000; and for the entire state at 378.000. For those who would excuse their non-voting by arguing that one vote doesn't matter, look how close the vote totals were in the 1982 Dem o cratic primary in Oregon House Dis against in housing and employment, trimmed from the welfare rolls, rele gated to unemployment lines, and forced to eat on $78 a month in food trict 18: stamps. It might be safe to speculate that the interests o f the formerly disen franchised are not those of the tradi tional voter. I f members o f the "Rainbow C o alitio n ” do vote in 1984, that pot o f gold can be ours. M argot E. Beutler is director o f tbe Oregon Hum an S E R V E Voter Registration Campaign, a project boused in tbe downtown Urban Ed leek Harold W illiams Rose Gangie Charles Stoudamire W alter Backström Vesiä Loving Roger Smith Troen 1,155 1,095 952 718 390 Î71 121 Sixty votes gave the District 18 House seat to Ed Leek. Even more to the point. Republican state repre sentative Liz Van Leeuwen beat the incumbent Bud Byer by one vote in 1980 in a m id-W illam ette Valley dis trict. Nationally, President Reagan's margins o f victory in New York, Mississippi. Alabam a, Louisiana. Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Kentucky and Virginia were less than the number o f unregistered Blacks in each state. Voter registration campaigns, however, do work. In the spring of 1982, the Hum an S E R V E C am paign (S E R V E stands for: Service Employees Registration, Voting and Education campaign) registered some 40,000 social service recipients in New York City in a two-month period. Subsequently, voter turnout increased sharply among Blacks and the unemployed in the 1982 primary election. The Oregon Hum an S E R V E V o t er Registration Campaign is one of several such efforts being conducted in Oregon in 1983. The Human S ER VE campaign will be working through social service agencies to register voters, while other cam paigns will be working in minority and lower income neighborhoods. W ith 378.000 unregistered people in Oregon, the potential for a signi ficant shift in electoral participation is great. The electoral outcome of such an infusion of new voters is highly debatable, but it will certain ly be interesting to see what changes occur when the electorate contains those who have been discriminated l eague office. Voter registration dance planned Portland Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Inc., remembers M artin Luther King by sponsoring a Voter Registration Dance to get young adults registered as voters. Music w ill be provided by The Electric W hiz. Friday, January 13. 8 p.m. to midnight at M alt Dishman Center, 77 N .E . Knott. Donation is $2 with a voter regis tration card; $2.50 without a card. Voter registration will be held at the dance Proceeds w ill be used for Delta Sigma Theta's public service pro grams. Amidst all the controversy sur rounding the U .S. invasion o f G ren ada. the American public did not have access to some important in formnation, including what actually happened when supporters of the late Prime Minister M aurice Bishop released him from house arrest. The Reagan Administration has asserted that Bishop's overthrow and execu tion, and the confusing aftermath, are what led to the "rescue mission” by the U.S. military. K B O O -EM (90.7) will try to fill in these “ inform ation gaps” when it broadcasts two half-hour documen taries, "Grenada: The Rise and the F a ll," on Thursday, January 19th and Thursday, January 26th, at 9:30 a m. (with repeats on M arch 6th and 13th at 10:00 p .m .). The documen taries were recorded by a team of U.S. producers who have been based in Grenada with the C arib bean Education Project since 1982 The programs include dramatic "on-the-spot" recordings o f M au rice Bishop's release from house ar rest and the attack on Fort Rupert prison by his supporters; sounds of Grenadian tanks firing on demon strators and U.S. artillery shelling; and interviews with members of Bishop's former cabinet, Caribbean leaders; members o f Congress who visited Grenada, and U .S. citizens returning from the island. The programs also present an his torical documentation o f Grenada's rise and a probe into how U .S. inter vention in Grenada affects the Cat ibbcan Basin. Blacks oppose CIA aggression (Continued fro m page / column 3) is for peace and self-determina tio n ." Asked whether the United States' undeclared war against Nicaragua can be stopped, she said, "A b so lutely. But first the people have to understand the truth, because that is she said, “ Aid to Honduras should be to combat unemployment and poverty. The aid should not be for arm s." Her message o f peace and hope, she said, was a message that she carried from Jesse Jackson to the people o f Nicaragua. the essential weapon in this w ar." Concerning U.S. military assist ance to Honduras, which is used for military action against Nicaragua, PORTLAND OBSERVER Subscribe today! Cure the common cold. Try our home heating remedy. |l ynur htwne hearing bills lease v«, „.Id. here's an . ,»y sure ss»..sh hu.ai.ir.il eas hearing Street Beat by Lanita D uke and Richard Brow n Our question this week is, "H o w do you feel about Rev. Jesse Jackson’s trip to Syria, which secured the release o f Lt. Robert O. Goodman?” ,| u, „ „ in,.K tx has. remarkable annual ethsicney ll , f I u p h .9 7 p .n e n r And depending..... 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I’m m natural gas heating i s » md »e II gise . «, 'I V -I, ,1.,«, tepl.».• s< sir old el.-s tris water heater with , nes. cm tgs >•»' w He, heater A natural ..........ret heaters an vise you up - - V S,s,t yearly sealer heating cost» So Us like getting tw osolJ rsmeshs ».« |'l M I » ’t >me " n r» the prise. ( IN Call Northwest Natural Gas today. 1 c /JS*» i «LÙ ■ a _ i _ t all .11,, i, 1 ,1 o I. I.« ii L I on lv » I, S.W Ite ht«» t.slas h i t.uh ( me tin- s.«union s.'Id in sour l„«iic natural ga« heating ansi get 5 1 V » i'll •' " ,i new n.eltif », k! •' w if* f he.»1er IS. ...... •«' -"-s. ' '• ....... m o r th w e s t n a t u r a i gas Pamela Harris Housawlfa I think his trip was political. He went right after he declared his candidacy for the presidency. It is wonderful. The idea is that he did go and he did bring him oack. D alo ria C o w a a r Cook Jackson did a good job. I don’t think politics had any thing to do with his trip. He should be applauded. w Z i ; :.iV F Alex Torez Diesel Mechanic I think it was great The fact [that he is a presidential candi- Idate was circumstantial. James Devia Retired 1 think It was gre should all be proud. Kathy Coats Housewife I was glad he went. I don't think President Reagan was fu l ly aware o f his trip, which could have been why he did n 't return his calls at first. •ST, ». ■ ’ ." V I
