Page 4 Portland Observer, June 13, 1964
EDITORIAL/OPINION
War and Rose Festival don't mix
Portlanders should be proud o f their Rose
Festival—an annual celebration o f spring and
the fragrant blossoms that grow so profusely
here— and of the pageantry and participation
it attracts.
Tourists come from around the country to
witness it , and the spectacle is beamed via
satellite to millions of TV viewers.
There should, however, be no room in the
Rose Festival for the increasing public display
o f m ilita ris m evident this year. Police and
m ilita ry organizations played a much too
visible role, from the Seattle motorcycle police
team which has begun the parade for several
years now, followed by Navy men brandishing
rifle s equipped w ith bayonets, follow ed by
m ounted s h e r iff’ s posses, to the ships o f
destruction and in tim id a tio n docked fo r six
days on the Willamette next to the Fun Center.
Spectacle and celebration are fine. That is
what parades are all about. Bu, using symbols
o f our aggressive foreign policy as a focus is to
ignore the realities of war and the suffering of
those touched by it.
The U.S.S. Leahy, one o f the larger vessels
that visited Portland last week, is a guided
missile cruiser that can carry nuclear weapons.
Although the Navy will no, affirm or deny the
presence o f such weapons on its ships, all
vessels in the Leahy’ s class arc outfitted with
nuclear missile launchers, and the Leahy itself
underwent an expensive refining several years
ago to upgrade it to accommodate the nuclear
missiles.
The Leahy is named for a Navy admiral who
bears the ignominious distinction of having led
the 1912 U.S. invasion o f Nicaragua. The
vessel also was the flagship for the fall, 1983,
m ilita ry exercises o f f the coast o f C entral
Am erica, which were, and are, designed to
terrify the people of Nicaragua and threaten its
government—all because the Reagan A dm ini
stration doesn’ t approve o f its policies.
Portland voters have spoken ou, both on a
nuclear freeze (2 to 1 in favor) and on U.S. in
tervention in Centra) America (2 to I against).
It’s time to ac, on these sentiments.
Let’s welcome the sailors to Portland for the
Rose Festival, but let’s no, welcome dangerous
symbols o f U.S. m ilita ry aggression to our
city.
Nuclear liability crux of debate
P ro b a b ly few people have heard o f the
Price-Anderson Act, a 1957 federal law that
places a $585 m illion liability lim it on a utility
following a nuclear plant accident.
This means tha, after an incident such as
Three M ile Island, the u tility ow ning and
operating the facility could be liable for only
that am ount (w hich w ould be p a ltry in the
even, o f m a jo r co n ta m in a tio n ) before the
federal government kicks in with the res,.
The ac, is due to expire in 1986, and
Congress is now considering new legislation to
extend and change it. Some want the liability
lim it raised. Some, including the federal Dep
artment of Energy, want nuclear waste dumps
included under the act.
The H a n fo rd Nuclear Reservation in
W ashington State is now being considered
along with nine other sites as a repository for
the n a tio n ’ s high-level radioactive wastes.
Washington State is concerned that the federal
government w ill no, pay for damages should
an accident during transportation or disposal
o f such wastes occur.
Leaks o f radioactive materials at Hanford
have occurred in the past. The C olum bia
River, which flows through Hanford, used to
be called "th e most radioactive river in the
w o r ld " d u rin g the 1950’ s. A lth o u g h some
cleanup has been done, the river recently
showed increasing levels of some radioactive
elements.
The State o f W ashington, along w ith
residents of Oregon who live near the Colum
bia, is correct to worry about this issue. An ac
cident at Hanford could bankrupt Washington
(and perhaps O regon) and render the area
uninhabitable, not to mention causing injuries
and deaths.
Those who advocate nuclear power
generation and all the dangers it poses should
pay when it goes awry. I f the federal govern
ment imposes a high-level radioactive waste
dump on Washington State, the private sector
firm s involved and the federal government
should bear the fin a n cia l re sp o n sib ility if,
heaven forbid, an accident occurs.
Letters to the Editor
To the Editor:
The letters I wrote lo you recent
ly brought both positive and
negative responses. I am glad I ru f
fled a few feathers, this way I know
the city is awake and listening
I would like to reiterate my stand,
when I referred to the white system
looking at our Black leadership, to
find
weakness. Maybe
Fran
A riniello is having a problem with
what I said because (he or she) is
white and doesn’ t understand the
struggle Blacks have gone through,
and are still going through in this
city.
I know it is out of the norm for a
Black to criticize the white power
structure. I realize that what we all
have strived for, for a long time is to
have the unity between races. I have
lived in Portland since 1944 and lit
tle has changed
I am not trying to be vindictive or
shallow in my thinking, but I am a
real is* ic person, with battle scars
received over sixteen years of trying
to change things in Portland.
I appreciate Fran A rin ie llo ’ s
thought and sentiment, but we have
always had these white liberals who
get offended when the truth is told
But when the whites advance and
the Blacks go backwards, hoping
and dreaming is not enough.
We must have good Black leader
ship to pave the way for the unity
that you speak of, in District 18. the
State of Oregon and America.
Fetia i>B'eere l oving
To the Editor:
The Portland Observer, with its
editorial ’ ’ Black Victory Discoun
te d " showed extreme callousness
and completely missed the point of
the recent Oregonian article by
Foster Church. It was very clear
from the article that the cohesion of
the Black Community in Portland
was the deciding factor in the
Primary victory of Margaret Carter
for Representative in District 18.
H ow ever, in using the article as
another excuse to attack Represen
tative Ed Leek, you have lowered
your standards and diminished the
impact of Margaret C arter's vic
tory.
Rep. Leek’s alledged arrogance,
his support of George McGovern,
and his rating by lobbyists have
nothing to do with the point of the
article What is important was his
support of the Democratic program
and legislation that put people
ahead of profits; support which
earned him the emnity of the A lli
ance for Economic Development with
its big business bias
My letter to Bill Thomas (not, by
the way, an official reprimand) had
nothing to do with Rep. Leek's
qualifications for office, and hardly
deserves mention in your editorial
Ed L eek’ s record in support of
the citizens o f our community as
well as the rest of the city and state
is unchallengeable. To pin your
credibility on his support o f the
precious civil rights o f juveniles
because one rapist was released
prematurely is tantamount to ad
vocating the reinstatement o f the
death penalty because one ex-con
commits a crime You tread on very
thin ice.
W hile acknowledging the fine,
outstanding qualifications of
M argaret Carter and the positive
support of her com m unity, it is a
disservice to her to continue to un
fairly attack her opponent and his
commendable record.
If Ed Leek owes Margaret Carter
a congratulatory phone call or let
ter, the Portland Observer owes Ed
an apology. I would wager Margaret
will get the former before we see the
latter
Dick Celsi, Chair
Democratic Parly o f Oregon
To the Editor:
A meeting at the King Neigh
borhood Facility Friday, June 1st,
was ostensibly called to marshall
community support against the
choice o f R A Hatch C o ., for
receiving over seventy percent of
contract dollars awarded by Tri-Mct
for the light rail project.
The meeting instead provided a
platform for union sympathisers lo
assail the Black community as being
"lazy and disinterested."
Tw o proposals were put forth
without being enacted upon. One
was the call for an "in ju n ctio n
against H a tc h " which the union
lawyer publically advised Nate
Proby against pursuing in this
district because the court would not
be responsive to the evidence to be
presented by the union M r. Proby
was admonished to use a judge in
Washington, D C . who would be
more inclined to issue an injunc
tion.
The other proposal was a call to
"v io le n c e ” by a Black union
organizer, who later recanted his
call on the basis that, " th e com
munity was not together" of similar
verbage What really came out in
the meeting was the degree to which
the union is prepared to use mem
bers of this community for (ree. The
Operator's union spent something
to the tune of $1 4 million dollars in
an attempt to close down Hatch.
It is u nfortunate that a union
could bankrupt itself against a merit
shop and not even offer to spend a
little change for supporting related
actions by qualified Blacks.
Black leaders have forgotten
Black leaders who publicly went against the
wishes of their constituents are now running to
Jesse Jackson with open arms, taking credit
for a victory they had nothing to do with.
The reality o f Black leadership that benefits
from the status quo vs. progressive change for
their people is a dark historical chapter in the
book of Blacks in America.
Some of our leaders have forgotten wha, it
is like to be cold, hungry and imprisoned by
poverty. Most live better than the people they
are representing. I, makes us wonder who they
represent—themselves or their constituents.
Cuba ’s People ’s Power
by Dr. Manning Marable
"Erom The Grassroots'’
l ast month a delegation ol Black
American intellectuals was invited
to visit Cuba D uring eight busy
days, I met with hundreds of Cuban
teachers, political leaders, artists,
physicians and students Contrary
to the Reagan A d m in is tra tio n ’ s
polemics,
the Cubans
have
developed, despite many d if
ficulties, a productive and well-run
society in the twenty-five years since
the revolution. The two things
which most impressed me during my
visit
were
C u b a ’ s political
system —which is not a totalitarian
regime—and the island’s amazing
achievements in the field of
medicine
Cuba’s basic governmental struc
ture. termed "Peoples' Pow er," is
very dilfcrent from that found in
most Communist nations. All elec
tions begin at the neighborhood
level, and each electoral district has
between ISO and 3,000 voters. Each
district of "Peoples' Power" is sub
divided into " a re a s ” o f several
hundred persons, where public
meetings are held to nominate
municipal delegates from the neigh
borhoods. Persons nominated to
run from various " a re a s " run
against each other for the district’s
seat. After 30 days, there is a direct
and secret ballot; voters must be 16
years or older. The candidate win
ning a majority is elected, but if no
one wins 50 percent, the top two
dandidates face each other in a run
o ff election in one week. Once the
municipal delegates are elected, the
municipal assemblies in turn elect
representatives to the provincial
assembly. P rovincial assemblies
elect national delegates who set
national legislation in Havana
What is interesting about the C uban
electoral system is that voters are
given a selection of from two to
eight candidates, and membership
in the Communist Party is not
required to run for office.
Throughout the country, about 30
percent of the municipal delegates
who won local o ffice were not
Communists.
In the A pril elections this year,
98.6 percent o f all eligible voters
cast ballots—all the more impressive
in a country where there is no legal
requirement to vote. Three of this
year's delegates in Havana were
only 16 years old, and the youngest
was a teenage girl who was not a
member of the Communist Party.
The basic economic system of
Cuba is, of course, socialism, but
elements of capitalism are permitted
to exist, and even to thrive. In rural
areas, 25 years ago, almost all of the
best farmland was owned by a select
elite o f Cuban fam ilies and
Am erican
businesses.
The
Revolution seized these estates, and
over the years, created agricultural
collectives for the landless peasan
try. Still today, about 15 percent of
all Cuban agricultural output is in
private hands.
The gross wage differentials bet
ween the peasants and the powerful
have long been elim inated. The
m inimum monthly salary for
everyone in Cuba is 85 pesos; the
maximum salary, 450 pesos; and the
average salary, 170 pesos Most
medical doctors, for instance,
would earn about 370 pesos per
month, and skilled laborers could
receive probably half that amount
But stale control ensures that cer
tain
consumer
items,
when
available, are accessible to all. A
quart of milk in Cuba costs only 20
cents; a pair of leather shoes, 15 to
20 pesos; an average lunch at a
restaurant, 70 cents. All workers,
from janitors to Castro himself,
receive 30 days paid vacation per
year.
The greatest surprise I had
however, was in the rem arkabli
cultural diversity of the island.
When visiting Santiago, the second
largest city, our delegation was en
tertained by a local Cuban student
choir— who sang traditional Negro
spirituals from the U .S .! The lead
singer and director, a handsome and
very dark Afro-Cuban, was familiar
with A fro American gospels and
"Freedom Songs” from the Civil
Rights Movement of the 1960’s
Throughout the streets of Santiago
and Havana, music is continuous:
sometimes a mixture o f A frican
rhythms and a Latin beat, which is
the heart of Cuban music, but more
frequently, especially on Cuban
radios, the sounds of Gladys
Knight, Aretha Franklin, M arvin
Gaye and Stevie W onder. O c
casionally I came across a sight I ex
pected to find only in Black
America: young Afro-Cuban males,
donning knit caps, bopping along
with huge portable radios. It is fair
to say, at least from my obser
vations, that the Revolution has
learned to live with Donna Summer,
Gloria Vanderbilt-type jeans, and a
broad diversity in its popular
culture.
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These men and women have forgotten the
golden rule o f leadership. A leader does not
lead the people. The people lead the leader
The masses o f T h ird W o rld people in
Am erica cast th e ir vote fo r the Rev. Jesse
Jackson while some of their mayors played it
safe. Like crabs in a barrel they fel, threatened
when other crabs reached for the top.
National unity in the community demands
this togetherness. Le, the so-called leader
beware. The people will never forget. And we
w ill reclaim our leaders while laying a path for
progressive change for our communities.
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