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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 1984)
P«B« 4. Portend Observer. October 10.1984 EDITORIAL/OPINION U.S. Senate stonewalls Title IX The recent tabling o f Civil Rights legislation aimed at reversing a Supreme Court decision that would withhold federal funds only to a spe cific department where discrimination took place, and not the entire institution, is testimony to the truism that American democracy is sub servient to the economic and political interests of those who hold power. Opponents threw up enough procedural road blocks, stonewalls and smokescreens that Senate activity was at a standstill as deadlines for ac tions on a money bill and as congressional ad journment approached. By a 53-45 vote, the United States Senate killed legislation aimed at broadening the Su preme Court limits o f the application o f Title IX , a federal anti-discrimination law. Title IX prohibits sex discrimination at any college or university receiving federal assistance. Prior to February 28, 1984, any college or university found discriminating could have had all its fed eral monies withdrawn. The Grove City College case challenged and changed the application o f Title IX . The Reagan Administration supported this narrow interpretation and the Justice De partment quietly closed 23 Civil Rights investi gations. The residual effects of legalized scholastic dis crimination will deprive people o f color, the handicapped and mature citizens o f their rights to a higher education. They stand helplessly by while education becomes a privilege instead o f a right. "Constructive engagem ent"........a farce by Bayard Rustin Black South African workers’ earn ings fell by seven percent. Yet, despite the economic and po litical setbacks visited upon Black South Africans, despite the suppres sion o f Black trade unionists, despite the brutality o f the police in com batting demonstrators, there has been no public expression of outrage or criticism from President Reagan. When he assumed the Presidency, Ronald Reagan inaugurated a policy o f "constructive engagement" with the racist regime in Pretoria. The stated purpose o f this policy was to convince the government o f P. W . Botha to move toward resolving the question of Namibian independence and to encourage the government to take concrete steps toward increased representation for Blacks, Asians and “ coloureds.” In the service o f this policy o f cordiality, U.S. Ambassa dor Herman Nickel has invited some o f the most brutal South African gov ernment officials to U.S. Embassy functions. For example, P. G . J. Koornhof, the architect of South A f rica’s evil policy of forcibly relocating Blacks from areas in which they have traditionally lived, was shown on the front pages o f South Africa’s In recent days, our nation’s press and evening news reports have been filled with accounts o f protest marches, election boycotts, and wide spread violence in South Africa. Some thirty Blacks in the townships of Sharpcville, Evaton and Sebokeng have been killed by the South African police. Protest marches against rent increases have been brutally sup pressed Leaders o f election boycotts have been arrested and detained The new wave of violence is further evidence that no progress has been made toward majority rule in South Africa. The South African govern ment's new constitutional “ dispensa tion," which provides limited politi cal rights for Indians and those of racially mixed descent ("coloureds” ), has been repudiated by an election boycott by some 80 percent o f eli gible voters. The government’s at tempt to drive a wedge betsveen Black Africans and their non-while coun terparts has demonstrably failed. Recent economic trends also sug gest that South Africa is in for a peri od of greater Black worker unrest. In 1982, for example, while white earn ings (already more than 4.5 times those of Blacks) rose, the average newspapers joining a smiling Ambas sador Nickel in an Independence Day toast at our Embassy in Pretoria. Such travesties have been motivated, Reagan officials claim, in the inter est! of greater U.S. leverage to plead for better treatment of Blacks. Now, nearly four years after the launching of the new course o f cordial relations between the Reagan Administration and South Africa it is clear that "con structive engagement” has yielded nothing for South Africa’s Blacks. If President Reagan indeed was sin cerely pursuing the policy o f “ con structive engagement" with the goal of encouraging the South African government to move toward im proved conditions for Blacks, it is ume that he acknowledge that this policy has failed. It is high time, as well, that the role o f the U.S. in com batting apartheid become a matter of debate between the Presidential candidates. Editor's note: Bayard Rustin, chairman o f the A. Philip Randolph Institute, recently returned from a fact-finding visit to South Africa, where he participated in a co h er ence on strategies fo r non-violent change. A WELL-FOUNDED FEAß O f PERSECUTION IN VOUK iOUNTßy iS NOT ÉN0U6H- THE S u P P G M E (D U C T TIG H TEN ED l i f e R U LES f b l l T l C M (? E fU 6 € € S Y /H O W A N T To STAY Stop the radical right by Dr. Manning Marable ' 'From The Grassroots ' ’ W H A T K IN D The greatest misconception about the Reagan Adm inistration is the notion that it is philosophically “ conservative.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Reagan ism at its core comprise the most militant reactionary currents in American life — the Eagle Forum of Phyllis Schafly, the M oral M ajoritarians o f Rev. Jerry F al well, former segregationists like North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms, union busters, rightwing capitalists, right-to-lifers and others. T ra d i tional Republican conservatism has tried to "stop the clock” o f social and economic progress for Blacks, Latinos, women, labor, and other oppressed groups. The Reaganites, conversely, are aggressively attempt O F E V ID E N C E W OULD R E E N 0 U 6 H ? Portland Observer •At urti > Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association ' 1 a»4**>** The P o n tan d Observer rU S P S 959 6801 it publiehed every Thursday by Erne Publishing Company. Inc . 2201 North Killings worth Portland. Oregon 97217. Post Office Bo» 3137. Portland. Oregon 9720B Second class (Mistsge paid at Portland Oregon The f o r Hand Observer was established in 1970 MEMBER Subscriptions »15 00 per year in the Tri-County eras Post m aster Send address changes to the Portland Observer. P 0 Bo« 3137 Portland, Oregon 97208 Associefron - Founded TM3 A lfred L. Henderson, Editor/Publisher A l Williams, General Manager IS PORTLAND OBSERVER □ »15 tor one year □ »25 for two t Bo» 3137 Portland OR 97208 I I ■ Apt CITV state 283 2486 zip National Advertising Representative A m algam ated Publishers. Inc N ew York cèCLacp ing, and succeeding, at moving the nation and the world backward in a vicious and demagogic manner. These reactionaries are not con servative; they are radicals who demand social inequality at home, and war abroad. As Republican Congressman Jack Kemp proudly asserted at the Republican National Convention, the Party’s 1984 plat form is "th e most radical party document in years." The G O P platform offers a mon strous vision o f society, remade in the distorted image o f the radical right. On domestic economic policies, the radical Republicans call for the elimination of a graduated income tax, and the creation o f "e n terprise zones in urban and rural Am erica,” which would require the waving o f environmental protection laws and the minim um wage . In Reagan’s first two years in office, the corporate tax rate was slashed 50 percent, and anti-trust laws were relaxed to foster huge corporate mergers which generate profits but no new jobs. Reagan's 1981 budget cuts increased the number of Americans below the poverty line by 2.2 m illion, according to a recent study by the Congressional Resear ch Service. Taxes on the poor in creased 23 percent in 1984 alone be cause o f Reagan. I f Reagan is re elected, we can fully anticipate a political escalation o f attacks on the poor, and greater welfare for the rich. O n social policies and civil rights, the G O P platform is even more radical. The Republicans call for capital punishment — despite (he fact that not a single study has ever shown that the death penalty reduces violent crime. O n welfare programs, the Reaganites call for greater social service reductions and promise to "em ploy the latest technology to combat welfare fra u d ." O n housing, the platform urges the federal government to halt all housing funds " to any com m un ity which erodes its own housing supply by rent c o n tro l." O n abor tion rights, the G O P reaffirm ed its support for an anti-abortion C o n stitutional Am endm ent, stating that "w e oppose the use o f public reve nues for abortion and wilt eliminate funding for organizations which ad vocate or support ab o rtio n ." The Reagan Adm inistration's bitter op position to racial equality has been clearly manifested in its 1983 purge o f the US C ivil Rights Commission, opposition to affirm ative action, and its concern for "reverse dis crim inatio n" against whites. The 1984 platform denounces the “ twisting" o f civil rights en fo r cement in what it terms the “ ex cessive interference in the education process. W e support tuition tax credits" for private, usually all- white schools. On international issues, the radical Reaganites embrace an agen- day which reinforces racism, im perialism and global war. Promising to "keep the peace by keeping our country stronger than any potential adversary,” the Republicans call for unprecedented increases in nuclear and conventional weapons spen ding. The platform applauds "th e liberation o f G renada,” and warns that "N icaragua cannot be allowed to remain a Communist sanctu ary, exporting terror and arms throughout the region.” The Republicans denounce the Soviets as " a threat to freedom and peace on every continent," but are mute on the vicious racist state o f South A f rica. The document even goes so far as to "re a ffirm our commitment to the rights o f all South Africans," which is simply another way of defending white m inority rule. In short, the reelection o f Ronald Reagan will mean almost certainly a U .S . invasion o f Nicaragua in the next two years; the strengthening of the apartheid regime and its crim inal wars against Zim babwe, Angola and M ozam bique; the de struction o f civil rights laws; the re duction o f Social Security payments to the elderly; the introduction of fundamentalist religious dogma into our schools; and the erosion o f the enviroment and health safety stan dards in the workplace. M illions have already died or been hurled in to poverty and joblessness under Reagan; now millions more face the same fate. The Republican platform represents a "u nited fro n t” o f all radical reactionaries and the corpor ate elite, from the Ku Klux Kian — who has again publicly endorsed Reagan — to W all Street. Indeed, the W all Street Journal recently de clared, "anyone who would dis miss the controversial parts of the platform is simply declaring how out o f touch he or she has become." The platform is "m ean ing ful” and should "guide government for a good w hile.” The W all Street Jour nal’s editorial illustrates just how far to the right the G O P has moved. The radical right must be stopped on election day at all costs, before the very existence o f U .S . democra cy is sacrificed.
