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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 26, 1984)
‘’«►-RT’-I '• • - • • > Page 2, Portland Observer, December 26,1984 LEW WILLIAMS CADILLAC P.C.C. incubator business robbed by bob Lotbtan Executive C u tio m Ta ilo rin g In terna tio n a l, a new b u tin e tt lest than three months old and part of the business incu bator program at P C C Cascade, was cleaned out o i its merchandise Frid ay nighi December 2 1st. Ihe robbery was a rude C hristmas pres enl fo r owner W illie Banks. H e said a recent shipment o f J5 men's suits valued at about 514,000 was taken by the ro b bers, who also made o ff with an electric typewriter and bank deposit slips The rob bers appeared to have entered through a window in Banks’ office at the Cascade Business Center at 57 J N Killingsworlh " O h boy, what a way to start a busi ness," said Banks " I'm trying to promote jobs, and this is just a real setback. I'm just disgusted, that's all.” Banks said the stolen items were covered by insurance, and while the robbery was a setback, he was ready to bounce back " W e 'r e going on with the business," said Banks, who intends to go ahead with plans for a shop downtown at the Gallena and for a training program for 20 unem ployed men and women Executive Tailoring was accepted into the incubator program in November PCX by PCC. The college, in conjunction with the Small Business A dm inistration, pro vides a shelter for up to three years until the new businesses are on their feet and can move into the community Businesses accepted into the incubator program must be at least 50 percent minor- ity or female owned and at least half owned by neighborhood residents Owners work under a three year plan with a con sulting group o f C P A s, attorneys and marketing people, and they agree to hire and train unemployed or underemployed workers and to try and locale their bust next in the low income community One of the six incubating businesses at the center. Magnum Protective Services, owned by Karl Johns, was the recipient of the first minority business loan from the Portland Development ( ommission WILLIE BANKS (Photo: Richard J. Brown) provides Banks with an office and work space for his four seamstresses and tailors and their equipment at low rent. Secre tarial and janitorial help, accounting, pay roll and computing services are provided Banks' four employees work at custom fitting of clothes for men, women and chil dren " W e 'll actually come to your busi ness and custom tailor your suit," he said "W e deal in high quality merchandise, af fordable to anyone within a reasonable price range " A bo . Banks added. "I plan to train some o f the best tailors in the dry.” 633N.E. 12th Portland. Oregon 97206 “ I like to see people dress nice and look good," said Banks “ It's very important ui the job market to look your best.” E x pressing concern for the unemployed and disadvantaged. Banks said he plans to contact such people "and help them in any way to prepare for future jobs." Banks does not shirk work " I ’m a man that takes on resp o n s ib ility," he said. " M y dad trained me to take on responsi bility and do a good job, and that's what I plan to do w ith this business." W hile the robbery is a m om entary setback. Banks said that by the end o f three years he hopes to have 20 employees, a shop downtown and connections with Hong Kong clothing manufacturers Examining the laws of apartheid............. It*» a “ crim e” fo r a black couple from tw o separate areas, or "h om e la n d s ,” in South A fr ic a io m arry. " Im a g in e , i t ’ s like p ro h ib itin g a M arylan d er fro m wedding a G eo r gian,” says Dr. Nana Seshihe, a Black South African expatriate. I l ’s also illegal for a Black to super vise a white in South Africa. Ironical ly, this collides w ith the Sullivan Prin ciples, w hich encourage U .S . companies in South Africa to advance Blacks in to management positions, she indicates. And it’s sure detention for a Black South A fric a n caught in ' ‘ w h ite ” South Africa without a pass. These are everyday realities Blacks face under the ra c ia lly segregated system o f a p a rth e id , according to Seshihe (pronounced Sea-she-be), a professor in the H o w a rd University A frican Studies and Research P ro gram. M a n y A m ericans are aw are o f ap artheid only in a general sense. But the laws o f the land that Blacks must abide by, or su ffer stark con sequences, paint a m ore com plete picture, she emphasizes. Since Bishop Desmond Tutu, gen eral secretary o f the South A fric a n Council o f Churches, was named the 1984 winner o f the Nobel Peace Prize, sensitivity and awareness o f the impli cations o f apartheid have heightened. H is con tin u in g denouncem ent o f apartheid as evil and im m oral, liken ing it to Nazism and C om m unism , has echoed around the globe. But South A fric a’s commitment to ap artheid — or separatio n o f the races — holds deep roots, formulated into policies that exclude participation by 23 million Black South Africans in the a ffa irs o f a governm ent d o m i nated by the 4 .7 m illio n w hite m i nority. Indeed, South A fric a is a nation ruled by law — laws that sustain apartheid despite m ounting w o rld wide criticism p o in tin g to hum an rights violations. Since the inception o f apartheid in 1948, m ore than 350 laws or acts targeted solely tow ard Blacks have been passed, says Seshihe. These are laws made by the white m inority government w ithout input from Blacks, who are denied the right to vote or hold office. " N o b o d y interprets, or counsels Blacks on the laws," stresses Seshihe. “ They only learn about the laws after they are applied to them ." A key instrum ent to co n tro l the movement o f Blacks in South Africa is the "pass law s,” initiated in the 1950s. Every Black in "w h ite” South A fric a must he able to produce a "pass h o o k ” to au th o rities on de mand or face a host o f penalties, including imprisonment. In 1982, more than 200,000 people were arrested under (he pass laws. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People 284 7722 according to a report citing the Johannesburg Star newspaper. Because most o f the nation's eco nomic activity is in the w hile areas, the pass laws play a significant role in labor control, M illio n s o f Africans are migrant workers who must leave their rural hom elands fo r em ploym ent in the cities, having to travel long distances and living away from their families in barracks-like hostels. Says Seshihe: “ A father may work in a factory or mine in Johannesburg while the mother may work as a serv ant in Capetown, leaving the children A PuMc Senne» ut lite Portland Observer As a result o f the act, some families were forced to separate and fam ily members prohibited form visiting un less expressly permitted by the gov ernment, says Seshihe. C ad illac A Recognized Industry FIRST IN Quality Comfort £ Prestige Performanci Value Don I tattle lor leas when you deserve use beat Stop by and visit Our showroom or call Cleophas Smith 233-6461 I can pul you in the drivers seat today Are You Tired of the Scary Curl, the Four Day Curl or the Now You See it. Now You Don't Curl? TRY US WHIPS AND WAVES 4B43N.E. Unkxi Ph 2493900 AND GET YOUR HAIR TOGETHER Curt.......................................3 6 .0 0 Cuts................................ 10.00 Press & Curts................. 15.00 Pacai.............................. 15.00 ACR Nai..................... 30.00 M akeu p ........................15.OO Colore............................. 25.00 Tints................................ 17.00 LA W A N D A BJ The Self-Government Act is intend ed to make the homelands independ ent nations w ith in South A fric a , stripping Africans of their citizenship, Seshihe emphasizes, pointing to Bish op Desmond Tutu's status as an ex ample. The Nobel Peace Prize winner in a speech at How ard University in November noted: " I travel on a docu ment that describes my nationality as 'undetermined at present'.” BISHOP DESMOND TUTU behind with elders or left alone to take care o f themselves. This is a method of destroying ihe whole family unit.” The educator also points out that Blacks are primarily relegated to me nial jobs. "T h e re is no place for an A fric a n decision-m aker in any ca pacity (under apartheid).’* U n d er the In te rn a l Security and Terrorism acts, almost any person can he detained w ithout charge or trial, and held incommunicado indefinitely for posing a challenge to the regime. " B o th are so loosely d ra fte d that Am erican courts w ould almost cer tainly rule similar statues unreason ably vague," says the 1981 report of the Study Commission on U.S. Policy Toward Southern A frica, chaired by F ra n k lin A . T ho m as, president o f Ihe Ford Foundation. And there is considerable evidence to show that political detainees are commonly tortured and abused d u r ing inierrogation iy security police in South Africa, according to a spokes woman with Amnesty International, which m onitors abuses o f hum an rights globally. Looking back at 1984 (Continuedfrom Page I, Column 6) photographs o f her w ith another w om an. Voters gave O regon the death penalty, a Citizen U tility Board and four more years o f the Reagan Administration. Charles Leech became a victim o f a motiveless shooting as he is shot by a white male on U n io n A venue. Hop« 3 0 6 N E 20th Portland OR 9 7232 In 1959 — 11 years a fte r the de scendants o f early D utch settlers launched apartheid — the Afrikaner government introduced the Self-Gov ernment Act that divided and forced the Africans into 10 separate "hantus- lan areas,” or “ h om elan ds," fra g mented by their 10 respective native tongues. By driving each African-language group to separate rural homelands, com m unications am ong A frican s have been m inim ized, adds the pro fessor of African languages. Africans are also barred from re siding in any o f the small or m ajor dries, and are divided along linguistic- lines in townships outside the urban centers. The “ co lou reds" and In dians are restricted to designated urban areas, too. A Public Service of the Portland Observer Reared in Soweto (South-Western Townships), home o f some 2 million Blacks near Johannesburg, Seshihe recalls being arrested and b riefly jailed, along with her father, for cor responding with associates in another country. A fter fleeing her native land, Se shihe completed her high-school edu cation in Tanzania. Subsequently, she earned degrees at American schools, including a doctoral degree in edu cation from the University o f Massa chusetts. W h ile c o n tro l o f the land is the foundation o f the apartheid system, 233-6451 Banks, 37, is a c iv il engineer in road design far the U.S Dept of Agriculture in Portland In his spare time, he volunteers as a social worker on hu own and with the N .W . Pilot Project helping senior citizens As part o f his volunteer work he started a clothes closet for seniors and disadvan taged people, gaining the expertise that led him to start his ta ilo rin g business. A l though not a tailor himself, he employs several S.E. Asians who are excellent tail ors, he said. Bishop T utu won the I98 4 Nobel Peace Prize and the Rainbow C o ali tion still glows in the form o f the Ore gon Rainbow Organizing committee. Seshihe points oul, Ihe Nalive Land Act o f I 9 l 3 and the Native Trusl and lztnd Act o f 1936, both iniliated un der British rule, apportioned 13 per cent o f South A fric a 's land to Ihe A fric a n m a jo rity w hile the w hile minority retained 87 percent, includ ing much of the mineral-rich land. Detroit protests (Continued fro m Page I, Column 3) to give up her seal in a Montgomery, Alabama, bus in 1955 helping to forge Ihe civil rights movement, w ill he a featured speaker along w ith C o n gressman John Conyers. Parks, 71, was arrested at the South African Embassy in Washing ton last week. She joined the scores of p olitical and sp iritu a l leaders who have been arrested in fo u r weeks o f anti-apartheid protests at the Em bassy. A t a press conference afte r a re ception held by TransAfrica's Detroit support committee on December 16, a panel consisting o f Congressman John Conyers, Georgia State Senator Julian Bond, Detroit M ayor Coleman Young and TransAfrica (D .C .) exec utive director Randall Robinson dis cussed strategies o f the Free South A frica movement and the likelihood o f it influencing U .S . policy toward apartheid. Robinson had this to say: " W e ’ re in 15 cities now. I see this spreading throughout the United States and E u ro pe. I can v irtu ally promise that in January, in D .C ., you w ill see hundreds o f arrests. W e’ ve lim ited the arrests in D .C . to three per day with great difficulty. Ronald reagan has never denounced ap art heid in the way that he did last week, and in strong terms. That is the first step toward the dismantlement of an unacceptable foreign policy." W hat w ill he the fate o f South A fric a ’ s 23 m illion Blacks? " W h a t ever the South African government docs to rein fo rce the status quo, Black forces inside Ihe country will eventually alter i t , ” says the 1981 report by the Study Commission on U .S . Policy T o w a rd Southern A f rica. Aspartame, like all of our foods, is a chemical. Our consumption is expected to be less than 1.6 grams per day. Only one out of 15,000 people, those with a genet ic defect, need to control the phenylalanine content of their diet. • Australian swimming star Annette Kellerman became the center of a controversy in 1910 when she wore the first one-piece bathing suit. • But a white South African quoted in a recent Parade magazine article noted: "Y o u know, the real name of the game here is pow er. A n d eco nomic power is the power in South A fric a . This is why the whites here will fight to the hitter and bloody end to retain it.” Bishop T u tu believes that " th e only way to avoid a bloodbath w ill he i f the in te rn atio n al com m unity comes to our aid.” President Theodore Roosevelt shook hands w ith 8,513 people at the 1907 New Year's Day W hite House presentation. We d o jio u io business w ith South Africa American State Bank AN INDEPENDENT BANK Head Office 2737 N. E. Union Portland, Oregon 97212 THE KING'S R A N S O M O N LOOSE D IA M O N D S I REG 1.01 et. VSI-F $11,943 9OP/0 NOW $6,997 O N PEARLSI H rn ry Bryant P to p n o ta .56 et. VS2-G $3,060 $1,540 .56 et. W S 2 -1 $3,176 $1.688 7mm Pearl Strands $595 $300 .53 et. W S 2 -1 $3,061 $1,630 8mm Pearl Strands $695 $360 .52 et. SI1-H $2.574 $1787 6mm Freshwater Strands $489 $246 .61 et. SI-2-G $2,384 $1.192 4.5mm Freshwater Strands $150 $76 520 S. W . 5th Ave. REG. N O W 228-6448
