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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 2, 1985)
Page 4, Portland Observer, January 2, 1985 jeMie -itos tub PwarewT... i oh ? whaj posrnov EDITORIAL/OPINION We won't miss Ivancie The departure o f Frank Ivancie as M ayo r o f Portland is no great loss to the inner city or com munities o f color. As M ayo r he ignored the inner city and the policies he penned treated people o f color and o f low-income with contempt. During the Ivancie regime the C ity ’s A ffirm a tiv e A ction enforce ment was criminally lacking. As M ayor he could have provided an example o f leadership by opening employment at City Hall to all residents and not just to those who illuminated and regur gitated Ivancie’s ideology. The form er M a y o r’s idea o f city-financed development side-stepped the inner city. The current Central City plan is budgeted for $350,- 000 to revitalize pockets o f d o w n to w n , the M acadam C o rrid o r, Llo yd C enter, Buckman and Hosford-Abernathy neighborhoods. The inner Northeast, which has never had an effective development plan implemented, was left out o f any type o f development as Ivancie rubberstamped this exclusion and Commission er Margaret Strachan spearheaded it. Ivancie’s handling o f the opossum-throwing police incident, where police officers threw dead opossums in front o f a Black-owned restaurant, was arrogant and insulting. He swiped the police Bureau away fro m form er Com m issioner Charles Jordan and played the A fro-A m erican com m u n ity fo r chumps. H e never saw fit to apologize to the community who suffered under the racism, manipulations and criminal activities from the c ity ’s “ fin est.” Instead, Ivancie had to eat his arrogance as he was swept away in a tidal wave o f Police misconduct. His plow to kill the Police Auditing Committee backfired as the voters forced accountability out o f Ivancie. A national movement ushered in the end o f Ivancie as M ayor o f Portland. It was called “ re claim ing p o litics.” The person that led this movement was Jesse Jackson and the base he used was the Rainbow Coalition. In Portland the Rainbow Coalition registered 4,000 new voters who were casualties o f the Ivancie adm in istratio n . Ivancie’s handling o f the opossum incident, the city’s high unemploy ment rate fo r people o f color, urban under development and all the inequities suffered when a deaf ear at C ity H a ll left a bitter taste in the mouths o f these new voters who cast their bal lots for an unknown — Bud Clark. An unknown leader is better than a known manager and Ivancie was more o f a manager than a M ayo r. A question o f ethics has to be raised as Ivancie takes the experience financed by C ity taxpayers to start a privately-owned consulting firm. As M a y o r Ivancie kept Portland a decade behind by adhering to the status quo, his leader ship, or lack o f leadership ab ility, hurt the C ity ’s m ajority as well as the m inority. Honest historians will look back on the Ivancie era and call it non-progressive, short-sighted and un balanced. Needless to say, the C ity and nation changed while the m anager-m ayor stayed the same. African and Black American connections Along the C o lor Line by D r. M anning M arable In recent weeks, thousands o f Americans have participated in dem onstrations denouncing South A f r i ca’s o ffic ia l policy o f white racism. The initiato r o f the nonviolent pro tests was Randall Robinson, the ex ecutive d irecto r o f T ra n s a fric a , a Washington-based foreign policy lob bying group. In a strategy session with Congressman W alter Fauntroy and U.S. Civil rights Commissioner M ary F. Berry held several weeks after the presidential election, Robinson pro posed the revival o f M a rtin Luther K in g ’s nonviolent direct action pro tests to dram atize the recent repres sion o f Blacks under the apartheid regime. Robinson, Berry, and Faunt- roy staged a small symbolic protest in front o f the South A frican Embassy on Thanksgiving eve, and they were " p le a s a n tly su rp ris ed " when the embassy officials panicked and tailed the police. Their arrests, like those of the four Black students protesting Am erica’s version o f apartheid in Greensboro, N o rth C a ro lin a , nearly a quarter century ago, sparked a series o f non violent demonstrations. W ith in two weeks, actions were staged at South African consulates in at least a dozen cities, including Salt lake C ity , Bos ton, Chicago, and Houston. Leaders arrested so far represent civil rights organizations, religious groups, labor and lib eral constituencies. In New York City, those arrested for blocking the consulate entrance included Judge W illiam Booth; Rev. Herbert Daugh try, chairperson o f the Black United Front; Roman Catholic Bishop Emer son J. M o o re ; H a zel D ukes, state chairperson of the N A A C P ; and New Y o rk C ity C lerk D avid D in kins. In Washington, D .C ., Joslyn Williams, president o f the Greater Washington, D .C ., Central Labor Council, C o n gressman Parren M itchell and social activist Dick Gregory were arrested. Although much o f white America — and especially the Reagan A dm in istration — was taken by surprise at this sudden burst o f civil rights ac tivism the question o f apartheid has long been a central issue fo r Black and progressive activists. O ne little noticed feature o f the 1984 Democrat ic presidential primaries was the in- creasd focus on U .S . economic and political links w ith the racist South A fric a n regim e. Jesse Jackson re peatedly attacked the Reagan Adm in istration’s growing detente with Pre toria — its decisions to support IM F loans to South Africa, the U.S. train ing o f the South A fric a n Coast G uard, (he sending o f 2,500 electric shock batons Io South African police, and the establishment o f offices in Johannesburg designed to prom ote expanded U .S . investm ent in the country. Jackson’s emphasis on South Africa forced the Democratic Party’s platform committee to call for the immediate release o f African N a tional Congress leader Nelson M a n dela, and for the freeing " o f all other political prisoners in South A fric a .” This was the first time that any major party had denounced apartheid un conditionally. Since the late 1970s Afro-American groups have pressured U .S . en ter tainers and athletes not to perform in side South A frica. The boycott cam paign was in itia te d by sm all Black com m unity-based groups, but in recent years has mushroomed. This month in Los Angeles, a local group “ U n ity in A c tio n " threatened to picket the N A A C P ’ s 17th annual Im age Aw ards ceremony fo r Black p erfo rm ers, unless tw o p ro m inent nominees w ho had toured South A fric a , T in a Turner and Daniebelle H a ll, were rejected. G iven that the awards were designed to honor enter tainers who have presented "positive images o f Blacks," the N A A C P had little choice but to drop Turner and Hall O n college campuses, students have organized a divestment m ove ment to pressure universities to with draw funds fro m com panies doing business in South Africa, iodate, over 40 universities have divested more than $175 million in stocks linked tri South Africa. Since 1979, Black lead ers have secured divestment legisla tion in Massachusetts, Philadelphia, W ash ing to n, D .C ., C o n necticu t, Michigan, M aryland, and dozens o f smaller cities, am ounting to another MOO m illion in public funds. T h o u sands o f Black and while Americans are planning nonviolent demonstra tions and teach-ins fro m M arch 21 through April 6, 1985 to promote the cause o f democracy in South Africa. Reaganites are adm ittedly hostile to the anti-apartheid movement, but are increasingly on the defensive. W hen the recent wave o f protests >>.gan, ad m in istratio n officials an nounced that they w ould have ab solutely " n o im p a c t" on Reagan's cordial policies to w ard apartheid. "T h e real losers in this are the Black c o m m u n ity ," blurted one W hite House official, in a curious display of inverted logic. But a group of 35 Con gressional conservatives, led by Re publican Congressman robert W a lk er, have warned the adm inistration that even they w ould "seek sanc tions” against South A frica unless it moved im m ediately to halt racial violence and "demonstrated a sense o f urgency about ending segregation laws.” Under pressure from both the left and the right, Reagan reluctantly agreed to meet Anglican bishop Des mond T u tu , recent w inner o f the Nobel Peace Prize, to discuss apart heid. The recent demonstrations indi cate that the civil rights movement in the U .S . has absolutely no intention to capitulate to racism, whether from Johannesburg or Reagan’ s W hite House. Dr. M anning M arab le leaches p o litical sociology al Colgate University. H a m ilto n , N e w York. “ A lo ng the C o lo r L in e ” appears in ¡4 0 news papers internationally. Portland Observer ill Í O re q o ” N e w s p jp e r Publishers Association I ,o«»‘ H tS/a s,a The P o n ltn d O b trr v r r rU S P S 959 680i it published every Thuredey by i« ie Publishing Company. Inc . 2301 North Killings worth. Portland. Oregon 97217, Post OMice Bo» 3137, Portland. Oregon 97208 Second class postage peel at Portland. Oregon MEMBER Subscriptions 115 00 par year in the Tri County tree P o s t m aster Send address changes to the Portland Observer, P O. Bo» 3137. Portland Oregon 97208 A lfre d L. Henderson, E ditor/P ublisher AaaociaMon - Founded IBM A ! Williams, G eneral M anager 'fa g a / « •V IH * im i The Portland O bw rvr' wes esleblished in 1970 *• i«ei 283-2486 National Advertising Representative A m algam ated P u b lis h * Inc. N ew York ON SOUTH AFRICA by Randall Robinson This is a tale of two tragedies. The first tragedy is the story o f the 20-year unjust imprisonment o f the w o rld ’s most gifted and principled Black visionaries. The second tragedy is that most Am ericans, Black Americans included, have heard o f neither the man nor his plight. The great man's name is Nelson Mandela. His is not a household name in America like A n drei S akh aro v’ s. The reason is not complicated. M andela is locked up for opposing not Soviet repression, but South A frican w hite-m in o rity tyranny. Ronald Reagan has use for Sakharov because he is white and op poses A m erica's mokst form idable communist foe. Reagan has no use for M andela because he is Black and opposes a new Am erican ally, the Republic of South Africa. A fte r the famous 1964 Rivonia trial, Mandela and several other free dom activists were sent to prison for working to dismantle a South African system that empowers four and a half m illion whites to deny 22 m illion Blacks the right to vote, to assemble freely, to own land, to travel, to bear arms, to obtain a trial and due proc ess, to do anything save scarcely breathe. Mandela is now 66 years old. His children, babies at the time of his incarceration, had reached (heir teens before they were allowed to see their father fo r the first tim e. His w ife, W innie, has spent many years under house arrest. In the span o f Mandela’s imprison ment, over three and a h a lf m illion Black South Africans have been forc ibly relocated to worthless patches of land set aside by the white apartheid: 87 percent o f the land reserved for four and a h a lf m illion whites, the remaining 13 percent for 22 m illion Blacks. T o d ate, some nine m illio n Blacks, assigned to one Black reserva tion or another, have been stripped of South African citizenship. Last year, M andela was told he could go free if he would report to his assigned res ervation. H e declined the o ffe r. He remains behind bars. Adherence to principle and a sustained claim to his people's b irthrig h t rank above any circumscribed personal liberty. For Ronald Reagan’s part, he does not want to debate Am erican policy toward South A fric a in this election season. L ittle w onter. D u rin g the three and a half short years of reagan affection, the South A frican regime has invaded or destabilized every neighboring independent A fric a n country, continued its illegal occupa tion o f N a m ib ia , stepped up dena tion alization o f the Black m a jo rity and increased the torture o f Black dissidents. T o help with the torture, the Rea gan ad m in istratio n provided the South A fric a n white w ith 2,500 crowd-control shock batons. T o help with m ilita ry aggression against neighboring Blacks and police re pression against local Blacks, the reagan A d m in is tratio n pushed through a loan to South Africa from the International Monetary Fund of S l . l b illio n . This figure represents almost exactly the amount by which South A fric a increased its m ilitary budget shortly before the loan was granted. T o rub our faces in this growing Afrikaner-American alliance, Reagan has vigorously opposed lelgislation that would pro hib it further invest ment, loans and m ilitary sales to the w hite m in ority government. And while kthe $14.6 billio n Am erican corporate stake in South A fric a has steadily expanded over the last 20 years, the rate o f growth has jumped dramatically under Reagan. Amdrei Sakharov’s travail is much chronicled here. Lech Walesa was Tim e m agazine’s man o f the year. Ask any American who Nelson M an dela is. A look o f blankness results. He is the man who would be the first Black president o f South Africa were only his people allowed to vote. In his first term , Ronald Reagan has used our ignorance to ignore the man and prop up his captors. A second-term Reagan is certain to be even more cruelly calloused. W here to lay the blame? O n the white South A fric a n m in o rity , Ronald Reagan, the Western allies, corporate A m e r ica and, lastly, a slumbering, unknow ing, uncaring American citizenry. Copyright© 1984 by Essence Com m unications Inc. Reprinted by p e r mission. (P O S A F is a local m ulti-racial citi zens action group that supports Black m ajority rule in Southern A frica and an end to U.S. support f o r apartheid. For more information call 238-9427.) Letters to the Editor The Observer welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be typed or neatly printed and signed with the au th o r's nam e an d address (a d dresses are n o t published). We re serve the right to edit f o r length. M ad to: P o rtla n d Observer, P. O. Box 3137, Portland. O R 97208 "Uncle Tom" sour grapes To the Editor, In response to the letter by Danny K. Boyd, it sounded like sour grapes to us. Anyone who knows Ronnie M artin knows the time he has put in without pay, on his days o ff, to better condi tions fo r brothers inside o f Oregon State Penitentiary. T o call him an "U n d e T o m ” is lu dicrous and an unforgivable insult. As for the inmates, we are aware that they have worked hard to put on forums and benefits in this commun ity. O ne thousand people enjoyed the free music and food at the Youth Festival last summer, and some o f the inm ates had to go in to th eir own pockets to m ake it possible. They tried to put something positive back into this community. There has been no " U n c le T om - m in g " to disguise conditions " I n side.** W e w onder i f D ann y K . |p y d brought his com plaints to Rofcnie M a rtin or the inm ates, before pub licizing them ; not only b efo re the Black C o m m u n ity , but the w hite community A N D the prison officials that he is so critical of. W ho is more the “ Uncle T o m ," or "S ello ut? " W e are glad M r. Boyd is no low-lifed “ ju n k ie ." For this he de serves a pat on the back, but if this is the same Danny K. Boyd who stabbed two (2) women in the Copper Penny Restaurant and Lounge, perhaps he should spend his time examining his O W N C H A R A C T E R and crimes against the Black Community, instead o f publicly discrediting the character o f his fellow inmates and that o f Ron nie M a rtin . Ronnie has been one o f (he most respected and appreciated employees at O .S .P . by the brothers incarcerated there. KEN T FORD M A X IN E P A R K E R BOB W EST H A T T IE L E F F A L L M E L O D IE R O B ER TYS LEROY T U R N E R "Uncle Tom " rebuttal To the Editor, In response to a letter to the editor (N o Uncle Tom s) which appeared in the P o rtla n d Observer's December 19th edition the members o f Uhuru Sa Sa would like to offer this rebuttal. Uhuru Sa Sa is a fraternity o f Black inmates in Oregon Penitentiary, and feel comments concerning M r. Ron M artin were an inaccurate portrayal o f his duties as M in o rity A ffa irs D i rector. In his capacity Ron M a r tin has served Black inmates and other minorities well. It was alleged when confronted w ith problems o f racial mistreatment, he simply sits "b la n k - fac ed ." this is not true. The fact is, Ron M a rtin is the only m inority on the executive level in this institution, and usually finds him self standing alone at the executive level when seek ing resolutions to the many racial inequities in this prison. Ron has been instrum ental in e f fecting changes in the prison’s matrix system, a system which determines the actual length o f time an inmate must serve before parole, and one which was holding Blacks in prison longer than their white counterparts. Also, he has helped this organization send some o f its most responsible members out w ithin the comm unity on speak ing engagements, youth projects, and other com m unity services w ithout incident. The truth is many o f Uhuru Sa Sa’s achievements are directly tied to the assistance from the Office o f M inority A ffa ir s . In defense, we fin d M r . M artin highly visible, accessible, re sponsible, and most o f all a Black man — not an Uncle Tom . Membership o f Uhuru Sa Sa
