Page 4, Portland Observer, March 27,1966
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EDITORIAL/OPINION
Give humanity a chance
The current wave o f violence in South Africa
is typical o f a dying colonialism and the corre
lation between the 1963 observations o f Frantz
Fanon in his book, “ The Wretched o f the Earth“
and South A frica today is too strong to ignore.
Fanon was a Black psychiatrist who observed
the Algerian Revolution when the Algerians
fought the French for their independence. In
1963 Fanon called South Africa "colonialism.”
“ Apartheid creates a world o f permanent ten
sion. The settlers pit brute force against the
weight o f numbers.”
In South A frica the Black population is 22.7
million. The white population is 4.7 million.
Although Blacks comprise over 72 percent o f the
population, they can live permanently on only
13 percent o f the total land. To maintain eco
nomic, political and social control the minority
regime employs a complex system o f security
measures supplied by American multi-nationals
such as International Business Machines (IB M ).
Fanon wrote, "T h e settlers keep alive in the
native an anger which he deprives o f an o u tle t..
only to trap the native in tight links o f the chains
o f colonialism.” This anger has boiled over and
the South African Black is willing to die for their
freedom. Oregonians have an opportunity to
contribute to a non-violent movement called
divestment before violence escalates to a point
involving that entire region and the entire world.
Representative Margaret Carter, who intro
duced House Bill 2001, has charted us a road
which will prohibit new investment by the Pub
lic Employees’ Retirement Fund, State Bank
deposits and other public funds from propping
up the colonialists in power who retain control
by force. Whatever violence occurs after the
votes in Salem are counted, if Oregon is still
funding the virus called apartheid, the blood
shed by the regime trying to maintain oppres
sion and the lives sacrificed by both Blacks and
whites in pursuit o f freedom will be on the hands
o f all Oregonians.
For once, let’s maintain a position that we
will no, be ashamed o f in the year 2001, a mere
16 years from now. O ur children need no, live
with the guilt o f our reluctance to avoid violence
by our willingness to tolerate apartheid for the
sake o f a buck when profitable alternatives exist.
Let’s give humanity a chance in the year 2001.
Encourage your state senator and state repre
sentative to vote "yes” on House Bill 2001.
Let’s stop the bloodshed now!
Letters to the Editor
The Observer welcomes tetters to
the editor. Letters should be typed
or neatly printed and signed with the
author's name and address (ad
dresses are not published) We re
serve the right to edit fo r length. Mail
to: Portland Observer, P. O. Box
3137, Portland, OB 97308
Recapture
neighborhoods
To Ihe Editor,
Whenever people «re being dehu
manized and Iheir neighborhoods are
bang held hostage by pimps, whores,
Johns and drug dealas, ii becomes
the business o f the religious commun
ity o f the entire area.
Parts o f north and northeast Port
land are being made most unlivablc
by an element that defies (he authori
ties and makes a mockery o f the jus
tice system. Women cannot go to the
store without being harassed Young
girls cannot ride Tri-M ct on Union
Avenue without the fear o f pressure
for prostitution and drugs.
Some people tell us that there arc
those who could care less about what
happens in our neighborhoods and
say that prostitution and its accom
panying destruction o f patple and
p ro paty ’ ’belongs over there" —
meaning in our community.
Some groups argue that legalizing
prostitution can solve the problem. It
would Io w a the crime statistics but
not the devastation o f communities.
We consider the push to legalize pros
titution now under way in the Slate
legislature (H B 2940) is to be an as
sault on the justice system and on
the faith beliefs o f the great majority
o f the religious community.
W e feel that lack o f support from
(he greater community is not a lack
of concan but a lack o f undastand-
ing. I f we can get the support o f
the religious community, we can solve
- -
M lO r e q » »
» •
Association
™
JO H N LEU TH O LD
Chairperson, Board o f Elders
Not our kind
To the Editor,
She's our color, but not our kind. I
am hoping to help some of the Black
men and women at OSP, O S O and
O W C C . Ms. Hazel G. Hayes - the
chairperson of the Parole Board and
the chairperson o f the N .A .A .C .P . in
Portland — is without a doubt "Miss
Uncle T o m .”
This so-called Black woman came
into our Black club meeting here at
OSP to answer questions that w a e
concerning Black brothas and sisters.
She came to this concerned meeting,
v a y staggering drunk and made a
statement with the word that Blacks
have been trying to erase as part of
the vocabulary.
After one o f our beautiful Black
sistas from O W C C asked her why
she refused to answer any o f her three
tetters — one was sent by Express
Mail and Ms. Hayes had to sign for it
— Ms. Hayes refused to answer the
young lady's question. As she sat
down, she said to C h a lm a Jones,
who is an o th a Black parole board
pason, "T hat's why I don’t like
niggas "
Ten to 15 Black men and women
overheard Ms. Hayes' arrogant state
ment and things got a little out of
hand. During the dispute, Ms
Hayes' money was stolen out o f her
handbag. She did not know until
one o f our snitching brothers wrote
and told her who did it.
There is no understanding when a
Black person comes to Ms. Hayes and
h a KKK members By the metrix
system, my parole release date was
December of '84. Because of my sev
en years minimum sentence, which
the parole board could have over
ruled but refused to even though
they have released three other men
years ago that were involved in the
same crime. They all have been to
prison numerous times before this in
cident and are back today. Also, the
parole board overruled their mini
mum and withheld mine.
I had neva been incarcaated in
my life before this. I would have writ
ten this later many moons ago, but I
was afraid of doing so when I had
to go up before the parole board.
Now I have almost complaed my
time and th ae is nothing for me to be
afraid of, for th a e is no way I can
hurt myself by presenting the (ruth to
the N .A .A .C .P .
I am asking for the support of the
N .A .A .C .P ., Black United front.
Urban League and the people o f our
community to help those of us that
have not been pushed over the line to
w hae there is no more existence in
society. WA Y N E H O W A K D ^ 2 ,f)/
Portland Observer
H
Publishers
the problem.
The Board o f Elders o f Mallory
Avenue Christian Church is address
ing the problem, and we need your
help and support. You and your or
ganization can help in three ways:
I) Become informed about the devas
tation o f on-the-street prostitution
and open drug sales; and how it ad-
vasely impacts on entire communi
ties. 2) Contact your state legislators
and ask that H B 2940 be defeated.
3) Call Mayor Clark. Chief Harring
ton, and District Attorney Schrunk to
ask for enforcement of laws now on
the books (or write them).
We can help with the first step.
Bob Nelson, an Elder and a Trustee
o f Mallory Church, is active in com
munity groups trying to recapture
our neighborhoods. Call Bob, 287-4050,
and arrange a meeting with various
groups in your area to hear our story.
The problem is real and a solution
must be found and soon, before peo
ple decide to act on their own — one
to one — with their tormentors.
**
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25 years of struggle marked
by Corbin Seavers
Tw oity-five years ago this month,
69 Black South Africans (Azanians)
men, women and children lost their
lives peacefully demonstrating against
the apartheid govanm ent's Pass
Laws, this is such an historic occa
sion in the ant 1-apartheid struggle
that the United Nations officially
recognizes March 21 as the Interna
tional Day for the Elimination of
Racial Discrimination in memory o f
the Sharpeville Massacre. Nobel lau-
rate Bishop Desmond Tutu describes
the pass laws as "the most resented
feature o f a hated system" and says
the pass books, "m ore than anything
else in South Africa, demonstrate that
the Black pason is a second class citi
zen in the land o f his birth.”
All Africans over the age o f 16
must carry an identity book called a
"pass" at all limes or face imprison
ment if caught without it. The pass
contains the pason’s fingerprints,
ahnic background, place o f birth,
residence, employment and even
tax information. It is a key instrument
in the South African government’s
enforcement and application o f the
Group Areas Act which tells the A fri
can majority where they can and
cannot stay; the several Bantu Laws
defining the relationship of Africans
to white establishments and places o f
nnploymcnt; and the Influx Control
Acts which restrict the mvoement o f
Africans to the urban areas. All these
laws arc known as the Pass I jiws
instituted by the white minority gov-
anm ent in South Africa to restrict
and control all African labor and
movement.
"The survival o f white supremacy
in Azania (South A frica) is dependent
on the continued suppression o f the
indigenous people,
restrict their
movement a ril put them in places
w hae they can always be seen and
controlled,” explains exiled Azanian
N. M . Muendane.
The pass books represent the pass
laws because without the former it
would be impossible to implement
the latter, and it is for this reason
the March 21, I960, anti-pass cam
paign led by the kPan Africanist C on
gress of Azania represented a direct
challenge to racist minority rule in
South Africa. Il struck at the heart
o f the apartheid system:
The pan Africanist Congress o f
Azania (P A C ) holds the belief “ that
the acceptance o f any indignity, any
insult, any humiliation is the accep
tance o f inferiority." Once the mind
is free, explains the P A C leadership,
"the body will soon be free and once
white supremacy has become mentally
untenable to our people, it will be
come physically untenable to o !"
Armed with this perspective and
understanding o f liberation the P A C
led tens o f thousands o f Africans to
peacefully protest the pass laws by
burning their pass books and giving
themselves up for arrest. P A C Chair
man J. N. Pokcla describes that fol
lowed on that infamous day:
"L ik e all reactionaries threatened
by mass and popular action the South
African racists, too, reacted with
brute force against unarmed men,
women and children. At Sharpeville,
69 Azanians were killed in cold blood
and 186 wounded, many saiously.
Also in response to the challenge
posed by the mass-oriented March 21,
I960 campaign, the racist regime de
clared a state o f emergency, arrested
and incarcerated P A C leaders and
members and hurriedly passed a legis
lation to ban the liberation move
ments (the Pan Africanist Congress
and the African National Con
gress)."
The white minority government
detained 18,000 people, banned pub
lic meetings, enforced press censor
ship and sent several military con
voys into Black townships. Il even
took the unprecedented step o f sus
pending the pass books for 17 days.
Foreign companies panicked thinking
a revolution might occur soon and
quickly withdrew 48 million dollars
from South Africa causing for its
foreign reserves to plummet. There
was enough o f a political crisis that
many South Africans thought the
partheid government might soon
collapse until U S. banks came to its
rescue with emergency loans.
For the struggling African major
ity, the Sharpeville massacre had its
impact too. “ Overnight, Sharpeville
showed the w ay," writes PA C mem
ber David Dube. " It injected a new
confidence in the African. Il taught
the importance o f self-reliance. It
showed the African that he was his
IPIeuse rum to Page 10, Column !)