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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 22, 1985)
Krs Frances Schaen-Netnpaper Koon U n iv e rs ity of Oregon Lib rary l u rene, Oregon 97403 Native American Art PSU apartheid protest Page 3 Page 10 kS^OFFS PORTLAND OBSERNIER Volume XV, Number 30 May 22, 1985 25C Copy Two Sections Lee Brown speaks out by lam ia Duke GRASSROOT NEWS, N W Sounding more like a historian than a criminal justice expert, Houston's Police Chief l ee Brown challenged the Portland Urban league to utilize the strategy of "the b»x»k, the buck and the ballot," along with coalition politics at the 1 eague's annual dinner and 40th anniversary on May 16. With iheir new chief executive officer — Herb Cawthorne — ap proved by the National Urban I eague Board, ihc Portland league umbrellas a variety of programs to assist Port land's Alro-American arxl low-income communities. Keynote speaker th ie f Brown established the Criminal Justice pro gram at Portland State University in 1968, served as sheriff and director of public safety tor Multnomah t oun- ty, and from 1978 82 Brown was Public Safely Commissioner in At lanta. Georgia Brown proved to be a student ol history as he compared the current Lae Brown. Houston» Police Chief, addresses by Robert Lothian Ethiopia was once a potential breadbasket for East Africa and the Middle East, "but now is not adiread basket, but a basket case," according to a former Ethiopian Supreme Court Justice. Hapte Selassie was the keynote speaker at a conference on food and African development at PSU May 17. The one day conference, sponsored by the PSU Association of African Students and the Black Studies De partment, brought together students, faculty and the public with govern ment representatives from Ghana, Gabon and Nigeria. Several papers on African devel opment were presented, and panels discussed South Africa and African women in development. According to Selassie, who is now a professor at Georgetown University and Howard University in Washing ton, D.C., most African countries were self-sufficient and net exporters of fixid until about 1944) That changed with the rise of mili tary-bureaucratic states whose ruling elites are unable to deal with funda mental s<x:ial problems, he said. Selassie 4ecried negative media images of Africa. "In TV reports, Africa has been portrayed as a prob lem continent," and Africans as "helpless people," he said. "I know Africa has many problems but cer tainly it isn’t a problem continent " “ Economics is not Africa’s prob lem The fundamental problem 1 have maintained is a political one.” Using Ethiopia as an example, Selassie said he is an outspoken critic of the Ethiopian government, which he described as an everwidening gap between an expanding military-police bureaucracy “ taking a great deal of resources” and “ an increasingly alien ated society.” Ironically, in a coutry that is sup posed to be socialist, "people who are not essentially productive have ended up ruling those who produce.” A socialist development model that forgets Africa's small producers is imposed as an alien doctrine of social organization, he said. "The small farmer should be any African gov ernment's first item on the agenda of development." Ethiopia's govern ment has been criticized for neglecting small farmers in favor of flashy urban development projects. Selassie's personal history reflects the changes that came with Ethio pia’s release from colonialism. He was born an Italian citizen when Ethi opia was an Italian colony, while his brother was born "a British protect ed person," he said. “ When I went to England one fine morning to study I found out I was an Ethiopian." A Iriend who was also a leader in Ethiopia's government alter the 1974 revolution invited him to "come back and help" in the new government. "I don't regret it although I nearly lost my life," he said An Eritrean, Selassie said he sup ports independence for the northern province that has been waging a 25- year war of secession. "What the Eritreans are asking for has been denied and a military solution im posed upon them." The military solution has failed and Selassie called for a referendum — " l et the Eritrean people decide." he said. Dismissal asked WASHINGTON, D C . — Demo crcatic National Chairman Paul G. Kirk, Jr., called for the resignation or immediate dismissal of Marianne Mele Hall, chair of the Copyright Royalty Tribunal. Hall, recently appointed by Presi dent Reagan to the $70,000 per year post, is the co-author of "Founda tions of Sand," a book which states that American Blacks "insist on pre serving their jungle freedoms, their women, their avoidance of personal responsibility and the abhorrence of the work ethic.” were among the i hemes shared by Brown. In an inierview Brown dal noi criticize Philadelphia's Mayor Wilson Cxxxle or the police department for dropping a bomb on the revolution ary group MOVE that destroyed an entire neighbor hood. However, Brown stated, ‘‘I don't think that would have happened in my city. We have other ways to get at a problem than dropping a bomb.” Brown said the law and order cli mate the country is currently experi encing, "will not deal with the prob lerns caused by crime, poverty and unemployment." Brown was Public Salety Com missioner during the hideous Atlanta I laid Murders Brown said he knows Wayne Williams committed 23 of those murders because they all had evidence connected to Williams. "The CBS docu-druma was untactual and mixed reality with fiction. Bernard Cxxrtz is another person that belongs m jail," Brown added. I Portland Urban League'» 40th anmveraary dinner (Photo Richard J. Brownl Politics, military bedevil Ethiopia political, social and economic cli mate to those years alter the Civil War "We are going through our second reconstruction. This one follows on the heels of the New Deal and the retrenchment from social programs." Brown staled. "Thirty years alter Brown vs. Board of Education, there are more stu dents enrolled in racially isolated schtxrls and the Black high schixil drop-out rale exceeds the Black grad uanon rate,” he noted. Summarizing the last .30 years. Brown identified the 50s and the NK as a struggle for basic civil rights. He called the 70s a time to defend those rights and the 80s as a tunc for parity. "In 1985, it’s a struggle for sur vival." he noted. Brown advised the group to take the profitability out of crime “ by refusing to purchase stolen goods." He added, “ An increase in the un employment rate creates a corre sponding increase in the crime rate." The ties between economics and crime Iran-Iraqi students demonstrate egainst the fight ing in their homelands (Photo: Richard J Brownl Marchers seek Iraq- Iran peace by Robert l.othtan “ S d h ” means peace in Persian, the language of Iran A group of Iranians, others from the Middle East and their supporters demonstrated for sohl between Iran and Iraq last week as they marched through downtown Portland. Wearing masks and carrying signs in Persian, about 30 demonstrators formed a halt circle in the park facing City Hall They chanted "peace, peace, peace in the Middle East” and "stop the killing now." A local engineer in exile from Iran, who identified himself as Bahman, said the Khomeini regime in Iran is massing sophisticated weaponry for a new offensive in the war that has taken a half million lives. “ Everything’s in place for another massacre," he said. Bahman, who represented the Committee in Solidarity With the People of Iran, said 15-year-old boys are being sent to the front as “ cannon fodder" in human waves sent against the Iraqi lines. An Iranian offensive in early March resulted in over 27,000 deaths in one week, and attacks against civilian targets from both sides mean the war is taking an appalling turn, he said In both Iran and Iraq, he contin ued, the war is responsible for human rights violations and political deten tion, torture and murder of war re sistors. "Right now, you cither go to the front or you go to jail," he said. Bahman described the Khomeini regime as worse than that of the Shah. "Women arc nothing but slaves for men. Khomeini is making a mock ery of Islam." Ominously, the war could become an excuse for direct U.S. intervention in the Persian Gulf, he said. "All of the people in the Persian (iulf arc against this war The only people benefiting (rom it are the death merchants — the arms manufac turers.” Spokeswoman Kerry Gregory said the international Committee in Soli danty With the People of Iran formed to inform the public about the tragic turnaround in Iran since the 1978 revolution that deposed the Shah. The war means that the promise of "independence, freedom and jus tice” that was the slogan of the revo lution has been destroyed, said Gregory. “ All ol the reforms that were started have been eliminated. The regime has been using the wai as a means to divert attention away from people’s needs,” she said. Iran continues to have an illiteracy nite of 70 percent, according lotiregory. The Committee in Solidarity With the People of Iran and other groups supporting peace are working for a United Nations negotiated settlement ol the Iran-Iraq war, she said. College offers workshop The fourth annual "Writer to Writ er” summer workshop for talented writers in grades 9-12 will be held at Lewis and Clark College June 17-28 Offered cooperatively by the Contin uing Education programs of Port land Stale University and l ewis and Clark College, the workshop features some of Oregon's top professional writers who help students improve their skills and increase their under standing of the press, the literary pro- fes.ion and the realm of publishing