African
culture
R. Brown
Page 3
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PORTLAND OBSERVER
h »
P u N u Ittftt ' * .
Volume XV, Number 31
May 29, 1965
25C Copy
3 - Section.-»
' i '«**
"Freedom yes, apartheid no"
by Nathaniel Scott
Attorney Kathleen Herron of the Nationel Lawyers Guild and Port
land Lawyera Against Apartheid apeaka during a rally at PSU about
the "little books" Black South Africans have to carry
(Photo: Richard J Brown)
I asi week. Pi inland's anti apartheid
movement picked up steam in three
separate demonstrations.
Tuesday, May 21, students at P ort
land Stale University, PSU's Students
Against Apartheid, held their weekly
rally in the South Park Block on
campus. Some 60 to HO people par
t ill paled
Friday, May 24, approximately 75
people demonstrated at One Main
Place in downtown Portland. The
demonstration was to show support
for the dock winkers in San Fran
cisco, C a lif., who are refusing to
unload South A frican cargo and io
protest South Africa's racist regime.
Saturday, May 25, members o f
PSU’s Students Against Apartheid
and POSAF (Portlanders Organized
for Southern A frican Freedom)
marched in the A frican Liberation
Day March They carried signs and
changed the now fam iliar cry:
“ Freedom yes. Apartheid no: A lrica
will be free.”
At the Tuesday rally, attorney
Kathleen Herron o f the National
lawyers Guild and the organizers o f
Portland's lawyers Against Apart
held, spoke.
She said, “ In this country there are
rights up to a certain point, but there
are no democratic rights in South
A frica.”
Herron said South A frican Blacks
have to carry "little books" to iden
tify who they arc; that they cannot
speak to more than one person at a
tune; and that they live in restricted
areas
The United States government
can make a decision that w ill effec
tively curtail the racist policies in
South A frica, but Herron feels that
with President Reagan's adminis
tration "w e have picked a loser."
"W e are importing steel from
South A frica because it ’s cheaper
(and the reason) why it is cheaper is
because HH percent o f the work force
in South Africa is working for slave
wages," she said "We sent comput
ers to South Africa (and the) United
States sells South A frica crowd con
trol items."
Moreover, Herron said, "There
has been some nuclear testing between
Israel and South A fric a " and she is
concerned about the possibility o f
‘ aid to Israel" being tied to covert
action elsewhere in the world.
Herron's advice to the crowd was
to write letters to their legislators,
state and federal, and express their
dissatisfaction with America’ s policies
toward South Africa.
Bill Resnick a Portland resident
who attended the rally, told the crowd,
“ The system (in South A frica) is high
ly systematized and organized."
While South Africa's organization
is more sophisticated, having the
backing o f the American government
— through "constructive engage
m ent" — students are slowly, but
surely, being heard, a PSU student
said.
According to a representative o f
PSU's Students Against Apartheid,
PSU and l ewis and Clark College
anti-apartheid groups have called a
demonstration lo r Friday, May 41.
The two schools invited the Uni
versify o f Oregon, Oregon Slate Uni
versity, Portland Com m unity Col
lege, M t. Hood Community College
and Clackamas Community College
to jo in them in a nixin demonstration
at the State O ffice Building. 1407
SW 4th Ave.. Friday. May 31. Im-
mediately following the demonstra
tion, a rally w ill be held at Terry
Schrunk Plaza.
Guest speakers at the rally w ill be
attorney Kathleen Herron, Chaplain
Jim Stuart from Lewis and C lark
College and Kamau Anderson from
POSAF (Portlanders Organized for
South African Freedom)
African Liberation Day March held
/ Nathaniel Scott
The banner said: "A fric a n Liber-
ion Day! May 25." and behind it
lildren from the Talking Drum
oncers, the Black Education School
id three members from the Jazzmin
lurching Band led some 60 people in
.st Saturday’ s African Liberation
(ay March.
Waving signs and chanting slogans
ich as "A fric a for Africans” and
South A frica w ill be free.” men,
omen and children marched from
le King Neighborhood Facility to A l
ena Park where a rally was held.
“ This is an international strug
gle” was the theme, but the message
was: if not the meek, surely children
will inherit the earth.
Children less than 10 years old paid
tnbute to A frica with dance and song
They dedicated "Osoweto song" to
the children who lost their lives in
Osoweto, South A frica, in 1976 and
the crowd stood hushed as "Before
I ’ll be a slave I ’ ll be buried in my
grave (and) I w ill fight for South
A frica to be free” rang loud and
clear. Then the children danced the
traditional A frican way, paying trib-
Man women and children march down N.E.
Killingaworth to Alberta Park during Saturday's
ute to the motherland in lull-bodied
rhythm.
However, African Liberation Day
was more than song and dance; it was
"a message: a reminder that people ol
color are suffering world wide."
Joyce Harris, representing the
Black Education Center, said, there
is an alarming similarity between
what happens to Blacks in South
A frica and what happens to Blacks in
America.
She drew a parallel by telling how
three Black youths in their early 20s
died while in the custody o f South
African Liberation Day parade.
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
African police, and how Lloyd D.
Stevenson died at the hands o f a Port
land police officer.
"T he police in this country don't
function any different than the police
in South Africa when it comes to
people o f color,” she said. "W hat
happened to (Lloyd D. Stevenson)
'Tony' could have happened to any o f
you brothers here today.”
African Liberation Day, as one
speaker put it. is concerned with what
is happening to people o f color world
wide; not just in South A lrica and
America, but in Nicaragua and other
places, loo.
Abdi Hassan is an A frican student
at Portland Slate University (PSU).
He is the president o f the Association
of African Students at PSU, and he
is one o f the principle forces behind
PSU’s Student Against Apartheid
movement.
He told the crowd last Saturday
that "th e South A frican movement”
is growing stronger and stronger and
that the liberation o f South Africa
will not be long in coming But Has
san’s most emphatic words were these:
"W e (the African people) hope the
link between the Black people (in
America) and the Africans w ill con
tinue so we won't be swept away.”
Hassan’ s sentiments were echoed
by many, including Avel Gordley’ s
speech; Westley M orris’ poetry; Rita
Bankhead's song, “ L ift Every Voice
and Sing,” and, Richard Brown’ s
promise to lake photographs ol P ort
land’ s Black community to Nicaragua
next month, and when he returns, to
bring Portland photographs o f Black
people in Nicaragua.
ACT-SO
i Olympics set
From toft: Ebony Wllltoma. Atoha Daniela and
Kenan Powell Gltoby look at postara end pictures
depicting the atrugglea of Black people.
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
N A A C P invites you to attend it's
annual ACT-SO (A fro-Academic,
Cultural, Technological, Scientific
Olympics) on Sunday. June 2, I9R5,
at I.F .C .C ., 5340 N. Interstate, be
ginning at 5:00 p m Donation, $2.00
per person
Kaman Anderson leads protestors during a noontime demonstra
tlon outside the office of the Pacific Maritime Association
(Photo: Richard J Brown)
Protest PMA policy
The Pacific M aritim e Association
M A ), an association o f foreign and
,S. steamship companies, stevedor-
g companies and terminal opera
te, is organized to represent its
embers in collective bargaining,
im arily with the International
.»ngshoremen's and Warehouse-
en's Union (II. WC). The Bay Area
■ee South A frica Movement, during
e latter part o f 19X4, called upon
M A to expel any steamship com-
iny carrying cargo from South A i
ea. Additionally, in November 19X4
in Francisco longshoremen refused
i unload South African cargo from
le Dutch ship Nedlloyd Kimberly,
hich, among other items, was carry-
ig South A frican steel. Ironically,
hile the U.S. accepts steel from
outh A frica, thousands o f U.S.
eelworkers stand in unemployment
nes.
To date, the P M A has maintained
I position is one where "w e cannot
nd will not break our contract with
ur member companies " As it now
ands and thanks to the P M A and
I.S. laws, the shipment o f South
ifrican cargo to the U.S. is alive and
wiving. Once again, the only thing
fhich matters, between the U.S. and
outh A frican governments, is ac-
uiring wealth and cheap labor. We
o know, however, economic sanc-
ons and embargos are not unprece-
ented and have been exercised against
•oland and just recently against Nica-
agua. It is also encouraging to note
hat two Congressional House For-
lgn A ffairs subcommittees approved
neasures to sanction South A frica
conomically. The sanctions call for
io new U.S. investments in South
kfrica; banning the sale o f comput-
spare parts, and their servicing;
r w n lin t iin o
hank
huant Io
the
eminent; ano stopping tne im porting
o f the South A frican kruggerand
Regardless o f its stubborn attitudes
and reasoning, the focus on the PM A
w ill be maintained on the West ( oast,
and it is important that Portland
works in harmony with anti apartheid
protesters in San Francisco, Oakland,
and Seattle We, along with other
West Coast cities, should continue to
call for:
A. Expulsion from P M A o f Ned
lloyd Kimberly and Zim steamship
companies, major carriers o f South
African cargo on the West Coast;
B Support the 11 W U in their re
fusal to unload South A frican cargo;
C. The Board o f Port Commis
sioners Port o f Portland to pursue
options w ithin existing laws and con
sider policy concerning divestment by
focusing on what it called the ' m ar
ket participant ro le ";
D. P M A ’s representative W. F.
“ B ill" Coday to seek creative solu
tions with Bay Area anti apartheid ac
tivists for a stop to the shipping of
South African goods along Pacific
Coast waterways; and,
E. Severing all economic lies with
South Africa.
Vacation maps
available free
Planning your vacation,
or may
be a weekend outing? Get National
Forest maps and recreation in fo r
mation at 319 Southwest Pine in
downtown Portland Stop by the
Forest Service Pine Street office be
tween 8:30 a m and 5:30 p.m ., M on
day through Friday, and get that in
formation for your trip.