Page 2, Portland Observor, July 31, 1985
Reagan’s racial appointments
EDITORIAL/OPIIMION
“ Blame the victim" African policy
A destructive international interpretation o f
the famine in Ethiopia and on the African conti
nent which excuses, defends and sidesteps the
activities of colonialism and agribusiness* re
sponsibility for the hunger she is now experienc
ing.
The white status-quo press is too quick to
broadcast the starving faces o f Ethiopia’s trag
edy with an explanation that it was caused by
failed land management, inequitable distribu
tion of wealth and aggravated by military con
frontation.
But this theory internationalizes the “ blame
the victim ” approach used extensively in the
white domestic press. This press reports on situ
ations in Third W orld countries, especially A fr i
ca, as though the slave trade, economic exploi
tations and social colonialism never took place.
The African slave trade disrupted the culture
and destroyed the African family. The standard
o f living enjoyed by many Americans today was
created by the criminal exploitation of human
beings torn from Africa.
With all the emphasis placed on obtaining
revenge for the genocide committed during the
holocaust, a word is rarely uttered about the
genocide o f slavery and the Middle Passage on
Africa and Africans.
After Europeans and Americans robbed hu
man beings from their land, colonialism was
introduced in Africa to repatriate the profits to
the mother country. The blood on the hands of
the French, British and other European empires
is infinite. And former policies and practices of
past U.S. administrations makes us all acces
sories to the crime o f colonialism.
While Europeans were stealing the resources
o f Africa, Africans were paid the lowest possible
wages and these phony colonialist administra
tions relied upon legislation backed by force.
For more than 300 years, the financial and
agricultural institutions operating in Africa were
scandalously neglectful o f indigenous Africans.
Colonialism forced Africans to engage in inten
sive farming and growing cash crops that ab
sorbed the nutrients from the soil. Thus, farm
ing practices perpetuated and forced upon the
African reinforced and welcomed the approach
ing desert and drought.
From the very beginning o f time, Ethiopia
has withstood drought. It was not until this cen
tury that the rape and plunder o f the land, peo
ple and resources made this once-proud people
vulnerable.
W ithin the last 25 years, Africans demanded
and fought for their independence from exploi
tation, colonialism and domination. Yet, the
foundation for exploitation which ruled the con
tinent still exists and it’s the African majority
who pays.
Think deeper whenever the status-quo con
trolled media offers its opinions as to why A f
rica is hungry. Africa still has the greatest abun
dance of raw materials and minerals o f any
other continent on earth. There is no reason for
her hunger except her recent history of exploita
tion, forced agribusiness policies and selfish
leaders who were educated and influenced by
Western ideas o f capitalism and exploitation.
The correlation between our quality o f life
and A frica’s lack of quality is much too direct to
ignore.
ON SOUTH AFRICA
by Elizabeth G ro ff
the Rev. Colin Jones, a Black
South African Anglican priest from
Capetown, South A frica, gave his
first sermon recently at Westmin
ster Presbyterian Church, t he service
was moving, his message made all the
more poignant by the awareness o f
the state o f emergency declared the
day before in his country o f birth.
The declaration o f an indefinite
state o f emergency, the first o f its
kind in 25 years, gives the South A f r i
can government even more sweeping
security power than before. Detention
without charge or trial o f those who
oppose the system in any way has
long been a part o f South A fric a ’ s
law. Now, the declaration gives the
police and m ilitary absolute power to
arrest and detain people without any
charge, search homes and other build
ings at w ill, impose curfews, take over
and close private businesses, close
areas to travel and censor the press
w ithout any limitations, including
denying newspapers the right to iden
tify those who have been detained
under the emergency regulation. In
addition, security forces have been
given the go-ahead to shut o ff any
“ essential services” — water, elec
tricity — in urban areas. In a nut
shell, it gives authorities complete
freedom to act against anyone who
speaks or acts in any way against the
racist apartheid system.
During these very d ifficult tunes in
South A frica, Black South Africans
need to know that their struggle is
supported. Rev. C olin Jones knows
what it is to struggle aginst vicious
oppression and can inspire us to con
tinue our own struggles and to sup
port his. He w ill be giving services at
Westminster Presbyterian Church at
9:30 a.in. every Sunday through
August 25th
Rev . Jones has been called by his
colleague Dr. Allan Boesak, “ Due o f
the dynamic young Black leaders in
South A frica, a gifted speaker and
able interpreter o f the painful reali
ties o f being a Black South A frica n .”
Rev Jones was educated at the
Federal Theological Seminary and is
currently Anglican Chaplain to stu
dent* at the University o f Western
( ape. He is also ( anon at St. George's
(athedral in Capetown, and hold«
the position o f Chairperson o f the
Black Solidarity Group in the Anglica
Church, South A frica
Rev. Jones’ fam ily is here in P ort
land with him His wife, Pat, is a
school teacher in South A frica near
Bellville. They have two children,
ages It and 3.
During his sermon, Rev. Jones
pointed out some o f the contradic
tions between the religion that white
South Africans in power profess and
their actions. He ended the service by
asking the congregation to repeat a
prayer used throughout Southern
Africa: “ God Bless A frica, guard
her children, guide her rulers and give
her peace.”
P O S A LP ortlanders Organized fo r
Southern A frican Freedom, iv a local
m ulti-racial citizen\ action group that
supports Htack m ajority rule in sou
them .Africa and an end to U.S. sup
p o rt fo r apartheid. For more in fo r
mation call 230- VW? 7.
EDITORI AL/COMMENTARY
PSU balks at adding African Studies
by Nathaniel Scott
Portland State University's (PSU's)
president Joseph Blumel is navigating
a course that is destined to erupt in a
confrontation with the Black com
munity.
W ithin the past four months, on
two different occasion», Blumel has
told the Observer that a “ comm ittee"
w ill be formed to study the feasibility
o f including African studies into the
university's ongoing International
Studies Program.
Blumel's rationale is hard to under
stand, especially since it gives the
impression that his intentions pay lip
service to the study o f A frica at PSU.
Initially, when the sordid under
currents o f racial prejudice surfaced,
administrators speaking on behalf o f
PSU claimed that Black Studies did
not have the means to formulate such
a program.
However, in subsequent investiga
tions. it was revealed that Black Stu
dies would only become a complimen
tary part o f African studies.
The university, the administration,
and those who spoke on behalf o f the
institution knew beforehand that
Black Studies was a specialized body.
The faculty members who comprise
PSU's Black Studies Department
specialize in the areas o f African
ology — a study o f the African cul
ture from the development o f Africa
and political economy dealings which
include the A frican and the A fro-
American experience, Afro-Am erican
History, African History and A frican
A rt, African, Afro-Am erican and
Caribbean literatures and anthro
pology.
Those facts stand and arc docu
mented through the courses taught
But what isn't documented is the
mentality o f "divide and conquer."
And as such, Black Studies cannot a f
ford to succumb to a bitter rivalry o f
back slabbing and non-support. It
must rise above what pressures are
exerted or may be threatened to drive
a wedge between one o f PSU’ s most
viable units.
To accuse Blumel o f being a perpe
trator in such an outlandish scheme,
would not only be unethical, but it
would also do a disservice to one
who professes to have the welfare o f
PSU at heart.
But one cannot help but wonder
what scheme or lack o f scheme Blum
el has in mind.
F ixir months by some accounts are
1
* '•
not a long time; its significance can
be argued on the basis o f more press
ing business. But if Blueniel intends
to deliver as promised: " A com m it
tee recommendation by fall te rm ," he
must act more speedily on the A fri
can studies issue than he has on the
Black Studies Department's request
to change its name.
That request was made more than
three years ago and still hasn’ t been
acted on.
Letters
Most white Americans, Demo
crats and Republicans alike, do not
believe that the Reagan Adm inistra
tion can be described as “ racist.”
When N A A C P leader Benjamin
Hooks charged recently that the Rea
gan Adm inistration was responsible
for "very grave civil rights and so
cial” problems which blocked "th e
path o f Black Americans towards
full equality,” the media largely ig
nored him. When Georgia Stale Sen
ator Julian Bond claimed that the
President's chief "constituents are
the right-wing fringe, the Ku M ux
Kian types, whites who have always
hated Blacks,” few were prepared to
explore the charges seriously.
Since his reelcction, the President’s
extreme views have become even
more apparent to Black Americans.
Reagan named Marianne Mele Hall
as chairman o f the Copyright Royal
ty Tribunal. Hall was the editor o f a
btxik which declared in one passage
that Blacks “ insist on their jungle
freedoms, their women. .
Only
after intense public criticism was
she forced to leave.
Former Nixon aide Pat Buchanan
came aboard the Adm inistration
as Reagan's Communications Direc
tor early this year. Buchanan is well
known as the darling o f the extreme
right, was the chief defender ot Rea
gan's disastrous Bitburg visit, and has
frequently criticized the “ hairy-
chested Nazi-hunters." l ess noticed
is Buchanan's tendency to praise
openly-racist regimes In one 19X4
essay, he applauded Ian Smith o f
Rhodesia and Pieter W . Botha of
South A frica as “ pro-West” and
allies “ in the struggle fo r the future
o f m ankind.”
W illiam Bradford Reynolds, As
sistant Attorney General fo r C ivil
Rights, has fo r four years tried to de
stroy the legacy o f M artin Luther
King, Jr. Ralph G. Neas, executive
director o f the Leadership C onfer
ence on C ivil Rights, describes Rey
nolds as a " rig id ideologue and an
extremist who has done everything
possible to weaken civil rights law s."
la s t A p ril, Reynolds asked 51 state
and local governments to halt their
affirm ative action plans fo r their fire,
police and other departments. Rea
gan’s response to public outrage was
to propose that Reynolds receive the
third highest post in the Justice De
partment.
But the real damage to the promise
o f racial equality has been felt in the
judicial system. To date, the President
has named only one Supreme Court
justice. However, the Supreme Court
usually decides less than one hundred
cases in any single year. The Federal
district courts decided nearly 3<K>,(MW)
cases last year. Reagan's judicial
strategy since I9HI has been quite
simple — to pack the district courts
and the U.S. Circuit Court o f Ap-
jscals with white males who generally
share the views o f Hall, Buchanan,
and Reynolds.
Sheldon Goldman, professor o f po
litical science at the University o f
Massachusetts, has documented this
racist strategy in a recent article in
Judicature By I9XX. Reagan w ill have
appointed about 4<M) Federal judges,
or more than half o f the 744 total
ludgcshtps in the U.S. These men and
women, and not the Supreme ( ourt,
will be decisive in deciding most legal
Along with my subscription re
newal. I'd like to send special thanks
and compliments to I anita Duke for
her steady, uncompromising and
wide-range reporting It's the audac
ity to get to the root o f the matter
which makes much o f the reporting
by Observer writers stand out in this
industry dominated by mega-buck
molders o f national opinion.
HU I C O LLIN S
issues — from civil rights to Social
Security measures.
Under President Carter, about 14
jtercent o f the appointees to the dis
trict courts were Black, and another
seven percent were Hispanic. During
Reagan's first term, the percentage o f
Black appointments fell below one
percent, and 93 percent o f all district
judge> selected were white. In the
U.S. Circuit Courts o f Appeals, C art
er's 56 appointments included I I
women, 10 Blacks, 2 Hispanics and
one Asian American Reagan’ s 31 ap
pointments to the Court o f Appeals
are radically different: only one wo
man, one Black, and one Hispanic.
Professor Goldman adds that another
important factor in Reagan's selec
tions to the courts has been social
class. Under Carter, 36 percent o f all
district judges appointed claimed a
net worth below $200,000, and only
four percent were millionaires. D u r
ing Reagan's term, 19 percent o f the
district judges had under $2fX),000;
23 percent o f them were millionaires,
over five times as many as the Carter
appointees. About II percent o f Rea
gan's judges arc under 40 years old,
the highest percentage for any recent
president.
Where the Ku Klux Kian, the White
Citizen’ s Councils and the Dixiecrats
tailed, Reagan has succeeded. By
stacking the Federal bureaucracy
and the courts with white conserva
tives and reactionary ideologues, he
has crippled the rights o f Blacks, His
panics, the poor and women fo r dec
ades to come. Reagan's racial ap
pointments help to preserve racism
and class inequality.
EDITORI AL/COMMENTARY
Police overuse of deadly force on Blacks
by M ark l ittle
Why is there a conflict between po
lice departments and Black comm un
ities throughout the United States?
To answer this question, one must
first lixik at the nation as a whole.
I here is an indifference towards po
lice by all in this society. Police oper
ate as a separate entity w ithin a very
homogeneous society Police are the
war lords in a society o f civilians.
They are the peace makers and the
protectors from evil. I hey arc the civil
servants who watch and protect our
cities from crime.
Although some distance exists be
tween police and the general society,
we must look closer to what consti
tutes society. The general society
consists o f the white m ajority and the
jiart that has the largest amount o f
wealth and political influence. Then
there is the largest minority group,
Black citizens. This group suffers a
clear distinction o f institutionalized
discrimination.
We know that from its very concep
tion as the peace keeper in our society,
police departments have grown fa r
ther and farther apart from the psy
chological structure o f society. Many
law enforcement agencies see the gen
eral public as law breakers or the en
emy in the war on crime. Society,
that is, the white structure o f the Unit
cd States, is also the power frame.
Most attitudes are breathed through
the white culture and adopted by the
police. The police are the psychologi
cal heartbeat and control agent w ith
in that society.
There may be some distance that
exists between whites and police in so
ciety, but the distance between police
and the Black community is phenom
enal. Since police represent the white
community, there is a striking in d if
ference in their attitude towards
Hacks
The white Anglos have embarked
on separatism w ithin the American
ideal. English-speaking whites are
the accepted order o f the day by this
society. It is becoming clear that non-
whites are at a great disadvantage and
need to reconcile with a police force
and a society that has chosen separat
ism and white supremacy as the
norm.
Prejudiced Police Officers
Prejudiced police officers find no
fault in their attitudes when their in
difference is shared by the white
power structure o f society. Many o f
these officers have gotten messages
from their parents directly or indirect
ly to discriminate. It has become a be
liavior and custom to them. Many of
these bad officers w ithin a depart
ment do not hold back their hate be
cause many o f the good officers act
with collective discrimination, that is,
unequal treatment o f Black citizens.
Senior officers see most Blacks as
criminal stereotypes. They are in d if
ferent to the reasons why the poor
economic status exists in the Black
community. These police officers ac
tually believe the American dream is
for all who participate They fail to
include the "e q u a lity " o f education,
discrimination in employment and
other areas. They do not understand
or fail to take (he time Io find out the
lack o f participation in that dream by
Blacks.
Because most white police officers
grow up without much direct con
tact with Black minorities, they lend
to believe in the stereotype as a real
model fo r the average black person
and his behavior.
Behavioral Differences
W ith good officers sharing the
indifference o f the white power struc
ture, it becomes quite hard for any
law enforcement agency to see any
wrong-doing w ithin its ranks. In fact
many times the good officers w ill use
Black citizens as scapegoats when
their department has put a quota on
ticket writing and misdemeanor in
fractions. This behavior by our law
enforcement agencies has been hand
ed down from generation to genera
lion.
At the end o f the C ivil War, Black
citizens still had no rights as Amen
cans. During the reconstruction pe
riod o f 1X65 until the I9ritk, Blacks
were lynched and killed for sport
with no protection o f law enforce
ment forthcom ing By the early I92ris
the hangings and killings by whites
were concentrated mostly in the sou
thern states. Here we see clearly a na
tion denving its most visible minority
group the right o f due process.
Police attitudes during the 1920s in
this nation stayed right in step with
the society that brought it into being.
Although Congress has passed laws
giving voting rights and citizenship
to Blacks, nowhere throughout the
country was it actually enforced.
W hen labor unions started striking
tot belter job benefits at the begin
ning o f the Second W orld War, these
big northern industrial plants hired
Blacks White citizens as well as the
cities’ police attacked Black workers
in the race riots o f the 30s and 40s.
W hen Black soldiers came home from
fighting in that war, they were still
treated as second class citizens.
Ihe lynchings and killings by the
Kian and other white hate groups con
tinued but was done discretely. D ur
ing the periods o f the 50s and early
60s, the American police still did not
recognize Blacks as citizens. Their
psychological feelings toward Blacks
was one o f suspicion and distrust.
Opportunity was there for the bad
cops to commit murder, rape and to
perjxtuate crime on the Black com
munity in the name o f the law.
Bad Seed
The bigots w ithin the police depart
ments have enjoyed many years o f
keeping the Black community in fear
and deprivation. Blacks have been
gunned down by police in the name o f
suspicion W ith no outside help com
ing from the white power structure,
white police were quick to use their
guns or night sticks on the Black pop
ulation Since the turn o f this century.
Black citizens have accounted for
the largest amount o f police related
homicides that have stemmed from
the overuse o f deadly force.
, It was not until the late 60s that
the white power structure started to
examine police behavior w ithin the
Black community. Through peace
marches and the emergence o f armed
Black militant groups, there were ef
forts to change the behavior o f the
police in the Black communities.
Blacks felt it was time to protect
themselves from the police force that
was supposed to protect them.
Necessary Use of Deadly Force
Catherine M ito n , a sociologist, and
her associates found that 79 percent
(Continued on Page 10, Col. 1/
Portland Observer
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