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PORTWND OBSERMER
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Volume XV, Number 40
August 7, 1985
25C Copy
Two Sections
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Richard Brown returns
from Nicaragua visit
by Hubert Lothian
Young people marching from PCC Sylvania to Salem in »ymbolic ge*
(Photo Kria Altucherl
ture for peace.
Interfaith peace march
by Nathaniel Scott
When approximately 100 youth left
Portland Community College Syl
vania campus on an interfaith youth
march for peace, Saturday morning,
August 2, it was the fulfillm ent o f a
dream. Or more specifically, it was
literally a dream come true.
Debra Harrison, one o f the pro
gram directors for the twoday march,
had a dream which inspired Laura
Williams, another program director
to help her set the wheels in motion.
Harrison, who along with W illiams is
o f the Baha’ i faith, said, " I t was
God’ s idea! I don't want any credit,”
Nevertheless,
the
inspiration
brought together youth ranging in age
from 10 to 22 years old, and caused
them to embark upon a two-day
march that culminated in Salem with
a vigil at the state capilol.
From Florida, South Carolina,
California and Canada interfaith
youth came to Portland to be a part
o f a historical occasion whose vigil
in Salem coincided with the tying o f
a ribbon around the Pentagon and the
White House in Washington, D C.
The ribbon was sewn by women trom
churches from every state in the U n it
ed States.
In addition to the symbolic ges
ture, Oregon’s youth held rallies in
Portland, Newberg and Salem. Pro
fessor Sheila Banani o f U C L A and
Rabbi Joshua Stanphcr from Port
land’s Beth Israel Jewish Center,
were two o f the principle speakers in
Portland and Congressman Les Au
Coin was guest speaker in Newberg,
while Senator Walter Brown from
Iowa was guest speaker in Salem.
However the focus was clearly on
youth.
Williams said this year is the Inter
national Year of Youth and next
year will be the International Year ot
Peace. She added that the two go
together because “ we are looking
forward to peace.
Many o f the youth involved in the
march were o f the Baha'i faith but
Jewish, Catholic, Christian and other
religious faiths were represented, too.
Tom Stem, one o f the coordinators
and sponsors o f the march said, "W e
are trying to get a message across and
an altitudinal change in people W'e
have alway s had wars and now we live
under the nuclear concept that can
destroy all o f mankind.”
Russ Maxey, a 20-year-old Port
land State University student said,
“ I am here to demonstrate for
peace; to get people to eali/e that
peace is a viable alternative.
Eleven-year-old Jayotta Jetterson
from Troutdale said, " I am inarching
to show that I want peace and world
unity.” And I I year-old Stephanie
Hall from Pendleton said, " I want to
march for peace so people won't get
angry, start wars and rig h t."
Sol Jacobsen is also I I years old.
He saw the march as being important
because it proved something He
would like to sec “ all the people o f
the w o rld " get the message for peace
He added. “ People make the d if
ference."
So while hundreds o f people re
laxed in the atmosphere o f ja w at the
Mt Hood Ja // Festival — sipping
frosty whatever — the youth, a hun
dred or more, marched down the
highways o f Oregon on a mission o f
peace. Is it any wonder the saying
goes: “ The youth shall inherit the
w orld?"
Portland Observer photographer
Richard Brown is back from his two-
month trip to Nicaragua. He can
hardly stop talking, he's so fu ll o f
stories.
Brown said he saw a lot and learned
a lot. He lived on a cooperative farm
in a war /one where he was so close
to the fighting, he said, that he could
distinguish the sounds o f the weapons
used by both sides In Managua, the
capital, he sat just six feet away from
the country’s president And during
his stay on the Atlantic coast, where
most o f Nicaragua’s Black popula
tion lives, the ferry boat he had trav
eled on to Bluefields was attacked and
burned Brown was not on board,
and remained safe, he said.
O f course, he took a lot o f pic
tures, over 70 rolls, and he plaits on
putting together a slide show which the
community can look forward to.
“ I just wanted to show people
doing their thing, or doing nothing,"
said Brown. His favorite shot, and
he hopes it turns out, he said, is one
o f a nine-year-old boy playing jacks
with his automatic rifle leaning
against the wall behind him.
Brown was delayed, he sqid, wher
counterrevolutionary
contras
a t
tacked the boat that was supposed to
bring him back from Bluefields, on
the Atlantic coast Four soldiers were
killed, the passengers were robbed
and the boat was burned, he said
Brown said he had to charter a small
plane to get hack to Managua
Brown spent 12 days in Bluefields
and on nearby Corn Island. The area
was neglected for generations by the
Somo/a dictatorship, and now is the
scene o f fighting between Sandimsta
soldiers and contras.
He reported suspicions and tension
between the Black population and the
mainly la tin o government, a condi
tion that goes back a long time and
which continued after the 1979 revo
lution. A strong anti-draft sentiment
exists among Black men o f draft age,
for instance, he said.
Brown said that immigration au
thorities stopped him every day in
Bluefields and asked to sec his pass
port. "N obody seemed to be attract
ing attention like I was,” he said.
On the other hand, he said, under a
Sandimsta-sponsored
self-govern
ment program, “ There arc Blacks
playing significant and important
roles throughout" the local govern
PCC levy before voters again
lers in the Portland Community
je district have a chance August
approve a three-year serial levy
1.5 m illion each year to maintain
offerings at five campuses and
• buildings.
ven with the additional $3.3
in we w ill have less in the budget
we did in 1982-83,” explained
te president Dr. John H . An-
illege enrollments have declined
state funding has not kept up
the inflation level “ During the
five years state funding for the
gc has only increased three per-
" Anthony said. The state did al-
e some additional resources in
vast season, but they arc contin-
on enrollment.
allege resources include portions
r tuition, property tax and state
ling.
he college request w ill add 14
s per thousand dollars assessed
rerty value. The n -v levy and the
ent tax base w ill total an esti-
ed 71 cents per thousand. That
is still less than the original 81
cents per thousand that was assessed
when the district was formed in 1968
The average homeowner ($60,(XX)
home) w ill pay $3.55 per month for
the property tax portion o f the re
sources.
The college district serves portions
o f Clackamas. Columbia, M ultno
mah W ashington and Yamhill coun
ties More than 67.0(X) students enroll
in a class each yea at one o f the five
college-owned campuses or at an
off-campus class site.
PCC works closely with business
and industry to match class offerings
to the needs o f the community. In the
past five years the college has been
active participant in economic de
velopment efforts for the region.
Special training is désignai for new
industry locating in the area.
W ithout the additional resources,
Anthony said, the college w ill be
forced to put o ff m ajor building re
pairs and reduce the number o f
classes offered. Over 120 budget cuts
affecting more than 44«) courses must
be made unless the voters approve the
levy.
ment.
In spite o f the differences, Blue
field residents pulled together to help
defend an army garrison from a
contra attack in November, according
to Brown Rumors spread by the
CIA-backed contras that the residents
would go over to the contras proved
untrue, he said.
Brown spent the first part of his
trip as a member o f a Witness for
Peace delegation on a cooperative
farm in a war /one in northern Nica
ragua He weeded corn and lived
with a family who worked and lived
on the farm There was fighting near
by, and they were all ready to duck
into bomb shelters at any time, he
said.
He ate rice and beans, and slept on
a slab with a thin mattress. " N o place
liad hot water Every time I took a
cold shower, everybody knew it."
He didn’ t speak Spanish, but
quickly picked up a few words, in
cluding "co rre cto ." the equivalent o f
"rig h t o n " in Spanish. " I f you say
correcto, you’ re really h ip ," he said.
During a cultural performance,
Brown .napped pictures close to
where President Daniel Ortega was
sitting After the performance, he
gave Onega a ' Boycott South Africa,
Not Nicaragua" button.
He said he was surprised that O r
tega was so accessible. But, ” They are
a government o f the people and they
try to stay close to the people. I felt
that i f somebody even acted like they
were going to harm that man, the
people there would tear him apart
Brown said he receive enthusiastic
responses when he told people he rep
resented the Rainbow Coalition.
"They arc really fond o f Jesse Jack
son,” he said Jackson visited Nica
ragua last year.
He read in a newspaper later that a
Rainbow Coalition delegation was
present at Nicaragua's sixth anniver
sary o f the Revolution on July 19th.
" I think I was it.” he said.
The thing that moved him the most
during his trip, said Brown, was hear
ing Nicaraguans sing "W e Are the
W o rld .”
"There wasn't a day in Nicaragua
that I d idn't hear that song. The song
was even played during the 6th A n n i
versary celebration. Brown said he
helped translate the words into Span
ish fo r a teacher who was so im
pressed with the song’s popularity
that he had to know what the words
meant,
\
4
DAMARI WAKHUNGA
(Photo: Kris Altucherl
PSU group visits Kenya;
attends UN Women Conference
by Nathaniel Scott
Portland ‘ State
University’ s
(PSU’s) Summer Session studies pro
gram that went to Kenya East A frica
was a sparkling success, according to
the director, Damari Wakhunga.
Wakhunga and seven students
made the trip. It was highlighted by
appearances at the United Nation s
W orld Conference o f Women that
was field in Kenya in July.
Wakhunga said the group spent
one week touring West A lrica, two
weeks at the conference and another
week touring Southern parts ol Ken
ya. But it was the world's conference
which stands out most in Wakhunga’ s
mind even though her home is in
Nigeria
"T h e conference was enlighten
in g ," she said.
A considerable amount o f news
coverage conceptualized (he confer
ence as a “ political” forum instead o f
one that focused on women issues.
"M a n y people thought a women’ s
conference would focus on cooking,
sewing and things o f that nature,
Wakhunga said. "People didn't real
ize women issues arc p o litica l."
An interesting fact Wakhunga
pointed out was the way most o f the
women viewed the American delega
tion led by Maureen Reagan, the pres
ident’s daughter. Wakhunga main
tained that “ the major problem was
the U.S. delegates didn’ t know the
issues in South A frica were as bad as
they are."
From Wakhunga's point o f view,
the U.S. delegates seems to have been
"traveling on a government ticket"
and d id n 't want to do anything con
trary to the administration’ s “ con
structive engagement” policy.
While the conference was in scs
sion, the women held two massive
demonstrations, Wakhunga said. One
demonstration was directed against
Maureen Reagan and the other
against South A frica's racist policy
o f apartheid.
The focus o f the conference was the
lssucs o f today, Wakhunga said. "W e
talked about reduction o f nuclear
armament, peace, South A frica and
development in many different coun
tries."
" A resolution was passed that all
countries should slop doing business
Portland Police Sgt. William Osborne and Officer Derrick Foxworth
with South A fric a ,” she added.
investigate en accident In which a 2 0 year old woman. Sabrina R.
Wakhunga, who teaches Swahili
Simon of WBO N E. Church, died. The woman, riding a bicycle east-
language courses at PSU, said it was
bound on Skidmore St., collided with a wan southbound on Union Ave.
her observation that the South A fr i
No citation was Issued to Claude Gatlin. 30, of Amboy. Illinois . who
can
women delegates felt about their
was driving the van.
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
situation. "They d idn’ t feel people
knew the amount o f sutlering they
had gone through and they needed the
help o f the rest o f the people."
Under South A frica's apartheid
form o f government, women and
children are often separated from
their working husbands through gov
ernment regulations. Ihev are forced
to live in "squatter's camps" to be
near their loved ones and the sense ol
family unity is completely destroyed
The similarity is reminiscent o f the
American system during slavery
tunes Black families were separated
through the selling o f individuals to
different plantation owners. As a re
sult, the sense o f fam ily unity was
greatly curtailed and the Afro-Am en
can is suffering the effects today
Wakhunga said the beauty o f the
conference was entering conference
rooms as individuals and emerging as
friends. "T h e most vivid thing that
happened to me was talking to wis-
mcn from the rural areas o f Kenya."
Wakhunga said "T h e y need educa
tion and what they wanted was ways
to get additional training.”
Wakhunga maintained that noth
ing was disappointing to her but she
did feel there was room for improve
ment; room for people and industry
to get involved in developing pro
grams the people want and not p ro
grams that arc imposed on them She
estimated that the unemployment rale
in Kenya is approximately 50 percent.
Another serious flaunting o f basic
human rights, Wakhunga said, was
how the m ultinational cooperations
exploit the women "le ft and right
Even the American companies arc not
paying the women high enough
wages," she said. Excluded in our
resolution was a clause that says the
multinational cooperations w ill have
to stop exploiting women
Wakhunga also expressed satis
faction towards the changes that
have taken place in Kenya; including
women holding high-level positions
in President Daniel Arap M o i’s gov
ernment She said President M oi took
time out o f his busy schedule to visit
the conference on more than one oc-
casion.
Michael Durham, one o f the stu
dent who made the trip, said going
to A frica was the fulfillm ent o f a wish
he has had since he was ten years
old. "W h a t impressed me most was:
you could see people from all over the
w o rld ," he said.