Page 2. Portland Observer, July 16, 1986
EDITORIAL/OPINION
Hayden Lake Incident, A Reminder of
the Continuity of Racism
Last week the convention of the W orld
Aryan Conqiess, held in Hayden Lake, Idaho,
is a reminder that elements of racism are
still present in our society. The purpose of the
rally, which was attended by 100 Neo Nazi
and Ku Klux Man leaders from around the
country, was to discuss plans to turn the
Pacific Northwest into a W hite homeland.
These racist individuals practice racial
hatred and bigotry against non-Whites, and
use violence and murder as tools in their
racist campaign of terror.
Last winter, 10 members of the Aryan
Nation, called the Order, were convicted on a
host of racketeering and conspiracy charges.
The Order committed murder, counterfeiting,
arson and robbery of banks and armored cars.
Although groups such as these are in the
m inority in this country, there are many indivi
duals who possess racial intolerance. Racism
still operates in contemporary American life,
although in somewhat more subtle forms than
it once did.
In recent years, attempts by Blacks and
other minorities to achieve political, social,
and economic equality opportunities have
met w ith the disfavor of a majority of White
Americans.
This disfavor has resulted in
continuing racial discrimination against Blacks
and other minorities in the area of education,
employment opportunity and health care.
It would bo naive to think that all forms of
racism could he eradicated from society.
However, all decent Americans should work
together to resist overt acts of racism by hate
groups such as those who gathered in Hayden
Lake Furthermore, we must unite and fight
against subtle forms of racism, which are just
as damaging as racial violence that is practiced
by hate groups.
Letters to the Editor
"D r. Jekyll la Hydlng"
What is happening in South Afri-
ke cannot or shouldn't be forgotten
by Us What is read, what is seen
or viewed, and what is heard are
three factors which weigh heavily as
an exploited group attempts to free
itself of its exploiters' influences.
Wo should never forget this. What
Wo read in the newspapers and
magazines, what W a see on the
television screen and at the movies,
and what W e hear on the radio are
calculated attempts by those who
own these vehiclos to koop Us from
realizing what is important and what
is not important to manipulate the
way W e think about them (Our
exploiters), and to manipulate the
way W e think about persons and/or
organizations which oppose what
they are trying to do. Everything
W e read, everything W e see and
everything Wo head should be care
fully analyzed by each of Us before
W e concludo that one thing is good
or beneficial and another thing is
causing trouble or is ''just a lot of
jive.” Every attempt to influence
Us, be it Black-, Hed-, or caucasoid
onginated. should be carefully ana
lyzed by each of Us. Why? Be
causu W e cannot trust them, and
be» »use It Is Important That Each
Of Us Get Into The Habit Of Doing
His Or Her Own Thinking
Some of Us find It difficult to
accept the fact that it is not the
purpose of those who take advan
tage of IJs to lull Us the truth. As a
result, Wo accopt what We read in
tho various newspapers, W e accept
what Walter Cronkite and Eric Se
vareid show Us. and W e accept
what the radio stations tell Us. We
have no logical reason for doing so.
And. on another level. W e describe
"Jaws" and "Love Story" as
“good" books. W e feel that Kojak
is a "good" cop, "Good Times” is
a "good" television show, and We
listen to that "good" music on the
radio (and keep up with what's
happening at the seine time). We
lose when we forget these things.
Brothers and Sisters Once again.
We lose
They have put Us to
steep, and it's time for Us to wake
up. It's time for Us to start acting
according to what We know, and to
start learning about the things We
don't know.
In the 1770s. a social, economic
and political relationship had devel
oped between Great Britain and her
Amerikan colonies which establish
ed great Britain as a dominant tyran
nical force. As a rosult, many of the
colonial people bogan developing
feelings of resentment toward the
mother country (Great Britain). As
time passed, they tired of the con
stant tyranny of King George to the
point where the most politically
aware among tfiem felt that some
thing should be done to stop that
tyranny for once end for all These
men were in favor of opposing tyr
anny with arms if necessary, but in
order to do this effectively they had
to overcome a major obstacle They
knew that most of the colonial
people would sympathize with their
cause because it was a just cause,
but they also realized that this sym
pathy would not develop into actual
open support unless some vehicle
was used to popularize their just
cause on a mass level. They needed
a vehicle which could transport
similar ideas to persons in all parts
of the colony at the most opportune
times. This vehicle would be used
to champion the cause of resisting
tyranny, and make the people fond
of those who resist tyranny and
deathly criticial of all others
In
short, they needed a vehicle which
could render the masses of the
people mentally free of Great
Britain. This vehicle was the press
(news medial.
In South Afrika,
they are using censorship and other
repressive moasures, while they at
tempt to systematically destroy an
entire racial group (genocide).
In South Afrika, the saino press
which was hailed as the guardian of
a so called democratic people, has
been usurped and expanded by a
racist group of individuals which is
threatened by so called democracy.
The racist has changed the press
from a savior of the people to a
threat to the people.
The racist
group wfiich intends to enslave
humanity has used money and force
to eliminate free press and has re
placed it with a controlled written,
oral, and visual communications
network which does not have as its
purpose the telling of the truth. Its
purpose is not to report the news,
but to dictate the selfish views of
the so-called caucasoid Christian
Aristocracy. By gradually changing
the press from Dr Jekyll to Mr
Hyde, the so-called Christian Ari
stocracy hopes that most people
will not notice its purpose and,
therefore, not lose their esteem for
it and their trust in it (translated:
people will continue to believe what
the press fells them),
Today, there are politically alert
Black people in South Afrika and
around the world who see through
this diabolical scheme; who see the
changes the racist press has been
taken through and who see the
eventual posture which the racist
press will ho forced to assume
Blacks in South Afrika will no longer
be the toys of the rich and scape
goats of all others. They will scale
the ladder of humanness and cover
it with their humanity.
Dr. Jamil Cherovee
LFTTER TO THE EDITOR
In response to your freedom and
social justice article (July 9) and
about subjects being human Guinea
Pigs: I bet you never heard of THE
HELLER PROJECT. I reason why
you or anyone else never heard of
THE HELLER PROJECT is because
it was (and still is?) an experimental
prisoner" program whereby pri
soner* (of course many of them
In this period of conservative reaction
against civil rights, there are few instances in
which those individuals and social groups who
are fighting for racial equality are winning
Rarer still are those cases in which local lead
ers who have been victims of the anti-civil
rights offensive have emerged victorious The
Reverend Cozelle Wilson, a 59 year old Black
leader in Kinston, North Carolina, stands as a
symbol of courage and hope in an era of
Reaganism and renewed racism.
Rev. Wilson is an ordained minister of the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and has
been active in registering Black citizens to
vote Millions of white voters take their fran
chise rights for granted; poor Black people,
especially in the rural South, still cannot afford
to do so. In 1984, a federal district court in
North Carolina declared in the Gingles vs.
Edmisten decision: "Black voter registration
remains depressed relative to the white major
ity, in part at least because of the long period
of official state denial and chilling of Black citi
zens' registration e ffo rts." Rev. Wilson be
came a volunteer "special registrar” in 1983,
and brought hundreds of new voters into the
political process. Naturally, the racists and
Republicans did not desire an increase in Black
voter turnout at the polls, and Rev Wilson
was selected to be a punitive example.
The opponents to Black voting challenged
Rev. Wilson's registrations at the Lenoir
County, North Carolina Board of Elections in
October, 1984 But the Board reviewed her
work, and found that no action was neces
sary. The state Board of Elections also agreed
in early 1985. Only when white Republicans
took over the Lenoir County Board of Elec
tions, in July, 1985, were charges of illegal
registration brought against Rev. Wilson.
In September, 1985, Rev. Wilson was
indicted on felony charges, which upon cor»
viction carry a ten year prison sontence
The prosecution admitted that Rev. Wilson
had not committed "fra u d " or had registered
people who were ineligible to vote.
Her
alleged "com e" was that she had improperly
registered 205 new Black voters only one
BLACK) had their testicles radiated.
Most of the prisoners I know of who
have been through this "human
project" cannot speak about it
Why? They are all dead. They died
of cancer or whatever one dies of
after having their testicles radiated.
That such human experimeniation
did happen in the State of Oregon
(we protect pop bottles but not
people) is, indeed, shocking. Most
Oregonians have no inkling that
such an inhuman protect ever
occurred within their State
Of course, the "subjects" for THE
HELLER PROJECT were nonethe »
less prisoners prisoners who wore
mostly
B L A C K -o r
Jews,
or
AMERICAN
NATIVE
INDIANS
Some of these subjects could not
even sign their names to the so-
called release forms.
Most were
paid by the State of Oregon FIVE
DOLLARS A MONTH for what only
can bo considered as being buying a
slow death. Most of the prisoners
to this day know nothing about the
effects of radiation. How can you
King Facility meeting ia over and
explain the process of radiation of
another
summer is well under way
one's testicles to a person who can
The
criminals
are out in full force
not even sign their name?
on Saturday nights.
That
human
experimentation
Last Saturday, about 10:30, a
happened within the State of Ore
very
young prostitute was beaten
gon is shocking but, what is far
up
by
a young man on the street in
more shocking is the collective si
lull view of neighbors on their
lence of THE JEWISH COMMU
porches who stood and watched
NITY AND OF THE BLACK COM
placidly,
doing nothing
On a
MUNITY (the native American In
street,
just
off
Union,
a
drug
deal
dian never had a voice so, no one
was going on
can expect them to be able to utter
A friend of mine lives in the Unton
one word). And so it goes (or does
area
She ’»ad a pack of bums
it?,, not one word from any of the
BLEEDING
HEARTS
JEWISH
VOICES Nevertheless does a day
go by that we are not told over and
over again about the horrors of the
Nazi concentration camps? When
will we look at our own horror?
Here in Oregon.
All Israel Rose
Editor of Dads Newspaper
month before election day in late 1984 She
had allegedly used college students to assist
in registration "to o m uch" and had not asked
for proper identification in some cases. In
short, the charges were of a very technical
nature. One of Rev Wilson's attorneys, Leyyis
Pitts of the Christie Institute South legal
service center, notes "This appears to be the
first prosecution of its type ever brought in
the State It was brought not because of what
Rev. Wilson «fid but because of race and
politics "
The Carolina Peacemaker observed that
the real organizer of Wilson's indictment
effort was Republican State chairman Tom
Flaherty. The whole effort was designed to
"intim idate Black voters and other Democrats
by making public allegations of vote fraud
against individuals like Wilson. The Repub
lican strategy was based in large part on fear
of strong Black support for the Rev. Jesse
Jackson as a presidential candidate."
The local NAACP chapter called mass
public meetings to protest the indictment, and
a local movement began which called for free
dom for Rev. Wilson. I he Christie Institute-
South, the Black Lawyers Association, the
National Lawyers Build and other groups
brought media attention to Rev Wilson's
plight. Finally, on May 7, 1986, the prosecutor
relented, and dropped all charges against Rev.
Wilson. NAACP State Field Director Carolyn
Coleman termed tho dismissal of charges "a
tremendous victory. We have to fight this
kind of harassment wherever and whenever
it exists."
Rev Wilson has refused to become intim i
dated. Upon her vindication, she declared:
"I will continue to work hard for my people.
This case has given me an even greater desire
to do more since there was so much harass
ment.
I fie battle for racial justice under the
law continues, despite the increased assaults
by "legal" and vigilante racists to push Black
Americans backward to Jim Crow
. Marable teacl
aocrokxjy ind political s<-rance at
Purdue University, West Lafayette Indiana
Along the Color I m e '
«(kpeart in over 140 n e w s p a ^ s «nlnmatronatty
Letters to the Editor
hanging around smoking drink
¡ng, bringing drugs
My friend
doesn t use any of these things she
has children and is now pregnant.
She was extremely disturbed by this
but felt powerless to do anything
about it. She finally started seeing
what they were doing as a serious
infringement of her rights and she
acquired enough backbone to throw
them out
The Northeast neighbors WFRE
gaining an awareness of their neigh
borhood as THEIR borne and I was
glad to see that
W e need to re
kindle that
Criminals of any color are crimi
nals "The Code aside, if someone
destroys your house, you stop him
if he destroys your neighborhood,
you do the same. Any one who
does tilings to help destroy your
community is not a legitimate mem
ber of your community. Don’t pro
vide tfiem with the silence and apa
thy he wants report crime and tes
tify in court W e can win!
Bonnie deParne
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Like many, I am deeply con
cerned about the plight of the
Northeast Neighborhood, particu
larly N.E. Union and its environs
I feel that we (the city's residents
who care) were beginning to make
some headway in the war against
street crime last year; I say,
BEGINNING.
It is true, in an area where crime
is deeply entrenched, it takes a
pound of effort to produce an ounce
of result, but that’s no reason to
stop fighting.
After some efforts last year, the
prostitutes and drug dealers and the
clouds of crime that follow them
were still there, but cautiously-
furtively. They were beginning to
get the idea that they no longer
owned our «treats Neighbors were
more alert to crime, the police more
responsive
Well, the hoop-la of last year s
Portland Observer
Al MAI •-
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