October 1, 1986, Portland Observer, Page 13
Along the Color Line
EDITORIAL/OPINION
by Dr M anning Marable
0» Manning
is professo* of sex:«rtoçy and politicai scianca
st Pur due Umvarsrty
Along the Certo» Lma appears m ova* 140
Reagan Continues His Support For Apartheid
i >«ws(>apars internationally
Reagan's lack of moral conscience about
the situation in South Africa is the reason both
Republican and Democratic lawmakers have
put together legislation calling for stronger
economic sanctions despite Reagan's veto.
These lawmakers believe that the United
States should take a stance against hatred,
bigotry, and oppression and stand for free
dom, opportunity, and dignity for all people,
regardless of their skin pigmentation.
It's a shame that the President of this coun
try doesn't share these principles.
The veto by President Ronald Reagan of
legislation imposing economic sanctions
against South Africa for its racial policies,
once again reveals Reagan's support for apar
theid in that repressive country.
Since Reagan’s first term in office, he has
defended the racist South African government
through his constructive engagement policy,
which has helped the most brutal regime since
Hitler's Nazi Germany, denying millions of citi
zens basic civil rights, just because they were
born with black skin.
O N SO U TH AFRIC A
Coke Boycott Continues!
money is necessary for the purchase? In light of the
severe lim itation on Blacks ability to purchase pro
perty and secure capital, how are they able to buy
this company?
5. W hat w ill take place w ithin the six to nine
m onth timetable Coca Cola has set tor disinvestment ?
6 To w hat extent does Coca Cola see this move
as a change from its previous policy in South Africa?
7 How w ill this new position effectively change the
lives of the m ajority of the people of South Africa?
W hile we recognize this n ove by Cor a Cola as an
initial step and a partial response to publu pressure
we feel that congratulations may be a tut premature
The above questions must be answered For as Coca
Cola says, "T h e com pany w o n 't lose any money its
products will still be sold thr< ugh the 15 independent
Coca Cola bottlers in South A tm a
Hence, Coca Cola
will still be helping to finance apartheid Any corpora
tion that makes a p ro fit from apartheid, regardless of
the channel, participates in the destruction of the lives
of the m aionty people in South A frica There < an be no
reform of apartheid Total disinvestment tiy Coca Cola
or any other foreign com pany must mean the cessation
of all economic operations and connections, including
license, trademarks, factoris, suppliers and distributors
On W ednesday. September 17, 1986, the Coca Cola
B ottling Company announced its intent to "disinvest'
its holdings in South A frica Company President Do
nald Keough states, " A decision to com plete the pro
cess of disinvestm ent is a statement of our opposition
to apartheid and o f our support for the econom ic aspira
tions of Black S outh A frica n s ." W hile this move by the
Coca Cola Company has been hailed by several political
and Black leaders as a positive example, and, " It's a
departure from the status quo in the disinvestment
debate that set a precident for other companies "
But w h a t is the real nature of the Coca Cola move?
W hat is Coca Cola's real intent? It must be remembered
that the object of the disinvestment campaign is not to
change the color o f people who finance apartheid,
whether Black or m ultiracial, but to end ail financial
support for apartheid by cu ttin g o ff all corporate taxes
to the South African governm ent the apartheid econo
my. Before applauding Coca Cola's m ove too loudly,
let us have some questions answered:
1. If Coca Cola is dismvesting, w ill Coke be re
m oving its license and trademark and relinquishing
claim to pro fit from its products?
2. W hat are the remaining tax liabilities of the Coca
Cola Company to the S outh A frican government?
3. W hat is the position of other Coca Cola sub
sidiaries in South Africa? W ill Coke still receive bene
fits from these subsidiaries and, or the new company?
4 W hat is the com position of the new entity pur
chasing the Coca Cola holding? W hat am ount of
American Friends Service Committee
92 Piedmont Avenue Nf
Atlanta. Georgia 30303
14041 586 0460
Letters to the Editor
---------------- :
____ — —
"Black Leaders and Conservative Cults'
A desperate people w ill turn to almost anything w hich
promises some relief from oppression
As the socio
economic conditions o f black America have continued
to deteriorate in the 1980s, and as Reagamsm has be
come the national ideology of both major parties, some
black leaders have begun to search desperately for
allies
A few prom inent civil rights spokesmen have
gone so far as to form alliances w ith ultra right groups,
w hich might give lipservrce to blacks traditional
interests
Consider the careers of James Bevel and Ralph Oavid
Abernathy. In the 1960s Bevel was a critically impor
tant figure in the desegregation campaigns
W ith
Marion Barry, James Lawson and John Lewis. Bevel
led the successful sit in movement in Nashville Bevel
was a key strategist and stalwart for King in tfie d ifficu lt
Birmingham desegregation campaign of 1963
Bevel
was in Memphis five years later w hen King was assas
sinated
Abernathy was. of course, second only to
Martin as a pivotal leader of the Southern struggle from
M ontgom ery to Mem phis But deprived of King's gui
dance both black leaders foundered, personally and
politically Atiernathy was unable to keep the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference s (SCLCI m om entum
going, and w ithin a few years he was overshadowed in
the civil rights field by his charismatic junior lieutenant.
Jesse Jackson Both Bevel and Abernathy ran unsuc
cesslully for Congressional seats As King s other pro
leges continued to make headlines most prom inently.
Andrew Young the flow of public events increasingly
byjiassed both civil rights veterans Neither leader exer
C '.ed any t lout w ithin the Carter administration
In tfie 1980 election. A bernattiy took a decisive step
away from King s political legacy by endorsing Ronald
Reagan tor the presidency He justified this unexpected
at lion by accusing the Carter adm inistration of a variety
of sms Coretta Scott King prom ptly attributed Aber
nathy s endorsement to sinister forces"
Less cfiari
tably some black journalists bitterly ridiculted Aber
nathy as a modern "Judas and U nde Tom
Abernathy and Bevel drifted even further to the right
after 1980 Bevel became a Republican party leader in
Chicago blur k com m unity and soon earned the repu
tation as an extremist o l the right By 1985, both former
leaders had been drawn into tfie jxihtical orbit of
CAUSA as anti com m unist front established by the
Reverend Sun Myung Moon
This April, Abernathy
j, ,med Black radical turned reactionary Eldridge Cleaver
it a CAUSA iaderence held in Los Angeles In May,
Bevel and A bernathy were the key participants in a
Two day Freedom Rally and C onvention" sponsored
try CAUSA and held in the impoverished Lawndale
section of Che ago west side C AU SA was created
si» yeais ago by supporters o f tfie U m fit ation Church, in
an effort to build conservative links to educators, clergy
and local elected officials
Tfie sad conversion of Abernathy and Bevel to
CAUSA s agenda highlights the expanding role of the
U nification Church inside the black com m unity nation
ally. For more than a decade. M oon and his follow ers
have pursued policies totally at odds With black inter
ests The church has donated hundreds of thousands
o f dollars to rightw ing groups such as the National Con
servative Political Action Com m ittee, w hich optxises
affirm ative action legislation and civil n g fits
M oon s
previously public statements on race relations also
appear to have more in com m on w ith M>giegationist
Lester Maddox than King In 1974 tor instance M oon
claimed that each racial group held specific character
istics: Orientals can contribute in tfie spiritual aspect,
w hite people can contribute in tfie analytical. scientific
aspect, while black people can contribute in tfie physi
cal area
The actual number of black converts to the
M oonies" remains small
Yet C AU SA recently re
printed an early speech by King critical of C om m unism ,
w hich in turn provides a suitable ideological cover for
their growing activities w itti blacks
U n w ittin g ly per
haps. Abernathy and Bevel have become key paw ns in
this strategy
Tfie right w ing sect of Lyndon la R o u t he has also ini
tiated a campaign to recruit black supporters As in the
case of tfie U nification Church, tfie LaRouchites w ork
primarily through several fronts, tfie Schiller Institute
and the National Democratic Policy Committee Again,
tfie LaRouchites have been linked to a number of racist
and extremist groups, including tfie Liberty Lobby tfie
Kian and neo Nazis
Currently, tfie I aRouchites are
vigorously opposing sanctions against S outh A frican
apartheid
The most prom inent black leader close to LaRouche
is Roy Innis, w ho heads the remnants of the Congress
of Racial Equality (CORE) Innis denies mem bership in
tfie cult, but recently acknowledged an ongoing colla
b o ra tio n ." This fall, Inins ran an unsuccessful cam
paign in the Democratic primary against progressive
Rep Major Owens of Brooklyn Innis received support
in his effort from tfie National Rifle Association and was
endorsed by Bernhardt Goetz, tfie controversial sub
way vigilante " Since tfie mid 1970s. Innis has etiam
pioned the cause of Jonas Savimbi. the apartheid
supported terrorist and leader o f the Angolan rebel
group UNIT A
W hat Abernattiy, Bevel and Innis all sfiare is a vir
tual lack of accountability to any significant w orking
class constituency inside the black com m unity O pjxir
tunism and clientage is nothing new in black politics,
and these former civil rights leaders have found it con
venient to advance conservative dogma in a conserva
live climate But what is more significant is tfio failure
of most progressive to liberal black leaders and orgam
zations to expos«! and critique their behavior am i allian
ces w ith ultra rightists They have continued to take for
granted a unity of political purpose and coller live vision
w hich lias ceased to exist am ong black activists
As
Ma|or Owens finally recognized. CORf has 'becom e a
vehicle for tfie opposition, and Innis is an agent of tfie
opposition
We ve been silent for too long in the
name of black unity
I W as Touched
The Lord touched my heart when I heard Proverbs
21 v. 13: "W h o so stoppeth his ears at the cry of the
poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard
I wish to publicly confess that I did not represent the
interests o f our neighbors most in need
I represent
King N eighborhood on the Steering C om m ittee for
but thousands and thousands of our m ost needy neigh
bors w ill not be helped at all
This has been called
HCD (poverty) funds I voted our entire $180,000 yearly
budget tow ard an excellent project helping a number of
unem ployed Ft home seekers, and also fix up housing.
Jim A nderson
"cream skim m ing"
I repent, and ask your forgiveness, and promise to
w ork harder to use our money to touch more poor
especially those most bruised
4904 NE 12th
Portland, OR 97211
The A .M A H eadstart P rogram 's Cascade C enter
held an open house Friday, Sept 26. 1986, for staff
and the parents of children w h o a tte n d the C enter
An enjoyable evening w as had by all and included
a gum bo dinner, salads, and desserts The event
w as coordinated by Elaine Harrison (2nd from L)
Photo by Richard J Brown
Portland Observer
ii
[Oregon
N ew gi.il>*'
Publishers
Asso, ihon
í
MEMBER
Founded 1ttS
fly Steven Bailey. N D.
The use of gamma globulins in western medicine
has been increasing dramatically over tfie past few de
cades These com ponents of our serum represent the
major antibodies w ithin our humoral immune system
Spei die globulin antibodies have been used to effect
im m unity to many form s o f contagious diseases
(va< i im-, against tfie flu, etc I M ore recently, gamma
globulin therapy has been used to assist the immune
system in such diseases as hepatitis
A lthough it lias been know n for over a century that
antibodies (im m unoglobulins! are soluable serum com
ponents. they were not isolated as proteins until the
w ork of Tiselius and Kabat in 1937 Their specific »true
turns anti mechanisms of action have been elucidated
in the more recent years Today we have the ability to
isolate specific fractions of the im m unoglobulin» and to
use these products in the care and treatm ent of many
conditions Yet a new concern lias been raised in cur
rent gamma globulin therapy
Last week I was given a copy of a newsletter out of
the South that quoted a Donald Steel. M D , of New
port Beach. California, as stating that the Center for
Disease Control (CDCI and the FDA had inform ed him
that all sa m p le s o f g a m m a g lo b u lin te s te d posi
tiv e fo r th e H T V V v iru s o f A ID S
W hether this
means that recipients of gamma globulin therapy could
develop AIDS from this therapy remains to be seen,
but the potential of this occurance has caused some
laboratories to cease marketing their supplies of gam
ma globulin A supplier of mine told me tins past week
end that Arm or had found all their batches of this drug
to be contam inated, and tfie product is no longer avail
able until an uncontam inated batch has been produr ed.
Mr Dave Chesney, Branch Head of the Portland
office of the FDA remembered the April 19. 1986, FDA
bulletin of this subject and is in tfie process of trat king
dow n the current status of pharmaceutical supplies
of globulins
Tfie main concern now is that tfie jiublir tie aware of
the current questions concerning gamma globulin tfie
rajiy The problem has arisen primarily tiei arise (jam
ma globulins are extracted from pooled supplies of up
to 1,000 doners’ , and if only one person in tfie jxmi I
escapes A ID S detection, the entire pool is contam ina
ted
Hopefully, w ith the current tests for A ID S , the
potential for tfie future contam inated gamma globulin»
is reduced
Studies of past lots of gamma globulins
have shown that up to tw o thirds of HBIG (tfie globu
tins used in hepatitis! were contam inated ’ Fortunately,
tfie FDA labs have not isolated any live A ID S viruses in
the samples, and the current governm ent statem ents
suggest that the fears of rer eiving AIDS from g lo bulin
injection are unwarranted W hile much about the A ID S
progress and transmission remains moderately uncloar,
the FDA feels that the chance of infection from imrnu
mzation is extremely low
For tfie present, if you are
possibly going to receive isolated im m unoglobulins as
an injection, you should question your doctor as to
their awareness of this new concern S om etim es the
treatment can be more harm ful than the disease.
’ Commun»c«trt»» OtlMM Summary Vo! 3*> Mo 7
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Alfred L Henderson. Editor/Publisher
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