Page 2. Portland Observer November 19 1°86
EDITORIAL/OPINION
Portland Police Bureau Needs M ore Black Officers
issues that may arise from conducting a drug
investigation, the other reason the Portland
Police Bureau has not been successful in clo­
sing down drug houses is due, in part, to the
absence of Blacks in the Bureau's Vice and
Drug Unit.
Another highly visible consequence of Black
under employment in criminal justice is the
common situation wherein while police o ffi­
cers patrol predominantly Black neighbor­
hoods; thereby lending credence to the propo
sal that Black communities were analogous to
the ''colonial” model of European domination
of non-whites, and that consistent with this
model, white police officers performed the role
of alien occupation troops whose only justifi­
cation for existence was to protect white pro­
perty in Black communities and maintain white
domination of Blacks.
The Portland Police Bureau should make a
sincere effort to recruit more Black officers.
An increase in Black officers within the De
partment will increase Black identification with
the system and result in lowering Black aliena
tion from the Bureau and the criminal justice
system. This will benefit the Black commu
nity, the Police Bureau, the justice system and
the entire city.
The recognition of Portland Police Officer
Harry Jackson for his outstanding service and
personal commitment to neighborhood safety
by the Northeast Neighborhoods Against
Crime is a testimony to the importance of
Black officers, especially in areas with a large
Black population.
While Blacks are statistically over-represen­
ted as perpetrators and victims of crimes, they
are under represented as professionals in the
criminal justice system.
For example, the
Portland Police Bureau has more white w o ­
men on the Bureau than Black men and w o ­
men combined.
The under employment of Blacks in the cri­
minal justice professions has been identified as
contributing to high Black crime rates. Black
criminal justice professionals share common
physical and cultural traits with other Blacks;
they understand the nuances of Black life; and
are, therefore, better able than whites to in­
conspicuously work in Black surroundings to
establish contacts in order to gather informa
tion needed to prevent and solve crimes.
The latter explains why drug houses and
drug dealers operate openly in Northeast
neighborhoods.
Besides the constitutional
Letters to the Editor
The silence of The Oregonian is deafening on one of
the biggest upsets in Multnomah County election his
tory by Gladys McCoy for chairwtman of Multnomah
County. One story buried in the forum section, and
she was opposed by the very people she has tried to
help over the years
This demonstrates who is the
proven vote getter in Multnomah County politics
They say politics make strange bedfellows
Her
opposition sure made some strange bedfellows Politics
can be just as dirty as labor relations
This time the
people won, and the lady with class will take over as
chairperson of Multnomah County in January
So
Happy St Patrick's Day to the real Black Irish. Gladys
McCoy.
Sincerely,
Bernard Kelly
c
Along the Color Line
by Dr. Manning Marable
Or M anning M a'abla ia prntaaaor of to c o lo g y and political acience
at Purdue Umverarty
Along the Color Line” appeara in over 140
nawapapara internationally
"Blacks and the 1986 Election
Three important lessons for Black politics emerged
from this year's election
First The number of Blacks elected to the house of
Representatives will continue to increase, as more Con
gressional districts gam Black and Hispanic voter mator
ities Floyd Flake of Queens and Kwesi Mfurne of Bal
timore replaced departing Black Democrats in Con
grass In Mississippi s delta attorney Mike Espy chai
lenged two term Republican Congressman Webb
Franklin By mobilizing a strong Black turnout and by
winning a small fraction of the white vote. Espy became
the first Black leader since Reconstruction to represent
Mississippi in the House In Atlanta, civil rights leader
John R Lewis easily won election to Congress The
total number of Congressional Black Caucus members
will now reach twenty two
Another Black Democratic candidate. Faye Williams,
should have been elected to Congress from Louisiana's
Eighth District Her opponent, Clyde Holloway, a con
servative white nurseryman, was inarticulate and devoid
of coherent policy ideas In public opinion telephone
surveys taken several weeks before the election, Wil
liams was ten points ahead of Holloway But patterning
himself after former Senator Joe McCarthy, Holloway
scurnlously attacked his Democratic opponent, descri
bing her in his campaign literature as "ultraliberal. pro
abortion, for gay rights, for gun control." Holloway
went so low as to smear Williams’ personal life, telling
voters that she had previously maintained a "love af
fair" with "a known Communist." In a largely rural
district that is only 42 percent Black, a liberal Black
Democrat would have a hard time winning even under
the best of circumstances The gutter tactics of Hollo
way worked but Williams should be back again to
contest the seat in 1988
Second The Democrats owe their new majority in
the U S Senate primarily to Black voters. In California,
whites voted for Republican challenger Ed Zschau over
incumbent liberal Democrat Alan Cranston by a margin
of 60 to 47
But Black Californians who comprise 9
percent of the state’s electorate, gave Cranston an 82
percent mandate, and the Democrat narrowly won.
North Carolina's whites gave Republican Senator
James T Broyhill 56 percent of the vote over Democra
tic opponent Terry Sanford But Blacks in that South
ern state, who total 16 percent of the electorate, gave
Healthwatch
W hat Can He Do In An Unjust System
have bean 36,000 detentions since 1984, with 22,000 of
those occurring since June 2, 1986' Many of those
killed have been children
Recently, Maki Mandela, daughter of Nelson Man
dela, spoke at a press conference at the University of
South Alabama
Among other things, she said that
President Reagan isn't a popular figure among Blacks
in South Africa, that "people have no confidence at
all in Reagan. They feel that Reagan is propping up
the white racist system " She further stated that ap
pointing a Black U.S ambassador is pointless, that
"whether the ambassador is White or Black, what can
he do in an un|ust system?" And that is exactly the
point The new Ambassador will be representing U S
government policy, which to date has been a tragic
failure
This policy of "Constructive Engagement"
has no credibility in this country, witness the recent
historic passage of sanctions legislation in spite of a
Presidential veto. The Black led Anti Apartheid Move
ment (Free South Africa Movement, Transafrica, Con
gressional Black Caucus, Washington Office on Africa,
national Black United Front, Call to Conscience, etc.)
has also rejected U.S. policy toward South Africa, as
an ill-conceived and failed policy.
The Ambassador is probably a very nice man, but he
has accepted the wrong job at the wrong time in his
tory. This will not be the first timo that our government
has made a stooge of a decent human being for bank
rupt political ends
Mayor Bud Clark's controversial appearance (style of
dress), at the recent reception for the newly appointed
South African Ambassador, Edward Perkins, might
have served as an omen and raises a question. How
can we. (I did not attend), serve as well wishers to a
man Pretoria will disrespect, because he'll be seen as
inherently inferior, regardless of who he represents?
The Mayor's dress is an irrelevant side issue Instead,
concern should be focused on the plight of our Brothers
and Sisters in South Africa, whose daily struggle for
freedom is costing thoir lives We need to keep in mind
that Edward Perkins is going to be representing a
government that tried to stop sanctions against South
Africa, even though the majority of U S. citizens
wanted them. While sanctions are not a solution to
ending apartheid, Nelson Mandela, Bishop Tutu, Allan
Boesak and many, many others believe they could con
tribute to the demise of the racist social system Our
government has a stake in making sure that the econo
m ic exploitation of Black South Africans continues, as
it has been U.S. Companies that reap profits from their
cheap labor
Anybody can say they abhor apartheid, as this
government does but is the U.S, government prepared
to help bring about not only the end of apartheid but
a just redistribution of the land and wealth in South
Africa? Is that the dialogue in which the Ambassador
will be "constructively engaging?"
Sending a new Ambassador to South Africa, Black or
White, sends the wrong message to Black South
Africans who are faced with daily repression and state
sponsored terrorism.
Since September 1984, over
2.330 people, mostly Black, have been killed
There
Avel L. Gordly
Director
American Friends Service Committee
Southern Africa Program
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the victorious Sanford 88 percent of their votes
Republican Senator Jeremiah Denton of Alabama
was firmly ahead of conservative Democrat Richard C.
Shelby among whites, by a 61 to 39 percent margin
But Alabama Blacks comprise 21 percent of the state’s
voters
Despite Shelby's rightwing views on many
issues, he was considered more acceptable than the
dangerous Denton With 88 percent of the Black vote,
Shelby narrowly upset Denton by 11,700 votes And in
Louisiana, Democratic Congressman John B Breaux
defeated Republican challenger Henson Moore for the
Senate, by winning 86 percent of the Black vote.
Moore gained 60 percent of the white vote, but it
wasn't enough
Third: The Black vote remains the most crutial com­
ponent of the Democratic Party's electoral base, specifi­
cally because of its dependibility. According to a recent
New York Times/CBS poll, the Democratic House can
didates nationwide did best among these groups:
Blacks. 86 percent, Hispanics, 75 percent; Jews, 70
percent; members of union households and govern
ment employees. 63 percent; fulltime students, 62 per
cent The bad news for Democrats is that they continue
to do relatively poorly among other electoral groups
which have historically supported their party. For in­
stance, 64 percent of all blue collar workers voted for
Democratic Congressional candidates back in 1982;
this year, their share was 56 percent. Adults earning
less than $12.500 annually voted nearly 3 to 1 for Demo­
crats in 1982; this year, low income voters again went
Democratic, but by only 56 percent. Democratic can­
didates continued to do poorly among all white males
147 percent), evangelical Christians (31 percent) and
even first time voters (49 percent).
Blacks, in short, are absolutely essential for any De
mocratic successes in 1988
This is precisely why
Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow Coalition must imme­
diately investigate all possibilities for an independent.
Third Party presidential campaign for 1988 There is no
respect in politics unless the promise of rewards is
balanced by the fear of punishment. The Republican
Party's agenda is antithetical to our interests, so we
cannot enter this party to punish Democrats. However,
we cannot expect any major public policy gains from
those we have elected unless we have a potential elec­
toral vehicle which can "punish" Democrats who be­
tray our real interests.
‘-Í.
by Steven Bailey, N D.
The recent elections have not changed
much of the Oregon House and Senate make
up While there were a few changes in both
sections of the Legislature, none of these
changes will significantly change the positions
of these bodies in most areas of legislation.
The election of Neil Goldschmidt to the posi
tion of governor will make a philosophical dif
ference, but how well that can be converted
into actual legislative change remains to be
seen.
The results of both elections and initiative
measures send some clear messages as to the
feelings of the Oregon electorate Almost all
tax issues were defeated. Oregonians once
again showed their displeasure with the idea of
a sales tax, while also opposing progressive
plans such as the homestead exemption mea
sure offered by Fair Share. This leaves the
Legislature with the task of finding improbed
support in such areas as health care, while
the majority of Oregonians feel that additional
taxes as unacceptable. We know that the
Reagan administration has no plans to help
support state social services, so our Legisla
ture has a major task ahead in compensating
for the diminishing federal support for health
and social issues.
The failure of the toxic waste initiative was
something that was a personal letdown for
me, as I thought that Oregonians would show
a greater respect for our environment. While
the E.P.A has said that the U.S. cannot today
afford to clean up its poluted water, we as
voters helped to sustain the penny-wise a tti­
tude that leaves pounds of cleanup and poten­
tial cancers to our children and grandchildren.
I had thought that our residents had moved
from the "industrial era" belief that rivers and
aquifers offer a perfect sewage receptacle,
With the Presidential veto of the Clean Waters
Act, we will certainly see a continuance of pre­
sent increases of drinking water associatedd
problems, which include cancer, heavy-metal
toxicity, cardiovascular disease and many
other aspects of contamination.
W ith no
clear cut easy solution to this problem, we
may well join Europe as a bottled water society
in the near future, and Oregon's state fish may
have to be changed to the carp.
The one thing that impressed me about this
election was how strong a factor money and
advertising was to the end result of the elec­
tions. It appears that the common sense,
issues conscious, voting public of Oregon is
showing the national trends towards the m ar­
keting of candidates. Let us hope that our
independent natures help to move us back to
a more issue-conscious populace, or our cur­
rent "short-term " approach will guarantee us
long term problems.
Good luck to Neil and all of our representa­
tives as 1987 looks to be a challenging time
for the State of Oregon.
Portland Observer
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Alfred L Henderson, Editor/Publisher
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