M arch
8, 1995 • T he
P ortland O bserver
P age A 4
The Assassination of Malcolm X:
It’s Time To Heal The Wounds Part II
y
o o v e r c re a te d the
in
C o unter In te llig e n ce
Program (Cointelpro)
precisely for the purpose of
disrupting the civil rights revolt
and th e b la c k lib e ra tio n
movement.
No tactic was off limits within
Cointelpro: the massive infiltration
o f organizations, the use o f agent
provocateurs, disintormation cam
paigns: and character assassination
and physical assassination vs ere all
accepted methods for Cointelpro
One o f the favorite tactics o f
Cointelpro was to deliberately sow
seeds o f dissension and division be
tween leaders and organizations or
to take advantage o f internal disputes
to discredit or destroy organizations
and leaders. The rift between Mal
colm X and the NOI was tailor made
for a Cointelpro operation
Indeed, near the end of his life,
Malcolm sensed that the conflict w ith
the NOI o f play ing into the hands ot
the government. Based on his knowl
edge o f the capabilities o f the NOI,
Malcolm concluded that things were
happening to him that were bey ond
the capacity of the NOI. Something
else was afoot. Malcolm's instincts
were correct. Both the NOI and Mal
colm 's OAAU were infiltrated by-
government agents who were in a
position to collaborate on any oper
ation that the government wished to
conduct. In my judgement, the U.S.
government, exploited the rift be
tween Malcolm and the NOI to or
chestrate his assassination. I he gun
men who killed Malcolm may have
been members of the NOI, but most
assuredly some among them were
also government agents. The pup
pets may have been Muslims, but the
puppeteers were outside ot the NOI.
The United States Government con
spired to kill Malcolm X.
As 1 stated from the outset of this
discussion, the only productive rea
son for recounting and assessing this
painful history is to learn the lessons
from that history so that we do not
repeat the same mistakes again. And,
in this tragic matter there were mis
takes on all sides.
Our beloved Malcolm fueled the
flames o f conflict w ith his attack on
his former leader and teacher the
Honorable Elijah Muhammad and
Earrakhan's rhetoric stoked the fires
of rev enge and retribution which ul
timately consumed Malcolm. The
NOI and the Honorable Elijah Mu
hammad had w eaknesses, but the NOI
and the Honorable Elijah Muham
mad also had enormous strengths
which contributed to the rehabilita
tion o f the race. It is questionable
be learned from an examination of the
whether Malcolm’s airing of the
events surrounding the assassination
NOI’s dirty linen in the "white me
of Malcolm X is that the Black Nation
dia” was wise Malcolm himself in
needs mechamsms/structures to re
"Message from the Grassroots” cau
solve conflicts between leaders and
tioned against this. 1 he moral and
organizations. As the bogus indict
ethical concerns about the Honor
ment of Qubilah Shabazz graphically
able Elijah Muhammad should have
illustrates, the U.S. government has
first been aired through structures
not changed its method of operation.
internal to the black community'.
Leaders, organizations and movements
It must always be absolutely
which have the potential to spark mass
clear, however, that no organization
opposition to the government will be
or leader that claims to be working
targeted for disruption and destruc
on behalf of black people is above
tion. As a maturing people- nation, we
criticism. The w illingness ot'theNOl
cannot afford to fall prey to the deadly
to respond to Malcolm's criticisms
machinations, plots and schemes of
of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad
the U.S. government.
by the ready use of intimidation and
The lessons drawn from the
political v iolence must be condemned
a
s
s
a
s s in a tio n o f M alco lm X
as reprehensible and counter pro
should also encourage us to be-
ductive. Unfortunately , the tendency
gin the process o f healing the
to use political violence against black
awful wounds that have plagued
people internal or external to politi
our struggle since this tragic o c
cal organizations was all too charac
currence 30 years ago. That h eal
teristic of this period. The deadly
ing process is essential to b u ild
conflict between the Black Panther
ing the kind o f operational unity
Party and the US organization as
required for the defense and d e
w ell as the conflict between the Black
velopm ent o f the Black N ation
Panther Party and SNCC are other
into the 21st C entury Perhaps,
notable examples of this tendency; a
the
governm ent’s attem pt to ex
tendency which leads itself to ex
ploit
these wounds through the
ploitation by government intelligence
persecution
o f Q ubilah Shahazz
agencies. It is a tendency which
and
the
Black
N a tio n ’s response
should not be tolerated in our com
to her entrapm ent can set the stage
munity.
for the healing process to begin.
One of the most critical lessons to
CSD Seeks Solutions To Child Abuse
Continued from front
tu tes child abuse and neglect, re
q u irin g people who w ork with
c h ild re n to re p o rt s u s p e c te d
abuse, giving CSD and law en
forcem ent agencies jo in t resp o n
sib ility for investigation and re
sponse to reports ot child abuse
and neglect and also requiring
the state agency to provide p ro
tectiv e social services to safe
guard the c h ild 's w e lfare .^
But the translations o f these
p r o v is io n s h as o p e n e d
a
groundsw ell o f resentm ent and
have angered some parents.
"P aren ts have all the statu to
ry rig h ts and there are no laws
that Talk of c h ild re n ’s rig h ts,”
Kdfen Lde. CSD com m unications
d irecto r, said.
Many p a re n ts are ask in g
when is it spanking and when is it
child abuse? How is a parent sup
pose to draw the line if the inten
tion is d iscip lin e0
The law defines child abuse
as any assault ot a child and any
physical injury to a child which
has been caused by other than
accid en tal means, including any
injury which appears to be at
variance with the explanation of
the injury.
It also defines neglect or m al
treatm ent o f a child, including
but not lim ited to, failure to pro
vide adequate food, clothing,
shelter or m edical care.
These definitions and provi
sions, parents say are too vague.
Even C S D 's m ost vocal critic
Rep. Bob Tierm an, R-Lake O s
wego o f the House Com m ittee on
G eneral G overnm ent and R egu
latory Reform, agrees.
Anthony Stoudam ire o f P ort
lan d 's S elf Enhancem ent , Inc.
(SEI) and a CSD program coor
dinator, said the law needs to be
more clear so that there s a better
definition o f what is discipline
and what is abuse.
Stoudam ire said parents need
to understand "you cannot disci
pline when you are angry at a
child.
"The overriding factor is that
this agency is com m itted to pro
tecting children and if errors are
«oins to be made, most o f the
CSD workers prefer to make an
error on the side of the child and
protect that child. Stoudam iie
said.
A CSD study done between
1987-1993 discovered that more
children are experiencing abuse
and consequently an increase in
behavioral, m ental and physical
problem s.
The report also show ed a
slight reduction in both the num
ber o f children reported to be
endangered and in the num ber ot
child abuse and neglect victim s.
But a frightening abuse o f
drugs and alcohol by parents, the
CSD could argue, has made it
even m ore cautious.
The CSD said most parents
they deal with (65 percent) have
drug and (45 percent) alcohol-
related problem s. The agency
revealed that these percentages
have increased 7.5 percent over
the last two years.
S to u d am ire re g retted that
there has been a poor perception
o f what the agency provides.
"W e d o n 't go looking for
fam ilies to pick on We get re
ports from the hospitals and o th
er agencies and we evaluate and
investigate to find if they are
fo u n d e d
or
u n f o u n d e d .'
Stoudam ire said. Part ot our jo b
is m aking parents more responsi-
ble and better parents through
our parents training serv ices.”
Kay Toran, CSD ad m inistra
tor, recently testified before law
makers.
‘‘We d o n ’t tell people how to
spank their children. W etellth em
not to injure th eir children em o
tionally or p h y sically ,” Toran
said.
If w e’re gong to allow spank
ing in our society. What co n sti
tutes a legitim ate spanking and
how do you draw the line?, Toran
questioned.
CSD is a social agency that
cannot be ignored. It’s an en o r
mous social institution with great
potential influence, but poor pub
lic perception has put a dent in
some of its good nature.
Until there is a statutory d ef
inition o f what is corporal pun
ishment, CSD case w orkers will
continue to face difficulties.
Governor's
Planned Attack
On Crime
Gov. John Kitzhaber has un
veiled a plan to reduce violent crime
and drug abuse. The effort will in
clude the application for $5.6 mil
lion from the Edward Byrne Memo
rial fund.
Kitzhaber will try to incorpo
rate Oregon’s urgent needs with
national priorities at combating
drugs, violent crimes and building
community-based law enforcement.
"Violent crime is an epidemic.
It’s infecting our state with fear and
diverting resources from education
and o ther im portant areas,"
Kitzhaber said. "This strategy rep
resents tangible action toward light
ing crime.”
The plan was drafted using the
governor's "Four Pillars of Crime
as a blueprint for a balanced c'ime
fighting approach that includes ju-
venilejustice reform, juvenile crime
prevention, domestic violence pre
vention and increasing prison ca
pacity.
Kitzhaber said the plan had the
Governor John Kitzhaber
potential to effectively attack crime
because of its balance of punish
ment, deterrence and prevention.
"To reduce crime tomorrow, not
just control it today, we must treat the
causes of crime as well as the symp
toms," he said.
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