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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1986)
Police committee disputes minority focus by W. C. McRae The Police Cross Cultural Com munica tions Committee was ‘‘like the (JN," accord ing to committee Chairman Nick Barnett. The committee, made up of representatives of Portland ethnic andcultural minorities and the police, was convened last sum m er after the death of Lloyd Stevenson exacerbated tensions between police and the black com munity. Members of the North Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods, voicing black outrage, met with the police and city officials. These meetings concluded with an agree ment to establish a "hands-on” cross-cultural education for police officers. N N E Coalition members then contacted representatives of local ethnic and cultural minorities, who were asked to present letters from minority organi zations attesting to their legitimacy. The re sulting 14-member committee, meeting at a variety of locations and with no fixed sche dule, undertook the establishment of criteria for an eight-hour practical training in minor ity issues for police officers; issued a request for proposals offering a $20,000 consultancy fee; reviewed 15 proposals from interested consultants; and financially sent three recommendations for trainer to Chief Harrington. The training is currently underway, directed by Michael Benjamin Associates. Tlie com mittee continues to meet sporadically and in a truncated form, to monitor the training. But the workings of the committee in pro cess — the trade-offs made between minor ity solidarity and ethnic self-devotion — pro vide a droll commentary on local inter minority relations. An irony of the Cross-Cultural Committee was that it could not agree on what “cross cultural” functionally m ean t That is to say, members could not agree, in terms of min orities represented in the training, how wide a focus would be effective, but how narrow a focus would be equitable. One school of thou ght propounded by the police, called for a minority extensive approach — Portland as a “global village” as put by Captain Inman of the Police Bureau — which would provide training about several minoritites and police/ public relations in general. An alternative philosophy held that Cross-Cultural C om munications training should be minority in tensive and in this instance present training about ethnic minorities — specifically black— most impacted by the police. Once those structures were in place, they would then be available to other minorities. With these two philosophies as points of departure, this ‘ modern CIN,” was then open to politics. No savvy and enterprising minor ity representative, having stood for his/her constituency on the committee, would then care to return to that constituency not having gained representation in the training. Also complicating the issue, some black members of the committee suspected that the police’s seemingly benevolent injunction to include all minorities was actually a ploy to avoid dealing directly with black issues. But other committee members felt that behind such black suspicion and disgruntlement was black self-interest and discontent with the equal involvement of other minorities. “Everyone else wanted to become part of the stew on the pot” once the black com munity had demanded the training, says black committee member Robert Phillips of Multnomah county Affirmative Action, refer ring to other minorities’ involvement “Eight hours is not a lot of time to devote to a lot of different groups," claims Phillips, and by ex panding the focus of the training to include more minorities, “you dilute a concentrated approach” that would emphasize black/ police issues. Adds Chairman Barnett, “It was blacks who were in uproar, not the hispanics." Other committee members dissented and were concerned that the training be more broadly multicultural. “We were set the task of getting total representation,” says Maria Marin of Oregon Council for Hispanic Ad vancement, emphasizing that cultural and not just ethnic minorities must be included in the training. The issue was moved to center stage when training regarding gays was discussed. A proposal submitted by Dr. Darrell Millner of Bus-Corn Consultants, heavily favored by black and American Indian members of the committee, did not include a training about gays. When asked by committee member Keeston Lowrey, chair of the Right to Privacy, PAC, why gays were not included in the pro posal, Millner, chair of PSU’s Black Studies Department, reportedly replied, “We talked about gays and decided it wasn’t important” When contacted Millner said he could not recall making the statement, though he “may have.’ I am not a smooth public-relations type," he stated. When it seemed that the black-sympa thetic portion of the committee might choose to ignore the criteria established and not include cultural minorities, exclusion of gays became the issue which focused dis satisfactions felt by some members with black intransigence on the committee. * rvP££S Mens Resource Center Counseling Service GAY T H E R A P IS T S • • • • • Professional Counseling Low Fees — Sliding Scale Individuals, Couples, G roups H y p n o th erap y E vening & W eekend Lowrey says that other sympathetic commit tee members realized that “specifically excluding one minority would effectively exclude others. These members "decided not only to support gays, but to stick together." "Some members of the committee felt that gays were not an issue," says Bong Wellerton To, of Chinese Social Services, and adds that these members “maybe forgot" that all minorities were to be represented. The perception that the committee might be steamrolled into making a recommenda tion favoring specific interests was intensified at the final meeti ng when the vote for trainer was taken. According to the protocol of the committee, rather than vote for or against a proposal, each committee member was to give to each of the top five proposals votes out of 100, based on how well each proposal matched the already-established criteria. At the last minute a move was made by the chair to recommend out of committee only the top vote-garnering proposal. This was followed by a voting process that four committee members described as having been “askewed" by two members voting 100 points for the Millner proposal while voting 0 points for competing proposals, which “pur posefully distorted” the voting to favor the Millner proposal. The Millner proposal re ceived the most points and was recom mended to Chief Harrington as such. Harrington later went against the commit tee’s recommendation and chose the pro posal submitted Michael Benjamin Associates. Robert Phillips hints that those who did not side with blacks in the voting naively played into the hands of the police, who wanted “to dilute a pure black approach” by including cultural groups such as gays in the training. Burnett claims that “no one was insensitive to the gay issue," and goes on to say that Lowrey’s contribution to the committee was “hesitant" because Lowery assumed “that gay issues won’t be put on the front burner in a committee like this." Faith Mayhew of Af filiated Tribes of North America says “some members were playing politics with the gay issue" and the Benjamin proposal, adding that gays already have an established liaison with the police. Mayhew claims Lowery thought he was being “unfairly treated be cause no one backed his candidate.” The Benjamin proposal did specifically include a gay training, the only one of the 15 original proposals to do so. Lowery says “the gay issue is sensitive to several black leaders.” But another member admitted off the record that under the guise of gay inclusion was actually being fought fair representation of any minority but black. “It was the most diverse groups of minori ties ever assembled in the city’s history," con cludes Chairman Barnett, who hopes that the com m ittee can serve as “the pattern for other inter-ethnic cooperation." Despite Lowery’s efforts, the inclusion of gays in the Police Cross Cultural Training may have been somewhat of a Pyrrhic victory. Although Michael Benjamin Associates has pledged in his training to inform police offi cers about gay concerns, his approach has been questioned. Helen Lottridge of Phoenix Rising reports that, while Benjamin has hired a minority m em ber to do the training for each paricular minority, a straight psychologist is training the police on gays and lesbians. When approached by Lottridge with an offer to subcontract for the gay training, Michael Benjamin and Steven Willard (the psycholo gist presently responsible for the gay train ing) stated that they couldn’t afford it Lottridge says Willard justifies his expertise on gay issues by claiming he has had “a lot of gay patients.” CHESS Awarded $ 30,000 The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, in its final meeting of the year, voted unanimously to award a lump sum of $30,000 to CHESS for social services to persons living with AIDS and related condi tions. The authorization, introduced by Com missioner Gretchen Kafoury, transferred funds within the Human Services department budget to fund a contract over the next six months. Under the terms of the contract, the funding may be used at the Board’s discre tion, with regular reports made on expendi tures and services provided. This funding was requested as an emergency measure to pro vide for additional professional support for CHESS/PAL Project’s volunteer forces. This one-time-only budget transfer marks the first time that any government body in Oregon has provided funding for community based social services to persons and families living with AIDS, so the Board will be exercis ing special care in its use. This financial support was desperately needed and will be needed again, so it would help a lot if you thank your commissioner. Messages can be sent to Ms. Kafoury, or Pre siding Officer Earl Blumenauer, or your own commissioner, c /o County Courthouse; 1021 SW 4th Ave., Room 605; Portland, OR; 9 7 20 4 . Let them know that you appreciate their continuing support! RAYMOND M. BERGER, ACSW, Ph.D. Nationally Certified Counselor Phobia/Fear Control Program Relationship Counseling I Stress I Depression Sexual Identity I Personal Transitions Sliding Fee Scale Cedar Hills and Downtown Locations (503) 292-2735 235-3433 P r o b le m s .............We Can Work It Oat! é Just O ut, February, 1966