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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 29, 1970)
PORTLAND/OBSERVER Oct. 29, 1970 Fire Deaths Real Tragedy of Uncle Tom Breakfast with PACE learns from others By FATHER GORDON DICKEY Valuable information can be obtained through the "P o lic e - Community Relation Breakfast’ ’ on Wednesday mornings at Cen- t e n a r y - W i lb u r Methodist C h u r c h . According to Rev. Harper Richardson, an excellent program of crim e prevention comes out of the experience of M o n t e r e y Park, C alifornia. Their program of citizen par ticipation in reducing crim e is called, a PUBLIC ANTI-CRIME EFFORT o r PACE. "The goal of this community e ffo rt,’ ’ according to Rev. Ri chardson, " Is the protection of life and property, and the pre vention of b u r g l a r i e s and th e fts ." What brought this city to the PACE Program was the c h o ic e of doubting the police manpower, o r to involve c iti zens in securing th e ir own com munity. Monterey P a r k was divided in t o thirty-one reporting dis tric ts . A daily record was kept of all offenses committed, per sons arrested, what accidents occurred. Each d is tric t then had a picture at any tim e of the type of crim e occurring and their frequency in each d is tric t. At d is tric t meetings, citizens were asked to react to the kinds of service rendered by the Po lice Department. Q uarterly, the crim e statis t i c s were reviewed and ana lyzed. A t t e n t io n was then directed to areas where addi tional citizens support in the prevention of crim e was needed. Strategy of citizens* groups placed emphasis on selected kinds of crim e, and to work to reduce th e ir incidence. Auto thefts, night time burglaries, assaults, etc. Each was concen trated upon in turn. One of the features of the Monterey Park Program is to te a c h householders security m e a s u r e s . The importance of lighted areas was discussed; the effectiveness of the dead bolt and chain was stressed. What to do when you have a prow ler in your home was discussed; what neighbors can do fo r each other when away from home was de scribed. W h a t is happening across our land are new con cepts of police work. People are coming to see that law enforce ment ca rries with it aspects of problem solving. We need more effort on the prevention of crim e, peace-keeping through problem -solving. E llis H. Casson Assistant to the Superintendent, Portland Public Schools which to fight. He Is recorded in fa ir weather and foul. as having said, "When I fight, When the black spokesman I want to whip somebody." seeks to do his thing outside the Today's perverse usage of the established lines, then he Is term , Uncle Tom, has meant moved against. And the evidence History - like God - works In rejection for a long list of d is In overwhelming. A D r. King is mysterious ways its wonders to tinguished black spokesmen and murdered, a Malcom X is perform . personalities. The confusion Is gunned down. A Muhammed All A clear and present example further compounded by black Is toppled from his champion of this Is found In the branding m ilitants who lump everyone ship, a Paul Robeson Is black of some blacks by others with over 30 in that same ignoble listed, a W.E.B DuBols is ex bag. a mangy accusation of "Uncle iled, a Bobby Seale is gagged, T om ." The equivalent of such Among those who have been and Josephine Baker Is s i b r a n d in g among Christians so dubbed are: The late Dr. lenced. would be to call one a Judas; Martin L. King, Roy Wilkins, More than a decade ago, among American patriots, a Whitney Young, Ralph Bunche, Louis Armstrong was assailed Benedict Arnold; among slave Adam C. Powell, Joe Louis, Ray as a top Uncle Tom because of rebels, a house nigger. Campanella, Jackie Robinson, his "eyeballing" antics on tele T h e irony is that when Louis Armstrong, the late Nat vision. But when Satchmo tru m H a r r i e t Beecher Stowe Intro King Cole, and others Including peted his anger over the tre a t duced the character in 1852 in this w rite r. m e n t of "nine black kids at "Uncle Tom's Cabin," she In Probably the most tragic con L ittle Rock, Arkansas" by te ll vested him with such nobility sequence of this kind of buck ing the government to go to hell and sympathy that m illions of shot branding is that it robs the and refusing to be part of a people the world over were won black community of a prim e goodwill troupe abroad, he pro over to the great antislavery condition that Is Indispensable tested effectively in a way that cause. to Its own progress: unity In Its some of his detractors couldn’t The original Uncle Tom re own ranks. This, of course, have done. fused to become a field d rive r poses the question: Unity for Many a Black M ilitant, who a fo r the hated slave owner, what purpose? few years back shouted his con Simon Legree, because he could That purpose should t>e the tempt at Dr. King as an Uncle not bring him self to whip other elevation of blacks to equality In Tom, today In retrospect see slaves. For such refusal, Uncle every facet of American p o liti the questions quite differently. T o m was m ercilessly beaten. cal, economic and social life . The evidence demonstrates that Following the beating, Legree Apart from fragmenting the most black leaders have helped ordered him to proceed with the community, charges of Uncle in the forward thrust of black flogging of Cassie, a proud and Tomism usually miss the mark, people. defiant woman slave, but Uncle anyway, because no black spokes Jim Brown, the great black Tom replied: man has the power to alter f o r m e r professional football " I ’m w illin ' to work night and present black-white relation player, once said It well: day while there’s life and breath ships. At best, he or she can "We need everything we can bi me, but this yer thing I can't only articulate requirements of get going for u s." feel it right to do; and mas’r the black community and, to the The very nature of the black I never shall do it — NEVER." degree it is united, advance condition and the gap between Although b i t t e r abuse Is them. the general development of Ne heaped on blacks who are real This truth Is well-known to groes and that of whites, dic o r Imagined ra cia l defector's the white power fra te rn ity. In tates two clearly emerging Im termed Uncle Toms, nobody f a c t , that fra te rn ity knows It peratives: s e e m s to remember that the much better than blacks precise (1) That black leaders w ill in real villa ins of the novel were ly because whites are accus evitably continue to be producer! Sambo and Qulmbo, brutal black tomed to the exercise of power In greater numbers and be test slavedrlvers used by Legree to and, thus, are able to checkmate ed and developed in the crucible push the slaves to unendurable in advance plans put forward by of Impending confrontations. lim its in the cotton and cane blacks In a number of different (2) Consistent with the p o liti fields on pain of to rtu re o r ways. One important way is to cal history of the country, the dearth. keep them fighting among them black movement w ill find allies M rs. Stowe’s c h a r a c t e r , selves over who Is the biggest among a wide strata of the white Uncle Tom, was based on thé Uncle Tom which, of course, population that w ill be forced to early life of a slave named Jo takes a ll the heat off the white see—sooner o r la te r—that its siah Henson, born In Port To fra te rn ity. own s e l f - i n t e r e s t is more bacco, Maryland in 1787. He es A hard re a lity that blacks closely connected to that of the caped to Canada where he be- m u s t face, given the present blacks than to the Increasingly c a m e a well-known Methodist power relations, is that the arrogant power centers. m in iste r. In 1858, Henson re - whites who have power make or Such are the great questions t u r n e d from Canada and met break black leaders In the Unit that should preoccupy every with a group of black abolition ed States as they do pretty much t h in k i n g black today. Never ists where they d is c u s s e d anything else. Black spokesmen mind the name-calling. among other things, the feasibil are tethered to the white power ity of publicly urging the slaves Family Counseling Service, centers, d irectly o r Indirectly, to rise In armed insurrection. with offices In Clackamas, by m yriad lines and connec He is known to have opposed the M u ltn o m a h , and Washington tions—economic, politica l, so move on the grounds that the Counties, Is supported through cial, historical and c u ltu ra l- slaves had no weapons with your contribution to United that have him tied to "the man" Good Neighbors. By W ILLIAM R. DEIZ Last Friday, October 23, two sm all brothers died In a fire as they played with matches In an upstairs bedroom of a Southeast Portland home. Their ages: 2 and 3 years old. Firemen who responded to a telephone call from a next door neighbor, had the blaze under control within minutes of th e ir a rriv a l. The neighbor’s efforts were instrumental In getting a 17-year old baby s itte r out of th e house, and the firem en's immediate response was su ffi cient to confine the fire mostly to the upstairs. But In the In te rim , two sm all children per ished—as they hid from the flames in a closet. A s one photographer who W ILLIAM R. DEIZ later saw the bodies remarked: "T he kids didn't appear to be stock of the situation during the burned, th e ir little lungs proba Fall and W inter. bly couldn't get enough oxygen. Many people forget just how They must have been overcome dangerous fire s can be. There by the smoke and fum es." is the obvious danger from the There is nothing novel nor heat; but there is also another unique about this story. It hap danger, often more insidious pened to two other children In from carbon monoxide fumes— Portland last June, it happens an invisible, but deadly, poison somewhere In the city each released when something burns. year. And when a fire is extremely But the hard facts are that the hot—as was the case of the fire deaths can be prevented. last Friday—the flames feed on Each year the F ire Bureau a ll available oxygen In order to issues appeals to parents to be keep going, and this, of course, aware that children, practically includes the oxygen we breathe. ALL children, W ILL PLAY When, tim e and again, you see WITH MATCHES if they can get the tragic things fire s can do, their hands on them. Most kids you begin to develop a healthy are luckv. They either can’t find respect fo r them. But most any matches to play with, o r If p e o p le aren't often exposed— they do, they don’t start fire s . personally—to f ir e ’s ravages. But then there are always the Take a look at your house not so lucky. hold, especially if you have The appeals take on a p a rtic sm all children, and see just how ular urgency during Western safe it is from unexpected Oregon’s perennial rainy sea fire s --fire s that can and ought son, when children are forced to be prevented. off the sidewalk and Into the Listen to the free safety ad house. Adults, who may have vice given by the F ire Bureau, been a little lax about leaving and for Pete's sake, keep those spare matches around during m a tc h e s out of the reach of the hot weather when kids were sm all hands; and if you don't spending most of th e ir tim e out have a fir e extinguisher in doors, should take particular working order, get one. 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S 7 UKn t Z o nd M a X t° n Veal was a pp ointed W o rsh ip fu l M a s te r to lead the M ilit a r y Lodge. ’ «.» *39” up Authentic African Fabric and dresses Knit Sweaters r x sjoo Knit Suits Reg up to 89 95 s T h e N o rth e rn L ig h t Lodge U .D ., a m ilita r y Lodge, ro lle d o u t he red carpet D in n e r was served a t the H o lid a y In n . A fte r the n ~*5°° Mi~ M *19” Brand name pants Grand Master Visits * t , * 30% Sweaters and Tops Reg 10 95 Reg Reg 5 00 13500 7 00 '9 0 M !3'° Noon to 6:00 P.M. 2 days only ~$iè$ Friday, Oct. 30 Saturday, Oct. 31 1637 N.E. Killingsworth St., Portland, Ore. 97211 284-3916
