Fat« 2
Blacks to policy making positions is the
only way to insure that Black citizens
be fairly represented and have a share
in formulating the laws that govern their
Portland/Observe/ Thursday, Sept. 16, 1971
lives.
Th* Northwest's Bast Weakly
We ask that the state, county, and
A Block Owned Publication
city officials of this state that was
Published every Thursday byE xie Publishing Company, 2201 N
"created by free men -- the fairest
KUItngsworth Portland, Oregon 97217.
and
the b est," free another segment
r‘,IW' 40 “ ‘" ,s f* r n'» n,h bv earner. $4 .00i»r vW
>5.00 per year b ym a ll In Tri-County area; $5.25 per year else-
of society. We expect you, our elected
wnere.
Phone 283-2480
officials
to free us from the political
ALFRED LEE HENDERSON, Publisher and Editor
bondage you have held us in since the
first white men settled in Oregon
O re g o n ’s Black P o litic a l Look Country.
Senator Edmund Muskie said that he
does not believe that "at this point
i7 history" he could be elected
President of the United States with a
Black running mate, even though there
are Blacks who are eminently qualified.
Muskie told a private meeting of Black
leaders in Watts last week that he
thinks it would be impossible to have
a Black man as a Vice Presidential
candidate and win.
Oregon is among the worst of the
states in the nation for minority parti
cipation in government. No Blacks
have ever served in the legislature or
in other state office. The have never
had an opportunity to make the laws
at the state, county, or city level.
What is even worse, the White Elected
Officials betray their Oath of Office
to uphold the constitutional rights of all
citizens by refusing to appoint Blacks
and members of other minority groups
to positions of influence.
Have Senators Hatfield and Packwood
appointed Blacks to their Washington or
local staffs? What about Represen
tatives Dellenback, Wyatt and Ulman?
Mrs. Green’s district contains the vast
majority of the states’ Black citizens.
What is her record?
Governor McCall, who was one of
the founders of the Urban League of
Portland, has a dismal record both in
inspiring and facilitating the rise of
minority persons into the upper ranks
of the state agencies, departments,and
in the appointments of Blacks and min
ority persons to serve on many state
commissions and boards.
Now that Governor McCall is in
the state’s highest position of power
and influence, he above all should foster
those ideals of equality and opportunity
that he so ably espoused with the Urban
League.
Secretary of State Clay Myers, an
NAACP member, has insured that a
Black not be elected to the State legis
lature by dividing Albina at Fremont
in his new reapportionment plan. .Mr.
Nixon failed in his opportunity to give
Blacks at least a minimal chance.
How many Blacks hold supervisory
positions with the county or the city?
What is the average income of Black
Civil Servants as compared to their
White co-workers? Why are the vast
majority of the Blacks employed by
the City of Portland and Multnomah
County on menial jobs?
Neil Goldschmidt, whom most Black
thought would be their "M essiah," has
not lived up to many expectations.
After his speaking so forcefully for the
rights of Blacks and the poor and his
excellent service at Legal Aid, many
Blacks have expected more than he has
produced. We know that he has made
some valiant efforts on behalf of the
proponents of some city planning and
was not successful; so perhaps a junior
city commissioner cannot do it alone.
Maybe he needs more men of like
thinking to join him ontheCityCouncil.
Well Mr. Ivancie, Mr. Anderson,
Mrs. McCready and the rest of them’
their records stand for and speak loud’
for themselves. Could it be that they
are all in the same bag? We hope not.
They are elected by and for the people
and we hope they will not just do the
things they deem politically expedient.
Since it is unlikely that a Black
candidate could win an election in the
"Planned Conservative Atmosphere of
Oregon" expecially in a race that is
city or state wide. The appointment of
Y o u n g V o te rs
W o n ’t
fit into
P re c o n c e iv e d M o ld
is that regardless of how many or
how few, of the youths vote, their
number will be so small in the total
electorate that they won’t seriously
effect congressional or national elec
tions, especially since the youth vote
may be divided.
As Fisher and Treadwell see it
each candidate is going to have to find’
out what the new young voter, in his
own area, thinks. That thinking may
vary radically among the factorys, the
college, the slum, the farm and’ the
suburbs.
Looking bevound 1972, the fact that
the 18-vear-old vote rule augurs many
changes in politics, government and in
education as well; for if high school
seniors are going to take part in the
electoral process, they need to know
a great deal more than the standard
civics textbooks tells them. We are
in for a revolution of attitudes and
issues that will rest our political fabric
in many new ways.
Now that the voting age has been
lowered to 18 years, the guessingabout
the effect of this enlargement of the
electorate begins to be widespread.
Will the new young voters have any
effect really on next year’s elections?
If so, what will be the effect?
Sign posts are few. In the states
where persons under 21 have been per
mitted to vote in the past, in five out
of the 50 states, the records show that
a comparatively few in the under-21
age group have bothered to vote, and
when they did, they tended to make the
same choices as their parents.
The young political liberal activists
Over 250 black candidates a re running for
are beginning to organize for next
political office in M ississippi's November
year’s voting contests. So also are the
elections.
The black candidacies were
young conservatives. The great major
made possible by the Voting Rights Act of
ity of youngsters at this time are
1965, under which black registration in the
preoccupied with anything but politics,
state leaped from less than 20,000in 1964,
and that goes for most of their elders’
to 275,000 in 1970. But the blackcandida-
as well in spite of all the journalistic
cies are imperiled, black leadersandcivil
stirring of the political polls across the
rights activists say, because the U.S. De
land.
partment of Justice has been doing a less
There is a book about to be published
than enthusiastic job of enforcing the Vot
ing Rights Act.
that analyzes the picture of youthful
Blacks cite these three instances of Jus
voters not only in the United States
tice
Department inaction: permitting
but in 29 other countries where those
counties to require voters to re-reg ister
under 21 have the privilege of voting.
without obtaining prior clearance, as is
The authors are Dr. Joel Fisher, a
required by the act; failing to oppose the
political scientist formerly on the White
so-called "open prim ary law , which was
House staff, and Bill Treadwell, no wan
clearly aimed at the gubernatorial cam
assistant U.S. Attorney in New Jersey,
paign of the black candidate, Charles
who was a candidate torCongress when
he was still in his twenties.
Evers; and failure to oppose redistrict-
ing laws, which discrim inate against
Fisher and Treadwell, in their book,
black candidates.
take issue with the idea that youthful
voters don’t go to the polls. They
found in France, West Germany and
Great Britain that on occasion youthful
voters do excercise their right of the
ballot, at times with surprising
strength.
Some analysts have predicted the
Chester Moran walks where
youth vote will be liberal. Others with
no man has trod before him
equal conviction have asserted that
this fall.
Moran, 3 6 -year-old Portland
when the votes are tallied,conservative
educator, became the firs t
youth voters will be found to heavily
male administrator atMonroe
High School in that school's62-
outnumber the liberal voters expected
year history.
from college campuses.
Monroe, which began as a
tiade school for g irls In 1909,
Fisher and Treadwell found that in
was called G irls Polytechnic
Germany, in a recent election, the
until January 1, 1968, when the
Board of Education made a ch
majority of youths apparently threw
ange of name tojam es Monroe
their weight toward "left-leaning" can
High School effective.
Moran, who firs t joined the
didates. But in England, voting for
Portland D istric t as an intern
the first time in national elections, the
teacher at Washington High In
1962, will replace M rs . Nancy
effect was quite different. The Con
Russell, who w ill be on a leave
servative candidates, by and large,
of absence. Monroe also w ill
have a new principal. D r . E i
benefited from the new youth consti-
leen Shank, who replacesMlss
tuency.
Ruth Dowe. MlssDowe retires
In August after 16 years as
Youths are by nature neither Con
Monroe's chief administrator.
servati ve nor liberal. You have to
Moran will bring to thejobat
Monroe a great deal of exper
ask: What youth, when, and where do
ience that previous vlce-p rln-
they they vote and what are the issues?
clpals have not had. F o r ex
ample, he served three years
These authors are convinced youths will
In the UjS. Arm y Infantry.
vote for the issues, not the party.
Also, he has been at various
times a laborer, cab d rive r,
There have been forecasts that young
salesman and service station
people vote like their parents. This
attendant.
concept was advanced strongly for a
Within the Portland D istric t,
Moran tought social studies at
period by certain specialists at the
Marshall High, was a Neigh
White House.
borhood Youth Corps coordi
nato^
and served as a c u rri
Fisher and Treadwell have found
culum associate at Jerrerson
that when tested on specific issues,
High for the past two years.
Moran was born In Wibaux,
there is a wide difference between
Montana, In 1933. Heattended
what the average youth believes and the
Ursuline Academy in Moscow,
Idaho, and Whitman College In
oldsters believe on a range of critical
Walla Walla, Washington, be
issues. That difference extends to how
fore earning hla bechelor'sde-
gree at Oregon State Univer
seriously they take these issues in
sity in 1962.
voting. This doesn't mean all youths
In 1963, he was awarded a
Master of A rts In Teaching de
will vote the same way on these topics,
gree by Heed College.
or on candidates--but that a candidate's
Moran and his wife, Margot,
view on pollution, poverty or Vietnam
have lieen m arried since 1956.
They have three children: a
may normally be more important to the
boy
* g iti 10, and a g irl 7.
average young voter that to the average
Moran lias been active with
the Oregon Historical Society,
oldster.
Black Candidates
In Mississippi
Man In
Unusual
A n o th e r a p p a r e n t m yth
the Albina Neighborhood Ser
vice Center and theAlblnaArt
Center.
Has Patience of Job
«1 have the patience of Job,"
says Archibald Motley J r.
He la not referring to his
career as an a rtis t, but no
tra it could serve this accom
plished and dedicated paint
e r better. Motley w ill be 80
on Oct. 7, a Chicagoan since
he was 1 1/2 years old, living
quietly In the same house for
the last 65 years - - and still
painting every day.
Warm,
soft-spoken and
thoughtful, Motley Is a leg
end In his own lifetim e, ills
work Is known and respected
by artist and art experts who
generally have no Idea that
he continues to create more
than 40 years after he made
history with an exhibition at
the New
G allery of New
York that was the first by
one of his race.
— « m b s
Portraits, street scenes,
cabarets and especially the
effects of lights at night In
terested Motley. They were
In the show, and so were six
voodoo paintings.
"P v e never seen Africa,
never been In A frica, but I
researched four or five years
and got a pretty good Idea of
what I was striking a t," Mo
tley explains.
Night life. Indoors and out
doors, always with
people
walking, dancing, carousing,
weaving rhythmic i>atterns
through them.
And always
with a fat man In the crowd,
symbol of happiness, often
prominently placed.
" I was always Interested
in figures and lig h t," says
Motley, Indicating the subtle
transition of light and shad
ow in a night street scene
with warm light streaming
from shops and cooler light
from street lamps;
Among the canvases In
M otley's second floor studio
Is "Barbecue In a Garden,"
painted In 1960. It Is a study
In light, done In great detail.
"Each
Individual Is d iffe r
ent,” he said, "different In
appearance and character."
The chief difference be
tween his early pointings
through 1948 and recent ones
Is that Motley's color lias
shifted to a higher key. The
pictures that won him fame
are dark, rich and luminous;
since about 1960 his palette
has been lighter and bright
e r , although the principal
hues remain red, blue, green
and brown.
"Stomp,” a 1927 o il, lias
been selected tor an exhibi
tion of Illinois art to 1940
that will be circulated by the
Illinois Arts Council. "Chick
en Shack," a 1936 street
scene painted under
WPA
auspices, Is In the National
Archives In Washington. In
competition with the nation’ s
leading artists, Motley was
takes In many more people
selected to paint a Post Of
than are black.
fice mural, about six by five
•*! i«lnt to please m yself,"
feet, oil on canvas, for Wood
he says.
" I have always
R ive r, 01., also In 1936. Ills
painted for the sheer Joy of
a rriv a l to study the site, lie
painting."
recalls, caused a stir Inttiat
He paints things he knows.
city.
"Getting Religion"
'res
Motley was destined to be
a street revival meelng
an artist since he firs t cov
onlookers that Include tils
ered the
margins of his
mother and brother outside
school books with drawings.
the house the artist still lives
Horn In New Orleans, he was
In. "Tongues," or "Holy
1 1/2 when his family moved
R o llers,’’ done In 1929, lias
to Chicago. Ills father was a
been exhibited widely by the
railroad man, In charge of a
A m e r i c a n Federation of
buffet car on the Chicago-
A rts. Look at It, he remarks,
New York run of the Wolver
•’ You have a lot of fun going
ine. "M y father and A. Phil
to one of those churches.”
ip Handolph organized the
firs t Negro railroad man’s
union sitting at that table,”
he said, tainting Into his din
ing room.
Ills parents
appreciated
a r t . Motley remembers, a l
though
his father wanted
him to be a doctor.
"D a d ," I told him, " I ’ m
too tender-hearted to be a
doctor. I want to be an a rt
is t.”
Hundreds of construction
The family approved. A r
personnel - - f r o m
c ra n e
chibald became an artist ami
operators to company pre
sidents - - are learning tlie
his brother W illard a distin
guished novelist;
Motley’ s
techniques of construction Job
son, Archie, Is chief In the
safety under a speed-up Instr
department of
manuscripts
uction program of "training
at the Chicago Historical So
the train ers,” developed un
ciety.
der the Labor De;>artment to
D r. Frank W. Gunsaulus,
Implementation of the Occu
president of Armour Insti
pational Safety and Health Act.
tute, tried to persuade Mo
The program offers a free
tley to take up engineering,
40-hour course to concerned
and when Motley
declined,
Individuals and organizations.
offered to pay his tuition to
T h e courses were tiegun In
the school of the Art Insti
January of 1971 under the Con
tute. But the young artist,
struction Safety Act, and have
s e e k in g In d e p e n d e n c e ,
been exjanded this year as a
earned his own way at the
result of the enactment of the
school, receiving a diploma
W lillams-Stelger
Occupati
In 1918.
onal Safety and Health Act.
Hanging In Motley’ s living
The program operates on
room Is a portrait of his
the “ m ultiplier principle" of
grandmother that was shown
training Initial groups to train
at the Art Institute In the
others, says George C. Ckiwi
Chicago slaw of 1923. Paint
ther, Assistant Secretary of
ed on an old laundry t>ag
Labor for Occupational safety
from the Wolverine and In
and Health Administration.
remarkably good condition.
The course Is directed p ri
It Is an Impressive rendering
m a rily toward the training of
of the dignity of old age.
Instructors who w ill In turn
In a statement pub 11 she 1 In
train firs t-lin e construction
J ..'. Jackson’ s " A r t of To
supervisors. The future In
day: Chicago, 1933,” Motley
structors learn lo w to present
said: "T o me, subject mat
both n 30-hour and a 10-hour
ter plays a most Important
course on construction safety
part In my art. It Is my ear
and health for supervisors
nest desire and ambition to
and middle managers.
express the American Negro
The stress la on actual Job
honestly and sincerely, nei
situations and the recognition
ther to add nor detract, and
of hazards, rather than on ac
to bring about a more sin
ademic training, as such.
cere and brotherly feeling, a
Classes originally were sch
better
understanding,
be
eduled to be conducted In 26
tween him and
his
white
cities, but demand hasbeenso
brethren. I sincerely believe
great tliat they have been ex
Negro art Is someday going
tended to 35, and class size ex
to contribute to our culture,
panded from 25 to 35.
our civilization.”
He Is old-fashioned enough
to prefer " c o l o r e d " to
"b lack,” and modern enough WATCH OUT P o R C IU IJlR E N
to point out that "colored”
Safety
Taught