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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 1971)
page 2 It is really that time.... The N o rth w e s t's Best W e e k ly A Black O w n e d Publication Published every Thursday by Exie Publishing Company, 2 N. Killingsworth Portland, Oregon 97217. Subscription rates: 40 cents per month by carrier, $5. 00 per year:$5.25 per year by mail in Tri-County area.$6.00 per year elsewhere. Phone 283-2496 X ¿ r O iV ir J i The Caucus teience m ists 5., r a».,. 3 Portland/Observer Tuesday, Dec. 21, 1971 I I. öncy MUST MMK TOGETHER / W FULL ANU EQUAL EMPLOYMENT. Caucus seeks plan ? Body and Fonder Repair M o s t r e a s o n a b le ALFRED LEE HENDERSON, Publisher Editor Verna L . Henderson Asst. Publisher/Business manager Helen Hendrix Personnel and Production Manager ? 8 /-8 5 2 9 Congtesslonal {Hack is convening a con- of top black , Con(>_ and entteprenaura January 27-29, 19Z2, at Mor gan State College, Baltimore, Maryland. JI X”* ' ’ •? t A B rin g in g You | Hamilton Furs $ and Leather iW W u I m HEALTH. H E A L T H A N D HAPPINESS T O OUR M ANY G OO D FRIENDS! PA IG E'S PRESCRIPTION PHARMACY 2701 N. E. 7th 284-4659 M a y t h e jo y s o f th e season a b id e w i t h y o u W IL L IA M S FO O D MARKET 2709 N. E. 7th Ave. (At Knotl 284-9973 SFASDHS Notice G reetings V p / liJ ^ ' ? .°“ 1CUI Position is expressed only in its Pub- ‘ , ’ her s Column (ThC ' fc3erv,tlon Post) «nd the E d lto r’ sDesk d iv a J u ]rr T terl>l throu«hout the paper,s the opinion of the in- dividual w rite r or subm.tter and does not necessarily r e f le t the opinion of the Observer, G u a ra M e e d Savings i* a / 3 More Days of H a m ilto n } trem endous Fur values V e ry L ib e ra l Terms In defense of Christmas A cornerstone of 19th Century southern conservatism was the re strictio n of the franchise to the w ell-to-do, owners of property the so-called “ enlightened” classes. To those who embraced this philosophy, democracy did not include those whose skins were dark o r who spoke with a foreign accent. America has rejected the concept of government by an ed ucated o r economic e lite . The rh e to ric of a ll our political lea ders speaks approvingly of the need to extend participatory dem ocracy. \ et the Nixon Administration, in its opposition to an important political reform measure, proclaim s sentiments which closely parallel those expressed by southern aristocrats in their suc cessful campaign to deny the Negro his vote following Recon struction. The reform , which could have a significant effect on the poli tical participation of blacks, is popularly known as universal voter registration. There are several versions beingconsidered by Congress, b it all have in common the intent to abolish voter enrollm ent regulations which many states have adopted todilute the political influence of m inorities and the poor. The most far-reaching b ill, introduced by Senator Gale Me Gee, would enable every voter in the U.S. to re g iste r by post card and would set a nationwide residency requirement of 30 days, substantially less than some states which require six months or a year. Two Republican P arty leaders, ChairmanRobertDole and Ro bert Erickson, a Justice Department o fficia l, have already test ified against universal registration. The adm inistration’ s rea soning, as summed up in the comments of one party official, are interesting. “ Anytime you go out anddrag people to vote” the official said, “ you are gening a less well-inform ed elector ate, and that can be dangerous in a democracy.” Compare this statement with those of spokesmen fo r the Old South who rationalized the dlseniranchisement of the black man and you w ill discover striking s im ila ritie s . The defender of Jim Crow would often insist that he was not motivated by racial prejudice. The poll tax, literacy test and Grandfather Clause were not, it was asserted, designed to pre vent the Negro from voting but only to ensure that control of the government did not fa ll into the hands of the ignorant and uned ucated . Senator Dole him self issued a statement which carried the harsh ring of the Old South m entality. Dole contended that apathy, rather than inability to register, was the underlying cause of failure to vote, a view which fits in well with the stereo-type of the southern black as too shiftless to care about voting. » • » • " > IO 9 OO p m Da.ly Sunday, Noon Io 4 0 0 p in 2 8 1 -3 7 3 1 # Restrict the franchise? 2 6 0 9 N V a n c o u v e r Ave P o rtla n d , O re . Ctoyd Cant« Naa, ,n , t lquoe s,o»t t pt P I S Ona M,d Only S to,. ~ Any erroneous reflection upon the character, standing o r rep utation of pe: son, firm o r corporation, which may appear in the Portland Observer w ill he cheerfully corrected upon being brought to the attention of the E ditor. The Editor’s Desk = Con" nuni'» v»ites tow n l et P E i’ l ’ s BOTTLE Silt >1’ be youi headquarters f champagne, wines, m ixers. . ait the lowest prices town .1 / //J /. . /J,/i in Carlos The purpose of the meeting as explained by Rep. Parnan M itchell (l)-M d .), chairman of the Caucus’ Subcommittee on M in o rity Enterprise and Ec onomic Development, is to create a ten-year plan with specific timetables fo r Black enterprise in tlie decade of the 70‘ s. The plan is to be used as an integral pan of the Caucus’ National Black Agenda. pays shop l read in the paper the other day that a clergyman has pro posed we change the date of Christmas because “ The modern commercial pagans have destroyed not only the religious basis of this feast, hut also the human warmth and m srriness that grew up around it. ” He pointed out that thu Dec. 25 date foi Christmas was originally a pagan celebration, before it was adopted by the early Christians. He said the proper religious message of C h ristm a s," which is the g ift of God’ s love fo r men and his visible revelation in history through JesusC hrist, has long sincedied an ignominious death." He also said Christians should celebrateC hnst’ s s p irit of selfless and unstinting love of our brothers, especially the poor. Well, I’ ll have to take issue with the man. Yes, there is a commercial side to C hristm as but this is not as bad o r as nearly all bad as he and soma others would have us think. We only see and hear more of the “ com m ercialism ’ ’ because of tl>e advertising and promotion, but underneath there are s till the solid and rewarding values of Christmas time, the deep exper ience and appreciation of Christmas as a sacred observance fo r Christians and as a time for enjoyment of fam ily and friends and the joys of giving g ifts. Since the giving of gifts is a traditional part of our observance of Christm as, businesses are doing us a service by making a wide variety of gifts available and by advertising to let us know what they have and where. Whatwould it be like if stores didn’ t stock and advertise the many g ift items? They wouldn't be f i l l ing our needs. Shopping for appropriate gifts would be much more d iffic u lt and time-consuming than it is undei present c ir cumstances. Thus, I think that if we look at it tfte right way, the “ cotnm ericialism ” of Christmas is actually a service and not a handicap. As long as we keep the buying and selling ard giv ing of gifts in proper perspective to the other values of C h rist mas, it is not something bad. However, if too many “ experts” continue to harp about ’ ’ overcom m erciallsm ,” they make some of us feel guilty as long as we hold to the deeper meanings of Christmas also. The Christmas season may indeed have oi lginuted in ancient times as a pagan festival, tu t It was so Christianized long ago that it is purely Christian for us. As fa r as Christm as for the poor is concerned, we here in Portland don’ t need to apologize. Generous donations to the Salvation Arm y enable them to help lite ra lly hundreds of deserving poor fam ilies have a better Christm as, and the churches and other organizations have Christm as aid projects fo r the poor. I think sometimes the poor fam ilies have it better than we near-poor people who don't qualify for help butdon’ t have the means to do all the things we’d like to do at Christmas time. The clergyman who suggested a change inthedate of C h rist mas also suggested a new date of ja n . 6 which is observed by Eastern Orthtxloxy as Epihany, the manifestation of the C hrist Child to the Magi; but a mere change of date would not e lim i nate his complaints about Christm as. It Is not the fault of tte particular date if there is too much comm ercialism rnd too many people are not participating In the real meanings of Christm as, lu t ra tte r the fault of those people ind they would be the same if the date changed to July. I believe that Christmas Is s till the trueChristm as to the big m ajority of people, and that the m ajority is as big as it ever Sharing is Caring K Hamilton Furs and Leather 922 SW M o rris o n y 9 JU 30 AM AM to to 9 9:00 PM u :0 0 PM Sunday 1:00 1:00 10 tl) 5*00 5:00 PM PM was. J . H. Davis z V x WE WISH YOU ALL THE BEST! "THE T im e ” 1 by John Watch & Jewelry, • 1 CH ICK LE Sales & Service 730 N. Killingsworth 289-8207 A young man is on the road to wisdom when he learns that women, fish and race horses are smarter than he is ........... OUR AIM Is to Ease the Burden ... Thoughtful meticulous attention to every fam ily wish is assured by our many years of experience V an n ’s C D on V a n n MORTUARY 5211 N .W illia m s A v e n u e 2 8 1 - 2 8 3 6 Port la n d ,O r e g o n Help! whose to blame? To the E ditor; 1 am making a plea to the home owners and renters in North Portland, especially Model C ity Area. It is so disturbing when questioned, where do you live, and you reply North Portland only to hear, “ oh that area. This also applies to some Realtors giving tie impression that we have some kind of blight. We have lovely homes and beautiful streets with trees. Our parks are lovely. Wej have a college and many gooc shopping areas. A ll our good points more than off sets tne bad. It is sad when one is foiced to sell th e ir home due to illness or old age and no longer can maintain them. It is heart warming to see our young couples buying some of these homes and keeping them up. We have many good rentei s, m m on Welfare, through not fault of theirs due to unfor tunate circumstances beyond their control, who take pride in keeping their places at tra ctive . There has been fo r many years a home on W i l- liam s Avenue not far fio m all those old fundings, kept up and greatly admired by many. It is a pleasure to live by these people. We are in an integrated area, not one color, race or creed. We need our strong young men and women to volunteer their services to help patrol our streets and help with many projects in all areas. I hope some one can get something done so we can show people what a model area can do with our own resources. This does not take money. Only people with pride, giving a helping hand, ind the will ingness to work. Even if we start with one block clean ing the sidewalks and alleys. Vivian Barnett’ s le tte r“ Paint your face", hits the nail on the head, Even a sheet can be made into a pretty cur tain and clean patches are not a disgrace. 1 am a desperate Noith Portland resident fighting to save our beautiful area. I can’ t do it along. Young people help. Mary Goodwin SCI OUR LARGE SELECTION OF JACKETS SHO P WHILE QUANTITIES LAST lENOW'S FOR -B R A N D S you know -V A R IE T IE S you laki - SIZES vou w a n t The Friendliest Stores In Town Since 1908 • • • • • • 64 I I •> I M SSth « H .m v W g 12?nd A N I G hs«n N l o m b a r d •*’ G r » e t » v » a le .q h H ills P U » 4 » l? p d et S » D .v \ o r • M tM B fR • • 14tt. A S I J J ,,| A N t M o r risen, H 4 n<o>h • l9 t t , A S E O iv v ia n • J h d IL W e s t ft • L e k e O iw r q n 9 ) ft O f UNITED GROCERS d A USE YOUR BANKAMERICARD OR MASTER CHARGE O RIN 9 -9 DAILY • 10 to 6 SUNDAY SHOR WIGWAM EVERYDAY VALUES tA M teou ROST ROAO 7 7 7 -1 4 » R o w aitn u A U L ia M A to w l 741-7J7O -41J7 II7 T U R . 4J4-4 I A
