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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 27, 1972)
WASHINGTON Black riots continue in Rhodesia BRIEFS Page 2 ’You understand this is not « challenge? / MUST IvtWi TOGETHER FVP FULL The Internal Revenue Ser v ie t a d it w ill take steps to end the tax exempt status of , 74 private schools in the South that have not adopter) notai la- cruninatory admission pol icies. ANU EQUAL EMPLOYMENT. Portland Observer Thursday. Jan. 27, 1972 Th« Northwest's U i t Weekly A Block Owned Public abort The U . S. Department of Housing and Urban Iievelop- ment (H ID ) has awarded the National Urban l eague $39U,<XX) to prepare a direct ory ot black businesses and professionals in the field of housing and urban develofw ment. ■d every Thirsday by Dtie Publishing Company, 2201 N. Killingsworth Portland. Cfcegon 97217. Subset lption $5.25 per year in Tri-Countv area by m a il. Out side the Tn-C ounty area $6.00 per year by m ail. Phone 283-2486 ALFRED LEE HENDERSON. Publidier Editor Verna L . Hetaiersor. Asst. Publisher/Bus mess manager Helen Hendrix Personnel and production Manager James Hudson, a piomtnant black attorney in Washington D .C . and campaign a d lor tne Humphi y-M uskle ticket In 1900, has beennamed Michigan campaign coordinator (or hen. Muskie (D em -M e.) IN P A Any erroneous reflection upon the character, standing or rep utation of person, firm or corporation, which may appear in the Portland Observer w ill be cheerfully corrected upon being brought to the attention of the Editor. School decision: It means Portland too There is no urban area in the country that can escape the implications of this decision. School authorities can no longer arrange attendance districts to fit segregated housing patterns — either within a single school d istrict or among neighboring school districts. The Albina area of Portland was created by real estate interests who refused to sell or rent to blacks outside pre-determined boundaries. This was done to raise the cost of property - - which was sold to blacks at higher prices that do whites — by creating a closed market. It also was one to "p ro tect" whites by isolating the black population. Portland's school d istrict attendance iines have followed the residential patterns are aglance at the map w ill show. Two new schools were built that were nearly all-black from their opening — E lio t and Humboldt. Suits are pending in Detroit and Indianapolis. If Portland's school board does not soon announce an effective pian for school desegregation, it could be next. The decision in the Richmond, V irg in ia, school case may have aider impact than even the 1954 decision that began school desegregation. judge Robert Meshige, J r . ordered that the Richmond school district, which is 70 percent black, merge with th se of twe surrounding counties, each of whose schools are 90 percent white. This order to achieve desegregation by merging districts acrossp cal lines will have nationwide impact if upheld by the Supreme Court. The legal basis of the decision 3eems to make it possible to override the distinction between "de jure” and "de facto" segregation. Judge Meshige said "school authorities may not constitutionally arrange an attendance zone system which serves only to reproduce in school facilities the prevalent pattern of housing segregation, be it publicly or privately enforced. To do so is only to endorse with official approval the product of private racism .'* The decision makes tne state responsible for the effect of its policy, not just the intent. From this point of view, "de facto’ ’ segregation is no more constitutional than "de ju re .’* Education for what? Vocational education is gening new attention, especially In the big cities, where the dropout and truancy rates tend to be highest in the "general” high schools. Col ege freshmen are choosing courses that promise jobs at the other end, and tne American Council on Education reports a shift from surplus fields like teaching and engineering into fields like medicine, dentistry, nursing and law. Some states are pouring more money into work-oriented ommunlty colleges and cutting back on their support of esoteric graduate programs, where the emphasis is on research So we have, In effect, a tightening up of educational priorities, an attempt— long overdue--to spend the school dolloar where it w ill do r e most good. This probably is the only solid answer to much of our unemployment problem It was late In coming, out there now seems to be a keener awa eress that jobs are going begging in the United States despite a 6 1 percent unemployment rate. P a rt of the problem Is chat schools and co leges have teen slow to adjust to tie labor m arket as it really Is - not as it might have teen 10 or 20 years ago. High schools still graduate thousands of students each year who have no salable skill, no interest in higher education and no place to go in an economy that values brains over brawn. Colleges and universities continue to turn out too many schoo. teachers and too lew accountants, too many doctors of philosophy and too few doctors of medicine. There Is an unmet demand In many parts of tie country for welders, machinists and other skilled tradesmen and for more trained people in health professions like nursing and physical therapy. "W e 'll be five years making a dent in the deman for health personnel," ore Georgia educator commented. But both educators and students now seem attuned to tie realities. The Observer's official position Is expressed only In Its Pub lisher’ s Column (The Observation Post) and the Edltor*sD«sk. Any other m aterial throughout the paper la tie opinion oi the in dividual w rite r or submitter and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Observer. Kennedy charges Nixon Senator Edward Kennedy charged présidant Nixon with turning his b a c k o n b la c k s . " In American history, you nave to go back to the era of reconstruction to find a com parable abdication by the fed eral government of its respon sibility for civil rig hts," Ken n e d y t o ld the Washington Press Club. " B l a c k Am erica lies be calmed today, halfway between hope and desperation. And un less the Administration a c ts more positively now, i t would be a w iser man than 1 whocoukl predict the direction we shall move when the wirxl begins to blow again." Just three days before the P r e s i d e n t 's "State ot the U n i o n " message, Kennedy took him to task in virtually every field. He s a id the firs t issue is Vietnam . " I f e v e r a Presi dent was elected to erd a war, to wash away the stain brought on us by V letnam. R t c h a r d Nixon was elected for that pur pose.’ ’ He predicted that tens ot thousands w ill die in In lo - china in 1972 because Nixon "w ill not allow the Saigon gov ernment to falter until he is secure at h o m e for another term of office.” He s a id the shame of Viet nam is o n ly matched by the shame of our policy towarcfln- dia ani Pakistan. Kennedy sad the central Is sue is whether th e U.S. w i l l have j government that is re sponsive to the people or to special inteiests. The social disease of segregation Senator Jacob Javits (Rep.- N .Y .) w ill announce his ap pointment of an 18-year-old freshman coed for admission into the U.S. Naval Academy. The Navy has not Indicated that it w ill accept t’ s firs t female mdshipman. Vernon Jordon, J r . , execu tive director of the National Urban League, said the "dol lar gap” between [he races in creased during the last ten years. The median income of whites was $2,600 higher than that of blacks in I960 and $3,600 higher in 1970. Bloodshed continues in Rhodesia as hlacka demonsti Jiei then opposition to B n i ish-K hudeslan agieements that brought an eid lo economic »auctions against Rhixlexia ami grant legal mdepeixlence to the whitegovei ninenl olKnudesia with eventual majority rule, probably in 11» next century. 1 he white govei nment led illegally dec I a red its independent a from Ui itain in 1965 resulting in an unsuccessful economic boycott by nations that opposed the Rhodesian government A British commlssio i leaded by Lord Pearce is at tempting to deteimme whether tie agreement is accept able to blacks, who outnuinler the lullng whites by 20 to 1. M ilitant A fi lean Nationalists have oiganized demonsti a- llciis to piove to the commission tlial it is not acceptable. Demonsti atlons mine into riots with Africans liurning portions ol the black quarters ol the cities. Eight Africans were killed when police fired into crowds of demonstratoi s and others have been reported killed. Although Rhodesia promised to allow "norm al politic it activities" In Rhodesia during llw Peace commission in vestigation, S. Garfield I odd, a formei prime m in iste r, and his daughter w eie jetlesf The action prompted Bntain to request an explanation, tad note lias teen tecelved. J v i a Cl ...am ano, the fc M 1 the le s ls ta n c e , has also teen arrested. In a radio broadcast. Prim e Mtmstei Ian smith told black Afl leans t sal il I ay did nol accept the agieement it would mean a cortu union of the 1969 constitution which promise-: Africans polity with the whites someday, perhaps I I0U y ta ra , bu> nevei majority rule In nixxiking tones, Smiti sad a black ieje lion ol tie agieement "w ill prove a most pleasant surprise, imleed agteatday in our history." He said the rioting "proves how rigid we a r e in our dete: minalion io retain nigh standards in Rhodesia. Those responsible lor all lid» barbaric destruction have ironically played right into oui hands. What greater p io o fco u d anyone have of t,« lact of m aturity, lact of civilization, the inability to make my constructive contribution." Representative Charles Diggs, J r . (Dein M ich.),chairm an of the Black Congtesslonal Caucus and Chairman of Itie House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Africa, expressed the view that, "Racism has been the fast-spteadlng disease in that country ever spue UDI and tie smith regime moved to divide the land in Rhodesia, half to 5 million Africans and the other half to the 23,1100 whites, to re dm I Ute employment and educational opportunities of Blacks by spending 10 tunes as much on the edu. itlon ol the white Child than on the African child, and to prevent l i e B la c k s , who constitute some 95% of (1« population of Zimbabwe from any meaningful pul meal participation." by B a .a r d R ustin Gf all the significant c iv 11 r i g h t s laws enacted in the I960*», open housing met with th e least enthusiasm, e v e n from liberals, and would likely not have passed had not Con gress been shamed by the as sassination of D r . M artin Lu ther King. We now see another chapter in the history of society’ s re sistance to open housing acted out on the streets of Forest H ills , a middle class commu nity in Queens, New York. T h e re r e s id e n u h iv e m a rc h e d , picketed and dem on strated because of their oppo sition to a low income housing project now under construc tion. T h e i r spokesmen a s s e r t that the overwhelmingly white community is n o t concerned w it h the possible i n f lu x of black tenants: they insist t h a t the issues are the size of the project, its supposedly detri mental effects on th e neigh borhood’ s aesthetics, its im pacts on schools, transit, and other municipal services, or the f a c t that th e community "w asn’t consulted” when the project was being planned. But one must ask himself whether these issues alone are sufficient to have provoked the intense passions w h ic h the protestors h a v e dally d i s played at the project site. Indeed, w o u ld th e struc ture’ s aesthetics and s i z e h a v e brought a b o u t nightly picketing In sub-freezing tem peratures had the project been slated for occupancy by upper income families? Ironically, the Forest H ills project has alsodrawn the fire ol a black economic self-help organization called NECHO. Among o t h e r objections, NEGRO asserted that the con cept of scattering low Income housing in middle and upper income a r e a s constituted ’ ’genocide’ ’ by removing fam ilies of ghetto communities. Residential segregation is the most firm ly rooted, and perhaps the most socially de structive pattern of racial bias in our culture. Upper c l a s s whites negre- gate themselves in their en claves of affluence, working class whites cling tenaciously to their working class neigh borhoods and blacks, lis c r l- mmated against by the econo mic system and socially o s tracized, have been consigned to the ghetto. This sordid pattern has been worked out through the written convenant and unwritten "gen tlemen's agreement.” It is as common to the North as to the South; in 1969 the two leading Republican candidates for governor in New Jersey were discovered to have once o w n ed homes whose deeds contained racially restrictive clauses. F a r from islands of hope, our black slums are isolated e n c l a v e s of d e s p a i r , the breeding ground for drug ad diction, disease, infant mor tality and crim e. The challenge is n o y i re build the ghetto, but to e lim l- n a t e it. Separateness, we m u s t remember, has never worked to the advantage of the black man; it has only benefit ed the whites. And yet. as Roy Wilkins has pointed out. segregation ulti mately imprisons the white in his own uneasy cell of fear and m istrust • There are those who, while supporting integration, de clare that it is wrong for the government to impose i n t e gration on a community. Inte gration, t h e y contend, w i l l c o m e without bitterness as soon as Negroes are economi cally sufficient T o t h l s I h a v e tw o r e sponses. F irs t, we continue to suffer discrimination; in many communities, it is next to im possible f o r a msldle class N e g r o to move into a white neighborhood unless he is pre pared to pay a substantially higher price than the home's market value. second, by placing alimitexl number ol housing projects in msldle c l a s s neighborhoods and the suburbs, the govern ment is only making a small gesture t o w a r d correcting th o s e social mistakes which are directly due to past gov ernment policy. We must have racially in tegrated ne ighboi hood s, both economically and racially di verse, if we are to keep from permanently becoming two na tions, separate and unequal. Only through t r u e integra tion c a n we end the torment which the nation lsendunngin o r d e r to racially balance its public schools. Only through integration can blacks escape the ghetto and its m iseries. Only through in tegration can we narrow the gulf a c r o s s w h ic h uneasy blacks and frightened whites view each other. It has long been a practice of suppliers o f consume! p r o ducts to disclaim the implied warranties of merchantlblllty and fitness by Issuing a very limited e x p r e s s warranty, th u s reducing c o n s u m e r rights. F o r example, if you buy a new washing machine, you have a right under the law to e x p e c t that it will clean clothes, u n le s s the supplier specifically disclaims the im plied warranty of "fltness” (a washing machine should beca- pable ofcleaning clothes).The supplier's disclaimer o f t e n looks like this in his express warranty: "T hia warranty la In lieu of any other wai ranty, express or im plied." S. 986, developed in the Con sumer Subcommittee, would require the supplier of a con sumer product who chooses to warrant the product toclearly disclose th e content of th e warranty, indicating all speci fic limitations, and would no longer allow express w arran ties to disclaim the supplier’ s Implied warranties of m er chantlblllty and fitness. An other purpose of S. 986 Is to amend th e Federal T r a d e Commission A c t . Improving th e F T C ’ s ability to provkle fo r consumer protection. Hearings on thia dill were held before the Consumer Subcom mittee, and the bill was ap proved with my support and reported to the Senate floo r. It passed the Senate on Novem ber 8, 1971, The bill has now been referred to the house. Other recent legislation un der consideration by the Con sumer Subcommittee includes truth in advertising and p r o duct safety. As each of our lives Is Inti mately dependent u p o n th e quality of goods and services In (he marketplace, and as massive amounts ol money are spent on persuasion through advertising, we realize t h a t (he m e lu v s l market standard of "caveat em ptor” ( ” let the buyer beware") Is no longer totally viable. Government protection lor the consumer is necessary in many areas. The Consumer Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Com m erce, on w h ic h 1 s e r v e , shapes legislation In th lscru - Clal area. A topic of recentCommittee action was that of warrantle ». ad 'ed Disappointed Lettei to the E d ito i: This lettei was wi liten as a letter to the Editor. However, it is really an "Open Lettei to the Black Community of P o rt land.” Iwas sadlydisappoint- ed to observe t h a t no majoi civic oigantzation such as tne NAACP, Urban League, Albina M inisters Alliance, oi any other public institution nr agency sponsored a M a r t i n Luther K in g Day tnComem- oration of his buthday. Last year it was sponsoied by me A lb in a Citizens Together Committee. Even though a limited num ber of high s c h o o ls and chúteles did o b s e r v e D r. King's birthday, the majoi ity of the Bieck people of P o it- land did not participate once again it appear s as if the Black Community and l e a d e r s are not keeping In tune with what is going on in o tte r cities in the United States. It seems to me that some organization oi group should have had a mass r a l l y in observance of D r. K ing's birthday. A f t e r studying tie Black leadership ami Black commu nity of Poi Hand, l e a n o n ly conclude that both aie out ot touch with reality and what is happening all ovei the I mied States. Theie seems to he a tiemendous amount ol apathy and complacency in tie Black community. I am notunmind- ful that tie Black community in P o r t l a n d Is lelatively small, however, tu t dies not negate the fact that 11 can't ue actively involved inmakingits voice heard in (he community at laige. It appears to me that the al leged l e a d e r s and self-ap pointed leaders aie insensi tive and unsympathetic to (he needs, demands and aspire- CHUCKLE J A small g irl entertaining a visitor while her mother was elephoning asked politely, "How is your little g irl? ” ” l ’m sorry to say,” re plied the visitor, "that 1 haven’t a little g ir l.” “ How Is your little boy, then?” ” 1 haven’ t a little boy. eith er.” The child look suspicious and asked. "W e ll, then, what are yours?” A group of 19congressional and senatorial aides have handed together into a coali tion aimed at bringing coordi nated pressure to bear on the Bureau of Indian A ffairs. Heeding the group Informally Is one of Its chief organizers, Dick M cC all, press tide to Sen. Gale M cC tee, a Wyoming Democrat. McCall told the Reporter that BIA Intransig ence has made It necessary to Increase legislative pressure on the agency. At this point the coalition is concerning it self with supporting Indian controlled schools, sakl the congressional sides, and es pecially M cC all, were Instru mental In securing BIA appro val last month for a communi ty controlled school on the Wind R iver Shoshone-Ara pahoe reservation In Wyo ming. M cCall aaya the a Ida a w ill now concentrate on secur ing sim ilar approval for schools on thsNortharnChey- Observer’s Intercom Eldridge Cleaver has re signed his position as head of the International section of t 'e Black Panther P arty. He has assumed new duties w lth tn e Revolutionary People’ s Com munication Network, which Is associated with the A fro- American Liberation Arm y. That group Is an umbrella or ganization for urban guerilla forces within the U n it e d States. Reverend C . T . Vivian was appointed director of Southern C h rist Un Leadership Confer ence in Chicago. lions of tie masses of people that they a ie supposed b rep resent. It is beyond my com prehension how anyoie can he a public seisant lo lie people and vet a r e not available to t h e m . There are too m a n y Black " l e a d e r s ” who only have 9:00 - 5:00 utflca hours and only c u e aboutproject!.* their own self-image. T h e lack of obsei vance of D r . K in gs blithday ta Just one of a long list of events that th e lesdeis and community have not been involved in. P er haps one day, hopefully in lie near future, some individual or Individuals w ill eniei go to lead the people out of bondage Lenwood G. D **ls 1625 5.E . Main Author, " I Have a Dream: 1 he Life and Tim es of M artin Lu ther K ing, J r .” formed Hatfield explains bill (E d ito r’ s Note: Senator Hat field, a member of th e U. S. Senate Commerce Committee, gave the Observer the follow ing report on Senate Bill 986) »■•»»» • ,»» ex t •'’>«<« • ” «*»•• •n<i •> r \*,»l U«X» «»• •••» &• -X • e I • t>* vvea «*> ie«’»*» , • »M ed ’»» Je«'»'» »Nervs ntitIMD Letters fro m the people Los Angeles C I t y Counsel President B illy G. M ills a n nounced his candidacy for the California legislative. M ills , the firs t b la c k to be acting mayor of L o s Angeles, h as lean a city councilman for 8 years. The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled the tenth penalty unconstitutional. Ih e Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Con stitution prohibits "cruel and Inhuman” punishment and this is used as an argument against the death penalty. Switzerland refused to ex tradite D r. Timothy L eary. Leary escaped from prison In C alifornia, where le was serving a sentence for pos session of m arijuana. The Swiss government said the Am erican appeal lacked proof of guilt. A symphony by Fried rich Schenker was dedicated to |)r . M artin Luther King In East Germany. 1 lie woi k was 111 st performed In jresden, by the Diesden Statu Orchestra. enne reservation In Montana and the Oglala Sioux reserva tion In South Dakota. Demo's pledge to South T h iee of tie major candi dates for the Democratic p res id e n tial n o m in a t io n agreed to make a commitment ol nondlscrlminatory treat ment lor the South, according to Georgia's Democratic Gov ernor J inuny C artel . C a r t e r said he had con ducted a series of meetings with prospective candidates - all with a view toward estab lishing the basis for a resur g e n c e of Dem ociatlc pros pects In tie South In 1972. He sakl Senator H u b e r t Humphrey (Dem - Minn.) hail already publicly endoi sed a proposal that the Democratic National Committee support a p l a t f o r m plank saying the South should not be singled out for s p e c i a l civil rights en forcement. The governor added that he had received private assur ances from Senator Edmund S Muskie (Dem - Me.) anil Sena tor Henry J a c k s o n ( D « n i Wash.) that they "approve of thia attitude.” “ The only times the South had defaulted In support ofthe| national Democratic party I when Its canl Males failed (<« appeal to th e .Southern votei I and In effect spurned the Soutl I is a source of support— •» *<l 1964 and I 9 6 8 , ” C a tte rd e - 1 clsred .
