Page 2
New mountains
to conquer
Aft/5r IVtW TOGETHER FVR FULL
As I See It
Is Portland ready?
Ron Hendían
IN WASHINGTON
ANP EQUAL EMPLOYMENT.
By Lenwood C. Davis
Portland Observer Thursday March 23, 1972
Washington - 1 he R o c k y
Mountains were formed slowly
over hundreds of m illions of
years. But at tlie rale Am er
ica is going today, mountains
of unmanageable s o l Id waste
may dwarf these natural peaks
within decades.
Americans
now discaid
over 250 m illio n tons of trash
annually. This figure w ill dou
ble by 1980, and yet we have
s till hardly begun to deal suc
cessfully with the staggering
problems of waste disposal.
A full 94 percentofexisting
open dumping systems are
inadequate, and 75 percent of
municipal incinerators are not
only inadequate - they are
among the worst a ir pollution
offenders.
In New A ork C ity, as well as
in many othei urban a reas, tlie
situation is already c ritic a l.
C urrently the cost of disposal
in the nation's largest metro
polis is tw ic e that of the na
tional average. Sooncostswill
skyrocket, however, when tlie
city runs out of land f ill space
(in approximately 1975), and
must then build new, expensive
processing plants.
line of the most frequently
mentioned solutions to th e
problem is recycling.
Recycling, which means the
reprocessing
of discarded
waste into raw m aterials suit
able fo r industrial reuse, nut
only eliminates the nee-1 (or
solid waste dumping grounds
o r open a ir incineration, b u t
also eases the cost of dis
posal. In New York C ity alone
it is estimated that$34 m illio n
worth of s c r a p could be re
trieved from the municipal
waste flow each year.
Although it h a s garnered
considerable national alien-
The N o rth w « *!’* B«*t W e a k ly
A Block O w n e d Publication
Published every Thursday by Exie Publishing Company, 2201
N. Killingsworth. Portland, Oregon 97217
Subscription $5.25 per year in Tri-C ounty area by m ail. Out
side the Tri-County area - $0.00 per year by m ail.
Phone 283-2480.
M ailing address - P. o . Box 3137, Portland, Oiegon 97208.
ALFRED LEE HENDERSON, P u b lish e i/E d ito r
\ erna L . Henderson
(V
A s s t. P u b lish e i
b u s in e s s n, m aze
Helen Hendrix
Personnel and Production Manager
INPA
On to Oregon
Any erroneous reflection upon thecharacter, standing or rep
utation of person, firm or corporation, w hich 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
ALFRED
To Be Equal
LEE HENDERSON
Separate but not equal
Separate but equal is not a new concept in this country.
F o r ovei a hundred years schools have been segregated under
the guise that they would oe equal.
F o r years busing has been used to promote segregation.
Black children were bused past th e ir neighborhood schools to
inadequate segregated schools. It is d iffic u lt to understand why
it is so wrong to use busing to achieve desegregation.
Busing does bring a degree of quality education to some c h il
dren. It is not the ideal, but fo r the next few years it might be
the only way to provide quality education fo r black children.
It would be good if all schools fo r all children were quality
schools, but this is not a reality in the United States. Schools
attended by black children are not provided the necessities fo r
quality - fa c ilitie s , the interest and concern, and the teacher
attitudes that promote learning. And they wil not be provided
these essentials until the black community gains political power.
2 he important thing now is that our children receive the best •
education possible.
The government of Kenya, fo r example,
decided to send its young people where ever in the world that
they could best obtain the knowledge they need to help their
country, v.e , too, must send our children to the best schools,
even if it requires sacrifice, until we gain the political and
economic power to control our own schools.
In Portland, we do not have the resources to operate a black
schou system. Aside from lack of money, there are only 106
black teachers and adm inistrators out of 3400 in the Portland
school system. Black citizens in Portland do not vote or part-
K1Pate
the P°Htical process. So we must demand the best
of what the existing school system has to offer.
We have been effectively controlled by "D ivid e andConquer".
We cannot afford to let the busing issue divide us further. We
must unite to become an effective political entity, because only
through political power w ill we be heard.
___ J
The.Observer's o fficia l position isexpres9ed onTy in its Pul>
Usher's Column (The Observation Post) and the E ditor'sD esk.
Any other material throughout the p .per is the opinion of the in
dividual w rite r or subm itter and does not necessarily reflect
the opinion of the Observer.
VERNON JORDAN
A year has wound its slow,
sorrowful way since Whitney
Young’ s death in the Nigerian
surf last March II. The pierc
ing pain has receded, and we
are left with our memories,
s till fresh, of a giant cut off
in the prim e of his life .
Few men are touched by
greatness, but Whitney Young
was one of them. Born into
a segregated society, he made
his ma rk by bu ild ing bridges of
understanding between men
of a ll races,
faiths,
and
creeds. He was as com fort
able in a rap session with na
tionalists, as inE stablishment
board meetings.
While he never lost the com
mon touch, he also never lost
the passion and the strength of
feeling fo r the common man.
His heart was always with his
brothers and sisters m ired in
ghetto poverty, denied many of
the rights and benefits of a na
tion that
kept black people
down.
Whitney
was a powerful
mover in the events of the
past decade. He con su I ted with
Preskients, governors, may
ors, corporate and union lead
ers, and other people whose
decisions affect our lives. To
an incredible degree, he was
successful in convincing them
to open up opportunities fo r
black people.
He was a d riving force be
hind the war on poverty, led
erai c iv il rights actions, cor
porate and foundation support
fo r the black-led rights a-
gencies, and fo r the creation
of many thousands of new jobs
fo r black w orkers.
Much of this story is s till
untold and few people are fu lly
aware of his great accom
plishments in the face of over
whelming odds. Just as his
tenure as executive d ire cto r
ing on a new, more activist
role in the ghettos of Am er
ica. so too did his tire le s s e f-
fo rts result in changed at
titudes among professional,
husmea», and labor groups.*
Take nearly any of the bet-*
ter known private programs of
(The following is an exerpt
involvement - the Urban Co
alition, the insurance indus
from the NATIONAL BI.ACK
tr y ’ s ghetto investment pro
POLITICAL AGENDA
pre
sented to the National Black
gram, the architect’ s urban
P olitical Convention In Gary,
programs - and the chances
are very good that they got
Indian on March II, 1972)
their start through public and
HL MAN DEVELOPMENT
private persuasion by Whit
ney Young.
In every phase of our histo
ry in Am erica, the Human De
velopment of the Black com
munity has been seriously im
peded because of the essential
commitment of America to an
ti-h u m a n is tic goals and pur-
Dear M r. Henderson,
I recently read an a rticle
on the Oregon National Guard
which had been publ ished in the
Portland Observer. Please
accept my sincere apprecia
tion fo r your valuable con
tribution in a very important
area. It is always good to
know that our many friends in
the newspaper world are help
ing us to tell our story to the
U. S. public since, as I am
sure you are aware, the Fed-
eral and State m ission of the
National Guard has never been
more serious in nature.
We trust that association
between your newspaper and
the National Guard w ill con
tinue.
Sincerely,
F rancis S. Greenlief
M ajor General USA
Chief, National Guard Bureau
W ashington, D.C.
Displaced persons object
L e tte r to the E ditor;
A g r e a t many people have
asked about what happened to
bring us to the point where we
have been asked to movefrom
our homes so the School D is
tr ic t can use our land fo r th e ir
own purposes. This is not an
attempt to give a date by date
history but more to give a
quick overview of the process.
Several years ago the P o rt
land
Planning Commission
suggested our neighborhood to
Open letter: Portland’s BlackCaucus
r
■!
.J
*-«
-«
The Portland Black Caucus
is an organization that grew
out of a meeting of concerned
Black people who met at M t.
Angel on December 10-12,1971.
The Committee who sponsored
this meeting was concerned
about the lack of unity and dis
trust fo r each other t h a t we
h a v e as a community, and a
people. The response from
brothers and sisters at the re
treat along with the feelings of
unity and respect fo r each
other prompted the develop
ment of the Portland Black
Caucus.
We met in this fa r away re
treat area, very much aware
of th e unrelieved problems
that we face as a people, such
as our community being rid
dled with crim e; our homes
a re tie ing ripped off to make
room fo r businesses that send
profits to another part of th e
town, schools are unable - o r
unwilling to educate our child
ren, they are being turned out
and often degraded by the pro
cess; Black businesses that
are struggling to survive often
against unscrupulous white
businessmen and we are not
supporting them; the courts
n o r tfie prisons contribute to
anything resembling justice
and rehabilitation; the lack of
representation in the political
institutions of this c ity , de
cisio n -m a kin g is removed
from ourcommunity; and a lis t
of other problems. The reso
lution of the retreat was to
consolidate and organize an
independent. Black organiza
tion that w ill begin to address
the problems we face.
The Portland Black Caucus
Is open to all Black people in
the community and the state of
Oregon. By-laws, policy and
procedures are being deve
loped lo r the approval ot the
general body which w ill meet
within the next 15 days ( t h i s
meeting w i l l be publicized.)
T h e Caucus h a s elected a
chairman and secretary to
ca rry out business until the
fu ll slate of officers and by
laws can be adopted. Ih e Cau
cus does not intend to be a
special c lu b , but seeks wide
community support and in
volvement. Unity is the com
nerstone of the Caucus.
Our awareness of l o c a l
problems has not clouded the
fact that we a re I inked with our
brothers and sisters across
the nation and to our M other
land. At this w ritin g , theCau-
cus has sent three delegates to
Gary, Indiana to participate in
the National Black P olitical
Convention that seeks todeve-
lop a Black Agenda fo r the
seventies.
We need you, your support,
your faith, and your strength.
We are aware that noone else
Is going to represent our in
terests but ourselves. We
must begin here and now in
Portland. I he Caucus invites
you to join and participate. We
need your c ritic is m and sup
port. O u r address is P.O.
Box 12262.
Ocie W, T ro tte r, Chairman
Portland Black Caucus
E llis H .C a tio n recently an
nounce» I his candidacy foi tlie
C ity Council ot Portland and
one must w»>n»ler about his
chances of being elected. He
stated that he would b r in g a
new vision to tlie C ity Council
if elected. Needless to say,
M r. Casson faces the same
hurdles as other candidates.
Namely, finances and a viable
am! effective political oigani-
zation. At this Juncture, tie lias
ne it lie i . However, his cam
paign Is In the organizational
stage and it w ill take time ant
a lot of hard woi k before it can
tocome effective.
Even It M r. Casson has suf
ficient financial hacking ami an
effective organization his big
gest obstacle w ill te to defeat
Connie McCready, the incum
bent. w h o m lie Is running
against. It Is a political real
ity that seldom is an incumbent
»lefeated. Because of confi
dential information about that
p a rticu la r complicated situa
tion this w nterdeem s itexpe-
dlent ami appropriate not to
discuss the m atter In detail.
The candidate stated that lie
Is running to win. However,
like othei s running foi public
office, lie has some lia b ilitie s .
One Is that his previous asso
ciation with certain piogram s
may sway some people not to
support him. Anothei is that
tie is not as well known as some
of his opponents. Ami there is
the problem of finance. Also
most people are not aware of
his " v is io n " forchange alC Ity
H all.
M r. Casson has several as-
sets. He has tlie reputation as
a "d o e r,” ami has worked
tire le ssly fo r social change.
Nationini Black Political Agenda
Letters to the Editor
Appreciation
tion over the past few years as
a cornerstone of tlie new "e n
vironmental movement,’ ’ re
cycling is by no means a new
o r untried scheme.
The secondary m aterials
Industry, as it Iscalled. is well
over 50 years old. Today over
700 companies throughout the
United States a r e involved In
recycling metals, glass, pa
per, textiles, rubber and other
m aterials.
In fact. 45 |ier cent ot our
country’ s total available sup
ply of copper is now recovered
from scrap. I ikew lse,30 per
c e n t of all aluminum, 18 ¡iei
cent of all zinc and 20|>ei cent
of all paper.
Despite these rather im
pressive figures, recycling
industries are operating fa r
below potential output and in
many cases have actually been
losing a considerable percent
age of the market over the past
20 years.
According to th e National
Association of Secondary Ma
te ria l Industries this d r o p is
due to a complicated tangle of
"economic roadblocks"which
favor products made 11 om v ir
gin m aterials. These factors
inc lute tax policies and trans
portation rates in p a rticu la r.
C learly tfasn th e future of
recycling depends largely on
what actions Congress and the
President take over the next
few years. The key question
of the National L rban League
resulted in that agency’ s tak-
is whether the federal govern
ment wants to encourage re
cycling o r. If not. what it w ill
do instead to c o p e with o u r
growing mountains of trash, a
problem which unlike many
others cannot be hidden very
easily from public view.
the School D is tric t as a logical
location for parking and main
tenance of equipment and o tte r
centralization of services. We
were not asked fo r our opinion
o r made any part of the de
cision making e ffo rt.
The School Board voted to
acquire the area. W'e were not
aware of this action. The Dis
tr ic t started to acquire pro
perty piecemeal and mostly
from absentee owners.
The next step was to send in
bulldozers to re m o v e the
houses they had purchased.
This created muddy vacant
lots and did much to destroy a
neighborhood of people. We
feel this action was also In
tended to "p a n ic " the remain
ing property owners into sell
ing.
A fte r the School D is tric t
mutilated th e neighborhood,
they acted like they weredotng
us and the whole city a favorby
removing the rest of the homes
from the "b lig h te d ” area.
The final blow to the few
owner-occupants remaining
was the price the D is tric t of
fered fo r our homes. It was
generally just over a half of
our cost of replacement. Tfiey
told us th e y were offering
" f a i r market value." We say
there is no such thing when
there is only one buyer and that
buyer has the power of con
demnation.
If the “ poor environment”
effected the " f a i r market va
lu e " It is ironic because the
b u y e r-th e School D is t r ic t-
created the "p o o r environ
m ent" by ripping up the neigh
borhood.
As a general rule, we are not
opposed to selling ou r pi ope r -
ty to the School D is tric t. We
simply feel that we should not
be asked to take less than
it w ill cost us to relocate in an
other neighborhood. We are
not even asking to be compen
sated lo i tie lie u t.iche, the
w o rry, the fru stra tio n or the
agony caused by the whole un
pleasant process.
We did not ask to be moved.
We had no part In saying what
would happen to our neighbor
hood.
Place yourself In this pic
ture and tell us how you would
respond.
Statement adopted by I he
School D i s t r i c t Displaced
Persons Association
March 9, 1972.
M rs. Leonard C harles,
Chairman
M rs. D illa rd Hudson,
Secretary
The Portland BlackCaucus
w ill hold a meeting Friday,
March 31st, 7:00 p .m , at 220
N J i, Russell forthe purpose of
adopting by - laws and electing
office rs.
!'■ -.OS, toe HIM "! the I i, ism
rampant in the general so
ciety, ar»l le.Muse we Ild not
control the instruments and
institutions fo r our s o c i a l ,
cultural and educational de
velopment. We have leen - ami
are now - a colony In the midst
of a society committed to va
lues other than the develop
ment ol the human s p irit.
Iherefoie, l i t h e levelop-
ment of the Black community
Is to lead to the creation ot new
levels '¡I HI i. k hum im ty, we
m u s t break the bonds of our
colonization, we must create
and d ire ct new institutions,
and we must wrest control of
s o m e existing Institutions
from the harxls of white Am er
ica. We must define the human
development we need, and we
must move to create the ne
cessary conditions fo r Its re
alization.
W ith such goals in mind, we
put forward these elements of
an Agenda fo r Black Human
Development, recognizing tie
ce n tra lity of the Black F am ily
to all aspects of our growth.
1. Establishment of a Na
tional Commlsslon/Founda-
tlon fo r B la c k Education,
funded from our own and pub
lic sources, todevelop and en
courage national and local re
search, planning and experi
mentation toward tlie creation
of new m<xJels of Black educa
tion at all levels.Under the au
spices of such a C om m ission/
Foundation, It Is necessary to
work toward the creation of a
National Philosophy of Black
Education, growing out ol the
experience of the Black Fam
ily .
2. Establishment of f r e e
public education fo r all Black
people up to th e ir higliest at
tainable level, with special
federal support fo r B la c k -
controlled higher and p re -co l
lege educatlon(publlc and non-
public) at a level of at least 20
per cent of the annual expendi
tures In this area.
3. T h e development of
mechanisms for Black control
of the schools where B la c k
children are educated,moving
beyond tlie ste rile Issue of
“ busing" to the basic Issue of
tlie redistribution of educa
tional wealth and control.
4. Establishment of a sys
tem of National Health Insur
ance for all citizens from birth
until death, with free medical
care fo r all fam ilies with In
comes of less than lO.OOOdol-
la rs.
5. A minimum increase of
100 |ier cent In Social Secur Ity
le n e flts fo r all per sons with
the availability of full le n e llts
at age 50.
6. T h e establishment ol a
national network of Community
health centers to deal with tlie
problems of the delivery of
health care services to Black
communities.
7. The creation of compre
hensive, Black - contiolle»l,
publicly-funded 24-hourday
care centers with provisions
fo r nutritional services, lam -
lly consultation, diagnostic
ami tteatrrient programs and
fa cilitie s fo r creative play.
8. The elim ination of capi
tal punishment for any and all
crim es, ami tlie establishment
of local community contrul
over the courts and the p r i
sons.
L en w o o d G .D a v it
He has held a number ol ad
m in istra tive positions, t he
camlklate has tlie reputatnaiuf
being a fa ll, honest, and just
mail. M i .Casson Is a m em lei
of the C ity Planning Hoard,
PresaJertt of the NA ACP, and a
m in iste r. His greatest asset
Is that he w ill apiwal to the av
erage citizen, m in o ritie s, ami
cannot be Imught by s|ieclal in
terest gioups.
M r. C a s s o n 's chance of
winning is a long shot, to say
tlie least. Because o( overt ami
embed»le»l racism in Portland
tlie citizens w ill view thecan-
dMate as a Black running fo r
office rat lie i than as an indivi
dual running foi office. Rac
ism in Portland andiiregonis
so deeply enshi ined in society
th a t to think that it dues not
exist is the "epitom e of al>-
s u id lty ." As I see If. Portland
is not ready to elect a Black
man to tie C ity Council no
mattei what h is credentials.
I o til ink otherwise would tie Io
suffer from delusions of gran
deur.
Democrats
meet
March 18
East Central
Democratic Club Cocktail
Party & C arnival - 8 to 12
pan. - T tmbei lanes - 4030
NJE. Halsey - $2.50 per per
son.
March 19 - Annual Southeast
Pancake Breakfast - 8 a jn .
to 2 p.m. - John R. I eech
YMCA - S J i. 60th ami Foster-
M u ita , 1 1. ■<>. (T iiid ie n . 7Sf,
Fam ily Rate, $5.00.
A p ril 12 - North Portland
Democratic Foiutn Sixth An
nual Chicken Dinner s Can
didates F a ir - 5:30 to 8 p.m .-
Pollsh L ib ra ry Hall - 3832 N,
Interstate at Failing - Dinner;
Adults, $2.50, C hildren umlei
12, $1.30.
No »huge for
Candidates F a ir.
Everyone
welcome.
UL backs busing
Vernon E . Jordan, J r ,
executive d ire c to r of the Na
tional Urban I .eague, »led a red
his unqualified support fo r
fusing as a means to achieve
integrated schools in a state
ment over nationwide televis
ion.
Jordan declared In part:
"T h e long-sim m ering con
troversy a I lout fusing to de
segregate tie public schools
has flare»! Into a fu ll-sca le
debate that Is leing used as
a political footliall to divide
ami polarize the nation.
"C onstitutional
am end
ments have been proposed
which would re-create a sys
tem of dual schools, separate
and inherently unequal. By
appointing a top-level group
to study ways to circumvent
recent court decisions o rd e r
ing integration and busing as
one of the means to achieve
It, the President has lent the
weight of his office and the
dignity of his position to those
who have been defying the law.
"And lie lias completely un-
dermimled his own statement
of two years ago, when lie
said: "Q u a lity iswliateduca-
tlon Is all about; desegrega
tion is vital to that quality.'
" I t Is cle a r that attempts
to
Inflame public upinlon
against busing, which Is but
one tool to desegregate the
schools, represent a cease
fire In the m oral ami social
revolution this nation has been
struggling to achieve.
By
politicizing the Issue, patents
and children are lie ing used
as pawns In an e ffo rt to ro ll
back and n u llify the historic
1954 supreme Court decision.
"B u t almost 20 years later
half of tlie black children in
Chicago, fo r example, go to
all-black schools.
To the
extent that desegregation has
been achieved, it has been In
the South under court-ordered
plans that frequently Include
fusing. I he cuui ts have spok
en loud and cle a r on this Is
sue.
"B using Is now controver
sial because It Is a racial
Issue. A m erica’ s school sys
tems have always bused ch ild
ren; aliout fo rty jiei cent of
all students are bused to
school fo r reasons that have
nothing to do with desegrega
tion. Black people need only
think back a lew years to re
call how they were fused fa r
from home, past nearby pre
dominantly white schools, to
attend all-black ones.
"A nd many white parents
today put th e ir children on
school buses that d rive past
Integrated public schools ami
stop at a ll-w h ite , segregated
private schools. Anyone who
proposes that
the current
opposition to busing Is not
based on racial grounds Is
deceiving him self.
"T h e hysteria over busing
obscures the fact that what Is
at the end of the bus ride
Is what m atters. W hltechild-
ren In an all-w hite school
environment are deprived of
the d ive rsity that reflects the
world In which they w ill have
to live.