Page 2
H id d en ta x e s : W h e re
th e buck
re a lly stops
Ron Hendren
IN W A S H IN G T O N
MU5T I O TOGETHERFUR FULL
AND EQUAL EMPLOYMENT.
Portland/O bserver Thursday A p ril 6, 1972
The N o rth w « » '» Be*» W eekly
A Black O w ned Publication
Published every Thursday by Exie Publishing Company, 21
N. killin g sw o rth , Portland, Oregon 97217
Subscription $5.25 per year in Tri-C ounty area by m ail, rk it-
side the Tri-County area - $0.00 per year by m ail.
Phone 283-2480.
M ailing address - P. o . Box 3137, Portland, Oregon 97208.
ALFRED LEE HENDERSt \ , P ublisher/E ditor
Verna L. Henderson
Asst. Publisher/business manage*
Helen Hendrix
I N P A
Personnel and Production Manager
Any erroneous reflection upon the character, standing o* rep
utation oi person, firm o r co* poration, u hich may appear in the
Portland observer w ill be cheerfully corrected upon being
brought to the attention of the E d ito r.
Do you know why you are shooting at me? 1 am not the enemy! PMSC is fo r poor people
too. Poor people can make decisions1
W hy deseg reg atio n
The
’s
m oves s lo w ly in US
Desk
ALFRED
By D r.
LEE HENDERSON
Why not now,
Dr. Blanchard
Over a year ago when Superintendent of Schools Robert
Blanchard announced his school plan it included decentraliza
tion with Advisory committees fo r each area. The members
of the committees were to be chosen by a committee appointed
by the School Board.
There was protest from blacks who
feel the members should be selected by the community
rather than by the school board.
D r. Blanchard's reply was that there was not time to work
out a satisfactory method whereby the community could select
its own representatives. Now a year has passed and many
of the original appointees w ill soon have served their term .
The School Board is requesting applications fo r appointment
to the second term .
Isn’ t a year long enough to have found a method fo r com
munity selection? With a special school election to be held
May 23rd, couldn’ t these candidates have been added to the
ballot so the people would have a voice in their selection?
If the Public Schools are going to talk about decentralization
and local control, then some movement should be made in
that direction.
F irs t, allow the peop'e to choose the com
mittees, then give them more power. Perhaps then the schools
could interest the public enough to get th e ir udgets approved.
But as long as the people are left out of the education process
they w ill not be inclined to suffer the additional tax burden
that quality education brings.
REGISTER
by April 23rd
so YOU can Vote!
A la m e d a T h e a te r
i the cry of i
ÍRGEI
'fato Soldiers a
doming Soon,
in A p ril
Benjamin E . Mays
It w i l l be 18 years May 17,
1972 since the United States
Supreme Court declared seg
regation in the public school
unconstitutional. The schools
of the nation are not thorough
(Continued from page I)
ly desegregated. In spots, de
believe otherwise is to telieve
segregation is working well
but in all of the large cities of
in “ A lice in Wonderland.”
Am erica there are schools
Many people w ill lose th e ir
that are all black o r v irtu a lly
jobs1 Second, the proposal
stated that there were dupli
all black and all white o r v irtu
a lly all white. Therearem any
cations in some of the same
reasons fo r this:
programs at PMSC ami Model
1. In 1954, we did not have
C itie s.
That suggestion is
strong national leaders.Pres
one of conjecture ami not of
ident Eisenhower did not be
lieve in the decision by virtue
of the fact that he made no
comments after the decision
was handed down.
2. Since 1968, we have had an
administration which does not
fa v o r
busing in o rder to
achieve racial balance. The
5. Then there is the social
I resident cannot tbe wholly
fear. A m ajornum ber of white
blameless fo r the turm oil that
parents a r e afraid that their
the country is in today over
daughters, in a desegregated
busing.
school, w ill meet black boys
3. The housing pattern in
socially which may lead to in
t h i s country is largely a pat
term arriage. This fear is ad
tern of segregation. There are
mitted by only a few whites but
no large citie s in America
I believe it lurks in the hearts
where you w ill find white peo
of m illio n s.
L en w o o d G .D a v is
ple and black people living to
6. We blacks may not want
fact
and is a misnomer. Be
gether in most of the residen
to admit this, but I think it can
cause what is not taken into
tial areas. As beautiful as At
be substantiated all over th e
lanta, Ga. is, it is a highly seg
country. There is more vi consideration is that even
regated c ity , residentially.
olence among black elemen though both PMSC ami Model
White people s till believe
tary and high school students C ities are offering s im ila r
in the old myth - that if they
than there is among white ele programs they are not. I
repeat, they are not klent.cal.
live in the neighborhood w it h
mentary and high school stu
blacks, the neighborhood w ill
dents. As a result of black Furtherm ore, both programs
serve different areas ol the
run down, the community w ill
students carrying dangerous
deteriorate and property value
weapons, the percentage of city, different clienteles, d if
white students ca rrying weap ferent functions and many d if
w ill decline. There is evidence
ferent program s. Therelore,
galor to refute t h i s myth but
ons is on the increase.
white people, most of them,
These are problems which it is impossible toconsolidate
telieve it. So until we get open
every
community needs to by* programs that do not
housing and until we disperse
face. The community needs to duplicate each other but com
low -incom e housing through
try to design programs to plement one another.
T h ird , it concluded (e rro
out the central city and the
bring black and white students
sutwrbs, we are going to have
and black and white teachers neously) that Citizen p a rtici
pation w ill be greater and
loser together.
d i f f i c u l t ie s
can continue to occur at the
most basic neighborhood level
The Observer’ s official position is expressed only in its Pub
and more citizens can be o r
lish e r's Column (T he Observation Post) and the E d ito r’ s Desk.
ganized to participate. Also
Any other m aterial throughout the paper is the opinion of the in
there w ill be a citizen’ s board
dividual w rite r or subm itter and does not necessarily reflect
the opinion of the observer .
advisory to the County Com
m issioners. To believe that
SOUL
SOLDIER
W E fU O H N S O N • LINCOLNJjILPATRICK • ROBERT DoQUI
■0TIS M n 0" ' « sa T romcro • mT MicHEiLf
— . iMf i w « f cosenos
w’lîn am i.e9terd' y’ Tüday and T°morrow” su">? by jo e
“ Today’ s C huckle", about
the welfare doll is unfortun
ate humor.
“ There Is a new doll on the
market called the w elfaredoll.
You wind it up and it doesn’ t
w ork,” (Oregonian, March 31)
This type of attitudwal hu
m or furthers common m is
conceptions about welfare re
cipients. These misconcep
tions not only malign the vic
tim s of poverty but hinder the
social w oikers who laborw ith
d iffic u lty and devotion to make
the present inadequate welfare
system work.
A recent L.S. Department of
Health Education and Welfare
Report (A ^ ril |97|) disclosed
the following facts:
Suspected incidents offraud
among welfare recipients oc
cu r in less than four-tenths
of one percent.
Less than one per cent of
welfare recipients are able-
bodied unemployed males.
Recipients comprise: C hil
dren 55J%; Blind and Disab
led !5.6%;Mothersl8.6%; Aged
15.f%; Able-bodied Fathers
o .% .
The largest racial group a-
mong welfare
fam ilies is
white (49%).
The typical welfare fam ily
has a mother and three child-
The birth rate fo r welfare
fam ilies, l*ke_tbe birth rate
fo r the geneial population, is
dropping.
The
m a jo rity of welfare
fam ilies are embarrassed by,
and discontented with, wel
fa re . The m a jo rity want to,
and do, move off the ro lls .
The average fa m ily takes 23
months to overcome its prob
lems.
Typical payments for an ad
ditional child is $35. a month,
hardly enough tocover the cost
of rearing an additional child.
In all but f o u r States,wel
fare payments are below the
poverty level of $3,972 per
year, fo r a fam ily of four.
The m ajority of our Na
tion's working poor are in
eligible fo r assistance uraier
the present welfare system.
Attitudes which foster con
ceptions that welfare recip
ients are lazy, cheats o r chis-
e le rs a re uninformed and
camaging.
We need to foster attitudes
which properly care fo r de
pendent children, the aged, the
blind, the handicapped, the
jobless, the unskilled; then
we w ill find solutions to the
welfare ro lls which grow and
grow when our country is e-
conomically
more affluent
than at any time in history.
Welfare reform is every
one's concern if America is
to be a great country, and
Americans a g r e a t people.
Hut Congressman W ilbur
M ills (l)-A rk .), chairman of
the powerful House Ways ami
Means Committee, remains
skeptical. "B o th ilie taxes
(VAT ami property) are had,’ ’
he lias said, "b u t I ’ ve got to
evaluate which Is worse.”
Value added taxes are most
prevalent In Eurupean coun-
ti lea.
A ll Common Market
nations employ one, amt Ui
France the rate is 23percent.
But most Western European
Countries have lieen unable to
use the Income tax as a p ri
mary
source of revenue.
Income tax evasion iscommon
In tlwse countries ami many
Europeans regard it as an
a rt. Compliance In the United
States, on the other hural, is
high.
If VAT Is ultim ately re
commended fo r this country.
It w ill te die fir s t time in
our nation’ s history that a
national sales tax has been
proposed by a P resident or
seriously consklered by Con
gress. Such a prospect cannot
be pleasing to e ither, much
less to dw public which must
pay I ’ncleSain’ sever-grow liw
b ills .
Human Resources
citizen participation is work
ing effectively umler our pre
sent system of government
one must be naive and sui
te ring fo r paranoia anathema.
The system does not really
take citizens wishes seriously
because citizens are ' ’ power
le s s ." Citizens have no real
power only advisory |>ower
which do not make laws. Ihe
system is stiuctuied so that
the average citizen has to go
through so much red tape,
hearings, meetings, ami more
meetings, that he becomes
very dissipate ami extremely
fru stra te d .
And that is the
way the system wants it to be.
Therefore to calk about c iti
zen participation as an ef
fective force to bring about
change in the C ity Government
and work within the existing
system is a la rk .
P a rt 11 of "A Bureau of
Human Resuuices fo r P o rt
land?’ ’ w ill appearneu week.
” M y w h o le fa m ily reads]
The P o rtlan d O b s e rv e r”
Ihe observe, goes („ great |ellglhs
,<e
leRi)eis
i ’ * ’"**“ *. “ * •
tro m all over
the globe as well
toiportaat local hipis-iungs.
You can
Ilie aware of vital Issues and how they affect you.
Sell it!
I
'
,VJlllNe
■
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■onia
|
yarn •ubot nption,
» „j
tm
< c zvzv i
> 5 .0 0 for
5 2 isSUSAS
Portland Observe.
P.O. Box 3137
Portland, Diegon 97208
Name
_______
Address
with a P-O
Person-to-Person
Want Ad
Call 283-2487
________________
State 8. Z i p -------------------------------------------------------
Apt. if a n y- — T e l--------------___ _________ _______
During this transitional per
iod toward refor m, m illions of
Americans are impoverished
ami suffering ; we best not
chuckle about th e ir plight.
SUPPORT
Ellis H . Casson
Sincerely,
Rev. Cordon Dickey
St. Andrew’ s Church
806 N. E , Alberta
fo r
Soledad
Brothers
On Match 27, 1972, seven
months after the premeditated
m urder of Soledad Brother,
Ceorge Jackson, White Su-
prem ists acquitted the two
surviving Soledad Brothers,
John Clutchette ami Fleeta
D rum gtt who were charged
along with George Jackson fo r
the m urder of a White guard in
Monterey ( lounty.
The acquittal of th e s e two
B rothers, as th e White Su-
prem ists see it, w ill ta k e
Black Peoples’ minds off of tie
San Quentin incident wherein
Geor ge Jackson was murdered
as lie supposedly t r i e d toes-
cape.
Why wasn’ t there consider
ation fo r acquittals fo r a l l
three of tl«Soledad Brothers?
Was George J ickson * threat
to t he White Suprerrusts ami
th e ir vicious means of author
ity? Think about it.
Shirley A . Taggart
<'bxc,v..
■
|« n a ll ext.., charge m u..
Letters
to
the
Editor
W elfare doll
E ditor:
y >
mg public schools. As long as
the housing pattern is as it is,
desegregation w ill not exist
without busing and at the pre
sent busing is a campaign is
sue. Then, there is social
fear. The few white people who
would remain in the neighbor
hood with blacks, w orry about
what th e ir friends w ill think if
they continue to live among
blacks.
•». White people, I believe
most of them, believe that if
th e ir children go to school with
blacks, the achievement level
of th e irch ild re n w ill he lower
ed. There is evidence to show
that this is not true. The evi
dence also reveals that the
achievement level of blacks
increases in a desegregated
school and no damage is done
to the achievement level of
whites.
Thus (lie consuitierwould bear
the entire burden of what is
essentially a hkklen sales tax.
What makes VAT particu
la rly objectionable to many is
that It hits the low ami nisidle
income wage-earner hardest.
Every lam lly must buy loud.
Clothing ami other essentials,
amt it is from the sale of
these Items that the bulk of
the $16 b illion would come.
Although the Presklent said
he w ill not suppurt a value
adiled tax “ unless the formula
can he lound to * emove tta
regressive features” ,
the
White House has steadfastly
maintained a positive attitude
towanl VAT during its period
of study by adm inistration ex
perts.
la x credits ami rebates,
exemptions fo r basic neces
sities ami higher taxes fo r
" lu x u rie s " are among the
ways reportedly lie mg con
sidered to help neutralize
VAT’ s regressiveness. This,
combined with leduetions in
state ami local propeny taxes,
might result in a net tax sav-
mgs fo r fam ilies earning
umler $20,000, according to
VA I proponents.
While Americans have felt
the sting of many form s of
taxes, we have Ixren fortunate
at least In avoiding the addi
tional burden of a national
sales tax.
But don’ t hold
yout breath: one may 1« on
the way next year.
In the wake of state supreme
court decisions prohibiting the
use ol property taxes to pay
fo r education, the White House
announcal it is considering a
$16 b illion “ value added tax”
to help in school financing.
VA 1, as it is called, is a
com plicate!
concept
with
which the federal government
has toyed as fa r back as 1941.
Simply stated, it is a tax
which would be levied and col
lect»! at each stage of an
item ’ s production, all the way
Horn the growth of wlie.it to
the sale of bread In local
supermarkets. A t each step
the tax would be passed along
in the form ol higher prices
to the next manufacturer in
the production process.
But as with all taxes, the
buck stops ultim ately with tie
ixib lic, in this case to the
tune of a 3 (lercent increase
in the cost of all goods bought.
C ity Council # 1
P le a s e
f ill
in
Name
and
m ail
to d a y !
Phone
Address
City
Zip
Occupation
Date
I wish to support Ellis Casson (or City Commissioner
□ 1 would like to contribute
□ $5 00
□ I pledge $
Count on me to
□
□
□
□
n $ 1 0 00
□ $25 00
n $ 5 0 00
per
□ Provide office
Ring doorbells, canvass
equip or services
Make telephone calls
Hold a coffee
□ Other
Register voters
□
(month, quarter)
Special skills I can otter
□ Research, writing
□ Art work
□ Organizational
□ Other
P a id fo r b y _ C itiz e n s fo r Casson C o m m itte e ,
P a u l B. B e n d e r, T re a s u re r P O . Box 1 2 3 , P o r tla n d
„