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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 13, 1972)
Benign neglect by Supreme Court Portland/Observer Thursday July lt> ,972 p ,gi by Bayard Kuatln A («cent Supierne Court dec la Ion may have tem porarily marked an end to that Institution's role as an Inatiument of civil rights progress and activism. In Haelf, rite ruling la relatively u n i m p o r t a n t particularly when lakl aside the momen tous cases In which the court Justifiably earned the reputa tion as a staunch and persis tent defender of racial Justice. It Is significant, rather, as a symbol of the court's new conservative orientation of all social Issues. And It Is telling black Americans that, lo r the foreseeable future, they must look elsewhere If the social and economic Inequities of society are to 1« rectified. I ho particular ruling to which I refer upheld (lie right of a private club to bar Negroes from Its dining arxl drinking facilities. By Im plication, the court also said drat such private organiza tions could legally d is crim i nate on the ha sis of race In the selection of members. It Is not my intention to discuss at length the merits of this decision, although I disagree with It on both legal and moral grounds. But I am complelled to comment, how- ever briefly, on how such a ruling affects the whole con cept of racial Integration. C IV IL RIGHTS R E E X A M IN E D •n era of racial "benign ne glect" on the p a n of the We are living in a time courts which could extend well when many of the philosophies Into the future. and Ideuls of the civil rights movement are being re not rejoicing examined and when fa r too often both black aixl white This la no cause for re • re willing to capitulate on joicing, for the court hag for tire most essential ideal of Ure peat three decades been full Integration. Given this the black man's most reliable atmospfiere. It la profoundly governmental ally, it was the dlstrublng that the nation's ctxrn which responded to our highest court would legi specific needs when Congress timately dlacr lmbiate with Its •nd ihe President lacked the stamp of approval. commitment to deal with the Such a decision can only Injustices which had become encourage young blacks who ao deeply imbedded a part have demanded separate of our dally lives. d o r m it o r ie s , s e p a ra te It was the court which. In a courses, and separate social sense. Inaugurated the civil vacliltles at many campuses. rights era with the historic On the other hand there Brown decision. M ore re are many whites. Including. cently, the court outlawed dis 1 am certain, those who so crimination In the sale or self-rlghteously proclaim the rental of housing sndproviried • Ighl of their club to exclude an effective counter to the blacks, who are all (oowllllng Nixon Administration's ef to advise us io put our house In order, moderate our extremists and enter tie mainstream. | find such an attitude not only repugnant, txri eminently hypocritical, particularly when held by the Ulslness and political elite of • community who so often comprise the membership of fraternal organizations. This decision also. I fear, augurs what could well Ire by Vernon E . Jordan, J r . forts to delay the Integration of southern schools. I do not wish to imply that the court has suddenly be come an Implement of racial reaction. Its members, in cluding three of the four Justices appointed by Richard Nixon, range from moderate to liberal on racial cases lone exception Is Justice W il liam Rehnquist, who once wrote that "w e are no more committed to an Integrated society than to a segregated society." It was, symboli cally, Rehnquist whowrotethe decision upholding d iscrim i nation on the part of private clubs. M ANY CASES P E N D IN G H e r e are msny Important cases pending before the cour t which could bear heavily on the future of blacks and on the economic condition of all society’ s Impoverished. Given the new bent of the court, we must prepare our selves for decisions on many of these cases which are con trary to the best Interests of the economically deprived, of those who continue to suffer racial discrimination, awl of humanity In general. Ih ia does not mean that we need passively accept what might appear to be a slacken ing of our movement's pro gress. if, jn truth, we no longer can rely on the Supreme Court to redress the wrongs of our social environment, we must turn elsewhere R esolu tions. We must redouble our ef forts at building political stiengtli, Ix>th In and of itself and in alliance with otherpro- gresslves, so that what we cannot accomplish in the courts we can win in Congress. If there's one thing that’ s obvious Oldtime Black songwriters Other American tunes pro who wrote some of the nation's duced by Black w riters who uristandtng songs. Including face a financial loss Include **St. Louis Blues” and "Basin Street Blues.” "o ld "Honey-auckle Rose," stand Fashioned Love.” "Darktown to lose hundreds uf thousanJs Strutter's B a ll" and "I'm J u s t of dollars In royalties unless Wild About H a rry ." Though Congress gives them legal many of these w riters are relief, two Black recordcom- deceased, tfieir fam ilies bene pany executives warned re fit from the continuing royalty cently. checks running into die diou- Henry Allen, vice president sana that come to them from of Atlantic records, and the ASCAP, the songwriter's firm a sales manager, Rick association. WUIard, in a letter launching the Committee to Protect • case cited was that of American Black Music, (o Los Angeles resident Andy members of die Black Con Razaf, com[xiset of "A in 't gressional Caucus urged Misbehavin',** who is now con- members of the Black Con fur«! to a wheelchair. His gressional Caucus to seek a medical bills exceed $18,000 a year. one-year extension of the 1915 Copyright Law. Under this " I h e only satisfaction these bill a composer's song is great Black Americans re protected for 56 years, and ceived were royalty checks he receives royalties from It that allowed them to enjoy lasing sung or recorded. A fte r some ol the comforts of life, that time, lire tune paws* Into though small In comparison the public domain and financial to the millions pocketod by returns are lost. singers, publishing firm s ami hailing Into this category record ompanles who capttl- Is " s t. I.uuia Blues,” written llzed on their words and by the late Memphis-horn m usic," wrote Allen and W.C. Handy in I9 H , which W illard . became a public domain work In the late 50s when she two years ago. In the past was a blgtlme rock and roll five years both Houses of alar, l.avem Baker com Congress passed a one-year plained to her Congressman. extension bill while they de Charles Diggs of Detroit, bater! revising the 1915 statute about other perform ers du w Ith new amewbnents to pro plicating her style and a r long the life span of a sorqj- rangements from many of her w rlte r's music heyond the 56 Atlantic best-sellers. she years. However, this year’s also asked him to Introduce chances of another extension legislation to prvent pirating seem slim . of recotdlngs. Akl to Fam ilies with Depend ent Children. "M o re than eight out of ten w ill he moth ers, because there are really few able-balled male adults in tire A FIX? program ," Secre tary Richardson said. About 800,000 persons now receiving welfare will he signed up by the end of the I Your ticket to the big game: ^...including transportation You want to tee the big game do you do? Just »witch on your I V »ct Arxl sac more of Ihe action than most of ihe men on ihe field You've got the he»t seal in Ihe house for shout 2« worth of eleclricily per game So w hat Sound like a pretty good deal? Il is * R em edy I t ’s a bargain And we know that bargains are hard Io find today Almosl hard lo find as enough leg room in the grandstand RicifichMtT • Lots of easy parking ’ Sl° ' A ‘ w ' ACOOked Rlbs Pork Ham Chicken lull “ ” Î%S0W n Î w S ’ “ nalU,a' W00<’ smoke - some a • Warm Olde English Decor and a relaxed atm osphere A new treat in fam ily dining restaurants î X ’î - ?hodn e 2 C3r4 S9 3 H m B e a v e r ,o n M a ' ” P h ° " e 6 4 3 -4 8 4 4 alxiut the housing situation It ta that ihe demand for housing that low- and middle-income people can afford w ill not be met unless die re are some drastic de partures from past policies. Some 60 percent of a llA m e rr- cans are unable to afford die price of a new home, arxl Conditions seem bound to gel wor se, not hetter. When you deduct die num bers of sound housing units lost each year through aban donment. which is anincreas- mg problem In many clues, and through urban renewal projects, highway construc tion and other reasons, there la probably a net loss of available housing units, the half-m illion subsidized units tu lll each year then, does not even balance the numbers of houses and apartments lost, much less add tu the supply of needed housing. When we see that 70 per cent of the population lives on one percent of die land, that the nation's population will probably glow to some 300 million people In the next years, and that skyrocket ing land costs are making housing for all hut the favored few too expensive, the case becomes strong for a national urban growth policy and a Iwleral National U rhanCrowth Agency to implement such a policy. Such a national agency could help to counter the effects of a fractured societywhichflnds It difficult to solve Its housing problems because of the con flicting claims and Jurisdic tions of local governments and local zoning laws. Taken together this patchwork ol locally-formulated policies «nd programs amounts to no national policy at all. one of the first tasks of a National I rban Growth Agency would le to acquire land ami "bank' it for future urban development. By taking some land— and it needn't amount to very much— off the specu lative market, one of tie prime factors in controlling spiraling costs would be neu tralized. phe Agency could den make rational plans for future development, with the opportunity to help create sourxl, balanced com m unities. 'HOUSER OF LAST RESORT' I he Agency would also act as a "houser of last reso rt," assuring an adequate supply of decent housing for low ami moderate Income fam ilies that can’t be served by the private market. It would also be mandated to plant and to build where local governmental units re fuse to develop fa ir and rational plans. A National Last 3 days Urban G ro w th Agencv, financed as other government units and with the power to sell bonds and to build directly could well become the means hy which chaos is replaced hy fa ir, rational planning and use of our national resources. ( I here are ample models for such an agency. European and other countries have had excellent experience with planned communities and New 3ork State has a state agency that is somewhat sim ilar to what I have suggested. f Ire re is no alternative to development. (A ir only choice lies in the nature of that de velopment; w better it will continue to be haphazard and velopment; whether it will continue to be haphazard and unplanned, leading to urban and suburban blight and the e»elusion of lower income fam ilies, or whether it will he orderly, planned develop ment that solves problems and doesn't, as our present lack ol a system Joes, create them. We are too fa r behind In the national promise to pro vide decent housing for all to be able to avoid the Issue fo r much longer. We know what tire problem Is, we know past efforts have failed dis m ally, aixl now we need the courage to cteate the tools that w ill finally gel the job done. h berr wr m«Ae rbr n m k r t ih m g i n u r r fo r year as a condition for rucotv- lng aid. The rest w ill be signed up as they come In to apply for aid in the next 12 months. Ihe massive slgn-up is ac tually an extension of the existing Work Incentive Pro gram, a Joint HE W -Labor plan to help welfare fam ilies be come self-supporting. Previously, the only Indivi duals in the AFIX? program requited by Federal law to he registered fo r the WIN pro gram were unemployed fath ers, children over 16 who are out of school, and Volunteers. I he new regulations w ill re quire registration for work or Job training of many additional le t sons among those applying for or receiving A k lto F a m ll- ies with Depenslent Children. "But even some who a re not required to sign up under the new law will do so anyhow," Secretary Richardson sakl, "because they want to go to w ork." An estimated 300,000 mothers with children under six w ill make up the bulk of these "volunteers," he sakl. Both Secretaries Hodgson and Richardson pointed out that there Is more to getting a job than Just signing up. "In order to get work or train for a J o l\" Secretary Hulgson sakl, "those women w ill need child care services. Sale.15% off all our quilted spreads in stock or special order. Sale 22 homemaker b el[\ and perhaps home management, housing, fam ily planning or other ser vices." Federal funds w ill pay fo r 90 per cent of these employment- related services, he said. The new regulations call for spe cial units to be set up In local welfare offices to help arrange for these services. By next June, Secretary Hodgson estimated, local State Employment Services arxl oth e r WIN agencies w ill have eva luates! the work skills arxl de veloped employability plans for half the 1.5 m il I ion persons expected to sign up. lhose In Job training w ill receive their full welfare al lotment, plus $30-a-month in centive pay. Employers who hire WIN participants can also claim a firs t-y e a r tax credit of 20 per cent on wages pakl them. The employees must remain employed a second full year, although If they quit, become disabled, o r are fired fo r cause, the credit can still he claimed. States w ill benefit underthe new law, receiving 90percent Federal aid for W IN-con- nected set vices Instead of the present 75 per cent. Also the h nteral share of manpower costs w ill increase from 80 to 90 per cent. 95 Reg- $27. ‘Zenith bedsprea with bouquet floral design. Rayon, acetate with polyester fill and cotton back. '-'■ s'. • ’• S a le p rices e ffe c tiv e th ro u g h S a tu rd a y . Sale 14 45 full size R*g- $17. ‘ Princess I I ' bed spread of Chromspun acetate with polyester flll/coton back. Quilted throw style In solid colors. ADC Mothers required to register r/rt /ri< iiy that ’ (6°4O3d4844j keDt D'PinQ hOf ,n Spec,al containers To Be Equal Black composers to lose royalties Regulations under a law that w ill require 1.5 m illion able- bulled welfare recipients to sign up for work or work Ira ln- mg were Issued byLaborSec- letary J . n . Hodgson and HEW Secretary E lliot L . Richard son. They take effect July I. Affected w ill he persons who receive or apply foi A FIX? - a place - topo on a special day Although the new regula tions become effective July I, persons have 30 days to sub-’ mit suggested revisions. Comments on the HEW reg ulations should he senttoiSRS Administrator, HEW, Wash ington, D X . 20201. Comments on Labor regulations should go to Assistant Secretary for Manpower, Department o fL a - hor, Washington, C .C . 20201. Sale 9 » Twin or full Reg. 10.99. 'Diana'bedspread Is quilted throw style of ace tate taffets with polyester fill and backing. Floral print. You can Last 3 days Sale. 20% off all our bras and girdles. S ale prices e ffe c tiv e w ith a P -0 Person -to - Person Call W ant Ad 2 8 3 -2 4 8 7 through Saturday JC P enney The values are here every day.
