i P » tl' 2 As I See It Oregon Black Caucus, NAACP, Urban League and Others MUST M W < TOGETHER FOR FULL ANO EQUAL EMPLOYMENT. T h u rsd a y , A u g u s t 17, 1972 By Lenwood G . Davis In the pest 1 have teen ex­ trem ely critic al of the Port­ land Branch of the NAACP. Portland Urban League, Black Panther Party end other com­ munity and civic organiza­ tions. However, 1 believe In giving credit where credit Is due. The NAACP and Urban League leadership have sup­ ported the Dragon Black Cau­ cus, not only in spirit, but also In practice. 1, for one. was glad to see the leaders of (he NAACP and Urban League participate In the recent O re­ gon Black Political Conven­ tion, as well as thelr presence at the recent meetings. And this la more than what I can say for the “ alleged" leadership of the B lackPentherPerty, al­ though they did stop by briefly for the convention. However, they have not been attending the meetings. The leaders of the NAACP and Urban League have shown their good faith to the Black Caucus and are supporting it and Its programs. This only goes to prove, to disbelievers, that different segments of (lie Black community can come together for common causes. In this w rite r's opinion, the The Northwest's Best Weekly A Black Owned Publication Published every Thursday by Exie Publishing Company, 2201 N . Ktllingsworth, Portland, Oregon 97217 Subscriptions - $5.25 per year in Tr;-port the other Black organizations. If asked. Since the Black Caucus lias recently issued (he Diegon Black Agenda, all Black peo­ ple and all Black organiza­ tions, groups, clubs, must work for its Implementation. These organizations MUST In­ corporate the Black Agenda into tlielr o ver-all programs. The Black Ageixla stated Its position for Black people in die Stale of Oregon: “ We have out program. We lieve our challenge. Let us (Blackpeo­ ple) now proceed with the chore at band. Let us seize die time - for the time Is oui a l" The role of all Black groups MUST 1« to see that every platform and every rev­ olution isedopted and fulfilled! To Be Equal ■■■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■a by Vernon E . Jordan, J r . ALFRED LEE hEfOERSON It’s your move, Governor McCall F o r the past year the Observer has been pointing out the ab­ sence of blacks and other minorities on the state’s many policy making boards and commissions. These boards, which actually it . axe the policies, determine how the money is spent and super­ vise the operation of state agencies and departments, are vital in the operation of state activities. They not only control state action, buth they also provide the philosophy which governs at­ titudes. Now the Governor’ s Human Rights Commission has reported that only one third of one percent (-3?) of the members of ail state commissions, councils and policy boards are minorities and only one percent are women. On 104 of the 106 state policy boards, there are only 23 minority members and 72 women out of 718 members. The others are white men. Some of the most influential state commissions, the Liquor Control Commission, the Highway Commission, the Fish and Game Commission, the Environmental quality Commission - all are made up of white males. And who is at fault? The Governor is at fault. It is the Gov­ erno r who appoints the members of the state'» commissions, councils and boards. It is true that these boards existed before Governor M cCall came to offloe and that many of the members were appointed by Senator M ark Hatfield who was then Gover­ nor. Hatfield's record is no better than M cCall's, but the fact remains that Governor M cCall has beer, in office for six years and that during that period most of these terms have come up for reappointment. So the current make up can hardly be blamed on predecessors. Governor M cC all has made some minority appointments - C lara Peoples to the Agriculture Board, E llis Cassoo to the Youth Commission and Faye Lyday and D r . Lewis to the W el­ fare Advisory Comm ittee. But this is insignificant when we consider the hundreds of appointments he has made in the last six years. Governor M cCall has long had the reputation of an advocate of civil rights. He was an early supporter and board member of the Portland Urban League. He has profited from this a ffi­ liation. He knows the importance of minority participation. F o r him, there is no excuse. The Governor must now give serious ¿onsideration to filling every vacancy that occurs during his remaining two years in office with a m inority person. Only in thia way can past omissions be corrected and minority people be pla :ed in their rightful place in state government. Letters to the Editor Dear S in I have read the many a rti­ cles in your paper about what Blacks, middle class and low­ e r class are not doing. Con­ tinuity is one of the answers which seems to he obsolete ac­ cording to what I have read in your p a p e r . Traditionally Black people have been de­ moralized by Black and white. Whites have placed Blacks In administrative p o s i t i o n s , knowing they would fail, and Blacks have criticized them for failing. Portland Blacks have not supported nor helped prepare schools for proper education for their children, yet they are the loudest voices every June when they finally find out where and how to get Into the schools. Those liberals, both Black and white, can make signifi­ cant changes by insisting that those Blacks who are in admi­ nistrative positions, either do their jobs as required or fire them. We have many voune I I Blacks who can do the same job at a lesser salary and w ill be vociierous where the ones we now have have lost their voice and usefulness for the Black community as admini­ strators or self-appointed spokesmen. The white admi­ nistration must be made to re ­ alize the d is service they are doing to the Black people, con­ sciously and unconsciously, by appointing some of these older insecure Blacks to positions they cannot fulfill beneficially for Black people. Becauae Blacks have been pusled by Blacks and whlass, no wonder our Black children are frus­ trated. Some of our Blacks are doing an effective job helping Blecka and others. Becauae of their successes and truth­ fulness, many Blacks and whites seem to fear them. W elter F . M o rris, J r . 5628 N X . 22nd Portland, firevon 97211 In one of the sharpest a t­ tacks to date on black support­ ers of President Nixon, State Representative Julian Bond of Georgia termed black Repub­ licans “ political prostitutes.'* The young black legislator was the featured speaker at the closing session of the 63rd annual convention of the Na­ tional Urban League. M r . Bond warned against those black supporters of President Nixon who would urge blacks to vote Republican or not vote s ta ll in November. "Those who urge us not to vote are the w illing accom­ plices of the fascist forces in Am erica who believe the only good black voter is one who does not vote. “ Those blacks who urge us to vote for the man who gave us Carswell and Haynsworth and 'benign neglect' are mem­ bers of a new American poli- WASHINGÌON BRIEFS John Lewis of th eV o terE d - uaation Project of Atlanta and Delmas Lewis. Represen­ tative W alter Fauntroy's con­ gressional staff director, were named to head the Dem­ ocratic National Comm ittee'! voaer registration drive. The firs t Congressional contest in Tennessee between a black and a white was as­ sured by the state prim ary election. State Senatorjames O . Patterson, J r . has become the firs t black to win m ajo r- party nomination fo r Con­ gress. He routed three white opponents in the new Eighth (Memphis; D istric t, which la 46 per cent black. M rs . Florence S. Gaynor has seen named chief admini­ strator of the largest hospital in N e w a r k , New J e r s e y , Mortland Hospital of the State medical school. She w ill be the firs t black woman to heac a m ajor teaching hospital. The Federal Communica­ tions Commission has refused to block broedcasts of racist political announcements of a Georgia Senate candidate de­ spite fears the words "nigger, nigger” might provoke vio­ lence In Atlanta. The FCC turned down a re­ quest filed by the Atlanta NA­ ACP that It order an exception to Federal broadcast regula­ tions that make it illegal to censor political ads. John H . Sengstacke, editor and publisher of the Chicago Defender, w ill be among 22 American newspaper edltori to vialt the Republic of Chine for three weeks in September. The editor« were invited to visit by two officials of the Hslnhua News Agency. tical party, neiLherDemocrat­ ic nor Republican nor indepen­ dent," he said. "These new political prostitutes belong to the Small Business Admin­ istration party, the Housing and Urban Development party, the Health, Education and W el­ fare party, the Washington Rent party. "They praise the President as ‘ the greatest savior since Jesus Christ*: they applaud the wizard o! the wiretap, the architect of law and order, the fo rm er Attorney General; and wonder of wonders, they at­ tend a formal dinner honoring the old D lxiecrat himself, Strom Thurmond." M r . Bond added, " I t Is im ­ perative that we come togeth­ e r now to drive Richard Nixon from the White House. He says he w ill get 20 per cent of the black vote In November. T hat’s 100 per cent more than he deserves.” T here's been a lot or c r iti­ cism recently, about the role of private foundations in fos­ tering projects designed to bring about social change. The dea lias taken root that foundations are fueling social change by massive infusions of money and are acting Ir ­ responsibly. Thisattitudewss part of the rationale for the 1969 law that tightened federal restrictions on foundations and for current warnings by some social scientists and university administrators that still more regulations are in store unless foundations go slow on social projects. But the truth of the matter is that private foundations have, If anything, teen going too slow. Considering their enormous potential for en­ couraging responsible social change In a society that needs co channel resources :o the less-favored segments of the nation, foundations could aid should be doing a lot more. They've always been late. In the dim, d a rk e a rlte r years of thia century, a bare hand­ ful of foundations supported black causes and black e f­ forts at building viable educa­ tional institutions. Even in the early sixties, at the height of the civil rights movement, there were only relatively few foundations supporting south­ ern voter registration efforts and sim ilar activities. M ore recently, the num­ bers of foundations exhibiting social concerns have grown, but turds made available to black institutions are still lunrted a;d tire fuurdation community is still split be­ tween tbe tew who are in­ volved ard the many who con- tinue to sit out tbe struggle for equality on (be s d e lire s . Despite this, there baa teen a backlash against aupjKrsedly excessive foundation involve­ ment in the social arena. While black people are still just getting crumbe Irom the (able, foundations ate ac­ cused of leaping our plates too fu ll. A recent research study by the National Urban League in­ dicates just how fa r founda­ tions have yet to go lefore complaints about "excesses'* can be judged as lemg ration. Analyzing grama compiled by tbe Foundation Grants In­ dex for 1970 and 1971, the League found that less than 20 percent of all grants for all purposes went into social welfare programs. And of those social welfare grants, only about a fifth went to black agencies. Less than a fount) of the money alloted for social welfare went to programs serving black and other minority communities. Grants In the field of race With Ron Hsndran A YOUNG VIEW OF WASHINGTON relations, which Includes civil rights agencies, «mounted to only ten percent of tire social welfare gram a, only three percent of giants for aasistn^ ttie aged fount tlw ir way into the black community, as dal less than ten iwrcent of the grams for youth programs and five percent of child w el­ fare grants. In (1« field of education, the picture was more bleak. Of all grama to colleges and universities, tlw struggling black colleges received only six percent of ttie total. There is then, little doubt that foundations have barely scratcted ttie surface In fund­ ing programs of imports nee to the black community. Un­ fortunately, the fuundat ons don't deserve the accusations that they are too deeply in­ volved in social change. I hey do deserve to 1» reminded that they exist to root out social evils and that they must use their wealth ard power to help the poor and the powerless. A BILL OF RIGHTS: NEW HOPE FOR THE MENTALLY RETARDED By Ron Hendren W A S H IN G T O N -T h is session. Congress will act on a Bill of Rights which re­ sponds to the plight of the more than six million mentally retarded persons in the United States Life for these Americans is, at best, bleak For the 200,000 who are institu­ tionalized in residential facilities it is often a hopeless nightmare Willowbrook, the world's largest institution for the mentally retarded, was built in New York in 1941 to house 3,000 patients Today Willowbrook has a population of 5,200 Half o f the patients are under the age of 21 For a good number o f those under treatment, Willowbrook is little more than a depository a place capable of providing only shelter and the barest of essentials for those whose families are unable-o r unwilling to care for them The staff at Willowbrook is so over­ worked that there is little time for reha­ bilitative treatment " It just kills me," commented one attendant, "W e’re so busy that we can't do anything that really helps them.” Willowbrook is more often the rule than the exception In Alabama, an emer­ gency court order described the 2,300 mentally retarded inmates housed at the Tuscaloosa Partlow State School and Hos­ pital as living in "acute physical danger " Judge Frank M Johnson, Jr., declared that the evidence "vividly and undis- putedly portrayed Partlow as a ware­ housing institution which, because of its atmosphere of psychological and physical deprivation, is wholly incapable of fu r­ nishing treatment to the mentally re­ tarded and is conducive only to the deterioration and dehabilitation of resi­ dents.” In the words of Senator Jacob K Javits (R -N Y |, "H ow can we, the nchest nation in the world, treat innocent hu­ man beings in such an inhumane fash­ ion7” Javits, with the enthusiastic support of Senator Hamson A Williams I D - N J ) , Chairman of the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, has introduced legislation which has been called a "Bill o f Rights for the Mentally Retarded" It would create a partnership of govern­ mental agencies, professional organiza­ tions. practitioners, and consumer repre­ sentatives working together to improve services to the mentally retarded while encouraging states to develop plans for regional and community programs Funds would be provided to help develop alter­ natives to traditional residential care fa­ cilities which have often proved to be little more than prisons The hill has received acclaim from leaders of the United Cerebral Palsay Association who described it as a "land­ mark in the restoration o f full citizen­ ship” for the retarded Labor leaders see the legislation as "a major step forward toward the goal of fully protecting the rights of millions o f handicapped citi­ zens," according to a statement issued by A F L -C IO representatives Tbe bill is likely to pass Most legisla tors apparently feel it represents the least America can do for her mentally re­ tarded As one Congr *ssman put it, "This measure does not provide all the answers But it will herald a beginning And God knows, for the mentally retarded that beginning is long overdue." And while the talk goes on, 120,000 mentally retarded infants are bom each year in America. ©Copyright 1972 by WASHINGTON WEEKLY, Inc All right« rtaerved "M y whole family reads The Portland Observer n The Observer goes to great lengths to see that its leaders are given concise, dependable news coveiage from all over the globe as well as important local happenings. Be aware of vital Issues and how they affect you. Home delivery of the Portland Observer is available for a small extra charge In most of the Portland metropolitan area. F o r your subscription, semi to: Portland observer P.O. Box 3137 Portland, (Jiegon 97208 Name — Address — — — —— C ity — — -------- ------------------------- State A Z ip — ------ — Apt. d e n y - — T e l ------ - - - - - - $5.00 for 52 ¡»uses *