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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 22, 1973)
Page 2 P orti and/Obaarvar Tisi rada y March 22. 1973 « CLERY St. J/iins Th« Editor’s Desk A LFR ED 2864079 "Chuickt, RW-tF-MUYNTY W M I'U M »««rMCYCLM Special on 5 Speed Columbia Bicycles featuring the world famous Huret 6-apeed stem shifter chrome plated continental fenders with oversized reflec to r, spring carrier ball lamp curve tread re Hector pedals Regular $90. now $79.96. Good thru Sat., LEE ABfOBSSTH March 24. Instant Credit. WE SEE THE WORLD THROUGH BLACK EYES BENOWS | ' FO R - B R A N D S you know L V A R IE T IE S y o u like S U E S v o u w on» Th. Fnwndl.o.f] Phantom returns $«orw In Town I S in e 190« A g a in the D eputy A tto rn e y G e n e ra l has a n sw e re d fo r his boss (see le tte r, c o lu m n th re e ). The G o v e rn o r a n d th e S ecretary o f State c a ll the OBSERVER w h e n th e y w ish to d iffe r or discuss, but w e o n ly h e a r fro m th e D ep uty A tto rn e y G e n e ra l. In fa ct, a n a p p o in tm e n t w as re q u e ste d to discuss th e A tto rn e y G e n e ra l's p ro b le m s w ith a ffirm a tiv e a c tio n a n d c iv il rig h ts e n fo rc e m e n t, b u t w as b ro k e n by M r. Johnson. N o w to th e facts. W h e n w e speak o f the absence o f Blacks in th e A tto rn e y G e n e ra l's o ffic e , w e m e a n in th e A tto rn e y G e n e ra l's o ffic e . A re th e re a n y B lack a d m in is tra tiv e assistants, p e rson al se cre taries, e tc., w h o a re a p p o in te d by a n d d ire c tly re sp o n s ib le to th e A tto rn e y G e n e ra l? By stre tch in g the im a g in a tio n to in c lu d e a ll the e m p lo y e e s o f th e Justice D e p a rtm e n t as th e A tto rn e y G e n e ra l's p e rso n a l e m p lo y e e s , w e p ro b a b ly c o u ld fin d a Black a m o n g th e m . By th e sam e lo g ic , th e G o v e rn o r c o u ld excuse his lack o f Black s ta ff by p o in tin g to a ll o f th e Black state e m p lo y e e s (scarce th o u g h th e y a re ) a n d c la im th em as " h is ” e m p lo y e e s . But if th e A tto rn e y G e n e ra l w a n ts us to lo o k a t th e Justice D e p a rtm e n t, w e w ill. There •» « m o re th a n 70 a tto rn e y s e m p lo y e d by th e Justice D e p a rt m ent - n o n e a re Black. M r. Jo hn son 's p re d e cessor h ad tw o Black a tto rn e ys, the last le a v in g th e d e p a rtm e n t in N o v e m b e r, 1970. M r. John son 's predecessor h ad tw o Black a tto rn e y s w h e n th e re w as no a ffirm a tiv e a c tio n a g re e m e n t; n o w th e re is a n a ffirm a tiv e a c tio n a g re e m e n t b u t no Black a tto rn e ys. U n d e r M r. Jo hn son 's p redecessor th e re w e re a n u m b e r o f fe m a le a tto rn e ys, u n d e r Mr. Johnson th is n u m b e r has decrea sed . The W e lfa re R ecovery D ivisio n , w h ic h in v e s ti gates fra u d in w e lfa re a n d a rra n g e s fo r su pp ort p aym en ts, is u n d e r th e A tto rn e y G e n e ra l's ju ris d ic tio n . This a g e n cy is h e a d e d by W a lte r F u ja g a m i, a Japanese a tto rn e y w h o w a s a p p o in te d by M r. Johnson's p redecessor. W e lfa re R ecovery has no Black a tto rn e ys o r p ro fe s s io n a l e m p lo y e e s . WRD has a Black c le rk -ty p is t I in its P o rtla n d o ffic e , a n d th e y o u n g m an re fe rre d to b y M r. D urha m , w h o is a p a rt tim e e m p lo y e e a n d c a n n o t be h ire d as an a tto rn e y u n til he passes th e O re g o n Bar. In our in v e s tig a tio n s , w e h a v e b e e n u n a b le to fin d Black e m p lo y e e s in th e o th e r WRD o ffic e s . If th e re a re Blacks h o ld in g p ro fe s s io n a l p o s itio n s in th e Justice D e p a rtm e n t, w e in v ite th e A tto rn e y G e n e ra l to m a k e th is k n o w n to th e p u b lic . We w o u ld lik e to h a ve th e n am es, th e p o sitio n s, the c iv il se rvice status a n d th e d a te o f a p p o in tm e n t o f these Black e m p lo y e e s . W e w ill b e g la d to g iv e th e A tto rn e y G e n e ra l c re d it w h e re c re d it is d u e . But fro m o u r in v e s tig a tio n o f th e D e p a rtm e n t o f Justice, w e see no progress. W e see o n ly loss o f p re v io u s gains. M r D urha m , w o u ld yo u a g a in h a ve us b e lie v e th a t th e A tto rn e y G e n e ra l is b la m e le ss ? If so, as w e said b e fo re , a p h a n to m has ta k e n o v e r th e D e p a rtm e n t o f Justice! Blacks s t i l l c o n s id e r O re g o n 's A ffirm a tiv e A c tio n A g re e m e n t to be just a p ie c e o f p a p e r. N ot p o lic y , Sir, b u t p ra c tic e ? IT’S COMMG! • Prizes every week • Easy to eater • Easy to win. Code phrases? LETTERS Johnson defended Your editorial. Still a Piece of Paper, states there are no Blacks in the offices of the Governor, the Secretary of State, the State Treasurer or the Attorney General. I cannot speak for the other offices, but your statement concerning the office of the Attorney General is wrong. There are Blacks employed by the Departm ent of Justice as well as orientals, A m eri can-Indian, a n d spanish- speaking Americans. You may also be interested in knowing that one of the Blacks employed by the D e partment of Justice has re lied substantially on his em ployment to finance his way through law school. He graduates from law schorl this year and has already been offered a position as an Assistant Attorney General. He accepted that offer in December and will join three other new law school grad uates in our honors program. Perhaps the Attorney Gen eral can be criticized for not publicizing his efforts in the Affirm ative Action Program, but a newspaper man who m a k e s judgments without the facts is clearly subject to legitimate criticism. To my knowledge no one at your paper took the time or effort to check the facts. V ery truly yours, James W . Durham . Jr. Dep. Attorney General THE NORTHWEST’S BEST W E E K LY -A BLACK OWNED PUBLICATION Subscriptions: $5.25 a year in Tri-C o un ty area, $6.00 elsewhere. Application to m all at sec ond class postage rates is pending at Portland, Oregon. Mem ber: NNPA - INPA ONPA NNA A LFR ED LEE HENDERSON, Pu bllsh er/E d ito r The Observer's official po sition is expressed only in its Publisher’ s Column (The Observation Post) and the E d ito r’s Desk. Any other m aterial throughout the pap e r is the opinion of the in dividual w rite r o r submitter and does not necessarily re flect the opinion of the Ob server. Any erroneous reflection up on the character, standing or reputation of person, firm or corporation, which may ap pear in the Portland Obser v e r w ill be cheerfully c o r rected upon being brought to the attention of the Editor. A M ÍM 8ER Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association MEMBER N e W A pep Attocitlion - Founded IM S As I S ee It PSU Educatioual Ceater and the community I H) I Jk I 1 o f F ash io n E y e w e a r D r. L. W e s le y A p la n a lp O p to m e tris t 6 3 0 SW B r o a d w a y 2 2 6 -6 6 8 8 by Lenwood G. Davis W hite Americans h a v e historically responded to two things - tragedy and vio lence. Blacks also respond to these events. The possible closing of the P.S.U . Educa tional Center is a classical example. Now that it ap pears that the Ed Center will be closed there seems to be a concern for it on the part of the community. Even though the PSU ad ministration has n o t yet made the decision as to whether the Center will con tinue, it appears as if it will. I t w ill be a tragedy if the Center is dosed. It has served the community well. The community d i d not, however, utilize it to its fullest. I am sure that the stu dents who have attended the Center over the past four years will be sorry to see it closed. No doubt others in the community also will be Published every Thursday by Exle Publishing Company at 2201 N.KUlIngsworth, P o rt land, Oregon 97217, M ailing address: Box 3137, Portland Oregon 97208 , 283-2486 : il Binyon Optical D is p e n s e rs It’s the OBSERVER’S new EZ Winner Contest. Watch for details, coming soon in the PORTLAND OBSERVER. M l MKI » sorry. Over the past two years the Center increased its of ferings and has constantly tried to expand its courses. I t reported that it had a success rate of about 93 per cent, which is unusually high for any institution. In fact, few institutions can make that claim! At this stage it is not too late to avoid this tragedy. The community can w rite the final ending. If the commun ity wants the PSU Ed Cen ter to remain open it will have to act now and not talk. I f the residents of Portland express a serious concern over the Center it might stay open. To quote the Director of the Cener: " If we are still politically useful, we will survive. If not, we will not. W ork and success do not have much to do with it." I believe we are land will bel “still politically useful". The only thing we have to do now is prove it! With Ron Hendron J a n tz e n B e ach 2 8 3 -3 1 9 5 Soft a n d R e g u la r co n ta c t lenses Associate optometrists: B R IG G S , H A T T E N , M IL L E R tk S T E N G K R Your ticket to toe big game: ^...including transportation Y ou want Io see the big game So what do you do? lust switch on your T V act A nd m t more o f the actum than moat of the men on the field Y o u ’ve got the best seal in the house- -fo r about 2« worth of electricity per game A YOUNG VIEW OF WASHINGTON HUMAN GUINEA PIGS W A S H IN G T O N -It wasn’t much, they told the prisoner, just minor surgery on his brain designed to make him less violent, and with the surggry came the promise o f freedom. A scene out o f 1984? No. The time is today and the location is the California Medical Facility at Vacaville, where oper ations like the one described above were recently performed on three prisoners. What the prisoners were not told is that the psychosurgery would render them incapable o f feeling pleasure or sadness, and would forever render deci sion making difficult for them. But the end goal was achieved - permanently altering the subjects’ be- havior-and that seems to be enough to satisfy a growing number o f medical and government authorities who support psychosurgery. Psychosurgery is just one o f the many forma of experimentations which are be ing conducted on humans today, often without their full understanding and sometimes without their knowledge. Senator Hubert H. Humphrey (D - M inn.) late last month introduced legisla tion to set tigorous guidelines governing medical experiments involving people. He reminded his colleagues o f a bar baric syphillis study involving 430 black men which was conducted over a period o f 40 yean in Alabama. The men, all afflicted with syphillis, were given $50 plus burial expenses not to undergo treat ment for their disease At least 28 and perhaps as many as 107 died as a result. Humphrey said the fact that these men volunteered is clear indication that con sent o f those involved is a totaUy inade quate standard. The most dangerous ex periments almost always find the poor and uneducated as their subjects, people who may not be able to understand or fully comprehend the danger to which they will be exposed. In some cases, according to Hum phrey, individuals may not even be aware they are the subjects o f a test. Recently, according to associates o f consumer advo cate Ralph Nader, the University of Mich igan dispensed diethystilbestrol (D E S ) to coeds who feared they might be pregnant. DES is a synthetic estrogen which has been linked to cancer. The daughters of some 840 women who were given DES in the early 1950’s are now found to experi ence a high rate of malignancies, accord ing to Humphrey. To stem unwarranted and overly dan gerous experiments on humans, Hum phrey has proposed to establish a Na tional Human Experimentation Standards Board, an independent agency authorized to draw up rigorous guidelines governing h u m an experimentation in projects financed by federal funds. The board would have subpoena power and the right to hold hearings, it could obtain injunctions to halt experi ments not in compliance with its guide lines. Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D - Masa.l, chairman o f the Subcommittee on Health, has already conducted hearing on human experimentation. Interest on the subject is high in both the Senate and House, and prospects for legislation along the lines proposed by Humphrey seem good. Meanwhile, the experiments go on, and the majority o f physicians conduct ing them, says H u m p h i.y, have never even studied the ethics o f testing. Perhaps some o f them have forgotten the admoni tion o f Hippocrates: “ Life is short, and the art long; the occasion instant, de cision difficult, experiment perilous.” Syndicated 1971 by WASHINGTON WEEKLY, Inc, All rights rssarvsd. Sound like a pretty good deal? I l is. Electricity It ’s a bargain. And we know that bargains are hard to find today. Almost as hard to find as enough leg room in the grandstand. Pacific Rwer w turr we make »*» rlfrlrirO y that m a i n Ihingi nlcrr lo r rrtry b o d ]) W h e n y o u say y o u Can’t afford to advertise You a re r e a lly s a y in g You can’t afford You can’t afford You can’t afford You can’t afford You can’t afford area. You can’t afford profits. to to to to to increase sales. reduce costs. save money. reduce prices. expand your trade to increase your W h ich m eans You can’t afford to stay in business or succeed in competition. YOU SHOULD ADVERTISE IN THE ! PORTLAND OBSERVER
