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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 24, 1973)
jpaper l ’oo« LIbr On î y 2T3; ty or on POR TLA ND V o lu m e 3, N o. 33 P ortland, O re g o n AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER 4 OBSERVER OCL threatens ouster second Black director Urban League official brings awards Mr*. Juanita Carroll Dudley, a national official of the National Urban league, will viait Portland thia week. She will make an award on behalf of the Urban la*ague to the Moaa Adam Company for ita continuing effort in a cooperative program with the Univeraity of Port land. She will alao pre aent a four year arholar ahip to a Portland atu dent. After working for aev eral yeara in public wel fare and child welfare, Mra. Dudley rame to the Western Regional Office of the National Urban leagu e to work in nine weatern atatea with Pro ject Enable. At the end of that program, ahe be came Aaaiatant Regional Director with the Weatern Regional Office with health and welfare aa a specialty. During the paat four yeara, ahe haa been very active in the weat with the development of health programs. She is pre aently Chairman of the Advisory Council of the UCLA Regional Medical l*rograma on heart, ran J.DUDLEY cer, and strokes. She represents this body as a Consultant to the State Regional Medical Pro grams for proposal aelec lions for the funding year 1972. She is an Executive Board mrmbcr of both the Southern California and Ia>a Angeles agencies of C om prehensive Health Planning. She has served during this period as a member of the State De partment of Social Wel fare Agencies Council on children services, Presi dent of the Charles Drew Women’s Auxiliary of Los Angeles County. She is presently a member of th»* Executive Hoard of the National March of [times of Los Angeles County, and the Welfare Reform Advisory Committee for the California State Per sonnel Board. For many years, she has accepted the in v ita tions of both state and federal legislators to tes tify before select com m ittees deaing with the problems of health and welfare for the aged, mi nority and the working poor. She is a member of the A m e rica n Public Health A ssociation and other related social work and health organizations. Mrs. Dudley is the wifi of Dr. C.H. Dudley, a practicing Psychiatrist in Los A n g eles, and the mother of five. She re c eiv ed her Masters of Social Work Degree from Atlanta University School of Social Work, and B.A. Degree from Talladega College. Since that time she has completed one year of training toward a law degree. Farmworkers call for justice Cesar Chavez of the United Farm Workers Union, AFL- CIO. has railed for a re newed boycott of non union lettuce and grapes. Phillip Vera (’ruse. National Vice President of the UFW. AFL CIO. visited Portland this week to gather support for the strike in California. The United Farm Workers, an organization of field work ers, mostly Chicano, Black and Philipino, was organized in Delano, California to at tempt to obtain adequate wages and working condi tions for farm workers, many of whom are permanent, year round employees. Farm workers are not covered by the National Relations Board and therefore legislation gov erning wages, working condi tions and the right to col lective bargaining do not cover them. After five years of strikes and a nationwide boycott, the grape growers of Cali fornia and Arizona finally held employee elections and signed contracts with the Farm Workers Union. Those contracts, although including minimum wages, also were concerned with pesticides and health hazzards and with such minimum standards as the provision of drinking water and toilet facilities. Although growers claimed the union did not represent the workers and resisted with violence and intimida lion, in all the elections held, the vote won nearly unani mously for the UFW. The srike and the accom panying boycotts then spread to the lettuce fields of Cali fornia. It was at this point that the Teamsters Union interceded on behalf of the growers. Contracts wen- signed between the Team sters Union and growers, without the consent or in volvement of the workers. As the grape growers con tracts expire, they too are picked up by the Teamster Union without union elec tions and without regard for Enter today! Over $100,000 in prizes - you may WIN and move in! Six 1st Prizes of 20% down, many 2nd prizes of 5% down on a new home Details at our offices Franklin ■ a I DAN * 21 Ottlces • Phons 248 1234 Bldg . Portland, Oregon 92204 the wishes of the workers. The union and its sup porters continue to boycott non union (non-UFW) lettuce and grape's. They ask that the consumer look for the union sym bol a black Aztec eagle on a red banner The Farm Workers Union’s stru g g le has caught the imagination of the students the church, the liberal radica activists. It is said to be* thi ’Civil Rights Movement’ of the 1970’s, as it seeks to gair freedom through non-vio lent protest. Led by Cesar Chavez, a deeply religious and self sacrificing man, the movement has attempted to appeal to the conscience of the American people. Chavez recently said of the struggle for justice: "We have been treated with contempt by the most respected people of our com inunities. Our women have been insulted and abused. Our children have too often cried from hunger and given up their brightest dreams to work in the fields so that their brothers and sisters could eat. Still we did not surrender our lives to ex ploitation and misery. Farm workers were willing to get up off their knees to strike and boycott, to struggle and sacrifice lor five long years to gain contracts in the grapes. For the first time we could see and feel the beginnings of our own union. It has been a beautiful ex p erience for farm wrkers. Dignity and hope and a little bit of justice have filled us with new strength and a new determination to build a union for all farmworkers. “ Farm w orkers arc not going to be defeated because the rich and powerful want them defeated. The growers and the Teamsters can nth us of all of our contracts. But what will they have accom plished? We have always been poor: life has always been a struggle; there is no easy way to gain justice and to make life better for our children and our grandchil dren. We will keep or ganizing and striking; we will build a new worldwide (Please turn to page 8, col. 5) The Observer came into possession of a letter from Charles Williamson, Presi dent of the Oregon Consumer League to Andrew Raubeson, Acting Director of the Model Cities Agency, indicating the intention to terminate Russell Dawson, director of the Con sumer P rotection A gency. Dawson, a Black, was hired following the termination of J. Alton Page, the program’s first director. The Consumer Protection Agency is funded by Model Cities and has as its operating igency the Oregon Consumer league. The Management Committee, which sets policy and does the hiring, is made up of members of the Execu tive Committee of the Oregon Consumer League, plus on“ Model Cities resident and one •epresentative of the Coordi nating Committee. The other members are members of the OCL executive committee, who hold a majority. The Co ordinating Committee is made up of Model Cities residents. Members serve in an advisory capacity and are to carry- information about the pro gram back to the neighbor hood organizations. Neither the Management Committee nor the Coordinating Com mittee has any real authority in the operation of the pro gram and most directives have come down from the Executive Committee of thr» OCL. Members of the committee state that they have not been informed of OCL’s dissatis faction with Dawson or plans to terminate him. Members of the committees also question why OCL is allowed to control this pro gram when Model C ities funded programs are sup posed to have community policy boards. The letter indicates that one source of dissatisfaction with Mr. Dawson was with Pat McAuley, education co ordinator. Ms. McAuleys position, at $800 a month, was to have been removed from the Fourth Action Year Bud get I June 16, 1973) because of budget cuts. The program now has a director, an edu ration coordinator, and four representatives, so the co ordinator position was not Mr. Andrew Raubeson Acting Director Portland Model Cities 5329 N.E. Union Avenue Portland. Oregon 97211 Dear Mr. Raubeson: RUSSELL DAWSON considered essential. Ten months ago, when Ms. McAu ley was hired, the program had 9 representatives. Ac cording to J. Alton Page. Ms. McAuley has been a source of problems in the agency as she is not respected by the other staff members and has prob lems relating to the com munity. Another source of conflict within the agency is Molly Weinstein, who is a member of the OCL executive com m ute and the management committee. While serving on these committees, she was employed for several months in a supervisory capacity. In this role she was able to carry information to OCL without the approval or knowledge of the director. J. Alton Page, and having the authority of the board could intimidate the director and the staff. In the aftermath of the firing of Mr. Page, the Model Cities Citizen Planning Board requested that Ms. Weinstein no longer be involved in the program in any way. Ms. Weinstein still serves on the commit- tces and co-signs the agency's checks. American activity in Africa told A speech by Tony Thomas, staff writer for The Militant, a radical newspaper, was delievered to a small audi ence of approximately 15 students Monday. May 14, at Portland State University. The speech, sponsored by the PSU Young Socialist Alliance Party, was entitled, "Defending the African Re volution". Tony Thomas repeatedly xnnted out the mushrooming economic penetration of the U.S. in Africa. Portugal, which is seeking to colonize Angolia and other African (Please turn to page 8. col. 4) African Liberation Day: M ay 26 by O .B . H ill Saturday, May 26 is desig nated as African Liberation Day. Portland will be among the more than 20 major United States Cities holding demonstrations. According to Owusu Sadaukai, Chair man of the National African Liberation Support Com mittee, "The demonstrations are planned to awaken the Black Community to the fact that a war is going on in southern Africa. We must simultaneously appeal to our people and raise $50,000 through the United African Appeal to support the libera tion movements in southern Africa.” Last year's African Liberation Day (May 27, 1972) drew the participation of more than 60,000 persons who demonstrated In the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. More than 25,000 persons were attracted to the nation's capital for one of two demonstrations held in the United States. This show of Black solidarity was the largest march of its kind since the Garvey movement in the 1920's. The theme of this year's demonstration is: "There is no peace with Honor; the War against African people continues both on the con * tinent and here in the Wes tern Hemisphere." And this is easy to relate to given the current situation whereby the Nixon Administration has cut back Federal fundings of domestic programs while at the same time, it continues to give financial support via tax dollars to racist Euro pean settlers who oppress politically and exploit African labor and mineral resources in order to perpetuate the vicious cycle of white racist world domination. There are those of us who do not see the relationship between the liberation Strug gles being waged in Africa by brothers and sisters who comprise FRELIMO, PAIGC. UNITA, etc. (African Libera tion Groups), and the strug gles for self determination of Blacks living in America. Thus one of the primary purposes of African Libera tion Day is “to inform our brothers and sisters in the U.S., Canada and the Carib beans of the nature and im portance of the Liberation s*-ru(fgfr and to emphasize our relationship to the over all struggle of African people again st racism and im perialism." (Black Collegian Vol. 3, No. 5. Eg. 42) We must understand that slavery still exists both in the United States and in Africa. Caught up in a wel fare mentality, many of the world's best dressed slaves can't relate to their brothers and sisters in Africa who are engaged in liberation struggles. While attempting to project the new superfly image, they rely on Shaft in Africa while receiving a shaft ing at home. lax-ally, African Liberation Day is being sponsored by the Portland African Libera tion Day Committee, a com mittee composed of a coali tion of student organizations and albina community groups and individuals. Besides informing the Black com m unity of the liberation struggles being waged by our Black brothers and sis ter s in southern Africa against imperialism and racist oppressors, aided by the major western powers, in cluding the U.S., our goal is to raise $2,000 for the United African Appeal. This will entail a door to door cam paign, along with other fund raising methods. Demonstrations will get under way starting with a (Please turn to pg. 8, col. 5) The Oregon Consumer League is in a somewhat embar rassing position regarding the Model Cities Consumer Pn> tection Program. After Mr. Page was terminated, we went through an involved hiring process to obtain a new director. Advertisements were published and applicants were inter viewed. Members of the community coordinating committee and the OCL management committee agreed on hiring Mr. Russell Dawson as director. We had nothing but good recommendations about Mr. Dawson and thought him to be likeable, enthusiastic, familiar with the community and re sponsible. We looked forward to getting the program on an even keel for the first time since its inception. In the two months since Mr. Dawson has been director, we have been badly disappointed. Some of the causes of our disappointment follow. Initially, Pat McAuley, the educational coordinator, indi cated that she was unable to work with Mr. Dawson. She felt uneasy with some of his more radical or militant stands on issues which she did not feel were well founded. She found she was ignored in the office and that she could simply not continue to work with the program. She intends to leave next month. We hold Ms. McAuley in high regard and feel she will be a real loss. Mr. Dawson undertook the organization of a rally to protest high food prices in coordination with several other groups, some of which had a somewhat radical political tinge. While this was probably a worthwhile undertaking (I spoke at the rally), neither the League, the Management Committee nor the Coordinating Committee was apprised that the program was undertaking this project. Indeed. I did not realize Mr. Dawson had organized the rally until I arrived at it. Mr. Dawson has not called a meeting of the Coordinating Committee to solicit their advice about program goals and objectives since he has been in office. This has been especially alarming since the proposed budget cuts have made program changes essential, yet no community input was sought in making these changes. Indeed, in spite of our instructions, Mr. Dawson developed no real program for the coming year until very recently. We asked him to attend a meeting to help draft a program with members of the Management Committee. Mr. Dawson agreed to come but then failed to show up. He has consis tently been late to other important meetings. In short, we see ourselves becoming responsible for a program over which we are not able to exercise any control. The program is, at present, being run by Mr. Dawson alone, without effective input or guidance from the community or the OCL. At this point, we are willing to continue as the sponsoring agency if the Model Cities Planning Board and the city wish to continue the program. While we may work with Mr. Dawson for the time being, we anticipate that it may be necessary for us to terminate his employment and hire a new director in the near future. We want you to be fully aware of the status of this program before we embark upon a fourth action year. We continue to firmly believe the Model Cities neighborhood badly needs a consumer protection program and while our faith in our ability to administer such a program has been greatly diminished, we will do our best to carry on. We are still confident we will do better in the future. We are submitting herewith our proposed fourth action year budget and program, continuing the program at existing levels for eight months. Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance. Very truly yours, Charles R. Williamson President, Oregon Consumer League OCL brings concern An Editorial The Oregon Consumer League is on the verge of firing another Director from the Consumer Protection Program. We question the motives and the policies of the OCL. Is the Consumer Protection Agency the captive of white paternalism? Is it another example of a white agency controlling a program designed to serve the residents of the Black community. The Oregon Consumer League has received prestige and publicity from this program. It has used the labor of its employees in doing research for the OCL legislation now pending in Salem. It's members have benefited personally. Perhaps it has reaped all the benefits and is now ready to bow out without concern for the community. Soon the state or the county consumer protection agencies will take over most of the functions of the Consumer Protection Agency, anyway. But OCL has never allowed the community to control or have valid input into the program. It is clear that a management committee, made up of four members of the OCL executive committee and two persons from Model Cities, will represent OCL and not the residents. The two Black residents in the committee are powerless and cannot fight the solidarity of the majority. So where is community control? Model Cities programs are supposed to be of and for the people. We wonder whether Russell Dawson has been given an opportunity to direct. Has he been given a proper job description? Has his relationship to the committees, to OCL, and to Model Cities been explained? Has he been informed of OCL's dissatisfaction? Has OCL made any attempt to council (Please turn to page 8, col. 3)
