Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1973)
Page 2 Portland, Observer Thursday. November 1, 1873 1 WE SEE THE WORLD w-~w-z I THROUGH BLACK EYES LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ALFRED L. HENDERSON E d ito r/P u b lish e r Dear Mr. Henderson: Where ore the topes? It a ll tu rn ed o ut lik e m an y o f us e xpe cted The secret P residential tapes — w h ic h M r. N ixon risked his c re d ib ility w ith the A m e rica n p e o p le to p rotect — do not exist. The tw o most im p o rta n t tapes — o ne o f the co nve rsa tion w h ich John Dean III said w o u ld prove N ix o n 's k n o w le d g e o f the W a te rg a te co ve ru p and a te le p h o n e co nse rva tion w ith fo rm e r A tto rn e y G e n e ra l John M itc h e ll im m e d ia te ly fo llo w in g the W a te rg ate b re a k-in . Few p e o p le w o u ld have a ccep ted th e a u th o rity o f the tapes if th e y had been d e liv e re d to the court or to the W a te rg a te co m m itte e . It is a sim p le m atter to ch a n g e tapes and the changes ca n n o t be d efe cte d. But th e n on -e xisten ce o f the tapes w ill neve r be a ccep ted by th e A m e rica n p e o p le . A fte r a ll, the tapes have bee n in the possession o f the President fo r m onths. They have been heard by his a t torneys a nd aids. The President h im s e lf listened to th em to see if th ey w ere in c rim in a tin g . It is easy to speculate th a t th e tapes w e re de- stroyea w h e n , a m id increasing cries fo r im p e a ch m en t, N ixo n m ade his surprise m ove to g iv e his tapes to Judge Sirica. If the President w e re re a lly in n o ce n t, a ll o f the d o u b t co u ld have been a v o id e d by h a v in g the tapes im p o u n d e d w h ile the court w as d e c id in g th e ir fa te W e b e lie v e this to be a n o th e r case o f the Presi d e n t's co n te m p t fo r the la w a nd o f his desperate a tte m p t to p ro tect him self. A ffirm ative action gains credibility ■ The U nite d States G e n e ra l Services A d m in is tra tio n 's show case o rd e r on Todd B u ild in g C om pany c o u ld have fa r re a c h in g s ig n ific a n c e in the b u ild in g trades. The o rd er, re q u irin g Todd to show cause w h y it has not c o m p lie d w ith fe d e ra l m in o rity h irin g re g u la tio n s, is th e first o f its k in d in the N orthw est. A lth o u g h re g u la tio n s re q u irin g m in o rity tra in in g a nd h irin g a n d the use o f m in o rity subcontractors have been on the books fo r years, they have not been strictly e n fo rce d . C ontractors have been a b le to g et by w ith excuses th a t th ey co uld not fin d q u a lifie d m in o rity w o rk e rs or th a t unions c o u ld not supply m in o rity w orkers. The strict e n fo rc e m e n t o f fe d e ra l re q u ire m e n ts by GSA a nd o the r d e p a rtm e n ts o f g o v e rn m e n t c o u ld b rin g a b re a k th ro u g h in construction fo r m in o ritie s . Racism a nd d is c rim in a to ry practices are not w orth the risk o f loss o f fe d e ra l |obs. W ith m illio n s o f d o lla rs at stake, the contractors w ill s u d d e n ly be a b le to fin d the m in o rity w orke rs a nd train ee s th ey need. On the occasion of the third anniversary of publics tion of the Portland Ob server, I want to add my congratulations to those of your many friends and readers of your fine news paper. You have brought greater awareness to Portland and the State of Oregon of the the m < FAMILY^ LAWYER X So many people are injured by stepping on banana peels and other slippery substances that lawyers talk about “ jlip-and-faH” as a separate branch of law. And special rules are invoked to de termine questions of legal liabil ity. la k e a typical case: A housewife, shopping at the market, skidded on a banana peel, fell, and sustained a broken arm. When she filed suit for damages, the management argued that the peel had probably been dropped by a careless customer — not by an employee of the market. But the woman pointed out that the peel had been lying in plain sight of four checkout clerks—and that two other em ployees had walked right past it shortly before her accident. Thia was poor maintenance, said the court, upholding the woman's claim heartening indication that old which anti-busing agitation past to distract public atten rigidities ran be changed and has died down. The really tion from the real issues that the next generation may extraordinary event this fall facing the nation. So it is be freer of the racist atti has been the calm with possible that it is being tudes that have so damaged which the schools across the picked up and dusted off for America’s past. The proper country have re-opened their use in the future, despite the role of government is to doors. Many school systems tragic consequences it holds. assist in extending desegre started busing on a wider With the help of busing, gation and to provide the scale this year and inau desegregation has become a moral leadership the nation gurated expanded desegre fact of life in the nation's gation programs. needs as it changes old, out schools, especially those in worn and disproved concepts. Busing, a phony, politicized the South. The experience issue from the start, seemed has been a healthy one, both Instead of raising busing to have disappeared as a in terms of education and in from the dead, the Congress source of friction. Now, the racial attitudes. The U.S. ought to leave it where it President's message has re Commission on Civil Rights belongs •- in the courts. vived it as an issue, and his recently issued a report that inclusion of an appeal for concluded that integration And the Adm inistration, anti-busing action among his had improved education, and which has been so vocal in leg isla tiv e priorities could a Gallup Poll found that backing d e c e n tr a liz a tio n , help bring that deadly, dor where 61 percent of southern should leave busing to its mant issue back to life, with white parents objected to role as a local issue in some resultant strains on race their children attending communities and not try once again to elevate it to relations. school with Blacks in 1963. the status of a national issue Why did the President only 16 percent still hold that will create more prob choose this time to revive an these racist attitudes. lems than it will solve. issue best left buried? There This kind of progress is a is a growing fear in the Black community that it was a trial balloon, a test to see whether, by inflaming public passions against busing, the issue might be used as a lightning rod to attract at tention away from the con M T HR, AGNEW IS tinuing exposures of the G E TTIN G OFF LIGHTLY, Watergate scandal. It would be easy to dismiss WHICH IS MORE THAN this idea if the busing issue COULD DE SAID FOR T H E had not been used in the Published every Thursday by Exte Publishing Company. 2201 North Killingsworth, Portland. Oregon 97217. Mailing address: P.O. Box 3137. Portland, Oregon 97206. Telephone: 28.3 2486 Subscriptions: $5.25 per year in the Tri County area. $6.00 per year outside Portland. Second Class Postage Paid at Portland. Oregon The Portland Observer's official (Misitiori is expressed only in it’s Publisher's Column iWe See The World Through Black Evesl. Any other material throughout the paper is the opinion of the individual writer or subm itter and docs not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Portland Observer. ■ MEMBER Sil ■ l IF INMATES HE SCORNED A T ATTICA, O R T H E STUDENT RADICALS HE CHARACTER IZ E D AS DAD APPLES T O D E SEPARATED FROM THE DARREL, OR THE STREET KIDS GROWING UP IN THE GHETTOS H E AVOIDED, DECAUSE, ONCE H E SAID, IF YOU S E E O N E, YOU'VE SEEN THEN ALL: \ T 0 h WICKER X MX. TIDIES Generally speaking, the man agement of a store is liable for a slip-and-fall accident if it knew or should have known about the hazardous condition. This may call for a kind of detective work in figuring out how long the slippery material had been lying on the floor. For example, liability in one case was based largely on the fact that the ice cream on which a man slipped had pretty much melted; in another, that a let tuce leaf was “ old, dirty, and mashed” when stepped on; in another, that a fallen piece of candy had heel marks in it. These telltale clues helped to prove that the object had been (Mt the floor long enough to have been observed and cleared away, if store employees had been on their toes. On the other hand, the man agement may be able to pin a negligence label on the victim himself for not having been more alert. K » l l Dear Mr. Henderson: rights of minorities in all phases of community and social relations, as well as employment. Your contributions have been far reaching and are deeply appreciated by those of us in state government. Sincerely, Clay Myers Secretary of State WANTED Let me offer my congratula tions on the Third Anniver sary of the Portland Ob server. In my two years at Model Cities I have been impressed with your paper's coverage of important events. We have certainly appreciated the help you have given to our projects. Sincerely, Andrew Kaubeson, Acting Director. Model Cities Agency Banana Peels And The Law Dear Sir: Furthermore, a store cannot be held liable merely because the accident happened on its prem ises. thus, a man who slipped on a pencil found himself unable to win damages from the market where it happened. The court said there was sim ply no wav to discover who had dropped the pencil or how long it had lain there. Placing blame on market employees, said the court, would be a “ mere guess." A p u b lic service fe a tu re u f the A m e ric an B a r Association and the O reg o n S late B a r Assoeia- a tio n . W ritte n by W ill B ern ard . Reference is hereby made to Editor's Note at the bottom of page 2 of the October 25. 1973 Portland O bserver. Please note that Cleveland is cited in Editorial Comment mid way column 2 on page 2 of the October 4, 1973 Portland Observer. I hope positive activities of students will re ceive equal attention! Day Care Mothers To provide Child Care in yo u r home Ages Infancy thru 12 yr». Day • Swing Graveyard Sincerely, Mrs. Osly J. Gates Contact : AMA Family Day/N ight Program 288 5081 16,35 N E . 8th B 197.1 Am erican Bar Association SUBSCRIBE today : by Vernon Jordan JX77 n 281-2731 P o rtlan d O b s e rv e r Readers Phony issue raised as political diversion 1 Next to l.lo yd Center '•»»MX . Pepi'» s r. - one the L iq u o r « Store Open 8:311 and only store. m daily. limit ...ni. ... lo n.im 8:00 i. p.m. Sundays: Noon lo 4:00 p in. Congratulation EDITORIAL FOCUS The President's mid-Sep tember message to Congress, billed as a second State of the Union message, was dis appointing enough in its fail ure to propose new measures to end joblessness and deal with the crushing burdens of poverty. But one passage in the m essage raises the frightening prospect that Black Americans may be used as scapegoats to divert national attention from the Watergate mess. Another area of renewed interest this fall is busing, the President said, and he continued: “I am opposed to compulsory busing for the purpose of achieving racial balance in our schools." It's all there, all the code words that have periodically inflamed racial tensions over the past few years. It is fruitless to point out all over again that busing is not “compulsory" but has been used as a last resort, not to force students into different schools, but to desegregate unconstitutionally segregated schools. Busing is “another area of renewed interest this fall," the President states. But whatever interest there is in the busing issue is due pre cisely to the speed with PEPI’S BOTTLE SHOP Let Pepl'a Bottle Shop he your headquarter» lor ch.nn at the lowest prices in town pagne, wines, mixers If Y o u A r e n ’t G e ttin g The O b s e r v e r Y o u A r e n ’t G e ttin g The N e w s ANYWAY YOU LOOK AT IT IT’S YOUR NEWSPAPER NE IPS& FEATURES Editorials jSS* FASHIONS &. RECIPES IVERTM C la s s ifie d Ads to h e lp you fin d th e jo b you n eed NAME \d d rc s -. ON SALE AT YOUR FAVORITE NEWSSTAND A D F O R MAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS 1 £ W IT CALL 283-2486 2 2 0 1 N . K illin g s w o rth (ilv State ZIP ONLY S5.25 per year Box 31.37 Portland. Oregon L trm w rM i KUMWJK act hov ! 8721(8 28.3 2186 H a ll C o o g a a T o d a inetiilter Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association MEMBER Attocitlion ■ Founded l i t 5 No Black tears A & We read the Observer, w h y not you?
