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
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