Portland Observer
Thursday, October 17. 1974
WE SEE THE WORLD
THROUGH BLACK EYES
ALFRED I. HENDERSON
Editor Publisher
EDITORIAL FOCUS
Widen the Circle
When M ayor N eil Goldschmidt took o ffice he
said there should be "n e w b lo o d " on city com
missions and boards, pointing out that board
m em bers »end to grow stale on their |obs and that
there are m any capable people w ho could ably
ser.e m these positions.
Several im portant city appointm ents are coming
up soon — inclu ding those on the Portland De
velopm ent Commission and the C ivil Service Com
mission.
Since M ayor Goldschmidt has o good
ecord o f a p p o in tin g m inorities to his commissions
we assume there is a great possibility that some of
these appointm ents w ill go to Blacks
We hope the M ayor w ill rem em ber his own
words and a pp oint some "n e w b lo o d ". Again and
again w e see the same fe w Blacks appointed. We
w ant to rem ind the Mayor that there are many
capable Black p e o ple w ho have the capabilities
and the desire to serve their city in these
capacities.
The same problem is true of county and state
appointm ent. It seems that the appointing o fficials
do not have m any contacts in the Black com m unity
so aga in and again they appoint the same fa m ilia r
faces
Please broaden the circle — we hope to see
some "n e w b lo o d " in city hall.
Citizens participation?
What is citizens participation?
How does a
overnm ental agency learn the needs and desires
of the p e o p le 7
The first of four m eetings to be held throughout
Po'-’ iand occurred Tuesday night.
Follow ing
presentation o f the Com m unity D evelopm ent Act
or cep’ and a senes of ideas for its im p lem en ta
t o r ir Portland the m eeting was opened to dis-
ussioi
The stated purpose of the m eeting was
¡•ut from ’ he com m unity, as required by the
federal governm ent.
When the d ic'ussion began, questions w ere
O'.ked and opinions stored rather
heatedly,
e .e rytn ng was suddenly stopped w h ile a question
naire was passed out through the audience When
the discussion resumed it was on a d iffe re n t level:
What does question #4 mean? Are w e still on
page 5?" w ere the questions asked as Mary
Pederson, Director o f the O ffice of N eighborhood
Developm ent, w ent through the questionnaire, line
by line A later explanation of the form was that
some persons do not w ant to state their opinions
p ub 'ica lly. although there seemed to be no reluc
tance at this m eeting.
What the questionnaire did was to cut o ff e f
fective com m unication.
Whether this was w ith
purpose or through necessity, we d o n 't know at
this point
But a second grade approach to a
group o f adults is not usually effective
Citizens Participation is a d iffic u lt problem .
It
¿,ill never be possible to involve a ll of the resi
dents and perhaps it w ill never be possible to get
a true representation of com m unity desires But if
this is the O ffice o f N eighborhood Developm ent's
best e ffo rt, we have seen a step backwards.
For m ore than ten years citizens participation has
been w orking m A lb in a and in other sections of the
city as w e ll We have seen citizens participation in
action
It has sometimes been loud and angry.
Tempers hove fla re d, threats hove been made,
fights have occurred -- but out of it have come
sound p lanning and effective programs
Citizens participation is serious business We are
ta lkin g about decisions that w ill control our
destinies for years to come
Those persons w ho
ask for " in p u t" but are not prepared to foce the
em otions of a com m unity hod better fin d other
outlets for their creative talents
Who calls the shots?
We call upon the United States Attorney Sidney
Lezak to investigate the Portland M etropolitan
Steering C om m ittee and its executive director but
also to investigate the reasons behind the current
attacks on Gilcrease
If a conspiracy to discredit G ilcrease does exist,
the people have the rig ht to know the identify of
those invo lved
An investigation must not be
lim ite d to the activities of one m an, but must
include those whose p o litic a l am bitions m ight
place him in |eopardy
The Block com m unity is convinced the probe by
the Oregon Journal was p o litic a lly m otivated and
that it was instigated by Edith Green and others
w ho w o u ld have e ither p o litic a l or personal
m otivation for in ju rin g Gilcrease
There is too much circum stantial evidence
p ointin g to poetical d e a lin g — perhaps a ll are
coincidences but they need to be investigated by
an agency w ith the pow er to fin d the facts
Another recent deve lo pm e nt is G ilcrease's
election as C hairm an of the N atio na l Association
for C om m unity D evelopm ent (NACD), an 8 000-
m em ber national organization fo rm e d to lobby for
the poor This organization was hig hly successful
in its efforts to save OEO and g ive G ilcrease a
position o f national influence
Is this too great a
position fo r a Black man in Oregon to be a llo w e d
to hold?
On October 17th Sorenson and Hughes resigned
from the PMSC board so they w o u ld be free to
attack G ilcrease m ore e ffe ctive ly.
If they were
aw are o f w rongdoing, w hy did they not accept
their duty as board m em bers and report this to the
board and to the authorities?
Ford joins mob
Philosophically, President Ford ide ntifie s w ith
G overnor George W allace of A labam a, w ha stood
m the door of his state's unrversity when President
Kennedy took a firm stand to integrate if, and had
his representative order George to step aside.
Today, sym bolically. President Ford, w ho d e
clared o nly a fe w short weeks ago that he in
tended to be President of a ll the people stands
w ith the m ob in front of the school buses in
Boston, d eclaring that the court's decision in the
Boston case, " in my judgem ent, was not the best
solution to q ua lity education in Boston.
Con
tin uing , he said:
" I have consistently opposed
forced busing to achieve racial balance as a
solution to q ua lity education and, therefore, I
respectfully disagree w ith the judge's order
And so Ford turns out to be only a Grand Rapids,
M ichigan p o liticia n w ith the lim ite d view of his
sm all tow n and not the statesm anlike vision o f a
President o f the United States This is a very sad
reve la tio n.
In 1957, alm ost 20 years ago. President Eisen
how er, w ho also did not fa v o ' busing, rose to the
occasion and sent troops to Little Rock when
G overnor Faubus and a m ob sought to block the
integration o f Central High.
And h ow ever President Ford may fe e l personally
a bo ut busing, w hen he took the oath o f o ffice as
President o f the United States, he assumed the
o b lig a tio n to support and defend the Constitution
and the lovJs o f the land as interpreted by the
courts It seems that he is not going to live up to
his responsibility, for he has o pe nly invited the
Boston m ob to disobey a court order
R egretfully, Mr, Ford, the reservoir of g o o d w ill
you have had in the Black com m unity is rap id ly
run nin g out. Your encouragem ent o f a nightm are
o f racism in the Am erican public school system is
beneath the d ig n ity of the high o ffice o f the
Presidency.
Published every Thursday by Exie Publishing Company.
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address: P.O. Box 3137. Portland. Oregon 9720k Telephone:
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The Portland Observer's official position is expressed only
in its Publisher's column I We See The World Through
Black Eves). Any other material throughout the paper is the
opinion of the individual writer or submitter and does no'
necessarily reflect the opinion of the Portland Observer.
i Oregon
Newspaper
Publishers
Association
MEMBER
NNA
Attocitlion - Founded TMS
1
It *< ISM1
Poor and M inorities
G il, I h a v e w a ile d
President G erald Ford w ill visit Portland on
N ovem ber 1st and has been invited to attend tw o
fu nd raising benefits -- that for OMSl and that for
the Albm a Human Resource Center
The Republican Party o f Oregon has accepted
the OMSl invitation The invita tion from AHRC has
received no firm answer — a "m a y b e -- but no
publicity, p le ase "
The A lbina a ffa ir is a b en efit to p rovide funds
for the "Crisis U n it", w hich provides special emer
gency services not o ffe re d by other sta'e agencies
and which receives no fu nd ing other than d o n a
tions.
No better cause could be served by
President Ford's visit
If is d iffic u lt to understand w hy the Republican
Party cannot give a firm answer and w hy they
must w aif u ntil the last m inute when they cannot
receive proper publicity Is this a re fle ctio n of the
Republican Party's attitude tow ard the Black
com m unity?
Lights
(Continued from pg 1. rol. 5t
thing we should take for
granted. The people of Port
land need to actively support
street lighting by voting
yes' on Measure 5.3."
The levy is to pay for the
cost of street lighting in the
city. Lighting is purchased
from the private utility
companies.
(Continued from pg. 1. col. 3)
additional time to decide
with clients the next steps to
be taken for placement in a
more stable living situation.
St. Vincent de Paul Kehabili
tation Association has signed
a preliminary agreement to
operate the facility. Where
the client is ready, he will be
referred to an existing half
way house or sheltered
boarding home outside of the
Burnside area. The Regional
Alcoholism Board will pra
vide important broad com
munity education services
and the Kaiser Research
Foundation will conduct an
independent evaluation of
the PIP Program.
Jordan stressed that every
effort will be made to take
advantage of existing com
munity resources in fighting
alcoholism in the Burnside
area. While recognizing the
enormous challenge of al
coholic rehabilitation, he is
hopeful th s t the 3 year
Public Inebriate Program
will help solve this debili
tating problem.
The pro
gram is expected to be oper
ational within 80 days.
fo r l h i $ l
Citizens charge conspiracy
A matter of priority
In e b ria te s
a lo n g lim e
(Continued from pg I. col «1
County Commissioner Don
Clark told the Observer that
hr was surprised that ( i l l
crease would think hr would
be involved in an attempt to
discredit him
He said he
had voted against County
takeover of PMSC and had
fought to continue the
$29.000 county payment to
PMSC Explaining his slate
ment to the- Journal in which
he was quoted as saying that
he would call for an in
vestigation of the possible
misuse of County money.
Clark said he had contacted
his auditor for advice hut
would just as soon wait and
see what comes from the
federal audit.
Clark said he has no con
nection with Congresswoman
Edith Green except that they
both worked on Bobby
Kennedy's presidential cam
paign. He said they do not
agree on many issues. He
feels there might be a con
spiracy to discredit Gilcrease
but that he is not involved.
As a former law enforce
ment officer, Clark feels a
person is innocent until
proven guilty.
Clark said Dick Feeney,
one of the authors of the
Journal irlicles. started to
work for the County on
October 9th. and his appoint
ment was approved on
October 10th. but that he
had asked F'eeney to work
for the County at least a
year ago
F'eeney is an
inter governmental roordi
nator" on the planning and
evaluation staff. with a
salary of $23*886. This is a
new position. F'eeney is a
former administrative assis
tant to Edith Green.
Another former Green
assistant who has received a
county appointment is Rena
I Boise I Guessman
Donald Sterling. Editor of
the Oregon Journal, denied
any connection between the
investigation and Mrs Green
He stated that when his
reporters were unsuccessful
in obtaining information at
the PMSC office, he called
Mrs Green for assistance
She then called the OEO
Regional office in Seattle.
Under Oregon law public
agencies' information is open
to the public, but recourse is
sought through the state
Attorney General or the
County District Attorney
not through the United
Stales Congress
Although PMSC states ac
cess was given to their
records on August 13th.
Sterling wrote to Multnomah
County District Attorney
Harl Haas, requesting access
to the -PMSC records
The
Journal printed Haas' reply
of October 9th. coinciding
with the date of their stories
According to state law. the
district attorney must make
his ruling within three work
mg days.
Sterling said F'eeney was
hired by the Journal as a
summer replacement and
that hr had been a journalist
liefore he went to work for
Mrs (ireen He worked for
the Journal through October
10th
Sterling also said there is
no connection between him
and Richard Hughes and that
hr is crrlainly not attempting
to discredit Gilcrease
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