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. 221)1 North Killingsworlh, Portland. Oregon 97217. Mailing address: P.O. Box 3137. Portland. Oregon 9720k Telephone: 2*3 24*6. Subscriptions: $5.25 per year in the Tri County area. $«00 per year outside Portland. Second Class Postage Paid at Portland. Oregon 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 PORTLAND CLEANING WORKS NORTH & N É . PORTLAND ONE DAY SERVICE PEPI’S BOTTLE SHOP Let Pepi \ KNIT BLOCKING OUR STKIALTY \ p.m ‘You’ve Triad Tha Rati, N a w Try The Beat' N. A lexander, Proprietor 281-2731 SUBCRIBE $5.25 NOW $6.00 KA I KS in Tri-County A rea a n d A rm ed Service! O th e r A reas of the US N am e Address C ity State I Zip