Portland Observer
Thursday, February 27, 1975
Page 3
Congressman Duncan speaks in behalf of King holiday
Speaking in the House of
R ep resen tatives on Feb
ruary 19th, Hub Dunean,
Congressman from Oregon's
Third District, supported
the bill introduced by
Representative John Con
y e r s (D em . M ich.I to
make Dr. Marin Luther
King, Jr.'s birthday. Jan
uary 15th, a national holi
day.
Mr. Duncan's remarks
follow:
HFPHI SENT A I l\ E III IK D IN 4A N
Mr. Speaker I am proud to
be a sponsor with the
gentleman from Michigan
(Mr. Conyers* of the bill to
create a national holiday of
Dr King’s birthday, and to
appear with the gentleman
from Michigan on his spe
rial order.
I feel thia evening a
strong sense of the conti
nuity of the progress in the
affairs of humankind. As
my friend, the distinguished
gentlem an from Florida
(Mr. Peffer), referred to in
his remarks, a few years
ago in this Capital City
occurred the scene of a
remarkable phenomenon as
hundreds of thousands of
A Black civil rights
leader has protested the
special award given to
Alabama Governor George
Wallace by OIC (Oppor
tumties Industrial Center*
and a board member has
resigned in protest.
John Lewis, director of
the Voter Education Project
and former chairman of the
By Harold < Williams
(II
In the last eighteen
»«• months 1 have interviewed
hundreds o( students lor
jglale jobs and it is einbar
ling. Io say lh«- least,
.Tint most minority students
that apply for stale jobs can
not fill out an application
Too many id the students
that I see cannot read
above a third grade level,
and most only have ail
understanding of mathema
tics at the filth grade level
It is embarrassing for I
want Io help many of these
student* arqulri
jobs,
decent jobs, m state servile
as well as private enter
prise
B ill I am handi
eap|H-d, for the minority
stud' i l l s , especially the
Black student*. do not have
the basic skill to compete
on the job market
I think it is time that we
who are concerned altoul
the Black students in our
community demand that
they In- taught the basics
and further demand that
they learn the basics. There
are ton many job op|mr
lunilics that are going to be
available in the future and
we want to have enough
lonipetent Blacks in the job
market to compete
changed thus far with the
type of education they are
getting.
It is time some
questions be asked about
the type of training they
are getting and if the
questions are not asked, the
next generation of young
Blacks will be incompetent,
unskilled and unmarketable
in the joti market.
It is a shame that in all
the state government, we
do not have thirty Black
secretaries and it apjiearx
that in thi- next year we
It is the responsibility of
will have even less. What
the parent* the teachers
are Black students being
and the students to acquire
taught? Are they tu-ing
Rollie Smith, President of
a livid of understanding of
taught to bo competent in th e C o r v a llis Branch,
what education is all alMiut
society and given tools so NAACP. announced that
in the Black rommunitv. It
they can function in the job the Corvallis Branch will
is not alMiut passing on
market? Dr are they being host the Northwest Area
students to the next grade allowed to lie stupid and Conference of Branches on
for passing's sake
Black
non fu n ctio n a l for th e
March 7 through 9th. The
students are being short future'’
conference is expected to
draw delegates from Ore
gon, Washington, Idaho,
and Alaska.
•In addition to the con
fe r e n c e , th e b ra n ch es
annual Freedom Fund Ban
quet will be held on
Saturday, March 8th. at
7:00 p.m. The s,maker will
be Althea T.L. Simmons
Director of Training, from
the NAACP National Office
the long list of problems of robbery and assault, than in New York City.
the poor, has been added those persons with money
Theme for the conference
one more. Recent federal
According to the survey, is “More Power. . . Through
crime sta tistics indicate
iioth whites and Blacks Affirmative Action, a grow
that poor people are more from families earning below ing membership actively
likely to be victims of 17.500 a year "had the involved in the political
violent crime such as rape. higher rates of violent process, and improved
victim izations" than did communication of the goals
persons with higher in
and objectives of the
comes.
NAACP
The survey, conducted by
The opening business
the Census Bureau for the meeting on Saturday morn
I .aw Enforcement Assist
ing will be chaired by
ance Administration also Arlington Carter, Area
found that 85 of every 1000 President. Workshop sub
Black males were victims of jects include: Working with
a crime in the first half of the Media, Building Mem
1973, 72 of every 1000 bership. Plugging into the
white males, 58 of every
Political Process, and Af
l(X*0 Black females and 54 firmative Action.
■ •I every 1000 white fe
All meetings will be held
males.
at Nendell's Inn at Corvallis.
These statistics tend to All members and friends of
prove what most of us have the NAACP are invited to
already known: the grow
attend.
Further informa
ing correlation between
tion ran be obtained from
crimes of violence and the Corvallis Branch Office,
deteriorated neighborhoods Box 934, Corvallis 97330,
where essential human ser
telephone 753 1125.
vices are grossly
inade
quate.
Government and
co r p o r a te in s e n s it iv it y
would make us believe that
it doesn't matter if children
don't receive a proper
education in the ghettos or
adequate nutrition in their
homes, but very obviously
the facts show otherwise.
Applicatons are being
In noting these farts the
accepted from girls w ho are
Justice Department's Law
interested in the Junior
Enforcement A ssistance
Miss Black Oregon Pageant.
Administration Admini.atra
Contestants are to be 10,
tor, Richard W. Velde, has
11. and 12 years of age. The
appropriately said such new
pageant will be held April
information will coniple
27, 1975 nt the Sheraton
ment crime statistics of the
Motor Hotel.
This years
police and Federal Bureau
theme is "The Wonderful
of Investigation. However,
World of Magic".
The
just adding of information
winner receives a trip to
isn't enough. It is import
Disneyland for two.
anl that all persona working
Any girls interested
in combating crime sensitize
should call Brenda Knapper,
their efforts in accordance
281 9568 to obtain an appli
with this and other such
cation. Application deadline
information.
March 1, 1975.
Corvallis
hosts
NAACP
Getting
Smart
BY WALTER L SMART
The poor in America have
a higher unemployment
rate, greater incidence of
hunger, malnutrition and
disease than their more
affluent counterparts
To
J o e Joseph
Your Comm unity
Insurance M a n
571 N Killingtworlh
288- 5692
289- 9674
was joined in hts great
crusade by two Presidents
of the United States
John F. Kennedy and Lyn
don B. Johnson. Proposals
were made and bills were
drawn: and in 1964 the
historic 89th Congress acted
upon the rightful demand of
its Black constituents for
first class citizenship.
I am proud to have been
a Member of that body and
to have supported the Civil
Rights Act of ¡964. as I
sponsored and supported
similar legislation in Oregon
several years before.
Now all three of these
memorable leaders are gone
from us
President
Kennedy and Dr. King in
untimely and tragic fashion.
Hut their common achieve
rnent and that of all the
Americans who marched
that day and other days,
and who suffered and even
died in that cause, as did
Dr. King
this achieve
ment, written into law as
the civil rights legislation of
196-1 lives on. Imperfectly,
too slowly, but surely and
inevitably these laws are
working to effect deep and
permanent change in our
society.
Much still remains to be
done before prejudice and
discrimination are banished.
Equality ot education and
opportunity do not yet exist
at the extent we desire.
Our Black colleagues feel
and know this to a greater
degree than ran we of a
lighter complexion. Hut men
and women of good will of
whatever race can here
resolve to join together to
insure that upward pro­
gress of our minority citi
zens continues, and is ac
celerated to the point
where the statement of that
great Scot poet. Bobby
Burns. "A man's a man for
"that," becomes a reality
and we need no longer
worry about affirmative
action, about Black neigh
borhoods, busing, and simi
lar devices, because such
s h a ll no lo n g e r
be
necessary.
There will be names
engraved forever on the
consciousness and consci
ence of America.
Martin
Luther King, Jr., is very
near the top of the list. He
is an authentic American
hero of an age, supposedly,
of antiheroes. It is time we
recognized him as such.
Therefore, I am privi­
leged to join in this special
order to honor him and to
advance the cause of
brotherhood and good will
toward all men and women
of all races.
Representative Conyers
said following Duncan's
speech.
May I say to my friend,
the gentleman from Oregon,
with whom I have not had
the pleasure of working
extremely closely on too
many bills, and whom I
have never heard make
remarks about the nature of
improved race relations and
their importance before,
that I am very deeply
moved by the statement
that he has just made, in
which he has in a very
graphic way. shown how his
family was brought
and
in some ways all of us
to
an appreciation that we are
not going through a senti
mental exercise here today,
speaking eulogistically of a
great but deceased Ameri
can.
From his remarks, I just
had the vivid recollection of
my coming to Washington
tq participate in that march
on that day in 1963
Somehow, the gentleman's
articulation of this event in
a personal way brought
back those memories, and I
am very, very pleased to
hear him say what perhaps
could be said best by him,
better by him than perhaps
even the distinguished
gentlewomen from Texas
(Ms. Jordan* or myself.
I think he adds a
strength to our purpose I
think that he helped make
most of us feel that in this
94th Congress we will
finally do what we have
said ought to have been
done so much earlier, in
earlier sessions.
I thank the gentleman
from Oregon for those very
obviously sincere remarks.
There's rfp
place likp
tlfe
Real Oregon
Blacks protest POIC Wallace award
ÎJW?/J TO ê ëïËS Oí
Brothers And Sister*
t he Communitv
citizens nt all ages, persua
sions, and origins walked
to g e th e r th ro u g h the
streets of this city. These
people came together join
ing hands, hearts, and
voices, in peaceful protest,
p e titio n in g lon g o v er
due redress of a sad and
shameful imbalance in our
society.
My teenage son
and daughter were a part of
the crowd that gathered to
hear the words of the
unique person whose belief
in ultimate justice and
peaceful protest as a means
to that end brought about
the unforgettable march on
W a sh in g to n Of A u g u st
28, 196.') Dr Martin Luther
King, Jr.
The words he said on
that day have become
immortal, not only because
of their ringing persuasion
and timeliness, but because
of their truth and promise.
"We shall overcome,” he
cried: and the cry was
taken up by the thousands
massed on the Mall, and
millions more all over this
land.
And a movement
became a crusade.
Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Pageant
seeks
girls
'4
Student Nonviolent Coor
dinating Committee (SNNC)
said, "Black people giving
Wallace an award is like the
Anti Defamation League
giving a posthumor award
to Hitler."
Lewis, who was beaten
and jailed in Alabama
during the 60‘s is uneasy
about Black support and
public admiration for Wal
lace.
He remembers the
reign of terror in Alabama
that caused the deaths of
Black men, women and
children during the civil
rights struggle while Wal
lace was governor.
Lewis believes that some
change in Black political
reaction toward Wallace is
influenced by sympathy,
since a 1972 assassination
attempt. Wallace has been
parali/ed from the waist
down and it is hard to
imagine a demogogue in a
wheelchair.
Additional support comes
from Black elected officials
whose political futures are
dependent on the revenue
they get from Montgomery.
George Wallace, in spite
of his condition, remains a
symbol of the most brutal
forms of violence inflected
against poor and Black
people in Alabama," Lewis
said.
Wallace commited no vio­
lence personally while
governor during the bloody
'60’s. Lewis explained, but
he created a climate and
atmosphere of hate that
triggered white lynch mobs
and official brutality against
peaceful marchers.
“I am troubled by the
newly found admiration for
a man like George Wallace.
Why this pilgrimage of
respect to him?"
“I really believe that this
one man more than any
other single figure has done
more to fan the flames of
racism and hatred and
hitterness in the last few
years. People suffered and
died in that state, and
young people, Black and
white , who don't remember
those years must not forget
that.”
Lewis credits Wallace's
recent moderation on the
race issue with national
civil rights laws and court
orders, "Wallace has never
said he's seen a great light
and been converted. He's
just a clever politician and
he wants to be president."
T y ro n e B rooks com
mumcations director for the
Southern Christian Leader
ship Conference and a
board member of Atlanta
OIC, resigned from the
board in protest of the
award which won Governor
Wallace his support of OIC
in Alabama.
"Wallace is one of the
most notorious racist public
officials that this nation has
ever produced." Brooks
said, “Tears came to my
eyes when I saw a news
paper photograph of the
Black woman director of the
Alabama OIC kissing the
Governor."
"By honoring George
Wallace, you insulted Black
America because America
knows that it has been
people like George Wallace
that prevented Black people
in this country from gaining
com plete freedom and
equality." the SCLC official
said.
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