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Portland Observer
Thursday
August 7, 1975
1 -
WE SEE THE WORLD
THROUGH BLACK EYES
Why YWCA?
Scott deserves better
G w e n d o ly n Brooks, the g re a t Black p oe t, w ill
be h o n o re d by this years P ortland Poetry Festival.
It is an honor to the City o f P ortland to have the
o p p o rtu n ity to host Miss Brooks.
It is h ig h ly in a p p ro p ria te , h o w e v e r, th a t Miss
Brooks b e 'a s k e d to p a rtic ip a te in an e v e n t h e ld at
the YWCA. The Y has been im b ro ile d in racial
c o n flic t fo r m o re than six m onths.
C oncerted
e ffo rts have been m ade to e lim in a te th e Y's o n ly
Black p ro fe ssio n a l staff m e m b e r.
N e ith e r the
a d m in is tra tio n nor the b o a rd has been a b le to
fa ce the racism nor to a tte m p t to e lim in a te it.
A suit has been file d in fe d e ra l court by the
e m p lo y e e a n d m in o rity m em be rs o f the Board o f
D irectors state th a t the b o a rd has yet to address
the p ro b le m .
W e do not b e lie v e it a p p ro p ria te th a t Miss
Brooks be asked to a p p e a r a t th e Y, c o n sid e rin g
its racist p osture
Surely som e m ore a p p ro p ria te
setting can be fo u n d .
W e ca ll upon the sponsors o f this Poetry
Festival, to im m e d ia te ly take steps to e nd this
hypocracy.
No more jails!
W e a re co nce rn ed and d istu rb e d by re ce n t
reports that S tanley S. Scott, top Black W h ite
House a d v is o r to President Ford, w ill be le a v in g
his post. Scott, a Pulitzer Prize n o m in e e a n d a
re c ip ie n t o f the N a tio n a l N ew sp ap er Publishers
A ssociation Russwurm A w a rd fo r e x c e lle n c e in
Jo urna lism , le ft a p re stigio us |ob in N e w York to
serve the N ixo n -F o rd A d m in is tra tio n fo r the best
o f p a trio tic m otive s
U n ta in te d lik e m an y by the
scandals o f W a te rg a te , w h ile serving d u rin g the
m ost tra u m a tic a nd tu rb u le n t p e rio d in our
N a tio n 's history, he has d o n e an o u ts ta n d in g job
Scott, a c o m p e te n t m an o f h ig h in te g rity w h o
sim p ly had n o th in g to do w ith the W a te rg a te
mess, has bee n a m ost vocal su pp orte r o f the
tw o -p a rty system o f g o v e rn m e n t a nd President
Ford — so m e tim e s a t odds w ith our o w n view s
o f the C h ie f E xecutive o f our N a tio n .
It d o e s n 't o ffe n d us th a t Scott is le a v in g , per se
a lth o u g h the n a tio n 's Black c o m m u n ity is
losing its best W h ite House spokesm an since that
|ob w as c re a te d by President Eisenhow er
W hat
bothers us is th e w a y in w h ic h Scott w as tre a te d
Typical o f the o ld N ix o n m e th o d , Scott g ot his
w a lk in g papers by w a y o f a "ra s h o f ru m o rs "
that s u d d e n ly started a p p e a rin g in the press. This,
in turn, o p e n e d up the h u n tin g season on Scott,
and a n u m b e r o f th oughtless Black "th o u g h t
le a d e rs " — h o ld in g fo rth th e ir o w n c re d e n tia ls,
o f course, — o b lig in g ly o p in e d th a t S tanley Scott
re a lly
h a d n 't d o n e e n o ug h
fo r
the
Black
c o m m u n ity.
W e d o n 't k n o w if a n y sin g le A m e ric a n can " d o
e n o u g h " fo r Blacks to m a ke up fo r 200 years o f
n e g le c t — b ut w e d o k n o w that in the past ten
m onths, thanks to Stan Scott, President Ford has
m e t in re p e a te d w o rk in g sessions w ith m o re
Blacks a n d m o re Black re p re s e n ta tiv e groups than
a n y P resident in history.
That m ay n ot be
" e n o u g h " , b ut in o u r o p in io n it w ill c e rta in ly do
fo r openers. A n d " o p e n e rs " is a ll you can re a lly
e xp e ct fro m a n y P resident in his first year
N o d o u b t, Scott w ill be re w a rd e d fo r his fo u r
years o f u n fa lte rin g
service.
Four years,
in c id e n ta lly , in w h ic h no h in t o f scandal o f a ny
kin d e ver to u ch e d his o ffic e . He can " g e t a g o o d
,o b " a lm o s t a n y w h e re he w an ts to look.
So, then, w h y the cloa k n ' d a g g e r tre a tm e n t
o f Scoff?
S im ply because Stan Scott's frie n d s
(lik e this n e w s p a p e r) w o u ld d e m a n d to k n o w
w h y our c o m m u n ity had to lose such a fin e
spokesm an in th e W h ite House
N a tu ra lly , th e sub|ect w a s n 't o p e n e d to a ll
Black leaders. That w o u ld have g iv e n Scott an
o v e rw h e lm in g vote o f c o n fid e n c e
— w h ic h
w o u ld be the w ro n g a nsw er
W e a re in fo rm e d that President Ford and W h ite
House C h ie f o f S taff D on ald R um sfeld are
c o m m itte d to the a p p o in tm e n t o f Scott to a n o th e r
e q u a lly c h a lle n g in g post in the A d m in is tra tio n .
W e urge fo rth rig h t a c tio n , not just fo r a d ese rvin g
a nd c o m p e te n t m an lik e Scott, but fo r Blacks and
o th e r m in o ritie s w h o have too o fte n seen our
m ost ta le n te d leaders used a n d cast by the
w a y s id e -- e v e n a fte r they h ave served th e ir
co u n try w ith d is tin c tio n . The President ow es this
m uch to the Black c o m m u n ity — a n d m ore
Am os Reed, a d m in is tra to r o f the O regon
C orrections D ivisio n , o p e n e d a can o f w orm s
w he n he in fo rm e d |udges, d istrict attorneys,
sh eriffs a nd p o lic e ch ie fs th a t the state prison
system is o v e rlo a d e d
The fa c ilitie s c u rre n tly
house 701 m o re in d iv id u a ls th a n b u d g e t fo r in
the 1975-1977 b ud ge t.
Reed has asked fo r som e d is c rim in a tio n
b e tw e e n those w h o re q u ire c o n fin e m e n t and
those w h o co u ld be in v o lv e d in re h a b ilita tio n
program s.
On the o th e r h a.id , M u ltn o m a h C ounty District
A tto rn e y H arl Hoas rece n tly re c o m m e n d e d that
m ore ja ils be b u ilt.
There is no easy a n sw e r to the p ro b le m s o f
crim e a nd its p re v e n tio n or to the re h a b ilita tio n
o f in d ivid u a l? c o n victe d o f crim e
Research tends
to show th a ’ lo n g p erio d s o f c o n fin e m e n t a re not
re h a b ilita tiv e , th a t o fte n the o p tim u m tim e fo r
successful a d ju s tm e n t info the c o m m u n ity passes
lon g b e fu re the person is re lea se d a nd so the
fa v o ra b le aspects o f re h a b ilita tio n are lost.
V arious types o f o ut o f prison re h a b ilita tio n
have been trie d -- som e successfully. M a n y o f
these in te n sive p ro gram s c o u ld have better
resuPs if a d e q u a te fu n d in g w e re a v a ila b le .
A l.h o u g h it is o b vio u s th a t som e persons must
be '.o n fin e d , if the m o n e y spent on jails a n d the
a ttr-n d a n t costs w e re spent on re h a b ilita tio n —
tra in in g , m e d ic a l a n d psychiatric care, e d u c a tio n ,
e t;. — the lo n g ra n g e b e n e fits c o u ld be great,
n ot o n ly to the in d iv id u a l co nce rn ed b ut to a ll o f
society
M a n y inm ates la n d in the p e n ite n tia ry because
of p o ve rty — in a b ility to pay fo r c o m p e te n t le g a l
co un sel; race — p re ju d ic e d juries a nd judges;
p o litic a l or p h ilo s o p h ic a l view s — m in o r drug
counts, va gran cy, life styles th a t had to c o n flic t
w ith the p o lic e
O fte n these persons c o u ld be
b e tte r tre a te d in a lte rn a tiv e p ro gram s but are
sent to the p e n ite n tia ry because they are in a
p ow erless p o sitio n . The m ore a fflu e n t, those w h o
h o ld re sp on sible e m p lo y m e n t a nd p o sitio n o f
re sp o n sib ility, o fte n co m m it the sam e crim es but
re ce ive suspended sentences or a lte rn a te w ays o f
"re p a y in g societ
‘ or these transgressions.
W e w o u ld h ate o ee m illio n s o f d o lla rs used
io b u ild cells a nd vai
w h ich o n ly a dd to the
Dear Editor:
c e g ro d a tio n a nd I ope »ssness fe lt by most
Persons a nd do n o th ' g to e h a b ilita te , w h e n the
On July 25th. 1975, I was
m->ney co uld b e tte r pe used .*> solve som e o f the
appointed to the position of
p ro b le m s that lea d or e to a li e o f crim e.
New crime code
a danger
by $*ra o c Jo rd an
Revision and reform of
federal criminal laws is long
overdue, but the proposed
new federal criminal code
represents a major threat
to civil liberties.
A fed eral commission
bark in
1971, proposed
pulling together the vast
body of federal criminal
laws into one criminal code
that would reform and relax
many existing statutes.
But from that promising
beginning has come a sug
gested criminal rode that
Congress will deal with this
summer.
Coder the pre
tense of reform and revision
it contains provisions that
reflect
strongly
hawkish
law and order views at the
expense of precious ronsti
tutional guarantees.
Although the Supreme
Court has ruled the death
sentence unconstitutional as
it is applied by the courts
and is now considering
whether to ban it entirely
as a constitutionally prohi
bited "cruel and unusual
punishment." the suggested
new rode would restore the
death penalty.
While the original com
missioner recommended re
taxing many laws, the rode
lengthens prison sentences
for some crimes. This, at a
time when many people are
questioning whether longer
prison terms
have any
effect on the crime rate,
and when prison terms in
this country are already
much longer than those
elsewhere
In
the wake of the
W a te rg a te scandal th a t
demonstrated the dangers
inherent in federal police
powers, the rode would
actually extend authority
for bugging and wiretap
ping.
It also contains
provisions that would have
made it impossible to pro
secute some of the officials
convicted of Watergate re
lated crimes
Proposed restrictions on
a c tiv itie s th at in te rfe re
w ith
governm ent
func
tions could be used to
prevent picketing, sitdowns.
and other peaceful protests
guaranteed by the Const!
tulion.
Freedom of the press
would
be
damaged
by
instituting, for the first
time in American history, a
sort of official secrets act,
that would penalize re
porters and publishers for
printing classified informs
tion
Had this hern law a
few years ago. the Penta
gon Papers would never
have seen the light of day.
Some press spokesmen
claim the proposed law is so
broad that they'd only be
able
to
publish
official
versions of defense and
diplomatic news
Other provisions aren't
bad at all, such as allowing
appeals of overly lengthy
sentences
and
providing
compensation for victims of
violent crimes.
And most
of it is innocuous enough
simple codification of exist
ing laws.
But the whole package is
a Pandora's Box. It doesn't
do what it claims to be
doing
streamlining the
criminal rude
and it
contains many provisions
that would seriously en
danger civil liberties.
It is possible that many
people will be stampeded
into supporting this new
program because of the
need to "do something"
about the rising crime rate
But the crime rate isn't
rising because the present
laws need to be toughened,
it's
rising
because
the
Depression has widened the
gap between the affluent
and the poor, while depriv
ing many people of the
opportunity
to earn
an
honest piece of bread
The crime rate is on the
upswing in cities with the
highest unemployment, it's
moderate in those
few
places where employment is
still high
A full employ
ment policy is still the best
anti crime measure around,
but it seems to lack the sex
appeal of going all out for
"law and order" rhetoric.
Gun control is another
way to cut crime, but many
of the same people who are
so anxious to restrict civil
liberties in the name of
fighting crime refuse to
make sensible restrictions
on personal use of hand­
guns
It's a mistake to stuff a
sensible codification of the
existing criminal law with
all sorts of provisions that
trample on the constitution
without making our streets
safer
It is ironic that while the
country celebrates its 200th
anniversary and lauds its
freedoms, it prepares to
destroy
many of
those
freedoms under the guise of
a discredited
"law
and
order" pose that represents
had law and insures dis
order
Space A v a ila b le
Lease
s p a c e now
a v a ila b le
in
c o m m u n ity fa c ilty
C a ll Jam es Lo vin g
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
ttv n ja m in
L.
H ooks
2 8 8 -0 3 7 1
K in g N e ig h b o r h o o d
F a c ility
ree
C o m
m is s io n i k
M a t year I attended thi
A nn u al
Black
Caucua
Dinner in Washington. D.C.
As uaual, the affair was a
resounding
aucceaa
with
some 3.000
persons
many of them Black cele
brities
in attendance.
The dinner honored four
widows of Black men who
have done much to change
the quality of life in a
positive way in America:
Mrs. Medgar Evers. Mrs
Malcolm X. Mrs. M artin
Luther King. Jr., and Mrs
Whitney M. Young, Jr.
The main speaker was
Atlanta's young, personable
and popular Black mayor,
Maynard Jackson.
If you
will bear with me for a
moment. I ’d like to present
here some excerpts from
his speech, a speech that is
one of the most warm,
moving and powerful I have
ever heard, partly I sup
pose because the theme
centered around the Black
mother:
"Over three and one half
centuries ago. an old. gray
haired mother stood on the
shores of the mighty Afri
ran continent and watched
with strained gaze a small
ship slowly fade from view
As that vessel of evil
disturbed the serenity of
that tranquil sea. she en
dured the pain of recalling
that her sons and daughters
had been stolen, beaten,
chained and sold into a
system so perverse that it
challenged her understand
ing
“She knew nothing of the
p o l i t i c o e c o n o m ic a r
rangements of that day.
Words such as mercantilism
and im p erialism
meant
nothing to her But in her
heart she knew that some
thing bad had just made an
attack upon the soul of her
people.
"Although she was left
behind, too old to be privy
to the plunder, she felt the
tremors when that enslaved
Black hum anity
which,
theretofore,
had
thrived
under the moon and stars
of freedom, survived the
middle passage and was
spewed onto the docks of
Jam estow n. V irg in ia , to
make cotton King and the
King Corrupt.
"As we were defined as
chattel, sold like a horse,
worked like a mule, mated
like rattle and treated like a
dog. the spirit of that old
woman presided over us.
She saw us emancipated
into a system of freedom
where everybody was free
but us.
She consoled us
while we endured pellagra,
boll
weevil, expliotation.
lynching, castration and ra
rism so barbaric that its
vestiges plague the op
pressed and the oppressor
even a century later.
"Today, as we remember
our common
roots,
we
honor these four matriarhs
of the movement and the
strength, intelligence and
compassion of universal
Black Womanhood which
they represent.
"We celebrate the Black
woman as our "Rock of
Ages"... clothed in the rai
ments of p o v e rty , sur
rounded by rumpled shop
ping bags, waiting for her
ride home after a hard
day's work for too little
money, hers is not the
smooth
contour
of
the
V en u s
De
M ilo ,
th e
mysterious smile of the
Mona Lisa, or the languid
beauty of a Paul Gauguin
Polynesian bather
"She bulges from too
many
starches
She
grimaces from corns and
bunions that vie for position
on weary feet.
She is
weathered by experience
and withered by the heavy
burden of being over
worked, oppressed and ig
nored
But she's our Rock
of Ages, standing steadfast
against the tides of trouble,
the rancor of racism and
the bitter winds of benign
neglect "
T h o s e a re p o w e r fu l
words, moving descriptions,
evoking haunting imagery
and I have quoted him al
such length because much
of the speech has not been
reported in the national
media
neither print nor
electronic
and I think
our people ought to In­
cognizant of it.
Even if
thry have read it in whole
or in part, in the local Black
Press, the speech is so
moving, it will not hurt to
offer it for a re reading
Jackson said also "she
taught us to love one
another. Yet the spiraling
incidence of Black on Black
crime makes her wail the
words from Genesis: The
voice of your
brother's
bliaid is crying to you from
the ground'." And he • d
"She taught us to sin m e
on little in a land ol plenty
"Yet, now she stands in
mule amazement at an
America where the thing
that is fed the best is
inflation and it is partial to
dark meat
Our Rock of
Ages taught us that if we
did right, obeyed the law
and loved the laird we. too.
could walk America's glory
road up to Canaan lan d.
Yet she now sees that when
America catches cold, Black
America catches pneumo
ma
More of this in a
f i l l or- column
A p p r e c ia te s u p p o rt
Affirm ative Action Direr
to r, this position
was
created by the legislature
in House Kill 2729
1 would like to take this
opportunity to extend my
sincere thanks and appre
riation for the support of
the Portland Observer in
my behalf.
If I can be of any
assistance to you in the
near future, don't hesitate
to contact me.
Respectfully.
Harold (,'. Williams
Affirm ative Action Director
P o r tla n d O b s e r v e r
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