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U n i v e r s i t y 01
PORTLAND
OBSER/ER
Voi. 6 No. 21
Portland, Oregon
Thursday, April 8, 1976
$<*«■ per copy
Brown joins
Carter staff
Georgia S ta te R ep resen tative Ben
Brown has been named a deputy director
of fomer Governor Jimmy Carter’s na
tional campaign for the presidency.
Brown, a Black, is a graduate of Clark
College.
C a rter an n o u n ced B row n 's a p
pointment at a Real Estate Awards'
Banquet in Atlanta, which presented a
service award to Jesse Hill, Jr. president
of Atlanta Life Insurance Company. In
paying tribute to Hill, Carter said, "Jesse
Hill and others have fought to liberate
Blacks and have, in the process, liberated
whites as well."
In commenting on his political cam
paign, Carter said, "my most solid voters
are Black voters. In Florida I carried
every single precinct that was majority
Black.
“It would not have been possible fifty
years ago for a Georgia governor to run
for president because he had a stigma
because of the race issue."
Carter also received a sizable Black
vote in New York and Wisconsin, Tues
day. Carter has gained respect and sold
support among Blacks in his native state,
Georgia.
Commission on Aging jeopardized
to former contractors without allowing time, established the AAA advisory
new potential customers to bid.
committee as an arm of the Commission.
One member claims that no written
Homemakers Upjohn, a national com
minutes are produced so that action is not
pany that has been in Portland since
taken in motions that have been posed or
1969, is among those that will protest
that aspect of the plan. Currently Home the action is altered to fit the staffs idea
rather than the board's.
makers Upjohn has contracts with the
Earlier this week, Ed Frankel, Direc
State Welfare Division to provide home
tor of the City Bureau of Human Re
makers, with the Veterans Administra
sources, meeting with control agencies
tion to provide nursing and homemakers,
(senior centers) that if the City-County
and with several hospitals to provide
Commission were elim inated, center
staff relief.
budgets could be increased by ten per
Upjohn asked for an opportunity to
cent.
submit a proposal but were told the
On April 6th, Holdridge asked contract
contracts would go to previous contrac
agencies
to appear at the city budget
tors.
A
spokesman
told
the
Observer
in 1974 the Commission was transfer
hearings on April 12th and fight for the
red from county control to the city. that contracts with Holdridge had led
increase (elimination of the City-County
Commissioner Jordan, at that time stated nowhere and that they feel they got a
Council on Aging).
his belief that the Commission should not “run around".
Commissioner Charles Jordan told the
Members of the AAA board are ex
operate programs but should be a plan
Observer that he has not determined that
ning body, shifted the programs to the pressing the concern that they do not
the Commission should be eliminated, but
aging division of the Human Resource have adequate input, that the plan was
that in light of funds shortages its role
Bureau. Bob Holdridge was hired to head written by staff and presented to them
should be examined. If it is a duplication
the department and approximately 100 without adequate time to make changes.
of services, the money could better be
staff members were transferred from the
On April 30th, Holdridge presented a
spent on direct services to the elderly
Commission to the city department.
plan to the AAA advisory board that
than those on administration, he said.
Gradually the Commission staff was
would have eliminated the City-County
One option Jordan will present to the
cut to the current three members. Now
Council on Aging. The advisory board
Council is to move the director City-
Holdridge, reportedly in trouble with his
rejected the plan, saying that Holdridge
County Commission on Aging to his
advisory board, the Area Agency on
was out of line, that he is not a policy
office, directly responsible to him, to
Aging, has turned his attention to the
making person, and that they should not
serve as an advocate for the poor to
elimination of the Commission.
take it upon themselves to attempt to
whom they could go directly with prob
Recently the AAA advisory board eliminate a statuatory commission.
lems or complaints. The other two staff
refused to approve the 1976-1977 plan
The City-Council on Aging was created
members would be eliminated. He has
presented by Holdridge, presenting it to and appointed by the Portland City
not made a decision as to the possibility
the City Council without their approval. Council and the Multnomah County
of retaining the Commission, and is
Among the sections not approved were Board of County Commissioners. The
exploring this matter further.
budget items and the award of contracts City County Commission on Aging, in
(Please turn to p. 2 col. 4)
Controversy over the City Human
Resource Bureau's aging program is
coming to a head as the Bureau moves to
eliminate the City-County Commission on
Aging, headed by Osly J. Gates.
The City-County Commission on Aging
was t stablished in 1968 to serve as a
planning and advocacy board for the
elderly. A staff was hired and programs
established. Under Gate's leadership,
the Commission reached a high of
$800,000 annual budget and a staff of 112
persons. The Commission created the
senior center concept and established
six centers throughout the county.
1RS harassment of Black business, politicians alleged
State Senator Bill McCoy. Senate District 8, was elected to the Democratic National
Committee this week. Also elected by the Oregon state convention were Franklin
l-anih and Mitzi Scott.
Senator McCoy, who currently chairs a sub committee of the Interim Committee on
Human Resources which deals with delivery of services, is seeking election to the
Senate post he now holds
WASHINGTON, D.C. The “Nation"
magazine has reported that the Delta
llemocrat Times newspaper of Green
ville. Mississippi "was routinely audited"
from 1954, when the paper endorsed the
Supreme Court's desegration edict, to
1972, when its publisher, Hodding Carter,
died.
Carter's son, Hodding Carter III, the
paper's current editor, said, "We always
assumed it was harassment, but there
was no way to prove it. Reputable
accountants have always handled our
books. We never had to pay adjustments,
but God, what a nuisance.”
"Nation" claimed it had found nu
merous instances of IRS harassment of
civil rights figures "at a relentless pace."
The magazine said that “The South's
small Black businessmen -- tavern own
ers, shopkeepers, grocers - have been
pursued even more than political acti
vists." It added that these people, who
tend to be self made and often are semi
literate, "often err out of ignorance.”
"In the last three years alone," “Na
tion reported, "more than 50 prominent
members of Black-liberal alliances in
Deep South states have been audited or
investigated, lied to, harassed, divested
of many dollars in attorneys' or accoun
tants' fees. And others with littk money
to tax have been deprived of countless
hours of personal time spent reporting
their returns.”
Those whose tax returns have been
audited included Georgia State Senator
Julian Bond; eight Black elected officials
from Atlanta; the presidents of the
Mississippi and Alabama NAACPs; five
Black legislators from Memphis including
Emmett and John Ford; Morris Dees, the
leading civil rights attorney in Alabama;
and five of thirteen Black Alabama
legislators.
In Mississippi, the IRS audited 26
members of the predominantly Black
Loyalist Democratic Party and its New
York fund raiser; the President of the
ACLU; and secretaries of the Delta
Ministry. In Tennessee and Georgia, the
books of the ACLU are under study by
the IRS.
The “Nation” charged that “the statis
tical probability that such a pattern of
audits could be legitimate is highly
unlikely.”
The authoritative Federal Tax Guide
Reports, in its February 15, 1974 issue,
indicates that about one in every 57
Americans was selected for audit in 1973.
An IRS official in Boston said there is less
than a two percent chance that the
average citizen would be audited.
The article charged, “In Mississippi,
Tennessee. Georgia and Alabama, the
IRS functions, in effect, as an arm of
political systems which are trying by
economic means to keep Blacks out of
power."
doctor visits; family planning and mater
nity benefits; treatment of psychiatric,
drug or alcohol problems paid up to
$1,000 per year each; full payment of
hospital emergency care; full payment of
routine examinations; full payment of
eye exam and glasses; payment for
prescription drugs.
Applications are now being received.
"Those families being sought are among
the 40.000 working poor in Multnomah
County." We want the norma! families
with the ordinary amount of sickness."
Wilcox explained. “No insurance pro
gram can exist if all its clients are already
sick. We want to enroll people, get them
on a regular medical routine - examina
tion. innoculation, etc. - and prevent
illness as much as possible."
Public
health nurses will be available for follow
up and health education.
The second activity of the project is tl
Episodic Program, which is for those wl
are not enrolled in the prepaid insuranc
It is designed to cover emergency nee<
of those who otherwise could not pay f<
medical care. A number of clinics an
doctors are authorized to provide cat
following determination by eligibility
Call 248-335-1 for referral.
Project Health is funded with count
money that was previously used t
provide care at the Multnomah Count
Hospital, Federal and state funds.
Eligibility is determined by incom«
family size and other economic factor
and can be determined quickly, without
lot of forms and "red tape." Persons wh
think they might be eligible are urged t
apply by calling 248-3354.
D o You
Need health insurance
but can’t afford it?
Worry that you could
not pay for medical
care in an emergency?
Wish you and your
children had a regular
family doctor?
Project Health is a new county health
program that is looking for families and
individuals who need com prehensive
health.
Project Health is a unique program
that provides health services for low
income people by providing health in
surance through the private medical
insurance companies
Kaiser. Oregon
Physicians Service. Cascade Health Care
and the University of Oregon Health
Sciences Center.
"There is nothing to distinguish the
person whose insurance is paid for by
Project Health from those where in
surance is paid for by the employer or
union." Lee Wilcox. Health Planner said.
"Each is issued a card, like everyone
else's card, and takes it to the clinic or his
doctor. Patients will no longer have to
fear em harassment or differential treat
ment because they are poor."
The project is aimed at people who are
not on welfare but whose income does not
allow them to purchase private health
insurance. Guidelines for eligibility are
flexible, with income, size of family, and
prior obligations factors in determining
eligibility Project Health will pay the
bulk of the insurance premium, but the
family will be expected to pay a small
percentage of the insurance payment,
depending on economic factors and choice
of the insurance company.
The coverage provided is more com
prehensive than most plans. Coverage
includes: unlimited hospitalization; lab
oratory tests; physical therapy and
other treatments; full payment of all
Roots of war at Pine Ridge
(Editor's Note: Pine Ridge Reserva
tion, the site of the 71-dav confrontation
at Wounded Knee three years ago, is
again setting a precedent for all other
Indian reservations in this country.
With a new tribal president taking
office April 12th, the Oglala Sioux are
moving to dismantle the system of
political power and land use that has
guaranteed domination - not only of
Sioux lands but of those of other tribes
across the country - by an alien white
culture. For the first time in 100 years,
the Sioux are at a turning point in their
quest for self-determination.
Yet the violence of the last four years
continues. Since the election on January
27th eight people have been killed on the
reservation.
In this two-part series, David Corkery,
the only national newsman on the reser
vation during the recent wave of terror,
presents the situation that has plagued
Pine Ridge; the second looks at the new
nationalism that has emerged among the
traditional Oglala Sioux, now demanding
their rights as a sovereign nation under
their 1868 treaty with the United States.)
by David Corkery
Doing their part to help with this year's Camp Fire Girls
community service project to collect usable items for The
Salvation Army Men’s Social Service Center are, from left.
Racket Sneed, Jael Reese. Terry Lyn White and Kim Jenkins,
all from Boise school and members of the Camp Fire Girls group
led by Mrs. Ernestine Broadous. They are getting a preview
and encouragement from Brigadier Clenton Irby, director of
The Salvation Army Men's Social Service Center, whose work
therapy program helps some 500 men annually. (Please see
page 7.)
PINE RIDGE, (PNS)
Three years
after the confrontation at Wounded
Knee, the visitor to Pine Ridge Kescrva-
tion is still confronted with the shocking
sense of entering a war zone.
The reservation's population of 1 S.uOO
is totally polariMd between traditioiuu.
often full-blood Sioux on one side, and
whites and their Indian allies - near
white mixed bloods who share the white
culture - on the other.
Few on either side dare go anywhere
unarmed or alone, especially at night.
Bounties on the heads of traditional
leaders are common, beatings routine.
Wanblee, a town of 500. was recently
terrorized for 24 hours by a caravan of
mixed bioods who firebombed homes,
riddled them with bullets and murdered
one person. The town has formed its own
sixty-member armed patrol to provide its
own security.
Since mixed blood Tribal President
Richard Wilson was defeated by tradi
tional supported A1 Trimble in a fed
erally supervised election January 27th,
eight traditionals have been killed: three
shot, two beaten to death and three killed
when their car was forced off the road in
a high-speed chase.
At root, the struggle is between the
Sioux nation and the U.S. government.
Pine Ridge Reservation, a land locked
area the size of Delaware, is an American
Rhodesia.
All government and police power and
ninety percent of all land is controlled by
a white and near white minority.
Children of the traditional Oglala Sioux
are taught from birth that they are an
occupied people, a sovereign nation that
never joined the United States and that
-- by an 186b treaty between the Great
Sioux Nation and the U.S. - legally
’ mains independent. (The Oglalas on
Pine Ridge Reservation are one of five
bands of the Sioux nation.)
Landless now and virtually jobless (the
unemployment rate on the reservation is
seventy percent, but worse for full
bloods), with an average life span of 42,
the traditional Oglala people have lived
for decades in defiance of U.S. policies
barring practice of their religion, forcing
Christianity and the English language on
their children and imposing a form of
government totally at odds with tradi
tional tribal ways.
Only those who have assimilated to
white ways - usually those with little
Indian blood -- have been able to mani
pulate the white man's government and
land policies and escape his prejudice to
rise to power and wealth. For traditional
full bloods, both race and culture - an
unwillingness to abandon their roots and
adopt white ways - have prohibited that
path.
But now, after three years of simmer
ing war that has coat an estimated
seventy lives, the reservation is at a
turning point. Al Trimble's election as
tribal president, widely heralded as a
path to peace for the reservation, in fact
threatens to alter the entire power
system which has frozen land, federally
funded jobs and power in the hands of
mixed bloods and whites.
As a result, outgoing President Wil
son’s supporters called his "goon squad'5
by the traditionals - are striking back.
And qfhen Trimble takes office this
(Please turn to p. 3 col. I)