Portland observer., July 15, 1976, Image 1

P o rtla n d S ta te U n iv e rs ity L ib ra ry
934 S. H. H a rriso n
P o r tla n d , Ore. 97231
PORTLAND
OBSERVER
Vol. 6, No. M
Thursday, Joly ISth, 1976
10« por copy
Blacks p la y rola
It’s Carter - Mondale
Jimmy Carter haa been nominated by
the Democratic Party and he selected
Senator Walter Mondate as his viee-pre
sidential preference.
For the first time, a Presidential candi
date has stated publically that he owes
his position to the Black electorate. Sup­
port from Blacks was the deciding factor
in some of his early primary wins.
Blacks are playing a prominent part in
the 1976 Democratic Convention, al­
though the number of Black delegates
decreased from the number selected in
1972. Approximately 329 Black delegates,
or 11 per cent, have been certified.
Three Black people represent Oregon
as alternates: Ms. Hazel G. Hays, for
Brown; Mrs. Bessie Bagley, for Carter;
and Bill McCoy, for Church.
Ten states, including Oregon, have no
Black delegates, and seven of those ten
have no Black delegates or alternates.
But there are five states where Black
representation is more than twenty per
cent: Georgia, with 26 per cent; Maryland
with 20.8 per cent; Michigan with 21.1
per cent; Mississippi with 33.3 per cent;
and South Carolina with 22.6 per cent,
and the District of Columbia. There are
128 Black women at the convention.
Blacks are not unseen at the Conven­
tion. however. Representative Barbara
Jordan, the first Black to give a keynote
address at a national convention, receiv­
ed an enthusiastic demonstration.
Congressman Andrew Young of Atlan­
ta. often referred to by Jimmy Carter as
“. . . of all the public servants I know, the
finest public servant" seconded the nomi­
nation of Carter for the office of the
presidency. (Please see p. 3 col. 1) Carter
has publically stated that he owes more
to Young than to any other single man.
Young said, "If you would vote for life,
(Please turn to p. 8 col. 3)
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School Board considers
Civil Rights compliance
REP. BARBARA JORDAN
Jordan gives keynote
It was 144 years ago that members of the Democratic party first met in convention
to select a presidential candidate. Since that time they have continued to convene once
every four year and draft a party platform, and nominate a presidential candidate.
And our meeting this week is a continuation of that tradition but there is something
different about tonight - there is something special about tonight. What is different?
What is special? 1. Barbara Jordon, am a keynote speaker.
A lot of years passed since 1832 and during that time it would have been more
unusual for any national party to aak a Barbara Jordon to make a keynote address, but
tonight
here la m .
,
I feel that not withstanding the past that my presence here is an additional bit of
evidence that the American dream will not forever be deferred.
Now that I have this ground distinction, what in the world am I supposed to say ? 1
could easily spend this time praising the accomplishments of this party, and attacking
the Republican, but I do not chose to do that. I could list the many problems which
Americans have. I could list the problems that cause people to feel cynical, angry,
frustrated; problems which include lack of integrity in government, the feeling that
the individual no longer counts, the reality of material and spiritual l * > * « ^ £ * * * *
ing that the great American experience is failing or has failed. I couldIredtoi t h es«
problems and then sit down and offer no solutions, but I don t choose to do that either.
The citizens of America expect more; the deserve and they work more than a reciter of
problems. We are in a quondry about the present; we are a people in search of our
future. We are a people in search of a national community. We are a people, not only
trying to solve the problems of the present -- unemployment, inflation but we are
attempting a larger scale to fulfill the promise of America and to fulfill our national
purpose
to create and sustain a society in which all of us are equal.
Throughout our history, when people have looked for new ways to solve their
problems and to uphold the principals of this nation, many times they have turned to
political parties. They have often turned to the Democratic Party. What is it? What is
it about, the democratic Party that makes it the instrument that people use when they
search for ways to shape their future? Well. I believe the answer to that question lies
in our concept of governing.
____
Our concept of governing is denied from our view of people
a concept deeply
rooted in a set of beliefs firmly etched in the national conscience of all of us. Now what
are these beliefs? First, we believe in equality for all and priviledge for none. This is a
belief that each American, regardless of background has equal standing in the public
forum. Because we believe this idea so firmly, we are on inclusive rather than an
exclusive party. Let everybody come!
I think It’s no accident that most of those immigrating to America in the 19th
Century identified with the Democratic Party. We are a homogenius party, made up of
The Portland School Board will consid­
er its compliance with Title IX of the Civil
Rights Act - that guaranteeing equal
opportunities to women - at a special
board meeting Thursday afternoon. The
board is required to comply with federal
regulations by July 21. 1976.
In order to comply, school districts
were directed to fulfill three obligations:
1) to complete a self-evaluation. 2) to
modeify any policies and practices that do
not meet requirements; and. 3) to take
remedial steps to eliminate the effects of
past discrimination.
The Portland Association of Teachers
has charged that although the evaluation
is completed and policy changes are un­
derway. nothing has been done about the
third requirement - that of addressing
the results of discrimination, with a pro­
gram and time schedule.
Lloyd Meskimen, president of PAT,
said his organization was not invited to
participate in the evaluation or notified it
was in progress, although regulations re­
quire that the teacher organization be
notified.
Mrs. Natalie Ettlin, Co-chairman of the
PAT Affirmative Action Task Force, told
the Board Monday night, that PAT is
requsting and encouraging the district ot
go beyond compliance to assume a posi­
tion of advocacy. “If the district adopts
the stance of advocacy, in the spirit of the
law, remediation, with the resultant
changes wil be much less traumatic than
remediation carried out by the letter of
the law, with ensuing litigation. The pre-
sant stance of compliance on paper is
indefensible.”
The PAT report continues to say that
only one-third of the job requred to be
finished by July 21 haa been completed.
"The law. or regulation, also talks about
practices and their effects. While the data
regading practices which the committee
investigated is presented in the report,
and one is left to guess the effects, one
also might read the date as the effects
and guess the actual practice. What is the
practice in Portland'Public Schools that
leads to few women in administration
(18%|; what is the practice in Portland
Public Schools that leads to women tea­
chers earning less mean salary than men
teachers; what is the practice of Portland
Public Schools taht leads to imbalances of
male or female teachers in elemenUry
and high schools? If thes have been prop-
|Please turn to p. 4 col. 5)
a sg a
Æ ;
Adair and Debbie Harris were runner-ops in the Bump Marathon benefit for
the Martin Luther King Scholarship Fund. (See story page 6]
Photo: Dan lo n g
Salem NAACP reports incidents not racial
Last week the Observer reported an
incident that happened in Salem which
was labeled by some persons as being a
racial incident. Mrs. Jackie Winters, who
is president of the Salem Branch of the
NAACP, has informed us that although
the incident could have had racial over­
tones, it is considered by the NAACP and
Salem officials to have been mainly the
result of young people having nothing to
do.
The fighting in Bush Park, which war
originally between white youths, and in
which the police intervened, involved
Blacks when two young Blak ladies en­
tered the park and were harassed by
whites. They went for their families, who
then became involved.
Mrs. Winters said she met with the
Human Relations Commission following
the park fight and they agreed with her
request that a meeting be convened to
determine how employment and recre
ation opportunities for young people can
Two days later, another incident oc­
curred - involving shooting - which is not
believed to have been directly related to
the first incident. This problem is consid­
ered by the police to be part of a long­
standing feud between two families - one
white and one Black.
be developed. She said about ten Blacks
were present at this meeting, not the five
reported by the Observer. The concern of
the meeting was not directly with the
park incident, but with what was consid
ered to be une of its major causes, so
those who were invited to participate wre
not necessarily the ones involved in the
park incident.
One of the topics discussed at the
meeting was a proposed program, to be
sponsored by the NAACP. tht willpro-
vide recreation programs through the
employment of young people to carry out
the program.
Mrs. Winters is of the opinion that the
incident was blown out of proportion by
(Please turn to p. 4 col. 1|
(Please turn to page 6, col. 1)
Carter exposes 'AME connection’
Speaking to the Quadrennial Convention of the African Methodist Episcopal Church
in Alanta, Jimmy Carter, Democratic Party nominee for the presidency, revealed his
“A.M.E. Connection."
. t
u
It would be difficult for you to know the impact of the A.M.E. Church on my life
unless you were familiar with my childhood in a little community named Archery.
Georgia • it was never incorporated. We had about twenty-five Black and two white
families. The most respected member of the community, and the best educated
member of the community, and the most famous member of the community, and the
most widely travelled member of the community, and I think that I can say with due
deference to the Bishops behind me, the richest member of the community was Bishop
W. D. Johnson. He lived about a half mile west of where I lived. And we looked on him
with respect, friendship and admiration, brotherhood,
and with love.
I have attended the tiny Archery A.M.E. Church many times. When that great
Bishop would come home from the middle west, where. I believe, he had five states
under his charge, and he would invite our family, and the Morris Brown Choir, to
assemble once or twice a year and we would sit in the front row and listen to him
preach. And there was developed in my own life a feeling of mutuality, of a common
purpose, of a common faith, of a common future - that still plays an important part in
This church of yours, my church and Andy's (Congressman Andrew Young) church,
the church of Christ, has provided a basis on which we could eliminate disharmony. It
has taken a long time, but we have made a lot of progress in recent years. And the
single factor that can never be shaken, that bound us together - was that mutual faith.
A lot of people in this country look on the South and say, "How could this have been
done?”, not recognizing the commonality of our suffering, of our teprivations, of our
achievements, of our hopes and dreams, of our aspirations and our concerns for one
another. The church has made us look in the same direction that Christ looked to
those who need our administrations the most.
I saw very early in my own life that those who make decisions in business and in
professions, in education and in government quite often are strong, powerful,
influencial, socially prominent, wealthy - and when they make mistakes, their families
are not the ones who suffer, because their families do not depend on welfare payments
for food and clothing or a place to sleep. When the tax law's of this country are unfair,
those great church's schools provided an unshakeable commitment to what was right,
those powerful leaders don't suffer because the tax laws are prepared by them and for
to what was decent, to what was fair, to what was just.
them, and for their friends. When the unemployment rate is high. Forty per cent ot
our young Black men are out of work. Their families don't stand in line looking for a
When I was elected Governor, I made an inaugural speech that got a lot of publicity
job and the intensity of the problem doesn't focus on those * h o quite often live in an
and shortly after that I was honored with my first doctorate. I w.lI be the first
ivory tower in a position of prominence. They are good people, but they don feel the
President in the White House who is an alumnus of Morns Brown College. 1 heard
need to change as do they who are poor, uneducated, unemployed, old, sick. Black or
someone in the back say, "You sure won't be the last one But this has been a
who don’t speak good English. The church has been the bridge that can let you move
sustaining force for the South and now is becoming equally important in the North.
from the ivory tower down where the suffering is.
Not only the church, but the church colleges, provide an avenue to theBlack and white
Not too long ago I spoke to a convention in Atlanta, not nearly as big as this one. But
people together as we study the same subjects, worship the same God. face the same
the Gideons, as you know, this is a fine religious organization - they put Bibles in aU
future, overcome the same prejudices.
the hotels I followed a young man who made a speech and when he got ready to go t
Another point I want to make, and then I will close my talk. You've bridged that gap
Korea, or when the government got ready for him to go to Korea no matter what he
between religion and the world in life better than most other denominations. There is
said he’ was going on a troopship he had never been to a church in his Me
no other parallel force in the political world in our country better than your owrt
Gideons have a convention they invite this young man to come to speak about his
During the time of struggle, when most Black people didn t have the right to vote, he
testimony He said the last time he came to the convention it was in Miami. This was
pastors were the teachers, the educators, the political leaders and they were the
three or four years ago. and the plane he was flying in was hijacked and wound^upi in
ones that prevented violence and they were the ones who were strong in purpose to
Cuba So in Atlanta, when I spoke, he said he tried to get his wife to come to the
probe and to fight with the peaceful means to change what was wrong and give us
GMeon in v e n tio n with him from Los Angeles. She said. "No. I am no,; getUng in any
what is right in politics and government of social life. You won't find a para lei with
airplane with you," and he said, "Honey, come on and go with me Give' •
that, in the other aspects of religion in our country, but the great Black pastors and
testimonv to let the people know what the Gideon have meant to you. She said. No, I
im X X g i n U ' . T u n e with you." He said. "Why?" She said. "Well, you know what
congregations never changed their commitments in the most difficult times Th.r
is a close correlation between worship service and correcting wrongs, and that
happened last time I got into an airplane with you." He said. Well, don t you believe in
what the Bible teaches because Jesus Christ never hid himself seven days a week in
the Bible?" She said, "Sure, you know 1 believe in the Bible." He said, "Why. don t you
a synagogue. He walked the steets. He touched the blind's eyes-H e healed those who
know the Bible says the Lord is always with you?" She said. "That's not what my Bible
were crippled. He pointed out injustice and he brought about compassion and
says. My Bible says. Lo, the Lord is always with you'.
brotherhood with love, and he changed the lives of people who didn't go to ^ r c K And
I thought about that story a lot and the church is a good reminder ^ al God1 “
the more stricken with poverty or mental affliction, the more time he spent with them
indeed wUh the lonely, the suffering, the deprived and if it hadn t been for the church.
So this has been a role played by your great church in the changing times. We still
that bridge would not have been there.
, .
.
There's another bridge the church provided particularly your church and that
have a long way to go.
. . . . . . . . .
i
When I was governor, for instance, I visited all the prisons in the state to,learn
the one I described earlier, between Black people and white people. There s been an
about those who were in prison and what could be done for them with early release,
unshakeable commitment to human rights, civil rights, and justice^confenl" 1^ ,
in Atlanta with a great conscience
in the many areas where there was a lot of
(Please turn to page 3 col. 1)
prejudice, and hatred and lack of understanding, and difficulty of communication.