Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 22, 1976)
4 t P age 2 Portland Observer T— ¿day, July 22. 1916 A new kind of federal aid We see the world by Y vaeee Brath w aits Barks Coplay N tw s Service through Black eyes Shipyard expansion essential to jobs Another Point of View The Port of Portland will decide next week whether to procede with its plan to ask the people of Portland to build a new, larger dry dbck at the Swan Island Ship Yards. Proponents of the expansion say the rtew dry dock facility will provide approximately 1,000 new jobs, but even more important, without the expansion, the use of the present facilities will decline. Present facilities, which include three dry docks, the largest lifting 50,000 dead weight tons, were built for ships of the World War II vintage. The largest of these dry docks is 661 feet long and 114 feet wide. The newer ships being built are from 50,000 to 75,000 d.w.t. and larger. Although the Portland of Portland's public ownership enables it to offer better prices than most private repair yards, it cannot handle the newer ships. The tankers being built for the Alaska oil trade will require a dry dock over 900 feet long and 185 fee* wide. No other port on the West Coast can handle these ships, so Portland has an opportunity to obtain this business. Federal law requires that American facilities be • -ed if they are available. The people of Portland will not only decide whether to expand the present ship yard facilities, they will decide whether Portland is going to remain competitive in the maritime industry. In an area of high unemployment and much seasonal employment, we cannot afford to lose an industry that currently contributes 10 per cent of the area's jobs. Commission districts a good idea An initiative petition currently circulating deserves some consideration. The petition, sponsored by State Senator Vern Cook and State Representative Glenn Otto, is titled "Reorganization of County Commission." The petition would amend the county chorter to establish single member districts for Commissioners. As outlined in the proposal. District #3 would encom pass the area between S.E. Stark on the South, 42nd Avenue on the East, Dwight and Columbia Slough on the West, and the Columbia River on the North. Single member districts are working well in the State Legislature in most areas. Legislators are more responsive to their constituents and citizens know who is supposed to represent them. This is far better than voting for from 6 to 15 legislators and getting nothing from any of them. Some of the other points raise much question, particularly that of selecting the Chairman. The per sons running for commission could opt to run for chairman also, and if he received more than 50 per cent of the vote, he would be chairman. If he received less than 50 per cent, he could be removed at any time by a vote of the commissioners. We think this would prove too unstable and would not provide the strong leadership that is essential for county government. As long as the chairman is the administrator of county government, he has to be certain that he will not be thrown out at the slightist provocation. There ore some flaws in the current proposal, but we would like to see another attempt to form geographic districts. Blocks sidetracked by affirm ative action Oklahoma Black Dispatch The economic upturn is on schedule as forecasted by most moderate economists. The inflation picture appears stable with the first quarter definitely thought to be the bottom, with no explosion of inflation on the upside. The decline in interest rates they claim is over, but the rise in rates for the balance of the year is expected to be moderate between five and six per cent. Profit expectations of 30 per cent for 1976 have provided some strange results for Blacks. Now, with hiring on the rise, affirmative action has once again become a big issue. Lawrence A. Lorber, new director of the Labor Department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance (OFFC), the unit that monitors the job policies of federal contractors, has decided to discuss affirmative action with white-col lar financial and service industries — specifically insurance companies and banks. They are the fastest growing sectors of the private economy, according to Lorber. He likewise believes OFCC is going after the area with the biggest impact in terms of jobs. In moving from manufacturing to white-collar companies the OFCC faces serious problems. It can not even consider cancelling out a major medicare or mediciad insurance carrier. Even the lawyers don't know if banks come under the terms of the 1965 executive order for compliance. Mr. Lorber is going to labor with such heavy problems as why women in banks and insurance companies remain in clerical and low-level mana gerial jobs, assignment of sales people to territories on the basis of race or ethnic group, restricting Black sales people to Black neighborhoods or Italians to Italian neighborhoods. It's a pleasure to learn Mr. Lorber intends to improve the lot of the employed person. * The problem is the unemployed and ignored Leg itimate needs of Black businesses around the coun try. .With a stunning 7.5 per cent gain in real gross national product during the first quarter of 1976 and with inflation rapidly colling to a 3.7 per cent rate, corporate profits are higher and healthier than they have been in years. The best first quarter profit performance was by the textiles and apparel industry up 150 per cent, followed by trucking up 138 per cent, railroads up 90 per cent, retail non-food up 84 per cent, building materials and tire rubber both up 77 per cent. One of the worst profit makers were banks, down 12 per cent. On the hand were expansion and job creating is going on. Blacks make up too little of the work force. In general, spending by the energy industries, such a coal .nining, oil, and electric and gas utilities is expected to be up 24 per cent this year, nearly double the planned rise for all business. The companies in these fields are highly regulated and can be made to rigorously reflect the nation's race composition in its employment plans. TH E B LA C K P R E S S — OUR FR E E D O M D E P E N D S ON IT ! The word “countercyclical” is a mouth fuL But also, it has s satisfying rhythm to it. The ssme can ba said for the concept of countercyclical aid. Countercyclical aid is federal asais lanes that would be distributed to local governments when the national unem ployment rate exceeds 0 per cent for most of the previous year. The money would be used by cities and counties to maintain their usual services. W e all know that in times of high unemployment the revenues of local gov ernments drop off. The diminishing in come necessitates laying off fire, police and service employees. A crippling downward spiral is set into motion. Countercyclical aid would maintain these essential public services in times of high unemployment. These funds would "shortstop" the downward spiral of local revenue and would have a leveling effect on em ploym ent Certsinly, aid of this kind is logical and pru dent Countercyclical aid is a p art of the antirecession legislation that Congress has passed tw ice this year. I t was part of the Public W orks Jobs Bill vetoed by the President in February. I t is now part of S3201, the current reduced version of tht vetoed bill. As expected. S3201 was veto ed by President Ford on July 6th. bast February, the House of Repre sentatives easily overrode the presiden tial veto. It was in the Senate that the override vote fell three short. July 19th, when Congress returns f-om its Independence Day recess, it faces a tight contest to override the current veto. Plans have been nude. The bill was "watered down" to get the necessary votes in the Senste to override the presi dential veto. W e all have experienced watering down that destroyed the original intent. The changes in the countercyclical aid may not have destroyed the intent but they substantially altered the effect For those not being helped, putting federal money into distressed areas is sometimes a difficult idea to accept We know that unemployment across the Un ited States is uneven. The states hardest hit have the largest labor forces. California has a labor force of over nine million workers and has an unemploy ment rate of 10.4 per cent. New York with 7.5 million workers has s rate of 9.9 per cent. The 16.5 million workers in these two states who face these frighten ing unemployment rates have the u m e representation in the U.S. Senate aa, for example, do the 1.3 million workers in Kansas w ith an unemployment rate of 4.2 per cent and the 170,000 workers in W y oming w ith a rate of 4.8 per cent Human nature being what it is, these inequities make the Senate le u sensitive to the d estructiveneu of joblessness. W ith this in mind, some compromises were made in the current bill. The total amount of funds involved has been reduc ed by 32 billion. Further, greater sensitivity w u de monstrated for the wishes of Senators Russell B. bong and J. Bennett Johnston Jr. of bouisiana, whose votes to sustain the President's veto in February brought about the demise of the original bill. Consequently, one basis for counter cyclical aid w u changed to make it more favorable to states like Louisiana, whose unemployment rate in March w u 6.9 per c e n t Under the revised criteria, areas with unemployment rates as low as 4.8 per cent now qualify for aid. Added to that, the second basis (or qualification for funds w u changed. A tax factor which reflected the level ot local taxation giving credit to areas that had high local tax burdens w u replaced by the general revenue-sharing factor. This resulted in favored treatm ent for areas with low local taxes. The bill now h u come out of the House Senate conference committee in its final form. The changes are substantial and discouraging. The funds sorely needed in a r e u of high unemployment are not con centrated but spread widely w ith in creased amounts going to a r e u w ith rela tively low state and local taxes and with relatively higher employment. The idea of countercyclical funding is commendable. But once again, to get it w ritten into law it h u b u n cut and crippled. The people for whom it w u intended will receive diminished benefit. Those who were responsible for the crip pling will be able to u y . “See. it didn't work." It is discouraging. Shall we celebrate the Bicentennial? by John Lewis A t this hour of Bicentennial Celebra tion, a small m inority of Americana, the very rich, one-fifth of our nation, who control 70 percent of our nation's wealth, have cause to celebrate and to attem pt to perpetuate their ruling elite for another 200 years. T h o u of us who are poor, who are Black or Spanish speaking, or native American, th o u of us who are the A m er ican m ajority, who are the three-fifths of the population who must subsist with only 10 per cent of the nation's wealth, need to reexamine our concepts of parti cipation in this nationalistic celebration. As a Black person, it is not enough for me to point to the hypocracy of the found :ng of this government by slave-holding colonialists who brought us here in chains and stocks. W e, u Blacks, are all too painfully aware that we bore the burden of establishing the dreams of the wealthy white. W e are too aware that our tenuous position as citizens came about by our own struggle and heavy sacrifices. Now, as a segment of this nation cele brates, it is time for Black and all people who have b u n victimised by the violent American nightmare of exploitation, m ili tarism, racism, and sexism to recognize our common plight and create our own revolution. W e must rise above the dis traction of the Bicentennial Celebration and work together to solve the problems which are eating away the very soul of our society. In my work aa the director of the Voter Education Project, I come into contact with thousands of nameless poor working people who have been left out and left behind. In the midst of affluence, their dreams to share in the wealth and to have an equal voice in determ ining humane governmental policies are unrealized. From the ghettos of Chicago, the bar rios of California, from East har lem to the western reservation, from the cotton cur tain of the South to the raped and ravag ed region of Appalachia, there is s mighty m ajority whose aspirations and dreams must be realized. W e have cause to celebrate because we have our heroes, we have strong intellec tual men and women of vision who fought slavery. W e have the heritage of the great eivilisatloae of native Americans. W e can celebrate because we had a Fred erick Douglas, a Eugene Debs, H a rrie tt Tubman, and a M artin L uther King. Jr. W e have cause to celebrate because we have had our movements. W e can cele brate because we had a women's suffrage movement, a labor movement, a civil rights movement, and Indian movement, and 4 successful farm workers move ment, and other great movements which move us closer to the full realization of human potential and dignity and a sense of self worth as human beings. W e have reason to be proud of our heritage, but we must be above the task of creating coalition, reaching out to our brothers and sisters who share our plight and our dreams, to realize the aspirations of humanity around the globe. W e must instil] sensitivity into the consciousness of the great exploited American m ajority so that the leaders ot our nation cannot use our powerful re sources to create another Vietnam , to support the racist domination of 36,000,000 Blacks in southern Africa, or to prop up the undemocratic regimes which suppress legitimate human aspira tions on practically every continent. W e must educate our great American majority to rescue our resources from the madness of the multi-national, military- industrial complex and apply those re sources to the solution of humsn pro blems of famipe, disease, poverty and special h eads. W e, the great American m ajority, have no room for bitterness or recriminations a t the time of this hollow Bicentennial Celebration. W ith the belief th a t change is possible, w ith a continuing sense of hope, and with faith in the ultim ate good and worth of humanity, we, the great American ma jo rity . must continue the nonviolent struggle to build s world community of peace and justice. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Civil service stops minorities, women Dear Editor: I was definitely shocked upon review ing the C ity of Portland's employment statistics recently published in the M e t ropolitan Human Relations Commission Report. W hile increases in m inority and female employment were ncted, it is tru ly rem arkable th a t the city maintains eligibility to receive any kind of Federal funds. F or example, the city currently em ploys only 16% women while their statis tical svaiiability in the Portland Area W orkforce is slightly over 88% . The re port also notes that minority employment increased a mere .2% to 5 .8% which is about 3 % below parity. No American Indian women w ere employed in 1976 and only 1 Spanish Surnamed female. The breakdown of where the minorities and women are by departm ent and according to salary range is enough to cause night mares. Don't get me wrong. I do not blame the affirm ative action efforts of the city, or the personnel who are pursuing that struggle. The civil service system is the real culprit. A t a tim e when many C E T A employees are being term inated because of lack of funds (many of these people are minority or female), the city should be contemplat ing changes'in the personnel structure. The C ity of San Joee, California made great strides to merge C E T A Goals and A ffirm ative Action Goals together and achieve parity. As an interested citizen I insist th a t the City make a b etter effort in affirm ative action and so should you. I f the C ity does not make a better showing this year an alternative could be lor citizens to chal lenge funding to any public program that continues to discriminate. Donny Adair Portland 1st Portland Observer Published every Thursday by E xie Publishing Company, 2201 North Killingsworth, Portland. Oregon 97217. M ailing address: P .0 . Box 3137, Portland. Oregon 97208. Telephone: 283-2486. Subscriptions: 37.50 per year in the Tri-County aiea, 38.00 |>er year outside Portland. Seeswd Class Peetege Paid a t Pertlaad, Oregon A L F R E D L. H E N D E R S O N The Pertlaad O hearver’s official position is expressed only in its Publisher’s column (W e See T he W orld Through Black Eyes). Any other m aterial throughout the paper is the opinion of the individual w rite r or subm itter and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the “ O N P A 1973 1st Place Beat Ad Result » O N P A 1973 $2.50 of your row subscription to The Portland Observer will go to the 5th Place Beet Editorial N N P A 1973 H errick Editorial A w ard N N A 1973 Beet Editorial 3rd Place Oregon Black History Project Tri-County area $7.50 other areas $ 8 .0 0 Name M ÍM M UtM SER Ä T Association I V IW effp Ä -ß Address Aseoc/sboo - rounded 1 M 6 City Moil to: Portland Observer P.O. Box 3137 Portland, Oregon 97208
