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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
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the opinion of the “
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