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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 1977)
For Blacks. W------- - - « > to its needs - little was heard about the pending election until the end of December. There appeared to be no brood-based effort to reach the public. There is much disenchantment with the public schools. Rumors ore rampant and many citizens hear only about the behavior problems and the children who don't learn to read. AAany complain about the "frills" and courses that seem to go far afield from the "three Rs". The school district needs more than a crash campaign before the next election. It needs to involve the public in all phases of planning, it needs to invite citizens into the schools to find out what is happening. For many years parents and others were not welcome at the public school. They still have little voice in the operation of the schools. A root effort of citizen participation is needed if the schools are ever to get adequate funds to run a quality program. « VA makes wrong move The Veteran's Administration has announced its intention to build a new hospital on Morquam Hill. The present hospital and Barnes Hospital in Van couver will be dosed. There have been ten separate proposals for the location, and among them the VA selected AAarquam Hill - the stated reason is that it will be near the medical school. This selection has been made in spite of higher costs to the government-since the hospital will be built on the side of a h ill-an d to the city which will have to provide for sewers, lighting and access. To date the city has not been consulted, although the siting of the hospital on the hill will add not only to expenditure of funds but to traffic hazards and inconveniences. It seems only logical that the VA would consider the wishes of the people of Portland before building a $155 million project. The logical site—based on access, building cost, supportive services-is the Emanuel site. At the center of the freeway system, this site has suitable access from all directions - as opposed to the narrow, windey road up the hill. Commissioner Jordan and Congressman Bob Duncan have advocated this site. Of more importance is the human side. Patients and their families at an Emanuel site would be part of the community and would have easy access to community services. They would not be put away - isolated and forgotten. The federal government has invested a lot of money in the Model Cities area, including purchas ing the proposed Emanuel site from many unwilling sellers. The government has an obligation to use this property for the benefit of the community - and what better way than a VA hospitol that would bring jobs and development to the community. Another Point of View B_ may ov origin ana crisp or snowing or bitterly windy or raining. But all are variations of cold. In 1841. President William Henry Harrison stood bareheaded, without ov ereoat or gloves. in the piercing northeast wind to deliver his inaugural address. His speech was the longest and his term of office was the shortest of all presidents. He caught cold that day and died soon after. This year, rain or shine. Jimmy Carter has vowed to bring the inauguration to the people. He's not the first president to make this statement. Andrew Jackson in 1829 held ‘People's Day" at the White House where it was announced he would receive his fallow citizens. Men with muddy boots stood on satin-covered furniture and smashed crystal and china. The drunken brawl ended for the president when he escaped through a window. Jackson spent his first night as president in a hotel because the White House was in shambles. Inauguration Dav ’ X .. On Inaimuration n » — —«• Aoranam uneoin s second inaugural on March 4, 1868. On that dav two mmrv u r w fw a n a a toage 01 nuciear technology and enerwv to Negro Odd Fellows marched in the portation. parade. Also rumor had it that day that President-elect Carter will be sur tickets for Lincoln’s inaugural ball »«ad rounded by the Cabinet ho has chosen to been sold to Negroes. Certainly not. The run the government. Thane men and rumor waa promptly denied. women are largely unknown to us. The Earlier, the famous Freedom Fighter, American people elected the orator and former slave Frederick Doug but many of the im p o r t a n t ___ laaa went to the White House reception to be made, ultimately, not by the pay his respects to President Lincoln. He president but by those who X u , « « , waa detained at the door until the him. Watergate made this d ear to us. We president called out a welcome from have put our faith in M r. Carter’s which he gained entry. judgment to select It wasn’t until Marian Anderson sang the “Star Spangled Banner" in 1967 when With Jimmy Carter we have a South Dwight D. Eisenhower became president erner who knows Blacks as people rather that Blacks were again included in inaug than as an abstraction. Through him let uratioo festivities. Today. Blacks from all us pray that the eold of Inauguration Day parte of the country are joining Jimmy will be just and will not extend to a Carter in celebration of his inaugural. year-around freeae for Blacks. On January 20. 1977, M r. Carter, our My prayer for our new president: first president from the Deep South for Give him the patience to accept the over 100 years will assume the awesome things he cannot change, responsibilities. He has vowed to put an The strength to change the things he end to the “imperial presidency". We. as can. a nation, have put our trust in hia And the wisdom to distinguish be judgment. tween the two. 1976 a momentous year A n d y Young's choice by V e n a and not what will cure longstanding But Black people will remember 197« The twelve months now drawing to a problems. ■« the year Black political strengths were Fifth District Congressman Andrew Young has The attempt to resolve race and «•I»«. dose have been rough ones. The deprea at their highest point. Black votes sion of 1975 receded to roression levels, conflicts was abandoned and in its place been "rewarded" by President-elect Jimmy Carter elected the President and made a «-w-m but the selective improvement in the came a concern with a supposed “ailent difference in many other state ***** local for his support and influence in helping the former majority" of middle class citizens that economy still left millions out of work. elections. Thus we see how reforms of Georgia governor become the country's top leader. The so-called “pause" brought a halt, just wanted lower taxes and leas govern one era pay off in another, for the Black Young gave up a "safe" seat as a congressman hopefully temporary, to the recovery. ment. vote in "76 was the direct result of the from Georgia s Fifth District to become ambassador Last month official unemployment fig Voting Rights Act of 1965. That the majority was not so ailent and to the United Nations, "a Cabinet level post," ures were up to over eight percent. Oh yes, in case anyone —'-««d it, 197« not so negative became apparent in the Translated into real bodies, that swans was the Bicentennial Year. While that Newsweek magazine says, "that traditionally election results Just as the years about 15 percent of the labor force was meant some people could play-act shout bestows honor, headaches - and not much power - the past, it also g ,ve ™ preceding it have been years of increased out of work. upon those who hold it." hardships, the malfunctioning economy 1976 was the year in which it was movement of Black self-discovery. as has caused erosion in the plans of Black Rep. Young must have agonized over his decision announced that the number of poor seen in the new stress on the Black past businesses and the still too small Black people increased by ton percent. I t was a which leaves us a little poorer and has initiated what and in such voyages into that past as Aire middle class, and has been catastrophic year that saw continued slack in housing Haley’s exploration of his - and our - has already developed into an interesting scramble for the Black poor. construction, with new homes priced “Roots". as to who his successor will be. higher than most Americans can afford We accept our Congressman's decision and wish and older homes rising in price to exdude him well in his new position. We remember other larger number of people from decent housing. observations of his such as in late 1972 when he On the civil rights scene, it was a year predicted "Nixon will resign before Easter" (it The Portland Public Schools, in the face of a of controversy over affirmative action actually happened four months later, and his narrow defeat of its four year, $38.4 million levy, will programs, lessened enforcement of anti counseling of the people that Gerald Ford would be discrimination laws, and signs of further probably schedule another election. The money is a pretty fair president. retreat on issues like busing needed to continue operation of the schools at the Young is perceptive and we accept his decision, Cities continued in trouble, with major present level. urban centers like Detroit. New York and believing that he has seen a chance to be of greater The school district did little to educate the public as others dosing schools and hospitals. It service to us all. ............ ... * * a year that saw many pebpie latch od «y*- n^am amo» ¡nwri y ib .* to “planned shrinkage” as an urban strategy-kick poor people out of the cities and bring in the middle class, luxury apartments and offices to replace them. Given all thia, it's hard to be optimistic, Dear Editor. won the support or active participation of Africa. but it is possible that we have not just Opposition to our country's interven the vast majority of Americans. This Already this call has been endorsed by seen the end of a pretty bad year, but also tion in the affairs of other nations runs broad movement helped to force our the American Committee on Africa. Joe the end of an era. very deep in America today. Equally /e government to end its involvement in Madison at the Detroit NAACP, South It was a year of the electorate's strong is the American people's abhor S.E. Asia. African student leader Tsietsi Mashinini, rejection of a President who was hesitant rence of the racist apartheid system in Today we must unite once again, to and Congressman Ronald Dellums. about inaugurating programs to deal with South Africa. It is an outrage that our defend the fight for freedom and »q» .li«y Won’t you join us in forming an ad hoc our problems is a sign that the election of own government remains the greatest being waged by the Black majority in committee to plan Portland’s response to 1976 was a mandate for federal activism prop to the white minority regimes in southern Africa. Our best defense of this national call? to cure a sick economy. southern Africa as a whole. their fight is in ending our government's Our P LA N N IN G M E E T IN G will be Whether it will in fact be the end of the We all are faced with an urgent respon complicity with the racist regimes that held on Tuesday. January 25, a t 7 J 9 g * era of benign neglect depends in large sibility in this regard it is our duty to help oppress them. at Immaculate Heart School. 26 N E . part on President-elect Jimmy Carter educate the American people and mobil The N ational S tudent Coalition Morris. For information call:284-4O42, or and hia new Administration. Carter and ize them in a massive movement to end Against Racism conference of 1,100 which 236-8964. his transition team have a plateful of American complicity with the white met in Boston on November 19-21 h«« Mrs. Hasel G. Hays is completing three y e a n aa Manager of the Peace. choices before them-appointmenta to be racist regimes in southern Africa. Human Resource Center. ' A™ na issued a call for two days of national Elizabeth Groff made, altering plans for federal spending, Many of us understood and responded protests against U.S. complicity with the Mrs. Hays is involved in many facets of the community. A t present she h Joel Shapiro new policies on manpower, health, to ths same responsibility not long ago racist regimes in South Africa. Zimbabwe J ’í í í ”’ Unive™tt7 Oregon Health Science Center, the »H r Roger Yockey bousing, and a host of others. when the U.S. government hurled its and Namibia on March 25 and 28. A“ oc“ tio M - th« executive board of the Northwest Phoebe Friedman As those decisions are made, w ell have military and economic might against the International protests are also expected. Regional Lab, the Tri-County Governmental Commission the Rockv Butt« Reverend John H . Jackson a better idea of whether the era that Relocation T o k Force. She i . vice chairman « r f ^ M e t ^ U t e ? « ™ people of Vietnam. A massive antiwar being the universary of the brought such a wide-scale retreat in Relations Commission. Metropolitan Human movement was built, which eventually 1960 SharpeviUe m w a iu i in South social progress is over. Meanwhile, Black . Sh* “ .•J £ *n,ber th* U rt* “ L* * * « e and a subscribing U fa m -mber of people, working people, and concerned tne NAA CP. citizens have to apply the pressure to She is married to Chauncey and considers one of her — - ensure their interests are taken into (Cont. from p .l eol.31 "^^P ^m en U raitó* tour ‘‘•ughtora - all of w h o m h a re account. (Coot, from p .l col.61 Inquiry Clerk for the U.S. Postal Service, completed college. H er interests include gourmet cooking and travelling. For Black people the period since the was employed as a management analyst Hagens is involved in the com m u nity is Chairperson of the Postal Service election has been a time of hope. and business development special!«« My He is the Chairman of the Board of Boyce Women's Advisory Board, is a member of 1976, like the years preceding it, was duties as a management analyst were Neighborhood Improvement Association the Special Education Advisory Commit characterized by a policy of "benign basically to indentify, analyze and assist and is Chairman of the Board of the tee for the Portland Public Schools, and is neglect” of our national problems. Decis solving problems facing Model Cities Family Action Federal Aetion Credit a member of the Parent-Teacher Ad- business people. ions and policies were made based on Union. He is a member of the Black v»oi7 Group for the Multnomah County what will produce short-term stability After leaving Media, Hagens and t a r ry Justice Committee, and a member of the from the A tla n ta In q u ire r Schools need citizens Citizen of the Week LETTER TO THE EDITOR Sykes Hagen Buyers founded RAMCO. The idea was conceived while attending a business class at Portland State. Royal Esquires. A man to see is Chuck Hagen, when business or Tax Service problems arise. She will appreciate any assistance offered and can be contacted at 221-3473 during the day or 287-0025 evenings. Portland O b s e rv e r * < Published every Thursday by Exie Publishing Company, 2201 North Killingsworth, Portland, Oregon 97217. Mailing address: P.O. Box 3137, Portland. Oregon 97206. Telephone 283-2486. "The hen it an ego's way of p r o d u c i n g a n o th e r egg." Samuel Butler 1st Ptaee ty Service ONPA 1973 $2.50 of your how subscription to Tbo Portland Observer will go to tbo 1st Place ONPA 1973 Subscriptions: $7.60 per year in the Tri-County area. $8.00 per year outside Portland. C**“ Postage Paid at Portland. Oregon ALFRED L. HENDERSON Editor ZPuWi«ber The Portland Observer a official position is expressed only in its Publisher's column (We See The World Through Black Eyes». Any other material throughout the paper is the opinion of the individual writer or submitter and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Portland ~ 6th Place Beet Editorial N NPA 1973 MCMSCR Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association Tri-County area ONPA 1975 MEMO« 8 Aetoeletioo - Founded IM S Oregon Black History Project Herrick Editorial Award N N A 1973 Editorial 3rd Place New York Use all you need but save all you can . . . The People at Pacific Power I Name Address City $7.50 other areas $8.00 Mail lo: Pordond Observer P.O. Box 3137 Portland, Oregon 97208
