P»B« 2
Portland Observer
April 7. 1977
Jwn the, JLqliLatuM
■ M W W iM M
We see the world
through Black
Legalize disobedience
Recruit fo r Boise
Boise Elementary School has received a good
evaluation on its first few months as a Basic Skills.
School. Boise is a majority Black school in an area
where combining with other schools in an element
ary-middle school plan would be difficult. The school
is in constant danger of hoving its upper grades
lopped off and those students scatterend across the
city.
We have watched with great interest for the past
five or six years, since we joined with other
community spokesmen in denouncing some of the
statements of principal Dave McCrea. We also, like
many others, have some concerns about the racial
imbalance at Boise.
We have watched McCrea and more important,
we have watched the Boise students.
We have been and continue to be impressed with
the Boise students and their behavior both at school
and on field trips. They are by far the most well
behaved students with whom we have been
involved. It amazes not only our staff but customers
and visitors who come into our offices to find the
"Boise Speaks" staff working quietly and diligently
on their newspaper, with or without adult super
vision.
The newspaper they produce demonstrates not
only some ability and talent but a great deal of
enthusiasm and school spirit.
McCrea and his staff deserve the community's
congratulations and thanks for their successes.
The School Board is appropriating money tor year
around recruiting of minority students to transfer into
white schools, and for white preschool children to
attend Early Childhood Centers. We recommend that
some of this money be used to recruit white students
into Boise. A bit of public relations effort could solve
the problem of racial imbalance and allow the Boise
community to retain its school. There are many
children in the district who could benefit from Boise's
educational program and from its multi-cultural
setting.
W hy no unity?
Racism has done a good job on this community.
One of the lasting effects of racism is the old "divide
and conquer" philosophy.
Let one Black individual or organization make an
attempt to accomplish something and you'll see
another Black individual or organization stab them in
the back.
Until the community laws to get together and
present a united front, it will have just what it has
now - nothing. Until we can help each other and be
glad for what the other person is able to accomplish,
we will stay at the bottom of the heap.
It is not always the white racists who get in the
way of progress - it is too frequently the jealous and
ignorant Blacks.
N o cause fo r fuss
The fuss over saccharin is indication of the petty
nature of many Americans. Congressional members
are getting more mail calling for an end to the
federal ban on saccharin than on any other issue.
Not even bussing, civil rights or the Vietnam war
caused such a furor.
All of this for a diet coke. If all this fury over the
loss of a sweetner to persons who cannot use sugar
were directed at a healthy diet or the reasonable
good taste of essential food, it would be more
understandable.
But the central issue is diet coke. Never since the
days of rationing during World War II has there been
such desperate hoarding and never before has there
been such a tremendous outcry over a government
policy.
Senator Mark Hatfield has introduced a bill which
would legalize the act of civil disobedience prac
ticed by many persons during the Vietnam war -
withholding their income taxes on a protest against
military spending. The bill is sponsored in the House
by Congressman Ron Dellums.
Money withheld from the regular tax collection
would be placed in trust to be used for humanitarian
purposes.
In light of increasing military spending this is not a
bad idea.
It could even eventually lead to a
decrease in defense spending.
Hopefully large numbers of citizens would take
this opportunity to direct their tax contributions into
humanitarian causes instead of war materials. Over
a period of years so much potential tax money would
be redirected that it would be difficult to maintain
war spending but there would be money for all of
those needs that now cannot be properly addressed—
medical care, guaranteed annual income, mental
health programs, etc.
Unfortunately, Congress will probably forsee this
possibility and the bills will never be passed.
N azis w h ite problem
A couple of weeks ago the Nazi party opened a
book store in a San Francisco suburb. Although the
store opened with much fanfare - marching storm
troopers, flag waving, etc., probably nothing would
have happened to it if it had opened in the ordinary
complacent, white middle-class neighborhood.
The Nazi's made their mistake when they selected
a Jewish neighborhood - one that contained many
survivors of the Nazi concentration camps. So the
bookstore was destroyed by its neighbors, led by the
Jewish Defense League.
We can't condone violence - and yet it's hard to
say what should have happened. Are the people to
endure the flaunting of racism and threats of
violence in their own neighborhoods? Individuals
should have freedom of speech and of belief, but
doesn't it hurt to see the ACLU defend the rights of
the Kian and the Nazi party? Do we have to endure
the spread of anti-Black and anti-Jewish literature
among impressionable youth?
The answer lies with the white community. The
problem should not be allowed to grow to the point
where minority communities feel compelled to
defend themselves.
The only answer to the growing influence of the
Nazis, the White Peoples Parties, the Kian and other
similar groups is a massive outcry from the white
community. We should be seeing an educational
campaign - speaking directly to the issue - in the
schools, the churches, the service and community
organizations, and in the white press. Only the
"good" white people have the resources and the
influence to stop this movement before it grows
stronqer.
If the "good" people of Germany had attacked
Nazism at its birth, the world would have been saved
a lot of sorrow.
1st Place
Community Service
ONPA 1973
Published every Thursday by Exie Publishing Company, 2201
North Killingsworth. Portland, Oregon 97217. Mailing address:
P.O. Box 3137. Portland. Oregon 97208. Telephone 283 2488.
The Portland Observer’s 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 w riter or submitter and does not necessarily reflect
the opinion of the Portion
Na
Now York
MEMSEH
Oregon
Newspaper
I
Publishers
Association
The mood at the Legialature is becom
ing more intense. The number of bills
passing through committees and on the
floor of the Assembly has increased
considerably form recent weeks. Thre is
an air of urgency as the legislators and
staff move into the second half of the
MEMBER
ER
1st Place
Best Ad Results
ONPA 1973
5th Place
Best Editorial
N N P A 1973
Herrick Editorial Award
N N A 1973
2nd Place
Best Editorial
3rd Place
Community 1
ONPA 1975
doesn't m oke
it so!
Birth defects
ore forever.
Unless
you help.
state and federal agencies with develop
ment plans having an Impact on the
Gorge.
The bill has had one public hearing and
further work sessions are planned.
Police officers will have a more comp
rehenaive set of guidelines to follow
when called to the scene of domestic
disturbances if a bill I am sponsoring is
approved in the House Judiciary Com
mittee this week.
The Committee, chaired by Rop. Hardy
Myers (D-Portland), is hearing public
testimony on HB 2438, which tightens the
existing law and gives more protection to
battered spouses and family. The current
system gives little authority to remove
anyone from the home during a domestic
disturbance without a civil court
straining order, which may follow k
petition for dissolution or separation of a
marriage. This had made most police
officers reluctant to get involved.
The measure accopmlishes a number
things. First, it mandates officers to
check nut domestic disturbances when
notified and upon probably cause to
a rre s t‘the suspect. T he‘ legislation also
eliminates civil and criminal liability
when an officer us acting in accordance
with these provisions. Another aspect
allows courts to issue temporary re
straining orders to keep the abuser away
from th e home if a petition has not been
filed for separation or divorce.
March of Drrtes
t h is
» wacs c o M ra io o V fo • »
thc
» u b o » m « p
The House Ways and Moans Commit
tee. chaired by Rep. Vera Kata (D-Port-
land), is scheduling work sessions in the
near future after hearing testimony this
past week on a bill to require public
schools to identify and offer instruction
for the education of able and gifted
children. The bill was referred to Ways
and Means after it recently paaaed
unanimously in the House Education
Committee.
The bill, HB 2931, establishes on a
regional or statewide basis a specialised
April 8 8:00pm
program of instruction not ordinarily
available on a local level. This includes
Civic Auditorium
special summer schools, annual statewide
activities, and scholarships. I t also pro
vides both model programs conducted to
demonstrate exemplary practices, and
pilot projects designed to validate the
program on a trial basis.
St. Vincent de Paul Day Care Center
The effect of the legislation will enable
Link A R t Fund
gifted children to explore and develop
Volunteers of America Day Nursery
talents that might otherwise be wasted
United Negro College Fund
due to inadequate facilities or programs.
The idea of specialised education fqft
Tickets:
the gifted and able child is not new. *8$
Stevens & Son
bill merely revises an Oregon statute th$j
Civic Auditorium
I f you need information about House
has been on the books since the 50’s.
Eastside Bookkeeping Service
and Senate bills, you can determine their
The last time the program received
status by calling Legislative Information.
funding was in the 1973-1975 biennggn.
The toll free number is 1-800-452-0290.
A t that time it received $15,880.* Infr
comparision. almost 11 million dollar»
were appropriated for education of the
mentally retarded and handicapped in the
same biennium.
*
This session the proponents of HB
2831 seek just under three million dollars
to develop and administer the program
throughout the state.
The program is designed to provide for
each child reimbursement of local district
costs over and above normal educational
costs to a maximum of $100 in state
funds. The bill also authorizes state
grants in aid to local districts.
J
CebonMa R iver Gorge
The House Committee on Environment
and Energy is considering legislation
which declares as state policy the preser
vation. protection, and enhancement of
the Columbia Rive Gorge for public use
and enjoyment.
'The bill, introduced by Rep. Wayne
Fhwbush, (D-Hood River), requires ex
isting city, county and state agencies to
establish and administer a land use plan
for the Columbia Gorge.
• Dependable heavy duty construvt.on ’
I t also is designed to protect certain
rir rvcle «election« • Energy-»avine • Long Ute
quad coat Meet cabinet • Eabrn «oSenei' d“ £ n.
areas within the Gorge that are of
• lo u g h poly pum p • U n d e rw a te rto t hl
significant geologic and ecologic interest
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for scientific study and public education.
Under HB 3073, the Columbia Gorge
Commission expands from th re e tb a five
member citizen board a p p o in t* by the
Governor. The legislation calls for the
Commission to reveiw area land use plans
Save Now on
in order to protect and m a in t a in the
scientific value and scenic quality of the
Maytag Dependability
Columbia Gorge. The members act as a
coordinating body for interested local,
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ALFRED L. HENDERSON
Kditor/Publieher
•
Senate Bill 850 was passed out of the
Senate Committee on Aging and Minority
Affairs and will go to the Ways and
— revs s •••
» «
P ortland O b server
Ä
by
W ishing...
aim ; U W WOU1Q p r o -
vide for an elevenmetnber commission
appointed by the Governor, to study past
and current legal, economic, educational,
social and political status of Black people
in Oregon.
Following a public hearing in Salem in
which approximately two-hundred Black
people from throughout the state partici
pated. The bill was amended to increase
the commission size from nine to eleven
members.
The first draft had proposed that no
more than one member be from each city,
but the amended version provides for two
members from each of Oregon’s four
congressional districts, each to be Black.
The other three members will be public
officials and can be of any race.
The bill carries a budget of $100,000.
Although the Senate Committee on Ag
•ng and Minority Affairs approved the
bill, some Senators have expressed the
opinion that the bill will not be passed
due to lack of funds.
It all adds
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