Portland observer., May 26, 1977, Page 2, Image 2

SCHOOL F IN A N C E M E A S U R E -
“SAFETY NET" D E F E A T E D
More pie in the sky . .
by and by?
A news release issued by the Oregon Association
of Realtors and the local HUD office describes their
join? signing of an Affirmative Marketing Agreement
as a symbol of Oregon progressiveness. If that
document (which was conceived in 1975) represents
progressiveness to them, and if the people of Oregon
have to depend on that document for substantial
enforceable equal opportunity in housing, then we
had better be prepared for more of the proverbial
pie-in -the-sky-by-and-by.
Two aspects of their action represent particular
reasons for concern: first, the lack of local commun­
ity input into the process and secondly the affirma­
tive Marketing Agreement document itself.
In regard to local community input, a number of
questions could be raised but let's just look at one.
How many local groups or agencies that ore
generally considered to be concerned about fair
housing were allowed to preview the document and
offer comments on it? Precious few, if any at all.
Instead of symbolizing progressiveness, does not this
kind of paternalistic approach symbolize that once
again the people whom this agreement is ultimately
intended to benefit will be ignored in the process of
establishing fair housing practices?
Regarding the document itself, the specific ques­
tions about who will be the major beneficiaries of
this agreement are too numerous to describe here. If
you are interested, just try and get a copy from HUD.
However, we should point out a few of the
problems. On page two it states that the Board of
Realtors will place an advertisement in “ a news­
paper of general circulation . . ." once each quarter.
It is hoped that this will be changed to specifically
include minority media, since the purpose is to reach
minority people.
Also on page two it states, “Each member (all
realtors signatory to this agreement) shall strongly
encourage their sales personnel, agents and em­
ployees to comply with this Agreement and with Fair
Housing Laws." Should not members of this group
require such compliance under penalty of expul­
sion?
But since the agreement does not spell out
sanctions, how can it possibly work? This is a critical
point when one correlates this with the fact that in a
later part of the document (Section VIII) HUD allows
all those signatory to this agreement “ shall in lieu of
submitting an individual affirmative marketing plan
or executing the Nondiscriminatory Certification" to
simply make reference to the fact that he is
participating in the program described in the
Agreement. Now when all this is added to the fact
that in Section VB it states that “Each member (all
realtors signatory to the Agreement) will be re­
sponsible for implementaing and monitoring the
progress of his firm's affirmative marketing proced­
ures . . ." Draw your own conclusions; it sounds, on
the face of it, that HUD is pulling back.
If all of this is being done in good faith, but the
participants have simply made a few errors — then at
least some clarification is due. And in this age of
citizens participation, it is no longer considered
"progressive" when local government officials,
public and voluntary agencies, and local citizens are
not made a part of a process whose intention is to
address a social justice issue like fair housing. It's up
to you, HUD and Oregon Association of Realtors.
Please don’t help us
We witnessed it in the sixties and here it comes
again: the phenomanon of the fanatical far-lefters
looking for a cause. As if poor people and minority
peoples and other oppressed peoples don't have
enouah problems, in addition they are all too often
burdened with fanatical hangers-on.
The scene at Lewis and Clark College Tuesday
night was another illustration of a lesson that most
Black activists learned in the sixties — that the
International Socialists, the Revolutionary Student
Brigade and similar groups have natbiog in common
with the struggles of Black people. They have shown
little real understanding of the issues we face. In
their doctronaire arrogance, they demonstrate the
same kind of paternalistic elitism that we refuse to
tolerate.
After all this time it's interesting to note that their
tactics are the same; they've learned nothing new
and their only interest in our cause is to use us.
The Oregon Leigklature turned its
sights to other school finance proposals
following the defeat of Ballot Measure Hl
at last Tuesay’s special election. Defeat
of the school measure, in an election
characterised by a low voter turn-out,
brings Into focus two bilk passed by the
House by large majorities. House Bill
2040 and House Bill 8200 are currently
being considered by the Senate Commit­
tee on Revenue and School Finance,
chaired by Senator Vern Cook.
House Bill 2040 k a major increase in
the amount of property tax refund
payments people will receive under the
Homeowner's and Renters Property Tax
Relief Program. In passing this bill, the
Landlords and tenants may no longer
need to carry all of their aggrievements
to a small claims or district court. Often
people are on their own to obtain the
necessary legal advice prior to any court
action and because a great portion of the
public have little or no education in legal
matters they never attempt to seek
remedies. SB861 would allow the Con­
sumer Services Division to act as an
arbitrator-referee between a landlord
and tenant while they arrive at an
agreement out of court. The Consumer
To the Editor:
Your editorial of Thursday, May 12,
1977, in my view, does a disservice to the
Portland School District's voluntary
desegregation program and to efforts of
the Portland School Board of Education
to not only maintain its efforts, but to
make continued and meaningful progress
toward the elimination of racial isoktion
as required by the kw s of the State ot
Oregon. I would urge you to attempt to
correct the fake impression given by the
editorial' on recent Bd. of Ed. action
which made approximately 6167,994
available to attract aaare majority stu­
dents to Jefferson and Adams High
Sc hook. Your editorial stated that th k
action "has nothing to do with desegrega­
tion."
We feel that th k action k
consistent with and directly responsive to
the District's requirements to eliminate
racial imbalance which existed at Jeffer-
son and to prevent racial imbalance from
occuring at Adams. As you are aware,
the District also attracts majority stu­
dents to Early Childhood Centers and to
primary grades in support of desegrega­
tion. W e are responding to a special need
with this new high school effort. I t k our
hope that it will be successful and that
the community will support th k action.
Let me try to help you further under­
stand how th k action and the funds are
responsive to desegregation.
OSP not 'correctional’
To the Editor:
It is tune that the people of Oregon
realize that the situation behind the gray
walls of O.S.P. are a long way from being
a correctional institution.
That the
methods applied here by the staff are
more inclined to enduce negative atti­
tudes facilitating and fostering bitter­
ness. It is tune that the Oregon people
know about the beatings and verbal
abuse that men here are subjected to. We
want you to know that the Oregon State
Penitentkry is not a happy resort as
many seem to think. We see the tours
going through th k institution, the staff
pointing out those areas designed to
impress such as the school area. Chapel,
dining room and trimmed grass area of
the yeard. We sometimes ikten as the
staff tell the untruths about the clubs and
project an image that is mostly all lies in
content.
They never speak about the penalties
for speaking one's opinion about th k
institution's policies, nor do they really
care to deal with the real problems here.
the problems of the men hired, the power
hungry ego tripping racists who believe
themselves to be God.
Just last Friday, three Blackmen were
taken to the Hole for the offense of
talking while taking one of their two
weekly showers. These men were told by
the guards to "shut up" one of the
brothers reacted verbally; “You can’t tell
me to shut up. I'm a man just like you
and there are no rules against talkin' ”.
The guard then went off to get some
other guards and upon returning again,
all the guards began to threaten the men
if they did not shut up. To make a long
story short, the brothers, after returning
to their celk were told they had vkits and
other excuses but were quickly whisked
off to the Hole.
The men are just
brothers that demand the same respect
that the staff want. Because these men
might have families in Portland I will
include their names: Harold Hammick,
William Farmer and John Polite.
They have a drug here that takes your
mind, Le., you are a zombie without
control of yourself. Now I imagine there
k a use for th k drug, however it seems
strange that in many cases, th k drug k
used on the men that are quick to
verbalize their opinions or the ones who
will when attacked by staff fight back.
Men like Mr. Gill Jarome Porter and Mr
Willie Dunn. There are others but it
should not be necessary to compile a
complete list, but hopefully there will be
some concerned citizens someone to seek
an investigation of the many wrongs that,
happen behind these w alk of hell right
here in Salem, Oregon, U.S.A. Perhaps
then the people will see that they have
much to do here and need not be so
inclined to feel superior when shouting
about the atrocities being committed in
other countries.
Arthur L. Isadore 36534
N E W YORK - When President Carter
names Mrs. Aafe Tby tar Merton to the
651,000-a-year poet of Treasurer of the
U.S. and Director of the U.S. M int, she
will became the first Black woman to
have her name appear on U.S. currency.
During Reconstruction, the late Missis­
sippi Congressman Blanche K. Bruce
served as Registrar of the Treasury as
later did Bishop William T. Vernon of the
A M E Church.
The Urban League’s Vernon E. Jordan
received the Alexis de Tocquerville Soc­
iety Award at the United Way of
America's Volunteer Leadaers Confer­
ence recently in Atlanta. The award,
established in 1972, recognises people
who have given outstanding service to
the voluntary movement in the United
States and to recognise the value and
First of all, your article states: “Why
call these desegregation funds?" You
state further, and I quote:
"Desegregation funds should go to aid
minority students in white schook, or
white students in minority schook - but
to white students in white schook?
Strange."
We find th k a very puzzling statement
and apparently R k in error.
The
guidelines for the Title V II Emergency
School Aid Act Project, for example,
specifically requires that desegregation
funds be spent on both white and Bkck
students in affected schook. In other
words, we are required net to spend
funds on students of only one race but
must spend the funds on both races of
students in learning situations together.
We hope these facto about Portland's
Public Schook' voluntary desegregation
program will prove useful in our mutual
desire to keep the community informed
and appropriately served on th k difficult
social issue.
Sincerely,
E. Shelton HUI
Title V II Parent Advisory Committee
Member
Joan Vranizan
Title V II Parent Advisory Committee
Member
(Editor's Note: We have no question
about “desegregation” funds going to
majority white schools which receive
minority students, for the assistance of
the minority students and their white
P ortland O b server
Published every Thursday by Exie Publkhing Company, 2201
North Killingsworth, Portknd, Oregon 97217. Mailing address:
P .0. Box 3137, Portknd, Oregon 97208. Telephone 283-2486.
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ALFRED L. HENDERSON
M itor/Publisher
Subscriptions: 67.60 per year in the Tri-County area. 68.00 per
year outside Portknd.
Clas*
The Portknd Observer's offickl position k expressed only in
its Publkher's column (We See The World Through Bkck Eyes).
Any other m aterkl throughout the paper is the opinion of the
individual w riter or submitter and does not necessarily reflect
the opinion of the Portknd Observer.
National
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Community Service
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HOUSE "CORRECTIONS PACKAGE-
DEALS WITH TREATMENT OF
Services Division have no legal powers in
handling complaints and the results of
any outcome must be obtained from
mediation between the consumer and
businessman. I f either party can not or
refuse to make any adjustment the
Consumer Services Division would then
refer the complainant to the Small Claims
Court. The purpose of this bill k to
conserve time and energy for both
parties; eliminate possible unnecessary
coats especially for marginal groups who
cannot receive legal aid, yet can not
afford the coot of an attorney and
avoidance of retaiiiation by either party.
Senator McCoy sole-sponsor of SB861
states the bill would not change the
present Landlord-Tenant Act but would
provide an alternative to the present
system of reconciling disputes.
If you have any special concern rekting
to Senate Bill 861 pkase write:
Senator William McCoy
S209 State Capitol Building
Salem, Oregon 97310.
Or call toll free: 1-800-482-0290.
OFFENDERS
This past week the Oregon House dealt
with eight bilk designed to address
concerns in the criminal justice system in
Oregon. The bills include tougher senten
ring kw s for felons, mandatory minimum
sentences for certain crimes, restitution
to victims of criminal sets, revision of
certain parole practices and tougher kw s
relating to the use of a firearm during the
commission of a crime.
The corrections measures are the pro
duct of the House Committee on Judici­
ary, which examined propoeak to im­
prove the criminal justice system devel­
oped by individual legisktors and by the
Interim Committee on Judiciary.
NOTE: The eight measures include HB
2011, 2012. 2018, 2809, 2248, 2280, 2472,
and 3041.
The Nation
^0 tki £d(tOl
Support school plan
House recognised the heavy burden of
taxation on property owners and up
dated the 1978 refund schedule to account
for inflation.
House Bill 3209 k the product of the
Governor's Task Force on School Finance
and the work done in the House Commit
tee on Revenue snd School Finance. It
represents a major revision and improve­
ment of the Basic School Support formula
which provides state monies to local
school districts.
The measure Increases State support
to 40 percent of net operatinf expenses of
schools. Another measure, House Joint
Resolution 88, k a constitutional amend­
ment which puts expenditure limits on
total school budgets, but permits slight
increases with raises in the cost of living.
Legislative leaders indicate that House
Bill 3209 and HJR 68 could provide the
"fundamental school finance reform"
necessary for the efficient operation of
the state's schools.
counterparts. We have no question about
"desegregation” funds being used for
white students transferring to racially
isolated schook or for their fellow stu­
dents. One of the greatest failings of the
desegregation program, one which is
partially addressed by the Title V II
project, is the lack of preparation of the
transferred students and the students
and staff -of the receiving schools.
We do question the use of “desegrega­
tion” funds for the use of the white
students staying behind in their predom­
inately white schools.
T h k is not
"desegregation.”
We would support additional funding
for schools that are in need because of
falling enrollment, poor achievement, or
other factors
but we would question
calling th k "desegregation”.
We have always supported "cross
bussing” or the transfer of white students
into racially isolated sehjok and are glad
to see that th k type of recruitment will
increase. We hope that th k move is
successful so that the school district's
Black children will no longer have to bear
the burdens of desegregation alone.
importance of voluntarism to the nation.
Former Secretary of Transportation,
WUiaaa T . Coleman, Jr. is a very, very
busy man. Since leaving the Dept. of
Transportation he has rejoined the
NAACP Legal and Education Defense
Fund of which he k board chairman. Last
week he joined the k w firm of O’Melveny
A Myers, the largest k w firm in Calfornia
as a senior partner. With about 210
kwyers, the firm has offices in Washing­
ton. Paris and Los Angeles. Coleman has
also rejoined the board of directors of Pan
Am and become a director of IBM ,
Pepeico, Amax and American Can.
When the White House released its
complete salary schedule last week, three
Blacks were among the top salaried. They
are Martha M. Mitchell, special assistant
for special projects, 881.000 a year;
Laurence Bailey, deputy assistant for
intergovernmental affairs, 647,800, and
Valerie Pinson, associate for congression
al liaison (House), 642,600.
U K Judge Edward WofedsM has dis­
missed a complaint alleging that feeding
commercial banks in New York City
discriminated in hiring against Blacks,
Hispanic people and women. He found
that the suit failed to establkh direct
injury to conspiracy. Suit was brought
by the NAACP and NOW and three other
organizations.
Harlemite Bay B ible si a, who left
H U D for the U.S. State Department
leaves June 6 for h k first assignment as a
Foreign Service Officer in Panama. H k
wife, Darien, and daughter, Kim. are
going with him.
Institution dehumanizes Black men
Dear Editor:
My name k Dee Williams. I'm an
inmate of the Oregon State Penitentiary.
More importantly. I'm a Black man
confined in a white rackt institution. An
institution whose foremost goal seems to
be to dehumanize me and the other Black
men confined here.
It's necessary that you understand that
I ’m not speaking merely as an individual,
but rather as one voice of all the
Blackmen confined here as well as the
numerous other hell holes called prisons.
I ask that you fend an ear and ikten to
just some of the problems that we are
faced with as prisoners and Blackmen.
I t k said that we have been placed here
to be rehabilitated, to be corrected of
some negative element in our personality
but such is not the case, for instead we
are simply taking up space in what can be
called a human warehouse. Prison k
indeed a hard experience, one that k
made worse by the conditions here. The
Blackmen in Oregon's penitentiary re­
ceive the leavings, we are expected to
accept the token dkpkys of the so called
rehabilitation programs, by th k I mean
that when all other spaces are filled we
are then sprinkled in to make all seem
even. Blackmen make up 24% of the
prison population, but is there a recogniz
able percentage of Blacks in the transi­
tional release programs? The answer is
No.
The Blackmen here cannot be optimis
tic about making parole for they are faced
with four people who have negative
backgrounds in so far as Black people are
concerned people who have no interest in
Blacks, other than to kill them mentally
and spiritually.
The Board consists of 5 members, only
one is qualified to relate to Blacks, he has
only one vote so in many cases, his vote is
negated, made void in any meaningful
way.
We are asking that you the people in
Albina fend us your support, we are
asking that you out there help us to clear
our heads of the bitterness self doubts
and all other negatives that aborts our
attempts to be successful, productive
citizens.
As tax paying Oregonians, we hope
that you will see the need to ask why
things are like they are here in th k place.
We hope that you will ask and seek
answers as to why Blackmen are sen­
tenced to such out of pocket time, why
the parole board continues to destroy
families and hopes.
We have no voice from behind these
walls, and if we speak about the wrongs
that happen here, we are threatened with
being put in the hole or being transferred
to some other institution far from our
loved ones. The intimidation k made
quite dear; "Shut your mouth, or else!”
Yes, we need help here, we need the
support that only can come from our own
people. It is my hope that some of you will
be concerned enough to reach out, to fend
us your support. Watch our backs so that
these people will stop killing us.
Uhurul!
Dee Williams #37488
Notice
People in Prison are in a social vacuum.
Before iney are released they need to
start thinking realistically about their
place in the outside world. We try to
provide th k release orientation. If you
want to help, call the 7th Step Foundation
at: 238 2442.
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