Portland observer., July 21, 1977, Image 1

M rs
F ra n c e s
U n iv e r s ity
Eugene,
c n o e n - w e iu
of f
O re g o
¡.n .
■a
Jefferson victim of white flight
by Gregory Gudger
OBSERVER
Vetona» 7
N e. M
TLareday, J«ly 21, 1977
10c per espy
F
O S
"W hite F lig h t” to responsible for the
racial imbalance at Jefferson High School
and the overburden of busing on the
Black community, contends a coalition of
Jefferson High School parents. According
to statistics gathered by the Jefferson
Dad’s Club, Jefferson High School P T 8 A ,
Jefferson High School Advisory Com­
mittee, King Advisory Comm ittee, Boise
Neighborhood
Association
Education
Committee, Justice F o r Black Students,
the Boise Advisory Comm ittee, and the
Committee for Quality Education for A ll
Children, the outflow of m ajority stu­
dents from the Jefferson feeder schools
to other high schools in the district to the
primary reason for the increasing p e r­
centage of m inority students enrolled at
the North Portland high school.
According to federal and state guide­
lines, Jefferson, w ith its 51.5 per cent
minority student population, to a “racially
isolated school*', thereby not allowing for
the proper socio-academic m ixture th at
would allow for a well-rounded education
for its students.
Although a certain percentage of the
feeder school graduates would “legita-
mately" go to Benson, Monroe and other
high schools to take advantage of special
curricula, the coalition feels th at a signif­
icant amount of students are escaping
their geographically-designated school
because of Jefferson's “assigned” reputa­
tion of being a “bad. Black school”.
The statistics gathered by the group
paint out th at although the graduating
class from the feeder schools - Beach,
Ockley Green, Kenton, Chief Joseph and
)
Manuel Martinez : A «elf made success
W hile going to high school, M artin ez
worked summers in a steel m ill. H e also
worked for s baker and by the tim e he
left high school he was a journeyman
IMioKnY
Jim m y “Bang Bang** W alker, currently
a “communtoaster“ w ith Radio station
K K E Y was abruptly cut off the air
Sunday by another communicaster. Dave
Collins.
As W a lk e r explained it, he and Collins
have had differences of opinion on issues
and have often discussed these d iffer­
ences. On Sunday, July 8rd. w hile statioo
manager Ralph W egant was on vaction,
Collins visited W a lk e r’s show uninvited
and^ according to W alke r, disrupted the
The form at of the program to for
listeners to call in and express their
views and discuss the issues th at interest
them w ith th e “communicaster--. Collins
inferiortiy and m crai laxity —r e s t e d
with the school during a period of
turmoil, some of it racial, which, accord­
ing to B a rre tt, eeased more than four
years ago. In addition, the academic
“cream of the crop”, both m inority and
m ajority, to siphoned off.
Dispite boundary changes, introduc­
tion of magnet programs and ‘recruit­
m ent” of feeder school students, whites
still tend to shy away.
"The school to a t peace," saya B a rre tt,
adding, “W e have exceptional program«
(M agnet Program s) but we are not
getting the students. W hat etoe do wa
(Please turn to page 2 col. 4)
HMRC committee asks delay
The Education Com m ittee of the M e t­ Newman Am endm ent to considered more
ropolitan Human Relations Commission of a boundary change than a policy
recommended yesterday th at the School change which requires no community
Board make no decision on the contro­ input and should be done quickly.
versial Newm an Desegregation Am end­
ment until at least Feb ru ary, 1978.
Among the findings on which the
A fte r meeting w ith Superintendent
M H R C Education Comm ittee based its
Blanchard and members of the School
decision were:
Board, the committee recommended th at
- The district to not, nor ever was,
in the interim the district involve the
under pressure by the state or federal
community in the sharing of information
government to fu rth e r desegregate.
and planning.
- The d istrict’s m ajor reference in its
D r. Blanchard, in his testim ony, said
planning to the findings of th e Schwab
the district has not compiled adequate
Comm ittee (1968) which w ere soundly
data on the general achievement as well
rejected by the Black community.
as social and emotional adjustm ent of
- The district believes it cannot fu rth er
adm inistrative transfer students in the
d e s e g re g a tio n th ro u g h in v o lu n ta ry
tw elve years of desegregation planning transfer of w hites in the absence of a
and implementation. H e also said th at the
court order.
Small Business administration under fire
(M ik
Manuel M artin ez, owner of M artinez
General Construction, to an example of a
man who has w orked his w ay up the hard
way and now is on the verge of success.
M artinez was born in Cleveland, New
Mexico; a town where everyone spoke
Spanish - even the Anglos who moved
into the com m unity. H e attended school
there - a sub-standard schools w here the
teachers did not care w hether the child­
ren learned.
M artines learned English when he was
sixteen, a fte r be moved to Rawlins,
Wyoming. “1 was lucky. I had a cousin
who to now a C P A , who helped me learn
Penninsula and parts of Boise and K ing -
included 28.9 per cent m inority at the end
of the 75-76 academic year, the entering
freshman class of Jeffrson High School
for the 76-77 school year was more than
double, or 48.5 per cent m inority. One-
fourth of the feeder school graduating
class, ail m ajority students, never made it
to Jefferson, contend the spokesmen for
the coalition. Approxim ately sixteen per
cent of the total feeder grad, ating class to
generally lost to Benson. One tenth of
that percentage to m inority.
According to Don B a rre tt, Jefferson
High School Adm inistrator, the school
still “lives under a cloud" of academic
M artinez w en t in the A rm y before he
left high school, serving in the F a r East
where he w orked w ith a survey crew .
A fte r returnin g to th e U .S . he was
employed as a baker in Oklahoma. “I
didn't like the w ork much. I ’d rather be
outdoors.” H e le ft Oklahoma, headed for
a construction job in Alaska, but missed
his transportation and ended up in
Washington. “I was sitting in a restaur
ant and across th e riv e r th ere w ere a lot
of lights. I asked someone w hat it was
and was told i t was w here a dam was
being built. So th e next day I w ent over
and got a job."
W hile w orking in -th e Dalles Dam ,
M artinez took th e opportunity to learn
several trades. “W henever there was a
chance to do e x tra w ork I was there."
Although his m ajor w ork was in steel,
he learned carpentry w ork and concrete
as well.
M artines stayed w ith the dam building
business, w orking on dams at Estacada,
Bull Run, on the MacKenzie R iv e r and in
W ashington. One of his jobs was building
diversion tunnels, to allow th e riv e r to
run around the dam site. “T h a t to w here I
saw many men killed in cave-ins. I t to
very dangerous w ork but the pay to
good.”
M artin ez formed his own construction
company about six years ago. H is firs t
large job was a sub-contract w ith Hoff­
man Construction w here he laid the
steel floor on the upper seven floors o f
the new «wfaral building.
M artin ez Construction's main craft to
steel, but he also has crews w orking on
concrete and in other trades. H e does
general building and remodeling, and to
(Please tu rn to page 2 col. 4)
The U . S. Small Business Adm inistra­
tion to currently under fire for alleged
misappropriation of 8a contracts in th a t
whites are receiving jobs earm arked for
M inority Business Enterprise. SBA ad­
m inistrator Vernon W eaver had admitted
that, although the program to continuing
for the 1600 minority-owned firms al­
ready taking p art, until a thorough
reveiw of the 8A requirem ents can be
made no new m inority firms w ill be:
admitted to the program unless he
“personally okays” a new participant.
The SBA chief said he to determined to
end abuses of the program and to “h elp
the disadvantaged people” 8s was de­
signed to help.
Perhaps the next order o f business w ill
be the investigation of the S B A ’a lending
practices in the Portland D is tric t office.
SBA’s district and regional M in o rity
Business
Enterprise
representatives
have adm itted th at “ . . . one of the m ajor
problems confronting SBA to the loan
officer. Value judgments of personal
character made by loan officers weigh
heavily on the approval or disapproval of
a loan.”
SBA local statistics indicate
favoritism tow ard certain firm s and eth­
nic groups.
D uring the fiscal year ending June 80,
1975, twenty-seven m inority loans w ere
granted, totaling $1,008,448. O f this total
five Black firm s received $299,148 and of
this amount $225,923 or 75.5 per cent
of the loans to Blacks w ent to one firm .
The Black firm s receiving loans w ere a
contractor, a clothing 3tore, a service
station, a resturaunt and a consulting
firm . T w o of these businesses have since
become bankrupt.
D uring th at year, $496,000 or 49.2 per
cent of the to tal w en t to O riental firms.
A review of th e loans made during the
fiscal ye ar ending June 80, 1976 showed
approximately the same percentages.
O f the 46 firm s receiving m inority
enterprise loans, w e w ere only able to
locate 31 companies.
O riental firm s received $1,041,000 or
(Please tu rn to page 2 col. 4)
Jimmy 'Bang Bang’ Walker
had taken another microphone and en ter­
ed into the discussions, often expressing
his difference of opinion w ith W alker.
On July 10th, when Collins arrived,
W alker refused to tu rn on the second
microphone. Collins could not be heard.
“He sat across the table from me and kept
hollering at me not to say th at. He said I
had a racist program because too many
Blacks called m e.”
About ten minutes into the second hour
of the program, Collins called the engi-
and had the program cut off the air.
W alker has been on the a ir since about
February when he was apked by W egant
to fill to for anotha
was leaving.
" I th in k Collins is ju s t jealous because I
am g etting as many calls as he to,"
W alker explained.
“O ther communi-
casters - Bob D y e and Lee Evans - are
getting more publicity than he to. Collins
is obviously upset because he to not the
‘biggy’ and he never has been.”
Collins was not available for comment.
How ever in his own program Tuesday he
told a caller th a t th e incident was a
“management decision” and “none of your
business.”
W alker told the O bserver th a t his
course of action w ill depend on the results
of his discussion w ith W egant a fte r the
statioo manager returns.
busy a t P o rtla n d
Public
C enter
PPS minority participation questionable
by Catherine Siegner
C a rte r has awarded the M edal of Freedom - the
blghsto dvO laa aw ard th at to given in the United States - te D r.
M artin L u th e r K in g J r., wham he praised for “unswerving
dedication, superb courage, a sensitivity and hum ility and a
dedication te peace." The President presented the medal te
King’s w idow , C eretta K ing and the civil righto leader’s fath er,
M artin L u th e r K in g S r., who attended a ceremony in
never knew him personally, I have
i te knew the members «< Ms fam ily, and man
eeple around the world new carry ea his own deep
te which he gave his very life," said President
C arter. M rs. King, in b rief rem arks, said the M edal ef Freedom
would be displayed along w ith K i ^ ’s Nobel Peace Prise fa the
M a rtto L u th e r King Junior Center fo r Social Change in
N ate Proby, President of the Um ited
M inority W orkers, haa informed the
Observer th at although he haa re g u la rly
made on-site checks on the P o rtlan d
School District's Educational C enter con­
struction site, he has seen little evidence
of m inority employment.
Proby requested of D r. Ralph Klein er,
Deputy Superintendent of Schools, w ho
to in charge of the district's buildi ng
projects, th at he and the district in s u re
th at minorities are used according to
district policy.
Donald M . Drake Company to t h e
prim e contractor on the project, a n d
although no federal money is involved,
they have agreed to meet State <uid
Federal requirements concerning a f f ir m ­
ative action in employing minorities.
The requirements stipulate th at a
minimum of 5.5% of the total employee s
be m inority workers, representing “al I
crafts and trades." W eekly statua repo rt! i
filed w ith D r. Kleiner's office by the
Drake Co. differ markedly w ith both M r.
Proby'a on-site monitoring and inform a­
tion available to the Observer.
The statua reporta are difficult to
assess for compliance since job descrip
tions are not documented, and women are
included in the m inority count even
though they are not non-white. W hen
asked how he knew the reports w ere
accurate, D r. K leiner replied th at he
“assumed so,” and “had no reason to
doubt them " even though he had only
been on the construction site once.
The school district employs a monitor­
ing person for the project, but his
responsibilities deal mainly w ith over­
seeing the architectural and construction
aspects - not w ith making sure that
affirm ative action regulations are met.
D ra k e ’s subcontractors are also being
required to comply w ith m inority emp­
loyment regulations, but this apparently
haa not been achieved. A trucking firm
involved w ith the project has regularly
reported one black employee despite the
fact th at the man was fired several weeks
prior to the status report. Truckers are
required to make a certain number of
loads per day which often results in
speeding tickets. W hen the firm's owner
refuses to pay the tickets, drivers slow
down, make less loads, and consequently
lose th eir jobs. I f the employer resists
hiring minorities anyw ay, such practices
allow them to dismiss the w orker, and
continue reporting any figures they like
as long aa neither the prim e contractor or
the school district enforce the regula-
tions.
The situation not only denied employ­
ment to minorities, but to in flagrant
violation of the Hometown Plan which ‘.he
prime contractor (and therefore the sub­
contractors) signed and agreed to, indi­
cating th eir determ ination to comply w ith
the regulations. I t to th eir responsibility
to meet the agreement to hire m inority
workers and maintain th eir m inority
employment levels, thereby avoiding the
perpetration of such blatant discrimina­
tion.
The school district adopted aa board
policy an agreem ent to “not en ter into
such contractual relationship . . . w ithout
first making appropriate pre-award sur­
veys to determ ine th at the contracting
party to in substantial compliance w ith:
a. all applicable Federal and Oregon
laws and regulations . . . pertaining to
equal em ploym ent opportunities, and
elimination of discrimination on the basis,
of race, color, religion, age (between
18 65). national origin, or sex . . .
b. Appropriate efforts shall be made to
obtain notice . . . of violation by the
contracting p arty . . . ”
Such an agreem ent would seem to
imply an active monitoring role on the
part of the school district, which it has
not fulfilled.