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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 21, 1977)
Opportuaity Noxt Monday the Board of Education will decide whether or not to pass the Revised Newman Plan— a olan to lower minority enrollment of Jefferson High School to below the 5C percent requirement set by the Staff Board of Education. This school year Jefferson's enrollment was 51.5 percent. Judging from the public statements a f Board members Jonathan Newman and Gladys McC.oy, the board plans to pass the new policy in spite of overwhelming community opposition. Many questions remain to be answered by the Board of Education. The reported statement given is that if the 50-50 requirement is not met, state money will be withheld from the district. The School Board has not informed the community whether the State Board has notified the Portland district of its intent to bring sanctions to bear, nor has the Board informed the public whether it has asked the state for an extension of time in which to involve the community in planning. The Board has not informed the public whether the federal government has directed it to precede with immediate further desegregation or whether there are any pending federal sanctions in addition to the Title VII discipline non-compliance finding. In the absence of state or federal directives it is difficult to determine why this change must be pushed through so quickly in the face of community opposition. The Board has not explained sufficiently why the parents were not brought into the planning process or were not at least informed of the pending change. Mr. Newman has said that desegregation is a Board responsibility-but isn't alt policy the responsibility of the Board? Isn't it even more essential to include parents and citizens in planning in an area as volitile as desegregation? The district has been involved with desegregation for 12 years and yet has provided no statistical evidence of either education achievement or social benefits to minority children. Surely this information is available and could be shared with the public. Why can't the Board require that white students living in the Jefferson area follow Board policy and attend Jefferson? If this were accomplished Jefferson would be only 25 percent minority and busing would be unnecessary. What is the district doing to educate white students and their parents in human relations so that they will not refuse to go to school with Blacks? Why is the Board so ready to face a suit or, at a minimum, a federal investigation just to prove its point? The parents are told that the district is fortunate not to be under court order because of the emotion and disruption court ordered desegregation can bring. Why are they so willing to go to court that they have already sought and received their attorney's opinion that the policy is “ legally defen sible"? Parents have gone beyond just wanting to stop this policy change. They are asking that the Board set aside a year to evaluate their current desegregation program and to develop changes where needed with community involvement. They now want to know how the federal money is used, the proportion of minority suspensions, ex pelled students and dropouts, teacher training, curriculum, etc. Parents will not be satisfied now until the entire situation is revealed. Parents are angry and upset, and the School Board pushing this into a court suit will not help. No matter who wins, all will be hurt. Senate bill* threaten community control Current pending federal legislation would greatly endanger the relationship of porents and community with the school district. All federal education grants address specific areas and school districts must guarantee that they w ill meet the reqirements and guidelines of the program. These requirements, the federal audit procedure, and the threat of loss of federal funds serves to insure at least some adherence to what is determin ed to be the educational and legal factors i in educational programs. Senator Packwood has introduced legislation that would set up new block grants, eliminating the 34 existing grant programs. School districts would be eligible to receive three block grant categories - one for special education for the disadvantaged and handicapped; another for vocational, adult edu cation and manpower; and a third for “ everything else." Once these grants were received, their use would be totally up to the school district - with no federal guidelines. Currently, not only are criteria for use of federal funds specific, but at least nominal parent advisory participation is required in the planning for and use of Title I and Title VII and certain other Federal funds. Packwood's bill would eliminate this requirement. Another bill that holds similar dangers has been introduced by Senator Ribicoff that, in creating a separate Education Department on the cabinet level would place Headstart in this department - therefore placing local headstarts under local school districts. Currently Headstart, although funded by HEW is controlled through the Community Service Adminis tration (formerly OEO). Not only does the control of the money rest with local community boards (PMSC in Portland) but parent policy boards — not odvitory boards—are required. The Ribicoff bill would take control of Headstart— recently judged one o f the most successful programs of the War on Poverty effort—out of the control of parents and placed im the control of school boards. This would be a step backward and could destroy a successful educationol program. Jam a 0. ef the Urban League af “We expect that thia year’s will be one at the and will make a major contributi for solutions to tba earlier this year. D r. Jamph Luwory, Chairman of the Board ef Diree- taro, to acting president until tha eoavaa- Veraaa Jordan, Executive Director af U National Urban Longue will deliver the « th e Attending from Portland will be Ms. Gari Christian. President af tba Board af Os. Deputy Di- Deputy Director - Field the speakers will be Alas Haley; Alexis H e ra a n , Director of tba Women’s Bureau of the U A Labor Department; W illiam G. Milliken, Gover nor of Michigan; Kenneth A . Gibson, The 20th Annual Convention a f the Christian will ba bald August 1« to 1» in Atlanta, tha city whore SCLC Tha Convention wiL’ honor D r. Martin Luther King, J r„ the founding president and the remaining active founds»: D r. Ralph David Abernathy, D r. Joseph E. Lowery, Reverend Fred Shuttlosworth. and Reverend C. K . Steele afTsllshsssss. Tba major busineos will be the selection af SCLC» third president. D r. Abernathy, who succeeded D r. King in April. IM *. resigned the T U S H 1er Excellence” to the major ante af the W S H 8th Annual Nations unently being held in Loa Tha Convention features p ra by authorities in tha by E X C E L building, the On Friday, an awards nor Atox Haley a n ^ O u i Manuel Martinez : A self made suce*** job site. I always get in and help with the says that being a k jobs at Corvallis, a Corp of Engines» site at Bonneville, and several private jobs. “Tbs company has grown to the point w h a n I have a supervisor in I can spend my time But when 1 g e ts a for five year« to get on the tollst Inri Ryi 1 finally got an cut oft any by SBA that no i until the of SBA to i to on his way up. ”11 I will be successful.” ba says < Jefferson victim of white flight (Continued from page 1 eol. 8) have to do?” He also said that tk dtotriet has to make m o » of an effort to encourage white students and students with “richer" backgrounds to * ” **“ 1 Jefferson. Contrary to what people may believe, the Jefferson area to predominately white. According to B arrett, tha i only 28 par cent minority in 1870. although in 1972 Jefferson High School itself had a 42 per east minority Superintendent Robert Blanchard also ‘ iaeatiafaetion “with the de- otf success” of efforts to attract to Jefferson. noting that ha to currently looking into tha students by Benson High aid indicated that he will The eoaUtioo will hold a at Jeffsreon High School Friday lfcOO aun. te detail ito Small Business administration under fir* (Continued Jattua ta tU Ztitoi Prison justice not fair To The Editor: A Oregon.' But Harold Ham- to stop talking, so the told him to “shut up” or else. A t time I said. “There to no rule ♦■tiring in the shower and it’s done all the time without any complaints from anyone else. William Farmer confirmed my statement. But by then there were several more office» standing around us. Sgt. Good told us to beck away because the officer gave the man (Hamid Hammick) a direct order, so we moved away. A t this I started to explain to Sgt. Good what had happened and that I thought the officer was wrong. Sgt. Good told me that “even though the officer was wrong they were forced to back him up because of us (the inmates) who spoke out against the verbal ex talking about example of “Government in Can one justify wrong? Can one give a legitimate being incompetent? In a society such as ours (which is under “God”) should one be committed to the “right” of policy or to the “left” of policy? Or should one be committed to the Truth? Take for example the incident that took place inthe shower area on May 6, 1977, that resulted in three (8) Black men being put in the hole (SAI) for four months. Harold Hammick, William Farmer and myself. Johnny Polite. It all started when an officer stepped up to tw o men who were showering next to me and told them to shut up. The men were talking (to each other) about oporto. Then a few minutes later he (same officer) approach ed two more men (both Black) and told them to “shut up” and they too change.” They (the administrator) gave us a “hearing” and they also had an “investi gation”. During which time they inter viewed seven or ten inmates, w itnesses ■nd four or five staff members (officers) who couldn't get th eir atones right. A fter we had spent six (8) days in the hole (84:1) they sentenced the three of us to four months in S A I. W e have been here in th e hole for (88) days for “aaking” to be treated like men and human beings. A sk yourself these questions: Is it the out of date and conjested design of the shower room? W as it intentional or an accident? Is racial prejudice a part of the cause? Is i t ignorance and/or incompetence? D r is it all of the above? T h e decision is y o u » (The tiers) but, I ask — Any citizen out in the free world - 1 dare you! I d are you to pick up your phone and call down here to Salem (the prison) to see if this is true or not. Mind you! I asked for a re sponsible citizen. Now, ask yourself, is tliis you? Johnny Polite Box 8866 lo t P ortland O b s e rv e r Published every Thursday by Exie Publishing Compaioy. 2201 North Killingsworth, Hartland, Oregon 97217. Mailing address: P .0 . B o x 3 1 3 7 , Portland.’Oregon 97208. Telephone 28 3 2488. ONPA1978 lot O N FA1878 Subscriptions: S7.60 per year in the Tri-County area, |i8 .0 0 per year outside Portland. N N F A 1978 Paid at Portland. Oregee. ALFRED L. HENDERSON The Portland Observer's official position is express* d only in its Publisher's column (We See The World Through Bls.ck Eyes). Any other material throughout the paper to the opini.on of the individual writer or submitter and jdoe« not necessar ily reflect the opinion of the New York ? A f hA ft F Association MEM0W. W L IPEP Association - P om 'toed fSS* it Award N B A 1*78 Justice a game e f chance To The Editor: Td like to W hat does justice took like to behind the wall? One 22 year old into this prison with a af five His crime: breaking into a if you were to come hare, look at the records, talk to the people involved, they might tell yon the coke machine waa in a building, they might toll yon he has prior convictions. they might toll you he to wanted in another state, but atrip it all to baaiea: the man broke into a stole 88150. To bring thia man to trial it to extradite him from I don’t know the coots. Ho had a jury trial. A fingerprint expert testified, a janitor testified, a teacher tootified. The probably at toast a few Several thousand have been to keep him so far and several more thousand will be spent in the future. An older man in his late thirties came into this prison with a sentence of seven y ean . Hto crime: be murdered a three year old child. Now if you were to come here, look at the records, talk to the people involved, they might tell you he was a man who when to church, a tax payer, a home owner, a voter. But atrip it all down to basics: he killed a three year old child. Thia man has money; the first man did not. A third man in hto sixties went into a Federal prison in Alabama with a sen of 2 ’A to 8 y e a n . Hto crimes: white Crimea. A golf course borders the he lives in and acres of lawn R. There are no walls, no Ho had money. What can justice mean through our eyes? The man in the Alabama prison will walk free before long. The man who killed a child will walk soon. (Murderers are good risks) But the 22 year old kid will «till be in prison, will atUl be going through the "rehabilitation” games. The man in Alabama will probably never go to court again; the man who killed • child might never be heard of again. But they a light l an early oat. The 22 year old U d who didn't have money and who broke into a coke machine will be “treated” “rehabilitated" for ye o n to Ho represents job security to the “corrections” division, from the guard who Opens hto cell to the bead of the Justice Not long ago a Portland judge sen tenced a man to prison that has a drug The judge I lor the man. The judge m id. "You t bo able to got drugs down there." Not long Katos, dtod of an in tha Oregon ] tiary Jnetiee. judges, and a of Rozars SFfCIAL PRKBS 8 Pancakes. Sausage or Ham...81.25 Ham, tw o eg g s....81.50 Bar B-Q Rib Dinner...83.60 Fried Chicken Wing...26c Call in your order 288 5669 NJE. UNION AT AINSWORTH Subscribe to The Portland Observer Trt-County aroa $ 7.60 Nam* Address City other otms $ 6 .0 0
