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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 11, 1977)
K r» F ra n c e » U n iv e r s ity S c h o e n -.te s u p a p s r o r O re g o n L i e r i t-u g e n o , O re g o n 9 7 4 0 3 H »RTLAND ■ < r '-'f - « OBSER I 7 Ne. 88 11, 1977 10c Project Mobility win» notional recognition C A R L E N E JACKSON Carlene Jackson, a Training Coordina tor for the State of Oregon and project leader on the state's Upward Mobility project, will represent Oregon at the International Personnel Management Association's Annual Conference in Chi cago. October 3-5, 1977. According to Ms. Genevieve Lind. Manager of the Personnel Division Train ing Unit, “The Upward Mobility demon stration project coordinated by Mrs. Jackson, was one of several chosen from over 100 applications submitted nation wide to the Midwest Intergovernmental Personnel Council." The criteria used to select the award winning projects was the transportability of the project, the universality of the problem, and the documentation of re sults. including evaluation of effective ness. Another important consideration was how directly the project addressed personnel m anagem ent problems through new and innovative approaches. Upward Mobility is the second step to Affirmative Action. I t is a program designed to insure that once minorities and women are brought into an organisa tion, they are allowed and encouraged to move up through the various levels of that organisation. The state's Upward Mobility project was a plan to take the various components of upward mobility and apply them in a specific organisa tional setting in one of the state agencies. Mrs. Jackson wrote a 125 page report describing the Upward Mobility project and listing the findings and recommenda tions. This report was also submitted for consideration. Mrs. Jackson, wifs of Eugene Jaekson, has been employed by the state since 1978, as a Training Coordinator in the Executive Department. The Upward Mobility project was one of several major areas she has worked on since she was first hired in the training unit. a - » • CoRcordia community fights housing development The Concordia Neighborhood Associa tion is again struggling with the Housing Authority of Portland to maintain the quality of their neighborhood. The neighbors of the Dekum Court project have had a series of problems with HAP, including poor maintenance of the grounds, street parking, and the efforts of H A P to develop their adjoining pro perty. The Association members recently learned through the press that H A P is planning to sell the property for private development and last week obtained a promise that the property will not be sold for sixty days while the City Planning Commission considers the Association's request to rezone the property for single dwelling units. The property is currently soned for multiple dwellings. The ten seres in question were origi nally sold to the City of Portland by Arnold and Velma Eggar for $1.00. in 1941. The federal government took possession through condemnation and in 1942 built eighty-six units. These units were operated by H A P under a lease sgreement with the federal government and were restricted to use of A ir Force personnel stationed at the Portland A ir Base. The property was acquired by H A P at a cost of $1.00, in 1962, with the stipulation that if the property was sold at a profit, the proceeds would revert to the federal government. Because hous ing was needed through the Korean W ar. H A P did not take possession until 1965 at the time of the change of use to non military families, the neighbors protest ed, having believed the “war housing” to be temporary. In 1906, a Dekum Court Redevelop ment survey was completed to determine the best way to redevelop the site and increase the housing density. The plan accepted was to raze the old units and build 201 new units in three phases. By 1971 the number of units planned was decreased to 146, the first 40 units (Phase I) were built and the old units destroyed. Phases I I and IH did not materialise due to lack of public housing funds. In 1975 H A P again proposed to build and received approval to construct 50 new units and a community center building. The Concordia Neighborhood Associa tion opposed the building of new units. During meetings with H A P , citizens urged that the property be sold to city for a park or traded for other property more suitable for public housing. They were told by a H A P spokesman that a private developer could build as many as 200 » Its« il » " i units on the site. The Association was win over The Pits I also told that federal regulations would not allow sale of the property. The Concordia Association met with various public agencies including the Portland Public Schools. Portland Police the Outsiders had harassed passersby, Bureau, Portland Traffic Bureau, Port Two public meetings have been held had blocked the street and sidewalk, and land Public Works, and the Portland Fire regarding the controversial Outsiders referred to Blacks as “niggers." Members Department to assess the impact of 60 motorcycle dub and it ’s relationship to of the “Brothers Free” motorcycle dub, a the Black community. The Outsiders (Please turn to p. 2 col. 4) family oriented dub with Black and white currently occupy a house on N . Williams members, said they had been threatened Avenue. by members of the Outsiders. James Loving, chairperson of the N .E . L t. Daly agreed to take new informa Coalition, called a special meeting on tion from the witness and to determine August 4th in response to members of the why the police report was in error. Those contributors and alumni, but as soon as Boise community. Information was pre present decided to refer the problem to there was a program for Blacks it was sented alleging that a man thought to be the Northeast Police Precinct Council, a member of the Outsiders had dischar challenged. “Society can do anything it meeting August 9th. wants." Five points were added to civil ged a shotgun at three Black men on July During the Precinct Council meeting, a service score for veterans and nothing 28th, injuring one of them. Witnesses number of issues surfaced: 1) Lack of alleged that it took the Police Bureau 45 was said; ten points were added for those action by the police; 2) the presence in wounded. “Society decided it would do minutes to respond and that no arrest the Black community of a group that something. I t said ‘because we have was made. exhibits objectionable behavior, 8) con L t. Daly of the Police Bureau read taken years of your life we will reward flicts between the Outsiders and the you.* W e want to say to America, *You parts of the police report, which stated Brothers Free. have taken all of our lives, so now we that none of the witnesses could identify No explanation of the police report the assailant. The police officers (eleven want a reward.* errors has been made. L t. Daly reported Admonishing those Black» who do ears responded) went to the Outsider’s that no arrest has been made and none is achieve success to help others, Hooks house, were refused admittance, but expected because there does not appear spoke to the president of the Portland reminded the audience that many of to be a convictable case. He would not those who have good jobs owe them to and Tacoma dubs who told them no one share the reasons for this assumption the work of the N A A CP. “You have no In the house was involved. without permission of the witness, who A witness who was at the August 4th business talking about who you are when was not present. meeting said the police report was in you're too cheap to pay 86 to 810 to join Citizens are concerned about their error in several regards and that he and the NAA CP." safety and the safety of their families In D r. King’s speech, he also said, “I another witness had told the officers at since there has been violence attributed have seen the promised Iandi” Somehow, the scene that they could identify the to the Outsiders. The men who were shot suspect. we will make it. Hooks said. at on July 28th were not motorcycle Additional allegations were made, that 'Outsider»’ presence alarms neighborhood NAACP leader predicts success On his first visit to Portland as executive director of the NAA CP, Ben jamin Hooks told members and friends gathered at Vancouver Avenue Baptist Church. “W e shall get there.” Recalling the speech of D r. Martin Luther King made the night before his death, in which King referred to the “dark and different days ahead,” Hooks called King “touched by the hand of God to be a prophet to America.” A t the time of King’s death, many in the civil rights movement felt the goal had nearly been achieved. Equal Oppor tunity laws had been passed, whites had joined the movement, the President had said, "We Shall Overcome." Yet King had a phophetic vision of dark days to come. Hooks named some of the major prob facing the world today - war in Africa; the near collapse of democracy in India and religious war in Ireland; and in America, “in Boston, the eradel of liberty, the home of Crispus Attacks and Paul Revere, white folk stone little children.” Attacking the concept of “reverse discrimination," Hooks said in California a medical school came to admit the tradition of excluding minorities and women and decided the time had come to make up for it. The University set aside sixteen places for minorities. “Then a white man who had all the benefits of a segregated society said it was unconsti tutional.” Saying that of 8,000 dentists graduated last year, only 187 were Black and of those only 66 attended white schools, said if the U.S. Supreme Court upholds Bakke's allegation of “reverse discrimi nation” the civil rights movement will have to start all over. “The fact is that schools hsve had special admissions pro grams always” - for football players, basketball players, musicians, sons of big Portland youth win» national scholarship b y th e U i Laurie Kemp, a freshman at George Fox College, is one of ten winners in the nation-wide Liggett Group Essay Contest sponsored by the Liggett Group and the National Urban League. Ms. Kemp received a 8600 scholarship award. A resident of Portland, she plans to attend the University of Washington during her 1978-1979 school year. The essay contest was open to all college undergraduates. The 200 to 600 word essays addressed the subject, “Education and Equal Opportunity in a Free Enterprise Society". They were judged for originality, organization and style, grammar, spelling, punctuation and neatness. Ms. Kemp was sponsored by the Urban League of Portland. Winners were selected by the Educa tion Advisory Committee of the National Urban League and were announced at the National Convention. Ms Kemp’s winning essay follows; Countries practicing the free enter prise economic system profess to be the “Lands of Equal Opportunity,” but their treatment of racial and religious minori ties, women, immigrants, and the po verty stricken, throughout history, tell a different story. The free enterprise system, dating back to the Industrial Revolution of the late eighteenth cen tury, is based upon the ideology of capitalism. Characteristics of capitalism are private ownership of property, goods produced for profit, bank credit, fluctuat ing economic conditions (prosperity to depression), consumer choice, individual participation in economic enterprise, and choice of occupation; however, free en terprise societies do not offer all their citizens equal opportunity to own p ro party, choose their occupation, or enter into economic enterprise because of the social and economic class system. Money is required to exercise these freedoms, and money is what poor people hsve little of. Capitalism is dependent upon eosnpe- (Photo: tltion, whether private or corporate; hence, for persons to compete fairly, they must have somewhat the same oppor tunities. Equal opportunity deals with the freedom of choice: every individual should have the opportunity to compete. To utilize this freedom properly, one must learn its potential. Uneducated people are the first to be exploited in a society where emphasis is placed on making money. Education is the founda tion on which equal opportunity for all is built, in a free enterprise society. Education is an important equating base in a capitalist society, where one’s education and occupation determine one's social status and economic lifestyle. A sin most other economic systems, the capita list society believes that a professional with a special skill or knowledge should receive above average pay for services; but to qualify, one must spend years of study and coot in a long-term investment at a speciality school, whore upon grad uation the individual takes his or her place in the community as a doctor, lawyer, judge, or dentist. Poor people rarely have the opportunity to attend such expensive, academically demanding institutions. “Education long has been recognised u one of the important ways in which the promise of America (or any free enter prise society) - equality of opportunity - can be fulfilled." • P art of prospering in any economic system is having seif-confi (Please turn to p. 2 col. 4) r riders but were members of the commu nity. Some persons expressed the opinion that the presence of groups who are openly racist in their behavior should not be tolerated. Conflict between the two motorcycle clubs appears to be based on both racism and a difference in style. A spokesperson for the Outsiders told the group that Blacks are not accepted as members and that members of the Outsiders “probab ly” had told Black motorcyclists that they could not form a club or “fly colors.” He said that he had “earned" his “colors” and that any group of cyclists would find themselves hassled and “at w ar” with other clubs, that being the style of motorcycle clubs. He denied that the Outsiders continue to oppose the Bro thers Free or that they had harassed community members. Stating that the Outsiders have been in this community for ten years, he said they own the house on Williams and will not be put out. He added that they have attempted to find a place to live away from other residences, but have not been successful. Spokesmen for the Brothers Free explained that theirs is a more family and community oriented club. Many members have been friends for years and last January decided to form a club. They (Please turn to page 6 col. 3) Hkks enforces federal contract roquiremonts A1 Hicks, Regional Director of the Office of Civil Rights for the Environ mental Protection Agency in Seattle, has the responsibility of overseeing EPA's affirmative action program and making sure grantees and contractors for E PA projects meet federal requirements for minority employment. As Regional D ir ector, M r. Hicks has jurisdiction over contracts awarded by E P A in Alaska, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. Before joining E P A in 1971, he was with H U D ’s regional office in Seattle as Director of the Equal Housing Opportun ities Office. Previous government in volvement also included the position of Chief of Contracts and Property Manage ment for OEO. Originally from Texas, M r. Hicks re ceived a law degree from Texas Southern University in Houston and worked os an attorney for Boeing’s Procurement De partment in Seattle before becoming involved in civil rights enforcement. His approach to assuring compliance with regulations that must be met concerning affirmative action and equal employment opportunities on any federal contract awarded over $100,000 can be illustrated by actions he took last year to enforce them. A sewage treatment plant was under construction in Salem, and the prime contractor had agreed to acquire minor ity sub-contractors and suppliers for the project. Finding the contractor in non- compliance. Hicks had no hesitation about cutting off further payments until regu lations were met. He personally arranged for meetings between the parties invol ved - the prime contractor, city officials, and complainants, and traveled from Seattle to attend them. These efforts were sufficient to encourage the contrac tor to comply with the affirmative action requirements, and marked Hicks as a man who took his job seriously and meant business. Last year, a project in Astoria resulted in a precedent setting court decision for Hicks. The federal regulations regarding equal employment opportunities state that minorities must be represented “in all crafts and trades." In this particular situation, there was a lack of minority participation in Local 701 - Operating Engineers - the tractor and cat operators. Contacted by Hicks, the contractor laid the blame on the union for not supplying the minority workers. Determining the union remiss in the search process, Hicks found himself in a tricky situation when the union walked off the job. The only solution as far as he could see was to challenge them in court. The court ruled in his favor and found that the union must find other sources for (Please turn to p. 2 col. 4) A L HICKS
