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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 1977)
to th¿ Ztifa We see the world through Black eyes Look for causes, not 'pound of flesh’ To the Editor mg tuxunea, < W ell, they plan to “low er the boose" m Sure glad 1 w a s a l standing next to a jew elry store window w h m the tights »alarms! etc.) treat out. Not aajriag 1 would have lakea of the unfortunate business - may or may not have had who was still bene charitable enough. coafi vnlcot •ooturh. cn to niaabbl minorities have more a « and obtain higher skills, higher eduta t b a . higher moral teachings aad a strong a r sense of community, what occurred ia New York C ity is hound to occur. Logically and predictably The same could have happened, to a greater or less degree, in say ares - m inority or otherwise - where a substantial number of the residents thought they were being unfairly treated. having to overcome extrem ely formidable barricades in order to achieve a decent human existence. Portland. Oregon is not susceptible to that kind of occurrence, hut we do have enough problems so th at we can, I hope, identify w ith N ew Y o rk, is that right? they w ere taking, ind even cara, by ia U m loeters in N ew York. ’Reverse discriniaotioa’ oiyth of white recisa The Bakke cose brings more interest from the general public os the foil opening of the U.S. Supreme Court nears This case — in which Allan Bakke. o rejected applicant to the University of California M etí'col School at Davis, is charging "reverse discrimination" — will be heard by the Supreme Court this foil. As we begin our third century, this "democracy" is still stained by the legocy of slavery and roc ism Blocks and other minorities are still the object of discrimination in employment, education ond hous ing ond are still destroyed by the police and justice system. Yet the small gams Blacks ate making in employment and in admissions to professional schools are viewed hostily by whites as harming them. Contrary to popular myth, Alton Bakke whould not hove been admitted to medical school even if the spec'ol admissions progrom for he economically and educationally disadvantaged hod not existed. He was a mediocre student and hod been rejected by eleven medical schools. In 1973 there were 35 applicants ohead of him on the admissions list who were not admitted to Davis, ond in 1974 there were 32 applicants ahead of him. The special odmissions program reserved sixteen positions in the class of one hundred for the economically ond educationally disadvantaged — not for racial minorities. White students applied ond were considered, although none were admitted under the program. This has been explained as due to the fact that 90 per cent of the students admitted to Davis are from California and a disproportionate number of California's disadvantaged are Blocks and Chicanos. The special admissions progrom does not use the much maligned "Quota". In some years more than sixteen minority students were odmitted; in others the sixteen reserved slots were not filled. Of great significance is the fact that the students admitted under the special admissions progrom do as well or better than regular students This fact demonstrates that the admissions requirements are at fault ond that they rule out applicants who would be successful students. The California court stated that test scores do not hove to be the only criteria for determining admission of students, that other criteria con be used to judge their potential. In a pencd when there is a shortage of doctors — ® especially in the minority and rural communities — it would seem only logicol that involvement in social concerns, leadership ability, interest in social prob lems and desire to serve would be as important as test scores. The end result if this type of criteria were odded would be a group of doctors with more human concerns. The entire myth of "reverse discrimination" is an attack on the small progress minorities have made in the quest for civil rights. Even a cursory onafysis of employment statistics would show that minorities are still barred from employment and education oppor tunities by discrimination ond in no way are replacing white males (or females) in jobs or in professional schools. This big trauma about "reverse discrimination" is a function of racism and unfortunately is being perpetuated by the white press. It is disgusting to see Portland's major doily editoriolly attacking the gains mode by minorities ond charging "reverse discrim ination" rather than informing its reoders that no omount of "reverse discrimination" would eliminate the debilitating discrimination that exists in this city ond in this state. Rile discriariaates agaiast the poor We have to take exception to the President'» position on federal funding of abortions. By denying federal aid to indigent women who need or want abortions, the government is denying to them a right that is extended to those who have money. This in not in keeping with the President's pledge to make democracy work for everyone — including the financially disodvontoged Although President Carter — and others — may believe abortion is wrong, the withdrawal of federal funds is not the way to settle a religious/moral issue. Rwoor oioogors attack PMSC oi. «1 fight for to m e Portland ia the John Rice, the tool of PM SC e r the PMSC There are those who believe w ith the of PM SC. County poverty depone PM SC and become the grant A rtico er. failing th at, control PM SC its director and or board '■♦»sir Edith The mdude the C ity of Portland. C ousrty. P A C T , and Regioa X . CSA The C ity e f Portland, along w ith the county, provides lim ited funds that are used as the match to obtain federal funds sad appoints members to the PM SC b eard T he C ity aad the County nbo have the option of invokmg the Green Amend- county. In r sem t a m m e funded directly by the Thm would place control of Portland s poverty funds directly b th e hands e f the B egim . w ith m 1 County mey (M C C C A ) - w ith the sessot- . a PM SC foe. e f I n Blalock. I the agency that i W iv e to < fhting to the M C C A A has CSA m y b the local i said ba can maybe privad, poor, hungry the de- ;tha< odds w ith elements e f the PM SC and speeifieaDy w ith the A b b a e gem. P A C T abo appoint! tries on the P M S C bserd aad is said te control th e psrsoo m l committee The reoeeurriag eonfbet between P A C T aad PMSC has been considered by some to be radafly based and by others to be m effort to tak e control of poverty funds by replacing P M SC m the grant agency P A C T director Jim McConnell b eosm- ered to be a strong contender for the office of Executive Director of PMSC. ipoc the of Gikresse s resignation. C ity mooer Connie M cCready called a e f the C ity aad County appoint« PM SC board aad discumed the 1 of accepting Gflcrease's the option of using the Green Amend meat. Sources close to Ms. McCready Some of the employees of R egim X . CSA. would abo have something to g a b if PM SC w ere to fad. Allegedly m em of Oregon projects ' To the r-piay o f three I a the pe sm u ri they bring to « the m a t f iw weeks wfll th e r control of federal poverty funds wiB re m a b b th e control of the peopb through the com munity based PM SC board or wil) pass to beat governm ent W ith the demise of Model Q tim . PM SC is the only remaining program b which citizens. including the noor. control large amounts of federal O N P A 1979 PuM bbed every Thursday by E x it Pubhehbg Company. 2201 North KiUingsworth. R b t b a d . Oregon 97217. M ailing address; P O. Box 3197. Portland.’ Oregon V7206. Telephone 28S-24M. the T ri-C m u ty MOO The Pertlm its Publisher * cotum (W e 8 m Tbe W orld Through 1 ttK j other material the pepar ia the 1 individual writer er the epubm ef the P N ew Verb A A E M 0« O re g o n I Newspaper P u b lis h e rs Asaociftion MA E^Âb> ER la ti O N P A 1979 The school district has also allowed Beaumont - which b w hite - to avoid being paired w ith Sabin as a m id db school. A fte r the Sabin parents had agreed to allow th eir upper graders to go to Beaumont, and the upper grades were removed from Sabin. Beaumont backed out. Sabin's children had to be bussed out to other schools. Those parents w ere not allowed to back out. The same thing happended w ith K ing and Woodlawn. it d e a r that ! am My participated in the fer program from its tw elve years ago - both voluntary and » v o lu n ta ry . I also worked w ith parents in the busing program for tw o years because I belie vert somsaas had to make the Brat effort to change the dwcnmins lory policies th at had been practiced in Portland. I am net against a positive plan th at ia fair and just to ail students. B b ck . w hite among tw o or throe receiving schools, and others. I am against forcing Black this was tw isted around to m y that tLsy children to be bussed and making all had voluntarily allowed th eir children to schools ia the model neighborhood early he bussed. childhood centers. I felt at the recent This program still does not w ork since ocfioot noara roeeim f th at D r. Btanchard these schools are still m ajority Black. th at L as seal aa others who W hite parents who sand th eir children to I w ith him. i early childhood centers take them out when they ranch the first or second grade In th e recent controversy over the aad return them to th e ir neighborhood Newm an plan, the issue of Jefferson High to I If the School Board was really concern ed about Black children they would b t Woodlawn and Vernon remain K-8 or m id db schools and bus Black and w hite children there. 1 have laid toe cards on the table for you. Now if anyone doesn't believe w hat 1 have said, pick op the deck and shuffle in any direction and go look an find your i Loving MLR had cortases growth (Continued from p. 1 cok 21 of the M L K Scholarship, Black folk do have (some) or enough money to coatri bate much more than they now do. In actuality «6 percent of the scholarship s 296.000 to $50.000 rained each year (it to t to i th at kind of money from Portland's r i t y (B bck) community but Pettis wee th a t it can ba raised to $15 far y $100 from the business aad cam- sal m etor. Pettis also makes it d e a r much move difficult it is to raise sy than tw o or throe years ago o r in mid -sixties. The economic picture is h tigh ter, fund raising competitioo h tougher and more of it and major w h tt , w hat are they doing (giving to support you?). The result of all this n a $10.000 fund drive s i t ending through the fall of 1577. Its purpose: (si Publicise the scholarship to the m inority community sad ovsr all t ? « «2* Pettis explained the philosophy of the scholarship fund: "A constant and recurring theme of D r. King was judging a man by the content of ra th e r than the color of In order to develop that s must be exposed to more meaningful aad We' qUaHtT-xiw rioneea. W .(M in o r ity m inority community support to 1» per cant, (el Convince the businessmen who the scholsrship depends upon, th at the minority community is d o b g all it can an its own behalf, (d) Develop momentum into late 1977 and early *78 for fund corporations. The cans, barrels and signs “Give-A- Dsmn, G tve-A-Budt or M ore." it's for the m uM mental aad emotional __ . , g we talk about so m ud ia be had through educa tion and aU these qualities the M L K . J r. students continue to display. W e are ia the process of m aking Reverend King's Dream a reality through education." Naw moral fervor in Black laadship 1 col. 3) to the first b the The tra e igfaa aad m orality, aabm world, but - 1— to the C h ria tb a aad Je- ^ O m o f the mteUectuslly p a b ta b b brand of Islam. Muhammad views him self aa the "revi vor of the faith." aad ha h m openly is careful to emphasise either a ra m of agreement b principle w ith, o r carefully guarded en tieb m of. figures seen as radical, such as Ugandan Preasdent-for life Idi A m b . One of the most overlooked leaders on tbe eriO rights seem is the Reverend M artin L uth er King. Sr. "Daddy King." as he b called, hm all but eclipsed hb of the Southern Conference, the righta figurao office. Dennis Whitlow School was just a small part o f the injustice Black students sad parents have safSered aad are suffering. The School Board missed the essence of the dispute. This issue b small compared w ith making all the Albina area schools into early childhood education centers to accelerate the dispersal of Black children. Some parents did not w ant th eir children bussed for a va riety of reasons, so they w ere forced to bus th eir children by cutting the upper grades from the schools. T o make it even w orm , when the Seattle Portland Obsorvor Subecriptime; $7 JO per year year outside Portland. i o f R e g im X w ith D ire c t fu n d b g of the Sincerely. For integration, against injustice m unity. he aays. b really n m and the PACT, a PMSC I esther the C ity e r the County the grant agency. PM SC ■ a private. eh meets the ret forth by C S A to be the I l - F I E D L HEM M E3M O N by Riehard I th e Office o f now CSAJ. ne Region X C a rter ino g*-. sad lernt« ia üm ghetto. B U T . il would hava m ighty tem ptin'. know w hat I Evidently. the ghstto supposed to i concept of C A SH exchange value. 1 am convinced that most of the looters arrest ed in N ew Y o rk C ity wore the average poor folks. The sbo'nuff thieves - very few of them got caught. The th ief already had hia getaway shot planned. H e didn't suck around no hot spot b a g anyway But. "the public must have its pound of flesh.' said the young D A . of Manhattan, “and I'm going to give it to th aw ." hat he "knows sad under »uses." A ad therein baa the tragedy. U n til Blacks. Chicanos. Puerto Ricans. Indians; the d arker (easily recog- (the maay now-impoi eerporate offiaais foOoeved to get th oir poastm u m the b b d e l. b the Reveroad Deujämin Lawson Hooks. Hooka w m the firat Black to terve m the Federal kat w m a Memphia Judge. A t one to m . Hooka headed church b both Memphis aad D w fiery eloquence now pro- m b m at least a smoldering - if not blazing - new religious, moralistic, old time-civil rights message from the N a tional Aaeoebtion for the Advancement of Colored Peopb. which he has headed ■ace succeeding Roy W ilkins August 1st. Hooks abo pomesses aa apparently genuine sensitivity to the problems aad conditions th at produce hard line rhetoric among m ilitant Black youtk. Publicly be S th P bce Woodlawn N N PA 1979 (Continued from p. 1 col. 41 Adams High School for the 1977 78 school year. M rs. Edna Baakett will be the A d a a b b tra tiv e Asesstant for the eighth Reverend Ralph Abernathy A nother religious leader who h m per b yed k b own comnutmeot to the move political and corporate influence b tbe Reverend Leon Sullivan, an eloquent proponent of the "green power” philo- tophy. Sulhvan. who serves on the boards of directors of several powerful corporations including General Motors, works quietly b comparison to the Jacksons and the Youngs from the P h ib d etp hb headquarters of h b Oppor tumties Industrialization Centers (O IC ). O IC programs, w ith the substantial help of federal funds, have been eeteh- luhed in dozens of cities. And O IC rivals the more prestigious and media-conscious Urban League with tens of million* it, like the League, spends on job training sad inner-city manufacturing and man power development. The only m ajor B bck figure w ith a national bam who b not a religious leader or government official is Vernon Jordan. pom iM y the moot im portant lander 00 the civil rights scene at the moment. Aa a result of h b A tlan ta "root«.” Jordan remains a c b m advisor to Pre® dent C a rter, despite th e ir heated public dialogue during the Urban League con ference. H e abo has the doeet B bck connections w ith the corporate commu nity. Meanwhile. Black movement figures of the m ilitant period of the late 1980e repair th e ir own broken-down machines of the next surge of j the nation's Blacks, a b o 'ey the growing po larisation evinced by th e recent sharp C a rter Jordan exchange. Angela Davis u still making frequent appearances on the lecture circuit. Huey Newton h m returned to the U.S. to resume lead e rship of the Black P anther P arty. And Stokely Carmichael darts b and out of the country from h b home b Guinea. W est A frica, for college speaking The Black m ilitant “fringes" and the mainstream civil rights and religious leaders alike are regrouping - all cau tiously aw are th at a e b a r change h m taken place b the methods and crite ria and ro b models from which the Black m asses w ill choose th eir leaders in the late 1970s and early 1980s. 0 b tbe Subscriba to The Portland Obsorvor VW A 1979 ta b t e August G epim nf the tim e schedule aad bus s to p b e a tio u wiU be mailed to parents in ad d -A ag m t. M r. Mathias of sta dsut traasportatw n can be reached at 288- 5861. e x te m b a 74. D u rin g the remodeling period, an office sriU he m s b ts b e d b a p ortab b building at Woodlasm School M r. Nskvsstl. . aad Douglas A P-beipaJ w ill w ork with the to supervise the b ate. The office ' for Woodlawn School b 2884899. TK -C aunty area 0 7 4 5 0 * « N om a A ddrast City othar «roas O B O O