Portland observer., October 27, 1977, Page 2, Image 2

Pag,. 2
Portland Observer
Thursday. October 27, 1977
W e see the ivorld
through Black eyes
Buy Black
Now who’s delaying?
Last Friday a nd S aturday Black e le cte d o ffic ia ls
fro m O re g o n a nd W ash in gton m e t in Portland.
A m o n g th e topics d e a lt w ith in the S aturday
w orkshops w as m in o rity business e n te rp rise M a n y
o f th e speakers a n d m em bers o f the a u d ie n c e
expressed concern a b o u t the m any d iffic u ltie s fa ce d
by Black business.
W h ile this m e e tin g w as ta kin g p la c e at the Benson
H otel, several B la ck-o w n e d estab lish m en ts w e re
e m p ty. C o u ld n 't this m e e tin g have b ee n h e ld at the
^ s q u ir e C lub, the Elks, or even in a church basem ent?
X o u ld n 't th e $6 00 lun che on have been ca tered by a
’ Black g ro u p ?
> In v a ria b ly w h e n Black o rg a n iz a tio n s h o ld th e ir
^conferences a nd co n ve n tio n s th ey fa il to u tiliz e Black
lousiness. N e ith e r do they consider Black businesses
w h e n th e y d o th e ir purcha sing a n d o th e r business.
W e lo o k fo rw a rd to the d a y w h e n the Black
e le cte d o ffic ia ls w ill not just ta lk b u t w ill use th e ir
o rg a n iza tio n s, as w e ll as th e ir position s, to p ro m o te
m in o rity business e n te rp rise . It is a little d iffic u lt to
d e m a n d o f the w h ite c o m m u n ity w h a t w e fa il to do
■ ourselves.
Choice not fair
The B oard o f Education has a p p ro v e d the b u ild in g
o f a ll-w e a th e r tracks a t Lincoln a n d W ilson H igh
Schools. This is a g o o d id e a — th e re is a n ee d fo r the
tracks. The o n ly th in g w ro n g w ith th e p la n is the
source o f th e m oney.
The m a in te n a n c e a n d re n o v a tio n le vy, passed by
the voters, w as d e sig n e d to p ro v id e m o n e y fo r re p a ir
o f d ila p id a tin g school b u ild in g s - fa llin g c e ilin g s ,
le a k in g pipes, w o rn o u t roofs, etc.
A p p a re n tly no* as m uch m o n e y w as n e e d e d as
w as p ro ie c te d because this m on ey is b e in g used fo r
m a jo r changes in schools to p ro v id e fo r e a rly
c h ild h o o d e d u ca tio n centers a nd m id d le schools.
The m o |o r p ro b le m w ith the p la n th o u g h , is the
w a y the m o n e y is d iv id e d e q u a lly a m o n g th e th re e
a d m in is tra tiv e areas. A reas II a n d III s till d esire
m a |o r re n o v a tio n p rojects but have used th e ir m o n e y
on essential re p a irs a n d on those b u ild in g s re n o v a ­
tio ns to a ccep t ECE centers and m id d le schools. Some
o f th e ir necessary w o rk w ill h ave to w a it a n o th e r
year.
For e x a m p le , G re g o ry H eights, w h ic h w ill
b eco m e a m id d le school, needs $1 m illio n to re p a ir
its b u ild in g s , b u t o n ly h a lf o f this can be d o n e next
year. The rest w ill h ave to w a it.
On the o th e r h an d, A re a I, w ith its th re e n e w hig h
«chool buildings, needed few e r repairs and renova­
tions. They g e t the sam e a m o u n t o f m o n e y — so th e y
d e c id e d to b u ild a ll-w e a th e r tracks.
O th e r item s
W ilson m e n tio n e d as b e in g n e e de d w e re a co vered
s w im m in g p o o l a nd n e w te nn is courts.
Luxuries, you ask? No. C h a irm a n R 'd g le y re p lie d ,
a fte r a ll, th e y d id n 't a c tu a lly ask fo r a co vered
s w im m in g p o o l or the tennis courts, th a t co u ld have
co m e to h a lf a m illio n dollars.
1957
The d ecision o f the House A p p ro p ria tio n s C o m m it­
tee th a t the n e w V A h ospital sh o u ld be b u ilt on the
E m anuel site c le a rly points o ut the p o litic a l strug gle
in v o lv e d
The p re lim in a ry study sh o w e d that E m anuel w as
th e best site, b u t under p o litic a l pressure th a t
c o m m itte e d e c id e d fo r M a rq u a m H ill.
W h e n R epresentative D uncan, C om m issio ne r Jo r­
d an a nd others pushed fo r the E m anuel site, th ey
w e re accused o f p la y in g p o litic s a nd d e la y in g the
h o s p ita l.
Then the city p la n n in g com m issio n study fa v o re d
Em anuel. A g a in th e pro po ne nts o f E m anuel site was
accused o f p la y in g p olitics.
N o w th e House C o m m itte e has a g re e d th a t the
E m anuel site is best. Do C ongressm en Les A u C oin
a nd those w h o w a n t the M a rq u a m H ill site a ccep t the
d e cisio n . No. S till b la m in g the o the r g ro u p fo r the
d e la y , th ey are ta lk in g a b o u t ta k in g th e ir cause to
the fu ll House w ith fu ll scale hearings.
If he is re a lly intereste d in g oo d m e d ic a l care fo r
veterans, A u C oin should accept th e e v id e n c e th a t
E m anuel is by fa r th e best site fo r it a nd let it be b u ilt.
He has o fte n said th a t the fig h tin g o ver th e site c o u ld
e n d a n g e r the fu tu re o f the h osp ital. So it is tim e fo r
h im to ta ke his o w n a d vice a nd stop fig h tin g .
Want crop pickers?
The C o le g io Cesar C havez is s till fig h tin g fo r its
e xistence. It is a crim e th a t the sm all school — one
w h ic h takes students no o the r c o lle g e w a n ts — has to
spend so m uch tim e just fig h tin g to su rvive.
W e a re ta u g h t th a t hard w o rk a nd e a rn in g m o n e y
are th e A m e ric a n w a y -- those w h o are not a b le to
c o m p e te and e x c e ll are s o m e h o w in fe rio r. Yet w e
do n ot p ro v id e th e tools necessary fo r this e c o n o m ic
c o m p e titio n .
The C hicanos w h o a tte n d C o le g io are m ostly o ld e r
students, fo rm e r m ig ran ts, w h o are s trivin g to m ake
th em selve s e m p lo y a b le in a m od ern c a p ita lis t
society. They a re seeking th e e d u c a tio n that w ill
e n a b le them a nd th e ir c o m m u n itie s to “ lift th e m ­
selves o ut o f p o v e rty ."
W hy has th ere b ee n no h e lp ? C o u ld n 't our tw o
U.S. Senators h a v e a p p ro v e d sp ecial le g is la tio n to
fo rg iv e th e ir HUD m o rtg a g e :
W hy c o u ld n 't our
Senators a nd R epresentatives h a v e in te rc e d e d to
o b ta in grants fo r this school?
W h e re w as the state? W o u ld n 't th e G o v e rn o r's
expression o f concern m ean s o m e th in g in W a sh in g ­
ton? Has he trie d to save this school?
<*
It does seem th a t -- w ith a ll th e m o n e y this country
spends on e d u c a tio n — s o m e th in g co u ld h o v e been
done.
M a y b e th ere is a n o th e r a nsw er. M a yb e so m eone
w a n ts to keep these p e o p le in th e ir p la ce. W ith a
sh o rta g e o f crop -p ickers, w h o w ants C hicanos to
le a rn to run com puters or to w rite poe try? Better
ke e p th em in th e fie ld s w h e re th ey b e lo n g !
PROGRESS
Oohnwy Jones
1977
personnel
D ivisio n
PlfigCTOR
Johnny Jones
personnel D ivision
A F FIR M A TIV E ACTION
DIRECTOR
Black, white employment gap grows
W A S H IN G T O N - Employment gap»
between Black and white workers widen
ed between 1975 and 1976, according to
findings of new tabulations released by
the U.S. l^ b o r Department's Bureau of
laibor Statistics.
Based on data of the 29 largest
metropolitan areas for which data are
available for comparison, improvements
in both employment and unemployment
for Black workers were apparent in only
eleven areas.
In most of the remaining large metro
polilan areas for which data are available,
the percentage of the Black population
with a job decreased, or their unemploy
ment increased, or both. As a result,
employment gaps between Black and
white workers widened over the year in a
majority of the areas, as has been evident
for the Nation as a whole.
Of the 29 largest metropolitan areas in
the survey, unemployment rates de­
creased in nineteen areas between 1975
and 1976.
During this same period, in most of
these areas the percentage of the popula
tion with jobs was increasing, indicating
recovery from the 1974 1975 recession.
Other findings reflect that the unem
ployment rates of Black workers in cities,
suburbs, and metropolitan areas as a
whole were considerably higher than
those of white workers in 1976, and
except among women - the percentage of
$7.50
Black teenagers were less than one
tenth of the Black labor force, but
comprised about one fourth of Black
unemployment in 1976. One in every
three Black teenagers in the Nation lived
in the central cities of the thirty largest
metropolitan areas.
In seven of the
eleven large cities, Black teenage unem
ployment rates were forty percent or
higher
more than twice the rate for
white teenagers in five of the seven
cities. (Particular caution should be used
in interpreting these rates because of
large sampling errors.) Along with high
unemployment. Black teenagers had very
low employment population ratios • few
er than twenty percent of Black youth in
these seven cities had jobs.
Unemployment rates of adult Black
men (twenty years old and over) were
three times as high as those of white men
and 1975. Thus, the 1976 median family
income of $14.960 is still lower - in terms
of 1976 constant dollars
than the 1973
peak of $15,440.
Reflecting the improvement of the
economy during 1976, the number of
persons classified as poor declined by
approximately 900,000 between 1975 and
1976, from 25.9 million to 25.0 million.
This was in contrast to the prereeding
two years when the number of poor went
up by 2.5 million between 1974 and 1975
and by 1.3 million between 1973 and 1974.
The report is based on a nationwide
survey of 65,500 households during
March 1977 and also includes the follow
ing findings:
• W hite families had a median income
of $15,540 in 1976 which represented a
three percent constant dollar increase
over 1975 following a three percent
constant dollar decrease from 1974 to
1975.
In contrast, the 1976 median
income of Black families ($9,240) showed
no statistically significant change in real
terms either from the previous year or
from 1974 to 1975. In 1976 the median
income of families of Spanish origin
($16,260) showed in significant statistical
change from 1975 in real terms after a
decline of eight percent between 1974 and
1975.
• The 1976 median income of families
in the South ($13,420) and the North
Central ($15,940) regions both represent
ed an increase in real terms of four
percent. There was some evidence that
the 1976 median family income in the
West ($15,480) was two percent higher
than in 1975. But the 1976 median income 4
of families in the Northeast ($15,410)
region did not represent a statistically
significant change in real terms.
• Of the 56.7 million families in the
U.S. in March 1977. 10.1 million (17.8
percent) received incomes of $25,000 or
more in 1976. There were 18.1 million
families (32 perrent) with incomes be
tween $15,000 and $25,000; 11.5 million
families (20.2 percent) with incomes
between $10,000 and $15,000; 11.1 million
(19.6 percent) with incomes between
$5,000 and $10,000; and 5.8 million fami
lies (10.3 percent) with incomes below
$5,000.
JLetiMi. to tke, £diioi
Prison no place fo r re h a b ilita tio n
To the Editor:
Your editorial about Billy W hitmire
raised some important questions. 1 find it
hard to believe that there are judges who
profess to believe prison is a positive
influence in light of all the Federal
studies, dozens of books and television
documentaries pointing to the contrary.
There exists, it seems, a wide chasm
between what actually happens in here
and what the public is lead to believe by
judges and guards. There are men who
come to prison, readjust their lives, and
never return; but they do that in spite of
the added oppression of the "rehabilita
tion" sham, not because of it.
America imprisons a larger percent of
its population than any country in the
world.
This is not likely to change
anytime soon; there are simply too many
millions of dollars available for the people
running "corrections" to have them vol
untarily give it up.
Recently an article appeared in a paper
about the fact that the prison population
had been reduced by forty men in a per ,
■od of two months. It was noteworthy.
But the same psychology is being used by
the "corrections” division as a storeowner
who puts a 39c item on his shelf, marks it
69c, draws a line through the 69c, and
puts a sign above the shelf
Special
Today 49c. The prison population should
never have risen so much in the first
place nor kept so high for so long.
The prison population noticeably in­
creases in the months prior to the
legislature's appropriation of so much
money per head. That's not hard to
understand; more prisoners equal more
money.
But to understand why the
prisoner population is maintained at a
description of the Soviet Courts in the
1930's in a book by, Salzhenitsyn.
It
would seem logical that a psychiatrist
(one who is not working on the same
rehab team) would find such "reasoning”
processes to be schizophrenic if not
hysterical. A prisoner is force fed this
type of “reasoning" from sun up to
sun down, then disciplined for not re­
specting the sta ff s intelligence. Taking a
man out of civilization in order to civilize
him is one thing, taking all responsihili
ties away to teach him responsibility is
another thing. Forcing him to accept less
than grade school “reasoning" is going a
bit far.
Demanding absolute respect
while giving absolutely no respect in
return is easier to accept.
The staff has at its disposal a plethora
of excuses for every conceivable action.
But, the same "reasoning" processes are
at work as created the "rights" of an
accused prisoner. The same staff that
gives one man six months in prison for a
naughty word gives hundreds of years
more time to several men. And wants it
known to the world when they reduce the
prison population by forty men in two
months. The 69c item is now 49c; Special
Today.
Someday an advanced civilization is
going to dig through the records of O.S.P.
and are going to try to understand the
reasoning processes of "corrections.” It
will find that the staff at Salem, Oregon,
was indignant, when their actions were
questioned, just as a few centuries earlier
the people doing all the correcting at
Salem, Massachusettes were indignant.
high plateau until the next increase, prior
to the appropriation is a bit complicated.
One of several reasons is the taking of
statuary good time by the administration.
In effect, the staff sentences a man to
additional months or years in prison.
During the last several years men have
been sentenced to hundreds of years by
the staff,
bet's use 200 years as an
example. And let's grant that half the
time the staff actually felt justified by
their reasoning for their actions. That
leaves a 100 years of prison time given
out by staff with no trial, no investiga
lion, no lawyer, and an appeal based
solely on what the staff allows on the
record.
Here's one example out of
hundreds:
A few months ago a man reacted to a
guard's harassment and said a "naughty"
word in the guard's presence. Six more
months in prison!
bet's look at the reasoning process of
the "court" that sentenced the man. Frior
to appearing before the court he was
given a "Notice of Hearing" as hundreds
of men for several years have been given
such a Notice. On the Notice the staff
informed him that he had a “...limited
right to call witnesses...” with these
added stipulations: 1) "No inmates may
be called as witnesses..."; 2) “No staff
may be called as witnesses...” and; 3)
“Other persons may not be called as
witnesses..." So it boils down to this: An
accused prisoner has the right to call
witness as long as they are not inmates,
staff, or other persons. Is this rational?
What types of minds could conceive such
statements and pass them off as "rules?"
The only thing I have found remotely
similar to that type of reasoning is the
Sincerely,
Donald Danford
P o rtla n d O b s e rv e r
a Job?
Published every Thursday by Exie Publishing Company, 2201
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The Portland Observer's official position is expressed only in
its Publisher's column (We See The World Through Black
Eyes). Any other material throughout the paper is the opinion
of the individual w riter or submitter and does not necessarily
reflect the opinion of the Portland Observer.
N am e
A L F R E D L. H E N D E R S O N
Editor/Publisher
State
Observer
Box 3137
In 1976, unemployment rales of Black
workers were at least double those of
while workers in fourteen of thirty areas,
in four of the eleven central cities, and
three of the suburban areas for which
1976 data are available. Despite improve
ments from the 1974 1975 rivession low
point, unemployment in most cities is
higher than in 1970
and a decline of
employment population ratius has taken
pluce with minor fluctuations sines- 1970.
Family income last year increased
more than enough to overcome inflation
and produce the first real annual gam for
American families since 1973, the U.S.
Department of Commerce's Bureau of the
Census says in a new report.
The report notes that the median
income of all U.S. families in 1976 was
$14,960. an increase of nine percent over
the 1975 figure. After adjusting for the
six percent rise in prices between 1975
and 1976. the 1976 median family income
(in terms of constant dollars) increased
by $450 or about three percent.
Another piece of good news in the
report: The 1976 poverty population
declined 3.5 percent, or about 900,000
below that of 1975. The poverty thres
hold for a nonfarm family of four in 1976
was $5,815.
The three percent increase in real
median family income marks a sharp
reversal from the downward trend that
had prevailed since 1973, the report says.
Real median family income decreased by
four percent between 1973 and 1974 and
dropped by three percent between 1974
$8.00 ° 'h,r
City
in nine of the thirty metropolitan areas
und in three of these areas they were
more than ten percentage point* higher
than rales of white men. Only one of the
eleven cities had differences this large;
both Black and while men had very high
unemployment in most cities.
The
percent of Black men with jobs was below
that for white men in all exrept four of
the thirty metropolitan areas, all but two
of the cities, and all but one of the
suburban area».
Unemployment rates of Black women
(twenty years old and over) were lower
than their national average (11.3 percent)
in sixteen of thirty largest metropolitan
areas and in eight of the eleven large
cities.
Black women in these ureas also were
more likely to have jobs thun Black
women in the Nation as a whole. Thei
employment population ratios of Black
women in eighteen of the thirty largest
metropolitan areas was higher than the
national average of 46.6 percent. But this
was true in only five of the eleven cities.
The data urea based upon annual
averages obtained from the Current
Population Survey, the monthly survey
of households used to measure national
trends in employment and unemploy
ment. The size of the present survey is
not sufficient to generate reliable month
ly estimates for ureas below the national
level.
Family income beats inflation
AT+cr twenty uears! The result is s t i ll th e Same.
Black unemployment 15 ¿Till raisin g-40% oF younq
1 Blacks st»H can*t get
the population with jobs lemployment
population ratio) was considerably lower.
97208
Z ip
National Advertising Representative
Amalgamated Publishers, Inc.
New York
1 ■i Oregon
III BB Newspaper
Publishers
in Association
MEMBER
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r—
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1st Place
Community Service
O NPA 1973
1st Place
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5th Place
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Honorable Mention
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