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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 3, 1978)
Mrs Frances Schoen-'íews' U n iv e r s it y o f O rejen LU murene, Oregon 97433 y Paulus draws Unas PORTLAND MSD forms Albina district OBSERVER In designing the boundaries of the Portland area’ s new Metropolitan Service District, Secretary of State Norma Paulus sought to distribute population and power equally amongst urban and rural subdistricts with m inim al disruption of established boundary and precinct lines and in so doing retained the in tegrity of the Black community. MSD District 411 encompasses the Eliot. Boise, Humboldt, King, Ver non, Sabin, and Irvington neigh borhoods as well as Concordia and Grant Park — placing a large por tion of the Black community in that district. Not only did she display a sense of political balance in her construction, but Secretary of State Paulus also exhibited a sensitivity to minorities in dividing up the district. Rather than dividing the Black community along the lines drawn by State Treasurer Clay Myers following the 1970 cen sus, which divided the community in to four House districts and four Senate districts, she kept the com munity intact providing for an op portunity for Black input into the districts* political affairs. Mrs. Paulus said she drew the boundaries with five considerations in mind: 1) The Black community; 2) Neighborhood and city areas; 3) A r terial highways and streets; 4) Natural boundaries — most parti cularly the Willamette River; and 5) Building urban and rural interests. Division o f M SD into twelve sub- distnets involved attention to urban, rural and suburban interests as well as the three counties and numerous cities involved. The sub-districts average popula tion is 70,907 persons. “ It was not possible to establish twelve subdistricts with exactly equal population, but we came close,” stated Mrs. Paulus. The Multnomah Service District will take over the responsibilities of the Columbia Regional Association of Governments (C R A G ), which will be dissolved. Eventually it is expect ed to absorb T ri-M et, the Port of Portland and many other area-wide functions. Persons interested in running for the non-paid, p art-tim e board positions can file by 5:00 p.m . August 29th. A fu ll-tim e , paid executive director will also be elect ed. Members of the board and the executive director will be elected at the November 1978 General Flec tion. VANCOUVER PLAINS PORTLAND HILLSBORO MULT. CO. CLACK.CO LAKE OSWEGO KING CITY WASH. CO. CLACK. CO. WILSONVILLE Secretary of State Norma Paulus released the above map of the 12 Metropolitan Service sub-districts. Each sub-district will elect one represen tative to the MSD board. The bulk of the Albina area is contained in District 11, which will insure the opportunity for Black representation. Barnett seeks MSD board seat John Bibb, Albina Tennis Association P.R. Director, falls away from a shot down the sideline. The 5th Annual Albina Tennis Tournament is underway at Irving Park, (See Page 5 Column 4) County program attacks racism The Community Corrections plan adopted by the Multnomah County Board of County Commissioners last week includes $150,000 that is to be used to give special attention to minority offenders. Originally with a separate item in the budget, the program now states that at least $150,000 will go to programs that give attention to minorities, and that affirmative action requirements will be imposed on all contractors sub mitting bids under the program. The C om m unity Corrections program will offer alternatives to imprisonment for non-dangerous class C felons and misdemeanants — persons who commit minor and non violent crimes. The emphasis on programs for m inority offenders stems from the study of the Com munity Corrections Advisory Com mittee which found that “ the crim inal justice system in M u lt nomah County (and elsewhere across the nation) appears to discriminate against minorities, particularly Blacks and Native Americans. Mem bers o f m inority groups have a greater chance o f being arrested, staying in ja il pending tria l, and being sentenced to confinement are much greater.” The Advisory Committee was also concerned about pre-trial imprison ment. “ Incarceration is one o f the harshest sanctions meted out by our criminal justice system. Yet at least one-half o f the persons in M u lt nomah County jails are awaiting trial and presumed innocent. “ Most o f these people could be free while w aiting tria l, at great social and economic savings to the individual and the taxpayers.” Oregon law allows citation in lieu o f arrest and other non-custodial alternatives, but only 21 percent o f persons charged with misdemeanors were cited rather than arrested by the Portland Police Bureau. The County Sheriffs office used citations for 55 percent. About o n e-h alf o f those arrested and jailed are released within 24 hours, but may have lost employment by then. Over 80 per cent o f those arrested and held in jail before trial end up being found not guilty or are not sentenced to jail. These statistics demonstrate that nearly all persons charged with minor crimes could be cited and not booked into jail. In Portland, while 21 percent o f the persons charged w ith misde meanors were cited instead o f arrest ed, only seven percent o f Blacks charged were cited — the other 93 percent arrested. Besides those who should be cited rather than arrested, there are a large number of persons who when jailed must remain overnight or over a weekend because courts are not available to arrange their release. The chance o f being found guilty by a jury is greatly increased if the person is in jail before and during the trial, policies discriminating against Blacks add to the racial imbalance in the persons and jails. The Community Correction A d visory C om m ittee recommended detention used for persons charged with misdemeanors and class C felonies only in aggravated cases and recommended changes in pre-trial processing. This would require that police issue citations to appear in (Please turn to Page 3 Column 2) Nick Barnett, Executive Director o f the M etro p o lita n H um an Relations Commission, is seeking a seat on the new Metropolitan Service District board to represent District 12. Barnett, who is a resident of the Piedmont neighborhood, gives two main reasons for seeking this office. “ Most o f my training has been in community development and plan ning,” he explained. “ While attend ing the School o f Social W ork at Fresno State, I majored in community development. When I came to Port land I worked w ith P A C T , the southeast Portland Community Ac tion Agency. In addition to other neighborhood planning projects, I designed a com m unity health program. “ A t Lewis and Clark College, as director of the University Year for Action, I had an opportunity to help students combine their academic program with community programs. During that period I was one of the founders o f the Piedmont Neigh borhood Association. “ A ll o f this has made me more aware of the need for planning on an area wide level. While working with the neighborhood association and later with the City Planning Com mission it was evident that many of the problems we were working with couldn’t be solved on the local level. Things like air pollution, water, traf fic, solid waste, can’t be confined to one area. A ll the neighborhoods and p o litical sub-divisions have in terrelationships and in planning these have to be considered.” Barnett’s concern for the less for tunate is the other deciding factor in his choosing to run for this position. Explaining that the poor and especially minorities are the most ef fected by poor housing or shortage of housing, by highway relocations, by failures in community services. Barnett said, “ I ’m sure I would run even if I weren’t a minority person. As government expands and becomes more complicated there is an even greater need for government officials to represent the needs of the disenfranchised.” Although he lives in and will run in District 12, and not in District 11 which includes most o f the Black com m unity, B arnett praises Secretary of State Norma Paulus for protecting the integrity of the Black community. “ Other observers and I are encouraged to note that Ms. Paulus’ careful considerations in this regard was a strong effort to correct past insensitivity to inner city needs, while at the same time making a positive contribution to promoting collaboration among populations that might not have typically taken cognizance o f how much their in terests are in common when viewed from a regional perspective. “ W e take special note o f Ms. Paulus’ courage in giving con sideration to the needs o f the minority community for represen tation on so significant a level of regional government and applaud her efforts on our behalf.” Center holds open house The Grace C ollins M em o rial Community Center will hold an open house on August 7th in honor of the birthday o f the center’s founder and administrator, Evelyn Collins. The Community Center operates a child care program for infants through five years, w ith classes designed to stimulate children to reach their potential. The program includes swimming, field trips and much outdoor play. The success o f children who have had the oppor tunity to participate in this program is well known in the community. Miss Collins also attracts older neighborhood youth to Bible Classes and other activities. A t times as many as 150 youngsters are involved in the Center’s programs. The center is undergoing m ajor remodeling, so the open house is an opportunity to see these changes as well as the day care program in operation. The open house will be held from August 7th through August 11th from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Rhodesia’s psuedo-settlement byN . Fungai Kumbula On the 3rd of March this year, Ian Smith, Bishop Muzorewa, Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole and Jeremiah C hirau sat down and, together, signed an agreement that is intended to bring majority rule to Zimbabwe by the end of this year. This would appear like a major breakthrough in an issue that has plagued the world for the last thirteen years ever since Smith declared U D I. However, what on the surface looks like the square deal that the Africans have been fighting for for so long turns out to be nothing more than a phony that promises more than it can deliver. The agreement calls for ‘free’ elec tions on a one person, one vote basis — all adults eighteen and older, the abolition of petty discrimination, the release o f all political prisoners, set ting up an independent judiciary and non political armed forces and civil service. The reason Smith and his cohorts have suddenly changed their minds about majority rule (until as recently as this year, they were in sisting ‘ Never in a thousand >ears.’) is primarily because o f the deterior ating situation in Rhodesia. Analysis ‘ White flight’ — over the past two years, 40,000 whites, or 15.2% o f the total white population have fled the country, and this in spite o f the stringent currency restrictions that allow them to take out o f the country no more than $4,000. The morale o f his soldiers has been dipping steadily over the past few years as they suffer more and more reverses and heavier losses and as they finally realize that they are fighting a lost cause. With each success, the guerillas are getting bolder. Already the country is divided into two zones: the forty percent that is liberated and the sixty percent that is still being contested. The draft (for the whites) has been extended again and again with the result that the economy and other areas are suf fering. Sanctions are taking a heavy toll. W ith a critical manpower (per- sonpower?) shortage (due to the draft) and the lack o f foreign capital and the war costing a staggering $1 m illio n a day, the economy has really been strait jacketed. So, the purpose o f the agreement were to stem the ‘white flight’ and restore white confidence, to stop the war, to establish a government that would be acceptable to the outside world and have sanctions lifted. To that end, the interim government has failed miserably. Not one govern ment has recognized the interim agreement, sanctions are still in ef fect and the war has intensified, rather than de-escalated. The reasons for the government’s failure are not hard to find. A casual look at the agreement reveals some glaring weaknesses. While extending the vote to all adults, there is a very serious qu alificatio n . In the 100 member Assembly that the new majority government would have, 28 seats would be reserved for the whites — that’s 28% representation for the whites who make up only about fou r percent of the population. And even though the new government would be 'non- racial’, Blacks would vote for Blacks and whites for whites because, as Smith explained it: “ Whites elected by Blacks would be seen as stooges.” C o n s titu tio n al changes would require 78 votes and since voting would strictly be along racial lines, whites would have effective veto power for ten years. Also, with the Black vote split three ways, and Chirau tending to be more pro-white than pro-Black, we would really have a cumbersome situation on our hands. Chirau, a creation of Smith, is said to have bristled at Smith’s reference to “ stooges.” The agreement does not even address the Lard Tenure A c t, that notorious document whereby fifty percent of the country is reserved for 6.1 million Blacks and the other fifty percent fo r the 233,000 whites, giving each white twelve times as much land as his Black counterpart. An independent judiciary sounds fine. The only problem is that this means that the same judges who have been condemning to death all Blacks who dared to talk about freedom, justice and equality of all people would continue to serve. Would they suddenly become impartial? Do they even know the meaning of the word “ justice” ? The police and the army that have terrorized Blacks for 87 years . . . would they suddenly turn around to "protect and serve” these same people? The same army is currently in the process o f killin g the very same people it will be pledged to defend. How much leeway would this new government have with this army over which it would have no control? Here, a recent incident comes to m ind. A few weeks ago, Byron H ove, the Black c o -M in iste r o f Justice, Law and Order was fired af ter he made and refused to retract a very simple statement about the present makeup o f the armed forces. He had decried the discrimination prevalent throughout the army and the police force and had called for more rapid advancement of Blacks to rectify the situation. The big brass in the army and the police force demanded that, either he retract his statement or be fired, failing which they and all their men would go on strike. Hove refused to retract his statement and he was fired, demon strating once and for all who wields (Please turn to Page 3 Column 2)
