Page 2 Portland Observer Thursday, August 3,1978
Determined w ill strengthens coalition impact
We see the world
by Herb L. Cawthorne
through Black eyes
Corrections program needs support
The recent study of the justice system in M u lt
nomah County by the Comm unity Corrections
Advisory Board found once again that Blacks and
other m inority people are discriminated against
by the police and by the court system.
The process, w hich results in nearly tw enty
percent of the prison population being Black in a
state that repeatedly has less than three percent
Black population, begins w ith the police depart
ment. Although Oregon law allows police officers
to issue c ita tio n s rather than arrest persons
charged w ith m inor crimes, only seven percent of
the Blacks charged are cited and 93 percent are
jailed.
This jailing can be fo r a few hours, if the person
is fortunate enough to be arrested during the
daytime, or can last through the trial. Blacks are
less apt to be released on their ow n cognizance
because they are less likely to have jobs, references
and other criteria necessary fo r th is kind of
release. W ith less access to bail m oney, they
remain in jail.
The study also states that persons com ing to
trial while still in jail are more likely to be found
guilty by a jury. Since m inorities are more often
confined in jail prior to their trial, this fact alone
increases the percentage o f convictions. Add to
this the lack of access to adequate legal counsel,
the absence of Blacks in juries, and the racism
that is prevalent in society and therefore m ust be
present in jurors.
This high percentage o f convictions, along
w ith longer sentences, makes a highly dispropor
tionate prison population.
The C om m unity Correction's program adopted
by M u ltn o m a h C o unty w ill a tte m p t to keep
persons w ho com m it m inor offenses out of jail by
diverting offenders — both before and after trial
— in to alternative program s th a t address the
causes o f crime. This is an am bitious program
and to be s u c c e s s fu l w ill need th e fu ll
cooperation of the police, the District A ttorney's
o ffic e , and th e c o u rts . W ith th e p o lice in
discrim inately arresting m inorities, the D istrict
Attorney calling for bigger and better jails, and the
judge imposing longer and longer sentences, this
program doesn't stand much o f a chance.
The County Commission (w ith the exception of
Don Mosee and Alice Corbett, w ho voted against
the program ) are to be commended fo r taking
this step. But the hard job o f selling it to the
public and to the justice system is still ahead.
Money goes to wrong pocket
This is called a tim e of tax-revolt, when tax be reduced because of lack of money, does the
payers are getting so tired of paying more and superintendent really need a raise?
more taxes that they are threatening to endanger
A t w hat point does a "p u b lic servant" reach a
even the basic services provided by local govern salary where he doesn't need a cost of living in
m ent.
crease? Can we look forw ard to paying $60,000 in
City councils, county commissions and most another year or two?
public bodies are trying to determine where they
W hen the President is calling on labor and
can cut costs and save money. They are being business to hold the line on wages and prices,
careful not to give the appearance of flagrant when social security and welfare recipients are
spending.
denied "in fla tio n a ry " increases, is it reasonable
Yet at its last m eeting the Portland School to give a substantial raise to a school superinten
Board gave Superintendent Robert Blanchard a dent?
$3,000 per year raise. Already one o f the highest
W e believe this action provides a degree of
paid public adm inistrators in the state, and in a ju stification to those w ho are denouncing the
district where the children's school days had to public schools and local governm ent in general.
SORRY KIDS...W E HAD TO CUT
sack on your education for
our AbMtNtSTRATWF M ises —
'fou understand v IH ich
PWfTLÄNO
IS more important ! ' / PU BLIC
« e
1 \X
Zl\
4
For the whole o f fourteen years,
the Black community o f Portland
has endured a massive process o f
reorganization o f its schools. Child
ren have been sent to the far
corners o f the city. It was only after
continued instances o f abuse, o f
children being left standing in the
cold rain at bus stops, o f teachers
being disbursed, o f the expulsion
rate soaring that the reality o f the
devastation began to crack the thick
complacency o f Black residents. And
dissatisfaction fin a lly found ex
pression in stronger voices — voices
no longer afraid, no longer willing
to call such policies equitable when
they are not.
A coalition formed. It seemed as
though the Black community stood
firm to say, “ We w ill study; we w ill
think; we w ill recommend; we w ill
embrace our supporters and per
suade our enemies; we w ill stand up
for our children." One thing was
sure; Few were willing to allow the
Board o f Education to continue to
make decisions and to determine the
fate o f our future for us.
The C om m unity C o a litio n fo r
School Integration was born last
August 24th when nearly 60 in
dividuals fro m a ll over the c ity
gathered at P ortland C om m unity
College’s Cascade Campus. Much to
the credit o f the Black community,
the Coalition grew to include more
than 100 individuals, 36 organiza
tions, and raised more than $56,000
to conduct its work.
A research committee was created.
Its focus was determ ined by a
to le ra n t, open decision-m aking
process. The beginning stage in-
volved a series o f com m unity
forums. Held all over the city, these
forums gave the Coalition a chance
to listen, to share, and to create from
community concerns a preliminary
framework for the research effort.
A total o f 15 forums were conduct
ed. Over 400 citizens participated. It
was an extensive dialogue, something
many had written o ff as virtually im
possible. The C o a litio n ’ s research
process was launched w ith a con
sideration o f the fo u r m ajor con
cerns which arose during the com
munity forums. Those concerns were
(1) inequity, (2) interracial under
standing, (3) quality education, and
(4) neighborhood integrity.
The C om m unity C o a litio n fo r
School Integration w ill present its
report and its recommendations to
the public and the Board o f
E ducation in Novem ber. The
document w ill be comprehensive, a
thorough record o f the past and
present s itu a tio n w ith regard to
desegregation. Recommendations
w ill be specific and far-reaching.
No process o f com m unity par
tic ip a tio n in P ortland public
education has been so complete, so
open, so carefully managed. And no
process has seen the Black com
m unity so to ta lly involved in the
review o f the school system’ s re
sponse to
the desegregation
movement here.
In spite o f its competent work, the
Coalition w ill not maximize its im
pact w ith o u t a consolidated w ill
within the Black community to in
sure that, fo r once, the Board o f
Education w ill not ignore our wishes
and use our children as pawns, and
thrust upon us the lonesome burden
o f integrating this city’s schools.
Admittedly, there have been some
criticisms o f the development o f the
C o a litio n — some are founded,
others are not. Too many whites
hired as staff, too many white people
involved, Black members not
representative, a useless and wasted
effort, a cluttered process, that in
tegration is unworkable - these in
clude some o f the criticisms voiced
time to time.
However, the present circum
stances call for the Black community
to stand together, to minimize the
minor criticism and rally around the
cause o f better education fo r the
children who constitute our hopeful
future.
The impact o f the C o a litio n ’ s
report, I believe, depends on the
p o litic a l w ill o f the Black com
munity. The Board w ill not act out
o f goodness, but out o f political
need. The great majority o f the white
community w ill not act from a set of
high m oral ideals, but out o f a
political need. It is the contention
here that the consolidated will, the
uncompromising drive, o f this com
m u n ity can create the proper
political need or atmosphere to in
sure an equitable response to the
Coalition’s report.
To project his determined w ill,
and to demand and obtain equity,
the criticism s and disagreements
must for the time being be forgotten.
We must focus on the chance to
maximize a better opportunity for
Black children in this city.
The stakes are too high to do
otherwise.
Full representation for Washington DC
by Vernon Jordan
The Congress is considering a
proposed constitutional amendment
that w ould fin a lly give fu ll
Congressional representation to
Washington, D.C.
Such a move is long overdue.
There can be no ju stifica tio n for
depriving the people o f the District
o f so basic a right. A nation whose
founding revolution based on the
principle o f no taxation w ithout
representation can no longer refuse
representation to citizens o f its
capital.
A long w ith the o ve rrid in g
philosophical principle o f represen
ta tio n , there are im p o rta n t argu
ments supporting an amendment
that would end the colonization of
Washington, D.C.
Its size is one. Home to 760,000
people, the District is already more
populous than ten states. Its people
pay well over a b illion dollars in
taxes — more than was returned
from nineteen states. Its per capita
tax payments were higher than all
but three states.
So the argument that giving the
District two Senators and a voting
representative would be unfair to the
states, whose voting pow er in
Congress would be diluted slightly, is
meaningless. States w ith sm aller
populations and states generating
fewer tax revenues have been admit
ted to the Union and receive their
share o f two Senate seats and one or
two Representatives.
The D is tric t has always been
treated like a political colony. It has
not had a voting representative in
Congress since 1800. Since 1970 it
has had only a single non-voting
Representative. It wasn't until 1964
that District citizens had the right to
vote fo r Presidential and Vice
Presidential electors. For a hundred
years, until 1974, its local govern
ment was appointed.
That’ s a disgraceful record, made
the more disgraceful by the con
tinued disenfranchisem ent o f its
citizens who are taxed but have no
say in how their taxes are used.
The blatant unfairness o f this
situation makes voting rights for the
District a major civil rights question.
And that aspect is heightened by the
District’s large Black population —
about 70 percent o f the total. T hir
teen years after passage o f the Voting
Rights A ct, Black and w hite,
Washingtonians are still deprived of
basic electoral rights.
Some may fear that the District's
tw o Senators w ill be Black and
liberal. But such an objective is too
base even to surface into the open.
Simple fairness demands change,
and Blacks and liberals have never
objected to the right o f represen
tation for areas that are all white or
predominately conservative.
The House o f Representatives has
already passed a resolution calling
fo r granting the D is tric t tw o
Senators. House members and
Presidential electors based on
population, and participation in the
ratification o f Constitutional amend
ments. The Senate is considering a
slightly different measure, but both
agree on the substance o f
Congressional representation for the
District.
It is important that an amendment
draft be passed for consideration by
the states. Three-fourths o f the states
have to back it for the measure to
become part o f the C onstitution,
making voting rights for the District
effective. The 23rd Amendment,
which gave District residents the vote
in Presidential elections passed swift
ly, which indicates that a new
amendment extending the right to
vote would also be backed.
The Senate should not allow itself
to be sidetracked by com peting
proposals to make the D istrict a
separate state or to make it part of
Maryland. Those suggestions deny
the D istrict’s special character and
are complicated, tortured means of
a rriv in g at the basic end —
Congressional representation.
As befits a major civil rights issue,
there is a broad consensus behind
voting rights for the District. Both
parties endorsed the rig h t to
Congressional representation in their
1976 platforms and the fight for the
amendment is a bi-partisan effort. It
should succeed.
JjftíatA, to tho Edito,-
Prison open house
To the Editor:
PORTLAND OBSERVER
Published every Thursday by Exie Publishing Company. 2201 North
Killingsworlh. Portland, Oregon 97217. Mailing addreu P .O Box
3137, Portland. Oregon 97208 Telephone 283 2486
Subscriptions $7.50 per year in the Tri-County area, $8.00 per year
outside Portland
Second Claes Postage Paid at P ortlan d. O regon
The Portland (J b s tn tr ’s official position is expressed only in its
Publisher's column (W e See The World Through Black byes). Any
other material throughout the paper is the opinion of the individual
writer or submitter and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the
Portland Otnrrver
A L F R E D L H E ND E R S O N
E d ito )/P ublisher
N ational A dvertisin g R ep resentative
A m a lg a m a te d Publishers. Inc.
N e w York
1st Place
Community Service
ONPA 1873
1st Place
Best Ad Results
ONPA 1*73
6th Piece
Beet Editorial
NNPA 1673
Honorable Mention
Herrick Editorial Award
NNA 1673
2nd Place
Beat Editorial
3rd Piece
E D D Y V IL L E , K E N TU C K Y —
For the first time in the 91 year
history o f the prison here, the iron
doors were opened to allow the 850
prisoners met w ith their families.
Approxim ately 1,200 visitors, in
cluding wives, children and other
relatives, stepped inside the caver
nous institution during the recent
holidays. Corrections officials said
they opened up the iron doors to the
state’ s only maxim um security
facility to show they mean business
w ith a new incentive program
designed to make prisoners want to
live better lives. The open house
visitation permitted visitors to enter
prisoner’ s cells as well as roam the
prison's grounds.
“ I can’ t say how I feel,’ ’ prison
Superintendent Don Borden Kircher
said afterwards. “ I ’ m choked up,
and I'm not supposed to choke up.
We’ve watched history.”
“ I saw a man pushing his little boy
across the yard on a tricycle. I f that
won’ t make a man want to get out o f
this place, what w ill? ” said Dr.
Davis Bland, C om m issioner o f
C orrections, a fte r w atching the
visitation.
Reginald I. Cox #38332
Provides service
To the Editor;
C o m m u n ity L e a d e rs h ip
ONPA 1676
$ 7 .50
3rd Place
Community Leadership
ONPA 1676
,n Tri —C o u n ty A re a
N am e
_
__ ______
$ 8 .0 0
__
Aaaociaoen - FounOtd
City
O th e r
_
PORTLAND OBSERVER
A d d re s s
I I e G I p A p ER
Congratulations, again.
Sincerely,
Laurie Foster for
A Woman’ s Place Bookstore
Congratulations on the award that
you have won! You certainly do
perform a valuable com m unity
•
MtMgtP
|! Oregon
|| Newspaper
Publishers
Association
service by getting out the news and
commentary we can’ t get elsewhere.
The Book center fills the same
kind o f need — we try to be a
resource fo r all women. Besides
selling books by and for women,
non-sexist ch ildren's lite ra tu re ,
records by women and periodicals
fo r women; we have a lending
library, a joint monthly newsletter
with the Women’s Resource Center
that lists women’s events and carries
news o f local women's projects, and
referral and reference info'm ation.
Our lending library includes sub
scriptions to women’ s newspapers
and magazines from all over,
over.
_____
_
__
P.O. Box 3137
Portland, OR 97208