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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 23, 1978)
I Community Coalition presents findings, school desegregation plan The C om m unity C o alitio n for School Integration will present the results o f eighteen months o f re search on desegregation in the Portland Public Schools and its recommen dations on M onday evening, November 27th. The School Board meeting will be held at Benson High School at 7:30 p.m. with wljjte schools. At least three of the Albina schools would be 4th 9th grade schools, serving students living in the attendance area and the 4th- 8th graders from the paired schools. The remaining Albina schools wouiu be Kindcrgurten-4th grade schools, serving children from the attendance area and from the paired school. The Coalition will recommend a pairing system, in which the seven majority Black schools will be paired The schools receiving 5th-8th graders should have specialized programs to enhance academic achievement. They will recommend that none of the schools receiving m in o rity students have less than 20 percent minority students. Currently six o f the seven Albina schools do not have upper grades, varying from Humboldt with only the 1st and 2nd grades to others with 5th grade. The Coalition found that the upper grade Black students forced out o f these schools are scattered throughout the district, many find ing themselves the only Black in a classroom. There has been no effort to place children from a neigh borhood together in the same school. The result is that 72 buses take King students to 43 different schools. The C oalition will recommend that the current system o f “ A d ministrative Transfers" he phased out and that the pairing system be in stituted by the fall of 1980. The C oalition will recommend that the T itle V II federal deseg regation funds — which now go to 29 schools — be concentrated in the schools involved in pairing and in the high schools they feed. M in o rity S ta ff PORTLAND O B S E R /E R Volum e • No. 47 Thursday. Novem ber 23.1978 10c per copy MMIMS The Coalition has found that the district does not hire minorities in “ reasonable balance” on its staff. The m inority percentage in P ort land’s work force is 8.4 per cent and in the Portland population is 10 per cent. Twenty per cent o f the students attending the P ortland Public Schools are minorities -- 14.5 per cent o f these Black. Only 5.9 per cent o f the district’s principals are minorities; 5.1 per cent o f the secon dary classroom teachers; 7.3 per cent o f all teachers; 0 per cent psychologists; 6.7 per cent o f librarians. The Coalition will ask that the School Board set a p rio rity on recruiting and hiring minorities in positions that have daily contact with students. The Board will be asked to establish the proportion o f minority students (currently 20 per cent) as the long-term goal o f a “ balanced staff” . The proportion o f teachers should be the same proportion as minority students. In placement o f minority staff, the teachers should be integrated throughout the district, but they should not be only one minority staff member at a school. Discipline A Thanksgiving basket is being prepared by the family of twelve social providers housed at the King Neighborhood Facility. Helping are: Norma Thorson. Phenessee Robert son, Anna Madden, Brenda Jackson, Dorothy Miller and James Loving. In June o f 1977, the U.S. Depart ment o f H ea lth , Education and W elfare found that the Portland School District discriminated against Black students in discipline. Accord ing to district records the number of Mediation project solves neighborhood problems One o f the Metropolitan Human Relation Commission’s newest and most successful programs is the “ Neighborhood M ed iation Pilot Program.” Opened in May, 1978, the three neighborhood mediation centers provide an alternate to police and court solution o f neighbor to neighbor problems. The pilot project, which is funded through C E T A , is a model which city and county officials hope will be the basis for centers throughout the county. The primary purpose is to provide a process for conciliating and mediating problems between neighbors in a manner that is mutually satisfactory. Ms. Karen Powell, coordinator of the Northeast Center at 407 N .E . Mason #2 (at Union) explained that most o f the initial referrals have come from agencies that commonly deal with neighborhood disputes — the police, the Youth Service Cen ters, the District Attorney’s Office and the Bureau o f Neighborhood Environm ent — but many come from the social agencies. “ The police have referred problems that they felt would be bet ter handled by a third party — without police intervention. Recently we have begun to get referrals from persons who have been involved with us. We hope that the word will get around and that people will begin to call when a problem comes up.” In the first fou r months o f operation, 311 cases were referred — divided evenly among the three of fices. When a complaint is received a Mediation Specialist goes out the same day or the next day to interview all o f the people involved and try to concilliate the dispute. About 65 per cent o f the complaints are resolved at this time. I f the parties are unable to agree, a hearing is held before three trained neighborhood volunteers. These volunteers hear the in fo rm atio n given by all the participants and try to facilitate an agreement that is satisfactory to everyone. Once a mutual plan is reached, those in volved sign the agreement. “ We have found that if the parties participate in reaching a solution and are able to gain some satisfaction with it, they are more apt to abide by it,** explained Em anuel Paris, coordinator o f the North Mediation Office at 6313A N. Lombard. Although the object is to solve problems before they are severe enough to get to the courts, Paris ex plained that there are some failures. “ The program was designed to be an alternative to court action, but in about fifteen percent o f the cases, the problems are too deep seated and far reaching to be solved at this level. ” Most cases involve multiple com plaints. In the first 311 cases hand led, there were 448 types o f disputes. O f these, 58 percent involved criminal offenses. About 38 percent o f those involved juveniles. Adult misdemeanors accounted for 20 per cent. Verbal abuse, disorderly conduct, vandalism, minor property damage, assault, trespass, harassment and lit tering made up the bulk o f the remaining cases. “ Those cases that come to our at tention usually involve m ultiple complaints and have built up over several years,’ ’ M s. Powell ex- (Please turn to Page 2 Column 11 Weather Postponements The N A A C P membership meet ing, scheduled fo r Novem ber 19th, will be held on November 26th, 3:00 p .m . at Hughes M em o rial United Methodist Church, 111 N .E . Failing. The nominating committee will report nominations for board and offices. The C om m unity Coalition for School Integration will present its findings and recommen dations. The Northeast C o a litio n fo r Neighborhoods will meet November 28th at 7:30 p.m. at King Neigh borhood Facility. The agenda in cludes election o f officers and a presentation by Mrs. Marian Scott on P D C neighborhood needs requests. Black students suspended is still three times the number o f white students suspended and more than half of the students who are expelled are Black. Finding that “ School authorities bear the most immediate respon sibility for identifying potential in school problems,” the Coalition will recommend that teachers be respon sible for direct contact with parents concerning student behavior the first time that the behavior becomes inap propriate. Categories o f disciplinary action should be changed. Suspensions would be classified: 1) Class ex clusion - denying a student the right to attend a particular class for two days or less; 2) Minor suspensions — denial of right to attend school for one 24 hour day or less; 3) M ajor suspension - denial o f right to attend school for from two to five days; 4) Reassignment — placement in an alternative school. All suspensions and reassignments would be reported to the Superintendent by m inor suspensions would not appear on the student’s record. No student would leave school un til parents had been contacted and homework would be assigned with credit for completed work. Curriculum Although teachers are provided multi-ethnic material to use along with the basic curriculum, the extent o f its use is not known. There is no requirement that Black history or culture be included in the curri culum. According to a survey, 54 per cent o f the Black students bussed for desegregation are in classrooms that do not offer Black history, culture or literature. The C oalition will recommend the listing o f minority cultures, with emphasis on Black culture, under the heading “ M ajor category” in Social Science and Language Arts for Kin dergarten through grade twelve, making them an integral part of the curriculum. The Coalition will recommend tht an independent survey be made of all classrooms to determine the extent to which minority culture is included in classroom teaching. Teacher Training The Portland School District has sponsored a large number of classes and workshops in m ulti-ethnic education but these are not man datory and 73 per cent of the sur veyed teachers in schools receiving Black transfer students said they had no specific training relative to teaching in a desegregated classroom. The C oalition will recommend that the district make a long term plan to insure that all teachers, ad ministrators, School Board members and staff dealing with students have training in group dynamics in an in tegrated setting, multi-cultural per spectives and Black culture. It will recommend that the office in charge o f district wide desegregation plan ning (instituted at the request of the C o a litio n ) develop an in-service training program. The C o a litio n re p o rt, titled: “ Equity for the Eighties” will be form ally presented to the School Board and to the public at the November 27th School Board meeting. Tucker discusses 'Jock Trap’ On Thursday, November 23rd, Ullysses Tucker, J r., a Senior in communications at the University o f Portland, and a freelance journalist w ill be a special guest on J .W . Friday’ s “ Thanksgiving Soul A n niversary Show.” The special will be aired from 2:00-10:00 p.m ., (KBOO- 90.7 F M ) Tucker’ s efforts will be broadcast between the hours o f 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. Tucker, a published poet, will read from the works o f several contem porary Black writers, as well as his own poetry. The following Friday morning at 10:00 a.m ., Tucker will host K B O O ’s “ Open Forum .” He will share his opinion on the “ Jock T rap Youngster in A thletics in America.” Tucker received an associates arts degree in journalism from Southeast C om m unity College, F airb u ry, Nebraska in 1977 where he studied under the noted Fulbright Fellow, D r. Drew Byers who is currently teaching at several universities in Denmark. Tucker’s experiences in athletics range from the year 1967 when he played basketball for the Police Boys Club in the nation’s capital, to being named to the All-Midwestern Junior College basketball team as a Sophomore in Nebraska. Tucker is currently the basketball coach and educational advisor at Linnton Community Cent . In August, 1977 Tucker enrolled at the University o f Portland where his ULLYSSES TUCKER, JR. basketball career was cut short by a foot in ju ry . It was then that he realized the value o f education. He decided that a profession in com munications would be more reward ing than burning up priceless energy trying to make it to the N BA. While “ cold turkeying” from basketball — Tucker became Dean’s List student — the first time in his academic life. Tucker feels that there are millions o f youngsters “ chasing rainbows and trying to become professionals. The odds are staggering and highly against them. So, all o f you young ‘Jocks’ , tune in — parents too! Ku K lux Kian on the rise 'We burn a cross to show the white race excludes darkness’ by Boyd Lewis A T L A N T A , G A . (PNS) — “ We do not burn a cross but rather we light it to show that the Christian religion and the white race excludes darkness,” the speaker declared. “ This is a symbol that does not desecrate the cross but rather lights it up and shows that light expells darkness.'* Several hundred men, women and children were gathering in the furrows and stubble o f what was once a bean patch in north central Alabama. To the front is a flat bed trailer where a half dozen speakers take turns addressing the crowd over the roar o f a portable generator. About 100 yards to the rear is a 30 foot high wooden cross wrapped in burlap and soaked in oil. The air this night in early O ctober was cold enough but the words the men spoke add an almost electric chill: “ Out children, even we adults, are being brainwashed day after day, in race-mixing churches that preach the false doctrine o f racial equality, on television where we see T V program after T V program belittling the white man, building up the nigger race. In the schools they call it social studies where they teach Black history. They call Martin Lucifer Coon the greatest living American.” The Ku Klux Kian is back. Found ed by Confederate veterans o f the Civil War in 1867 the Ku Klux — which comes from the Greek word “ kuklos” meaning circle — feels its fortunes have come full circle after a decade o f F B I in filtra tio n and relative calm following the heyday of the Civil Rights movement. According to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SC LC), reports o f increased Kian activity, rallies, and cross burnings began coming in over the summer and spring from Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, Michigan, Illinois and on m ilitary bases throughout the country. Kian cross burnings and in tim id a tio n shut down a voter registration campaign in south eastern Arkansas operated by the Voter Education Project. VEP officials in Atlanta have reported an outbreak o f Kian activity in the northern panhandle o f Florida. “ There are a lot o f white people tired o f being pushed around, start ing to wake u p ,” one man at an Alabama rally said bluntly. “ I ’m white, aren’t I , ” a woman answered when asked why she had come to the raliy. Throughout the summer Black demonstrators and Klansmen have been exchanging threats and at times gunshoots in Tupelo and Okolona, Mississippi. On the first and second days of October, the Kian showed up in force at C u llm an , A labam a, about an hour’s drive north o f Birmingham to stop a march o f Black demonstrators organized by the SCLC. The demon strators were attempting to march on the Cullman County courthouse to protest the selection o f an all-white jury to hear the trial o f a Black man accused o f raping a white woman. The man, 26-year-old Tommy Lee Hines, is retarded. The trial had begun in Decatur, Alabama but con stant clashes between SCLC and the Kian resulted in a change o f venue to C u llm a n , about 35 miles to the south. The Reverend R.B. Cottonreader is a project director for SCLC and has led protests over the trial in Decatur and Cullman, Alabama. In early October he led a march to the Cullman city limits where he was met by a much larger group of whites, Klansmen among them and many of them heavily armed. “ We have the same white folks we dealt with in the Sixties. We have the same racism,” Cottonreader said. “ The only d if ference is that in the Sixties Klans men weren’t robed. Now they are. “ I don’t think it’s really a revival. I think they’ve always been here but they’re just beginning to robe and come out.” The Kian is also flexing its muscles in Arkansas. Mrs. M ary Budd, o f Crossett, Arkansas, is president of the local N A A C P chapter. The arrest o f a Klansm an last m onth for harassing Black school children at a highway school crossing touched o ff a wave o f cross burning in Crossett and throughout the delta country o f southeastern Arkansas. As a result, the voter education campaign run by Mrs. Budd collapsed for fear of what the Kian might do next. “ It was a disaster," she said. “ Not right away, but people just gradually pulled out. They refused to be part o f it, because we were told they just didn’t want to get involved with the situation." For B ill W ilkin so n , Im p erial Wizard o f the Invisible Empire o f the Ku Klux Kian, this and other con frontations have won many new members for his organization. “ Look at the tremendous response we’ve had at the rallies," he said. “ A t our first Decatur rally — 5,000. Our second rally — 11,000. Our march on the Cullman courthouse — over 1,000 people inside o f four hours, just by placing a sign on the grass. “ Since spring and early summer of 1978 the Invisible Empire has over doubled its membership nationwide. And I ’d say a large proportion of that was in the South. There’s no doubt in my mind that before *78 is out we will have tripled, and if things keep accelerating at the rate they are, we may quadruple our strength.” An official at the Atlanta office of the FBI said he had no information about expansion o f the Kian’s mem bership. Resurgence o f Kian rallies and membership has puzzled many political observers, but Bob H all, edito r o f Southern Exposure magazine in Chapel H ill, N o rth Carolina, doesn’t find it surprising at all. “ It ’s been a relatively short period o f time that revulsion existed in the South or even nationally against the Kian or against lynching," he point ed out. “ W ith a shrinking economy, with suspicion o f public officials and with a general frustration at trying to make ends meet, people look for scapegoats. We had a period when Blacks were not allowed^to be used as scapegoats. Now that time seems to be over. “ What happens is that the sheriffs and the mayors and the businessmen allow the Kian to come into the community, have some rallies in a (Please turn to Page 4 Column 3)
