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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 23, 1978)
4 Portland Observer Thursday. November 23, 1978 LIFE, HEALTH, GROUP INSURANCE. ANNUITIES. PENSION PLANS Behind the wall Larry Baker 135021, O.S.P. Correspondent GLADYS McCOY . . . A BLACK WOMAN by Larry Baker It was important net only because it put me when 1 wanted to be — back in the struggle — but also because o f the meaning it would have fo r all the sisters and brothers who had fought fo r my freedom. I f 1 could not be satisfied with my freedom alone, they could not be satisfied either. Angela Davis February 25, 1971 A Black woman for Multnomah County Commissioner? Impossible. Ridiculous. "You Jivin.” T hose were the words many people living in Portland, Oregon a couple of years ago would have said, while others would have laughed them selves silly. Even a greater laughter would have com e from P ortland's Black com m unity, because the odds of having a Black sitting in one o f the five highest positions in Multnomah County was remote. During the wee hours on the morn ing o f November 8, 1978 a Black woman, mother o f seven, and the wife o f Oregon's first and only Black State Senator embraced her husband and children in tears realizing they had achieved the impossible. The people of Multnomah County had elected a Black woman to represent them, to make their county a decent place to live over the next four years. Gladys McCoy, a Democrate had won overwhelmingly, 111,165 votes to her Republican challenger Carl Neuy»erger's 68,305 votes. The Gladys McCoy story is not an easy one tis, write, because it is im possible to chyjture the fifty year struggle it took to unfold the dream Gladys* parents prepared their little girl for long ago. Being the only daughter in a family o f four boys, Gladys reward ed her parents with a thirst for education. Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Gladys' father, labored many hours in the same bakery, where he is still working today, to provide her with an education. Gladys was also the first person in her family to ob tain a college degree, majoring in sociology and education. Becoming a first is nothing new to Gladys McCoy. It was part o f a life style she had been raised by. A fter 27 years in T ennessee, Gladys decided to move to Portland, where she obtained employment as a director o f a YWCA youth program. Shortly after she met and married William McCoy. W hile w orking at the YW CA (1949-50) Gladys evolved a deep compassion and dedicated drive to becom ing a leader working with p eo p le. W hatever program s she developed were successful. After two years Gladys had to give up that drive for another occupation — washing dirty diapers and chasing babies. Seven o f them. But after the birth o f the youngest Gladys was able to get back into college and earn a masters degree in social work. In 1967, Gladys applied and was accepted as the director o f Project Headstart, in Vancouver, an agency that provided training and education for pre-school children. In 1970, Gladys became an in structor at Clark College in Van couver, W ashington, w hile her husband was taking his first steps in to state politics. In 1972, William McCoy was elect ed the first Black State Represen tative in O regon’s history, while G ladys obtained an assistant professorship at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. PEGGY JOSEPH JuiiusD. Snowden »3*013 Poetry Editor During this period other ‘firsts' started popping up in the McCoy's lives. Gladys became the first Black wom an elected to the P ortland School Board and in 1975 Governor Bob Straub appointed Gladys to become the first woman state om budsman. Working with people, assisting them in solving their problem s throughout the state was a natural ability for Gladys, while her husband gained the position as the state's first Black Senator. The McCoy children? “ I’ve got a w hole house full o f professional students,*’ says Gladys (Kista, nurse aide; Paul, P .S.U . student; Mary, com m unication student; C ecelia, P .C .C . student; Peter, O .S .U . student; W illiam , A rizona State student; and Martha, Wilson High School student). At this point one would think that the McCoy’s success had reached its peak, but Gladys wasn't about to sit around and watch those avenues close that it took people like Martin Luther King and other civil rights Blacks to open for the advancement o f Black people today. People were her thing — no matter what side o f the tracks they came from or what color or creed they inherited. In January, 1978, as the unem ploym ent in M ultnom ah C ounty skyrocketed among Black youth and crime went on a rampage, Gladys McCoy knew that decisions had to be made — big decisions. D ecisions which would effect all people within the county that had given the McCoy family their success. Now it was time to return to her expertise — helping people solve problems. Loved my m any, treasured by most, envied by some and rejected by a few, Gladys McCoy swept through the May primary and walked away with the November election. Why? Because the people needed her and where Gladys McCoy is needed is where Gladys McCoy wants to be. Field Underwriter 283-5012 It was not G ladys M cC oy's Blackness that got her where she is today. It is her ability to care and to use an ingredient mixed with education and “ mama wit." Even her own mother, Mrs. Miller, is still very active today with such organizations as the NAACP, Mt. Olive Baptist Church, and the North Portland Senior Citizen Committee. And what do the people o f North Portland think o f Oladys McCoy's mother? Enough to name a park af ter her, known as Miller A Murphy's Square. The New York Life agent in your community is a good person to i know. nr? lEN O W 'S i v SHOP FOR B R A N D S you know V A R IE T IE S y o u lik e SIZES y o u w a n t Many of our readers may wonder about finding a story about Gladys McCoy being written in a prison column. It is not strange at all. The Black elected county commissioner has even left her footprints within these walls. In fact just a few days before her election you could have seen Gladys walking around freely am ong the prisoners, trying to analyze why so many prisoners from her county keep returning to prison. Her election has brought high hopes to a great many people and Gladys McCoy throughout the next four years is going to be looked upon as the person to solve those problems. But let us remember, she is only one person and she is going to need all the help she can receive. It is lime to get fully behind this Black woman who proudly wears her ‘natural.* People are her thing and people she is going to need to solve many o f the problems in Multnomah County — especially 'grass-roots people,’ poor people, people o f all different shades o f color and walks o f life , and even a few o f the prisoners behind these w alls. Hopefully it can be said at the end of her four year term by all the people w ho’s 'r o o ts’ are in M ultnomah County that they did help — helped Gladys McCoy, a Black woman, a County Commissioner, to make their communities a better place to live. • • • • • 041 I 9 I M ilw a u k ie 9 9 th A la e t lu m t id s 132nd A M I O hypn N lo m b o a l a t A r e o le y R a le 'p h H ills P la s a e e • e a 1 4 th A S I M o re te a n 3 3 rd A M I H a n c a rL 3 D th A l l D iw l e i a n 2 3 r d A W a t t B u r n s id e t e d i e O t w o ^ o VO B A v e • 'B in d • K i n g C it y at 9 I • O l v i s ia n Ooh O ro v e M i e t t i « m u M it t e i o k i i i . . . UNION OR COMPANY DENTAL INSURANCE is a valuable asset . . . your health and appearance COMPLETE COOPERATION ON ALI. » E N T A I. IN S l RANCE CLAIMS WE HANO LE ALL THE D ETAILS OF COMPLETING V O IR C LAIM FORMS NO APPOINTMENT NEEDED Come in at your convenience PARK FREE-Any Park n Shop Lot Ku Klux Kian on the rise Oregon lags in Black degrees by Dean Synder • A study just released by the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare shows Oregon lags far behind Washington and slightly behind Alabama and Mississippi in awarding Blacks post-baccalaureate degrees. During the 1975-76 academic year Blacks in Oregon received advanced degrees at a rate slightly better than half (52.8Vs) o f the rate for the population as a whole. Washington’s rate was almost twice Oregons. The Higher Education General In formation Survey (HEGIS), preliminary date, “ Degrees and Other Formal Awards Conferred Between July 1, 1975 and June 30, 1976,” plus Census Bureau estimates for July 1, 1975, show Blacks in Oregon received 31 or .709^# o f the 4,372 advanced degrees and represented 1.34 V» of the population. The rate for Blacks in Oregon was thus 52.8V# of the rate for the general population. This was lower than Mississippi 53.4 V», Alabama 60.5V», California 72. IV» and Washington 90.2V». Blacks did better in acquiring the baccalaureate degree. In 1975-76 they got them in Oregon at 81 .IV» of the rate for the general population. O f the 10,455 degrees, Blacks re ceived 114 or 1.09V», again repre senting 1.34Vo o f the population. Rates for the five states were: C alifornia 60.6V», M ississippi 64.7V», Alabam a 68.4V», Oregon 81.1V# and Washington 97.0V#. ST. ANDREWS CATHOLIC CHURCH MXi N.E. Alberta Street Reverend Bertram Griffin. Pastor 2X1-4429 Masses: 5:00 p.m Vigil - Saturday 10:00 a.m. Choir - Sunday 12:00 p.m. Folk - Sunday ST. ANDREW CO M M UNITY SCHOOL 49,9 N.E. 9th Ave. Norita Kelly. Principal Phone: 2X4-1020 Grades 1 through 8 1 ou are W ekome to W orahip at TH E ARK OF SAFETY CHURCH OF GOD PENTECOSTAL. INC. “A warm spirit of fellowship always" The Honorable Bishop L .V. Peteroon. 0 . 0 “The Holiness Preacher." Pa.tor Sunday. Sunday School 9:15 am Morning W orahip 11:15 an, Shower, of B k .a in g . Rroadcaat" KGAR 1550 11 30 am 12:30 om VPBf 6:30 pm F.vaageUotk M orahip 8:00 pm Tuesday-Friday Naa» Day Frayer Tuesday: Bible Band/Jr. Church Wedneaday Choir Reliearaal Friday: "The Paator Speak.” X4 NE hi 11, ng »worth 2X14(499 HOURS' 7:30 pm 7:011pm (Continued from Page 1 Column 6) very religious atmosphere. Then they become intimidated or they become supporters so they won’t lose any popularity themselves.” C ullm an C ounty, A labam a is unlike most counties o f the Southern Blackbelt. It’s 60,000 residents are virtually all white. The land wasn’t right for cotton in the last century, so there were few slaves. Neither was there much Kian activity or, in the last decade, an active Civil Rights movement. But 77-year-old Willliam Matthew Boyd, the grandson o f slaves, remembers a sign which he says once decorated the Cullman City limits: “ Nigger, Read and Run. If You Can’t Read, Run Anyhow.” William Boyd lives in the only Black residential community o f the entire county, seven square miles o f rolling hills and dirt roads to the southwest called “ The Colony.” The children o f the C olony attend a daycare facility at the C o lo n y ’s community center. “ 1 think people are just sort o f sit ting back and looking at it,” center director Joyce Watts said. “ I don’t sense any real fear. The Black people are disappointed because naturally we don’t like to see this kind o f thing. H opefully it will end very soon. But as o f yet I don’t think it has produced any fear.” At a Kian rally between Cullman and Hanceville, a 17-year-old high school junior from Birmingham ap peared nervous as he addressed the crowd. He was there to ask Kian support for a youth group he and others had formed at his sixty per cent Black high school. “ You could say, maybe, w e’re working close with the Kian.” he admitted. “ I believe the things we learned in history class about the Supreme Court’s old separate but equal ruling. I believe that Blacks should go to their own schools and that whites should go to their own schools and be able to stay away from the Blacks if they want to.” As the rally drew to an end, about forty Klansmen in full regalia took up positions around the cross with flaming torches. They saluted the burlap-wrapped cross and marched in to ignite it at the base Thirty feet o f flam e eruped into the cold 7:30 pm Dr. Jeffrey BRADY, Alabama night air. (Boyd Lewis reports on the KKK and other p o litica l issues f o r National Public Radio and WABE — Atlanta, as well as fo r several Southern publications.) E " rekday» K:30a.m. to 5 p.m Saturday 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dentist S .W .3R D A Y A M H IL L ST.. PORTLAND. OREGON TAKE. ELEVATOR TO 2ND FLOOR 3RD ST. ENTRANCE X !f 'fiféa&J&en O D U S aeu/ f i eet/ee 1518 N E KILLINGSWORTH PORTLAND. OREGON 97211 284-7997 FACTS OF IMPORTANCE VOLUME VI NOVEMBER 1978 SERIES I In keeping with Exodus Community Service Policy, Exodus will host a Symposium on Alcohol and Substance Abuse Problems. Exodus will do this in coordination with other agencies providing similar services. The General Public is invited. The Symposium will be held at: EXODUS DAY TREATMENT 1223 N.E. Alberta Portland, Oregon 284-1247 The meeting will be from 10:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Wednesday, November 15, 1978 while there is no charge for the general meeting, a small donation for lunch will be appreciated. The elephant »brew of Africa weighs |utt six ounces' Y
