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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 7, 1978)
c. P»oe 2 Portland Observer Thuredav. December 7. 1978 We see the world In desegregation Equity the Question through Black eyes Scare not proper conduct M edical Examiner for M ultnom ah County should be censored by his fellow doctors and his employers for his blatantly racist and alarmist remarks to the Portland School Board Monday night. These remarks were designed only to frighten parents into resisting school desegregation. W e expected the racists to bring up the old bug a boos such as the sanctity of the neighborhood school, the loss of "freedom " because of "forced busing," and even commie infiltration. But Larry Lewman actually warned of mass deaths and major catastrophies resulting from in creased busing. He doesn't know when or where these deaths will occur — but they are coming — and right behind them a law suit. The facts are that during the past eight years, two million Oregon children have been bused, yet there have been only nine deaths and 180 injuries. Three of these deaths were the result of a train- bus accident. The Portland District has had only one death in those eight years. If the doctor would read the Coalition proposal for pairing schools he would find that if the recommendations are accepted as proposed busing will decrease not increase. W e haven't heard the doctor express concern about the hundreds of Black children bused every day. Or the handicapped and retarded for that matter. It's only when middle-class white kids are involved that he begins to speak out against the great dangers. Make restitution "A day that will live in infamy" was what Franklin Deleno Roosevelt called December 7, 1941. One of the most infamous acts of the war with Japan was the confinement of American citizens of Japanese ancestry in concentration camps. The Japanese have a long history in Oregon, the first settler having arrived in Portland in 1861. By 1900 there were 2,501 Japanese in Oregon, the m ajority in M ultnom ah C ounty. The Japanese w ere also early targets of racial discrimination. On several occasions in the early 1900's Japanese workers in the W illam ette Valley were driven off their jobs and out of their homes. In spite of the fact that Japan sided with the allies in World W ar I, Oregonians feared the "yellow peril." In 1917 the first bill was in troduced into the Legislature to restrict Japanese ownership of land. In 1920, during the heyday of the Ku Klux Kian in Oregon, the Governor's office ordered a study of the "Japanese situation." By 1920, Japanese were doing well in the rooming house business in Portland, with ninety percent of the cheaper hotels operated by Japanese. The rural fam ilies lived around Russelville and Gresham, where they dominated the berry industry and did well in fruit farming, potatoes, and dairying. A lthough located throughout the state, another concentration was in Hood River where they acquired orchard and berry land. Sentim ent against the Japanese grew, resulting in their being barred from Medford and parts of Central Oregon. Finally in 1923, the year the Ku Klux Kian dominated the Legislature, Caucasian resentment against persons of another race who were industrious and therefore too suc cessful came to fruition. An Alien land law was passed barring ownership of land by Japanese and Chinese non-citizens. In spite of these adversities the Japanese people worked hard and prospered, placing tW' of their land in the hands of their American bom children. In 1930 they marketed crops worth $3,500,000 and by 1935 there were 210 Japanese owned or controlled businesses in Portland. Then, in May of 1942, all persons of Japanese ancestry — American-born citizens as well as im m igrants — w ere ordered to pack a few belongings and be moved to concentration camps. Their property was confiscated and their lives left in ruin. Now, 36 years later, Japanese-Americans are seeking payment — $25,000 each — for their econom ic losses, their suffering and their humiliation. This is a small price for American citizens to pay for the racism and abuse they have heaped on fellow Americans. Board hears desegregation opposition (Continued from Page 1 Column 6) minute ride — and return the other students to King. Robert Fulkerson of S.W. Port land said “ implem entation o f desegregation that requires large amounts of busing," it will create budget programs and deprive the district o f money it needs for educational programs. One o f the most blatantly emotional pleas against the issue of busing itself was from Dr. Larry Lewman, Multnomah County Coroner, who said his office has the responsibility of investigating violent and unexplained deaths — which in cludes school bus accidents. Lewman admitted that most school bus ac cidents take place in rural areas due to increased distance and time, un predictable schedules due to distance and time, higher speeds on highways. “ We can’t predict how many kids will be killed or when,” he said, but suggested that if a busing program is instituted and if a child is killed “ you may have some legal problems.” The need for equal educational opportunities for Black children and the federal and state requirements for desegregation are seen as a “ Black problem.” Dick Loy, a former member of the Area I Advisory Committee, said the Coalition has been viewed as coming about as the result of a problem of the Black community. “ Concern has taken a shift, whites see it as having a great impact on our lives, where we haven't been concerned with the Coalition because we didn't think it was a problem that concerned us.” Carson Taylor of Northwest op posed “ forced busing” as not a “ cost-effective” way to improve education. He admitted to “ very real problems of the Black community.” Nancy Russell of Sylvan district assured Blacks that the demand for neighborhood schools is “ not because we want to keep other people out.” Blacks should under stand, she said, that neighborhood schools are historical — they were there before many Blacks came to Portland. The one Black person speaking against the recommendation was Bob Hughes who said that although he favors integration "I don’t want to be thrown at anyone who doesn’t want me.” In spite o f the fact that a great outpouring of sentiment against the recommendations had been expected and in an unprecedented move the district had sent home notices with students regarding the November 27th and December 4th meetings, the speakers were fairly evenly balanced for and against the proposal. Halim Raahson supported the recom m endations. “ I hope my children will receive the integrated, quality education that was not possible during my elementary, high school and college experience in Port land.” Robert H ill, a Madison High School student, said that as a trans fer student he has benefitted educationally and socially. Asking the Board to continue to desegregate the schools he asked, “ Is it socially right to lock kids in their own neigh borhoods?” Walter Morris asked the Board to adopt the recommendations in full, explaining that the benefactors o f the system’s racism will never relinquish power and that “ liberation never takes place without crisis.” To protea the rights of Black people is not to deny the rights o f white people. Lillian Herzog, N.E. Tillamook, refuted the claim that desegregation will bring “ white flight” . Referring to the influx of white families into Albina, she said “ If whites move out, there will be people to move here. Houses are going like hotcakes. Wonderful people are moving in and Blacks and white are working to gether.” Louise W eidlich, who fears a “ hom oganized, one-world slave state,” never-the-less recommended that “ If we’re going to have busing, it should be both ways.” Florence Bancroft, president of the Portland Association of Teachers, speaking for herself, said many speakers seem to believe that quality is something that happens in my school but not in yours. “ Busing doesn’t interrupt the process — it’s what happens at the end of the ride that counts. Integration is of benefit to the whole community, not just to Blacks . . . We adults have a great opportunity to set an example. If whites and Blacks hide in their communities, there will be no under standing . . . Housing patterns won’t change until people get to know one another.” Pauline Anderson o f the City Club, said the school district has done in the past what is reasonable and politically possible and has found answers for some students, but “ The time is right for the Coalition recommendations to pair schools and bus both ways. Take the next step toward desegregation.” Mrs. Jerri Newhall, S.W. West- wood Drive, advised that additional Coalition recommendations are cen tral to the program: teacher training, fair discipline, and minority hiring. As a member of the Blue Ribbon Com mittee on Discipline she has a con tinuing concern with discipline problems. “ Double standards reflect institutional racism.” The school staff refleas attitudes of the community at large. Discriminatory aaions might be unconscious on the pan of the teacher, but the students feel it. Austin Collins, refleaing that his daughter experienced an integrated education on an Indian reservation, pointed out that “ many parents are doing their children a disservice by adamantly opposing desegregation.” Ms. Betty Walker announced that the Multnomah County Democratic Central Committee has unanimously endorsed the Coalition’s recommen dations. Charles White, a Portland State University student, said if busing is to be used it must be equalized. Since 1954 integration has been instituted in a small way. Since the 1960’s when equal housing laws were passed, segregation has increased. Equal Employment laws have been passed, yet Blacks have twice the unem ployment as whites. “ The people more educationally and financially able to handle it will scream the most. They d on ’t want to be inconve nienced.” Ms. Raella Brown, o f the University of Oregon School of Nursing, was raised in the South and worked in all areas of the nation. She related that her children have attend ed schools throughout the country but have never faced the harassment and hassels that the two youngest have experienced in Portland. “ I see bv Herb L. Cawlhome As the discussion mounts, it will be important to remember that the key question in the desegregation controversy in Portland is equity. To the Black community, equity means a shared responsibility. It means that the burdens for respond ing to federal regulations, state law and school board policy will be evenly distributed among both Blacks and whites. Why should one community be saddled with the predominate obligation to keep the Portland public schools in compliance with laws and regulations regarding racial balance? In the past, the Black community did not come on bended knees to the Board o f Education begging for desegregation. However, there was an effort to identify and force a response to the debilitating effects of racial segregation in the Portland schools. And in 1964 the Committee On Race and Education found that many social and systemic problems render the school district less effec tive in delivering educational services to children in the predominantly Black Albina area. fluence, many whites ignore the fact that Black people, too, find busing disruptive, often irrelevant, and cost ly. There are laws which Black people did not create. There are policies the formation o f which had little in fluence from members of the Black community. Therefore, they are laws and policies to which the entire community ought to respond, not simply one segment. The burden should be shared. Beyond the equity issue, however, is the notion that desegregation ultimately leads to integration, and integration will be increasingly the world order as the future unfolds. It is our responsibility today to prepare our children for the integrated world in which they will live tomorrow. While integration is the ultimate step toward the creation of harmony among races tomorrow, the issue today is clean and clear cut: Th> desegregation program in Portland must be equitable to the degree that both the Black and white com munities share the advantages and the obligations. The question is equity. and they did not condone, the grossly inequitable system which was eventually implemented. Every school which had a high percentage o f Black youngsters, except Boise, has been converted to an early childhood center, including only the lower elementary grades. Children in the upper grades have been scattered and isolated. The 44 children from Eliot, for in stance, attend 22 different schools in all parts o f the district. A single family may have children attending several different schools. There's no doubt that the burden for desegrega tion has been placed on the shoulders of the Black people. It is clear that many whites in this city are opposed to busing for desegregation purposes, while others are opposed to integration under any circumstances. In many ways, busing is disrup tive, since it alters the neighborhood patterns o f school to which we are accustomed. It seems irrelevant to educational aims. It is costly. These points are recognized among Blacks as well as whites. Yet, in the fervor to advance their own in Sooth Africa: Apartheid at crossroad over 'crossroad’ by N. Fungai Kumbula Somebody coined a phrase for it: ‘A man’s (person’s?) home is his castle.’ After a hard day of work, play or study, we all take for granted that we go home. ‘Home’ may be a house; an apartment, hotel suite but, it is still first and foremost a home. For most of us, home is where the heart is, where the family is. In every Black community anywhere in the world, the family is an all powerful entity, an all powerful force. I would like us to ponder these and other related thoughts as I relate the story of “ Crossroads.” By now we are all familiar with apartheid. South Africa’s satanic system that rigidly keeps the races apart, separated from one another. •Apartheid’ actually means ’apart ness.' The whole country is sliced in to white areas, ‘Coloured’ areas, Asiatic areas and Black areas. Coloureds refers to people of mixed parentage. Mixing o f the races is discouraged as much as possible, the only contact between Black and white, for instance, is that of master and servant. Blacks are tolerated in ‘white’ areas only as long as they provide their labor. This was the idea behind the creation o f the “ bantustans,” barren, unproduaive areas that have and can have no way o f supporting the people that are resettled there. They have no minerals, industries, suitable farmland, nothing what soever that could provide jobs. Add ed to that is the faa that, though Blacks make up 87% of the total population, these homelands that are being set aside for them only con stitute 18% of the land. Consequent ly, they are badly overcrowded — 50% of all Black children die before the age o f five due mostly to malnutrition. Under these conditions, housing, for the Black South Africans, is a matter o f the utmost concern. Crossroads is an outgrowth of this phenomenon. Crossroads is what is called a squatter camp. Because Blacks and Coloureds are hounded out of house and home every time they lose a job, there are lots of "Crossroads” all over South Africa. As of September, Crossroads had a population estimated at 20,000. It has come to be a focal point of all the squatter camps in South Africa because of the repeated clashes be tween the residents and the police. These residents, called squatters, are considered illegal occupants because Crossroads is located on the outskirts of Cape Town. Cape Town is con sidered a white and Coloured area and there are no ’legal’ Black residences in it. In a squatter camp, the houses as they are, are made out of corrugated iron sheets, plastic, wire mesh or whatever other materials the ‘squat ters’ can lay their hands on. The idea is to fashion a shelter, any form of shelter so the family can be proteaed from the wind and the rain. Building a proper home is out of the question because, one: most Blacks do not earn enough to be able to afford a house; two: they would not be allowed to build in a ’white’ area anyway; and three: they know they are transients, playing a game of hide and seek with the cops. Periodically, the government sends in bulldozers to demolish these “ houses,” which for most of the people, are the only homes they have ever known. This is what apartheid refers to as “ influx control,” a way pf keeping down the numbers of Black residents in Cape Town. When their homes are destroyed, the ‘squatters’ find themselves out in the streets and this is supposed to force them to “ go back” to the homelands. The majority o f the Crossroads residents work in Cape Town — the men doing all sorts of dirty, low-paying, unskilled, menial work and the women mostly as maids. For them, living in Crossroads is a way of keeping the fam ily together. The only other alternative would be to stay in single sex dormitory like structures that have been built for Black workers. But, these are so small and so rigidly patrolled that it is impossible for one to keep his family with him. The single sex dormitories are designed to keep the Black family split up. Since Blacks are only sup posed to be in Cape Town to sell their labor, their families are not allowed to stay with them but to remain in the homelands where the men can get to visit them once a year. How would you like to see your loved ones once every year? The establishment of Crossroads and other such like camps is an act of defiance against this unholy policy. Blacks would rather live in these impermanent shelters, each day running the risk of being thrown out into the street just so they can keep their families together. By this small gesture, they are turn ing up their noses at apartheid, forc ing it to accom m odate them by bending all its ‘laws.’ And they are once again re-emphasizing the strong ties that bind the family together. The confrontations with the police are sometimes violent. In September, the police swooped down on Crossroads in a pre-dawn raid smashing down doors, windows, beating up people and demanding passes in search of “ illegal residences.” Between 400 and 500 people were arrested and most o f them were women and children. Ten days later, the police returned but, this time the people decided to defend their homes. They threw bricks and rocks at the police who immediately opened fire. Two men were killed and, in the mad stampede to dodge the flying bullets, a baby that fell off its mother’s back was trampled to death. In July of 1976, Crossroads was declared an “ emergency camp” but, only after a lengthy court battle and a lot of community protests. This af forded some measure of protection from eviction. They now also get some services such as waste removal and piped water. However, they also now have to pay rent. Initially, it was* $11.00 per month but has since been cut back to $8.00 after some protests. In a country where Blacks (Please turn to Page 4 Column 3) PORTLAND OBSERVER Published every Thursday by Exie Publishing C om pany 2201 North Killingsworth, Portland, Oregon »7217. Mailing address: P .O . Bos 3137, Portland, O regon»7208. 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