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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 3, 1979)
Portland Observar Thursday. M ay 3. 197S EDITORIAL/OPINION W atch their votes! ACT-SO presents youth talent by Herb L. C aw ih o in t M a rk your calendars! Plan an The Oregon House of Representatives evaded their responsibility to vote on an amendment to the U .S . Constitution that would allow the residents of the District of Columbia the right to elect two U.S. Senators and a Representative. Instead tfiey voted to submit the question to the people of Oregon as an "advisory vote.” The people's vote has no legal standing since only the Legislature can make the decision. The Senate — which had already passed the bill — refused to concur with the House and a compromise between the two positions will have to be made. The members of the Senate and the two Senators who led the effort in the Senate — Bill McCoy and Jim Gardner — de serve our thanks. Some legislators are opposed to granting the American citizens who live in Washington the basic right to vote that all other citizens have. Others are afraid to vote on what they consider a controversial issue Whatever their motive they should be remembered. Those voting for referring the Constitutional Amendment to a vote of the people were: Ted Achilles. Bill Bellamy, Robert Brogoitti, Ted Bugas, Bud Byers. Larry Campbell, Drew Davis, Jack Duff, Chick Edwards, Mary Alice Ford, Mark Gardner, Jeff Gilmore, Bill Grannell, Paul Hannemon, Cecil Johnson, Eldon Johnson, Denny Jones. Kip Lombard, Caroline M agruder, Bill Markham, Al Riebel, Max Rijken, Bill Rogers, John Schoon, Josephine Simpson, Max Simp son, Norm Smith, Doc Stevenson, Tony Van Vliet, Glen Whallon, Gary Wilhelms, Curt Wolfer, Donna Zajonc. Remember those names because you will see them repeatedly voting on the wrong side of issues that are of special concern and importance to this community. evening oui! This coming Monday, M ay 7th, at 7:00 p.m ., the annual NAACP A cadem ic C u ltu ra l Technical — S cientific Olym pics (A C T -S O ) will be held at the King F a c ility A u d ito riu m . This is a program worthy o f your support. Portland was introduced to the A C T -S O Program in a first-hand manner last summer The N A A C P convention held its first competitive artistic and academic Olympics here during its 69th annual gathering. It was a special honor to host the con vention: the o p p o rtu n ity to be among the finest young talent Black America has to offer was an added treat. From all over the country they came to display their talents. A pianist from Philadelphia, a sculp- turer from Nashville, a painter from San Francisco, a film m aker from Florida, a dancer from Boston — young Black youth came from far and wide to bathe in the glory o f ap preciation from their people. It was exciting. Those who are constantly dem eaning the fu tu re o f Black Am erica by constantly demeaning the co m m itm en t o f Black youth found no iota o f p ro o f fo r their faithless predictions. The ACT-SO program helps Black people work in harmony with others in our community to encourage the highest development o f the talents our youth have to share. It is rooted in a sound principle: There is no bet ter means to foster high achievement and competent development among our youth than to get Black adults deeply involved in work.ng with the young. A C T -S O says to the commu nity, "T a k e this child by the hand, be strict and firm and yet be kind, but guide these talents to their fullest heights.” It is a meaningful message the result o f which we will be for tunate enough to see this Monday evening. The A C T -S O program is popular, says G ladys M c C o y , this year's chairperson. “ By comparison, last year's program had about a dozen applicants; this year there are more than 52 and they come from every high school in the d istrict.” Next year she hopes to get an earlier start and involve more students, parents, coaches and public school teachers in the program. M ark that calendar! D on't forget! This M o n day evening, M a y 7th, you'll have a chance to hear Genatta W illiam s o f Cleveland High ting. Tamaia Lowe o f Grant will read her poetry. Jefferson's Beverly Hughes will dance, while Marshall's Gwen dolyn Woody will demonstrate her research skills with a sketch on the greatness o f Paul Robeson. These are just a few o f the many young people who have worked hard to bring their talents to perfect pitch so they might be worthy o f representing their city in the national competition in Louisville, Kentucky this summer. 1 believe in A C T-S O . It is a posi tive program. To promote it's worth, Benjamin Hooks does not have to galevant around the country preach ing about the evil influence our child ren suffer from drugs, sexy records, and too much television. He does not have to characterize Black parents as uncommitted and Black children as unmotivated. Instead, he labors to encourage each o f us to challenge and nurture the eager talents abun dant in our community. Join us, Monday evening. M ay 7th at 7:00 p.m. for the A C T -S O Com petition sponsored by the Portland Branch o f the N A A C P . Zimbabwe Rhodesia — whither now? by N. f-unqai Kumbula THE YEAR O E T H E C H tLD 7 Sears challenges government regulations (Continued from page 1 col. 6) dicap, and — Bar Federal agencies from seeking back pay or other damages from Sears and its class until they have made compliance possible. Sears is America’s largest retailer and accounts for one per cent o f the gross national product, with sales of 17.9 billion in Fiscal 1978. It had 395,200 employees in January o f this year, 13.6 per cent o f which were minority and 57 per cent female. Blacks make up 7.3 per cent o f the officials and managers; 6.1 per cent o f the professionals; 11.9 per cent o f the technicians; 11.3 per cent o f the sales workers; 13.4 per cent o f the clerical and office workers; 9.2 per cent o f craft workers; 19.9 per cent o f operators; 23 per cent o f laborers; and 32.3 per cent o f service workers. This is an increase o f from 5.9 per cent Black workers in 1966 to 13.6 in 1979. Asian Americans make up .9 per cent o f the Sears work force; In dian/A laska Natives are .3 per cent; Hispanics 5.2 per cent. The local Sears operation has, in employment statistics to the O bser ver According to Casterline, that is the company's national policy. Stat istics are released only on a nation wide basis. mm In August o f 1973, the Chairman o f the Equal Employment Opportun ities Commission (E E O C ) charged Sears w ith d is c rim in a tio n on the basis o f race, color, sex and national origin. On A p ril 19, 1977, E E O C found reasonable cause to believe Sears was in violation o f section 703, Title V II , by discriminating against Blacks, women and Spanish sur names! Americans, with regard to recruitm ent, hirin g, em ploym ent, selection procedures, jo b assign ment, promotion, transfer, training, compensation, layo ff, benefits and other terms and conditions o f em ployment. In January o f 1978 Sears' model a ffir m a tiv e actio n plan was a p proved and in A p ril o f 1979 the governm ent n o tified Sears that it would conduct an on-site review of the plan. In A pril Sears declared that it will no longer seek contracts with the governm ent and charged the government with harassment. Casterline writes, "T his suit was filed in an attempt to require the government to get its bureaucratic mess straightened out, its conflicting priorities resolved, its erratic and un fa ir enforcem ent o f the law con sistent and fair, its adversarial and punitive posture changed to one o f en cou rag em en t, e xam p le, and cooperation where warranted; and by accomplishing this, Sears believes equal o p p o rtu n ity w ill become a rality instead o f a promise. " W e believe it obvious tha the court will support the C ivil Rights Act o f 1964 and that no court would take action to do anything other than improve the implementation o f the law and to clarify the law, where needed This is precisely what Sears has requested. The questions raised by the suit are not whether equal op portunity is proper but rather how can it be more fairly, equitably, and effectively implemented.” "Regardless o f the outcome of the su it, Sears w ill co n tin u e to aggressively pursue the goal o f equal opportunity within the Com pany.” How do those Sears purports to aid with its suit feel about it? Benja min Hooks, N A A C P executive direc tor, said, “ The N A A C P regards the suit as not only highly unsual. but we feel it is a skillful public relations maneuver aimed at preempting im pending action that the Equal Em ployment Opportunity Commission (E E O C ) was about to take agaisnt Sears. One p ertinent fact is that Sears filed the suit the day that E EO C notified the company o f its ‘ failure to conciliate' on emplvee’s (Please turn to page 3 col. 3) 1st Place Community Service ONPA 1973 PORTLAND OBSERVER The P o rtla n d Observer IUSPS 966 680 a pubtohed every Thurs day by Exie Publahtng Compeny, Inc . 2201 North KHlmgsworth. 1st Place Best Ac' Results ONPA 1973 Portland Oregon 97217. Poet Office B om 3137, Portland Oregon 97206 Second clew postage paid el Portlend, Oregon Subscriptions »7.60 per yeer m Tri-County area »8 00 per yeer outside Tri-County Aree Poetmaeter Send eddreee changes to the P o rtla n d Observer, P 0 B om 3137, Portend, Oregon 97206 Ébiìti.. ALFREDL HENDERSON Editor/ Publisher The P o rtla n d Observer 'i officiei position ie e (pressed only m its Editorial colum n Any other m alaria throughout the papa' is the opinion of the individual writer or submitter end does not neceeeerily reflect the opinion o f the P o rtla n d Observer National Advertising Repreeentetive Am algamated Publishers Inc New York 6th Place Best Editorial NNPA 1973 Honorable Mention Herrick Editorial Award NNA1973 2nd Place Beet Editorial 3rd Place Comm unity Leadership ONPA 1976 3rd Place Community Leadership ONPA 1979 MMsetA ^Oregon H e J I p J I pe R A M O c itiian - fo u n d e d IB M |, Newspaper Publishers Association The Rhodesian elections are over now and, as expected, Bishop Abel Muzorewa won a majority o f the 72 seats allocated to the Blacks. Smith and the whites had already won the 28 seats reserved for whites who make up less than 4 #7# o f the popula tion. In the four way race for the Black seats, Muzorewa won 52 o f the 72 seats. His main rival, Ndabanmgi Sithole, won only ,2 . " C h i e f ’ Chi- rau, a nobody whom Smith tried so desperately to make into a "some body", a stooge actually, did not win a single seat — not even in his home district! Kayisa Ndiwem, his former deputy who broke with him shortly before the election, won the last 9. A few hours before the election results started coming in, Sithole had been ranting and raving about "w hat a fair election it was, an exercise in democracy, A frica had never seen such democratic elections." At that time, he was predicting he would win at least 50 seats. When the results started coming in and he realized how badly he was doing, he suddenly changed his tune. N ow he was charging "massive fraud and coer cion by the Ministry o f the In terio r.” Obviously if he had won then the elections would have been ‘ free and fa ir’. ” As we have said all along, the elec tions w ill change n o th in g . A Muzorewa government (he will take office later this month) will be little d ifferent than the present regime. The whites will retain control o f the army, the police force, the judiciary, the civil service, the economy, just to mention a few. Smith, who is gua ranteed a cabinet post in the "n e w " governm ent is dem anding the Ministry o f Justice, Law and Order! So, to all intents and purposes, the present concept o f "justice” , " la w ” and “ order” will be carried over into the new administration. This certain ly gives a whole new meaning to the old saying: ‘The more things change, the more they stay the same.' While the mood in Zimbabwe is generally one o f "w ait and see” , a number o f things arc already patent ly clear. First and foremost is the breakup o f the unholy alliance that on the 3rd o f March last year signed this sellout agreement. The three Black “ moderates” who so far had clung together and to Sm ith for political survival are now turning against one another. Sithole, spurn ed by the guerrillas and repudiated by the voters, is finished politically. Chirau, the nobody, will just slide o f f in to o b liv io n . F o r h im , that shouldn't be too hard. M atter o f fact, it should be as easy as eating banana pie. Ndiweni, who won the last 9 seats, does not seem to be headed anywhere but to oblivion. The alliance between M uzorewa and Smith has been showing some signs o f strain. Shortly after the elec tions, Smith delivered a veiled warn ing to Muzorewa not to tamper with the entrenched clauses — the ones in tended to perpetrate white privileges. He has hinted that, to maintain what Black support he had, M uzorewa Albina schools score low (Continued from Page 1 Column 6) Also, these children test at 196, near the district's average o f 200.80. Tests are being given this week and McCrea believes that when the May 1979 tests for each child are com pared with the fall o f 1978 tests for that child, progress will be demon strated. " I expect that the school average will have gained a year, and th a t m any students have gained much more. I f that hasn’t happened I will be very surprised and o f course w ill have to reassess what we are doing. "Boise has been at the bottom for years and although we are still near the b o tto m , and w ill be, we are show ing progress.” M c C re a ex plained that in most schools in low socio-econom ic areas students stead ily lose ground as they get o ld e r, u n til eighth graders are three or four years behind their grade level. “ We started out low, but if each year we can gain a year in achievement and not fall behind, and then if we can gain more than a year, we are having a lot o f success. " T h e atm osphere at Boise has changed. Our students are eager to learn and they are learning.” M c C re a was in fo rm e d by Vic Dougherty, assistant superintendent, that Boise had a greater percentage o f improvement last year than any school in the district. In the fall o f 1978, Boise began its third year as a “ Basic School.” Its enrollment o f 468 was 72.9 percent Black. Its class sizes ranged between 18 and 30, with an average o f 23.4 in grades one through eight. A ccording to D o h e rty , the d is tric t’ s reading scores declined between 1977 and 1978, with the greatest drop in Area II. M ath scores rose slightly, except in Area II where they declined. A lth o ug h K ing, Sabin, Vernon and Woodlawn vary from 46.7 per cent to 5 6 .1 percent Black, the white students are clustered in the pre-k, kindergarten, with grades first-fifth heavily Black. W hy are Portland’s Black schools at the bottom o f the achievement scale after fourteen years o f compen satory education, Title I, state disad vantaged funds and special p ro grams? Could it lx a result o f racial segregation? The U.S. Supreme Court said in 1954, " W h e n we come to' the question presented: Does segregation o f children in public schools solely on the basis o f race, even though the physical fa c ilitie s and o th er ‘ tangible* factors may be equal, deprive the children o f the minority group o f equal educational opportu nities? We believe that it does.” (Next : King ECE) might be pressured to scuttle the current constitution for one that w ould severely restrict w hite privileges. This fear on Smith’s part is not without foundation: there will be a lot o f pressure on Muzorewa to do away w ith those entrenched clauses. Meantime, the war will rage on. Muzorewa has promised to end the fighting. Apparently, he must have been thinking that the war is some form o f a faucet that he can turn on or o ff at will. He promised to end the war last March when he first signed the internal agreement with Smith. So far he has not delivered because, on that score, he cannot deliver. He is reportedly putting out feelers to the Front Line states o f Angola, B otswana, Z a m b ia , M ozam b iq u e and Tanzania to initiate some form o f economic cooperation. A t the same time, he is also insisting that he will maintain economic and diploma tic ties with South Africa — Africa's nemesis. Even though these Southern African countries are unfortunately economically interdependent, it is unlikely the Front Line states would deal with a Muzorewa government in its present form. So, what will hap pen is that the people in all these countries will continue to experience severe economic difficulties due to the intansigence o f one U n ite d Methodist Church bishop. Again, we hold our breath as we wait to see which way the wind will blow. Letters. Not usl To the Editor: The Church o f Scientology has scheduled a program for senior citi zens on M ay 7th at the M asonic Temple in Portland. In its press re leases, brochures, etc. it is indicated that the event is in cooperation with the C ity -C o u n ty Com m ission on Aging. We strongly regret that the Church o f Scientology would use the C om mission in this unauthorized fashion to promote its activities. The C om mission on Aging emphatically dis claims any affiliation with this event. Osly Gates, Executive Director, City-County Commission on Aging Without your he^ we can’t afford to win. ta» deductible check payable Io U S Olympic r 0 B om 1980 P Cathedral Station, Boston MA 02118
