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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 5, 1979)
Mrs Frances Schoen-*'*» University of Or-"on p e r Poca ary Supreme Court upholds Northern desegreqation T hf U.S U.S. Suoreme Supreme Court hat af- af The finned the power of federal count to order system wide desegregation in Northern cities where children have been attending mostly all-white or all Black schools as the result o f school board policies. The court concluded that the 1934 Brown decision imposed a ‘ 'continuous duty” to eradicate the effects o f all official segregation in Northern as well as Southern districts. Justice Byron White, writing for the majority in both cases, found that the D ayton and Colum bus, Ohio, schools had been intentionally segregated by school board policies who» -u when «z-kz^i school segregation was u held unconstitutional in 1934. The court ruled that once a judge finds that a schools system was of ficially segregated in 1934, the judge is “ under continuous constitutional obligation** to integrate the system. Justice White said the federal ap peals court was correct in apply a 1973 Denver decision, which found that segregation in communities where separate Black and white schools were not mandated by law but were the result o f school board policiy is unconstitutional. The ruling on the Denver case said that a finding o f “ intentionally segregative • school board actions in a meaningful portion” o f a school system "creates a presumption** that the other segregated schooling in the district did not occur by chance. Applying that case, Justice White found that Dayton and Columbus were under a “ continuing duty” , just as Southern schools that were degregated because o f law, to desegregate their school systems. He said the local school boards have prepetuated and added to segregation during the past 23 years, including such policies as faculty assignment, optional attendance sones, school construction, and in Columbus, gerrym andering o f school boundary lines. in the Columbus case, Justice White said, ” . . . the board’s con duct at the time o f trial and before not only was animated by an uncon stitutional, segregative purpose but also had current segregative impact that was sufficiently citywide to warrant the temedy ordered , . The Columbus order will reassign 42,000 students in a city-wide desegregation program. White said the “ Dayton board had engaged in many past actions that had the effect o f increasing and per petuating segregation.” The busing order had been in effect in Dayton since 1976 and includes 18,000 students. The court let stand lower court or ders mandating desegregations plans in Louisville, M inneapolis and Austin. The decision reversed a conser vative trend that, since 1973, had limited the power o f federal judges to order school desegregation. Drew S. Days I II , director of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, called the decision a victory PORTLAND OBSERVER for the government. His office is in vestigating segregation in ten cities in the North and West in which the situation is sim ilar to those o f Columbus and Dayton. An estimated 200 school districts are now operating under court-ordered desegregatin plans. The Department o f Health, Education and Welfare has obtained similar plans for 200 additional systems. Hank Green berg, N A A C P Legal Defense Fund, said the rulings will have a positive impact on the 30 cases active with his organization. (Please turn to page 5 col. 1) Volume 9 No. 29 Thuraday, July 6,1179 10$ USPS 969-990 utte inmates present demands Thirty-two inmates in “ A ” Tank o f Rocky Butte Jail, the maximum security tank, began a hunger strike last Tuesday, charging harassment from guards. Jail officials responded Wednesday w ith a lock down, retaining inmates in their cells except for one-half hour each day. The inmates state that harassment began when the autorities allegedly were informed about contraband in A T ank. The inmates gave up a handcuff key and other items, at which time they were told by guards that there was a gun in the cellblock. The prisoners state that there are no weapons in A Tank and searches by the ja il s ta ff have failed to produce a gun. The inmates are demanding an end to harassment from the guards and a return to at least two hours exercise time and time to clean-up before court ap pearances. Inmates also state there has been no improvement in ja il conditions since an inmate hunger strike last November. Although the corrections division Children participating in the Y M C A Bummer Program at King Elementary School will spend the has lessened the crowding at Rocky Butt:, the condition on which they blame most of their jail problems, the inmates state that medical care is still substandard, the quality o f meals is extremely poor, there are not adequate sanitary facilities. Inmates have also charged racial discrimination by the guards, in cluding name calling, discrimination in disciplinary measures, and with holding o f priviledges. The specific demands issued by the inmates are: Food -improvement in cleanliness, reduction o f pork (Muslims cannot eat pork and others are concerned about nitrate content); reduction of liq u id -typ e meals; reduction o f mushy type meals; n u tritio n a lly balanced meals. Walk time -increase o f walk time to two hours; access to phone and postage; end to harassment by authorities. Discipline - confrontation with ac- cusors and informants, cause in formants to reveal sources, prove authenticity o f information. Sanitation -fix leaky sinks, provide running water in cells; removal o f caustic soap that contains hexachloraphene, a chemical banned by the Food and Drug Administra tion; allow inmates to clean cells and to cleanup for court appearances and legal proceedings; unplug drains to stop flooding o f cells. Medical care -prompt treatment; no discontinuance o f medication or treatment without proper medical reason; no substitution o f “ con venience” drugs or “ in-stock” drugs for physician ordered drugs; no unauthorized dose changes; closer attention to psychotic/psychiatric inmates, cardiac and epileptic in mates. D iffe re n tia l treatm ent -V a lid reasons for security isolation; no picking on certain inmates; end ver bal and physical abuse. Commissary -same access to commissary for A Tank as for the rest o f the jail. The inmates state that their ap peals to the Corrections Division have gone unanswered and that refusing to take meals is their only option. summer in exciting recreation activities. (Photo: Terry Robertson) Hamilton heads Urban League The Urban League o f Portland, at its Annual Meeting, swore in new of ficers and elected new Board mem bers. H . J. Belton Hamilton, adminis trative judge for H E W , was installed as president by outgoing president, Roy Schnaible. O fficers are: Paul C ook, First State Bank, First Vice President; C la ir Silver, W h ite Stag, Vice President; Gayle Gemmell, Social Security Administration, Treasurer; W illiam H illia rd , the Oregonian, Secretary; Benita Stroughter, Pacific Northwest Bell, Member-at-large; Kick K ishim o io , X erox C o rp ., Member-at-large. New members elected to the board are: Debra B arnett, Bureau o f Hum an Resources; Gwen Blake, T ek tro n ix; Robert P. Burns, N atio n al Electrical C ontractors Association; Larry Campbell, KGW - Radio; Bruce Pozzi, Attorney. William Supack, United Airlines; Bob Jackson, Xerox C o rp .; and Nellie Fox, A F L -C IO . Local youth win ACT-SO awards C arl Edwards, Roosevelt High School senior, won first place for Visual Arts in the AC T-SO youth talent competition at the N A A C P National Convention held last week in Louisville. Edward's entry, for which he won a gold medal and Si ,000, was a large bust of King Tuntenkamen. Anthony Nunley won a third place bronze medal in Technical Science com petition with is architectural plans for an addition to Washington and Montoe High School. Nunly is a senior at Washington and Monroe. Miss Beverly Hughes, student of dance at Jefferson High School, also entered the national competition. The three students were winners o f local competition sponsored by the N A A C P , Portland Branch. Re-elected was Luis A . Alvarez, C om m ittee o f Spanish Speaking People o f Oregon. A planning committee was appoin ted to work with new Executive Director, Mrs. Freddye Petett, to evaluate areas o f concern and to de termine priorities. Areas of community needs to be considered include: - the operation o f all civil rights and affirmative action programs o f state and local governments - proposed ordinances, statutes and budgets o f state and local gov ernments relevant to intergroup relations in general and minorities in particular - an analysis o f economic trends in the Urban League’s service area noting significant changes in policy o f employers which interface with Urban League programs - analysis o f housing trends - analysis o f educational trends, programs and operations with im plications for intergroup relations in general and minorities in particular M ayor Noil Goldschm idt and Commissioner Charles Jordan cut a 130 pound cake, as Fred Mayer board chairman Oran B. Robertson watches, to begin the official re-grand opening of the Fred Meyer Walnut Park «tore. Also on hand for the celebration was Cy Green, President of Fred Meyer, Inc. Prisoners Legal Service provides legal assistance to Oregon prisoners The Prisoner’s Legal Service is funded through the state corrections division to provide civil legal services to prisoners incarcerated in the state’s institutions. Staffed with four attorneys, the project cannot solve the legal problems o f 24,000 inmates, but it not only deals w ith the problems o f individual prisoners but has had an impact on the operation o f the prisons. Gene Mechanic, director o f PLS, emphasizes that the projects cannot ac cept every case referred to it. Cases that are accepted generally fall in three areas: 38 per cent are civil cases not related to the prison; 32 per cent are cases involving problems related to the prison; 10 per cent involve parole or con d itio n al release. Mechanic sees the office as having two missions—one is to take cases that deal w ith prisoner’ s rights, prison procedures and policies. These cases affect the daily lives of much o f the prison population. The other responsibility is to assist individual prisoners. Many o f these t cases are related to fam ily and children. Mechanic explained that prison is very destructive o f family life. Besides the prisoners separation from the family, prison regulations and outside agencies add to the prob lems. Prisoners often face divorce, loss o f custody of their children, face termination o f their parental rights, denial o f their visiting privileges. A large percentage o f PLS* civil cases are in the domestic relations area. The project’s success in challeng ing prison rules and procedures has not made it populai with the correc tions division, Mechanic believes. He describes the prison as one of the <ew remaining areas in Ameri can life that is run on a completely d ictato rial basis. Prison officials not only resent interference, but are not innovative. There has not been a serious explosion at O.S.P. for years, and the inclination is to leave things as they are and not make changes that could lead to some unrest. Mechanic has made the attempt to work more closely with the prison staff and inmates, both to receive advice on the PLS* role and to evaluate its function. In the fa ll o f 1978, Mechanic asked Superintendent Hoyt Cupp’s permission to meet w ith club presidents and paralegals, with the expectation o f forming a small ad visory group o f inmates to help set priorities for accepting cases. He felt that since the project was designed to serve the prisoners needs, they should have more input regarding the type o f cases that should receive priority. Cupp replied in the negative . .it has been my experience over the past 31 years to provide only small groups o f inmates with the power to express the wishes o f 1,700 or so other inmates is a mistake. It leads only to confrontation, disrup tion and provides this small group of inmates w ith power over the majority. I will not be a part to such an arrangement or will I allow such a group to exist w ithin this in- stitution.” Later, Mechanic asked the correc tions division to cooperate in an evaluation o f PLS, to be funded by the National Bar Association. The evaluation would study five areas: the extent and adequacy o f PLS; the impact o f PLS on internal order and management: the impact o f PLS on the inmate population; the support for PLS; and the interactions be tween attorneys and correctional staff. The evaluation was to be con ducted by D r Edward D. Weeks, Community Services and Public A f fairs, University of Oregon, and con sist o f interviews with a small num ber o f inmates and staff followed by a questionnaire survey o f the inmate population and staff. Robert J. Watson. Administrator o f C orrections, replied to D r. Weeks, “ After lengthy consideration by the corrections division Policy Committee, your proposals for re search to underlie evaluation o f Prisoner’ s Legal Services, Inc. operations has been denied.” There The re-grand opening of the store at Union at Killingsworth celebrated the renovation of tl grocery section of the store, one of Portions oldest. Activities through the remainder of the we< include a steak sandwich feed on Friday, a Ssturd pancacke feed, Pepsi “Hot Shot” basketball, a bll repair clinic, and carnival rides. was no further explanation. Am ong PLS* successful cases dealing with institutional practices are: Archuietta v GteriujJ. involving access to the courts and counsel for Native American inmates; Johnson v Cupp, involving the right o f a Black inm ate to criticize prison policies; B artholom ew v Reid, dealing with disciplinary practices. In M cBride v M a rtin , PLS ob tained a jury award for an inmate in a civil rights action against jail of ficials. Johnson v Cupp, involved a Black O.S.P. inmate, Henry Johnson, who in December o f 1976, was confined to the Segregation and Isolation Unit for 18 months because the discipli nary committee determined he was guilty o f “ attem pting to cause unrest, discontent and disobedience within the institution.” The problem started when John son joined U H U R U , the Black Culture dub, and became chairman o f its Ways and Means Committee. He claimed that he was asked by staff to quit the dub, his family and friends were denied visiting privileges, and his mail was delayed and read. t A letter written to his wife was opened and its contents reported to the administration. He had written, "These niggers just need waking up and need to be organized. 1 am going to try and do it through my commity (sic) 1 am chairman o f.” Johnson was taken to SAI and in a later hearing explained that he intended to establish communication between U H U R U and the Albina Ministerial Alliance, and that he wanted to start a candy sale campaign to raise money for charitable organizations. He was told his explanation was “ less than truthful” and sentenced to isolation for 18 months. U .S . D istrict C o urt Judge Soloman ordered that Johnson not be prohibited from discussing com plaints or grievances relating to his confinement, the condition o f the confinement or the treatment o f in- (Please turn to page 8 col. 1)
