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)