4
Three white women nominated for School Board
'
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A screening com m ittee o f the
Portland School Board has nom i
nated three white women to till a va
cancy on the School Board. The
screening committee, comprised o f
Jonathan Newman, Joe Rieke and
Bill Scott nominated Helen Casey,
Sarah Newhall and Paul-ne Ander
son.
Rejected by the screening commit
tee were five Black candidates. Herb
Cawthorne, Portland State Univer
sity educator who has strong support
>'n the Black com m unity, received
■
.
Scott's vote. Newman and Rieke
questioned Cawthorne closely about
his involvement in the Black United
Front and its proposed boycott o f
the public schools and neither voted
for him.
Newman and Rieke voted for Ms.
Brenda Green, personnel director for
the Northeast Regional T ra inin g
Lab, but Scott would not.
The compromise reached between
Cawthorne, a Black man, and Ms.
Green, a Black woman, was Pauline
Anderson.
Pauline Anderson, who lives at the
Oregon Yacht Club, is the wife of
Lloyd Anderson, executive director
o f the P o rt o f P o rtla n d . She is
currently a housewife, but previous
ly was em ployed by the school
district as a seventh and eighth grade
teacher at Irv in g to n and P o rts
mouth. She has also worked as a
physical therapist at the Crippled
C h ild re n ’ s D iv is io n . She is a
graduate o f Linfield College.
Mrs. Anderson is a member o f
Schools for the City, the Governor’s
Commission on Youth, the Portland
Youth Advocate Board, the Fruit
and Flow er C h ild Care Center
Board, and AC LU . Her children at
tended Fernw ood, G ra n t and
Adams.
Helen Casey lives in the Laurel-
hurst school district. She is a home
maker and freelance w rite r. Her
child re n attend L a u re lh u rst and
Fernwood and previously attended
Humboldt ECE and Hayhurst. She
has tutored and taught Literature.
She has a Master’ s degree from PSU
_
in English.
Mrs. Casey was a member o f the
Board fo r the League o f Women
Voters and is that o rganization’ s
representative in the C om m unity
C oa litio n fo r School Integration.
She is a member o f the Laurelhurst
Citizen Advisory Committee and the
Fernwood C u rric u lu m
Review
Committee.
Sarah N ew hall, w ho lives in
Southwest Portland, is a coordinator
for the Youth Service Centers o f the
City o f Portland. She previously was
PORTLAND OBSERVER
r Snnthwe«
director n f o ih
f the
Southwest Youth Ser
vice Center, Assistant Director o f the
M etropolitan Youth Commission,
and a resident advisor for the Job
Corps. She has a Master’ s degree in
Public Administration from PSU.
She has served on the Governor’ s
Commission on Youth, the AC LU ,
the United Way Board, the Citizens
fo r Children Board and the G irl
Scout Boatd.
The School Board w ill hold a
public meeting on August 6th, at
(Please turn to page J col. 3)
Volum« 9 No. 29
Thursday, July 26. 1979 W
USPS959 680
City re-purchases Dekum Court playground
The Portland City Council voted
Wednesday to purchase four lots ad
jacent to Dekum Court public hous
ing project to provide play space for
project children. The lots had been
sold by The Housing Authority o f
P o rtla n d , which operates the
project, to a private developer strip
ping the 40 unit project o f play and
recreation space.
The lots are to be purchased at a
cost o f $13,000 each, approximately
twice the price paid for them about a
year ago. The Concordia Neighbor
hood Association and The Dekum
C o u rt Tenants A ssociation had
asked H AP to retain the property,
but when it was sold, turned to the
City for help. The Neighborhood As
sociation asked the City Council to
purchase the lots w ith federal
Housing and Community Develop
ment money designated fo r the
neighborhood. The developer, J.B.
Brayson, agreed to wait a year for
the City to act. By the time the plan
ning process was completed, d if
fering
assessments,
in fla tio n ,
developm ent and finance costs
brought the cost to the point that the
money set aside by the City would
purchase four rather than ten lots.
Brayson agreed to donate one lot if
four lots to the east o f the com
m unity center b uilding were pur
chased.
The Council voted unanimously
(Ms. Schwab was absent) to purchase
the four lots available, but to attempts
to negotiate to purchase two lots on
each side o f the building rather than
four on one side.
Commissioner Frank lvancie. who
made the motion to buy, also indi
cated that City staff should discuss
the possibility o f purchasing ad
ditional lots.
The decision culminated over two
years work for the Neighborhood
A ssociation and the Tenants
O rga niza tion w hich o rig in a lly
blocked H A P ’s plan to build addi
tional public housing units on this and
adjoining property, then persuaded
the City to downzone the property
for single unit housing prior to its
sale. When they discovered the
property line had been drawn so
close to the project that the only
remaining play space was a steep
slope and the recreation building
would be surrounded on three sides
by new houses, the organization turn
ed to the Mayor for help.
The vote Wednesday was consider
ed a small victory for the group who
consider the acquisition o f four to
five lots on the extreme east end o f
the project as unacceptable since
small children could not be observed
from the apartments at the other end
o f the project. They consider ten lots
Boycott Update
OAU addresses conflicts, elects Tolbert
M O N R O VIA L IB E R IA - The Or
ganization o f African Unity, which
recently held its 16th summit con
ference here, is an extraordinary and
impressive organization in wo»ld
politics.
Africa is the only continent in the
world where such a large number o f
heads o f separate and soverign states
convene every year in serious
deliberation to deal with the complex
p o litic a l and economic problems
facing this new frontier.
Older people such as Bob Ellis, a Portland d raftsm an , bring w ith
them not only experience but also a quiet dignity.
Program hires older workers
bv J e ff Petersen
Throughout Seleta Gantt’ s life—
through hardship and laughter—she
has stored in her heart the words to a
song she heard as a child, “ If you
live right, heaven belongs to you."
But upon retiring to the “ quiet life”
the self-described “ bundle o f
energy" nearly lost faith.
When she returned to Portland
from Los Angeles in 1972, after
being away for 24 years, the then 68-
year-old great grandm other went
about looking for a job to occupy
her time.
“ I tried to find work downtown in
the department stores,” she says.
“ They w o u ld n ’ t even take my
name.”
r
Bob Ellis, a 79-year-old Portland
carpenter, faced a similar problem.
A lte r an operation his doctor ad
vised the tall, thin man with lights in
his eyes and a quick laugh to slow
down and recuperate or face the con
sequences.
Ellis slowed down but never stop
ped. But with more spare time than
he had ever experienced, E llis
became depressed and frustrated.
The fru stra tio n doubled when he
went to look for work.
“ I went to several places, picked
up a pp lica tion s and looked at
them,” he says, "a nd they said, ‘ We
don’t hire anyone over 65.’ I picked
them up but never filled them o u t.”
Keeping occupied became harder
(Please turn to page 12 column 1)
Some o f the hundreds o f journa
lists from around the world spent
their leisure moments on the eve o f
the 16th summit trying to access the
political value, clout, impact and
progress o f the OAU.
One English correspondent who
has covered the last fo u r O A U
meetings, obsetved: "T h e fact that
the OAU is still functioning and has
been able to maintain the respect and
active involvement and support o f
more than 40 African heads o f state,
in spite o f the immense diversity and
staggering problems, represents, I
think, a remarkable achievement.’ ’
This great c u ltu ra l, racial,
religious and economic diversity con
tributes to barriers in communica
tions and compounds political d if
ferences and conflicts.
OAU countries in North Africa in
clude Egypt, A lg e ria , M orocco,
Libya, and Mauritania. The Egyp
tian-Israeli Peace Treaty has resulted
in oper.lv hostile relations with Libya
and other A rab states. A lg e ria ,
Morocco and M auritania are em
broiled in a heated controversy over
the Western Sahara, the form er
Spanish C olony now divided be
tween Morocco and Mauritania.
The East A frica n c o n flic t over
T anzania's involvem ent in over
throwing ex-Ugandan President Idi
A m in flared up at the opening
session o f the O A U sum m it.
Sudanese President Gaafar Numeiri,
(Please turn to page 12 col. 5)
Northeast Coalition asks new hospital study
The Northeast Coalition o f Neigh
borhoods asked the Veterans A d
ministration to withdraw its recently
released D raft Environmental Im
pact Statement on siting for the new
veterans hospital.
John Hills said the DEIS is a fraud
and is a pretence to comply with a
request to support a decision that has
already been made - to place the
hospital on M arquam H ill. "T h e
D ra ft
E n viro nm e nta l
Im pact
Statement is supposed to be an envir
onmental report, to determine en
vironmental impact on the areas in
volved.”
The facts in the report he called
inaccurate, w ith no comparisons
drawn between the Marquam H ill
site and the proposed Emanuel
Hospital site. The study indicates
that quality o f care o f patients would
be better at the Marquam H ill site
because it is adjacent to the Univer
sity o f Oregon Health Science Cen
ter, but H ill called this a subjective
decision which fails to deal directly
with the issues o f quality care.
The "p a th e tic
analysis o f
economic e ffe c t” says that the
Veterans H osp ital at Emanuel
"w o u ld be consistent in a passive
rather than an active way.”
Proponents o f the Emanuel site
claim the VA hospital would enhance
economic development and fu lfill the
promises made to the community
when homes were cleared from the
area for hospital development.
The C oa litio n also found fault
with the study’ s lack o f cost/benefit
analysis and its attempt to compare
the costs o f a h ospital at the
Marquam H ill site and a hospital/
outpatient clinic at Emanuel.
"There is no evidence o f a fair and
impartial study,” H ill said, calling
for a new study. “ There is no way it
could stand a legal test.”
Some thoughts on the problem
bv William H. .McClendon*
' Black people cannot be protected
by American law, fo r we have no
fra n ch ise in this co un try. I f
anvthiny, we suffer double indem
nity: We have no law o f our own and
no protection fro m the law o f white
America, which by its intention and
by the very nature o f the cultural
values which determined it. is inim i
cal to blackness. "
Robert Chrisman
I he Black Scholar
PART II
Clear evidence o f the truth o f the
previous statement is to be seen in
the Portland School District’ s policy
governing the busing o f Black
students and the Departm ent o f
Health, Education and V elfare's
support fo r it. Tb> brings fo rth
Marcus Garvey’ s su met analysis o f
what the Black ra p u la tio n must
never forget. ” 1 America there is
no law but o
gth; no justice but
power.”
The educational climate in School
District Number One is notorious for
its institutionalized hostility toward
Black students. This is consistent
with the racist attitudes prevalent in
every other sector o f the larger com
munity. A few Black analysts have
contended fo r an inte rm in a b le
period that the worst consequences
ot any education for Black children
A nalysis
are not those which result fro m
teachers with limited skills, but the
subtle, overt and insidious abuses
imposed upon Black children when
they are exposed to the uncontrolled
contempt symbolized by and con
tained in the school board and ad
ministration directed transportation
program. Following the objections
and planned boycott o f Portland
Public Schools by the Black United
Front on this matter, the response of
Superintendent Robert Blanchard
has convinced a large body o f people
that the privileges the Superintendent
has enjoyed to castigate and insult
Black people and to stigmatize Black
children must be taken away. In ad
dition the school board is deserving
o f vituperation and critical evalua
tion. It should be distrusted for as
long as it avoids coming to grips
w ith exhibitions o f disrespect in
words and deeds tow ard Black
people by the school administration.
The Black United Front does not
seek the approbation o f white defend
ers o f white racism and is not fasci
nated nor hypnotized by any pretend
ed school board concern fo r the
welfare o f Black students. I f there
had been any minimal interest in pro
viding equitable education and ser
vices to all students without any o f
the customary inequities being direct
ed blatantly at Blacks, the problems
that now exist would never have de
veloped. The w ordy lamentations
from Thomas, McElroy, McNamara
and all o f their collaborating sen
tim entalists is badly m isdirected
Their immediate efforts now should
be to provide an educational en
vironment that in real honesty can be
recognized as deserving o f Black at
tendance and support. The truth o f
the existing condition is that racist
attitudes such as are manifested in the
operation o f the present busing pro
gram and the arrangement o f middle
schools are widespread and unre
strained. so much so that the best
level o f emotional and physical com
fo rt for Black students is experienced
outside o f the academic perimeter.
Superintendent Blanchard’ s a rri
val in Portland was viewed by some
Blacks as a tragedy. His earlier
rhetorical utterances (at an NAACP
m eeting th rough the PSU John
Cramer lecture) alienated thinking
Blacks and stimulated feelings o f
disgust and anger. In the years since,
he has seemed incapable o f doing
a nyth ing other than rem inding
Blacks and reassuring whites that he
is adept at making eerie and weird
noises indicating that white racism is
alive and well. It is obvious now that
the chief announcement contained in
his Schools for the Seventies agenda
was that the education fo r Black
children was not to be improved.
Under the guise o f ending segrega
tion the school administration has
transported groups o f Black students
to schools predominantly populated
by w hite students. There are in
numerable reports o f many o f these
Blacks becoming the immediate tar
gets o f white negativism, ostracism,
poor teaching, inadequate counsel
ing and other harassments common
to these strange settings. To put it
m ildly, the Blacks find such place
ments unpleasant and confusing and
very difficult to establish intergroup
and/or intragroup rapport As now
practiced, the measured dispersal o f
Black students is explained by public
school spokespeople to apolitical
Blacks as firs t steps to w ard in
; V ' t
« F
I
as the minimum acceptable space for
the 360 children who would poten
tially use the space.
Dekum C oun is surrounded on
three sides by walls and apartment
buildings. I f it were to be enclosed on
the south, the only access would be
down Morgan Street to the west. In
recent years, particularly because o f
joining in conflict with H AP, the re
lationship between the project resi
dents and the neighborhood people
have improved. The project resi
dents fear physical separation w ill re
isolate them from the community.
Claudia Fisher o f the C N A , told
the Council that the neighborhood
fears the isolation o f the public
housing project from the surround
ing neighborhood and “ only through
open space w ill the elim ination o f
conflict and the integration o f the
project into the neighborhood oc
cur.
A public meeting with the Black
U nited F ro n t to discuss the
threatened school boycott, called by
School Board Chairman Ftank Mc
Namara, was cancelled after BUF
co-chairm an Ronnie H erndon
notified McNamara that BUF would
not attend. The meeting had been
dubbed a “ town hall meeting” and
was scheduled fo r Benson H igh
School.
BUF has agreed to meet with Mc
Namara and Deputy Superintendent
Donald McElroy on Monday to lay
the ground rules for possible future
meetings and to clarify the issues,
but no "to w n hall meeting" is an
ticipated at this time.
Many BUF members were angry
over M cNam ara’ s announcement.
" I t was presumptuous and insen
sitive to set a public meeting without
inviting us first,” a BUF spokesman
said. “ A ll McNamara had to do was
make a telephone call. It makes us
wonder about the Board's w ill — not
their goodwill — but their w ill.”
BUF w ill meet w ith students at
King N eighborhood F a c ility on
Thursday, July 26th, at 6:30 p.m.
Plans are being made to provide
activities for children at community
churches during the boycott. Persons
who can help teach, tutor, provide
recreational and craft activities are
needed.
Planning meetings are held weekly
at King Neighborhood fa cility on
Thursday evenings.
tegration. In truth this practice is
selective segregation and has served
as a well designed contrivance for
continuing to place Black students in
different, unequal and intellectually
debilitating situations. The applica
tion o f these techniques o f small
group selective segregation insures
that most o f the Black students w ill
be compressed and processed for all
o f th eir lives in to an a ttitu d in a l
fram ew ork o f su bju g a tio n from
which they w ill find it almost im
possible to become extricated.
Many Black students are aware o f
the fact that parents’ submissiveness
and acquiescence to the school board
and adm inistration policies o f the
past has made the position o f Black
students today untenable and miser
able. The only way that this circum
stance can be improved is that the
Black population is together in its
analysis and in the commitment to
resistance.
• Contributing <* Advisory Editor,
The Black Scholar