Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 2, 1979)
1 Black United Front meets with school district The Black United Front held a pre liminary meeting with School Board Chairm an Frank M cN am ara and Deputy Superintendent D onald M cElroy Monday to present and clarify their demands and to discuss a negotiation procedure. The meeting was called at the request of McNamara. Ronnie Herndon, chairman of the Black U nited F ro n t, expressed “ outrage at what has happened to Black children under a destructive desegregation plan and its resolve that there will be a change." Hern don told the Observer that there was a “ frank exchange on our part.” Following the meeting McNamara told the press that many white people are not ready to participate in a mandatory busing program. Hern don believes M cN a m a ra under estimates the sense o f fairness in the w hite com m unity. “ W hat he is saying is that white people will not abide by the Constitution. 1 would have to believe that is true.” The district was asked to address the issue of its “ abusive busing pat tern ” first. McNamara is to report back to the Black United Front. He estimated this would take place in about a week. Further negotiations and how they will be conducted will depend on his reply. In the meantime preparations are continuing for the boycott. Parent committees are planning the logistics and educational plans for alternative programs for students during the boycott. Students are also meeting and formulating their plans. Public meetings are held every Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m. at King Neighborhood Facility. According to the boycott planners, community interest is intensifying and the group has received greater response at each meeting. The planned boycott is a response to the school district's refusal to discuss with the Black community alternatives to its current desegregation program that would be equitable and effective. PORTLAND OBSERVER Volum« 9 No. 30 Thursday, August 2, 1979 10C USPS 969 680 Some thoughts on the problem by W .H McClendon this period is just one more of these efforts. The Black United Front seeks to change the status quo which locks Black people into circumstances where they are under the absolute domination of whites. Blacks are not involved in trying to take anything from whites. Blacks are determined to set new limits as to what white authority can do to them arbitrarily and capriciously. “Instead o f being led and defend ed by others, as in the past. Blacks are gaining their own leaders, their own voices, their own ideals. " — W. E. B. DuBois “ I f you really want to know where the loyalties o f Black politicians are, observe whether they will publicly support just Black causes rather than accommodate themselves to white expectations. ” — Samuel G. Mays Vernon Chatman of the Urban League of Portland with students that he assisted in finding their jobs with the Corps of Engineers Portland District: Alan Batiste. Ronda Monroe, Karen Bell. Jerome Parham and James Winters. Chatman was honored for his work in support of the corps' Equal Employment Op portunity program. (Please see page 9) Analysis. PART III Although there are many crises situations in the human relations complex of this nation, the most sig nificant from historical and con temporary perspectives, nationally and internationally, is that o f white versus Black. For as long as white racism is the system and all of the in stitutions are infested with it, con crete changes in B lack-w hite relations are unlikely to improve. Inasmuch as the Portland Public Schools served as spawning and nur turing compounds for institutional racism for more than four generations it is commonplace for this operation to be understood by Black people as atrocious and de serving o f challenges and confron tations whenever talent and resources permit. The Black United Front of The Portland School D is tric t’ s busing practice as applied to Black students amounts to a complete reneging on desegregation by the School Board and the ad ministration. This busing with its scattering tactics contains Black children in school holding patterns the same as if they were under quarantine. Contemplate: Why is it that white bureau crats never take any notice of Blacks except when there are some indications that Blacks are developing clannishness? What group of people in this country is most notoriously known and recognized for its Kians and clannishness? Public employee union works for social justice William Lucy, Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (A F S C M E ), was in Portland this weekend to address the u n io n ’ s regional women’s conference. Lucy told the Observer that although the conference specifically addressed the problems of women in the work force many o f those same problems effect Blacks and other minorities. Blacks are found in great numbers in public employment in other parts of the county and comprise about 25 per cent o f the membership o f A F SCME. Lucy credits the large num ber of Blacks in public employment with the fact that after World War I I , when many had m igrated to western and northern cities for the war industry, they did not return to the South. With a history of blue collar employment, they were ab sorbed into the low levels of civil ser vice— levels where education and pro fessional training were not necessary. “ Blacks, as well as women, are still confined to those areas of employ ment. You find them in dead end jobs— custodial service, health care, child care, garbage collection. They are in the least desirable jobs and the ones with the lowest pay and the least benefits.” A FSC M E has been working for several years attempting to get public agencies to define career ladders so persons who begin in entry-level positions could gain education and training and work their way into bet ter positions. They are encouraging the government to create public ser vice positions to hire persons who are unemployed, to get them o ff public assistance and into jobs. I f those already working in low- level jobs could be promoted through a career ladder, room would be created at the bottom for federally assisted trainees, who would later move up also. “ We don't believe the answer to inflation is more unemployment— the economists are wrong. We aren't like some of the unions who protect their members’ jobs by not letting anyone in. We want to include every one as long as we can protect our members, a ls o .’ ’ Lucy does not believe unemployment should be solved entirely by government, that private employers should do their share. In spite o f a national decline of union membership, A F S C M E is growing rapidly. Its members are em ployees of government and of non profit organizations, school districts, hospitals, etc. “ Most people are more concerned about how well they can do their job than they are about earning another nickle,” Lucy explained. “ Social workers, for example, are concerned with caseloads that are loo large, or policies that keep them from helping people.” He credits much o f the union’s growth with the fact that it is concerned with social issues— em ploym ent, housing, child care, minority and women’s rights, etc. Lucy, who is a civil engineer, became interested in the union movement when as a public em ployee in the Bay Area he observed the power of other unions. “ We were (Please turn to page 2 column 1) Why are white officials always wanting to learn about Blacks but never willing to learn from Blacks? Why are Black struggles that are antithetical to white domina tion always attacked with vicious ness? The education of Black students in the Portland School District for the past four decades has been fouled up in an atmosphere o f educators* and politicians’ confusion over things such as teaching, rem edial/com - pensatory education, innovative program s, desegregation, model schools, busing, middle schools, early childhood education and schools for the seventies. The merits/ demerits o f these labels and what they symbolize in their program matic forms are not to be evaluated at this point. The more intense con cern now must be directed towards ending the destruction and waste of Black potential that has followed in the wake of all these perpetrations. This is a responsibility that the Black population must assume. This will not be easy but it can be reward ing. In this community there are those few Blacks in public and private sec tors who are eager to demonstrate to whites that they are expert nigger- ologists, willing to serve as inter- cessionists. They will accommodate whites without a doubt but can they con Blacks? Black America's in Rhodesia by Bill Drummond W A S H IN G T O N , D .C . (P N S )— With the Rhodesia issue now in the middle o f domestic U.S. politics, moves are underway by Black American groups to form a U.S. Black lobby on Africa. Key spokes man in this effort is UN Ambassa dor and top Carter political aide, Andrew Young. Young sees the issue ol trade sanctions against Zimbabwe Rhodesia as a litmus test for Presi dent C arter’s commitment to the aspirations of Blacks in America. "There is now a population that is ethnically related to A fric a ,” says Young, “ that is going to be concern ed about the way those votes come down. Even if we don’t understand all o f the implications of each and every vote, there is no way that we cannot be sensitive to the racial dynamics of each and every vote.” Added to this growing political awareness by American Blacks, is Nigeria’s new clout in world affairs. Judge finds pattern of discrimination, 1977 “ If you are thinking about these long gas lines, one out o f every eight gallons of gasoline sold in this nation comes from Nigeria.” Young point ed out late last month— a few days before Nigeria let it be known that it might use its oil weapon if the U.S. recognized the new government in Zimbabwe Rhodesia. “ Now if you buy G u lf, one out o f every two gallons o f G ulf comes from Nigeria. We are talking about the kinds of realities that I think white folk can understand.” Black American political and civil rights leaders have been quick to back Young in making the connec tion. Last week, TransAfrica, the Washington-based lobby on U .S .- Africa policy, brought together a coalition o f Black groups that in cluded the Congressional Black Caucus, the N A A C P and the National Urban League to support C arter’s decision to continue the U.S. economic boycott of the Salis bury regime. These leaders said they would take political steps against those in the Senate and the House who had been pushing for an end to the trade sanctions. Randall Robinson, executive di rector o f TransAfrica, said, “ We want to make it clear that the Black leadership is committed to respond to those in Congress who would em brace what is nothing more than a racist solution to the problems of A frica.” No doubt the Senate conserva tives who want the sanctions lifted are less intent on aiding Bishop Abel Muzorewa than they are on dealing a setback to Carter and particularly A ndy Young. Nevertheless, the Rhodesia question highlights two basically new facts o f life about racial realpolitik. First, educated, upwardly mobile American Blacks are increasingly looking to Africa as a derivative of the civil rights movement in the Am erican South. Salisbury has (Please turn to page 12 col. 1) Emanuel Hospital wins employment discrimination suit In a verbose and introspective opinion, U.S. Circuit Court Judge James M . Burns determined that Emanuel Hospital did not discrimi nate against Naom i W righ ten , Wilma Graham and Jesse Blocker. He did find that a pattern of discri mination in firing of Blacks existed in 1977, but not in 1976. Mrs. Wrighten told the Observer that she will appeal the decision. She did not expect to receive a fair deter mination in Oregon, she said. " I will appeal all the way to the Supreme Court if I have to.” The class action suit was filed in 1976 following the discharge of Mrs. Wrighten and Mrs. Graham from the hospital. The two nurses had charged the hospital with discriminating against Black em ployees and not providing equal care to Black patients. Following the complaints, Roger Larson, president of Emanuel, ap pointed a committee from the com munity to investigate the charges. The committee disbanded when Mrs. Wrighten refused to provide them with her data. She later explained that she considered Larson to be using the committee to obtain infor- mation she would later use in her trial. In describing the case, Judge Burns compared it to an iceberg— “ Be neath the surface lurks centuries of racial tension and human turmoil— largely concealed history of emotions vast, forbidding, and d ifficu lt to identify and describe... "Few facts are so shrouded from perception, so deeply hidden within the mind and heart, and so much a part of overall personality as that of human motivation. Nevertheless, I must search out and try to correctly identify and characterize motivation in ruling upon these claims of racial employment discrimination in this cate.” Describing the atmosphere o f the trial: "Thus, the parties come to court hurt, resentful and defen sive. They remain so throughout. In this emotionally charged atmosphere witnesses usually tend to share or ex press the same feelings. Indignation, resentment and defensiveness typically do not improve a witnesses* memory. Testimony colored by such emotions tend to cloud rather than clarify the perceptions o f a fact finder.” Describinu th e h n c n ita i- •«!» Describing the hospital: “ It <• is one of the major health care providers in the Portland metropolitan area. It has been a neighbor, an employer, and a health care provider to the surrounding community for many years. During recent years the hos pital has also forced the economic and social problems common to all medical facilities while at the same time dealing with the charges which have occurred within the inner cities o^his country as well. . . * I n short, simply by the nature and com plexity o f its hospital operation, Emanuel employs a num ber of low-salaried and low-skilled persons. It is inevitable in the course of events that some individuals will be more keenly dissatisfied with these jobs, more sensitive to the low esteem with which their con tributions are regarded, more deeply frustrated with their lack of skill and low educational level, or even more inclined to ascribe personal grudges and animosity to their supervisors when reprimanded than will other individuals. Describing M rs. W righten: “ Bound in the testimony and my own close personal observation and .. . . i . . . , : ¡_ . u - . . « , evaluation in the courtroom, I find that these witnesses (Emanuel per sonnel), could not have failed to react with considerable intensity to the threat o f disruption in the hospital routine inherent in W righ ten ’ s abrasiveness, strident demeanor and blunt efforts.” Mrs. Wrighten is a registered nurse with a two-year associate degree in nursing. Her problems at Emanuel came to a head when in January of 1976 Mrs. Wrighten charged that Black patients at Emanuel were not provided proper care by the white nursing sta ff. A fte r a series o f private and public meetings with Larson, accompanied by much pub lic ity , M rs. W righten and M rs. Graham were suspended with pay, then terminated. Mrs. Wrighten, in her testimony, expressed the opinion that white per sonnel neglected to attend to Black patients’ grooming and hygiene needs, thus providing a lower stan dard o f care for Blacks than for whites. Several witnesses, offered supporting testimony. Judge Burns concluded: " T h e medical records, doctors' testimony, testimony o f three other R N ’s and a , . family member of a deceased patie were overwhelmingly persuasive the court that these named i individuals.” Describing M rs. W rightei “ Bound in the testimony and n believed they saw differences in tl attitudes towards, and the overs treatment of black patients by whil (and even some blac) personne These witnesses, some quite vehi mently, attributed the differences t racial discrimination. “ In general, the consensus of the dividuals received adequate care. Wrighten, and a number o f oth witnesses, no doubt saw or b lived they saw differences in tl attitudes towards, and the overs treatment of, black patients by whi (and even some black) personne Mrs. Wrighten also charged thi she was the object o f racii discrimination in several respects. I 1976, when the nursing staff was r< organized, she believed she ws passed over for a supervisory pos tion. She also charged that she ws assigned more work and patients n quiring more care than white nurse were, and that she and other Blac staff members were given more in voluntary “ without pay” (W O P ) tim e— sent home due to leek o f work— than white staff members. Mrs. Wilma Graham, a licensed practical nurse (L P N ) had been em ployed at Emanuel for 14 years. She was assigned to the unit which had patients requiring the most medical attention. She also charged that Black patients received inadequate care and that she was pressured into taking involuntary " W O P ” time. She testified that her supervisor was more stringent and critical o f her than o f her white co-workers and that her license renewal was delayed. She was terminated with Mrs. W righten, but hospital personnel testified that they attem pted to restore her position. Black staff members also testified as to discrimination at the hospital. Ms. Velma Ellis, an aide, said she had been forced to take involuntary “ W O P ” time and believed Mrs. Wrighten and Mrs. Graham were dismissed because o f race. Frances Adam, employed since 1952, said Mrs. Wrighten consistently had the heaviest work load and race relations were particularly bad in 1975 and (Please turn to page.2 col. 1) . . ...... ■ .
