ì'.:'3 F r e n e r à Sr
U n i'
Parents, community determine boycott fate
The Black United Front will pre
sent the desegregation policies adop
ted by the School Board to the com
munity Thursday evening to deter
mine whether the planned boycott o f
the public schools will be cancelled
or postponed, or if it should go as
scheduled The boycott was planned
as a protest against the school
district's racist desegregation prac
tices.
In spite o f opposition from
Superintendent Robert Blanchard,
the School Board moved to meet
most o f the BUF demands. Blan
chard told the Board that the short
term proposals to return Black
children to neighborhood schools
“ can cause resegregation o f several
A lb in a schools which w ill make
much more d iffic u lt the accom
plishment of the goals o f integration
addressed by the long-term recom
m endations.’ ’ He warned that
"charting new policy directions in
this manner” (under threat o f
boycott) “ may prove to be pre
carious.’ ’
Ronnie Herndon, co-chairman of
BUF, toll? the Observer, "F o r the
first time the School Board has grap
pled with decisions to insure that
Black citizens enjoy the same rights
as other citizens. The primary reason
this is happening is because of the
unity Black people have demon
strated. I am hoping the Board will
make decisions that will begin to give
Black people the privileges that other
parents enjoy in the Portland
school system, the privilege o f
choice, and that they can create
quality education for Black children.
" I am disappointed with Dr. Blan
chard's statement Monday which in
dicated to me that he would prefer
that the Black community's choices
be limited. Apparently he still feels
that to give choices to the Black
com m unity somehow would be
viewed as illegal. I am disappointed
that his v iew o f citizenship is that one
com m unity can have choices
available while another’s choices are
limited.
“ I have serious question whether
he can carry out the new policies,
which apparently run counter to his
philosophy
o f what q ua lity
education should be fo r Black
children, in the same spirit in which
they were developed.”
Board Chairm an Frank M c
Namara said, following the adoption
ot the policies, that although they
were passed in response to the BUF
demands the policies are in the best
interest of the District in the long
term. Adm itting some element o f
personal prejudice, he said he is
sorry that some o f his statements o f
fended people, especially those
referring to the reluctance o f whites
to bus their children. He credited
Ronnie Herndon with pointing out
some o f the institutional racisim in
his own beliefs and pledged to
try " to make changes so that the
destructive effects o f inbred
prejudice can be changed."
Herb Cawthorne told the Obser
ver that he is generally pleased with
the policies and looks forward to the
development of the long term plan.
"A s everyone knows, my struggle
with this problem'goes back a long
way and I believe that the Board has
demonstrated a commitment in the
short run to provide equal choices
and in the long run to redesign the
PORTLAND OBSERVER
desegregation program in a com
prehensive manner.
" This is for the most part what we
have been asking for. It is a new
Boardathere is no doubt about that.
The first major action o f this new
Board has been to alter its approach
to desegregation.
"The Black community should be
proud o f what it has done on behalf
o f Black children. I f we had not
stood together, we could not have
made this progress."
The Board also voted to send the
BUF a letter thanking it lor bringing
the destructive aspects o f the
desegregation program to its alien
tion.
Thu rsday, A u g ust 30. 1979 WC
USPS 959 680
Freedom of choice
New policy allows Black student return
Che Portland School Board agreed
Tuesday night, after fourteen hours
o f deliberation, to prepare a com
prehensive desegregtion plan by
January 31st, to be implemented in
the fall o f 1980. Short term policies
to be in effect this school year were
also adopted.
The m ajor effect o f the short
term policies is to allow each Albina
area youngster to attend his neigh-
borood school if that is his parents
choice. Children who have been
transfered out for desegregation
purposes can be relum ed to the
schools in their attendence areas.
Children who live in attendence
areas where their grades no longer
exist can attend nearby middle
schools, if they are in the sixth,
seventh or eight grades, or can attend
nearby elementary schools
Children from Eliot who are in the
fourth grade and Humboldt students
who are in the third grade will be
provided classes at those schools
I he o n ly s iiju la t io n is (ha, ho
additional school will be allowed to
excede 50 per cent m in o rity
enrollment.
A ll children in the Albina area
who are adm inistrative transfer
students, or who are eligible to be
adm inistrative transfer students,
may continue in the school o f their
choice. New school assignments
might be for this year only, depen
ding on the allignment o f schools in
the new comprehensive plan.
To enable parents to make
choices, fu ll inform a tion on the
policies and on the various schools is
available at the administration o f
fice.
I ransportation will be provided to
students who attend school outside
thier own attendence area or who live
one or mile from school. All children
can be picked up at their neigh
borhood school and shelter and
supervision will be provided. As in
previous years, additional pick up
points are available but no super
vision will be provided.
Although ., .peeific cut o ff date
might be designated, it is anticipated
that changes in school assignments
can be made u ntil approximately
October 1st.
The short tern, policy includes:
The district will establish a fourth
grade class at Eliot and a third grade
class at Humboldt, thus giving the
parent ot resident students in those
attendance areas the o ptio n to
remain in or return to their neighbor
hood school. It will provide to fifth
grade students resident at Eliot and
fourth and filth grade students resi
dent at Humboldt the option to at
tend a nearby school.
Notices to parents w ill be fo r
warded immediately by district staff.
I he district will move immediately to
make appropriate staffing and space
arrangements. The superintendent
may provide time limits for the ex
ercise ol these options created by this
resolution. I he options provided
above will be made available in such
a way that no new " ra c ia lly
isolated” (over 50% m in o rity )
school w ill be created?
The d istrict w ill imm ediately
notify all parents o f children in the
Administrative Transfer Program of
the board’ s long-established policy
that gives any child the right to
return to the neighborhood primary,
middle, or high school.
This notification shall be given in a
clear but neutral manner so as not to
advocate withdrawal from or con
tinuance in the Administrative Trans
fer Program . A t Jefferson, the
district will aggressively enforce the
requirement that white students who
under existing policies should attend
Jefferson do attend Jefferson.
(Please turn to page 2 col. 4)
A benefit showing o f the film
River Niger will be held at Clinton
Street Theater on September 5th
at 9:00 p.m. I he feature, starring
James Earl Jones, Cicely Tyson
and Lou Gossett, will be preceded
at 7:00 by Hingo Long. The Clin
ton Street Cheater is located at
26th and S.E, ClinlQn (.2JB 8»99).
donation $1.50.
Racial discrimination brings life-long effects
Late night School Board m e etin g took its toll as Board m em bers
s tru g g le d u ntil 4 0 0 a m to m e e t Black U n ite d Front d em a n d s Ja m e s
Loving took ad va n ta g e of ex ten d e d discussions of proper w o rd in g to
'a k e a short nap
Kenneth Henson, a man who has
spent most of his life in the service of
his country, finds himsell in the same
position as many o f the nations'
oldet Black citizens—relegated to
early retirement at minimal benefits
because o f past discrimination.
Henson, who has sought his retire
ment benefits since I968, finally filed
a suit in U.S. District Court, but the
suit was dismissed by Judge James
Some Thoughts on the Problem
bv W .H McClendon
" H ’e are much more wary o f the
system than most whites are. He
have, ajter all. been squelched by it.
H e have, after all, been denied its
many benefits. Be have centuries o f
distrust to unlearn, and we are not
likely to forget easily or quickly. "
—Sterling Tucker, 1969
Part T il
The dominant population’ s politi
cians and public authority figures
here have erected strong barriers
(real and artificial) to prevent the
appearance of any valid content in
institutional settings o f Black life,
experience and culture. The Portland
Public School system is no excep
tion. Consequently, one of the major
thrusts for the Black United Front is
to assure that the thought processes
o f teachers (Blacks and others) will
be opened up to study and interpret a
heretofore obscurred dynamic in
tellectual phenomena.
America is comprised o f several
non-dominant ethnic populations
each of which has a heritage, history
and culture that is the unerasable
foundation o f their respective social
systems and the basis which allows
for selfhood to be preserved. The
truth of this is irrefutable.
There is at this very moment no
widespread acceptance o f Black
studies and in most instances its pre
sence is indicative o f tokenism
a nd /o r an example o f repressive
tolerance. The battle fo r social
equality,
p o litica l
freedom,
economic justice, academic acces
sibility and unbiased legal structures
represent an outright war that has
been in some form waged by Blacks
against whites lor all o f this nation's
existence. Therefore the major task
Blacks must carry out to counteract
the ravages of white mal-education
is to remain unwavering in their in
sistence that the rights ol Black
people are not to be sublimated to,
or buried in the quarrelsome rhetoric
that is implicit in the term minority.
For too long unthinking Blacks have
allowed the semantics o f white
racism to misdirect their struggles.
A nalysis
In America the theme o f all social
relationships is domination and there
is at this time, as over the past 200
years, one dominant population,
white. All other ethnic populations
are non-dominant. The first step that
Black people must take is to reform
and restructure the education o f their
children to the degree that the
degrading aspects of white education
w ill be minimized and ultimately
eliminated. This is a Black struggle
and if it is won then all o f the other
non-dominant populations will find
that their problems, in this respect,
w ill have been solved by this ir
revocable precedent.
The BUF has brought into focus
some realities that have escaped
acknowledgement for some time
Valid complaints effectively com
municated publicly are capable of
arousing the concern o f a large por
tion o f the general public and this
can lead to the remedying of grossly
immoral and unjust practices. The
BUI has provided an example of the
power inherent in being Black and
knowing what this means. It has
proven viable. The role o f collective
leadership provided by an assort
ment of persons with various skills
and expertise is now shown to be far
more effective and rewarding than
the worn out custom o f having a
‘ leader.’ The integrationist/assimila-
tionist orientation o f school board
arid administration advocates is un
derstood by Black people to be an in
correct ideological direction. It is
clear that the professed attempts at
integration were smokescreens to
hide the intellectual devastation of
Black children that occurred because
the real policy was sophisticated
selective segregation.
The superintendent o f PPS con
tinues to defend racist education as
though it is o f superoordinate value
and graced w ith unquestionable
social
sanction.
The
Black
population must remain alert to
criticize and expose at every level
those facets o f public school
operation that reflect racist policy.
This administration requires close
scrutiny
and
there are no
justifications for the Black com
munity to have confidence in any
refined language that may be easily
just a new wave o f evasion and
manipulation.
School Board members M c
Namara, Priestley, Buel and Caw
thorne inspire confidence among a
wide assortment o f people in the
Portland community. It is easy to re
cognize that they have integrity and
will give serious and sincere atten-
( Please turn to page 5 column 3)
M Burns because it was not filed
within the statutes of limitations
He blames many ot the m isfor
tunes that have befallen him since he
left the Bonneville Power Adminis
tration in 1927—including the loss
of his career and income, deteriorat
ing health and the suicides of his wife
and son on alleged discrimination
by that agency.
Henson states that Ins entire life
has been moved by racial discrimina
tion. Alter high school, he wanted to
be a doctor but could not save the
money to go to college from his rail
road wages. In 1942 he joined the
Army with the understanding that he
would serve in the medical corps but
was assigned to a labor battalion
with the Signal Corps.
Serving in Burma he witnessed first
hand the favored treatment provided
while workers in the areas o f health
care, rest, food and safety. As a
result o f tro p ica l diseases and
deterioration o f high school knee in
juries, he was honorably discharged.
A fte r considerable time in the
Veterans Administration Hospital in
Minnesota, he enrolled in pre-med
under the t i l Bill. Due to problems
with his health he had to withdraw
from school.
In 1947, Henson moved to Port
land, obtained a position as a clinical
lab technician at the Veterans Ad
ministration Outpatient Clinic and
attended night classes through the
University o f Oregon. By 1952 he
had become a registered lab tech
nologist. Henson says he again was
(Please turn to page6 column I)
Vaughn manages Benjamin Franklin branch
Gresham resident Noble I .
Vaughn has been named branch
manager at Benjamin F ra n klin
Federal
Savings
&
Loan
Association’s new Walnut Park o f
fice, according to Robert H. Hazen,
association president.
The new office, scheduled to open
in late September, will be located at
5775 N .t. Union Avenue, at the cor
ner o f N.F. Union Avenue and N.E.
Jarrett Street.
Vaughn joined Benjamin Franklin
in 1972 at the Stark Street office and
worked in the loan and customer ser
vice departments. In November 1973
he transferred to the Hollywood o f
fice and was promoted to branch
loan officer in January 1974. In
March 1977 he joined the Hawthorne
office as a loan officer where he
worked prior to his most recent
promotion to branch manager at
W alnut Park. The new branch
manager served as the Benjamin
Franklin loaned-executive for the
1978 United Way campaign.
A resident o f the Portland area
since 1956, Vaughn was graduated
from Jefferson High School in 1967.
He attended Mt. Flood Community
College and has completed courses
through the Institute o f Financial
Education.
In his spare time, Vaughn, 31, en
joys working with children. He was
an active participate in the Albertina
Kerr Big Brother program for more
than a year and has served as a base
ball coach for the Meadowland I ittlc
League for two years.
NOBLE L. VAUGHN