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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 30, 1979)
P «fl«2 Portland Ob»«rv«r Thursday. August M . 1979 EDITORIAL/OPINION A n d re w Young leaves the UN by N. Fungat Kumbula M onitor the policies The Portland School Board has adopted a set of long term and short term policies which, if properly implemented, will provide Black children with the same opportunities and the same op tions as white children The proposals meet most of the more crucial demands of the Black United Front, although several deficiencies exist The policies do not deal with sthe BUF's demand that Black children make up at least forty per cent of the population of each school affected by the plan. There is reason to believe, based on the comments of the School Board members, that this demand -- designed to eliminate the scattering and isolation of Black students • will be dealt with in the com prehensive plan. Meeting greater resistance from some mem bers of the Board and its legal counsel, were the demands that the teaching staff approximate the fifteen percent Black enrollment and that Black teachers be assigned in a way that allows them to serve as roll models and to influence the education of Black children. The Singleton rule, under which the Board at least thinks it must operate since being found discriminating in teacher assignments, says that each school must have between 75 per cent and 125 per cent of the district's percentage of minority teachers. Therefore if five per cent of the D istrict's teachers are m inorities, then each school teaching staff must be between 3.5 and 7.5 per cent minority. I f the District's teachers were 20 per cent monority, then each school staff would be between 15 and 25 per cent minority. The D istrict's atto rne y, Mark M cClanahan, recommended that the Board attempt to be released from its obligation to the Singleton rule before an effort is made to make percentage of Black teachers more reflective of its student enrollment. The two issues are not directly related, but it is logical that if the percentage of Black teachers were increased, the District would have more latitude while still adhering to the rule. The Singleton rule should not be used as an excuse for refusing to hire Black teachers. The third issue that was not adequately add ressed is that of a monitoring system. The BUF requested that it be empowered to designate a committee to monitor the implementation of the policies and that the committee be provided a paid staff. The Board has authorized a monitoring committee with the BUF and others invited to participate, but no staff or funding is provided. That a m o nitorin g co m m ittee, w ith the necessary staff, is essential is pointed up by the fact that as late as Monday, in spite of policies to the contrary, the parents of at least one Black kindergarten child who had been registered last Spring were informed that there is no room for him at King. The BUF will undoubtedly accept the efforts of the School Board and will call off or postpone its boycott, but carefull attention will be given to the practice and the spirit of implementation. Only if Dr. Blanchard is com m itted and passes that commitment to his staff with clear directives will these policies ever become practices. The job of providing quality education for Black children has just begun, by t the District can be sure that never again will the Black community stand back and allow such injustices to be per petuated against its children. Save A labam a fugitive Governor Victor Atiyeh has agreed to return Carl Bass (McGowan) to Alabama where he will be incarcerated in a state penitentiary. Bass escaped from prison in Alabama a year ago and fled to Oregon where he thought he would receive protection. This is not the ordinary case of a man escaping, crossing state lines and then being re turned to his home state. Carl Bass believes his life is in danger should he return. Bass says he was convicted on the description of a ten-year-old boy, “ a tall Black man with an afro” and that he never had the opportunity for an appeal. Following a previous escape he lost both feet, allegedly because of poor medical treatment and purposeful neglect by prison of ficials. A suit filed against prison officials and the prison doctor could not endear him to the admini strators of one of the nation's most brutal prisons. If there is any doubt at all that this man's life or physical well being is in danger, then he should not be returned to Alabama. Governor Atiyeh is making a gross error and should change his order before it is too late. Letters to the Editor Black woman School Board choice To the editor: Hooray fo r Herb Cawthorne's ap pointment to the School Board! Both the Black and white communities will benefit from having this advocate for school integration and q uality education in a policy making position. Cawthorne’s appointment should provide the catalyst for our rapid progress toward the resolution o f the problems surrounding busing and quality education We expect that he will continue to work for two-way busing, equal school funding and the mutual sharing o f the responsibi lities for school integration by both the Black and white communities. Newman’ s resignation as pre sented, raises the question o f a woman on the School Board in such a way as to separate the issue of sex from that o f race, i.e., he says he resigned in order that a woman may have a place on the Board. As a feminist organization we too are concerned about Black representa tion. To present the argument in the way that Newman did implied that Blacks are not/cannot be women and/or that women are not/cannot be Blacks. Further it is unfortunate that the press seems to be responding in such a way as to indicate agree ment with Newman’s premise. Our contention is that the School Board needs both another Black and a woman on it. The most equitable resolution to the problem is that the next appointment be a Black woman. The additional appointment o f a Black woman will help to change the character o f the Portland School Board which for much too long has ignored or undermined Black education. Herb Cawthorne has already demonstrated his willingness to fight for the school integration issues. A committed Black woman working with Cawthorne w ill turn the tide for the good o f all. Sincerely, Deanna Cecotti Portland Radical Women, Freedom Socialist Party Correction A fro n t page headline in last week’ s Observer read ‘ ‘ Black suspensions outstrip whites 5 to I ” . It should have read “ Black suspen sions outstrip whites 3 to 1” . A lso, in a recent ‘ ‘ P ortland P ro file ” , the name o f James M ason’ s daughter, Selena, was spelled incorrectly. Our appologies. PORTLAND OBSERVER 1st Place C o m m u n ity Sarvica O N P A 1973 The Portland Observer (USPS 968 6801 is published every Thurs dey by E»« Publishing Compeny, Inc , 2201 North Killingsworth. Portland. Oregon 97217, Post Office Bo« 3137, Portland, Oregon 97208 Second class postage paid al Portland Oregon 1st Place B est A d Results O N P A 1973 Subscriptions 17 50 per year in Trt County area »8 00 per year outside Tri County Area P ostm aster Send address changes to the Portland O bwrvrr, P O Bo» 3137, Portland, Oregon 97208 The Portland O b itr v tr 't official position ,t enpressed only in its Editorial column Any other material throughout the paper is the opinion of the individual w riter or subm itter and does not necessarily reflect -he opinion of the Port.and O b trrarr ALFREDL HENDERSON Editor/Publiahar N atio n a l A d v ertis in g R ep resentative A m a lg a m a te d Publishers. Inc Nev» York 5th Place B est Editorial N N P A 1973 H o n o ra b la M e n tio n H erric k E ditorial A w a rd N N A 1973 2nd Placa B est Editorial 3rd Placa C o m m u n ity Leadership O N P A 1975 3rd Piece C o m m u n ity Leadership O N P A 1979 Ml MSI > Aasociat.on Sounded 'M S The appointment three years ago, of Andre* Young to be the U.S. am bassador at the United Nations was probably the most popular appoint ment that President Carter made. The subsequent ‘ promotion’ o f that post to cabinet level quickly made Young one o f the best known Blacks anywhere in the world. It made him very ‘ visible,’ too visible for some people’s liking. His job. as head of the U.S. mission brought him face to face with every conceivable problem facing humanity today. The fact that the developing countries o f the world were also becoming increasingly critical, vocal and skeptical o f the U.S. made his job that much trickier. It was a very good thing that Young took up this position without any prior experience in bureaucratic •protocol' because he made the best UN ambassador the U.S. ever had. Having been brought up in the civil rights movement, he was also much better equipped to deal w ith the problems o f poverty, racism, ine qu ality and a whole host o f similar problems that cropped up time and time again at the UN. Like every novice in his rookie season. Young made his fa ir share o f mistakes in the early going and so picked up enemies left and right. One thing that he will always be remem bered fot, however, is his outspoken ness. His ‘ o ff the c u ff’ remarks stood the State Department on its head on more than one occasion. He once accused or rather credited the British with inventing racism. Anybody who is at least vaguely familiar with British colonial history would lind this hard to dispute but, the State Department pressured him into making an apology. He referred to “ political prisoners” in the U.S. and, once again, his critics called for blood, w ritin g or calling the President to fire him. He weathered that other storm with another ‘clari fic a tio n .’ A lte r the cold blooded murder ol Steve Biko, Young called the South African regime, 'a ruthless dictatorship." Once again, the Slate Departm ent came up w ith an apology. A ll three incidents delighted his supporters in the Black community because they were all so true and, for once, there was some body who was echoing their thoughts. Andrew Young’s one greatest ac complishment has to be the restora tion o f some semblance o f co nfi dence and credibility in the U.S. by an increasingly disillusioned and skeptical Third World, Africa in par ticular. Successive American govern ments had com pletely ignored Africa, fueled by the misconception that colonialism was in Africa to stay. So instead, they dealt with, aided and abetted the colonialists. When co lonialism was suddenly overthrown, the U.S. then started scrambling to establish some direct connection w ith A fric a . Henry Kissinger tried and met with very lit tle success. Africa had been spurned for much too long and now her back was turned. It took Y oung’ s home grown diplomacy to attract A frica’s atten tion. The several trips he made to Africa over the past few years did more to repair America’ s credibility than anything anybody else could have done. He did anger a lot o f us by continuing to take the Western position vis-a-vis South Africa. But even under his leadership, the U.S. continued to veto anti-South African resolutions, supported continuing trade and investment in South Africa and ruled out violence as a way o f settling the South African problem. But, all in all, Africa at least lent an ear to his arguments. A fric a aside, one o f the most pressing problems at the UN has been the Arab-Israeli squabble. Not too many o f us are fully conversant with the ins and outs o f this par ticular dispute but we do know that the two sides do not get along at all. For almost three years, Young had successfully dodged this particular issue because he knew how compli cated it was. About two weeks ago, however, it finally caught up with him. At the behest o f Israeli coercion, the U.S. does not recognize the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) and so does not communicate with them at all. The PLO, for its part, does not recognize Israel and there is no contact between the two except for the all too frequent military con frontations, bombings, cross border raids, etc. Always the pragmatic, Young felt that this whole policy was ridiculous. How could there ever be peace be tween Israel and the Arabs when the two sides are not even talking? We further felt that the position o f the U.S., acting as mediator in this dis pute, was equally ridiculous since the U.S. itself refused to negotiate with the PLO. So when Young met a PLO representative at a dinner he had been invited to, he talked to him. When news o f this meeting leaked out, that the head o f the U.S. mission to the UN had met and talked with a PLO representative, the brouhaha was deafening. Once more his critics called for blood and this time they got it. Young resigned. Up till now he still insists he didn't do anything wrong. He maintains he just got fed up with the “ snail's pace o f the diplomatic process.” He feels that there were just too many restric tions preventing him from doing the things he wanted to do and things he knew had to be done. The resig nation is a serious loss; he had worked himself up to become one o f the most influential people (Black or w hite) in the w orld. Somebody else will take his place but, his shoes will never be filled. Whoever comes in has already been cowed into tow ing the line if he/she values his/her job. Sad. The resignation was condemned th ro ug h ou t the w orld but, the loudest condemnation came from A fric a . There were only two messages from A frica that agreed with the resignation: one from a nobody by the name o f Abel Muzorewa who is masquerading as the prime minister o f Rhodesia and the other from his adopted ‘uncle’ Pieter Botha, d ic ta to r o f South Africa. Both feel that Young's re placement will, o f necessity, be less vocal and less hostile. So long, Andy, and thanks for a job well done. School Board adopts new desegregation plan (Continued from page I col. 6) During school year 1979-80, sixth, seventh and eighth grade students who reside in the Area I section of K ing, w ill be allowed to attend Beaumont Middle School as an op tional attendance area, Columbia/ Whitaker is included as an optional attendance area for Woodlawn Area I, and Fernwood is included as an optional attendance area for Hum boldt . In the event the options exercised would cause minority enrollment to the middle school in question to ex ceed 50B,o the assignment requests will be honored in the order in which the district receives them. • At Columbia/W hitaker, Beau mont and Fernwood maximum stu dent populations should not exceed a total equal to 23 students per existing classroom space and should use all available classrooms. • In the event a parents choice cannot be honored by reason o f the 5OB/o provision and space a v a il ability, they shall then have the ad d itio na l option o f Beach, Ockley Green, Chief Joseph or Kenton sub ject to the same 5()B’o provision and space availability. • It is the present intention o f the board that students shall have the right to remain at their chosen school in the implementation o f this op tional attendance provision to com pletion o f that school’ s grade levels, (i.e. K-5 or 6-8). The district will implement an im mediate review o f all forms and com munications to parents to insure that all transfer students leaving the Albina schools have the same rights and privileges as those transferring into the Early Childhood Centers. N eighborhood schools w ill be established as a pick-up point for a dm in istrative transfer students. Supervision will be provided at the school pick-up point for students. Students can also be picked up at the usual pick-up points but supervision w ill not be provided there. The d is tric t w ill expeditiously con sider the report on discipline, dealing w ith suspension and ex pulsion, which is being prepared by the Metropolitan Human Relations Commission leading to the establish ment and implementation o f goals to reduce the disproportionate number o f Black students suspended and ex pelled. These goals w ill include proper tra in in g and sta ffin g as necessary. The board does not expect this to alter the uniform ity o f the district's disciplinary standards. A m on itoring group w ill be created, made up o f all interested com m unity members, parents, students, w ith invita tion s to the representatives o f the Black United Front, the NAACP, the Metropoli tan Human Relations Commission and the Urban League to participate. This monitoring group will serve as the voice for parents and children who feel there are difficulties in re ceiving equitable treatment. The long term plan will provide for the development o f a comprehen sive plan on a ll aspects o f the desegregat ion/ integral ion program. A ll elementary schools in Albina will be retored to K-8 status unless there are program reasons for d if ferent configurations. These schools will be below 50 per cent minority, with white enrollment insured by cluster changes or boundary changes. A ll students w ill have a standard assignment for every grade. Clusters will include schools with contiguous boundaries when this ap- proprately meets the objectives of the comprehensive plan. Boise, Eliot, Humbodlt, Sabin, Woodlawn, King and Vernon will be protected from closure under the com- prehenisive plan. sive plan. One and possibly two integrated middle schools will be established in the Albina area. A process w ill be developed whereby parents and members o f the community can be involved in the selection o f staff. Funds will be pur posefully allocated so that m ajor concentrations o f local, state and federal money designated for in tegration/disadvantaged services will occur in cluster schools. Extensive courses o f instruction for teachers and administrators in Black history and culture, as well as in other ethnic cultures and the problems created by social class, will be developed. A ll administrators and staff assigned to schools involved in the desegregation plan will complete this instruction. Programs and curriculum directed at enhancing the self-w orth and cultural identity o f Black students will be implemented. A personnel director who has skill and interest in recruiting qualified minority teachers and staff will be hired and special recruiters will be hired if necessary. The District will negotiate with HEW for permission to assign Black staff to schools that have high p ro po rtio ns o f Black students. The plans were adopted by Board members Herb Cawthorne, Steve Buell, W ally Priestley and Frank McNamara. Joe Rieke and Bill Scott were absent. Subscribe Today ; $7.50 per year—Tri-county $8.00 per year—Other N A M E ______________________ ADDRESS ____________ - - - - - - - - - | C IT Y --------------------------------- STATE_____________Z IP _____ 2 6 3 -2 4 8 7 1 ' , ( Mail to: 1 Portland Observer I P.O.Box 3137 | Portland, Oregon 97208 /
