Page 6 Portlano
orver Thursday, August 30. 1979
■1
LAW OFFICE CHANGE
Behind the Wall
by Larry Baker »3502!
O.S.P. Correspondent
ta n fo rd , inm ate at
i a writer whose talents
admired by many in the
¿ n a tiv ’ i writing class at O.S.P. It is a
privilege to present to you his latest
work.
The
to$Q<0 court arrives. The
staff ' escort
es'cHrtt. you to the courtroom
and seats
before three solemn
men who w ill now consider the case.
The first
the hearings officer
asks is whether to ll understand your
rights. (One o f th3f\‘ rights" o f an ac
ORANGE MADNESS
cused prisoner is the right to call w it
nesses to testify before the "c o u rt”
as long as the witnesses are not: I)
“ inm ates” ; 2) “ s ta ff; 3) “ other
prisoners.” You say yes, you under
stand your rig hts as thousands
before you have said yes, because
you understand trying to reason with
this type o f intellect is futile.
“ How do you plead?”
“ G u ilty .” (H u m o r them , you
think to yourself. Every once in a
while there is a faint light in their
eyes and an almost human expres
sion comes over their faces. Maybe
th e y 'll come out o f it fo r a few
moments.)
"D o you have anything to say?”
asks the Commandant.
“ Well, I just don’ t know what
came over me. I was sitting there
looking at this orange. Suddenly I
was gripped by passion, a wild desire
came over me, an unexplained ob
session held me in a vise-like grip!
I . . . wanted .. to keep the orange
for. later! Oh, as I think o f it, how
could I have fallen so low?”
The court listens intently with all
the attention it can muster. (One o f
the judges—at least one—is staring
o ff into space at all times. Another
one might be following the flight o f a
fly as it buzzes around the two guards
standing behind you.) Then you are
led out of the room by the two guards
while the court ponders the case.
Several minutes later you are re
admitted to that chamber and the ver-
by Donald Danford »32323
In the segregation unit o f Oregon’s
penitentiary there are rules for every
conceivable moment, thought or ac
tion. One o f the rules is that no one is
allowed to keep an orange in his cell.
From time to time someone gets a
notion to keep an orange to eat later
in the m orning. I f he makes it
without getting caught, the world
goes on as usual; if he doesn’ t make
it, all the experience o f hundreds o f
correctional conferences by the ex
perts in the genre is brought to bear
on the problem.
The first thing that happens is that
the orange is confiscated. No one
knows if they hold it for evidence,
eat it or put it in their lunch buckets.
The orange disappears. The next step
is to write a disciplinary report about
JOSEPH GARRIS, JR.
INMAT >
“ Behind
Joseph lia r ’
M o n th "
dedicated woi -
lation.
Harris, (
culture club ( I "
leadci ’ ; .
many o f thi ; .
have with
and other ii i p i
' MONTH
has chosen
Inmate o f the
lo r
his
Black popu-
of the Black
'I ), has been a
le in solving
Black inmates
lininistration
the incident. They don’ t call such an
offense something like "The Case o f
the Unauthorized Orange” ; they call
it disobedience o f a direct order. It
can be a major or minor violation. It
depends on the correctional expert.
A report is made, typed in
triplicate—one copy for the records,
one copy for the prison court, one
copy fo r the convict—and passed
out. Next, a “ Notice o f Hearing” is
typed out in triplicate, passed out
and a hearing is scheduled.
discrimination continue
employ
Effects c employment
(Continued :
1 column 6)
the target ol
nation when he
was passed .
appointment
as supervisor !■'
later told that
supervise
shite workers
would object
He l.iu
ed to the VA
Hospital in V.
.where he was
assigned > I
■ ■ lab after a poll
o f the win’s
isJ been taken.
Henson w:,
d to retire from
the lab becau
matic arthritis
in his knee I :■
ig surgery, he
attended ti
o f Portland,
where he e:
i high honors
in 1956.
He h
ontinuc in a
clinical j> s
the edi
ii program, but
un for World
War II ve
which he was
enrolled ss a
ated.
After sear ling
work for some
time, Hen
I a position at
the Umatilla
Juanee Depot
near I.
. ¡ended Ord
nance Man
Training am:
eventually
Engineering
mrses and was
to GS-9. He
states that he was told he would
receive no further promotions be
cause white workers resented him, so
transferred to San Francisco. Con
tin u in g to advance through his
educational pursuits, he fin a lly
reached a G S -II position.
Because o f fa m ily illness, he
sought another management position
in the Portland area, and in 1961
transferred to BPA.
Henson says that while employed
at BPA he was assigned superficial,
make-work jobs even though he had
management training. He received
“ e xc e lle n t" and "o u ts ta n d in g "
work evaluations but was passed
over for promotion in favor o f white
men who often were less educated
and experienced. In the six years he
was employed there, he never pro
gressed beyond the GS-11 he had
when he arrived.
After all informal attempts to rec
tify the discrimination he felt had
fa ile d , Henson file d a fo rm a l
grievance against BPA with the De
partment o f Interior. An investigator
by an equal opportunity office found
A erican State Bank
I A
I
I
/ he Hank that integration b u ilt”
2737 N.F Union
282 2216
UNION OR COMPANY
DENTAL INSURANCE
is a valuable asset. ..
your health
and
appearance
COMPLETE COOPERATION
ON A LL
DENTAL INSURANCE C LA IM S
WE HANDLE ALL THE DETAILS OF
COMPLETING YOUR CLAIM FORMS
no appointment needed
Come in at your convenience
PARK FREE — Any Park n Shop Lot
HOURS: Weekdays 8 30a.m. to5p.m .
Saturdays 8:30 a m. to 1 p.m.
Dr. Jeffrey BRADY, Dentist
S W 3RD b YAMHILL S T , PORTLAND. OREGON
TAKf FI EVATOR TO 2ND FLOOR 3RD ST. ENTRANCE
JASPER L. AMBERS
David Craw ford »39830
Assistant Correspondent
BPA had not discrim inated, but
Henson states that many o f the facts
in the report were incorrect. He
states that prior to a formal hearing
on the complaint, a Black man from
the Undersecretary's office told him
that his experience was common to
Blacks but that harassment on the
job would increase if he did not drop
the complaint. On his advice, Hen
son withdrew his complaint.
The next year, 1968, deciding that
he would never have opportunities
fo r advancement, Henson took a
d is a b ility retirem ent. His benefits
were calculated at the GS-11 pay
rather than at the GS-13 rating he
felt he would have had had he not
been Black.
Henson blames his wife's suicide,
in 1972, and the disintegration o f his
family on frustration and bitterness
over his treatm ent at B P A. His
oldest son committed suicide in 1974.
He then began to attempt to pur
sue his 1967 complaint. The United
States C ivil Service Commission re
fused to reactivate the complaint, the
Department o f Interior said it had no
authority to investigate it; and an at
tempt to file a new complaint was re
jected by the Department o f Interior.
Henson filed a suit in federal court
asking that his pension be figured at
the higher rate he would have earned
had he not been the target o f discri
mination. The suit was dismissed be
cause it had not been filed within the
statute .of lim ita tio n s , six years
following his retirment.
Henson explains that if he had not
been denied employment o pportu
nities th ro u g h o u t his career, he
w ould not now be liv in g on a
m inim al retirement benefit. A fter
spending most o f his life in federal
service, he has nowhere to turn for
assistance.
“ I have tried all the government
agencies that are supposed to help—
the C ivil Service Commission, the
EEOC, and even hired an attorney
and went to court, I cannot under
stand why the government I have
served so well has refused to listen to
me and refuses to give me the pen
sion I have earned.”
Interested in current books about
African Liberation?
Visit:
JOHN REED BOOK STORE
In the Dekum Building
519 S.W 3rd Avenue
Sixth Floor
Or cell: 227 2902
Attorney at Law
Announces
The relocation of his office
for the General Practice of Law (Civil ft Criminal)
to
diet is read. I f the sentence o f the
c o u rt is more than seven days
isolation, you have the right to ap
peal through the Public Defender’s
office to the Court o f Appeals. Since
so much o f what the prison court
does reaches the Court o f Appeals,
they rarely give over seven days for
an unauthorized orange.
716 N Alberta
Portland, Oregon 97217
(503) 284-0804
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__________________
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t . B 12 i Noon-
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284 7997
EXODUS
SEPTEMBER
GOLDEN-ATTITUDE
Open Invitation, Free to the Public
On Thursday, September 13, 1979, at 2pm
Exodus Women's Forum
1518 NE K illingsw orth
Portland, Oregon 97211
Will present Dr. Thomas Boothe, Founder of Golden
Attitude in Process Counseling; Author and Publisher
of: Business Success Clinics, Chemistry of Human
Communications, Life's 12, Final Wisdom, General
Attitudes Towards Life and Follow Through.
Dr. Boothe's subject will be the GOLDEN ATTITUDE.
He will demonstrate how you can achieve all the
SUCCESS, HAPPINESS, HEALTH, and MONEY
you want by simply using your choice of attitude.
This is a community service.