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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 6, 1979)
Student journalist finds racism in Salem, Oregon by Gail Harris Although I was a little skeptical when I came to Salem in June 1 knew the city would have few Black resi dents besides myself, but I never ex pected to find what 1 found. When my friends in Los Angeles heard that I had been offered a news paper internsh ip in Salem, they urged me to go. They said Salem was a beautiful city filled with clean air and good drinking water. Believing that I ’d learned a lot and become more independent by spend ing the summer in a strange new place, I accepted my first real news paper job. 'I was looking forward to meeting another intern, a Black student from Middlebury College in Vermont. She « S í : iS ; » :/ would be my roommate while in Salem. When we arrived here. 1 was im pressed. The city looked cozy, clean and smogless. Trees and greenery seemed to line almost every street. On our second day here, as my roommate, Dori, and I waited for breakfast at a restaurant, to our sur prise a balding man approached our table. As he nervously eyed his surround ings, the man, dressed in a suit, handed me a note, then walked away. It said " I would like to get to know you better, if interested contact. . . ” A f ter Dori convinced me that I should not bother to run after the man and tell him o ff, I sat at the table seething with anger and hum iliation. I was too furious to enjoy my pancakes. S its ;S. ,. When we were looking for a place to live. Dori and I saw a notice for an unfurnished apartment near where we worked. I called the manager to inquire about rental and deposit fees. Once the manager got a glimpse o f his prospective tenants, the deposit fee doubled in size. He said it was $80 instead o f the $40 quoted to me over the telephone. After those incidents and others, Dori, a native o f New York City, and I, became so paranoid that we had trouble sleeping at night. A noise at the kitchen window frightened us one night, to the point that we thought about leaving the apartment and asking a friend to take us in until morning. I thought the Kian had come to visit. I took a few knives out o f a drawer i!. for protection and we mustered up courage to check the w indow . Moths, attracted by the kitchen light, were knocking against the window. 1 wrote home to tell my family and friends about Salem, especially how people stared at us wherever we went. My mother demanded that 1 leave im m ediately, but I refused because 1 liked working for the news paper and needed the experience. On July 17th, a cloudless day where temperatures exceeded 90 degrees, Dori and 1 walked to work as usual. The day was beautiful until we were nearly run over by a car whose driver laughed as we jumped out o f the way. The day before I had a similar encounter with a woman driver who seemed to think I had no right to cross the street. The car in ■: > .... cidents unnerved us more than any other because we had come close to being h it several times before. During each o f the near disasters we had been in crosswalks and obeying walk signals. Dori said, **I feel safer in New York than in Salem.” 1 replied, "th e law p ro h ib itin g Blacks to live here was repealed in 1926, but as far as I ’ m concerned lawmakers could have kept it on the books. What Black person would by choice want to live in a city like this? I certainly d o n 't.” It wasn't until I came to Salem that I became an ex pert car-dodger, or was approached like I was a prostitute, or been stared at like I was an animal in a zoo. I got more upset when I tried to tell some o f my co-workers about these problem s. A few people samc-sw«« believed me, but most said I was too I race conscious and that such inci- I dents could happen to anyone, regardless o f color. "There are a lot o f bad drivers here,” they'd say. " A car almost ran over a friend o f mine the other day. “ It's not happening to you be cause you’ re Black. It happens to everyone.” When I mentioned the incidents to some o f the Blacks that I met here, none were surprised. Most o f them had encountered sim ilar or worse f problems. A Black man I know came here in 1 July for a two-day business trip. On S his first night in Salem two men ap- 1 proached him in a restaurant parking ■ lot and asked him if "the prince o f S (Please turn to page 7 column 3) PORTLAND OBSERVER Volume 9 No. 36 Thursday, September 6. 1979 IOC USPS959 680 Parks advises unity in struggle MRS ROSA PARKS “ You have to struggle not only for those who are willing to go, but for those who refuse to g o " , Rosa Parks, known as the mother o f the modern civil rights movement, told those attending the Portland Branch N AAC'P’ s Founders Day Banquet F riday evening. Mrs. Parks explained that her refusal to give up her seat on a M ont gomery bus, setting o ff a year long boycott that ended segregation on the busses, was not a single act o f courage but a way o f life. “ A ll o f us fell in line and did what we were supposed to do, but as far back as I can remember I did resist and hated segregation. My mother never accepted the idea that we were not as good as anybody else because o f color. She believed we should be free and equal in all walks o f life ." Her defiance came at a time o f c o n flic t in Alabam a. The U.S. Supreme C o u rt had ordered desegregation o f the schools and six teen Black parents in Montgomery found the courage to petition their school board. Their plea was ignored but they were exposed. Emmitt T ill was murdered and his body found badly m utilated. The people were aroused. In March o f 1954, a fifteen year old girl was arrested for refusing to give up her seal on the bus. On December I, 1955 Mrs. Parks boarded the bus on her way home from work and sat in the “ colored" section. As the bus filled, a white man remained standing. The driver asked her to stand so he could be seated and she refused. She was arrested and led away in handcuffs. " I had trouble many times on the busses, but this time the people took notice and decided to stay o ff the busses to bring the changes needed. People no longer remained com placent and indifferent to the con ditions.” This act began the Montgomery Bus Boycott which thrust a young Baptist m in iste r, M a rtin L uth er King, Jr., into a leadership role. M rs. Parks was active in the N A A C P in M ontgom ery and an organizer o f the Youth Branch. She remains active in the c iv il rights movement. She has received several citations fo r her outstanding co n trib u tio n . The Southern Christian I eadership Conference (SCLC) sponst an an nual Rosa Parks Freedom Award; in 1976 M ayor Coleman Young o f Detroit named a street "Rosa F >rks Boulevard” . In 1977, she receiv'd the U nited A u to W orkers Social Justice Award and the Humanitarian Award from the Catholic U niver sities o f A m erica. In 1978, the Progressive National Baptist C on vention presented her with the Mar tin Luther King, Jr. Award. Mrs Parks is art administrator in the o ffic e o f Congressman John Conyers. Jr. o f Michigan. “ If you have firm convictions, you w ill move forw ard,” she said. "H o w much better it would be if those around you would take a moment to listen, to think whai it means to be unified and to cooperate to move toward the goal we seek. “ A ll have to go together. We can’ t be divided by age or financial status. Together we w ill succeed There arc too many forces at work against us for us to be divided or fearful -- we shall succeed only if, as a people, we work together." M am bers of the In n er N o rth e as t Econom ic D evelopm ent Council toured St. Johns and the Vaughn-Thurm an corridore to examine economic developm ent projects in other areas of the City. Citizens view development policy In a final hearing on the current d ra ft o f the C ity 's proposed Economic Development Policy four o f the approximately twenty mem bers o f the appointed c itize n s’ Ecomonomic Development Advisory Committee listened, along with Eric Hovee, Econom ic Developm ent Coordinator in the Office o f Plan ning and Development, to about twenty-five citizens. Representatives o f the Urban Indian Council, the Burnside Council and others made comments on the proposal. Need for real neighborhood input in City undertakings was expressed, as was the need for financial and technical assistance to neigh borhoods, p a rtic u la rly to assist m inority business enterprise. Em ployment needs and neighborhood economic development proposals were topics o f citizen comment. Thaaa children are welting for their school bus on Seventh Avenue one half block from King School, New school district policy allows all children to w ait for the bus at their neighborhood school and requires that they be provided shelter and supervision. Above they enjoy lunch at Cathedral Park, under the St. Johns Bridge, in St. Johns. The Council will recommend zone changes and in dustrial sites for the Albina area The following comments are from a statement presented by Claudia Fisher. The City seems to have collected some socio-economic data regarding local conditions but it has fallen short o f having data on specific targets o f employment strategies and the effects o f programs on them. The targets to w hich I refe r are m in o ritie s , women and sm all businesses. It seeks to correct this through establishing "a ffirm a tiv e action in fo rm a tio n se rvices". A lth o u g h the percentages o f minorities and women are known, as well as the low percentage o f businesses owned by these groups, no targets are set fo r increasing business ownership o f minorities and women. Though the training programs o f the C ity w ill e n ro ll women and minorites in proportion equal to or exceeding their numbers o f disadvan taged, no mention is made o f City employment policies. A part o f the C ity’ s economic development policy should be to hire by the stated stand ards rather than just to train. While first source agreements are significant tools, no sanctions are mentioned against firm s receiving City assistance and location approval w hich are then found to have discriminatory hiring practices. No mention is made under "o bje c tives” o f the C ity’s goal o f a ten per cent m in o rity business u tiliza tio n requirem ent fo r construction bid awards. The C ity ’ s policy to encourage employers to give preference to City residents should not exclude non-city minorities or women if no qualified minorities or women can be found, as is frequently maintained. The policy mentions that the City w ill develop "v o lu n ta ry " incen tives for employees to hire neigh borhood residents. W ith federal money being received by the City partly on the basis o f the population numbers in disadvantaged areas, and with a first-source City policy, there is no reason not to require hiring and training o f vicinity residents first. W hile tax breaks such as in crement financing and other ongoing governmental assistance is available to large business and industry, the policy’ s stated goal is that “ alter native technologies and organiza tions responsive to com m unity needs” be “ self-sustaining". The proposal’ s weak statements describing how the City “ met with neighborhoods” and had an “ ad visory committee” gives no evidence in itself that participation was exten sive, meaningful or representative. No fu tu re citizen p a rtic ip a tio n processes are defined. It promises “ a” woman and " a " minority on im p o rta n t commissions but since commissions are usually large and appointed, such a promise means nothing as far as insuring respon- sivensess to minorities and women. F o llo w in g c o m p ila tio n of testimony from the public hearings the proposal w ill go to the C ity Council. Copies can be obtained at City Hall and written comments can be submitted before September 10th to Eric Hovee. Parents receive student assignment options As a result o f negotiations with the Black United Front leading to new school district policies, the following ex planation o f student assignment options was mailed to parents o f administrative transfer students. A fo u rth grade w ill be added at E liot School. Third grade students residing in the Eliot area who attended other schools last year may attend the school to which they have been assigned or may enroll in the fourth grade at Eliot this year. A ll fifth grade students who live in the Eliot area may continue at the school to which they have been assiened, or they may attend either Beach or Boise School. A th ird grade class w ill be added to Hum boldt School f o r the 197901980 school year. A ll third grade students living in the Humboldt attendance area may attend the school to which they have been assigned or may choose to attend the H um boldt third grade class. This choice is available to students who attended H um boldt in the second grade last year and to the students living in the Humboldt area who attended other schools in the second grade last year. Fourth and fifth graders who live in the Humboldt area may continue to attend the school which they are now attending or they may choose to attend Beach or Boise School. The Policy o f the Portland Board o f Education always has permitted students living in the attendance areas o f Eliot, Boise, Humboldt, King, Woodlawn, Vernon, Ir vington and Sabin who attend schools outside their resi dent attendance area to return to the neighborhood primary, middle or high school if they so choose. For the school year 1979-1980 Beaumont School w ill be an optional attendance school for the sixth, seventh and eighth grade students living in Area I portion o f King. C olum bia/W hitaker w ill be an optional attendance area for those grades for students in the Area I portion o f Woodlawn. Fernwood w ill be an optional attendance school for sixth, seventh and eighth grade students who live in the Hum boldt area. I f space is not available in those schools, or i f the 50 per cent m inority lim it is exceeded, students can be assigned to Beach, Ockley Green, Chief Joseph and Kenton Schools on a space available basis. Requests fo r changes in school assignment w ill be received until September 28th. Inform ation can be ob tained at the schools or at the school district office, 249- 2000 Students returning to neighborhood schools must attend the school in the attendance area in which they live, if their grades are offered in that school. No student can be turned away from his neighborhood school because o f lack o f space. Principals have been advised to make arrangements to accommodate all children residing in their attendance area who wish to attend the school.
