4
4 f ' • ‘ » V .
... . . . . J
Cawthorne quits school desegregation planning
Herb Cawthorne advised the
School Board (hat he will not par
^ ! . B°_arÎ ‘ hat. hc * * " -
Par.
ticipate in Board discussions o f
desegregation until claims that his
desegregation proposals will lead to
resegregation” have been docu
mented:
Over the past five months, we
have labored in good faith and with
great el tort to reach consensus w ith
the Board’ s desegregation/in-
tegration committee. In the last few
weeks, it has become quite evident
,ha,
7 l effort
ï o n i s is S
.‘
that th’e
the spirit ofX
o f the
far ± less
valued than one's willingness to ac
cept uncritically the judgements of
others Certain alternatives differ in
specifics from those o f M r. M c
Namara and Superintendent Blan
chard. They have attempted to
discredit the consideration o f those
alternatives by raising, like a red
flag, the charge o f ‘resegregation’ .
’ ’ I question the Board’s ability to
JL .
deliberate against a background
desegregation, un.il
until , I an,
am convinced
convinced
• « * " « « »’« k . r o u n d
desegregation.
clouded w ith com pletely un
that the consideration o f any alter
documented
claims
of
native w ill not have to compete
‘ ‘ resegregation,” which render the
against unsubstantiated charges o f
public persuasive process more d if
'resegregation’ .”
fic u lt fo r the alternatives I and
others support. Therefore, since the
Frank McNam ara said he was
outcome is so very vita l to the
surprised at Cawthorne’ s statement
aspirations o f Black children, I will
and said he had never said
not continue to participate in this
’ resegregation’ would occur. He
discussion tonight, or any other
explaind that in a desegregation
Board sponsored forum
on
committee meeting he had raised the
......
......................
issue o f whether
the Cawthorne’ s
plan would move the schools toward
racial balance and remarked that he
would not support a plan that would
‘ resegregate’ . Since then, he said,
Cawthornc has shut down all syst
ems o f communication.
Superintendent Blanchard also
denied that he had made charges o f
’ rcscgregation’ but said he had
reservations prior to the adoption o f
the short term plan and had
PORTLAND OBSERVER
k **
’
operated on advise o f counsel.
Steve Buel said he felt McNamara
had a right, as a Board member, to
say whatever he wished, but that if
the Superintendent is a problem
that is something the Board should
deal with. He said he understands
Cawthornes feelings about the matter.
Problems between McNam ara
and C aw thorne came to a head
during a recent desegregation/in-
(Please turn to page 3 column 1)
NAÎlONa, «a
--
Volume 10 Number 3
January 24, I960
10Cper copy
Gates hits Lennox demolition
Osly ‘ J im ’ Gates, Executive
Director of the City-County Com
mission on Aging, has charged the
City with improper planning in its
decision to level the Lennox Hotel
to make way fo r a p o lic e /ja il
facility.
“ The demolition o f the new Len
nox Hotel brings to thirty-four the
number o f buildings in the down
town core area providing low cost
housing for the elderly that have
been taken out o f existence since
I970,
he said. "S om e o f the
buildings were condemned and con the past fifteen months. They are
faced w ith a take it or leave it
verted to other uses which most
situation.” The New Lennox Hotel
were demolished and replaced by
o ffice buildings and parking ga was one o f the larger housing
facilities for senior citizens.
rages.”
Gates considers the elderly to be
Gates pointed to the compressed short changed in the C ity’s effort to
market for low cost housing for the redesign its skyline - that in the ef
elderly in the m etropolitan area. fort to provide new office buildings,
“ Most nursing homes are filled to
parking garages and even jails, the
capacity fo r medicaid patients. needs o f low-income elderly citizens
Senior citizens are reporting rent in are being ignored.
creases as high as 59 percent during
Get rid of Blanchard
Hy Ronnie Herndon
I he Black United Front call for
Dr. Blanchard’ s resignation has
produced some predictable re
sponses. One we want to examine is
that the tim ing was wrong and
many white people who were neutral
about Blanchard now defend him .”
Lowell Sm ith, form er staff m em ber of the J e f
ferson High School Dance D epartm ent is now a
principal dancer w ith the Dance Theatre of Harlem
w h ic h p re m iers in P o rtla n d at th e C ivic
Analysis
A u d ito riu m in M ay . S m ith w ill p resent special
choreography sessions at Jefferson in February.
The Dance Theatre of Harlem , established in 1969.
has performed throughout the world.
We have looked with astonish
ment at the spectacle o f the School
B Mrd asking Dr Blanchard to give
advice and design programs to meet
the demands raised by the Black
United Front. I he same man that
created the problem is now asked to
play a m ajor role in solving the
■
frequently late at night, while male problem. This kind o f logic is only
reserved fo r Black folks. Some
athletes are more frequently
people
don t ask the fox to guard
provided air transportation. This is
the chickens.
said to expose them to serious safety
It Dr. Blanchard's policies and
and health hazards.
practices
had the same devestating
The complaint states that the
effect
upon
the west hills as they
coach-student ratio is significantly
have had in the Black community,
higher for male than for female
he would have been long gone like a
teams, as are coaches’ salaries. A ll
“
turkey through the corn.” But the
assistant coaches tor women’ s teams
Black com m unity is suppose to
allegedly arc graduate students
watch i t ’ s children co n tin u a lly
while those for men’ s teams are
receive
an inferior education and
regular professional employees.
not
utter
a peep about getting rid o f
Alleged inequalities in housing
the man who designed the plan that
and dining include: failure to
¿¿Li
sustained this academic misery.
provide women and men with the
For those who have forgotten, the
same room and board during pre
fo llo w in g are the results o f D r.
season training or competition, and
Blanchard’ s tenure: Pre-school
failure to provide the same op-
programs
in the Black community in
opportunities for food services such
which the majority o f the students
as training tables and late plates
are middle and upper middle class
when
pratice conflicts
with
white
children: all o f the upper
scheduled meal times.
grades removed from schools in the
Rules o f the state system o f higher
Black community, this has not been
education allow OSU a 30-day
done
in any white com m unity;
period in which to investigate the
Black children forced to participate
charges in the complaint and take
in a one way bussing program, while
remedial action to eliminate sex dis
not
one white child was forcibly
crimination. If the complainants arc
bussed into the Black community;
not satisfied with the report and ac
Black children scattered all over
tion, they may appeal to the chan
Portland,
after becoming the only
cellor and obtain a fu ll, public
Black child in a school or
hearing.
classroom, this was never done to
ACLU says OSU discriminates
The American C ivil Liberties
Union o f Oregon (ACLU) charged
Oregon State University (OSU)
Friday with massive violations o f
state and federal laws prohibiting
sex discrim ination in athletic
programs.
A formal complaint to the Slate
Board o f Higher Education on
behalf o f 20 women students and six
taxpayers was filed with Ms. Pearl
Spears Gray, OSU's affirmative-ac
tion officer. In the complaint, plain
tiffs request that equal oppor
tunities be afforded women athletes
participating in basketball, crew,
softball, swimming, and track and
field.
Specific allegations of inequalities
m the treatment o f men and women
athletes are detailed under 12 major
categories:
• financial aid and scholarships;
• the provision o f competitive
opportunities;
• housing and dining facilities;
• game and practice schedules;
• the provision of competitive
opportunities;
• medical and training services;
• travel and per diem allowances;
publicity and awards;
• the provision o f athletic
facilities;
• the provision o f equal oppor
tunity to r coaching, tutoring and
assistance; and
• the provision o f financial sup
port to r the women’ s collegiate
athletics.
In a letter addressed to Ms. Gray,
AC I.U
cooperating
attorneys
Pamela L. Jacklin and Cynthia L.
Barrett ask OSU administrators to
protect the students making the
complaint from any retaliation or
recrimination from anyone connec
ted with OSU.
Among the specific allegations
are charges that scholarships and
financial aid are not awarded pro
portionately to men and women,
that books are provided male
student athletes, but not to females,
and that women are not provided
with the same help in obtaining
summer jobs.
The university is said not to
provide women athletes with the
same safety equipment, uniforms,
shoes, gloves, basketballs, and
travel bags as it does men.
OSU also is charged with
requiring female athletes and
coaches to drive themselves long
distances to and from events,
white children; between 1977 and
1979 three different organizations
documented the school d istrict's
discriminatory disciplinary practices
against Black children — 1977 the
United States Office of Education,
197« the Coalition for School In
te g ra tio n , 1979 the Metropolitan
Human Relations Commission, and
just a few weeks ago the Federal O f
fice o f Civil Rights listed Portland
as 33rd on it’s list o f the “ 100 worst
offenders in the c o u n try ” for
suspending disproportionate num
bers o f minority students. Last but
not least, our children continue to
score lower than white children on
achievement test and are subjected
to curriculum that immerses them in
white history and culture while they
learn a menial distorted version o f
their own.
In view o f the untold damage that
Dr. Blanchard’s administration has
had on Black children, how in good
conscience can we set back and not
speak out in favor o f his hasty
departure. We challenge all to think
the unthinkable: what would have
happened if Portland had a Black
superintendent (please bear with us)
and she/he achieved the same
academic accomplishments in the
white com m unity that Dr. Blan
chard achieved in the Black com
munity/ We only ask tht the same
objective treatment be given Dr.
Blanchard.
I
><
No room in the ‘land of freedom'
(Editors Note: The “ Black Boat
People” -8 ,0 0 0 Haitian refugees
seeking asylum in Florida--m ay
become an explosive political issue
in the months ahead. Despite a new
reform of the U.S. refugee law, so-
called “ economic refugees,” such as
the Haitians, will still be denied the
asylum granted to " p o litic a l
refugees.” Black leaders contend
the iaw is racially discriminatory
and have vowed to make the Haitian
issue a key p o litical test for the
President and other candidates in
the election campaign, reports
C alvin Zon, a reporter fo r the
Washington Star.)
Ry Calvin ¿on
The Carter A d m in istra tio n 's
credibility with Black voters may be
Put to the test in this election year
over the m ounting issue o f
America s “ Black boat people” —
some 8,000 refugees from Haiti who
for years have been languishing in
poverty and legal limbo in southern
Florida.
Their requests fo r p o litica l
asylum have been categorically
rejected by the government, which
maintains that they are economic
rather than political refugees. The
refugees and their supporters coun
ter that there is little distinction
between economic and po litica l
repression in a country such as
Haiti, where it is against the law to
even complain about economic con
ditions.
The Refugee Act o f 1979, spon
sored by Sen. Edward Kennedy, is
expected to be signed by the
I resident this year making it
possible for refugees from rightwing
dictatorships to gain asylum in the
U.S. However, the law will not alter
the present exclusion o f economic
refugees, nor substantially change
the government’s policy toward the
vast majority o f the millions o f per
sons seeking entry to the United
States from the Third World. It will
sim ply enlarge the scope o f the
present refugee policy, which is to
admit only persons from communist
countries or the Mideast.
But the fate o f the Haitians has
not yet been sealed, and their plight
could erupt into a major political
battle in the 1980 presidential cam
paign. Black Am erican p o litica l
leaders, including the influential 17-
metnber congressional
Black
Caucus, have vowed to fight the
refugee policy on the grounds that it
discriminates against non-whites.
Nearly 600 o f the Haitians have
been returned to Haiti since 1974.
U.S. District Court Judge James L.
King ordered a halt to fu rth e r
deportations last July pending his
decision on whether the government
had violated the refugees’ due
process rights. Attorneys for the
refugees hope for a decision which
w ill shift the burden o f proof on
rights violations from the Haitians
to the government.
Until enjoined by Judge King, the
INS had been readying as many as
150 asylum applicants per day for
deportation. The INS has also
denied w ork perm its to the
Haitians.
D uring eight days ot hearing
before King in early December,
there was dram atic testim ony
regarding the treatment o f refugees
returned to Haiti. An ex-member o f
(Please turn to page 2 column 1)
Portland's staal bridge peaks through the early morning fog.
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)