School Board rejects 'selective' middle school
At 10:30 p.m. Wednesday night,
after two nights o f discussion, the
Portland School Board moved from
lengthy debates on the “ Preamble” ,
“ P o lic y ’ ’ and “ G o a ls’ ’ o f its
desegregation proposals w ith o u t
a d o ptin g them and moved to a
discussion o f the proposed middle
school.
The only specific that was adop
ted is that a middle school w ill be
established w ith o u t adm ission
requirements. A site for the school
and whether students w ill be
assigned or it w ill be a "m a g n e t"
school were not decided.
C ha irm an B ill S cott proposed
that H u m b o ld t 6 th th ro u g h 8th
graders be assigned to Ockley Green
and King 6th through 8th graders to
C olum bia/W hitaker; that a middle
school be established at Eliot with
selective enrollment.
Steve Buel and Herb Cawthorne
proposed that a m iddle school be
established at Eliot with 6th through
8th graders from King and H um
boldt assigned.
Cawthorne explained that he w ill
not support assignment o f King to
C o lu m b ia /W h ita k e r because not
enough space exists fo r them .
Saying he w ill not support an "o v e r
flo w p h ilo s o p h y ” , C a w th o rn e
asked: “ F ind a place in the c ity
where you have students assigned to
a middle school where they cannot
g o.” Cawthorne had supported a
m id d le school in the Adam s
b u ild in g and a magnet m id dle
school at Eliot or Monroe. I f only
one new school is established, it
must be on an assigned basis fo r
children who now do not have a
middle school.
“ You assume kids fro m w hite
schools w ill attend C o lu m b ia /W h it
aker but you depend on Blacks not
to go there, to go to a magnet. . .
Overflow some white schools so you
have to recruit white kids out. The
kids you have to re c ru it o ut are
Black. I f w hites le ft C o lu m b ia /
W h ita k e r and a ll the Blacks
assigned decided to go there, you
w o u ld n ’ t allow th a t because the
percentages it would create. You are
depending on drawing o ff Blacks;
it’ s required that Blacks go.”
Joe Rieke advocated a magnet
school at M onroe or Adam s. He
opposed m oving E lio t because
parents are “ ecstatic" over E lio t.
He would not support any middle
school program that removed the
selection criteria, since that is the
only part that interested whites and
w ould entice them to e n ro ll th e ir
c h ild re n . “ I cannot endorse the
program because o f what lies ahead
— fa ilu re .” Rieke warned about
litiga tion should desegregation not
be successful: “ 1 d on ’ t want the
federal governm ent m aking the
decisions fo r us.”
Rieke explained that A lb in a
schools are overcrowded because
they have programs fo r four-year-
o lds th a t are n ot a vailable
elsewhere and are desired by Black
parents.” (In some schools, nearly
80 per cent o f the children served are
white transfer students.)
W ally Priestley said i f the selec
tion basis — which would keep out
all children below average -- is why
w hites w o u ld a tte nd it , th a t is
disturbing and “ is very telling about
our city or about us.” Priestley op-
(Please turn to page 2 col. 1)
HA T ION A I
PORTLAND OBSERVER
Volume 10 Number 10
March 13,1960
IOC per copy
USPS959 680
is s o is s i
NAACP opposes TV program
N A A C P ’ s E xecutive D ire c to r,
Benjamin L. Hooks, has requested
top executives involved in produc
tion and airing o f the T .V . m in i
series, Beulah Land, to deal with the
serious objections being raised by
many people.
Beulah Land, scheduled for airing
in May by NBC, is a 6-hour m ini
series taken fro m a book o f the
same title written by Lonnie Cole
man and published by Dell Books.
The Beulah Land script depicts
slaves as being happy at being
slaves, raises the age-old spectre o f
Black men being over-sexed studs
and demeans the role o f Black
women, as well as that o f Black
men.
In telegrams to Fred Silverman,
President o f N BC , David Gerber,
G erber P ro d u c tio n s , and L a rry
W h ite , President, Television fo r
Columbia Studios, Hooks said:
“ The N a tio n a l O ffic e o f the
N A A C P has received num erous
phone calls concerning the produc-
D errick A Bell Jr. a national exp ert on school
d e s e g r e g a tio n , w h o w ill b e c o m e D e a n o f th e
U niversity of O regon School of Law in January of
1981, urged tf.e P ortland School Board to ignore so
c a lle d racial b a la n c e and to le t p a re n ts ch oo se
schools w ith a m a jo rity of B lack students
(P h oto. R ichard B row n
Bell asks 'academic remedies'
Derrick A. Bell, Jr., member o f
H arvard Law School fa culty and
Dean-elect o f the U n iv e rs ity o f
Oregon School o f Law, advised the
Portland School Board to forego ef
forts at numerical desegregation in
fa v o r o f enhanced academic
programs.
Bell said the Brown vs Board o f
E d u ca tio n decision o f 1954 was
never intended to require specific
m inority percentages, but addressed
subjugation o f Blacks by whites.
Before Brown state laws required
assignment o f Black students to
separate schools w hich were not
provided equal facilities.
Separation was not the real evil,
he said, the real e vil was subor
dination.
F o llo w in g the B ro w n decision
H EW and the federal courts im
posed percentages because school
boards used every conceivable
method to delay. Bell, who was ac
tive in those decisions and their im
ple m e n tatio n, believes they were
necessary at the time to break down
the established dual system.
In the North, when in large cities
Blacks make up large percentages o f
By Benjamin M. Priestley
Indeed, racism is alive and well in
the City o f Portland, but can it be
eradicated? G oing out west to
prosper has been preserved “ fo r
whites only” (a fam iliar inscription
know n by Black men, w om en,
c h ild re n born b e fo re /d u rin g the
1950’s), but for Afrikan-Am ericans
it has simply meant for most o f us
going out South. P e rcep tua lly,
Black residents o f P o rtla n d are
aware ot overt and covert form s
ot racism which extend fro m
the in d ivid u a l to the in stitu tio n a l
treatment ol us. One is remindful o f
Whitney Young’s description o f in-
iiv id u a liz e d racism as — m ain
lin in g
a posture o f racial
ip e rio rity /s u b o rd in a tio n o f one
oup o f people over another accen
te d with arrogance, and Messrs,
•rmichael and H am ilton view on
titutlonal racism as -- policies and
actices w hich syste m a tically
'ties a group o f people a n d /o r
the school population, efforts have
been made to make schools less than
fifty percent m inority because when
schools become 60 percent or more
m inority, whites - and many middle
class Blacks - leave.
The results o f desegregation have
been poor, Bell said. Some Black
students do a little better, some do a
little worse. The pattern o f Black
students falling behind their white
co u n te rp a rts rem ains; there are
early dropouts; discipline problems.
Bell sees as the cause o f failure the
fact that in desegregated programs
the e ffo rt is not to educate Black
children, but to satisfy white parents
th ro u g h d ire c tin g e du ca tio n a l
programs and procedures to white
middle class children and severely
disciplining Black children to guar
antee the proper environment for
whites.
The real purpose o f the Brown
decision was to guarantee equal op
p o rtu n ity , and th a t must be
measured by achievement, he ob
served. M in o r ity c h ild re n and
children o f lower socio-economic
must be provided the programs that
w ill enable them to achieve at the
person rig h ts /p riv ile g e s due to
"c o v e r t in d iv id u a l a ttitu d e s o f
racism which receive little public
condemnation.”
In light o f the fact that racism
exists, the Portland Public Schools
is an interesting case in point. O f
equal interest as to how racism
manifests itself. The PPS Board o f
Education meeting on M arch 10,
1980 should and must be o f grave
concern o f the A frika n-A m erican
community o f Portland. Obviously
a slip o f the tongue by a Board
member, a question was raised in
reference to the Black U nite d
F ro n t's p o s itio n paper d u rin g
A nalysis
testimony given by A tty. Derrick A.
Bell, Jr. who supported the B U.F.
position. The question raised used
the word “ split” (quickly changed,
same high level as others even it this
means d iffe r e n t m e th o d o lo g y ,
special teaching techniques, and
programs to get parent involvement.
D ro p p in g the Black ch ild o r the
poor ch ild in a school where his
special needs are not addressed is
“ like dropping them into M a rs ."
Bell urged that the Black United
F ro n t’ s plan - w hich calls fo r
academic remedies - be given con
sideration. Referring to other school
districts that have successfully (both
le g a lly and a c a d e m ica lly, used
similar plans, he advised the School
Board to get several persons who
have been successful in teaching
Black students to assist them in
designing a plan.
He pointed to good principals and
parent involvement as the keys to
good education.
R e le rrin g to the coersion s till
pra cticed as Black students are
forced to move by whites in power,
Bell said forcing children to go to
schools out ol their community is as
damaging as requiring segregation,
when the decision is made by a white
group with power.
in reference to the Black com
m unity s support or non-support o f
the B.U.F. position. Eloquently an
swered hy A tty . Bell, but never
theless another question comes to
mind. That is, what caused the so-
called split? F or sure, the Black
U nited F ro n t's position has con
sistently espoused unity especially
among Black P o rtla n d residents,
and has welcomed support from
hum ane w hites w ith guts. The
B .U .F . position ot course, causing a
dilemma for the bulk o f Portland's
w h ite c o m m u n ity is: q u a lity
education not subscribing to fo r
mulas and fears which have been
shown not to work in the best in
terest of Black children on any large
scale basis. As a result, given equal
o p p o rtu n ity , Black c h ild re n can
learn in an environm ent they are
most fa m ilia r w ith - the one in
which they live.
Thcretore, one can sec racism
lu rkin g around the corner on the
(Please turn to page 2 col. 4)
tion o f the T .V . mini-series, Beulah
Land, scheduled for airing on NBC.
"P e rs o n s whose o p in io n s and
judgements I respect have decried
the film ’ s depiction o f Blacks in de
meaning, racially derogatory roles
in scenes with no historical integrity.
"W h ile I have not had a chance to
review the entire script and am not
able to make an independent assess
ment, I believe that the producers
and responsible T .V . broadcasters
should deal with the serious objec
tions being raised about the p ro
duction.
“ I th e re fo re urge th a t befo re
proceeding further with the produc
tio n , that you sit down w ith the
Black artist and local N A A C P rep
resentatives to discuss how the p ro j
ect can m ore a ccurate ly and
tastefully deal with the cruelties o f
slavery and life on a plantation.
“ This subject can be handled with
taste and grace. It ought to be.
" I plan to assign a sta ff member
to look into this fictionalized ac-
count o f an ugly and barbaric part
o f the Am erican history so that I
might be better able to advise direct
ly in the near fu tu re .”
Mrs. Virna M. Cansón, Regional
Director o f the West Coast Region
N A A C P , said the campaign against
the a irin g o f Beulah Land in its
present fo rm is being jo in e d by
N A A C P chapters throughout the
Western Region.
M rs. Cansón said, "T hose who
are producing this series need only
to put themselves in the Black per
son’ s shoes and be sensitive to how
they would feel.
"C a n we expect an Indian to ap
preciate being projected as a savage
who enjoyed the white man’s brutal
ity?
"C a n we expect a Japanese to ap
preciate being projected as enjoying
the lile in America's concentration
camps?
"W e call upon others to step fo r
ward and jo in in this struggle fo r the
preservation o f our d ig nity.”
Carter heads Port police, fire
The Port o f Portland has named
Roosevelt
C a rte r
o p e ra tion s
manager for Portland International
A irp o rt. Carter w ill be responsible
to r the P o rt’ s Operations D epart
ment, the Port Police Department
and the A irp o rt Fire Department.
He w ill be concerned with the day-
to-day management o f the airfield,
public access areas, and airport con
struction projects.
Carter has been a Port employee
for six years. He joined the Port in
1974 as an intern planner, before
moving to the Research Department
as a research assistant. He was
named
o p e ra tio n s
te ch n ica l
assistant at P IA in 1975, and ad
m in istra to r o f programs and p ro
jects early in 1978. He held that po
sition at the time he was appointed
operations manager.
Carter holds degrees in geography
and urban studies fro m P o rtlan d
State U n iv e rs ity . He is c u rre n tly
studying fo r a Master’ s Degree in
public adm inistration, also at Por
land State.
A native o f Louisiana, Carter hi
always been interested in aviatior
Before coming to Portland, he wa
in the A ir Force. He served as an ai
o perations specialist, responsibl
fo r scheduling a ir crews fo
m issions, d is p a tc h in g a irc ra fts
scheduling aircraft maintenance am
handling various airfield operation
responsibilities at Bittberg A ir Fore
Base in West Germany.
Police
request
volunteers
V olunteers are needed to help
form a "S peaker’ s Bureau fo r the
elderly.” Jim Nelson, elderly coor
d in a to r fo r the P o rtla n d P olice
B u rea u ’ s
C rim e
P re ve n tio n
Division, says recruitment o f volun
teers w ill begin this month.
Nelson is looking for persons who
would be w illing to speak to elderly
persons at casual g atherings.
Speakers w ill be p rim a rily utilized
d u rin g the daytim e to give short
talks at luncheon meetings. Volun
teers w ill be asked to commit them
selves fo r approxim atley six hours
each m onths fo r a period o f six
months. A ll ages and backgrounds
w ill be considered. Each applicant
m ust s u b m it to a c rim in a l
b a ckg ro un d check to assure
m inimal standards o f suitability. A ll
checks w ill be kept confidential and
limited to crim inal background.
V o lun te ers w ill receive ap
p ro x im a te ly 16 hours o f in-class
training in the theory and practical
application o f crime prevention for
seniors. Areas covered in the
training sessions w ill include a num
ber o f topics. Some o f the topics w ill
be
v ic tim iz a tio n
rates
and
vulnerability o f the elderly to crime,
preventive techniques and in f o r
mation and public speaking. Other
topics can be discussed in training
classes upon request.
Speakers w ill be providing short,
relaxed luncheon talks or demon
strations at centers such as Loaves
and Fishes, senior citizen facilities,
housing authority centers and other
elderly group locations.
F o r m ore in fo rm a tio n
on
becoming a speaker fo r the elderly,
contact Jim Nelson, elderly coor
d in a to r, at the crim e prevention
division, 248-4126.
Mrs. Marie Smith gets a hand from Commlaaioner Charles Jordan
as she cuts the ribbon at the dedication of the Walnut Park Senior
Citizen Apartments.
(Photo: Richard Brown)