Portland observer., July 10, 1980, Page 2, Image 2

Paga 2 P o rtla n d O b server Ju ly 10. IM O
EDITORIAL/OPiNION
Individual
N. Fungai Kum bula
The common good
in jeopardy
From a Black perspective the Hazen -
Cameron recall movement comes off as a
petulant activity that would like to be thought
of as striking out in new directions to save the
soul of this society by ousting four school
board members and threatening to rehire the
former superintendent. The four school board
members are in disfavor for doing their jobs
well and the ex superintendent is being ac­
claimed fcr having fostered inappropriate
racist policies, programs and practices in the
Portland school system for ten years.
The Hazen - Cameron recall effort is not
guided by the purpose to be of service to the
total community. It is motivated by special in­
terest and racist concerns. As these are carried
toward their intended goals they will undoub­
tedly spark sensational bitter criticism and
generate unimaginable social explosions. It
has been observed that editorial comments in
the dominant society's media explaining the
school board firing of Blanchard have been
less than thoroughly insightful. There are
glaring elements of ambivalence in assessing
those events, incidents, dissatisfactions and
differences that did not emanate from the
Black community. The board placed most of
this information before the public but little has
been done to clarify and reinforce these
disclosures.
There is now widespread awareness that an
overwhelming percentage of the Black
population sees intergration and assimilation
false goals to pursue. Blacks unequivocally
state that liberation is the real issue. For ten
years Blanchard spoke to integration and prac­
ticed selective segregation. This was the un­
derlying grievance of the Black community. It
is preposterous to suggest that he was fired
because Blacks wished it. If the educational
preferences of Black people had ever been
considered he would not have been hired in
the first place.
In this general area some groups are con­
cerned with improving socialization processes
for all people, youth to adulthood. The BUF
believes the recall activists are Interested only
in retaining an educational system compatible
with their racial attitudes rather than one that
embodies equity and justice.
The racist spirit speaks
Hart displayed an anxious compulsion to say
those things which have high appeal for all
who see Black people's effort to control their
own lives as a threat to continued w hite
sovereignty over the public education domain.
He fumblingly left one impression: the recall is
a mechanism he vigorously supports in order
to buy time for a more effective functioning of
w hite racism. Subsequent events may
illustrate very convincingly that there is no
level of life now at which Hart and his
collaborators can be guaranteed any measure
of durable success solely because they are on
record as being anti-Black. His claims to have
Blacks aligned with him and the misrepresen­
tations he utilizes to gain support for these
vicious undertakings will not provide the recall
movement with deification.
The re-establishing of a screening commit­
tee by Ridgley and other similar voices of an­
tiquity to select and approve school board
candidates is preceived as intended to im­
plement the irrational shallow toughness of
the Hal Hart group. Well now, Blacks are not
intimidated. Both of these committees are
essential to provide up to date evidence for
what w ill evolve into surprisingly well
sustained revelations throughout the country
about the character, quality, poor liveability
and inhumanity of Portland.
The Black population is not concerned with
overcoming white racism because it is a fun­
damental white problem, but white racism is
not going to overcome us.. .because that is the
real Black commitment...Think about itl
The clear message received in the opinions
Hal Hart voiced on KOIN-TV 7-5-80, is that he
represents those elements of the dominant
population who vigorously oppose quality
education for Black children in Portland public
schools. The recall committee of which he is
now co-chairman hopefully will be able to run
its course. Such adventures extending the in­
fluence of white racism will soon reach the
M y o ffic e has received several
point of diminishing returns.
inquiries regarding the use o f race
Hispanics support Board, join bo ycott
l he Hispanic P o litic a l A ction
Committee wants to use this forum
to express i t ’ s position over the
present controversy surrounding the
Portland Public School Board.
The Hispanic P o litic a l A ction
Com m ittee strongly supports
School Board Members Steve Buel,
Sarah Newhall, Herb Cawthorne
and W ally Priestley. Those four
members acted with courage
I he School Board has acted. Now
it is our duty to support the Board
and to give it a chance to resume it’s
very important agenda during the
coming months. I f we as citizens
agree with the job the present board
has done, then we can return those
members whose term expires in
1981. (In the other hand, if Port­
landers believe that they failed to
perform as expected, then we can
vote them out of office in March.
that is less than nine months from
now.
II. however, some irresponsible
segments of the population attempt
to cripple the School Board by their
ill advised recall movement, then the
Hispanic Political Action Commit­
tee w ill actively jo in the fight to
protect the best interests o f our
children.
We have joined the Black United
Front in i t ’ s boycott o f Benj.
F ranklin
Savings and
Loan
Association. We are prepared to
take further steps if necessary.
We also want the public to know
that the paid political Hispanic con­
sultant that has been hired to
destroy the School Board does not
speak for nor does he represent the
Hispanic com m unity. He and his
company are being paid to do a job.
We hope that he and his company
are not being used to give the im­
pression that the H ispanic com ­
m unity
supports
the
recall
movement.
Instead of wasting our energies
and monies in recall movements,
boy cot ts and other actions we
should get together and work for
our children with the present School
Board. Let us not waste long hours
fig h tin g each other. Let us not
spend the expected $300,000 to
$4(X),(XX) o f taxpayer’ s money and
individual political contributions to
have a divisive election at this time.
Instead, let us spend that time and
money to fin d solutions to the
academic problems that are
damaging our children’s education.
These are times to heal not divide.
In support o f our children.
and its relevance when reporting a
crime. I would like to explain to why
such inform ation is necessary and
how it is used to combat crime.
First ot all, this inform ation is
only requested when you call to
report a crime. When calling the
Police Emergency Number to report
a crime, the operator w ill ask you to
provide a physical description o f the
suspect, i.e., male or female, height,
weight, hair color, type o f clothing,
anything odd or unusual about the
suspect as well as the time o f day the
incident occured. This detailed in­
form ation is necessary to assist in
identifying the suspect(s), to assist
in identifying the victim(s) and to
assist in locating witnesses who can
help in prosecution. A ll lead to the
prevention and resolution o f
crime(s).
The Portland Police Bureau often
need detailed inform ation about a
I. The attorney general should
vigorously support local law en­
forcement efforts. I have supported
tougher penalties for violent crime,
and helped pass legislation on
behalf o f crime victims. I am the
only attorney general candidate en­
dorsed by the Oregon Council o f
Police Associations - a group
representing over 2,000 law enforce­
ment officers throughout Oregon.
2. Existing attorney general
functions w hich assist local
prosecutors must be strengthened.
The attorney general has a special
role to coordinate efforts against the
infiltration o f organized crime and
to guard against official corruption.
The integrity o f our government
depends upon this watchdog role.
3. The attorney general advises
state agencies and must insist that
they observe principles o f openess
and fairness to fellow citizens. I
have pioneered legislation to curb
bureaucratic abuses. This legislation
deserves vigorous enforcement by
the attorney general. In this way
Oregon citizens w ill be assured every
While all these years Individual
has been turning over in the grave,
the revival o f this collective doctrine
not only here in P ortland but
throughout Black America (Miami,
W rig h tsville etc.) and Southern
A frica (Zimbabwe, Mozambique,
South Africa, Angola etc.) has had
In d iv id u a l sm iling again. In the
olden days, they worked together to
build a well from which the whole ’
com m unity could draw water; in
1980 the Black community has risen
to demand the sort o f changes that
will make life more meaningful and
easier fo r their children. Conver­
sely, Enterprise, who has had reason
to smile all along, is beginning to
panic.
By Charles Jordan
Commissioner o f Public Safety
victim to clear up pending cases or
find persons who can help, as wit­
nesses. For example, let’s say that
the police catch a purse snatcher
who also admits that he stole a purse
tw o months ago from a young,
Black female. Detectives are more
likely to find which case was in ­
volved and perhaps return stolen
property if they can narrow down
the larceny cases at that time by
race, sex and approximate age o f the
victim.
When you call, the operator may
also ask your race and date o f birth.
Why? To p roperly and q u ickly
identify you in case o f an emergency
or in case more in fo rm a tio n is
needed to resolve a crime. A ll in­
fo rm ation kept by the Bureau is
maintained by name, race, sex, and
birthdate. They are used explicitly
as id e n tifie rs and serve to
distinguish between two or several
individuals with common names.
However, you do have a choice. IF
FOR ANY REASON YOU FEEL
THAT RACE OR SEX IS NOT
IM PO RTANT
TO
YOUR
REPORT, JUST SAY SO TO THE
OPERATOR THEY HAVE BEEN
INSTRUCTED NOT TO INSIST
ON THIS INFORMATION.
I f a decision is made to send an
officer to the scene o f the crime to
obtain a report, during this encoun­
ter, it is not necessary for that o f­
ficer to ask you your race or sex. It
is obvious and this inform ation is
recorded.
Another reason this information
is requested is to help the Federal
Bureau o f Investigation (FBI). The
FBI make crime analyses which help
local police to better allocate their
resources. It is obviously helpful to
us, particularly in developing crime
prevention programs, if we have
statistical in fo rm a tio n that tells
which age, sex, or racial groups are
most lik e ly to be victim ized fo r
certain crimes.
LUTHER
By Brum&ic Brandon.
Gate Castillo
President
HPAC
AG candidate outlines duties
To the Editor:
I want to thank the many readers
o f the Portland Observer for their
help in my campaign for Attorney
General.
The attorney general campaign
will be a hard fought race this year
w ith many issues and opinions
presented to Oregon citizens. Let me
re-emphasize a few o f the ideas that
I plan to bring to the attorney
general’ s office.
maybe the days o f “ me-ism” are
numbered. The very successful one
day boycott of classes, the sustained
demonstration of the community’ s
displeasure with the school board,
the actions taken to curb police
brutality and, generally, a louder
voice and greater v is ib ility have
awakened
P ortland
to
the
realization that there is a Black
community in the city after all. For
its part, the community can point to
these successes and draw from them
for the myriad battles that lie ahead.
As emphasized over and over again
by the BUF leadership, this i only
the beginning.
What has been accomplished in
P ortland over the past several
months would have been un­
thinkable only a year ago. The fact
that a Black United Front was suc­
cessfully
launched
and
has
withstood the derision, criticism or
all the other ills that have been the
death of earlier attempts at collec­
tive activism is in itself a "m iracle”
o f no mean proportion.
Notes from City Hall
Letters to the Editor
To the Editor:
In the beginning was Individual.
Someone in the new communities
In d ivid u a l lived alone but soon
came up w ith a “ b rillia n t” idea:
discovered that one leading such a why be like everybody else? Why
life had something lacking. So In­
not be different? Better yet, instead
dividual went hunting but, this time
o f sharing the pie equally among all
it was for Spouse. Individual found
the people, why not start sharing it,
Spouse and they agreed to live
but unequally, since “ some people
togelher, forming the first couple,
are more equal than others.” This
forerunner to Society. Now In ­
“ someone” took up the name En­
dividual felt better, was no longer
terprise and began to preach the new
lonely, had someone to share tasks
gospel: “ You don’ t have to be a
w ith, relished the variety o f ideas
slave to the community. You can be
that was the result o f two heads
your own person, your own boss.
working in tandem and, the purpose
Worry not about your neighbor but
and whole new meaning that was
only about yourself. You get richer
suddenly given to Life. With the ad­ quicker that way.” Enterprise soon
vent o f Children, the first Family
attracted a number o f “ groupies”
unity was born.
and they set o ff to, by hook or by
Before too long, Individual had
crook, fair means or foul, “ civilize”
neighbors, new households that
the world.
mushroomed all around, the result
The New Order simply turned the
of their busy Brood. A Community
Old Order inside out, stood it on its
had been born. Individual still was
head, the immediate result o f this
the centre o f the community, one change was the birth o f affluent and
who knew only too well that the poor neighborhoods, a w orking
alternative had been, one who truly
class and a ru lin g class, one up­
appreciated the Com m unity. The
manship, the dog-eat-dog ratrace
C om m unity soon spread far and
and the proliferation o f “ me-ism.”
wide and as it did so, Individual and While the Old Order worked very
Spouse’s influence waned in direct
hard to eliminate poverty, the New
p ro p o rtio n u n til whole new and Order worked to promote poverty
“ independent” communities were because you always have to have an
born. Values in these “ upstart”
underclass that works for and buys
communities were, o f course, very from the upper class.
different. They had a whole d if­
The biggest selling point o f the
ferent "leadership.”
Enterprise groupies always has
In the original Community, there been: You can be anything you
was egalitarianism all the way down want to be; you just have to work
the line. C ollective w ork meant hard enough.” But, whoever made
collective rewards. The ancient it from the underclass to the upper
A fricans put it this way: “ From class working nine to five? Despite
each according to their ability; to the heady promises “ Enterprise”
each according to their need.”
made, the truth is, whatever class
Under this system, it was the Com­ you are born into you are doomed
munity that prospered, not the in­ to unless you take some very drastic
dividual. There could be no paupers measures.
and millionaries rubbing shoulders:
Recent events in the Black com­
it was all paupers or all millionaires.
munity give one cause to believe that
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Oregon Attorney General
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