Un'
All the things they are. .
By B. Ufis
The racist construction of the United States
makes it inappropriate as well as almost im
possible for many persons who belong to the
dominant population to accurately interpret
the Black experience. White people listen to
Black people and hear w hat they believe
was/Is inferred but never seem to know what
is actually stated. They perceive nuances in
Black behavior but do not comprehend the
acts. They sometimes acknowledge some of
the numerous travails of the Black existence
but shy away from traumatic descriptions of
their own com plicity in sustaining these
horrors. The results are disgraceful
caricaturing and frequent intentional defacing
of the evidence of the Black reality.
From a Black perspective three members of
the Portland School Board (Reike, McNamara,
Scott) appear always as instrumental in con
tinuing the blockades in this system that
prevent the policy changes and practices that
will allow Black children to receive educational
justice and equity.
The efforts of these
persons are upon preserving dissipated
symbols of racial and class elitism. Their most
attention attracting performances have been
the rhetorical defenses they offered for false
ot useless integration schemes.
News accounts (approvals and criticisms)
show them as involved in political theatrics
where an abundance of propaganda con
sisting of false claims, unwarranted praise,
procrastination, evasion, avoidance and
deception earmark their individual dramatics
(remember the W m . Scott TV spectacular,.
Out of these came tw isted social in te r
pretations, jumbled theory and misdirection.
In addition there are espousals of appalling
multidimensional social misconceptions. The
collective attitudes may indicate that
education here for black students could be
marked forever with negative considerations.
The aforementioned persons easily give the
impression that they are no longer attempting
to conceal that w ithin their ranks there
abounds an abundance of shared inhumanity
towards the Black population. This may have
encouraged the surfacing of anti-Black ex
pressions from Toms and Tommettas, oppor
tunists in custody seeking special attention,
White political spirits encased in Black com
plexions, hostile officials of a teachers union
and vindictive spokesmen for a principals
organization. So far these collective defenders
of white racism have not been effective in
curbing real black perseverance and resist
ance.
W hite educators of any quality do not
motivate Black children. Their roles have been
and continue to be to control and constrain
them . Black parents, relatives, peers and
friends are the sources of Black child
motivation. White educators have been aware
for a long time that this white racist system is
assured perpetuity only if the mass production
of intellectually crippled Black children can be
maintained in every generation (more on this
in a subsequent series on the staffing of Eliot
school).
The Black community gives serious con
sideration to the roles of Reike, McNamara
and Scott and any others who voice similar
social concepts. This is necessary because up
to this moment their stratagems have:
1. Charged, recharged and supercharged
the school system's collective defenses of
white racism.
2. Created more unsolvable racial dilemmas
including provocations for a full scale boycott
of Portland schools;
3. Produced possibilities for more serious
social dislocations;
4. Attempted to give the impression that the
board is correct in its insistence th at in-
tegration/desegregation is more im portant
than what Biecks determine to be quality non
racist education.
5. Encouraged the white media to attempt
to render Black opposition to their policies
mute; (note the recent news and editorial and
reportorial quackery of the Oregonian and the
Oregon Journal,
6. Revealed a total unwillingness to render a
moral judgem ent to rem ove perverse
educational arrangements for Black children;
7. Failed to plan authentic educational struc
tures for Black children even though in many
instances these were not opposed by the
white population;
8. Continued to exploit phony theories of
racial percentages which in effect deny the
humanity of Black people;
9. Supported the erroneous notions that the
education of Black children is invalid without
the presence of white children - implying that
it is illegal to be Black I
10. Exhibited profound ignorance of a fun
damental societal value contrast: W hites are
w h a t they have; Blacks are w h a t w e are.
>
PORTLAND OBSERVER
NATIONAL
N» W5PAP, R
Volume 10 Number 27
July 17, 1980
10$ per copy
U S P S 95 9 680
Minorities left out of loan fund
Bruce Broussard presented a
series o f proposals to the C ity ’ s
Economic Development Advisory
Committee (E D A C ) to make the
economic development loans more
accessible to minorities and to cor
porations that will provide jobs.
F ollow ing
acceptance
and
allocation o f a 12 m illion federal
economic development grant by the
City, the Northwest M inority Con
tractors, Black U nited F ront,
NAACP,
A lb in a
M in iste ria l
Alliance and the Oregon Associa
t i o n o f Colored W om en’ s Clubs
filed suit in federal court charging
that federal requirements fo r
m inority input had not been met.
Although the suit is still pending,
the City established two projects to
include possible m in o rity par
ticipation -- the Revolving Loan
Fund and the In d u stria l Site
Program. These programs are con
sidered to be the ‘ ‘ settlement” for
the suit.
The In d u stria l Site Project is
designed to locate potential in
dustrial sites in the Albina area and
to assist businesses to relocate or
expand in the area The loan fund of
$1.6 m illio n is to provide fo r
business expansion. According to
the August 1979 revised p o licy,
"one-third o f the total loan funds
available under the Fiscal Year
1 9 7 8 -1 9 7 9 C o m p r e h e n s iv e
Economic Development Strategy
(LE D S ) w ill be p rio ritiz e d fo r
assistance to m inority business en
terprise, as consistent with other
loan fund requirements.”
To date, although there have been
more than 400 inquiries about the
loan fund, only six have reached the
loan committee. Five loans, all to
whites, have been approved. One
Black owned company’ s application
reached the loan committee but it
was rejected as not meeting all
requirements.
A ccording to Broussard the
Jemei Loving hende out Information on the up
coming Ben). Frenklln end Lloyd Center boycott
while other Bieck United Front supporters olckett
process is too complicated, with too
many organizations and too many
staff persons involved.
The interested business first con
tacts the City Bureau o f Economic
Development. After the application
is received, the business is referred
to a bank - for 50 percent o f the loan
w ill come through a bank. When the
bank verifies its in te n t, the
package goes to the revolving loan
committee which checks the finan
cial feasibility. I f accepted, the ap
p lica tio n goes to the P ortland
Development Com m ission fo r
ve rific a tio n o f credit. A fte r ap
proval by PDC, the loan is ap
proved by the C ity C ouncil. The
person receiving the loan has had to
work with staff for the Bureau and
PDC, as well as the loan committee
and the banks.
The Revolving Loan Committee,
ol which Broussard is a member, is
made up of two bankers, two PDC
commissioners and two minorities -
Broussard and Humberto Reyena.
Broussard charges that
the
Revolving Loan committee does not
receive in fo rm a tio n on the ap
plications so does not know what
happens to those that are not
referred to it for approval; docs not
get loan packages in time to make
adequate fin ancial judgem ents;
cannot give approval o f loans; does
not receive information on whether
qualifications put on loans arc ever
carried out. He further charges that
the loan committee has no, been
provided in fo rm a tio n on: the
amount reserved for minorities; the
cut-off point in reserving the money
for minorities; the system to insure
that the money is, in fact, held for
minorities; evidence o f recruitment
e ffo rts ; the optim um tim e o f
repayment to a "re v o lv in g loan
fund.”
“ I would still like to know how
much money is in the revolving loan
fund and how much has been spent
for surveys, feasibility studies and
staff. I have still been unable to find
out how much has been spent and
how much is le ft.”
Under his plan, the loan commit
tee, as a sub committee o f EDAC,
would se, the criteria for loans and
would monitor the process. The ac
tual decision making would be given
to the banks. The business person
w ould be sent to his own or a
referred bank, where he w ould
apply for the loan - 50 nercent from
the bank and 50 percent from the
C ity's funds. I f approved by the
bank, the loan would go to EDAC
fo r form al approval. This would
eliminate PDC' and the Bureau o f
Economic Development staff from
the process.
Those m in o rity businesses that
need assistance in developing their
loan package would go to Impact, a
non-profit organization funded by
the U.S. Department o f Commerce
to assist M in o rity Business Enter
prise. Impact would also be respon
sible for m inority outreach.
The revolving loan committee -
reconstituted to include business
persons and minorities, would have
the responsibility o f insuring that
the eligible applicants are properly
received by the banks.
Aside from providing money for
business expansion, one effect o f
the loan program should be to help
the borrower establish a relationship
with a banker. “ The key to business
is the banker. I f the business person
doesn’ t have a banker, this program
would establish him with one. I f he
does and that banker w ill not
provide him a loan, this program
should help him through the
barriers.”
C u rre n tly , the revolving loan
fund can only be used for existing
businesses, to provide for buildings,
equipm ent, renovation , bu, not
working capital. Broussard recom-
(Please turn to page 2 col. 4)
the Union Avenue Brench of Benj. Franklin,
(Photo: Rlcherd J. Brown)
ECECs accept minority children
The School Board changed a long
standing policy Monday night that
had barred m inority children who
do not live in the Albina area from
attending
E arly
C hildhood
Education Centers.
The ECECs, which provide
educational programs for four and
five year olds, were established to
draw white children into m ajority
Black schools. The ECECs were
open to white children, who were
recruited, and to neighborhood
children as space allowed. The ob
ject was to have enough white
children in pre-kindergarten and
kindergarten classes to bring the
school into racial balance on paper.
even though class rooms at the up
per grade levels were all Black.
Many neighborhood parents com
plained that their children could not
be enrolled in the schools because
the space was occupied by the
bussed-in white children.
Last fall, the School Board agreed
to admit all neighborhood children
to the ECECs.
Since the primary purpose of the
ECECs was to draw white chidren
to favorably effect the Black/white
ratio, minority children from other
parts o f the city were not admitted.
The new policy is a response to a
complaint Tiled by south west Port
land resident Attorney Jasper Am
bers with the State Superintendent
o f Public Instruction charging that
the unavailability o f a pre-school
program to his child solely because
o f race is discriminatory.
In the opinion o f school district
legal counsel Mark McClanahan,
the to ta l p ro h ib itio n against
m inority children transferring into
ECECs w ould be illegal. "T h e
disparity o f the treatment is objec
tively clear."
ECECs w ill be open to pre-
kindergarten children living outside
the attenance area o f that school
who are not eligible for a program
in their own attendance area or for
Head Start.
Skaters In Saturday's 'Essence of Soul” skate-a-
thon train their way Into Lauralhurst Park ending
the event that started In Peninsula Park. The
akate-a-thon was a benefit for KBOO.
(Photo: Richard Brown)