Portland Observer July 1 7 ,1SB0 Page 3
Blacks and the Police in Portland
Part III
By Joyce Boles
Edltor'a N ote: What about the
cops working today in the Black
com m unity? W hat about the
feelings o f Black citizens toward
them? This Observer article, third in
a series, examines the dynamics o f
their interaction.)
Police officers have frequent con­
tact with Blacks who are up to no
good. Says former Black police o f­
ficer Dick Bogle, now a newsman at
Channel 2: “ A lot o f white police
officers really are at a disadvantage.
Because their contact with Blacks in
the main are w ith the c rim inal
element, and they can easily get a
distorted view. A Black coming up
in Portland, a middle class guy like
me, I was in a multi-racial thing all
my life . Sometimes I try to put
myself in the position o f a white
police o ffic e r who d id n 't really
know any Blacks, he comes in con­
tact with prostitutes, thieves, dope
dealers, the scum, and what is that
going to do to your attitude toward
Blacks, when the people you come
in contact with are scum? 1 hope
that today the guys who are being
hired have had more contact with
Blacks prior to being hired...”
Are there any fla t-o u t bigots
working in Albina area?
Jim Loving thinks so. “ I would
have to say yes, 1 believe so, in my
experience. The police is a legal in­
strument o f the law, and he doesn’t
want to just flagrantly do anything
against you that he can’t justify that
is not legal. But he's going to do
everything in his power to provoke
you to do something so that he can
justify doing what he wants to do,
that is, drag you o ff to jail, beat you
up, whatever he wants to ju s tify
what he do. Even i f it’s come to the
point where he wants to k ill you,
he’ ll figure out a way that you
would give him justification to kill
you, and that is legalized murders.
And there are some legalized mur­
ders in this country, and there are
some in Portland...I have no con­
fidence in ’em dealing with Blacks
and minorities.” His attitude is not
uncommon.
Loving refers to a time in 1975
when Black leaders went to United
States Attorney Sid Lezak to request
an investigation in to police
practices in Portland following the
deaths o f four young Blacks at the
hands o f police. But Lezak clearly
signalled to the community that it
was because he felt he could not
refuse, rather than that he wanted to
do it. He was quoted as saying he
RONNIE HERNDON
would not proceed to the grand jury
before being satisfied that a case
existed, a seeming pre-judgment o f
the situation at the time the remark
was made. Whether or not the four
shooting deaths at question were
justified, many in the Black com­
munity thought they were not, and
‘ still think so.
Rev. Jackson agrees that there are
bigoted officers: “ Well, they gave
the indications o f being bigots.”
Ron Herndon thinks that not only
are there racist officers, but that the
entire in s titu tio n o f the police
bureau is racist: “ It’s racism, pure
and simple. And not just in the of­
ficers. In the next 10 years they’ll be
gone, but the institutions will reflect
those same values and it ’ s not d if­
ferent than any other institution ex­
cept that by law they are able to use
force, and in doing that the results
of their practices many times will be
much more severe and immediate
than what happens in a hospital and
a school system, or another in ­
stitution like that.”
Form er Black police o fficers
agree. Recalls Dick Bogle: “ I ’ ve
never really said anything about
racism in the police bureau. But
there was racism, nothing th a t’ s
really easy to document as far as on
an official basis, but I think there
was racism. There was a lo t o f
ignorance, and there was a lot o f in­
sensitivity among the highest in the
departm ent. Captains. Deputy
Chiefs. They were smarter than to
make remarks. There were bigots as
patrolmen in the mass o f officers,
and I guess you have to expect that,
because anytim e you get a large
number o f males, then you have got
a m icrocosm o f so c ie ty ...I can
remember an incident when I was
trying to make an arrest w ith my
partner, who was white, o f a Black
man, and the guy swung and hit me
and I knocked him down. Then I
jumped on him to cu ff him. put the
handcuffs on him. A rather simple
procedure for two guys to handle
this one person. My partner, who
was white, been working with him
all evening, had worked with him
before, pulled his flashlight out and
started hittin the guy on the head
with it and callin him a nigger. I
mean we’ re standing shoulder to
shoulder, me and him. with the guy
down on the ground, and I ’m trying
to cu ff him and this guy is hittin him
on the head and callin him a nigger.
That made me feel pretty uncom­
fortable around that guy, but it cer­
ta in ly in the game o f one-
upsmanship made him, gave him a
step up on me. He knew I was em­
barrassed, you know, because he
DICK BOGLE
and 1 were both Black, my white
were on their way to a party, but
partner called him a nigger, and,
took
tim e to in q u ire in to police
well, there were also a lot o f racial
behavior
with another Black citizen.
jokes.”
Their inquiry resulted in their being
Pressed for other examples. Bogle
followed and eventually stopped by
remembers: ‘ ‘ I used to work with
four
police cars bearing eight o f­
one guy, now retired, who used to
ficers and m u ltip le weapons.
call Blacks, apes. ‘ Hey, there’ s a car
P h illip s is convinced the police
full o f apes, let's stop ’em.’ It was
response would have been different
apes, apes, apes all night, every
had he and his friends, all em­
night you work with this guy. (Even
ployees o f the Oregon Department
with you in the car?) Yeah. R ight!”
o f Human Resources and as middle
C hief Baker thinks the training
class as it is possible to get, been
o ffice rs get in this area is
white.
inadequate: "1 don’t think from a
Further, Phillips has heard citizen
cursory review o f the training that
testimony involving “ situations on
we give in that area that we do a
the council trying to interpret things
good job at all. I can flat-out say it.
to the police that make me feel that
I think we’ re well-intentioned, but I
there is bigotry in North Precinct,
don’ t th in k we’ re accomplishing
and 1 think overall in the police
what we set out to do.” He adds
department.” He has heard from
that officers get about six hours at
whites in north precinct who have
the academy in training to deal with
been on ridealongs about racist
different cultures.
police behavior, and rumors o f cer­
Robert Phillips thinks there are
tain parking lots being used fo r
bigots working in North Precinct.
beating Black citizens. " I t ’ s not a
Phillips, 29, is a social worker, and
lot o f officers, it’ s just a few that are
presently chairm an o f the Inner
getting away w ith this, and the
Northeast Precinct C ouncil (a
commissioner’s of f ice says it has an
creation o f C hief Baker), and he
idea o f who these officers are."
also chairs the Neighbors Against
Crime Program. He served 2 years
Freddye Pettet thinks there are
on the police budget advisory com­
bigoted officers in North. “ I t ’ s a
mittee as well.
matter o f lack o f understanding o f
While he sees the main problem
the community in which they work.
with police in the Black community
Officers will use the word ‘ boy’ to
as one o f interpretation o f police
Black males, a term that is certain to
behavior to the citizens, and a
antagonize a B la c k ,” she says.
secondary issue as the lack o f cour­
" A n d they overreact in the Black
tesy afforded citizens, it was an in­
com m unity,” she charges. “ Lots
cident he personally experienced
more cars on a call, for example.
that got him involved as a citizen in
And they will say to a white woman
police matters. He and some friends
living in Northeast Portland, ’ you
shouldn’ t be living here,’ ” she says.
’ Well, why not?’ she asks. ’ That’s
not the sort o f remark for a cop to
make. It in s tills fear th a t’ s not
already there.”
C om m issioner Jordan backs
away from saying there are bigots in
North. " I think there are some o f­
ficers in the Black community who
have a problem... 1 think a lot o f it is
naivete in terms o f the Black
culture. I f you talk to a white officer
and ask him to tell you something
about a Black male, he’s not going
to tell you what I ’ m going to tell
you, and that is that Black males
need space. You don’ t crowd Black
males because they need space, and
i f you crow d them you provoke
them to do something. You don’ t
put your hand on them to talk to
them. Those little things an officer
needs to know about Black males so
they can deal w ith a situ a tio n ,
because if they knew that, it would
be unnecessary sometime to make a
num ber o f arrests in the Black
community. I f they just knew those
small things.”
W hile Jordan has never ex­
perienced personally any in a p ­
propriate police behavior, “ my staff
has. My staff, since I’ ve been com­
missioner has had encounters with
the police bureau and the attitude
was bad, very bad.”
And Jordan has heard from Black
club owners who complain to him
about the way police act in some of
the clubs. “ M y o ffice rs go in to
some o f the clubs and it ’ s the at­
titude, you know, the throwing your
coat back and letting your weapon
show. That sets’em off. Not going
up to the proprietor o f the club and
acknowledging the fact that he owns
the club. And saying, Mr. Barnes,
ju st a routine check, th a t’ s a ll.
Walking in and walking right by the
owner, and looking at the patrons,
like some kind o f gestapo. That
really set’em o ff. I get a lot o f com­
plaints.”
Leon Johnson th inks racism
operates in the Bureau. When he
was a m otorcycle o ffic e r, he
gathered data from the police radio
about who was getting stopped how
otten, and what they were charged
with, and it having a white girl in
the car made a difference, and who
got fined how much, and who was
transported to jail and who got o ff
with a citation, and so forth, long
betore the Law Enforcem ent
Assistance A d m in is tra tio n also
gathered this data.
Johnson’ s inform al study agrees
with LEAA. If you are Black, you
are much more likely to be stopped,
Black voter participation declines
The number of Blacks o f voting
age has risen from 15 million in 1976
to about 17 million in 1980, but ac­
tual voter participation in this group
slumped from a high o f 57.6 percent
in the 1968 presidential election to
48.7 percent in 1976, according to
the U.S. Bureau o f the Census.
Overall, there has been a decline
in voter participation among the
general population o f the country,
despite the increase in the total
number o f persons of voting age.
The projected figure fo r the
voting age population o f the U.S. in
1980 is 160 million, an increase o f
10.3 million since 1976. According
to the Bureau’s Current Population
Reports, which monitor population
characteristics o f the nation, less
than h a lf o f the c iv ilia n nonin-
stitutional population o f voting age
actually voted in the November,
1978, Congressional election.
The reported turnout in 1978 (46
percent) was close to the turnout
reported in the 1974 Congressional
election (45 percent), but substan­
tia lly below that reported in the
Presidential election o f 1976 (59
percent). U.S. voters traditionally
do not turn out in Congressional
off-year elections as heavily as in
Presidential election years.
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The Social and Economic Status
o f the Black P opulation, a
publication o f the Bureau o f the
Census, notes that Blacks made
sig n ifica n t advances in voter
registration and participation in the
1960s as a result o f the Voting
Rights Act o f 1965, the civil rights
movement and voter registration
drives. However, these gains were
not maintained in the 1970s. In fact,
for both Blacks and whites there has
been a decline.
While overall white voting rates
are considerably higher than Black
rates, analysis o f previous Current
Population Survey results show that
racial differences in voter turnout
are related to socioeconomic d if­
ferences.
The first year in which data on
voter registration was collected by
the Census Bureau was 1966; about
6.3 m illio n Blacks o f voting age
reported that they had registered to
vote in the Congressional elections
that year. For the Presidential elec­
tion o f 1972, the number o f Blacks
registered had risen by 2.5 million to
a high o f 8.8. m illion. In the 1974
Congressional election, the number
o f Black registrants dropped to
about 7.8 million.
After the reported rates o f 60 per­
cent Black voter registration for
1966 and 1970, the rate or percen­
tage fell substantially to 55 percent
for the 1974 Congressional election.
This was the lowest rate reported for
any o f the five general elections
from 1966 to 1974.
• College graduates are more than
twice as likely to vote as persons
who did not complete elementary
school - 64 percent and 29 percent,
respectively.
• White-collar workers are more
likely to vote than persons in other
occupational groups.
• Persons 65 years and over are
nearly three times as likely to vote
(56 percent) as persons 18 to 20
years old (20 percent).
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A CETA project o f the Eugene
Oregon Indian Center, Inc., has
been selected one o f the outstanding
in the nation. Ida LaMonds, direc­
tor will accept the center’s award at
the N ational Native American
C ETA Convention, which w ill be
held July 21-24 in A rlin g to n ,
Virginia.
The aw ard-w inning
project
provided manpower jobology
training fo r clients from Lane,
Douglas, Jackson and Josephine
counties. Training consisted o f the
participants’ setting long-range
career
goals,
through
self-
evaluation o f their present situation,
decision-m aking and goal-setting
techniques and computer aptitude
analysis, awareness o f his or her
own abilities, community resources
and schooling a va ila b ility , the
program was prim arily aimed at the
hard core unemployed and under­
employed.
The C ETA Convention, fo r the
181 Native Am erican C E T A
programs from throughout the
United States, Puerto Rico and the
V irg in Islands, w ill be the firs t
attempt by the ten regions to meet in
one body.
In addition to honoring o u t­
standing C ETA projects, also on
tap
are
m ini-sem inars
in:
Discretionary Funds and Research
Development; CETA and Economic
Development; The Legislative
Process, and a number o f others.
These topics w ill be addressed in the
regional sessions.
COM M ISSIONER JORDAN
and once stopped much more likely
than whites to be taken to ja il in­
stead o f cited for the same offense,
and if taken to ja il much more likely
to be convicted, and i f convicted
much more likely to do time instead
o f getting probation or some lesser
sentence.
“ You think there’ s not racism? I f
you happened not to be a white
male, and you were driving around
on SW M onta Vista Terrace the
likelihood o f you getting your fanny
stopped and either harassed or
arrested -- there’ s a lot o f ways to
arrest folks if you take a notion to. I
haven’t seen a car yet I couldn't stop
and five a ticket to if I wanted to.
There is no way in America not to
get nailed if somebody wants to nail
you.”
Johnson to o k his data to the
command in the bureau and was
met w ith massive indifference, he
recalls. “ Tough luck, th a t’ s too
bad,” he says was the response. But
he is quick to add that the present
a d m in istra tio n is much more
progressive.
Says Stan Peters about Johnson’ s
study: “ I don’ t agree. You see, if
you want to get into name calling,
go along as an invisible person in a
Black neighborhood if you want to
hear some name calling. But there’ s
no charges brought against the
Black individual fo r name calling.
Leon Johnson knows this. So I ’ m
not going to com m ent on Leon
Johnson’ s in te rp re ta tio n o f how
police react.”
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