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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 31, 1980)
.IM. . w. w . -- « I< HW<WW1M<M ■ »' * - - U *• Portland Observer July 3 1 .19B0 Page 3 Blacks and the Police in Portland Part V By Joyce Botes (Editor's Note: W ith the mounting crisis in the cities, what role w ill the police play? W ill the P ortland Police Bureau re cru it Black o f ficers? W ill racism cause them to leave? What does the future hold for Blacks and the Police in Port land). It is difficult to get present Black o ffic e rs to talk about their ex periences on the bureau. Former o f ficers Bogle and Johnson are more e x p lic it, and others talk about names sprayed on lockers, offensive phrases. But there is a d iffe re n t q u a lity to it today than the ex perience Bogle had to endure o f hearing his people called apes through an entire shift. Robert Janisse reports that he has become more aware in his eight years with the bureau o f a kind o f “ covert racism’ ’ -- though he no longer concerns him self w ith at titudes, ju s t behaviors. For one thing, there is the story, confirmed by Commissioner Jordan, about the Black man who waited two years at the top o f the sergeant’ s lis t because, he was to ld variously, Portland wasn’t ready for a Black sergeant, and he him self w asn't ready to be a Portland sergeant. Janisse recalls with some cynicism the time a bigshot came to town for the dedication o f Emanuel Hospital. He was pulled out o f plain clothes work and told to put on a uniform and go stand on top o f the hospital - - presumably so the visitor could see that the bureau had Blacks in it. A nd during the evaluation process, Blacks are rated, sometimes in w ritin g , about how they treat their own people. Whites are not rated on how they treat whites, and probably not on how they treat Blacks, says Janisse. And there are subtle things, he says: “ Every day we are reminded that we are Black. Subjected to racial jokes. There are cross pressures as far as Blacks are con cerned, in addition to all the other pressures that you have as police o f ficer in uniform. You’ re a minority w ithin a m inority...W hen they’ re around you, they have to say something about your color.” Donald Warren won’ t talk about it much. Things happened when he was on probation, racial things, but that’ s in the past. Warren, a com m itted C hristian, both lives and w orks in the Black com m unity, having grown up here, giving lie to the old rumor that it is impossible for Blacks to live among and police their own people. Dwight Ford believes he has ex perienced even less racial stuff. He has heard from a fellow female o f ficer remarks that can only be con strued as bigoted, but he lets them slide. Commissioner Jordan believes union officials simply do not under stand what kind o f pressure the Blacks are under. “ They (the Blacks) are probably doing things DET. ROBERT JANISSE they normally wouldn't do i f they could be a little more relaxed. There’ s a lot o f pressure to perform and they know they are being watched. Otherwise, the union would not always mention the one or two Blacks who were involved in some illegal activities. Look at the number o f white officers who have been involved in activities that we’ ve had to terminate. Somehow, when it comes to Blacks you get stereotyped. When it comes to whites, it’ s an exception. That’s the rule. (The union) has never been Black, they have never been discriminated against. Been through that with Stan over and over again that he just doesn’t understand what it means to be so few among so many. T h a t’ s a hell o f a lo t o f pressure.” Peters, o f course, disagrees. He says that i f a Black o ffic e r ex perienced racism on the bureau, he would go to bat for him the same as any other u n fa ir treatm ent, and states that he has in the past gone to bat for Black officers when the oc casion demanded. What lies ahead for Blacks in the Bureau and in the community? Ronnie Herndon points a finger: “ Most officers aren’ t bad, th a t’ s what most people say. But they are all aware o f the ones that are, and what makes them guilty is the fact that they haven’ t done anything about it.” Rev. Jackson also reports that Herndon visited the offices of LEAA on a trip to Washington to talk about getting Portland funds cut o ff, but that nothing has come o f this so far. Improper treatment o f Blacks in the community and the bureau's hiring policies are cited as reasons for this. Present Black police officers are boldly firm : “ Only time w ill tell,” says Ford. "1 kind ol think things are going to change pretty quick. 1 think you’ re going to be looking at the turbulent 60s again in the Black com m unities. Things are going downhill real quick.” While his ex periences in the bureau have not been that bad ("1 must emphaize to you they have not. 1 have been well received.’ ’ ) and he hasn’ t seen anything untow ard in his fellow white officers’ treatment o f Black citizens, “ I'm not saying that it doesn’ t happen. It doesn’t happen around me. And it better not hap pen around me. And I think officers who know me know I ’m not kidding when I say that. I f they get out of line...then 1 want it known that you can forget it...and I sure as hell am going to report them. That's the way I am.” Janisee is more ominous: “ ( If the present two list system) fails, then they're going to be looking at a class action law suit. And one way or another i t ’ s going to happen. Because they’ re overdue. They’ re way overdue. W e'll use every tool available to us. We’ re not going to sit back and wait. We’ re not going to take any more o f that gradualism. Why should we have to wait? We’ re United States citizens. Supposedly we’re equal. We should have all the rights and privileges...I look back to the 60s, and the progress made a lo t o f Blacks become very content and were kind o f lulled to sleep. And I think you can probably see it, and I know I can. I can see it and I can feel it, that we’ re being born again. What hap pened back in the 60s is maybe hap pening again, but maybe we’ re not going to be met w ith violence because I th in k the Blacks, the young Blacks today are a part o f this movement learned a lot from people like Martin Luther King that you can beat the system without resorting to violence, and we can, and I think it ’s hard for whites to deal with, for the what white man to deal with the intelligent Black. And that’ s where the fear comes in. They (the police union) see us as a threat...W henever the change is COMMISSIONER JORDAN mentioned, they never say anything about white females. I t ’ s just Blacks. They don’ t say anything about the Chinese...it’s just Blacks. So there is a fear there.” Leon Johnson, from his spot in the trenches o f affirm ative action, tells what he hears when he visits taverns, and he hears ominous rumblings, threats o f violence from persons who don’ t ordinarily talk that way. Tension is rising, he thinks. “ I f he does that again, I ’m going to blow his head o ff,” -- that type o f thing. The degree o f fru s tra tio n is larger, the anger greater now than before thinks. But Commissioner Jordan is ex cited about the future and about the potential in two programs now in the ta lkin g stages: new cu ltu ra l awareness training, and a new study possibly to be undertaken. The first, not to be confused with sensitivity tra in in g which is in disfavor, w ould be part o f the academy training, says Baker. The second would be a specialized unit that would examine i f specialized tra in in g in fam ily violence, crisis intervention, and community relations for certain of ficers would help. The problem with such a study is m aintaining the group and also maintaining the con trol group long enough to measure results, says Baker, something that has not really been achieved in the past. Jordan is also about to unveil a public information package. Not a public relations package, he is quick to point out. And he is talking about setting up a citizen task force to look things over. Jordan is also extremely positive about recent personnel changes in internal affairs. A ll Blacks, public and private citizens, agree that having more minority officers on the Bureau will help tension in the community to abate. Some, like Ford and Janisse, think Blacks bring special abilities to the situation that whites don’t have, in particular in dealing with Black citizens. Others, like Donald Warren, think having Black officers there for Black youngsters to look up to w ill help dissuage some o f them from choosing crime as a way o f life, since so many other avenues o f achievement are either denied Blacks or afford them only limited entry and limited opportunity for progress. Stan Peters does not agree that having more m inorities on the bureau will help. “ No, why should it?” I f finding minorities has to be achieved at what he is certain is a lowering o f standards, then it won’t be worth it,” he says. “ The people o f this city, they’ re out here at 50th and Hawthorne, $1,000 a year in taxes, they want that money to buy the very best they can...streets, water, lights, police and fire, and they deserve that.” SALE! Furniture fo r sale! Call 289-9440 anytime, or stop by 5609 N. 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HAZEL DELL BRANCH 716DN.E. 99th Street Vancouver, W A 90665 Phone 206-574-1522 Vancouver or 503 241 3723 Portland, OR MINNEHAHA BRANCH 47 St. Johns Road Vancouver, W A 90661 Phone 206-694-8577 Vancouver or 503-223-8229 Portland, OR Pacific Citizen Power o f the Week Occupational diseases major problem for workers W A S H IN G T O N - A lm ost 2 m illio n American m otor workers are severely or partially disabled as a result o f occu p a tio n a lly related diseases, and only 5 percent o f those severely disabled received worker’ s compensation benefits, according to a U.S. Labor D epartm ent study report. The study o f job-related diseases was mandated by the Black Lung Benefits Reform Act o f 1977. M a jo r issues addressed in the study report include the magnitude and severity o f the occupational disease problem , w ith particular emphasis on pulm onary and respiratory diseases; the status and adequacy o f existing compensation program s; alternatives fo r im proving the delivery o f compen sation benefits, and the adequacy o f occupational disease prevention programs. In 1978, lost incomes for workers with disabling occupational diseases totaled $11.4 b illio n , the report says. In terested in c u rre n t books a b o u t A fric a n Liberation? Visit: JOHN REED BOOKSTORE In the Dekum Building 519 S .W . 3rd Avenue Sixth Floor Or call: 227 2902 Am ong the problem s facing trust funds where specific oc disease victims who are successful in cupational disease criteria are met, obtaining w orker’ s compensation altering state w orkers’ com pen sation to ease the burden o f proof benefits are: a 60-pcrcent denial rate for in itia l claims, one-year delays that now rests on claimants, and before receiving compensation responding in d iv id u a lly to benefits, and the frequent use o f recognized occupational diseases compromise and release agreements such as those caused by asbestos and cotton dust. which involve small lump-sum set tlements and free insurance carriers A d d itio n a l research w ill be required to establish compensable^ from further lia b ility , the report diseases, develop standards, analyze says. Only 60 percent o f the workers’ financing mechanism, and estimate compensation prem ium dollar is the potential costs o f im proving compensation benefits. paid out in cash or medical benefits. Forty cents out o f every dollar pay The report cites evidence that oc- for such expenses as insurance com pany reserves, dividends, litigation or overhead, the study found. Because litig a tio n is more prevalent in occupational disease Homeowners who missed the cases than in other types o f claims, deadline fo r filin g pro p e rty tax legal - administrative costs o f these relief claims have another chance. cases are probably higher than those C ounty assessors have been in the average workers’ compen authorized to accept late ap sation case, the report says. plications for tax relief on owner- Two major sources o f income for occupied homes. people disabled from occupational Claims must be filed on or before diseases are social security and September 2 to receive relief this fall welfare programs. Fifty-three per under Oregon’ s Tax Relief Plan, the cent receive social security benefits, state pays part o f the property taxes and 16 percent are welfare recipien on q u a lify in g homes. Assessors ts. Occupational diseases cost the show the state payment as a credit social security and welfare systems on the homeowner’ s property tax about $2.2 b illio n annually, the statement. report says. To qualify, the home must have Three options for improving oc been occupied by the owner on June cupational disease compensation are 30, 1980, and must be the person’ s outlined in the report: supplement principle livin g quarters. A tem ing social security d is a b ility porary absence, such as vacation or payments from industry-financed * illness, does not d is q u a lify the under the Occupational Safety and H ealth A c t, reduce hazards. To fu lly evaluate the effectiveness o f such program s, long-range epidemiologic studies must be com pleted, the report concludes. Copies o f the report may be ob tained by calling or writing to the Office o f the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Evaluation and Research, U.S. Department o f Labor, Room S-2121, Frances Perkins Building, W ashington, D .C . 20210. Telephone: (202) 523-6084. Tax relief still available owner. A p plication s on m obile homes must be made in the county where the mobile home was located on January 1, 1980. Claim forms are available from assessors. They should be filed as soon as possible but no later than September 2. The filin g deadline was April 1 but because o f taxpayer confusion over the filing dates for various programs, Oregon Depart ment of Revenue Director Robyn L. Godwin authorized assessors to ac cept late applications this year. Homeowners who have previously filed and have not moved or changed the use o f their property should not file again. T heir tax re lie f w ill be continued automatically. The Reverend Ira D. Mumford is pastor of Smith Chapel Church and is currently a O .S .U . 4-H Extension Agent. Rev. Mumford has served as director of the Urban 4-H program since 1975. Besides his involvem ents w ith the com m unity and its youth. Rev. Mumford is best noted for his 16 years of loyal service as a broadcaster on the w eekly KGAR "Gospel Train". Rev. Mum ford began his service with the Gospel Train in 1964 and in his words has "watched the program grow in bringing the word of God to the sick and enlightening other people in th e C o m m u n ity ." Rev. M u m fo rd 's co n tributions include: Counseling for young and old, the Urban 4-H program, the annual 4-H Olympics and service on various church boards and activities. Rev. Mumford is a past member of the famous Ink Spots and has performed in Europe and the U S. He is a frequent participant in the K G W Neighborfair and directs the Urban 4- H Choral Ensemble and the Portland Aires. Rev. Mumford is married to Lydia Timms Mumford. They reside in Portland with their daughter Iretta, a student at Grant High School. BROUGHTTO YOU BY Pacific Power >
