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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1981)
. * Iiro Francos Sehoon-’ -'Wïpoper Pooa Ün!v re! ty cf Or :n I/.b: ary Adams, Columbia/Whitaker closure considered Adams High School and Colum bia /W h ita ke r M iddle School are among the schools included on the most recent school closure/con- solidation list by the school district’ s School Closure Committee. Jeffer son and Boise, which appeared on earlier lists, are not included. The committee stressed that this is not the Final list they will present to the school board and that more schools could be added. A ll the schools in the district were rated in five areas: facilities and costs, program , desegregation, neighborhood support, student ser vices. Several schools were listed for non-closure because they are impor tant to the desegregation program and others because they have strong community support. Adams is included in the list for potential closures because it is con sidered to have too few students to offer a comprehensive high school program and the committee found “ no neighborhood feeling” about the advisibility o f closing the school. The committee considers the closure o f Adams and the use o f the building for Columbia/Whitaker as a valid alternative. Other high schools under con sideration for closing are Washing to n /M o n ro e which has too few students and has little neighborhood support (according to the commit tee). and Cleveland, which has poor physical facilities and little neigh borhood support. Middle and elementary schools still under consideration for closing or consolidation are Glenhaven, Sacajawea, Vestal, Foster, Wood- mere, A rle ta , Lane, B rooklyn, G ro u t, A bernathy, Buckman, Hollyrood and Normandale. On the west side only Sylvan and Maplewood are named. Maplewood probably w ill not be closed ■because children were transferred there alter M ultnom ah closed, although Maplewood and neighboring Mary PORTLAND OBSERVER USPS 959-680-855 Rieke are both underenrolled. The com m ittee w ill study enrollm ent patterns that w ould develop if any ot these schools were closed or consolidated and w ill present their findings to the public and to the school board late in January. Committees to oppose closure of their schools have been formed in the Adams and Jefferson areas. 52 i Dentists join talents, careers By Kathryn H all Bogle Dr. Carlos W eekly examines a patient (Photo: Richard J. Brown) OABA calls leadership meeting The third Call To Action Leader ship Conference w ill be held January 31, 1981, C alvin O. L. Henry, President o f the Oregon Assembly For Black A ffa irs, an nounced. This one day conference will be held at the Chumaree Rode- way Inn., located at 3301 Market Street N.E., in Salem. Registration begins at 7:45 A .M ., and the fee is $15.00 The purpose of this conference is to bring together persons concerned with the political development o f the Black people of Oregon, to in form them on pertinent issues which will directly affect the vital interests o f Black Oregonians during the 1980s, and to prepare a legislative agenda with a strategy o f implemen tation. Oregon is expected to receive a fifth congressional seat as a result o f the 1980 Census. Thus, reappor tionment will be the key issue con fronting the 1981 Legislature. The Legislature must enact a criteria for reapportionment equity which con sidered the interest o f Black Oregonians. And Black leaders must assist the Legislature in developing the criteria. The con ference will discuss this issue. Also the legislative districts in northeast Portland must be drawn with this equity in mind. Henry stated, “ A new feature is being added to this one day con ference. That is a Recognition 1 un- cheon. At this. Recognition Lunch eon, OABA will be honoring several Blacks who have contributed to the political development o f the Black community statewide.’ Governor Vic Atiyeh will be the luncheon speaker. Dr. Samuel J. Brown, Jr., and Dr. Carlos Weekly, dentists, have joined together in a professional association that works well for them both. Dr. Brown, whose commodius offices the two dentists share, is a 1948 dentistry graduate o f Howard U niversity. He has been in suc cessful practice in Portland for 25 years. Born and reared in Savannah, Georgia, Dr. Brown had his first o f fices in Marieta, Georgia. A d if ferent experience in a totally d if ferent environm ent came to D r. Brown when he became captain in the U .S .A .F ., and found himself stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska for a 17 month stretch. His wife, the late Annetta T. Brown and their infant daughter, C heryl, joined him Alaska. Discharge from the military came in California but the family decided on the northwest for their new home and chose Portland. Dr. Brown has a son, Samuel 111, living in Portland. His daughter, Cheryl Brown Glass, now lives in California. A brother, who is also a dentist, practices in Geary, Indiana. A sister, who lives in Daytona Beach, Florida, is a librarian there. In the o ffice situ a tio n , Mrs. Frank Turney, an ex-offender and member o f the Northwest Ex- offender Association, was forcibly removed from the C ounty Com mission’ s public hearing because o f an alleged anonymous phone call. Turney was at the meeting (Dec. 18) to protest the discrim inatory handling of Black prisoners, and the brutal punishment o f chains and other degrading methods used at the Rocky Butte Jail. The call, supposedly inferred that Turney had a gun. Disregarding the fact that he is a well known per sonality in the Multnomah County Courthouse, member o f A C L U ’ s Jail Committee, executive board member o f the Ex-offender Association, and former member of the Multnomah County Community Corrections Advisory Committee, he was fo rc ib ly removed from a packed house that included some one-hundred students from David Douglas High School. Frank Turney reedy to teetlfy before the Multnomah County Com mission on jail abuae. (Photo: Thomaa Golden) I As an example o f the type o f treatment Turney was protesting, is a hand written signed statement, by Inm ate James G. Roberts II, Rocky Butte ja il. Roberts states: “ On December 5, 1980, they (o f ficers) took me out o f my cell and rammed my he-»d into the wall, put Dr. Carlos Weekly, associate and sharing dental offices w ith Dr. Samuel J. Brown, Jr., is a June, 1980 graduae o f the University o f Oregon Dental School. He was born and brought up in Portland, the son o f Mary and Willie C. Weekly. He went to Holladay and Washington High School and later received a bachelor’ s degree in education from Portland State University. D r. W eekly is m arried to the form er Edna McCree, herself a graduate o f PSU in Education. Aside from espousing the time- honored maxim “ See your dentist every year,” Dr. Weekly is vocal on the subject o f education fo r all children with some special messages for Black children. Understanding that costs fo r higher education are mounting with rapidity, Dr. Weekly points out that “ Dental school (in Oregon) is geared to the white m iddle class male. “ If you are poor and Black, you will have to work and work hard to keep abreast.” Dr. Weekly confesses he hadn’ t, as a youngster, yearned to be a den tist. In fact, he recalls, he had no special thing in m ind he wanted strongly to do. There had been no career dangled tantalizingly before his eyes. No challenge to charge up his imagination - until his last few days at Portland State. He was walking down the halls at PSU when he saw it. A placard caught his eye. It stop ped Carlos Weekly in his tracks. He stood there rooted and just stared. And stared. The sign said, “ How would you like to have a career right on the mouth?” Carlos Weekly turned into that office and began to ask questions about going into dentistry. Looking back over his 24 years of going to school in Oregon, D r. Weekly shares some cogent reflec tions on his personal experiences: " I f 1 had it to do over again, I ’d learn how to study,” he begins. " I d id n ’ t learn to study in grade school. I didn’ t learn how in high school. 1 went to school regularly. I d id n ’ t make waves. I made no trouble. I just went there. “ I was classed as an “ under achiever” in high school. It probably was my label in grade school too, as teachers usually ac cept and treat children according to (Please turn to Page 6 Col 4) Textbooks foster discrimination The nation's m ajor publishers still are not portraying females and racial minorities fairly in children’ s textbook stories, say two educators who have been analyzing school books for the past decade. Margaret Lumpkin and Gwyneth Britton, professors of education at Oregon State U niversity, have pioneered the use o f scientific methods to determine such biases as gender, race and career in m ajor textbooks. Their latest study o f 10 current series o f reading texts show little significant improvement since the Turney attacks Rocky Butte abuse By Nathaniel Scott Genevieve Chaney, a recent graduate in dental hygiene, looks af ter the dental hygiene o f children. Miss Ina Hart serves both dentists as receptionist and keeps appointments running smoothly. me in waste ( waist) and leg irons on me and left me in the old segregation unit with nothing on bui under shorts for eight hours.” He went on to say that after the eight hour period was up, the irons were removed and he was given a pair o f coveralls and spent another twenty-seven hours in a part o f the ja il th a t’ s supposed to be closed, “ the old segregation unit.” Turney returned to the com missioner's meeting December 23, and made some recommendations to the board. 1. An internal investigation into the use o f the bar arm and choke holds. The choke hold is the ap plication o f pressure on the neck, which constricts the functioning o f the carotid artery. Recently, U.S. D istrict Judge Robert M. Takasugi in Los Angeles, ordered the Los Angeles Police Department to lim it the use o f the bar arm and choke hold until they are properly trained how to use them. 2. Less discriminatory method of handling Black prisoners. Turney’ s contention is that the handling o f prisoners directly in fluences their behavior upon re entry into society. He is considering legal action against all parties involved in the fracas at the courthouse. early 1970s, in either numerical proportion or role qu a lity, for females and minorities. Females, in their latest survey, comprise 16 percent o f the major characters in major textbook stories about children. That is the same percentage Lum pkin and B ritton arrived at in an earlier study o f 1974-76 books, and a 2 percent in crease over books published from 1958-70. “ The quality o f roles o f female characters has not changed much either -- women are still dull and in competent,” said Britton. “ There are too many women in pink collar roles, such as waiteress, secretary and clerk. There are too few leader ship roles and far too many sub sidiary and secondary roles, rather than equal roles.” W hile the number o f female characters remained constant in the professors’ last two studies, the per centage o f racial minority characters - both men and women - dropped. In the 1974-76 textbooks studied, m inority women were accorded 4 percent o f the character roles and minority men 12 percent. But in the current study, both categories have dropped back and arc identical to the 1958-70 levels o f 2 and 9 per cent, respectively. “ M inorities, with a total o f 16 percent representation in the 74-76 study, were starting to achieve some semblance o f equality, at least in the proportion o f roles given them ,” said Lumpkin. “ But they’ve slipped (Please turn to Page 9 Col 4) Barrett to study in Atlanta Spencer Barrett w ill leave Port land this week to attend In te r d e n o m in a tio n a l T h e o lo g ic a l Seminary in Atlanta, where he will major in divinity and social services. Barrett is a 1980 graduate of the U n v ie rs ity ' o f P o rtla n d . A fte r com ing to Oregon from West Virginia, he attended Jackson High School where he was student body president during his senior year, was drum major for the marching band and played the trombone. While in high school he lettered in tennis, played a leading role in the high school drama, and attended Boy’ s State. While attending the University o f Portland, Barrett worked part time for the Metropolitan Youth Com mission and did an internship with the Northeast Youth Service Center. Barrett became a Licentiate in the A frica n M ethodist Episcopal Church in 1976 and was ordained a Deacon in 1978. He is Sunday School superintendent and associate minister of Bethel AME Church. He is the son o f Richard and Joanne Barrett. SPENCER BARRETT Since his ju n io r year in high school, Barrett has been a graphic arts, camera person for the Obser ver, responsible for screening pic tures and m aking negatives in preparation fo r p rin tin g o f the newspaper.
