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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 1981)
Mrs Frances Schc U n iv e r s it y o f Or Black community presents legisla The House Comimitee on Aging and M in o rity A ffa irs met at kin g N eighborhood F a c ility Tuesday night to hear concerns o f Black people. C hairm an W a lly Priestley ex plained that the purpose o f the meeting was to set the agenda tor the committee’ s work this session. Those present at the meeting iden tifie d and discussed a number o f concerns. Those endorsed to r potential legislation were: Hlack Com m ission - Those present supported the establishment o f a Black Commission and its fun ding by the legislature but there were concerns about the member ship o f the comm ission, how it is chosen, and whether it represents the “ grass ro o ts ” . There were suggestions that a m a jo rity o f the members reside in Albina. Racial harassment - The Gover n o r’ s b ill m aking racial in tim i dation a Class C felony, punishable by one year in jail and a $2500 fine, was endorsed. The bill delines " i n tim id a tio n ” as to cause “ tear o f im m inent physical h a rm ” . Suggestions were made that the d e fin itio n should include psychological harm and that there should be a minimum penally. Reapportionment - The group en dorsed the creation o f a legislative d is tric t inclu ding the Black com m unity. M a rlin L u th e r K in y b irth d a y - M aking M artin 1 uther k in g , J r .’ s b irth d a y a state holida y was Washington D C . Amendment - Approval o f the Amendment to the U.S. C o n s titu tio n to give DC residents a vote in Congress was en dorsed unanimously. endorsed unanimously. South A fric a - Proposed legislation that would preclude the State from investing in corporations that do business in South Africa was endorsed. Death Penalty - Oregon’ s death penalty law was declared uncon stitutional by the Oregon Supreme Court. Those present opposed any move to reinstate a death penalty. Juries - Legislation that would in sure a just proportion o f Blacks on juries was endorsed. Set-asides - The group supported requiring the State to set aside a per centage o f the personnel service con tracts for minorities as is now done o r Poca cerns with building contracts. Econom ic D evelopm ent - The Econom ic Development C om m ission w ill be asked to include Black business and businesses in the Black community it its program. Those present supported reduc tion o f property tax relief. Currently persons w ith homes valued at $150,000 to $250,0<X) can receive up to $800 in tax relief from the state general fund. The group endorsed low ering the m axim um refund to $500 and using the money saved for social programs including welfare and school support. PORTLAND OBSERMER Farmer John ’s: Dream realized By Pam Smith fa rm e r Johns is a Black-owned fast food restaurant located on the corner o f Vancouver and k illin g s- w orth streets. I t ’ s a young store, only tw o years o ld. However, fa rm e r John and his wife pursued their restaurant interests more than tw enty years ago. This interview captures the philosophies that lead to their success. Observer: Parmer John, how did vou and your wife yet started in the restaurant business? Parmer: I started w ork early in life as a kid, and I ’ ve always been active. I just can’ t sit s till. I got m arried and we were low on f i nances. I was still in the Air f orce at the tim e and incid en tally, I was a cook. This was a far cry from what I had planned or wanted to do at the time. So we started out about 20 years ago in a little building. It was called “ Draynet Drive-in. ” It was a small place and you couldn’t even come in and we had to hand food out o f the window. This was long before tlie D rive -in and Reach-in windows came to Portland. We started selling foot long hotdogs and hamburgers. These became our specialty. We made our own c h ili too. Then we went from there to a place on W illiam s Avenue and had a fo rty - four flavor ice parlor and restaurant combination. These were about live years apart. After that we went out o f the restaurant business for awhile because I was doing so many other things I was a longshoreman and I had a farm. But there’ s something about being in the restaurant business...it kinda grows on you, and you say that you’ re going to give it up, but then you find yourself right back in. So a ll the tim e I was out o f the business, we were still looking for a good location, a good prospect to go into. This p articula r place had been closed for five years. Observer: What type o j monetary assistance were you able to yet, and do you feel that even today. Blacks are yiven a touyher time startiny a business than whites? Parm er: Before we b u ilt the restaurant, we had to get a small (Please turn to page 5 col. I ) Dr. Darrell Millner recommended that school districts be required to offer stipulated m ulti-ethnic educa tion and teacher training to receive basic school support. Ruth Spencer asked the committee to look into the use o f state disadvantaged funds by the P o rtlan d School D is tric t. Raising the m andatory school age from 16 to 18 was recommended. The C iv il Rights Division and its history o f neglect ol racial discrim ination complaints were discussed. l egislators present were Priestley, Vice-chairman John Schoon, and Max Rijken. V olum e XI Num ber 14 January 22. 1981 25Cper copy Phillips joins Governor's office Robert P h illip s , P o rtla n d , has been named deputy director o f A f firm ative Action by Governor Vic Atiyeh’ s office. P h illip s , 30, was appointed by A ffirm a tiv e A c tio n D ire ctor kay Toran, to replace Bill McClendon, Portland, who retired December 3I, 1980. " I am interested in getting in to a ffirm a tiv e action we need to demonstrate that affirm ative action programs are creditable and needed in this state,” Phillips told the Ob server. “ Some o f the things I w ill be doing is looking at the recent report on a ffirm a tiv e action that shows deficiencies in some agencies, to determine how department heads are addressing the issues and to provide technical assistance fo r them. “ I am interested in appraising upward m o b ility program s and w o rk in g on recom m endations to im prove s k ills. This is one o f the areas in which the state is lacking. “ It is also important to have con tact with the metropolitan area and to m aintain the outreach program established by Bill McClendon. “ I t ’ s hard to leave A d u lt and Fam ily Services in terms o f developing programs and keeping up with the issues o f the elderly and welfare clients in relation to services provided by the State. I ’ ll continue to watch how the State and com munities address, these issues.” The new deputy director, a mem ber o f the state board o f C lin ic a l Social Workers, w ill begin his work I ebruary I. His duties w ill include outreach activities and acting as a liaison with state agencies. He w ill also be responsible for research. His salary will be $I9,176 a year. A ffirm a tiv e A c tio n recruits women and m in o ritie s in to state government jobs and issues a statewide plan to state agencies directing them in this effort. Em ployed as social w orker 2 / (Please turn to page IO col. I) Education, action for rights The mandate o f the Metropolitan Human Relations C om m ission - established and funded by the L ity o f P o rtlan d and M ultnom ah C ounty - is com m unity education and resolution o l racial, ethnic, religious and socio-economic con flicts and tension. Or as (. hairman Armando l aguardia puts it, "T o be a catalyst for things to happen." The Com m ission has fo u r w orking com m ittees: E ducation, Housing, Equal Justice, and Em ployment. The Housing Committee has a checking service that in vestigates d is c rim in a tio n com plaints, and has evaluated and made recommendations fo r the housing and land use policies of the City, the County and the M etropolitan Ser vice District. The Education C om m ittee is loo king at schools in M ultnom ah C ou nty, other than the P ortland district, regarding the education and treatment o f m inority children. The Justice Committee is looking into pre-trial release practices and criminal record expungement. L.aguardia is m oving the C om mission beyond its traditional areas o f involvement and is emphasizing its role o f defining and researching issues, exposing problem areas, coordinating the efforts o f agencies and organizations w ith sim ilar in terests, p ro vid ing in fo rm a tio n to public officials and institutions, and alerting the public when they find a v io la tio n of human rights. “ Basically we are the C ity’s and the County’ s commitment to protect the rights o f people.” One o f the new projects is the M in o rity Youth Employment Task Force, which brings together representatives o f governm ent, business, education, co m m un ity and m in o rity groups to study the employment problems o f m in ority youth. “ We are working with the Cham ber o f Commerce and the small businesses to identify jobs and then to link them to the organizations - COSPO, the Urban League, POIC, and others - that serve m in o rity communities. We also want to en courage young people into the types o f jobs that can be permanent - not just summer jobs. “ M ost im p o rta n t though is to study the causes o f the high rate o f unem ploym ent among m in o rity young people. We need to point out that this is an in s titu tio n a l and social p roblem , w hile we tend to blame the unemployed youth h im self. I f tnere are structural changes that need to be made in the economic system we need to point this out. We need to make a realistic projection o f the job market o f the future. The picture is bad now and it might get worse. I f it w ill be worse, we need to say this and at least let minority people know what they are facing.” l.aguardia is enthusiastic about the project. “ I am sure we w ill get some jobs, and if we do then it w ill be worthwhile. There are employers who w ould hire young persons i f they could see the benefits, i f it w on’ t hurt business. There are tax incentives and federal programs that many businessmen d o n ’ t know about. We can help them find ways to hire more young people.” Another role o f M H R C is coor dinating the many groups that have similar concerns. “ There is no real coalition o f groups - they don’ t meet regularly and set out an agenda and priorities. They get together at times o f crisis - in ’ ad h oc’ groups - to work on specific problems. I hope the Commission w ill take a position o f coordin atin g these groups. An example is the response to the in creasing racial harassment. ( Please turn to page 4 col. I ) NAACP challenges ruling The National Association for the Advancement o f Colored People ase opposing white medical school 'rofessor D r. Dante G. Scarpelli vas heard on appeal by the kansas ■upreme Court in Topeka, kansas >n January 13th. The lib e l case in vo lvin g fo ur Black physicians, popularly known is Scarpelli vs. Rempson, stems irom a $1.4 m illio n suit brought against the former students by Scar pelli. The appeal is based on a chancery court judgem ent that found the fo u r form er students guilty o f libelous action and resulted in the aw arding o f $10,000 in punitive and $1,000 in compen- atory damages to Scarpelli. A tto rn e y James Meyerson, Assistant General Counsel for the National Association fo r the A d vancement o f Colored People and hief counsel for the case said, “ The Scarpelli case brings together issues affecting freedom o f speech, a ffir m ative action and academic freedom fo r students. Above a ll, this case represents a significant ef fort to preserve the rights o f Black Am ericans to seek redress fo r wrongs which they believe and per ceive to have been committed again st them solely because o f their race. The ram ificatio ns go well beyond the rights o f Black Am ericans, however touching upon the basic rights o f all Amricans.” The suit, based on a im p la in t the students filed agair scarpelli charging that his conduct under mined the university’ s a ffirm a tive action program and violated laws such as the kansas A ct Against Discrimination and the C ivil Rights Act o f 1964, was filed five vears aen and included the university's a ffir m ative action o ffic e r, Chester J. Rempson. The circu it court ruled last year in favor o f S carpelli, former chairman o f the University o f kansas M edical S chool’ s Pathology and O ncology d ep a rt ment, who is now chairman o f the pathology departm ent at N o rth western U nive rsity M em orial Hospital. The defendants. Dr. Ernest T u r ner, Dr. Charles Lee, Dr. Charles F loyd, and D r. N oland Jones, in their former capacity as members o f the Student N atio na l Medical A ssociation, file d th e ir o rig in a l co m p la int back in 1973 w ith the university's vice chancellor accusing Scarpelli o f discrim inating against Black students fo r the purpose o f “ system atically e lim in a ting them from the s c h o o l." The university called a hearing the follow ing year but the four students walked out o f the meeting when it was discovered that Scarpelli was represented by the u n iv e rs ity ’ s legal counsel. The school subsequently dismissed the charges against Scarpelli. D r. Ernest T u rn e r, form er lec turer and instructor at the Univer- ( Please turn to page 4 col. I) M AR TIN LUTHER KING'S BIRTHDAY was celebrated at Oregon State Peniten tiary w ith po etry, music and an appearance by Taj M ah al. (Photo: Richard J. Brown)
