Blacks lack knowledge of cancer danger, cures
A recent survey released by the
Am erican Cancer Society reveals
that Black Americans are less in
form ed about cancer than white
Americans and are less apt to seek
medical help when its symptoms ap
pear.
- Blacks are less aware o f the
prevalence o f cancer, w ith the
majority believing that less than one
o f four Americans have cancer. In
reality, one o f four will get cancer.
- Blacks are less lik e ly to believe
they will get Cancer. Sixty-nine per
cent o f Blacks questioned, did not
believe they would get cancer them
selves, compared to 55 per cent o f
whites. Blacks are as lik e ly , or
slightly more likely, to get cancer.
- High blood pressure and sickle
ceil are the main fears o f Blacks.
-Blacks are more p e ssim istic
about the results o f treatment, with
77 percent believing that less than
one out o f three are cured, while
about one out o f three do survive.
-Blacks are twice as like ly as
whites to believe that even if cancer
is detected early, there is little
chance o f curing it. Nearly 60 per
cent o f Blacks believe cancer is
generally fatal.
-Blacks are twice as likely to want
to avoid knowing they have cancer.
O ne-third said they w ould prefer
not to know.
-Blacks are less likeiy to beiieve
that surgery, chem otherapy and
radiation are effective treatments.
-Low er income Blacks are less
likely than higher income Blacks to
know cancer symptoms and to seek
medical help.
Although Blacks are less aware of
cancer symptoms, they are almost as
like ly as whites to have regular
physical examinations and to receive
the better known cancer tests.
monthly breast self-examination.
- Only 18 percent have heard o f
proctoscopic examinations.
- Only 18 percent have heard o f
mammographic examinations.
Lack o f knowledge about cancer
at a tim e when the incidence o f
cancer among Blacks is grow ing
rapidly is due, in part, to the fact
that although there has been much
e ffo rt to disseminate in fo rm a tio n
on sickle cell anemia and high blood
pressure among Blacks, they have
not been targeted for cancer in fo r
mation.
Dr. LaSalle D. Leffal, Jr., chair
Almost twice as many whites as
Blacks know about the newer cancer
diagnostic tests that are now
available
-
Proctoscopic
examinations for colon and rectum
cancer
and
m ammographie
examinations for breast cancer.
Low income Blacks (household
income under $7,500) are as likely as
higher income Blacks to receive
regular physical examinations but
they are much less lik e ly to have
specific cancer tests:
- Only 52 percent o f low income
women get regular Pap tests.
- O nly 17 percent do regular
man o f the department o f surgery at
H ow ard U n ive rsity and past
national president o f the American
Cancer Society, said he w ill urge the
Society to undertake “ new and ex
panded program s to tu rn this
dangerous
situ a tio n
around,
w orking in close corporation with
Black organizations from coast to
coast.
“ I fear that for large numbers o f
Blacks an attitude o f fatalism turns
into se lf-fu lfille d prophecy. Black
m ortality is higher because Blacks
neither seek nor get the treatment
they need.”
PORTLAND OBSERMER
USPS 959-680-855
_____________________________ _________
Community supports Jefferson
Representatives o f the Friends of
Jefferson spoke to the School
Closure/Consolidation Committee
Wednesday night to correct in
correct in fo rm a tio n and attitudes
about Jefferson High School ex
pressed earlier by the com m ittee.
"W e are concerned that some o f the
inaccurate data and interpretations
that have been released to the public
through the media is having a
deterimental effect on our com
m unity at large as well as to our
com m unity's schools...w e are
seriously concerned by continued
remarks made concerning Jefferson
High School and the Jefferson
com m unity relationships and
choose to reflect the image o f the
late 1960s and early 1970s.
to the C ity o f P ortland. ‘ ‘ I f the
school were to be closed it would be
a step backward, destroying a great
deal o f positive achievement in the
recovery and maintaining o f a very
viable area in P ortland. Such a
closure would be a terrible blow in
the entire m inority community in a
w ell-articulated cry fo r q u a lity
education in neighborhood integrity
would be violated w ith the loss o f
Jefferson High School?”
A ccording to the parents, this
year 44 to 47 percent o f the students
living in the Jefferson area attend
Jefferson a fact that is considered
to be "lack o f community support”
by the School C lo su re /C o n
solidation
Com m ittee.
"T h e
primary reason that more students
residing or the Jefferson area are
not attending Jefferson High School
is due to the past and current school
desegregation policies.” Blacks are
encouraged to attend other schools.
The improved climate at Jeffer
son’ s beneficial to the social well
being and economic development o f
the aiea surrounding Jefferson and
Saiafi Newhall, director of the City of Portland's
Youth Service Centers, (second from left) talks
with young people at the Northeast Youth Service
A second cause is recruitment to
specialized program s in other
schools - Benson, Cleveland,
Washington/Monroe, and Lincoln.
Also, Jefferson would be unable
to accomodate all o f its resident
students and still have space for the
Performing Arts magnet.
This year there are 459 students in
the magnet program: 155 in dance,
91 in music, 101 in television, 86 in
theatre, and 26 in the legal secretary
course.
In addition, the students at Port
land Community College/Cascade
are able to enroll in dance classes at
Jefferson.
Jefferson - along with Roosevelt -
has the most stable enrollment in the
d is tric t.
C urrent
m in o rity
enrollment is 46.5 percent.
The Friends o f Jefferson recom
mended expansion o f math and
sciences, and computer assistant in
struction at Jefferson.
Center sponsored by the Urban League of Port
land.
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
Youth centers promote self-help
Low self-esteem, lack o f self-
confidence, and isolation are
believed to be the m ajor causes o f
youth crime. The C ity’ s five Youth
Service Service Centers, funded by
the City o f Portland, provide diver
sion programs designed to keep
young people out o f the juvenile
justice system and to help them find
acceptable modes o f behavior.
‘ ‘ One o f the biggest problems
facing young people in our com
munity today is that they seem to be
shut out of the adult world,” Sarah
N ewhall, A d m in is tra to r o f the
programs for the Bureau of Human
Resources, said. ‘ ‘ O f course as
people get to the age o f 15, 16, 17
the people they are copying are
adults. They want to experience
adult type entertainment: they begin
to .experim ent w ith drugs and
alcohol; they begin to experiment
with sex. W ithout strong adult role
models sometimes young people
don’ t get o ff to as good footing as
they should. One o f the things the
youth service centers do is try to
provide these adult role models with
the educational setting and the job
setting. W ith the assistance o f very
competent s ta ff people, we see a
very positive outcome from those
programs.
‘ ‘ I f in our society people can’ t
find employment they feel shut out
o f society in general. That is one o f
the biggest problems that young,
people are facing today. They are
being deprived o f normal working
experiences u n til their late teen
years. Then they may have a first
job at age 19 and they might have
developed good work habits. This
increases the like lih o o d o f them
failing on the job.”
The three main program features
are personal and family counseling,
employm ent
assistance
and
recreational activities. The ap
proach is to try to improve the level
o f skills and self-esteem so young
people can learn how to better solve
their own problems and learn to
find their own jobs, find their own
way through the education system;
to reinforce young peoples strengths
rather than create a depending on
agencies.
"W e ’ re trying to put small scale
activities together for 10, 11, 13, 14
year olds so they can learn some of
those work habits and com
m unication skills, so they can be
more effective when they grow up
and are in positions when they need
to support themselves or a fam ily,”
she further explained.
Ms. Newhall adm inisters the
program - writing budgets, planning
with the County, police and other
agencies, and develops networks
among the youth serving agencies.
She established and directed the
Southeast center fo r over three
years, when she had direct contact
w ith young people and their
families.
Young people are referred to the
centers by the police and law o f
ficials, by parents and social agen
cies, or fin d the program them
selves. ‘ ‘ The type o f person who
comes to us usually is not feeling
very good about him self, may be
having problems at home or may be
having problems at school in terms
of finding that they aren’ t achieving
successfully.”
Diversion is a plan whereby police
officers have the option o f either
taking juveniles into custody or
referring them to the youth service
centers. Those referred are most
often first or second time offenders
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Although Jefferson High School is not currently
on the list of potentiel school closures submitted
by the Com m ittee on School Closure/Con-
solidetion. neighborhood residents and parents
who fear it might ba added to the list have rallied
to support the school. (Photo: Richard J. Brown)
Senator Kulongoski attacks racism in high places
SENATOR KULONQOKSI
In an impassioned speech to the
State Senate last Tuesday, Senator
Ted Kulongoski reported that op
ponents o f the U niversity o f
Oregon’s Environmental Law Clinic
"are now attacking the Dean o f the
University o f Oregon’ s Law School
because he's Black, because o f the
fact they said he’ s a civil rights ac
tivist and we can't tolerate that type
o f individual in Oregon.” He con
tinued, " I f these people want to ad
dress this issue on that level, if they
insist on attacking the integrity o f
Mr. Derrick Bell because he will not
bend to their desires; then if it ’ s a
fight they want, I ’ m going to give
them that fight.”
The Environmental Law C linic,
which is designed to give law stu
dents "o n the job” training while in
school, has come under fire from
some timber interests because it has
successfully intervened in tim ber
operations on behalf o f environ
mentalists.
According to a Eugene Register
G uard article, Irv Fletcher,
executive secretary o f the Lane
County Labor Council reported that
Eugene attorney Lewis Hoftm ent,
legal counsel for lumberman Aaron
Jones, told a group o f business and
labor leaders that unless the En
vironm ental Law C linic is aband
oned, he w ill w ithhold a promised
$250,000 donation to the U niver
sity’s proposed basketball pavillion.
Fletcher also told the Register
Guard that H offm an has criticized
Derrick Bell and implied that he, as
a civil rights activists, would give
unfair support to left-wing and en
vironmental causes.
Bell, a former attorney w ith the
U.S. Department o f H ealth,
Education and W elfare and a
professor at H arvard U n iversity,
became Dean o f the U niversity o f
Oregon Law School on January I,
1981.
The text of Senator Kulongoski’ s
remarks follows, (Emphasis ours):
...T here is an event that is oc-
curing that has been given some
recent publicity that I think, that I
had originally hoped I would not be
required to speak on until the time
comes that the measure is brought
up before the Legislature. I f you
w ill bear with me I would hope that
we all w ould understand the im
plications o f what I say and become
as concerned as I am about the
direction that some people in the
state are proposing that our in
stitutions o f higher education par
ticularly the U niversity o f Oregon
move into.
S pecifically, you all know that
there has been a recent controversey
over the Environmental Law Clinic
that is located at the University o f
Oregon. And I originally, as I say,
intended to wait u n til the measure
came before the Legislature to ad
dress you. Last session w ith the
M alhuer Field Station there was
another controversey and, my
colleagues, that issue was addressed
very c o rd ia lly , very honestly and
very openly by this legislative body.
But the people today who are af
ter the Environm ental Law Center
are using other means and i t ’ s in
teresting to me th a t, in the law,
when we attempt to take someone’s
money we refer to that as extortion.
But in fact, individuals today are at
tempting to extort the minds o f the
young people o f the state by putting
the U niversity o f Oregon in to a
position that i f in fa c t they w ill not
abandon the E nvironm enta l Law
C lin ic that these individua ls ’ sup
port o f the University w ill close.
Now I can understand the
pressure that they are pu ttin g to
bear and I can even tolerate at a
meeting this last week when they
flaunted th e ir support and their
power on the Ways and Means
Committee of this Legislature to do
in the higher education budget for
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