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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 30, 1981)
For the children o f Atlanta and fo r all children who are hungry, suffer and live in fear. Jefferson High community fights for survival Emotions ran high as members ot the Jefferson H igh School com m unity defended their school against closure. The School Board is attem pting to close three high schools. Ronnie Herndon, co-chairman of the Black U nited F ro n t, to ld the board that the fact so many people had to be there to defend their school is a “ tragedy,” referring to promises made to the community a year ago that Jefferson and Adams w ould be retained and Tubman .. . ,__ , c i;„ i M iddle School put in the E lio t building, he said the failure to keep that promise is absurb. He accused the board and superintendent o f an “ appauling lack of courage, guts and intestinal fo rtitu d e ” and “ double dealing” for the failure to come to the com munity to discuss possible changes in their com m itm ent p rio r to making the new proposals public. “ We read about it in the newspaper," he said. “ You didn t even even have have the the courage courage to to come come back back to us and tell us you couldn’ t keep your promise.” He said it is easy to pass resolutions about South A frica but “ When it comes to treating Blacks in your own back yard with respect you fail to do it . ” A fter the “ pain and h a vo c" you have wreaked in this community for the last 20 years, the Board should gladly spend S3 m illion to provide a middle school for Black children, he said. R.J. Culley, a member o f the Jef ferson Advisory Com m ittee, said Jefferson has not been treated with equity. Saying the d is tric t is at default, he warned the Board to in sure quality education for Jefferson students before returning to the government for funds. He reminded them o f Oregon laws that say no person shall be denied equal partici pation because o f race. Earl Keaton, president o f the W oodlawn Advisory Com m ittee, said closure o f Jefferson would in jure the Black community fot years to come. I f we are misused again, "w e w ill bring this in ju st school system down book, by book by damned book.” Pina W illiam s, speaking for the Jefferson teachers said 40 percent o f the incoming freshman read below the 6th grade level and at the end o f the 9th grade 27 percent remain below 6th grade level. There is “ a significant achievement” compared to the district results. Jefferson gain o f 6.2S point average excludes the Area I average o f 3.2 points gain. The s ta ff is concerned that T itle I student benefits w ill be lost, high student-teacher ra tio w ill hinder students, cuts in federal funds w ill cause further damage, and redistric ting will destroy the neighborhood. A dditiona l testimony dealt with the special needs o f Jefferson students and com m itm ent by the staff to meet these needs. PORTI/ND OBSERMER April 30. 1961 Volum e XI Num ber 28 2S€ per copy USPS 959-680-855 Forum discusses police t M I Ben Clark and Zeenab Johnson visit Urban 4-H m u lti c u ltu ra l fa ir . T h e fa ir is held a n n u a lly to A community forum on Police/ Community relations - the second in a series - w ill discuss the citizen complaint process, how complaints are processed, d iscip lin a ry procedures and legal recourse lo r citizens. Among the panel members will be Captain RonAichley, director o f the Internal Al'fiars, the office that in vestigates citizen complaints against police officers; Deputy C hief Phil Sm ith, who w ill represent C h ie f Baker and discuss discipline procedures; and Stan Peters, representing the P ortland Police Association, who w ill explain the union’ s role in discipline. District Attorney Mike Schrunk, Chief Deputy DA Barry Scheldahl and a representative from the Public Defender’ s o ffice w ill discuss the legal rights o f citizens who believe they have been abused by police officers. The forum w ill be held at Bour bon Street, Northeast Grand and W iedler, at 9:30 p in., Saturday, d em on strate the m ulti ethnic nature of the com May 2nd. The public is urged to par munity. (Photo: Richard Brown) ticipate. Black women build the community By Pamela Douglas (E d ito r’.s Note: W ith the gap be tween a fflu e n t Am erica and the Am erican poor grow ing ever greater. Blacks, especially, fear that the 1980s will be a very dark decade. But in the face o f great odds. Black women appear to be holding their com m unities together, often on their own, despite the cutbacks in federal aid, disappointment with the feminist movement, the absence of Black men at their sides. Now solely responsible fo r nearly h a lf o f all Black households, the Black woman, indom itable as W illia m Faulkner once wrote, w ill endure. Pamela Douglas, a Los Angeles novelist and screenplay writer, is a PNS c o n trib u tin g editor and a regular contributor to Black Enter prise and Essence■) The House o f Exodus will hold an Open House and Grand Opening Ceremony at its new ad m inistrative offices at 1639 NE Alberta on May 6th at noon. A ribbon cu ttin g and historical chronical o f events w ill be held. The House o f Exodus is an A lco h o l Treatm ent and Educational Center, the purpose o f which is to treat and educate persons who abuse alcohol or drugs. The four components o f the program are O utpatien t, Daycare, Residential treatment and Youth and childrens’ aware ness and prevention programs, according to program director Rosalie J. Boothe. There is a story that Black women tell each other, about an old slave who could fin a lly take no more abuse. I plan to te ll it to my own daughter, who w ill turn 21 in the year 2000 - not because it says something about violence, but because it has to do with the refusal to die. And 1 hope she accepts this d if ficult legacy not as a burden but as a trust. The old woman, according to this story, was plowing in the field when an overseer came by and reprimand ed her fo r being so slow. Then he lashed her severely with a whip for having the tem erity to talk back. The woman, it is said, picked up her hoe and killed him with it. Whatever the odds, she had decided to take control o f her own life. The old woman with the hoe lives secretly in many o f us, still fighting, though in subtler, more legal ways. Today she’ s a 60-year-old lightly touching the corsage that a com munity center gave her for 25 years o f service, as she listens to the keynote speech at the annual fund raising dinner. The speaker w ill call her to the platform next, she thinks, and she feels embrassed. She’ s only done what had to be done. She ran the o ffic e , answered the phones, gave out donated turkeys on holidays, listened to the troubles of the young, and lately listened much more to the troubles of the old. And most o f all, she was always depend ably there. Around 1969, a lo t o f money came to the center, and with it men with titles like Director and Deputy D irector, who made salaries that seemed fabulous to her. They made her “ secretary” and she did all the work for them. Their pictures ap peared in the papers, although hers never did. Then, one day around 1974, the money stopped and the men with the titles disappeared. And quietly she and other women like her simply continued the work that had never really ended. Twenty years ago, when she was fo rty and a devoted fo llo w e r o f M artin Luther King, she’ d hoped that by 1980 centers like hers would no longer be needed, that Blacks would have been truly “ lifted up.” But now she’s settling in for another 20 years. The spirit o f the old woman with the hoe also persists in a 19-year-old at the door to her firs t jo b . She stands surrounded by the ghosts o f her mothers. She’ s the beginning: the first o f her mother’ s children to finish high school and who didn’ t have to learn to recognize the word “ c o lo re d " on a bathroom door. The pay is barely over the minimum wage, the office is dingy, the hours are long and there’ s little chance for advancement. But to her it’ s a start. And the old woman with the hoe is a mother, sitting with her seven- year-old at the kitchen table in the evening, teaching the lesson that wasn't taught in school. How could it have been, w ith 40 students in each class and the halls patrolled by Black com m unity that we women are going to have to be strong.” Eleanor Holmes N orton, former Commissioner fo r the Equal Em ployment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) agrees. She points out that 40 percent o f Black households are now headed by women, and 50 per cent o f all Black children are brought up solely by women. The Black community, she says, has im parted the task o f building fo r the policemen because drugs are sold there and violence is endemic? She remembers her own mother teaching her this way and wonders if , one day, her daughter w ill have to si, at a table like this and teach her grand child, too. And the woman with the hoe is a professional at the height o f her career, in a richly-appointed c o r porate office. A ffirm a tive Action opened the doors o f an Ivy League college to her, but she knows she has only lim ited power. So her battles are small and carefully chosen. Like the other women, she feels she’ s on the fro n t line o f a battle, alone against an army. And she can’t, she won’ t give up. Black women are emerging as leaders in the Eighties because they’ re walking in the paths cut by generations o f Black women - and because absolute necessity demands it. Jan Douglass, D ire cto r o f the Community Relations Department and the Commission on the Status o f Women fo r A tla n ta , Georgia, expresses a common fear among Blacks as the economy continues to skid and cutbacks in social programs are planned: “ The Eighties are going to be a monster,” she says. " I t w ill be so bad for the future to its women -- and they are doing it alone.” Some of that building process can be watched on the public stage, where Black women play an in creasingly im portant political role. In California, for example, four o f the six Blacks elected to the state legislature from Los Angeles are women. And o f all statewide elected o ffic ia ls who are Black, women comprise fully half. Bu, the story o f Black women is a (Please turn to page 10 col. 4) Roy Stubbs at the podium. Accepting the challenge Roy Stubbs is a teacher who has always tried to find a job that would challenge him to build something where things would have not been before. In moving to Portland this year he not only accepted a challenge but has succeeded greatly in his w ork: re-creating a high school music program at the Catlin Gabel School. Born and raised in Aberdeen, North Carolina, Stubbs was immer sed in music fro m his youngest years. He organized and led a com m unity choir while he was still in ju n io r high school; he wen, on to play trum pet in the high school band and sing leading roles in school operettes. where “ It was hard to teach. The Indians didn’ t seem to be interested in music or even their own culture. I couldn’t learn new things and it tur ned ou, to be depressing. “ I was attracted to Catlin Gabel because I like building programs, and this music departm ent has gotten pretty disorganized. It’ s been a real challenge.” In September, four students showed up for the first concert ch o ir class; by December there were more than seventy mem bers in the choir. Stubbs has also started a jazz/rock ensemble, small vocal and string ensembles, and an all-school com m unity chorus that includes fa cu lty, parents, and students. A , the Oregon M usic A fe w minute« relaxation during choir practice. ” 1 always wanted to be a teacher - - I always knew 1 w ould be a teacher. And, having learned to teach, I ’ ve gone to look fo r new places and things.” In 1967 Stubbs received a BA in M usic Education fro m A llen U niversity. From A llen he moved on to Northern Illin o is University and then to Grove C ity College in Pennsylvania. A , Grove C ity he took Fred W aring W orkshop and learned about theater, light, sound, and choral techniques. He has also studied music curriculum and ad vanced choral conducting at the University o f Guam while teaching music and English fo r the Depart ment o f education in Guam. Stubb came to C a tlin Gabel after a year at the Busby School o f N orthern Cheyenne in M ontana Educators’ Solo and Ensemble Festival in March, Stubbs oversaw forty student entries. “ The kids here are very receptive to the things I want to give them. We have b u ilt a very warm and com fortable relationship with each other.” Senior Karen Searcy claims, “ Roy has pushed us toward finding self-confidence. He has helped us to get out and do things we should be doing anyway. There are a Io, o f “ firs ts ” this year because he has brought out a lot o f latent talent.” Search continues, “ Roy has helped C atlin Gabel reach out into the community on a different level than before. More than that, we had a Black H is to ry assembly in February that brought to the cam pus Dr. W illiam L ittle from PSU’ » (Please turn to page 2 col. 6)
