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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 25, 1981)
For the children o f Atlanta and fo r all children who are hungry, suffer and live in fear. Cancer survival rate tied to economic status By Harold P. Freeman, M.D. It is had enough that a man should he ignorant, fo r this cuts him o f f fro m the commerce o f men's minds. It is perhaps worse that a man should he poor, f o r this con demns him to a life o f stent and scheming in which there is no time f o r dreams and no respite fro m weariness. Hut what surely is worse, is that a man should he unwell, fo r this prevents his doing anything much about either his poverty or his ignorance. " G .H . I. Kimball It is well known that cancer is the second most common cause o f death among Americans. In 1900, one out five patients w ith cancer survived in this country. Because of advances in diagnois and treatment, today one out o f three cancer patients survive. Progressively in creasing survival is the goal, with an eye toward wiping out cancer in the coming decades. Although to date survival improvements have been achieved almost exclusively through the development and application o f techniques o f early diagnosis and adequate treatm ent o f tum ors by forms o f local therapy such as surgery and ra d ia tio n , it is well known that the most profound ad vances await the discovery o f the fundamental causes o f cancer and all changes which occur within the host once the cancer process is initiated. Once this level o f under standing is achieved, it is anticipated that we w ill be close to deriving the concepts that w ill lead to cancer prevention. While intensifying research that hopefully will lead to cancer preven tion, it is necessary at the same time to apply currently known diagnostic and treatm ent techniques to all segments of the Am erican population in order to achieve the highest possible cancer survival rate in the light o f current knowledge. The concentration o f resources on high risk groups is an accepted medical principle in attempting to substantially effect improved cure rates whether one is dealing with in fectious disease, neoplastic disease, or other form s o f illness. As an example, note that the five year sur vival rate fo r white women w ith breast cancer i f 65 percent com pared to 50 percent for Black women. Note also that the five year survival rate for cancer o f the colon among whites is 46 percent com pared to five year survival in Blacks o f 19 percent. In both o f these forms o f cancer, Blacks represent a high risk group for death from can cer. Presumably with proper resour ces, appropriate measures could be taken which w ould raise the five year survival rate o f Blacks w ith these and other forms o f cancer to the level which is known to be achievable in the white population. of Econom ic Status and Survival c a n c e r p a tie n ts : Several studies have demonstrated the relationship between low economic status and death from cancer. The C alifornia Tumor Registry in 1963 showed that the survival rates o f cancer patients adm itted to city hospitals between 1942 and 1956 were s ig n ifica n tly less favorable than (hose o f patients adm itted to private hospitals. The poor prognosis was found in this study to be due to the advanced stage o f disease in the poor at the tim e o f diagnosis. L ip w o rth concluded based on a study in 1970 that the in fluence o f socio-ecoomic factors on cancer survival cannot be rejected. He noted a sm aller percent o f localized tum ors among the in digent. He further stated that treat ment delays are more frequent (Please turn to page 6 col. 3) PORTLAND OBSERNER June 26. 1961 Volum e XI N um ber 36 25C Per Copy USPS 959-680-855 Blacks scarce in educa education P o lice C h ie f Ron S till discusses p o lic e procedure and policy w ith com m unity residents at P olice/C om m unity Relations Forum, (Photo: Richard J. Brown) Still promises police changes Meeting with citizens at the June 20th Police/Com m unity Relations Forum sponsored by the Observer, Chief Ron Still related some o f the things he is doing to change the practices and image o f the Police Bureau. S till said he has asked all com manders and division heads to write assessments o f their organizations, explaining policies and procedures, needs and potential personnel changes. When he receives those reports he w ill begin to make struc tural changes. Concerning Internal A ffa irs , he Bruce Broussard, publisher o f the Observer, w ill be guest host on K E X ’ s “ Northwest At N ig h t’ ’ program on July 1st from 7.00 to 11:00 p.m. His guests w ill be Herb Cawthorne and Freddye Petett. Call "the program at 225-1190. plans to wait for the report o f the Task Force appointed by Com missioner Jordan. Then using it and other in fo rm a tio n he w ill make changes. He plans to provide more information to complainants about the facts and results o f the in vestigation, but w ill not open the records to. the public. He is opposed to citizen review boards, believing citizens do not have an adequate understanding o f police work. He w ill not review old cases that com plainants feel were not adequately resolved, but w ill look at current cases. Still proposes a mobile “ walking beat” - officers would drive to a site and then walk - to allow officers to become better acquainted with the public. He has ordered that racial statistics not be asked o f persons who call for police help. He stated that he is not opposed to hiring Black officers but does not see them as a solution to problems between the police and the Black commuity. He will ask the Civil Ser vice Board to establish a procedure where all those who pass the police exam w ill be placed in a pool and any can be hired. That would elim inate the “ list o f th re e " and assist hiring minorities. A report recently released by the House Com m ittee on Education demonstrates that m in o rity em ployees still do not have equal op p o rtu n ity to the state’ s school systems. Oregon law prohibits discrimina tio n in any public elementary, secondary, or com m unity college and in higher education and in any related program financed by money appropriated by the legislature. D iscrim ination is defined by state law as “ any act that unreasonably differentiates treatment, intended or unintended, or any act that is fair in form but d iscrim in a to ry in operation, either o f which is based on age, handicap, national origin, race, m arital status, religion or sex." The law grants power to the Superintendent o f Public Instruc tio n to enforce the law by withholding state funds. State policy defines affirm a tive action as "a method o f eliminating the effects o f past and present discrim ination, intended or unin tended, that are evident or indicated by analysis o f present employment patterns, practices and policies.” The com m ittee found at public hearings that there is a vast d if ference in opinion adm inistrators and members o f the affected classes on affirmative action and its results. Institutional officials reported that they are complying with affirmative action requirem ents, while m inorities and women charge systematic discrimination. The study found the ad ministration o f local school districts and the State Departm ent o f Education to be white male dominated and indications that this is prepetuated by an internal prom otiona l procedure that discriminates against minorities and women. The State Superintendent and the five department heads are w hite men. In the $31,00 plus salary range there are 19 employees; only one is m in o rity ; one is female. O f the department’ s 14 minority employees (401 total empoyees) eight are in the $25,(XX) - 30,000 range. M inorities make up 3.6 percent o f the depart ment’ s work force. Although more than half o f the employees are women, they are con centrated in the lower pay ranges. The heaviest concentration o f women (34.4 percent) is the $7,000 - 13,(XX) range while the heaviest con centration o f men (39.1 percent) is in the $25,000 - 30,(XX) range. Elementary and Secondary Schools Minorities are under represented in teaching, adm in istra tio n and counseling; women are under represented in secondary teaching, administration and counseling; men are under represented in elementary teaching. M in o ritie s are largely non existent in administration. O f 227.5 superintendents, only one, an associate superintendent, is Black. There are 25 addition al Black ad m inistrators - out o f a to ta l o f 1,039. There arc 19 m inority elementary principals, including seven Blacks and six Indians, out o f a to ta l o f 763. There is one Black high school p rin cip a l, fo u r Indians, one Hispanic and one Asian - out o f a total o f 308. A ll o f the female high school principals (7) are w hite. There are 24 minorities employed as c u r r ic u lu m s p e c ia lis t s , library/media personnel, and school psychologist out o f a total o f 1,158. There is no Black or Hispanic coun selor or psychologist. M inorities are also vastly under represented in teaching. There are no male m inority pre-K or kinder garten teachers in the state’s public elementary schools. There are 104 Black elementary school teachers, and 243 other m inorities, out o f a total o f 12,085. There are 47 Black secondary teachers, and 179 other m inorities, out o f 10,258 secondary teachers. There arc 49,205 pu b lic school employees in the state. O f these 538 (Please turn to Page 6 Col 3) He advoctes on-going, mandatory tra in in g on new policies, procedures, laws and cu ltu ra l awareness. He w ill involve minority persons in designing cu ltu ra l awareness programs. Because prostitution is a concern to the community, he will emphasize enforcem ent. He suggested that citizens sit in on tria ls to demon strate their concern. He w ill work w ith com m unity people to insure that arresting prostitutes on Union Avenue w ill not drive them onto neighborhood streets. S till pledged continuin g com munication with the community. Board rejects CJO suspension The Portland School Board failed to pass a proposal by Board member Wally Priestley that the Community Juvenile O ffic e r Program - a program that places uniform ed police officers in the schools as teacher/counselors - be terminated and Herb Cawthorne motion that it be temporarily suspended. Priestley proposed that the School D istict n o tify the Police Bureau that it w ill not tolerate police crime and abuse o f police power by terminating the program. In light o f the creeping increase o f police power and police abuse in this society, he said the school district must draw the line fo r its con stituents and support their concerns. Cawthorne asked that the program be suspended until the new police leadership convinces the Board that its com m itm ent is genuine. He said he is not im- pessed with the curriculum and con siders the program to be one o f communication - allowing students to know police officers. A lthough he had in itia lly sup ported the program, largely because he trusted Commissioner Jordan's leadership, he changed his mind af ter reading M ayor Ivancie's statement in the Oregonian Sunday: “ Then, in the last four years, you’ ve had a Black Commissioner in charge of the Bureau after Neil reassigned it.. But yet, at the same time, a lot of the racial problems and miscon duct on the part o f the police - and the administrative breakdown as far as the SID operation - happened under that Commissioner.” Calling the statement a “ disgrace and very, very unfortunate" he said the statement makes it easy for the white community to think the police problems were the result o f having a Black Commissioner. If he had said incom petent, a poor manager, I w ouldn't have a problem. But the main characterization was "B la c k ." Because o f significant changes in police leadership, he said, the Board has a responsibility to insure that the people coming into the schools are guided by leadership that has the confidence o f the Board. Stating that i f he were white, Jordan would still be police Com m issioner, he added “ The op position from the M ayor and the lack o f support by liberals is racism. There is a double standard when the person is Black.” Cawthorne associated the crisis in the police bureau with that in the schools. A lthough there had been com plaints o f abuse fo r years, nothing was exposed without out side pressure. It was the same in the school d is tric t. Teachers and ad m inistrators knew Black children were being abused but did not fight fo r their students and no changes were made u n til the com m unity brought pressure to bear. Suspend ing the CJO program would bring pressure on the police bureau to make changes.” (Please turn to Page9 Col I) C alvin O. L. H en ry and R e p re s e n ta tiv e J o h n S c h o o n v ie w m e m o ria l p la q u e at g ra v e s ite of Black pioneer Reuben Shipley. Plaque marks pioneer burial site On May 30, 1981, a m em ofial service was held at M ount U nion Cemetery for Reuben Shipley, the first Black resident o f Benton Coun ty- Reuben Shipley was born a slave in Kentucky about 1800, taking the surname o f his master as was the custom. He became overseer o f a large plantation in M issouri, then came to Oregon with the Shipleys. The master had promised that when they arrived in Oregon, Reuben would be given his freedom. He saved $1500 and bought eighty acres between C o rvallis and Philomath, where he raised a family V » o f three daughters. He had married Mary Jane Holmes one of the three children of Robin and Polly Holmes who were freed in Oregon’ s firs t court decision over slavery. When another settler suggested that the property at the top o f the hill near the Shipley’ s cabin would be a good place fo r a cemetery, Shipley gave the property to Benton C ounty w ith the stip u la tio n that Blacks could be buried there In 1861 the transaction was com pleted and twelve years later Reuben and one daughter who had died o f smallpox, were buried there. Mary Jane married R.G. Drake in 1875. She lived in Corvallis until her death, then moved to Salem and eventually to P ortland where she died in 1925. She was buried next to her two husbands and her children at the Mount Union Cemetery. A t the May 30th service a m em orial plaque was dedicated. Speaking at the ceremony were Representative John Schoon, Calvin Henry and Elizabeth Mchagan. author o f “ A Peculiar Paradise: A history o f Blacks in Oregon, 1788 - 1940 " The plaque reads: “ On May 11, 1861, Reuben and M ary lane (Please turn to Page 10Col 3)
