Page 2 Portland Obaarvar July 9. 1961
EDITORIAL/OPINION
Racism as usual
The Portland School Board continues its
usual pattern of discrimination against Black
children, their parents and their community
and shows strong signs that it will return to its
former policy of scattering Black children
throughout the district to satisfy its own lip-
service to liberal causes.
The board has now extended its territory of
discrimination, including those neighborhoods
that are naturally integrated. Adams was
placed in a com munity destined to be in
tegrated in what is considered by most liberals
to be the "rig h t w ay" - through housing.
But the school in the naturally integrated
neighborhood was placed under constant
pressure - its students inticed and forced to go
elsewhere - until finally an excuse was found
to close it. The people Black and white - who
chose to live in an integrated neighborhood
were punished first by the destruction of their
neighborhood elementary schools and then
the removal of their high school.
While the School Board was talking sancti
moniously about school desegregation and
staying one jump ahead of the Justice Depart
ment by shipping Black kids here and there, it
rewarded the principals of "receiving school" -
those who cooperated by taking larger
numbers of Black students, protected the staff
and programs of their own schools.
One of the most successful was Jackson,
which not only eventually received many of
the students pushed out of the Humboldt area
to Marquam middle school and then Jackson,
but which recruited a fair number of students
from Boise.
But the students and parents of Jackson
who participated in the largest administrative
transfer program, the program promoted and
favored by the School Board as its path to
desegregation also were punished. They lost
their school, too. Why? To dilute the
possibility of a suit over the closure of Adams.
What is the message? To Blacks the
message should be clear: there is not and has
never been any interest or intent on the part of
the Portland School District to educate Black
children. Black children have been used like
pawns - their bodies sent where they were
Organization of African Unity
By Fungai Kumbula
needed to fu lfill quotas. The money
designated by the federal and state govern
ments for their education has been used to in-
tice white parents to use baby sitting services
to skew statistics and deceive federal auditors.
Integrated housing? The district's lip service
to development of integrated neighborhoods
is a fraud. Integrated neighborhoods and
naturally integrated schools would defeat their
purpose - to keep Black children confined in
inferior schools and to offer as their only esc
ape being used to satisfy numerical require
ments elsewhere.
Two remedies are open to Black parents:
filing a law suit that will find the district guilty
of a long pattern of racial discrimination and
will place the district under the jurisdiction of
the federal courts; bringing all students back
to their neighborhood schools and requiring
the district to provide schools for them.
The School Board has demonstrated its in
tent; its' intentions toward the Black com
munity are clear. Leaving the education of our
children in its hands would be genocide.
The good side is that no single
A frica n Head o f State becomes
permanent C hairm an. Secondly,
every A frican country has the op
p o rtu n ity to host all o f A fric a 's
leaders except for those still under
colonial dom ination like South
A fric a and N am ibia as well as
Western Sahara. Those countries
are always represented by the
African liberation movements until
such a time as a truly representative
government is elected as was the
case w ith Zim babw e, Angola,
A united front
Letters to the Editor
The NAACP National Convention was an
example of an effort toward unity the leaders
of many of the major Blacl< and civil rights
organizations were major participants: Jesse
Jackson, Mrs. Coretta King, Vernon Jordan,
Leon Sullivan. The idea was to go beyond sec
tarian concerns and petty jealousies and
demonstrate a united force to the Reagan
Adminstration.
Locally there is an air of great discourage
ment. A fter years of hard work, even the
minor gains are gone. Problems w ith the
school district, the police and growing racism
cause frustrations and resentment. Loss of
jobs and income make the difficulties seem
almost insurmountable. It seems we can have
little impact on local policies, let alone on the
national government and global systems.
It is not a time to give up; it is a time to
prepare for a new struggle. And it is time for
the com m unity's organizations to get
together, make some plans, and throw up
political, social and economic barricades
beyond which there can be no retreat
Inside/outside: Just the same
The O rganization o f A fric a n
Unity, the OAU, concluded another
Sum it this past week. Since its
foundation in 1963, A frica ’ s Heads
o f State have met annually and in a
d iffe re n t country each year. The
host becomes the OAU Chairman
fo r the upcom ing year. This o b
viously is a very prestigious honour
and all Heads ol stale seem to vie to
host the O AU . There is a lot to be
said for this both good and bad.
Dear Editor:
From reading your column “ Cell
Ialk I feel that more opinions and
evaluations are necessary to inform
the general public o f the conditions,
etc., of the Bilalians (Blacks) here at
OSP. F irst o f a ll, my chosen
spokesman is m yself and this
because I have met no one here bet
ter qualified to do so. Therefore, I
would appreciate it i f you would
print what I have to say.
There are no more racial
problems here at OSP than there are
on the outside, and an unbiased, ob
jective view o f the situation here will
reveal this. The problems are in the
minds o f the people here. Most want
something for nothing and expect to
receive it, and when they don’ t they
complain.
The m a jo rity o f the Bilalians
(Blacks) here w ill spend an entire
day playing dominoes or play acting
pimping, and this goes on day after
day. There are approximately five
Bilalians in Vocational Training
School. Why? Some w ill say that it
takes six months to one year to get
in, but it doesn’t. Some will.say that
they’ re being discriminated against.
Maybe, but it doesn’t stop a person
from getting in. I got into VT
School in less than three weeks here.
I was informed by the VT supervisor
that they wanted more Bilalians in
VT and that I should send any
friends interested in learing a trade
to him. Upon inform ing different
people about the opportunities in
the VT program , some typical
responses were: “ I already have a
trade’ ’ , “ I do n ’ t w ork, what do I
need with a trade!’ ’ ,“ I ’ m going to
wait until I see the Board (Parole
Board)” , “ My mind isn’ t right
now” , or something similar.
The principal Bilalian organiza
tion here is the UHURU Club. The
economic growth, unemployment,
malnourishmcnt of various o f their
peoples, poor health and social
amenities and the like and yet for a
whole week the leaders basked in ut
terly sinful opulence. One wonders
how many jobs that $100 m illio n
would have created. What a shot in
the arm it would have been for
Sierra I.cone’s ailing economy.
Maybe it’ s about time there was a
permanent site for the OAU. Maybe
i t ’ s about time the splendour and
prestige, ostentatious opulence were
downplayed so more o f A fric a ’s
more fundamental problems would
be addressed. Maybe the time is not
yet ripe for our Heads o f State to be
housed in 5-star palatial hotels that
will be vacant (usually amidst pover
ty) once the conference is over.
Maybe i t ’ s time to give up the
limousines and return to the VW
bugs.
The OAU was created to provide
leadership; it can do so in more
ways than one.
attendance o f this club is very low,
unless there is entertainment from
the outside or a party is near at
hand. The participation o f Bilalians
in other clubs and organizations is
the same as for UHURU.
I f we were to organize and align
ourselves with our fellow inmates
regardless o f ethnic background,
and work toward alleviating the
demoralizing conditions here, we
would be successful. However, this
is not the desire o f certain Bilalians
here. These certain people talk as if
we were in Alabama in the 1960’ s
(incidently, I was there), instead of
OSP in the 1980’ s. They seem
determined to incite a racial riot,
which is foolish as well as un
necessary. What ulterior motives lie
behind this, I cannot say, but what I
can say is that we need to unite and
become productive.
Le A rtis C. Moore
War waged on Black children
To the Editor:
^ rth U B N D !
Mozambique and Guinea Bissau in
recent years. The host country as
well as its people also get a lot of at
tention focused on them as all
A frica and the world watch to see
what progress w ill be made. The
Heads o f State and their entourages
also get to visit all these countries
year after year and thus acquaint
themselves with that co u n try’ s
people and problems.
On the negative side is the expense
involved. For some reason, in recent
years particularly, the expenses o f
hosting an OAU conference has
become ridiculous. Sierra Leone
which played host last year spent in
excess o f $100 m illion for that one
week alone. That is an unholy sum
for such a small country especially
when one looks at her shaky
economy. It was rather ironic that at
this p a rticu la r conference, the
dom inant force was A fric a ’ s per
sistent economic woes. The African
leaders were discussing ways to stop
the vicious cycle o f negative
The May issue o f Black E nter
prise magazine published by Earl
Grave' was devoted to “ The War
On Black Children.” This study was
the results o f publicity given to the
abduction and murders o f over a
score o f Black children in Atlanta.
The list is s till grow ing. This in
cident has chilled the hearts o f Black
parents throughout the nation. The
needless killin g o f Black children
has drawn national and in te r
national attention, and has brought
to the public a much broader
recognition to “ The War On Black
Children.” According to the article;
“ I ifelong poverty, unemployment,
im prisonm ent, even death by
hom icide are the enemies.”
H om icide is the greatest k ille r o f
young Black men in the U nited
States. O f Black families with ear
ned income, one in four earns less
than $5000 per year. That has
brought children living in poverty
total ages three to seventeen, white
11.4%, Black 41.6%, total average
16.0%. Infant m o rtia lity p ro p o r
tionate decline in twenty-eight years
from 1950 to 1978, white 59.9%,
Black 54.4%, total 57.0%. Nearly
78 percent o f poor Black children
under 18 live in homes headed by
women.
In the broader spectrum it is im
possible to exclude lack o f
education and miseducation that
have been problems in Portland,
highlighted by forced busing over
the past ten years. The coalition’ s
report several years ago pointed
specifically to the e ffo rts o f the
Black U nited Front which gave
voice to the community to demon
strate against the problems o f
education. The closure o f Adams
and W ashington/Monroe amounts
to an additional obstacle placed in
the fu tu re o f Black children,
another problem in the continuous
struggles for “ Quality Education.”
These two schools have the second
and third highest Black and ethnic
student population in the district,
forty-one percent and th irty -fiv e
percent respectively. In addition to
these disadvantages the future o f
Black children demands that they be
trained to labor in industry. Black
children by in large cannot afford
the luxury o f education, which is
expressed in the English evaluation
o f education. There is no practical
purpose fo r the future o f Black
children to be educated to lift their
cultural standing. The Black child
percentage wise in America must be
educated to fill a job. Adams and
W ashington/M onroe and some
others already have existing in
dustrial machines for this purpose.
When Adams and W ashington/
Monroe are closed this equipment
will be moved to schools outside the
Albina area. And thus Caucasians
w ill reap the benefits o f our lost.
Portland’s Board o f Education in its
short site and racist attitude w ill use
so call economic problems to add
fresh fuel to the war on Black
children. The cycle of war on Black
children w ill continue to be a cycle
o f events. In the words o f the im
mortal Bard a “ plague on all your
houses.”
Rev. John H. Jackson
Mt. Olivet Baptist Church
No press coverage of nuclear weapons statement
Portland Observer
The Portland Observer IUSPS 969 600) n published every Thurs
day by E«,e Publishing Company, Inc , 2201 North Killingsworth
Portland. Oregon 97217, Post Office Eox 3137, Portland' Oregon
97208 Second class postage paid at Portland, Oregon
Subscriptions $10.00 per year in Tri County area P ostm aster
Send address changes to the Portland Observer, P O Box 3137
Portland, Oregon 97208
The Portland Observer was founded in October of 1970 by
Alfred Lee Henderson
The Portland Observer is a champion of |ustice. equality and
liberation, an alert guard against social evils, a thorough analyst
and critic of discriminatory practices and policies; a sentmal to
warn of impending and existing racist trends and practices, and a
defender against persecution and oppression
Bruce Broussard
Editor/Publisher
The real probloms of the minority population will be viewed and
presented from the perspective of their causality unrestrained ana
chronoically en trenched racism N ational and in ternation al
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arrangements that prolong and increase the oppression of Third
World peoples shall be considered in the context of their ex
ploitation and manipulation by the colonial nations, including the
United States, and their relationship to this nation's historical
treatment of its Black population
283 2486
MEMBER
N *Mocle N
A
PER
Oon ■ Found'd
IN S
N ational A dvartising R epresentativa
A m a lg a m a te d Publishers, Inc
N ew York
1st Place
Community Service
ONPA 1973
1st Place
Best Ad Result
ONPA 1973
5th Place
Best Editorial
ONPA 1973
Honorable Mention
Herrick Editorial Award
NNA 1973
2nd Place
Best Editorial
3rd Place
Community Leadership
ONPA 1975
3rd Place
Community Leadership
ONPA 1978
3rd Place
In depth coverage
ONPA 1979
> ,,o* ainoan
M WS»âa»B
To the Editor:
I would like to express my disap
pointment at the press blackout on
Senate Joint M em orial 5, the
legislature’ s recent statement calling
for a bilateral freeze on the produc
tio n , deployment and testing o f
nuclear weapons.
SJM 5 passed the Senate
unanimously in April and the House
on June 25. It marks the first time a
state has taken an o fficia l position
on the suicidal buildup o f nuclear
weapons by the US and the USSR,
though similar action is pending in
the legislatures o f Illin o is , New
Y ork, O hio, and Massachusettes.
Appreciates apology
To the Editor:
Cheers to the Portland Observer
for acknowledging their poor judge
ment in allowing a stereotyping and
prejudiced quote regarding Jews in
a by-lined music column.
Obviously a legitimate press, par
ticularly one with a masthead which
describes its e lf a “ cham pion o f
justice, equality and liberties . . .
defender against persecution and
oppression” , should not tolerate
name calling; it only encourages
others to replicate gestures which
lead to worse deeds.
Non Jews should be aware there is
NO acceptable use o f the word Jew
with a small “ j ” : Jew means a per
son of the Jewish faith; a small “ j ”
denotes a derogatory intention.
I am pleased that I was delayed
(by illness) from w ritin g when I
noted the “ unacceptable reference”
and that this letter can now carry a
different message.
Good Luck in you continued ef
fo rt to assist both the Black com
munity and those interested in un
derstanding the current and local
issues which are priorities within the
Black community.
Shalam (Hebrew Peace)
Berta Delman
The P ortland Observer was rwot
alone in fa ilin g to report this
historic development. I saw no
coverage o f it at all, although Rep.
Dick Springer tells me his office
prepared a press release.
I am hoping by writing this letter
to give your readers a chance to
learn o f this rem arkable policy
statement by O regon’ s elected
leaders. I th in k it is deeply
significant that at leas, here in
Oregon the legislature has had the
vision to point to the nuclear
weapons race as a c ritic a l danger
confronting all Oregonians. It was
g ra tifyin g to me that the House
rejected the argument that nuclear
weapons, and by extension nuclear
war, are no, concerns appropriate to
the state legislature fo r it seemed,
and seems, to me that nothing
touches all o f us more closely than
the threat o f planetary annihilation
which these weapons pose.
Sincere regards,
Wally Priestley
D-Portland, District No. 16
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