U ra F rances ■
un i ve
of
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L ib
For the children o f Atlanta and f o r
all children who are hungry, suffer
and live in fear.
A prelude to 'After Hours'
Portland: A time when lights were red A
by Ron Sykes
Most o f us know Portland as one
o f the most livable cities in the U.S.
That has not always been so. The
P ortland C ity C lub said in a
February 1958 report that local
gambling and prostitution activities
had been openly and notoriously
carried on throughout the city for
several years. D uring the adm ini
stration o f M ayors Joseph K.
Carlson, Jr. (1933-1941) and Earl
Kiley (1941-1949), it was “ business
as usüal,” giving certain privileged
persons - usually friends o f the
reigning administration - what they
wanted. This practice led to cozy,
often illegal, arrangements between
the Mayor's office and some o f the
C ity ’ s most prom inent business
men. These “ arrangements" led to
attitudes o f apathy and cynicism
that were reflected in the operating
policies o f the Portland Police De
partm ent. The police tended to
“ look the other w a y " in matters
related to vice, and at the same time
making sure that each got his “ cut”
o f the action.
The C ity was wide open. There
were hookers o f every color, size
and shape; every game o f chance
one could imagine; lots o f poor
man's follies; one-arm bandits and
poker players. There were eleven
houses o f p ro stitu tio n ; five horse
bookie joints; five baseball pools;
eight bootleggers; all on the West
side o f Portland. Gambling action
on the East side was confined
largely to the area around Burnside
and Grand, and in the North to St.
Johns. It was widely known that the
existence o f these illegal activities
condoned by the police and high
authorities, corrupted the entire law
enforcement process. Portland was
the hub o f all illegal activities. Safe
burglars, stick-up men, dope ped
dlers, and other underworld figures
flocked to P ortland by the
hundreds. To the police it produced
approximately $60,000 a month in
protection payments and the C ity
was widely recognized as having the
second highest rate o f incidence o f
veneral disease in the nation.
Due to its n o to rity , a movie,
“ P ortland Expose,” was made
depicting the crime and vice in the
C ity and how it was cleaned up.
This cleaning up process was largely
due to one strong women, Dorothy
McCullough Lee, who was elected
to the o ffice o f M ayor in 1948.
D orothy M cCulough Lee's main
campaign promise was " to enforce
the law.” She immediately launched
and a vendetta against organized
crime. Her years in o ffice were to
prove trying.
A local newspaper gave her a
luke-warm reception at best.
Because o f her independent nature
and determ ination to do what she
felt to be right and not what was
necessarily p o litic a lly safe, the
business com m unity rejected her
leadership. She could not be con
trolled as her predecessors had been.
She was relentless in her pursuit to
cleanse the C ity. There were com
plaints from all arenas; from slot
machine operators; gambling jo in t
owners, and red lig h t madams to
segments o f the business com
munity.
The D orothy M cC ullough Lee
regime cleaned up Portland, but in
doing so created a monster.
Whereas before p ro s titu tio n and
gamblers usually worked out o f
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F Ö R TW N D OBSERMER
UsPS 959-680-855___________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PSU Black Studies gets cuts
D r. W illia m L ittle , D irector o f
Portland State U niversity’ s Black
Studies Center, has been notified
that the department budget w ill be
cut by approximately 20 percent due
to cuts in the State’ s higher
education budget.
"The $25,000 cut in our budget is
larger than we had expected and if it
is adopted w ill seriously hurt our
program,” Dr. Little said. In order
to meet the budget level, all part
tim e and tem porary teachers w ill
have to be released. Only three full
time instructors would be retained.
This w ould elim inate twelve o f
the approxim ately 60 courses o f
fered, including Swahili, Introduc
tion to Black Studies, Black History
and A fric a n - Am erican P o litica l
Thought - all o f which are taught by
non-tenured teachers.
The three assistant ships also will
be term inated. These are usually
filled by African students, allowing
them the opportun ity to continue
their education while contributing
to the program by teaching.
The Black Studies Department
serves approximately 400 students
each term . A bout 40 percent are
lower classmen, 50 percent are up
per d ivision and 5 percnt are
graduate students. Students can
earn a Certificate o f Black Studies
while m a joring in another fie ld .
Enrollment has increased each year.
“ The cuts w ill not only hurt our
current program but will jeopordize
our holding the N ational C on
ference on Black Studies C on
ference iu 1983,” Little explained.
"The cut backs indicate that there is
not strong support for the program.
(Please turn to Page 4 Col 3,
Discrimination in the work place
By C'leo Franklin
Photo: Richard J. Brown
A toot here, a toot there
Grassroot News N.W . - You can
call it w hite g irl, nose candy and
blow, but Cocaine is Cocaine by no
other name. From the Coca
shrubries o f Bolivia, the caviar o f
drugs is labbed down into a free-
base pasta which is the sparkling,
snortable, in d u stria l coacaine
hydrochloride. I t ’ s packed and
routed by various ways to M iam i,
Los Angeles and Portland.
Snow has found its way up the
nose o f the rich and the poor.
Crossing boundaries and capturing
souls with a caliber o f its own. "The
supply has kept up w ith the
de m a n d ," stated M ark M ille r,
D irector o f the U niversity o f
Oregon Drug Inform ation Center.
"The stuff that’ s on the streets now
is a lot less pure than a generation
ago. Adulterates have increased and
the effects derived are dose depen
dent."
To capitalize on coke, some o f its
users have indicated to Grassroot
News how profitable it is to step on
the drug to duplicate what was or
d in a rily purchased. “ I take what
I’ ve bought for fifty dollars and step
on it with Benita (milk sugar). You
never know the difference and my
blow ends up costing me nothing.”
When questioned about the strength
o f the cocaine after it has been
stepped on, the response was,
"Everybody seems to get high.”
The half-an-hour high on Cocaine
has been described as better than sex
and in extreme cases, can take the
place o f sex. N ikki Johnson, from
C O D A (Comprehensive O ptions
For Drug Abuse) provided a social
insight. “ People that develop a coke
problem and routed here when the
use o f the drug ceases to be a casual
flin g and becomes a lifestyle. I ’ m
seeing an increase in its use and the
younger users are going o f f into
crime just to support this desire.
The cycle o f use is implusive. Users
avoid depression because coke’ s a
neat drug. It makes you feel good,
and we live in a drug culture. So
taking drugs to feel better is not at
all foreign. The only thing to
remember is that what goes up,
must come down.”
“ The comedown is like hearing
someone scraping their fingernails
across the blackboard,” a form er
user said. “ T h a t’ s why I q u it; my
moods got to be too much fo r my
fam ily and they were ready to ask
me to leave.”
The value o f toot has risen, which
accounts for the snowballing price.
The fast money and and lots o f it,
has sent some people to see their
maker a lot sooner than they had ex
pected. And although the substance
is illegal that has been no deterrent
to its use. “ The main m otive fo r
abuse o f cocaine is money," says an
o ffic e r from the vice squad. “ In
the P ortland area, we have made
arrests and it has turned out to be
milk sugar. Because o f the time and
money it takes to get those few
people at the top, law enforcement
can’ t get close to the source. The
convictions that are handed down
really can't be followed up because
Judges have no place to put
them. When the people get sick o f
the crime that goes along w ith the
drug, maybe then we can counter
act the trade. U ntil then, we’ ll just
keep chipping away."
Maybe the reason why people
aren’t up in arms is that all kinds of
people blow cocaine. From the
penthouses to the one bedroom
apartm ent, blow has become the
special treat. The paraphernalia that
accompanies its use is more
exiquisite than the mere spoon and
m irror. You can buy Nasal Douche
or Indispensable Dispensers and
even Pseudo Caine.
The tra d itio n a l way to get high
is to sn u ff the s tu ff up your nose.
Free basing is a process where you
cook the coke down to its resin and
under intense heat, you smoke it.
Another process is to mainline the
drug by injecting it into the vein or
m ixing it w ith herion to create a
speed ball
The physical and psychological
effects are the dialation o f pupils,
increased pulse rate and blood
pressure, euphoria, insom nia,
nausea and illusions. Mark M ille r
goes on to say, "There’s a switching
that occur when you’ re high, the in
creased heart rate leads to high
blood pressure, which gives w ay to
hypertension. The real problem is
that when the drug is broken down
into your system the real problem is
that when the drug is broken down
in to your system the effects are
strong."
The use o f show is not physically
addictive although a tolerance can
develop. The effects on the lifestyle
o f people can alter the future o f
o u xo m m u ity . We can ill-afford a
generation o f burned out users
because they set the tempo for our
future. Other than the money, the
main purpose for use is the sen
sation. It feels good and so does
suicide when life looks bad.
Certainly people who snort this
dust aren’t going to quit after
reading this article. But we hope
they will think twice about things
going better with coke.
said to the m a jo rity that " a ll
unlike women, s till have to fight
m in o rity groups have paid their
fo r the right to vote today. The
W illia m E. P ollard who is the
dues. No one rides fre e .” A con
Reagan
A d m in istra tio n
is
Director o f the Civil Rights Depart
tinuation o f discrim ination in any
dem urring on extension o f the
ment o f the A F L-C IO addressed a
form is a prostitution o f human re
Voting Rights Act. Extremism has
group who attended a school
sources. “ When racism, sexism and
always been a part o f American life.
“ Discrim ination on the Job,” co
extremism are permitted to exist in
Blacks have probably suffered more
sponsored by the Pacific Northwest
this society, it weakens the founda
than any other group in that regard
Labor College and the A. P h ilip
tion o f this society. Racism, sexism
particularly at the hands o f the Ku
Randolph In stitu te , on the three
and extremism have plagued our
Klux Kian.
threats to our democracy: racism,
society and our nation from the
Pollard said, “ The three greatest
sexism and extremism. P ollard
beginning and still exist to this date.
challenges ever c o n fro n tin g our
called fo r positive change in the
Racism and extremism reared its
democracy are racism, sexism and
labor movement in our society. He
ugly heads against the American In
extremism.” Therefore, minorities,
stated that the “ goals o f the labor
dian and still exist today.
women and other groups w ith
unions and the goals o f m inorities
"Black people have suffered from
common concerns should develop a
and women are sim ila r.” There is
racism, sexism and extremism from
co a litio n . He went on to say that
also a important need to get young
day one in this country. Black
“ three must be our magic number
people involved. P ollard doesn’ t
people are the only group o f people
and a three prong attack should be
believe that the m ajority o f women
that didn’t come to this country on
launched through active involve
and minorities realize the problems
their own vo litio n . The result was
ment, education and coalitions.”
they face on the basis o f race, sex,
protest and the protest s till con
re lig io n , and nation o rig in . “ We
tinues today.”
must call on labor unions and public
P ollard stated that “ there are
o ffic ia ls to help solve these
many negatives but despite the
problem s.
The
habit
of
many differences among us, positive
discrimination still exist.”
change has taken place.” We have
The U rban League w ill hold
Pollard described a picture he saw not reached a point where all people
community congresses to allow the
o f two buzzards sitting on a roost.
based on race, sex, religion, age,
communities to assess their needs
One said to the other, “ patience my handicapp, or national origin are
and plan self-help programs. The
a____ ! ” referring to an Oregon
treated equal, but we are moving in
King Neighborhood C om m unity
Journal article o f August 1, 1981.
that direction. He called on those
Congress will be held at King Com
When it was reported that the Port affected groups w ith common
m unity P ark, adjacent to King
land Police Department asked the problems and solutions to recognize
School, on August 8th from 10:00
citizens o f N .E. P ortland fo r
their com m oninality and develop
a .m ., to 6:00 p.m . Among the
patience, M r. W illiam s responded
positive lines o f communication.
speakers are Ron Herndon and
to the article to say, “ patience my
Women have experienced dis
County Commissioner Gordon
A____ 1”
crim ination based on sex from the
Shadburn. There will be a pop-off
Pollard characterized his remarks day the pilgrim s landed. Women,
dance contest, arts, crafts, prizes.
as not asking for preferential treat like Blacks, have had to Fight for the
The Boise Congress will be held
ment for any minority group but he right to vote for decades but Blacks,
on August 15th at Unthank Park.
NOTICE
Refugees: A focus
P A R T II
By Nyewusi Askari
(W riter’s Note: This is the second
installm ent o f “ Refugees: A
focus." This week’s focus is on the
Hm ong and Mien people o f SE
Asia)
The Hmong refugees are said to
have originated in China and began
to migrate into Southeast Asia 190
years ago. Once there, they
established a pteference for small
villages in the mountains where they
lived peacefully with their V ie t
namese, Lao, Thai and Burmese
neighbors until the 1890s, when
French control was established over
much o f Indochina.
The presence o f the French
shattered the social organization of
the Hmong. The most devastating
was the im plem entation o f a
colonial tax system based on
population, which forced Hmong
families to pay a fixed amount
regardless o f their wealth. M any
Hmong could not pay, and when
village chiefs refused to collect the
tax, the French-Lao authorities sent
guerrillas and m ilitiam en into the
mountains to in tim id ate Hmong
residents. In response, the Hmong
ordered an attack on the intruders,
and, the French im m ediately o r
dered a cease-fire.
Between 1919 and 1921, the
Hmong in North Vietname rose up
in a similar, but much bloodier
revolt against, the tax system.
Between 192l and 1941, there were
no major Incidents, although during
this period, the Hmong were still
politically controlled by the Lao and
French.
Between 1959 and 1975, Hmong
life was severely disrupted by war.
Thousands o f families were forced
to abandon their homes; leaving
possessions,
livestock
and
traditional life behind. Some aspects
o f that life was as follows:
• Agriculture: Slash and Burn -
The term refers to the practice by
the Hmong o f clearing fields by
cutting
down
the
existent
vegetation, then burning it to dear
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