Page 12 Portland Observer, October 8, 1981
Ashe sees health as number one problem
Grassroot News.
A R T H U R ASHE
(Photo by Richard J. Brown)
A/. IP.—The
U .S .-A u s tra lia D avis C u p tennis
confrontation has focused attention
on John M cE n ro e and Roscoe
T an n er. C e rta in ly , the talents o f
these two men are not held up to
question, but the poise and intellect
o f the team’s Captain. A rthur Ashe,
can’t be overshadowed.
" T h e game o f tennis started in a
white cultural environment. When it
crossed the A tla n tic its n atu ra l
counterpart was the C o un try C lub
setting which was almost exclusively
white." Ashe answers why the game
has a p re d o m in a n ty European
presence.
W hat was special about him? " I
was able to be under the direction o f
a man who wanted to see a jo b
through u n til its conclusion. W e
worked in a highly formal structure
for eight summers instead o f having
kids out there today and gone to
morrow. I got pretty good and the
tennis structure took over.”
Ashe has the complete knowledge
o f the tennis court and is well recog
nized as being a p o litic ally astute
athlete. “ Sports and Politics can be
separated, but on a practical level
they aren’t. You try to keep the de
gree o f in term in g lin g at a level
where the pub lic can understand
and the integrity o f the sport is not
in question. The ultimate was when
the U .S. told our boys not to go to
Moscow. In 1976, when the African
nations b oycotted, the U .S . said
they were childish, but then 4 years
later we did the same thing and the
A frican nations got the last laugh
and they are still laughing."
How does Ashe perceive the cur
rent political situation facing A fro -
Americans? “ It changed." his ans
wer begins. “ In the ’50s, we went to
court to desegregate. In the ’60s, we
had the Civil Rights Acts, the voting
rights act and a lot o f riots. In the
'70s, the middle class Blacks took
advantage o f the changes in the laws
but the majority o f Blacks still lived
the way thay had in the ’60s. Now
we’ re looking for a unique element
to move up from.
" T h e biggest problem I had was
by grow ing up in the south 1 had
whites tell me what I can’ t do and
what I could. In 1965 there wan an
era o f doing what you wanted to do.
It d id n ’ t w ork out that way. The
white power structure was replaced
by Black leftists and intellectuals
who told me what to do. I asked the
question, when could I do the thing
I wanted to do?’’
W e ll, Ashe went ahead and did
the things he wanted to do and did
them w ell. W hen he's out playing
tennis he may be physically removed
from the life o f Black Am erica but
spiritually he’s among the masses.
This part o f him is reflected in how
he views the problems o f the A fro -
American community. "T h e biggest
problem is health. The rest are jobs
and jo b retraining. There are jobs
out there that go begging because
w e’ re so caught up in doing jobs
that daddy and grand p app y d id .
The Black com m u nity as a whole
needs to be m ore open-m inded
about what jo b opportunities that
we should explore. Next is educa
tion. You hear a lot o f talk about a
glut o f lawyers and M B A s but per
centage-wise there a re n ’ t enough
Black lawyers, doctors or MBAs.
“ People tend to forget (hat we are
a young p o p ulatio n . Over h a lf o f
Black America is under 25. We also,
like our while counter-parts, are in
terested in short-changing the sys
tem. There's an attitude o f wanting
what I want and I wanted it yester
day. I f I d o n ’ t get it I'm going to
com m it some crim e and i f I get
caught I'm not going to feel guilty.
They feel society owes them some
thing and I think that's a huge prob
lem facing the Black c o m m u n ity
today.** Ashe believes that Black ex
pectation is too high.
A rthur Ashe has received a great
deal o f exposure granted by the
press. H ow does he feel about the
T h ird W o rld , W estern and Black
press? “ T he T h ird W o rld press is
scared because they have been mis
represented by the W estern press.
The W estern press in terp rets the
Th ird W orld through foggy glasses
and the Third W orld might want ; q
hide certain things.
“ The Western press has so many
checks and balances that th e y ’ re
pretty good.
“ Black newspapers are having
less o f an effect than they used to.
They are going to have to update
their technology or they are going to
be last."
Commissioner Jordan explains possum incident decision
Port IV
_ - ..
The follow ing are exerptsfrom the testimony o f Commissioner Charles
Jordan in the arbitration hearings on the “possum incident”.
Commissioner Charles Jordan explained his belief in citizen involvement
in government, his hopes for the Police Bureau, his opinions on discipline,
and his reasons for terminating the two officers.
Regarding his current assessment o f the Police Bureau, Commissioner
Jordan said, " . . . I think compared to where we were four years ago, I think
we've come a long ways. Compared to where we should be, I think we have
a long ways to go.
" I would like to see more personal contact with citizens, o f course. I
would like to see citizens involved more in the policy direction, development
of that Bureau, recognizing that there are certain things that are fairly sacred
and confidential. But in those areas where we can involve citizens in the de
cisionmaking process, I would like to involve them in that. However, I must
make it very clear that in the final analysis, that the decision must rest with
the Commissioner, you know. I am not willing to share that decision with
the public.
“ I would like to hear public input, and I would like for them to see what we
are doing and how we do it and why we do it because I think we have to be
accountable to the public because it is their Bureau. They’re paying for it
and they have a right to know what’s going on. But I just have a very strong
feeling that it is not a very simple Bureau to run. And when it gets down to
the decisionmaking process, if 1 had to work with the citizen body to make
that decision, I think it would be very difficult. And for that reason I have
resisted that recommendation coming from certain citizens.”
About the need for citizen input in the Police Bureau, Commissioner Jor
dan testi fied:
” . . . And we have certain things in place to deal with that. We have pre
cinct councils and the various precincts work with those citizen bodies. They
have not been as effective as I have wanted them to be. But we have budget
advisory committees and we have a number o f advisory committees work
ing with the Police Bureau.
“ Q. Well, over the fo u r years now o r since 1977, le t ’s p u t it that way
since you have been head o f the Bureau o f Police, what have you done oper
ationally that reflects you r philsophy about the importance o f citizen in
volvement and community contact in community relations in the operation
o f a Police Bureau ?
■
1 bave initiated a number o f community forums where I have
had a chance to go out and talk to citizens about the police organization
that has been very effective.
"The Crime Prevention Program that we have has been expanded to in
volve probably more citizens than ever before because we were able to se
cure funding for neighborhood groups whereas we’d never had that before.
And they had their own crime prevention program. And we sort o f played a
different role in crime prevention in the City o f Portland.
i u *7 tCrms ° f thc budget advisory committee which was initially estab
lished to meet only during budget times, I have made that a committee that
m« « s ‘he full year and to discuss other policies on the police operation
We currently have a citizen body to take a look at how we investigate
citizen complaints, the Internal Affairs division. They have been function
ing for the last five months and should complete their report by the end of
this month to advise me as to whether or not they feel that citizens get a fair
shake in the Internal Affairs process.”
.. Jordan appointed the Internal A ffa irs A dvisory Com m ittee because.
’ ' A number o f citizen complaints that I was receiving that were indicat
ing to me that citizens did not get a fair shake through our system, recogniz
ing all the time that any agency that investigated itself was going to be— was
going to suffer from a credibility program. I recognized that but I felt that
the system we had was fair based on what 1 had seen, but I wasn’t absolutely
had enough complaints to make me wonder whether or no, I
should have someone else take a look at this.
So I decided to appoint a citizen body without my involvement. And I
ass^ned a staff person to work with them and told them to take a look a,
what we do and how we do it and then come back in six months and tell me
whether or no, they think it is a fair system.. . . ”
tions8ard ng additional areas o f citizen involvement in day-to-day opera-
. . - Well, probably the largest and the most important one is one o f my
objectives for ’8 1- ’82 and that is to appoint a citizen task force to woTk
along with a group o f consultants to do an overall analysis o f the Portland
BUrCati ' ° take 3 ' ° ° k ” ,ha‘ Burcau in lighl o f ,he ,imes wc *'vc in
and the population we are trying to serve to determine whether or not, you
know, it is a relevant Bureau, you know.
*T 'mcs ll aVe changcd and we arc probably still doing some things that
Z v ^ X d.ak,cdh And 1 wan‘ this con,ul,an‘ group ,o m" '
wan t h e m u,
'i? 3' ? 0
CXPCC‘ fr° m a P° lice ‘» « " ‘¡ » ‘ «on. I
a them to be able to talk about our limitation because we have a limita-
tha' CadS tOJ* 'Ot ° f ,CnS' ° n and connict ln ‘ he community be
S ,
X m T
i V 0 d° 3 '° ' ° f ,hings we can’’ do' ' *a n , ‘ his to be— to
be aired publicly Then I want the consultants to take a look at how we do
business in Portland, take a look at our Bureau, come back, discuss with the
citizen group the state o f the art, wha, we have in Portland, what our limita
tions are and just what kind o f police organization do we want. And I do
want mwn.ngful citizen involvement in that decisionmaking process
And then we II see if we can restructure the organization we have to
mak* m° rC rcspon*'ve and morc relevant to the times we live in .”
Additional examples o f citizen involvement were Neighborhood Profiles
that assess neighborhood’s impression o f police service and the Community
luvcmlc Officer program that places police in the schools.
TU The
* ««,1
. l f . the
n Community
. Juvenile
..
goal o
O fficer was to reach young people
before they become involved in the criminal justice system.
. And we fel,
that one o f the ways to do that was to get into the schools and before they
have a chance to come in contact with an officer who has to come ou, and
arrest them, tha, we would make contact with juveniles who are no, delin
quent. So the feeling was that they could both learn a lot from each other
and it has proven to be very successful.
“Q. What is you r knowledge o f the Black United Front?
A. WeU, 1 know who the presidents are. I don’, know who all the mem-
S 7 h are
1 ° W Wh° bcads h UP' M r - Ron Herndon, bu, I don’, know who
all the members are. 1 have never attended one o f their meetings. I have at
tended a meeting where some o f them were in the audience to discuss va
rious programs, but all o f them weren’t there. So I really don’, know who’s
all a member.
Q. D id the Black United Front take a public position with respect to the
institution o f the juvenile officers program?
A. Very strong opposition, very strong.
,yOU <*“ con,inue ° r
that program at a ll as a result o f what
the Black United F ront___ ”
“ A. O f course n o ,.”
Public support for the Police Bureau is essential, according to Jordan:
“ You have got to have the people on your side and they have to believe in
wha, you are doing. They have to be able to support you, otherwise you arc
totally ineffective.”
. . . 1 think it has to start from the lop. The commitment has to be there.
And I ihink it has to manifest itself, you know, through policies and general
orders that are passed down through training, through communication with
the men and women in the street in hopes they can improve tha, philosophy
as well. And they’re the ones who have to carry it out. And I see all the
other functions o f the Police Bureau as supportive services to the men and
women on thc street. I've always seen that, that wc arc supportive.
" W c should support what they do because no matter how we feel, you
know, it depends on how they carry ou, their job on the street is going to be
their determining fa c to r.. .
W hen crimes occur, it is thc citizen who calls. So without citizen in
volvement, you know, we would be wasting our tim e.”
Jordan described his usual involvement in discipline as minimal. " N o r
mally. I should say thc m ajority o f the time, C hief Baker runs thc depart
ment, and I don’t ge, too involved in, you know, much o f the discipline that
has taken place unless there’s a major one that I may be confronted by thc
public or the press or thc res, of the council members. And those normally
are the terminations, or the varying unusual cases that I would ge, involved
in .”
Regarding his philosophy o f discipline: "W hen I look at discipline, I —
there are three elements or three characteristics o f any disciplinary action
that I like to be present if at all possible. And those three would be correct
ive, punishment and prevention wherever possible___ I think about the in
dividual. First I think— 1 think about thc individual and that would_you
know, what arc some o f the mitigating circumstances. Then I think about
the organization as a whole. And sometimes its a balancing act as to when
do you forge, about the individual and star, thinking about the organiza
tion. So I have to wrestle with that. It ’s no, a— it’s no, an easy one to wres
tle with. I agonize over my decisions for a very long time.”
Jordan’s decision to terminate W ard and Galloway was made during a
meeting with Chief Baker, during which Baker briefed him on the officers’
disciplinary hearing.
“ W ell, I can recall him giving me an oral report o f the hearing. And at
(he conclusion I think I might have asked, you know, did anything come ou,
differently than what we’ve already heard or what I ’ve already read? 1 mean
were there any other mitigating circumstances? I was looking for something
different than I had read or I had heard. And, you know, he said no. And
then I can recall saying that, then I sec no alternative but term ination.'...
“ Q. D id you want to terminate them?
“ A. No. 1 thoughtthere had to be some other reason for that. I — no, I
really didn’t. I thought there had to be some reason why they would do that,
that it wasn’t jus, a prank, that that really would have been changed, that
there had to be some other reason for doing that, not just as a prank to
make people laugh.
“ I honestly did no, want Io believe that. And I was jus, waiting for Chief
Baker to tell me that they said something else, that—
“ Q. You were waiting f o r them, that they said something else f o r what
purpose?
“ A . Then I would n o ,— I could have considered something else beside
termination. It would have been more viable. I could no, accept thc prank
bit at all. Under no circumstance could I accept the prank bi, for no reason
at all. And I thought maybe C hief Baker would bring out in his hearing
something that I had not heard before or something that had not been
printed before. Because as I told you before, in my mind, I had— I had con
sidered 30 days. I had considered six months. I considered a lot o f things.
But those were on the premise that I would hear something different___
"Q . You said nothing new did come forward. Why then did you feel that
you had to go ahead with termination in spite o f their good record and m
spite o f considering these other types o f discipline?
“ A. Because o f the severity of the act. There was no excuse for that, none
whatsoever, none whatsoever, not for throwing possums in front o f their
business, huh-uh.
" I f they had, you know, dropped them in the parking Io, and made an
honest mistake, that they had the possums, they were showing them to other
? , crs ,o makc them laugh and they had a laugh and they got a call and
had to respond right away and left the possums there, that’s something cn-
tircly different. But tha, was a deliberate act. And there was no way in my
mind I could rationalize anything else but term ination___ Because I can’,
Ihink ol any other form o f discipline (hat would have been adequate but
termination for that. That was a deliberate act. I mean it was a deliberate
act. There was no accident. It was not an honest mistake as officers make in
the course o f their duly.
Jordan said the community march had some influence on his decision:
Oh, that played a part, that in addition to a number o f other things played
a part, all had an influence on my decision, yes.”
But. also: “ It had no influence. It just made it more difficult because it
‘ us* ¡‘ * as a no-win situation for me either way I wen,. And they jus,
made it more difficult. Because if I terminate the officers as expected, the
Union was going to say the Black United Front go, to me. I f I reinstated
them, the members o f the Black community would say the Union got to me.
So it was a no-win situation. But these demonstrations prior to the decision
only made it worse. That's a ll.”
Jordan admitted no, having talked with any o f the officers' direct super
visors:
“ Q. D id you ever speak to Captain McCabe about the incident?
A . No.
Q D id you ever speak with Lt. Haven about the incident?
A. No.
Q D id you ever speak with Sgt Bennett about the incident?
A. No.
Q. D id you ever speak with Sgt. M ulvih ill about the incident?
A. No.
Q. Who was initially assigned to investigate the in cident o f M arch 12?
A. I think Chief Baker testified that— I would no, want to rely on my rec
ollection o f that.
Q. A n d you received the Internal A ffairs report, is that correct?
A. Yes.
Q. You did not receive Officer Ward and O fficer G allaw ay’s 201 files, is
that correct?
A. I don i recall whether I looked at those or no,. I know I was concerned
about their background, either I was satisfied that it was a very good back
ground or I looked— I don’t recall.
Q. You d o n ’t recall whether you saw their 201 files?
A. No. I really don’, recall. I doubt if I saw them, but I ’m no, absolutely
sure. I knew I was convinced at the time that they had a good record.
Q. A nd you did not speak with them, is that correct?
A. No.
Q. A n d you testified that you received one request fro m Stan Peters to
speak with them.
A. Yes . . .
Q
A n d am I correct then in summarizing your testimony that you met
with George Powe and members o f his fam ily twice about this incident, but
you did not meet with Officers Craig Ward and Jim Gallaway about this
incident?
A. Correct.
Jordan explained why he did not want to meet with the officers:
At that time I, for a couple o f reasons and one o f the reasons is I didn’t
know whether it was proper, but that was really secondary. I think my pri
mary reason was. and I had a lot o f input at that point from a lot o f un
wanted sources, you know, trying to influence my decision. And I really
wanted to jus, gel away and no, have any more input, you know, anyone
else or anything else that could influence my decision.
" I really didn’t wan, to wrestle with that. It was hard enough as it was to
make the decision. And so I didn’t wan, to complicate it. I wasn’t sure what
my legal grounds were if I talked to the officers; did this mean that I had to
record everything I said, it would be brought up in a hearing again. C hief
Baker as we ve talked about this many times, about how I involved I get
into these hearings. The morc involved I get into the investigation, then the
more accountable I am to keep a record and be able to recall all those
things And I jus, didn’t wan, to do it. I didn’t wan, to do it. I didn’t wan,
to ge, that involved, so I refused to talk to them.
He added: "W e ll, the thought, let me explain, the though, was that I — I
didn ( want any more— any additional outside pressure. I really didn’t be
cause n was difficult enough as it was. And talking to Ward and Gallawav
would have made it even more difficult to render wha, I would consider an
objective decision. Yeah, that’s how I would characterize it. T h at’s— those
were thc reasons I considered at this time.
But since this hearing. I ’m sort o f glad that I did not engage in that con
versation not because o f them, but because o f some o f the things that have
been said here today.
Q. You don ’I believe that as the manager o f the Bureau charged with dis
charging employees, a decision that you have said is the most significant or
the most drastic decision that you can make regarding the employees, that
you have any obligation to speak with the employees?
A. No, I don’t, M r. Ailchison. Can I explain?
Q. Sure. Please do.
• h i \ ° nCu f ,he re3SOnS r m glad ' did no' i# ba"ed
’ »me o f the things
that have been regurgitated here today and some o f the things you caused
f iX e T J " '’
' hink damagcd any Pol'cymaker like myself, myself
v
i ,nSi ' P
K ' ry,ng ' ° WOfk Wi,h emP'oye« «
‘ he Union, in
VOU?Hi d?a
b m ," ga,m « circumstances. Because if you try to temper
your discipline with just.ee and with mercy, it’s going to be regurgitated later
on in some hearing like this. And so it ju s ,- y o u know, you really don’ t
want to ge, involved in things like that.
•»Id i v ' . n T T ’^ ' ’, 1 am i r r d ’ d'd n<” ,r> ,O d° any,hing differently there
and try to deal with it in a different manner.
Continued next week.