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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 17, 1981)
Page 4 Portland Observer, December 17, 1981 Huntly Collins: Cheerleading Jefferson to Victory EDITORIAL/OPINION by Ronnie Herndon. Co-chairman, Black United Front ECEC: Memorial to segregation Nearly ten years ago th f Portland Schoo, Dis trict began a systematic e ffo rt to avoid court ac tion by m aking an attem pt to statistically “ bal ance” elem e ntary schools in the B lack c o m m unity. Early C hildhood Education Centers were de veloped— not because they were e d u cationa lly advantageous— but to attem pt to n u m e rica lly desegregate these schools. T o make room fo r the four- and five-year-olds who were bussed across town to attend the centers, the upper grades were removed. These children, and all o f the younger children who could be enticed to jo in them, were scattered across town. There has been no evidence that these ECECs have added any b e n e fit to the n e ig h b o rh o o d children. One w o uld th in k that the pre-kinder garten and all-day kindergarten programs would enhance the educational experience o f these chil dren. But by the tim e they reach the th ir d o r fourth grade— now abandoned by their westside peers— they are now scoring at the bottom o f the educational scale. Yet fo r m any years these pre-K and K p ro grams have absorbed untold resources, time and energy. State disadvantaged money and various federal program money earmarked fo r the eco nom ically disadvantaged has been used to edu cate m iddle and upper class c h ild re n — a ll fo r reaching the m agical f if t y per cent n um be r, a goal th a t was never reached in m ost o f these schools. A t the same tim e older students in the same schools suffer neglect. H o w long w ill the people o f O regon a llo w their money to be wasted in this way? D r. Fen w ic k ’ s proposal to m ove an area o f the H u m boldt district to Beach to alleviate overcrowding not only moves neighborhood children to p ro tect the status o f cross-town transfers, but it pro poses a new ECEC at Beach to offset the in flu x o f B lack students w ith w h ite p re -K and K students. We have no o b je ctio n to EC EC s i f they are H I YA FOLKS, ( J £ I- H £ H . H£W . I ’L l 8 £ T Earlier this month The Oregonian newspaper devoted more than two pages o f its space to a series o f arti cles by H u n tly C o llin s about Jef designed and operated to provide optim um edu ferson H igh School. A ll too often The O re g o n ia n ’ s coverage o f the cational programs fo r children living in econom Black com m u nity is poor and its ica lly depressed areas— o r in any area fo r that editorials concerning same are to the m a tte r. W e d o o b je c t to spending m oney on right o f George Wallace. Given that four- and five-year-olds— who are not even the The Oregonian has only hired two responsibility o f the school district— in the name Black people as permanent employ o f te m p o ra ry desegregation. I f there are va ees in its news department in the last thirty years, H u n tly ’s perspectives cancies at H u m bo ldt ECEC after n ighborhood are not surprising. children enroll, then surely there are children in The paper prom otes her as an nearby lo w -in co m e areas w ho co u ld atte nd. I f award winning education reporter, Beach is to have an EC EC , then w hy not enroll but if you look closely at what she children fro m K enton, A pplegate, P o rtsm o uth writes, you find frequently she is lit tle more than an apologist for the o r o th e r n ea rb y schoo ls— c h ild re n w h o w ill official line o f the folks at the edu eventually attend m iddle school and high school cation service center (pardon me, together? the Robert Blanchard service cen W ith the federal and state governments deter ter), th e ir supporters in the West m ined to cut fu n d in g to e d u cation we can no H ills and the d o w n to w n board- longer a ffo rd to provide child care fo r the rich. rooms. This was evident in her re A ll available funds must be directed to providing porting on the Black United Front’s battle with the school district to stop equal and q u a lity educational program s fo r all the abuse o f o u r child ren in the o f the d istrict’s children. name o f integration. C o llin s* p ate rn alistic a ttitu d e shines through in her articles about Jefferson. In her determ ination to pat the school's p re d o m in a n tly white sta ff on the back, she misses important points about the school. “ Jefferson’s strongest drawing card He came across the earth like a meteorite, ra is its fa c u lty , w idely regarded as diant and g low ing fo r a ll to see. He was super among the most com m itted and man in the flesh, and we believed in him . competent in the state,’ ’ she wrote. “ Jefferson H igh School is a place He stood up to a ll adversaries and won o u r where education is happening,” she hearts. He fought the powers o f war, and made added. us proud. He climbed the highest m ountains and Both statements seem to be con we cheered his ascent a ll the way. He was o u r tradicted by the charts C ollins in hero; our youth. cluded in her article showing that Jefferson students have much lower He prom ised us that he w ould know when to test scores in reading and mathemat stop. He w o uld not be like “ Joe” and “ Sugar ics than the district average. R a y.” W e w o u ld never see h im scratching fo r Collins* article suggests that most coins. o f the credit for the little progress The m eteorite has burned o u t! W e must re the school has made should go to member it as it was— so b rig h t, so radiant and the staff. She gives little credit to the desires and work o f students, par th rillin g . “ C o ol o u t , " great A li, d o n ’ t reignite ticularly Black students. the flame. Let us remember your shining light. She quotes the sta ff complaining that it inherits problem students from the feeder schools in the Jef ferson area. We realize that Black students get a poor education from day one in Portland Public Schools, and the Jefferson staff’ s attitude is consistent with a pattern o f shifting the blame for not p ro vid in g our children with a good education. The To Ali WELL, NOT SO’ THEY WOKE ME UP AT ANYWAY, I WANT TO COM Í TO OUR LITTLE YOU THOUGHT M Y ASSURE THOSE 8 OR IO RECESSION! STA FF DIDN’T BOTHER T OO 8. BI. TO BREAK ORT2 UlILlIONOfYOU TO T i l l ME ABOUT FT, WHO TUENCUS. ARE OUT Of WORK D ID N 'T YO U ? INTHEIilEANTIM F, ION BIORE OF YOU LOSE HELP IS ON THE W AY. TOUR JOBS, OUR ECOH- LOTS AND LOTS OF ' wíuií TEERS ARE GEARING UP TO HELP THE TRULY NEEDY. 2î"iB s,™flT,0N WU BE GREAT. THAT THINGS W ill GET BETTER SOON. SO TR U ST ME. HAVE WHICH (CHUCKLE) RE- faith and your tin C U P W ill ALWAYS RATTLE WITH COINS AND A SACK OF GROC ERIES W i l l BE ON YOUR DOORSTEP WHEN minds mf of the STORY ABOUT THE WELFARE CADILLAC A N D ... YOU NEED IT. Letters to the Editor Finds errors in Zionist statement To the editor: I have just finished reading your front page article o f December 10, 1981, under the headline “ M iddle East: the next world war?” In it, I find the comments o f Lanita A n derson, Editor o f the Portland Jew ish R eview, to be as offensive as they are uninformed. I really hope tha, in the near future a more know ledgeable spokesperson from the Jewish Com m unity will come fo r ward to speak out on this important question. 1. It simply is not true that the Jewish C o m m u n ity supports the w ar-m ongering com ing out o f Washington regarding the State o f Libya and its leader Col. Moammar K a d a fy . In Europe, even govern ments such as France and Germany have spoken out publically against this sabre-rattling. 2. " T h e greatest danger to Israel is N O T "th at the Arab world has gotten its media trip together and their propaganda war is not o ffe n sive to most people.” The greatest danger to Israel is tha, a notorious terrorist named Menachim Begin is the Prime M inister o f the State o f Israel. 3. I, is sad to have to say that La nita Anderson is not correct when she states “ that Israel is the only dem ocratic state in the M id d le East.' Israel is a Theocracy, no, a Democracy. This means that if you are not Jewish, you are denied full p artic ip a tio n in Israeli economic and political affairs. This fact is the basis for the racist charge tha, is so often made against Israel. 4. Among other things, the fact that Israel is a Theocracy, means tha, if a fam ily, with a Jewish hus band but a non-Jewish w ife (w h eth er she a n d /o r the children have converted or not, wants to emi grate to Israel, the mother and their children cannot become citizens be cause Israeli Law states that you must be Jewish and Jewishness passes through the blood o f the mother only. This Law is, o f course, based upon utter nonsense. It apes Hitlerism. 5. F in ally, many o f us saw P LO leader Yassir A ra fa , deliver his speech on television before the United Nations some years ago. We remember what he said regarding the State o f Israel. In that speech, A ra fa t stated that when the Jews and Arabs finally ge, together there will no longer be an Israel, because a new different Nation will be formed that will give recognition to the as pirations o f all the people in that area, Jews and Arabs alike. From the Capitol W -w . by Rep. Ron Wyden W ith 1981 rapidly winding down, it seems a p p ro p ria te to stop and take slock o f where we are. 1981 has no, been an easy year— particularly for Oregonians. •W h ile U .S . em ploym ent has inched upw ard since the firs, o f 1980, Oregon has lost a staggering 70,000 salaried jobs. •M anufacturing employment has dropped at a rate o f some 7.9 per cent— while wages in this sector, tra ditio n ally higher than the national average, have lagged. •T h e housing industry, the back bone o f O re g o n ’ s econom y, is staggering— and is expected t o 1 slump more before it gets better. •T h e inflation rate in Portland is approaching an annual rate o f 13.4 per cent. •N a tio n w id e , the week ending Octoberr I, a total o f 481 businesses wen, bankrupt. Since the beginning o f the year, 12,600 businesses have gone under. A , that rate, more busi nesses will fail in America than any time since 1932. What this shakes down to is this: America is in a recession and some parts o f the n atio n , p a rtic u la rly O reg o n, may be headed for a de pression. I do no, mean to suggest matters are hopeless. Quiet the opposite. I believe we can rebuild an economy we can live w ith — an economy wc can be proud o f. Bu, that will re quire turning around current federal fiscal policy. In 1981, we made some mistakes Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association •W e cu, taxes twice as much as we cut federal spending, and; •W e refused to cut sacred cows such as the defense budget. The result was increased federal budget deficits and increased in fla tio n a ry pressures. W e wound up with a dried ou, economy, a transfer o f wealth to huge corpo ratio ns through the (ax cu, and a shortage o f credit fo r small and m edium - sized businesses. I f we continue along this road, wc risk rising unemployment, growing bankruptcies, continued high inter est rates and renewed inflation. But we don’, have to continue in this vein. W e can do better— if we all work together. R ecrim inations w on’ , save us a dime. N either will excessive p arti sanship. Wc need cooperation, good thinking and hard w ork. W inning should be m ore im p o rtasn , than who wins. The important thing is to commit to fo llo w in g an even-handed, fair course o f action. Wc can’, penalize one sector o f the economy and re ward another without dividing soci ety and crippling our overall ability to solve our problem s. W e simply cannot a ffo rd to drive wedges be tween races, between age groups, between regions, between income groups. In terms o f specific programs to ge, our economy back on track, I believe wc must: I. Cut fed eral spending, with the cuts com ing in areas which have been spared from the budge, knife 50 fat— including military spending, tobacco subsidies and handouts to the synthetic fuel industry. Cuts in these areas will restore an element of equity in budget cuts— and they will realize significant cos, savings. 2. R e to o l the tax cut. Save the portions that tru ly s tim u late in creased p ro d u c tiv ity and reward people who work and save. Bu, let’s delay, or shelve entirely, those sec tions that really am ount to little more than corpo rate w e lfare and backdoor subsidies to huge failing industries. 3. Conserve credit. Between federal borrowing to finance exploding de ficits and capital being swallowed up to pay fo r c orpo rate mergers, there isn’ t much cap ital left for housing, for consumer purchases, for small business expansion. E n couragement— no, b u re a u c ra c y - needs to be given to drive precious cap ital in to those sectors o f the economy that need it to survive. I d o n ’ t pretend tha, these p ro posals will solve all our economic problem s. Bu, they arc based on sound I plus | equals 2 economics— and as such, should begin to move us along the road to economic re covery, both in Oregon and around the country. W ith this kind o f a positive ap proach, wc can look for a better year in 1982— and beyond. We can know tha, once again, our economy is headed up— no, down the drain. 1 MEMBER M9t?AL PER Auoeletlon Elaine A llexander ticle printed on The O re g o n ia n ’ i high school folks say its the elemen Forum page on December 7 was ap tary schools’ fault and the elemen palling even to us who are used to tary school folks say it’s because the such d rivel fro m The O reg o nian . kids come from a “ low socio-eco Again, white folks’ stereotypical at nom ic backg ro u n d .** It is always titudes about Black folks shine Black folks* fau lt instead o f the through in C o llin s* w ritin g . A l school system's; this is commonly though she never m entions Black called blaming the victim. students specifically, she does point Collins devotes a lot o f her space out that they make up about half o f to a fla tte rin g p o rtra it o f L a rry Ayers, the Jefferson principal who the student population, and the arti cle suggests that Black students care graduated from Bob Jones U niver sity in C o lu m b ia , S .C . This is a more about athletics than academics school that argues that its lo n g and that teachers have to play games standing racially discriminatory pol with (hem to learn. icies are o rd ained by G od. The “ Given what it has going for it, school won’t allow single Black men there’s no reason why the School of to attend because old Bob Jones is Champions, a proud school with a paranoid about them chasing after long tradition, shouldn’ t be scoring the precious young w hite co-eds. as well academ ically as it does in Lawd have mercy. Ayers, according competitive athletics,” she writes. to Collins* article, contends that he Among her suggestions for “ posi attended the school for the C hris tive measures” the school might tian “ discipline** it provided. He take to deal with its problems is a says he does not agree with its ra “ public relations campuign for aca cism, yet he counts himself among demic excellence. It would be aimed Bob Jones* friends and puts on an at making the ability to read, write annual banquet fo r the school in and compute as highly valued and Oregon. Collins glosses over the fact rewarded as the ability to play bas that a man who actively supports a ketball.” Collins suggests banners, racist institution has a critical influ contests and pep rallies, “ prom ot ence over the daily lives o f so many ing Jefferson as a school for cham young Black people. Could this be pion students, not just champion one reason why Jefferson expels and athletes." O f course, she also sug suspends such a high percentage o f gests that the school find a “ creative Black students? and charismatic leader— perhaps a Collins also spends a lot o f time Black” to lead the program. talking about Jefferson's magnet D errick B e ll’ s book. Shades o f programs that are designed to a t Brown, cites several predominantly tract white students to the school. Black public schools whose students But nowhere in the scries does she do well academically. Strange, none mention the fact that Black students o f them mentioned using local ver can hardly get into those programs, sions o f the Dallas Cowgirls to im especially the im portant computer prove classroom performance. Our and com m unications program s. children don’ t need this “ Ge, One That is a major issue for Black par for the Gipper” stupidity. However, ents at Jefferson, yet Collins is silent given what has come ou, o f the dis on the subject. trict o ffic e in the past, the folks What is happening at Jefferson is down there p ro b ab ly th in k i t ’ s a what has happened to many so- brilliant idea. called magnet programs across the The problem w ith P o rtla n d country. The best the school has to schools is that they've done too offer is reserved to attract white kids much public relating and no, to a particular building so that white enough teaching. For decades Black administrators can play the numbers educators, currently including M ar- game, trying to convince everyone va Collins in Chicago, have proved that they have a serious c o m m it repeatedly that if you show respect ment to integration. for Black children and their a b il Wc don’, care about the numbers ities, show them you care what hap game. O u r p rio rity w ill always be pens to them and have high expecta getting the best education for Black tions, then they will succeed. It is as students. simple as that. Huntly save the rah, The first articles in Collins’ series rah , rah for the P o rtla n d State were bad enough, but her final ar Vikings. Founded fM S Observer (USPS »68 MOI I . publl.h.<i .vary ur»u»v by Ext« Publishing Company, Inc.. 2201 North Killings worth, Portland, Or«gon »7217, Po«t Office Box 3137 Portland Oregon 97206 Second cWw poalag. paid J” * Th * 10 ° ° P" ,rl COUM* " " ’’ • • » " • • .a r o’ l , ™ ch,n" * ' *° th* Por,,and Observer. P.O. Box 3137 Portland. Oregon 97208. A. Lee Henderson, Editor/Publisher "2B3-24RA National Advartlalng Rapraaantatlva Amalgamated Publlahara. Inc.
