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.
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