Page 2 Portland Observer, April 8,1982
METROPOLITAN
O u r Street B eal question this
week is, “ W hat does Easter mean to
you?"
Isid ro Sanchez— “ G ood things
for the kids.”
J e f f D e C lu e — “ New life and
form s."
Shana Nelson— “ It means when
the Easter Bunny comes.”
Tha Black United Front pickets the Irvington
home of School Board member Dean Gisvold to
demonstrate opposition to Gisvold's actions on
the School Board. It was Gisvold who, with a sec
ond new member Charlotte Beeman, overturned
an earlier decision and closed Adams High School.
He also made the motion to piece Tubman Middle
School at Boise in spite of an earlier Board deci
sion to put the school at Eliot.
(Photo by Richard J. Brown)
BUF plans school boycott
The Black United Front has called
a school boycott for April 19th. The
boycott is to oppose the siting o f
Tubman middle school in the Boise
building, a decision that not only
breaks the agreement to place the
school at E lio t, but w ill elim inate
the community’s only remaining K-
8 school.
In calling for the one-day boycott
the Front charged that the decision
was “ a betrayal o f the Black com
munity and a blatant disregard for
promises made only two years ago.”
Other “ broken promises” to be
addressed by the boycott are:
1) C u rric u lu m : In August o f
1979, the School Board promised
meaningful changes in curriculum.
The BUF states that “ no real change
has taken place.”
2) H ir e m ore B lack s ta ff: The
B U F indicates that there has been
no real increase in Black personnel.
3) Teacher training: The Board
prom ised that teachers would re
ceive training that would better pre
pare them to teach Black children.
“ The training which has been done
is to ta lly inadequate and teachers
are not better prepared to deal with
our children----- ”
4) U n fair discipline: “ Black chil
dren today still receive a dispropor
tionate number o f suspensions and
expulsions. There has been no im
provement.”
5) E a rly C h ild h o o d E ducation:
The Board promised greater access
o f Black child ren to pre-school
programs. “ But today 46 per cent o f
the E lio t E a rly C h ild h o od Educa
tion program is made up o f white
children that don’t live in our com
munity. Was this why the white ma
jority on the Board decided to dislo
cate our Boise students and leave
untouched the Eliot program?”
6) School closures: “ The Board
promised not to close Adams when
it closed W ashing to n /M o n ro e be
cause both schools had high num
bers o f Black students.” N ow
Adams is closed.
7) A Black Superintendent: “ The
School Board has hired a new Black
Superintendent. Do they think that
is enough? The B U F and the Black
community want quality education
for our children. W ill the m ajority
white board allow the new superin
tendent to im prove education fo r
Black children or try to use him as a
shield for their racist decisions? We
are w illin g to give D r. Prophet a
chance, but we will not accept a de
cision that scatters and dislocates
Black students at Boise and other
neighborhood schools for the bene
fit o f rich white families across the
river.
Portland Public School student^
are asked to stay home on A p ril
19th to demonstrate opposition to
the breaking o f these and other
promises and to the members o f the
Board who show little concern or re
spect fo r the desires o f the Black
community for its children.
Pimping: control of body and mind
Part V
by Harris Levon McRae
“ A ll I worry about is getting that
mind. Once 1 get the mind, the body
can’t be too far behind. When you
turn a chick out you have to put in
her mind what you want to be there
— otherwise her m orals, or w h at
ever, can complicate things.”
The above statement was made by
a man making a living o ff o f prosti
tution— a pimp. He pretty well sums
up how pimps go about breaking
women into prostitution.
A ccording to C ap tain T o b in ,
head o f the Drug and Vice Division
o f the Portland Police Department,
close to 100 juveniles were arrested
fo r p ro stitu tio n last year. This
num ber is a small fractio n o f the
young girls out on the streets for
pimps to prey upon.
Pim ping is a well-planned strat
egy. It usually involves recruiting
women in to p ro stitu tion by any
means possible— lying, cunning and
sometimes physical force. The main
objective o f the pimp, however, is to
keep a woman in prostitution after
he gets her started in it or “ turns her
o u t.”
“ A ll the money I make now is for
me, but when I first got started on
the streets I had a man. At the time 1
did it because I liked him a lot and
he made me feel like I was some
body. He told me that he was in
trouble and needed the money bad,
and that i f I really loved him I
w ould do i t , ” one woman ex
plained.
Pimps know all the tricks and
how to use them to their best ad
vantage. The young females that
pimps try to recruit are likely to be
naive, lonely and angry at their par
ents or at the husbands they just
le ft. They will probably have little
or no money and no job skills, and
no place to sleep.
“ This guy I know runs the
smoothest game in town. He has a
big house and he is more than glad
to put women up and be nice to
th em — women that have been
beaten and have left their husbands,
young girls on the run from home,
anyone. When you ask him if there
is anything you can do to help out
w ith the bills, he then hits you up
with the idea o f hoing {w horing!,”
one woman said.
Pimps are generally kind and un
derstanding until they have won the
trust o f the woman they are recruit
ing. This kind o f seasoning is done
to make the victim feel dependent
and indebted to the pimp.
As they set up and run their game
to con women in to p ro s titu tio n ,
pimps come up w ith an endless
number o f “ lines.” I asked several
women what kind o f conversation
pimps usually have for them. Some
o f the standard lines are: “ I f you
love me, you’ll do anything for me.
I need some fast money and I know
this old dude that would pay a lot o f
cash for a fine body like yours. Just
this one time baby— I promise.”
“ I ’ve got a lot o f money tied up in
business deals, but as soon as I get
straight I ’m going to put you in the
finest clothes and drive you around
in a brand new C a d illa c . AU you
have to do is help me make it until
my money is right.”
“ Y o u ’ll be my main woman. I ’ll
tu rn you out on the street and
school you on how to keep both our
pockets fu ll.”
"Y o u are going to be a star. I ’m a
businessman and we could be part
ners. That’s a nice dress you have on
but imagine yourself wearing silk
and satin.”
Along with his "sales pitch,” the
pimp will offer to buy the woman a
meal or a drink and later, a place to
spend the night. She hears com pli
ments she hasn’t heard in ages and
for many women it is this attention
and apparent a ffe c tio n that wins
them over.
“ You have to tell them the things
that make them feel glamorous and
sexy. A lot o f these girls don’t really
know how to be a woman— so I take
time to teach them,” one man, who
has two prostitutes on the streets,
explained.
The pim p is seen as the person
who acts as the prostitute’s protect
or. He puts her in a house or on the
street, tells her how much money
she should be making, takes most or
all o f the money, and is supposed to
get her out o f jail if she is arrested.
When they think o f a pimp, many
people thin k o f the flashy Black
street hustler that they see on televi
sion and in movies, but this stereo
type doesn’ t take in to considera
tion massage parlors and houses o f
p ro s titu tio n , which allo w w hite
pimps to operate less visibly.
One pimp said, " A massage par
lo r is the easiest business in the
world to start. 1 came to Portland
with hardly any money at all. A ll I
did was rent a cheap place to set up
business and the rest was easy mon
ey.”
Convincing their prostitutes and
the rest o f society that they are the
prostute’s protectors is another one
o f the pim ps’ con games. In most
situations it is impossible to protect
prostitutes from violent customers.
“ One time I got in this John’s car
and he pulled a gun on me after the
car was moving— I freaked. I went
crazy kicking and claw ing and
screaming. That was the scaredest I
have been in my life ,” one woman
related.
Some women think that they can
try prostitution and leave it when
ever they want to. This is not always
the case.
“ I had to run to get out o f hoing
back east. Once I started hoing, my
man wasn’t going to let me stop it.
I f my money wasn’t right he would
beat me. I left when he hit me in the
face with a piece o f wood and broke
my nose,” one woman told me.
“ For teenagers and the new girls,
prostitution is a lot o f excitement. It
is for many the only thing that they
feel they can do— most o f them are
not very self-confident,” said Cap
tain Tobin. Knowing how to exploit
this lack o f self-confidence in some
women and girls is what keeps the
pimp in business.
4
John Lom ax— “ When everybody
has fun and new clothes.”
C hristi Law rence— “ When Spring
comes— and I get lots o f candy."
Cara Wright— “ When everybody
gets Easter Baskets.”
by Harris Lavon McRae and
and Richard Brown
Richard and Debra have
moved to the BOB SHOP
Why?
A place for professional hair care
For professional people
BY professionals
RICHARD KILLEN
10 years experience
DEBRA WOODS
12 years experience
BOB SHOP
w e specialize in perms, cuts an
BOB SHOP colors for all types of hair.
Evenings by appointment
BOB SHOP
BOB SHOP
BOB SHOP
1126 S.W. Morrison
BOB SHOP
IOBSHOP
226-2886