Page 4 Portland Observer, April 15, 1982
EDITORIAL/OPINION
by Manning Marable
"From The Grassroots ”
Solution in the ballot box
The Black United Front and its co-chairman
Ronnie Herndon are being criticized for their
confrontation tactics. The “ responsible citizens
and organizations in the black community” are
condemned because they either support or do
not speak out against the Front’s strategy.
It seems we’ ve heard these words before,
when three years ago Robert Blanchard said
“ responsible” Black people would not support a
call for a school boycott. Blanchard was proved
wrong.
What many of the detractors fail to recognize
is that never in the history o f this country have
black people gained anything without confron
tation. Would The Oregonian's editorial writers
now say that M artin Luther King should not
have walked across the bridge in Selma? Would
they say the students should not have sat-in at
the lunch counters in Georgia? Or that freedom
riders should not have gone to Alabama? Or
that black people, young and old, should not
have faced dogs and fire hoses in Jackson, Mis
sissippi, to demand their freedom?
The BUF demonstrations before the Portland
School Board are part o f the Black movement—
a struggle that has continued for 400 years.
The Oregonian compares the BUF tactics with
those o f the Jackson community, which is at
tempting to secede (with its taxes) from the Dis
trict in protest o f the planned closure o f their
school. This brings up the old dilemma—is it
better to quit or to stay and try to make con
structive changes? Who was righ t—the young
men-who went to Canada to escape the draft,
those who stayed and went to jail, or those who
demonstrated in the streets? Perhaps each was
right in his own way—together, they brought an
end to the war.
Steve Buel is also the butt o f criticism. Buel
refused to participate in a School Board meeting
he considered to be illegal and unethical. Herb
Cawthorne and Joe Rieke felt they should parti
cipate—even though they thought it was illegal—
and Cawthorne took the opportunity to express
his concerns about the meeting. Which position
was right? Is it necessary or useful to castigate
the person who acts according to his conscience?
The real problem is the Schoo, Board. They
have boxed in their new superintendent, sending
him out to settle the problem w ith the black
community but withholding the ability to nego
tiate or compromise. The Board has made its de
cision; it w ill not reconsider; it seems there is
nothing to talk about. The Front’s only recourse
is to attempt to force the Board into a situation
where they w ill ta lk — plus, requests and de
mands have been ignored.
The sad thing is that during the past two years
—while the District was stalling the move to El
iot—theie was no conversation with the repre
sentatives o f the black community on this mat
ter. Perhaps honest discussion could have pre
vented this situation. I f there were valid reasons
—educational, social, economic or physical—
for not using Eliot, if there were valid reasons
why another building would be a better site, rea
sonable people could have found solutions. The
neglect o f Dr. Fenwich and the Board Chairman
to talk with black leaders and parents is another
demonstration o f lack o f respect and considera
tion. It is inexcusable.
The School Board has the power to act; the
black community only has the power to resist. It
is the responsibility o f the Board—beginning
with its chairman, B ill Scott—to take the first
step. O r is this a power struggle designed to
demonstrate that the control by the downtown
business interests lost during the “ new Board”
days has been regained? If Scott is free to act—
let him act.
For the long range the solution is the ballot
box. A strong community, registered, educated
and ready to vote is the best deterrent to the kind
o f decisions the School Board is making fo r
black children.
Frank McNamara, Joe Rieke, and Bill Scott
w ill face the voters next year. The time to pre
pare for their removal is now—the system can be
used to bring about changes that are necessary.
Unite for District 18
The Observer and many community organiza
tions fought hard to get District 18—a district
that has over 50 per cent m inority population.
This district provides a real possibility for a
black to be elected to the Oregon Legislature.
The black community needs a black person to
represent it in Salem.
But now five black candidates have filed.
Some are active, some are not. Some are in
volved in the same organizations and issues,
have the same constituents, are friends.
It is difficult to choose from among these can
didates—they each have their own talents and
interests.
Newspaper
Publishers
Association
1
In the 1960s and 1970s, white
public opinion on crime took a
marked shift towards an authoritar
ian and “ law-and-order" mentality.
Polls commissioned by the Am eri
can Institute o f Public Opinion of
Columbia University, and the N a
tional Opinion Research Center of
the University o f Chicago indicate
that the percentage o f Americans
who were a fra id to walk within a
mile o f their homes at night in
creased from 32 per cent in 1967 to
45 per cent in 1977. In national sur
veys taken in 1965, 57 per cent of all
Americans responded that the U.S.
justice system was not “ dealing
harshly enough with crim in als.”
Since then, that troubled majority
has climbed: 74 per cent in 1972, 85
per cent in 1975, and 90 per cent in
1978.
Various governmental agencies
responded to the anxiety o f the
white middle-to-upper class by in
creasing expenditures for public
safety. Local government spending
for police protection jumped from
S I.8 billion in 1962 to $8.8 billion in
1977. States increased their police
budgets in the fifteen year period
from S285 million to S i.6 billion.
The Federal government followed
suit, raising police protection spend
ing between 1962 and 1977 from
S177 million to $1.4 billion. Pay
ments for police protection between
1952 and 1977 soared 375 per cent,
and annual government expendi
tures for prisons reached $4.6 bil
lion in 1977. U.S. per capita expen
ditures for police protection jumped
from S 2 I.I2 in 1960 to $34.50 in
1970 and $47.98 in 1977. States with
substantial Black urban populations
generally exceeded the national per
capita average. In 1977, Michigan
was spending $54.89; Illin o is.
$58.36; New Jersey, $58.82; C a li
fornia. $65.20; New York. $72.33.
By 1974, cities with large numbers
of Blacks were alloting substantial
per capita sums to expand local po
lice forces: Los Angeles, $60.51;
Baltimore, $64.29; Chicago, $73.38;
St. Louis, $74.11; Philadelphia,
$74.98; Newark, $76.44; D etroit,
But they should not all be running fo r the
same office. They cannot all represent District
18. Some must sacrifice their own ambitions and
desires in the interest o f community representa
tion.
I f District 18 is to be represented by a black
person these candidates must get together,
choose one o f themselves as “ the candidate,”
and work together to get community support for
that candidate.
Only a united effort and a massive voter-regis
tration arid get-out-the-vote campaign w ill en
sure victory.
SORKYj KID. NO mORC
H flN D O U TJ. v v e O O T
GOOD USCS FOR-
T H Í3 m o w e r
Oregon
lacks and crime
Portland Observer
- MTIOMl
The P o rtla n d Observer (U S P S 959-680) is published every
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worth, Portland, Oregon 97217, Post Office Box 3137, Portland,
Oregon 97208 Second class postage paid at Portland, Oregon.
$76.81; New York. $86.61; Wash-
ington, D .C ., $123.60.
The U.S. Right was able to man
ipulate the public’s anxiety by prop
agandizing crime statistics. The
number o f reported violent crimes
climbed from 161,000 in I960 to
487,000 in 1978. The various types
o f violent crime had increased
across the board. The number of
murders per 100,000 population, for
instance, jumped from 5 in 1965 to
10 in 1975. In the same decade, re
ported instances of rape per 100,000
increased from 12 to 26; robbery, 72
to 218; and aggravated assaults, 111
to 227. White male victims of homi
cide increased from 5 to 9 per
100,000. The number o f property
crimes reported to the Federal Bu
reau of Investigation (F B I) had in
creased from 1726 per 100,000 in
1975. C iv il libertarians and civil
rights supporters pointed out fre
quently that (he huge fiscal increases
in the number o f police were not
justified. For instance, the absolute
number of homicides declined 3.5
per cent between 1975 and 1978. In
the same period, robberies dropped
4.4 per cent, and property crimes re
ported to (he FBI declined by 1.3
per cent. In 1980, (he Bureau of the
Census reported that “ the average
annual growth rate was 17 per cent
between 1965 and 1970, but it was
only 5 per cent during the next 5
years, and it actually fell by 4 per
cent between 1975 and 1978. Simi
larly, the rate o f motor vehicle
thefts, which had risen by some 12
per cent per year from 1965 to 1970,
grew by less than I per cent per year
between 1970 and 1975.“ The data
indicates that “ most reported crime
is cither leveling o ff or dim inish
in g ...”
Crime stastistics can always be in
terpreted in different ways, depend
ing obviously upon one’s political
perspective. What neoauthoritari
ans failed to explore accurately was
the factor of race within this unpre
cedented explosion o f lawlessness.
Several observations along the color
line must be made. First and fore
most, is the fact that the percentage
of Black and Hispanic victims of vi
olent crime has always been higher
than for whites. From 1973 to 1978,
white males were victimized by vio
lent crime at rates between 42 to 45
per year per thousand. Hispanic
male victims o f violent crime had
rates during these years between 49
to 54 per thousand. For Black men,
the rate was between 53 to 57 per
thousand. Non white male homicide
rates per 100.000 during the 1970s
were between 60 to 83 annually. In
other words, any Black man in the
U.S. has a 600 to 800per cent likeli
hood o f being murdered than any
white man. Second, Black working
class and poor people, not whites,
are usually the greatest victims of
household crimes. Between 1973
and 1978, Black families earning
$7,500 to $9,999 annual income ex
perienced burglary rates per 1,000
of from 132 to 159 annually. Black
families earning under $3,000 in
these years reported between 129 to
1155 burglaries per year, and 83 to
96 household larcenies per year.
“ Households maintained by Blacks
(are) more likely than white house
holds to have been burglarized,” ac
cording to the Bureau of the Cen
sus? “ The 1978 rates per 1,000
households amounted to 115 (for
Blacks) and 83 (for whites) respect
iv ely.” T h ird , the Black middle
class has a greater chance of being
victimized in most property crimes
than whites of all income groups. In
1975 alone, almost one out of every
ten Black families earning more
than $25,000 annually los» their cars
or motor vehicles to crim inals, a
rate 436 per cent higher than that of
whites o f identical income. The
irony of the newest “ war against
crime” is that white police, politi
cians and law enforcement officers
have been nonchalant, at best, in
aiding and defending Blacks* lives
and property. Indeed, it can be ar
gued that the foundations o f the
modern American police state are
designed specifically to ensure that
the killings, rapes and property
thefts of Blacks continue unabated
—so long as whites remain protect
ed."
Dr. M arable teaches p o litical
economy at C ornell University.
"From the Grassroots" appears in
this paper and in over 135 publica
tions in the U.S. and the United
Kingdom.
A Message From Steve Buel
by Steve Buel,
School Board member
1 wish to dissociate myself from
recent Portland School Board ac
tions concerning the placement of
Tubman Middle School at the Boise
School site. While I am a member of
the Board, I am embarrassed and
dismayed over our recent lack of
sensitivity to the hopes of Black par
ents to obtain quality education for
their children to be treated equitably
and fairly when petitioning their
elected officials and to be accorded
the common courtesy of fu ll discus
sion of issues which integrally affect
their children and their neighbor
hoods. It is this last point which so
glaringly stands out in this decision.
People in a city, county, state, or
country need to be willing to accept
for the time being decisions which
various bodies of government make
contrary to their own opinions. This
is the very basis of a democracy. But
this does not mean that government
officials can callously disregard the
opinions and feelings o f a large
number of people nor refuse to al
low for a real means by which an
opinion contrary to their own can be
adequately heard. Yet, this is pre
cisely the position taken by the Port
land School Board concerning the
issue o f Tubm an M iddle School.
Under the guise of “ we have heard
it all b efo re,” both old and new
members of the Board refuse to ac
cept the suggestion that the School
Board invite leaders from the Black
community to sit down with them
and work through the difficult and
complex problems concerning the
Tubman School site selection. In
stead, (he Board held a hearing, a
hearing where the public speaks to
the Board, and then the Board
speaks to the public, no dialogue,
and where the commitments by
Board members were made outside
of the hearing, and in most cases
prior to the hearing, and where only
vague reasons were given publicly
for each Board member's decision.
Board members thereby having
no constituencies in the Black com
munity, little or no contact or rap
port with Black leaders, and evi
dently little or no concern over the
need for these contacts, made a de
cision affecting the lives o f thou
sands of Black people, a decision
contrary to the position o f every
Black organization petitioning the
Board. Now they ask the city and
particularly Black citizens to accept
this decision and move forward. It is
no wonder that people speak of ra
cism.
Yet this type of decision is a de
veloping pattern with this Board
and in areas where race plays only a
secondary factor. For instance, in
the Jackson school closure issue, the
same Board members voted to close
Jackson High School without even
bothering to notify parents or em-
ployees that the closure was going to
be discussed. Three months later, a
contingent of Jackson parents
approached the Board and asked
that they be allowed time on an
agenda to present new evidence to
the Board concerning the eminent
closure of their school. The Board
refused to allow for such time.
This disturbing trend continues.
Last Saturday, April 10th, members
o f the School Board refused to
make a resolution for actions to deal
with any disruption of the meeting
(Monday night’s Board meeting).
The Board, over strenuous objec
tions by myself and Joe Rieke (Herb
Cawthorne was absent), decided to
act by what can only be described as
administrative fiat and to use a plan
for dealing with demonstrations
which was decided upon outside of
the Board meeting and which has
never been passed by the Board.
Nor would the Board agree to my
suggestion that the Board pinpoint
someone (the chairman preferably)
with the authority to act in the case
of further disruptions.
It is this type of government ac
tion which causes demonstrations,
distrust, and the disillusion o f the
willingness of people to work within
the system. And it is this type of ac
tion which particularly causes one to
wonder if the children o f this city
are getting lost not in the blessings
of a fine education but in the bless
ings of power politics.
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