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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 6, 1982)
Page 6 Portland Observer, May 6,1982 METROPOLITAN Linda Ware, Vernon student, shows her mobile to instructor Michael Dente. Talented and gifted show The 2nd annual Talented and G ifted Festival, T A G Fest, w ill be held on Thursday, May 13th, from 4 pm-8 pm, at the School D is tric t’ s education center, 501 N . D ixon (2 blocks north of the Memorial Colis eum). The festival will provide a special opportunity for Talented and Gifted students in the Portland Schools’ T A G program to share their work and talent with fam ily and friends from the community. The T A G Fest w ill include four hours o f displays, presentations and performances. Student-made films will be shown and paintings, draw ings and sculpture exhibited. Stu dents w ill dance, sign, debate and discuss to demonstrate for friends and parents what they have learned this year in their T A G classes. There are 3,000 T A G students in the Portland Public Schools repre senting every Portland school and all grades, kindergarten through high school. T A G students are those students who have been identified as having superior ability in the intel- lectual/academic area or the visual/ perform ing arts. T A G students a t tend special classes, called C h a l lenge classes, during the school year. T A G students have participated this year in over 500 Challenge class es. These classes develop a variety of skills and cover a wide range o f sub ject m atter. Some o f the classes which have been o f special interest to T A G students are Electronics, C reative Problem Solving, L a n guage and C ulture, Computer Pro gram m ing, C reative D ram atics, Science Fiction W riting, Animation, Philosophy, Sculpture and G en etics. Student work from these class es w ill be on display at the T A G Fest. A ll T A G students, their families and friends from the community are invited to attend the T A G Fest. Joe Uris City Council registration opens Registration is now open for the summer camping season at the Port land A rea C ouncil o f C am p Fire, Inc. Camping sessions are available to members and non-members from June through A ugust at C am p F ire ’s two resident camps and five day-camps. Sessions for the resident camps are one week. Transportation to and from the resident camps is provided by bus from the Lloyd Center area. Cam p Namanu is located just out side o f Sandy, Oregon, in the foot hills o f the Cascade M o u n tain s . Program s at N am anu include swimming, hiking, crafts and out door skills. Camp Kwoneesum, the Council’s other resident camp, is just north o f Washougal, Washington. Included in the camp’s 1,800 acres is a large lake for canoeing, swim m ing and the teaching o f sailing. Five day-camps exist in the Port land Metropolitan area, from Camp Adahi in Forest G rove, C am p Lo- wami in Beaverton, Cam p Tolinda in St. Johns, Camp Wekio in South east P ortland to Cam p Nadaka in east M ultn o m ah C ounty. Sessions are eight days, four days each week, for two weeks from 10 am to 3 pm. T ra n s p o rta tio n to and fro m day- camps must be provided. Day-camp registration is open to any girl entering the 2nd grade to the 7th grade, fall o f 1982. Boys en tering 2nd, 3rd or 4th grades, fall o f 1982, may also attend day-camp. Camp Namanu is open to girls en tering 2nd grade through high school, fall o f 1982. Boys entering 2nd grade through 4th grade, fall of 1982, may attend also. Girls entering 8th grade through high school in the fall o f 1982 are welcom at Camp Kwoneesum. For more inform ation or a camp brochure, call the Camp Fire office at 224-7800. Joe Uris supports community police review— my opponent, Mildred Schwab, does not. Joe Uris will work for jobs, greater community power and equal rights for all. Joe Uris—a breath of fresh air in the stale corridors of government. Jo« Uris for City Commissioner Com mit,aa. Richard B S o lo m o n , Trees.; - p.o. box 12881, Portland, OR 97212 A WOMAN'S PLACE A COLLECTIVELY-RUN FEMINIST BOOKSTORE Portland's largest selection o f women's books & records free lending library; inform ation & referral 10-8 M 10-6 T-S 12-4 Sun. 2349 SE Ankeny 236-3609 Juvenile prostitution in Portland by Harris Levon McRae “ I was 13 years old and ran out of drugs and needed more. I supported myself by dating [selling sex] in ho tels. 1 did it for about three years and decided to leave— 1 wasn’t feel ing very good about myself.” Almost every metropolitan com munity in the country has some ju veniles, male and female, involved in prostitution and Portland is no exception. P ortland is also no ex ception when it comes to the failure o f many o f its citizens to recognize the existence o f this exploitation and abuse o f children. There is a demand b; people who like to have sex with children that creates this exploitative business. There exists a mentality which justi fies access to a c h ild ’ s body for cash, and there will always be kids needy enough to satisfy the demand. Usually, the entrance into prosti tution is a gradual process. Most o f ten the key event is when a young person runs away from home and has no other alternative place to stay or legitimate means o f support. Children involved in prostitution run away from home and enter into "the life” for many reasons: lack of parental guidance, family problems like drugs a n d /o r alcohol abuse, lack o f fin an cial assistance from parents— the list goes on and on. “ I ran away from home and I needed some money I met this guy who was a pimp and I hung out for a little while. After about a week he threatened to jump on me. He never did though. 1 got into prostitution because I couldn’t just lay around the streets like some bum.” one girl related. I f the child does not fin d help they w ill often turn to drugs and crime as a way o f life. "Y o u have money going through your fingers, drugs going through your fingers----- I t ’s better than sit ting at home with your parents and dealing w ith all their hassles and problem s,” a 16-year-old form er prostitute said. When a child is alone and scared on the street, the offer o f an adult’s help and advice can easily lead them to th in k that they have fou n d a friend. Adults acting as pimps, cus tomers, and friends frequently ex ploit young prostitutes emotionally and physically. A young prostitute can expect to be beaten, robbed, and raped. " I agreed to date this one guy and we headed o f f to his room . There were five other men there waiting when I got there. They took turns raping m e .. . , ” one girl said, shak ing her head w hile p a in fu lly re calling the incident. Almost 100 teenagers were arrest ed for prostitution in the Portland area last year. The high prostitution involvement areas for juveniles are: 14th and Sandy, Union Avenue, In terstate Avenue, Fourth and Yam h ill (the " c a m p ” or the " w a ll” ), and 8th and E. Burnside. The ma jo rity o f these kids are between 13 and 16 years o f age, with the aver age being 15. N in ety per cent are runaways. A ccording to Janice B a rre tt, counselor for the Options Program, which aids ju v e n ile prostitutes, "M ost o f them have run away from home permanently by age 14 or 15 and most had not gone beyond the 8th grade. You end up w ith a kid who is sexually or physically abused and many times they are dealing with grief over the death o f a loved one. They run away and the way they survive is by snatching purses, turning tricks and theft.” Options is part o f the Multnom ah County Ju venile Court System. Several business owners are com plaining that juvenile prostitution is ruining their business. One person who owns a business near “ the camp” (4th and Yamhill) claims his business has decreased by 30 per cent. His customers are being prop ositioned and vandalized, and even robbed at knife point. Consequently customers are refusing to p atrw ize his business at night. Much o f this activity involves male prostitutes COBI ^>H LO llGCtlO A 1 who p ro b ab ly o u tn u m b er fem ale prostitutes 2 to 1. “ You wanna make some extra money? I can show you how — there’s nothing to it ,” one boy said before getting in a car with a lone man and driving o ff. Customers o f juvenile prostitutes are men who come from all social, econom ic and c u ltu ra l back grounds. They prefer young sex partners, boys or girls— sometimes both. The customer accepts no re sponsibility for the crime he is in volved in— child abuse. “ There are a whole lot o f men who fantasize about having sex with young girls,” Janice Barrett said. The way the law stands now it makes no d ifference whether the prostitute the customer picks up is an adult or m inor, the charge is the same. A customer could be charged w ith T h ird Degree Rape, which is sexual intercourse with a female un der 16, but it is hard to get a convic tion if the female has been involved in prostitution for a while. As for juvenile male prostitution, the majority o f the men involved in it identify with the gay community. Since both the customer and prosti tute are dealing with gay feelings, most teenage male p ro stitu tion takes place in the atmosphere o f the gay male culture. Many times, however, the proce dure for involving a young male in prostitution often included physical and verbal abuse. A juvenile arrested for prostitu tion is charged in the same manner as an adult, except he goes to juven ile court instead o f jail. I f parents can’t provide parenting services, if homes are unsafe, etc., the children are com m itted to the Children’s Services Division (CSD). C SD handles assignments to foster homes. “ CSD is not the answer for most o f these kids. You can’t just take them and throw them into a family situation,” Janice Barrett said. " In some circumstances there is no loving family. Kids get all kinds The Newest Name in Ultimate Face Colors iririjie Northwest Or m .iif ,i u S hi o f messages fro m their fam ilies. Sometimes the family moves and the kids have no idea where they went,” Janice’s co-worker Adrian Navarro added. Pimps and other street people take advantage o f these situations by trying to give the teenagers a glamorous picture o f being a prosti tute. " I like to turn out the young ones because they do what they are told. I treat ’em right— like little queens,” one man said. “ Ages o f pimps are getting a lot lower. W e know 14- or 15-year-old aspiring pimps. Some o f them have experienced the same kind o f back grounds as the prostitutes,” Janice Barrett noted. Most o f the kids involved in pros titu tio n have put themselves up to an awesome task— survival in the streets. M any o f these kids sell sex only when they need money for food or shelter, and then only long enough to raise that money. For the youths that are taken in by the glamour and money prostitu tion is supposed to b rin g , it isn ’ t very long before they realize how hard and unrewarding being a pros titute can be. " I wanted to try something new— it was fun some o f the tim es. I stopped and asked myself, ‘ Is this kind o f fun all I want out o f life?’ So I q u it,” one girl said. W hy is it hard to leave prostitu- ion? “ I did n ’t have anyplace to go to get help.” “ I f you have a pimp, he makes it hard for you to leave.” “ I t ’s the only lifestyle that you know and it is hard to change your friends and places you hang o u t.” Lack o f com m u nity awareness and the " I d o n ’ t care” attitude o f most adults when it comes to chil dren having to sell sex to live, just contributes to the business o f prosti tu tio n . It w ill take much greater public awareness and specialized education in the schools to deter youth from prostitution. Harold Williams The Person, Community Worker, Candidate “Your Best Choice” _____ _ . Believing that “ education is the way.” Harold did not get his education and become contented with his success, instead he investigated I ways to use his accomplishments to help his fellow man and improve the I community, which was the inception o f Portland State University’s first satellite campus. In I968, Harold convinced thcn-President Gregory Wolfe, that given the opportuniy he could, and did develop the fastest- growing most viable community based educational institution in the state. Beginning with a total budget o f $30,000 dollars and a staff of I three, Harold set out to fulfill a commitment to provide an educational I opportunity for all who wanted a second chance at obtaining a formal I education. The Portland State University Education Center opened its I doors with 15 students and four classes in a storefront. One year later enrollment leaped to 550 students, 20 volunteer faculty members (from I the downtown campus o f PSU) and over 22 volunteer tutors both graduates and undergraduates. To make education an affordable dream come true for those in the Albina and surrounding area, Harold set the tuition at SI .00 per person for a year for the high school equivalency courses and $6.00 for three (3) college credit hours. As a community-based educational institution, the Educational Center I was open to all members of the community regardless ol race, color, creed, or origin. In fact the first year’s enrollment was 55% White and 45% Black, ages ranging from I6 lo 4 5 years. By the time Harold resigned in 1973 enrollment had reached 1,500, 22 member staff and over fifteen (15) college courses. Many blacks received their GEDs and began I work on their B.S. degrees, some even went on to complete master’s I degrees and several started Ph D. programs all as a result o f H arold’s I desire to give back to the community some of the support given to him. I In other words Harold always remembers from where he’s come. In 1975 Harold was appointed by Governor Bob Straub as Oregon’s I first Affirm ative Action Director, where in the first year he brought over 350 blacks in state Government in jobs other than secretaries and janitor, and a total o f 650 persons were hired that year. Harold Williams authored Oregon’s first A ffirm ative Action Plan. As a means o f keeping the community abreast o f what was happening in the state regarding Affirm ative Action activities, Harold wrote a weekly column for the Portland Observer “ fro m the Eyes of M r. W .," covering an array o f issues concerning the community SEE NEXT WEEK’S ISSUE— 1 HAROLD WII.I IAMS "YOUR BEST ( HOK | " Paid tor by ,h« C om rralim ,o Elect Harold Williams, Ginger Sharp Treasurer 249 8360 PQ Box 1275, Portland, OH 9 /2 0 7
