Page 2 Portland Observer, December 16.1962
Black-on-black crime: Portland's youth
by ¿arris« D uke
One o f the m ott awesome effects
o f black oo black crim e is on our
youth. Ernest C athcart fro m O ive
U t T his D a y , a com m unity-based
adoption o rg an izatio n , says black
ch ild ren are exposed to too much
violence. “ Just look at T .V . There
is so much explo itatio n o f sex and
violence. Kids today can discuss a
movie filled w ith sex and violence
like we used to discuss How dy-Doo-
dy.
“ M a n y people to d a y are angry
and we are relying on violence. This
contributes to black on black crime.
One o f the things that is hurting us
is that we are beginning to see o u r
selves the way that whites sec us. We
have this attitude o f when someone
does me w rong and th a t person is
black then I ’ ve got to k ill that nig
ger. T h e re needs to be m ore o f a
co m m u n ity fee lin g . W e are not
teaching our ch ild re n a sense o f
c o m m u n ity , or a p rid e in o n e’ s
existence or heritage. W e act like we
believe what whites say about black
p eople. W hy we even call one
another ‘nigger.’ "
A report released tw o weeks ago
by the Portland Chapter o f the N a
tio n a l C o u n c il o f Jewish W om en
found that m in ority children were
receiving harsher punishment than
whites. C athcart said this does not
surprise h im . “ T h e system reacts
that way to A fro -A m eric an s, both
children and adults. T h e system is
racist and works a double standard.
You sec that not only in the criminal
justice system but the educational
system as well. As a group o f people
the system does not work in our be
h a lf. T h e c rim in a l ju s tic e system
turns juvenile offenders in to adult
criminals. The problem is that more
o f our people end up behind bars.
From what I ’ ve seen or read prisons
just make good prisoners.**
Cathcart says that the weakening
of our fam ily structure doesn't help
either. “ The extended fam ily is also
weakening. W e may rationalize it by
saying in slavery we were not given
the chance to develop a fam ily. O r
the black m an m ay la y th at the
black w om an w o n ’ t let him be a
man. N o one lets you be a man. You
either are or you are not. The black
Sears
man is very im p o rtan t to our race
and he must take a stand to sec his
importance. Black men o ffer stabil
ity. But, i f you allow the fam ily to
be ru n d ow n you w ill d estroy the
race. W hat black children need are
black adults.“
Janice B arn ett, a ju v en ile coun
sellor, says that peer pressure has a
lot to do w ith juvenile crime. “ You
get a couple o f b ro thers together
and they start ta lk in g ab o ut w hat
they d o n ’ t have; they becom e in
spired to commit crime. They boost
one an o ther up u n til they com m it
the crime. Parents are spcnding,all
their time battling with white folks
on all fronts. They are fighting the
schools, courts and at their jobs. We
are living from day to day. There is
nothing that comes easy fo r black
fo lk s. W e are dealing w ith racism
from left to right. The effects on our
children is slow death.
“ I f you don 't have a community
w ith some kin d o f pride you can’ t
pass that on to your children. They
go to school and learn they were
slaves. They go to the store and it’ s
dirty. How can you feel good about
going to Fred Myers on U nion and
Killingsworth?"
Ms. Barnett says that education in
Portland perpetuates racism which
leads dow n the road to crim e.
“ Look at the kids who get bussed. I
have a little girl on my caseload who
was bussed over to the west side.
She said the reason she got involved
in crime was that all her friends had
d iffe re n t items and things. By the
time her friends were seniors in high
school they had clothes and cars.
She wanted to be in that group o f
kids. The only way she saw was to
steal.
“ In the c rim in a l justice system
you have counsellors who work with
black youth superficially or not at
all. You have black males who have
been through the system a number
o f times. In the end the kid gets the
message th a t it's O .K . to co m m it
crimes. A ll o f a sudden five crimes
dow n the ro ad he hits a little old
lad y in the head and steals her
purse; then he ends up in MacLaren
or Hillcrest.”
She concludes that it is easier lor
black children to enter the crim inal
justice system because they get a r
rested more often because they arc
Mack.
The National Urban League’s re
port, " T h e State o f Black America,
1982,“ says that the median age o f
the black population is 25 years, as
compared to the median age o f the
white population, which is 41. Black
teenagers comprise a larger portion
ot the black p opulation, nationally
as well as locally. This means that
the problems o f today's black teen
agers in the long run w ill affect the
entire black population.
A v e l M a y fie ld , d ire c to r o f the
N .E . Y o uth Service C enter, spells
out the sheer num bers under 18.
“ W ithin 1-5 on the west, Colum bia
Blvd. to the n o rth , 42nd Street to
the East and the B anfield Freeway
to the south lies 70 .2 percent o f
M u ltn o m a h C o u n ty ’ s black 10-18
year-olds. W ith in this service area
black yo u th accounted fo r m ore
than 53.3 percent o f all juvenile jus
tice involvem ent. N o w , when you
look at these numbers you must be
gin to talk about black youth as not
being a risk, but being at risk. The
lives o f black youth are at greater
jeopardy than at any other time in
o ur h is to ry. T h e p ro blem is sys
tem ic , or system atic, racism . W e
must focus on black children's lives
being at risk. We need to make sure
that we are not blaming the victims
for circumstances beyond their con
tro l."
Ms. M ayfield defines the status o f
black youth in Portlan d as a " c r i
sis .” T h e u nem p lo ym en t rate
among black teenagers is 52 percent
in M u ltn o m a h C o u n ty . L ack o f
skills and preparation are among the
reasons why. But still you can't take
fault away fro m the system which
created the problem s that become
the burden for black youth to over
come.”
In terms o f resources that could
be u tilitz e d to chip aw ay at this
problem, Ms. M ayfield says that the
distribution o f funds in inequitable.
“ I f we were to look at the types o f
support that should be in our com
m unity I would have to say that tT
isn't enough. I f I were to look at our
current fu n d in g situ a tio n I w ould
have to say that we are underfund
ed. W e have alw ays been u n d e r
fu n d ed . In this c u rre n t fu n d in g
cycle we are proposing an allocation
fo rm u la — a fo rm u la that w ill take
into account the high rate o f black
youth in ju v e n lile justice in v o lv e
ment. U n til we begin to use an allo
cation formula the funding situation
w ill remain inequitable. There is no
way that this community receives its
share o f the funds to deal w ith its
share o f the problem s."
Rota modal*
As a d u lts , one o f the most im
portant impressions we can leave on
o ur ch ild ren is the im p rin t o f our
lives. T y a A n d erson fro m P o rt
land's H o t Line says " I t ’ s hard for
parents to serve as role models be
cause o f the double standard society
has required for us to act under. We
tell our kids not to lie, yet, when a
bill comes due. our children hear us
lie. O nce I le ft the house w ith no
money and I came back w ith g ro
ceries.
" M a n y parents have fo rg o tte n
ab o u t role m odels. T h e ir only
th o u g h t is s u rv iv a l. A lth o u g h we
can't supply the physical model we
can s till create values w ith in our
c h ild re n . W e must begin to deal
with their m inds."
Eugene P e rk in s , a u th o r o f
"H o m e is a D irty Street; The Social
Oppression of Black C hildren,” de
fines how the image o f a role model
relates to our c h ild re n . “ Persons
who are in the street are those whom
ch ild ren o f the ghetcolony (black
c o m m u n ity ] w ill try to em u la te .
These men and women are products
o f the ghetcolony and as such per
so n ify the values and life styles
which are transferred to the youth
___ The choices given to black chil
dren are often narrowed to self-de
feating and self-destructive models
whose lifestyle only reflect the hope
lessness and powerlessness that ac
companies restricted m o b ility. (In
P o rtla n d our ch ild re n have some
p ositive role m odels lik e R onnie
Herndon and the late Leon Johnson
whose im pact changed the lives o f
many a youth by reaching them at
T h e A lb in a Y o u th O p p o rtu n ity
Waiting for a friand Many young paopla thia ago hava llttla
opportunity and few rola modal* to help tham aaak a productlva Ufa.
(P h oto : R ich ard B ro w n )
School)."
M any children, especially young
men, are blinded by the glitter o f the
street life. Yet, when you compare
the streets o f P o rtlan d to those o f
L .A . and New York what we have in
Portland is a penny-ante manifesta
tion o f what we think the street life
should be. In Portland we have the
so-called hustler w ho hustles his
own m o th e r, and T r i- M e t pim ps
w ho are the firs t to te ll you how
many women they have, or the man
who stands on the co rn er w ith a
handful o f one-dollar bills telling us
how sporting he is. M any youth are
arou n d the streets to hear these
tales But they aren’t getting the full
story. I f they decide to enter the fast
life they will realize the game is not
all fun, and “ cop and blo w " is how
they spend th eir m oney. Iceberg
S lim , an ex-pim p , sums up the ex
periences he had as a pimp; "1 had
spent more than h alf a lifetim e in a
worthless, dangerous profession. I f
I had stayed in school, in eight years
o f study I could have been an M .D .
or an a tto rn e y . N o w here I was,
slick but not smart, in a cell. I was
past forty with counterfeit glory in
my past and no m a rk etab le tr a in
ing, no future. I had been a bigger
sucker than a square m ark. A ll he
loses is scratch. 1 had joined a club
that suckered me behind bars five
times."
Perkins concludes, " T h e black
community needs positive role m od
els that can be felt on the streets and
throughout its total environment. It
needs strong models which can show
black children how to stand proud
and firm and face their oppression
head o n , instead o f tu rn in g th eir
frustration inward and against their
fellow blacks."
(Continued next week)
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