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Page 11
PORTLAND OBSERVER
Volume XIII, Number 27
April 20, 1983
25C Per Copy
Two Sections
C £»w Puhluluitt Co , 19» I
USPS 959-680-855
House defeats South Africa divestment bill
" T h e sheep an d the cows are
out here while the asses are in
side. " was a comment overheard
in the S tate C a p ito l B u ild in g
M onday as a fa m ily o f sheep and
a couple o f calves visited the
S la te L eg is la tu re, c o n fin e d to
their stall outside the doors o f the
House o f Representatives. Inside,
the House members debated dis-
vestment.
State Representative Jim H ill. (D -
Albina Branch Library, ona of tha Multnomah U-
brary Association system, provldas a varied pro-
gram for chlldran In addition to book clrculatio*
Please see story on page 3. (Photo: Richard Brown)
Strachan dismantles MHRC
C o n flict over the city funding o f
the M etropolitan Hum an Relations
C o m m issio n co n tin u ed a fte r the
Tuesday hearing on the budget, but
those responsible for those cuts were
exposed.
T h e proposed tra n s fe r o f three
program s o perated by M H R C to
C ity agencies were not budget deci
sions but were recommendations o f
the Commissioner who serves as li
aison w ith M H R C , M a rg a re t
Strach an . T h e reco m m en datio n s.
M a y o r Iv a n c ie em ph asized , w ere
not to save dollars but were C o m
missioner Strachan's recommenda
tions for reorganization.
The M H R C . established in 1969.
is an independent commission fund
ed and ap pointed by the C ity and
M u ltn om ah C ounty. The C om m is
sion sets its own policies and hires its
executive d ire c to r w h o , in tu rn ,
hires additional staff.
C o m m issio ner S tra c h a n . w ho
p revio u sly had denied her ro le in
recom m ending that the three p ro
grams be transferred and three posi
tions be deleted, said she supported
the changes and fe lt they w ou ld
strengthen the Commission. Stating
that all cuts in social services and
civil rights are em otio nal, she told
the audience that she hoped "w e can
listen in a reasonable fashion.’ *
She explained that M H R C would
be strengthened through removing
its programs so it can concentrate
on advocacy. ‘ ‘ W e d o n ’ t w ant the
ta il wagging the d o g ," she said.
" W e want to concentrate on advo
cacy."
She defended the proposal to put
the F a ir H o u sing p o s itio n in the
Housing Policy Council to strength
en the work o f the office. Earlier in
put in policy w ould save need for
advocacy later, she explained.
Commissioner Jordan disagreed.
He argued that the compliance per
son's function should not be under
the director o f housing. Compliance
should be from the outside so it can
not be in flu en ced by the agency.
Comm issioner Lindberg suggested
that input into policy could still be
obtained even if the person were in
MHRC.
Reverend Jim H u le tt, chairm an
o f the M H R C Housing Com m ittee,
said the C o m m itte e is made up o f
volunteers and now is free o f politi
cal pressure. A side issue, he said, is
that h alf o f the position is funded by
the County and cannot go to a City
bureau,
C ity H a ll regulars say the O ffic e
o f Budget and Management recom
mended th at the H o u sin g P o licy
C o u n c il, which was established by
C om m issioner S trach an 's reco m
mendation and which is her bureau,
be eliminated since it is a small bu
reau in charge o f coordinating other
pro gram s. M H R C com m ission
members wonder if the transfer o f
their Fair Housing program is an ef
fo rt to save the H o u sing P o licy
Council.
Lob Pike o f the C ity/C o u n ty A d
visory C o m m ittee on the Disabled
said it is essential that the disability
p ro g ram — which is advocacy— re
m ain independent o f the C ity
bureaus. An office in a city bureau
would not have the ab ility to make
the C ity and the C o u n ty adhere to
moral and legal access requirements
than an independent com m ission
does. In a d d itio n to the proposed
transfer to the Bureau o f H u m an
Resources, the p ro g ram was cut
from one full-tim e person to one */«-
time person.
M H R C Comissioner Vince Degue
said the M H R C developed the
mediation project four years ago in
response to num erous calls fro m
other City Bureaus referring conflict
situ ation s. T h e program s was de
veloped to fill a role not filled else
where. The program has saved pub
lic and court time and money, and
resolved disputes with attention to
(Please turn to page 5 column 4)
Salem), the only black in the House
o f Representatives, choked back
tears as he implored his peers to vote
for House Bill 2772, the South A fr i
ca divestm ent b ill. T h e m u tterin g
and s h u fflin g on the House flo o r
came to an instant halt and a dead
silence dropped over the members as
Rep. H ill rose to his feet:
" I think the outcome o f this bill is
p re d e s tin e d ," he said. " H a v in g
grown up in the South where there
arc clearly two standards o f justice,
— I should say there w ere, w e’ re
m aking a great deal o f p ro g re s s -
one for blacks and one for whiles,
i t ’ s very d iffic u lt to describe what
it ’ s like to be told that you are less
o f a person and somehow less free
simply because o f the color o f your
slrtn.
"Just let me say it’s a very painful
experience that goes right to (he f i
ber o f your being. The greatness o f
this country is the hope that it gives
— not only for the people that live
here, but for the w o rld — that there
is such a thing as freed om . A n d I
ask, in te rn atio n ally, is there going
REP J IM H ILL
to be a dou b le standard? A re the
rights o f the people o f El Salvador,
o f A fg h a n is ta n , m ore im p o rta n t
than the people o f South A frica, or
is it just a question o f skin color?
" I subm it th at in this m odern
world there i« - -Ahing closer to slav
ery than
situation that exists in
South A fric a and w hat (he b ill
boils down to is simply a ju s tific a
tion. It simply says that before you
make investments in South A fric a
that you justify that you could not
make better investments.
" A n d if you weigh that against
the pain and the suffering that is be
ing experienced by these people, in
an in s titu tio n a l w ay , I th in k you
would come down on the side o f this
bill. It's a rare opportunity. F ran k
ly, one o f the reasons I'm here, is to
have some say on issues like this.
W e have an in ju stice. W'e can do
something about it. And we can do
something about it without harming
that fu n d ."
Could the obvious sentiment the
members felt toward Rep. H ill as he
revealed his s u ffe rin g to them be
translated in to a positive vote? It
was not to be.
The b ill had come to the House
floo r w ithout the m a jo rity vote to
carry it so, after some debate, the
D em ocrats a tte m p ted to send it
back to the Hum an Resource Com
mittee.
Rep. Shirley G old (D Po rtlan d),
chairman o f that committee, had a l
ready made the m o tio n to refer
when H ill rose to speak. The proce
dures necessary to clear the motion
to refer and bring a vote on the bill
gave tim e fo r the members to put
aside sentiment and return to their
reality.
T h e b ill in q uestion is one o f a
pair introd u ced this session. This
bill, sponsored by Rep. Ed I cck (D
Portland) and others, states that no
investm ents are to be made a fte r
January I , 1984, in companies that
em ploy more than 50 people, p ro
duce net earnings o f $ 5 0 0 ,0 0 0 or
more, or invest $2 m illio n or more
in South A fric a . The b ill docs not
include banks and allows the Stale
to make such investments if it can
show it has no belter or equal o p
tions.
Another bill. H B 2028, would re
(Please turn to p age 2 colum n /)
ONA cuts spark citizen protest
by C. Eddie Edmondson
C om m issioner Iv a n c ie wants
neighborhood associations to be
as unregulated as possible; there
fo r e O N A (O ffic e o f N e ig h b o r
h oo d A sso ciatio ns) sh o u ld be
abolished except p ossibly f o r a
minim al liaison between the asso
ciations and the city.
(E x c e rp t fro m an in te rv ie w w ith
now Portland M ayor Frank Ivancie
in N o v ., 1975, responding to a
League o f W om en Voters study in
Portland on city funding for neigh
borhood associations.)
Portland M ayor Frank Ivancie's
o ffic e was pushed to the b rink o f
verbal surrender last F riday, A p ril
15, within days following release of
his proposed 1983-84 budget, revi
sions designed to cover an a n tic i
pated $5 million revenue shortfall in
the city's coming fiscal year.
Neighborhood Association leaders
and supporters gathered Friday at
the Northeast Neighborhood office
at King N eig h bo rh o od F a c ility to
publicly express the fact they were
incensed at Ivan cie's proposed 34
percent cut in O N A ’ s o p eratin g
bud g et. T h e e ffe c t o f the cuts,
moreover, would mean a 46 percent
reduction in O N A ’s five neighbor
hood outreach offices* budgets.
T h e tw o s ta ff positions in (he
Northeast o ffic e would have to be
reduced to half-tim e or the staff re
duced to one, according to coordin
ator Edna Robertson. In addition,
O N A 'a s crime prevention represen
tatives who work out o f these area
neighborhood offices, would face
budget cuts o f 31 percent. C rim e
p rev en tio n representatives w ork
with neighborhood groups and asso
ciations in developing ways for peo
ple to protect their homes and each
other. A recently released study in
crim e in the city is a ttrib u ta b le in
part to the co o perative e ffo rts o f
police, community crime prevention
specialists, and the judicial process.
" W e 'v e been h earing fro m
fo lk s ," T im G allagher in the M a y
or's office said last Thursday before
O N A supporters met the press to
criticize the M ayor. Gallagher is an
economist and special assistant to
Ivancie, responsible for preparation
of the mayor's budget.
" I d o n ’ t want to say how badly
we screwed it u p ,” he went on.
" W h a t is proposed in the budget
will not come out the d o o r.”
T h e visit to the M a y o r 's o ffic e
was part o f an o verall strategy by
neighborhood representatives to let
C ity elected officials know that the
mayor's revision o f O N A 's budget
would destroy the viability of neigh
borhood associations as initial com
m unity links between city residents
and city officials who provide essen-
dicates that a 5 per cent reduction in
iPtease turn to Section I I Page J)
Coleman Young's view: What Chicago did—and did not—do
bv Frank Viviano,
D E T R O I T — C o lem an Y o un g is
not inclined to believe that a new era
fo r black p o litic s in A m e ric a has
dawned with H aro ld W ashington's
victory in Chicago.
Ironically, when Chicagoans went
to the polls on A p ril 12, m any o f
them had this city and its mayor on
their minds. For fearfu l w hite vo t
ers, D e tro it has long sig n ified a
community "taken over” by blacks,
a precedent that almost certainly in
fluenced their support for Republi
can Bernard E p to n . F o r b lacks,
however, D e tro it was an inspiring
m odel— a place where black voters
had already acquired the urban poli
tical power sought by Washington.
Young has been D etro it's mayor
for nine years now, the first black to
gain that post; and despite sizeable
economic and political odds, he re
mains one o f the strongest m unici
pal leaders in the United States to
d ay. H e has his ow n conclusions
about what the Chicago election did
— and did not— mean.
W h a t W ash in g to n 's victo ry did
not amount to, he argues, is a signi
fican t change in p o ll-b o o th beha
vior: The black electorate is still on
its own.
Says Young: " T h e n atu re o f
white attitudes toward black candi
dates has been the same fo r a very
long tim e. There is enough liberal
feeling to goad people into salving
their consciences by supporting a
black fo r an im p o rta n t post — fo r
commissioner o f education, for sec
retary o f state, sometimes for m ay
or. But not for the top post. That's
why I was one o f those who doubled
th at (L o s Angeles m a y o r| Tom
Bradley would be elected governor
o f C alifornia.
" W ith the exception of Bradley in
a city where the mayor is essentially
a figurehead, all o f the black may
ors to d a y — H a ro ld W a s h in g to n ,
A n d y Yo un g in A tla n ta , m yself,
Richard Hatcher in G ary, you name
th e m — were elected in cities w ith
near-majorities o f black voters," he
continues. " T h e fact o f the matter is
that when black candidates win, it is
almost always from a district where
there is at least a n e a r-m a jo rity o f
blacks. It is a simple political axiom
and it still holds to d a y."
T h e question all alo ng in Chi
cago, according to Young, was whe
ther or not the city’s 40 percent pro
p o rtio n o f black voters w ould be
enough. And in fac t, those voters
accounted for an estim ated three-
fourths o f Washington's total, while
white ethnics in usually Democratic
districts cast their ballots as much as
six-to-one in favor o f Epton.
Nevertheless, the Detroit mayor is
convinced that Chicago's unprece
dented black vo ter tu rn o u t did
prove an im portant point: " W h e n
the chances are real, as they seemed
to be in Chicago, people work for a
candidate and show up at the polls.
T h e key fo r the grassroots is that
element o f promise. The kind o f en
thusiasm that we saw among blacks
in C h icag o w ill increase and w in
even bigger battles— but only when
the prospects are real. Nobody turns
out in great numbers fo r a phony
chance.”
W h a t can a black m ayor do fo r
1
*
•
. r
***•'.■*
AV
those who put him in office? When
Young himself took charge in 1974,
D etro it was reeling from racial an
tagonism and vio lent crim e. L ike
C h ic a g o , it had also long been a
deeply segregated com m unity, with
black in h a b itin g an in n e r-u rb a n
core surrounded by nearly all-white
neighborhoods.
Y o u n g set out on an am b itio u s
program designed to cool tensions
as white flight and the rise o f a new
black middle class finally put an end
to that longstanding segregation. To
an extend once unim aginable here,
he succeeded. Nine years later, D e
troit has emerged as one o f the na
tion's most peacefully and fully in
tegrated cities. Indeed, the improve
ment is so d ram atic that even the
Justice D epartm ent o f the Reagan
a d m in is tra tio n — no su p po rter o f
lib e ra l, fo rm e r D e m o cratic P arty
vice-chairm an C o lem a n Y o u n g —
was forced to adm it (his year that
his crime-fighting program is the na
tion's most successful.
In Young's view, the key to such
achievements is giving more people
reason to believe that they have a
stake in their city— developing some
sense that the prospects for change
are real
"T h is will be W ashington's ch al
le n g e ," says Y o u n g , " a n d he w ill
have to meet it by com ing to grips
with an ingrained, overw helm ingly
white bureaucracy. W hen you arrive
in power in a city that is h alf black,
but where 95 percent o f the m unici
pal ap p o in tm e n ts are held by
w hites, you have to deal ra d ic a lly
with the situation. In the beginning,
(Please turn to page 5 column 4)
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