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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 18, 1983)
Economic development BMF $ UJ z u. z H Double life Sales tax update Page 9 Page 4 PORTLAND OBSERMER USPS WM»O-«55 • £** M iu lu n i Co. I k IM J Volume XIII, Number 31 May 18, 1983 25C Per Copy ____________________________________ Strachan, MHRC clash--------- In a heated meeting o f the M etro politan H um an Relations C om m is sion Tuesday, C ity Com m issioner M a rg a re t S trach an atte m p ted to ju s tify her a tte m p t to em asculate M H R C by transferring three o f its programs to other bureaus and trim m ing the rem ain in g s ta ff to tw o . The C ity Council returned the dis abled program to M H R C and retained a staff o f three. Commissioner Strachan gave the M H R C comm issioners an “ Open Letter*' explaining her position and stating. " I n fact, I believe we have strengthened our ab ility to provide for effective advocacy and service," and advised that the budget action should b rin g a com prehensive review o f human relations objectives and strategies. S tating that in the tw enty years since M H R C was established the laws and conditions have changed, she advised the Com m ission to re assess their role. She suggested the role be discussed, that M H R C seek a higher p ro file , and th at it seek wider public support. Praising the Commission's recent studies on m u lti-ethn ic train ing o f teachers and on m inority youth un- Jaannins P atrick giva» Damasca» M a n a la a , 3, and Zaw dia Jtnklns. 5, a rida at Immaculata Haart Fastivai. (Photo: Richard J. Brown) Forum discusses MHRC T h e P o rtla n d O bserver and the Ad H o c C itizen » Advocacy C o m m ittee w ill present a co m m u n ity fo ru m on S atu rd ay , M a y 21st, to discuss the M e tro p o lita n H u m a n R elatio n s C o m m is sio n 's recent budget and staff cuts. Commissioner Margaret Strachan, the City Council’s liaison to M H R C , said this action strengthens M H R C . The purpose of the forum is to hear the public's view. M H R C Com m issioners, inclu d ing Chairm an Armando LaGuardia, Vince Deguc, Donny Adair and Sho D o zo n o , w ill give an overview o f M H R C ’ s role and activities and ex p la in the events th ro ug h which M H R C was stripped o f its staff and programs. T h e M H R C budget can be re stored by the City Council any time prior to its final vote on the budget late in June. The M ultnom ah Coun ty D em ocratic C entral C om m ittee was the first to call for a reversal of the budget decision. T h e m eeting w ill be held at the Bonneville Power A d m in istratio n Building, 1002 N E Holladay (small cafeteria) at 10:00 a.m . employment, she said that they did not lobby for actio n . "1 assumed th at was w hat (he C o m m issio n it about, but I see no actio n ." The C om m ission needs to ask itself: who are they; what is th eir ro le; who do they serve; are they advocates? H avin g been advised o f the C o m m issio n's ac tio n on those issues. Commissioner Strachan re sponded, " D o you perceive your role as advocacy? M ay b e I d o n 't have all the in fo rm a tio n on your commission.” The M H R C commissioners d is played no indecision about th eir role. "Y o u come in and act like we don't know what we are doing, we d o n 't know our role, that we have no d ir e c tio n ," A rm o n d o LaGuardia, M H R C chairman, said an g rily . " T h is discussion should have taken place tw o or three months ago, b efo re the budget action," he said. Sho D o zo n o . ch airm an o f the M H R C education com m ittee, said he makes regular reports on his acti vities to the M H R C and C o m m is sioner S lrach an ’ s representative. " W e do advo cate," he said. " P e r- sonally, being a businessman, I have ra th e r lim ite d tim e and 1 w ou ld rather spend time on activities, not lobbying the commissioners. I f you are c o m m itte d , you should fin d us." Sid L ezak said the budget cut " re s u lte d in a change in M H R C w ith o u t adequate discussion or study." There was "n o opportunity to have an adequate d iscu ssio n ." H e added that w ithout such a dis cussion and w ith a background o f personnel problems, the motive for the cuts "w as not entirely based on a reasonable perception o f r o le ." H e is deeply concerned th at the functions o f M H R C cannot be per fo rm e d w e ll. John H e flin denied there is an identity crisis, " W e have a good sense o f what these bodies d o ." He called the discussion o f role a "smokescreen" to cover "emascu la tio n " o f M H R C to solve person nel problems. V ince Deguc said, " Y o u are m ixin g tactics and role . . . W e know our role; the tactics depend on the situ atio n ." Regarding the C o m mission's relationship to the com munity, " I f we, as citizen volunteers are not the c o m m u n ity , w hat the hell are we? It is a m istake to say th at somehow we have become government and we need to gel the community to do something." Prisoners protest F o r the past three days, black prisoners at O reg o n State P en iten tia ry have been protesting prison conditions through silence. T h e men are keeping com plete silence in the c a fe te ria which reportedly is unnerving to the staff, used to a high level o f noise. Blacks now m ake up a p p ro x im a te ly 20 per cent o f the prison p o p u la tio n . T h e protest, a show o f s o lid a rity , is d irected at lack o f blacks in a d m in is tra tiv e p ositio ns, lack o f em plo yem en l o p p o rtu n itie s fo r black inm ates, d is crim in atio n in sanctions in the security unit. They also want access to tape recorders so they can play black music w hich is seldom available on the radio. The attitude o f correction officers w ho are not used to d ealin g w ith blacks in large numbers is another topic o f protest. Namibian official speaks here Sl^te development future cloudy H . A sheeje, N a m ib ia 's D ep u ty Observer to the United Nations, will speak on "N a m ib ia : A Struggle for Freedom and In d e p e n d e n c e " at P o rtlan d State U n iversity F rid a y , M ay 20th. The ta lk , sponsored by the A sso ciatio n o f A fric a n S tu dents, w ill be held at 7:00 p .m . at Cramer H all, Room 53. David G r o ff, Reed College pro fessor, w ill speak on ap arth eid at 1:00 p .m . at 75 L in c o ln H a ll. A series o f films: "N a m ib ia ." "South A fric a Belongs to U s ," and "N u clear F ire” will be shown from 4:0 0p .m . to 7 :0 0 p .m . by Charles Goodmacher Goode wins W . W ilso n G oode strengthened his bid for the position o f M ayor of Philadelphia by defeating ex-Mayor Frank Rizzo in the Democratic pri mary election Tuesday. Goode won more than 53 percent o f the vote to Rizzo's 46 percent. R izzo came under heavy fire d u rin g his term s o f o ffic e , w ith charges o f c o rru p tio n and police brutality. (Please turn lopge 10 col. I ) Oregon’ s legislature is still strug gling after more than five months to deliver on their individual and col lective com m itm ents to economic developm ent. M o re than 50 bills pertaining to economic development have been introduced in this session o f the Legislature. The House of Representatives last week fin a lly m oved fo rw a rd by unanim ously passing one b ill, H B 2002, to create a statew ide C om m unity Development Finance C o rp o ra tio n . The measure is now assigned to the Jo in t Legislative Committee on Trade and Economic Development. H B 2002 and a co m p an ion measure H J R 27 are cu rren tly d e signed to create a "b ro a d ly repre sentative" Board o f Directors o f a C om m unity Developm ent Finance C o rp o ratio n . The board, aided by s ta ff members o f the Oregon Eco nom ic Developm ent D ep a rtm e n t, w ill use several means for lowering costs to local governments o f in fra structure development. Representa tive Ed Leek (D -P o rtla n d ) is the primary House sponsor. I f passed by the Senate in its present fo rm the C D F C p ro g ram will represent the first ever attempt to develop a coordinated infrastruc ture policy for the state. The C D F C w ill advance funds and provide ex pertise fo r the selling o f bonds by local governments to the state. The state, in turn, will "package" several local bond sales together for resale on the bond m a rk e t. Bonds sold w ith the backing o f the state w ill have a higher credit rating and lower interest rates. In short, the state will provide " u p - f r o n t ” costs and re duced interest paym ents fo r local infrastructure development. Projects financed through C D F C "shall only be such as conservative ly appear to the departm ent to be not less than 70 percent se lf-s u p p ortin g and s e lf-liq u id a tin g fro m taxes and o ther revenu es. . . . ” “ Priority o f consideration" for proj ect fin a n c in g " s h a ll be given to p ro jects located in low incom e areas, co m m un ities experiencing economic emergencies and economi cally lagging areas” under the bill as currently written. Public debate in Oregon over the C D F C concept began in 1982 with Laurel Paulson's campaign for the House seat representing District 40 in Eugene. P au lso n, a C itizen s P arty cand idate, suggested that a C D F C be created to provide target- led financial assistance for worker and com m unity-owned businesses. T h e o rig in a l version o f H B 2002 contained specific criteria for target ing infrastructure financing needed fo r sm all firm s or businesses "ow ned by its employees, com m u n ity or members o f a m in o rity group." D eletio n o f specific crite ria for p ro ject fin an cin g is necessary according to Leek aide Bill Thomas, " in order to win acceptance" of the need to create a C D F C board for co ordination o f infrastructure de velopment statewide. Thomas notes that the "most significant thing that the bill does is to create the board" which he termed "broadly represen tative." Mem bership o f the C D F C board shall be appointed by the Governor upon recommendations from asso- (Please turn to page H column 5/ Integrated education an ongoing commitment by Dr. Kenneth Clark Im m e d ia te ly a fte r the historic Brown decision to desegregate pub lic schools in the United Stgtes, we were euphoric. W e were optimistic in believing that is was just a matter o f 10 or 15 years before the Consti tution o f the United States would be ap p lied to a ll A m erican citizens without regard to color. W e saw the tremendous momen tum o f the c iv il rights m ovem ent a fte r B ro w n , w ith the n on vio lent confrontational reaction against the m ore obvious form s o f racism , which it dramatized in the late 1950s and 1960s. W e thought that progress was inevitable, that it was just a matter o f time before segrega tion in schools and other institutions in the U n ite d States w ould fa ll before justice and decency. I t is now very clear to me that A m e ric a n racism is m ore deeply rooted than an im portant decision could deal with. A t present we are confronted with the residues o f backlash, black sepa ratism and what I have called "a n a tte m p t at fu n c tio n a l repeal o f B row n ." We see that it is now fash ionable for neo-conservatives (who might have had a little jolt in the last election, but who are still a force to be reckoned w ith) to say that these were starry-eyed dream s; that not only the civil rights movement and, s p e c ific a lly , the atte m p t to free A m e ric a fro m the shackles o f racism were superficial aspirations o f adolescent liberals, but that all liberal, social programs have to be reevaluated and substantially reject ed. and that the government must withdraw in seeking to help human beings in need. W e have seen the attempt to interpret as a hard-nosed and practical approach to govern m ent the policy and practice o f abandoning, neglecting and exclud ing from the promises o f our society hum an beings who are believed to be powerless and unable to prevent their being rejected. In teresting ly enough, not all o f these casualties are black. In spite of the racist m yo p ia w hich seems to permeate our society, the m ajority of neglected (both economically and educationally) human beings in our democratic society are white. Eco nom ic in ju stice in A m e ric a , I repeat, is not restricted to blacks. T w o -th ird s o f those below the poverty line in this allegedly affluent society are w hite A m ericans. The m ajority o f those receiving welfare subsidies, in c lu d in g fo od stamps and school lunches, have been whites. In the social science brief which a num ber o f us p rep ared fo r the law yers, and su b m itted to the United States Supreme Court as an appendix to the legal b rie f, we de voted a section to the effects of prej udice, discrim ination and segrega tion on white children. This section was alm ost as long as the section w hich we w ro te on the effects o f prejudice, discrimination and segre gation on m in o rity c h ild re n . The court accepted and referred to what we said about the effects on black children, but did not mention this passage: Those children who learn the prejudices o f our society are being taught to gain personal status in an unrealistic and non-adaptive way. When comparing themselves to members of the minority group, they are not required to evaluate themselves in terms o f the more basic standards o f actual personal ability and achievement. The cul ture permits and at times encour ages them to direct their feelings of hostility and aggression against whole groups o f people (he mem bers o f w hich are perceived as w eaker than themselves. They o ften develop patterns o f g uilt feelings, rationalizations and other mechanisms which they must use in an attem p t to p ro tect th e m selves from recognizing the essen tial injustice o f their unrealistic fears and h atred o f m in o rity groups. T he re p o rt indicates fu rth e r that c o n fu s io n , c o n flic t, m oral cynicism and disrespect fo r au thority may arise in the m ajo rity group children as a consequence of being taught the moral, religious and d em o cratic princip les o f brotherhood o f man and the im portance o f justice and fair play by the very same persons and in stitutions who, in their support of ra cial segregation and related practices, seem to be acting in a p reju diced and d is c rim in a to ry m a n n er. Some in d iv id u a ls m ay attempt to resolve this conflict by intensifying their hostility toward the m in ority group. O thers may react to g uilt feelings w hich are not necessarily reflected in more hum ane attitu d e s to w a rd the minority groups. Still others react by developing unwholesome, rigid and u n critical id o liza tio n o f all authority Figures — their parents, strong p o litic a l and econom ic leaders. T h e co u rt did not re fer to th at segment o f our social science brief. I have o fte n w ondered w hy: was it to o d isturbin g fo r them to accept into their consciousness? It came to my mind again a few weeks ago when for the first time I submitted an unsolicited article to the editors o f the editorial page of The N e w Y o rk Tim es. I took the initiative to write a piece in reaction to the Educational Testing Service report on the discrepancy between the average S .A .T . (Scholastic A p ti tude Test) scores o f black students and o f w h ite students. I thought maybe they would send me a rejec tion slip to keep me in my place. But two or three days after they got the article, they told me they would use it. They printed the article without m akin g any changes — except to leave out one paragraph o f the piece I subm itted. The paragraph reads: A n im p o rta n t and most re le vant Finding in this recent College Board report reveals that other minorities in Am erica also suffer from educational deficits, although (Please turn to page 10 column I ) I
