Psg* 4 Section I Portland Observer, July 20, 1963
Montgomery Ward
METROPOLITAN
The Beauty Salon
s40 relaxer
on sale for s2 5
Council acts to jail prostitutes
by N athaniel Scott
City Commissioner Margaret Stra
chan, “ The problem it, there have
been no [alternative) programs.“
She will be working closely with
County Commissioner Gladys M c
Coy, who is designing such a pro
gram, which it planned to be imple
mented within the next 60 to 90
days.
Strachan maintains that the "best
way” to deal with prostitution is to
intervene at the onset. Her concerns
are pimps and other factors which
lead to prostitution as a way o f life.
The great prostitution debate,
Wednesday of last week, was hot
and heavy. Citizens from through
out the M etropolitan area came to
testify for or against the ordinances.
Some said the ordinances would
impose hardships on prostitutes, ul
timately causing ihem to commit se
rious crimes.
The allegation surfaced that the
ordinances would be discriminatory
“ I ’m to pitted o ff. You guys have
told us down the rive r," yelled out
Jan M i h a r t , Wednesday, July 13.
when the C i(y Council unanimously
patted (hree ordinances designed to
remedy (he city's prostitution prob
lem.
Effective immediately, (he ordi
nance! carry a minimum $300 fine
or divertion into an alternative pro
gram for (he f ln t prostitution con
viction, and a minimum $300 fine
and a »even-day jail sentence for the
second offense, with each subse
quent conviction carrying minimum
fines of $500 and a 30-day ja il sen
(ence. The fine details have yet to be
worked out, but the ordinances ap
ply to both the prostitute and the
john.
Some discussion arose about
equal rights regarding alternative
programs for johns. According to
predominately, the prosti
tutes are women o f "c o lo r.”
Statistics were introduced, claim
ing that SO percent o f the prostitutes
and 80 percent of the johns were not
from Portland.
Nevertheless, most o f those who
testified were concerned about alter
native programs, especially for teen
age prostitutes.
Edna M . Robertson, Northeast
neighborhood coordinator, said,
“ It [the ordinances) takes a burden
o ff the neighborhoods." She added
that the still favors legalizing prosti
tution, "providing it can be worked
o u t.”
Sharron
M cCorm ack,
North
Portland’s crime coordinator, said,
“ I support the idea o f stronger ac
tion .” She added, by way o f circum
venting racial allegations, “ T o d i
vide by racial lines does not attack
the problem .”
17-year-old Shannon McCormack
Cleaver stumps for Reaganomics
G R A S S R O O T S N EW S. N . W. —
Eldridge Cleaver, a man who has
lived a life o f many extremes, de
frosted his current ideology in front
o f an audience o f sixty peopk last
Friday night at the Northwest Ser
vice Center. His visit was sponsored
by the Unification Church o f Port
land, whose members are referred to
by the mass media as "M o o n ie s ."
Cleaver is best known as the fo r
mer Minister o f Inform ation for
The Black Panther Party o f (he
1960s and the author o f Soul On
Ice. In 1968 he was exiled from the
United States and lived in various
communist and socialist countries.
He stated that he became sadly disil
lusioned with the Marxist-Leninist
ideology and says he is on “ a
crusade to wake up America to the
worldwide threat o f International
Com m unism ."
In his opening statements Cleaver
said that, in practice, communism
was not what he expected. “ I did
not find communism to be a Utopia.
It is a false Robin Hood that talks in
the name of the poor but never dis
tributes the wealth. The State is nar
rowly held and economically sti
fle d ."
He has replaced the black beret
and leather jacket worn by the Black
Panthers with the casual dress o f a
lecturer with an American flag on
his lapel. “ I've had a chance to ex
amine different political systems,
and this one is the best. We need to
make a distinction between the
economic system and (he political
system. Many w ill look at the prob
lems in the economic system to criti
cize our political system.”
Cleaver says he believes what is
occurring in Central America is a
well-organized international appa
ratus controlled by the communists.
"T h e peace advocates are playing
into the hands o f the communists."
He made many references to
wanting to confront communism by
“ using America's military might,
the C IA or FB I. W e need to assert
ourselves in the world as standing
for freedom and not allowing other
countries to come under the com
munist's yoke. W e should interfere
totally with more radical actions
and throw communism in (he gar
bage can o f history."
During the question and answer
period, Cleaver responded to a
question regarding what he per
ceived to be the situation in El Sal
vador: “ The people o f El Salvador
may not be learned in the M arxist-
Leninist doctrine but they are learned
in "fo xh o le" communism. This is
communism that is not in power but
is in the foxholes. It makes common
cause with the people by helping
them overthrow the tyrants. This is
what we have in El Salvador. The
other kind o f communism is
“ boardroom” communism, which
has the power and its tooth on the
necks o f (he people. This is what we
have in Poland, Cuba and the Soviet
U n io n ."
In an interview that followed.
Cleaver stated his support for the
economic policies o f the Reagan ad
ministration. “ His economic poli
cies are certainly unfulfilled. The
basic principle o f returning the gov
ernment to the state and local level
is one that I like. Along with bring
ing the federal budget under con
tro l."
He also says he believes Ronald
Reagan to be the best thing that ever
happened to black people, economi
cally. “ I didn't like the way black
people were plugged into the econo
my with all these welfare programs.
It is insecure. I want to see black
people plugged in in the way other
people are plugged in, through jobs
and salaries like other people. As
The English of the 15th to 17th centuries believed
that the color red was helpful to the sick. Patients
were dressed in red nightgowns and surrounded with
red objects.
•
The construction of Stonehenge required an esti
mated 1.5 million hours of labor.
•
The longest national anthem is that of Greece. It
contains 156 verses.
•
A kernel of corn must be heated to 400°F. before it
will "pop."
Wa d o jo N o business with South Africa
American State
B
I I I
>
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1 | |
a n k
AN INOEPCNOENT BANK
Head Office
2737 N E Union
Portend, 0'egon 97212
Take charge ol your h a u 1 The lovely
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w ith the aid ol our eflective
relaxing treatm ent Styling included
Haircut and s ty lin g Included
Tinted or long hau slightly higher
said, " I t concerns me that we can no
longer walk to the bus stop (without
being accosted). It doesn't matter
what we wear; we are no longer safe
Advertised price good
thru Aug 20. 1983
[from solicitation).“
A t one point, Commissioner
Charles Jordan questioned whether
or not a seven-day jail sentence
would seriously deter prostitution.
But, in (he final analysis, he said,
"T h e only way we are going to send
a message is mandatory ja il senten
ces.” However, Commissioner Jor
dan introduced the alternative pro
gram idea, which received strong
support
from
Commissioner
Strachan.
The City Attorney's office and
the A C L U doubted whether the
"city has the authority” to enact
such ordinances. This authority, the
City Attorney's office said, would
have to be tested in the courts.
The Wages for Housework Cam
paign and the Portland Committee
for Unemployment Action said they
are circulating a local and national
petition to outlaw all laws against
prostitution.
“ Prostitution? You can't stop
it ," claimed one who has been in the
remember. “ W hen I came to Port
land in 1941, they had a red light
district across the river,” he said.
“ It needs to be legal.”
Which brings me to the only male
(other than officials or representa
tives o f agencies) to testify at the
great prostitution debate. Tim idly
he proposed what he called a “ radi
cal idea." Il was for the legalization
of prostitution. But not one prosti
tute or john testified. Perhaps they
were busy sampling each other's
wares: money and tainted love.
Whatever the case mey be, they
missed the grand finale. When Jan
M ihara yelled out her dissatisfac
tion, the M ayor screamed: " Y o u ’re
out o f o rd er!" T o which she replied,
“ I know I am, but so are yo u ."
Jantzen Beach • 283-4411
Open Sundays
PUT
ATLANTA
ON THE
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PEANUTS.
$3.18
Between .»pm; iixl S u n l< >ng d is tin c t
nites tik e ;i big dice. Which me.uis
c.ui
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sized chunk o f money.
So netich out to
Atkuit.i tonight.
And have ;i deep
t;dk with the deep south.
©
Pacilic Northwest Bell
PORTLAND OBSERVER
Portland's largest black-owned
weekly newspaper
Eldridge Cleaver
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
long as the Democratic party was
appropriating money for these small
programs that were benefiting only
a few (hey were able to keep black
people on an economic treadmill
that was getting us nowhere.
"N o w , we have black people talk
ing economics, when a couple o f
years ago you couldn’ t get anyone
to talk about economics. Now. we
are talking about how to gel a piece
o f the pie and a sound base for us.
This attitude has been fostered by
the moves created by Reagan."
His pro-American ideology fluc
tuated when it came to South A f
rica. “ 1 think the South African re
gime needs to go. I think South A f
rica needs to be subjected to the
same kinds o f restrictions as Cuba
and some o f these other communist
countries. I advocate the same kinds
o f solution for South A frica as I do
for El Salvador. A democratic gov
ernment controlled by the people.
And if we don't follow the right
policies, the South African people
will be liberated from the racist re
gime with communist help. I f this
happens (hey will have the same
kinds o f trouble as these other coun
tries in trying to get rid o f a commu
nist regime.
“ I say the people in South Africa
must be set free and we are the ones
in a position to make it happen by
making our government bring it
about. W e could make our govern
ment bring about that change, not
by talking about it and walking
away, but by bringing our power to
bear to make it happen. And if that
doesn’t work we should send the
Marines down there to change that
situation around.”
Street Beat
by Lanita D uke and Richard B row n
The 1983 Legislature recently ad
journed their 1983 session. The Street
Beat team wondered if people knew
what happened during the session,
asking, “ D o you know what the 1983
legislature accomplished?”
*4
Joanna Smith
Student
John Qreeeel
Retired
" I ’m not sure. I think they
should make all the local com
munities more aware o f what is
going o n ."
" I don’t think they accom
plished that much. Nothing
came across as if (hey were to
gether. A ll I gathered from it
was off-the-w all talkin g."
Rodney Lee
Boilermaker
"Yes, I do. I like the new law
which said you can go to school
and still receive unemployment
compensation."
Cleaver concluded by stating he
doesn't see his ideological transfor
mation as betraying the civil and
human rights struggle o f the 1960s.
“ In the '60s we were not looking
at where we were going. We were
looking at tearing down and let the
future generation rebuild. We never
thought that we would still be alive,
and wanted to kill as many o f them
as we could. W e wanted to assert
our manhood and tell them we were
not punks to be pushed around. I f
they shot us we were going to shoot
them. I f we let you down it was only
because we were not better shot}."
William Herold
U.S. Army
Sam Hill
Construction Worker
“ I don't know what they did
I The inform ation is not being fil-
Itered down to the people. A ll
I forms o f government could do a
I better job o f inform ing the peo
ple "
N o, I don't. When I read the
papers about it they wrote it in a
way that only the highly edu
cated could understand it ."
Ida Romero
Unemployed
" N o , I don’t. I don’ t know
what they did or what they
didn't d o .”