Super
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PORTLAND OBSERNER
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• fa»
Volume XV, Number 14
January 30,1985
25c Copy
Two Sections
Z«M
Irvington school parents
site institutional racism
by l^ n tla Duke
G R A SS R O O T N E W S . N W. -
Blacks and Jews explore similarities
Black and Jaw lah tee n ag er* bagan a dialogua
Sunday aimad at braaklng down ataraotypaa and
diacovarlng tha aimilarltiaa batwaan their tw o m i
nority group*. Tha workahop waa aponaored by the
American Jewiah Committee and tha Portland Ur
ban League. Above: Darrell Millnar. head of tha Black
Studlaa Department at Portland State Univeraity,
read* a literacy teat that was used in tha South to
keep Black* from voting Below Lailah Danialaon.
14. from Harriet Tubman Middle School and Kabo
Draw. 14. from Jefferaon High School, share sweat
potato pie and baglas.
(Photos: Richard J Brown)
Some parenis at Irvin g to n grade
school recently requested an urgent
meeting with Matthew Prophet, Sup
erintendent o f the Po rtlan d Public
Schools, to intervene in what they
have described as, “ ill treatment of
children, the relationship between
parents and personnel and a number
of peculiar incidents involving teach-
ers and Afro-Am erican pupils at Irv
ington.“
John Chatwick, principal of Irving
ton, said he was aware of some of the
complaints and that he would be will
ing to speak directly w ith parents.
“ There was one that I tried to get in
touch w ith and was unable. I d o n ’ t
think these are issues appropriate for
news."
Parents disagree. Some are in the
process o f form ing an organization
"A frican -A m erican Parents Against
Institutional Racism” to find a solu
tion to this problem Halim Kahsaan,
chair of the Desegregation M o n ito r
ing and Advisory Comm ittee, attend
ed the first meeting "A s far as I had
wick was concerned, the problems
these parenis had were resolved But
parents think otherwise."
A cadem ically, Irvin gto n scores
above the School D istric t’s average.
The breakdown of how A fro -A m eri
can children were achieving, whether
they received more referrals from
teachers or suspended at a higher rate,
remains unresolved Chadw ick was
not forthcom ing w ith that in fo rm a
tion and District resources could not
retrieve data to meet publication
deadlines.
One problem is clear W ith a Black
student pop u latio n o f 50 percent,
Irvington has only two Black teachers
exit of 33. Chadwick said there are I2
aids and IO o f them are Black Larry
Ayers, D irector o f Instruction for
Irv in g to n , said he was concerned
about the low number o f m in ority
teachers, " N o t only at Irvington but
district-wide."
Ayers said he was aw are o f com
plaints and had talked w ith parents
who "w ere concerned about the way
school personnel dealt w ith kids.
W e are in the process o f discussing
those concerns with them ."
He also noted that the complaints
addressed by Black parents may be
broader. " I wonder if it is more than
one or two parents dissatisfied when.
tra d itio n a lly , we received this sup
port And the broader comm unity is
no longer supportive. I ’ m really not
clear on the issues.”
Parents Against Institutional Rac
ism said they were clear on the issues
Veniia Myrick said she inquired if her
daughter was treated too harshly by a
male teacher. “ She was shook repeat
edly when she unintentionally went to
the wrong end o f the line. The re
sponse I got from the principal was
that I should not question the way
they handle things."
Myrick added that insult was added
to in ju ry when the teacher she per
ceived as harsh, caustic and am biva
lent wanted her child to eat lunch with
his class, "s o he could observe her
behavior."
“ C hadw ick acted like he did not
want to listen to me. He treated me
disrespccituUy. so 1 will lake my case
elsewhere to get it resolved
A fte r talking w ith a num ber o f
parents, Rahsaan said there was evt-
dence o f Chadw ick’s overt disrespect
for Afro-Am erican children and par
ents."
Karen Powell, Director o f Am eri
can Lriend Service Com m ittee’s Edu
cational M onitoring component, said
during the last three years her office
had received seven complaints.
"Parents were questioning suspen
sions, classroom selections, lack o f
hom ework and a Black ch ild w ho
transferred from another school was
automatically placed in a low achieving
track." she said.
Powell added that parents had
some problem s with the a ttitu d e o f
the principal and some teachers.
In a letter to Prophet, Patty Coxeff,
a parent, said, " I have chosen to seek
this meeting with you because I have
been unable to obtain any satisfac
tory response to my concerns fro m
John Chadw ick."
Irvin gto n has a C itizen Advisory
C om m ittee but representatives were
unavailable for comment.
Seattle Black leaders
condemn T/wes article
by l am ia Duke
GRASSROOT NEW S, N W
The Emerald C ity, Seattle, Washing
ton, glows with tension created by the
white media assessment o f the who,
what, when, where, why and how of
Black leadership w ithin Seattle's
Afro-American community.
In this assessment, Seattle's oldest
Black newspaper (Z7ie Seattle Facts]
was excluded, along with Black busi
nessmen and women. On January 20,
in the Sunday Seattle limes magazine
" P a c ific ,” w riter Elizabeth Rhodes
listed who she labeled as Black leaders
from an "inform al sampling o f Black
Seattle."
Under the headlines " l eading the
W a y ," Rhodes said Rev. Samuel
McKinney. C ity Council person Sam
Smith. Eddie Rye, Jr., former Execu
tive D irecto r fo r C A M P (C entral
Area M o tiv a tio n P ro g ram ), L arry
Gossel, C A M P ’ s current Executive
Director and Rossland Woodhouse,
President o f Seattle's Urban League,
were main leaders in Seattle’ s Black
community.
Many in Seattle's Black community
said the selection of individuals con
centrated on religious leaders, direc
tors o f social programs and p o liti
cians. Mrs. Jeamne Holslon wrote in
a letter to the editor, " W h ite leader
ship comes from the business co m
m unity first and politics second.
Preachers are spiritual leaders...........
yet, our leaders must be people who
are dependent on charity fo r their
survival or are en tertainer/ath lctes
who amuse white folks for a living.
Never are our successful Black busi
nessmen and women, who are finan
cially independent, ever recognized as
leaders and should be exalted as role
models of Black accomplishment."
Jasie Johnson, another irate resi
dent, said, "This press (Seattle Times]
was so bold as to not only decide for
me who I should fo llo w , but also
what newspaper to read..............Well,
from here on out I think for myself,
!Please turn to Page 7, Column J
Recent Grenada elections bear stamp "M ade in U.S.A."
by Bill Bigelow
From start to Finish the recent elec
tions in G renada bore the stamp,
"M a d e in the U S A .” W hile the U.S.
was the global winner, the Grenadian
victor was H erb ert Blaize, 66, the
new Prime Minister and leader o f the
New N ational Party (N N P ). Blaize's
party finished w ith 59 percent o f
the vote. Former dictator Eric dairy's
G renada U n ited L ab or P arty g ar
nered 36 percent of the total, and the
Maurice Bishop Patriotic Movement
— remnants o f the deposed New Jewel
M ovem ent— ran a distant third with
only five percent.
A poll o f Grenadians conducted in
M a y , 1984, indicated that a large
majority wanted elections postponed
for at least a year. Nonetheless, the
U .S.-installed government, anxious
for an elected regime which could
restore investor confidence and lure
new capital, pushed ahead.
But problems developed. By m id
summer it appeared that three com
peting pro-U.S. parties threatened to
split the vote, leaving Eric gairy's
far right G U L P or the socialist M au
rice Bishop P atrio tic M ovem ent as
probable winners.
Enter the U .S . A unity pow-wow,
widely believed to be Am erican-
sponsored, was held on nearby Union
Island. In attendance were George
Brizan, Francis Alexis and Herbert
Blaize, leaders o f the three pro-U.S.
factions. Also present was Barbadian
Prim e M in iste r T o m Adam s who
was in tim ately involved in the co n
spiracy leading up to the U .S . inva
sion of Grenada.
Presto: when the meeting ended the
three parties had melded into one with
Herbert Blaize at the helm.
Billing itself as the New N ational
Party, this shotgun-wedding coalition
sought and got large amounts o f aid
from the U .S . — albeit ind irectly.
The N a tio n al republican Institu te,
funded by the U .S . In fo rm a tio n
Agency, contributed $20,000, and the
Am erican Institute fo r Free Labor
Developm ent ( A IF L D ) which has
links to the C IA , added another
$80,000. Also jum ping on the N N P
bandwagon was the Council for N a
tional Policy, which includes some of
the same right-wing behind-the-scenes
backers o f the contras in Nicaragua:
Jerry F alw e ll, Joseph C o o rs, Jesse
Helm s and Phyllis S ch lafly, among
others. This private aid to Grenada’s
New National Party is indicative o f a
Reagan administration trend toward
using non-governmental surrogates
to avoid Congressional review ar.
possible restrictions.
R olling in right-w ing cash, the
N N P hired 500 campaign workers,
ordered tons o f glossy brochures,
rented sound vans, gave away T-shirts,
caps and buttons, and even hired
planes to criss-cross the island trailing
‘vote for us’ slogans.
Suffering from a depressed econ
omy with unemployment likely hov
ering in the 50 percent range, Grena
dians were posed with a stark choice:
vote fo r the U n ited States-backed
N N P , w ith the hope o f opening the
U .S . aid and investment spigot, or
vote against the N N P and face the
likeliho od o f a deeper depression.
Given the choice, the surprise is that
the N N P received O N L Y 59 percent
Seen in this context, the low tally
for the M au rice Bishop Patriotic
M ovem ent does not appear quite so
gloomy. In one parish, St. John’s, an
area which had p articu larly active
agricultural co-operatives and adult
education centers during the 1979-
1983 revolutionary period, the M B P M
candidate drew 15 percent o f the vote.
This surely w ould have been higher
had many people been perm itted
to register when the M B P M announced
plans to contest in the elections, which
occurred afte r the deadline. S till,
the left in Grenada will be slow to re
build the support it lost fro m the
secretive and m urderous battles o f
September and October, 1983.
But nor do things look so rosy for
the N N P . Blaize's coalition is a shaky
one, born out o f Am erican coercion
and a shared fear o f Eric G a iry and
the M B P M , but little else. T o m a in
tain p o p u la rity , B laize’s p arty w ill
have to move sw iftly to remedy the
economic shambles created by the
U.S.-ordered dismantling o f the pro
grams o f the socialist government o f
M aurice Bishop: ag ric u ltu ral co
operatives, education centers, militia
units, and food processing plants.
H o w ever, i t ’ s not likely Blaize's
Grenada will be any more successful
than Seaga’ s Jamaica in reducing
unem ploym ent and w inning a m ea
sure o f economic independence. As
the Grenadian economy continues to
languish, the N N P co alitio n could
begin to crumble. I f this were to hap
pen, it w ould become a whole new
ballgam e. Those in G renada com
mitted to reviving the revolutionary
social and economic projects o f the
Bishop years should be ready to take
advantage of new opportunities.
I