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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 1985)
^ra Frances Schoen-.' U n iv e rs ity o f Oregon ! tugene, Oregon 97403 F t" Sports , A T I D ,.... ,O ~ ~ PageS "’S PORTLAND OBSERVER Ut*S C«nr Activist raps City Hall Neighborhoods march against crime Northeast Portland residents have had enough of the drug sakfc m then nwqbhorboods and took to the streets tarsi a with a march and rally They have alao been picketing on a ,»* by Jerry darner I ast Thursday more than 150 pro testers marched in ihe ram along A l hería Street and U nion Avenue shout- in Ihe slogan, "P u s h the Pushers O ut.” I he protestors were referring to the drug dealers who sell narcotics openly on the streets o f Northeast Portland. The marchers were also pro testing the problems o f prostitution in the neighborhoods. King and Phot NeighborhtxxJ Asso ciation Crime Prevention (o m m itte e (Photo Richard J Brown) sponsored the protest march and pick els P rotestoi atte i protestor com plained to the Observer about then frustration at < its H all and the crnn inal justice system fo r not enforcing the law in their neighbor hoods Ron Herndon, co-chairman ol the lil.uk I lilted I rout was one ol the mans coinmunilv leaders who attend ed the rails and match I let ndon s.ud. "People living in t ouncil ( test don't have to stand out in the tain and wotrs about d»>pe " I he question should be asked, 'W hs is il that in cd tain parts ol town we have to get out in the tain and do this nonsense ’' One local minister was c a n sine a pi k d sign on \ I her la Slice I slat inc cits o llictals are not concerned with the dtug and p io stiiu iio n problem in the Kmc and l liol neighboi hoods I he mitiisier said. "People downtown think out netghbothixxls aren't impot taut because there is a Inch numlx'i ol minorities and pixu living here \lso, the Kmc and I hot neighborhoods base a Inch iiuemplosincut t a l c Ms sell and others bom the neighbor hood association committee wete once told bs someone in < ns Hall that this aiea was the icd light district Not mils wete the protestors ancis at the May o r's o il l i e , l lie s w e t c also ci n ical ol the ci tin inal justice vystern lot not cleaning the streets ol dtug dealers and p rostitutes (Hie voting mother who was picketing with lid ' seal old son, said, " I he police want to keep this in otu communitv because this is what helps keep Bl.uk people suppressed and depiesscd \s long as dings aie in the coinmunilv and all the soung m others ate addicted to co came and everybodv is b ee basing, gelling high, letting then kids run loose and not being concerned about then education, nobody here will ever deselop enough brains to do atisthing by Jerry ( iarner to make this a livable aiea. I w o u ld il'l lx surprised it the jxiltce wete bringing the dings into the neighborhood lo t the ding dealers I hase seen ihe jxtlice on mans occasions stop and talk Io ding dealers and dnve awas Some ol the protestors were sup portivc ol the police lo in W illiam s, one ot the organizers o l Iasi I bins das's protest and a King N eighboi hixxl Improvement Assixiation cxccu use boatd member, gave praise to ( aptam I I Hasis o l N o rth Pre cinct W illiams said, " ( aptam Basts and Ins men base been w onderful. I lies hase made themselses esliemels visible to ever sone, i tic hiding the local dope dealers I lies haven’ t interferrcd with .instiling we base done, but thes were theie it we needed them I lies should lx- thanked tot doing tills.” W illiams said Northeast Portland wants some action tio m ( its H a ll " I or sears out neighboi hoods hase been used as dum ping grounds for everything that comes a lo n g ," says W illuim s " I he Northeast P ortland neighboi hoods should be given the same respect as any other com m unity in the area " \m o iig those who participated in last I hutsdas's match and tails were Masot Bud ( I.u k , ( us I ommission ci Hick Bogle and Mike I indlxag Members ol the King I hot Neigh bor hood \sso ciab o n ( rime Presen bon ( om m illee plan to hold m ore mate lies and picket to protest the sell m e o t dings and p io sb tu b o n in then communities National march against South African apartheid bv \uthaniel Scott “ I hope all o f you realize ihe suc cess you hase had in the lis t 12 months," Ron Herndon, co-chairman o f P ortland’s chapter o f the national Black United I rout said to the 44X) or so protesters at last Saturday's anti- apartheid demonstration. The demon stration was organized by Portlanders Organized for Southern A frican Free dom . The protesters rallyed al T erry Schrunk Plaza after a brief march for justice. 1 he march covered a 20-block area in downtown Portland. P o rtla n d 's march was part o f a nationw ide m ovem ent that drew thousands o l protesters fro m such widely-scattered areas as tu g e n e , ( fregon, and Washington, H.C. In P o rtla n d . M a yo r Bud C la rk proclaimed Friday and Saturday, ( k t . I I and 12, days o f protest against apartheid. The mayor's proclamation was read by his aide ( »liver Smith, who then pre sented the p ro cla m a tio n to Trevor Fow ler, Ihe A fric a n N a tio n a l C o n gress western region representative. Fow ler, keynote speaker al the rally, said he appreciated the o p p o r tunity to "present the case o f the peo ple o f South A fric a ." T oday, thousands o f people are gathering across Am erica to oppose apartheid, he said "Y o u r effort to iso late apartheid has been successful (since) you kicked out Van P elt." (C al vin Van Pell was the honorary consul until he resigned after repeated picket- ings.l Speaking fo r the 24 m illio n o p pressed people in South Africa, Fowler said. "T hank y 'u fo r expressing vour moral outrage againsi apartheid We thank you for your continued support "A p a rth e id is alive but it w on't be around lo o m uch lo n g e r,” Fowler said "P e op le in South A fric a have said, 'We have had enough’ . " Fowler maintained that sanctions, boycotts and dem onstrations are working against the South A frican re gime Pressure on the government can be seen in the fa ll o f the rand and "w h ite businesses closing at a rate ot one a d a y," he said “ Young people in South Africa will accept nothing less than freedom,” he said “ There can be no peace in south ern Africa while apartheid exists." Fowler said "T h e people o f South A fric a shall fig h t u n til v ic to ry is w on." He observed that Saturday was an appropriate time to talk about the re lease o f Nelson Mandela. “ We [the m a jo rity o f South A f r i cans! have said who our leaders are; we d o n 't want anyone selecting our leaders. We pledge that we w ill con tinue to struggle until apartheid is dis mantled " F rid a y, in observance o f the na tional anti apartheid days, Portland State U niversity students held a fu ll day o f events. The events, w hich drew a small crow d o f students, included film s , guest speakers and a symposium en titled: "W h a t is the impact o f inter national pressure on South Africa?” PSU 's keynote speaker was Avel (io rd ly fro m the A m erican Friend Services Committee She told the 50 or so who gathered to listen to her speech that "T h e things we do, do make a difference." (Photo Richard J Brow nl » - X R I I out Williams, an I xecutivc Board member o l the King N eighboi hood Im provem ent A ssociation, says city officials have been ignoring the pi oh lem o l crim e in Northeast P ortland for years. W illiam s said that form er M ayor Ftank Ivancte d id n 't cate about the crime problems in the lilio t and King neighborhoods Iv ancte w o u ld n 't cvxvperate at all with the ncighborluxxl associations, replied W illia m s W il liams said that under the Ivancie ad ministration, the crime problem in the King and I hot neighborhoods became worse. W illiams was also critical ot lorm ei PoliceC h id Ron Still " A l least Pennv Harrington makes herself visible. She will come out and answer questions lot the neighborhood association ami the com m unity. She puts hetsell out front.” Ihe neighborhood association in vited Still on many occasions to attend meetings to discuss the ptobletn ol crime in the com m unitv W illia m s sakl, "S till didn't attend a single meet mg He w ould always send someone else. II the association asked his repre sentative a direct question, the onlv response we heard was, 'I am sorry, hut I am not an a u th o rily to answer that question’ " W illiam s, who was one ol the or gatiizcrs o l last Ih u ts d a v 's protest against p ro s titu tio n and drugs, has lived in the King neighboi hixxl lot 2? veals She says that ihe present level o l dm g tra ffic k in g and p ro s titu tio n is the worst in memory " I sail heat the dope dealers from my hack said and see the prostitutes and then cus turners in my I rout yard. I am some where between the gate post and the fence." W illiams says the prostitution prob lem has gotten worse " I n the begin mug there used to he about III girls w orking U nion Avenue I alely, I liavc driven from my house to I homp von Street and counted Ml prostitutes I hat's a lot o l young ladies on, there." Ihe neighborhood member said that tougher penalties are needed to eliminate prostitution and drug deal mg. "Jo h n s" (prostitutes’ customers), should also be given stricter penalties, said Williams W illiams was asked to comment on whether she believes city and law en forcem enl o ffic ia ls w ill make more arrests i f more tail space becomes available " N o , " replied W illiam s " A l one meeting. I was told by an ot liccr that regardless ol the availability o f jail space, the artesl tale ol ptoslt lutes and dope pushers w o u ld n 't il l crease. II this is the case, then public ollictals ate misleading the conimun itv I believe the folks in ( itv H all think that people in Northeast Port land have so many problems (unein ploymenl being the main one) that they arc just on their soap bos about dope dealing and prostitution 'Give them a couple ol days, they w ill forget and some other problem will come along’ ," W illiam s said I his tim e, the com munily will not forget "T h e com m unity wants action from city hall, hut so tar we haven't received a n y ," says W illia m s. " F o r years Northeast Portland has been a dumping ground fo r everything that came along. I d o n 't think the people living in the area should tolerate this. Ihe people living in Northeast ate just as concerned, interested and G o d fearing as any other place in Oregon I d o n 't th in k their dignity should be stepped on. I just d o n 't." ¿4 A ’ M M -S » More Demonstrations