Page 4, Portland Observer, March 2, 1988
Exclusive — Continued
from Page 1
” L.A.-influenced” .
"This is Portland, not L A. We
don’t want to be identified with
L.A. We are not into drugs. We
are not into drug houses. And no
one has asked us to do drugs for
them. We are not into violence,
but we are not going to let so
meone like the Crips come into
our neighborhoods and take
over. And, we definately are not
going to let them tell us what we
can wear. If we buy some clothes
that are red, we are going to wear
them ," said the group member.
Many of the group members
who were interviewed said they
believe Portland Police are afraid
of the Crips because of their vio
lent and aggressive behaviors.
"The police know who the Crips
are. They know which Crips are
running drug houses. You see,
the Crips can slide in here by
night, drop off their dope, com
m it some violence and leave in
the same night,” said another
younger member. “ We can't. We
have to live here. If we were into
drugs and all that, everyone
would know it. We re not going to
bring ourselves down to that
level. If the Crips want to sell
dope, let them do it in L.A. Weare
tired of seeing our buddies, part
ners, moms and little children
strung out on dope; dope we
know the Crips brought in here.
That's what the fight is all about.
The police should be helping us
instead of threatening us like cri
m inals.”
Group members noted that
most of the positive activities
which were geared for Portland
Black youth have all but dim i
nished. “ We can no longer hang
out at the parks w ithout being
confronted by Crips. They come
into the parks blasting their loud
car music, branishing guns, mak
ing threats and scaring little kids.
The same thing happens at bas
ketball games and house parties.
Most of the clubs have closed
down. A in’t nothin left to do. We
have to hang together just to pro
tect ourselves.”
The Homeboys said they are
disappointed with the efforts of
The O ffice of Neighborhood As
sociations and some members of
the Portland Police. "W e met
with a representative from the Of
fice of Neighborhood Associa
tion in good faith. He asked us
what did we want him to do and
we told him. In turn, he promised
that he would do all he could. He
took our names, and we went
away from the meeting feeling
pretty good. We thought we were
finally going to get some positive
understanding. When we saw
him again, he had rap sheets on
all of us. He even showed up on
television
saying
negative
things about us. He was a totally
different person than when we
first met him. We would never
trust him again.
"W hen we got into the fight
with the Crips out at the Chiles
Center during the G rant/Jeff
game, we went there because the
police told us it was alright to
come. We just wanted to see our
homeboys play hoop, and the po-
ice said they would provide us
protection. But that ain’t the way
it went down. Although there
were 30 or 40 Crips sitting toge
ther in the gym, the police chose
to guard us like we were the cri
minals. Then during the intermis-
sion, a fight broke out. A police
man got hit, and we were the
ones who got slammed. On the
news all you saw was red. No
Crips. Why? It made us look like
the bad guys.”
Members of the Homeboys say
they feel abandoned by the com
munity, the city and the police.
“ Although we are wearing red
and the police are wearing blue,
we are out here doing their job.
We are trying to keep the Crips
out of our neighborhoods, yet the
police are treating us like we are
the ones bringing in the dope and
opening up the dope houses.
Wherever we go, we get harass
ed. We can’t even be safe in our
own community. If the police
really wanted to help us, they
know how to find us. They know
we aren't into drugs and guns.”
When asked to cite the differ
ence between the L.A. Bloods
and the Portland Bloods, the fo l
lowing inform ation was shared:
“ We wear both red and blue and
whatever color we feel like wear
ing. A L.A. Blood wears all red,
Critics Hit Portland Schools for
Low Standards, Mediocrity
from head to toe. In L.A. the Crips
claim territory that is "B lu e ” and
the L.A. Bloods claim territory
that is "R ed” . Neither allow the
other to come into those terri
tories. In Portland there is no red
or blue territory, except where
the Crips have set up shop (a drug
house). Another thing, we are
just homeboys who are trying to
set a good example for the young
people here. We want our ho-
mies to know they don’t have to
be scared or in tim id a te d or
pressured into selling or doing
drugs.”
by I.R. Macrae
When students graduate from
high school w ithout having ma
stered even the fundamentals of
math and English, teachers and
school adm inistrators have tend
ed to shift the blame to unmo
tivated students, dysfunctional
fam ilies or society at-large. On
Friday, Feb. 25, Portland School
Board members faced several
citizens who questioned the
myth that good schools can pro
duce illiterate students. Halim
Rahsaan, chairman of the Dese
gregation M onitoring Advisory
Committee, asked, "A s long as
we have (mediocre) standards
and s ta ff. . . why should we still
continue to be surprised when
we produce students who are
mediocre?”
Rahsaan asked the question in
the course of delivering the m id
year report of the citizen watch
dog group, a report that included
lengthy quotations from Black
educators whose schools have
won national recognition forada-
demic excellence. Rahsaan read
sections of a letter he received
from Dr. Jerome Harris, Superin
tendent of a Brooklyn, New York,
school.
"S o m e people and
groups have a vested interest in
portraying ethnic and poor stu
dents as ill-mannered and uncon
trollable . . .” the letter read.
“ These nay-sayers would not be
pleased to see (such) students ..
well-behaved
and
achieving
above the national average. . . for
then the myth that family back
ground is the principal cause of
. . . lack of discipline and low aca-
d e m ic
a c h ie v e m e n t
is
dispelled,” Harris said.
A fte r reading these c o m
ments, Rahsaan suggested that
upholding high academic stan
dards is the way to produce well-
educated students. "The basic
difference between Dr. Harris’
school d istrict and Portland Pub
lic Schools is one of expecta
tions . . .” he stressed, adding,
"Portland Public Schools’ ethnic
students w ill continue to play
catch-up as long as a large body
of d istrict staff continue to feed
the fires of incompetence and in
feriority.”
Rahsaan also c ritiz e d the
The Homeboys said things are
getting tight and that there is the
potential for a real hot summer, if
something isn’t done to curb the
Crips recruitment of young
A frica n -A m e rica n s.
R e c ru it
ment, they say, is being done at
most Portland schools. The lure
is money, clothes, jewelry, cars,
parties, and drugs.
House parties, once the pride
of many young African-American
Portlanders, are now seen as dan
gerous to life and limb. Stories
were to ld about how young
African-Am erican females are
used to lure Homeboys to parties
where they find themselves trap
ped inside by Crips. “ You go to a
party nowdays; you don’t know if
it’s a Crip party or not. A girl
might tell you it’s cool to go, and
you get there and here are the
Crips hanging on the wall. They
close the door and whatcha gon
do?
“ They recruit homeboys and
girls, and then get our addresses
and come shooting into our
houses. This scares the little
kids; so, whenever they are ap
proached by a Crip to sell dope,
what other choice to they have?
Then a lotta little kids look up to
the Crips. They think they bad.
They think they w ill protect them.
But, see, we’re trying to tell them
they shouldn't be doing that. We
see homeboys we grew up with
carrying beepers and selling
dope. We see some of our home
boys’ moms begging for a dollar
to buy dope. How you think that
make us feel? These are our peo
ple,” one member said angrily.
Continued next week.
PORTLAND OBSERVER
'The Eyes and Ears of the Community”
288-0033
CHUNK TUNA
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Pricing W k
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Did you know that for almost 30 years you could have bought some of
your groceries at wholesale prices? The Bee Company, for over 30
years, has offered the public weekly stspments of name-brand
groceries at genuine wholesale prices. You’ll find canned and
packaged goods, pet foods, as well as frozen and close-dated deli
products on the shelves. The best feature is that you do not have to
buy by the case. You buy just what you want to buy, just the amount
you need. Located at 800 N. Killingsworth, just east of 1-5, they are
open Monday through Saturday 9:30 am to 6:00 pm. Isn’t it about
time you save on your grocery bill?
PHONE 283-3171
Two-thirds of business people
surveyed expressed dissatisfac
tion at the way the public schools
are teaching basic skills. — Tony
Bates
Photo by Richard J. Brown
Portland School Board’s recalci
trance in implementing the Base
line Essays, documents design
ed to form the basis of the dis
tric t’s M ulti-cultural Curriculum.
Noting that the district s till has
no firm tim e-line for im plem ent
ing that program, which has been
seven years in the making, he
asked why it has yet to introduce
“ truthful, relevant inform ation
about African Americans, Am eri
can Indians, Hispanics and
Asians” into the mainstream cur
riculum.
Rahsaan summarised his con
cerns bluntly, saying, "A frican
American and American Indian
students . . . are truly at risk . . . It
is d iffic u lt to close the achieve
ment gap or to produce ethnic
students who w ill achieve in
higher educational institutions
when they are lacking in their
basic academic fundamentals
and (a knowledge of their own)
cultural history.”
Among the DMAC re port’s
many specific recommenda
tions: the district should pay
more attention to the academic
problems of American Indian stu
dents.
Noting that statistical
data shows those students per
form ing worse than any other
ethnic group, Rahsaan urged the
board to make com pletion of the
American Indian Baseline Essay
L a st m o n th w a s A fric a n A m e ric a n H is to ry
M o n th . . . K e e p th e c e le b ra tio n a liv e all y e a r
lo n g .
The Editor
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a top priority. Alex Stone, Vice
Chairman of DMAC, underscored
that concern, saying, “ I was
shocked to see that the drop-out
rate for our students has been
twice that of the d is tric t average
for the past 9 years.” The Ameri
can Indian speaker appealed to
the board for “ attention and sup
port to turn these terrible stati
stics around.”
Perhaps the most disturbing
report of the evening came from
Tony Bates, President of the Port
landia Club and member of the
Educational Com m ittee of the
Portland Chamber of Commerce.
Bates revealed the results of a
survey of metro-area businesses
which found local business peo
ple expressing dismay and out
rage over the poor a b ilitie s of job
seekers who are products of the
Portland School system. Includ
ed In the survey were statem ents
by business people com plaining
of an abysmal lack of skills in the
basic areas of arithm etic, spel
ling and geography; lack of real
knowledge of how business ope
rates; inability to follow instruc
tions; and more im portantly, ina
bility to think. Two-thirds of busi
ness people surveyed expressed
dissatisfaction at the way the
public schools are teaching ba
sic skills, Bates said.
Pointing to th e d iffic u lty of get
ting rid of poor teachers, Bates
suggested that a way to deal w ith
m ediocrity in the teaching pro
fe s s io n w o u ld be to a llo w
parents and students to evaluate
teachers at the end of the acade
mic year, and dism iss those who
were found incompetent.
Bates appeared to confirm the
view expressed by Rahsaan ear
lier when she said that many
parents and students surveyed
felt learning expectations were
"very low ” in many classes. M ul
tiple choice and fill-in-the-blank
tests are the rule, she noted, la
menting that students are taught
to “ pass quizzes, not to think.”
In a statem ent which seems
sure to provoke controversy,
Bates q u o te d -w e teacher who
had been surveyed as saying that
poor teachers were being “ coun
seled out to schools on the North
side (of Portland)”
O
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Hands on Workshop
Tax Break Class
&
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|— "co
Sunday, March 13, 1988
O ) <u
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Ramada Inn — Coliseum
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Time: 2:00 - 5:00 p.m.
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Call 283-4123
NS
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ALPHONSO'S
SANDWICH
SHOP
FEATURING
H om estyle Food
Daily M enu Changes
Dirtv Rice - $2°° & $4°° • Deep Fried Catfish - Every Friday
Homemade Chili - $2°° & $4" • Ribs - M "
Pastries • Pies 6 Cakes - $1°° a Slice
3940 N. W illiam s
Phone
281-1679