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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 22, 1988)
September 22, 1988, Portland Observer, Page 9 Gang Expert Speaks Homefront... ■ Continued from Page 1 ■ Continued from Page 1 deve lop m en t of co m m u n ity awareness. The Portland Observer: How many hours per week are devoted to counseling? The Rev. Hill: We have personal and group counseling. On Mon day night we have a group interac tion session where substance abusers and people who have had a rought time in life get together to discuss their problems. Portland Observer How do you recruit the participants in your program? The Rev. Hill: By various means. I have gotten some referrals from the schools, others from the po lice department or probation o ffi cers and still others from con cerned c itiz e n s . M any are walk-in’s. After we take them through the personal redirection phase we program them in a way that they might be prepared for employment. Not just getting a job, but they are prepared with retention skills so that they re main on the job. The Portland Observer: What about young people who have been addicted to drugs or have accumulated a police record? Do you find your potential employers are still willing to trust them in the work environment? The Rev. Hill: I have not had much of a problem in getting them employed. When I make a recommendation I have had a fa vorable experience in that regard. Mind you some of these people are from the state prison. I really have not had to go out to seek jobs for them. I just had to refer them and to instruct them as to how they should conduct their in terview. In most cases they have been successful. But in a few cases I have had to go to an employer or business man and ask them to employ certain in dividuals. Depending upon the probationary period they usually are retained. The challenge of In glewood is that you need a good job to be able to afford to live here. I would like to see such a program started in Portland. We have two youth conferences every year. In addition to that there are other alternative programs in the community. My visit this time was focused on general meetings. Nothing was done program m atically. Nothing was done strategically to affect real change. Apart from my going to certain areas and talking with gang members in Columbia Villa and Peninsula Park I did not go beyond that. The Portland Observer: With such a brief visit, were you able to perceive what these young peo ple are like? The Rev. Hill: Very much so. Children are just about the same everywhere and when I see them I see them as my own. I love them. This initial visit was based upon my commitment to youth and to the human race. I see them quite differently from the youths in southern California. They have not been infected with the dis ease to the extent that they are completely out of control. Most of what has been perpetrated here is a poor imitation of what happens in California. I see a good pro bability for their successful redi rection. Many of the youths in southern California are past being helped. But with each of the youths I met who were natives of Oregon, they were still reachable. I know that after having talked to most of them I could have sent them to an alternative. The Portland Observer: One of the things I find difficult to under stand is the random murders. Ray Ray Winston was a 17-year-old when he was killed. What kind of reckless abandon are we dealing with in a situation where the life of another person can be snuffed out so wantonly and unprovoked? The Rev. Hill: Part of that is the requirement for initiation into the gang. The Portland Observer: Do they have an feeling for the value of another life? The Rev. Hill: They are im- plusive. They do not tend to think about the consequences of their actions such as would be expect ed of a more rational person. This supports what I have said about the nature of man and the down ward tendency. It gives some of us a sense of gratification to see men in combat and to see children fighting amok each other. The Portland Observer: Some times when I view the gang and drug problems here in Portland their resolution appears to be so hopeless. The Rev. Hill: There is hope. That is my message. I want to re assure persons like yourself and others who share a concern for the youths of the community that there is hope. There is hope because we need to preserve and encourage the motivation of the majority of youths who are not in volved in gang activity. We need to stroke them and commend them and honor them for all of the things that they have acheived. Their lives will begin to exemplify in a very concrete way what it means not to become a partici pant in gang life. On the other hand there are active gang mem bers who are still reachable. We need to focus some attention on them and apply a healthy amount of resources that will help to deter gang life. By creating altern- tives we will give these youths an opportunity too make the proper decision about how they shall conduct their lives. They are the future of Portland. It is imperative that we do something now. The Future Of African-Americans ... — Footnotes — ■ Continued from Page 1 teenagers, have no parent employed. ■ three times as likely to be poor, have their mothers die in childbirth, live in a female headed family, be placed in an educable mentally retarded class, be murdered between the ages of five and nine, be in foster care, die of child abuse. ■ four times as likely to live with neither parent and be super vised by a child welfare agen cy, be murdered before one year of age or as a teenager, be incarcerated between 15 and 19 years of age. ■ five times as likely to be dependent on welfare. ■ six times as likely to live with a parent who never married. C learly a national p o lic y assurin g the futu re of all American children is needed, and it is especially needed for black children. of American children as a whole. The Children’s Defense Fund says that of all Am erican children ....*• nesses. According to Jackson the program helps defray the cost of rent. Business that begin under this program are allowed a one to three year period of existence. ■ One in four lives in poverty. ■ One in five is at risk of becom ing a teen parent. ■ One in six has no health insurance. ■ One in seven is at risk of drop ping out of school. ■ One in two has a mother in the labor force, but only a m inority have safe, a ffo r dable, quality child care. This is foreboding enough, but it is even worse for black children. C h ild re n ’s Defense Fund President Marian Edelman has said that in comparison to white children, black children a re ...” ■ twice as likely to die in the first year of life, see a parent die, live in substandard hous W illie Harris, a well-known Portland barber, attributes the success of his business to people other than banks. Having owned his own business since 1966, Har ris claims he became an entre- prenuer through the help of his own money and private individuals. Says Harris, “ I use my own money and reinvest what I earn.” Harris says that many blacks are not exposed to ways on how to acquire money from sources other than banks. “ You can borrow money from private individuals and it serves the same purpose,” says Harris. According to Harris there are many blacks throughout Portland who have money available to loan minority businessmen. ■ Continued Next Week ing, be suspended from school or suffer corporal pun ishment, be unemployed as Sale prices in effect through October 1st unless otherwise noted * Glasgow. Douglas G The Black Underclass Poverty. Unemployment, and Entrapment of Ghet to Youth. San Francisco. Jossey Bass Publishers 1980 p 8-9 Wilson William J The Truly Disad vantaged The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. 1987 p. 7-8. » Palmer. John L and Isabel V Sawhill eds The Reagan Record Washington. The Urban Institute t984 p. 13-14 Also see the detailed presentations Offered in : 1988 Commission on the Cities Race Bnd Poverty in the United States Today March 1. 1988 “ Hylton, Richard D. Confronting the Challenges of a Changing Economy. Black Enterprise January 1988, p 49 » Landry, Bart, The New Black Middle Class. Berkeley, University of California, 1987 p. 134, 137 » Landry, The New Black Middle Class, p 122 129 » Landry, Bart. The New Black Middle Class (Part II). Focus: the monthly newsletter of the Joint Center for Political Studies, October 1987, p. 7 See also Ellis, James E. The Black Middle Class Business Week, March 14,1968 p. 70 ” Palmer and Sawhill, The Reagan Record, p 201 » Children’s Defense Fund A Call for Action to Make Our Nation Safe for Children A Briefing Book on the Status of American Children in 1988 Washington, D.C., Children s Defense Fund. 1988.. p. lii. ■ Edelman, Marian Wright. Families in Peril An agenda for Social Change Cam bridge Massachusettes, Harvard University Press, 1987 p. 2-3. (As based on analyses reported in Black and White Children in America. Key Facts Washington, Children's Defense Fund, 1985 ) PORTLAND OBSERVER “ The Eyes and Ears of the C o m m u n ity " 288-0033 PLUS—Only Sears offers a ll these extras! NATIONWIDE CREDIT • SearsCharge Kenm ore . . . 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