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 )
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