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Volum n XXI, Num ber 44
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The Eyes and Ears
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Weatherize Housing For the
Disabled and Elderly in
North Northeast Portland
Gregory Oliveros: Community Lawyer
b y
B
i l l
B a r b e r
regory Oliveros has
lived in the comm unity
for over 40 years. M ore
than that, he has had an
important impact on the
area. It seems he has always had an
interest in community service. He
was a teacher at Femwood M iddle
School from 1973 to 1979. Oliveros
also worked as a loaned executive
w ith the United Way. Before getting
his law degree from the prestigious
Northwestern Law School at Lew is
& Clark College, Oliveros was the
assistant principal at H um bolt Early
Childhood Center.
It seems like quite a leap from
grade school administrator to attor
ney. “ When I left undergraduate
school in the early 70’s,” Oliveros
explained, “ 1 thought about pursu
ing law. I didn’t perceive it as a leap.
A t that time, at law schools across
the country, the emphasis was on
public service, c iv il issues and hu
man rights. So I always had that idea
planted in my head, in terms o f what
I thought law practice should be a ll
about; the direct service kinds o f
eros in both positions, as an educator
activities or where you can just have
and later as a lawyer. I expect many
that interchange between two people.
would s till characterize him as a very
There are obvious differences be
warm, fair, energetic and comm itted
tween education and the law , but in
individual. When he got out o f law
my m ind the premise is the same. I ’ m
school, O liveros didn’t go after the big
w orking in an assistance capacity
bucks p ayo ff o f corporate law fo r an
w ith another human being, to ac
international conglomerate. “ I wanted
complish a certain objective.”
to be a neighborhood practitioner. What
Many people have known O liv -
I really like concentrating on is the c iv il
G
litigation end o f law. I ’ m not that inter
ested in crim inal defense w ork.” He
has worked on a lot o f fam ily law cases,
as w ell as bankruptcies, w ills and per
sonal injuries cases. Oliveros also takes
on some Pro-Bono (cases at no charge.)
cases. “ Quite naturally, being a person
o f color (Filipino-Am erican), I ’ m in
terested in c iv il rights. It is a terribly
complicated area o f the law. I would
like to assist in remedying glaring
problems at that lowest level. I could
analyze the facts situation with a client
and give them some assistance in
turning that situation around.”
After spending $35,000 to $40,000
on his education, Oliveros is aware
that he s till has to charge a fee to
make a liv in g . “ The purpose o f m y
life goes beyond earning dollars. One
o f the reasons I le ft the school system
was that I wanted to get back to the
comm unity on a different level. N ot
on a higher level, just a different
level,’ ’ he affirm ed. One o f the things
I ’ ve observed about the law business
is that it has been, fo r a long time,
traditionally very white and very male.
While there is nothing inherently wrong
w ith that, I believe in diversity, at a ll
levels. M y ethnic background is rec
ognized. I am a person o f color and
ve ry
proud
of
it.
I
DO
understand...because I ’ ve experienced
it! I can w ork side-by-side w ith all
people and I don’t have to make the
leap going either direction,” O liv
eros concluded. I t goes beyond his
a bility to feel a genuine empathy w ith
clients. His clients say “ He is a good
attorney. He takes the time to explain
the law to me. He made recommen
dations and he made me feel like a
person. He made me feel like I WAS
the process.” It is just natural for
Gregory Oliveros. Watch for Gre
gory O liveros’ column in the Port
land Observer.
HAPPY HAttOWEEK
For Helpful Hints, see Trick-or-Treat Page 3.
The Community Energy Project
(CEP) teams up w ith the Corporate
Volunteer Council o f Oregon* (CVC )
to weatherize housing for the disabled
and elderly in North and Northeast
Portland. This volunteer event has been
named “ Project Storm W indow .”
Project Storm W indow intends to
weatherize 20 households on Saturday,
November 2 when approx. 100 volun
teers from C VC w ill warp pipes, make
plastic storm windows, and apply
weatherstripping around drafty door
ways. The elderly and disable dare often
unable to perform these simple weath
erization techniques so CEP and C VC
w ill be there to create a warmer dw e ll
ing for these individuals.
CEP is a nonprofit organization
whose purpose is to provide free edu
cation and training in energy conserva
tion and weatherization techniques, they
also provide free weatherization mate
ria l to low and moderate income per
sons.
“ CEP is happy to have the assis
tance from the service groups in the
business comm unity. This year we w ill
weatherize 200 homes and C VC is
helping us reach this goal,” says Proj
ect Coordinator, Matt Emlen. “ Although
this is a year around business, the prime
season begins in November.”
To learn more about weatheriza
tion and energy conservation, or to
volunteer your time and efforts, call
the Com m unity Energy Project at 284-
6827.
Oregon Selected As Pilot
For Minority Program
On Friday, November 1,1991 the
Oregon Community Children and Youth
Services Commission along with the
Regional Research Institute o f Port
land State U niversity w ill announce
their grant for a Special Emphasis
M inority Program. The press confer
ence is scheduled for 11:15 a.m. at the
W orld Trade Center, Mezzanine 3 and
4, 121 SW' Salmon, in Portland.
The State Commission has respon
sibility fo r administering the federal
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Pre
vention (J JDP) Formula Grant Program
in Oregon. In 1988 three amendments
designed to address overrepresentation
o f m inority youth in the juvenile justice
system were made to the JJDP A ct by
Congress. Those states participating in
the formula grant program are now
required to ‘ ‘ address efforts ’ ’ to reduce
the disproportionate incarceration o f
m inority youth.
Follow ing is a sampling o f the
extent o f the problem for A frican
Am erican youth, p a rtic u la rly in
Multnomah County. Lane, M arion, and
Multnomah counties have been targeted
for the first phase o f the program.
Oregon is one o f only five states to
receive the Special Emphasis M in o rity
Program supplemental federal grant. In
addition, a technical assistance grant
was issued to Portland State U niversity
to assist the p ilo t states in the develop
ment o f this initiative.
The purpose o f this initiative is to
assist states in:
♦ identifying the extent and nature
o f overrepresentation o f minorities in
the juvenile justice system;
♦ developing program strategies and
practical guidelines to respond to the
problem; and
♦ evaluating the effectiveness to
these approaches.
Crime and Punishment In America, Part 4
by
P r o f .
M
c K in le y
B u r t
numbers o f young, better educated but frustrated young blacks who would realize
principal thrust o f this series is to provide a useful frame o f reference
that the “ American Dream” was just that, a dream! To condemn the few who were
for examination o f African American experience in the nation’ s legal
able to escape the psyche-shattering environs as “ middle class traitors who
system. We stated last week the G H ETTO was a “ fiery furnace”
abandoned their brothers and sisters” would be as stupid as a sim ilar indictment
deliberately and systematically structured to provide maximum
against Jews who fled Europe ahead o f H itler. One must understand all the forces
economic benefit (and social control) fo r absentee owners o f the real
that were at work, and accept that we are all human, not a ll heroes.
estate. As we may see from the follow ing excerpt, the American styling o f innercity
A w ell-rounded-idiot should have been able to perceive that over the genera
plantations has substantially departed from the model o f the M iddle Ages.
tions
there would have developed an institutionalized disillusionm ent and blighted
“ The word ghetto, as it is used today, derives from the Italian term fo r the
hope
among a growing class o f those abandoned to employment discrim ination,
island in Venice on which Jews were forced to live in 1516. The Venetian Ghetto,
residential
segregation and fa m ily deterioration, i.e. that ubiquitous U N D E R
established at a time when other nations were expelling Jews entirely, controlled
C
LA
S
S
.”
The
c iv il rights legislation o f the postwar years is even less than a band
the Jewish presence w hile, at the same time, allowing Jews entry into the dynamic
aid when we consider the type o f social hurricanes that are sweeping up our youths
mainstream o f Venetian life...comm ercial to medical.” ( “ The Venetian G hetto,"
and hurling them against the staffs and walls o f our crim inal justice system.
Roberta Curiel and Bernard Cooperman).
In the 1970’ s both the New Y o rk Times and the W a ll Street Journal published
For three centuries now, there has been so such “ D Y N A M IC M A IN S T R E A M ’
articles
that, surprisingly, revealed the basic rules for constructing an American
available to American blacks — only an occasional escape valve provided by the
ghetto.
Both
writers chose Harlem for a model. First, and most im portantly, there
establishment when confronted w ith the possibility o f a real revolution. These have
must
be
Restrictive
Covenants, against black occupancy o f dwellings outside o f the
usually been in the form o f allegedly “ great social and economic strides for the
prescribed
racial
perimeter;
and there must be a conspirace between the realtors,
race,’ ’ as described by some, both w ithin and w ithout the system. But in my home
the
mortgage
companies
and
the banks to assure the maintenance o f a C A P T IV E
town ghetto o f a quarter-m illion black souls (St. Louis) the banks would finance at
R
E
N
T
A
L
A
N
D
R
E
T
A
IL
M
A R K E T P LA C E ! Next, banks. C ity bureaus and
any one time only one each: Appliance store (G.E.), construction company and
U
NIO
NS
in
the
building
trades
must conspire to prevent the construction o f any
several other categories. There was absolutely no funding available for markets,
new
buildings
w
ithin
the
lucrative
cash box — except in special circumstances.
furniture and jew elry stores, pawn shops, apparel stores, finance companies, or
This,
o
f
course,
maintained
the
non-competitive
position o f absentee landlords (the
sim ilar enterprises which would be in competition w ith fields dominated by other
“ exceptions” were usually reserved for large chains or other ethnics. W hat about
ethnic groups.
Portland?)
Therefore, the organic nature o f the scores o f such IN N E R -C IT Y P L A N T A
It was also pointed out that huge tracts o f ghettoes like Harlem are owned
TIONS was guaranteed to produce, each generation, exponentially increasing
A
Entertainment
Perspectives
Sometimes I play that
I catch up with myself.
I run with what I was
and with what I will be,
on the race o f what I am.
And sometimes I play that
I pass myself.
Then maybe I run
in the race o f what I ’m not.
But there's still another race
in which I'll play that I ’m overtaken
and that will be the real one.
Roberto Juarroz,
"Vertical Poetry"
Kid Talk
Religion
My Favorite Subject
Is...
Give Your Best To The
Master
Too Legit To Quit:
M.C. Hammer
Following Up
On The Base
Line Essays
directly or through investment trusts by Am erica’ s FO U N D A TIO N S, U N IV E R
SITES A N D CHURCHES. It is indicated that the take since the turn o f the century
in terms o f rent differentials and retail p rice-fixing is in the T R ILL IO N S OF
D O LLAR S . The cruel, murderous and crim inal system is far more advanced and
sophisticated than anything South A frica ever dreamed of. The rats, the lead
poisoning o f the children and the breakdown o f the educational system and crime-
in-the-street are all seen by today’s establishment media to have derived from
some m ythical * ‘forces o f urban decay.” They only wish to gain time fo r their con
stituency w hile less obvious urban renewal!removal modes are crafted.
We must wonder i f the African American is to find him self as a protaganist
w ith life as is the person in the fo llo w in g poem. Conclusion next week.
Students From Trinity
Lutheran Grade School
By Michael Lindsey
By McKinley Burt
EDITORIAL
NEWS
2
KID TALK
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 2
RELIGION
ENTERTAINMENT
4
5
I
CLASSIFIEDS/BIDS
10
I