Oregon Advance Times_1968-05-16

I I I / I ·I I I The Oregon Advance/TIMES Publishing Company, Inc., non-profit corporation, Publisher Chairman of the Board • , • • • , • , • , • , ••••••• , • , •••. , . , . , .. Rozell Gilmore Vice-Chairman • • , • . • , ••• , •.•••. , •••• , • , •• , , , . , . , , , .. Hazel G. Hays Secretary • • , , •••••.• , • , •.•••••.•••••.•••••. , .••••• Ameli~ Stiggers Treasurer • • • • ••••••••••••••.••••.••••••••••.•.•.•. Samuel Johnson 7ie People S~ Editor • • • • •· • • •• , •.•••••.•••••••.•.•.•••. , ••.••..... Dan Hayes Advertising Manager •••..••.•.•••.•.•.•••.•.•.•••.••• George Christian Offices at 714-1/2 N. E. Alberta, Portland. Phone .•. , .••..•.•.. 288-6409 Mailing Address ••••.•.••..••• Post Office Box 11274, Portland, Oregon 97211 Subscriptions: By mail, $4.50 per year in advance. By carrier, 40¢ per month (voluntary) The Albina community does not have a single voice. Each person has ideas that are his own and many groups speak only for their members. This newspaper In its editorials says what its editorial board believes. But it is only one of the voices of Albina. You, too, have a voice. And you can speak out by writing letters to the editor. Our pages are small and our space is limited. So please speak about things here, at home. If we do not have room for all letters, those that are about national and international affairs will have to be set aside in favor of letters that talk about the special problems and hopes of people here at home. And keep them short. If they run over 250 words, we probably will have to shorten 'them. STATEMENT The Oregon Advance/TIMES goes to press weelcly to serve residents of the North-North– east Central area of Portland with news about the life of our community; information on the opportunities before us; discussion of the social and political issues that confront us. The Oregon Advance/TIMES gives to our community a newspaper which factually reports the news of our area and aggressively seeks the full rights of our citizens. It will pro– vide a forum for community expression and help people become more conscious of their obligations to themselves and their community. In all this, the truth, as we see it, will be consistently presented. • Page 2 Vol. 1, No. 16 May 16, 1968 School Edito,ial The Portland School District began hiring Negro teachers several years ago. Although Negro teachers are not plenti– ful in the Portland schools, they have been hired and placed ap– parently without regards to their color. Negroes first were placed in elementary schools. The school board was reluctant to place them in high schools, but it yielded to time and pressure and now there are a few Negro teachers in the secondary schools. It wasn't until last year, how– ever, that a Negro was hired as a coach of a varsity athletic team in the Portland Interschol– astic League. And this in spite of the numbers of Negro ath– letes both in the Portland Public Schools and Oregon colleges and universities. It is no secret to Negroes who have aspired to coaching positions in the Port– land schools that administrators, including high school principals, have conspired to keep them out of head coach jobs. elementary and high schools in Portland do so without seeing a Negro principal. There has never been one in the Portland system. Yet Negroes have left the Portland system and moved on to administrative positions in other districts, including that of principal. It's high time the Portland School Board and the system's administrators take a good, sec– ond look at some of the Negro teachers in the system. Perhaps it really is difficult for these white, middle-class educators and school board members to understand the frustrations of the Black man in this affluent social order. For many of them are comfort– able in their positions. Many of them have become members of that exclusive order of whites, that order that goes to luncheons at the all-white University Club, works out in the Multnomah Ath– letic Club or lives in all-white neighborhoods. Dear Sir: I think it's about time that black men stopped fighting each other and started help– ing one another, Black men will steal from each other everytime they get a chance, If a black man goes some place and leaves his coat or sweater more than 15 feet from him, another black man will lift it first time he can, knowing that the !).ext fellow is just as poor as he is. The black man is still hol– lering about the poor furni– ture in furnished apartments. If I owned an apartment I wouldn't put new furniture in it to have it stolen. The man that steals it is not black; he is Negro. When the Negro and the colored man joins the black man, then we can get civil rights started. The Negro who commits small crimes has every right to be in jail. Is a hundred dollar robbery worth being in jail for six months? Is sell– ing thirty dollars worth of narcotics a good enough rea– son to spend one year in jail? The first few times you might get away with it, but after you're caught and the judge says $1500 bail you don't have the money for a pack of cigarettes. So you sit for two or three months waiting for your trial to come, Your so-called friends on the outside won't have money enough to get you out and if they did do you think they would give it to you, Get yourself a job, stop standing in front of the pool hall, know where your next meal is coming from, AI Harris 4911 N. E. 14th Dear Editor: and service our own black store and restaurant owners offer us, their black broth– ers and sisters. Flies in the meat, broken packages on dirty shelves covered with dust, and goods months to years old. Stale bread and pastries, bruised, spoiled or outright rotting vegetables and fruits. Would you sell items like this to your mother, sister or brother? If not, why do you allow someone else to do it? How do you like waiting in a line while a grocery clerk finishes talking to a friend or completes a telephone conversation? Did you ever think of going to a store own– er to ask or demand that he get rid of a drunken or in– competent clerk? Much of what has been said here also applies to Black– run and/or owned cafes. The point is, if you ·don't like these things, say and do something about them. The Black Entrepeneur is there to sell a service to you; he'll listen to suggestions and complaints. It's no use talk– ing to one another about that dirty restaurant or cafe and the food, or griping abdut a store with damaged goods, rotten produce or poor check– ing service unless you are prepared to do ·something about it. If you aren't going to do anything about these gripes (which are common to Albina, both white and black business), then don't complain, because you evidently like things ·that way. Dear Sir, M. Pettis 1415 N. E. Liberty City We have read and heard about Model Cities, but no one can tell us much about Dear Editor: I enjoy your paper when– ever I get it. They are not always delivered to my door. I enjoy reading your paper very much probably because I am an Oregonian and am proud to be one. I see where there are dif– ferent camps and outings for the summer so often for young boys. Do you have any pro– grams daily for girls eleven and twelve years old? If you have any in the low– family income I would be very interested. I can be reached by call– ing 284-4071 after 6 p. m. or dropping a note to me. Mrs. Jeanette Simmons 524 N. E. Sacramento Portland, Oregon 97212 To the Editor: Union ,Avenue has had thousands of dollars damage to its business in the past years. Glass breakage alone is tre– mendous. The next result will be, of course, that busi– nessmen will move elsewhere. Union Avenue will then be– come another blighted Wil– liams Avenue. Is this what the dis– trict wants? We can't rehabilitate by day and destroy by night and ex– pect to upgrade our neigh– borhood. Drive Union Avenue and see the boarded-up windows, Is this a sign of progress? Art Wallace 4019 NE Garfield St. Our Children Their Future Negro athletes who have ap– plied for coaching positions have been discouraged. They have been advised to get out of coaching, to take courses in college that will lead to.teaching careers because the Portland system '' is hard to get into. Too many se~k to coach in Port– land and there just aren't enough positions.'' Too many white people con– tinue to live in an all-white world, a world that affords them little or no opportunity to see the Black man as he really is or to understand the causes of the division between the races. Are we too busy criticiz– ing whitey to take care of our own home? It would seem that instead of griping and complaining all of the time, we might be able to put those complaints into action - action directed to– ward our own black commu– nity, our own business (few as they may be) and toward change which does not re– quire government or state help, but simply involves people working together to change or solve one particu- -it. At our first mass meet– ing of citizens by the Albina w Little wonder Black young– sters have little desire for jobs that seem to be closed to them. Negroes in supervisory posi– tions still are lacking in the Portland system. Certainly qualified Negroes have been in the system and still are in the . system, yet advancements al– ways seem to go to white teach– ers. Why haven't Negro admin– istrators been hired in the Port– land system? Several Negro teachers have been cited for their outstanding work in the class room, yet they remain classroom teachers. Portland has several pre– dominantly Negro elementary schools. The number of Negro students at Jefferson High School approaches that of the white students. Negro students continue to increase in the other high schools in the city. All Negroes who go through ·War on Poverty Committee next month in June, we in– tend to have this information for our people. At present we can say it does affect you and we all will get fully in– volved in this program. We will lay down our differences and work toward a common goal and lead the way for a better tomorrow for ourselves and our children before it is too late. It's time they came out of their white world and see it for the make-believe world it is. More white people need to join the world of human beings. When they do, there will be Negro principals, Negro detec– tives, Negro police chiefs, etc. And the pretty sight these Negroes will be to little Black boys and girls will mean a better America for all of us. lar problem, • Respectfully yours, Walter Morris, Jr. Chairman of the AWOPC One of those problems is about the quality of goods The Midd/e-Cla11 Neg,o -~----. The average middle-class Negro finds that pursuing the goals and norms of white middle-class America is artifi– cial to the Negro. There's no end to the contest if you' re just a black man try– ing to excel so thoroughly that people will forget you are black. It is a fruitless struggle, the end result will lead one to a sense of individuality. Part of that individuality is just being a Negro. This is an indication that entering the middle-class status does not erase the color of one's skin nor the stigmas surrounding our race. The middle-class white is not altogether willing to remove the color line. The middle-class Negro uses the identical soft sales tactics the white uses to influence the poverty stricken Negro, yet he is isolated. In reality we are delivering the same message to the deprived, but the deprived view the mes– s age in essence. The black American whether middle-class or poverty stricken, faces the color line in the same perspec- ,. tive. The above photo is that of Nickalas and Christopher Wickliff. Twins born to Mr. and Mrs. Nick Wickliff. They are perhaps the only recent Negro twins born. The question that is prevalent in the minds of most Negroes today is what type of society will youngsters such as these live in. What environmental change today will affect their culture tomorrow? Will they emerge into a world of racism complexed by the thoughtless decision of their foreparents? Will their experiences be a constant ex– tension of deplorable policies established because we were afraid to do what we knew was right? Will we chain their lives as we have chained ours to the dogmas of despair and fruitless energies of de– struction? The heated hos– tility that separates us in policy will certainly not unite us in preserving their future. We must not let this incom– ing generation stumble over debris that we have neglected to remove. In our policy making, the true test of today's decisions will not only govern our lives but theirs as well,