Oregon Advance Times_1968-02-01

Page 6 Oregon Advance/TIMES February 1, 1968 The Problems at Jefferson High; What Are the Answers? Soul Brothers And Simbas Air Thoughts by EVELYN CREWS Do the Simbas and the Soul Brothers have the answer to Jefferson High School's prob– lems? Thomas Hayden and John Hall are Jefferson juniors who have lived here all of their lives, and they have new ideas about how they want to live through their high school careers. The Jefferson story is old but the organizations headed by these two boys are new. Thomas is head of the Sim– bas and John is the spokes– man for the Soul Brothers. low students. The two groups of "in" and "out" are very different, and even the "out" portion of Jefferson which does not possess the Soul Brothers' and Simbas' insight are set apart from these boys. It is also possible to be– come an outsider by being tagged as a trouble-maker. Snodg-rass had a five-week battle in gaining entrance for Thomas in regular high school classes at Jefferson. Thomas had asked for a transfer from Benson to Jefferson. William Knouff, Jefferson's principal, said that it had been reported to him and that he was "solely convinced" that Thomas' request for a transfer was to change things at Jefferson and to start a Black Power organization such as the Black Student John's interest in the ten- Union. sion between black and white Before Thomas' transfer, students at Jefferson began he had to sign an agreement last summer when he made saying that he would not start occasional visits to the sum- any organizations whose pol– mer Upward Bound program icies were contrary to school at Reed College. The inter- rules. est manifested itself into the According to Snodgrass, Soul Brothers one day in a "I dic;ln't know that the boys disrupted English class at had started an organization," Jefferson. but he said that there was "We were talking about a summer dialogue and dis– Detroit and Watts," John cussion about blackness and said, "and things kinda got also an Afro-American His– out of hand. The teacher got tory class taught in the sum– mad at us and the next day mer Upward Bound program. split us up." Two of four The Reed class was taught boys were transferred to an- by James Hill, a student at other class. the University of Oregon, Thomas' interest in black and Colden Brown, affiliated and white tensions at Jeffer- with Williams Avenue C-Cap. son started while he was at- T he black question was prev– tending the summer Reed alent because one-third of the College Upward Bound pro- staff and one-half of the stu- gram. Ronda! Snodgrass, director of the Upward Bound program at Reed, says that, ''These boys are out of the main– stream of school." Being an "outsider" atJef– ferson can mean that you are in the process of completing four years of high school training without ever seeing a counselor, voting for a stu– dent body officer, buying a Spectrum (yearbook) or be– coming friends with any one of your teachers enough to talk with in general. An "outsider" is alone, a separate entity from general school temperament. Being on the "outside" im– plies that the re is an "in– side" at Jefferson. There is an "in" faction of black students. They run for stu– dent body offices, are pop– ular among white s1.udents, dress in fashion, are popu– lar with their teachers, are articulate and seem to be used again and again on stu– dent committees as spokes– men for both "outside" and "in" black students. They most resemble the white stu– dent who has decent grades and is popular among his fel- dent body were black, Snodgrass said that the race problem is a major part of education. "We brought the question out into the open and made it painful to talk about." The Upward Bound staff hit the issue hard and made no attempt to preserve an easi– ness between the races. Glen Debeal, a Reed College stu– dent, said, "We made an ef– fort to be honest and open." Because of the openness of the issue, the white students in the program started to re-evaluate themselves and started to hold meetings about white identity. In this at~ mosphere of honesty, Debeal said, the "surface layer was removed by the Upward Bound staff, and students confronted each other about problems below the surface." When Thomas and John re– turned to Jefferson, they had a new awareness and goal which they wanted to share with their fellow black stu– dents. Thomas said student groups are at work in Jefferson at– tempting to interest students in forming a union of stu– dents to lobby for a student bill of rights. The groups, Soul Brothers and Simba, are comprised of "black students," said Thom– as, leader of Simba. "The purpose of Simba is to relate the so-called Negro to his African culture," Thomas said. ''Right now we are just helping Soul Brothers attempt to establish a bill of rights," he said. . Lewis Ninchester, a leader in Soul Brothers, explained that his group is "to help the black students in Port– land and particularly Jeffer– son. "Right now the project is to get a student union at Jef– ferson," Winchester said. "We got a promise from Mr. Knouff to start a class rights," Winchester said, The bill of rights hasn't been written yet, but will in– clude a provision for appeal– ing expulsions, the two lead– ers said. Both report they have had trouble with the school's ad– ministration. Thomas said he once was suspended for about an hour and a half for "what they said was a fight." "It wasn't a fight, I don't think," Thomas said. "It was because I was talking to students about black pow– er and having pride in black history. "I was suspended a short time because I brought my mother back to school fast." Lewis said all Soul Broth– ers have been threatened by in Black History," Th'omas suspension. said. In talks with Knouff, the ''We've got a group of Simbas and Soul Brothers adults to go to the Jefferson requested a Negro history Parent Teachers Association class and a Black Student (PTA) to discuss our bill of Union. The class started Planned Parenthood Clinic Has Moved To perform a more effi– cient and economical service to mothers interested in fam– ily planning, the Planned Parenthood Association will centralize its operations at the Broadway Clinic, 620N.E. Broadway. This move means the Plan– ned Parenthood Clinic at the Neighborhood Services Center in Albina will be closed. However, the association feels the new quarters will mean a more concentrated and beneficial program for everyone involved. Clinics to supply birth control infor– mation and contraceptives will be available every day and counselors will be able to give more time to individual con– ferences. ing in the Southeast. The program will continue its co– operation with the obstetrical departments of Multnomah County Hospital and Emanuel Hospital. The Planned Parenthood Clinic is a project which pro– vides contraceptive advice and supplies for medically indigent families. Planned Parenthood teaches that it is the right of each woman to space and limit her family to those children she desires and can adequately care for. The program is planned to observe privacy, confiden– tiality, and freedom of con– science while making infor– mation and services avail– able. Jan. 22. Senior students have preference in the class, but another will be scheduled if there is large enough par– ticipation. Knouff objected to the Black Student Union because the name implied that the group would be restrictive. A sub– stitute organization (a student forum) was suggestedforcon– tact between students and teachers. This project is at a stand– still because of a lack of follow-through on the stu– dents' part of a purposeful silence. The Simbas and Soul Brothers also helped get music during meal hours in the cafeteria. The music had been discontinued several years ago. The feeling conveyed by Knouff was that the Soul Brothers and Simbas pre– sented a threat to Jefferson's usual routine. The goal of the Soul Broth– ers and Simbas, said Thomas and John, is to awaken all black students at Jefferson to what appears to be a small "in" faction of black students perpetuating the system of tokenism. 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