Oregon Advance Times_1968-07-25

' The Oregon Advance/fJMES Publishing Company, Inc., non-profit corporation, Publisher Chairman of the Board •.••• , ••••••••••••••..•.•...•.•.. Rozell Gilmore Vice-Chairman • • • • . • •••• , •.••••••• , ••• , ••••..•..••.• Hazel G. Hays Offices at 714-1/2 N. E. Alberta, Portland. Phone .•..•....•.••• 288-6409 Mailing Address •••• , •.••• , ••• Post Office Box 11274, Portland, Oregon 9721 I Subscriptions: By mail, $4.50 per year in advance. By carrier, 40¢ per month (voluntary) STATEMENT The Oregon Advance/TIMES goes to press weekly 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 trui:h, as we see it, will be consistently presented. Page 2 July 25, 1968 Fsct1, Fiction And C1itici1m The Oregon Advance Times will continue to be a paper of principles, even though there seems to be attempts by the other paper in the black com– munity to deny it this privilege. The other paper, because of its negative and seemingly un– structured position, never comes out with positive leader– ship qualities. It always sees the world through negative glas– ses. It criticized the Oregon Advance Times for publishing, it criticized Model Cities on every hand, it criticized Rev. Casson for being appointed to the school administration, it criticizes Mr. Gilmore for being chairman of the Oregon Advance Times board, it criti– cizes, it criticizes. Why can't a paper that is supposed to be serving the best interests of the black com– munity, ever come out in favor of something that doesn't have a dollar to offer? This looks like selfish interest. False accusations by its edi– tor are being made continually. He accuses the Advance Times of being a Model Cities news– paper. Also of being owned by our printer. It would be well if these accusations could be backed up. Anyone can make statements. What the black community needs is fact, not fiction. Fact is what the Advance Times is dedicated to report. We hold to the truth that if fact and positive leadership are given to any community, prog– ress is bound to come. We desire to see progress happen for black people. We want to help it happen. Mo,sl P1ob/em1 Expo1ed Last week on Channel 2 news, a serious look at the increase of unwed mothers was reported. The report states that the in– crease is becoming somewhat alarming. Several reasons for the increase were put forth - low moral codes, T. V. love scenes and many others that are common to the average adult. The fact is, however, that this isn't just something that started last year. It is as old as man– kind itself. The question is, of ~ .u: :,.,-.:.s.:;, ' course, can the trend be re– versed? This question cannot be an– swered by anyone but the indi– vidual. He and she will de– termine the trend by their be– havior patterns. We know the sex urge is high in young people. However, if they are given the moral facts of life and the long– range consequences of their actions, many will think twice before going up the river without a paddle. New Chu,ch Con1t,uction In A/bins \ --, - The People Speak Harrowing Experiences Related By Teen-agers by Joyce James It was Wednesday evening, July 17, 1968. My two sis– ters Rachel age 14 andCheryl age 15 had been at my cou– sins house on s. E. Harrison until about 10:15 p.m. at which time a Union Avenue– bus was leaving so that they could come home. As they stepped off the bus on N. E. Alberta and Union Ave. and proceeded across the street they were stopped. My sisters have never been in any kind of trouble before in their lives, I'm not say– ing that they are perfect an– gels because no one is and I would be lying if I said they were, but Rachel is an A' and B' student and Cheryl is a B'. They both plan on attending college, as I do, and Rachel wants to be a teacher and Cheryl would like to be a foreign language in– terpreter. So as you see there was really no reason for what occured that night to take place at all. Here is the story that I got from Cheryl. As we got off the bus, Ra– chel stepped off the curb to cross the street. I wasn't looking, but I did too. I was counting some money that we had gotten from selling some candy. We were half way across when Rachel said there's the cops. As soon as we reached the street the police parked in front of us. They said "Come here". We Berean Baptist Build The Berean Baptist Church building which includes a day nursery for 45 children is taking shape. The building is being built mostly by vol– unteer help. Staff consists of only two full-time workers. Every Saturday a group of fellow Churchmen from mostly sur– burban churches motor to N, Vancouver and Wygant Street for a good day's labor. - The building will be fin – ished in December and should be ready for taking in chil– dren about January, I 969. Rev. Rozelle Gilmore, Pastor, stated that if a church is to fulfill its re– sponsibility in the Albina Community, it should have daily activities available to the community. He also stated that thou– sands of dollars worth of church building go vacant every day, when they should be used. Because of a lack of foresight by Church lead– ers, this probably will not happen for some time. said, "We're here". They asked us our names. We told them Rachel and Cheryl James. Asking us a second time, we repeated our first response. Upon asking us a third time, thinking they might be a little hard of hear– ing we exclaimed rather loud– ly, Rachel and Cheryl James! At that they asked "Do you speak to your mother that way"? We told them no, our mother doesn't ask us our names. They told us that if we didn't cooperate they'd have to take us down to the station. We asked them what they meant because they had asked us three times our names. Then they asked our parents names and address. Rachel asked if we could go. They said no. She asked why. One of them said that they had to wait for his ser– geant. So we waited. After awhile (we had been standing on the street all this time), I told them it was cold stand– ing outside. But we didn't get any response. Soi we continued to stand there. Af– ter awhile a "Paddy Wagon" came. They told us to get in. We asked them where we were going. They told us, "For a ride," and asked us if we would ''please get in now." We just stood there and didn't say anything, They as ked us again and we still didn't move or reply. They asked us a third time and Rachel said, "Why do we have to get in there? It stinks in there." I s aid it sure does stink in there. Then they grabbed 5' 2", 90 lb. 14 year old Rachel and threw her in and she bumped her head on the wall. So I scratched one of them. They they crune at me. I stood there with a sack full of canister candy, daring them, and told them that I knew that they weren't going to put their hands on me, at least not while I had that candy in my hands. Then I stepped in the wagon. At the station two police women came out to escort us in. One grabbed Rachel. She jerked back elbowing her in the stomach saying "I can walk". The woman told her that if she didn't hurry she would help her. Rachel said, "You try". The other one grabbed me, I yanked away and she grabbed me again. I elbowed her and told her to keep her hands off of me. She said, "Okay, I'll keep my hands off you.'' I told her just as long as she did that everything would be alright. We were marched then into a room to sign some papers concerning the amount of money we had. One of the women said, ''Now sit down right there, and take your shoes off." Rachel asked why, and she said because she had shoe strings in them. Rachel told her that she watched television too and had no intention' of killing herself. The woman said that there was another girl in the cell, too. Rachel told her that · she wasn't going to get her shoestrings to kill herself with either. The woman said that we all would just wait then until someone stronger came to take the 90-pounder' s shoes off. At that she called for one or two policemen to help. Five came into the room. Rachel kicked off her Movement behind the shower, blood on the toilet seat, and a rusty brown face basin that maybe at one time might have been white. We felt like no one, not even criminals, should have to stay In a place like that. It wasn't even fit for animals. After being in the cell for about an hour, they came and ordered us out. We put on our shoes and stood there for a while. Then they came with handcuffs and chains and chained Rachel and myself together with our wrists in back of us. They didn't hand– cuff the white girl, she walked out carrying her belongings. I told them that they didn't have to do that. The ·police said, "Well, if you're going to act like a 'bitch,' then we're going to treat you like one. Rachel told them that the cuffs were too tight and were cutting her. They told her that if she was going to act like a dog then she would be treated like one. He pulled the cuffs tighter and Rachel began to cry. I called 1 him an ugly fool and told him that he had a lot of nerve. They took us back to the "Paddy wagon," or the pile of junk, in which we had ar– rived therein. They took us to the Juvenile Delinquency Home. My parents had gotten there ahead of us, and when my mother saw the chains she broke down in tears. We later learned that the man behind the desk had tried to make my parents stand back so that they wouldn't see the chains, but they didn't, and when we walked in, he said, "Well, they must have done something or else they wouldn't be handcuffed." When finally we found out why we had been picked up, and what we had been charged with, it was at the Home and the officials said that the police had no reason to pick us up at all. The girls had been charged with walking against a red light. If there have been any other incidents such as this in Albina, please notify Elliot Holden, attorney at law, in the Neighborhood Service Center, or Mrs. Mary L. James, 287-9646. ATTENDANCE Dear Sir: Recently I saw the last five minutes of a local discussion program. Two young ladies were discussing what could be done to help ease racial tensions. The moderator asked what could be done by the white community to help. The young ladies refused to answer, saying that whites would have to look into them- selves for the answer. Well, sir, I asked myself what I could do and I found the answer in the Mothers' lntercultural League. How– ever, the League has a ma– jor problem. We cannot get enough black mothers to at– tend. What do I and others like me do now? Forget it? Perhaps the black commu– nity can answer this question for me. Yours truly, Ellen Minuk 2812 N. E, 13th Ave. shoes and walked into the Some people are so narrow- cell. minded they can look through In the cell we found some- a keyhole with both eyes at thing that looked like Bowel once.