Oregon Advance Times_1968-03-14

Roving Reporter Gets Earful of Heated Views The Roving Reporter went roving on - Saturday evening last week. The air wa s warm and the atmosphere the same on the Albina streets. There appeared a jovial mood in all the people 1 en- countered. · I met a group of gentlemen Portland, Oregon on N. Vancouver and Mason. A discussion was in progress when I arrived on the scene. I introduced myself and pa– tiently listened to the con– versation. Levi Walker of 1435 N. E. Failing, an Albina resident for 21 years, was speaking. He said, "I be- lieve we should have fair housing, opportunity and an equal share in America. We don't want the white man's women. The white man uses ·his women as a crutch to keep us from our equality. We want to be treated as he is and I mean as men ••• The Oregon ADVANCE this is equality." "What is equality'/" asked John A. Cleveland of 121 N. Beech, a resident for 27 years. "What is equality, I ask you? I don't think the white man really knows what it means; he may as well erase that word out of his vocabulary." "I have 9 chil– dren," continued Walker. He spoke as though he did not hear Cleveland's remarks. "I am looking for a better life for each of them. We cannot deny that there is a certain amount of prejudice in our public schools. I think all children should have equal education. The white man sells us too short. He waits until· his houses have rotted out and then sells them to us. We have a rat problem and a roach problem. The white man should not judge all black people alike." "Who gave him the au– thority to judge anyway," in– terrupted Cleveland. ''Who made the white man ruler over the world telling people where to live and how to live. Who, I ask you, who?" Vol. 1, No. 7 Single Copies 109 Thursday, March 14, 1968 Walker continued by say– ing, "l don't think we should destroy the white man be– cause if we attempt to do so, we destroy ourselves. You see, we have a part in this country, I think we should prohibit guns. It does not take violence to settle anything,'' PovertyWar Let Us Hear Mayor Adds Class Taught What Go~s On Selections By Mitchell Committee Election Set The Advance Times wants news of the Albina Com– munity - what the clubs are doing, church activities, weddings, business enter- The Albina War on Pov- prises, etc. erty Committee has set its If you have news, please annual election for March 22. phone the newspaper office, This is the committee that 288-6409, directs the Albina Neighbor,:- Social news may be phoned hood Service Center, directly to Mrs. George Hen- An un~sually large num- · drix, 285-3156. Mrs, Hen– ber of vacancies - 23 - drix will be reporting news are to be filled, of parties, club functions, For the first time the com- weddings and similar affairs. mittee is being opened to She would like to hear from young people of the com– munity with three places on it for area residents between the ages of 18 and 21. The election will be held in the Knott Street Community Center, ' with the meeting opening with a social hour from 7 to 8 p,m, at which time residents will have a chance to visit with candi– dates, Those who want to run for the committee have until March 15 to file letters of intent at the Neighborhood Service Center. That will assure them a place on the ballot. However names of other candidates .may be offered from the floor the night of the meeting, Fourteen of those elected, including the group aged 18 to 21, must live in the area east and west between the freeway and Northeast 15th Avenue and north and south from Broadway to Ainsworth Street. The other nine may live anywhere in the city, The aim of the program is to have about one-third of the committee members elected from the Albina area mem– bers of the poverty group, Under federal definition, the poverty level runs from an annual income of $1,600 for families with one child to $7,800 for families with 13 children, Walter Morris and Helen Stoll are in charge of ar– rangements for the meeting with Emile Summers in charge of election arrange– ment!l, One of the new committee's tasks will be to elect a chair– man to replace the Rev. George E. Carter Jr. He resigned because of ill health, The Albina Citizens War On Poverty Committee held its final meeting of the year on March 9. George C, Weller, who spoke for the Portland Lit– eracy Project, told the com– mittee that the Highland Literacy Project and the Reed Education Program had (Continued on Page 5) you. Al Batiste Endorsed "There should be open so– cial discussion of interracial problems in the third grade," declared Alvin Ba– tiste, candidate for the Port– land School Board, If elected Batiste would urge the schools to develop an approach to social prob– lems that would relay a "what does this mean to Alvin Batiste you" kind of involvement. Teachers need in-depth ex– periences in social con– sciousness early in their training, he said. The School Citizens' Com– mittee, a cross-section. of interested Portland citizens, has endorsed Batiste for one of the three school board po– sitions to be filled. Batiste is the first Negro to be recommended by the com– mittee and, should he win, would be Portland's first Negro school board member. Usually those candidates se– lected by the School Citizens' Committee are elected. The other two candidates selected were Jonathan Newman and Paul Howe. An engineer in test and de– velopment for Bonneville Power Administration, Ba– tiste, 45, would bring to the board an expert's background in dealing with employment– management problems. Batiste suggested that an (Continued on Page 8) For Board Mayor Terry Schrunk has added his selections to the Citizens' Planning Board for the Model Cities Program. The people of the target area eJected 16 board mem– bers two weeks ago, The mayor had the entire city to choose from in filling the other positions on the 27- member board, The board is the group that will plan the actual things to be done in the Model Cities program, working under the guidance of the staff headed by Paul Schulze as director and Ellis Casson as assistant director. The board will have veto power over any program be– fore it goes to the City Coun– cil for approval, The mayor named: J, K. Neill, president, National Mortgage Co,; Mrs. How– ard Wolfe, Grant High PTA Board; Robert Cochran, Inter-Group Relations, Pa– cific Maritime Assn.; John R. Gustafson, asst. commis– sioner, state Bureau of La– bor; Mrs. Arnold (Elaine) Cogan, president, League of Women Voters; the Rev. John Jackson, Pastor of Mt. Oli– vet Baptist Church; Harry C. Ward, social worker for Multnomah County; the Rev. Mel Stead, pastor, Immacu– late Heart Church; Frank E. Brawner, vice president, Oregon Mutual Savings Bank; Vernon C. Butler, owner, Butler Body and Fender works; and Mrs. Charles (Helen) Rawlins, teacher. Counseling on Housing Offered Free by FHA A young mother of three whose husband recently aban– doned her went to the Port– land Federal Housing Admin– istration office for advice about housing, A young married couple wondering how much they could afford to spend for a house also went to the FHA for advice. So did a new– comer to Oregon looking for a house to fit his family's requirements. To help meet problems like these, the Federal Housing Administration has just opened a free housing coun– seling service. It is expected .to be of spe– cial interest to low-income families, to servicemen re- (Continued on Page 0 5) A course dealing with cur– rent problems in American race relations will be taught during the spring quarter at Cascade College, Classes will be held each Thursday night from 7 to 9:30 p.m. starting March 28. Three hours of upper divi– sion credit will be given or the course may be audited by those not seeking credit. The cost will be $60. The instructor will be Ed- gar O. director Branch Y. Mitchell, executive of the North Mitchell got his bachelor's degree at Wheaton College, in Illinois, and did graduate work in sociology at George Williams College in Chicago. Carter Quits Committee The resignation of Rev. George E. Carter, Jr., chair– man of the Albina Citizens War on Poverty Committee, was announced at a board meeting March 6. With deep regret, the board accepted the resignation. Carter is the pastor of Allen Temple, C.M.E. Church, George Carter, Jr. and one of the original 13 members of the Albina Cit– izens War on Poverty Com– mittee. His devotion and dedication to this committee brought about the establish– ment of the Albina Neigh– borhood Service Center. He served two and a half terms as chairman of the commit– tee. He was elected to serve as Vice-Chairman of the Portland Metropolitan Steer– ing Committee. Carter was involved in almost every community activity which had as its goal the betterment of Albina and its citizens. Carter and his wife, Jean– ette, have been residents of Portland for the last five years. Before coming to Portland, they pastored in Muskogee, Oklahoma, where they were responsible for building a new church. They are the parents of two daugh– ters and three sons. Mrs. Carter said that her (Continued on Page 8) Inter Group Diredor To Be Named The Portland School Board will establish a position of Inter Group Relations Direc– tor. Both teacher associations, which do not often · get to– gether, did in this case and both urged the board to take the action that it finally did Monday evening after a num– ber of presentations. Robert E. Nelson, speaking for a community group, told the board that a Negro should be named to the position. The board took no action on this and said a committee headed by Supt. Barnes would work out the details of the work to be done by the di– rector. Nelson said the di– rector should be on the level of an assistant superintend– ent. Both school and community representatives will be on the committee, The Urban League also endorsed appointment of an inter-group director, Ellls Casson, presenting the UL's report, also asked for racial integration so that no high school should have more than one-fourth of its student body made up of any one racial minority. The UL also asked for promotion of qualified Negro teachers to administrative positions. Walter Morris told the board it was shocking to learn that not a single Negro was in an administrative po– sition in the Portland public schools. He questioned the board's real interest in recruiting Negro teachers. The board said lack of funds had ham– pered recruiting. "Listen," shouted Cleve– land, "It's going to take some violence to solve this problem. We can't wait another 100 years; we are going to take some action now to solve this problem," Fearing the eruption of argu– mentative violence, your re– porter hastened on his way. Joe Bell, a 21-year-old resident of Albina who lives at 3209 N. Mississippi, drove up to the market on N. ,Van– couver and seeing me with my pad and pencil, engaged in a warm conversation. "I came from Arizona two years ago," he said, "and have not received employ– ment since I've -been here. We need employment more than anything else. Why, (Continued on Page 5) T L• ·, erm 1m1. Gets Backing William T. McCoy Jr,, who made one of the best showings by a Negro in a Portland election when he got 39,000 votes for the city council in 1964, was in the .news this week with a campaign to limit the terms of city coun– cilmen. McCoy proposed that mem– bers of the council be limited to two terms - or eight years - without a break. He prepared petitions for this. He said this was the only way it was possible to over– come the name familiarity of those in office, Commissioner Wi 11 i am Bowes has served for 29 years, Commissioner Stan– ley Earl for 16 years and Mayor Terry Schrunk for 12 years. McCoy said he is thinking about running for office this year but said he had not made up his mind what office it would be. Black Culture Happening Set by Seattle Group An intense offering of Black Culture is the promise of "Modus-Quan," an enter– tainment "happening" spon– sored by the Albina Art Cen– ter, to take place Friday, March 29, at 7 p.m. in the Center's Auditorium. "Modus-Quan" is an en– semble of young performers from various art fields in Seattle, involved with poetry, jazz, rhythm and blues, rock 'n roll, soul "more or less," ballet and modern dance, and a few minor art displays. The purpose of this group is "to perform, to inspire, and to show black people as well as others what exists in culture, what is happening in the black culture, what is possible, and where it might be going. Guiding force behind the "Modus-Quan" is Aaron Du– mas, a young writer in Seattle, whose works have been performed locally and who has had some recent commissions for Cascade College. The show will last roughly three hours with the first half-hour given to the art exhibit and opening re– marks. At a recent perform– ance in Seattle, the presen– tation was enthusiastically received and repeated, Tickets can be obtained at the Albina Art Center or at the <lqor,