Portland Advocate_1981-05

PA: You have mentioned various local issues, but what has been the Black United Front's primary focus? JACKSON: I think we made a good attempt in dealing with the police department. We also becarre involved with street narres, and we engaged in some economic issues having to do with jobs. Gradually, I am certain we will get involved with meaningful problems that exist in the Black cormrunity. HERNOON: Another area where we have received the most attention and made the most gains has been in education. Portland had a desegre– gation plan that mandated Black children be bussed out of their cormrunity. The Front tackled the plan in 1979, and stopped such acti– vity due to community pressure put on the School Board. Black children are no longer forced to be bussed out of their neighborhood. They can attend their neighborhood school, and we have forced the School Board to set up a school in our cormrunity that will serve 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. Up until now there was never a school to serve Black children for six or seven years who were of middle school age. There are still many areas where we are fighting to make quality education possible for Black children, but there have been some dramatic changes as to what education does look like for Black children in Portland, only because of the suc– cess the Front has had in organizing the cormrunity and forcing issues to the fore and having them resolved. There are several issues the School District has promised, and to date they have not been resolved. PA~ Given some of the issues and or problems described, how success– ful do you think you have been in the Portland community? JACKSON: On narre changes, we have been met with sorrewhat of a set– back. It did in my estimation, expose the fact that Portland is more racist than we thought it was, and it vms evident in how they subjected us to a public opinion survey. Given the percentage of JBlack people in the area, we could ~not have won with a public opinion survey and when we knew the public survey was going to go against us, we knew we must resort to other tactics. We do not see ourselves pennanently defeatedo We consider ourselves exposed to a problem in depth, where we will have to work around, through, or over the problem to get what we want done for the necessary change. PA: You said narre changes, exactly what are you wanting changed? JACKSON: We vJere seeking city street name changes, and we selec– ted two narres, Rosa Parks and .Malcolm X. One of the things which I think is significant, and it has a direct relat~onship to the edu– cational issues we have raised, there were too many people who did not know of Rosa Parks or Malcolm X. People called me and asked who are these people? (Laughter). We believe if quality education was offered, especially quality educa– tion dealing with Black history and culture, that in itself would have eliminated some of the problem and particularly among some of the Blacks who called. Here again, we fault education and not only educa– tion dealing with Blacks but whites as well, going right back to what. we have been trying to get - qual1ty education. PA: Have Black students enrolled in local colleges, universities, or high schools been involved with Black United Front activi– ties? I Herndon: Yes. We have gotten a lot of support from the Black Student Union at Portland State University. They have supported us every step of the way. Many students have been involved in volunteer committee work, and in 1979 when we were planning a boycott, high school students formed what might be called a youth group that helped with publicity and activities about the boycott. PA: Tell us about some future Black United Front directions? JACKSON: When the forrrer Mayor becarre a member of President Carter's Cabinet, his predecessor gave the City a lot of bad publicity regarding Black people. It seerrE to us that that is part of the rea- Page 11 Rev. John H. Jacl~n son why he was selected, due to the fact that Portland was considered such a liveable city. It was very disturbing to us, because as a Cabinet member coming from Portland, it meant he was going to deal with the affairs of Black people all across the country. Since Black people here are so small in number and given how we were and are dealt with, we were concerned that Black people might not get a square deal elsewhere a As long as problems exist, we will exist. We will exist because what else can you do except try to relieve, resolve, or help with some problem. There are a mass of1 things out there that we do not even have time to deal with, but as rapidly as we can we will deal as long as inequities exist. I was reading an article the other day, and the article alluded to the so– called ghetto problem as a problem for everybody. If by chance we are eliminated or leave and take jobs in other cities, there will be others anxious to resolve problerrE. We know the problems are here, and as long as I can remember we have been dealing with some sort of problema PA: Thank you, Both. "The power of spirit that our people have is intangible, but it is a great force that must be unleashed in the struggles of today." Paul Robeson