Unity stressed at
Black assembly
Inno Ukaeje, political science
professor at Portland State
University, was the keynote
speaker at the Pan-African
Symposium held at the EMU
Dad’s Room last Thursday.
Before making his speech,
Ukaeje removed hi^coat because
“when we are dealing with the
concept of Pan-Africanism, we
don’t have to put on a coat. It is
business which always comes
before pleasure.”
Ukaeje said, “African refers to
all Black people—any body who
is Black. And when we deal with
the concept of Pan-Africanism
we are not restricting it to the
continent of Africa—we globalize
it.”
He explained to the audience
that African problems are not
unique.
‘Tend to panic’
“American people have
problems too, but they have not
despaired. When we (Africans)
have problems, we tend to panic.
The new concept of Pan
Africanism should be to trans
form the pessimism to optimism
mi hope."
^He said Pan-Africanism differs
from the other “pans” because
“The concept is based on organic
solidarity, as opposed to
mechanical solidarity. That is, it
concerns entities that have ex
perience, common problems in
the past, present and future.”
“Pan-Africanism reduced to its
concrete terms,” he said, “is a
continental manifestation of
contemporary existentialist
philosophy.”
Ukaeje said radicalism, when
necessary, is not an abuse.
“I do not advocate radicalism,
but 1 do not condemn it when
necessary.”
He quoted a British liberalist
who said, “Governments are
founded by people and once any
government abuses that privilege
the people have the right to
change the government.”
Common problems
“If you’re Black on this planet
Earth, you’re liable to be
degraded, exploited and
dehumanized.” That was how
Carol Cross, a Black graduate
student, described the situation
of Blacks in the world today. She
emphasized that Blacks in
America, Africa and other
countries have many of the same
problems in their relations to the
non-Black world.
Cross's comments were part of
the opening remarks in the
symposium.
Cross said that the major
problem is that Blacks are taught
to use western standards for
measuring progress, where more
technology is the best way. She
said the Black way should be to
stress cooperation instead of
competition^ and that “beauty,
democracy and progress all have
to be evaluated and defined in a
Pan-African way.”
Cross’s introduction was
followed by a poem about the
Black situation in America, and a
panel discussion on Pan
Africanism. The members of the
panel were El-Eseway Abo
Amasha, Mohammed Aminu, Ed
Illiteracy still exists,
speakers tell group
“According to the Census Bureau, 16,000 people are functionally
illiterate in Oregon. A little over 8,000 have had no schooling what
soever.”
The speaker was Ninette Florence, the Right to Read officer for
the state of Oregon.
Right to Read is “a coordinated endeavor to help all segments of
society to insure that no person shall be denied a productive life
because of an inability to read effectively,” said LaV’onne Milner
Thursday at the Right to Read mini-symposium sponsored by the
University School of Librarianship.
The symposium was outlined as a “conference on local activities
! support of right to read programs” by the School of Librarianship.
Milner, the first speaker, is the Right to Read officer for United
States Office of Education, the sponsors of the Right to Read program
in the Pacific Northwest.
“The National Right to Read effort involves both the public and
private, professional and non-professional segments of society,”
states the progress report for 1972. “It is aimed at ensuring that by
1980 99 per cent of all those over 16 will possess and use literacy
skills,” the report says.
Milner discussed these segments in more detail. “Right to Read is
not a single reading program, but a team effort, marshalling all ef
forts.” she said, “the general plan of action is intended to assist in
planning to achieve right to read goals.”
“Right to Read is a program designed toinformthe public there is
a national reading problem,” Milner said.
The Right to Read program seeks to achieve functional literacy
which “is defined as possession and employment of reading skills
which enable an individual to benefit from the options American
society has to offer,” the progress report states.
Milner went on to outline the two types of Right to Read sites:
school-based centers and community-based centers. Community
based centers are those such as correctional institutions, prisons and
detention centers. There are four types of school-based centers.
1. “A transition site is one without substantial Federal funds
earmarked for reading improvement but which is willing to make the
change from existing ineffective practices to effective ones.
2. A re-direction site differs from a transition site in that it does
have substantial Federal funds. However, it still has an ineffective
reading program, and needs to use its resources differently in order to
meet the needs of its pupils.
3. An expansion site is one with promising practices related to the
teaching of reading, and with students who are achieving in the second
and third marbles, instead of in the lowest quartiles, as do the
students ;n the first two types of sites.
4 An impact s*te is one with an exemplary program which can
serv- as a demonstration model regarding the application of reading
methods, souna management, use of the diagnostic-prescriptive
approach, and involvement of the community in its program” ac
cording to the progress report.
Photo by Jan Sane he:
Ahmed Gaidi (center), a senior in Business Administration, speaks out on the racial problem in
Southern Africa during a Pan-African symposium in the Dad's Room of the EMU Thursday. Gaidi is
flanked by Mohammed Aminu. a graduate teaching assistant in chemistry, on the left and Carol
Cross, moderator of the panel discussion and chairer of the sponsoring Black Graduate Student
Council.
Coleman, Ahmed Gaidi and
L.O.I.B. Thompson.
Panel discussion
The panel members discussed
what Pan-Africanism means to
them personally and to the people
of their countries and the best
means of achieving it. It was
generally agreed that unity
betwen Blacks has to come
between the masses of people as
well as individuals, through
education, through recognition of
a common culture, or through
striving toward a common goal.
One of the problems seen was
uniting Black Americans with
Africans. The panel saw the rise
of social consciousness among
American Blacks as an en
couraging sign, but said there is
still a wide gap between the in
terests and goals of Africans and
Black Americans.
The panel closed with Thomp
son’s analysis of the situation in
the Caribbean. He said that the
cultural diversity among people
in the Caribbean is an example of
the problems faced on a larger
scale when Blacks throughout the
Complaint line restored
Lane Air Pollution Authority has re-installed its 24-hour “com
plaint line” for the duration of the field burning season.
The line can be used 24-hours a day, even when the agency’s
regular phones are busy. The number is 689-1732.
The complaint line, which was put in Thursday, can be used for all
kinds of gripes about pollution and not just field burning, according to
Vemer Adkison, pollution authority director.
A recorded voice requests the caller's name, address and com
plaint.
Complaints about field burning are sent to the Department of
Environmental Quality (DEQ) in Portland. Complaints about other
air pollution problems in Lane County are handled by the Lane Air
Pollution Authority.
Adkison said the agency’s lines have been "jammed” for the past
two days with complaint calls about field burning. This led to the re
installation of the 24-hour line.
Experience'
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world try to unite. He said that
Blacks must recognize the out
side pressures preventing unity
and added, ‘if Pan-Africanism
means anything, it means seizing
political and economic freedom.”
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