Pige 2
Portland Observer
Thursday. N ovem ber 2 . !9?2
Haitians poor but proud
Top 10 Survey
ä
¿s
No.
by Sherman Briscoe
P C R T -A U -P R IN C E .
H aiti
(N N P A )- I am sure that the
im pression most tourists are
likely to take away from this
country is one of a poor b u t
prowl arxi friendly people who
work eery hard and are s till
determ ined to succeed de
spite nearly 2(W years oi po
litic a l setbacks and enormous
economic d ifficu ltie s .
This impression is made by
the swift pace of pedestrain
an m o torist a like, by the heavy
lo a d s
they w illin g ly and
gracefully c a rry on th e ir head
or push o r pull along the road
to m a rk e t, and by the pride
that glows deep in the s m il
ing eyes of even the poorest
peasant.
The products on th e ir head
are e ith e r made o r grown with
th eir own hands. T here are
beautiful baskets, attractive
pieces of porch furr.iture(woad
and m etal , bouquets of lovely
flow ers, baskets of fru its aid
vegetables, and even bags of
charcoal.
They
can leave
th e ir w ares by the roadside
overnight and nobody bothers
them.
A t the docks where the big
ships anchor, handcarts, in
stead of m o tor tru c k s ,d e liv e r
most of the im ports. And the
w orkers do it quickly and
enthusiastically. At sea, fish
erm en harvest thousands of
pounds of seafood.
Along
the highways and
side roads, one sees more
homes and other buildings
going up. Busy craftsm en
are digging foundations in
the mountain side o r the rocky
soil,
constructing
form s,
pouring cement, plastering
w alls, carving ornate doors,
M inting
houses in colorful
pastels, and beautifully land
scaping yards. T here is no
siesta: they work through
the heat of t ie day with the
same vigo r of the morning
hours, ever, though the average
diet of the people is only l.W O
calories a day.
In addition to this w ork, an
increased number of Haitians
are seen on >ots in sm all
A m erican-financed factories
where they make dozens of
i e m t fo r export to the L \S .
These
include:
Baseballs,
sportsw ear,
belts, b o o ts ,
b rassiers, handbags, fishing
lures, electronic p arts, sm all
tools, women's wigs, men's
hairpieces, th e ir own carved
figures,
and stuffed toys.
These export products were
valued at $17 m illio n l a s t
y e a r.
But the p rincip al occupation
of the H aitian people is fa rm
ing. F o u r m illio n o r $0 per
cent of them liv e on two-
acre farm s , raisin g coffee,
sugarcane, cotton, bananas,
s isal, fru its and vegetables
in addition to c a ttle , hogs
goats , and p ou ltry. How ever,
farm in g is d iffic u lt in t h i s
mountainous country that is
slightly s m a lle r than M a ry
land. But the people seem
determ ined
to succeed at
farm in g o r w hatever else
they do.
lie r 's
beautiful palace, die
legislative building, the post
office, and other a ttrac tiv e
government
buildings. \n d
we saw proud statues of the
lib erato rs: Toussaint L o u -
v e rtu re , Jean Jacques P e s -
salines, and E m p e ro r H enri
Christophe. Also we saw a
statue that the late President
Francois D u v a lie r had de
signed of a young Haitian
No.
1.
2.
Booty— — — — —
— — PunKedellc
be Around— — — — - - - T h e Spinners
I 'l l
2
3
3.
Good T im es---------- --------Kool and the Gang
4
4.
F re d d ie 's D ead-— — — - - - C u r t is M ayfield
5.
M em phis at S u n r is e ---— — - - - - - Bar^Kaye
6 . D o n't take m y Kindness fo r Weakness—
The Saul C h ild ren
7.
If You let M e - - - —
—
Eddie Kendricks
8 . If you Don’t Know me by N o w -- —
—
Harold M elv in and The Blue Notes
9.
W o rk to
|e y ({r o tle r a
1
8
Loose
10
9
0
10. W om an's Got to Have It— — Bobby Womack
5
Listen W eekly To
The Soul G iant of The Northwest
slave with bulging muscles,
blowing a conch-she 11, the
country’ s symbol of lib e rty .
We visited shops, stores,
and s m all facto ries, and we
E. C. Soul Time
KGAR Radio 1550 on your Dial
Every Sunday 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Ramsey L ew is and his in o helped to close the final night of entertainm ent at PUSH E X P O ,
recently held in Chicago, Ram sey’ s hometown.
The C olum bia recording a rtis t, whose
"L'pendo N i P a m o ja " is one of the best selling albums in the country, is in the process of
cutting another L P . to be released in the n ear future.
PUSH EXPO draws crowds
PUSH E X P O , recently held in
A good example of this
was our guide , G esner F a -
too, whom my w ife and 1
hired the f ir s t day o r two
* e w ere in the country, \ f t e r
that we rented a c a r and drove
and d rove.
M essieu r Faton once lived
in a shabby house and push
ed a handcart at the w a rf
fo r a d o lla r a day. But he
studied English at night to
become a guide. Now he is
studying
Spanish to become
m o re p ro fic e n t and fu rth e r
increase his earnings fo r his
fa m ily of seven.
A t no tim e during his hire
to us was he tard y . W alk out
of our cote! day o r night and
he was there. Seep out of a
night club o r the casino and
he m et us sm iling at the door.
He drove us all over P o rt-
a u -P n n c e and P etio n ville and
up into the mountains. We saw
P resid ent Jean-Claude D w a -
saw lib r a rie s , many elem en
ta ry and secondary schools,
and the u niversity with several
colleges, including a college
of m edicine.
M any of the homes we saw
are as beautiful as are to be
found anywhere. B u tin the
older
p art
of the capital
c ity
and throughout much
of the countryside, most of
the housing and the grinding
poverty are a depressing as
the w orst m Alabama o rm y
native
M is s is s ip p i, o r C h i
cago o r C leveland. Some
tim es we had to fight back
Bears and h urry along.
How ever, o u r guide ex
plained that the F ir s t Lady,
the P re s id e n t’ s m o ther, has
set as her goal m ore im p ro v
ed housing for the people. T k is
and economic
development
w ill be discussed in
the
2nd and final installm ent.
C -ica g o before close to one m il
lion people o ver a five -d a y
period, was one oi the best
show cases In the country fo r
witnessing the increasing de
velopment of Black businesses.
It was also the mecca of Black
entertainm ent during t h a t
period, with v irtu a lly e v e ry big
name in Black music re p re -
sen ted.
W hlle ever 20,000 spectators
at each of the concerts watched
th e ir favo rite stars p erfo rm ,
other considerations fo r a r
tists , such as security and com
fo rt, w ere being executed. The
man who was m charge of the
m a jo r endeavor was Logan H .
W estbrooks.
In his capacity as d ire c to r of
a rtis ts relation s, W estbrooks
and his staff of 40 people w ere
responsible
fo r
all
non-
perform ing a c tiv ities oi the
a rtis ts .
T his involved hoeel
assignments, scheduling of re
hearsals
fo r
the
a rtis ts ,
provisions fo r escorting the
a rtis ts a round E X P O , backstage
security, and w hatever e m e r
gencies
that m ight develop
regarding the a rtis ts .
" M y staff took care of most
activities
of the acts from
picking them up at the a irp o rt,
to making sure that they were
on tim e fo rth e irp e rfo rm a n c e s ,
Westbrooks stated. " W e w e re
also in charge of taking care
of V IP s , suer as Black govern
ment o fficials and personal
friends of the people who put
PUSH E X P O to g e th e r."
W estbrooks, who serves as
d ire c to r oi special m arkets for
Columbia Records, alsow crked
closely with Rev. Jesse J a c k-
son, president of PUSH, making
sure that all program s were
coordinated and covered at all
stages.
W hile working with artis ts
of other labels, Westbrooks
assigned
G ra n v ille
White,
C o lum bia's R i B regional
d ire c to r in Chicago, to handle
the Colum bia acts, which in
cluded the O ’Jays and B illy
P au l, a rtis ts fo r Philadelphia
Intern atio nal,
and Ramsey
L ew is , a m em ber of the
Colum bia
ro s te r.
Harold
M elv in and the Blue Notes.
P h ila d e lp h ia
In tern a
tional a rtis ts did not p erfo rm
at E X P O , but did participate
in the a c tiv itie s . Westbrooks
also used some of his own
promotion menu B ill C ra ig ,
Glen W rig h t, F re d W a re and
C lu c k O ffaitt, and his assis
tant M a m ie T a tte rs a l, to aid
him in the u rxlertakirg.
"S ince m ost of the artis ts
created the most hysteria of
any of t ie acts.
" I t was absolutely u n re a l,"
c o m m e n te d
W estbrooks.
" T h e r e w ere scream s fo r
other a rtis t, but not like they
America loves
what the
Colonel cooks
"Its finger likin ' good
Buy it by the
Box
Bucket
or Barrel
Ä / ,
'S
T i e U ’Jays, Philadelphia International recording stars, are
shown perform ing th e ir just c e rtifie d gold record, "B a c k
Stabbers" at opening night of PUSH E X P O , recently held m
Chicago.
a rtis t forgot to w e a r one of
the badges given to him , one
of my people had to know - o *
to take care of it so that
there would he no unnecessary
em b arrassm ent on anybody's
p e r t."
Westbrooks pointed out that
although all the acts that ap
peared w ere superstars, the
Jackson 5, during tr e lr S a tu r -
day afternoon perform ance,
Jackson 5 .
And because of
this we had to take special
security p re c lu s io n s .
But
the concert took place with
out incident, and everyone hed
a good tim e
P e rfe c t for
P a rtie s , Picnics,
Lunch, o r Dinner
T ak e It Home, E at It H e re , o r In Y o ur C a r
PUSH E X P O , according to
W estbrooks, was a huge suc
cess because of good planning
o v e ra ll. " E X P O showed the
country that Black people
could work hand in hand to
bring
oi
something
that
woukl be beneficial fo r them
not
just
Individually, but
c o lle c tiv e ly .
I was pleased
to be involved."
Restaurants
See Yellow Pages for
Store N earest You
Sears
3 Days Onlv
Prices in effect through Saturday, Nov. 4th.
HEAVY-DUTY
Shock Absorbers
"K H v
H»«»» Ibstv Msesrh
Guaranteed As Long
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* o r k m in > h ip
«r
w»er-<»ul » h il» orig
in e l p urrhg~ »r <*«*n>
ih» r e r , il w ill I*» r»-
ple<»d upo n r r to r n
f r r » nf rherg». o r th»
p u rrh e *» p n r » w ill
►» r»fund»<f I f th»
d » fe r ti* e • *»«>» k el»-
•o rb e r *» « in«igll»d
f>» >»er«. » » w ill in-
•te ll n»w «hork
• o rb e r
w ilh
no
rherg» fo r lebor
As You Own Your Car
$7.99
SAVE $2.66
R egular
m
J
each
Sizes to fit most Am erican made c a rs ,
store handling and riding res[x>nae.
$26.99
Booster Shocks..
Helps re -
$21.99
Sears Guaranteed
18-Month Battery
w ere appearing at th e ir own
expense, we had to make sure
that everything went w e ll,"
W estbrooks added.
" I f ae
12 99
With T r a d e - In
G uaranoed fo r 18 months. A giwat value (o r care
with few er accessories.
Reliable K a rtin g |tower
costs so very little at S ears.
H u rry In todayl
GUARANTEE
i\Ce
McCOY for State Rep. Comm,
Democrat District 15
7413 N Lombard
Portland, Oregon 97203
Thanks to you
it's working . . .
through United
Good Neighbors
F re e replacem ent within Wl days of p uirh aae If
battery proves d efective.
A fte r W) daya we w ill
replace It w ith a new h a tta iy If defective, charging
only fo r t ie period of owneralilp.
Your monthly
charges fo r ownership w ill le coiii|iuteit by dlvktlng
the c u rren t te llin g price less tia d e -ln at the tim e
of return, by t ie n u in le r of months of guarsntse,
SUNDAY HOURSI 10 AJM. 'T il. 5 I ' M .
Shop Monday thru F rid a y , 8:30 A .M , 't il 9 l ’ > 1 .
Shop Saturday, 8:30 A .M . '«II 5:30 P .M .. P a rk FR EE
SHOP A T OTARS A N D SAVE
Setiafertaae G n w e S w f ar Yaer Mowry Berk
MASS,
B O S S V O t AMO 0 0 .
Grand Avenue at Lloyd Itlv tl., Phone 234-3311