Portland observer., March 22, 1973, Image 1

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PORTLAND
Volume 3, No. 2 4 P ortland, O regon
_____________________________________________ T H I O M IT
AN IO U A L OPPORTUNITY IM P IO Y S
N IW IP A P W
Garnett receives award
Harvey Garnett, owner of
the Alameda Cinema, was
recently preeented an award
for community service by
CORE.
The award la pre-
tented to dbtlnguished Black
citiaena throughout the na­
tion who promote equality of
all opportunity for all per
tone regardless of race, color
or cr eed.
The award was
preeented in Lee Angeles,
where G arnett epoke to a
CORE Seminar on the pro­
blem s encountered In becom
lng the Northweet’a first and
Oregon's only Black theatre
owner.
Garnett entered the thea­
tre buaineaa with the advice
of frienda who felt there
thould be a theatre In the
Albina community. He and a
former claaemale. Ron Lev-
erett, purchased the Ala­
meda Theatre, MOO N.E.
Alberta, that had bees doeed
four year*.
Four months were apent
cleaning the building which
waa full of litter, replacing
seats, and redecorating. On
o p e n in g n ig h t. J a n u a r y 20.
1000. there were five cue
The first movies run at
the theatre were children!
m o v iee.
G a rn ett and Lev-
erett worked hard to build a
clean image for the theatre,
t o eliminate disturbances,
and make the theatre a place
familiea could attend.
New
patrona were inticed in by
the liberal use of passes.
The year 1969 was good
compand to 1968.
In Jan­
uary 1*. ?0, G arnett became
the sole owner. Thia waa a
busy vsar. w i t h
G arnett
HARVBY GARNETT
working f o r
Pepsi Cola,
operating the theatre, and
attending Portland State Uni­
versity.
From July until
December were months ol
agony, frustration and night-
owned theatre.
Recalling hia competitive­
ness as a high school athe­
ists, G arnett decided to re­
group and give it another
try.
He went to the film
companies and asked for a
break. He explained that he
mare. He was about to give
up the dream of a Black-
could not aurvive with fourth
or fifth run movies, but hsd
to be given a chance at the
newer films.
Hs hsd been
the first theatre to show
Black films, but when they
became popular he
w aa
among the last to receive
them.
(Please turn to page 8. col. 4)
IN
THI
W H Q li W L j i WgSAP
OBSERVER
TH A I l l A U I
The B.E.C. Bookstore. 8706
N.
W illia m s,
w ill
h o st
an
autograph party f o r
M r.
McKinley Burt. Jr., author of
Black h o l l e r s of U m ir iii.
on Saturday. March 81st,
from 1:00 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tbs
you. the community, to come
and meet this talented Black
man.
Burt's interest in Black
Inventors goes back to his
childhood in Louisiana.
In
his own words. "The only
inventors I heard about in
school were white inventors
like Thomas Edison and Eli
W hitney. But at home in the
ghetto, there were stories
about Blacks like Granville
T. Woods, who invented the
airbrake for railroad trains,
and Jan Matzeliger. who in­
vented a machine for making
sh o e s .
“These stories had been
handed down by word of
mouth among our people,
some of them for genera­
7 Every day V
is pay day
with true daily interest.
At the Bcnj. Franklin, interest
on passbook savings is compounded
constantly, from day of deposit to day
of withdrawal. For maximum earnings
on your savings, pay yourself first in
u safety-insured account at the
Benj. Frunklin.
tions. I was curious. W ere
the old folks making them up
to add prestige to our rsce?
Or were they true? I started
to w rite down the stories I
could remember: then I set
out to collect data to docu­
ment them.
In the patent
office in Washington I found
records of their patents and
the drawings t h s y sub­
mitted.”
M r. McKinley Burt is ac­
credited in three depart­
ments st Portland State Uni­
versity: Black History, Busi­
ness Management and the
E c o n o m i e s Department,
where he teaches ths Black
Economic Experience. In hia
b o o k , Bieck Inventers of
A m e ric a , he em phasises
Black contributions to the
railraod industry. Soon after
the first American railroad
waa chartered In 1827, Black
inventors "began designing
and patenting basic devices
for its operation and for
safety of both trainmen and
passengers.
Included were
switches, couplings, a e m a-
phore, te le g ra p h aystems.
boilers, and many other de­
vices . . . a number of these
are described in this text."
M r. Burt outlines the his­
torical background of the
times to explain why Black
inventors were not credited
for their devices at the time
they were patented.
Thia
b o o k carefully documents
many of the cultural trans­
formations in this country
advanced by
th e
Black
genius.
The B X .C . Bookstore now
exten ds sn in v ita tio n to
the community to come and
reed about the essential role
Black inventors have played
in the industrial growth of
this country. The public is
invited to meet Black author-
educator M r. McKinley Burt,
Jr.
O A«»
MOUT
F E O F lt
First Amendment
best ’shield’ lew
“W e shall support t h s
First Amendment as the
broadest and best guide to
press freedom, and stead
lastly resist governmental
and any other efforts toward
intimidation, subjugation and
demoralisation of the press
and its members . . . "
That was ths thrust of ths
testimony given to the House
Subcommittee on the Judi­
ciary by Mrs. Frsnees L.
Murphy, I I, chslrman of the
Board of Directors, AFRO-
A M E R IC A N Newspapers.
Mrs. Murphy was spesking
in behalf of the National
Newspaper Publishers Asso­
ciation (N N P A ) at the hear
lng on propoeed legislation to
create protection for sources
of news and information and
unpublished information, or
so-called “Shield Laws".
N N P A is an organisation
of 118 Black newspapers
whose combined circulations
total mors than three million
and whose publications date
back to 1828.
The position t a k e n by
N N PA was formulated last
month by ths organization's
board of directors in its
M id-W inter Workshop held
in Washington.
In presenting ths N N P A
position, Mrs. Murphy out
lined the struggle the Black
press has had down through
the years, declaring that
while “the white press took
all of the privileges for
granted, the Black press had
to call on the Constitution
and the First Amendment in
order to get their rights."
"We have been able to
maintain one of the greatest
hidden wires for nswstips
ever developed in history."
Mrs. Murphy told ths sub­
committee.
"Leaks to ths Black press
on history - msking events
from the time of John Russ
wurm. who began the first
Black newspaper 14S years
ago. have made it imperative
to protect our news sources."
she added.
Then Mrs. Murphy de
tailed some facets of the
Black press struggle for rec
ognition. declaring:
"We Black Americans have
needed the First Amendment
and the Constitution in order
to make sure that we could
get inside to cover the news,
for we are the American
press who had to fight to get
our correspondents into the
White House, or to send our
correspondents to the war
sones where our own men
were fighting, or to sit in the
Congressional galleries."
She pointed out that it was
not until 1948 that the Con­
gressional Press Gallery was
desegregated, yet that "same
gallery h a d
warm ly em
braced all other correspon
dents from a r o u n d
the
world."
Louts Lautier was
the first Black correspondent
admitted to the Gallery.
Against this background.
Mrs. Murphy stressed that
the latest challenge to the
freedom of the press "is
more of an attack on us than
the white press." because the
Black press is "endangered
because of its unique fea
tures."
Quoting an earlier state­
ment by Congressman Par-
ren Mitchell of Maryland.
Mrs. Murphy emphasized that
"the large amount of our
Esquires acquire property
Officers of the Royal Esquire Clubof Portland, lnc„ look over the building they have purchased
for a club home with Venable Booker, President of the Freedom Bank of Finance, which financed
the purchase.
Left to right:
Aaron M itchell, Vice President: M r . Booker: U . H . Leverett.
Chairman of the Trustee Board: Herman Plummer, President: and L . C . W illiam s, Financial
Secretary.
The Royal Esquire Club of
Portland. Inc., has acquired a
new club home between 17th
and 18th Avenues on N .E.
Alberta.
The acquisition of the pro
perty w a s
completed on
March 13. with the primary
financing through the F ree­
dom Bank of Finance.
The property includes 20,
000 square feet of land.
There are three two-story
buildings with a total floor
space of 15,780 square feet.
The largest building, a two-
story stucco, will become the
immediate club home.
The
club home will include pri­
vate a n d
public meeting
rooms, recreation and acti­
vity rooms, a Ball Room and
there is ample off • street
parking.
The properly will lend
itself to the eventual installa
tion of an swimming pool and
tennis courts.
Drawings are now being
made for remodeling and
improvements.
A fte r com­
pletion of remodeling, the
property will be valued at
approximately $250,000.
The Royal Esquire Club of
Portland, Inc. was organized
as a non-profit corporation in
1961.
Serving as a social
club for its members, the
club has also contributed to
many civic and charitable
programs including its own
scholarship program.
The current officers are:
Herman C. Plummer, Presi­
dent; Aaron Mitchell. Vice
President: H arry W ard, Sec­
retary: Lucius C. Williams.
Financial Secretary; Clifford
Jackson. T re a s u re r;
and
U .H . Leverett. Chairman of
the Trustee Board.
The club is planning its
Annual Fashion Show and
Dance, to be held on Sunday,
April 15, at the Sheraton
Motor Inn.
(Please turn to page 8. col. I I
BEC honors Black author
It has been said that Black
people cannot effectively deal
with th e c o m p le x itie s of m s
chines aad technology. The
ability of Black peo p le to
invent machines . . . the abil­
ity of Black people to Invent
devices far the s u c es es f ui
operation of machines has
Thursday M arch 2 2 , 1973 1O< per copy
Dawson leads Consumer Protection
by Rosemary Allen
ALEXANDER HICKS
EPA raps discuss
eq ual op p o rtu n ity
M r. Alexander D. Hicks,
Director of the Equal Oppor
tunity Division for Environ­
mental Protection Agency's
Region X. spoke at a meeting
at Nero Industries, to pro­
minent businessmen of Port
land, W hite and Black.
A1 Hicks holds a BA de
gree in Government and a
Law degree from Texas Sou
them University.
Before
joining E PA , M r. Hicks held
positions with H U D a n d
OEO in the field of contracts,
administration and negotia
tiona.
He has worked as
Legal Counsel. Material De
partment of the Boeing Com­
pany, where he waa responsi
ble for the supervision of the
Company's Division L e g a l
office supporting functions of
707. 727 and 747 Material
and Systems Procurement.
(Procurement Contracts Ne­
gotiations and Administra
tion). He was self employed
as a business consultant ol-
fering services to small busi
nesa in financial, accounting,
and legal fields.
While
attending law school, he held
the position of Manager and
Assistant to the Corporate
Secretary to the Texas Sou­
thern Finance Corporation.
The purpose of the meet­
ing was to gain imput from
community businessmen and
leaders on what they think of
the E PA . The meeting was
attended by Henry Scott of
Coast Janitorial. David Nero
of Nero Industries and other
businessmen.
M r. Carol M. Thomas. N a­
tional Director of the Office
of Civil Rights and Urban
A ffa irs . E P A . Washington,
D.C., assisted Mr. Hicks in
the discussion.
M r. Hicks and Mr. Tho­
mas. both authorities on mi-
nority employment opportu
nities. were in Portland to
meet with Oregon Civil En
gineers to inform them of the
implications for construction
projects in the state.
I never heard about the
Consum er Protection Pro­
gram until this interview, I
conveyed to Russell Dawson,
recently hired Director of
the Consumer Protection Pro­
gram in the Albina area.
“W ell I never heard of it till
I got the job." retorted Mr.
Dawson. And as new direc­
tor. M r. Dawson has new
plans to make the community
aware of the Consumer Pro­
tection Program and the help
it can provide.
The Consumer Protection
Program was a c t u a l l y
started in the Albina Com­
munity in 1971, when the
Oregon Consumer League,
which is a non-profit organi­
zation. wrote a proposal to
Model Cities for an Albina-
located office. The executive
Board, which is comprised of
OCL and members of the
community, is the manage­
ment committee. They give
the guidelines from which
the program is to be run.
There is also a coordinating
committee that is broken up
into school districts.
Being a Model Cities funded
program, the Consumer Pro­
tection Program has had a
cutting of funds. Its budget
for 1974 was cut one-third.
The only way of continuing
the program will be to cut
staff and salaries. The Con
sumer Program is making a
m ove,
however, towards
seeking funds from private
organizations.
Russell Dawson. Chairman
for one month, so far, is a
native Oregonian from right
here in Portland.
He a t­
tended Jefferson and grad
uated from the University of
Oregon with a degree in
Economics. He was formerly
in management at Consoli
dated Freight Supplies, but
RUSSELL DAWSON
he feels the job he has now
has potential.
"We must make the com
inunity aware." M r. Dawson
stressed, and he has for­
mulated a plan of attack to
do this.
He feels that the
Consum er Protection Pro­
gram should s e r v e
two
functions:
One of which
is a preventive organila
tion which educates the con
sumer before the fact takes
place: to hold classes, work
shops and seminars to make
the consumer aware before
he or she gets jipped. One
of Mr. Dawson's plans is to
set up "Consumer F air” in
which various people from
retail, state commerce, phar
macy. utilities, etc. could
bring the community in con­
tact with the way these
businesses are run and help
ful information c o u l d
be
given to the consumer on
things like how to buy a car.
The second function of the
Consum er Protection Pro­
gram is to serve as complaint
mediator, in which it re­
ceives complaints from the
consumer a n d
negotiates
with the people who the
coi.iplaint is against. If they
find the business at fault,
(Please turn to page 8. col. 3l