Pag« 2 Portland Observar November 22. 1979
EDITORIAL/OPINION
African arts in Portland
by N. Fungat Kumbula
“According z> the chart,, it thould be all clear ¡ailing alter th u ."
Blanchard at the helm
Late Tuesday night, in a last minute effort af
ter three months of waiting for information and
philosophies to jell the D e se g re g a tio n /ln -
tegration Committee of the Portland School
Board brought forth options and alternatives for
a new desegregation plan.
Meant to fulfill their promise of a "comprehen
sive school desegregation plan", the adequacy
«
of the plan is yet to be seen. Is it an equitable
plan that will meet the needs of Black students,
or is it another band-aide approach?
Leaving analysis and criticism until later, we
will just present a "cartoon" that was distributed
to School District administrators by one of its
highest administrators this fall. It remains to be
seen whether the sender's comment: "W e feel
like a pendulum mounted between two septic
tanks" will come to pass and whether resistance
to genuine "equity" will sink the ship.
Two ideas for middle schools
The long-standing criticism of the
Portland Public School’ s de
segregation program has been cen
tered around the fact that no middle
schools were located in the Black
com m unity. While upper grades
were removed to create Early
C hildhood Centers, no middle
grades were created except on the
edges o f Albina. This lead to Black
children being required to stay at
schools outside the neighborhood.
The work o f the C oa litio n fo r
School Integration discovered the
problem and documented it; the
movement managed by the Black
United Front drove the message
home. Now the Board o f Education,
in response to the resolutions passed
in August, is considering preliminary
plans for a middle school in Albina.
The desegregation committee w ill
present the "p re lim in a ry ” plan to
the Board; the Board w ill then
present its version to the community
for discussion.
The possibilities are E liot, Boise
and Adams, with C olum bia/W hit-
aker involved. Each would make an
adequate middle school facility; the
advantages o f one over the other
depends on what else takes place in
the desegregation program.
No matter what school is selected,
the kind o f program is very im por
tant. We will have to get behind that
program , and insure by our con
sistent e ffo rt that it is a success.
Whether white students are assigned
into the middle school or whether it
is a magnet, it must be superior. We
can make it exceptional. This is the
opportunity.
Know ing that the kind o f ideas
that feed our discussion will have a
direct influence on the quality o f the
middle school established, I would
like to discuss two ideas on the focus
o f a middle school program. First,
The A cadem y M iddle School and
second. The Fine A rts M id d le
School,
THE ACADEMY MIDDLE
SCHOOL
The Academy M iddle School
would be an exceptional program for
achievement in both mental and
physical activities. The general con
cept is “ the strong mind in the strong
b od y.” Active learning and active
sport competition would go hand-in-
hand. The atmosphere would be
strict and academic achievement
would be highly stressed Material
By Herb L. Cawthorne
would still be presented in unique
ways, but there would be high stan
dards for skill development.
- The Academy would emphasis
math and science.
- The Academy would teach in
ternational studies and foreign
languages.
- The Academy would promote all
forms o f communication necessary
for academic success.
- The Academy would emphasize
social sciences, with particular atten
tion to government, social leader
ship, economics, and citizenship.
- The Academy would have strong
requirements on physical fitness and
strong sports programs, based on a
spirit o f cooperation and rapport.
The sound fundamental program
at the Academy would be enlivened
by an exciting m u ltira c ia l, m u lti
cu ltural core woven into the
curriculm . The learning would be
enhanced by perspectives from “ All
the Peoples o f the Earth.” It would
also take pains to insure that Black
history and culture was intricately
included in the subjects children
learn and read and write about.
In summary, the Academy Middle
School will set high goals for learn
ing, and would help us say to our
young people, "W e want you to
achieve and we expect you to do it ! ”
THE FINE ARTS
MIDDLE SCHOOL
The Fine A rts M iddle School’ s
basic aim would be to teach the in
tegral relationship between the arts
and all other vital disciplines--before
students are engrained w ith the
notion that arts are an e litist,
separate subject m atter. I realize
some people w ill autom atically
dismiss this idea, saying, narrow-
mindly, that we don’ t need anymore
dancing and singing and performing
-we need science and math,
technology and communication.
The Fine A rts M iddle School
would be constructed so that the
basic instruction in basic skills would
not suffer. Those o f us who presume
to know the interests o f today’ s
children ought to at least give the
young people the benefit o f an open
mind on this option.
The Fine Arts Middle School will
be academically orineted with strong
standards o f discipline. Discipline
and the practice o f art must go
together. Subjects would be relatec
to reading and writing, speaking ant
listening; the basic skills can be im
parted as a child learns to write
poetry, perform in a play, outline
short stories, and develop public
orations.
- The Fine A rts program would
o ffe r art classes such as painting,
sculpting, woodworking, etc.
- The Fine Arts program would
offer courses on all aspects o f the
perform ing
arts,
including
dramatics, dance, music, speech, and
interpretation.
- The Fine Arts program would
offer less traditional subjects such as
film m a kin g, photography, metal
sculpture, etc.
- The Fine A rts program would
o ffe r the special involvem ent o f
volunteers to organize, plan, and
help youngsters prepare fo r simple
recitals and presentations in class
and in the community.
- The Fine A rts program would
place heavy emphasis on selection o f
faculty, design o f curriculum , and
coordination o f resources to develop
a m u ltic u ltu ra l, m ultiracial per
spective o f the arts and the world.
- The Fine A rts program would
reinforce basic skills; some classes,
fo r example, might teach the
mathematical and scientific p rin
ciples o f painting- while the child
learn the skill o f painting.
The Fine A rts M iddle School
would be a pow erful masnet
program which, im portantly, could
keep the school’s population raciallly
balanced while serving our children
very well. I subm it to those who
reject this idea out o f hand: simply
because we have reached a level o f
world recognition in performing arts
is no reason to resist an opportunity
to cultivate the natural skill even fur
ther. Art is political. Good art can do
a great deal to advance p o litic a l
causes. We should look at this option
very seriously, it has many advan
tages.
These two ideas may stim ulate
discussion. I hope they w ill lead,
ultimately, to the creation o f the best
middle school program in this city.
To achieve this goal, Black people
must get involved and stay involved
in the conception, development and
growth o f the school. Lets take ad
vantage o f the opportunity!
The Portland A rt Museum this
past weekend featured art from the
West African country o f Cameroon.
Since African art is so rare in this
part of the world, this was indeed a
rare and exceptional occasion.
Nearly all the papers carried glowing
accounts o f the “ w o n d e rfu l” art
from Africa.
For most people who saw the pic
tures and other objects d’art, it was
the closest they ever get to Africa. As
a result, what they see when they do
see it should at least be rep
resentative, should convey as close to
the real thing as one can get. The pic
tures at the A rt Museum were taken
in the early ’2O’ s and ‘ 30’ s.
If these pictures were accurate in
their portrayal o f Africa, one would
not object too much to their age.
When one considers the change
Africa has undergone and also the
fact that the photographer who took
these pictures seemed to go looking
fo r a specific kind o f A frica, one
then fully understands the ernomity
o f the insult and harm this art exhibit
has done.
The pictures were taken by a Mr.
Paul Gerberer, a white missionary
who went to the Cameroon in the
early ‘ 20’ s. W hat his o p in io n o f
Africans was, one cannot hazard a
guess but it is a well known fact that
he was coming from the society that
gave the world the infamous tarzan
movies. It is a fairly safe gamble to
say that every American at some
point or other has watched one of
these movies: the great white man
coming to save the hapless
"savages.” The "savages” almost
always seem to go around naked,
dance at the drop o f a hat and are
generally helpless children, really,
who could not have survived but for
the benevolence, good heart and the
wisdom o f the white man. C on
sidering Africa is the original home
o f the human race, how they
managed to survive until then is a
question the tarzan moviemakers
dare not even address(because it
would kill their whole movie).
The pictures at the A rt Museum
would have done justice to the most
convoluted tarzan movie. They show
naked Africans, some dancing, some
carrying ernomous burdens on their
heads, a loin clothed man running in
the rain with a leaf frond on his head
fo r a parasol. Not one o f these
people looks half way decent; not
one looks half way intelligent. These
pictures are being shown in Portland
in 1979 to Americans who have never
seen what Africa looks like. Result:
they reinforce the same old
stereotypes, d istortion s and mis
conceptions about Africa.
If Africa were like that, one would
have no objections at all to this
exhibit or if the American public
were better informed about the real
Africa the damage would not be so
great.lt has always puzzled a lot ot
the Africans why it is that when for
eigners, American and otherwise,
come to A frica , they hate to see
Africans in jeans, business suits and
other Western attire . To them it
seems Africans driving cars, running
computers, fly in g planes, using
telephones and living in "ordinary''
houses are not really Africans. So
they have to go out to the back ot
beyond to find the “ real” Africans *
The exhibit has attracted a lot of
attention. One wonders though what
the response would have been if
Geuberer had just taken pictures of
ordinary everyday Africans. N or
mally, it would seem that one who
was going to present a particular
people’ s culture would take the
trouble to present a balanced per
spective. Not so with this Geuberer
collection. The real African is not
shown at all. What is shown is the
African o f his fantasies. It is still a
very sad world when in this day and
age, instead o f fostering under
standing among people, some people
still expend so mucb energy doing so
much harm. The African community
should be aware o f this and should
take steps to challenge it.
The klan rides again. So it’s only
natural that tarzan should be raised
from the grave. W hat’ s next? Jim
Crow?
Desegregation
(Continued from page I col. 6)
Alameda. This would be the first
time that white children would be
mandatorily assigned to a school in
Albina.
The Boise or Eliot magnet school
envisions an "a c a d e m y " where
superior educational offerings would
draw white students.
The committee has not addressed
the question o f draw ing white
students into the upper grade classes
in the A lb in a early childhood
education centers. Currently those
programs are overwhelmingly white
at the pre-K and kindergarten level
displacing Black children, but the
3rd to 5th grades are v irtu a lly all
BUck.
The Board will consider the plans
on Monday at 7:30 p.m. and w ill
submit them for public discussion.
Letter
To the editor:
Reference CODA analysis o f Ed
Leek (Nov. 15th issue) that Mr. Leek
is able to confirm my story o f Nov.
8th. I ’m also happy to know that the
staff o f CODA can identify their best
interests even when they’ re in con
flict with community desire for detail
and substance in a treatment pro
gram.
„
Donald M. Fuller
C aw thorne commented on the
preliminary draft: "B o th the Black
and white community can be assured
that the Board's desegregation com
mittee worked long and intensively
to face the matter o f ‘ equal choice
and equity' for Black students. Thre
are several key issues. One is cen
tered around the question, ‘ Can
there be true equal choice i f the
schools in the Black community can
not accomodate the children in the
Black com m unity?’ Another issue
centers around voluntary choices. I f
Blacks can make a choice, the racial
balance equation becomes unpredic
table; the program is ‘risky’ for the
legal position o f the district. One
more issue is focused on how to im
prove the quality o f education in the
Early Childhood Centers. This must
be done.
feet the quality o f education in our
community. It w ill take leadership
from many segments - p o litica l,
civic, business, parents, students and
religious. The discussion will be in
tense, and out o f that intense
discussion w ill come the positive
changes we seek.”
“ I have argued, in this preliminary
stage, for a voluntary program; one
that gives all Black parents the op
portunity to eithr leave their children
in the transfer program or bring
them closer to the neighborhood.
This o p p o rtu n ity exists fo r other
parents and it should exist for us.
I hope no one in the Black com
m unity underestimates the a t
mosphere in which these changes are
being sought. We have an a t
mosphere of change, and we can af-
(check your phone book) or
i local veterans group
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