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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 21, 1981)
Portland Observar M ay 21. 1961 Page 5 Clinic elects new officers The death o f Black Creative Genius Isaac Shamsud-Din, the Portland artist whose murals adorn Northeast Portland buildings w ith Black history, told Portland Community College art and radio-television students last week that Black creative genius in Am erica is hampered by the continuing racism o f the society. His talk was titled, "Neo-slavery and the Death o f Black Creative Genius, " a title he said he picked "S o even those who couldn’t come to hear me today would get the message.” “ I used the word neo-slavery because I feel slavery didn’ t end in this c ountry,” Shamsud-Din said. “ Young people are victim ized by the same problems which victimized us years ago. The fem inist move ment and the racial problems o f today are s till here because o f the foulness this country started on with racism ...how can people talk about the beauty and human things they see.” Shamsud-Din showed slides o f his work. Many pieces are portraits o f fam ily members and prominent in dividuals in the Nation o f Islam and those interested in the beginnings o f what Shamsud-Din refers to as the Bilalian Art Movement. “ When you see my work you’ ll see why I ’ m talking like th is ,” Shamsud-Din said. Shamsud-Din outlined his life ’ s history as a developing artist and p o litic a lly com m itted individual as he showed slides o f his work. He said he grew up in Vanport (one painting depicted adults scrambling for safety from the flood waters o f Vanport) and became aware o f racism while still a small child. “ I noticed the b illb o a rd s,” Shamsud-Din said. “ The visual images on them are always im por tant to understand the times. What I saw was that it was always white folks drin kin g coke, driving the Chevy and I was a little kid wonder ing why. W hite people, grown people, would stare at me. I saw many Black folks who would tuck their head and didn’t want anything to do with them. I made up my mind then I would never turn away from any person who stared at me in a hostile way. I looked them in the eye right back.” Shamsud-Din said “ I was out of high school before I discovered A frican art and l was aware o f feeling deep in me that that art re pulsed me then. I was a ju n io r in high school when I decided to find out about my people.” Shamsud-Din was awarded scholarships to spend his summers in high school studying art at the U niversity o f Kansas. He became involved as a civil rights worker in the south w ith the Student Non- Violent Coordinating Committee, then studied art at Portland State U niversity. A few years later he went to Nigeria where he said he developed an understanding o f African art and people. “ The in -fig h tin g o f SNCC was characteristic o f a racial nature and among volunteer to volunteer,” Shamsud-Din said. “ It stemmed from the fact that we were raised from a totally different perspective. There was a negative attraction -- where white people wanted to do something for me because I’ m Black and vice versa. I told the volunteers that they should go back to their own communities and get the message across to the people o f their own economic level at Brandeis and H arvard and the places they came from. In Arkansas in 1966 people still were stepping o ff the sidewalks for white folks and going to back win dows at bus depots,” Shamsud-Din said. “ I believe that America’ s fur- ture is going to be based on how she treats her ills. The fear that many white people have o f Black people who are creative is that if the Black art excels then it w ill make my art look sm all...that adds up to a con certed e ffo rt to k ill the artistic • spirit.” Shamsud-Din asked the audience to consider the years o f work put in to the civil rights movements in the 1960s. ISAAC SHAM SUD-DIN H O M E S FOR RENT REMCO PORTLAND The newly elected officers o f the Board o f Directors fo r the Center for Community Mental Health were concern at the recent Annual Meeting held at the Center’ s O ut patient facility. Board officers were elected for the 1981-1982 program year. Fred Carter, CPA with Lacen- th o l and H orw ath, was elected Chairman; Pam Smith, O.P.S. Blue Sheild, was elected Vice C hair- man;and Barbara A lright, ower o f Medical W ord Processing Center, was elected Secretary/Treasurer. Guest speaker was Judge Mercedes Diez who spoke on the juvenile system. The Center for Community Men tal H ealth is located in a form er residence at 6329 N.E. Union Ave. which was built in the early 1900’ s. The Center operates programs un der funding fro m U nited Way, Multnomah County, and the N /N E Comprehensive Mental Health Cen ter. Counseling is provided to per sons w ith in the N /N E area ex periencing em otional stress and crisis in their daily livin g . Cooperative efforts in consultation and education are maintained with schools and other agencies. 1 bdrm, 1 bath, carpet, drapes, garden style apartment, laundry facilities coin-op available, facili ties, Rec., room. $225 NET per month. 2 bdrm , 1 bath, hdw d floors, close-in, newly painted, $295 NET per month. 2 bdrm, 1 bath, separate dining rm, yard, 1 car garage, w-d hook up, $295 NET per month. 5 bdrm, 1 'A baths, 2-story, com pletely REFURBISHED, huge close-in spacious. $350 NET per month. All homes located in the N orth/ Northeast Area. 297 5575 REMCO PROPERTIES Real Estate Mgmt. A n a c re , 4 3 ,5 6 0 square f e e t , o r ig in a lly was th e area a y o k e o f o xen c o u ld p lo w in a d a y . Memorial Day “ Now when l put things in to a mural about the movement people looking at it don’ t even know what took place in the civil rights move m ent,” he said. “ Where is the freedom you guys worked for? H ow ’ s it any different now? Look at what the leaders are saying. Then look at the despair in some people’ s liv e s ...I use the word hostages because we were brought here against our w ill. There are people here who would like to go back to A fric a , but what do they know about Africa? Nothing...W e’ d bet ter square things up because you’ re killing the creativity o f Black artists who could do something good.” Shamsud-Din said he is involved now in developing an art project for children called the Bilalian A rt Movement in Portland. He lives in Northeast Portland and his work has been sold and exhibited widely including galleries in Portland, Seat tle and San Francisco. War on Black women (Continued from Page 1 Col 6) marketplace to accept low paying and unrewarding jobs in order to provide for their families. But work in its e lf is no guarantee against poverty. 148,000 Black female householders worked in managerial or professional jobs in 1979. O f this group 20,000 women, or 13.8 per cent, s till were below the poverty level. Again, this percentage was higher than that fo r Hispanic professional women (10 percent) and for whites (6.8 percent). Out o f 430,000 Black women household heads who worked in sales or clerical positions, 106,000 oc24.6 percent were below the poverty line. 219,000 Black women w orking in private households or a service workers were classified below the poverty level. Three fourths o f all Black women farm workers were below the poverty level. The total percentage o f Black female fam ily heads who held fu ll-tim e em ployment and who were below the poverty line (33.2 percent) was higher than the figures for Hispanic (26.3 percent) and white women (18.9 percent). The largest categories of Black females living in poverty are, as to be expected, the young and the elderly. More Black females than males (34.1 percent vs. 27.2 percent) live in poverty. 1,646,000 Black females below the age of 16 years are poor, approximately 41 percent of the total number of Black females within this age group (4,012,000). The next age groups that have significant numbers o f Black women in poverty are bet ween ages 16-21 (633,000 females, 36.9 percent o f the total age group) and over age 65 (489,000 females, 41.7 percent o f the total age group). Once more, Black females across the board are more likely to be poor than women o f other ethnic groups. For example, among white females below the age o f 16, only 12.2 per cent live in poverty. Between the ages 16-21 years, 10.5 percent are poor; over age 65, 15.8 percent are poor. Hispanic women are far more lik e ly than whites to be poor at every age level, but without excep tion are significantly better o ff than Black women. Not surprisingly, Black families with female householders are also generally deeply in debt. For Black fam ilies led by females below the poverty line, 213,000 families have an annual income defeicit between 1-999 dollars. 225,000 have annual fiscal deficits between one to two thousands dollars; 235,000 families require between tw o to three thousand dollars. 197,000 Black families headed by females with no husband present sustain annual in come shortfalls o f $5,000 and more. Black families in this group have a mean income d e ficit that exceeds $3,000 annually, again exceeding the deficits fo r Hispanic fam ilies ($2,732) and fo r whites ($2,697). Buried beneath a mountain o f bills, it is small wonder that poor Black women are unable to transcend their impoverishment. © 'M l ( (X A ( 0 ( A < 0M PA N V I 9 | I T 0U « ’ OWN A M O R tfN G (O C A fO lA ANO ( 061 AW1 R IG lM IfffD t«A O t M A W S WM6 M 4W N »* » I Ml SA M I PttNMM ' <M IM» ( (M A t (N A ( U M P A N » iU H lIO IJ W O I* IM | A tllM t» » ilV iM I HI . tR A t t ,| A t t . 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