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.
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