For the children o f Atlanta and fo r
all children who are hungry, suffer
and live in fear.
OSU coach dishonors Oregon youth wrestlers
Twenty-six young men from
Thomas' attendance was not only
Oregon, most o f them from the considered offensive, but it placed
Penninsula Park wrestling program, in danger o f suspension from
won first place in the two categories amateur com petition any wrestler
at the Vancouver (British Columbia) who made contact with him.
In ternation al In v ita tio n a l meet.
The reception, put on by the
When their welcome was dampened group that will host the 1982 World
by another Oregonian, they came Senior Freestyle Championships in
home before the world champion­ Edmonton, Alberta, was a form al
ships they had planned to attend.
affair in Vancouver’ s best hotel, it
The source o f the team’ s em- was to welcome team leaders and In­
barassment was Oregon State ternational Representatives from
U niversity wrestling coach Dale the countries that plan to attend that
Thomas. Thomas, who was not in­ meet. In a ddition to the South
vited to the world junior champion­ A fric a n , Thomas took two ex­
ships because o f his contacts with wrestlers dressed in shorts and
South A frica, crashed a reception bathing-suits and T -shirts to the
given by the Canadian hosts, bring-t formal reception with him.
ing a South A fric a n w ith him.-
When Thomas arrived, Milan Ex-
cegon, President o f FI LA , the world
governing body, and the other FILA
executives walked out.
Mike Eurchuck, president o f the
Edm onton com m ittee, to ld Chet
Lund, team leader o f the Oregon
delegation, “ The presence o f Mr.
Thomas and his guests was in
abysmally poor taste. M r. Thomas
is more than aware that South
Africa is not recognized by the In­
ternational bodies o f all Olym pic
Sports. Mr. Thomas himself can be
classed as ‘ persona non grata*
having been suspended by the AAU.
“ O bviously M r. Don Thom as’
actions are a discredit to himself. 1
have been to ld he is not a stupid
man. For this reason I can only
wonder why he chooses to do things
that comprise his sport, his Univer­
sity, his state and his country. Bear
in mind the most com plim entary
comment that can be made about
his actions is that he shows
atrociously poor judgement. If, in
fact, he knew what the con­
sequences o f his actions would be,
the charges against him become im-
mensly more serious.”
Follow ing that incident, M ilan
Ercegan, president o f F ILA and vice
M inister o f sport in Yugoslavia,
called a meeting o f all participating
national teams and warned them not
to accept any contact with anyone
representing South A fric a or the
Oregon connection. He warned that
“ certain people’ ’ were there at­ cident, the young people had en­
tem pting to contact countries for
joyed the frie n d sh ip and com ­
w restling exchanges w ith South
panionship o f the competitors from
Africa.
32 nations present.
The F IL A president stated that
"They were the best ambassadors
any individual who competes with
that this country could have sent,”
South A fric a w ill be suspended
Lund said. “ Everyone loved them.
from international wrestling for life.
They were rig h t at home. Then
This action is based on F IL A ’ s when the Thomas incident hap­
“ constant support for the rights of pened, it was different; people just
man.”
knew they were from Oregon, too,
The young wrestlers from P ort­ and were a fra id to associate w ith
land, who had planned to attend the them. We took a vote and they
W orld Junior Championships and decided to come home early.”
to participate in dual meets during
The team participated in an in ­
the event, began to feel the coldness vitational p rio r to the w orld meetj
and fcaT o f the other com petitors designed to get their fa c ilitie ia n d
tow ard them and voted to return referees in order.
home. P rio r to the Thomas in ­ (Please turn to Page 10 Col 5)
PORTLAND OBSERVER
—
Artist shows work at Newberg
Grassroot News N .W . - An un­
veiling o f sorts will occur this week­
end in Newburg, Oregon. Philemon
“ P hil” Reid, a Black artist o f the
Portland M e tro p o lita n area w ill
display his o il paintings at 111 N.
College Avenue.
During the week-days, Reid is a
m ild
mannered
Engineering
Technician for the government. A f­
ter work, he transforms into Port­
land’ s Picasso. His o il painting,
sketches and cartoon reveal how life
appears through the talents o f Reid.
One drawing entitled “ The Trouble
I’ve Seen," shows the face o f an old
Black man looking proud but tired.
The lines o f emotions cast upon
shadows, show the wear and tear of
living in another man’ s world. The
Reid collection also includes, “ The
Moon Dancers” and the “ Black
History Series." Individual works
are Muhummad A li knocking out
Joe Frazier, “ The C otton C hop­
per” and “ The Death o f the Ear­
th ” This drawing displays the earth
sucking up a man. “ I try to main­
tain control over my art, never let­
ting an image get beyond my con­
trol. My outreach is over and above
the Black experience although I
never forget where I came from .”
Reid is a self-taught artist who
received
his
tra in in g
from
Black literature and is in the process
magazines, books and trade jo u r ­
ot collecting the works o f
nals. “ I like to tear items down and
W .E .B . DuBois. He already
then build from that. Many artists
possesses the complete writings o f
will mix their colors prior to putting
Langston Hughes and many
it on canvas. But I mix mine right on
historical reference books on Black
the canvas.The images that I project
History.
with pen and paint just come to me.
His interest extends over into
I have a good eye and transfer
traditional blues and jazz o f Black
thoughts into images the way I see culture. This interest yields a
them.”
healthy record collection and is
Reid indicated that he likes
transform ed onto canvas. Reid
Picasso, enjoys Van Gogh and
calls this work "T rib u te to West”
respects Rockwell. “ I liked Rock­
which shows the blended images o f
w ell’ s realism but I w ouldn’ t want
a piano and sax player w ith the
to im itate it. I draw my own way
background of an upright bass.
and always wondered why I liked
His introduction to art began at
things d iffe re n t. As a child being
five years o f age when his mother
raised on a farm , I did n ’ t want to
drew a Santa Claus for him to play
pick any cotton so I learned to drive
w ith. From that, he has b u ilt a
a tractor. I ’ve never had anyone give
sizeable collection along w ith a
me anything, so I took advantage of
philosophy about art. “ Some
what was there. In painting, I made
people
called artists really only pro­
my own frames from scratch and
duce
a
few items every three years
developed my own canvases. You
or so, and put them at an out-of-
will find my work is able to hold its
the-world price. I don’t think that’ s
own.”
rig
h t. I consistently produce by
H olding its own is one way to
working
five to six days a week, 4
describe Reid’ s work. A noticeable
and 5 hours days. I price my work
feature throughout his art is his
ability to start from a realistic draw­ so that people can buy them.”
ing and enhance it by producing an
His thoughts on being a Black
abstract original.
a rtist: “ Black artists d o n ’ t have
Reid is what you call a cultured anywhere to go but up because
artist. He is a very serious patron of they’ ve been down for so long.”
Oregon wrestlers participated in Vancovuer In-
ternational Invitational meet in Vancouver. British
Columbia, winning first place In both categories,
(Photos: Richard J. Brown)
Oregon wrestlers bring honors
Twenty-six young men from
Oregon participated in the Van­
couver International Invitationa l
wrestling meet in Vancouver last
week. The team won first place in
both divisions - Midget and Bantum
- and twenty-three o f the wrestlers
brought home trophies.
The participants from Penninsula
Park are from the wrestling
program o f Roy Pittman, which has
produced a number o f national
championships.
A long
w ith
wrestling, Pittman emphasizes good
attitude and gentlemanly behavior.
Team standings were: M idget-
Oregon, 52; O ntario, Canada, 37;
Inland Empire (W ashington), 22;
B ritish C olum bia, 21; Western
Washington, 20.
Bantum: Oregon, 27; O n ta rio ,
23; Inland Em pire, 14; Western
Washington, I I ; British Columbia,
2.
Penninsula
Park
winners
in
Midget were: Haig Brown, 1st
place, 38 KG; Travis West, 2nd, 42
KG; L a rry T o p liff, 1st place, 45
KG; Travis West, 3rd, 48 KG;
Aaron Chiles, 1st, 55 KG; C urt
Morris, 3rd, 59 KG; Brian Jackson,
4th, 59 KG; Bill Brown, 1st, 63 KG;
Sid Sonnen, 63 KG; Don Manary,
2nd, 68 KG; W illiam Trocino, 3rd,
73 KG; Jan Marshall, 3rd, 78 KG;
Mike Chancey, 3rd, 78 KG.
Bantum: Haig Brown, 1st place,
38 KG; Jeff Marshall, 2nd, 41 KG;
Travis West, 1st place, 45 KG; Trent
West, 1st, 49 KG; Joe Sloan, 1st, 53
KG; Brian Jackson, 1st, 57 KG.
Also on the Oregon team were:
M ike Wize, 3rd, 51 KG from O n­
tario, Oregon; Bill Womack, 1st, 59
KG, Ranier; Matt Hamilton, 1st, 78
KG, Tigard; Mike Chancey, 3rd, 78
KG; Bo Yates, 1st, 78 KG,
Lebanon; Rod Smith, 5th, 38 KG,
Gresham; Steve Dogget, 3rd, 41
KG, the Dalles; James Sloan, 1st, 67
KG, Ranier; Joe Hulsey, 2nd, 67
Roy Pittman ih o w i "Totem
Pole” trophy won by Oregon
team.
KG, Ranier. The team was coached
by Roy P ittm an, Chuck Kearney
and Mike Funderberg.
Labor leader addreses workshop
Artiat Phil Reid poses with a few of hls works,
some of which w ill be shown at a one-man
showing In Newberg,
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
Gap in Black unemployment increases in 1970s
In the 1970s, the gap in the pro­
portion o f Black and white pop­
ulations engaged in work increased,
according to a research summary
in the June 1981 issue o f the
M onthly
Labor
Review,
a
publication o f the U.S. Department
o f Labor's Bureau o f Labor
Statistics (BLS).
The article calls this one o f the
significant developments o f the
1970s and notes that several factors
have been responsible fo r this
development.
Black women have traditionally
been very active in the labor force,
and their participation has remained
high. However, over the last two
decades, the attitudes o f white
women towards work outside the
home have markedly changed, and
their labor market activities have in-
creased considerably. Consequen­
tly , in 1969, Black women were
more lik e ly to be w orking than
white women (59 vs. 52 percent).
However, 10 years later, white
women were more like ly to work
during the year than Black women
(58 vs. 56 percent).
The article also notes (hat the gap
between the employment experience
(Please turn to page 2 col. 4)
W illiam E. Pollard, Director o f
the A FL-C IO C ivil Rights Depart­
ment, w ill be the featured speaker
at a workshop on “ Discrimination
on the Jo b ,” sponsored by the
P acific Northwest Labor College
and the A. P h ilip Randolph In ­
stitute.
Pollard has been a member o f fhe
AFL-C IO national staff since 1964.
His chief assignment during the 60s
and early 70s was acting as a liaison
between the national and its local
a ffilia te s and the Equal E m ploy­
ment Opportunity Commission. He
continues to work closely with ap­
prenticeship programs to increase
minority participation.
Pollard is a form er Regional
Chairman o f the NAAC P Western
Region; is a former member o f the
Southern Area Advisory Committee
fo r the C a lifo rn ia Department o f
Employment; and is a former mem­
ber o f the California Department o f
Apprenticeship Standards Advisory
Committee. He was President o f the
Joint Council o f D ining Car Em ­
ployees for fourteen years.
He is currently a member o f the
N ational Urban League’ s Labor
A dvisory C ouncil, and is on the
national boards o f the NAACP and
the A. Philip Randolph Institute.
The workshop w ill be held on
July 31st and August 1st and 2nd at
King N eighborhood F a cility.
W orkshop sessions w ill explore
race, sex and age discrimination.
Registration is $15. For further
inform ation contact the Pacific
Northwest Labor College, 245-1315,
or A. Philip Randolph Institute,
231-0770 for information.
W IL L IA M E. POLLARD