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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 30, 1981)
Pag* 4 Portland Obaarvar July 30. 1981 butch caarç OBSERVATIONS FROM THE SIDELINES Phona: 284-1887 H O T C U T S S P E C IA L By Kathryn Hal! Bogle Jit He loves life . Tony does. He swims and he has many years o f ex perience at deep sea fishing. He plays golf, plays handball and rides a Kawasaki. He likes symphonic music, jazz, and candlelight dancing with a pret ty girl. A ll those are leisure-tim e ac tivities. Daytimes, on week days, A n thony Allen treads the hallways o f Good Samaritan hospital. He goes from room to room, from floor to floor and back again to his spacious brightly, lighted laboratory. Anthony Allen is a Pathologist Assistant. He also is a Phlebotom ist. T ranslation: he draws blood from a patient for test ing in his laboratory fo r any pathology (disorder) that may be keeping the patient from enjoying good health. The rest o f the tim e T o n y’ s laboratory work is to assist the full fledged physician with a dissection and to take samples o f tissue for histologic examination. This part of his work is also necessary when a post-mortem has been ordered In some such situations requiring autopsy, a physician needs to know what the exact cause o f death had been. This type o f exam ination documents the results precisely. Allen must take m icroscopic photograph o f tissue, in some cases, to let the physician see, by com parison o f early and later pictures, what the progress o f disease has been (or how efficacious the treat ment) from date to date. Allen logs and files the specimans, the slides, pictures, and case reports for necessary discussion by the medical staff. Tony enjoys his work and enjoys being a part o f the staff o f a big, up- to-the-minute hospital. He plans to return to college, probably Duke University, to expand his interest in research. A C alifornian by b irth , T ony’ s mother, D orothy Allen, s till lives there in I os Angeles. Tony’ s father was Charles Robert Allen, a native Oregonian. Tony’s grandfather was William D. Allen, the properties of the famous Golden West hotel in Por'land o f the early 1900s. To.iy is 28 and single. • About 200 young people attended the annual summer camp, called “ Y M A .” held by C atholic nuns from M a rylhurst College on the campus of Williamette University in Salem. Among those who attended the I98I camp session were Linda Brown, the 14-year daughter o f Dr. and Mrs. Webster Brown; John Farah, 10 years, the son o f Jacqueline Farah, and Dehner Franks, an 18 year old pianist in his senior year at Franklin High School. Dehner plays jazz by ear, reads a little music and has played at the Jazz Q uarry at least once. A ll o f them were enthusiastic about their summer-camp experience. We asked Linda to tell us about the camp in her own words. That is what she said. “ Y .M .A .” stands fo r Young Musicians and Artists. There are two sessions o f camp and each sessions lasts two weeks. The first session is just for music. There is orchestra, band and there are ensemble groups. I took my v io lin and was assigned to the second section o f violins. I had a chance to learn how to practice and to perform in a group o f violins. The second session was fo r drama, dance, art, music and pup petry. I took drama. We had four talent shows. The kids can get up on the stage and show their talents. I was in a scene taken from the movie called, ’ ’ The Dark A t The Top O f The Stars.” We had two big p e rfo r mances for the parents to see when they come to Salem on Sundays to see their children. The final perfor mances is on the last day o f camp. We have really full days at camp. It’ s up at 7:00 a.m., to go to “ Flag” - when they have a flag raising ceremony. We then clean our rooms and go to breakfast. Food is really good there - better than at school. Like eggs and hash-browns, blue berry waffles or waffles and straw berries. A fte r breakfast we went to classes. We had warm-up excerises like stretching, then we had im provisations in groups fo r skits. Then a little break. A fte r the break we had “ orien ta tio n ” where we could get together and talk about things in camp. We had good counselors. Then we had a chance to choose an elective class. I chose “ Mime.” It was a new experience for me and I enjoyed learning how to fill out my imagination. J ’ • -t • • • t S15. ’ ’ 1405 NE Broadway, Portland, Oregon 97212 Ft i • b- T o n y A lle n , p a th o lo g is t, is read y fo r w o rk at G ood S a m a rita n Hospital. (Photo: Richard J Brown) Under the direction of Sister Ann M iria m and her assistant, Sister Therese M iller, the many children ranging in age up to 18 found enjoy ment, some self-discovery o f talent, and a capacity to reach out and make new acquantiances fo r themselves. Lunch and then a rest period in our rooms to read, nap or w rite letters. A fte r this rest period, another class in drama similar to the morning. A second elective period came after drama class. I chose “ Musical Theater” and we practiced singing in costume some songs from “ The Wizard of Oz.” Late in the afternoon we had free time to play tennis, to swim or just goof around. Dinner was usually in the univer sity student dining room. The sisters wouldn’ t let us wear shorts to dinner and so most o f the girls wore dresses to the dining room. In the evening there was always a talent show. Flag ceremony was observed again at 8:45 p.m., just before dark. Bedtime was at 9:30 p.m. I enjoyed it all and 1 hope to go back next year.” E f X O D U S dierre/una/ a r u / j/lr t / r n s n / fáen/re 1639 N E Alberta Cell Talk PORTLAND OREGÙN 9721 1 294 7997 By Asmar Abdul Setfullah •4A'/1 Joe H'est C ell Talk is pleased to report perhaps the most dynam ic action taken on the part o f m in o rity in mates since the institution o f blue denim pants. M .A .C ., the M inority Action Coalition was formed July 17, 1981 and w ill address itself to the specific and unique problems that minority inmates face while in carcerated. The M in o rity A ctio n C o a litio n (M A C ) consist o f Black, Chicano and Indian inmates. When com bined, the three groups comprise over 20 percent o f the inmate population and will be a force to be dealt with in the future. This is the first time in the history o f this in stitution that minority inmates have been able to put aside their differen ces and work for a common goal. The M in o rity A ctio n co a litio n consist o f members o f U huru Organization, Lakota Club and La Raza Club M A C. was formed to address the disparities in the present parole system. It is the consensus of m inority inmates that the present parole system calls fo r a greater amount o f a cco unta bility on the part o f m inorities than white in mates. M .A .C . believes that the Matrix system which is employed by the Oregon State Parole Board is racist by design and discriminatory in practice. The form ation o f the M in o rity A c tio n C o a litio n M .A .C .) should not be construed as a racist move against white in mates or the predom inately white corrections division. It is no more than a group of concerned brothers tryin g to resolve some very real problems It should be noted that M in o rity A ctio n C o a litio n (M .A .C .) doesn’ t have the form al sanction o f the prison adm inistra tion but we can’t see any reason why we shouldn 't be able to come together and work for our freedom and for the betterment o f conditions for future brothers. B rie fly, the m atrix system is based on a point system whereby a inmate is judged by his past record, type o f crim e, drug involvem ent etc. The more points one receives the greater his chances are fo r earlier parole. This system m ight sound good in concept but one has to take in consideration the fact that any time white people design a system to judge people by, minorities w ill always come out on the bottom o f the scale. Remember the I.Q . test that were given to Blacks in the 60s - the test was designed for white people therefore Blacks didn't do well. For years, everybody was running around shouting that Blacks were in fe rio r to whites because they scored lower on these tests. When in actuality the test itself was racist and discriminatory. The same holds true fo r the parole m atrix system .lt is designed in a manner that causes Blacks, Chicanos and Indians to score poorly because it doesn’ t take in account that we come from high crime areas, drug infested streets, poverty, m iseducation and many other social ills that aren’ t our fault. The point we're trying to make is that a Black from A lb in a is more likely to run afoul o f the law than a white from Coos Bay. He is also more lik e ly to have drug in volvement in the Black community because that's where all the drugs are sent to when white folk get it o ff the boat. Statistics prove that m inorities d on’ t fare well in the crim inal justice system. They show that m inorities are locked up a greater rate than any other group o f people in the country. M in o ritie s receive longer sentences fo r .he same crimes that whites com m itt and they serve more time often than not. Consecutive sentences are im- 1 posed on m inorities at a greater rate and m inorities don’ t fare well under the plea bargain system. I t ’ s im portant that you under stand that we’ re not trying to shirk our responsibility in the debt we owe to society. What we are attempting to do is get fa ir treatment fo r our problems. It is not fa ir to judge a Black under a system that is designed for whites nor is it fair to punish a Chicano or Indian because their com m unity happens to have social problems that affect their growth and development. A ll we are asking is that the Parole Board take into account the fact that by the tim e most o f us reach an institution, we’ ve used up our one strike, whereas the average w hite gets three and fo u r strikes before he is called o ut. The con dition one is born into has to have some bearing on the final product, however, there are exceptions to the rule but the majority o f us don't do well whether we're criminals or not. There is something wrong with a system that creates c rim in a l be havior in minority communities. It's disturbing and alarming when you sit down and th in k about all the ways the system destroys life inside and outside o f our com m unity. Don’ t be fooled into believing that you can be anything you want to be because you can't. Crime for some o f us was an alternative to a bad situation - we don’ t condone crime under any circumstances but we do believe that there should be some consideration given to our social, cultural, economic and political d if ferences. We believe that a system has to be devised that treats or judges people on a just basis. White justice isn 't conducive to Black freedom which is representative o f the present parole system in the State o f Oregon. From the Front Door Bv Torn Boothe From The Front Door, The Exodus Clean Team has initiated a Community Awareness Campaign, headed and coordinated by Mr. Daryl L. Griffith. He w ill initially contact the households w ith door hangers w ithin the area between NE 15th West, to NE 33rd East, and between NE Killingsworth North to NE Prescott South; after which he and his crew will organize to con tact all households, by way of door hangers w ithin Northeast Portland between the Minnesota Freeway west to 42nd Street East to Columbia Blvd. North to Broadway South, as well as the entire North Portland area. His goal is to accomplish this task by mid-September. This effort amounts to a lot of hard work in a door to door campaign, in order to make the community aware of its responsibility to help keep our community clean and safe, as well as where to get help in doing so. I am sure Mr. Griffith can use all the help he can get and would welcome anyone who wish to help in any way. Monetary donations, and manpower and womanpower are the greatest needs at this point. Young boys and girls in the community have come forth and volunteered themselves, however, Mr. G riffith says it is more en couraging for these young citizens to receive some form of reward as a token of the community's appreciation for their effort in helping to keep our com munity clean. The results of the past two Saturdays have been overwhelming successful. Citizen participation is the key to the Clean Team's success. Mr. Griffith invites you to join him in an effort to clean and keep our com munity clean and safe. There are meetings each Wednesday at 7:00 p.m., and Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m., at 1639 NE Alberta, Portland, Oregon. He hopes to see you at one meeting or the other, and so do I... » -
