P«9« 4 Portland Obaarvar. Saptambar 10. 1M1
Portland artists find African culture
Grassroot News, N .W . — Tw o
Portland artists recently returned
trom a cultural-raising and talent-
xpanding month-long visit to Sene
gal, Africa. Ruby Burns, a dancer
for Herero, and Bruce Smith, a per
cussionist for Portland's own Plea
sure. They discussed the m otiva
tions for theit trip. Ms. Burns says
ihat she has held a life-long desire to
go to Africa. "This was the perfect
opportunity to learn dance and mu
sic from the African people as op
posed to going into a university to
get the same kind of information.”
" I'm a hand drummer and Africa
is mecca for hand drummers. Drum
mers should all have the idea of go
ing to the place where it all started,”
Smith answers.
How did the Senegalese perceive
this group o f earnest students?
"T h ey were mixed and we had to
break the ice so that they will know
we weren't European-Am erican.
There's a different type of Ameri
can in the United States today. They
aren’t exposed to the fact that there
are Black Americans who are a
carry-over from them. And once we
showed and talked to them about it
they were a bit more receptive.
Some were concerned about what
we were going to do with their tradi
tional thing. It's something that’s
spiritual, a way o f life and has
meaning. They wondered if we were
going to bring it back here and sell it
in a bottle.
Ms. Burns noticed a change in
this attitude varied with age. “ This
changed from age to age and village
to village.”
“ The first thing I noticed when I
got o ff the plane was that I am an
American. It's easy over here to say
you are an African but when you’re
over there it's d ifferen t. We are
born and raised a certain way. You
Bruce S m ith and R uby Burna display m usical in s tru m e n ts b ro u g h t
fro m recant trip to A fric a .
(Photo: R ichard J . B ro w n )
might have the carry-over traits of
an African, the beat, spicy food, the
way you walk and talk and even
your style. But you’re an American
and you've got to face that.” Smith
begins. And Ruby adds, “ It's like
the ugly Am erican, or someone
who’s selfish, doesn’ t care and is
rude.”
“ They really respect and praise
drummers. After four days there I
got my first djdmbe drum and began
NAACP memorializes Roy Wilkins
(Continuedfrom page I column 5)
fraternal organizations that is con
ceded to be largely responsible for
the enactment o f most recent civil
rights laws. He was a trustee of the
Eleanor Roosevelt Foundation, the
Kennedy Memorial Library Foun
dation and the Estes Kefauver Mem
orial Fund, the board of the River
side C hidren’ s Association, the
John La Farge Institute, and the
Stockbridge School.
Among the numerous awards he
received were those o f the A n ti-
D efam ation League, Alpha Phi
Alpha, American Jewish Congress,
Boy Scouts of America, University
of Minnesota, Japanese-American
Citizens’ League, the National Med
ical Association, etc. He also re
ceived the Russwurm Award of the
National Newspaper Publishers As
sociation and the N A A C P ’s Sping-
arn Medal.
Lucius Hicks IV , President of the
Portland Branch o f the N A A C P ,
said, “ The loss of Roy Wilkins will
be felt by thousands of people who
ee
The honey
was tempting, but
the people were M
really sweet.
When peopi
heard about the
1981 Weight
Watchers
Food Plans,
our classes
attracted
lots of
we can teach you how
to enjoy lots of your
favorite foods
(wtthin limits)
and still lose
weight We
can help
you turn
,
your bad
s,
eating
fiabits
into good ones tom us today
The fabulous 1981 Food
Plans are waiting along
with a lot of friendly people
honey
lovers,
popcorn
poppers, and peanut butter
nuts' Then people discovered
something even more irresist
ible about Weight Watchers
Other people They found
that Weight Watchers mem
bers really cared And it was
so much easier to lose weight
when they weren't doing it
alone
Together, at weekly classes,
WEIGHT .
WATCHERS
We ve Helped
more people
lose more pounds
than any other
weight loss program
in the world.
The most successful w eight loss program in the world
worked with him and knew him.
We in Portland will miss him great
ly. Many of our local leaders had an
opportunity to meet and work with
him. To name a few— Harry Ward,
Ellis Casson, Otto Rutherford.
" M r. Wilkins began his full-time
participation with the N A A C P in
1931 as the assistant secretary of
The Crisis Magazine. In 1937 he
succeeded W .B DuBots as secretary
o f The Crisis. In 1949 he was ap
pointed acting executive director
while Walter White was on leave. In
1935 he became the executive direc
tor. He retired in 1977 because of ill
ness and was named Executive D i
rector Emeritus in 1978.
“ His directorship spread over 22
years during which the program of
the N A A C P blossomed. Under his
administration national member
ship more than doubled; the number
o f branches increased tremen
dously. He will always be remem
bered for establishing the Emergen
cy Civil Rights Committee, the de
segregation of Central High School
in Little Rock, Arkansas, also the
close relationship he had with many
of our Presidents. He was known to
us as M r. Civil Rights, primarily be
cause he led the campaign that re
sulted in the C ivil Rights Acts o f
1957, 1960, 1964 and ,965.
“ We are therefore holding a spe
cial memorial service and tribute to
this great man on Friday, Sept. 11 at
12:00 noon at Bethel A M E Church,
5828 NE 8th Avenue. During this
noon-time service we will highlight
the career of Roy Wilkins and wel
come comments and acknowledge
ments from civil rights organiza
tions, their leaders and citizens who
may have known him. All of Port
land is invited to attend.”
His funeral service w ill be at
Community Church o f New York,
45 E. 35th Street in New York, at
11:00 am on Friday.
North Portland
Fellowship Baptist Church
2225 N Lombard St. (at Brandon)
Mon.
7:00 pm
Thurs.
9:30 am
Emanuel Hospital
2801 N Gantenbein
Emanuel East, Room 2001
(Nursing Home)
Thurs.
7:00 pm
(Continued from page 2 column 6)
Tw »
did. A lot of double-talk and talking
N o rth e as t Po rtlan d
out of both sides of his mouth—and
5049 N.E. Sandy Bhrd.
enough is enough.) So Ron Stills, let
Mon.
9:30 am & 7:00 pm
the residents in Portland see you do
Tues.
9:30am & 7pm
your stuff.
W ed.
7:00 pm
Joe Harris
Thurs.
7:00 pm
Native of Portland, Oregon
Sat.
122 N.E. Skidmore
9:30 am
For information call collect Portland (503) 297-1021, weekdays 8:305:00
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From the Front Door
by Tom Boothe
From the Front Door, let me share the essence of this Summer 1981 with you, from what I
consider to be a very meaningful perspective, in regards to what is known as the “ Black
Community,” in Portland, Oregon.
This year many Citizens in our Neighborhood, young and old, came together and dedi
cated themselves under the concept of the Exodus Clean Team and worked together creating
a cleaner, safer and more decent community in which to live, work and do business.
Streets were cleaned, vacant lots were cleaned, buildings were painted, trash was removed,
lawns were mowed, basements and attics were cleaned, senior citizens and our youth united
to work together. The Columbia Villa and Tamarack Housing Area were cleaned by the
Exodus Clean Team. That project was authorized by the Portland Housing Authority.
The Exodus Clean Team did no, request, nor did it receive any CETA funds. Nor did it re
ceive any other public funds to carry out its Summer Projects. Ye, our Youth and Adults got
together and produced a cleaner and safer neighborhood for all o f Portland to see, and
money was no, an issue.
I believe there is a divine value in the concepts of cleanliness, caring, courtesy and consci
entiousness. W ithin these general concepts and practices we can improve community
relations, we can improve property values, we can reduce unemployment and still keep many
of our dollars within our own community. This in turn will increase business profits, which
will attract other businesses, which will put our Community back on the track to becoming
economically sound. I think it makes good sense to become a part of the Exodus Clean
Team, and to support its efforts in this area.
Remember, the Exodus Clean Team is working___
P.S. I ask you very mild mannered
do you understand that? I will con
tinue to watch the action of police in
Portland, primarily Northeast (A l
bina), and to encourage others to do
so and document these things. Hop
ing they're good.
Join us! We need your h elp .. . .
A public
s e r v ie * brought to you by H o u le of Exodua
r
Park r iC t
■^OFFICES ALSO IN SALEM A EUGENE)***
9:30 am
(Marantha Church!
© W k e rf'f W ffr)w < ’. kW I N m
Open Letter
4737 N Lombard St.
7:00 pm
Fri.
to carry it to class. The people
would speak and wave to me instead
of responding to us like tourists. A f
ter that the whole stereotype about
American Blacks was diminished.”
"In Africa everybody dances. It's
not like where you have dance stu
dio, classes and workshops.
There're people who start training
when they’re young to carry on the
dance tradition. These people have a
lot of esteem in the village society."
It will probably be a while for the
ripple effect o f their trip to con
sciously appear but they might make
an immediate structural change.
Smith says, “ 1 had some perception
about the djembe drum befoe I left.
But when I got there and watched
the movement, listened to all the
natural things in the environment
and felt it, I came back with a whole
new perception about playing the
stuff I've played before. We lived in
the village for three days and were in
it and just being in it helped.”
"1 think it improved all my skills.
The movements aren't that difficult
but it's (he individual accents and
attitudes o f the dancer. In Herero
we will become more specific when
we use dance movements from d if
ferent groups of people.”
“ 1 still have to play with the
mood o f the music but will incor
porate certain things into all my mu
sic. I can't wait until I get in a situa
tion so that I can use the djembe
drum. It's the kind of drum where
you need other drummers to accom
pany you so I plan to indoctrinate
other drummers into the thing.”
This thing that Bruce Smith and
Ruby Burns experienced w ill cer
tainly help in the evolution of devel
oping their thing.
However, next year we are projecting a budge, in the value of about one million, five hun
dred thousand dollars worth of services to the citizens within our immediate neighborhood
to be distributed between June 1, 1982 and September 15, 1982.
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