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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 1982)
Portland Observer, January 28, 1962 Page 7 Betty Wright Parker: Cleaning up for God O rtu aro o l N tw s, N . IF .— In the 1970« Betty W right emerged as the ‘Clean U p W om an.' She cleaned up to the top o f the n atio n al charts. N ow Betty sings the tunes as M rs. Betty Parker. Her motivation is her religious belief. Although she sings gospel, she doesn't refer to herself as a gospel singer. “ Titles tend to stereotype. I think basically that all music belongs to the Lord. When I sit down and write a love song the connotations that the listener draws may be d iffe re n t fro m what I in tended. I may be w riting that love song to somebody’s husband and it will be soiled. But if I write it to my husband the song will be clean. I've always said that beauty is in the ears and hearts o f the listeners. It's like two men who gazed out o f their pri son bars. One saw mud and the other saw stars.“ She feels that although a person is saved, (hey should not isolate them selves from the world. “ When peo ple say they want to live separately as the word says, they are in fact making a mockery out o f the word. You cannot live a sanctified life without helping the people around you. You can't help anyone sitting on a pedestal. 1 never separate ipy- self from those who d o n 't know G o d . Even those who call th em selves saved are just sinners saved by grace. I just hope God would purify whatever kind o f music I sing so that children could get enjoyment, and most im portantly, learn some thing from it. M rs. Betty W right Parker talks about one o f the ailments affecting the churgh-goer today. “ Judging people is unfortunately something that will not be erased in the Church because people are living in fleshy bodies. I f we were all angels we would have dispensed with that not- so-nice q u ality. You know , 1 love people. Even the people who don’ t care a penny about me. I don't love them in spite o f their faults but be cause o f their faults. I used to hear people wondering if I was going to stay in the church. M y answer to them was you better watch you. M any said I wouldn’t stay but I've been in the body o f C hrist for six years and I plan to stay.“ Her life was changed with her hit, ‘ C lean -up W o m a n .’ " A f t e r I got in to the knowledge o f C h rist I found *C lean -u p W o m a n ’ in the Song o f Solomon. It focused on the sin o f negligence. Solomon is ready for his new bride and she is not ready for him. He departs into the C ity and she has to go fin d him . That's a great sin o f negligence. I do believe when you marry a man your body no longer belongs to you. It belongs to him and his body no longer belongs to him, but to you.” Mrs. Parker summarized her ori gins: “ I was never bad, just mischie vous. When the sun rose 1 had a rea son to fight. I was just waiting for it to come up so that I could be a little tomboy. I never wanted to be a per form er. M y sights were set on be ing a physical education teacher. In college I got a jo b as a T .V . in ter viewer and I w ould sing on the weekends. Soon the crowds became louder and louder and I said I must be getting better. ‘ Clean-up W o m an* turned gold on my 19th b irth day. A fte r that I became serious. The tours followed in America and Europe. She was born and raised in L ib erty C ity in M ia m i, F lo rid a . “ Down there you have a situation where Cubans came in and worked for less than the Blacks. All that did was cancel out jo b s. The Cubans weren’t citizens so they didn’t have to pay taxes. I now see something happening w ith the H aitia n s. Be cause o f the color o f their skin they are not treated the same way as the Cubans. I t ’ s very crowded in L ib erty City. When Castro sent the last group o f Cubans here he really flushed his toilet. Sometimes living in that community is like living in a war zone. Everyday you see homo- cides and there is so much dope. But I believe in M iam i because it has a Bethel AME Church Hosts Tea MR. AND MRS. PATRICK PARKER (Photo: Richard J. Brown) good and solid foundation." In her concerts Betty W rig h t P arker has combined secular and gospel music. “ There’s a good side to everybody and there’s a bad side. I d o n ’ t separate my sides. I sing what I feel in my heart. I f there’ s pain I sing until it goes away.” The change in her life occurred in 1975. “ A friend who had altered her life asked me to come to church. I kept putting her o f f until she said that some fine brothers were in the church. I sat in the hack because I d id n 't want to enjoy the services. to elect But that night the Lord really saved my heart. W hen I came in to the L o rd he opened up my heart and gave me a new sense o f satisfac tio n ." H ow did she end up in Oregon? “ I met this guy in church, Patrick Parker, and the Lord had it in the plan that he was to be my husband. I fell in love and we were married.” In the immediate future M r. and Mrs. Parker plan to return to Flor ida to work on developing a T .V . show o f her life. Now, Betty Wright is cleaning up for God. Harold Williams for State Representative District 18 The tea will be held Sunday, February 7th, 1982 Tea will be served from 1-4 pm. Rev. M.A. Watiey, Pastor News Notes C ity Com m issioner M ik e L in d berg has proposed an ordinance that would begin a new procedure for in vestigating liquor license applicants. Police would conduct investigations o f problem liquor outlets. Currently neighbors can express concerns but there is insufficient information for the Council to make its decision. • Dorothy Alexander will be sworn in as a member o f the G o v ern o r’ s Com m ission on Black A ffa irs on January 27th in the G overnor’s o f fice. She replaces F rank W ilso n , who resigned. D r. Alexander is an evaluation specialist in the technical assistance center, N orthw est Re gional E d u catio n al L a b o ra to ry . Paid for by Committee To Elect Herald Williams Chrmn. Ginger L. Sharp. 6220 N.E. 19th. Portland OR 97211 P rio r to 1980 she was a program evalu ato r fo r the D allas , Texas school d istrict, and a lib ra ria n at Pacific U niversity and the U n ive r sity of Oregon. • bombings and acts o f violence have resulted in wounding 233. Approxi m ately 630 facists have been con victed o f violence, 97 await trial, but only 20 arc currently in prison. • M inority and women contractors have a five per cent preference in bidding with King C ounty, W ash ington. According to an ordinance passed this fall, a bid by a mi-nority- or woman-owned firm will receive the bid if it is no more than five per cent above the lowest bid. Congressman Louis Stokes (D - Ohio) blasted Reagan's approval o f a $245 b illio n m ilita ry budget for fiscal 1983 as “ totally irresponsible, unconscionable and ir r a t io n a l." Pledging to lead a House floor fight against the budget next season, he said, “ It should be evident to every one in America now that President Reagan s economic policies o f mak ing the rich richer while making the poor poorer are rapidly taking our economy in to m ore and more chaos.” • The Defense Department has giv en lie detector teste to about 25 senior officers in its attempt to find the source o f an unauthorized dis closure o f information (a leak). The investigation continues w ith little hope o f success. • • A t least 19 deaths have been a t tributed to Neo-Nazis in West Ger many since September 1978. N azi Donald Hunter, Mr». Bernice Hunter, Rev. Charlee Hunter and Mrs. Mary Jean Berry sing for KBOO Salute to Martin Luther King, Jr. This group produced 21 hours of epeolal programming on KBOO honoring the birthdate of Dr. M artin Luther King, Jr. Program Included poetry, Music, talks, end Interviews. (Photos: Richard J. Brown) I Don't Miss This Value Have a rib-eye steak, 4 pieces of shrimp w ith all the trimmings including our all you can eat salad bar for just 019 ggQg And collect a FREE Norman Rockwell glass filled w ith Coca-Cola w ith the purchase of each steak & shrimp dinner. M ea n w h ile , back at the Justice Department: In a revolt in the Civil Rights Division against Reagan pol icies, some career attorneys were leaking documents intended to dem onstrate that the department is ig noring law and precedent in its ap proach to enforcement. They were caught. Halim Rahsaan, Career Educa tional Specialist at Portland C o m munity College will work out o f the personnel office at Portland C om m u n ity C ollege one q u arter (*/«) time on a weekly basis. Rahsaan is currently screening for professional positions within the PC C structure. Rahsaan has been on the faculty o f PCC for seven years, having worked for the last three years in the Career Research department being respon sible for aptitude and interest eval uations for adults and youths. Rahsaan becomes the second Black person to w ork in the per sonnel division having anything to do with screening employment ap plications since the conception o f PCC in the early sixties. Jim Boozer was the first Black person to be cm- ploeyd in the personnel department fo r P C C - h e left P C C a fte r ten years o f service and is now em ployed by P .G .E. Breakfast Is Have you tried Supreme At Breakfast At esoiS steak house STEAK HOUSE 6.00 a .m . to 11.00 a .m . Steak & Shrimp Dinner & Coke J an . 27th thru Feb. 7th Account «6b M2 Coupon valid for purchase of Steak & Shrimp dinner. Dinner include* Rib-eye »leak. 4 piece* of shrimp, baked potato, rod and salad Dinner includes Coke and RockweM glass Offer vakd horn Jen 27th thru Feb 7th, 1982 _ — ............................................ . Right good eatin’at a right good price. PORTLAND 425 Northeast Oregon Street (Between Union and Graod) sont»
