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»