Portland Observer, February 25, 1982 Section III Page 5
The cquitebte Ufa Assurance Society ot the United State*
M S S.W HeM Btvd , Saavan on. Oregon S700S
The present effects o f slavery
O n u s ro o l News, N. W .—Slavery
was an in te g ra l p a rt o f A m erican
history, and its effects are s till fe lt
by the A fro-A m erican people. In a
revealing interview. Dr. Darrel M ill-
ner traced the effects o f actions in
the 16th century on tw entieth-cen
tury Afro-Americans
; Q: Whal are the economic effects
d f slavery, that are fe lt by the fo r -
rher slaves In these times?
■ M illn e r: The m o il overt effect is
tjia t it gave the Caucasian race a
head start in terms o f economic de
velopm ent. But it was Black labor
Chat developed the Western H em i
sphere. Although they contributed
ipost o f the labor they got very few
<jf the benefits. One race benefited
from tw o and three hunderd years
, f free labor from another. When
Slavery legally ended many whites
believed that we would start over as
<quals. But that is unreasonable.
You d o n ’ t start even a fte r three
undrcd years o f exploitation.
F or to d a y ’ s Blacks fin d them -
lelves in a hole in terms o f competi
tion. Another race has a three hun
dred year head start in economic de
velopment.
’ Q: A re there any psychological
problems inherited fro m slavery.
M illner: The psychological effects
re s till strong today and fe lt in
»laces like Portland where the Black
mpulation is small. We live in a so
le ly where Blackness and the Black
experience are a source o f embar-
asunenv I t ’ s a re a lity that every
[Back ha* to face.
i There Is also the psychological ef
t
t
fe ct o f the w hite m e n ta lity which
■ays i f it Is not white, i t ’ s not right.
Blacks who live in this culture are
Bated in a p o s itio n o f accepting
hat; being bad and wrong or mak-
ng an effort to counteract that. It's
tard enough being a human being in
he modern w orld w ith o u t having
he additional burden o f race.
Q: What can parents do to count
eract this negative psychological e f
fect?
M illn e r : The role that parents
should play is to give love and sup
port to the o ffs p rin g . M any Black
parents are in the least favorable po
sition to econom ically im prove the
conditions o f the children. But love
is not expensive nor is psychological
support. Parents can provide a posi
tive home atmosphere and this w ill
create a home environm ent to con
tend with the world.
Q: Is there a social aspect o f slav
ery that's fe lt?
M illn e r: You can talk about this
on many levels. The white response
in some cases is that they are embar
rassed by slavery and they try to
avoid it. Slavery was no historical
accident. It was a mainstay o f A m
erican life . One o f the legacies o f
slavery is that modern white Am eri
cans d o n 't have to be racists to
benefit from racism. Slavery was the
beginning o f the in s titu tio n o f ra
cism.
When Blacks were freed there
wasn’t anything done to compensate
them fo r three hundred years o f
slavery. So Blacks suffered in real
terms because o f lack o f access to
education, economic resources and
v o tin g . W ith o u t those re alities
Blacks d id not fu n c tio n the way
other minorities have. There was no
way to pass through.
Q: Does history repeat itself?
M illn e r: No, just certain patterns
in history emerge over time. But you
never can return to an earlier histor
ical period because some o f the ba
sic ingredients have changed. I f hu
man beings learn nothing else they
should learn that change is part o f
the human experience.
Q: Are Black people being p u t in
th e ir place the same way we were
during the period a fte r reconstruc
tion?
M illn e r: There is a desire on the
part o t w hite A m erica to redefine
raciles to the way they were 30 and
40 years ago. And this is not to say
that Black people w o n 't experience
any negative times. One o f the prob
lems for young Blacks is the passage
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o f time has separated them from the
realities o f what Black life was like
20 years ago. I believe that Blacks
may still remain the most oppressed
and exploited group in this country.
Q: H ow should the present gener
ation view slavery?
M illner: One mistake Blacks have
made is to be ashamed o f slavery.
Blacks are not the people to be
ashamed o f slavery. They were the
v ictim s o f slavery. They never
wanted to be slaves nor were they
happy as slaves. Blacks should look
back at slavery fo r some o f the sur
v iv a l tactics to use in the com ing
years.
Q: What kind o f survival skills?
M illn e r : Just lo o k at what we
used during slavery as families and
in d iv id u a ls . The extended fa m ily
was invented in A m erican slavery
from its roots in A frica . It was this
unit that enabled Blacks to survive
fo r 300 years.
Q: Is there a carry-over fro m slav
ery in Black m ale-fem ale re la tio n
ships?
M illner: I t ’ s hard to identify what
the problems are in male-female re
lationships. C e rtainly slavery con
trib u te d . We tend in th is c o u n try
to talk about slavery as an economic
institution. But slavery was a sexual
in stitu tio n as well. One o f the rea
so n s w h it e - m a le - d o m in a t e d
A m erica hated to give up slavery
was not so much the economic bene
fits but sexual as well. [M illn e r be
lieves that this is one o f the reasons
Black people are so many shades.]
Our definition o f Black is not based
on color but in social and political
reality.
A nother survival skill is how we
use transportation. Whites have be
come spoiled. Il they don't use their
car they may not get to work. Blacks
have always dealt w ith public tran
sportation. We can use the survival
skill individually or collectively as a
race to get by in these hard times.
Put A Smile
On Your Kid's Face!
3 Locations To Serve You:
5949 N.E. Union Ave.
283 9542
3120 N.E. Union Ave.
281 2628
2320 S.E. 82nd Ave.
774-9651
It's a little-known fact that Napoleon, the famous
emperor of France, was not French, but Italian. Both
his parents were Italian.
•
r r
"Voice oLOur
Grassroot News, N. W.—On Sat
urday, February 27, the Urban
League is sponsoring "V oice o f our
People,” performed by the Media
Forum Players. This group consists
o f six Black Hollywood stars; Den
ise Nicholas-Hill, Robert Hooks,
Brock Peters. Janet MacLachlan,
Charles Floyd Johnson and Tracée
Lyles.
In a telephone interview from Los
Angeles,
Denise
Nicholas-Hill
talked about her introduction to this
theater group. "A b o u t a year and a
half ago the Media Forum Players
asked me to perform. The most ef
fective portrayal we could do was to
compile Black poetry into a produc
tion benefit. From that we de
veloped. ’ Voice o f our People.’ "
Last summer they made their na
tional debut on public television.
" I t ’ s a thing in and o f itself. It
gives people another point o f view.
We're dramatic, musical and com
edic. This is one way to deal with
one aspect o f Black literature. Most
o f the material is already composed
so it ’s a lot easier than w riting a
scrip,. It’ s a very simple and very
moving show ." Mrs. H ill goes over
the premise o f the show.
In light o f the roll-backs in feder
al funds for the arts Denise Nicho
las-H ill believes that the ball is back
in the court o f the community if
they want to experience art. " I f they
want to expose their children and
their families the community w ill
have to support it. And I don’ ,
think that's bad. It is (he responsi
b ility o f the individual and not
Government to supply certain
Black Awareness Day
In keeping w ith the n a tio n ’ s
celebration o f Black History month,
A lle n Tem ple C .M .E . C hurch
members invite you to attend "P e r
spective’ ’ a Black Awareness Day
Celebration. Saturday, February 27,
1982 at 7:30 P .M at our church’ s
location, 4236 N.E. 8th Ave.
A llen Temple's m ulti-talents w ill
be displayed in the form o f drama,
poetry and m usic. Some o f the
presentations w ill be o rig in a l and
others w ill be taken from the works
o f great Black writers. Music w ill be
g lo rio u s ly done by " T h e Black
Awareness C o ra le .’ ’ Rev. L .T .
Strayhand, Pastor; Lillia n Jenkins,
chairm an and Louise Jones, co-
chairm an and D ire c to r o f Black
Awareness Coralc, feel assured that
a ll w ho dare to come w ill have a
most e njoyab le, c u ltu ra l and
educational experience.
brings screen stars
things. A rt has always been a step
child in this country, anyway. I f we
are going to have it at all we must
get out and make it ourselves."
Denise Nicholas-Hill acted for
five years with the series, "R oom
222." She was involved with two
movies starring Bill Cosby and Sid
ney Poiticr. She gives her reasons as
to why Black movies are no longer
distributed. "B la ck people as a
whole were not vocal or demanding
in what they wanted to see. We tend
to sit back and wait for things to
happen. You know, who cares if
you don’ t care. I f we were to make
our demands felt people would re
spond."
Many o f the Black movies suf
fered a Black backlash. Is this why
they aren’ t around today? “ Yes, it
is. It caused a lo, o f fear in the in
dustry and they needed an excuse
not to do them anyway. Rather than
coming up with alternatives we had
a total icing over o f all Black
movies." Ms. H ill agrees with the
contention that we cut our noses o ff
to spite our faces.
How does Ms. H ill feel about the
way Black people are portrayed on
T.V.? " I don’ t see any Blacks por
trayed on television. The reasons
why there are so few is, why should
the white directors and producers
care more about us than we do.
They are not interested in making
Black people rich or famous. They
are much more concerned about
themselves and each other than we
are. They present and promote
themselves. Unless forced to do
something else, they won’ , . ’ ’
On Friday, February 26, you can
see some o f our most popular actors
and actresses at a reception held at
Ben Franklin’ s Boardroom on the
19,h floor. One S.W. Columbia.
That reception is 25 dollars bu, on
Saturday they w ill hold a media
workshop a, the Jefferson Gymna
sium (hat is free. Let's get together
and welcome this group to Port
land.
W hen Stephen Foster w rote his fam ous song,
"W ay Down Upon the Swanee River," he misspelled
the name of the river. Its correct name is "Suwanee.”
There is no Swanee River in the U.S.
•
W hich 2 U .S . states border on the m ost other
states? Answer: Missouri and Tennessee which each
border on 8 other states.
We do not do business with South Africa.
American State
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Pastor - 37th Year
Appreciation
Dinner
Saturday
March 13.1982
6:00 pm. at the
Hilton Hotel
921 S.W. 6th Ave.
Donation
$14°°
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3138 N. Vancouver Ave. 282 9496
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