Portland Observer, April 22, 1962 Page 7
Sharon McCormack, Northaaat Neighborhood*
Against Crime coordinator, provide* information
at Neighborhood Watch meeting. These meetings
provide crime prevention Information and organ-
Ize communication* network* to guard neighbor*
against crime and to look at other neighborhood
issue*.
(Photo: Richard Brown)
Black children need new families
by Renee Mitchell
W h y do blacks get so uptight
when whites adopt black children?
I f blacks are so concerned about the
plight o f black children, what are
they doing to alleviate the problem?
W h y d o n 't m ore blacks adopt?
These are some o f the many ques
tions D r. Virginia Phillips, o f Sher
w ood, O reg o n, addresses in her
most rectnely published w o rk ,
" W ill The Real Black C om m unity
Stand Up For Adoption?”
D r. Phillips, co-founder o f Give
Us This Day, Inc. Community Ser
vice C en ter, in N ew berg, O regon,
defines, attacks, and offers, from a
black perspective, a solution to the
problem o f black adoption.
Black people have always vauled
extended fa m ily relationships as
part o f their culture, D r. Phillips
writes, but the black extended fam
ily has been changing d rastically
since the 1960s due to over-assimila
tion, social conditioning and mobil
ity in America.
As a result o f this, as pointed out
by D r. Phillips, state institutions,
foster and shelter homes are
crowded w ith black children w ith
out parents. The situ atio n has
reached a crisis peak because black
children are the last to be adopted,
and u n til recently, a d o p tio n fees
and the process involved have pro
hibited black families from adopt
ing.
She says these children wait year
after year for a family. Not only do
they feel rejected by society but by
their own race, because no one
seems to want them. Increasingly,
whites are adopting black children,
but i f they are o f adolescent age,
many o f them encounter severe
identity problems.
According to the Oregon author,
"T h e re are 350,000 children grow
ing up in institutions or foster care
homes, in the United S tates." She
adds that "m ore than 60 per cent o f
these children are black, bi-racial
a n d /o r handicapped. M o re than
100,000 o f these will never return to
their natural parents and have been
freed for adoption.”
D r. Phillips is trying to alleviate
these problem s by w o rkin g w ith
prospective adoptive families so that
children may have an opportunity to
be released to black families " w ith
out the ever-present red tape that
has been a b a rrie r in the black
com m unity since the inception o f
‘social programs’ to aid blacks.”
In her book, D r. Phillips also pro
vides a six-step black adoption sup
port system for advocate fam ilies
plus an outline for an autobiograph
ical sketch.
D r. Phillips, who has a doctorate
in education and psychology, coun
sels professionally at the Newberg
center. H e r emphases are on
strengthening the fa m ily and ex
tending Christian fam ily concepts
through adoption. She also recruits
Christian homes for displaced chil
dren.
D r. Phillips conducts a teaching
m inistry and speaks frequently at
seminars, retreats and conferences
throughout the Northwest. One o f
her most recent thrusts is locating
"respite homes for burned-out par
ents w ho are experiencing fa m ily
conflicts. This is intended to rebuild
family communication and provide
a haven fo r parents and children
who need help. It is also a deterrent
for child abuse.
D r. Phillips has recently written a
children's book and a book assess
ing the church family. Her husband,
Joshua D. Phillips, co-founder and
director o f the center, has recently
published a book on managing fam
ily problems through fam ily meet
ings.
H a ir D e s ig n f o r M e n &. W o m e n
1405 NE Broadw ay • 284-1897
In clu d ed in D r. P h illip s b ack
ground are the c o o rd in a tin g ahd
founding o f fou r parent-and-child
education centers in Northern C ali
fornia and the providing o f parent
ing classes in P ortland, Oregon. In
connection w ith her m in istry, she
has travelled in A fric a , H a iti and
much o f the United States.
Persons interested in copies o f her
w ork a n d /o r a d d itio n a l adoption
inform ation may write to: Virginia
Phillips, P h .D ., Give Us This Day,
in c ., 22O7B P o rtlan d Road, P .O .
Box 796, Newberg Oregon 97132.
EXODUS
Rim series features all-black movies
A ten-week series o f movies with
all-b lack casts previewed at P o rt
land Community College’s Cascade
Campus, 705 N . Killingsworth, on
Tuesday, April 6.
" A ll-B la c k Film s, 1915-1972: A
R ediscovery" provides the public
w ith the opportunity to enjoy rare
and fascinating examples o f black
A m erican art free o f charge. P ro
grams begir. at 7:30 p.m. each Tues
day In Cascade H a ll A u d ito riu m ,
and the public is invited to attend at
no cost.
"B a s ic a lly w e’ re showing lost
f ilm s ," says M ich ael D em b ro w ,
PC C English instructor and organ
izer o f the event. "S o m e o f these
movies have been in film vaults for
years and are just now being c ir
culated by a couple o f distributors.”
The series includes a v ariety o f
movies made with all-black casts be
ginning with the early days o f mo
tion pictures. Some, such as the all
black westerns, melodramas, detec
tive films and musicals o f the 1930s
and 1940s were intended specifical
ly for a black audience.
O th ers, such as " T h e Em pero r
J o n e s ," starrin g Paul Robeson,
" C a b in in the S k y ,’• w i t h Ethel
W O R D SEEK™
Colleges
S U C I.
Z F T L
J C T V
W V R Y
G D I G
E R N U
N O I Q
E F T L
V R Y Q
A E C I
Z V L R
N A Y N
A H N A
S C A T
S B H N
O P T E
N F E V
A M B I
E S L L
A F L I N
E U I R B
A S L N Z
H R W E C
N I K S K
X B L W T
I A Z U S
I T B K R
A E N D A
R S Y O Y
L W B K L
J C O R N
M V H E N
A W B A F
Y A N K T
M Z D U D
C L F N Q
S H O P S
I M R Q Y
T
H
S
T
H
Y
A
U
N
B
S
E
D
O
O
H
Z
O
R
H R T J
N I D U
F M T N
W P T I
A G R A
B R V T
J A F A
K J R O
A P X R
U O C H
N I L L
L L G C
R I X G
M N D Y
N A C O
B M A N
A Q B P
I M D V
U R D N
O
R
P
K
F
C
O
L
B
Y
O
O
S
D
C
O
P
E
R
I S G
E E D
J X Y
S E G
O G A
L I K
D E D
F B R
W N O
H I P
R L S
E R I
M E E
A B N
R O I
I J A
H Z P
Q T A
A D G
Answers: Azusa, Bard, Barry, Bates, Berry,
Bethany, Bishop, Catawba, Chatham, Claflin,
Clark, Colby, Cornell, Dana, Coe, Dropsie,
Drury, Elon, Finch, Geneva, Haverford, Hen
drix, Hiram, Hood, Iona, Juniata, King,
M ills, Nasson, Oberlin, Paine, Reed, Rollins,
Trinity, Toft, Yankton
12
W aters, Lena H o rn e , and Eddie
"Rochester” Anderson, and “ C ar
men Jon es,” w ith D o ro th y D a n
dridge and Harry Belefonte, starred
blacks but were intended for mixed
consumption. In all instances these
movies allowed black actors to play
a v arie ty o f roles at a tim e when
H o lly w o o d o ffe red them nothing
but servant parts.
The first program , A p ril 6, con
sisted o f three short films: "B lac k
Shadows on a Silver Screen," a re
cent documentary on the subject o f
a ll-b la c k film s n arrated by Ossie
D avis; a c o m p ila tio n o f preview
trailers for 1930s all-black westerns
and musicals; and "S p y in g the
Spy," a rare, silent (1915) spoof on
spy and detective stories.
Second p ro g ram , on A p ril 13,
features the 1972 classic, "T h e Scar
o f Shame,” a full length silent film
made by the Colored Players Com
pany o f P h ila d e lp h ia . " L o u is
Blues" starring Bessie Smith (1929)
and " R u fu s Jones fo r P resid en t"
starring a very young Sammy Davis,
Jr. (1933), are musical shorts.
For fu rth e r in fo rm a tio n on the
series, contact Michael Dembrow at
the Cascade Campus.
NORTH
PORTLAND
OPTICAL CENTER
A Free A d ju s tm e n ts
* R eesonable Fees
* P rescrip tio n s Filled
3226 N. Lom bard
Portland, O regon 97217
285-1671
1639 N .E A I berta
PORTLAND. OREGON 97211
234-7997
Quadripartite
Mental-Fitness
During this time o f year there is evidence o f Spring by the signs
o f new budding leaves on trees, flowering cherry blossoms, and
blazing flower gardens. There is renewed excitement in the air; all
of these are signs o f nature’s renewal and rebirth signals.
Nature seems to operate under a Quadripartite system (a four-
part system to make a whole); for example;
1) SPRING
Time o f rebirth and renewed energy (a beginning
or restart).
2) SUMMER
Time o f growth, maturity and the zenith of
energy.
3) A U TU M N
Time of production, fulfillment and retiring
(transformation o f energy to results).
4) WINTER
Time o f completion and resting (the storing o f
energy).
If we were to structure and align the activities o f our lives in ac
cordance with nature’s examples our chances o f growing strong
and successful in a consistent manner would be increased many
times over. Knowing and understanding how to recognize na
ture’s perceptual examples are in part what Q U A D R IPA R TITE
MENTAL-FITNESS is all about.