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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 17, 1982)
Page 14 Portland Observer, June 17,1982 Freddye Prophet speaks here FREDDYE A. PROPHET The Oregon Association o f C o l ored Women's Clubs will hold their 71st Annual Convention Saturday, June 19, 1982 at Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church, Portland, with Mrs. La Vera Smith, President, pre siding. “ L iv in g L ife in T o d a y ’s W o rld ” is the convention theme which w ill be addressed by guest speaker, Mrs. Freddye A . Prophet at the special lunchion to be held 12:30 p .m . at the church. M rs. Prophet, wife o f Portland's Super intendent o f Schools, is a native o f Langston, Oklahoma. She is a grad uate o f Langston University where she m ajored in H om e Economics. She then pursued her career as a U S D A H om e D em o n s tra tio n fo r Choctaw County, Hugo, Oklahoma for four years before launching her teaching career in elem entary and secondary education which included Dayton, Ohio, North Chicago, Illin ois and C h ick as h a, O k la h o m a . From 1979 to the present, Mrs. Pro phet served as A dm inistrative A s sistant to the Vocational E x p lo ra tion Demonstration Project in L an sing, M ichigan. Active in civic a f fairs, M rs. Prophet’ s memberships included Board o f Directors, Lan sing Y .W .C .A ., Lansing/East Lan sing Chapter o f Links, Inc., serving as Treasurer, Vice-President Delta Sigma T h eta S o ro rity , P u b licity C h airp e rs o n , Y o u th A rt Show, C om m unity A rt G allery, N atio n al Home Economics Association, and Red Cross. D u rin g her husband's career as U .S. A rm y O fficer, 1954- 1971, Mrs. Prophet travelled exten sively throughout A laska. Austria. The Azores, Belgium, Canada, Eng land, France, Germany, Greenland. Iceland. Ireland, Italy, The Nether lands, Spain and Switzerland. The Annual sessions will also fea ture the o ffic ia l visit o f M rs. June Pryor, President o f the Northwest Regional N a tio n a l Association o f C olored W o m en ’ s C lubs, o f D en ver, Colorado. The Annual Scholar ship awarded to a graduating high school student or students, will be presented at the m eeting. Special Luncheon Music w ill be presented by Mrs. Dorothy Davis, Vancouver, W aslh, M rs. M a ttie Spears, P o rt land, and M r. C alvin Alm on, Port land. O A C W C . an a ffilia te o f the N a tio n a l A ssociation o f C olored W o m e n ’ s C lu b s, In c ., the oldest black organization o f the nation, is dedicated to youth, education, and com m unity service. M em ber clubs include: Altruistic, Mrs. Mac Rose, President, Kathryn Gray Club, Mrs. Id a Johnson, P resid en t, L ite ra ry Research C lu b , M rs. Bernadette Plum m er, President, M ultn o m ah W om en’s Club, Mrs. Mamie West, President, and H a rrie t Tubm an C lu b . M rs. A lb e rta L . R andolph, President. M rs . M ab ie N eal, O A C W C First Vice-President and M rs. L irlean A nderson, O A C W C Second Vice-P resident, are c h a ir persons for the Convention. Black journalists hear opposing viewpoints by Tracy M. Smith Black journalists in the ’80s: Does anybody know w e’ re here? This question prevailed at the Western Regional Conference o f the Nation al Black Journalists Association, held on June 5th, at the Hyatt Hotel in San Francisco. The conference was an event care fully planned by Bay Area journal ists. Th ere were fo u r workshops that encompassed the areas o f deal ing w ith stress and racism in the newsroom to evaluating blacks in the m edia. Depending on one’ s taste, it may be concluded that the highlights o f the conference were the keynote speakers: Angela Davis, professor at San Francisco State University and author, and Clarence Pendleton, chairman o f the United States Civil Rights Commission. A N G ELA D A V IS The Jazmín Community Marching Band made its point as it joined the Rose Festival Grand Floral Parada. The band, which draw applause at the Starlight Parade, was refused an invitation ot march in the Grand Floral Parade so leader Thara Memory and parents decided to "crash'*. The band, composed of 50 youngsters, was wall received by the crowds along the parade route. One may be surprised to hear or sec that Davis and Pendleton, like night and day, shared the same plat form. I f one put a mask on Pendle ton, it would be hard to distinguish his remarks from those o f Ronald Reagan. W hile Pendleton did not have the support o f his listeners it was interesting to hear him speak. Pendleton was very firm in his comments. He said blackness is a mythical m onolith, it exists only in the mind. In his view, blacks do not see the street corner. In other words, blacks do not know what is going on in today’s world. Blacks should not look at themselves as poor, depen dent and unemployed. Pendleton dropped the bomb on the unarmed luncheoners when he said " W e ” (blacks) must reduce our (Photo: Richard J. Brown) Israel war ¿Hcdlçfoooô ^ lo rw t ^Flnfaers Afroin R U M O R HAS IT butch eagre I n Y A W S R is t a u r a n t 2005 N.E. 40th Portland, OR 97212 249-1888 fContinued from page I col. 6) densely populated Beirut. The P L O has approxim ately 15,000 fighters, no match for the Is raeli forces in numbers or in materi el. M ost o f those who w ill die, in other words, are defenseless men, women and children. A sim ilar picture applies to the Lebanese themselves in the cities of the south. The m ajority o f the pop ulation o f Lebanon is not Christian, but M uslim , and it strongly sup ports the Palestinian cause. Muslim militias fight alongside the Palestin ians, p artly in response to years o f Israeli bombing raids on their own farms, villages and cities. There are telephone reports from Tyre, Sidon and Nabatiyeh for example, o f Is raeli saturation bom bing. The de struction o f these cities, which once flourished as market towns and bus iness centers, would produce an in calculable loss o f life in the Leb anese civilian population. This is the price for Israeli p o li tical impotence, and U .S . support of Israeli policy. Israeli officials have stated that they want to link South Lebanon w ith N o rth Lebanon, where most Christians live, and effectively cre ate a Christian-dominated "frie n d ly” state. In N o rth Lebanon, the strong hold o f the Phalangists, the C hris tians are, in fact, the m ajority. But in South Lebanon, the country is overw helm ingly S h i’ ite M uslim . T h ere, the C hristians constitute, and always have, less than 15 per dependence on public policy and re duce a ffirm a tiv e a ctio n . H e said these programs give false security and turn m inorities against each other. The remedy for dependence is to take risks that w ill come in the ’80s. Clarence Pendleton is a man who speaks with an "iro n y tongue.” He says we cannot let technology pass us by; the cotton has been chopped and the floors have been mopped. We need to look fo r alternatives. Yet, programs like a ffirm a tiv e ac tion and various public policies helped blacks out o f the fields and took the mops out o f their hands. Pendleton said more; u n fo rtu n ately it did not quiet the nerves that were badly shaken by his speech. Lastly, like Reagan, Pendleton sur vived without affirmative action, or so he said. He said others can do it, too. Yes, Pendleton, like Reagan, portrays himself as the "self-made” man who pulled him self up by his bootstraps. U n fo rtu n a te ly , many minorities never had and still do not have the boots or straps to pull themselves up. One may wonder about the direc tion o f the U .S. C ivil Rights C o m mission w ith Pendleton at the wheel. No sooner had Pendleston started to sink the boat when Angela Davis came to the rescue. Davis is still ac tive in the struggle to eradicate ra cism and sexism in today’s world. Davis said blacks must plot a path fo r organized struggles o f which they can be proud. Not only must black organize bul must make them selves aware o f the problems that plague the black race. Davis said the struggles o f blacks have benefitted others. As blacks move fo rw ard , the entire country moves forw ard. Blacks need to be proud o f their legacy. Davis commented very strongly on the importance o f affirmative ac tion. She said affirm ative action is the key in one of the movements to ward freedom. She raised the ques tion, is affirmative action a plea for charity or a formulation of demands based on the sweat o f blacks that have built this country? She said she gets upset when she hears that blacks are asking for something that is not rightfully theirs. M s. Davis said it is a m yth that the movement is dead. It is an effort to turn back the clock on black vic tories. Lastly, she said, " Y o u don’t have to be a com m unist to know that som ething is wrong w ith the system.” cent o f the population. Since 1970, the Israelis have undertaken a delib erate policy to depopulate South Lebanon o f its Muslim inhabitants; and, w ith repeated a ir raids, they have succeeded to some extent. Be cause these attacks took place most ly in the countryside, waves o f rural m igrants have headed fro m the southern coastal cities which are now being systematically destroyed to the capital, Beirut. When lulls in the fighting occurred, many o f them returned to their homes, only to leave again after the new raids. These m igrations brought a d d i tional tensions to cities already fac ing overtaxed m unicipal services, housing facilities and employment possibilities. Over the longer term , the Israeli intent may be to shift from popula tion removal to population transfer — to actually move enough C h ris tians from the north into Southern Lebanon to achieve their goal o f an amicable neighboring state. But there could be another goal behind the invasion o f Lebanon: For many years the Israelis have dreamed o f controlling the Leban ese headwaters of the Litani River. In the early ’60s, the headwaters o f the Jordan were diverted into the Negev Desert w ith im portant economic effects, but since then Is rael has not received hoped-for U.S. financing for a huge desalinization plant. N ow the need for water is growing annually, and the Litani— along with a silent South Lebanon— is ever more important. © PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE. I »82 K & G LANDSCAPING We Deliver Anywhere M owing, weeding, edging, tilling, fencing end minor conetruction. Call Gordon Spink, Jr. CURLRagMONoW $ 2 5 HAIRCUT Rag «20 Now 1405 N.E. Broedwey • 284-1897 f $10
