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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1982)
Page 6 Portland Obeerver, September 1,1962 OBSERVATIONS FROM THE SIDELINES by Kathryn H a ll Bogle As the summer wanes and fall ap proaches most families savor the last o f the free-wheeling vacation days. Not so with those persons in volved with the formal education o f the young — they have been hard at work for weeks before the opening o f school. The Black Education Center in Northeast Portland will see the end ing o f its summer program just a few days before September 13, when it opens again for the regular school year. Joyce Braden Harris, director o f BEC, held open house at the school on Sunday, August 29, for a score o f parents o f prospective students who plan to enter this independent Portland Black institution. They our problems together. 4. Cooperative economics: to build and maintain our own institu tions, and to profit from them to gether. Cooperative means to work together in peace and harmony. 3. Purpose: to make as our col lective vocation the building and de veloping o f our community in order to restore our people to their tradi tional greatness. 6. Creativity: to discover and use our creative energies to build for our people. ’ 7. Faith: to believe with all our heart in our people and the righ teousness and victory o f our strug gle The BEC occupies a renovated building at 4919 N .E . 17th Ave., formerly the Vernon library. One o f A beautiful diamond is a gift you give yourself or someone else ... that's as lovely at the end of a lifetime as it was in the beginning. Choose one from our fine collection. Obo Addy and guitarist (above) sound off and Michelle Mariana (b e lo w ) makes up for performance of Bamm for benefit of House of Exodus at Jefferson High School on August 2S. O ver 200 styles ... from *200 • N i l IN I t H I I I • N il M U N I > IH IH N / • m m i in ii i i r r .n /u tN i.f ProleMion.il Apprjisjl Servi« «• L L O Y D CENTER 284-2101 JANTZEN BEACH 693-4826 SALEM 364-2224 Jamila Harria, 4 yra, shows tia and dya she helped to process to Tranetta Allen, Summer School Aide from CETA. came to learn the particulars o f this its several teachers is Dam an Wak- “ different” school. hungu, o f Kenya, who teaches also " W e are proud o f our record,” at Portland State University in the says Harris. “ We have been operat Black Studies department. Wakhun- ing our program successfully for gu brought first-hand knowledge o f eight years in its full-time elemen the history and customs o f her na tary school curriculum. tive country to BEC students attend “ Our students may come to us at ing summer classes. She plans to age four or five and go through our teach Swahili in the fall. kindergarten. We are prepared to Tie-dye, in its simplest form, in teach them through fourth grade. volved even the youngest child in the They are taught mathematics, read art. They learned to make their own ing, language, science and, o f dye from plants they themselves course, Black history. found (with teacher-help). They “ This year we are pleased to an learned that walnuts soaked over nounce that Janice Scroggins, the night yielded a usable brown color; well-known pianist and composer, that onion skin, boiled, produced a will join us to teach music. Ms. good yellow; that certain blossoms Scroggins is responsible for the mu made a lovely shade o f pink; and sic for Herb Cawthorne’s next pro that to use an aluminum kettle in duction, and we are fortunate to dying causes a process called oxida have her talents. tion, The children made masks and “ Throughout its 12 years o f exis shields o f different African coun tence,” Joyce Harris continued, tries, selecting those that appealed “ the BEC has touched the lives o f to them. Later they identified and many hundreds o f Black students, learned about the countries on the parents and community people. In maps. “THE BUTCH COORS STYLING TEAM” Introduces “LONG HAIR '82 Yes, you can have long beautiful hair. M y dynamic styling team, after months o f research, has perfected a fa il-p ro o f program fo r long curls— w ith no breakage! I f you have breakage now call and ask about our SUPER PAC CONDITIONER ¡Back To School Specials Curls Reg. *65.......... NOW $25 Teacher Demari Wakhungu of Konya ahows 6-yoar-old Kalonn Wesson how to separata sisal for basket weaving. May, 1970, Ron Herndon, Frank Wilson and I decided to create an in stitution controlled by Black people that would function in the best in terest o f Black folk. “ The BEC is based on the philos ophy that we are A frikan people and, no matter where we are in the world, we are inseparably linked by our common struggle for self- determination and freedom. “ We have Seven Principles which form the basis o f our organization. They are listed in our booklet de scribing B E C .” Harris handed a copy o f the BEC philosophy to the Observer writer and we share the seven principles with readers: 1. Unity: the state o f being one; singleness: to strive for and main tain constancy o f purpose or action; continuity. 2. Self-determination: to define ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves. 3. Collective work and responsi bility: to build and maintain our community together and to solve BEC teachers say, " W e found that art as a medium for teaching is a very effective way o f helping chil dren to retain information about their culture. Our institution re ceives partial support from the M et ropolitan Arts Commission. Ken Berry and Isaac Shamsud-Din are BEC board members.” Joyce Harris herself holds a bach elors degree from Reed College in American Studies and another from Oregon State University in Elemen tary Education. Her masters degree in education was earned from Port land State. Periodically Harris is employed by the Portland Public Schools as a consultant for its multi cultural education program. She conducts staff training meetings in this capacity. Her forte is in the areas o f science, mathematics and Black literature. She has also writ ten components used for teaching teachers how to teach Black young sters in a public school setting. Persons may call regarding enroll ment in this innovative school by contacting BEC at 284-9552. Hair Cuts Reg. *15.. NOW $10 Celophanes Reg. *20.NOW $10 Tints Reg. $15.......... NOW $10 W ith th is a d butch coor (H a ir O e s iq n t o r M e n £» W i m e r 1405 NE B ro ad w ay • 284-1897
