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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1983)
Page 2 Section I Portland Observer, June 1,1963 OBSERVATIONS Rumors of CIA action persist B a rt// FROM THE SIDELINES by Kathryn H at! Bogie T by Robert Lothian he Northwest Afrikan Ameri can Ballet, the first traditional African dance company of its kind in the Northwest, will be led by its creator, Master Drummer Bruce Smith, when it opens at Jefferson High School auditorium on Satur day evening, June I I . The company, whose sponsors are the M etropolitan Arts Commis sion and the Northwest Artists W orkshop, consists o f 16 young dancers all invited by Smith to join Nm in learning the traditional dances of Africa. "Som e o f the dancers came from Jefferson's dance department, others came from the com m unity," Smith said. " M y drive was to bring a sense o f culturism to the N orth west. Very few people," he went on, "realize that the dances they do at parties have been done for a thou sand years in the different regions throughout the continent o f Africa. W e pay respect to these purely tradi tional dances when we perform . " W h y do we call it Ballet? The word 'ballet' means. *a dance that tells a story.* However, there is no 'point* in our performance, no ballet slippers nor a tu-tu. W e do the social dances o f Africa — dances that we black Americans lost when we were taken in slavery and were disconnected by the system from our past. W e are getting in touch again this way. W e do dances that were performed at weddings, dances o f planting, o f harvesting and other work days, dances o f jubilance, welcoming, and for the recognition o f young m anhood." How and why did this native Portlander build this dream into reality? He said he had started with a fascination with hand drums he heard played in jazz concerts re corded by Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis and others. His father, Cleophas, owned a substantial col lection o f records, Smith said. " M y father had records o f the great. I heard a lot o f Dizzy Gillespie when I was a boy. M y father had a ll of Gillespie’s records. " I learned a lot from these rec ords when I was growing up and practicing on my own. A t age 19, I had my first drum lesson. It was Cal Jadcr whom I cornered in his hotel after a Portland concert. I begged him for a lesson and offered him all the money I had — $10.00 — to pay for it. He gave me the lesson and pocketed my ten. " A t Lewis and Clark College. I had classes in art and design, but 1 still wanted to be a percussionist. " A t Jefferson, as students, we had a little group that we called the ‘Soul Masters.' W e had put on a N o rth w e s t A frik a n A m e ric a n Ballet: T ra c y S an d ers. B ruce S m ith . (P h o to by R ich ard J. B row n ) performance in the auditorium for the school and we called it the 'Soul Assembly.' We wanted to establish as much understanding between the races as we could through music and speeches to counteract some o f the attitudes dividing the school and community in the days following the assassination of M artin Luther King. "A fterw ards, the Soul Masters stuck together and we played at churches and at nightclubs and any where. There were Janice Poe. Greg Talton, Donald Hepburn, Charles Hunter and several others who be came involved as we grew busier. W e added horns and linked our selves with programs at M t. Hood Comm unity College " I n I9 7 2 ," Smith reminisced, "B .B . King came to town and we opened his show at the Paramount. W e were impressed with our oppor tunity and we decided to tighten and streamline our act. We became nine members and called ourselves 'Pleasure.* " F o r several years 'Pleasure' toured around the nation and I, still with the hand drums, met hand drummers from Puerto Rico. Cuba and South America. Knowing that Africa had been the real heritage o f these drummers, I knew that to go to Africa was the ultimate for me. Then I met O bo Addy, the master The Community « Auto Repair Hra. 9:00 a.m . to 6:30 p.m . 6 days a week Complete auto service 1640 N.E. Kllllngsworth 284-0131 Robert Thompson, Owner Mr. iformal TUXEDO RENTAL A SALES • Csasb t s stack a Fsrmsl West sed Accsstsnei to Man ind in s • Nn> F»»tu,iny Detqest ind Weilers Ityts Fsrmsl Wssi • Outstanding SdWctWfl at tack at m i fccsiWn below * L a u re M F M turinfl I rw-'-îürcr*»* W e d d in g Specialists "O ne of the Largest Selections of Formal W ear on the W est Coast W R T U M 6 /U IT NORTH POSTUMO 232-1542 285-1450 BEAVERTON 643-2661 v r v m m MILWAUKIE POSTUMO/NOSTNEA8T BAESHAM 659-8445 281-9235 667-6299 EUOENE MLEM 342-1535 399-7989 drummer from Africa, and I knew that to become a master drummer was the other half o f the dream. " I went to Africa in 1981. T o Senegal. " I went to study dance and music and I learned the culture, the stories and how to make the djembe (pro nounced 'jim b ay ') the hand drums o f M a li, Guinea, and Senegal. The djembe is made o f hardwood, is shaped like a funnel and is topped with the thin skin o f a baby goat or an antelope to give it a high-pitched sound. Other (ones are achieved by using different woods and different thicknesses o f skins. " A ll of the drums we use in our performance were made by me. The garments were made by my wife, Chonitia, from fabric that came from Senegal and New York City. I learned tie-dye techniques in Senegal as part o f my research and we tie-dyed the fabrics for these garments at my house. " F o r the perform ance," Smith promised in conclusion, "w e will be playing some o f the incredible poly rhythms I heard in Africa. African drumming is spiritual — the spiri tual expressions o f ancient African life. W e will present it to Northwest America — our Northwest Afrikan American Ballet. " D o n ’ t forget,” Smith ended, "C u rta in time is 8:00 p .m ." News o f a possible connection between McMinnville-based Ever green Helicopters. Inc. and the C IA surfaced in 197$, when Evergreen bought lntcrmountain Aviation from the C IA . lntcrmountain, headquartered ut a 2.200 acre former military training base near Tucson, had been one o f several "proprietary” commercial air operations around the world which the C IA grouped under the title A ir America. Its covert activi ties included flying anti-communist Tibetan guerrillas to their home land, and delivering unmarked B-26 bombers to A frica (W a ll Street Journal, Feb. IS, 1979). Intermoun- tain's facilities included sophisticat ed parachute technology for drop ping people and bundles into remote areas. A n airfield, maintenance and test area, several airplanes, and "con vention-seminar" faculties were sold to Evergreen. One o f the uses Evergreen has for its Arizona base is storage o f "vintage airc ra ft" in the dry desert climate. In 1979, the W all Street Journal uncovered a lucrative auto parts hauling scam being conducted by the C IA through Intermountain and Southern A ir Transport. Southern A ir, another branch o f A ir Am eri ca, was " a key arm for covert operations in the C aribbean," ac cording to the article (W a ll Street Journal. Feb. 18, 1979). A major part o f the two airlines' business in the '60s and early '70s was transportation o f millions o f dollars worth o f auto parts for big three automakers. The operation yielded profits for the C IA , which set up a Detroit bureau to oversee the shipments. The ostensibly legitimate business provided the airline's commercial cover “ when the planes weren’t needed for clandestine operations abroad, such as dropping supplies by parachute in remote jungles," according to the article. Former C IA director W illiam Colby is quoted as saying, " I f you’ re doing some kind o f legiti mate business, you stick out too much, like a sore thum b.” When news o f the C I A ’s proprie tary activities began to leak out, the agency sold Southern A ir in 1973 and Intermountain in 1975. Southern was sold to the man who had man aged it for the C IA for 11 years, and Evergreen retained some personnel who had worked for Intermountain under C IA management Another company, Rosenbalm Aviation o f M edford, Oregon, bought several o f Intermountain's airplanes and other equipment. According to the W all Street Journal, two o f Rosenbalm's top managers have strong C IA connec tions. One had worked at Inter- mountain for six years, then trans ferred to Rosenbalm in 1973, the same year Rosenbalm bought four planes from Intermountain. Ever green and Rosenbalm continued to haul auto parts after the C IA divest ed itself o f lntcrmountain, "inviting suspicion that the C IA intends to re main in the business," says the W all Street Journal. A Senate Select Intelligence C o m mittee Report quoted in the article states; " In several cases, transfer of the entity was conditioned as an agreement (hat the proprietary would continue to provide goods or services to the C I A . ” Ominously, the C IA classified as secret a General Accounting O ffice Report on the sale of lntcrmountain to Evergreen (W all Street Journal, Feb. 18, 1979). Under Evergreen ownership, the Arizona site became headquarters for what the W all Street Journal called "the nation's fastest growing supplemental airline." Evergreen International Airlines, Inc., a sub sidiary o f Evergreen Helicopters. In 1979, Evergreen International relocated to Oregon with the help of an Oregon Economic Development Commission $1 million bond to help with construction. From M cM inn- villa. Evergreen International's 130 member staff controls world wide flight operations. Its business be tween major U.S. cities and Europe, Puerto Rico and three cities on the Yucatan Peninsula consists o f 60% cargo and 40% passengers The Evergreen-CIA connection heated up again in I960 when Ever green International flew the deposed Shah o f Iran from Panama to Egypt. Television commentators and the W all Street Journal reported that the Shah was flown on a C IA jet. Evergreen made news again la I960 when a 16-year-old o f the company died in a fo rklift ac cident in M cM innville in September o f that year. The Oregon Wage and H o u r Commission later charged Evergreen with employing the youth beyond his capacity at a hazardous job , and with failing to obtain re quired youth employment certifi cates. A fter resisting, the company finally agreed to abide by the com mission’s ruling that it could hire youths under 17 for office work only (Oregonian, M ay 29, 1981; July 22, 1961). A t about the same time. Ever green fired 23 workers involved in a Machinists* Union organizing drive at its M cM innville facilities. The Justice Dept. later sought an injunc tion against the company for inter fering with employees' legitimate right to organize. Sixteen o f the fired employees were later awarded $38,000 in a settlement which al lowed Evergreen not to admit to any wrongdoing (Oregonian, Jan. 22, 1962). Evergreen's spray operations have long involved the company in controversy. In 1971, for instance, the company was slapped with a suit charging that one o f Ito copters sMa- takenly sprayed the home a t a d a rk County, Washington fam ily with herbicide 2,4 -D . The suit was denied, but not before the fam ily claimed a variety o f medical prob lems (Oregonian. M ay 6, I N I ) . During the summer o f 1961, one o f Evergreen's helicopters was hit by gunfire as it sprayed the insecti cide malathion over a 237 square mile area o f Santa C lara County, California infested with the M edi terranean fruit fly. (Oregonian, July 30, 1961). In the spring o f 1962, another Evergreen helicopter mis takenly doused an 11 block strip o f Salem homes with a cloud o f the in secticide sevin during a campaign against the gypsy moth (Oregonian. M ay 22, 1962). Home-grown Evergreen is in volved in some heavy activity. A call to the Agency (or International De velopment in Washington failed to uncover Evergreen A ID contracts other than their current power line repair project in El Salvador. But A ID does not disclose contracts that involve intelligence or national security. W e may hear more about Evergreen's international opera tions in the future. 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