Page 6, Portland Observer, January 23, 1985
Black cultural history defies stereotypes
by Robert L ot b u n
Two African art and muwc experu,
in P o rtlan d to train teachers in the
Po rtlan d School D istric t's A fric a n
education curriculum , spoke at M t.
Olivet Baptist Church on Jan. 7.
They were Michael Harns, art pro
fessor, poet and artist fro m M o re
house C ollege in A tla n ta , G eo rg ia,
and songw riter and television p er
sonality Oscar Brown, Jr., Chicago,
The media continues to portray
Blacks negatively, said Harris, while
history and the actual art produced by
A fric a n s denotes a high degree o f
intelligence and sophistication.
R acial stereotypes — he showed
slides o f "uncivilized" Blacks in A fri
ca taken from book illustrations and
cans o f "m am m ie yams" — are really
continuations o f the slave driver men
tality "used to manipulate u s," said
Harris.
" T h e y d o n ’ t have to be vio le n t,
they can be subtle, but their overall
effect in the long run is the same.
The accumulation of that pain begins
to affect you.
" T h e images can be used as wea
pons and the important thing is, how
these images beat children into sub
mission, how they bloody their
psyches."
Harris said he couldn't escape the
racial stereotypes during a recent trip
to Hong Kong. A shopkeeper there
tried to tell him that Black American
athletes are so gixxl because they have
bigger lungs. W atch ing television
later, he realized that people there
are being bombarded with the same
negative images. " S o it's more im
p o rtan t than we re a liz e ," he said.
"T h e s e images got over there and
turned him around.”
H a rris also showed what looked
like before and after slides of Michael
Jackson, sugesting that the en ter
tainer had plastic surgery to disguise
his facial features. " H is talent is awe
some, but did he have to d ilu te his
racial characteristics to appeal more
to a white audience?," asked Harris.
Harris also referred to the Big Lie
about Africa. "Egypt has always been
in Africa, and Black Africans created
E g y p t," he said. A Black leader,
Memes, united upper and lower Egypt
in 3100 B .C . and a city. M em phis,
was named after him.
Greek civilization, the first E u ro
pean civilization, d id n 't come along
until about 2 ,5 0 0 years later, and
much o f what Greece contributed to
western civilization had roots in Egypt,
he said. H arris showed slides o f an
cient African sculpture “ on the level
o f the greatest G reek w o r k ," and
then he brought the discussion up
to d ale w ith slides o f the w ork o f
modern Am erican Black artists.
"M a y b e 20 m illion o f us died in the
METRO
M iddle Passage, but what is African
in us did not die,” said Ham s.
Oscar Brow n, J r., made parallel
observations about music. "T h e mu
sic o f A fric a starts w ith the d ru m ,
the music o f A fric a starts w ith the
dance," Brown said as he began his
d ram atic o ral history presentation
backed by a drum m er and piano
player. " E v e n after so many years
after having left Africa, we still carry
that rhythm o f the drum with u s,"
he said.
But with slavery, said Brown, "The
children o f the drum became the chil
dren o f bondage." W ork songs and
spirituals kept the music alive and led
to the blues, and then came song
writer Scott Joplin.
Joplin's M ap le L e a / Rag became
the first million seller in the history of
the world, said Brown. "Ragtim e by
the turn o f the century had taken
over the country and a large part of
the world. The rhythm o f A frica be
gan to take over, and a lot o f white
people hated it.”
Joplin spent most o f his small for
tune trying to produce a ragtime op
era and ragtime ballets. Though his
music is popular and in flu en tia l to
this day (his tune Tbe E n te rta in e r
was the theme song fo r the m ovie,
“ The S tin g "). Joplin was im pover
ished when he died and he was buried
in an unmarked grave.
W ith Louts A rm strong and King
Oliver, jazz began to upstage ragtime
and take over the music scene, pro
ducing "perhaps the greatest A m eri
can com poser" — D uke Ellington.
"T he Africans had a very complex
sense o f rh yth m , very syncopated,
and Europeans had a very confused
sense of time. The Europeans had to
resist because the drums made them
uncom fortable___ they couldn't en
slave this sense o f rhythm ,"
" W h e n we met the w hite people
they were doing the polka and the
minuet.........now they're trying to do
the boogaloo as hard as they can.
So don't be ashamed that God gave
you rhythm,” said Brown
Michael Harris and Oscar Brown. Jr., wara in Portland racantly to
train taachars in tha history of African and Black American art and
music.
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
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(Continuedfrom Page I, Column 6/
alert the Black community to Metro's
A .A . inactivity. " I'm disappointed to
hear they have not made any progress.
But M etro's A .A . record is the rule
and not the exception. There is no
A .A . activity at the C ounty, C ity or
State level. People who are committed
to fairness must put pressure on
Metro. If not, institutions such as Metro
w ill only come out w ith bogus E E O
reports that are as phony as a three-
dollar b ill."
D a p o S obem ehin, E m p loym ent
Specialist for the M etro p o litan H u
man Relations Commission, said he
fell that lip service to A . A . ought to
be against the law. "Institutions have
no respect for A . A . They know they
can get away with it. One should not
w onder why there is a high unem
ployment rate in the city among m i
n orities. In s titu tio n s refuse to hire
them ."
Willie Harris, Regional Civil Rights
D ire cto r fo r the D e partm en t o f
tra n s p o rta tio n , said, " I f M e tro is
not achieving their goals, then they
are not adhering to their affirm ative
action plan."
W illiam Port, C ivil Rights O fficer
for the Urban Mass Transportation
A d m in istratio n ( U M T A ) , annually
reviews M e tr o ’ s A . A . com pliance.
As a grant recipient o f Federal H igh
way dollars M etro must comply with
U M T A 's A .A . provisions. These
provisions call for a goal, policy and
timetable.
M etro ’s Council adopted an A . A .
ordinance on December 20, 1983. The
problem is not recruitment but hiring
and retention. Fort said he will evalu
ate M e tro in context o f their goals.
In light o f this investigation Fort said
he will review M e tro ’s A . A . com pli
ance " w ith heightened awareness.”
He does not expect the review to be
completed or conducted until October
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