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Page 2, Portland Observer, June 5, 1986
Cuba on display
by Robert Lothian
Pori land hosted a Cuban American
volleyball match and the Cuban N a
tional M im e Theater last week.
Wednesday night at the University
o f Portland's Chiles Center, Cuba's
national volleyball team took on the
U.S. men's team.
Six players who were with the U.S.
team when it won a gold medal at the
Los Angeles Olympics played against
Cuba in Portland. Cuba's team,
ranked among the top five in the
world, made Portland the last stop
on a four-match U.S. tour before
heading for Tokyo. Cuba had been
unable to compete in the Olympics
due to the boycott.
In action that was often lightning
quick, the polished U.S. team won
three out o f four games, taking the
best o f five series. Cuba, struggling
valiantly in what must have seemed a
strange environment and surrounded
by an unsympathetic crowd, came
from behind to tie and almost win the
first and second games, but lost 15-13
and 16-14 Cuba trounced the U.S.
in the third game 15-7, but lost 15-11
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Cub« va. U S A volleyball game
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
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Native Americans denied
rights at state prison
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The American Civil Liberties U n
ion of Oregon (A C L U ) filed suit on
Monday, M ay 21, on behalf o f Native
American inmate at Oregon Stale
Penitentiary (O .S .P .) charging they
are being denied their right to free
dom o f religion. The suit was filed
in the United Slates District Court
for Oregon.
The A C L U is representing three
inmates who are or have been incar
cerated in the Segregation and Isola
tion Unit at O .S.P. The three Na-
live American men have been denied
the opportunity to participate in the
Sacred Pipe Ceremony and Sacred
Sweat Lodge, which are fundamental
rituals o f their religion.
The A C L U and the inmates con
tend that the denial is in violation o f
the inmates’ right under the First and
Fourteenth Amendments o f the U.S.
Constitution and Article One o f the
Oregon Constitution which guaran
tee the right of free exercise of religion
The presence o f a Pipe Holder is
needed for the Sacred Pipe Ceremony
and materials including an eagle fea
ther and pipe tobacco are also needed.
Despite repeated requests by the
plaintiffs and other Native American
inmates, the prison administration
has refused to allow the Pipe Holder
to conduct the ceremony in front of
the prisoners' cells in the Segregation
and Isolation Unit.
Priests, ministers and spiritual
leaders of other faiths are permitted
to perform religious rituals in the Seg-
regtion and Isolation Unit at O .S.P.
The A C L U argues that O .S.P
policies are discriminatory. Stevie
Remington, executive director of the
A C L U , said. “ O .S .P . administrators
are treating inmates unequally. In
mates who are Protestant or Catholic
and are in the Segregation and Isola
tion Unit are allowed to see a minister
or priest. There is no threat to prison
safety or security by allowing Native
American inmates to practice their
in the fourth.
There was no doubt as to the crowd's
sympathies — when the U.S. pulled
ahead, the rafters resounded with
yells ol " U .S .A .. U .S .A .!”
A Cuban cheering section was tiny
by comparison. However, a large
banner proclaimed, “ Bienvenidos,
Cubanos!” (Welcome, Cubans) near
where American and Cuban flags
hung side-by-side. "W e don’t see any
politics in sports, " said a Cuban
spectator.
A difference in cultures was never
theless evident. The suave and sun-
bleached Southern California look of
the Americans contrasted with the
Cubans’ exuberant exclamations in
Spanish.
One fan wondered how the Am er
icans would fare in Cuba.
Tuesday night, thè Cuban National
Mim e Theater delighted an audience
at the PSU cafeteria.
W ith simple movements, expres
sive faces and colorful costumes,
Olga Flora, Ramon Diaz and Roberto
Montero performed subjects directed
towaid the poor and powerless. The
only sound was that of recorded Cuban
music.
"Peanut vender” and "the roost
ers" communicated the pathos o f
pre-revolutionary life. “ Piano play
er,” “ surgeon” and “ the movies”
were just plain funny.
The final performance, dedicated
“ in the memory o f our heroes,” gave
expression to the anti-imperialist
feelings that arose during the unsuc
cessful U.S.-backed Bay o f Pigs inva
sion. The characters started as field
workers, then went into a state of
struggle as the invasion threatened.
The three then formed thetr bodies
into an anti-aircraft gun and realis
tically acted out the shooting down
of an invading plane. Joy and cele
bration followed.
During their visit to the Northwest,
the mime theater performed for street
people in Seattle and for Mexican
farmworkers in Yakim a, said Kata-
lina Montero, who represented Casa
Cultural in Seattle, sponsor o f the
tour.
" I think the strongest message
they are bringing is friendship, peace
and unity,” said Montero.
The troupe started out 25 years ago
performing for Cuban coffee pick
ers. "T h e only flat place was where
we dried the coffee and that's where
we started our theater," said Diaz.
Some o f their works are aimed at
leaching people how to read, and
others at "how a man should treat a
w om an." he said.
" In Cuba, nobody starves," there
is full employment and people do not
live in fear o f crime, said Flora.
Some of the money you spend on energy may be
saved by replacing filters in heating systems and insu
lating doors and windows.
•
Some think placing horse chestnuts in the water will
stupefy the fish.
•
Stone Mountain, near Atlanta, Georgia, is the world's
largest granite rock. It is 825 feet high and has a volume
of 7 billion cubic feet
W e do n o t do business w ith S o u th A fric a
American State
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religion.”
Edith Robarla daft) and Frank Milton (right) racaiving awards from
Sylvan
Oragon Literacy group
Learning Center
Roberts volunteer of month
D IA a O S n C 4 PRESCRIPTIVE INSTRUCTION
IN AtADINO ANO MATH FOR AU. APES
JEANNE HANTZOQ
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United States plus France while M r.
Roberts was in the service. They have
two sons and a daughter who live in
Portland, also.
The Roberts’ original home was in
Brixiklyn. New York, and they came
to Portland in the 60s when M r. Rob
erts was transferred to the Portland
Air Base They came back to stay in
1973.
Mrs. Roberts is an active member
of the Hughes Memorial United
Church and her hobbies, naturally
enough, are reading and tutoring.
D.C. King memorial proposed
into some fresh
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today'
A national campaign to raise
$300,000 to establish a memorial to
Dr. M artin Luther King, Jr., in
Washington, D .C ., is being spear
headed by Alpha Phi Alpha Frater
W E A L S O SELL K ID S '
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The Board o f Directors o f Oregon
Literacy, Inc., honored Edith Roberts
as a volunteer of the month at their
last board meeting
Mrs. Roberts has been an Oregon
Literacy volunteer for two years and
has worked with four students who
were adult non-readers. " I want to
share my joy o f reading with others,"
she is quoted as saying.
She has been married fix 33 years
to Ernest, a retired Air Force man,
who now works for the state in Sa
lem. They have lived in all parts o f the
nity.
The proposal for the Fraternity to
assume the leadership for the project
was adopted at the organization’s
78th anniversary convention in Cleve
land last August. The effort is being
planned to coincide with the first
observance o f D r. King’s birthday as
a national holiday and the Fratern
ity’s 80th anniversary convention
which will be held in Washington,
D C ., in 1986
Congressman W aller E. Fauntroy
o f the District o f Columbia has in
troduced a bill in the U.S. House of
Representatives in support o f the
project. Senator Paul Sarbanes of
Maryland has entered similar legisla
tion in the U.S. Senate. Both have
indicated that they will urge their
colleagues to endorse thetr respective
bills.
A majority o f the ineniu n* ui
the Congressional Black Caucus have
already indicated their endorsement
o f the project to honor Dr. King.
M arion S. Barry, Jr., mayor o f the
District o f Columbia, and Andrew
young, mayor o f Atlanta, both mem
bers o f the Fraternity, are serving
as honorary co-chairmen.
Once initial funds have been raised
through Alpha Phi Alpha, the plan
calls for taking the appeal to national
Black
organizations,
corporate
groups, private institutions, religious
bodies, and the general public for ad
ditional financial support. For ex
ample, other Black Greek-letter or
ganizations will be encouraged to
back the project through their nation
al leadership and through the Pan-
Hellenic Council.
It is believed that the memorial to
Dr. King, himself a member o f Alpha
Phi Alpha, would be the first to
honor a Black man in the nation's
capital. A statue honoring D r. M ary
McLeon Bethune was erected in
Washington, D C ., in 1974.
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