Portland Observer, September 18, 1985, Page 11
State-wide fall
cleanup planned
Linda W illiam « (far rig ht), fo rm e r sta ff w rite r fo r the
Oregonian and c u rre n tly w ith th e H a ll Street Journal,
S w en so n. J o h n M c M ille n W illia m Hilliard and M a rk
Zusm an, Saturday
(Photo Richard J Brow n)
poses a q u e stio n to m e d ia pan el (le ft to rig h t) Lee
Panel discusses Oregon media coverage
by Nathaniel Scott
The Oregon Journalists C oalition,
an Association o f M inonty Journalists
in Oregon, held a panel discussion Sat
urday. Sept. 14, at St Andrew's Cath­
olic Church.
The discussion title d , “ O regon's
Media Coverage: A whitewash or a
ra in b o w ? " was attended by approx
imately 50 people.
Derrick Bell, prolessor o f law at the
U niversity o f O regon, gave the key­
note address. Bell presented his ad­
dress in the form ol a fictionalized ac­
count entitled "T h e Am ber C lo u d ."
The gist o f Bell’s speech was a paradox
o f m in o ritie s dealing w ith the news
media.
The speech emphasized how rich,
white a fflu e n t people in this society
w ould react i f their ch ild re n were
struck with a "g h e tto disease” result­
ing from an “ Amber C lo u d .” Bell's
amber cloud only affected the children
o f wealthy white America According
to Bell's point o f view, no resources
w ould be spared in the quest fo r a
cure. Legislation would be passed and
the priority o f m ilitary budgets would
be pul on hold. Once a cure had (seen
secured and the last victim cured, a na­
tional day o f thanksgiving w ould be
proclaimed.
"T h e question is , " Bell asked,
" h o w w ould the media handle the
‘ A m ber C lo u d ’ story? W hat is the
reality o f the racism under which the
n a tio n ’ s media fu n c tio n ? ” Bell said
"every in stitu tio n " in this society pro­
vides a ra tionale to m a in ta in racist
ideologies.
" H o w the media w ould handle
the 'A n th e r C lo u d ' story must be
asked and a n sw e re d ," Bell main
tained.
In addition to Bell, there were two
panels. A , community panel made up
o f Ron H e rn d o n , co-chairm an o f
Portland's chapter ot the Black I lilted
f ro n t; Jose G utierrez, executive di
rector ot O regon's C om m ission o f
Hispanic A ffa irs ; C arolyn I eonard,
evaluator from Portland's school dis
trict; and Kcymundo M arin, executive
director o f P o rtla n d 's M e tro p o lita n
Human Relations Commission.
I he media panel included W illiam
H illia rd , executive e d ito r. The O re­
gonian, John M cM illan, publisher, tlie
S tatesm an-Journal; I ee Swanson,
assistant news d ire c to r, K A I I IV ;
and Mark Zusman, editor, H illamette
H M i
The com m unity panel maintained
that the media presented minorities in
inferior ways.
According to M arin, the media will
expose the had housing ol the poor but
they will not expose- the landlord's side
o f the story.
" T h e reason behind the story is
never reported,” he said Marin mam
tained that The Oregonian employs a
total o f 1,17K people He said 16 are
Black, eight H ispanics, IK Asians
and three are native Am ericans A
total o f 45 m in o ritie s out ot a work
force that exceeds 1,100.
Leonard said, “ W hat people in
Oregon see and what thev hear is what
they believe about m in o ritie s ." She
said the media distorts facts.
" I t is extremely im portant that we
realize that m inorities have a critical
impact upon our lives," she said " It's
critical that the white media care about
the kind o f information given."
H erndon said that at most news
conferences, the reporters are white.
He drew a sharp parallel between the
reporting o f white males and white fe­
males.
"W hen you have only white report
ers covering the Black community, you
get two entirelv different stones when
the reporters are men an women.' he
said
Herndon maintained that il the con
dition the Blask community is in was
present in the West Hills, " I t would be
seen as a crisis."
"W e need to address drugs," Hern­
don said " I f not, we are going to
have serious problems." Herndon said
he hopes the media will give the Black
community the kind o t attention that
will arouse public confidence
/usm an said, " I here is a real need
to focus on m in o ritie s c o n c e rn s ."
H owever, he added, " I he media,
particulaly the prim media, is targeting
an audience th a t's w hite and well
educated ”
H illia rd said, " I have no quarrels
wiih the criticism I've heard because
most ot them aie true " He added that
the need is really tor a commitment lor
basic human rights
The Oregonian and the Statesman
Journal, according Io H illia rd and
M c M illa n , have a ffirm a tiv e action
guidelines
Art Alexandet, an aide w itli l ity
( ommissioner M ike I indberg, asked
the media panel AC lien are you going
to adopt in te llig e n t standards and
when are you going to in stitu te
changes that don't depend on financial
ot violent threats?"
Alexander also said, " I here are
many stupid, white journalists "
A t the close o l the panel discus
sioii , M aik Sanchez, moderator from
K O IN TV. asked the media panel
wtiat thev had learned
M cM illan said the forum had been
" u s e fu l" in rem inding him that the
media do have "v a lid and legitimate
obligations."
A frica a fte r th e fam in e
The second year o f Portland State
University ’s new International Studies
Program begins tins ta ll w ith a free
public lecture on "The Historical Con­
tin u ity ot Japanese C ivilization"
scheduled for Thursday, September 26
at 7:30 p.m. in I incoln Hall A uditor
lum , corner o f S .U Broadway and
Market St.
The hour-long presentation w ill be
given by Dr ladao Umesao, a noted
cultural anthropologist who is Director
General o l the N ational Museum of
Ethnology in Osaka, Japan. Die mu­
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The im portance o f D r. Umcsao's
talk was underscored recently by G il
la tz , an instructor o f l ast Asian geog
raphy at PSU. "W hen we talk about
Japanese culture," he noted, “ A m eri­
cans need to distinguish between con
tem porary econom ic trade p o litics
and the kinds o f attitudes and beliefs
which bind Japanese people together."
Latz believes that a better American
understanding o f Japan requires an
appreciation ot both cultural as well as
economic factors p a rtic u la r to that
nation.
Dr. Umcsao's talk will offer Amen
cans an in sid e r's view o f Japanese
siKiety by analyzing the persistence ot
tra d itio n s am idst rapid social and
economic change, Latz noted
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seum is considered to be one o f that
nation's top institutions devoted to the
study o f national culture.
I)r Umesao’ s appearance at PSU
coincides with "Japanese Awareness
W e e k ," sponsored by the P ortland
Japanese ( onsulate, which is working
with the Japanese Ministry ol I oreign
A ffa irs to fu rth e r enhance relations
with the U.S.
We went curly
yesterday.
"Japan is the world's only modern,
non-Western industrialized power and
it is a much older, more established
co u n try than our o w n ," he added
"T h e extent to w hich we are sensi­
tive to this country's history and cul­
ture w ill u ltim a te ly deepen our ties
with the Japanese at all levels o f inter
national exchange "
National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People
2 8 4 7722
The Second Annual Bag it Days is
coming for a fu ll tw o weeks this fall.
Governor Atiyeh had provlaimed Sep­
tember 21 through October 4 as time
to clean up and recycle litte r around
the state. So plan to (hank our great
Oregon environment fo r a fun sum­
mer by cleaning, reusing, and recy­
cling.
Bag It Days will be kicked o ff with
the pickup of plastic (harmful to wild
life) along the .300 miles o f Oregon
coastal beaches on September 21, to be
followed by locally sponsored program
throughout live state.
l ast year 3.000 people spruced up
more than 50 cities in two days. Over
2,000 volunteers picked up 23 tons o f
plastic fro m our beaches in the
“ Plague o f Plastics" campaign.
"O v e r 500 projects have already
been planned for this sear’s event, and
more are coming in each day,” reports
Judie Neilson and I rme M cD onald
from Stop Oregon I liter and Vandal
ism "S ch o o ls, youth groups, and
many in d ivid u a ls and organizatins
have been contacted and encouraged
to sponsor or volunteer to participate
in cleanup and recycling projects dur
mg this Second Annual Bag It Days
event."
One focus this year w ill be to em
phasize the id e n tific a tio n o f re-
cvclahles in an el tort to reduce throw
mg away reusables
Stop Oregon I liter ami Vandalism
(S< >1 V) is encouiagmg communities to
organize and coordinate community
wide projects that can bring citizens
together to improve the livability o f
their community l ilies, communities,
and organizations interested in more
inform ation can write to St >1 V, P ( i
44MM7, P o rtland. OR 9724(1. or call
toll tree I K4B> 322 " 2 6 loi a planning
and publicity kit
A Pubfoc Servu • of the
P o r tla n d O f is f f s f r
Nuclear weapons
to be held
" ll.m lo rd , I list Strike, and Global
P ro life ra tio n " is the title ot a slide
show and picscntaiion about nuclear
weapons production at the H anford
Nuclear Reservation in south central
Washington, to be given by I buck Bell
ot the Oregon H a n fo rd Oversight
l ommitlee I he talk will take place on
Monday, Sept 23, at 7 (•> p ni at the
I (tends Meeting House, 4 312 S I
Stark l o t more in fo rm a tio n , call
29V 2101 lhe presentation is lice and
open to the public
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