Page 12, Portland Observer, February 26, 1986
Healthwatch
EDITORIAL/OPINION
by Steven Bailey N. D
Black Community Should Support
Community Forums
Last Thursday a community forum was held at a
local library in Portland The Forum was entitled:
I he Slate ot Black America 19X6 During the
forum a panel ot speakers gave a vivid description
ot the social status o f Blacks Throughout the pre
sentation each speaker emphasized the role the
Black community must play it Black America is to
lilt itself from the bottom ot society 's social ladder
The speakers sentiments regarding the lack o f
Black efforts to improve their conditions in
America could be observed in the number o f those
who attended the Forum Less than fifty individu
als were in attendance. I he lack o f community
participation in a meeting which focuses on the
urgent social problems lacing Black America is
astounding
The Forum presented data that showed how the
majority ot Blacks in America w ill be relegated to a
Av ihc AIDS virus spreads at an
epidemic rate through Central Africa,
we have observed how it is truly not just
a homosexual disease While there still
remains a 16:1 male to female inci
dence of AIDS within the U S there is
currently a l l ratio in Zaire and similar
numbers throughout Africa
A recent article in the New England
Journal of Medicine Vol 3 14 f-ebruary
3. l9K6enlitled "AIDS Virus Infection
in Nairobi Prostitutes Spread of the
Epidemic to East Africa " , documents
the high incidence of positive antibody
tests to AIDS among high risk women
in Africa This group of authors tested
for positive HTL.V III antibody reac
tions in 4 groups low income prosti
lutes, higher income prostitutes, male
clients of a communicable disease
clinic and a base group of hospital staff
The testing results showed that 66r» of
the low income prostitutes, 31% of the
high income prostitutes. M% of the male
risk population and 2% of the staff
showed positive serology (blood work)
to the AIDS virus
While there was over VtR» clinical
presentation of generalized lym
phadenopathy. there were no cases of
opportunistic infections in any of the
groups
(K arposes
Sarcoma,
pneumocystisetc ( The authors believe
the absence of full AIDS cases lo be due
lo the long incubation of AIDS, as
blood reserves from 19X0 show no
permanent underclass unless they address the so
cial conditions which cause many Blacks to live in
a cycle o f poverty.
Such valuable information is needed by many
Blacks who reside in Portland since their environ
ment is detrimental to the future well-being o f the
Black community. Unemployment, teen pre
gnancy. crime, prostitution, police violence, ptxir
health, drug and alcohol addiction, drug tra ffic k
ing and poverty are high among Black Portlanders.
These problems w ill only be eradicated when
every segment ot the Black community unite to
form a strategy against such social ills In order for
this to occur. Blacks must first attend forums, such
as the one held last Thursday at the North Branch
Library Supporting community forums which ad
dress the problems afflicting Blacks is the first step
in the right direction in solving these social ills
Black Americans are at a Crossroad,
says Black Journalist
WASHINGTON
Black Ameri
cans arc "standing at a crossroad, fac
ing dangers more extreme than any of
us have ever witnessed in Ihc past.”
said Dorothy Gilliam, syndicated col
ummsi with ihc Washington Post
Gilliam said black Americans have
reached a new turning point in their
overall development and must begin
asking themselves, "Which way will
we head'.’”
In remarks at the opening ceremony
observing Black History Month at the
U S IX-partment of Labor here, Gil
liam noted that this is a time when black
Americans must work to preserve their
identity or "face a kind of unraveling
whose proportion we can't really im
agine.”
She said blacks must "rediscover”
what is special about themselves as a
people and lorge that identity and begin
building stronger institutions
However, before blacks can move
away from the crossroad with a re
newed fixus for future direction, (id
liarn said they must rid themselves of
the ignorance and shame of their his
lory, tlie inhibiting effects brought on
by low self-worth and self haired, and
"hangups" about class
"W e’re at a different place today
than we ve ever been before in our his
lory." Gilliam said "Bui the family,
which has traditionally been our rock,
our strength, our hope and our salsa
tion, is in trouble
"When ihe immediate black family
is in trouble, then the institutional black
family is in trouble And because all of
us arc linked, if some ol us are in
danger, all of us arc in danger," (ill
liam remarked
She charged her audience Io find
ways to maintain the extended black
family "as an instrument to provide for
the mutual benef it of all We must edu
cate, provide economic and emotional
sec unty, and direction for each other "
Reflecting on many of the conditions
that exist today. Gilliam said. "W e are
standing at the best and worst of times
I hey are limes ol tension and polariza
tion between groups There's a great
deal of discord among nations
'' I here 's a lot of conservatism in the
land that's disturbing many people, and
there seems to he almost a denial of
many of the issues that we think are
important I here's a complacency over
civil rights and human rights and our
nation is in transition from an industrial
Io an information age with all Ihc up
heaval and uncertainty that that change
involves." she said
In spite ol those conditions, Gilliam
offered a challenge as she concluded
her remarks "If we say today. the light
ol oui future is in danger of being snuf
led out. then I challenge you to make
the right turn . ..."
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Alfred I Hendenon, Editor/Publisher
A! Williams, General Manager
W hether
Important aspects of this study in
elude the facts that there is a very low
incidence ot homosexuality in Nairobi,
no reported I V drug use among the
participants of this study, and no indi
vidual correlation between number of
sexual encounters and frequency of
positive serology While individual
statistics don't show a frequency rela
tionship. the low income prostitutes av
eraged 6 times the yearly number of
sexual contacts compared to the higher
income (hotel, airport)prostitutes, with
an associate rate of positive antibody
test of 2 times that of the higher class
prostitutes No incidence of rectal in
tercourse was noted in any group,
which counters many claims that the
more traumatic rectal intercourse is an
important component to the spread of
Ihc virus
There were no statistical risks that
stood out as significant to the develop
ment of AIDS, but the assay of the
various groups showed nearly universal
use of intra musc ular injections (proba
bly primarily anti biotics) immuniza
tion and anti biotic use Again we find
immune system insult as a nearly univ
ersal component with the development
of positive AIDS antibody response
While there were no reported con
tacts between the prostitutes and
Americans, there is probably onlv a tew
To Ihe Editor
I'ntil recently. Afro -Amerikan
people had been denied their history or
even worse, had been subjected to his
lory hooks and sociological and an
lhropologic.il treatises filled with dis
lortions and lies either by commission
or by omission Since her arrival on
these alien shores, the black woman has
been subjected Io the worst kinds ol
exploitation and oppression As a
black, she has had to endure all Ihe
horrors ol slavery and living in a racist
society: as a worker, she has been the
object ol continual exploitation, oc
cups mg ihe lowest place on the wage
scale and restricted to the most demean
mg and uncreative jobs, as a woman she
has seen her physical image defamed
and tx-en Ihe object ot the so-called
( hristian caucasoid master's uncon
trollable lust and subjected Io all the
ideals ol caucasoid womanhood as a
model Io which she should aspire, as a
mother, she has seen her children lorn
from her breast and sold into slavers.
she has seen them left at home without
attention while- she attended to the
needs of the olsprmgol the ruling class
today . the Alro- Amerikan woman sees
her children afflicted by dope- addic
tion. the lack ol a decent education and
subjected to attacks by a caucasoid so-
called Christian racist society, legal
lynchings, cannon fodder for Ameri
ka s imperialist wars ol aggression,
populating the prisons ol this nation,
etc In addition, beside suffering tfie
common fate of all oppressed and
exploited people, the Afro Amerikan
woman continues to experience the
age-old oppression ol woman bv man
In ihe home, she becomes the "slave of
a slave By giving men a false feeling
ol superiority in Ihe home or in relation
ship with women, certain aspects of
capitalist tension are alleviated Men
may he cruelly exploited and subjected
to all sorts of dehumanization tactics on
the part ot the ruling class, but at least
they can take out their frustration on
someone else
their women
One ol the greatest women. Black or
caucasoid, that ever lived was Hamel
Tubman Here was a woman, totally
illiterate who not only refused to ac
commodate hersell to the system of
slavery, but after she reached "free
dom" in the North, risked capture and
re-enslavement time and time again as
she relumed to the South to bring out
more and more slaves
Sojourner Truth, another ex slave,
dedicated her life In traveling up and
down the country preaching "the
truth She was one of ihe first to link
the struggle for abolition with the
struggle lor women's rights During
To The Editor:
Reconstruction. Black women played
an important role in the Ereedmen's
Bureau Many Black women came
South during this period, as their Sisters
were Io d o l(X) years later, to otter their
services in the schools and other institu
tions which were fx-ing founded to as
sist the newly freed slaves One of the
most famous women ot this period was
(rances Ellen Walkins Harper She
began her career as an anti slavery
speaker prior to the Civil War and con
linued traveling throughout the South
after the war She had a keen insight
into the problems of reconstruction
Sister Ida B Wells Barnett became an
international figure denouncing lynch
mg and discrimination against our
people I he decade ot the I9b()'s again
witnesses the Black Woman in the
forefront of the struggle tor human dig
inly in this country Who can forget the
courage ot Rosa Parks when she re
fused Io move to the hack of the Bus.
selling off the Montgomery Bus
Boycott and long tune activist. Ella
Baker, who amongst other achieve
ments, was responsible lor the found
mg o l S N C C i Student Non Violent
Coordinating Committee) Tannic Lou
Hamel and Cnita Blackwell are but two
ot the Mississippi women who braved
attack and death in their fight Io gain the
right to vote SNCC was the first Civil
Rights organization to link up the
struggle against racism at home with
ihe war in Vietnam and women played
an imjxirtant role in that organization
They formulated the slogans. "Hell
Nii. We Won I Go and "N o Vietnam
Tver ( ailed Vie Nigger
W hen Malcolm \ attempted to lie
together the meaning ot our public
movement in Amerika with the
world wide struggle tor self determina
lion, and with the internal Black strug
gle lor integrity and sell discipline, he
was assassinated Three years later, as
Dr Martin I uther king sought to bring
the power ot the black movement to
bear against Amerika's racist im
perialism in Vietnam, and threatened to
call tor black draft resistance, he was
gunned down Then on the night ot
king's death, in I96X. the federal and
stale military forces put more troops
and equipment out on Ihe streets land in
Ihe skies) ot Amerika than we had ever
known since Ihe Civil War. effectively
blunting and cordoning off the terrified
and painful anger of Black Amerika
Hiese deaths, and the display ot raw
military power that we saw before and
after them, can never be forgotten
I
$15 fo< one y*«'
Boa 3137 Portland OP
kA
—
288 0ÜXJ
National Advartlaing Aapraaantativa
A m aljjam atad Publlahara. Inc
N aw York
I
Snaai
.
I am writing this in resonse to a lette
printed in your paper on 12/18/85, enli
tied "N o joy from Toy A, Joy" I an
extremely disappointed that as a re
sponsible publisher, you did not go ti
the source for verification of the cir
cumstances
As you probably know, the Portlam
Eire Bureau Toy At Joy program ha-
been serving the Portland community
tor a numfx-r ot years, evolving from ;
small operation, into a very large com
plex program It is important for the
community to understand, when a
program has become as large as Toy A
Joy has in Ihe past 4 years, as much as
we would like to, it is impossible for Ihe
program Io provide a personal touch to
all recipients
I am not writing this letter to slur
anyone's character, but I must defend a
program that dix-s so much good for our
community Mrs Johnson, the author
ot the letter which appeared in your
paper has. for ihe past three years, re
lumed toys for exchange Toy & Joy
has made a practice of exchanging toys
that do not coincide w ilh Ihe sex and/or
age ot the recipient Race is not taken
into consideration with the exception ol
dolls About three years ago. Toy & Joy
purchased a number of black dolls be
cause there were requests for them and
we had not received many from dona
lions Miss Johnson was well aware ol
our policy, and had taken advantage of
it a numfx-r of times in the past w ithoot
any complaint This year, the dolls she
received were black Her complaint
was that ihe game and everything else
she received were for while children
Toy At Joy would have been more than
glad to exchange the dolls, but it would
have been impossible to satisfy Iter
other request, because none of the toys
donated were selected by race but only
by age and sex I his was explained to
Mrs Johnson and she was asked if she
wanted Ihe toys she had received, her
reply was negative
I would like to add that I am black
and I handled Mrs. Johnson's com
plaint. I have also handled her com
plaints in the past I am aware of the
need for blacks to maintain a sense ol
racial pride, but to demonstrate pre
judice and to teach our children raciMt)
is a step backward for all mankind In
my opinion, the best way to reinforce a
sense of black accomplishment is to
show more interest in their exposure to
successful black people and less con
cern for the "color" ol their toys
Wayne Benson
Toy &. Joy
Dr Jamil Cherosee
$25 tor tw o
¿sC • ’
vectors distance hetween these African
prostitutes and an Euro American con
tact Again, we find suggestive evi
dence that heterosexual spread of AIDS
w ill grow in ihc U S and other western
countries The authors conclude that
now is the time to educate and attempt
to lessen the spread of AIDS with con-
dums. recognition of the danger of
shared needles and other public health
measures
We need to recognize that certain
homosexuals in America, with a high
frequency ot partners initialed the
American spread ot the disease, and
that their already insulted immune sys
tems allowed a rapid and often fatal
development ol the disease, but we are
now moving in a new direction The
gay population of San Francisco is
showing soiik - signs of tapering off in
new cases, and the American ratio of
male to female AIDS patients will un
doubtedly lower to include a higher
percentage ot female patients We must
begin to educate ourselves about Ihc
changes coming Now the people who
involve themselves with prostitutes,
their wives, highly active heterosexual
people and those who may have fairly
conservative sexual practices, but con
tact an infected individual may become
exposed to the virus We must diminish
the sexual freedom of years gone by,
use condoms, avoid insults to the im
mune system as much as possible and
focus on healthier life styles
Letters to the Editor
¡PORTWND OBSERVER
Tha TV inland ( ¡tu rn er was mtahkatved m 1970
c u o w a w i i « <*
A ID S an tib od ie s in N a iro b i
AIDS develops into the same disease in
N airobi as in the U S w ill be seen in the
next I to 3 years
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