Page 2, Portland Observer, November 26, 1986 Along the Color Line by Or Manning Marable Df Manning M aratta i* prolaaaor of to c o lo g y and political «cianca at Puutua University Along the Color Lina » intern4tKMi«tty appear« m over ,40 whereas positions requiring college training grew by 39,000. Second, almost all of the newly created "entry level" jobs are being started by firms in the white suburbs, not in the innercities. From 1974 to 1984, for exam pie, about one million new jobs were created in the "fo o d and drink" sector, but nearly all of these positions are located in suburban areas Even w ithout the cutbacks in public transpor tation, it has become increasingly difficult for This season is so predictable in the W illa m e tte many low income people to get to these new jobs. The Reagan administration is aware of these statistics, but it has failed miserably to come up with any plan to lower urban joblessness Enterprise zones in ghetto areas, with tax abatements for corporations, would do little to reduce black and Hispanic unemployment. A more effective plan would be to divert billions from the swollen Pentagon budget into a mas­ sive job training and placement project. But the Reaganites would rather let America's cen tral cities fester and rot than spend one penny to assist an unemployed black woman or man. For years, the Reagan administration has denied the pervasiveness of homelessness for several million women, men and children. In New York City alone, between 40,000 to 80,000 people lack shelter, and at least one million more live in decrepit, substandard dwellings But the homeless people are fighting back. In 1984, black com munity activist Chris Spro wal started a Philadelphia shelter, the "Com mittee for Dignity and Fairness for the Home less." Although designed to house 40 per sons, on some cold evenings over 100 people found shelter in Sprowal's building The next year, Sprowal and others established the Na tional Union of the Homeless (NUH), In barely twelve months, NUH has started local groups in Boston, Baltimore, Washington, D C., Chi cago. New Orleans and Los Angeles. Several labor unions have provided material support to the NUH; and as the numbers of unemployed and discouraged workers increase, the need for the NUH's activities will also grow NUH organizer Ronald Darnaby states: "Shelters are the poor houses of the twentieth century. What we need, instead, is low-cost housing, jobs, health care, education and job training.” Whether homeless or not, these priorities also provide an agenda for all of us. So long as our tax dollars are wasted on "Star Wars” and nuclear missiles, our nation will continue to have millions of jobless and home less people. relevant to over all increases that w e e x ­ perience. W e can not change the w ea th e r, but w e V alley that the local Indians called this the can "V a lle y of the W et S ickness” . Yearly m ig ­ som e degree ration out of the valley w as the practice of use rain proof clothes as m uch as pos­ these native residents. sible. m odify our o w n environm ents hills nor visit the sunny south, w e can a hom e te m p e ratu re of 60 to 65 degrees change our lives som e to m inim ize the is probably perferable to w a rm e r indoor chances of con tractin g these seasonal ill tem peratu res. nesses. are a n um ber of dietary relationships w ith thenic acid and provide 25 m g per a sound im m u n e system . There are habits day of other B's (B-6 and B-12 are and foods w h ic h w e a k e n our resistance, in m icrogram s (m eg's)) right before you go out into the cold, it is good to have a cool rinse at the end of the are m ore succeptable to illness in the show er. 15 to 30 seconds of cool rinse w ill the capillaries and inclined to get soaked in the outdoors and body heat. to experience dram atic changes in our need to ta k e icy cold rinses). high sugar in ta k e , excessive illnesses, high seem increase to fa t and nefits fro m and, thus, enhance the spread of illn e s ­ other outdoor program s, but there are a m oderate aerobic exercise. m e n ta tio n . there should be a conscious e ffo rt to m aintain a good level of fluid in ­ of V itam in C and A take A is found in green can do. w h ic h other aerobic indoor program s can pro­ W e have sea­ leafy vegetables, carrots and yellow sq u a­ are less thirsty, and adequ ate fluid in ta ke shes. can co m p ro m ise our elim inatory p ro c es ­ V ita m in C is highest in the pepper fam ily and fresh fruits. ses Since w in te r is a Herbal teas, diluted fruit juices, v e ­ less favorable season for these foods, it getable juices and w a te r are the preferred m ay be good to supplem ent these vita form s of fluids (4 to 6 glasses per day). mins. These are habits to assist us in not be The B v itam in s .zin c , m agnesium and selenium com ing ill this w in te r. I w ill discuss w h a t are also necessary for a healthy im m u n e system . w e m ight do for acute illness in a fu tu re article. The levels of s u p p lem en tatio n that I recom m end are: Letters to the Editor From From ihc earliest Imre (before 5500 B C i Afnkans/Blucka believed in the existence ol one Supreme (n xl who »as nameless, incomprehensible and eter­ nal The Afnkans believed he was a sell existent I self-created) God who had made the universe and all things in it I he) believed He had created the heaven and the earth and had fashioned man and endowed him w ith an immor tai soul I hey believed that the ( )ne and Only Almighty God knows those who serve Hirn, and protect those who fo l­ low Him rhe One and Only Almighty trod Was nameless, but the Blacks of anlicjuity used many names to reler to Him One ot these names was Tern (Other names used to refer to the A l­ mighty One were Khepera. Anton. Ra, Ptah. Aten. lem u, Atmu. etc ) llie Blacks believed there was a time when Ten,existed by Himself, and that it was He who. by a series o f ellorts ol His mind, created the heavens and the earth and lesser "g o d s” and men and every creature that has life Ihc first act alter the creation ol heaven and earth w a s the sending lorth ol the Sun. or the creation ol Light ("and (iod said, let there be Light ") Our Ancient Forefathers wee alwavs trying to figure out the puzzle ol crea lion According lo one story, khepera (another name tor Tern, alter sending forth the Sun, created other gods I hese Gods proceeded from His body kbep- era first created Shu. the goddess of water and moisture Shu and Telnut were then united, and their offsprings were Osiris (god o f resurrection), (lotus (the Sun god, Set (god of dark ness, Isis i W ile ol < >siris and Mother ot the godsi and Nebt het (goddess ol Na­ ture) Vke can see that the gods khepera created were in tact the basic elements \ Black Cultural Perspective” ol life. and that Ihc natural laws prevail or function as a result ol the interaction ol the basic elements Thus, the basic elements themselves are the gods", and they are called such names as Shu (the god ol ait and dryness In tact, air is the "god " ) . Tefniif. keb, etc Our ancestors knew what was important in life, and their religious "g o d s " re­ flected this rhere are no things more important or valuable than air. water, etc Additionally . Out Ancestors knew that when the gods interacted, other "g o d s " were produced A lter creating these gods, khejsera made the moon and assigned it a place in the universe Then khepera created man. who sprang not from the earth but directly from the body ol khepera Him- sell khepera then created creeping things Men. women and all other liv ­ ing things which were made by khep era then reproduced their species, each in its own way, and the earth became Idled with their descendants Ancient Black fVople admitted the existence of a great Almighty God (Tetnl who created the universe and all in it. but they thought He was too great and loo remote to concern Himself w uh the affairs of man. and that He had therefore committed the management of this World lo the series o f gods that were just mentioned Afrikan People thought it was necessary for jieople to worship or gratify these gods Because these gods were all around. Afrikan People felt they could approach these "gods directly , and a series o f myths evolved which involved many o f the gods and goddesses Afrikans worship ped Our basic Black religion recog­ nized the completeness of man/jieople Accordingly, the whole person con sisled o f a physical body (the kh a tl. a spiritual body (Ihc Sahu). a heart (Ab), a double (ka ). a heart soul ( .’ ), and a name A ll ot these parts were bound together inseparably, and the welfare of any single part concerned the welfare of all ot the parts Thus, tor the well being o| the spiritual parts, it was necessary to preserve the physical parts from decay This explains why such care was taken in embalming the Body o f Jesus Afrikan religion had no concept ol sin. thus there is no nonsense about Adam, Eve and Ihc snake What Black People believed in was opposites which co-exist, and their religion reflected this I hey did not feel that people were either good or bad. but both Therefore, they did not have to strive religiously tor salvation to negate their sins be­ cause there were nothing to be saved from What Afrikan religion stressed w as the relationship ol people to others while they lived, and a statement o f those relations was suggested in the 42 Negative Confessions which were made by the dead as they sough, immor­ tality and approval o f the gods (From these 42 Negative Confessions Moses drew the so-called Ten Commandments more than 4000 years later To Our Ancestors, religion was a way ol life All other institutions and all other func­ tion revolved around a religious base (including politics, economics, educa­ tion and the social order in general) It led Our Ancestors to constantly seek knowledge ot themselves and life in general, and nurtured overwhelmingly civilized trails in them that rendered (hem incapable ot adequatelv dealing with later, barbaric creatures, cowardly carnivorous beasts in human form who saw religion as no more than a tool of their political aims and desires Or Jamil Cberovec Support Our Advertisers! 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