June 3, 1987, Portland Observer, Pag«
R-G's "Street
Local Poet
Awarded "Golden
Poet Award"
Gang" Story
Nyewusi Askari, a Northeast
Portland-based poet, has added an
other award to his growing list of
honors. World of Poetry's Board
of Directors 4Sacramento, Califor
nia) has voted unanimously to
honor Askari with its Golden Poet
Award for 1987 in recognition of
his poem, "Meeting With a Stran
ger." According to Eddie-Lou Cole,
World of Poetry's Poetry Editor,
"The Golden Poet Award is to poets
what the Academy Award is to
actors.
It is the highest honor
World of Poetry is able to bestow on
a poet." To be eligible for the Gold
en Poet Award, the poet must have
won three or more other awards
for poetry.
Was Flawed
Lacked Balance,
Supporting Evidence
by Doug Bates
Managing Editor, The Eugene Register-Guard
We were wrong.
Sometimes it takes courage and humility to say those words. Eugene
police displayed both traits this past week when they publicly apologized
for characterizing a group of South Eugene High School boys as a "gang"
in an article published in The Register-Guard last month.
The reference was in an April 12 article on reports of Southern California
street gangs moving to the Northwest. The story included a Eugene detec
tive's description of South High's "Sanchez Brothers" as a Latino gang.
"W e regiet that the information we provided the newspaper was not
accurate," a deputy chief said.
For a police department, it was an extraordinary statement. Register-
Guard editors can't recall a previous apology of that nature.
Something tells me it's time for this newspaper to show a similar dash of
courage and humility. If the police are willing to admit they blew it, so
should we.
Our April 12 article was flawed. It reported that Eugene has "a growing
street gang problem" but provided no supporting evidence beyond graffiti
in downtown alleys and the alarming statements of one detective (who
named three Eugene "gangs" but admitted he couldn't say whether they
were committing crimes).
One of the three groups mentioned by the detective was the "Sanchez
Brothers." However, in its subsequent apology, the police department said
the boys in the group "are not a street gang and should not have been so
labeled." It turns out that none of the boys who formed the group is a Lati
no, as originally reported. In fact, a former member says the group (now
disbanded) was just five friends, whites and non-whites, who liked to hang
out together and wear matching baseball caps.
Part of our problem is semantics. "G ang" isn't necessarily a dirty word.
(As a kid, I was known to pal around with some Oakridge teen-agers some
times called "the gang,” and it wasn't a pejorative label, although we pulled
a few neighborhood pranks.) Our April 12 story, however, provided only
one definition of gangs: the L. A. street version, notorious for violence and
drug dealing.
Neither the detective nor our article accused the Sanchez Brothers of any
wrongdoing. But we could have spared them the unfair and inaccurate
"street gang" label by checking first with school officials, the boys them
selves and members of Eugene's minority community.
Our story quoted the detective mentioning two other Eugene "gangs" —
one involving whites and the other Blacks. Neither was accused of any
thing beyond showing "strong similarities to L. A. street gangs" in the way
they associate and dress.
I'm troubled by that sweeping generalization, and so are some Eugene
people who visited our newsroom this past week to voidte conderns about
our April 12 report. A small but impressive group of citizens —both white
and Black —told R-G editors that our reporting damaged race relations in
Eugene. They said our "gang" story contributed to a negative racial cli
mate in which non-white young men are subject to increased suspicion
and hostility-especially when they associate in groups, but even when
they walk down the street alone.
The visitors told us they're just as opposed as police to the notion of
street gangs getting started in Eugene, and they told us they want this
newspaper to report the problem if it happens. However, they said our
April 12 article served only to inflame racial hostility while failing to sub
stantiate the claim that the gang problem is here.
I find myself agreeing. Our gang story contained unsupported state
ments, relied on only one Eugene source and lacked balance (no attempt
was made to get comment from minority groups or the young men suppo
sedly operating as "gangs").
But my intent here isn't to crucify the reporter. We have editors here,
including me, who are supposed to spot faulty reporting and get it fixed.
Four pairs of editors' eyes saw that piece before publication. I'm told that
even though one editor detected a problem and raised strong objections to
the story, nobody put the brakes on it.
Our usually reliable system of checks and balances failed us. How? I
think it stemmed in part from an inherent weakness typical of most news
rooms at U.S. newspapers. All of our editors are white. And although we
like to think of ourselves as an idealistic and relatively enlightened bunch of
journalists, we sometimes fail to be as sensitive as we should be in realizing
the impact our news product has on non-whites in the community.
One thing's on our side, though. We know we have this problem (our
visitors this past week helped remind us), and we're working on it.
Meanwhile, the "gang" story isn't over yet. Although police retracted
what was said about the Sanchez Brothers, there's been no apology for
labeling the other two Eugene groups as gangs. In the weeks ahead, we'll
be examining that point while exploring the broader subject of race relations
in this community.
ANTALOUPE
SWEET, VINE RIPENED
LOCALLY
GROWN
CABBAGE
FIRM
GREEN
HEADS
HAWAIIAN
PAPAYAS
FRUIT OF THE GODS
CALIFORNIA
APRICOTS
JUMBO SIZE
N y e w u s i A skari
The presentation will take place at
the World of Poetry's Third Annual
Poetry Convention, August 11, at
the Las Vegas Hilton in Los Vegas,
Nevada.
Last year's convention
was held in Orlando, Fla., where
Askari was presented with The Sil
ver Poet Award in recognition of his
poem "A Smoothspeed Moment."
More than 2500 poets, actors, wri
ters and social activists attended.
These included keynote speaker
Maya Angelou, and noted actor
Vincent Price, who gave a reading
of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven."
This year's convention will fea
ture Afro-American poets Etheridge
Knight and Sherley Anne Williams.
Ms. Williams is the author of the
celebrated novel "Dessa Rose" and
"Some Sweet Angel Chile," a vol
ume of poetry. She will present
"A Look at Afro-American Poetry."
Mr. Knight is a highly acclaimed
Broadside Press poet. He has been
award fellowships by the Guggen
heim Foundation and the National
Endowment for the Arts. He will
read "The Essential Etheridge
Knight."
This marks the second consecu
tive year Askari has received an
award from the World of Poetry,
a
California-based
publication,
which boasts a memebership of
689,000 poets from America, twen
ty-seven foreign countries (inclu
ding Black South Afrika), and twen
ty-seven provinces.
KRAFT
, SUNSHINE
QUAÖTY CHEKD
BARBECUE
SAUCE
ALL VARIETIES
CALISTOGA
HALF
PINTS
WITH FRUIT JUICE
GATURADE
4 PACK
JACQUE SONET
THE THIRST QUENCHER
FLAVORS
32 OZ.
WHILE THEY LAST
illlB
k l
T tB /jr
FRESH
LOW IN FAT-HIGH IN FLAVOR
END CUT ASSORTED
PORK CHOPS
s. PORK ROAST
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S tore Hours
10:00 a.m. 'til 6:00 p.m.
Monday Thru Saturday
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(across from Safeway Lloyd Center)
Tel. 282 1664
PRICES GOOD
JUNE 3-JUNE 9