Page 8, Portland Observer, February 10, 1988
R andall R o b in so n S p e a k s a t P S U
SPORTS
Marvin Johnson: Athletic
Discipline in Action
Johnson collects tro p h y fo r 1-
m in, 57-seconds o f w o rk in ring.
Photo by Richard J. Brown
by Fred Hembry
On February 9th, I had the plea­
sure of speaking with a gentleman
whose athletic excellence has flow ­
ed into his life's philosophy. The
person — Marvin Johnson.
Marvin has dabbled in activities
ranging from track and field to fen­
cing.
A short, stout youth in high
school (5' 6"), Marvin was not able
to compete to the best of his aspira­
tions. By his Freshman year at the
University of Oregon, he was begin­
ning to reap the benefits of hormon­
al change in reference to height.
Taking advantage of this, he turned
to fencing, where he received a no­
vice award for his excellence.
By age 25, Johnson reached an
amazing 6'4". With the abundance
of size, he pursued basketball. Mar­
vin played on a city league team for
seven years and did quite well. In
addition to this, he recently took on
boxing — knocking out his oppo­
nent in one-minute and fifty-seven
seconds.
Why is Johnson driven to such
diversity in sports?
"The discipline that it takes to
achieve success at these events
helps me to excel in life, also," he
comments.
Excel — he does. Marvin is head
J.V. basketball coach at Lincoln
High School. He also coaches a
summer AAU basketball team (ages
13-15), where he's had state cham­
pionship teams three years running.
He also teaches math at the Black
United Front Saturday School, ac­
complishes stage acting, and edu­
cating others in his craft at local
high schools.
Marvin enjoys working with our
community youth. He continually
strives to help them see the realities
of life in society for young African-
Americans. He believes that edu­
cation, in hand with athletic per­
severance, are the keys to excel­
lence in life.
"M y kids see me as an old man,
and when I'm triumphant in my ath­
letic endeavors, it shows them that
they, in their youth, can achieve
anything."
This statement is quite hard-hit­
ting, because Marvin Johnson is 35
years old. This is an age that most
view as 'the decelleration years'
sports-wise. He sees this year and
years ahead as a continual chal­
lenge, meeting each new day with
more determination than the last.
Young people, take heed to this
individual's zeal for excellence, and
give 100% in the classroom and in
the field of sports.
by Kamau Anderson
On February 5th, Randall Robin­
son, executive director of Trans-
Africa, an African-American lobby­
ing organization for African interest,
was the guest speaker of the Black
Cultural Affairs Board, PSU's Black
students organization.
Since November of 1984, Mr.
Robinson has spearheaded the Free
South Africa Movement which got
its start by engaging in civil disobe­
dience at the South African em­
bassy in Washington, D.C. This
movement swept across the nation
and resulted in the forced closure
of honorary South African consu­
lates in several cities, including Port­
land.
Mr. Robinson, an articulate
spokesman, summarized his talk be­
fore he began by saying: "Until
South Africa is free, we are not
free . . . for those of us in our
society who are small-minded who
still ask the question, 'What does it
(South Africa) have to do with us?',
the answer is so compellingly sim­
ple: It has everything to do with
us, particularly, we Americans who
are of African descent. For a strong
Africa means a strong African-Ame-
rican."
He related an experience to the
approximately 200-or-so present in
the audience about his travel to
South Africa in 1976 with a U.S.
delegation.
The delegation met
with the Rev. Alan Boesak, a lead­
ing opponent of apartheid in South
Africa, and some white South Afri­
can businessmen.
Rev. Boesak
spoke to the delegation in detail
about the horrors and viciousness
of apartheid, knowing that the
"authorities" were listening, which
Photo by Richard J. B row n
placed his life in immediate danger.
He was so inspired by Rev. Boe­
sak's courageousness that he com­
mitted himself to return to the
United States to work for the elimi­
nation of apartheid. In the meeting
with the white businessmen, the
critical question of one-person,
one-vote was put to the business­
men. The response to the question
by one of the white businessmen
immediately gave the delegation a
clear picture of who and what they
were dealing with. The business­
man responded without malice, as if
it was a normal thing to say, The
vote in the hands of Blacks would
be like putting a gun in the hands
of a five-year-old."
Under the South African govern­
mental system called "apartheid ,
meaning "racially divided", less
than four-million whites viciously
control, denying basic human rights
to more than twenty-three-million
"The Eyes and Ears of the Community"
"This Day and Some
Bright Tomorrow"
288-0033
by J.M . Gates, M B A
PORTLAND OBSERVER
Blacks. Mr. Robinson posed the
question, "H ow could this be?
He said he found the answer by
walking in downtown Capetown, a
port city in the southern-most part
of South Africa. At one glance, he
saw GM (General Motors) and Ford
cars on the streets, billboard adver­
tisements for Mobil Oil, B.F. Good­
rich, Kellogg, Shell, IBM and Co­
coa-Cola. These multi-national cor­
porations and others from West
Germany, France, Israel, Japan and
Great Britain form the economic
backbone of the apartheid system.
In October of 1986, the U.S.
Congress passed the Anti-Apartheid
Act that has been almost totally
ignored by the Reagan administra­
tion and is riddled with loopholes
that allow some companies to side­
step the law. What is needed, Mr.
Robinson declared, is global, com­
prehensive sanctions. This would
be the only way to force the racist
government of South Africa to the
negotiating table. If sanctions are
not imposed, South Africa will de­
teriorate into a Lebanon-like chaos
within the next five to ten years.
Mr. Robinson concluded his
speech with a lesson in understand­
ing power. He told those present
that his speeches used to take an.
emotional, moralistic approach to
apartheid, pointing out all the-
wrongs of apartheid on a human
level. Aside from being right or
wrong, one must know what has to >
be done to bring about change ih
South Africa. He added that it is ■
important to be right, but being
right is not good enough. One must-
understand power and how it is
used as an instrument of oppression
in South Africa. Ore must under- •
stand the power of geo-politics
and the role of multi-national cor­
porations in South Africa. If you .
are trying to convince a congress-
person to support anti-apartheid'!
legislation using logic and flawless-
speech and do not have the power
to affect the political fortunes of;
that congressperson, then you are-
wasting your time. He quoted the
slavery abolitionist Frederick Doug­
lass to force his point on under­
standing power: "Power concedes
nothing without a demand, it never
did and it never w ill."
In this, an election year, Mr.
Robinson concluded with a call to
put apartheid on the agenda of the'
politicians. If anti-apartheid acti-.
vists keep pressing the issues and
use the television and print media
effectively, politicians will take note
— because it is the people that make
the parade, the politicians only run
to find the front of it.
W ith essays on polka dot
them es & ladder them es.
Available Spring 1988
Barthélémy, Mayor of New Orleans, to Cap
PCC Black History Month Observance
•»
A public address February 25 by
Sidney J. Barthélémy, mayor of
New Orleans, will climax a month­
long observance of Black History
Month at Portland Community Col­
lege.
Mayor Barthelemy's keynote ad­
dress will be at 7 p.m. in the Cas­
cade Hall Auditorium on the PCC
Cascade Campus, 705 N. Killings-
worth St.
Barthélémy, 46, was elected
mayor in March, 1986, after cap­
turing the largest number of votes
for a non-incumbent mayor in the
New Orleans' history.
Barthélémy spent seven years
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CIRCLE FORUM
P.O. Box 176
Portland, OR 97207
during the 1960's studying for the
priesthood in New York and Wash­
ington, D.C., and has a bachelor s
degree in philosophy from St. Jo­
seph Seminary in Washinton.
Later he earned a master's degree in
social work from Tulane University
and served for two years as direc­
tor of the New Orleans Welfare
Department.
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In 1974, Barthélémy became the
first Black Louisiana State Senator
since Reconstruction days. Four
years later he was elected as the
first Black councilman at large in
New Orleans.
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NOW YOU CAN G O TO
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If you’d like to learn more about
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"4 C d c M 'o *
i Sam uel Bryant
i Mark Little
M ac I í A rtid i"
■ Sherrian Haggar ■ Mario Jackson
■ Charlotte Le w is ■ Howard Pernell
• Kathy Pennington ■ om Unthank
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