Mrs Frances Schoen-Mewspaper Room University of Oregon Library cugene, Oregon 97403 & Jesse Jackson on the Persian Gulf & Social Security “ We have a moral imperative to stop cooperating with our own oppression.” Spike Lee, ' ‘School Daze” Filmmaker Debates College Students See “ Economic Sanctions’ ’ , Page 3 Page 3 Page 7 I MM US P S 959 680 8556 Copyright E «ie Publishing Co Inc 1984 Volume XVIII, Number16 March 2.1988 "The Eyes and Ears of the Community' New Urban League Director — Youth Will be High Priority To interview Useni Eugene Perkins, Director of the Urban League of Portland, is to take a delightful, inform ative journey through African-Am erican his tory, art, literature, theater, and music. It is also a journey full of enthusiasm, fresh ideas, visions, and a smile that warms. The light that dances in his eyes when he talks is matched by the sparkle of his smile, espe cially when he talks about his childhood. “ I was pretty fortunate,” he re calls. “ I had a very strong father: Marion Perkins. He was a sculp ture and an activist. So as a child I was exposed to not only ideas, but to people — important peo ple. I can recall as a child I met people like Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison, Richard W right and Paul Robeson, who is my spi ritual mentor. I consider Mr. Robeson to be one of the great est men to ever live.” The author of several books, Mr. Perkins began w riting at an early age. “ I was given a lot of en couragement,” he said. “ Lang ston Hughes, as he is for most Black poets of my generation, was my inspiration. I had a chance to meet him, and the thing I’ve always tried to maintain is a sense of hum ility and be hum ble, because all of these great men were very humble. Langston Hughes was a very humble per son. So were Richard W right and Ralph Ellison. I even got to meet Mr. W.E.B. DuBois, and so that Impressed me. These were giants, yet they were very hum ble.” Born and raised in Chicago, he vividly remembers what it was like to grow up in the m idst of African-American literary giants. “ They set the standards,” he said. “ These people were highly = On writing about African-American youth — “ I am not in some academic setting doing a study on Black youth. I am a part of that setting. Photo by Richard J. Brown Useni Perkins. com mitted. They were com m it ted not just by work or rhetoric, but by example. My father was the primary model, not only to his art, but to the Black community. He saw both of them supporting each other; that art should be a reflection of all aspects of the Black community. So these were some of the things that inspired me when I began w riting.” Influenced by the realization that his father worked two jobs, Mr. P erkinsdidn’t set his sight on becom ing a w riter only. “I wanted to be a writer, but I was not going to say I wasn’t going to pursue another profession. I didn’t want to be a poor man’s ar tist, so I also became a profes sional social worker, and I have been lucky. The careers have paralleled each other w ithout any conflict. I have been able to maintain my creative interest and creative energy and, at the same time, maintain focus on my pro fessional career.” As an example of how the two professions nurture each other, he c ite d his w ritin g ab o u t African-American youth. “ A lot of my writing, especially as it related to Black youth, is basical ly a reflection of my work as a social worker; my observations, my emperical involvement with young people. The works that I have written relating to Black youth come out of my experience as a practitioner. I am not in some academic setting doing a study on Black youth. I am a part of that setting. I am out there working with Black youth on a day-to-day basis. W riting is a reflection of my involvement as a social worker.” Mr. Perkins has also written several plays. Shifting the conversation, he talked about the importance of a m ulti-cultural curriculum. “ Edu cation should be the foundation for one’s social development. The m ulti-cultural factor is ex tremely important, especially for Black youth. We can teach Johnny how to read. We also have to be concerned about what Johnny reads. “ A m ulti-cultural education provides Johnny with inform a tion which is more representative of his culture, which is very im portant in terms of contributing to his m o tiv a tio n and s e lf esteem. American history doesn't provide Black youth with enough of our history, ancient history, and history that relates and celebrates ourselves as peo ple. “ I am a strong supporter of m ulti-cultural education and pro grams. It not only helps the Black student, it helps the white stu dent equally as well. If the Black student has been exposed to m isinform ation, the white stu dent has also been exposed J o misinformation. Misinformation contributes to a lot of the feel ings and prejudices that whites have toward Blacks. We really have to see that the textbooks are more representative of the events that actually took place in this country. You have, here in Portland, once its implemented, a mutli-cultural curriculum that w ill become a model for the rest of the county.” When asked what he thought about Portland’s gang problem, Mr. Perkins said, “ I worked with gangs in Chicago for about twen ty years. If you do have a gang problem here in Portland, you need to look at why young people join gangs. More than likely you’ll find that they are attracted to gangs because perhaps other in stitu tio n s are not providing them with the kinds of things they need. This is what really creates gangs. “ Young people first need a sense of identity, and gangs give youth a sense of identity. They have a name, and they are proud of that name. They write it on the Exclusive ! this writer, was granted after members from the group con tacted Ron Herndon and the Black United Front requesting an interview with this newspaper. The purpose, they said, was to clear up some m isconceptions about who the Portland Bloods are and what they stand for. This is their story. When homeboys from North/- Northeast Portland started hang ing out together, their language contained words and phrases common to Black language spea kers — "C uz" ( relative or a very close friend), “ Homeboys" (African-American males from the same neighborhood, city or state), ‘Youngblood” (the young est Black male in an all-male group) and “ Blood" (Brother). Many of these Homeboys had grown up in Portland, attended the same schools and had parti cipated in the same school activi ties. For them, hanging out (be ing together) meant shooting and playing hoops (basketball) at the parks, visiting friends, going to the movies, attending basketball and football games, doing home work, double dating and going to house parties. The frequent get-togethers led to the group adopting the name "Hom eboys” to signify theirOre- gon-Portland roots. Around 1982-83, they adopted “ red” as their primary color. The adoption of red as a primary color was seen as a way to show how much they identified with the Rose City. At that time, they thought everyone understood what the color red meant to Portlanders. But that wasn't the case. During the years 1985-87, they found themselves confronted by members of the L.A. Crips, who demanded that they stop wearing the color red. They were told, “ Red is a war color in L.A. It is worn by our enemy: the L.A. Bloods.” The Homeboys ignored the threat for a while, but when their members began to be haras sed by members of the Crips, they decided to confront the issue. Confronting the issue meant letting the Crips know that “ they couldn't come into Portland and take over the neighborhood.” It also meant making the decision to wear red to show the Crips that the Homeboys were not going to be intimidated by outsiders from walls. “ Young people need to feel a sense of belonging and often this does not take place in the com munity. It’s not always happen ing in the schools. It many not be happening in the church. It may not be happening in the families, so the gang provides that. "Young people need a sense of security, and gangs give young people a sense of security. They feel more secure w ithin a gang structure. “ It also provides a sense of power. Young people, I believe, feel that they need to have some power. They read about power, they look at it on television, and they know that with power you can get things done. So young people want these things. “ To a certain extent, the gangs become an extended family. Be ing in a gang itself doesn’t neces sarily have to be negative. It’s the behavior of the gang that can be negative,” he said. Concerning his appointment as Director of the Urban League of Portland, Mr. Perkins said he When asked if there was any thing he wanted to say to Port land before he headed back to Chicago to wrap things up, he smiled, reflected for a long mo ment, and then said, “ Don’t measure me by past Urban Lea gue presidents or how su c cessful or unsuccessful they were. Measure me by what I do and give me the opportunity. I feel that I can do quite a bit for the Portland Urban League and the City of Portland. If not, I wouldn’t have come here. I believe that my resources, my experiences and my com m itm ent can do that,” he concluded. Mr. Perkins w ill assume his duties as Director April 1. For A fr ic a n - A m e r ic a n s throughout the City of Portland and the State of Oregon, I w ill take the opportunity to say, “ W el come, Brother Useni. Kick off your shoes, roll up your sleeves, step into the trenches and stay a long while. We have a lot of work to do — together.” South African Visitors Welcomed Here As Net of Repression Widens by Nyewusi Askari When a small group of North/- Northeast Portland “ homeboys” read and heard that the media were labeling them as the "P o rt land Bloods,” an L.A. style street gang, they were less than pleas ed. But, when the L.A. Crips began to physically confront, threaten, harass and physically attack them because of the co l ors they wore, they realized that their lives and their neighbor hoods would never be the same unless they themselves took d ir e c t a c tio n to m e e t th e challenge. Meeting the challenge meant organizing “ homeboys” (African- American males from the same neighborhood, city or state), establishing coded patterns of verbal and non-verbal com m uni ca tio n s, p a rtic ip a tin g in a c tivities that would ensure max imum safety for members of the group, and presenting a “ united fron t” whenever faced with vio lence or physical threats. These and other revelations were shared by several members of the Portland Bloods in an ex clusive interview with The Port land Observer. The interview, conducted by “ Paul Robeson — one of the greatest men to ever live.’ ’ Photo by Richard J. Brown feels the Urban League has the responsibility to be as accoun- tableaspossible. “ Itshouldhave a high degree of accountability. Social service agencies are in a situation where people expect them to do everything. I think agencies have to be very honest about what they are able to do in terms of service delivery. When they com m it a service to the com munity, they should do that with high quality. It’s hard to say how much you can do with lim ited re sources, but young people w ill be a high priority with the Portland Urban League. It is very impor tant that we place young people on a high priority. Of course, there are other problems we w ill have to look at and I wouldn’t want to make an early forecast.” California. The decision to resist the Crips invasion led to more con frontations. According to group members, many of the early con frontations took place at high schools. Crip members would come onto campus, target a stu dent wearing red (cap, socks, shoes, shirt, ect.) and confront him. It didn’t matter if he be longed to the Homeboys’ group. Soon word had spread through out most high schools in the Portland Metropolitan area that any African-American male stu dent caught wearing red of any kind would be confronted by the Crips and given an “ L.A. style whuppin.” As the confrontations conti nued, the Homeboys found them selves with a new name: The Port land Bloods. Leaders of the group said this label came from confused law enforcement o ffi cers, who, at the time, didn't know the difference between a Blood and a Crip, and from the media. And by the time the Homeboys realized what had happened, they were being la b e le d as “ v io le n t ’ ’ and See “ Exclusive -. Page 4 by I.R. Macrae to B.P.A. Deputy Adm inistrator W ith the iron heel of repres Jack Robertson, the two utility sion coming down hard on the engineers were here to gather in backs of South Africa's Black re form ation about transmission sistance movement, the U.S. technology to aid in a major rural State Department appears anx electrification project back ious to maintain the appearance home is South Africa. of supporting opponents of the The fact that B.P.A. has long policy of racial separation known been considered one of the as apartheid. In the aftermath of w orld's most efficient providers last week's news of a govern ment-imposed ban on the activi of low -cost e le c tric ity draws such visitors from throughout ties of 17 major anti-apartheid the world, Schausten said; the groups in South Africa, U.S. o ffi cials issued statements expres two white South Africans were merely extended the same cour sing righteous indignation at the tesy as all the rest. decision to outlaw virtually all When asked whether this kind peaceful protest against apar of hospitality is extended to all theid. foreign countries equally, regard Yet at the very moment when less of the character of their poli the ban was being imposed, an tical systems, Schausten said he event here in Portland provided more evidence of this adm ini was not aware of any restrictions. “ We have checked through our stration’s lack of interest in the boss at D.O.E. There is nothing in fate of South A frica’s suffering federal regulations that would Black majority. discourage us from an exchange On Wednesday, Feb. 23, the Bonneville Power A d m in istra of this sort," he explained. Pressed as to whether techni tion, an entity under the direct cal information would be freely supervision of the U.S. Depart offered even to countries like ment of Energy, extended a hear Cuba or Iran, Schausten could ty welcome to two representa only say that his superiors were tives of one of South Africa's seeking clarification on the mat- largest u tility companies. Accor See “ Viators” , Page 5 ding to Dan Schausten. assistant