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