B lack H istory M onth • F ebruary 1 9 9 0
FEBRUARY 7,1990
“ The Eyes a n d The Ears o f the C om m unity”
PCC: Is The Name Of
The Game The Same?
When Oil Sardinia left California in
late 1989, to assume a position at Portland
Community C ollege’s Sylvania Campus,
he brought with him a Juris Doctorate from
Hastings C ollege o f the Law, an M .A. in
Social Work from San Francisco State and
a B .A . in S ociology from the University o f
California at Berkley.
Offering these credentials, the 4 0 year
old who migrated to the U .S. from Cuba
when he was 13 thought that he was enter
ing a work environment that was anxious to
utilize his m ulti-faceted talents.
In September, 1989, Sardinia applied
for the position o f Literacy Coordinator at
the Sylvania Campus.
Although he w as not offered the p osi
tion o f Literary Coordinator, Sardinia claims
Sylvania Executive Dean Paul W illiams
hired him on O c t 3, to teach English as a
non-native language (ENNL) and sched
uled him to m eet the follow ing day with a
screening committee.
In the meeting with the committee which
included Administrators Peter Hirsch and
D ale Edmonds, and Claudia N awas, ENNL
Program Supervisor, Sardinia said Edmonds
asked why he wanted the job. “ Are you
having a m id-life crisis,” he asked.
Sardinia further stated that the ques
tion was based on discrimination o f race
andage. “ It was obviously clear to m e that
Dale Edmonds did not want m e to b e h in d
at PCC far any position,” Sardinia said.
“ H e (Edmonds) later admitted to m e that
he w as unhappy because he had people
waiting on half-time positions and Paul
(W illiams) put you in ahead o f them .” The
comm ittee found Sardinia unqualified for
the position o f EN N L instructor.
In late October, Sardinia claim s W il
liams made another offer to him to become
an Administrative Assistant to the Execu
tive Dean and to teach tw o evening Sociol
o g y classes. H e accepted the offer and
began his duties on November 1st, 1989.
On Novem ber 6, Sardinia alleges W il
liams informed him that PCC President
Dan Moriaty had called him (W illiams)
over the w eekend at home and instructed
him to terminate Sardinia’s employment
due to budget considerations. But accord
ing to Sardinia, W illiams told him he would
try to find him something by January 1st,
1990.
Sardinia informed W illiam s that he
had m oved his fam ily from California and
fully expected PCC to honor it’s agreement
to hire him.
On Novem ber 9, Sardinia claims Mori
aty reversed his decision to terminate him
and changed his job description to that o f
Academic Advisor with a 40% teaching
responsibility in Sociology.
On November 20, Sardinia filed a
complaint with the Affirmative Action Office
at the campus and on November 24, sent a
chronology o f the events leading up to the
complaints to the PCC Board o f Directors.
On Dec. 4 , Affirmative Action Direc
tor Jorge Espinosa responded to the com
plaint in a letter to Sardinia, which in addi
tion to dealing with the complaint, Espi
nosa stated * T am concerned about the level
o f stress and emotional upset that you have
displayed in our recent conversations.’ ’
Espinosa offered to provide college
assistance in arranging professional con
sultation. The letter also requested Sardinia
to sign an agreement which stated that
neither (Espinosa) or other people involved
in the investigation would be subject to
beleginent or threatening behavior. Sar
dinia refused to sign the agreem ent
According to Sardinia, acts o f racism
at Sylvania campus goes unpunished even
though complaints are properly filed with
PCC administration. In fact, he slates, many
people who file complaints o f racism and
racial harrassment are transferred to other
PCC campuses.
Sardinia believes that the intimidation
and harrassment that he has experienced is
due possibly to his activism in advocating
Affirmative Action at PCC.
Sardinia claim s that the procedure for
filing Affirmative Action Complaints is
designed to discourage the complaint from
seeking redress other then internally. He
cites as a prime example a PCC require
ment that say complaints that is filed with
any investigative body other the PCC does
not warrant an investigation by the C ollege
Affirmative Action officer.
According to Sardinia, the lengthy
investigation process by E.E.O.C. or Civil
Rights agencies in the federal government
most certainly encourages an individual to
look to the C ollege Affirmative Action
officer to respond to complaints in a proper
and timely fashion.
But Sardinia states that PCC has his
torically refused to develop a workable
Affirmative Action plan and has instead
fostered an atmosphere on the Sylvania
campus that encourages racial harrassment
and intimidation.
E d ito r Note; An January 31st, one
hour after leaving the Observer's office Gil
Sardivia was suspended by PCC C ollege
President Dan Moriaty pending a hearing
which w ill precede his termination. The
Observer tried on numerous occassions to
contact President Moriaty but was unsuc
cessful. N ex t W eek: The threats against
Halim Rashaan.
Male/Female: Dialogue
by Ullysses Tucker, J r.
Y ou know, the dialogue created by my
first story on Jan. 1 0 ,1 9 9 0 w ill just not go
away. Actually, I am pleased that it is still
generating so many comments and provok
ing so much interaction.
Recently, I was invited to a “ Super
B ow l Party” by a Black, single, profes
sional female and I had a good time. It was
so n o f a networking party. C ouples, single
Black men and women as w ell as other
ethnic groups. I figured out that something
was up when I walked in and the hostess
handed m e a xeroxed copy o f the stories and
then heard from the back room, * ’That's the
one. There he is . . .** I grabbed a cocktail
and braced m yself for the pounding or
expected pounding such as the Denver
Broncos later received. It w as not bad,
thank God, as the perception I had walking
through the door.
Sure, I was asked questions about what
type o f person I looked for in a mate, where
were som e o f the brothers I said I knew who
wanted to m eet Black wom en, and m y
underlining motivation for writing the story
by many o f the single Black w om en there.
The whole party was buzzing about the
story. I enjoyed talking about the story
more than the gam e, but more importantly,
the perspectives shared by all.
Through it all, one thing remains crys
tal clear, there is a great deal o f bitterness
and hurt hidden away inside each o f us.
Sometimes, this can affect comm unica
tions as documented last week. W e all have
emotional baggage from our childhood,
past relationships, or family trauma that
overtly affects how we deal with others. If
personal growth is desired, one must purged
this baggage from our conscious/uncon-
sciousness and get on to happier and health
ier days psychologically. In short, don't let
what was prevent you from what could be
or is . . .
I sensed a great deal o f frustration,
even som e within me, among black males
and females regarding their inability to find
the perfect mate. Everyone wants that Jayne
Kennedy 10 or that B illy D ee W illiams -
Eddie Murphy type. One sister noted som e
thing at the party that is worth repeating.
She a sk ed ," . . . how can he want a perfect
ten when he is not a 10 himself? Good
question, huh?l I think that her point is a
that I was a snake when you brought me in
here, didn't you? The hunter died with his
expectation o f reform and the snake eased
on down the road. Expectations can kill a
dream or a relationship.
I f people could all shut their
eyes and just listen to others, many
would probably be surprised at
who they were attracted to spiri
tually or intellectually. Every good
person in the world is not a ten on
the outside, but maybe there is a
10 inside o f the heart.
legitimate one, w ell taken by those who
were listening. D o expectations set folks up
for disappointment or better still, do we
think that we can make som eone into
something they are not? Should the hus
band o f ten years be disappointed when his
w ife still does not want kids when she told
him while dating that she never wanted
children? She was open, honest about her
feelings and expectations, but he figured
that he could change her mind. N ow , he
wants a divorce and blames her because she
does not want children. A great revelation
on his p a rt. . .
I was even reminded about the hunter
and the snake story by one young lady when
it com es to expectations. It so happened
that a hunter came across a snake in the road
who was very ill. Being somewhat compas
sionate, the hunter picked up the snake and
carried it back to his cabin to nurse it. They
became the best o f friends. They talked
about old flames, loves in their lives, and
about being hurt by others. As time went
by, their friendship got stronger and the
snake regained his strength. One day, while
the hunter gazed out from the porch o f his
cabin at a beautiful sunset, the snake bit him
and let loose a fair amount o f poison. The
hunter fell to his knees in disbelief, dying
and looking at the snake in total confusion,
he asked why? The snake looked the hunter
right square in the eyes an said, you knew
There’s nothing wrong with having
expectations if two people are on the same
page. The thrill o f sharing a collective
vision, dream, or understanding has eluded
many people. Being on the same page and
in the same book is so very important to
relationships. People have to want what
each wants. It definitely has to be mutual.
Lastly, do you ever think that there will
com e a time where people, especially Black
men and women, will accept someone or
each other for their character, inner-beauty,
dreams, values, morals, social responsibil
ity, or vision as oppose to their physical
makeup or BMW /BENZ? Unfortunately
not in my opinion. Eyes have a tendency to
be attracted to pretty things or beautiful
people.
If people could all shut their eyes and
just listen to others, many would probably
be surprised at who they were attracted to
spiritually or intellectually. Every good
person in the world is not a ten on the
outside, but maybe there is a 10 inside o f the
heart. Instead, people like the way those
jeans fit or how handsome he may be even
though he is a “ knucklehead" or she might
bean “ airhead.” I guest all people have
something to offer, whether someone is
attracted to them or not. Close your eyes
and listen.
Sharon Gary-Sm ith (left) intro
duces her daughter M ario tta (far
right) and Stacey Pernell at Satur
day's Pathways Youth Conference,
"O n Becoming A W om an." The tow
young women shared what they
learned during the day with other
conference participants, who ranged
in age from seven to 91.
3
W
"Women of Wisdom" (from left'
Alicia M cKenzie, Lauretta Slaugh
ter, Pearl Lewis and Joanne Suel
Green shared their experience ant
knowledge with Pathways members
M ore than 80 Pathways members
parents and friends attended thi
American Red Cross youth group*
first conference.
ü jflC H
Pathways now meets at a net
time at the American Red Cross, 313
N. Vancouver, starting Thursday, Fet
8, from 3 - 5 p.m. Theme for Febru
ary is "Black History M onth - Yes
terday, Tomorrow, Future." Call 2K
1234 for more information.
History As A Weapon Of Racists
by Professor McKinley Burt
Don't just free Nelson Mandela o f South Africa; Free the minds
and psyches o f millions o f Black and white Americans.
The American media is in the midst o f
a fast food frenzy as it describes the golden
arches o f a gigantic new McDonald’s, "right
there in the middle o f M oscow , R u ssia-
under the stony gaze of a statue o f Russia's
most famous poet, Alexander Pushkin.”
That's it! You are not to find out from these
press dispatches or from your literature
classes, or from anthologies, that Pushkin
was an A frican who not only raised Rus
sian literature to a world class status, but
who used his passionate soul to provide the
inspiration for a hundred m illion serfs to
revolt and free themselves from the tyranny
o f the Czar. The Russian's honor him in the
great Pushkin Square, African visage and
all, while our historians and professors
quiver in their ivy towers lest som e student
make the fatal inquiry. And while East
Europeans mount the barricades, singing
the phrases o f Martin Luther King, Jr. local
rightwingers embarass Portland before the
world over a Union Avenue name change.
It was on November 7 o f last year that
the Oregonian favored us with one o f their
feather-light touches upon the Eurocentric
revisions o f history (B.7). An article by
Professor Martin Bernal o f Cornell Univer
sity (author o f 'Black Athena’) with the
subheading, “ Ancient Greek Culture was
based on African, Asian influence, not
Northern European.” W ell and good if we
keep in mind that it was the Greeks alone
who originated the barbaric practice o f
scalping, and that the practice was in cor-
porated into several thousand years o f Eu
ropean warfare. The British and French
brought this savagery to the Americas where
they taught their Indian mercenaries to use
this method o f documenting their kills (if
they wished to be paid). Most o f Bernal's
article simply cites a few o f the same Afri
can preeminences I have been detailing in
m y “ Perspectives” column the past two
years. There follow s a few highlights from
the piece under discussion.
For the past 200 years, ancient Greece
has been viewed as th epitome o f European
culture. It is seen as setting artistic and
intellectual standards fo r later Europeans
to follow. At the same time, it is implied that
This theory was frequently used to justify
European and North American supremacy
over the non-white peoples o f other conti
nents—and their own. When colonialists
argued, as they often did, that Africans or
N ative Am ericans needed 2,000 years o f
civilization before they cou ld reach Euro
pean "standards," they were thinking less
o f Jesus, who w as not a European, than they
w ere o f P lato and Aristotle, w ho were a s
sum ed to be Europeans.
There is no doubt that G reece has been
the largest single source o f the elem ents
that compose modern European civiliza
tion. The question whose answ er affects
people, however, is: H ow European w as
ancient G reece?
In contrast to this A ryan model, I p r o
pose reviving what I am calling the ancient
m odel o f G reek origins. It maintains that
much o f the higher culture o f the classical
an d H ellenistic periods (between 550 and
50 B.C.) cam e from Phoenician trading
cities along the coast o f Lebanon and Syria
and from Egypt, whose African people
included many who w ould now be consid
ered Black.
The means o f transmission consisted o f
G reek statesmen, scientists an d philoso
phers who had studied in Egypt, o r traders
from Egyptian and Phoenician cities or
colonies established around 1500 B.C. in
what is now G reece.
The ancient m odel thus differs from the
Aryan m odel in holding that G reek civiliza
tion came not fro m Europe, but from Africa
and western Asia.
M artin Bernal
It is to be noted in this article that Mr.
Bem al has not completely divorced him
self from certain “ putative” predudices, a
historiographic term I defined last week
("Com m only accepted-assumed” ). It is
common practice on the part o f establish
ment historians to omit the fact and the
readily available documentation that these
geographical areas and colonies were e i
ther founded by, occupied by or under the
hegemony o f African dynasties o f the time.
* 'the Middle East' * is simply a term used to
conceal the real ethnicity o f ancient peoples
II j
i
n iwi
Crete, Carthage and North Africa as I
Part and parcel o f this obfuscation is the
<W
its existence places Eu
higher plan than those o f other continents.
m muw
fact that Black skills in navigation are
usually deprecated or completely omitted
(these greatest astronomers o f the ancient
world). This same ploy o f an inability to
traverse the oceans is used by anthropolo
gists in support o f their ludricious inven
tions o f races to avoid recognition o f the
obviously African ancestry o f the inhabi
tants o f the Islands o f the Pacific (Perhaps
the “ Chariot o f the G ods” brought them).
Be careful Mr. Gorbachev o f the fast
food circus in M oscow where our press
reports “ Mountains o f food, jugglers, and
men dressed as cartoon characters dancing
through the crow d-Punk rockers and skin
h ead !—waiting to pass under the golden
arches. ’ * Sounds like today's version o f the
ancient Italian Commedia del'arte street
players—a North African importation. Bol-
shaya Bronaya Street in famed Pushskin
Square is in danger o f being trivialized not
to mention the memory o f the great Black
bard whose poem, Ode To L iberty read,
' ‘Oh shake and shiver, tyrants o f the world.
But lend an ear ye fallen slaves, gain cour
age and rise. ’' Those o f us who prayed fora
Peace D ividend now fear that President
Gorbochev may be called on next not to
sign an arms reduction treaty but to an
nounce on satellite T.V. that his next stop
will be at “ Disneyland.”
So what kind o f ethical, resourceful
and commited researchers do we have
available to write our histories and text
books? D on’t ask! For a hundred years
academic charlatans have told us only that
the slaves picked cotton, hewed wood and
served in the kitchen and bed up at the big
house. But for little more than the price of
return postage one can leam from the for
mer British Colonial O ffice that in the
American Colonies “ there were over 265
Iron Plantations, ranging from Saugus,
Massachusetts to th Chesapeake Bay area,
most operated by thousands o f Black men,
women and children. Their names and ages
are given as well as each individual's pro
duction in the various crafts. This should
not be surprising since Yale and other uni
versity expeditions have documented an
8,000 year-old metalworking tradition in
^ ^ ^ S J a ^ H e r r Ooebbcls, have done a
better job on the American people than
their trusted mentors.