2 • Portland Observer • Black History Month • February 14,1990
1990 Proclaimed
as the Year of
Malcolm X
by P rof McKinley Burt
In keeping with the theme o f Black
History Month, I will devote several ar
ticles to African-American innovators and
inventors who have made significant con
tributions to the professions and technol
ogy o f the world. The first two contributors
are from another day and time-when it is
almost unbelievable that a Black could per
severe against the odds which confronted
people of color.
K atherine Johnson former Aerospace
Technologist at the National Aeronautice
and Space Administration’s Langley Re
search Center. This is the mathematician
and physicist whose development of ana
lytic techniques for examing data on space
nav igation and lunar orbital missions led to
a successful landing on the moon. It was her
work, primarily, whch led to the Group
Achievement Award presented to NASA’a
Lunar Spacecraft and Operations Team.
F irst W om an Physician in State of
Alabama, a Black: "Dr. Hallie Tanner Johnson,
educated at the Women’s Medical College
in Philadelphia, became resident physician
at Tuskegee Institute after successfully stand
ing for the Alabama State Board o f Exam
iners. She died in 1900 at her home in
Nashville, Tennessee.”
Burkins Mondemizes the Gattling Gun:
"Eugene Burkins, inventor of the Burkin’s
Automatic Machine Gun was at one lime a
Chicago shoe shine boy . . . barely able to
read or write . . . never a soldier and no
experience with a gun, he made his first
model with a pen knife after examining
pictures of the Battleship Maine . . . Lead
ing colored people financed a production
model and Admiral Dewey said it was ‘by
far the best machine gun ever made - seven
times faster than the Gatling Gun. ’ Several
foreign countries offered large sums for the
right to manufacture, but Mr. Burkins and
his partners proposed to control the inven
tion.”
O.S. W illiams: Black aeronautical en
gineer. A specialist in small rocket engine
design (at Thiokol Chemical Corportation),
he later at Grumman International produced
the control rockedt systems that guided
lunar modules during the moon landing.
William, a vice president of the firm is now
in charge of trade and industrial relations
with African nations. His work includes the
applications of solar and wind energy.
Rufus Stokes: Early enviroment-con-
cemed scientist. Mr. Stokes who began as a
machinist for an incinerator company, A
very important and pioneering patent was
granted to him on an air-purification device
to reduce to a safe level the gas and ash from
furnace and powerplant smoke. His "clean
air machine" technology has not only ad
vanced ecology, but has greatly alleviated
the problems of people with respiratory
ailments.
J. E rnest W ilkins Jr.: Mathematician
and Physicist who received his doctorate
from the University of Chicago at age 19.
His major talents have been in the field of
nuclear power, becoming part owner of a
company which designed and developed
reactors for power generation. Researchers
in space and nuclear projects are inspace
and nuclear projects are indebted to him for
development of shields againstGamma Rays.
He is a former president of the American
Nuclear Society.
The following scientists and engineer
are today's senior African-American prac
titioners of the technical arts. Many younger
men and women have risen to swell these
ranks of the best America has to offer. All
are in addition to the notables I have fre
quently cited in my lectures and on televi
sion - and in my now internationally-dis
tributed book. Black Inventors of America.
This Way For Black Empowerment
by I h . I i
llu n i
I tiliini
Dr Lenora Fulani is the chairperson of the
New Alliance Party and a practicing social
therapist in Harlem. She can be contacted
at the New Alliance Parly, 2032 Fifth Ave
nue, New York. NY 10035 and at (212) 996-
4700.
The trouble with opportu
nity is it comes disguised as
hard work.
r
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et m e state at the outset
that I'm one o f those
who think the last thing
w e n e e d is a n o t h e r
ed u c atio n rep o rt. A nd
then let m e m ake an exception
Education That Works A n A c
tion Plan J ot the Education o f
M inorities addresses an issue ot
vital im portance to all of us con
c e r n e d a b o u t o u r n a t i o n ’s
schools, o u r n atio n 's children,
and o u r n atio n ’s future.
T h e report, funded by the
C arnegie C o rp o ratio n , is the re
sult of nearly two years of work
by a group of educators an d so
cial scientists at M IT . T h ey a n
alyzed program s that are suc
cessfu lly e d u c a tin g m in o r ity
youth and cam e up with a plan
to m ake all schools work for
m inority students.
T h e r e c o m m e n d a tio n s o f
Education That Works will be
fam iliar to regular readers of
th is co lu m n . As th e a u th o rs
point out, quality schooling for
minority children m eans quality
sc h o o lin g fo r all c h i ld r e n —
regardless of race, ethnic group,
or gender. W hat m akes this re
port so im portant is its focus on
a critical issue at a crucial time.
W ithin the next few weeks,
the W hite H ouse and the N a
tional G o v e rn o rs’ A ssociation
wi,ll issue the national goals for
e d u c a tio n m a n d a te d by la st
fall’s education sum m it. As we
d isc u ss w ays to re a c h th e se
goals, we m ust not for one m o
m e n t f o rg e t th e 13 m illio n
m inority students in o u r n a
tio n 's schools.
Providing quality education
fo r th e s e s tu d e n ts r e m a in s
A m erica's unfulfilled obligation
In ju st ten years, one-third of
A m erica's public school students
will be m em bers of racial and
ethnic m inorities. If o u r schools
The overall goals of the Year of M al
colm X are:
•T o increase awareness among A fri
can-Americans about the contributions of
Malcolm X to the progress and develop
ment of African People in the United Stales
and abroad.
• To sponsor activities that provide a
national opportunity for people of African
descent to honor his memory through con
crete actions and programs.
• To promote and support existing o b
servances in honor of Malcolm X in Afri
can- American andAfric an communities thn >ugf»>ut
the United Stated and the world.
• To encourage and support efforts to
have appropriate monuments and memori
als developed in Malcolm’s X's memory,
i.e., parks, libraries, murals, etc.
PRESS INQUIRIES ONLY:
804-782-9836 (Richmond, VA1
sisting arrest, obstruction of governmental
administration and playing the radio too
loud. Given the chance to plea bargin, they
refused.
The county district attorney is out for
blood. “We’ve put it to them that if you
want a trial, w e’re more than happy to
accomodate," he told a reporter, adding that
punishment was “ absolutely necessary."
After seeing their court appointed law
yers laughing it up with the judge, the
yound people decided to take their case to
Governor Mario Cuomo, Mr. Democratic
Party liberal himself. Sorry, they were told
by an aide— the district attorney down there
runs the show.
In desperation, one of the students called
me. "Dr. Fulani’s in an ideal position really
to help us out in our fight against them
because she's independent. She’s not work
ing for Governor Cuomo, so she has no
restrictions on what she can do for us and
what she can’t,” is how a student supporter
of the eight explains it. “She's just here to
make sure that justice is done. And that’s
important, because there’s a lot of people
out there who want to help us, but we know
that their help has to be limited to a certain
point, because you’re talking about jobs,
you're talking about a political thing.”
Not all of the students were willing to go
with me. But a num berof them are down for
the fight. Our children need adults who will
go all the way with them and for them,
because the cops are going all the way.
So many young people are not inte
grated or integrateable into this society, and
they know it. They know exactly what’s
going on; they came out by the thousands to
protest the murder of Yusuf Hawkins— the
young black man who was beaten to death
by a mob of white youth last summer in
Bensonhurst. They support the Nation of
Islam. They come out radical. They know
who Reverend A1 Sharpton is and who I am.
The issue is to channel that energy into a
war against reaction. People want to eat, to
walk on the streets and not get their brains
blown out, not have their kids recruited to
sell drugs. The reformers think these arc
"high expectations.” High expectations?
Look at what people are doing in Eastern
Europe to those who stand in the way of
democracy.
Imagination is as good as
many voyages - and how
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much cheaper.
‘Education That Works’
The National Malcolm X Commcmora
tion Commission has proclaimed 1990 4s
The Year of Malcolm X in honor of the
great African-American leader who was
assassinated 25 years ago on February 21,
1965.
"In honoring Malcolm X.” declared Dr.
lames Turner, national coordinator of the
Commission, "we are pay ing tribute to the
memory of a master teacher who was one of
the most formidable intellectual, spiritual,
and ideological leaders of the 20th Century
— a resolute champion of the liberation of
African people around the world. His truth
was powerful. Il dignified our spirit: it
educated and corrected our self-image; it
revolutionized our political consciousness
By studying his life, we draw lessons that
will aid in the survival and progress of our
people."
Appropriately, then, the theme for this
year’s activities is “MALCOLM X: The
Life, The Legacy, The Lessons". On Febru
ary 21, 1990, the 25th anniversary of Mal
colm X ’s assassination:
• We Remember Malcolm Day obser
vances will be held at a number of Black
college campuses around the country.
• We Remember Malcolm Day will be
observed in New York City w ith a memo
rial service at Abyssinian Baptist Church in
Harlem.
• Anationalsignaturednve willbelaunc lied
to encourage a broad cross-section of Afri
can-Americans to endorse the idea of ob
serving May 19— Malcolm X ’s birthday
as an African-American Day of Commemo
ration in 1990 and beyond.
The proclamation of 1990 as The Year
of Malcolm X is a project of the Africa:
American Progressive Action Network
High Expectations
On New Year’s Day 1990 the cops of
69th Precinct in the Canarsie section of
Brooklyn, New York stomped 27 year old
Dane Kemp, Jr. to death right on the floor of
the station house. Lately the cops have
moved on to younger targets; they shot
down 13 year old Robbie Cole on the streets
of East Harlem because, they say, he had a
gun (eyewitnesses say he lay the unloaded
and broken weapon in the street and pleaded
for his life before he was shot). A few days
before that it was 14 year old Jose Luis
Lebron, a Puerto Rican youngster, who was
shot to death in Brooklyn by cops who say
he was reaching for a gun— which he didn’t
have. That was four days after they killed
Louis Liranso, 17.
In the 60's, when many of us believed
that we would overcome someday soon,
college seemed to offer one way out of the
terror of racial violence. In 1990 we know
that the terror of the streets follows our kids
everywhere.
Students at the State University of New
York in New Paltz have experienced it
firsthand: "Officer Calandria lifted me off
the ground and placed me in a chokehold,
and I could not breathe. I thought maybe
this was normal procedure. I'm standing on
my toes, and I ’m thinking. "I can't breathe,
but h e’ll let me breathe in a little while.”
Then they handcuffed me, held me in the
chokehold, my feet, by toes, are barely on
the floor and I ’m thinking he's going to let
me go soon. But he didn't. I hear Michelle
and Lisa crying, and witnesses who had
come around the back yelling and scream
ing. It was Pandemonium every where. Then
he slams me face first into the police car;
I ’m still not resisting anest, and I ’m still in
a chokehold, and I'm thinking, he's going
to kill me, and I didn't resist, and I'm going
to die right here on the hood of his car. I had
no reservations at all at this point that I was
going to die. All I could think was "Ross,
w hat's your brother going to think?” T hat’s
all I could think."
It all started when the while manager of
a cafeteria on campus pulled the TV out
after deciding that the Black students didn't
know how to act right. The next daya group
of students came in with a portable tape
player, and began playing Public Enemy's
“ Fight the Power" and a tape of Minister
Farrakhan."
The campus police were soon on the
scene, followed by town and county police
officers. Eight students— seven young Black
men and a young white woman (who re
fused the cops' offer to let her escape ar
rest)— were arrested and charged with re
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION
IlCcl
NOTICE!
continue to fail these children,
we are w riting off one-third of
o u r future leaders, o u r future
workforce, o u r future citizens.
Education That Works lays
out 10 principles to guide us in
averting this national tragedy.
T hese guidelines stress the need
to build real bridges between
com m unities, work, and schools
in ways that are respectful o f the
diverse cultures that com prise
o u r nation. All 10 guidelines are
im portant, b ut I ’d like to focus
on ju st two that I believe go to
King Center Gets $25,000
Witnesses to incident at Lloyd Cen
ter Shopping Mall on Friday, Dec.
15th, 1989, approximately 8:35 p.m.
between African-American female
accompanied by five children, and
white security guard employed by
J.C. Penney's. Please contact (503)
286-3254.
Letter to the Editor
Commissioner Dick Bogle
President, NEA
(202)822-7200
General inquiries:
202-722-2964 (Washington, D C.)
who are denied full participation in society
for all the wrong reasons.
I believe the City Council was right in
recognizing Dr. King’s accomplishments. 1
believe we were right in naming a street in
his honor. .. because his life’s work was cut
short, and the struggle is far from over.
I hope and pray the people of Portland
will open their minds, and their hearts, be
fore deciding this issue at the ballot box
Whatever the outcome, the initiative
process has worked.
Personally, I will do everything in my
power to convince the people of Portland
. . . prior to election day . . . that Martin
Luther King Boulevard means more to our
future than Union Avenue means to our
past.
KEITH GEIGER
N ational E ducation Association • 1201 S ixteenth Street, N.W . • W ashington, DC 20036
.
Let’s imagine, for a moment, that Mar
tin Luther King, Jr. is with us today. What
would he be thinking? What would he say ’
Knowing what he stood f o r . . . a world
where people judge one another on the
basis o f individual worth, not on the color
of their sk in . . . the message he would share
with us is clear:
Do the right thing . . . the fair thing .
the just thing.
He might go on to talk about how Ore
gon’s tradition of independence is embod
ied in the Union Avenue petition.
He might point out that Oregon was the
first state to enact initiative, referendum
and recall laws . . . to give the people the
final say on issues of importance.
He would certainly applaud the peti
tioners for working peacefully to achieve
their aims.
He would then use all his God-given
powers to oppose those aims .. . because a
higher principle is at issue. It is the prin
ciple of equity. Dr. King lived . . . and died
. . . for that principle.
More than anyone in American history,
he made that principle an inspiration for
oppressed people everywhere.
More than anyone in American history,
he sym bolized. .. and continues to symbol
ize . . . the on-going struggle to achieve
equity for millions of individuals .. people
America’s
Obligation
To
Minority
Children
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A smile is the shortest dis
tance between two people
-------------------------------- “ I
PLACE
YOUR
ADVERTISEMENT
HERE
Contact
The Portland Observer
288-0033
KING CENTER GETS S25.OOO FROM
GREYHOUND— Mrs. Coretta Scott King
recently accepted a S25.OOO check from
The Greyhound Corporation for The King
Center. Making the donatin for Greyhound
CREED OF THE BLACK PRESS
national antagonisms when it accords to every person, regardless o f race, color, or
creed, full human and legal rights. Hating no person, fearing no person, the Black
Press strives to help every person in the firm belief that all are hu rt as long as anyone
Is held back.
The
Portland Observer
Newspaper
4747 N.E. Martin Luther
King Jr., Blvd.
(Formerly Union Avenue)
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were Thomas Cangemi (center), president
of Dobbs Houses, Inc., and James Paschal
(right), of Dobbs-Paschal Midfield Corpo
ration. Greyhound has contributed $ 125,000
to the center over the past five years.
The Black Press believes that Am erica can best lead the world away from social and
A
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the heart o f im proving educa
tion in A m erica
T h e first is that providing
quality education for m inority
students requires a fundam ental
r e s tru c tu rin g o f o u r schools.
T h e report defines restructuring
as m oving educational decision
m aking to the local level so that
teachers and principals can re
d esig n th e ir schools to m eet
their stu d en ts’ individual needs
T h e authors o f the report
h av e little p a tie n c e w ith th e
argum ent that simply allowing
parents to choose the schools
their children attend is the path
to im proving education: “ W e
believe this to be unlikely be
cause this proposal puts the cart
before the horse. Schools m ust
be restructured before students
can have a choice.”
T h e second critical guideline
is that we m ust intervene early if
we w ant all A m erica’s children
to arrive at school ready to
learn. T h e re ’s no shortage of re
se a rc h d o c u m e n tin g th e im
portance of adequate pre-natal
and infant n u tritio n — and the
success of program s like H ead
Start that provide appropriate
learning experiences for toddlers
and pre-school children. But as
the report points out, “ W e seem
to lack the national will to do
what is clearly in the ch ild ren ’s
or the co u n try ’s best in te re st.”
Education That Works urges
us to recognize the pow er of
education: “ T h e door to the
future for every child is first and
foremost the door to the school-
house. ”
W e owe it to ourselves— and
to our children— to open that
door wide for every youngster.
T o do any less would be a be
tray al o f A m eric a’s ch ild ren ,
A m erica’s future, and A m er
ica's ideals.
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