Page 2 The Portland Observer June 6,1990
Stop Flexing Your Sexual Ego
Mandela to receive
“Proud Lady”
Award
More Adventures In Learning:
Making Curriculum Relevant
by Professor McKinley Burt
Last week I promised to describe an
innovative multi-disciplinary course I
introduced at Portland State University
in the early seventies, “ Black Eco
nomic Experience.” Completely un
expected was the fact that this origi
nally one-semester offering became a
full school year course accepted for
three credit hours in such diverse areas
as history , minority studies, urban stud
ies, business and sociology. Even more
extraordinary was the fact that my home
department was the much-maligned
“ Black Studies Department.”
Let us first examine the social sce
nario that presaged this unusual event.
The country was riding the crest of a
wave of urban cultural readjustments
labeled as the new “ Great Society.” In
the community, in the agency, on the
street and in the university some con
cessions were being made to a surging
sense of identity on the part of African
Americans. The field of education was
also affected and there, with tongue-in-
cheek, a rigid and racist academia con
ceded in places that there might be
some validity (not much) in the propo
sition that African Americans had a
role in history other than the traditional
categories of slavery and degradation.
The very first course I taught at
P.S.U. (1971) was based upon a book I
had written about the historic, and later,
contributions of Blacks to the science
and technology of this country—and the
world, “ Black Inventors of America.”
What happened is that it soon became
obvious that for an understanding of
such an extraordinary event as the sud
den appearance on the world’s stage of
so many African American geniuses, it
would be necessary to examine their
background in two time directions--
their past and the future ramifications
of the process.
For example, the question most fre
quently asked by many Blacks, and
almost all whites-whether in my class
room, on national lecture tours, or by
queries from readers across the coun-
try-w as how could these “ backward”
exslaves and “ half-literate” early twen
tieth century African Americans have
made such brilliant contributions to the
science and technology of the world?
Their inventions and discoveries ranged
from industrial machinery to railroad
engineering, from electrical lighting
systems to thermodynamic refining
processes, from telephone and telegraph
to safety appliances. It was the startling
answer to this question that was predi
cation for the first major expansion of
the course.
Well documented research deter
mined that the slave-bound pastof these
inventors was not simply the antebel
lum shuffle of cotton pickers and mix
ers of mint juleps from establishment
folklore, but that, instead, plantation
Professor McKinley Burt
Blacks ran the cotton gins and much
other machinery, were the blacksmiths
and the millwrights, ran the saw mills,
and built the fabulous southern man
sions, and were the bricklayers and the
forgers of the intricate ironwork of New
Orleans. The course developed into a
fascinating account of “ real” history
as it was revealed that during the civil
war Blacks ran the railroads and manu
factured munitions and uniforms for a
Confederate war machine desperate for
manpower. Indeed, these Blacks pos
sessed all the prerequisites for under
standing technology and carrying it to
new heights-which they did!
With these startling revelations of
previously concealed historical facts,
word spread throughout the school’s
student body and faculty-m any more
white students registered for the ex
panded class to the chagrin of white
instructors who were losing F.T£. (“ Full
Time Enrollment” dollars) to my op
eration. Even more came when I was
able to obtain reams of documentation
from England (the former “ British
Colonial Office” ) describing the hun
dreds of American “ Iron Plantations”
stretching from Saugus, Massachusetts
to the Chesepeake Bay area. These
highly technical operations of refining
and forging iron ingots were manned
almost solely by “ complements of
African men women and children!”
Their names and daily outputs were
given.
The final structure of the course
evolved from research in the forward
time direction--what were the conse
quences of all this innovative fervor,
the basis of a good part of the American
industrial revolution? Why did not the
African American population as a whole
benefit from this economic largesse
that built fabulous fortunes, created new
industries and moved population cen
ters about? Why is it yet today that very
few Americans (including Blacks) are
aware of how much this country’s in
frastructure was modernized and changed
forever by Black inventions? These
questions were advanced and answered
in the third semester of the class as the
barriers and constraints of racism were
explored-from educational disabilities
to employment discrimination, and from
redlining in the banking and real estate
communities to programs designed to
mitigate the disasters.
These issues, examined here, are
very relevant to my series currently
appearing on the front page of this
newspaper: “ Blacks and Science.”
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O I i h
Nelson Mandela, a world-renown
leader in the movement against the
apartheid policies of the white-ruled
South African government, has been
chosen to receive the “ Proud Lady”
award from the American Health and
Beauty Aids Institute (AHBA1).
“ Nelson Mandela truly exemplifies
the traits of the ‘Proud Lady’, a symbol
of pride, creativity and strength through
unity,” said Geri Duncan Jones, execu
tive director of AHBA1.
Mandela, a leader of the then-out
lawed African National Congress (ANC),
was imprisoned in 1962 and later re
ceived a life sentence for plotting the
violent overthrow of the minority white
government. Now 71 years old, Man
dela was released from prison in Febru
ary, ending his 27-year confinement.
During his years in prison, Mandela
became a global symbol of the fight
against apartheid.
Today, Mandela continues his anti
apartheid activities as the lead negotia
tor in talks between the South African
government and the ANC. It is his
unwavering commitment to end apart
heid (at great personal expense) that
has earned Mandela the Proud Lady
award.
The prestigious award will be pre
sented at the AHBAI Eighth Annual
Mid-Year Conference, “ Urban Mar
keting: Generating Profits in the ’90s,”
to be held June 17-20 at La Costa Hotel
and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.
The American Health and Beauty
Aids Institute is a national trade organi
zation representing the leading manu
facturers of ethnic hair care and cos
metic products. Since 1981, the asso
ciation has established vital programs
to increase awareness of the profitabil
ity of the $2.8 billion ethnic HB A cate
gory.
For more Mid-Year Conference in
formation, contact AHBAI Headquar
ters, 111 East Wacker Drive, Suite 600,
Chicago, IL; 312/644-6610.
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Say You Saw It In The
Portland Observer!
Can a man and a woman sleep to
gether without making love? Actually,
I have encountered many who content
that it is virtually impossible to sup
press one’s desire to be strong during
the heat of passion. Are you strong?
Can you resist temptation? It is simply
a matter of principles and morality.
Let’s say, you meet a woman (not
many mer. make this request) who tells
you that she will not participate in sex
ual intercourse until she is married.
Yet, she wants to spend intimate nights
together. Do you force the issue? Is she
teasing you? Do you respect her wish?
It takes a different type of man to accept
going without intercourse because as
mentioned before, most equate their
manhood with their sexuality. “ If you
don’t do it, somebody will...” is the
typical mentality. The attitude is an
unfortunate one, but thats just the way
most men think-w ith the wrong head.
Not always a saint myself, I have also
been guilty in the past of this mentality
or attitude.
Sex is the easiest thing in the world
to access these days, regardless of the
AIDS epidemic or threat of other STDs
(Sexually Transmitted Diseases). En
ter any bar or nightclub for example
with securing a sexual partner as your
objective and chances are you will
succeed. If you approach 25 women (or
men) wearing “ your mission” on your
sleeves, you will eventually encounter
someone with like values. There is
someone for everyone. Needless to
say, there are also a wide variety of
morals and values in the world. If the
mission is sex, you’ll find it; if the
mission is a one night stand, you’ll find
it; if the mission is a lesbian/homosex-
nal relationship, you’ll find it; if the
mission is to find a mate for life, you’ll
find it. My grandmother used to tell me
that there is nothing in the world that
people would not do. You can think of
the wildest thing in the world and people
will do it, be it forego purposes, money,
or esteem building.
It gets to the point where the sexual
act is what it is, a sexual act. At some
point, it has to get old and meaningless.
Wouldn’t it be fun to make love to
someone you really love or possibly
wait until marriage to make love if
that’s what your partner wanted?
Wouldn’t it be fun to share showers,
secrets, dreams, touch, feelings, and
develop listening skills without the sexual
act? Some can and other won’t...ego is
the problem. Ego can get you in trouble
also.
Let’s say, in the heat of passion, you
end up with someone you really do not
care for a great deal. Good sex, a
telephone call away and she is crazy
about you. Ego. All of a sudden, she
comes up pregnant and you start to turn
flips. “ W ho’s is it you ask? It’s not
mine...!” is a typical atitude. Some
men have this grandiose idea of who
they would like to be the mother of their
future children, but the contradiction
occurs when they sleep with people that
they do not care about the person. Now,
you have to psychologically prepare for
motherhood/fatherhood, acknowledg
ing or not acknowledging the situation,
or an abortion for that matter. Flexing
the ego for an orgasism can get people
in real trouble and caused great tension.
There’s nothing worse than two human
beings with a kid in common who hate
eacher other. A child deserves a happy
and healthy living environment.
Strangely, the topic of birth control
always come up after the fact. Some
people need to re-evaluate their life
style, altitudes towards intimacy, sex,
and values.
So, the question remains, can a man
and a woman (married folks do it all the
time) sleep together without making
love? You can look as far as your
individual values to answer that ques
tion. I think that it does the soul good to
go extended periods of time without
sexual intercourse or making love. It
gives a person a fresher perspective and
helps a person to rearrange some poten
tially bad attitudes towards sex. Mak
ing love to someone’s mind can be
wonderful. Have you ever had a intel
lectual orgasism? Unlike the quick fix
sexual orgasism, this one takes time,
patience, sensitivity, respect, and ex
tremely good listening skills. Let’s
face some reality here, when we meet
people our first attractions are sexual.
You can not tell from across the room
that he/she has a wonderful mind or
great values. Through interaction, you
will leam eventually that a person may
be easy to sleep with or whether it will
take more time than you are willing to
commit. Growth takes commitment
Now, I do not want to seem like I’m
picking on men because there are some
women just as bad. It’s just that men
are more guilty than women. Again, I
ask the question, wouldn’t it be great to
make love to someone you love? You
can, that’s if you stop flexing your ego
and wait for what is right. You can
always find someone willing to commit
the act...
Women's Crisis Line Issues Rape Alert
Calls related to incidents of rape
increase dramatically at the Portland
Women’s Crisis Line during the Rose
Festival. Because so many people are
congregated in the downtown area during
this time, women and children become
easy and accessible targets for rapists.
These rapes generally fall into two cate
gories: either stranger rape which oc
curs when a woman is assaulted by
someone as she walks down a street or
goes to her car, etc.; and an acquain
tance rape which often occurs with
someone the woman has just met at the
Festival or Fun Center. Both the vic-
tims and the perpetrators of these as
saults involve people of all ages, all
socio-economic groups and cultures.
The highest risk factor seems to be
younger women who are attending ac
tivities at the Fun Center.
All women should be aware of the
risk involved and should take necessary
precautions. It is important to stay in
groups and not walk to places alone.
Additionally, it is important to be aware
that dates and acquaintances account
for at least 80% of the rapes in this
community. Trust your instincts about
people and act assertively when you
sense that you aren’t safe. Make sure
someone knows where you’ve gone,
with whom and when you expect to
return; make sure you have enough
money with you to take care of yourself
(i.e. if you have to take a cab or a bus to
get away or make a phone call to get
help).
If you are assaulted or harrassed or
someone you know is, and if you want
to report it, notify the police. If you
want to talk and get resources and know
all your options, you call the Portland
Women’s Crisis Line 24 hours a day at
235-5333.
PORTLAND
CITIZENS'
JOB FAIR
Friday, June 15
2:30-6 p.
King Neighborhood Facility
(King Elementary School)
4815 NE 7th Ave.
Public Employment Opportunities
Women and Minorities encouraged to participate!
IzN
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Portland’s major public employers will be there!
• Take adavantage of immediate openings
(applications will be on hand!)
• Come talk to employers about jobs and careers
Sponsored by the City of Portland
Co-sponsored by:
♦Tri-Met
*Portland Development Commisssion
♦Port of Portland *Multnomah County
♦Portland Public Schools
♦Exposition Recreation Commission
*Metro