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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 28, 1990)
, • M 4 # * < * • 0 ** ‘ / ♦ '♦*# ♦ ’♦ '’a i <• ♦ ♦ * * * * r « < >* a » a • • •* a* a • ♦ W ♦ ♦' • M' • ♦ ^ ♦' ♦ ♦ * "V ^ •• V ♦ *♦■ >' <*'# • « * * PORTLfl a < M a > ■<►•»♦ sa^F^’ 4k1* ♦ a ’I* KERVER Volume XX, Number 45 'The Eyes and Ears o f The Community" s a result of their O ctober 27 vie tory at Tigard High School, the W hitaker Middle School Rally Squad has been invited to com pete in the National Championships at Anaheim, Calif., on February 15-18, 1991. But in order to get there, they need to raise funds for the trip. Those who wish to contribute may contact Dr. H arriet Adair, or Grace M cKenzie, at 280-5620. The competition is judged on ap pearance and poise, showmanship, pre cision and executive routine and over all impression. The group scored a total o f 311 points o f a possible 400. When is "At Home" Not At Home?... A discussion on the challenge of entrepreneurship page 2 Government Secrecy: Democracy vs. Supremacy... An examination of secrecy policies within our government Beaumont Middle School Dedicated Tuesday ewly rem odeled facilities and a N decorative m etal fence were the focus o f dedication cerem onies Tuesday (Nov. 27) at Beaumont Middle School, 4043 N.E. Fremont S t Students, parents, staff members, neighbors and participants in the various phases o f the construction joined to gether at the event, which ran from 7-9 p.m. A new addition which houses a gymnasium, cafeteria and classroom s is joined to the main building by a fence designed by artist John Rogers. Symbols of the tools o f education--from a pencil to a computer-embellish the metal fence. The original work o f art was funded through the Percent for A rt Project to which the Pordand School Board has committed funds amounting to one per cent o f budgets for all new construction and remodeling in the school d istric t “ Beaumont was extrem ely over crowded before this rem odeling and addition,” said Principal Lynne Smith. “ Students and teachers are delighted now to have adequate space.” Row 1. Saquoija Green, Lamieka Lowe, Jenelle Yarbrough, Nicole Williams, Francesca Walker. Flow 2. Tracy Lusk, Donnissa MacKintosh, Deonica Johnson, Sarah Boatman. Row 3. Landra Glover, Julia Taylor, Lakeesia Lowery, Saretta Horn, Vonda Criss and Sherrita Meyers. Not pictured: Kristine Rebber, Kristina Pate. Heather Pate. wwSwVSeoeSRoWwRWoMi I . HI ?•’: 11HHHIIH HI H H H page 2 25<P November 28,1990 Whitaker Middle School Rally Squad Seeks Donations For National Competitions A •*^4 * _ 4b ' Portland School District’s Baseline Essays Under Attack! Nationwide Assult Mounted Against the Precedent-Shattering Multicultural Curriculum BY PROFESSOR MCKINLEY BURT even fair or useful. The piece can only be intended to confuse and misinform a rom all quarters the past three readership which the author knows full weeks, there has come what is well will never have an opportunity to obviously a well-orchestrated attempt read the Baseline essays for themselves. on the part of “ respected” elem ents of Comfortable with this gambit, the the establishment media and academia writer proceeds. To pick and choose to reverse the gains made by African from the Portland material those few Americans in securing their true and (very few) pronouncem ents which may thoroughly-documented place in the indeed provoke a raised eyebrow, i.e. history of civilization. “ The oral-aural tradition o f Africa is These ill-disguised efforts to thwart lively and liberating, whereas the de the possibility that both black and white pendence o f the W est (and presumable Americans might become aware of the o f the East) on the written word can be deplorable prejudices and manipulations debilitating.” Now, it is true that there of so many white scholars far exceed the was one rather shaky consultant who travesties so aptly described by Bill Cosby was imported from somewhere or an in his early video, “ Black History: Lost, other, and somehow this nonsense passed Strayed or Stolen” . It could prove as muster. But, then, the foolhardiness of damaging as “ I.Q. and G enetic” non General Custer is never used as a whole sense put forth in past generations by the sale indictm ent o f the U.S. Calvary. comedy team of Jensen and Shockley. One clown does not a circus make. The lead salvo was fired by John Further, may I say in respect to Leo, editorial writer for the prestigious the author’s selection o f that particular weekly magazine, “ U.S. News and World tidbit in an effort to make his case, the Report” .” In the November 11 issue, principal national consultants who de beginning on page 25, we find an article, veloped the Baseline essays made an “ A Fringe History of the W orld” . The incontrovertible c a se -v iz a v iz-H ere- denigration intrinsic in the title tells one dotus, Plato and others whose creden right o ff that this is not going to be a tials are im peccable among the estab- critical examination of the pro ccss-n o r lishm ent-that the ancient Africans were F Academy award winner Morgan Freeman talks about his changing life goals PAGE 4 United Negro College Fund Preparing the future with fundraisers PAGE 5 M.C. Hammer Releases Video PAGE 4 The TrailBlazers, despite Tuesdays loss, are still on top Page 3 the inventors of mathematics, letters, astronomy and so forth. After all, it is all still right there among the cosm os-cali brated pyramids, W RIl TEN IN STONE. I would make an additional point in this respect: as one of the “ local con sultants” who furnished much supple mental but integral material in the form o f model curriculum and lesson plans necessary to support the mission. Par ticularly, my effort developed further my own research in this area of African contribution, work which had culm i nated in an educational demonstration that won a National Science Foundation award. The basis was an electronic/ communication model clearly revealing that such classic and “ accepted” estab lishment historians of mathematicians as Howard Eves and Arthur Gittleman were absolutely correct in stating that the ancient Africans invented “ dupla- tion” , the binary method o f m ultiplica tion and division USED BY TO D A Y ’S COMPUTERS! This is something a medium bright high school student could have deduced from an examination of the famed “ Rhind Papyrus” . O f course the author of this magazine article never mentions the sup porting work of the local consultants, essential to the entire structure-obvi- ously too devastatingly contradictory to the precarioushouseofcards heattem pts to build. Nor, for that matter, is there allusion to the universally-acclaimed stature of the principal Baseline essay ists, men whom I know personally: John Clarke, Ivan Van Sertima and Asa Hil liard. W e should note that Mr. Leo, who wrote this racist polem ic, has summoned forth several very active “ guardians of the tem ple” to put down these uppite you-know-whats and to counter the con tributions of these em inent black schol ars. In particular, he assigns a key role in the * ‘cleansing of the altar” to one Diane Ravitch, professor of history at Teacher’s College, Columbia University. If the name sounds familiar, it is because sev eral months ago I spoke as disparagingly as these pages would perm it in a critique of an article by black (?) journalist, William Razberry. (In his own piece, Razberry also praises Ms. Ravitch in her crusade to exorcise we impudent devils from the temples o f education): Specifically, Leo credits her for “ the best analysis of this new and revised ethnic separatism ” . As I stated earlier, the “ w ell-or chestrated ’’ assault has com e from many Harold Williams Elected to PCC Board of Directors INDEX News Religion Entertainment Bids/Sub Bids His/Hers Opinion Locker Room Classifieds Business 2 3 4 5 5 7 7 10 Next Week His/Hers Opinion addresses building self-esteem T he Portland Community College Board o f Directors announced the election of Harold W illiams Board as Director for Zone 2; the scat was previously held by Monica Little. I f » • A *•/*,' W illiams began duties Nov. 15 and will serve the remainder o f the term, through June 30, 1991. The seat will com e up for election March 26, 1991. PCC Zone 2 in cludes portions of north and northeast Portland and Columbia County. W illiams is Presi dent o f CH2A Associ ates, a Portland consult ing and management firm which provides contract policy services to area clients. CH2A clients include Portland Public Schools, City o f Portland and Portland State University. to the Previously, W illiam s was Labor Relations M anager for the Suite of O re gon. He acted as the spokesman for the Executive Department and negotiated labor contracts and formulated and de veloped labor relations policies. From 1975 to 1979 W illiam s was the A ffirm ative Action Director in the Office o f the Governor and was respon sible for the management of 51 state agency affirm ative action programs. Earlier in his career W illiam s o r ganized and directed a “ storefront” cam pus for Portland State University. Long active in northeast Portland com m unity affairs, W illiams is the chair of the Coalition of Black Men and is a m ember o f the Urban League o f G reater Portland. He is also active in the N.A.A.C.P. and the American A ssocia tion o f Affirmative Action Officers. W illiam s holds a B.S. in political science and a m aster’s degree in general studies from Portland Slate University. He has also received certificates in inter national relations and race relations from, respectively, the University o f Zagreb and the University of California. W illiams and his wife Cal live in northeast Portland and have three chil dren; Natasha, age 19, Harold, age 13 and Anthony, age 11. W illiams said, “ I feel that the Cascade Campus is a vital clem ent of P C C ’s program and an asset through which to address the need for racial understanding. The campus provides hope for those who have lost a dream for the future and it gives them an opportunity to put that dream into an active program for success.” W illiams also said he would con tinue to strongly support the com m u nity outreach efforts of President Daniel Moriarty and Cascade Campus Execu tive Dean Don McInnis. “ Their examples depict the kind o f efforts I want to be part o f and their efforts enhance the racial understand ing and harmony that emanates through PCC into the entire tri-county area.” in the ranks o f those who are becoming very frightened at the grow ing, often belligerent evidence that the so-called minorities o f the world have become aw are that they are no such thing at all. Also seeking to hold the line against a true and factual revelation o f their docu m ented role in the developm ent o f civi lization, we have the follow ing scholars. They, too, take their best shots at the Baseline essays” : Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., a profes sor of humanities at the City University o f New York; Burton Beers, history professor at North Carolina State U ni versity in Raleigh; and A rther Ferrill, a professor o f ancient history at the U ni versity of W ashington: an im posing fed eration, or is it conspiracy? Are you like me? D o you get a sense that all o f this is probably happen ing in planned concert? M ore than likely connected to the contem porary and sim i lar assaults upon “ minority quotas and set-asides” - th a t we are dealing with a nationwide convulsion borne o f age-old ethnic fears and today’s concerns about an increasingly bleak econom ic picture. More next week in this continuing ‘ * Saga of the Baseline E ssays” Chief Potter Sworn In C aptain Tom Potter was officially swom in as Chief o f Police by City Auditor Barbara Clark on Monday, November 19. Mayor Clark made the following remarks at the swearing-in cere monies: “ Officers and citizens are working together as partners more than ever be fore. And this has resulted in greater support for the [Police] Bureau and its mission by our com m unity.” “ Much o f the credit for this im proved relationship belongs to the indi vidual who will be swom in as C hief today. But much o f it also belongs to every man and woman in the Police Bureau, because it’s through their dedi cated service to the people o f Portland that Community Policing is a reality. I want to take the opportunity o f today’s ceremony to acknowledge them and their fine work, as w ell.” Chief Potter’s new badge was pinned on by his mother, Mrs. Frances Peters. '-¿sw 1 • • < ♦ a < 4 f" . ■ , ’ • 1 • . ; . bit?. >•