December 1 2 ,1990-The Portland Observer- Page 5
OPINION
BY C.M. BROOKS
if you observe closely, you’ll find that it
is expressed outwardly, signaling that
Controlling anger is a timely and larger problems exist within that per
relevant topic considering all th violence
son. An adult, whom we assume has all
that has taken place in Portland over the
their capacities, doesn’t strike or attack
last two weeks. There has been a string
another over ‘spilled m ilk’. They are
of gang violence, drive-by shootings, usually bombarded with problems that
kidnapping, intimidation, and murder. they perceive to be overwhelming. In
And as if things couldn’t get any worse stead of getting to the root of the prob
last week for HER, some people that 1 lem and making changes in their lives,
care about were almost seriously injured they lose control and they often lose
because of anothers failure to deal with control over minor situations like ‘spilled
their own anger, which consequently, milk’.
turned violent.
Strangely enough, there are those
And here in lies the problem with who lack control in their lives and at the
the emotion, anger. The outcome always same time, use their anger and violence
leads to violence. Someone directly or as a way to gain control. It’s a power trip
indirectly will be hurt because anger to some extent. You see, it’s very easy to
breeds aggression and situations that can manipulate an individual by using vio
be handled diplomatically and problems lence. Think how easy it is to tell a child
that do have solutions are lost because of if they don’t shape-up, you’ll pull out
angers ’ isidious nature. And this element the belt or one gang member saying to a
makes it easy for an individual to lash rival, ‘‘if you ever step foot in my terri
out with their fists and to a certain de tory again, I’ll kill you. ” Well, if you’ve
gree, rationalize their behavior, instead used a bell on this child on previous oc
of using the minds to alleviate a situ casions and if this particular gang mem
ation. This makes it easy for a person to ber has committed murder before, then
tell themselves, “ I shot him because he the person on the receiving end of the
was wearing the wrong color,” and not message will tread lightly, to say the
feel the least bit of remorse. W here’s the least. I call this achieving the end by
logic?
violent means and it is wrong!
Anger is a deep-rooted emotion and
The saddest thing about anger, in
HER opinion, is that it not only begets
violence, but it separates and divides.
Once you’ve unleashed your anger on a
person, you will never have the same re
lationship with that person, their friends,
and certainly not with their family ever
again. It is too difficult to forgive and no
one ever forgets.
If you are prone to violent behavior,
you need to search for answers inter
nally. It may be that past experiences
have never been resolved or that there
are numerous concerns in your life that
aren’t being dealt with properly.
If you are a parent, curbing anger
and aggression in a child is a solution to
a potential problem. This means letting
them know fighting is wrong and mak
ing clear the consequences of their ac
tions. While you are at it, you may ask
yourself if you are contributing to your
child’s hostile behavior by yelling at
him/her, or hitting for no apparent rea
son.
You must understand, that if you
allow a child to strike out against friends
and family members, then they will strike
out against anyone, over anything, at any
time, when they arc adults. And nowa
days all anger gets you is a free ride to
prison or a trip to the morgue. Take your
choice.
School Boycott. ..continued from front page
with a catch-22 situation, asking, how
can the boycott be effective, when it’s
denying students further education...why
target the kids? To this, the salty BUF
leader responded by paralleling the
boycott to the Birmingham boycott of
the last generation, and quoting Martin
Luther King, Jr.: “ They [the kids] are
the ones who are suffering the most.”
He also added that he felt the missed
school days would be more than made
up for, should the reform plan be adopted.
Another argument arising is that
the fault may lie as much with families
as with the school system (Herndon re
jects this). As African American caller
from Northeast Portland, identifying
hinyself as “ Fred” , said on KGW radio
tyonday: “ In Portland, we do not stress
reducation within ourselves...I feel a lot
of the reason we do not excel...is cul
ture.” Herndon refuted that by stress
ing that ‘ ‘ the so-called worst [ test score-
wise] school in Portland is predomi
nantly white” , adding that he does not
think faults in education lie in color;
but, rather, he faults the way the educa
tion system is set up, and those confin
ing the system to the status quo.
This is a summary of Herndon’s
twelve-point educational reform pro
posal:
Portland Public Schools need to:
1. Establish a committee (com
posed of parents, representatives from
the school board, businesses, and gen
eral community members) that will moni
tor schools with low test scores, moni
tor overall progress, and develop an in-
centive system for exemplary persons in
all facets of the system
2. Establish building management
teams, including a consultant with a proven
success rate in the socioeconomic strata
of students served. This team’s purpose
would be to assess strengths and needs,
and to advise and revise accordingly
3. Require school achievement plans
for students having difficulty
4. Establish a clear statement of
upper-rung accountability for student per
formance
5. Evaluate upper-rung members
based on student performance
6. Establish expectations, including
projections of the number of years it will
take 90% of the students in each school
to achieve at or above grade level, as
well as to compete by international stan
dards
7. Establish a system of determi-
nance for the superintendent to access
updated data regarding academic status/
progress of every school
8. Provide leadership training and
monitoring of such
9. Establish a system of staff devel
opment for school personnel, based on
assessments of students
10. Examine and enhance cultural
identification for minority students
11. Offer greater freedom and re
ward for innovation in meeting district
goals
12. Survey parents twice a year re
garding their satisfaction with progress,
and receive input via parental sugges
tions for improvement
Protect yourself
against BIG
LOSSES and
COSTLY
REPAIRS.
Call Levi Russell
289-3648
M y name is Levi Russell. I am an ex
perienced housing rehabilitation spe
cialist and home remodeling inspector.
I advise homeowners in making im
provements to their homes, correcting
code violations, selection and quality of
materials, selection of contractors, and
estimating cost of improvements.
I also perform house inspections for
home buyers. For more Information,
call 289-3648.
,
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BY ULLYSSES TUCKER, JR.
Anger is one element that human
beings need to learn how to re-direct or
control. If directed positively, anger
can be utilized as a motivational tool
and become a foundation for growth.
Granted, there are many situations, prob
lems, attitudes, values, morals, and life
conditions that can easily provoke an
ger or even violence in some individu
als. Throughout the course of each day,
I confront racist people, nasty attitueds,
and social/economic conditions affect
ing the community that should not exist
in such an affluent country. Actually,
it’s not wrong to get angry at circum
stances that affect the world or you as an
individual, but how you react to or handle
it can cause some problems. How do
you cope with anger? Are you violent?
Do you work towards logical solutions?
Do you suppress your anger until it
turns into a problem elsewhere? Anger
needs to be addressed openly, honestly,
and immediately. If it bothers you, tell
your mate, family member, co-worker
or neighbor that it does.
It is important to note, as we did
in last week’s column (“ Building Self-
Esteem), how a person reacts to anger
Place your advertisement in the
Portland Observer'
Office# (503) 288-0033
Fax# (503) 288-0015
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cause they stood for all that was wrong
in the world. Elements like poverty,
unemployment, racism, and hatred was
all their fault. I carried this anger around
until I was a junior in college, where I
learned that there are some good black
people and some bad black people. There
are good and bad elements in all people.
It was difficult purging myself of this
anger, but having some positive experi
ences with white people made the ad
justment and revelation much easier to
accept. I was placed in a predicament
that promoted growth and change. It
takes great inner-strength to change one’s
behavior and attitude. In many cases,
people are surrounded by people who
reinforce their negative behavior or help
them to justify their anger. Yes, I get
upset and angry like millions of people
in the world. Unlike some, I just handle
it in a positive way. I’ve learned to give
out intellectual whippings instead of
physical ones because I do not enjoy
dealing with the law. There is no sub
stitute for maturity.
To gain greater control over an
ger, people need to look inward for
some of the answers, which could be
locked up in old relationships, family
abuse, career frustration, economic con
ditions that you might be faced with, or
in the people you surround yourself
with. No one can control your rage or
anger but you. Getting fired from a job,
caught up in the criminal justice sys
tem, hurting another person, or losing
someone you love is a terrible time to
leam the values of self-control. If there
needs to be changes in your life to
change your attitude or decrease the
amount of anger inside, then by all
means do so. You do have a choice as
to whether you desire to be angry or not.
As my grandmother Bolton used to say,
people fly into a rage always make a
bad landing.
might depend on their self-perception
or level of esteem. Over the years. I’ve
learned the hard way to control my
trouble with the law, my family, the
school system, or with rival thugs/gangs.
Eventually, people will learn that they
are accountable and responsible for their
own actions, not other people. Sure,
people can upset you, but leam to handle
yourself. As an adult, I'm at peace with
myself because I have strong sense of
self and great esteem. I’m a happy
person. I’ve learned to worry about
things that I can control, like my emo
tions, attitude, and behavior. I can not
control other people or their anger. As
long as people feel that others are re
sponsible for the anger inside of them,
they will continue to justify it or act in a
negative way. If people are ever going
to have love in their... arts, it is impera
tive that they leam to let go of anger and
develop some inner-peace. Some people
deal with anger by walking away from
certain situations, talking to themselves,
or exercising are a few ways to express
anger without hurting another individ
ual. An angry mind is consistently para
noid, defensive, and restless. Does anger
bring you what you really want? What
affect does your anger have on other
people? Do you hurt other people when
you express anger?
There are some people, who for
some reason or another, get great pleas
ure out of making someone upset or
mad. Self-control is very important is
dealing with anger because a “ short-
fuse” can lea 1 to great problems. When
people atta
or provoke others, they
are unconsciously hiding thier fear, guilt,
hurt, or past pain, which causes them to
feel vulnerable in the first place. When
I reflect on my past behaviour, I can
only laugh at some of the situations or
things that use to upset me. For ex
ample, I use to hate white people be
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31 N W FIRST
223 9919
December
Wed. 12
DANNY
SORENTINO
Thins. 13
JOSEPHINE
OCEAN
Eri. 14
BIT BINOS
Sat. 15
KIELING EIEEI)
Sun. 16
NWTALENT
X-MAS PARTY
NO WAY HOME
MOTHERTONES
Mun. 17
SEE MILES ,
lues. 18
ARNOLD BROS.
NIILESs
DAVIS!
Tickets must be paid in advance
and be picked up by December 21, 1990
DJ will be featuring Top 40’s music.
R A D IO L
Broadway Hair Weevers and Designers
will be offering X-Mas Specials Starting
Dec. 1,1990 thru Jan. 1,1991
Curls $50.00
Reg. $65-$75
Relaxers $35.00
Reg. $45 & Up
10% off on partial weeves
15% off on full weeves
Free conditon or hair trim on press and curls
Nails Full Set $35.00
Reg: $45.00
M anicure $8.00
Reg. $12.00
So stop by 5852 N.E. 42nd Ave. and celebrate the Holidays with
Hattie Porter
Flenard Grisby
Carolyn Stoudamire
Ethel Bates-Bailey
Karol Davidson