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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 1990)
[■Si PORTLfl Volume XX, Number 48 »SERVER December 19,1990 "The Eyes and Ears o f The Community" Rainbow Coalition to Support School Boycott City-Wide Effort Planned Woman Overcomes Adversity to Succeed hen Lynn Gibson decided to N etwork Inc. the appearance o f im m i listening to other business people is launch Career N etwork Inc. nent success. How successful has this that i f you hire expertise, USE IT .” Agency, she knew she was entering a new company been? A fte r 15 months. Lynn also gives credit to the fie ld already saturated w ith sim ilar- Career Network is developing growing church for strength and wisdom. “ I type operations. As owner believe that Career N et he Portland Rainbow C oalition o f a private employment w ork is a m inistry w ithin w ill announce its plans to organ and career advertising itself. Assisting appli Lynn also gives ize city-wide support for the Black United agency focusing on jobs cants to fin d a jo b or credit to the F ront’s boycott o f the Pordand Public and career opportunities, choosing a career. A d church for strength Schools, at a press conference this Thurs Lynn believes she has vertising to alert appli day. and wisdom. “I made a wise investment, cants o f employment op A m ulti-racial group o f parents, seeking to tap the unlim believe that portunities is a fulfillm ent educators, and com m unity activists from ited and resourceful pool o f my com m itm ent to the Career Network is across the c ity w ill discuss their reasons o f Oregon’s talent in com m unity. There are a ministry within fo r supporting the planned series o f one- addition to seeking out various positions we itself. Assisting day boycotts in February. opportunities fo r m in ori search fo r from the office This boycott to w in quality educa applicants to find a ties. secretarial person, sales, tion has been w idely seen as a Black- A fte r graduating job or choosing a to the personnel director only struggle. The Rainbow C oalition fro m L in c o ln H ig h and other executive staff.” career. w ill discuss how the Portland Public Schoool, Lynn attended Lynn is espe Schools are under-educating nearly all the U niversity o f Oregon, c ia lly pleased w ith her Portland’s racial m in ority and lo w -in Lynn Gibson m ajoring in business ongoing advertising rela come children. adm inistration. She had previously pains, much to the delight o f its owner. tionship w ith tw o o f Portland’ s m inor The Rainbow Coalition believes that worked as a personal consultant and Lynn has added seven additional ity publications, that imm ediately a ll disadvantaged children would bene manager for an international placement staff members and moved to larger quar opened their doors to establish a busi f it from the adoption o f the “ Education agency and in advertising sales fo r the ters in the building in order to accomo ness relationship: the Portland Ob Improvement Action Plan” , which was Skanner newspaper. It was at the latter date the increased workload brought about server and the Hispanic News. Lynn developed by N /N E com m unity organi tw o that she developed the advertising by her expanding list o f clients and can states that “ it is refreshing to be a ffili zations over a year ago. and placement skills that convinced her didates. But she is quick to credit any ated w ith m in ority businesses that as Boycott organizers are demanding to venture out on her own. W ith sav success to heeding the advice o f her ac sist one another. We complement each that the PPS School Board adopt the ings and capital resources she estab countants, whom thus far have provided other,” she proudly states, and the re “ A ction Plan” to rapidly improve stu lished her office in the J 00 L lo yd B u ild her w ith sound business practices. sults are rewarding fo r all. dent academic success and elim inate the ing near L lo y d ’ s Center. * ‘ Before I went into the business 1 As a regular attendee o f M L O l disparity in achievement between m i Operating out o f her one-room did a lot o f reading: books like “ Suc ivet Baptist Church, she often quotes nority and white and between lo w -in quarters as the only staff person, Lynn ceeding Against the Odds” by John H. the church’ s paster, Dr. James M artin, come and m iddle-incom e students. combines smart business tactics and a Johnson w ith Lerone Bennett and Har who reminds her that ‘ ‘church worship well-developed m arketing plan w ith vard Women Graduates o f 1979. The service is lunch time and the real m in good public relations to give Career one thing I learned from reading and istry is your everyday activities.” W T Bills Kwik Mart PAGE 2 Girls and Boys Equally Affected By Reading Disability PAGE 2 The Life Stream Full Gospel Church PAGES Earl ’’The Pearl” Monroe: Giving Back PA0E4 S t a f f o f tfte (Portfo n d O bserver z v o u fd fife to w isft y o u a n d y o u r fa m ity His/Hers Opinion Letting Go of Guilt and Blame page 5 Business Profile Cason's Fine Meats Qfiorrtj C hristm as PAGE 6 Ray Charles Could Have Seen This Coming! BY PROFESSOR MCKINLEY BURT Christmas Services At Jänteen Beach Shopping Center I B PAGE 8 INDEX News Religion Locker Room His/Hers Opinion Business News Classifieds Bids/Sub Bids Seasons Greetings From the Portland Observer “ New Imm igration Law W e l comes S kill” “ Increases...the number of vi sas available each year to people and their family members who come here for a guaranteed jo b ” (Recent head lines) ut the Washington Post recently described a m ajor conference held in the nation’s capitol where the theme was training, Education and the Economy: ‘ ‘ In the corridor conver sations, minorities and women remarked that even the term apprenticeship has bad connotations for them, because o f the long history o f apprenticeship being used to restrict access to high-paying trades.” We know that! And we know that just before the turn o f this century the skilled trade unions-plum bcrs, operating engineers, carpenters, iron workers, metal trades-revised their con stitutions to read “ FOR W H ITE M ALES O N L Y ” as die giant “ American Fed eration o f Labor (A F o f L ) was welded from the independent crafts. The hordes o f new IM M IG R A N T S from Europe voted the blacks o u t-s h o t them o u t- bcat them out. Sec these topics in Henry Steel Commager’s "D ocum ents o f Am erican H istory” ; sec 1966 issue on Im m igration in the “ Annals o f the American Academy o f Political and Social Science” ; see my Perspectives article in the Portland Observer, Feb. 17, 1988, “ Im m igration: Does History 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 Repeat’ ’ (all at your public library). And speaking o f “ history repeat in g ” , when we contemplate these latest efforts to destroy A frican Americans by driving them out o f the workforce, I am reminded o fw h a t happened in 1971 here when I was ch ie f accountant for the large m inority-ow ned (?) Albina Corporation. Part o f my jo b was to supervise the hun dreds o f thousands o f dollars in Depart ment o f Labor craft training contracts. There were tons o f p ub licity and boasts that these arrangements w ith the partici pation o f the union would lead to a m ajor integration o f blacks into the skilled trades. It never happened o f course; Portland blacks are s till fighting the same battle. But what did happen, was that years later when I read that very same issue o f the “ Annals” , I discovered that coincident w ith the “ A lb in a ” program described above, the same Department o f Labor was w orking w ith the “ Im m i gration Bureau” to IM PO R T S K IL L E D EUROPEAN CR AFTSM EN A N D AP PRENTICES to f ill a “ critica l shortage in the American workplace.” Have any o f our m ajor organizations or leaders ever addressed this sly gambit? Our condition is prccarious-again! In the November 20 issue o f the Oregonian, the assistant to the publisher, Donald J. Sterling Jr. pens a brief: “ New Immigration Law Welcomes S kill” . Quite understandably he generally finds favor w ith the legislation. But we m inorities need to pay close attention to his closing line for the concept is endemic in Am er ica: “ The increase in im m igration slots fo r skilled foreigners...is an act o f na tional self-interest.” Pay attention Charlie Brown, close attention! In case any o f our tired (or inept) leaders should want to get down to cases, I suggest that they should get a copy o f the “ Congressional Record-Senate, ppS8639 to 8652; S. 358-Im m igration Reform A cL passes July 13, 1989” . Especially they should read Section 203 as amended (p. 8642), “ A llocation o f Im m igrant Visas” . Somebody please pursuade them to scrutinize subsection (4) skilled worders, Paragraph I; * ‘Q ualified immigrants who are capable at the tim e o f petitioning, o f perform ing S K IL L E D L A B O R (requiring at least 2 years training or experience) not o f a temporary or seasonal nature, FOR W H IC H Q U A LIF IE D WORKERS ARE N O T A V A IL A B L E IN T H E U N IT E D S T A TE S .” I q ualify, don’ t you? I suggest that all o f us poor blacks and whites in northeast should rush right down to the im m igration office for we are indeed strangers in our own land! And do you see now w hy I said “ Ray Charles should have seen this coming; the hysterical reactions to black history in education (Baseline Essays), the na tionwide surge in Nazi-type race-hatred organizations, the attacks upon A ffirm a tive Action, from jobs to college schol arships! It has all been there for even a fool to see. “ Mene, T eke l” , whatever that fellow wrote on that Babylonian W all, we w ill see the handwriting on THIS W A L L or w ill surely p e ris h -if we don’t take action. 25<P Nutrition Linked to Leading Causes of Death For Older African- Americans A ARP and the Am erican Heart As sociation Promote Healthy Eating Better nutrition can help fig h t the diseases that cause most o f the deaths o f the nation’s older African-Am ericans, according to the Am erican Association o f o f Retired Persons (A A R P ) and the American Heart Association (A H A ). A A R P and A H A have developed a national nutrition education p ilo t pro gram fo r older African-Am ericans. ‘ ‘The goal o f this p ilo t program is to increase awareness o f the importance o f n utrition ,” said A A R P Executive D irec tor Horace Deets. * ‘Improved eating habits can lielp prevent heart attacks, strokes and other life-threatening diseases.” L ife expectancy fo r A frica n -A m e ri cans is 69.7 years compared to 75.9 years for non-minorities. N utrition has been linked w ith heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, and cirrhosis o f the liver, w hich are the m ajor causes o f death for older A frican- Americans. “ N utrition education should be a p rio rity for all groups that are interested in the health o f older m inorities, ’ ‘ said A H A President Francois Abboud, M .D ., director o f the Cardiovascular Research Center at the U niversity o f Iowa College o f Medicine. The “ Eating for Health Tomorrows” p ilo t program consists o f a four-hour session offered through churches and other community groups. The program, taught by A A R P and A H A volunteers, includes an overview o f nutrition, exer cise, group discussions on cholesterol and sodium, educational games, and a cooling demonstration o f a healthy rec ipe. “ Eating for Healthy Tom orrow s” is being piloted this year in Los Angeles, C alif.; Denver, Colo.; W ilm ington, Del.; Shreveport, La.;Davidson, N.C.; and Dallas, Texas. Kobert Davie Named Station Manager For Tri-Mets Merlo Garage T~3> o b e rt t D a v ie w ill manage the operations base for more than 200 bus opera tors who provide P o r tla n d ’ s westside transit service. Before coming to T ri- Met, Davie was the state program coordinator for defensive d riv ing fo r the In d i ana Bureau o f M otor Vehicles. Prior to that, he worked 24 years for the Indian a p o lis P u blic T ra n s p o rta tio n C o r p o r a t io n , most recently as director o f trans- ? porta lion. Davie is a defensive driving instruc- ’ * w tor certified by the national Safety Council. Davie has served as presidentof the safety committee for the Indiana Transit Association; as a member o f the security committee fo r the Am erican Transpor tation Association; and as a member o f the Safety Institute A d visory Board for the U.S. Department o f Transportation. V