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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