Page 2—The Portland Observer—April 10, 1991
The Mourning Of Men In Blue Fails
To Stir Public Sympathy For Gates
L.A.’s Police Chief Awakens to a New And Colder Morning
[ by Professor McKinley Burt
A three part series by A. Lee Henderson
B eautiful that war and all its deeds
o f carnage m ust in time be utterly lost,
t h a t the hands o f the sisters Death and
N igh t incessantly softly wash again and
ever again, this soiled world.
R econciliation by Walt Whitman
You d eal in the raw material o f
opinion, and, i f my convictions have
any validity, opinion ultim ately gov
erns the world.
A ddress to A ssociated Press,
A pril 2 0 ,1 9 1 5 , Woodrow Wilson
“ T h is
so iled
w o rld ” readies
itself once more for
an uneasy peace
tim e, sig n ifie d
sadly by the recent
Los Angeles spec
tacle o f members
o f the Police D e
partment brutaliz
Dr.A. Lee
ing a young black
Henderson
man, defenseless
on the city streets, who had been appre
hended for a reputed speeding viola
tion.
The new eyes-and-conscience of
the world purrs, its motors humming, in
the technology available through video
cam eras in the hands of private citi
zens, instantly available to chronicle
the unwitting offenders...this time the
blow s adm inistered through batons
(nightsticks wielded as clubs) by three
officers who struck over 50 times and
also kicked the pleading victim, Rod
ney Glenn King, 25, while a dozen
other people, among them police w it
nessed, standing silently by the Lakeview
Terrace area in cid en t
Shocking?
No more than usual as any o f us
know who have been regaled over the
years with cries o f “ police brutality”
that have gone uncontested for want of
proof or pursuit o f law enforcem ent
For want o f the average citizens’ abil
ity to rally people to his defense for fear
o f public humiliation, exposure o f an
arrest record, and simply...because it’s
too hard to prove their story against the
police testimony that contradicts their
claims as “ unfounded” .
It is not a case o f “ them ” against
“ us” .
It is a case o f non-equal justice.
M inorities are the w hipping
“ dogs” ...easily the butt o f hostilities
meted out by those in police uniforms
who are not adequately trained, screened,
or prepared for their on-duty assign
m ents in the role o f “ peace officers” .
There are exceptions...good ones,
to be sure.
Our concern is to more adequately
set up the citizens’ watch cross-country
w hich can change the face o f our na
tion’s police enforcem ent bodies into
m odels better equipped to protect its
citizenry.
During the Persian G ulf W ar we
saw the m ilitary put into effect a bar
rage o f sensitivity training program s to
alleviate racism and render even more
effective the power o f our integrated
troops against a common enemy attack
ing its Victim...Kuwait.
Today, our common enemy is crime
attacking its citizenry ...you and me. We
have got to m obilize to protect the en
tire citizenry...even a form er criminal
returned to its ranks such as Rodney
Glenn King. No police rationale can
justify the vicious beating we saw through
the se c re t eyes o f a v id eo
cam era...watching. The w itnesses be
came you and me. We do not legally
batter people to teach them lessons.
Not in America. Nor will we allow
ourselves to graduate into a police
state...not a police state m entality, nor a
police state methodology.
IT C A N ’T HAPPEN HERE, and
it’s time that we assert ourselves through
our legislators to re-inforce their posi
tions.
Prom ises to eliminate the plagues
o f “ peace” officer violence w ill not
suffice. We know the score. And we
know that we may invoke the words of
our nation’s President Bush to sound the
drum roll for Action No w since he spoke
o f ‘ ‘setting the face o f the nation against
discrim ination, hate and bigotry and to
elim inate that.” His State o f the Nation
address following the Persian G ulf W ar
ironically preceded L .A .’s police bru
tality.
Police C hief Daryl F. Gates in his
speech at the Los Angeles Police A cad
em y took the best defense...a strong
offense as he swiped back at his city’s
M ayor Bradley and the American Civil
Liberties Union. The Police Academy
rallied nearly 60 com m anding officers,
including A ssistant C hief Robert Ver
non to support the manner in which
Gates handled the incident...the beating
o f King, an A ltadena citizen. The
L eague’s president Lt. George Aliano
said he would send ballots out im m edi
ately to solicit a “ vote o f confidence”
for Gates, their chief, among their po
lice...8,200 members. The m orale of
police was said to be seriously im pacted
the the actions “ o f a few ” reflecting the
good guys. So we were told.
The organized police departm ent
in Los Angeles is behaving...or being
led to behave...as a powerful cordon of
loyalists to their police chief who, their
leaders say has been subjected to a
“ lynch-mob m entality” requesting his
resignation.
Los Angeles is no small microcosm
of the nation’s police departments.
Multiply in cities across the country the
unreported misuse o f force by licensed
police. That alarms us.
The unity rallied behind Gates
suggests that he is positioning him self
for a vigorous defense against the pub
lic opposition expressed to date, the
actions to redress the unprovoked beat
ing o f citizen Rodney King by the
ACLU .and the questions that have popped
into the minds o f the unsuspecting pub
lic who has either been wearing blinders
to civil rights history or prefers to re
main numb, and can no longer.
Gates is clever. He is playing politi
cal football to m aintain his absolute
power, and he is doing it within the
police department to maximize his control
at a time most crucial for his survival.
He is not about to resign or accept
charges that he is the father figure too
often quoted in favor o f a lethal law that
would kill drug offenders. A police chief
who disowned his own son several years
ago for drug abuses parades macho and
m erciless attitudes. T hat is his
privilege...to deny his son or renounce
any degree o f fatherly guilt, blame or
complicity. When Gates displays a blame-
less-at-all-costs facade o f sw agger be
fore the men in his com m and, they get
the message. They emulate their C hief
in giving themselves permission to judge.
Police are peace officers...not judges.
They imitate Gates too often with a
militancy that stomps on individual rights
indiscrim inately under the guise o f “ up
holding the law.” Are they? And why
should they question them selves? Does
Police C hief Gates question himself?
Obviously those who do question
him...the American Civil Liberties Union,
for exam ple, com e directly into the line
o f his emotional fire...he even sneers at
the A C LU ’s invaluable reputation for
fairness as an investigative, objective
body geared to protecting human civil
rights., Gates dism isses the ACLU and
other critics because he feels they are
displaying a “ lynch mob m entality.”
They are out to get him, not defend
wrong-doing or due process or civil
abuses.
The local incident in Las Vegas
where three policem en entered a private
residence without a search warrant and
brutalized a black man on the basis of
“ suspicion” , not fact. The “ restraint”
resulted in their chokehold killing him.
The three policem en were tried in the
courts and a verdict o f not-guilty was
rendered with a failsafe prohibition locked
into the decision...no retrial.
The Las V egas incident was cov
ered in local papers.
I was told about it, but to my know l
edge the “ incident largely avoided na
tional publicity.
Perhaps the local papers nation
wide preferred to ignore the story as a
local incident...nothing impacting other
cities or states. If this is true, we had
Continued next week
Isaac Newton:
Black History
Student
There is good reason to reem pha
size the many facets o f this noted scien
tists research and investigations. W hile
he is best known for his “ Theory of
Universal G ravitation” , it is usually
concealed from us that his first aca
demic pursuits were in the areas of
African history, religion, philosophy
and m athematics. An exam ination of
the early thoughts and writings clearly
reveal how and where Newton devel
oped his concept o f a single, unifying
“ U N IV ERSA L” force that unified
nature and man.
Thanks to the scholars at C am br
idge University, England, we know what
99% o f American academ ics do not
wish us to know;
that N ew ton’s ‘first’ book was ‘ ‘A
Dissertation upon the sacred Cubit of
the Jews and the cubits o f several Na
tions: in which from the D im ensions of
the G reatest Pyram id, as taken by Mr.
John Greaves, the ancient Cubit of
Memphis [Africa] is determined.” (The
“ C ubit” is an ancient African unit of
m easurem ent that was proliferated
throughout the known w orld-’Temple
o f Solomon/Moses’,’Noah’s Ark; Greece
and Rome).
W hy is this type o f inform ation so
im portant at this late date? For one
thing, in these times o f organized and
m alevolent attacks upon the intellec
tual capabilities o f blacks throughout
history, it is terribly im portant that both
w e and our children have in reply clear,
docum ented evidence o f our seminal
contributions to the culture and tech
nology o f civilization. Certainly, last
week, I made some inroads against the
“ tribes of racist detractors’ ’. But, ‘eter
nal vigilance' is required and I used the
school district’s ‘‘Baseline Essays” and
Sunday’s “ Town Hall Program ”
(KATU) to make my point.
Isaac Newton, in order to prove his
theory o f gravitation, had found it nec
essary, first, to establish reliable ‘univer-
sal’standards o f measurements in re
spect to the earth and the solar system.
There were only two places on
earth where such values could be estab
lished; at the G REA T PYRAMID;
GIZEH, AFRICA and in Israel where
conquering Kings o f Egypt and Ethio
pia had established their adm inistra
tions, including standards o f measure
ment.
This is why Newton studied the
works o f the Jewish historian Josephus
to correlate the “ cubit” o f the pillars of
the Tem ple at Jerusalem to that o f the
African Pyramid.
This is also why Thomas Jefferson
incorporated the Pyram id and the eye
o f the African god, Horus into THE
GREAT SEAL O F THE UNITED
STATES (See the reverse side o f a one
dollar bill). So we see it as an obscene
joke when we have a m odem writer
saying ‘ ‘...there can never be a scientist
like Newton again...for scientists now
have books and libraries, microfilms,
com puterized information. NEW TON
HAD NOTHING...except G alileo’s
thoughts and K epler’s laws of Plane
tary Motion (p.135, Beckman, “ The
History o f P i” , St. M artins, 1971). If
we blacks are to motivate our youth
effectively in this world o f increasing
technological complexity we have got
to teach them who they are and who
they ‘w ere’.
In the same vein, they need to
know that among that graffiti left by
visitors (and plagiarists) to that great
African Pyramid is that o f two noted
m athematicians who are alleged to have
made the discoveries for which they are
famous. “ Fibonacci,” son o f Itlay's
m erehantile consul to Africa, for whom
the most powerful tool of modem mathe
matics and physics is named. And
‘ ‘ M ercator” , the m aster(?) o f geometry
for whom the famous “ M ercator Map
Projection “ is named. In his 1971 book,
“ Secrets o f the G reat Pyram id” , Peter
Tompkins shows how a junior high school
student could derive these universal
equation from an exam ination o f the
African Pyramid (Newton did-YOUR
CHILD COULD!)
Nothing has changed much has it?
We have it, “ In 1720 rum ors spread
among the historians of Paris tliat Newton
had descended from the heavens where
he had DIVINED TH E LAW S o f the
movements o f the planets, and had
deigned to study chronology, mythol
ogy and the revolutions o f states and
empires” (principally African). See p.21,
Maneul, “ Isaac Newton: H istorian” ,
Harvard U. Press, 1963" and see, West-
fall, “ Never At Rest: A Biography of
Isaac N ew ton” , Cam bridge U. Press,
1987 ed.
Fortunately, at the time Isaac Newton
was doing his research and w riting (17th
century), Charles Darwin had not yet
produced his great work on evolution,
“ The Origin o f Species By M eans of
Natural Selection-Or The Preservation
o f FAVORED RACES In The Struggle
For L ife” (published m iddle o f 19th
century). I say this because the racists of
the world siezed upon D arw in’s book to
justify every preconception that ever
existed in respect to the ‘Superiority of
the northern European races. Newton
‘told it like it w as’-like he found it (and
used it)-from African science and as
tronomy to religion and culture; even in
his ‘serm ons’ given in Trinity Chapel.
United Way Names Vice President
Priscilla Seaborg has been appointed
vice president of public policy at United
W ay o f the Colum bia-W illam ette.
Seaborg has been with United Way
for one year as governm ent relations
director. She currently working with
other human services providers to en
courage the 1991 Legislature to main-
lain funding levels for those program s,
which face potential budget cuts be
cause o f M easure 5.
Before coming to United W ay,
Seaborg was a federal public defender
in Portland, representing indigent people
charged in U.S. D istrict CourL
Seaborg received her law degree
from Indiana University in 1981 and is
a m ember of the Indiana State Bar. This
follows a 1977 bachelor o f arts degree
in forensic studies from the same uni
versity. She passed the Oregon State
Bar exam in 1990.
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Calling 911? -
Don’t Hang Up!
Investigations surrounding recent
incidents involving emergency 911 calls
have revealed the importance o f not
hanging up an calling again if you are
put on hold. By hanging up, the caller
jeopardizes the position hisAier call will
be taken when calling back again. Also,
with the new enhanced 911 system,
operators know the phone number of
the caller. Those people who call in and
hang up are given to a 911 O perator for
follow-up. That Operator attem pts to
call the num ber back to check on the
caller. Callers who repeatedly call and
hang up, are actually hindering O pera
tor attempts to answer their call quickly.
Although it sometimes happens that
callers are put on hold when calling
911, Mayor Clark and Commissioner
Dick Bogle are working to prevent it
from ever happening. Part of the prob
lem is that more trained operators are
needed. O perators with different level
o f expertise and training handle differ
ent types o f calls. Another problem
occurs when people use 911 for non
em ergency calls, preventing operators
from responding to true emergencies
[see following].
W HEN SHOULD YOU USE 911 ?
• The following information is reprinted
from a City o f Portland Emergency
Com m unications Advisory:
* Any situation which is occurring
now and which could be life threatening
or could result in loss of large am ount of
property
* There is a fight occurring now
* There is an assault occurring now
* There is a fire burning now
* There is a medical problem oc
curring now which could be life threat
ening
Reinvestments
Community
Gospel Jubilee Excites 900 at Concert Hall
Arlene Schnitzer Concert H all
packed in nearly 900 people fo r the First
Annual Northwest Gospel Jubilee last
Saturday. The crow d was extrem ely
ju b ila n t in response to the program . The
evening’ s presentation consisted o f two
acts; the first act introduced evo lu tion o f
gospel music from the early 1600s (and
included the presentation o f slaves and
their masters). It illustrated the tyranny,
the violence, the heartache, and the sepa
ration o f fam ilies that the slaves en
dured. These sufferers had been brought
over on slave ships against the ir w ill to
be sold in Am erica. D u ring the second
act, gospel music was presented to the
audience, through the A frica n dance and
its music o f that era, led by Bruce Sm ith
and the A frik a n Ballet dancers. In their
depiction, they caused the audience to
feel the true rhythm o f A frica n music as
it was over four hundred years ago.
sorship from the various businesses, all
came together to make the event endur
ing and very successful.
A special twelve-voice ensemble
Brenda Phillips, who portrayed
a blues singer, rendered an ex
traordinary performance. She
showed to the audience the cor
relation between blues and gos
pel music.
presented spirituals, such as “ Am azing
Grace ,
Steal A w a y ” , “ G o Down
Moses” , and a presentation from the
F IS K Jubilee Singers o f N ashville T en
nessee. The music director R icky C al-
lie r, along w ith producer Bruce W atts,
developed the script and the form at. The
second act presented Maranathe C hoir,
the A ng elic G low and Love Band, Ser-
monettes, and the Watson fa m ily from
Tacoma. The inspirational sounds all
The Sojourner Truth Theatre’ s
actors and actresses gave a life -lik e
im agery o f the suffering o f the slaves.
The cast consisted o f both B lack and
w hite performers.
can Am erican Gospel music. The firs t
Brenda P hillips, w ho portrayed
a blues singer, rendered an extrao rdi
nary performance. She showed to the
audience the correlation between blues
and gospel music. This performance
was narrated by J. Cam ell Foreman. The
emcee for the evening was Jeanette Russell
Brow n; the program director was Bruce
M . Watts; lig h tin g was done by Kobe
Enright. Costume design was thought
was more than ju s t a form o f entertain
ment: (here were slide presentations
that gave stim ulating im agery on trip le -
screens. The penetrating voice o f Glenda
Pullen brought the audience to their feet
w ith ihc presentation o f “ Precious Lord,
Take M y Hand” , as it was sung by M a-
halia Jackson many years ago. The w o rk
that went into this production, the assis
up by Wanda W alden; the theatrical
director was N ycw usi A skari; Bruce
Sm ith acted as dance director; w h ile
G len B utle r and Ayanna Patterson were
in charge o f stage direction. Set design
was conducted by M ark L o rin g ; the
technical director was John Pierce; Gloria
Carter was in charge o f p u b lic ity ; and
the program assistant was Andrea Salmon.
tance from ihc com m unity, and the;
/\
I
came together in the presentation o f the
second act, g ivin g the audience a w e ll-
rounded presentation o f o rig in o f A f r i
The president o f the A frica n
Am erican Festival Association, W av
e rly Davis, w ould like to convey this
message:
To the citizens o f metropolitan Port
land: you should be proud o f
Portland and this region fo r bring
ing the African American Festival
into the mainstream o f special
events. 11 is truly a pleasure fo r the
African American Festival Asso
ciation to have been able to bring
to the Portland metropolitan
community, a great visibility o f
the rich culture and art o f the
African American Community
through this unique presentation
that introduced the course o f gos
pel music from the early 1600s to
the quality o f livability we enjoy in
Portland, and wish to further en
hance, which would not be pos
sible without committed citizens
continually striving toward the goal
o f unity in the community, ¡w ould
like to convey special thanks and
deep appreciation to our board o f
directors and executive committee
fo r their lavish efforts. Commis
sioner Mike Lindberg, his staff
and the Portland City Council,
Portland Rose Festival Associa
tion and its president Norm Daniels.
A very special thanks to the Port
land Observer newpaper's staff
and management fo r their hard
work and dedication.
! wish to give the most high
honor to the Lord fo r the vision
and the challenge to serve in this
capacity and to serve the N-NE
community
"Reinvestments in the Community" is a weekly column appearing
in API publications throughout the USA.