Page J—The Portland Observer—April 17, 1991
The Mourning Of Men In Blue Fails
To Stir Public Sympathy For Gates
P E R S P E C T IV E S
by Professor McKinley Burt
L.A.’s Police Chief Awakens to a New And Colder Morning
Part two of a three part series by A. Lee Henderson
Perhaps the
local papers
nationw ide
preferred to
ignore the
story as a
local in c i­
dentnothing
im p a c tin g
other cities
¿¡or states. I f
this is true,
Henderson we had bet­
ter awaken
ourselves. We are in a state o f numb­
ness and the uneasy desire to look the
other way...the type o f Gestapo envi­
ronm ent that helped Nazi Germany
c o m m it genocide in the name o f its
a rc h ite c t..H itle r whose maniacal v i­
sion was for the “ public good.”
The police, too, are serving our
“ public good.”
Are we going to accept their ex­
treme use o f power w ithout any re­
course to justice? Are we going to con­
tinue our passivity w hile we relegate
our expressed anger to a few exchanges
o f social vitrio l?
I l ’ s tim e to continue in Prayer and
Power...to fuel ourselves fo r Positive
Power and initiate Programs to Purge
our Nation o f a Program (Program: an
organized crackdown to exterminate or
brutalize that sector o f the people singled
out fo r punitive measures by the gov­
ernment in power) m entality no better
than that o f the ancient Czars o f Russia.
The contemporary fascists o f dictator
nations initiate programs against m i­
norities that resemble the actions toler­
ated w ithin the police departments o f
our own United States o f Am erica. C it­
ies in this country reflect too often,
w ithin their police departments, the
diffuse samples o f local brutality that
can, i f converted by hate groups or an
agency o f national control...explode into
the racism that gets “ out o f control.”
The seeds o f it exist. The seeds o f the
hatred are there and must be expunged
in a calculated, point-by-point program.
M y concern is for Prevention o f
future incidents o f police violence.
Aggression that is inflicted upon hu­
man beings, calls for a sensitivity train­
ing program o f intensive proportions
being instituted, ongoing, w ithin po­
lice departments or enforcement agen­
cies that deal w ith suspected o f known
crim inal /social offenders.
Scapegoat Racism is Real.
Scapegoat Racism demands m obi-
lized action o f our citizens in com m uni­
ties across the nation to:
1) C all or wnte your local police
department. (Be sure not to use Emer­
gency telephone numbers that could
interfere w ith operations.)
2) C all or w rite your local and state
representatives o f your concern. Be
factual. Be specific.
3) C all or wnte the M ayor and/or
city council administrators and repre­
sentatives.
4) Constitute yourself a com m it­
tee-of-one to seek cooperation from
others in your community.
5) Keep your national Congres­
sional representatives aware o f what
you are doing and solicit their support.
6) W rite to President Bush and
keep him informed o f your operations
as “ a point o f lig h t” in the nation’ s
wealthy human resources.
We have an obligation to quote
Police C hief Daryl F. Gates in his own
words on department policy w ith in his
police force:
“ Usually when you have some
incident, you have someone stand up
and say ‘ Yeah, but’ and offer some kind
o f defense. But this department does
not countenance that kind o f conduct.
There is a unanimous view in this de­
partment that that conduct was wrong.
I urge the Police C hief to take credit
for these temperate words in his future
temperate actions: I invite him to in ­
form us o f reconstructive measures he
has initiated and w ill take in the long-
range future.
Further, Gates has said in spread­
ing o f race relations:
“ I think w hat’s really bothering
me is this attempt to bring this into a
racial focus. This is a diverse city. I
agree w ith the mayor (Bradley) that the
strength o f the city is its diversity. To
try to make this into a racial incident I
think, i f it is, i f there is some connota­
tion there w e’ll deal w ith that...But to
p it one group against another...I think it
would be very harm ful.”
There is no group that can exacer­
bate the police brutality beyond what
the policemen involved meted out to
their victim ...wounds that required sur­
gery, medical reported heart damage,
and extensive head injuries suffered by
Rodney King, a man ironically described
by a local storekeeper he had form erly
burgled as ‘ ‘provoked’ ’ into aggression
by the shopkeeper himself. For that
offense is the only publicized recent
record o f K in g ’s former record. No
justifica tion fo r the beating, certainly,
occurred on the night in question. The
car King was driving, a Hyundai, reput­
edly clocked at excessive speeds o f 110
miles an hour, has been reported as
incapable o f going at such speed...its
capability o f high speeds was m axi­
mized at 80 mph by the manufacturer!
The beating, caught on video, shows
a defenseless K ing subjected to police
violence he equated as having the fe­
rocity o f “ a pack o f dogs.”
Could this, we ask Police C hief
Gates have its m otivation in anything
other than racism? O r is the police
department on a prejudicial tear against
tall people? O r is it the p olicy to beat
first and ask questions later when the
suspicions o f anything like “ drugs” is
suspected?
Black people are less susceptible
to “ herd’ support than C hief Gales
w uh his police department Police League
supporters. They were so w ell organ­
ized. They closed ranks in a demonstra­
tion o f loyalty to each other...rather
than honest, open self-examination.
Were Black people tighter to unify,
to rally, to organize we would have
done so long ago.
Black people, I rem ind C hie f Gates
do not even support unilaterally the
policies o f his most severe critic, Black
M ayor Tom Bradley. Indeed, Jesse
Jackson’ s criticism o f Bradley echoes
other leaders. The distrust o f corrup­
tive finances attributed to Bradley’ s
recent banking indiscretions, which have
been masked, are an affront to claim
many good conservatives...among them
many conscientious Blacks!
We are various in the Black com­
m unity as the stratas o f social, p o liti­
cal, and financial levels, operating and
voting beyond color and reflecting our
individual, American-blessed civic heri­
tage to choose...certainly w ithout the
lim itations o f assuming color-groupie
unaimity.
BUT...we do hold fo r unanim ity
on c iv il and human rights...in concert
w ith the com m unity o f a ll peoples con­
cerned in preserving freedoms. Our B ill
O f Rights needs to be reconstructed in
visible day-to-day practice.
Ira Glasser, executive director o f
the American C iv il Liberties Union has
warned us to be wary o f police controls
exacted in the name o f drug search.
Often used as a cover-up for allow ing
drug Enforcement an invasion o f p ri­
vacy, Glasser released some startling
statistics.
Continued next week
The Ancient
African ‘Public
Library’
Thank You! A ll the parents, teach­
ers (and students) who responded to
last week’ s article, “ Isaac Newton: Black
H istory Student” .
And thank you Carolyn Leonard
(School D istrict Adm inistration) and
Darrell M iln e r (Portland Slate Profes­
sor) for your able defense o f the school
districts “ Baseline Essays” on the
K A T U Tow nH all Program, A p ril 7.
As 1 predicted here on A p ril 3,
there was provided an opportunity for
the entire region to view a number o f
racist detractors o f black history at their
denigrating best. Interestingly, the one
w ith the least cognitive equipment was
from the Com m unity College-that
academic anomaly where only recently
the president chastised five ‘ ‘CREDEN-
T IA L E D B U R G L A R S ” for breaking
into the files o f a fellow professor, a
m inority female who taught M in o rity
Studies. Beautiful!
Let me supply some additional facts
and documentation in support o f last
weeks revelations. Let me further tweak
the ears o f the half-educated who claim
that there is no need for a ‘ B la ck’
History (M e thinketh thou doth protest
too much). Some material here is from
Luciano Canfora, “ The Vanished L i­
brary: A Wonder o f the Ancient W orld”
(U niversity o f C alifornia Press, 1990);
Marshall Clagett, “ Greek Science in
A n tiq u ity ” (C o llie r-M c M illa n , 1963);
and Sir James Jeans, “ The Growth o f
Physical Science” (Cambridge U. Press,
1961).
Projects Fund to W illie D. (Don) Jones,
owner and operator o f J.A.M . Develop­
ment, a 100 percent m inority-owned
home construction company.
Jones intends to build 1100-to-1300
square foot, 3-bedroom homes in the
$50,000-560,000 price range.
J.A .M . has the capability and de­
sire, according to PD C ’ s loan review, to
build low-cost housing in Northeast
Portland under Security Pacific Bank’ s
S M A R T S T A R T II program, but that
Inform ation about remodeling, re­
modeling contractors, and related top­
ics is now just a to ll free phone call
away. The Oregon Remodelers asso­
ciation has made available the hot line
service to Oregon residents. The num­
ber is 1-800-863-9119.
Jim Brcitbarth, Executive D irec­
tor o f the Association, said the prim ary
purpose o f the to ll free line is as a
referral service to obtain names o f
(USPS 959-680)
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The Portland Observer- Oregon's Oldest African-American Publication - is a member
of The National Newspaper Association - Founded in 1885 and The National Advertis­
ing Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc., New York, NY
q u a lifie d rem odeling contractors.
Anyone calling for contractor referrals
w ill be given the names o f three con­
tractors. The caller w ill receive a fo l­
low up contact by m ail to assure correct
service.
Consumers can also use the to ll
free number to get inform ation about
remodeling and how to select a con­
tractor.
The Oregon Remodelers associa­
tion is a state wide organization o f
professional remodeling contractors and
related trades. Current membership is
over 500 w ith local chapters in Port­
land, Salem, Albany/Corvallis, Eugene,
Hood R iver and Bend.
The Association sponsors the an­
nual Home Improvement and Remod­
eling Show at the Oregon Convention
Center in October.
Are • The • Proud • Sponsors • Of
Reinvestments
Community
Mt. Hood Jazz Festival Announces
Complete 1990 Lineup
■.
Federal Extended
Benefits Triggered
PORTI
Alfred L. Henderson
Publisher
i
"W h a t’ s in a name?
We understand now why the Greeks
were able to return to their homeland
and set up those great scientific schools
such as M iletus. W hat we need to fu r­
ther understand is the terrible envy,
jealousy and insecurity that prompted
Alexander and others to bum many o f
these libraries. Understand that and you
w ill comprehend the fury o f the
“ Baseline Essay” detractors, the ‘ lib ­
eral’ academics you saw in action the
other Sunday. It is not always true that
‘ ‘ TH E T R U T H W IL L SET Y O U
FREE! ’ ’ N ot in the case o f racists. But,
keep in m ind that under the pressures o f
this American culture we are not going
to motivate our black youngsters u ntil
we teach them too, who we were, who
we are, and who we w ill be!
AMALGAMATED PUBLISHERS, INC.
the builder could not participate in the
program w ithout in itia l financial support
from PDC. Jones plans to utilize m inor­
ity contractors from North/Northeast and
employ com m unity residents.
The loan to J.A.M . w ill be used to
secure an operating line o f credit from
Security Pacific, which also w ill provide
a construction line o f credit. The bank
already has 150 prequalified home buy­
ers seeking appropriately designed and
priced homes under S M A R T STA R T II.
>
historian. Gibbon ( “ Decline and Fall
o f the Roman E m p ire ") comments on
"th e treasures o f Egyptian Libraries-
Aristotle, Pliny the Elder and Galen pe­
rused these w ritings o f their predeces­
sors (Canfora, p p .l 12,113)” . And it is
Newton who is quoted in the books I
cited last week, “ Africans developed
the concept o f the SPHERE in that part
o f A frica now known as L ib ya ” .
By their own testimony we know
o f the many other Greeks (and Ro­
mans) who attended school or were
bom in A frica (the busts we have today
o f the alleged ethnic Greek mathemati­
cians and astronomers are conceded
not to be valid representations-and we
know that many ethnic (Negro) A f r i­
cans look Greek names before and after
the invasion o f Alexander. So when we
think o f Pythagoras, Euclid and o f A ris ­
totle who transferred scores o f Greek
students from Athens to the A frican
Temple Schools o f Egypt and the Su-
dan-w e should also th in k o f
Shakespeare’ s cogent observaion,
Toll Free Information On Remodeling
Now Available To Oregon Consumers
Minority-Owned construction Firm To Build Low-Cost
Housing In North/Northeast Portland With PDC Assistance
As many as 20 new or rehabilitated
homes, most in North/Northeast Port­
land, could be put on the market fo r
low-and moderate-income families over
the next 12-to-18 months as a result o f a
loan approved today by the Portland
Development Commission (PDC).
PDC-the C ity ’ s urban renewal,
housing and economic development
agency-approved a 530,000 low -in te r­
est loan under the Housing and C om ­
m unity Development Northeast Special
Establishment history texts gener­
a lly make much fuss over the ancient
A frican Library (ies) o f Alexandria,
Egypt and it is not denied that the
greatest collection o f knowledge known
to exist u ntil modem times was to be
found there. O f course it is seldom i f
ever mentioned that Alexandria was in
A fric a -o r that the next largest library
was also founded in A frica , but many,
many centuries later. This was at the
“ U niversity o f T im b uktu ” in ancient
M a li on the east coast o f A frica , just
above the equator. An international
c e n te ro fle a m in g in th e 14th-16th cen­
turies, its traditions were carried over
to Katsina, a Hausa state in Northern
Nigeria. The c ity was the capital o f
” Askia, The Great” , Emperor o f Song-
hay in 1538, and he ruled an empire
that stretched from the A tlantic Ocean
to lake Chad and was LA R G E R T H A N
W ESTERN EUROPE.
But to return to that earlier scene
o f A frican intellectual glories, Alexan­
dria (renamed, o f course, to suit the ego
o f its later conqueror, “ Alexander The
Great (?)” ). W e need to understand
that these libraries were reservoirs o f
ancient scientific, philosophical and o f
Temple Schools or U niversities-Like
H eliopolis where Moses studied sev­
eral thousand years B.C., and long before
the Greeks became literate. These u ni­
versities produced other black schol­
ars, like Imhoteps who designed the
Step Pyramid and who was the greatest
phy sic ian o f that age (as ackno w ledged
by Hippocrates who learned from the
w ritings and ‘prescriptions’ o f the
master; S till preserved on the “ Eber’ s
Papyrus” in the British Museum).
So we may w ell understand why it
is that as late as the 17th century, Isaac
Newton turned to A fric a in his search
fo r the meaning o f universal principles
which underly the cosmos. The famed
BSl
Santamaria has long been at the top
o f the heap when it comes to conga
drum m ers. He le ft Cuba fo r the U.S. in
1948 and soon was w o rkin g w ith Latin
bandleaders tito Puente and Cal Tjadcr
Saxophonist Johnny G riffin , conga
drum m er M ongo Santamaria, pianist
Ray Bryant, bassist Leroy Vinnegar
and the duo o f Tuck and Patti have
been signed to round out the 1990 M t.
Hood Festival o f Jazz, accordine to
an announcement by Paul Kreider,
Festival o f Jazz Foundation President.
The Festival is Aug. 3-5 outdoors at
M t. Hood C om m unity College.
The five jazz, artists jo in the ninth
annual Jazz Festival lineup that a l­
ready includes M el Torm e, Tony
Bennett, the Terry Gibbs Dream Band,
Larry Carlton, Stanley Jordan, A l Hirt,
M ichael Franksand the Harper B ro th ­
ers. Singer A n ita Baker headlines the
popular Friday N ig h t Event this year.
Oregon unemployed workers may
be able to extend their unemployment
benefits for up to 13 more weeks begin­
ning A p ril 7, according to state Em ­
ployment D ivision officials.
That is because the state has trig ­
gered on to federal extended benefits,
which are designed to provide addi­
tional unemployment benefits during
periods o f high unem ploym ent
An estimated 10,000 claimants who
w ill have run out o f benefits but still
have active claims are expected to be
eligible for the extensions. Those who
receive extensions w ill be paid at their
normal weekly benefit amount. Ore­
gon’ s maximum weekly benefit is 5247
per week.
Federal extended benefits are trig ­
gered on when the ratio o f those receiv­
ing unemployment benefits to the num­
ber o f workers covered by unemploy­
ment insurance law averages 5 percent
or more for 13 weeks. Seven other
states have also triggered on to ex­
tended benefits.
“ Even though Oregon’ s total un­
employment rate has been lower than
the national average, we have had a lot
o f Oregonians filin g unemployment
claims over the past 13 weeks,” ex­
plained Em ployment D ivision A d m in ­
istrator Pamela Mattson. The claim load
was especially high during December,
a lime period which is traditionally
heavy and is included in this federal
calculation, she said.
I
He learned bebop via Bud P ow ell and
Red G arland w h ile gathering steam
on his ow n distinctive style o f piano
jazz.
before form in g his ow n band.
B ryant was bom in the ripe jazz at­
mosphere o f Philadelphia, where he
began playin g piano at 6, subsequently
learning jazz fiom listening to A rt Tatum,
Teddy W ilso n ,C o u n t Basic and others.
Bassist Vinnegar, who leads a quar­
tet, has long been in the com pany o f
elite ja zz musicians. H is firs t claim
to fame came in the '50s; when he
joined Andre Previn and Shelley Manne
to record the best-selling “ M y F air
L a d y " jazz album and went on to be­
Chicago native G r iffin has resided
in Europe fo r the past 25 years but
come one ofthe leading bassists in
jazz.
makes an annual v is it to the Unitec
Slates to tour. A standout im provisa­
tional talent and know n fo r his speed
and technical prowess, G riffin brings a
solid bebop style to the Festival.
porary fram ew ork o f jazz.
A d d itio n a l in fo rm atio n may be ob ­
tained from the M t. Hood Festival o f
Jazz o ffic e by phoning 503-666-3810.
T u ck and Patti play in the contem ­
Profile of Dancer/Choreographer Ruby Burns of the Oregon Dance Consort
D epositing her infant daughter on a
secure spot o f the studio flo o r and strip ­
ping o f f several layers o f A fric a n -in ­
spired fashions, dancer Ruby Bums picks
up a large A m erican flag and starts to
sw irl it around. A flag?! Yes, indeed.
W ith a well-established reputation as
one o f the re g io n ’ s top interpreters and
teachers o f A frica n dance. Ruby is
branching out to explore the vocabu­
lary o f A m erican modem dance--and
Am erican m odern dance in the 90s is a
m any-faceted artform .
I t ’s not such a huge leap for Ruby as
it sounds; trace any modem dance style
back to its roots and y o u ’ ll find that the
early pioneers drew heavily on fo lk and
ethnic themes fo r inspiration in their
w ork. Ruby herself has been greatly in ­
spired by the w ork o f modern dance
pioneer Katherine dunham who based
her style directly on various forms o f
A frica n dance.
T oday, A frica n dance is a high ly
visible, enthusiastically received part
o f P ortland’ s cultural scene, but when
Ruby arrived here in 1978 as a refugee
from New Y o rk C ity , this was harldy
the case. A s a facu lty m ember at D anc­
ers’ W orkshop, as a choreographer and
perform er, R uby has played a v ita l role
in focusing attention on the d ive rsity
and pow er o f A frica n form s o f music
and dance. N o w , in her recent and
upcom ing w o rk w ith the m odem dance
company O regon Dance Consort, she's
b u ild in g more bridges and u tiliz in g her
pow erful stage personality to interpret
dram atic w o rks from another tradition.
"Reinvestments in the Community" is a weekly column appearing
in API publications throughout the USA.
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