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Page 2—The Portland Observer-July 24, 1991
HIS OPINION
How Do You Spell Relief:Portland
BY ULLYSSES TUCKER, JR.
Washington, D.C. is my place o f
b irth , D.C. General Hospital to be ex
act. The same hospital that has the
highest infant m ortality rate in the city,
the most welfare recipients seeking
m edical or emergency services and
some o f the horror stories are phe
nomenal. For examples, patients hav
ing the wrong lim b removed by acci
dent or dying from blood clots as a
result o f an ankle injury are common.
N ot to mention doctors or young in
terns administering the wrong m edi
cine to patients or stories o f covert ster
iliza tion o f black women, poor black
women. M ost D O A ’ s (Dead On A rri
val) also end up at D.C. general be
cause most o f the individuals dying in
the streets do not have health insur
ance. People like drug dealers, gang
members, drug addicts, or other disin-
franchised residents falling victim to
random violence or senseless killings.
I f yo u ’re a black male in Washington,
D.C. between the age o f 16-24, you
have a one in five chances o f being
k ille d on the streets, or incarcerated, or
identified at the city morgue housed
near the the hospital. Funeral homes do
big business in Washington, D.C. too.
There are many elements that I
love and enjoy about Washington, D.C.
The rich history, museums, Georgetown,
grandma B o lton ’s fried chicken/maca-
roni and cheese, grandma Tucker’ s
pound cakes/sweet potato pies (ask Ray
Leary about them), hanging out w ith
Uncle Dave, and other friends like
“ Eddie B o y” from Roosevelt High or
Wes when he flies up from M iam i for
a haircut. I love the monuments, Fre
drick Douglass Home, the Museum o f
A frican A rt, fish sandwiches from
Kecy’ s on 8th & H Street, N.E., and
walking along the Potomac River while
watching the plane land or take o ff
from National A irport. M ostly, I love
Quincy Street and the oldtim ers on my
block like the Fenwicks, B rin k le y ’ s,
Carter’ s, B urris's, other Tucker’ s,
Sutter’s.who unfortunately feel trapped
in their homes, sometimes, sim ply
because o f the rampant crim e and
potential for stray bullets. Kissing their
cheeks and shaking their hands remind
them o f what the neighborhood use to
be like. People are terrified now.
The other Washington is far d if
ferent than the one I grew up in. I t ’ s as
different as black and white. P o liti
cians, lawyers, big time C EO ’s, busi
nessmen, defense contractors, and as
sociation heads live large in W ashing
ton, D.C. Business is booming in down
town, tourism is on the upswing, the
subway is expanding, and big busi
nesses are relocating to the nation’ s
capital. D.C. m ight have the reputa
tion as the “ M urder C apital” around
the U.S. A., but the money and jobs are
still flo w in g in white-corporate com
m unity. U nfortunately, the only thing
flow ing in my neighborhood is drugs
and violence. Washington, D.C. is a
harsh reminder o f how I do not have to
love and a painful h u m ility p ill that
le t’ s me know how far I ’ ve come in the
last fifteen years. I t ’ s even more pain
ful to have four younger brothers who
are homeless by choice, lost in the
“ T w ilig h tZ o n e ” because o f a bad trip
on PCP, locked up for cocaine d is tri
bution, or lastly, one losing a battle
w ith his liver and w ith alcoholism.
Then, there are my two sisters who are
caught up in the cycle o f welfare de
pendency, poverty, and both consis
tently struggle to make ends meet. Each
o f us, like everyone in D.C., are the
sum total o f the choices we’ ve made.
No one can help anyone who does not
want to help themself. Boarding the
plane back to Portland brought me great
inner-peace and solitude. Could I live
back in D.C. and be happy?
Whether people, especially black
people, realize it or not— Oregonians
have a great deal to be thankful for and
a w onderful town to live in. A progres
sive bottle b ill that prevents broken
bottles and cans from ending up on the
streets, and excellent recycling mental
ity, fine city services, beautiful parks
fresh air, mountains,low unemployment,
No Pot Holes, affordable housing, and
a much low er crim e rate. A t last the
homicide count in Washington, D.C.
stood at 348 (as o f this w ritin g ) and 17
died during my b rie f stay there, includ
ing a mother o f three, d riving her three
children home. She was caught in a
cross fire between riv a l gang members.
It was a sad situation indeed. Last I
heard, Portland’ s homicide count stood
at 36 fo r the year. Washingtons Police
C hief Fulwood would love such a low
homicide count. Pordand, though not
perfect in every regard, is s till a good
place to be and the quality o f life is out
standing. I t ’ s’ s amazing to hear how
people complain about Oregon or at
least until they travel to someplace
else. Mount Hood never looked so good!
Yeah, Washington, D.C. is my birth
place, but Portland, Oregon is my home.
It a in ’ t where you’re from , i t ’ s where
you’ re at...
LETTERS TO
THE EDITOR
African-American Genocide
To the Editor:
I am w ritin g this letter w ith great
concern fo r m y African-Am erican
Brothers and Sisters as w ell as myself,
who are in the Northwest comer o f the
United States o f Am erica. We are truly
faced w ith the real life problem o f
genocide. Whereas the State o f Wash
ington has a population o f 12% A fr i
can-Am erican, yet the State o f Wash
ington has a 44% prison population o f
African-Am erican people. Again, the
State o f Oregon has less than 2% o f its
population that is African-Am erican,
but the State o f Oregon has a popula
tion o f at least 17.5% w ithin its prison
system that are African-Am erican. I
wonder why?
On June 30, 1991, Ms. Tess W a l
ton, hosted a program on K B O O Radio
(Proverbial Perspective) concerning the
racial injustice that is extracting most
o f the African-Am erican men and
women from the com m unity and plac-
ing them in correctional facilities
throughout die state, to help maintain
W hite-Am erican communides eco
nom ically. However, this is only one
problem we are faced w ith. There is
the case o f abuse in the juvenile system
that is heaped upon our African-Am eri
can youth; there is the case o f “ M is
education” o f our youth and the ever
present denial o f our true culture and
history being taught in the public school
system; there is the case o f the over
whelming amount o f drugs that flo w
through our comm unity, yet we don’t
have the means to bring it into the
country; there is the case o f young
gang members being imported into the
Northwest corner to reek havoc in cer
tain areas o f the African-Am erican
communides, which in turn brings down
property value, to make room for out
o f state investors to come in and buy up
cheap property. These are some o f the
very ingredients that are used to take
ERVER
PORTL
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OREGON'S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLICATION
Established In 1970
Alfred L. Henderson
Publisher
Joyce Washington
Operations Manager
Gary Ann Garnett
Business Manager
The PORTLAND OBSERVER is
published weekly by
Exie Publishing Corapony, Inc.
4747 N.E. M.L.K., Jr. Blvd.
Portland, Oregon 97211
P.O. Box 3137
Port’and, Oregon 97208
(503) 288-0033 (Office)
FAX#: (503) 288-0015
over a com m unity. Look at Seattle,
W ashington, i f you w ill. T he city layed
down a twenty year plan that moved
all small African-American businesses
out and moved in the Vietnamese. The
same plan is being used in Portland,
Oregon. A ll the property that African-
Am erican people own in the area be
tween the Jantzen Beach shopping mall,
the airport, and the Convendon Center
must be owned by W hite-Am erica just
like Emmanuel Hospital ran all the A f
rican-Am erican people away from that
area.
So it is really no wonder why it is.
No matter how high up we get in d i
vidually, they s till use us up as we are
really nothing as a whole. Maybe one
day we can get the sellout-type people
o ff the front lines so we can really
come together as one people and put a
stop to what those people do to us and
start doing fo r ourselves fo r real.
John Dudley Lefiridge I I I
Urban League
Supports Police
Precinct Move To
Northeast Portland
A t the June 26 meeting o f the Urban
League o f Portland’ s Board o f D irec
tors, a motion was passed to support the
relocation o f the North Portland main
Precinct to the vacant Fred Meyer site
in Northeast Portland i f three condi
tions were met: 1) that the comm unity
policing concept would be promoted in
the area, 2) that partnerships between
the police and the com m unity would be
encouraged, and 3) that there would
continue to be a strong police presence
in North Portland which may include a
satellite office. According to Darryl
T ukufu, President and C hief Executive
O ffice r o f the Urban League, “ the
board’ s vote to support the move ind i
cates their acknowledgement and con
cern fo r com m unity policing, raising
the quality o f life for residents o f both
North and Northeast Portland, and the
im portanceofbettcrpolice/com m unity
relationships in the C ity o f Portland.
Deadlines for all submitted materials:
Articles: Monday, 5 p.m. - Ads: Tuesday, 5 p.m.
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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 Advert s-
ing Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc., New York, NY.
a
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In The Beginning Was The Word, Part III
PROFESSOR MCKINLEY BURT
We continue on w ith more golden
literary gems, chiseled in stone and
recorded on papyri in a distant A frican
past--an indelible documentation an
tedating the Greeks and the Hebrews,
and even s till echoing in A frican
Am erican style and manner from ser
mon to rhetoric.
L et us begin w ith “ The Soul’ s
Declaration o f Innocence,” often called
"T h e Negative Form o f the Ten C om
mandments” by Biblical historians who
have dated their origin to 2000 B.C.
This declaration was to be made
by the soul in the Judgment H all o f
Osiris in the presence o f the council o f
forty-two gods. The heart being weighed
against the symbol o f truth and found
correct was then restored to the de
ceased who entered upon the life o f the
blessed.
O ye Lords o f Truth! I have
brought you truth.
I have not p riv ily done e vil
against mankind.
I have not a fflicted the m iser
able.
I have not told falsehoods.
I have had no acquaintance w ith
sin.
I have not made the laboring
man do more than his d aily task.
I have not been idle.
I have not been intoxicated.
I have not been im m oral.
I have not calumniated a slave
to his master.
I have not caused hunger.
I have not made to weep.
I have not murdered.
I have not defrauded.
I have not eaten the sacred bread
in the temples.
I have not cheated in the weight
o f the balance.
I have not w ithheld m ilk from
the mouths o f sucklings.
I have not slandered any one.
I have not netted sacred birds.
1 have not caught the fish which
ty p ify them.
1 have not stopped running water.
1 have not robbed the gods o f
their offered haunches.
1 have not stopped a god from
his manifestation.
1 have made to the gods the o f
ferings that were their due.
1 have given food to the hungry,
drink to the thirsty, and clothes to
the naked.
I am pure! I am pure!
(The D elphian Text, p. 71)
But, also, in a lighter vein we have
from the same period the poetic litera
ture o f love and romance. Note in the
second paragraph below that w ith very
little m odification we have a modem
A frican Am erican “ blues” : “ M Y
B A B Y D O N E LE F T M E A N D A IN ’T
NO DOCTOR C A N H E LP .”
‘ Sweet in love, Mut-ir-dis, priest
ess o f Hathor,
Sweet in love, says King N,
Sweet in love, say the men,
Sweet in love, say the women.
The daughter o f the king, sweet
in love, is the most beautiful o f
women.
A young g irl whose equal has
never been seen
Her hair is blacker than the night.
Blacker than grapes, than the
fru it o f the fig-tree,
Her teeth are more neatly set
than grains o f com,
Her breasts are firm ly planted
on her chest.’
T have not seen my beloved for
seven days,
1 am prey to listlessness,
M y heart has become heavy.
1 am forgetful even o f my own
life.
When the physicians come to
me,
T heir remedies do not satisfy
me,
The magicians are helpless.
M y sickness cannot be discov
ered.
But i f they say to me, “ Look,
there she is,’ ’ then 1 am restored to
life .’
Believe it or not, those transla
tions arc from the pages o f a book by
die very flabbergasted historian who
claimed that the Africans ‘ ‘ had no flo w
o f inspiration, the narrative is always
perfunctory and the style bare. ’ ’ T ru ly,
prejudice has blinded the best o f Euro
pean historians. The “ blues” poems
are found on p. 215 o f M ontet’ s, Eter
nal Egypt.
It is no wonder then that as we
examine the further development o f
the w o rld ’ s literature and drama we
find the fo llo w in g statement on page
131, Voi 1, o f the 1958 Encyclopedia
Brittanica (H ow many o f your teach
ers w ill tell you that these soulful and
inspirational A frican literatures and
ceremonies were the seminal base o f
all the subsequent culture?)
‘ ‘ It was not u ntil the gods o f Egypt
were accepted by the Greeks that there
appears any ceremony w hich can truly
be called dramatic. The greek drama
arose through the worship o f the gods
o f vegetation, and later developed into
the form o f the plays o f die great drama
tists.” (Aeschylus, Aristophenes.etc.)
Is it any wonder then diat the tamed
historian o f ancient medicine, D.T.
Atkinson, was forced to the conclu
sion, TH E GREEKS W ERE N O T O
RIOUS T H IE V E S ” (M agic, M yth and
Medicine, 1958. Fawcett W orld L i
brary). M ore next week.
Portland Observer encourages our readers to write
letters to the editor in response to any articles
we publish.
United Airlines
POCTLflM&RVER
Are • The • Proud • Sponsors • Of
Reinvestments
Community
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN HOME REPAIR
TRAINING PROGRAM COMPLETE PROJECT
UNDER PDC’S URBAN HOMESTEAD PROGRAM
Forty Portland high school students
have spent the last year completely re
building an abandoned home in North
east Portland purchased through the
Portland Development Commission’ s
Urban Homestead Program.
On Tuesday, October 16, the stu
dents celebrated completion o f the proj
ect by holding an open house and driving
a ceremonial " fin a l” nail o f simulated
gold into the rehabilitated bouse. They
were joined by the new owner o f the
house, PDC Urban Homestead Program
staff and the instructors who guided them.
The home was purchased under
PDC’s Urban Homestead Program, which
provides low-cost home ownership op
portunities to qualifying city residents.
The homesteader is required to repair all
major housing code violations and live
in the house for at least three years.
This is the fifth home completed by
llic Portland Public School’s Home Repair
Training Program (I IRTP) since it began
in 1985 under a cooperative agreement
with PDC’ s Homestead Program. Stu
dents enrolled in the program conic from
a variety o f Portland high schools.
Students who have participated in
HRTP not only have helped reclaim some
o f the c ity ’s stock o f low-income hous
ing hut, in some cases, have found re
warding careers through the program.
Some students have gone on to open
theirow n building and remodeling busi
nesses.
I IRTI’ students, who lili the role o f
general contractor, began w ork on the
project in October 1989. Their work
included a new front porch, vin yl siding,
exterior and interior painting, repair o f
windows, new roof, new kitchen and
bathroom, new floor coverings, and ex
tensive sheet rock and wall repair. Elec
trical and plumbing work is typically
subcontracted.
The students work in tw o shifts, one
group in the morning, another in the af
ternoon, leaving half the day fo r their
regular classes. "The program really gives
those participating a leg-up on others
entering the building and remodeling
trade,” noted HRTP Coordinator John
Harris. “ Our kids have some real skills
to offer an employer.”
PDC Urban Homestead manager
Jennifer Gardner praised the remodeling
work done by the students. “ Our hous
ing specialists constantly monitor work
done by all pur contractors and subcon
tractors. The rehab work done by the
HRTP program a.ways meets, and often
cxoccds, our guidelines. A high degree
o f workmanship is accomplished."
In addition to the Urban Homestead
Program, HRTP students also perform a
variety o f home repairs under PDC’ S’ s
Single Family Housing program. Under
both programs the homeowner only pays
for the materials used by the students and
the cost o f the subcontractors.
Fall finds the HRTP students al
ready working on their next Urban
Homestead home rehabilitation project.
Northeast School Earns
National Recognition
Northeast Portland’s Alameda Ele
mentary on A p ril 27 earned a national
award from the federal Drug-Free School
Recognition Program.
Alameda, 2732 N.E. Fremont St.,
was one o f 51 schools nationwide to
w in the award sponsored by (he U.S.
Dept. o f Education.
Alameda and the o ilier Oregon w in
ner, Oceanlakc Elementary in Lincoln
C ity , were among four Oregon schools
nominated and among 123 schools se
lected nationwide fo r site evaluations
last February.
Only four winners were selected from
Oregon, W ashington and Idaho in Re
gion X o f the federal department. The
other two arc ju n io r high schools in Ch
eney, Wash, and Pocatello, Idaho.
School representatives from Alameda
and Oceanlakc w ill jo in other national
winners in awards ceremonies in late
M ay or early June in Washington, D.C.
Charles N a kva sil, p rin c ip a l at
Alameda, said the school has been in
the forefront o f drug and alcohol educa
tion since 1980 and has “ tried to crack
the barriers o f m isinform ation by en
couraging self-esteem in students.” He
went on to say Alameda accomplishes
that by teaching decision-m aking skills
to help youths take early steps toward
drug-free lives.
;
deliver added safety for the elderly
and homebound.
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"Reinvestments in the Community" is a weekly column appearing
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