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Grace Collins Memorial Center Receives $25,000 Donation
BY D. BELL
O n Thursday December 19th,
Robert Pamplin presented the board
o f directors o f the Grace Collins Me
m orial Center a check for $25,000.
Dr. Pamplin is a prominent busi
nessm an and minister, who is a senior
pastor at Christ Community Church
located in Newberg Oregon.
The Christ Community Church
also provides various social service
agencies such as W ings of Love and
Stay Clean Inc. with food.
According to Ralph Davis chair
o f the Collins Center Board of Direc
tors, the gift Dr. Pamplin bestowed
upon the center will wipe out out
standing federal and local taxes.
W hen asked to comment about
the donation. Dr. Pamplin said he felt
that he could not do otherwise and that
the Collins Center has been an impor
tant community facility for many years.
Saturday evening Dr. Pamplin
received the Founders Award for his
generous and longtime support at the
first annual Grace Collins Memorial
C enter Appreciation Award Banquet.
Some o f the other individuals who
also received plaques o f recognition
for their commitment and support o f
the center were: Margaret Carter, Dis
trict 18 Eepresentive; Joyce W ash
ington, Operations Manager for The
PortlandO bserver, Stan Peterson, Di
rector o f Youth Gang Task Force;
LaVem Davis, Principal at Martin Luther
King Jr. Early Childhood Education
School; Ralph Davis, an employee with
Multnomah County Corrections, and
M iss Evelyn Collins who was awarded
a plaque for Lifetime A chievem ent
Charles Jordan served as the ban
quets keynote speaker.
The Collins Daycare C enter is
currently accepting applicants for in
fants (6 weeks or older) toddlers, pre
school and latch-key children.
DMV’s New Program
On The Road
O regon’s Re-Exam ination Evalu
ation Program for drivers is up and
running at full strength. The Re-Ex-
am ination Evaluation Progrram is
D M V ’s innovative new method to re
exam ine drivers who may no longer be
qualified to drive. W hile this program
is for all drivers, m ost o f the drivers
involved are seniors.
The program beings when DMV
receives a request to test a driver. The
request can com e from police officers
or members o f the public, including
family members and friends. If DMV
believes the person to be tested may not
be qualified to drive, DM V sends the
person a letter offering him or her the
opportunity to be retested or meet with
a driver im provem ent counselor.
Drivers who choose to meet with
the counselor are scheduled for an
appointm ent at a local DMV office.
The person m eets the counselor in pri
vate, one on one. At the m eeting, the
counselor evaluates the dirver’s ability
to safely operate a vehicle. The coun
selor will:
■"Conduct an oral quiz or traffic
laws, rules o f the road and safe driving
practices.
"C heck vision.
"Conduct a bchind-the-wheel evalu
ation of driving skills.
"Check reflexes and response times.
"Review m edications taken.
"Look for cognitive impairm ent
(dementia).
"Discuss findings and recom m en
dations with the driver, including alter
native transportation methods.
"Counsel and assist the driver in
preparation for knowledge or driving
tests, if the test are required.
The program has been evaluated
by DMV’s research specialist, Dr. Bamie
Jones, Research Analyst. The results
show that drivers perceive this program
as being a positive approach to the
driver re-examinationn process. D riv
ers believe the program is fair, the
atmosphere is pleasant, and they sup
port the program.
DMV also offers a brochure espe
cially for seniors, called Safe driving
tips for older adults. O lder drivers are
encouraged to read this publication,
which is available in m ost division
offices, or by calling D M V ’s Public
Affairs Section at 378-6966 and re
questing a copy.
For more information on this pro
gram, call Pete Nunnenkamp, manager
for the Driver Safety Section, at 378-
6713, or Dr. Bam ie Jones, at 378-7541.
Merry mas
African Americans Celebrate Their Heritage: Kwanzaa
BY PROFESSOR MCKINLEY BURT
It is that wondrous and spiritual
tim e of year again when, at the winter
solstice, African Americans begin their
celebration o f KW ANZAA—A festival
bom o f the ancient African traditions
o f harvest and thanksgiving.
A t once solemn and festive, the
tw enty-five year old American cele
bration begins the day after C .ristm as
and is structured around seven con
secutive days o f homage, dedications
o f purpose and responsibility, feasts,
and the recognition o f basic values for
the race and community. The Ameri
can tradition began in 1966 when Dr.
M ulana Ron Karenga, an African
American Professor of history, founded
the observance in Los Angeles. Each
year these holidays gain increasing
support from the black communities
and their social and professional or
ganizations.
There follows a listing and de
scription of the meaning and purpose of
the festival days o f Kwanzaa:
Celebration O f Life
1. Umojo [pronounced oo-M Ol
jah] (Unity): Achieve unity in the family.
the community and in the world dias
pora.
2. Kujichagulia [pronounced Koo-
gee-cha-goo-lee-ah] (Self-determina
tion): Define, name, structure and speak
o f ourselves.
3. Ujima [pronounced oo-GEE-
mah] (Collective work and responsibil
ity): W ork and build together a com
munity that will serve our needs.
4. Ujamaa [pronounced oo-jah-
Mah] (Cooperative economics): Finance
and build our own commercial enter
prises to serve our needs.
5. Nia [pronounced Nee-ah] (Pur
pose): A com m itm ent to a collective
vocation o f developing and restoring
our community and people to tradi
tional greatness.
6. Kuumba [pronounced kooj-
OOM-bah] (Creativity): A single-
minded determination to use our proven
innovative skills to render our com m u
nity a better place than we found iL
7. Imani [pronounced ee-MAH-
nee] (Faith): An unshakable belief in
our people, parents, teachers and lead
ers, and ultimate victory in our struggle.
It is to be noted that the seven days
of the observance are much more than
P erspectives
Nostalgia: Don’t
Leave Home
Without It,
Conclussion
just a temporary retreat from the stress
and trauma of an unfair political and
economic structure. Rather, they are an
annual regrouping o f the clan, a hiatus
that permits a reinforcem entof purpose
and a resurgence o f vision. There are
days o f fasting where only after sunset
does the congregation gather for meals
o f fruits vegetables and nuts. Typically
all functions are in the African style of
ancestors, including the taking of meals
and nonalcoholic drinks. Children, the
fruit and seed o f the parent are every-
w here-parents commit then to good
ness and ethical conduct in the coming
year.
It should not be surprising that Dr.
Karenga, like Alex Haley, has turned
us toward our ROOTS. And a magnifi
cent heritage it is, for we note that
nearly all other races o f the earth have
turned to the CONTINENT OF LIGHT
for the foundations and inspirations that
w ere structured into their late-bloom
ing forms o f worship: Greeks, Romans,
M esopotamiams, and wandering Isra
elites. The African roots, already formed
thousands o f years B.C., sprouted not
only in Egypt, Ethiopia, Nubia and the
adjacent Arabian Peninsulas but through
below. They accurately predicted the
rise and fall o f the great rivers and
therefore the proper times for allocat
ing labor for planting and harvest.
Beautiful and intricate festivals and
ceremonies were developed over thou
sands of years to reinforce their prac
tices o f honoring nature’s annual cycle
o f death and resurrection o f her bounty.
Further correlations o f the eons-
old African harvest celebrations to the
religions o f other cultures that devel
oped much later may be docum ented
within the context o f my early research.
(We may well understand how an able
historian like Dr. Karenga could be
inspired to create a social structure of
such m agnificence). My observations
follow:
A treasure trove o f wisdom and
spirituality that com es forth in a docu
mented wellspring o f sem inal con-
strib tio n -th e festivals, the sacraments,
the consecrations, the cerem onies of
rebirth and resurrection. For the fol
lowing I draw upon the religion section
of my library, scores o f historical texts,
Bibles, and concordances with the origi
nal African history-purchased here and
abroad over a period o f thirty years
(Diop, Budge, Ram y, Breasted, Smith,
Soper, Asimov, Spencer, Butz and many
others). It is to kept in mind that much of
the structure and sacram ent o f the early
church was designed by G reek-speak
ing African church fathers-whose cu l
ture without question evolved from
Ethiopian and Egyptian roots. (The New
Tcstamane was first written in Greek
and J. A. Rogers listed three Black Popes
from 189 A.D. to 496 A.D.: Victor,
M elchiades and St. Gelasius).
The religious holiday o f Pentecost
was originally named “ The feast o f the
First Fruits” (Num. 22:26). Developed
many, many thousands o f years ago in
Ethiopia, Nubia and along the Uppeer
Nile, the celebration began as a harvest
festival (still practiced), and was incor
porated into the Christian church by the
early Black Popes whom we have men
tioned. Now the custom was restated to
symbolize G od’s spiritual harvest of
souls. The Jews retained the African
agricultural concept; Pentecost is the
50th day from Passover presented be
fore God the first sheaf o f the harvest,
departed to their homes to gather it in ”
(Smith, Dictionary o f the Bible, 1865).
KW ANZAA IS REAL!
News
Sports
Urban League
Announces New Program
For Youth
When Alaa Gives An
Autograph, Fans Get More
Than A Signature
The Bible Speaks On
Humanity, Creation And
The Environment
by Bill Barber
by Michael Lindsey
byMcKInley Burt
O
T’. .
out W EST AFRICA where many o f the
traditions remain intact today. W e are
indebted to A nta Cheik Diop, the great
African historian and scientist for the
following.
“ Now, Plutarch the renowned
ancient historian tells us that * ‘O siris,”
the African god o f vegetation, was bom
on the 26th of December, the 361 st day
o f the year (commonly depicted as the
Jolly Green Giant; and Anglo Saxon
advertising image o f food products).
But the National Geographic M agazine
always shown him as the orginal A fri
can figurine which was colored green
to represent vegetation). Ancient paint
ings show Osiris at his annual D ecem
ber 26th birthday festival accom panied
by a symbolic tree cut to represent the
resurrection o f plant life -v e ry sim ilar
to our Christm as tree. We note that it
was Pope Julius (fourth century) who
fixed December 25th as the birthday of
C h r is t”
The Africans, documented as great
astronomers, correctly aligning the
Pyram ids with the stars, were able to
correlate the great annual cycles and
precessions of the heavens with the
corresponding cycles o f vegetation
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EDITORIAL
NEWS
SPORTS
ENTERTAINMENT
RELIGION
CLASSIFIEDS
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