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l’age 2...The Portland Observer...January 8, 1992
Ragin’ Cajun Market, Inc.
p e r s p e c tiv e s
™
▼ ▼
by Professor
McKinley
f by Professor
McKinley
Burt
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
‘Where The Best Of North And South Come Together’
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
Education Is Still The Priority
I w ould suggest that economics
should be next and that the integrity
and safety o f our families and neigh-
borthoods should closely follow. At
this point, it occurs to me that, actually,
we are talking about the very same
thing.
As for education professionals,
peons, students and parents - not to
mention taxpayers--they may take great
satisfaction (smiles) in the fact that
yours truly was right again (make that a
grin). You were priviledged to have
I he Portland Observer correctly assess
the validity o f all those grandiose es
tablishm ent hypes that forecast, “ The
U.S. will acheive international parity,
if not leadership, in education by year
2001”
I have consistently described such
protestations as unmitigated garbage
which could be placed on the same
nebulous plane as such past multibil-
lion-dollar adventures as The New Math
(A mastery o f “ Sets’ ’ will make all our
children mathematical geniuses) —or
Metric (American kids [and industry]
will not survive in a world where they
cannot dexterously and instantaneously
manipulate values between British and
metric system s (a tad more reality in
this latter concept).
In placing all this in perspective, I
wish every read er-n o t just those who
called me--had seen the November 6,
1991 airing o f the “ College Board
National Forum .” The facilitator for
this CNN special was Charlene Hunter
Gault, the noted African American
correspondent for the evening news
program o f the Public Broadcasting
System. She was very skillful in direct
ing her heavyweight charges toward
what obviously was a more honest
evaluation o f educational progress than
had been intended. The panel o f seven
educational luminaries included the pres
ent and four past U.S. Secretaries of
Education- and several independent edu
cators o f national rank.
A recent guru of right-wing educa
tional politics, W illiam Bennett, was as
fast as ever with his caustic, but less-
than-informative,one-liners. His usual
comedy store presentation, (intertw in
ing half-truths about “ choices” pat
ently unavailable to people without
transportation with ill-disguised con
tempt for teachers,) brought the re
mainder of the panel into frequent con
frontation with his superficial and su
percilious diatribe. Their pointed re
sponse indicated that they were more
than a little aware why education goals
were not on track; why they have been
derailed would be more succinct.
These tour guides to an educa
tional promised land pulled out all the
stops as they reiterated the entire litany
of polemics and rhetoric with which we
were enthralled at the beginning o f this
mission several years ago(some in fact
originated at the time of Sputnik when
President Kennedy assured us that only
a successful landing on the moon could
assure that America had an educational
establishment that could handle mod
em technology). Our illustrious panel
went through the entire gamut and
spectrum: “ D on’tteach to tests; Parent
involvement is essential; every child
must come to school ready to leam; It’s
all about caring; we must reward good
teachers; Bring in Industry; G et control
o f the teacher unions; We don’t need
more money/yes we do.” A kindly old
sage on the panel intimated that Year
2000 w asn’t that far off. Strangely, no
one mentioned Japan, China or G er
many.
Given that scenario, and keeping
in mind the very real possibility that the
current economic downturn will last
for years, where can we look for assur
ance that our education system will
even be able to hold its ow n—let alone
make par on the international course?
How helpful will it be that many o f us
within and without the system will
continue to challenge the inertia and
ambiguity that has been demonstrated
here? Does last fall’s 245-page RE
PORT CARD on school progress is
sued by President Bush and the 50 state
governors really indicate that there is
not one piece o f evidence for improve
ment in 1992-1994-or even Year 2000?
W hile Colorado’s governor, Roy
Romer, expresses disbelief that several
years after that momentous “ Educa
tion Sum m it,” they can ’t figure a res
taurant tip, recap a newspaper article or
punch M acD onald’s cash register (in
many places). A lot o f us know exactly
where to go to obtain an accurate as
sessment o f educational progress. In
better days “ B uick” used to advertise,
“ Ask The Man Who Owns One!” Today
we need to go right where the buck
stops, INDUSTRY. This is the place
where that former pupil must be able to
read manuals for unsupervised direc
tion, manipulate gauges and calipers,
measure lengths and areas, and must
make major conclusions based on minor
premises. Industry and governmental
employers are the ones to whom we
must look for valid, real time feedback
on educational progress.
A rt O liver and Sam Patton, two owners o f Ragin Cajun Market, Inc.
Although Portland does not sit on
the riverbank o f the M ississippi, the
distinctive tastes o f such fine foods as
jam balaya, gumbo and crab soup can
now be shared with the N orthw est
R agin’ Cajun Market, Inc., a Portland
based company, has been in existence
in the area for approximately four and
a half years. The owners, Sam Patton,
Art Oliver, and Linda O liver are from
the Louisiana area. Another o f the
company’s owners, David McNeil hails
from Trinidad.
W ithout question Louisiana has
produced some o f the finest cuisine in
the country, particularly, from the New
Orleans area. The family o f R agin’
Cajun Market, Inc. has sought to bring
to the Northwest the unique flavors of
Louisiana. The aromas o f authentic
creole and cajun cooking can be en-
joyed by those who do not wish to
travel all the way to Louisiana to en
joy the fine foods.
R agin’ Cajun M arket, Inc. saw
its first custom er when it opened a
shop located at 24th and NE Broad
way. The original concept was to
bring the finest foods of Louisiana to
the people o f the Northwest. C ustom
ers were soon coming from as far
north as Seattle and as far south as
Eugene and Springfield. Mail order
business soon developed as a result of
the ability to ship anywhere. The
decision was made to close the shop
and concentrate on mail order. Soon
after they felt in order to establish
themselves even further they should
develop their own line o f products. A
year and a half was spent developing
ti. products and in June of 1990 Ragin’
Cajun started offering them wholesale
to the retail and restaurant markets.
They package everything from season
ings to prem ixed packages o f gumbo,
jam balaya and hushpuppy mixes. All
any cook would need to do is add
whatever stock is needed. T hey’ve
packaged everything else for you. The
products contain no additives, preserva
tives, or food coloring.
R agin’ Cajun M arket, Inc. often
receives travel-related questions regard
ing Louisiana. They usually are able to
answer clients’ questions or are able to
locate a source o f information for them.
Many of the questions range from where
they might be able to get some o f the
best foods, to which antebellum homes
are the ones to visit. T hey’re able to let
people know there is more to Louisi
ana than just visiting New O rleans’
Bourbon Street. A num ber o f cities in
southwest Louisiana have tours that go
into the bayous. Some of these are flat
bottom boat tours as well as motorized
tours. Sometimes their clients would
like to get off the beaten track and try
something different. They try to help
them if at all possible and whenever
possible.
The people that make up R agin’
Cajun Market, Inc. are also very con-
cientious about community support.
They provide support to churches when
ever posisible. The presidentofR agin’
Cajun Market, Inc. is a board member
and Mentor for Jefferson High School’s
Financial Services A cademy Program.
They feel they can become an asset to
this community. Their m otto “ W here
the Best o f North and South Come
Together,” expresses w hat they want
to bring to the Northw est, by way of
their products and com m unity support.
R ajin’ Cajun products can be found at
local Sentry stores, participating Thrift
way stores and independent grocers.
CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL
By Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.
African National Congress
Advances In South Africa
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In the wake o f the recent initiation
of a process leading to a constitutional
convention in South Africa, the Afri
can National Congress under the lead
ership of Nelson Mandela has clearly
advanced its position as the leading po
litical force concerning the future dis
mantling o f the apartheid regime.
The eyes of the world will be watch
ing to see if de Klerk keeps the prom
ises made in writing com m itting to the
Constitutional convention process. The
signing o f an agreement following a
recent two-day Convention between the
ANC, the government o f South Africa,
and 15 other South African organiza
tions formally marked the beginning of
the end o f 300 years o f racist political
and economic domination in South
Africa. Historically in Africa, it has
been very difficult to negotiate free
dom and self-determination short of
violent revolution. This is because of
the refusal o f the colonizers to give up
the wealth-making exploitation w ith
out an armed fight.
The African National Congress
should be saluted for their steadfast
leadership and successful struggle thus
far against the ruthless and state terror
ist tactics o f the apartheid regime. As
the world is changing rapidly, so will
South Africa change at a much more
rapid pace than ever envisioned several
years ago. to the credit of the ANC, a
strategy to perm it the broadest possible
coalition of natives of South Africa to
be involved as representatives and
participants in the developm ent o f a
new constitution is a wise and prudent
move.
Ultra-right conservative forces here
in the United States are still channelling
money and other forms o f support to
“ splinter groups” in south Africa in a
bid to divide and conquer the coalition
that the ANC has managed to build. It
becomes increasingly important for the
remnants o f
anti-apartheid m ove
ment here to . _ vigilant in support of
the current efforts o f the ANC and
others like the south African Council of
Churches in their mutual efforts to speed
the end o f apartheid.
O f course, we stand with the A fri
can National Congress in their demand
that the “ interim” or “ transition” gov
ernm ent in south Africa last not more
than 18 months so that a democratic
governm ent can be elected. De Klerk
had the audacity to suggest that the
‘ ‘interim ’ ’ governm ent last for 10 years
before allowing “ one person, one vote”
democratic elections in South Africa.
It will be interesting to view the posi
tion of the Bush Administration on this
issue. Will Bush try to further justify
the immorality o f so-called “ construc
tive engagem ent’ ’ with South Africa as
de Klerk attem pts to stall the dyna
mism o f the process now unfolding as a
result o f the A N C ’s leadership?
There are many issues still to be
negotiated. One of the controversial
matters is the eventual truth-telling con
cerning South A frica’s nuclear weap
ons production program which has been
secretly developed over the last two
decades with considerable help from
the W est, including technology from
the United States. Again, when south
Africa was controlled by a racist gov
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s .
ernment, there was very little done by
the U.S. governm ent to prevent south
Africa from becoming a potential nu
clear power. Now with the good pros
pect o f the m ajority African population
in South Africa gaining political con
trol with the ANC in leadership, what
will be the U.S. official attitude to
wards that democratic governm ent’s
potential nuclear capability?
For the record, we are in favor o f
nuclear non-proliferation agreements in
the international community as currently
being fostered by the United N ations. It
is important though to understand the
double standards o f justice as certain
international principles are related to
African and other non-western nations.
As the African National Congress
continues to make advances, we should
keep our level o f support for the ANC
visible and strong. In fact, the positive
developm ents in South Africa are likely
to serve as a motivation for the vast
majority o f the more than 35 m illion
African Americans to attem pt to make
further advances here inside of the United
States. This is not to say that there are
no more serious problems in South Africa.
To the contrary, the turmoil in South
Africa is far from over. We are required
to understand that some real progress
has in fact been made, in large m easure
because o f the sacrifices o f all o f the
people o f south Africa and the leader
ship o f the ANC.
O ur hope is that South A frica’s
apartheid will be done away with very
soon. We believe that a victory o f the
African National Congress will be a
victory for all of humanity.