Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 1992)
l*age 12...The Portland Observer...January 15, 1992 MA ”¿7 ...And Justice For All L by Angelique Sanders | I. '■'is □ 11 the very foundations o f education, is it to drink from a fountain, from which T his week’ s colum n is a trib any wonder prejudices s till e x is t her mother steered her away, on the ute to M a rtin Luther K ing, Jr. Most o f the people I knew in basis that it was a fountain for " n e One o f m y foremost worries Spokane were n ot b la ta n tly groes” . Her y o u tlifu lly naive, socie- w h ile attending school w as-and s till prejudices...they had simply never got tally-unjaded mind could not compre is—injusticc. I always wished for a ten to know any A frican Americans on hend segregation; after years o f educa larger soapbox to promote my ideas o f any level aside from , perhaps, their tion and experience, die teacher is s till equality, and journalism was my o b vi black bank teller, dentist, whatever completely baffled on this issue. “ W hy ous career choice. As a w hite g irl raised (Spokane has a predominandy white is society like this?” she and 1 won- in a tow n (Spokane) that contained little p o p u la tio n -- a c - ethnic d iversity, I cording to figures d id n ’ t know that The world could use a few more Martin Luther King, Jr.s in the 1980 census, w o rk in g at a Spokane ties with “ b la ck” newspaper PPALCy MAPS 6PPATPROOFS Madison, W I as the w ould become my they ■ HA YEARS UfTH THFRACFS P£C&m.Y. WHY, IN second most white- fate. I knew, how 5EEMEP AFTER THE 1979, Itâ PIP AWAY(O M Îtël& y WITH AN populated city in REAPY. ever, that I wanted CIVIL WARY OPPINANCP PANNING NF6P0FS FROM America, with over I 1 to w o rk at a paper 0IRNIN6 PROPERTY. 94% whites [in first that was not merely place is Lincoln, a splay o f inform a Nebraska]). Most tion, but was geared seemed to possess toward social reform. a mental color-line, W ith few not on the level o f exceptions, my fo r “ whites arc good, mal education did not blacks arc bad” , but o ffe r much inform a perhaps—fo r ex tion on b lack-or, for a m p le —p urpo se that matter, /\N Y fu lly not sitting by n o n -w h itc -c u ltu rc . an African Am eri O n ly three excep can on the bus tions come to mind: because they were “ unsure” o f what to dered somewhat; but even more, we first, the school’s offered reading o f M alcolm X ’ s autobiography (students were required to read one o f several school-selected books, one o f which was on M alcolm X ). Regrettably, I don’ t recall many students opting to read that book-and what is the surprise o f this? A fte r a decade or more o f education prim arily on topics w ithin the youths social “ circle ” , what arc the odds that a single opportunity to learn about another culture w ill be seized by the students? The second exception was a teacher I had that often told stories about days when he used to live w ith N ative Americans: this teacher would expound at great length, not just about what occurred w ith his Indian friends, but also the psychology o f them. The third exception was a lib eral English teacher o f mine that had a temperament that oozed o f justice. A story she told once caused my emotions to yearn fo r equality: as a child in W ashington, D.C., she once attempted scratched our chins at “ How do we expect. change it? ” But these were questions the texts never explored. It became clear to me rather early-on that the school system offer pupils the bricks, but no mortar, toward a complete education. I read up, in my free lime, on black history and other ne glected topics o f culturization. Pre sumably, the school fe lt that, w ith a primarily white student body, few people would be interested in learning black history. This is probably truc-bul, then, few o f my classmates had an active interest in learning history A T A L L . A dditionally, the school’ s job is not to cater to the educational interests o f the students, but their educational needs. And i f any o f those students ever planned on m oving away from Spokane, they had better be prepared to face cultures foreign to them, or hide forever w ithin Though my knowledge o f black culture was strong, I had never known a black person until I graduated and move away from Spokane. It was obvious to me, though, there was and is a shortage o f e qu ality-on e need not be outside to see that i t ’s snowing. And that is the “ m oral” to my their “ white bubble” . W ith ignorance present w ithin story: you don’ t need to be black, gay, homeless, physically disabled, etc. to fig h t for equality. To be a m inority docs not mean you’ re part o f a small population: it signifies repression. Women, though outnumbering men, arc a m inority. So many feel that they’ ll leave the freedom -fighting to men like M ar tin Luther King, Jr. or Nelson Mandela. Do not ju s t sit home and cheer at your t.v. for those who arc fighting for us...acccpt your duty as a caring hu man: don’ t just jo in the fig ht, lead it! Every day is M artin Luther K ing, Jr. day u ntil equality prevails. He Had "The Courage To Break With Tradition. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. January 15, 1929 - April 5, 1968 Walter C. Reynolds M.D. & Staff 2800 N. Vancouver Suite 231 287-4532 "THIS SPACE IS DEDICATED TO A MAN WHO DID NOT SEE THINGS IN BLACK AND WHITE.” "The dream is one of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property widely distributed; a dream of a land where man will not take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few; a dream of a land where men do not agree that the color of a man's skin determines the content of his character; a dream of a place where all our gifts and resources are held not for ourselves alone but as instruments of service for the rest of humanity; the dream of a country where every man will respect the dignity and worth of all human personality, and men will dare to live together as b ro th e rs.. . . " —Martin Luther King, Jr., I960 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ This message courtesy of — M E T R O E L E C T R IC A L T R A IN IN G T R U S T Apprenticeship Training J r ■ were GOING YOUR WAY 5600 NE 42nd Portland, OR 97218 (503)287-0756 —