Page 2...The Portland Observer...April I, 1992
civil rights journal n
By Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.
C
m
o m
Z im babw e (form erly Rhodesia)
declared its independence from Britain
in 1980. One of the conditions that led
to the negotiated independence was a
ten year prom ise that the best land of the
nation, alm ost 50 million acres held by
ab o u t4,000 while farmers prior to inde
pendence, would not be nationalized.
W ell, President Mugabe kept his prom
ise although it was very difficult for
m ost o f the 10 million Zimbabweans to
agree w ith given the fact that the m ajor
ity o f the population has been forced for
ten years to subsist on very small plots
o f land.
A recent poll taken in Zim babwe
show ed massive support for the land
reform legislation that will be acted
upon this year by the legislature. The
present plan is to first acquire about 20
m illion o f the 50 m illion acres now h e ld .
by affluent white farmers in Zim ba
bwe. G reat Britain and the United Stales
both have cautioned President Mugabe
not to proceed with the implementation
o f this type o f land reform. We wonder,
why the United States and other nations
do not want to sec the native people of
e
n
Africa acquire a right to their land?
If President Mugabe had broken
the ten year promise, we are sure Z im
babwe would have received the wrath
of the western world. But, it seems
even though Zimbabwe has kept its
com m itm ent made at the time of inde
pendence the western world is threat
ening to pull the international eco
nomic “rug” from under Zim babwe in
response. At a meeting o f the W orld
Bank, Zimbabwe’s representatives were
told that western investors might not
continue to invest in the nation if the
land redistribution began. Zimbabwe
should not be “w hite-m ailed” by the
west to ensure Anglo economic injus
tice and privilege.
From our perspective, this is an
issueof international racial justice. The
centuries-long struggle against colo
nialism, imperialism and racism have
exposed the degree to which these re
pressive forces will try to disguise un
der neo-colonialism. The international
community should take greater notice
of the good things that have happened
in a nation like Zimbabwe in only 12
•
a
t
r y
years o f independence. W hile there
have been some problems, overall Zim
babwe, even in the face of substantial
interference from South Africa, has
made steady progress. Butthis progress
would be put in serious jeopardy if the
issue o f land reform and redistribution
is not confronted at this crucial stage of
Zim babw e’s national development.
President Mugabe stated to the
New York T im es. “ You cannot run a
society of haves and have-nots....and
hope that society will continue to ac
cept the situation...W e have to do ju s
tice and give the communal people and
other people who want to go into agri
culture, land to do so.” We know that
Mugabe is correct in his assessm ent of
the situation in Zimbabwe.
We further hope that the day will
come when American society will stop
accepting the irreversibility o f the
“haves and have-nots.” Maybe rather
than criticize our sisters and brothers in
Zimbabwe concerning land reform, the
United States could possibly learn
something from them about social trans
formation.
The Big Guy Hits a Big One
Packy.the Metro W ashington Park
Z o o ’s world-famous Asian elephant,
turns 30 years old April 14, and a cel
ebration to match the big guy’s size and
age is planned. The entire month of
April will be dedicated to programm ing
and events about Packy, the elephant
herd at the zoo and their cousins in the
wild. M ajor sponsor for the birthday
bash is TCI Cable, Packy’s Zoo Parent
o f three years.
Packy was the first Asian elephant
to be bom in the western hemisphere in
44 years. Only seven elephants had
been born before h im -a ll in circ u se s-
from 1880 to 1918, but no zoo had ever
seen a baby elephant. Thirty years later,
Packy truly is a “big guy”- a t 13,500
pounds and over ten feet in height, he is
the largest known Asian elephant in the
World.
Beginning the month-long elephan
tine festivities tocelebrate Packy ’ s birth
day is an appearance by the Zoo O ut
post at Jantzen Beach Center on April 4
and 5 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The
Outpost, which features anim als from
the children’s zoo, insects and several
elephant activities, welcomes sponsor
KISN radio for a live remote broadcast
on Saturday, April 4, from 2 to 4 p.m.
On Sunday, the zoo’s show staff will
exhibit reptiles in presentations at 2 and
3 p.m. Visitors can also sign Packy’s
birthday card and com pare the size o f
their foot to the buy g u y ’s.
At the zoo, visitors can join a scav
enger hunt every day in April, and
search the zoo grounds for elephant and
Packy information. O ver 100 prizes,
including a portable phone, will be
awarded throughout the month. Prizes
are provided by TV Host Magazine,
HBO and KISN radio.
Beginning Saturday, April 4 and
continuing on weekends throughout
April will be animal talks by zoo volun
teers, who will display elephant arti
facts and specimens, as well as Packy
memorabilia. Also presented on w eek
ends will be a shadow puppet show
which will take place in the Elephant
Museum. Visitorscan also sign Packy’s
birthday card in the decorated Elephant
Bam.
The second annual Packy Auction
takes place Friday, April 10, The A uc
tion is a fund-raising event for the C en
ter for Species Survival (CSS), an off-
exhibit breeding facility designed to
provide highly endangered animals a
private place to live and produce young.
A primary goal of the zoo and the CSS
is to contribute to the conservation o f
anim als in the wild and in zoos by
continuing to research and improve
husbandry techniques, exhibitenviron-
ments, animal managem ent concepts
and captive propagation. Auction orga
nizers hope to raise $25,00; last year’s
event raised $16,000. Tickets for the
event, which begins at 6 p.m. are (of
course) $30.
On S aturday, A pril 11, all o f
Packy’s best friends are invited to his
30th birthday party at the zoo. Festivi
ties, including face painting, signing
his birthday card, walking through the
Elephant M achine and getting an el
ephant ears hat run from 11 a.m. to 3
p.m. At 2 p.m. Packy will get his 40-
p o u n d -w h o le -w h e a t-p e a n u t-b u tte r-
frosting-with-carrot-candles-cake while
well-wishers sing happy birthday. Birth
day cake for 5,000 o f Packy’s closest
friends, baked, decorated and donated
by Albertsons, follows.
April 11 is also the grand opening
of the Elephant Museum Gift Shop,
which will carry a large variety o f el
ephant merchandise, including a spe
cially designed w eather vane depicting
Packy and his mother, Belle. The shop
will also carry exclusive 30th Birthday
items.
The Metro W ashington Park Zoo
has made Portland the elephant capital
o f the western world because of its
success in breeding Asian elephants.
The zoo operates the w orld’s m ost suc
cessful breeding program for these en
dangered anim als, and it all began with
the birth o f Packy, who made interna
tional headlines for months before his
arrival. Since that day, 25 baby el
ephants have been born here. Born of
parents from the wild, Packy’s genetic
lineage is im portant to the survival of
the species. He has sired seven off
spring, two of which- Rama and Sung-
S u rin -a re still living at the zoo.
Portland Observer encourages our readers to write
letters, to the editor in response to any articles
we publish;-;- - /u . • i - .
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This Is Where I Came In
1 took one look at the cover section
for last Thursday 's Portland Oregonian
newspaper and thought, "Ho Hum!"
With a byline, Dean Baker, we were
led once again into that Alice In W on
derland of Portland Public School poli
tics; "Shirmishes End In An Uneasy
Peace: The leader of the walkout say
no, but school people and board m em
bers say gains have been made"
W e are given protagonists, an
tagonists and deteragonists, no less -
from "relentless critic," Ron Herndon,
to Stephen G riffith, board chairman
and board member, Marty Howard.
Among those who have been served up
years of a diet o f controversy, rhetoric,
polem ics, tirades, hypocrisy, racism,
oxym orons and refinements in the art
o f slander, we hear cries of "enough,
already." A m idst it all the present
superintendent is walking away, rela
tively unscathed, while waiting in the
wings are three hopefuls chafing at the
bit for an opportunity to gain new
responsibilities (and increased salary).
As happens ever so often, I am
sufficiently jolted by one of these es
says to think, "Hey, I know quite a bit
about this process m yself-- a little over
20 years worth. Now, how was it I first
got involved?" As that baseball payer
said, "It's deja vu all over again". It was
around 1971 when, having discovered
how ill-prepared for the work force
were both high school and many col
lege graduates, I persuaded the Busi
ness D epartment and the Black Studies
Program at Portland State University
to allow me to teach several courses of
my own design.
This part-tim e sortie into the field
o f education (I still worked full time as
an accountant and adm inistrator in in
dustry) evolved into an eleven-year,
full time career at the institution with
my curriculum designs accredited in
Business, Black Studies, Urban Stud
ies, Sociology and Affirmative Action.
I still recall the initial discussions with
Dean Parker of the Business D epart
ment where he emphasized that while
he had the H A R V A R D A N D
STANFORDGRADU ATES on his fac
ulty, w hat he really needed was som e
one with REAL TIM E EXPERIENCE
in theeverydayoperationsof small and
m edium -sized business and public
agencies; the "ONLY WAY" to get an
adequate curriculum designed.
Keep in mind that, unbelievably,
the very same things about the failure
of our educational system were being
said then, twenty years ago, as now.
Not only had that Catholic priest w rit
ten "Why Johnny Can't Read" ( his
latest, "Why Johnny Still Can't Read")
but hose of us in industry were teaching
people basic math and language skills
— new employees whom, naively, we
had supposed to have gotten this level
o f education just as we once had before
being turned loose upon the world.
Sound familiar?
1 was aware o f this problem long
before beginning the teaching stint at
P. S. U. In 1966 1 won a National
Science Foundation Award for The
Dalles, Oregon School District while
em ployed in the accounting depart
ment o f the Martin M arietta A lum i
num Company. A conversation with
the chairman o f the district's math
em atics departm ent (M oonlighting as
a guard at the plant) inspired me to
design a remedial demonstration pro
gram that would combine m athem at
ics, language and com m unications
skills. Soliciting the aid o f fellow
members o f the "Toastmasters Club" -
- NW Bell Telephone, Bonneville
Pow er, Tektronix, etc. -- and the finan
cial contribution o f a local rancher, I
was able for the first time in the nation
to put an elementary school in a ON
LINE, INTERACTIVE MODE with
com puters and teletypes around the
state and California, simulating in the
classroom a hands-on demonstration
of precisely w hat was done in industry
each day.
That is, TW ENTY-SIX YEARS
AGO these pupils were painlessly and
enthusiastically acquiring the very skills
that today's industry says the new
workforce is "ill-prepared" to offer.
From their base in a little Oregon town,
these children were putting labor time
into a com puter in Torrance, Califor
nia and pulling the totals back out to
print the payroll checks, right in the
classroom . O ther operations and tech
niques involving math, language and
com m unications involved in shipping,
manufacturing and report writing were
structured into the new type C U R
RICULUM.
This is why I was able to make the
following relevant statem ent in my
colum n here on March 18; ”O1 course,
I cam e to this teaching position from
industry where I had gained many
years of experience in technical crafts
and trades before gaining academic
and administrative s k ills - from punch
press operator to electrical instrum ent
technician. It is for this reason that I
am able to understand and advance the
realistic propositions that are now be
ing placed before us in an effort to get
our national priorities on track."
Over this time period of several
decades o f the indicated traumas and
confrontation in Portland's educational
system, there were others o f us who
also possessed real-time, experienced-
based understanding of the problems.
For instance, my successful "The
Dalles, Oregon Math Project" played
well "Off Broadway", the was brought
to Portland and made available to the
local district in 1969 and 1970. But,
there were no takers among the con
fused and recalcitrant and school ad
ministrators and board members who,
even then, were denying that racism
and incompetence were involved in
their failure to deliver a quality educa
tional product.
So you sec, the reason for my
choice of titles for this w eek's colum n,
"This Is W here 1 Came In' (on this bad
movie). W hen I spoke of twenty years
of involvem ent, I could further cite an
early contribution to the "Base Line
Essays" - as a local consultant in the
math and science phase, and whose
cogent advice on structure o f the pro
cess was rejected or ignored with d i
sastrous results (You though I had
forgotten, Huh?; folks in some major
cities are now paying strict attention to
what I have to say about the process
several will be here this sum m er for
my redesign workshop).
In the further developm ent of this
series, I will discuss th. classes in the
"New Math" I taught for Portland teach
ers, my stint as chairperson o f the
"Minority T eachers O rganization", my
"LakeOswego Montessori School Cur
riculum" that 1 wished to introduce to
Portland's early grades and the inno
vations. These projects are all "Go"
again now, so follow along.
Letter to the Editor
D ear Editor:
Today we have an economy with
many Oregonians out of work. W hy?
It is not entirely because of factors
beyond our control; to a large degree we
have forced this recession on ourselves.
Under the pretense of saving the
spotted owl, the preservationists have
emasculated the timber industry and
their good pay ing jobs, they are holding
up the westside bypass around Portland
and the thousands o f jobs which this
would create, and they have stopped the
Mt. Hood recreational project and doz
ens more around the state.
One factor most depressing our
econom y is the restrictive and oppres
sive Oregon land use regulatory sys
tem. This prevents thousands o f land-
ow ners from building homes on their
own land. It prevents many small busi
nesses from getting started because o f
unreasonable zoning regulation. The
high land costs resulting from present
land use laws has raised housing costs
out o f the reach o f many low and middle
income Oregonians.
The cum ulative effect o f the sys
tem is to shut down jobs of construction
workers, m ill workers and loggers; how
ever, it filters down to all business,
including the corner grocery store.
In the 1930 era we went through a
real depression which was the result o f
circumstances beyond our control. T o
day we are forcing a recession upon
ourselves largely because of our own
choosing.
W hen will we ever learn?
Herbert & Shirley Carnahan
12730 N.E. Flett Road
Gaston, OR 97119
Gately Child and Adolescent Day
Treatment...A New Beginning
S m all c h ild re n b ein g g u n n e d
down...teachers being slabbed...parents
being murdered by their own children.
Every day our attention is captured
through a barrage of horrific headlines
about today’s troubled youth.
But according to Fran Salkin,
L .C .S .W .,D irectorof Gately Child and
A dolescent Day Treatment, a program
of the Emilie Gamclin Institute, Provi
dence Medical Center, there is a grow
ing number of children and adolescents
who are not only overlooked in the
m c d ia -b u l by their families, teachers,
peers and counselors. They are the quiet,
withdrawn, “ high risk” youth who arc
severely em otionally disturbcd-thosc
that arc at the brink of suicide or severe
personality disorders. They wage their
emotional battles internally instead of
at society or at their peers.
Salkin confirms that these children
arc usually o f average or above average
intelligence, most of whom have been
em otionally, physically or sexually
abused. Their emotional problems pre
vent them from being a part of m ain
stream classrooms or special educa
tional programs. They may be over
looked because they arc not delinquent.
Thcscchildren are known as thc"gccks”
and “dorks” at school. 1 .onely and quiet.
they are often unconcerned about their
physical appearance and arc frequently
shunned by their peers and becom e the
brunt of practical jokes and pranks.
“ Untreated, they may become vic
tims o f those who use them for sex or
crim inal activities, because they lack
the self esteem to refuse,” she says.
“ W ithout help, may will be unable to
com plete school and wind up homeless
because they arc unable to get or hold
on to a job, form relationships or func
tion on their own in society. Their iso
lation and withdrawal can become so
sever that suicide may be their only
answ er.”
Gately Child and Adolescent Day
Treatm ent, a program of the Emilie
Gamclin Institute, Providence Medical
Center, was opened in May 1986 to
further the Institute’s goal of providing
com plete mental health services to the
community.
G ately serves em otionally d is
turbed youngsters ages nine through
17. Most students referred to Gately
have difficulty learning in public school
sellings. G ately’s high staff to student
ratio (one staff member for three stu
dents) allow s individualized treatment
and educational programs that these
students require.
G ately’s interdisciplinary team in
cludes the clinical director, individual
and fam ily therapists, handicapped
learner endorsed teachers, therapeutic
activities therapists and a consulting
psychiatrist. Gately students are pro
vided with intensive therapy, an exten
sive therapeutic activities program and
individualized academic classes.
In the therapy program, families
are crucial to successful work with stu
dents. During weekly sessions, family
members explore interactions, increase
com munication and resolve conflicts.
Students also receive weekly individual
therapy sessions and participate in two
therapy groups each week.
Unique to Gately’s approach is the
extensive therapeutic activities program.
These enriching group experiences in
clude skiing, backpacking, hiking, rock
clim bing, community outings and, for
adolescent students, job training expe
riences to help students build self con
fidence and problems solving skills.
Once accepted into the program,
students typically stay for one year,
some two or more. Upon completion ol
the Gately program, students make the
transition back to public school settings
or into GED classes or are placed ir
jobs.