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‘The Eyes and Ears of th e C om m unity
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O c to b e r 21. 1992
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"I HAVE A DREAM" FOUNDATION-OREGON
At Woodlawn
Elementary School
85 New “Dreamers"
Meet Sponsors
And Begin 4th
Grade With
Guarantee Of
College
Scholarships Made
Possible By
Pacific Power
Sharlietta Collins, Antinette Lathan, Chateau D Larradine, Jr, Lesley
Clark. Latoya"Martin, E'Trece Brazzle, Latoya Sanders, April Taylor
Durieal Harris, Jett Mobbs, Noelle Taylor, Taleaha Hatfield, Delisha Jackson
Michael Hill, Ruben Conde, Jr., Troy Tomin, Kim Jensen, Gloria Anderson Dana Summerfield, Ebony T. Nash,
Lynnique Vasser
At Woodlawn Elementary School
85 fo u rth g ra d ers have becom e
Oregon’s third group of students se
lected to participate in the “I Have A
Drcam”Program. T uesday, October 20,
the students, sponsors and school offi
cials announced the participating class
and introduced the project sponsors:
Betsy Russell, a stock and bond bro
ker: Neal Arntson, a Portland busi
nessman; and Joyce Arntson, a volun
teer counselor for children (grief biog
raphies are attached.)
When the “ Dreamer” successfully
com plete their high school educations,
they are promised $4,000 in college
and post secondary school scholar
ships made possible by a $1.3 million
gift made to the Dreamers by Pacific
?ower in May 1991. The gift was in
tended to pre-endow at least two classes
of Dreamers.. The Woodlawn class of
’94 is the second of the pre-endowed
classes to be established and the third
Dreamer class in Oregon to be estab
lished.
The Woodlawn Dreamers are the
first fourth graders in Oregon to be
com e D ream ers. Sponsors Betsy
R ussell, Neal Arntson and Joyce
Arntson came forward as volunteers
and were selected by the founding Spon
sors and board of the “1 Have a Dream”
Foundation-Oregon and then certified
by the IHAD-National office and its
founder, Eugene Lang. The Woodlawn
School Dreamer sponsors are also indi
vidual donors pledging $5,000 a year
for at 10 y ears-a total of $150,000 to
the “I Have a Dream” Foundation -
Oregon
In addition to donations of cash,
many individuals, institutions and cor
porations have donated in kind services
to the Dreamers. Today, we are proud
to announce that a leading arts organi
zation, The Oregon Symphony, has
pledged concert tickets for each of
Oregon’s more than 300 Dreamers.
Beginning with the June 1993 perfor
mance of Prokofiev’s Peter and the
Wolf at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall,
the Dreamers will be guaranteed at
least one symphony concert experience
each year through high school. “We are
pleased to have the opportunity to par
ticipate in such an important commu
nity project,” said Don Roth, President
o f the Oregon Symphony. “It is one
more way we can demonstrate our com
mitment to enhancing music education
opportunities for area youths.”
The “I Have a Dream” program
was founded by New York business
men Eugene Lang in 1981 when he
“adopted” an entire graduating class at
a Harlem elementary school and prom
ised he would finance their college
educations. Now more than 40 cities
and 8,000 students from schools serv
ing low income and predominantly
minority communities participate as
“Dreamers. The program provides up
to nine years of educational enhance
ment and cultural activities during the
students elementary, middle school
and high school years in addition to
scholarships for post secondary edu
cation. The program is distinguished
by the fact that individuals assume
sponsorship and pledge their time and
resources to students over an extended
period of time: 8-12 years.
The Dreamer scholarship prom
ise to each student upon admission to
trade school, community college or
college is $ 1000 per year for up to four
years at any accredited post-second
ary school—public or private. In addi
tion, students who are admitted to
participating private schools with spe
cial tuition agreements with the Foun
dation rccciveadditional scholarships
based on financial need. Funds do
nated to the Dreamers are managed
by The Oregon community founda
tion.
Sponsors and Board of “I Have a
Dream” foundation -Oregon for 1992-
93 are: Joyce Arntson, sponsor; Neal
Arntson, Sponsor; Paul Coakley,
Board; LaVeme Davis, Board; Leonard
G irard , S p o nsor/B oard; P am ela
Jacklin, Sponsor/Board; Dan Kinney,
Sponsor/Board; Kenneth Lewis, Spon
sor/Board; Betsy Russell, Sponsor,
Susan Sandor, Board; and Ulysses
Tucker, Sponsor.
TRICK OP TREAT!
9
Schedule of Events on Page 7
African-Americans Voting No 9, A New Political Action Committee
“I knew a lot of people were talking
about it. A variety of folks I knew were
expressing concern that many African-
Americans were not getting good infor
mation about the dangers of Measure 9.
In the end someone called a meeting
and over 20 of us wound up creating a
political action committee (PAC) called
African-A m ericans Voting No On
Nine.” said Kathleen Saadat, volunteer
with the PAC.
Joanne Allen had similar motiva
tions. “The basic motivation for the
creation on Measure 9 seemed hateful.
After I read it I was convinced that this
was dangerous assault on civil rights in
Oregon. Measure 9 discriminates. It is
about creating Jim Crow laws for gay
men and lesbians. I was glad to sec that
folks in the African-American commu
nity were getting together to respond.”
Ballot Measure 9, sponsored by the
Oregon Citizens Alliance, would com
pel government identify those who are
gay or lesbian as “perverse” and “ab
normal”. Il also prevents any govern
ment dollars from being used to recog
nize gays and lesbians as acceptable
members of society.. Measure 9 identi
fies homosexuality as a “behavior”
rather than something determined by a
person’s physiology. Measure 9 would
also prevent local governments from
passing laws which protect gays and
lesbians from discrimination in hous
ing, employment, or public accommo
dations.
An anchor phrase for Measure 9
supporters has been “no special rights”.
Opponents of Measure 9 point out that
no one has a produced evidence of a
single “special right” which has been
given to lesbians and gays. “ I think the
Oregon citizen’s Alliance is preying on
people’s fears. This culture has tradi
tionally said it’s O.K. to hate and abuse
lesbians and gays. Now gays and lesbi
ans arc saying they want the right to
work, have families, pay taxes, rent an
apartment, and walk down the street
just like everyone else without fear of
persecution. Measure 9 supporters arc
sadly twisted They arc fighting to keep
part of our community living in terror.”
said Art Alexander member of African-
Americans Voting No on 9.
The wording of ballot Measure 9
has been the source of great debate. The
m easure lin k s hom o sex u ality to
pedophilia, sadism, and masochism.
Measure 9 supporters claim that all four
arc the same kind of presumably learned
behavior. Opponents of Measure 9 ar
gue that gays and lesbians are just as
opposed to child molestation as hetero
sexuals and that the overwhelming
majority of child molestation is against
girls by heterosexual men and against
boys by men who lead otherwise het
erosexual lives. Opponents of Measure
9 also assert that the terms “sadism” and
“masochism” have nothing to do with
sexual orientation and were just thrown
into the measure to scare people into
voting yes.
Another feature of the debate con
cerns videotapes being circulated by
the Oregon Citizens Alliance. The vid
eotape contains footage from a gay
rights parade. The footage contains pic
tures of outrageously dressed individu
als and footage of people who are
endorsing some peculiar sexual fringe
perspectives. Opponents of Measure 9
point out that the footage is an example
of finding the most bizarre 1% of the
parade and using to suggest that all
gays and lesbians are like that. “I could
have made a video from that parade
which would have shown lesbians and
gays looking like indistinguishable
average Americans. The tape that’s
being shown at churches around town
is just the OCA’s anti-gay version of
that racist Willie Horton ad the Repub
licans used 4 years ago.” said Art
Alexander.
African-Americans Voting No On
9 member Joanne Allen went on to say,
“frankly, I and many others believe
what the psychiatric community says,
homosexuality is not a matter of choice.
People are bom that way or they are
not. And I suppose like with every
thing else about human beings there
are those who fall squarely into both
categories. All that stuff about recruit
ing children is garbage just like when
anti-semites used to preach that Jews
sacrificed Christian babies. I believe
that gays and lesbians have the same
proportion of good and bad people
within their ranks as the heterosexual
population. Measure 9 would amend
the Constitution of the State Of-Or
egon to brand every gay and lesbian
person as “abnormal” or “perverse”.
That is sick. Gays and lesbians already
suffer untold numbers of beatings,
murders, and incidents of job and hous
ing discrimination. Measure 9 would
declare a government sanctioned open
season. It would unleash the kind of
people who would just as soon assault
and murder African-Americans. I don’t
care what the Oregon Citizens Alli
ance claims, Black folks would be
next.”
Christian activist Cecil Prescod
joined African-Americans Voting No
On 9 because of a sense of religious
outrage. “It pained me to sec people
who claimed to be followers of the
Prince of Peace, go out of their way to
find a way to persecute an entire com
munity. With all of the positive con
structive things that Christ explicitly
asked us to do like love our neighbors,
it is sad and embarrassing to see the
Bible twisted to malicious ends. If the
Lord were to return with a list a thou
sand things we need to do in keeping
with his teachings, creating something
as hateful and paranoid as Measure 9
would certainly not be on that list. I am
working against Measure 9 to see that
Christ’s message of love and inclusion
drowns out the voices of hatred and
persecution.”
African-Americans Voting NoOn
9 will be distributing materials during
neighborhood candidate fairs and
walks through neighborhoods. Volun
teer Saadat expressed additional con
cerns “Regardless of how this turns
out there's going to be a greater cli
mate of hatred.
Measure 9 seems tobe doing things
which fall in line with what preachers
of hate like the skinheads want for
Oregon and the Northwest. I am ex
tremely worried.”