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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 1994)
P age A2 F ebruary 23, 1994 • T he P ortland O bserver Blazer Arena Project: Are Blacks Really Scoring? p e r s p e c tiv e s More Black Contributors To Medicine, II B efore we continue on with our recitatio n o f illustrious black c o n trib u to rs in the health field, le t’s do one o f those “you-heard- it-h e re -firs t” things. For Black H istory M onth six years ago, I in clu d ed in one p re sen tatio n , 1/ 10/88, a p icture o f Dr. H allie T an n er Johnson “ F irst W om an p h y sician ce rtified in the stale o f A lab am a.” This black 19th-century pioneer was until very recent years one of the best kept secrets in A m erica. A reader of the Port land O b serv er N ew sp ap er in forms us that just this year she has now seen c ita tions all over the place, including Jet, Essence, etc. Again, actor Bill Cosby is proved right about black history, “Lost, strayed or stolen.” This week, let us honor Dr. Lloyd A. Hall (1894-1971), the sci entist who coined the slogan “ More nutritious and appetizing food for better health and longer lifathrough food technology.” This great chem ist understood better than anyone this century that there was an urgent need for better standards and quality controls for food preservation if the nation’s food supply was to be kept safe. E-Coli was very rampant be fore Hall’s innovations. Though ob taining a B.S. degree from North west University and doing graduate work in chemistry at the University of Chicago, he neverthclcssencountered intense discrimination in seeking a position. Finally 1916, Hall was hired as a chemist by eh Chicago Depart ment of Health Laboratories where he rose to senior chemist in one year (nothing has changed much through the years has its civil service gets bright minorities for half the going rates paid by industry). Eventually, industry recognized the talent so the young chemist and the huge Iowa m eat pack in g com pany, John M o rre ll, Inc. hired him away from the city of Chicago. There was a series of in creasingly impor tant positions in food technology un til, in 1925, he went to work for the famed Griffith Laboratories. Hall was appointed chief chemist and director of research, remaining with the Chi cago firm until his retirement in 1959. What most people do not realize is that the preservation of meats was still a fairly haphazard affair before Hall went to work on the problem. Salts for curing and preserving foods were not very satisfactory, though in use since ancient times. Although nitrates were added to give meats their red color, the mixture did not allow the preserving salts to penetrate properly. Hall solved the problem with his invention of a combining process, “Flash drying.” by We are further indebted to the eclectic contributions of Mr. Hall for many other inventions that advanced the quality controls of food handling and, therefore, raised the health stan dards of the world. His research dis covered that, contrary to popular im pression, most spices marketed to allegedly preserve foods, instead,car ried millions of germs in the form of bacteria, molds and yeasts/ Natural spices such as cloves, cinnamon, gin ger, paprika, all spice, sage, even onion powder an garlic pow der-all were guilty of contaminating food (even by meat packers). In an o th er burst o f genius, H all solved this problem for the nation (and the world) by d e v e l oping a process that sterilized fo o d s by p la c in g them in a vacuum cham ber filled w ith e th ylene oxide gas. Now, the very sam e process is applied to drugs, m edicine, m edical supplies, c o s m etics, d e n trific e s, b an d ag es, surgical dressings and so on . F urther, we m ay thank him for developing a w ide range o f p re serv ativ e s c a lle d an tio x id a n ts that prevent fats and oils from soiling and becom ing rancid. So it is we may also credit him with the concept of the ‘solid’ cook ing oils like “Crisco”. Hall stands with Frederick M cK inley Jones, black inventor o f the re frig e r ated truck and box care, as the greatest o f co n trib u to rs to the sciences o f health and food p re s ervation. Bon appetit! THIS WAY FOR BLACK EMPOWERMENT J ames L. P osey The Blazer Arena Project public relations team has been working over time promoting what some say is the unprecedented, successful participa tion of disadvantage businesses on the arena project. Eight months into construction, many news articles abound featuring Blacks working on the job, while exalting the high num ber of contracts awarded to minority and women businesses. And, most Portlanders have seen the impressive TV commercial showing Trail Blazer players in hard hats, running heavy equipment at the construction site. Consequently, it’s logical to assume that the commercial, in part, is meant to symbolize Black participation on the project. Such notables as Congressman Ron Wyden and Mayor Vera Katz have visited the job site and publicly praised the efforts of the Drake/Ttimer joint venture and its contribution to the economic viability of the North east community. Blazer officialsclaim to have talked to Northeast commu nity leaders about how well the project is performing. Drake/Turncr has even gone so far as to describe the project as a successful model for the rest of country in achieving minority busi ness participation. But what’s really going on? On January 14, the National Association of Minority Contractors of Oregon (NAMCO) requested specific infor mation from Drake/Tumer to deter mine who is benefiting from the work on the project. NAMCO wanted to assess in real dollars just how much money is actually flowing into the Black community. W hile Drake/ Turner’s response can only be char acterized as reluctant to provide this detailed information, enough has been obtained to raise several red flags. The first flag went up with the hiring of a person to administer the DBE program who, from all appear ances, is a novice in arena construc tion and DBE programs. The second one is raised when Drake/Tumer pre sented information that tends to lump all the groups together without an exact accounting of their involve ment on the project. Although this information has been requested on several occasions, as of this writing, management has yet to provide the specific break out of which minori ties, specifically African-Americans, have benefitted and at what dollar amount. Other flags are raised when offi cials question the propriety of giving information based on private dollar vs. public dollars. Likewise, the flags start waving when program statistics don’t reflect the actual quantity of work performed by minority subcon tractors compared to the project’s entire workforce. For example, based on current data, of a total of 25 Afri can-American workers currently em ployed, two relatively-small compa nies have hired over two-thirds of the total Black workforce. No one should mistake this ar ticle for an indictment of the Oregon Arena project because it is apparent they have tried to approach minority contracting and employment in a dif ferent way. The real question is have B lack residents of Northeast Portland scored on this project? None of us should celebrate until the numbers have been evaluated. NAMCO will continue to monitor the situation and update the community as soon as the Oregon Arena Project provides more detailed information. Stay tuned. James Posey is a small business, owner with a background in social work and community activism. Oregon Sojourners J/m Beckworth The O regon T erritory becam e the state o f O regon in 1859, but p rio r to this ev o lu tio n , this v ast territory had been visited by a num ber o f different nations w hose crew s w ere o f m ixed hues and races. As noted, the first recorded presen ce o f a black man in the O re g o n te rr ito r y w as th a t o f M arcus L opez who m et an u n tim ely death. A lso noted before was Ben Y ork of the famous Lew is and C lark E x p ed itio n th at tra v elled through the O regon T e rri tory on th eir way to the coast. In addition to th ese so jo u rn ers, we have E dw ard R ose who lived with the Crow Native A m eri can Tribe. His life am ong the Crow gave Rose enough know ledge o f the W est to becom e an ex cellen t guide and in terp re ter for m any ex p ed itio n s. In 1811, R ose was hired by M r. H unt to guide an ex p e d itio n to O reg o n . D ue to problem s w ith his tem peram ent, he w a sn ’t able to co m plete the trip. A nother m ountain man who helped shape Oregon was James Beckworth. his explorations in Ne vada and California scouted out ma jor passage routes for new settlers moving into the West and Northwest. Building Bridges Between Blacks And Jews Last week Minister Louis Farra- khan of the Nation of Islam showed all of America why he is the major African American leader in the United Stales. Long one of our most important and respected religious and moral leaders, at this Washington, D.C. press conference on February 3 min ister Farrakhan made clear that he is a man of integrity and compassion who has the courage to stand up to nay and all who would harm the Black com m unity-whether they be white, Jewish or Black. At the press conference the pub licly disciplined M inister Khalid Muhammad for his speech at Kean College in New Jersey on November 29. Khalid’s remarks were not, as Minister Farrakhan pointed out, con sistent with “the teaching and guid ance of the Honorable Elijah Muham mad.” At the same time, though, Minis ter Farrakhan insisted that Minister Khalid was not the issue. The real issue, Farrakhan pointed out, was the attem pt by the A nti-D efam ation League of the B ’nai B’rith (ADL), which had paid for a full-page ad in the New York Times containing ex cerpts of Khalid Muhammad’s re marks, to further divide the African American and Jewish communities and, in the process to extend its influ ence over the Black political estab lishment and within the white politi cal establishment. As Minister Farrakhan pointed out: “Their aim was and is to destroy the reputation and character of Louis F arrak h an in the ey e rs o f the world...and to destroy the unity of the Nation of Islam with any of the estab lished Black leasers.” At the press conference Minster Farrakhan dis tributed an internal ADL document, “ Mainstreaming anti-Semitism: The Legitimation of Louis Farrakhan,” which discusses Minister Farrakhan’s success in building alliances, with Black elected officials-particularly the Congrcssiona 1B lack C aucus-and weighed various approaches the ADL might take in responding to this de velopment. The ADL memo concedes that “now that Farrakhan has obtained a measure of legitimacy from the main stream Black community...the pic ture has become more complicated.” The League wonders whether it can continue to pursue a “hard line” against Minster Farrakhan and still maintain its influence “with the CBC, the NA ACP, and other respected lead ers int eh black community who are no longer willing to ostracize the Nation o f Islam.” The document re veals that the ADI is quite willing to sacrifice is supposed principles in the name of political expediency. The real agenda of the ADL, which claims to be the standard bearer of the fifth against antiSemitism, is becoming more and more obvious, even to many in the Jewish commu nity. The ADL is all about cynical political maneuvering-improving its bargaining power within America’s (non-Jewish) ruling circles-and has little or nothing to do with protecting the Jewish community from anti- Semitism. If the ADL was serious about building bridges with the Black community it would have responded positively to Minister Farrakhan’s nu merous attempts to reach out to the Jewish community over the last few years. Instead, it has looked for ex cuses to widen further the gap be tween the two communities. In con trast, Minister Farrakhan is seriously working to build bridges. When he was un New York City last month for arally of 10.000 Black men interested in fighting crime and drug abuse in their communities, he met with me and Dr. Fred Newman, a Jewish leader who has worked with me in the New Alliance Party to build unity between Blacks and jews at the grassroots level. M inister F arrakhan , Dr. Newman and I discussed ways of bypassing the official Jewish leader ship to bring ordinary African Ameri cans and ordinary Jews together to dialogue ont eh issues that keep us a p a rt.M in is te r F a rra k h a n , Dr. Newman and I, along with many, many, ordinary people in both communities realize that it’s time to get Black- Jewish relations out of the hands of the professional politicians whose only con cern is getting elected, and organizations like the ADL, which seek only to increase their fundraising potential and their big power connec tions and influence (all of which are, of course, related). We need a people -to- p e o p le c o n n e c tio n b e tw een Blacks and Jews; ordinary folks w ho are ready to say: “To hell with all o u r p o litic ia n s and political w heeler-dealers whoa re using the tensions betw een our peoples are a political fo o tb all.” H ow can A be Foxm an, natio n al d ire c to r o f the A D L , b u ild Black Jewish unity?He has absolutely no credibility in the Black com m unity and less and less in the Jew ish com m unity. How can Rev. Jesse Jackson build Black-Jew ish unity? He has been w illing to c a p itu la te to p re s s u r e fro m th e p r o - Z io n i s t w hite political e sta b lish m ent at every turn.T he fact is there is an issue that B lacks and Jew s can unite a r o u n d - i t ’s getting rid o f Abe Foxm an and Jesse Jackson (and a few others to boot). We could unite around getting rid of all those Black and Jew ish leaders who are p lay ing gam es over the dead bodies of B lacks and Jews w hile the pow ers-that-be (w ho are n eith er Black nor Jew ish) sit back and laugh at the sight o f us destroying each other. Y o u ' re his role model, mentor, friend master AND chef. D epend on USWEST TO SUPPORT YOU t's no easy task preparing munity. And we view our most our children for the future. The important role as assisting you values and beliefs we share with with the latest in information and them today lay the foundation for communication tools and tech success and growth tomorrow. nology Like you, our role in the They depend on you. And you can community is versatile — we’re depend on U S WEST to keep the volunteers, grant supporters and lines open between all genera economic development advocates tions, now and in the future. At And also like you, we realize that U S WEST, we recognize the valu the support we provide today able role you play in the lives of the comes full circle for generations next generation and in your com- to come IN ALL YOUR ROLES. LIWVEST O 1994 U S WEST Inc
