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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 1994)
S eptember 21, 1994 • I he P ortland O bserver P age B 4 Urban League Guild Welcomes Okianer Dark West Coast Publishers Meet Opening remarks on the occasion of the 18th Cal-Pac Convention of the West Coast Black Publishers Association Covention held recently in Las Vegas, Nev. were made by Bernie Foster. His message addressed the challenges and responsibilities of the black press in America and the importance of free speech. Pictured are (from left) Jim Williams, president of Cal-Pac North in Oakland, Calif., Michael Suggs, national manager of corporate.affairs for RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co., Foster of Portland, Clem Daniels, state president of Cal-Pac, John Hoy, public issues consultant for RJR and Gilbert Baker, president of Cal-Pac South in Los Angeles. Urban Renewal: People, Politics And Planning: The Africans Began It All 4000 Years Ago B y P rof . M c K inley B urt Last week, I promised more rev elations. Indeed, it would seem that the bare statement of almost any fact about the historical development of the so-called ‘modern’ urban infra structure proves to be a “revelation". This is especially true when we consider the pioneering role of Afri can people in this process, as incom prehensible as this may seem to so many of us who have been brain washed or simply left ignorant and deceived by the establishment (both academia and media). The truth of the matter is that the blacks of the ‘Egypt, Sudan/Nubia and Ethiopia' geographical complex developed what is functional yet beautiful in m an-m ade lan d scap es--an d as Napoleon ’ s 1798 expedition detailed so well, accomplished this long be fore the Greek imitations and over a thousand years before the Romans. In this month’s Scientific Ameri can Magazine, the most respected of the genre, is an 8-page article, mag nificently illustrated, which docu ments all of this within the context of Napoleon’s effort; The Scientific Importance of Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign”. Read that as “Africa, big, black and competent.” Urban, Planning in stone long before mud huts of the “Fertile Crescent. The subheading of the article tells it all; or it seems to. “Bonaparte's invasion of Egypt brought French Scientists and engineers to the Nile. Their work, in turn, brought the splen dors of the Nile to Europe”. The gift from the African continent was much greater than the phraseology implies. Most importantly the armada of 400 ships carried not only thousands of soldiers but 151 scientists, engineers, medical men and scholars who were supported in turn, by artists, survey ors, mapmakers and language ex perts. So it is obvious that this incred ible expedition was designed from the start’ to voraciously seize the seminal concepts that Africa had de veloped 4000 years earlier and graft them onto a stumbling and war-tom European establishment. These des perate attempts to bring some vigor and intellectual vitality to Europe went far beyond the importation of so called modern urban design like black Queen Hatshepsuts design of panoramic city vistas of broad, tree- lined boulevards with municipal gar dens, parks and appropriately located public squares and buildings (from 1500 B.C.). As m entioned, the Greeks and Romans slavishly cop ied the formats of the African Cities and infrastructure. The memoirs and monographs of the French Expedition (La De scription de l’Egypte) cover many topics that today would be classified as social science or humanities. “These include anthropology (both cultural and physical), demography, meteorology, political science, soci ology, g eo p o litics, agronom y, microeconomics, medieval history, administrative history, linguistics and musicology-disciplines that did not yet exist for the most part. The au thors of these pieces also were engi neers, scientists and military men, people trained to be systematic, who knew how to look around them and take the m easure of what they saw.’’Key to an appreciation of the African perspective of the modern metropolitan vista is the fact that Chabrol de Volvic, one of the engi neers who accompanied Napoleon on the expedition, launched a new career after retiring as mayor of the seine in 1820. “He then ordered the compilation of an urban topography, 'Statistique de la Ville de Paris’, in effect an application to the capital of France of the techniques of deep description he and his colleagues had employed in Egypt.” Consequently, first in Paris and then in the rest of the world, this great African Renaissance foreshad owed the shape of the twentieth cen tury: The Arch deTriumph, the broad boulevards like the Champ Elysees which Vast corridors were opened upon by public parks and gardens in the m anner o f black Q ueen Halshepsut almost 4000 years ear lier; magnificent public buildings already incorporating the Egyptian mathematical formula called the “Golden Section” in structural de sign. This brilliant 4000-year old ur ban scheme was to become the back bone of the arch itectu ral system developed by the great French architect Le C orb u sier for his construction o f anything from the U nited N ations building in New York to apartm ents and closets. And, of course, there were the ‘O belisks; graceful stone tow ers that were carted o ff from A frica to every im portant urban scenario in the world, including C entral Park in New York. The W ash ington M onum ent is a perfect replica. W hen will our wayward children be told who thy really a re --w h a t th e y ’re capable of? Continued next week. ATTENTION Okianer Christian Dark, wife of Urban League of Portland President Lawrence J. Dark, is welcomed to Portland by Helloise Hill (left) and Peggy Ross. The Urban League of Portland Guild hosted a welcome luncheon on Saturday for Mrs. Okianer (pro nounced O -K ee-M er) C hristian Dark, wife of Urban League Presi dent Lawrence J. Dark. More than 50 members of the Guild and friends gathered at the home of Helloise Hill, widow o f longtime Urban League Director E. Shelton Hill. Alene Grice, a former employee of the league, organized a crew of vol unteers who prepared a feast for the occasion. Mrs. Dark moved to Portland this summer with her six-year-old son Harrison, to join her husband, Lawrence. She is a visiting Profes sor of Law at Willamette University School of Law in Salem, teaching courses on contracts, advanced torts, and gender and the law. Before mov ing to Portland, she was a law pro fessor at the University of Rich mond School of Law in Richmond, Va. Auto Painting Pearl Platinum Chips Vinyl Dies Side Moldings Pin Stripes Detailing Sh rich -l«r Car Painted 4 For $300! Pager: (503) 870-5994 • Vancouver: (206) 418-9985 2 LB CHEDDAR CHEESE A ll P arents O r G rand P arents $1.98 Insure yourchildren or grandchildren for only $2 per month, perchild, for $5000 Life Insurance. 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