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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 17, 1997)
» r «'■I . • D E C . 17, 1997 Page B J Has Ever Such African Dignity, Spirit And Courage Been Captured In a Painting? B y P rof . M c K inley B urt We refer io die “masterful IS4O por trait of Joseph Cinque", leader of the Amistad Revolt’; aclassic reproducuon appears on page 120 of the December 1997 "Smithsonian Magazine", part of an excellent article. Seldom have I recom m ended a movie not yet seen but in this case I relied on the well-known integrity ol producer, Debbie Allen, and the opin ion of Dr. Russell A dam s o f the Howard University African American History Department - an invitee to a pre-public showing. Nobody, but no body, has voiced disappointm ent in the film. Dr. Adams, with whom I am in contact today, stated on N BC Televi sion this past Sunday that he "rates the film 9 1 % accurate”,especially the role o f former President, John Q uincy Adams. An exception would be the scene where Morgan Freem an and Adams are shown riding together in the carriage; definitely a social non- no' even in the North at that time. For meritous reading, A dam s cites “Black M utiny”, and "History o f the Amistad Affair.” That first title prom pts me to re visit that semantic exercise I introduced last week. A "m utiny” is a breach o f an em ployment contract effected by free men who have signed up (promised) to perform a service for a valuable consideration. I learned that in my first year of law school where several of the students here were seamen. Slaves "revolt”, for there is no contract, real or implied, and their duress is forced - against their will. A ’sister’ who is a secretary at a downtown law firm has posted a pho tocopy o f my ‘A m istad’ article on the office bulletin board where it elicited quite a bit of interest. A partner in the firm is sending me excerpts from that m aritim ecode which covers such situ ations. Also, there was great general interest from readers in all walks ot life. "W hites are not willing to grant us the guts to revolt.” During Black History Month (and before) I will present many more au thenticated annals of African and A f rican A merican seafarers, shipbuild ers andexplorers. The uninitiated may ease their shock at A merican revela tions by obtaining a copy o f “Black Jacks: African American Seaman in the Age of Sail", W. Jeffrey Bolster, Harvard University Press, 1997. And of course, I well have much more docum ented evidence of black maritime involvement as shipmasters, officers and adventurers from 3000 years ago, through the Middle Ages, material from the son of Thor Hyerdahl ( Kon-Tiki), to a personal account from the A frican A m erican w ho sailed around the world alone in 1995 - get ting a resounding reception in New York Harbor, but little notice from the educationists whom you w ouldexpect to leap at this opportunity to motivate black kids in science and technology. W ho are these slave-minded gate keep ers? The m an should have been at every inner city school. Also, I will have updated inform a tion on the A fricans who sailed and traded in the Caribbean and along the W est Coast of M exico, centuries b e fore Colum bus, Portuguese and Span ish explorers. Both Lerone Bennett, “Before The M ayflow er" and Ivan Van Sertima, "They Cam e Before C olum bus" describe the African arti facts from fools and weapons to stat ues with Af rican features that appeared in the region before the tenth—century A.D. the racists hate to adm it black sailors and genes went all over. C ontinued from front . children live in a car (even it she has a job), they are calling her self sufficient’.” W eed said she was treated pcxirly by case w orkers w hen she w anted to return to school and becom e more em ployable, yet keep her chil dren on welfare until graduating Lakita L ogan, a teen m other, was denied welfare and told to live with her parents and to w ork rather than college. She accused co rp o ra tions o f supporting a system w hich provides "cheap labor by keeping us uneducated and inadequately trained ” “T hey said I was m arketable and couldn’t receive benefits if in school rather than on a low paying jo b ," said Joy Fauth, who was pressured to (unsuccessfully) look for work for two years. "I could have had my bachelor’s degree by now and be self sufficient.” She noted people may find low incom e jobs, get o il w elfare rolls, and not have adequate resources for health care, child care and ed u cation. Several teenage girls from S is ters in Portland Im pacting Real Is sue T ogether (Sprint) shared rel evant ideas. "W o m e n a n d g ir ls h a v e a r ig h t to an e d u c a t io n ," s a id A m o u r ie D o w n i n g , 1 2 , o f T u b m a n M id d le S c h o o l. C l a s s m a te A le x i s D o w n in g , 13, ad d e d the rig h t " to w o rk an d re c e iv e s u b s ta n tia l liv in g w a g e s.” C adis W illiam son, 11, also from Tubm an, said, “C asew orkers don ’ t sit down and talk to you about how we can he self-sufficient. C lass mate Shereese Alexander, 13, talked about (he high percentage ot fem ale headed fam ilies w ith children who had incom e below the federal pov erty line "The w elfare system d o esn ’t ad dress the issues or root causes of w elfare," said N eedra C onner. 12, o f O ckley G reen M iddle School. “W om en and girls have the right to adequate housing," said T yesha James, a seventh grader at Fern wood M iddle School. C lassm ate Shaneva Jackson, 12, declared "It should be a right to have econom ic ch o ices.” "People believe we d o n ’t care that they have problem s and that is not true," said Nancy M agill, OPEU m em ber and case worker. "W e write separate plans for individual people. 1 am a union w orker w ho feels strongly about fair w ages." “C om panies com plain there is a lack o f local qualified w orkers for certain jo b s," said State Rep. M ike Fahey, who noted m any qualified w orkers are "im p o rted ’, w hen O r egonians could be trained to I those positions instead of rem ain ing on welfare. Fahey noted the failure o f the state prison system w hich "teaches inm ates to m ake beautiful furniture an d cab in els, then tails to lollow up and track their cases to find them living w ages.” "If we had living w agejobs, many of these people probably w o u ld n 't be there (jail) in the first place," lie- added. Fahey is a candidate O regon L abor C om m issioner. 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