Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 1998)
V. «• -« - ' Page A6 ’ - • * i ..' *.v 4 •. i JAN. 7, 1998 (Elie llortlanò ©bseruer Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily Reflect Or Represent The Views Of Clie ^Jovtlanb fflbsertfer A tte n tio n R eaders! Please lake a minute (»send iw your comments. W e’re always trying to giveyou a better paper and we can’t do it without your help. Tell us what you like and what needs improvement... any suggestions are welcomed and appreciated. We take criticism well! Get your powerful pens out N O W and address vour letters to: Editor. Reader Response. P.O, Box 3137, Portland, O K 97208, Martin Luther King, Jr. Issue Next Week In |JortIaub (¡i)hseruvr (USPS 959-68«) Established in 1970 Charles Washington Publisher <& Editor Mark Washington Distsrihution M anager Gary Ann Taylor Business M anager Larry J. Jackson, Sr. Director o f Operation Iesha Williams Graphic Design Tony Washington Associate Editor Contributing Writers: Professor McKinley Burt, Lee Perlman, Neil Heilpern Joy Ramos 4747 N E M a r t in L u th e r K in g , J r . B lvd ., P o rtla n d , O re g o n 9 7 2 1 1 503-288-11033 • F ax 5 0 3 -2 8 8 -0 0 1 5 E m a il: P d xo b s erv@ a o l.co m Deadline for all submitted materials: Articles:Friday, 5:00 pm Ads: Monday, 12:00pm P O S T M A S T E R : Send Address C h an g es T o : P o rtla n d O b s e rv e r, P .O . Box 3137, P o rtla n d . O R 97 208. Periodicals postage paid at Portland, Oregon. Subscriptions: $20.00 per year The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manu scripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. All created design display ads become the sole property of the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or personal usage without the written consent ol the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition ol such ad © 1996 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PAR I W ITH OUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. The Portland Observer—O regon’s Oldest Multicultural Publica tion—is a member of the National Newspaper A ssociation-Founded in 1885, and The National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers. Inc, New York, NY, and The West Coast Black Publishers Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver. ^nrtlanh s p S ubscriptions T he P ortland O bserver ; PO B ox 3137 P ortland , O regon 97208 Name: Address: City, Slate: Zip-Code: T hank Y ou F or R eading T he P ortland O bserver To Be Equal A Bountiful Legacy B y H ugh B. P rice P resident N ational U rban L eague The moment of meeting Jackie Robinson, baseball Hall of Famer, American icon, remains etched in my memory as if it occurred yester day, not way back in the early 1950s. I don’t need to look at the black-and- white picture I have ol an awestruck nine-year-old beside whom the Brooklyn Dodger star stands with an arm round his shoulders and a smile for the camera. Nonetheless, that pic ture continues to occupy a place of honor in my home. It does so because Jackie Robinson was not just a wondrous athlete. He was a wondrous individual. H e’s not some star we should put away on a pedestal as the fiftieth-anniversary year of his breaking baseball's color barrier draws to a close. He is a man whom we should rightly think of as standing next to us, with an arm about our shoulders, offering us encour agement. T h a t's part of the m essage I’ve gotten from A rnold R am persad s m asterful book. Jackie R obinson: A B iography. P ublished last fall, this book, to g eth er w ith those published in 1996 by R o b in so n 's w ife. Rachel R obinson, (Jackie R obinson: An Intim ate P o rtra it,) a n d h is d a u g h te r . S h a r o n R obinson, (S tealin g H om e: An Intim ate Fam ily P o rtrait by the d au g h ter o f Jack ie R o b in so n ), Jackie R obinson than ju st the physical ab ility team m ates, o p ponents and fans m arveled at They tell us why it is that Jackie Robinson's name resounds in twen tieth-century American History: he took after his mama By that I mean that, beyond the baseball statistics and feast of derring- do, Jackie Robinson's character is i before the turn o f the century. T horoughly docum ented account is a rev elatio n of A frican A m eri can c a p a b ilitie s and m otivations, though only recen tly freed from ch a tte l slavery. Sets one to w o n der ‘ju st w hat did happen back th e r e ’ to cut off black progress? B. "T h e N o rth W ill R ise A g a in ” ( I 1/6/97) C . " T h e N o rth W ill R ise A gain; c o n t’d (1 I/ 1 2/97) T hese tw o a rtic le s provide an e x c e lle n t ‘re a l’ m odel for the research and design of m edium - size com m unity b u sin ess o p e ra tio n s (the actual ex p erien ce of the au th o r). T his is an account of an attem pt to im plem ent an "In stitu tio n a l Food S u p p ly ” firm in the ‘Old M asonic T em ple B u ild i n g ’ , N . W . C o r n e r o f N .E . A lb erta at 19th. D. "W ho T old You That You W ere N aked. Part II” ( I 2/1 8/96) T his tim e a m uch older model o f b u s in e s s e n te rp ris e in the N o rth east C om m unity; the story o f the black railroad w orkers who ^ o rtia n i» (O h e m w r The Portland Observer can be sent directly to your home for only $30.00 per year. Please f ill out, enclose check or money order, and mail to: really the reason he is so celebrated today. It was his character-bolstered by the decency, and desire to win games, of Branch Rickey, the Dodgers' gen eral manager who signed him, and some of his teammates—which en abled him to endure the vicious taunts anil threats of opposing players and fans and press on. That fortitude came from his mother, Mallie McGriff Robinson. She made it possible for Jackie Robinson to have a future in which achievement could be a possibility. M allie R obinson, w ho lived from 1892 to 1968. was an A fri can-A m erican Everyw om an. Born near C airo, G eorgia, her formal education stopped at the sixth grade. She married for love, and it turned out to be a bad match. Her husband was an illiterate share cropper—the kind of farming which, as Ram persad pungently observes, “smelled like slavery.” He was bent so low by the burden of oppression that after ten years of mat riage and five c h ild re n w ith M a llie , he snapped. He deserted his family. They never saw him again. M allie, taking the advice o f a h a lf-h ro th e r who had m oved to P asadena, C a lifo rn ia som e years before, left G eorgia in the spring of 1920 with h e rc h ild rc n —Edgar. M ack, F rank, W illa M ae, and Jack, then, little more than a year o ld --fo r that Los A ngeles su b urb. Pasadena was not the Promised Land; racism was intensifying there, loo. But there was more opportunity; and that degree of difference be tween California and southern ( ieoi - gia was all Mallie Robinson needed Io buy. on a dom estic's salary, a spacious home and fashion a decent life for herself and her children í C t V e s The Best O f The Year? BY P roffessok M c K innley B urt S ubscribe to 6 W ell, we d o n ’t know about all o f that, hut it is the case that recen tly there have been a num ber o f req uests for the p a rtic u la r P o rtla n d O b se rv e r a rtic le s of mine listed here. It may be that B lack H istory M onth is on the ho rizo n , or just prep aratio n for the b alance o f the school year. I am subm itting a partial list o f those 'm o st-re q u e ste d '' item s, w ith the hope that the follow ing p ro cess will fac ilita te the needs o f te a c h e rs, stu d e n ts, h isto ry buffs and the general readership. For photo copies o f any three a rtic le s of ch o ice, send $3.95 check or m oney o rd er to cover han d lin g and postage: M cK inley B urt. 1635 N.E. A lberta. P o rt land. OR 9721 1. A. "The T ruth A bout Black labor land b ra in s]," (8/20/97). T he sto ry o f the C o le m a n M anufacturing Co, a huge black- ow ned linen m ill and clothing firm set up in N orth C a ro lin a ju st pooled th eir sa la rie s to build the real estate and business structure that served black people so well until the "U rban R enew al p ro gram " d estro y ed it. C ritical ol D r. C a r te r G . W o o d s o n 's “ m ise d u c a te d .” E. “T hat G ood Sum m er R ead ing III” (8/13/97) T his article gives a new p e r sp e c tiv e to the role o f A frican A m erican Seam an and naval o f ficers in the com m ercial and m ili tary o p eratio n s o f this n a tio n beg in n in g w ith the R ev o lu tio n ary W ar (“Old In ro n sid es” crew ). E x cellen t availab le d o c u m e n ta tion cited. F. “O re g o n ’s Black Sm oke Ju m pers" (9 /20/97 i T his was an ex trem ely in te r esting story of a com bination U.S. M ilitary and U .S. Forest Service O p eratio n during W orld W ar II - and w ith a N o rth w e s t b a c k g round. T his p re v io u sly -h id d en role of the "555th P arachute B at ta lio n " ( T rip le N ic k e ls ) w as based at P en dleton, O regon. L ater, w hile c o n tra c tin g w ith the Forest S ervice in a 'd iv e rsity p ro g ra m '. I met the son o f one o f these sold iers; I describ ed his h e lic o p te r firm in S p o k a n e . W ashington. G. "How G ifted And D e d i cated W ere O ur B eautiful S is te rs” (8/2 7 /9 7 ) The title o f this article says it all as we detail the illu strio u s careers of tw o notable A frican A m erican w om en at the turn of the century (1 8 9 0 ’s). We have Dr. H alle T an n er Johnson, "the first lady, w hite or colored to receive a c e rtific a te to p ractice m edicine in the State o f A la b am a.” Our second w om an o f a cco m p lish m e n t is ‘M iss H a ttie A. G ib b s’ who en tered the O berlin C onservatory o f M usic at age I I. O ne o f ten black students out o f a total o f five hundred, she e x celled in piano, pipe organ, v io lin and harm ony. L ater, founded a conservatory o f m usic of her own (strik in g photos). , M D D u rin g the fall and w in ter m onths, sore throat is one ot the most com m on reasons for people to visit their doctor according to Mark Thompson. MD, a family physician at Providence Family M edicine - North Portland. Almost all patients with any sort of head or c h e s t c o ld w ill h a v e a dry, “scratchy" or painful throat at some point during their illness. Sore th ro at (a lso know n as "pharyngitis") is most often caused by one of a variety of different viruses, but can also be caused by a bacteria named Streptococcus pyogenes (G roup A Strep). It a friend or family member has a sore throat, you may be able to see some of the signs of that infection. Red ness, sw elling, and blisters may all appear in the back of the throat. and a thick w hite-colored film may be found on the tonsils. A lthough there is no medicine to cure those sore throats caused by viruses, penicillin is extrem ely effective against the streptococcus bacteria. Penicillin should be an im portant part of the treatm ent of any Strep Throat infection for two reason. First of all, if your sore throat is caused by Strep, then you will probably start to feel better m ore quickly if you are taking the antibiotics. Secondly, untreated S tre p T hroat can o ccasio n ally progress to more serious infections such as an abscess, ear infection, sinusitis or pneum onia, and it may m ore rarely lead to “Acute Rheu m ade Fever” , an illness that can cause permanent heart disease. W hen you visit your doctor's better office for a sore throat, he or she will check you for evidence o f in fection with the Streptococcus bac teria. They may need to perform one or two simple tests. If Strep is found, they will prescribe antibiot ics that must be taken for a full ten days to help clear your infection and prevent it rare com plications. If no Strep is found, then a virus has caused your sore throat, and antibiotics will not help. You might w onder why doctors do not treat all patients with sore throats with penicillin. If the sore throat is caused by a virus, it will not be cured by any m edicine, and the antibiotics may cause more harm than benefit. "M inor" side effects from the penicillin such as nausea, diarrhea, and yeast infec tions may only leave you feeling worse than before you started the medicine. W hether y o u r do cto r has d e cided that yo u r sore throat is caused by S trep or not, there are other things that you can do for re lie f during the illness. It is im p o rtan t to drink plenty o f fluids and to eat w hen you feel able to. R esting w ill help you save your strength. Salt w ater garg les (one teaspoon o f salt per cup o f warm w ater) can help sooth your throat, and pain re lie v e rs such as a c etam inophen and ibuprofen arc often helpful. Mark Thom pson. MD, is a fam ily physician practicing at Provi dence Family m edicine North Port land. Anyone with questions or concerns can contact the office at (503)285-7953. '"Che CSJditor Send your letters to the Editor to: Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208
