.
* • ’ *■
X r«
.
.<
ijJtK.NÍ* « *•
, { ’. . /r
■ -x »z»Tz» *
•
JAN. 14, 1998
Hie Çortlanb (fibscruer
Page A4
Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily
Reflect Or Represent The Views ( >J
(Ehc $lortlani> © bseruer
p e e l
Attention Readers!
, better pep«-.»1 »•<•" >
■
*
in
I’ koi i I SSI IK
M< R is s i fa
®he ^ o rtla n h (©bseruer
Bi
kt
a b
Lli.,1___
IU*7(t
(U S P S 9 ___
5 9 ____
-6 8 0 _ ) . ».
E s ta
lis h e d I in 1970
Mark Washington
Distsribution Manager
Charles Washington
Publisher & Editor
Larry J. Jackson, Sr.
Director o f Operation
Gary Ann Taylor
Business Manager
Tony Washington
lesha Williams
Associate Editor
Graphic Design
Contributing Writers:
Professor McKinley Burt,
Lee Perlman,
Neil Heilpern
Joy Ramos
4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr- Blvd.,
Portland, Oregon 97211
503-288-6033 • Fax 503-288-0015
Email: Pdxobserv@aol.com
Deadline for all submitted materials:
Articles:Friday. 5:00 pm Ads: Monday, 12:00pm
POSTMASTER: Send Address Changes• To: Portland Observer,
P.O. Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208.
Periodicals postage paid at Portland. Oregon.
Subscriptions: $30.00 per year
The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manu
scripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned
tf~;com paniedbyaself addressed envelope. Allcre».eddes.gnd.spay
ads become the sole properly of the newspaper and cannot be used
X
publications or personal usage without the written consen„ 1 ,h
en e,:“ manage,, unless the cbcnl has purchased the
- rf
i
u ,,i <o 1096 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER. ALL Klein in
RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITH-
As usual we find that it is not
sufficient to rely upon a d efin i
tion from W ebster, "A chrono
lo g ical reco rd of sig n ific a n t
events...affecting a nation or in
stitution, often including an e x
planation of their causes."
This is certainly true as we
approach the month of F ebruary,
the critical lime for Black His
tory presentations.
That period when, n ation
wide, a goodly num ber of us -
mostly black, and some whites -
make a determ ined effort to fur
ther reveal to the world the m ag
nificent contributions ol people
of color to the arts, sciences and
hum anities.
When we turn to the mind-
expanding’ categories given by
R oget’s International 1 hesaurus
for assessing the human co ndi
tion, we f'nd many sufficient as
well as necessary expansions of
W ebster’s lim iting definition ot
a “chronological record.
The entry “history" in the d ic
tionary section of Rogets o tters
us a p a le tte of d e s c rip to r s .
“R ecord” (class eight, language)
T PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED
The Portland Observer-Oregon’s Oldest Multicultural Publ.ca-
I tion--is a member of tfte National Newspaper Association-Founded!
1885 and The National Advertising Representative Amalgamated
P u b th ers. Inc. New York. NY. and The West Coast Black Pubhshers
I Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver^
$ o r t i a « b o ftb e m w i
The Portland Observer can be sent directly to your home: forr o n ly $30<*>
per year. Please fill out, enclose check or money order, and mail to.
S ubscriptions
T he P ortland O bserver ; P O B ox 3137
P ortland , O regon 9 7 2 9 8
Name:
Address:
City, State:
Zip-Code.
T hank Y ou F o ^
^
su ccin ctly cites under 549,1.
"record, recording, docum enta
tion. written word, chronicle, his
tory, story, roll."
Other items under this class
are "archives, public records,
h isto rical d o cu m en ts, b io g ra
phies, ad infinitum .
“The same exercise also leads
us to “ H istory (class eleven,
arts).” Item 719.1 “ . the investi
gation of the past, the story ol
m ankind, cliom etrics, narrative
history, oral history, survivor s
or w itnesses’ account, biography,
m emoirs, etc.” And, then, entries
through 719.8 provide additional
param eters from “ story, yarn,
saga, to chronicle, narrative or
anecdote.”
U nder these circu m stan ces,
one might well ask, "given the
availability of precise directive
and techniques tor the accurate
recovery of the history of any
peoples upon the w orld’s stage,
how can there be such a recur
ring difficulty in assem bling and
dissem inating the marvelous (and
w ell-docum ented) history of A f
rican and A frican A m erican
J
' 1^ I^ R T laj ^
sfkvf . k
RAINBOW PUSH
c O A L I T 1 O N
‘So now it is C hristm as,
And what have you done?
Another year older, and a new
one's just begun...”
John Lennon
The ending of the old year,
and the start of the new. is al
ways a time for reflection, reso
lution, renewal, and rebirth It s
a time to rededicate ourselves
to the ideals and principles by
which we live.
Those of us in the Rainbow/
Push C oalition have long la
bored to be “ promise keepers
- because we all, from R ever
end Jackson on down, made our
own prom ises to Dr. King, to
struggle nonviolently tor peace
and justice, and to open up the
freedom train to all our people.
Marshall Frady made a sim i
lar point, in his book Jesse:
"He is now about the only fig
ure rem aining from the classic
days of the civil rights move-
m ent-the last survivor-who is
still actively at it , who has not
wandered off into other occu
pations. In the same way, he
has become one of the few re
maining voices ot any force in
the land still unabashedly cam
paigning. like the Last Believer,
for the old. liberal conscience
in Am erican politics...
It is not an easy time to be a
progressive in American poli-
We have had our victo-
ries, but the basic agenda is set
éSstttT
by corporate elites, by the rich
and pow erful, am plified by m o
nopoly forces in the m edia, and
carried out by right-w ing func
tionaries with m anifest destiny
in their eyes, hot rhetoric on
their tongues, and ice in then
h e a rts . (T o b o rro w from
A le x a n d e r Pope “ b ra in s o
feathers, hearts ot lead. )
Our job is to be ready to move
when the wheel turns again,
when the next econom ic down
turn com es, when the air goes
out of Wall Street, as it will.
Our role is to sow the seeds
of change tor the com ing gen
erations. Our task is to keep
fighting to hold the hallow ed
ground won by our ancestors
struggles, and to develop the
resources and ideas the next gen
eration of activists will need to
build a better world for our de
scendants.
Never forget what Dr. King
taught us: “The arc ol the uni
verse is long, but it bends to
wards ju stic e .’
Or the words ol Henry David
Thoreau: “any man (or woman)
more right than his (her) neigh
bors, constitutes a m ajority ot
one."
Or Abe Lincoln: "Why should
there not be patient confidence
in the ultim ate justice of the
people? Is there any better or
equal hope in the world?"
Our job is to keep hope alive
‘Tfìit’ iS-fittdr
Send your letters to the
Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208
e s
people?"
How indeed, unless one is ter
rib ly n aiv e and c o m p le te ly
oblivious to the controlling pa
ram eters of racism - or more to
the class and dem ographic order
of this world - unm indful ol the
pernicious cultural warfare. Such
naivety is frequently reflected in
an uncritical acceptance ol the
p o n tifical pron o u n cem en ts ot
ad m ired lead e rs, p o litic ia n s ,
scholars, or teachers.
It is essential to understand
exactly how much falsification,
distortion and om ission ol his
tory is/was driven by economic
factors.
In the United States, but not
exclusive to this nation, the driv
ing force behind the evil, ex
ecrab le e ffo rts to vilify and
dehum anize the black race is still
the existence of a m assive insti
tution of chattel slavery on this
continent.
One hundred and thirty five
years after the “Em ancipation
Proclam ation”, this horrendous
fact still whips the American con
science and. to further the di-
chotom y. pains its “C hristian
Ethic.”
So it is that we have the refu
tation of common sense, clear
evidence and docum entation, as
well as intellectual and academic
standards when it com es to the
retrieval, recording and assess
ment of the h istory of black
people.
And so it is that each year we
have a “’’Black History Month"
when the more knowledged ot
citizens and educators alike (or
bravest) dare challenge the es
tablishment.
There are the direct attacks
upon the intellectual capabilities
of non-whites by the vaudeville
sector of academ ia e g Jensen
and Shockley ( I Q and genet-
But we need not go ‘abroad
for the denigrating rejection of
docum ented accom plishm ents ot
Africans and African Americans.
Some of the most scurrilous
attacks of this nature were those
m ounted by some local educa
tors against the Portland School
D istrict’s “ Base Line Essays
Where Was The Amistad
Before Spielberg?
B y E arl O fari H utchinson
S ubscribe to
r
What Is History? The
Countdown
» ' l.omedandpppeect.lrf.We
Hr Fill it“r- Byader Response. I’ < >, Pox
i
Steven Spielberg recently told an
interviewer that he wouldn't have made
the film Amistad, it he couldn t tell it
as the story ot Joseph C inque, the
reputed leader of the shipboard slave
revolt, he felt that the story would only
make sense if moviegoers had some
one they could identify with.
This approach points to a sad. but
painful truth about African-Ameri
can history, while there are scores ot
heroes and heroic acts in Black his
tory, many African Americans don't
know about them. I don’t exclude
myself.l have written and researched
numerous articles and several books
on the Black experience, yet I was
only faintly familiar with the Amistad
story.
I remember that during the early
1970s, San Quentin prison activist,
Ruchell Magee, and Black ex-con
vict, Donald DeFreeze, the leader ot
ill-fated the Symbionese Liberation
Army, styled themselves as rebels
and adopted the name of Cinque.
Beyond that distant recollection the
Amistad story seemed to me to be
lost in the shadows of history.
This is inexcusable, the story is
straightforward enough. In 1839, 53
.
,IU.
Black slaves were transported ille
gally form West Africa on a Spanish
schooner from one Cuban port to
another. Led by Cinque, the slaves
revolted at mid-sea, commandeered
the ship, and attempted to sail it back
to Africa. They never made it. I he
ship floundered for two months at
sea, was captured by a U S. navy
cruiser and towed to Connecticut. In
a bitter two-year court battle, the
case became a cause celebre for abo
litionists, drew much national and
international attention and stirred
political intrigue and controversy.
Eventually the Amistad captives were
freed in a landmark Supreme Court
decision, and repatriated back to their
African homeland.
But why did it take top gun Holly
wood film maker Spielberg to make
million of Americans aware of this
magnificent tale of triumph and hero
ism. One answer is that Spielberg has
the money and the muscle of Holly
wood behind him. The other is that
many Black scholars, activists, writ
ers, filmmakers didn’t do their job.
they failed to chronicle the vents of
the Amistad for generations of Afri
can-American students. Even many
Afrocentrists, who have turned the
artists, writers, and musicians gave
«tiidv
study of Africa and Egypt into a
America its most distinctive cultural
political fashion statement, have
art forms. This should be a pint of
mostly ignored the Amistad story.
pride and self-esteem for young Af
Despite the current hoopla over
rican Americans, and Americans ot
the film, there are still only three
all colors, instead much of this is
books on the Amistad saga, "Black
barely known by them.
Mutiny” by William Puffins, "Black
My great fear is that the Amistad
Odyssey" by Mary Cables, and "Mu
story again may be lost in the tie-in
tiny on the Amistad" by Howard
stampede to cash in on the height
Jones. Although these books have
ened public interest and curiosity
been hastily reissued to capitalize on
that the film has stimulated. This
the film, they were out of print tor
happened with Spike Lee’s tilm on
nearly a decade. The public igno
Malcolm X. Hordes ol fast-buck art
rance about the Amistad story tells
ists blitzed the market with parapher
just how much ol African-American
nalia, t-shirts, caps and poorly re
history has been lost, stolen, ignored
searched books. They turned
and deliberately distorted. In the study
Malcolm, the man, into a franchise.
guide for students accompanying the
When the buzz died, so did public
film Amistad producer, Debbie Allen
interest in Malcolm.
got it right, "Whether you’re talking
If the Amistad saga is reduced to
about art, or literature, or music, the
loads of caps, t-shirts, and images of
real history has just been castrated-
super action heroes, it will do noth
left out.”
ing to promote and everything to
The Amistad story, of course, is
discourage serious on-going study of
only the tip of the rich Black histori
the case’s importance to American
cal iceberg in america. Black inven
history and the Black struggle. Ig
tors, explorers, scientists, architects,
noring African-American history is
and trade unionists helped construct
bad enough, but commercializing or
the foundation of American indus
romanticizing it is even worse. Let’s
try Black abolitionists, religious and
hope the Amistad story won't suffer
civil rights leaders helped shape law,
that fate.
politics, and ethics in America. Black
M a rv e lo u s M in d
Our Moods Color Our View Of Reality
............................... „ „ .v n .e d u,o„d
,oul. depressing, aggravated mood
B y M ichael A. G rant , J.I).
but we can deliberately come out of
Listen to you internal conversa
it You see, our moods are nothing
lion. Become aware of the dialogue
more than barometers of our most
that goes on non-stop inside your
persistent thoughts. If our heads are
own head If you pay close attention,
filled with negative, reactive, exag
you will be able to identify your
gerated, “making-the-world-a-night-
mood.
mare” thoughts, our moods will re
Have you observed that when you
lied our self-defeating evaluation. If
are feeling unappreciated or unloved
on the other hand, we decide to ig
by your spouse, you are probably also
nore a barrage of hypercritical, judg
finding fault with y our job. your friend
m ental, and anger-provoking
ships and your immediate prospects
thoughts, replacing them with more
for improving your financial status ’
truthful or hopeful ones, we will no
It is nothing but a mood. Moods
tice an evaluation in our moods.
come and moods go. They are an
Forexample, in our very material
inescapable feature of the human
istic culture, no matter how much we
predicament They color our view of
acquire, we are never satisfied. Like
reality. They determine whether we
hungry ghosts, we are haunted by an
are satisfied or discontent with those
obsessive need to always want some
important aspects ot our lives Bui
thing other than what our present
our moods change so fast that a
reality is offering us. We tell our
morning’s glowing description ot
selves that we will be happy when we
one’s love mate can by evening dete
get anotherjob.orlose lOpounds.or
riorate into a litany of accusations
find another love mate, or buy a new
and misunderstandings.
car. or move into a different house or
Here’s the good news We may
apartment, on and on ad nauseam.
not consciously place ourselves in a
ness. You
will know
irw
» « I d silence
sdenee those
those n noisy,
o ,,,.
ness
V,>u»dlk
n o » » when
h e n your
,; mood
If
we . would
has changed because you tocus less
troublesome, hungry ghosts inside our
on what’s wrong in your life and
heads, we would soon discover (as
more on what is right in it.
one brilliant mind once wrote) that
Some other obvious mood enhanc
happy people are not those who get
ers are: Exercising, deep-breathing,
everything they want, they have got.
laughing, dancing, listening to mu
You can always add something later.
sic, praying, meditating or just plain
The secret, however, is to stop and
relaxing your mind and body.
genuinely focus with an attitude ot
The final and most powerful strat
gratitude on that which you already
egy for lifting oneself out of an ill-
have. An attitude of gratitude guaran
tempered mood is found in this simple
tees and elevation of your mood
admission: Whatever I am going
Here's another proven method to
through at this moment in my rela
lift your mood. Transcend yourself
tionships, with my finances, with my
and focus on love. Love of God, love
health or with my attitude about life
of family, love of strangers, love of
in general, 1 subconsciously created
life, love even of your enemies. Fo
it. If I will take full responsibility for
cus on love. Consciously transmit it
my situation and chart a more desir
to others.
able course. 1 will begin to see the
Visualize yourself receiving the
lesson in all my dilemmas and the
love and concern of others Remem
solutions to all my problems.
ber all emotions are rooted in either
Life has some wonderful moments
love or fear. When love dominates
to offer, but only those who ascend to
our thoughts and subsequently our
loftier moods will be present toenjoy
feelings, our moods are buoyed ef
them.
fortlessly. We return to that state of
God bless!
emotional equilibrium called happi