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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 25, 1998)
P ag e A 4 M A R C H 2 5 , 1998 (Ebp ^ Jn rtla itb (í!)bserucr Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily Reflect Or Represent The Views O f (The JJortianb (JDhserucr Attention Readers! Please lake it minute to send usyour comments. W e’re always trying to give you 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<)W and address vour letters to: Editor, Reader Response, P.O. Box 3137. Portland, OR 9720«, p 6 r __ ___ r» _ . B\ P rof M c K inley B ert (USPS 959-680) Established in 1970 C harles W ashington M ark W ashington Publisher A Editor Distribution Manager G ary A nn T aylor Business Mtintiger Larry J. Jackson, Sr. Director o f Operation T ony W ashington lesha W illiam s Assistant Editor Graphic Design Contributing Writers: Joy Ram os P rofessor M cK inley Burt, Lee Perlm an, Neil H eilpem 4747 N E M a rtin L u th e r K ing, J r. lilvtl.. Portland, Oregon 97211 503-288-0033 • Fax 503-288-0015 Em ail: Pdxobserv@aol.com Deadline for all submitted materials: Articles: Friday, 5:00 pm Ads: Monday, 12 00pm Send Address Changes To: P ortland Observer, P.O. Box 3137, Portland. O R 972118. Subscriptions: $60.00per seat The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions Mann scripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and w ill be returned if accompanied by a sell addressed envelope. All created design displas ads become the sole properly of the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or personal usage without the written consent of the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition of such ad. © 1996 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER \l l RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRODUC TION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WI TH OU T PERMISSION IS PROHIBI TED The Portland Observei -Oregon's Oldest Multicultural Publica lion--is a member ol the National Newspaper Association founded in 18X5. and The National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers. Inc, New York. NY. Oregon Federation of Advertising. American Minorites Media, and The West Coast Black Publishers Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver. S ubscribe to a ^ c F o rtian i» (l)bscruci The Portland Observer can be sent directly to vour home loi only $60.00 per year Please till out. enclose check or money order and mail lo T he First, let m e clear up a possible m isconception from last w eek ’s ar ticle. T he invention in B uxton, Iowa (circa 1922) was that o f a ‘railroad S em aphore’ or w arning signal w hich functioned Inside T he L ocom otive C ab - rather than as a m oving arm m ounted on tall poles along the right o f way. The great advance in life-saving technology is imm ediately apparent as was m ade obvious several years ago ju st out side o f Longview, W ash ington - such a device ‘w as n o t’ in use when (here was a tragic collision be tween two freight trains ‘on the same track’. A ‘surviving’ engineer said, that becauseofthedriving rain, he was not able to peer out the w indow o f his cab to see that the pole-mounted sem a phore was indicating that the track ahead was occupied by another train. Same problem for other engineer. The device patented by the Buxton inventor w as for a w arning signal m ounted on a ‘dash b o ard ’ w ithin the locom otive such that there w ould be T hank V oi F or R eading T hi P ortland O bserver From the Voice O f Joe (Bean Keller c z V e no need to peer out o f a w indow at night o rd u rin g inclem ent w eather. A m inute electrical current traveling through the tracks and then up through the locom otive w heels, w ould acti vate a signal on the en g in eers’ instru ment panel. This was not a far-fetched idea or ‘ R o ck et-S cien ce’ for an o th er black inventor, G ranville T. W oods, had already perfected this tech n o l ogy o v er a quarter-century earlier. W oods had proven this m ethod o f signal transm ission for various p u r poses w as quite feasible and he p at ented m any such system s: ‘‘ap p ara tus for Transm ission o f M essages by E le c tric ity , A p ril 7, 1885, N o. 3 15,368; R ailw ay T elegraphy. Nov. 15, 1887 No. 373,383; Induction T elegraph System , Nov. 29, 1887, No. 3 7 3 ,9 1 5 ;” and on and on, ad infinitum . Y o u ’ll get tired after you reach ninety, all im portant to indus try in o ne field o r an o th er (including the first autom atic chicken incuba tor, sm iles!). A nd, o f course, the very sam e G ran v illeT . W oods invented the so- called “W estinghouse A ir B rake’ . O n page 37 o f the latest reprinting o f m y b o o k “ B la c k In v e n to r s o f A m erica" I have a photo-copy o f W o o d ’s patent No. 701,981 o f June 10,1902 for the autom atic A ir Brake and his "tran sfer by m esne assig n m ents (sale) to the “ W estinghouse air Brake C om pany o f Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.” An absolutely incred ible invention that over the years has saved a n um ber o f lives and property values that boggles the mind. But we have never been able to get either the A m erican m ediaor the W estinghouse co rporation to acknow ledge “The T ru th " (B ook is at Reflections Book Store). But let us return to the saga o f the “ S e m a p h o re -o n - th e -d a s h b o a r d .” Thanks to the historical society based near B uxton, Iowa, I w as able to reach a gran d d au g h ter o f the inven to r by telephone. She told a harro w ing story, one quite fam iliar to those o f us w ho have sought to track dow n th ese inventions - for m otivational p urposes an d /o r to see how m any black inventors received the fruits o f their labors. (It appears now that there w ere m any thousands o f them lost to history). T his lady said her grandfather, trusting and not w ell-educated w rote to a ‘R ailw ay A sso ciatio n ’ in C h i cago. “T hey sent him a ticket and hotel m oney, advising him to pack up everything and they w ould take a look at it. T his he did, w riting back later that they had set up an elaborate model train yard on the ninth floor o f som e big building w here his device was being ‘te ste d ’." It seem s that for several years they kept asking him to “adjust this and adjust that -y o u ’re going to be rich soon, boy.” He got a law yer out o f the phone book and “he jo in e d the ch o rus.” Finally her grandfather returned hom e, b roke and disgusted. I tried to pursue this saga as history but soon found out I did not have the resources. But there are m ore than sufficient m o d e ls w h o se w e ll-d o c u m e n te d “w hole truth” can m otivate our youth in this ag e o f technology. B y B ernice P owell J ackson W hen I was young three m onths seemed like a lifetime. The three months o f sum m er seemed tojust float slowly by, allowing m e to visit my grandmother, play with my dolls and do all the reading I w anted to. The three m onths before Christm as just dragged along. But now... 1 rem em ber my m other saying time moved faster as you got older and it w asn’t that I d id n ’t believe her, I just didn’t understand w hat she meant. Now I do. Three m onths ago I left to go on sabbatical and it seem s like, well, maybe three weeks. It was truly a time o f rest, o f unloading all the responsi bilities, all the pain and all the frustra tions o f being on the front line o f the struggle for justice. Probably the en tire first m onth I ju st rested my body and my mind, w atching the birdsat the bird feeder, listening to music and finding tim e to read whatever 1 wanted w henever I w anted to. It was truly a tim e o f personal heal ing.-of tim e spent every day meditat ing and praying, o f remem beringclose friends and colleagues who had passed away in 1997 and laying down the pain o f their separation. It was a tim e o f attending to my own physical and psy chological needs and spiritual nurtur ing. I took Tai chi chuan and felt the pow er o f exercise and meditation to gether. I used several daily books o f prayer and took tim e ju st to listen to G od rather than always ju st talking to God. It was truly a tim e o f personal growth. T here’s an old Chinese saying which says that when the pupil isready, the teacher will come. W hen I m en tioned my quilting project ju st a few days before m y leave was to begin at a retreat at m y local church, one o f the w om en there cam e forward and said, “I w ant to help you.” She soon led me to a teacher and som e o f my sabbatical tim e was spent learning how to quilt and I found a new/old survival skill w hich our grandm others m ust have know n a hundred years ago. I also have a renewed sense o f pride and inspiration found w hen I re searched each o f the 16 w om en in my quilt, each one is a w om an w ho re fused to color within the lines o f the life that society had draw n for her as a black women. So they becam e libera tors, college presidents, millionaires, writers, politicians, pilots and preach ers. Each o fth em was or is a powerful w om an w ho reached back and helped others and serve as role m odels for millions o f us even now. BUILDING BETTER COMMUNITIES: Supporting Family Strengths Deontae J. Keller Defense Fund Giving honor to God, the Pastor and all Ministers, M y name is Joe (Bean) Keller and I am addressing this letter to you r Church asking fo r you r support and financial contri bution to the Deontae J. Keller Defense Fund. On February 28, 1996, my son, Deontae J. Keller, was the victim o f a police shooting, that left him dead at the scene. My son was shot directly in the back by a certified Special Enforce ment Team (S.E.R. T.) officer o f the Portland Police Bureau. As such, he had received special training in weapon and other emergency scenarios. After being shot, my son was discovered by a K-9 unit and an officer at 1:48am. Deontae was on the ground and breathing heavily but officers did not approach him. When they fin ally approached him, he was dead. The autopsy estimated that his time o f death was 2:45am. Deontae had laid there unaided and suffering fo r nearly an hour before he died. Deontae was left in mourning a Mother, Father, Grandmother, Grandfather, Brother, Sister, 10 Uncles, 8 Aunts, and 103 1st & 2nd generation cousins, as well as an extended fam ily. He was well loved. For the past two years, my attorneys and ! have been preparing a fe d e ra l Lawsuit on behalf o f my son against the City ° f Portland, the Portland Police bureau and the officer that did the shooting. Monies from the defense fu n d will be used fo r Federal Court costs, filin g fees, expert witness fees and a number o f additionalfees that will occur in a case o f this magnitude. Any excess fu nds available after the case has been settled will go to the Deonatae J. Keller Scholarship Fund to be presented to chosen graduating students at Rose Mary Ander son High School (formerly P. O.l. C) where Deontae graduated from the summer before his death. Contributions can be made payable to the Deontae J. Keller Defense Fund and deposited at any U.S. Bank o f Oregon or sent to Joe (Bean) Keller at : 5404 NE 24 th, Portland, Or 9721 ! fo r recording and acknowledgment purposes. I f you would like more information, please don't hesitate to call me at 503-903-2471. Thank you fo r you r support, with God's blessing. Sincerely, Joe (Bean) Keller s Recharged, refueled and re-engergized for the struggle S ubscriptions P ortland O bserver ; P O B ox 3 1 3 7 P ortland , O regon 9 7 2 0 8 Name: Address: City. Slate: Zip-Code: e The Truth, I he Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth,” III t> . (Tip? ^ Jn rtla n h (JDbscrucv s P w ; : ten our family faces a challenge, we face it head on. With all our minds put together, we’ll come up with something to meet that challenge.” -GENEVA JONES, grandparent of six, great-grandparent of three ¿The ^ î o r t b t n b (¡D b s e ru e r Multnomah County's Family Centers supjxirt family strengths with 14 locations throughout the county. iy^ centers B uilding B etter C ommunities *
