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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1998)
APRIL 1, 1998 Page A4 (Elje 'JJortünxb (Ph sem er IH i ■ IJ Attention Readers! Please take a minute to send us your comments. W e ’re always trying to give you a belter paper and we can't do it without your help. T ell 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 your letters to: Editor, Reader Kcsuoiisi. TXL Box 3137. Portland. OR 97208, IA p e r Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily Reflect Or Represent The Views O f (Tin' JJortlanb Of)bserner s p Show M e Your (O b se r u c r (IISPS 959-680) Established in 1970 Charles W ashington Publisher & Editor Mark Washington Distribution M anager Gary Ann Taylor Business M anager Tony W ashington Assistant Editor Larry J. Jackson, Sr. Director o f Operation lesha Williams Graphic Design Contributing Writers: Joy Ramos Professor McKinley Burt, Lee Perlman, Neil Heilpem 4747 N E M a r t in L u th e r K in g , J r . B lv d ., P o rtla n d , O re g o n 97211 5 0 3 -2 8 8 -0 0 3 3 • F ax 5 0 3 -2 8 8 -0 0 1 5 E n ta il: P d xo b s erv@ a o l.co m Deadline fo r all submitted materials: Articles:Friday, 5:00 pm Ads: Munday. 12:00pm Send A ddress C h an g es T o : P o rtla n d O b s e rv e r, P .O . Box 31 37 , P o rtla n d , O R 97208. Subscriptions: $60.00 per year The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Mann scripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned il 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 I’AR I WI TH OUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED The Portland Observer-Oregon’s Oldest Multicultural Publica- tion—is a member of the National Newspaper Association -Founded in 1885, and The National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc, New York. NY, Oregon Federation of Advertising. American Minorites Media, and file West Coast Black Publishers Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver. Thisyear’s ‘Black History Month’ series seems to have enabled more African Americans than everto‘‘iden- tify” with the key black contributions to America’s technology and indus try; and the feedback indicates a simi lar impact on other groups. It is difficult to select a feature from the Portland Observer’s many excellent presentations and say, “this is the story that set the tone”, or “this account told the world who we really are." But since the readers know that I am biased toward technical innova tions, they will not be surprised that I will cite two models which received so much attention from both youth and teachers - inventors’, o f course. Not that my personal landscape is culturally barren, the readers know better and appreciate that I will con tinue to push for the broadest learning paradigm for young people. But we all must understand as well that in this super-energized age o f science and technology it is absolutely essential that black youths have career role models with whom they can "iden tify” without hesitation. I greet my youth group, where’s your “I.D.” The black inventors (presentations) th a t I m en tio n ed are “ D avid Croswaite”, the engineer from Purdue University who patented th e ' thermo dynamic’ or heat-transfer technology c t i v e s Young Man Or Woman which made it possible for mankind to inhabit' skyscrapers’ (34 domestic and 80 foreign patents)... and Thomas M. (Don) Rutherford, a graduate o f Portland’s "Benson Technical High School” ; designer o f the engine con trols for Howard Hughes famed Spruce G oose’ and many other in ventions, including his patented slid ing door panel and latch that you see on vans all o v er the world, today. N o.2,690,268 June 8, 1954. I get a surge o f pride and "identity” ev ery time I talk with Don’ this Portland graduateofthe University of Oregon, just as I got years ago from that other inspired master of technol ogy, David Crosthwaite. And under the favorablecircumstancescited here it seemed the most natural thing in the world to expand our small group of neighborhood youth science clubs to include two more under the inspiring mantra ofthese two names. My former students help. Previous groups/neighborhoods are “Granville Woods” (E.lectrical inven tions for railroad), “Lewis (Howard) Latimer” (Lightbulb filament patent By Prof. McKinley Burt (E lie p i n r t l a n ï » e and member‘‘Edison Pioneers” ), and “Elihah J. McCoy" (the' Real McCoy’ Automatic Lubricator). The additional slots were awaiting more committed parents willing to dedicate their time and for another industry sponsor; we have both, and they have “ I.D.s” In answer to that unspoken ques tion; yes, there will be female motiva tor structured into this scheme. Sev eral parents have suggested “Dor- B y o t h y P rofessor W illiam son” , a former student o f M ckinley mine at PSU. She B urt invented and pat ented the “Paint Caddy”, a device w orn by the painter to avoid the necessity for fre quent trips up and down a ladder to replenish particular colors and shades o f paint. I profiled her invention sev eral years ago. It is interesting how ideas take hold and energize themselves. I stopped in “A l’s Beauty Shop” to borrow a book from this dedicated Black 11 ¡story bull and before I could turn around a lady said, “ I know you, 1 see your picture by your "O bserver’ articles. I want to talk to you about my kid.” Problems with math and science, it turned out and before we were finished, several other ladies under dryers were ques tioning me. Two have since called and are involved with kid’s science clubs. I will have to stop downstairs more often. Next week I will pursue other as pects o f this "identity” process. For over 25 years I’ve been innovating or breaking new ground here with this combination education/motivation approach, but it seems that 1 have no trouble in launching successful mod els, just failing to persuade others that those twoelem ents go hand-in-hand. 1 look back at the first federal (H.E. W .) minority health program 1 brought to Portland in the early 1970s. Mysteri ously’ became part ofa'M etropolitan Steering Committee" while I was out oftow n on a U.S. Forest Service PSU sem inar(another first). Lost to greed and the proverbial’ game playing’ were all the liaisons and resources I had developed with pharmaceutical companies, and medi cal associations, teaching hospitals, etc. In the 1980s 1 designed and imple mented a minority training program at Providence Medical Center, with academic credits for high school ju n iors and seniors. This time I handled all aspects m yself and it became a county-wide model. My point will be that our youth must be taught early on what to expect and how to manage systems. Smoke Clears for Portland Diners Tabithia Evans, coordinator o f the event. World No Tobacco Day is an international event sanctioned by the World Health Organization. Evans coordinated a similar event in Roseburg last year, which was very successful. Eight restaurants that w eren’t already smoke free partici pated in the event. Twenty other res taurants that were smoke free before Restaurant-goers who prefer to dine without a side order o f to bacco smoke will eat and breathe smokeless on Sunday, May 31 when World No Tobacco Day comes to the Portland metropoli tan area. “ W e’re asking restaurant own ers in Multnomah County to go sm oke free for the day,” said also participated. Public awareness generated from World N o Tobacco Day had several other area restau rants calling to be included the next year. Portland’s chance to have restau rants go smoke-free for a day was made possible with a grant awarded to the American Heart Association, in Oregon by the Multnomah County Tobacco Free Coalition. The funds were made available by the pas sage o f Measure 44, which raised the price o f cigarettes by 30 cents a pack. There will be an evaluation pro cess so restaurants can measure customer response. For more in formation on World Tobacco Day, Call Tabithia Evans at 233-0100. BUILDING BETTER COMMUNITIES: D ear Editor: Here we are, the 21 st century and the African American citizen is still going through hell trying to live peacefully in this society. Last Thursday evening in Port land O regon, my m other, D ora M cCrae and a friend were driving home when this car started following them with it’s bright lights on. D e ciding to move over to allow it to go around they discovered it was a po lice officer. A fter pul ling over she was told to present her drivers license, proceed ing to do this she asked the officer why she had been stopped. He then dem anded her to present her pro o f o f insurance, at which time she asked again why she had been stopped, to w hich he replied, “well, if you re ally m ust know you turned a couple blocks back and did not use your signal.” She tried to assure the officer that she had signaled and wanted to show him that the signal was working at which he ordered her to turn o ff the engine and Get Out O f the Vehicle. She turned off the engine and pro ceeded to get out, but found herself on the ground and the officer pulling her arms behind her back to put her in handcuffs. She was then ordered to get up and told he was not going to help her. At this point another police car ar rived with two officers who assisted her up. The first officer took her to his car and patted her down and sat her inside. He went back to retrieve her wallet to get her drivers license. After checking her records and talking to the other officers he ap proached his vehicle, bent down and said “why can’t we just get along'. Leaving her sit approximately 1/2 hour, he gave her a ticket and al lowed her to go home. As I said, this was my mother, a 68 year old , slightly overweight Afro- American Methodist minister. She does not drink, smoke, take drugs, or have a habit o f causing a scene. I have filed charges, but when are we going to be treated like first class citizens? - Ellen Smith Supporting Family Strengths UTT 77ten our VV 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.” -G ENEVA JONES, grandparent of six, great-grandparent of three (Elie ^ to r t la n b (O b se rtie r is proud to announce the addition of our Web-site, http://Portland Observer.Net, to better serve the needs of our Readers and Advertisers Check it Out! l.y'- ^ p o r tla n b G D b seru er Multnomah County’s Family Centers support family strengths with 14 locations throughout the county. Centers B uilding B etter C ommunities t
